This third assumption leads Marxists to see the political economy as necessarily conflict, because the relationship between capitalists and workers is essentially antagonistic., surplus value is not the capitalist's "reward' for investment, but something that is taken away from labor because the means of production are controlled by a minority within society-the capitalists-labor does not receive its full return: conflict between the classes will thus occur because of this exploitation. For Marx, the relationship between capital and labor is zero-sum: any gain for the capitalist must come at the expense of labor, and vice versa,