 Due to his empirical approach, Bernstein took the position that economic prosperity under capitalism was causing a reduction in class conflict as well as increasing the differentiation of the working class.Bernstein predicted that class antagonism would eventually diminish in a capitalist society whereas socialism would evolve peacefully under parliamentary and reformist responses.One of the first serious detractors of Bernstein's reformist and optimistic stance towards capitalism was Alexander Parvus a Marxist theoretician.