The inherent antagonism of class, according to Marx, Karl, who famously said that the history of class is the history of class struggle. If, as Marx argues, class is both a condition of existence and an awareness of a common situation amongst a multitude (which Marx referred to as class consciousness), then he reasoned it was to be expected that that awareness would provoke the desire for change, by revolutionary means if necessary. His reasoning is that awareness of class is implicitly awareness of the fact that different classes have different, even contradictory interests, and that cannot but result in conflict. The owners of the means of production (the bourgeoisie) have an interest in driving down wages as low as they can so as to maximize profit, a fact that conflicts with the interest of wage labourers (the proletariat), who would obviously prefer to see wages increase as much as possible. The interest of one thus contradicts the interest of the other, the result of which is conflict. Marx saw this conflict taking a number of different forms: cultural, economic, political, and finally revolutionary overthrow. But this struggle could only succeed if it became general, if all the workers united together in a common cause.