Marx is closer to Darwin (evolutionary system) than Newton (mechanistic) in this context.
Marx is also responding to social Darwinism, notably Malthus and Spencer. For the latter, the insistance that all behaviour and selection occurs at the level of the individual rather than larger aggregates (family, community, tribe, population). Which is widely seen now as a very incomplete model. Though it's similarly possible to go wrong in invalid group-assimilation theory as with tribalism and nationalism's more sinister variants.
Marx is also responding to social Darwinism, notably Malthus and Spencer. For the latter, the insistance that all behaviour and selection occurs at the level of the individual rather than larger aggregates (family, community, tribe, population). Which is widely seen now as a very incomplete model. Though it's similarly possible to go wrong in invalid group-assimilation theory as with tribalism and nationalism's more sinister variants.
What specifically do you draw from Marx?