Marx's view of revolution is based on his interpretation of human history as a whole. According to his teachings, the development of society is ac- companied by periodic class conflicts, which, escalating, lead to revolutionary changes. The class struggle is generated by the insoluble contradictions inherent in any society. The source of the contradictions lies in economic changes in the productive forces. In a relatively stable society, there is a balance between eco- nomic structure, social relations and the political system. With a change in the productive forces, contradictions grow, which leads to an open clash of classes and, ultimately, to revolution. Karl Marx applied this model to the previous feudal era and to how he fore- saw the future development of industrial capitalism (an economic order based on the pursuit of personal profit and competition between firms for the right to sell their goods). Such a system creates a rift between a wealthy minority that controls industrial resources and a disadvantaged majority of wage earners. Finally, the contradictions between the old feudal and new capitalist economies intensified so much that they took the form of irreconcilable conflicts between the nascent capitalist class and the feudal landowners. This process resulted in revolutions, the most important of which was the French Revolution of 1789. K. Marx argued that as a result of similar revolutions and revolutionary changes that took place in European countries, the capitalist class managed to come to power. The arrival of capitalism creates new contradictions that will eventually lead to the next series of revolutions inspired by the ideals of socialism and communism. The author came to the following conclusions: 1. The theory of revolution, developed by K. Marx, not only has scientific val- ue, but also shaped the real revolutionary processes that took place in the XX century. Most Western countries (with the exception of the United States) have political parties that consider themselves to be socialist or communist. 2. The source of the development of society is the struggle between antago- nistic social classes. According to K. Marx, societies are divided into classes that own unequal resources. Since there is a strong inequality, there is a difference of interests, which turns out to be "built in" into the social system. Conflicts of inter- est at some point turn into active struggle between classes, which can give rise to a process of radical (revolutionary) change. 3. Historical materialism sees the roots of social change in human interaction with the material environment. A person is characterized by an active attitude to the world, the desire to manage it and subordinate it to his goals. The key to un- derstanding social changes, Karl Marx argued, are the ways people use to create more and more complex and perfect production systems. K. Marx described this process as the growth of productive forces. Changes in the productive forces cause tensions in the institutions of the superstructure, and the stronger these tensions, the more urgent the need for a complete and comprehensive transformation of so- ciety. The class struggle becomes more and more acute and leads in the end either to the disintegration of existing institutions, or to a transition to a new social order through a political revolution. 4. K. Marx, for the first time in world history, considered the masses of the peo- ple, the proletariat as the engine of historical progress. Social changes can occur not only as processes of gradual development, but also as revolutionary upheav- als. Periods of gradual restructuring of productive forces and other institutions are followed by phases of abrupt revolutionary transformations. The author considers it necessary to emphasize that K. Marx's theory of rev- olution as a general approach to the analysis of social changes has significant limitations. No "one-factor" theory (K. Marx exaggerated the role that purely eco- nomic factors played in the changes) can explain all social changes. Typically, a number of the most important political, military and cultural factors are identi- fied that influence social change and lead to revolutions. It remains controversial whether the socialist system will necessarily replace capitalism.