The socialist parties which adopted Marx's ideas held communism to be the final goal but assumed that capitalism would have to expand to its utmost limits before collapsing into a final crisis from which a post-capitalist society would emerge. In the 19th century the anarchists, the socialists' main rivals among working-class activists (especially in Southern Europe), held the view that communism and the abolition of the state could be achieved spontaneously and immediately through an uprising of the oppressed masses (Mikhail Bakunin) or through the gradual development of mutual aid societies (Pytor Kropotkin). By the end of the 19th century anarchism had ceased to be of much significance in the labour movement except in Spain, where it survived until the end of the Spanish Civil War, and in some parts of Latin America. Thus until 1917 socialists were the main champions of a communist society, though this was a long-term vision, kept in the background, while workers were recruited to the cause mainly because socialist activists concentrated their efforts on practical "bread and butter" issues: on building up trade unions and pursuing clearly defined political goals such as universal suffrage, welfare reforms, and the eight-hour day.
