How did Marx think economic crises would lead to revolution?

Karl Marx theorized that capitalism is inherently unstable due to the "anarchy" of the market, where profit-driven competition leads to periodic cycles of booms and busts. He argued that these economic crises would serve as catalysts for revolution through the following process:12

• Increasing Instability: As industries industrialize, capital concentrates into larger firms. Each subsequent crisis becomes more severe, causing massive economic disruptions.12
• Proletarian Misery: These crises result in higher unemployment, lower wages, and the growing pauperization of the working class (the proletariat).34
• Class Consciousness: Through these hardships, workers would eventually recognize that their interests are fundamentally opposed to those of the bourgeoisie. This realization fosters revolutionary class consciousness.3
• Revolutionary Action: Marx believed that when the "temper of the working class snaps," the proletariat would seize the means of production and state institutions, effectively ending the capitalist system and replacing it with socialism.13

Ultimately, Marx viewed these crises as the "preludes" to a final, general crisis that would render the bourgeoisie unfit to rule, leading to the inevitable victory of the working class.54