47

sOME FORMULATIONS
NOTE ON
materialism
that held by Engels, maintaining that the laws of historiçal
.

as formulated by Mar did not hold for the clan systcm (S¢e Soclologlcal
of
Studies [in
Polish), ed. cit., p. 2177. According to Krziwickl the laws
of history begin to operate only in what
the
materialistic interpretation
he called the "ierritorial system", in which material objects become the
NOTE ON SOME FORMULATIONS clan system there
AND ON THE NAME OF binding link in social relations. He thought that in the
relations and that the only.social relations were direct
"THE MATER.ALIST INTERPRETATION were no production
ones between individuals .of the clan relations based *on inship. THis
OF HISTORY"
Certain vauiations in the formulation of uhe view is incorreet sinee the production process is also found in the claa
materialist interpretation system and consequently there arises a, soclal bond resulting from the
of history are to be fouod in
Engels' works, In Anti-Dühring he writes
(p. 369); "The materialist conception use of material objects i.e., production relations appear.
that the production (of the means 1oof hisiory starts.from the proposition
suppoft human life) and, next to
'Some writers have tried to introduce other terms to describe the ma-
terialist interpretation of history. Paul Lafargue, Mara's ion-in-law,
produdion, the eashAnRÉ o[ Ihinsa.ptoduced_ii the basis of
structuret follows from the contezt ull-social who was one of the first to write about historical. materiali1m, entitled
the division or distributián of producis.that by *cxchange" Engels meuns
This is not in
hls principal work Le diterminlsme dconomlgue de Karl Marx (Parls 190).
tion since
distribution incorrect formula George Plekhanóv called his exposltion of historical materialism 4.Çon
.is closely
depends ultimately on production relations and tribition to the Problein of the Developnment of a Monlstic Iniecpretatlon
in this
connected with the mode of production.To speçify distribution of History (St. Petersburs 1894). The expression "monistic interpretationn
context is, howeyer, superfuous, since it obscurs the formulation. of historywas probably included with an eye on the Tsárist censorship;
We find' a
considerably reater diference in. formulatión in Engels ib
the text he wrote plainly of materialism as the foundation of the com
preface to the frst ediion of. Orig in of the Family, Privatg Property, and prehesion of the historical processes.
Ihe State, in K- Mari and
F.Engels, Selected Works, ed. cit., pp. 155-6: Since then, especially
"According 1o the materialistic congeption, the detemining faciot in authors preferred
in the beginning of the twentieth century, many
use the term
histo is, in the lást resari ihe ptoduction and reproduaion of immediate to "economic interpretation of history".
Kazimierz Krauz, who in principle, despite inconsistencies, was an adher.
ife. But thisitself is ofi twofold
character. On the one hánd, the production ent of the
materialist interpretation of history, suggested the term "mono
of the means of subsistence, öf food. clothing and shelier and ihe tools conomic interpretation of
requishe theTefor on the other, the production oLhunau: beings them ed. cit., p. 4). "Economic
histor" (ef. Economic Materialism lin Polish),
elves, the propagation of the species. The socialinstitutions under which interpretation of history" and similar terms are
not appropriate since they do not
pen of a definíte historical rnoch and of i deñnite countoy live are sondi. convey the essence of historical materialism,
tioned by both kinds:of productioa: hy the stage al devclapmeni Accordinz 1o histaricalmaierialintha-piima And
desliye sumulus
ot labour, in
social.development is.not.econcmic. relationsj nor.eYEn.Ihat..Parto.
on
the one hand, and of the familý on the other. The less the development cconomic relations which constitutes production
of labour,
and the more limited is volume of production and, therefore, process of interaclion hetwren man and his materiarelations: {t is the dialcctje
tbe wedth of society, the more preponderatingly. does the social order the development pf secial snvirormeni=hati
ppear to be domínated by ties of sex". oroductiye forcesIt is, quitelierally.a materialis
Thus, nprimitiie sociey nAL Oaly interprelation of histao
adevelopmea-alpraductive Some authors like to use the term
"economic materialism" in order
forces bu lgo the developmcnt of famnily relations, operating as an in ta dissociate themselves from
dependent factawauld daarmine söcial development. This assertion view of the world. But historicalphilosopkical materialism, i.c., a materíalist
ws criticized by K. Krauz (Economlc materialisnm originates frem this muierialist
Materlalism [in Polish], ed. cit., view of the world: not,
of course, a primitive,
p71, 1T), H. Cunow, (Die Marxsche Gezchlehts*, Gesellschafis- und Staat but dialectical materialism which, metaphy calmaterialism,
Lheorie, vol. 11, pp. 138-142), nd K. Kautsky, (Die .maierlalistische role In knowing and takes into consideration man's active
changing material
the
Geschichisavfasiu, voli 1, p. 842 #) St¢. also K, Oströvitianov:, An
Outline of, the. Feuerbach and the End of Classleal Germanworld. See F.ioEngels, .udwik
Economics of: Pie-capltalstic Formatlons (in Russian), F. Engels, Selecied Works, ed. cit., vol. I1, Philosophy, K. Maw and
d t . p. 26. Krzywicki, the other hand,
on.
defcnded'a view similar to The materialist interpretation of pp. 324-364.
46) rom the view of the world bistory cannot be treated
in isolation
from. which it sprang. The interaction between
(
. . ,

42
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND THE RISE OF
CAPITALISM
the cconomic basc dominatcs all
of social life, traditional feudal tics and
monopolistic char-
ters
and the entire social product takes the form
commodities.
of grantcd by the Crown inhibited the
development of productive possibilitics that
Social surplus, social class, modc of pro- could, only be rcalized with frec markets
duction, base and superstructure: these con- land, labor, and other commodities-i.e., in
cepts describe a society from..an
objective with capitalist social
relations. An cmergent
of
structural vicwpoint. But socicties consist
pcople. An capitalist class thus found itself in direct con-;
a
adequatc 'undcrstanding of flict with feudai landcd aristocracy
socicty requires a theory of how people act as the crown.thc But a
and
well, how human activity is situated in, and to dominant class is unlikely ;
in turn shapes, these objective structures. givc up its privileged status peacefully. The
Claas struggle, for contradiction between the forces
by
example, emerges fron the tion (represented in England oftheproduc-
a
recognition by members of class of. their rising
common interests and to
capitalists) and the social relations of
pro-
opposition another
class. duction (represented by the ruling feudalists)
SC
grows in intensity and is expressed in
A consideration of
human activity in. a
cultural,
structural context idcological, and political as well as economic
a
enables us to understand forms, producing
historical change, how societies are trans- generalized social
formed from one dominant mode of political crisis. The crisis is resolvable onlyand;
tion to produc- by
another, from one class structure to a.,statusdecisive and often violent rupture with the.
quo that transforms the existing
another."The key to historical change is the structure. class;
unfolding contradiction within a
mode of tures Hi_torical examples of such rup-:
include the English Revolution with its :
of
production between the forces of production
and the relations of beheading King Charles in 1649 (in large
a
production. The forces of part, capitalist rebellion
production develop and grow over the long ist and
against the absolut- i
run, although in a rate that
monarchy feudalism) ; the French
and a
depends on the givenmanner.
social relations of pro- Revolution in 1789 (a revolt against the:
duction. But the social Civil
of production feudal War nobility and clergy); the .American3
tend to be much less relations
dynamic than the forces
in 1861-65 (the destruction
of allowed the full development of of
production because of the vested interests slavery
talist relations of. capi-
of the dominant class in the Russian
status quo.
preserving the social Revolution in 1917;production);
The contradiction and the Chinese
forces and'the of
between the tion in 1949. Revolu-
relations production pro- The first
vides the evolving context in which reading in this chapter further
elaborates the method
between opposing classes occurs andstruggle devcl- alism, while the next of historical materi-
ops. three apply the
The contradiction tò the method
as
emergence of the capitalist mode
the social
is likely to intensify of
on
relations of production become a production itself. The final reading applies.
fetter the further,
forces of development -of the historical materialism to explore the ways
that the rise of
production. For example, in England profoundly capitalism affected the family,.
JoHW C.Uney changing its form and ideology.

2.1 The Materialist Ph.ne 9H753

Conception of History
Because the cxposition
chapter introduction, itofishistorical materialism
worth' going over therequires.more than a short
same a
ng rcading:.
somewhatmore detailed fa_hion. This is what John Gurleyground again in
:
does in the follow-

*i.
 43

Alarx,
Cafpilalism:
Conception
of History to San
Challengers G.Gurlcy,
Materiadist 2 of by.John
he Chapter ol
1976 pcrmission
from
cxcerptcd Copyright
is GURLEY. Rcprintcd
by
he lollowing 1976.
G.
Company,
and Mao by Joux Book
Francisco
Lenin San
r a n c i s c o :

thc publishcr. "thc

1C author and cailed
the Marx
what
arc
relationships.
The produc
production."
n production,
THE MATERIALIST CONCEPTION rclations of of
rclations
c c o n o m i c
social! thc
forces plus "thc
iivc to as
rclferrcd
nt "'supcrstruc-
OF HISTORY Marx
which the
about socicty,"
shape and legal
thcory structure
of political,
a
hd devclopcd to rcligious, vicws
and lEngcls purports and
that pcoplc's of thoughi
Marx, modes
ly movcment
of history capitalism detcr-
lives
ture ofa n d t h c i r
material
to sy'stems
hc lcudalism gave way social- institu-
the That is, people's
why by supporting
Cxplain will of lifc. their
C latter besucceeded view of and
the understand
this idcas
and why mine t h e i r
csscntial to care-
ns is callcd "the deserves

ism. It which they tions. which

development, if one is passagc,
famous thc theoryy
history," a summarized
social of In
S) conception at Marx
for it lies attention,
of mny
materialist of Marxism, ful principle
al, grasp Marxian
reasoning bccame
the guiding
have a n y that
nic to almost all
heart of
the studies"
.nd which is princi- people
today. theory, their existence,
by social production of which are
According a
to,this in society, a t any given In the relations,
the. people abil- into definile
Marx's, enter produc-
level of p r o d u c t i v e inevitably r e l a t i o n s of
lass pally ccrtain
have a and will, namely of
o w n knowledge independent of their in the development
timc, o n their to a given stage
up- This depends tools, totalily o
(machines, ion appropriate The
its ity. produclion.
m a l e r i a l Jorces of
on
the technology a v a i l a b l e to them, the economic
lheir consfitules
skills, and so on) envi- production which
rge. relations of
draft animals, these Soundation, on
of the natural the real
lut- bountifulness together sociely, and to whic h
on thc live. These. slructure o superstructure
nch and they and political consciousness. The
in'.which arises a legal
forces secial
ronment of production" forms of
the; "thç rmaterial Marx correspond definite c o n d i t i o n s the gen-
forces.
can a r e caled thc productive determine mede of production
of material life i n t e l l e c t u a l life. It
and
in shórt, forces
Ol or, of social, political d e l e r m i n e s their
that the productive r a l process that
(for c x a m n - consciousness pcople
alleged make thecir living their
api the ofexistence that delTmines
way people agTiculture, O r . . . i net their social
sian he, and gather1ng, existence, but
hunting consciousness.

olu- and
ple, in and, a t the s a m e time, the way theY
industry) another in producing
to one as are depicted below,
erelate means of life (for examplc, relationships
the The key
ther xchanging or capitalist causal connections shown r u n -
master
and slave, with the main
teri- and cxchanggc
thod lord and serf,These production
le of and worker).
Superstructure
plies
ways.
nily,. Society or
Production The Social
.
Social Relations of.
Formation

Economic
Structure
,1
Productive Forces of Society
The
 .

44
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND THE RISE F CAPITALISM

ning upward but'with downward reciprocal sciously and not instinctively. At any onc}
relations also. present. These components are timc, this purposive labor is performed with
separatcd purcly lor expository purposes; in a certain technology, in a given environment,
fact, cach is by no means independent of the and within a particular class socictythat is,
it is pcrformed within a certain mode of pro-
others. duction. Human nature, according to Ma
That is cssentially thc materialist concep
tion of history. Each of its major components and Engels, is determined 'by the mode of
will now be discussed more fully to give production that people work in to maintain)
readers an opportunity to get their bearings. human life, and since the mode of production
so does human nalurc.
After that, the theory will be illustrated in changcs,
TFeudal man, for cxample, within his own?
sCveral ways.
mode of production, had diferent values,?
aspirations, abilities, and needs than has capi-i
The Productive Forces
talist man within his higher mode of produc-
The productive forces are the material tion. Thc change from the feudal to t h e
means of production that people fashion and capitalist mode of production, however, was
use to gain a livelihood from nature. Produc- made by human bcings themselves, as they;
tive forces include machines, instruments and fashioncd better tools, altered and controlled
their environment, and, in this very process,;
tools, raw materials, and natural resources;
they also include human bcings themselves changed themselves. Thus, capitalism_could
their knowledge, talents,_aspirations, and succeed feudalism not only beause people de-
needs. Productive forces develop through the signed superior technology, but also because,
labor and activity that, people expend in in the proccss of doing this, they,changed
extracting a living from their natural environ- their values and skills, their outlook on what
ment. Part of their development includes the is mportant, and so on.
growth of human abilities andneeds. As peo- This Marxian view ofsocial development is
ple change their world, they.develop their important because it stresses that such devel
own capabilities as well as their desires ta .opment is not imposed on us from the "out-
change.the world still further.Pcople thus side,", nor do we. simply adapt, in passive
make their living and themselves simultane- ways, to soial changes. We, in fact, initiates
ously) Human activity is, therefore, an inte- those changes and, by so doing, make our
gral part of theproductive forces; aninterpre- selves worthy of the new conditions.Thus
tationof the Marxian theory as being a lorm human naturc, as scen by Man and Engels,
of"technological determinism" emasculates it is essentially subject to change: man makes
by excising the human factor. himself through productive activity.
Human beings differ from animals in that The scheme below traces out these relation-
they engage in purposeful productive activity ships which underlie the productive forces of
-they produce their mcans of subsistence, con- the previous diagram.

New Human Needs New Means of

and Abilities . Production

Purposeful
Productive
Activity

Natural
Human Beings Environment

***'
**

'* ""*"i*i**.th**' *iv,' , 2 ..isi *iit*; *ip.*Ttari7a)*iu: *****

 tactin tui4s
aterialist Conception of History
forces a r c
Social Relations of Production iblc with: the supcrior productive 1500
cstablishcd. Thus,
thc bourgcoisicaftcr
on
to Marx's formulation, the stagc O
According gradually gaincd strcngth as the basisships,
sailinS
ot material mcans new productive forces, such
of development society's new cncry sources
productivc forccs-dcter improvcd weaponry,
production-its accumulation
processes,
imines thc
social relätions of production and machinery, factory
. and so on.
Thcse pro-
and of technical knowlcdgc,
exchange.lhe latter arc the institutions their conirol enabled
practices most closcly associated with thc way ductive forces under
the older feudal
them to challenge successfully
goods are produced, exchanged, and distrib- positions had
uted. This.ncludes property relaiions; the ruling classes, whosc privileged
and control of rural
way labor is rCcruitcd, organ1zcd, and com- depended on land rights
the judicial and
work processes as well as
pensatcd; the markets or other mcans for mode of productior.
cxchanging the products of labor; and thc military systcms. The some
a series of revolutions,
mcthods used by the ruling classes Lo capture w a s changed, in
or morc, from
and dispose of the surplus product. Thesocial times spreading over a century
structure
relations of production are; in cffect, the class feudalism to capitalism, from a class
of lords and vassals, guild masters and appren-
structure of a SOCiety that is rcvealed in the
a ices, to one of capitalists and wage-laborers.
work process. The mode of production of As Marx one put it, "The handmill gives you
its class
soCiety Is scen principally through a society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill,
could be of
structure. A mode of production
the.slave type, feudalist, capitalist, or any. society with the industrial capitalist." Even
dominant man- though coming from Marx, this is a grossly
thing clse, which describes the
to make their simplified aphorism that overempha_izes the
ner. in which people organize contain
iying. Although societies may more technological to the neglect of the dialectical:
of mode-is Marx has expressed these transformations
than one mode production, one in the following passage known by heart to
usually domihant.
develop many people around the world:
A s people change the world, they
and needs to change it
heir own abilities forces over At a cerlain stage of development, the.material
further. Thus, productive,. grow productive Jorces of sociely come into conftict'with the
ime. Sooner or later the developing produc- existing relations of production or-this merely ex-
the prevail-
tive forces comeintoconflict with presses the same thing in legal terms-with the prop-
structure-the social relations of
ng cla5S that
crty relations within the fremework of uwhich they have
production. The newly developcd ways operatzd hitherto. From Jorms of dereloprnent of the
from their natural productice farces these relctions tun into their fetters.
people extract 2 living
Tha: begins an ra of social reolulion. The changes
environment become incompatiblc with the
in the in the economc fourdation lead sooner or lcler to the
older ways they relate to one another transformation of the skole immense superstructure
the rise of trde
work process. For instance, the 16th century
and commercial activity in
with feudal relations in The Superstructure
became incompatible in the towns.
he countryside and with guilds Marx postulated that the economic struc-
This growing contradiction takes the form
ture of society molds its superstructure of
of a class struggle between the rising class. social, political, and intellectual life, including
associated with the new means of production
and the old ruling class whose dominance sentiments, morality, illusions, "modes "of
wasbased on its control of the older, waning thought, principles, and views of life. The
superstructure.contains. the.ideas and systems
orces. This class struggle,. under aPpropri-
the
contradiction of authority (political, legal, military, etc.)
ate, conditions,. intensifies which .support-the-class.. structure-of.that
Detween the means of production and thc class society-thatis,the dominant position of the.
Structure üntil, as a result of revolution, new
.
clations of.production which arc compat- ruling class. In brief, how people make their
.
 46 HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND THE RISE OF
CAPITALISM ho Ma
living shapes their mental conccptions and matcrial
supporting institutions. ilt follows that thc
changes. "Lifc is not dctcrmincd by hange
consciousness, but
transformation of the cconomic structure of
consciousness by lifc."
Thcir thcory of history "docs n gricul
n
society cventually causes thc character of thc ally
practicc from the idca but cxplains the Cxplain
forma-
superstructure to change-aftcr idcological tion of idcas from matcrial
translo
struggles, the overthrow of older systems of practic." This altcrcd
lcads Marx and Engcls to the conclusion that
authority, and attrition have taken thcir toll. sucha
in.cvery socicty the idcas of the ruling class laws,
a n d mi
The defcat of the feudal ruling classes
by the arc the ruling ideas. Thisdocs not mean
that,-
bourgcoisic, for cxample, not only opened the at any given time, there is only a single sct of . Mar
way for the fiurthcr development of socicty's idcas which serves the reflex c
productivc forces but in addition spelled the ruling class.. The class
structure of a society is oftén complex and the
tion 1o
are
doom of feudal values, idcas, and institutions idcas of cach class to be
likely expressed imagin
in will fir
-all of which supported the feudal
classes but fettered the
ruling complex ways in the superstructure. Therc-
The
rising capitalisis. fore, rcvolutionary ideas may cxist side by ons o
values associated with vows of and side with conventional ones because of the
homage Vperfcct
tcalty, for instance, were vital to manorial life existence of a revolutionary class. with.re
but simply got in the (Marxism
way of-and were thus cxplains itself by the rise of an industrial F o r caj
incongrucnt with-commerce and markct proletariat in the first half of the 19th cen- with it
transactions. tury.) But these revolutionary idcas can at in its b
Inasmuch as human beings change them- best displace some other
ideas; they cannot by Deism,
sclves by labor, it is clear that they alter, at 81on."
the same time, at least some of their themsclves overthrow the prevailing class
mental structure, which gave rise to the rulingideas. linking
conceptions. They produce both material So Marx and Engels write that change
goods and their ideas. Thus,productive activ- "notrriticism 1 years. ]
but revolution is the driving force of history.
ity and the attending class struggles change From the Marxist view this means, to use our an ide
not only the economic structure of society but previous example, that the idea of "no arises,1
the supecrstructure as well. Since. this is so, growth" can become dominant, not through cconon
interactions between the two are. inevitable criticism of the idea of "growth," but only by. In M
and are, in fact, both numerous and intricate. the ocicty
That is, a
revolutionary overthrow. of the capitalist
the way pcople make living deter- class. ulei
mines their ideas, but these ideasin' turn affect The superstructure contains not only ideas
the way they make their living. However, but also
Eerty ar
institutions and activities that up- preser
modes of thought are shaped and limited, in
port the class structure of society-the state, xploit
the first place, by the mode of production. rule,
lègal institutions, family structures, art forms,
Accordingly, the ideas that become influen- and spiritual processes. The Marxian of clas
tial in a society cover
only the narrow range presup-
position is that the superstructurc of ideas and added:
reflecting the material activities and interests supporting institutions, although in some ods oc
of the dominant class.
Many ideas do not gain respects and to some degree capable of devel- cach
prestige because they conflict with real posi- oping a life of its own, strongly reflects the ostensi
tions of class domination
which themselves cconomic structure of society: Thus, accord- certa
rest on a certain attained level of the produc- ing to.some Marxists, the prehistoric cave- Marxis
tive forces. For example, the current idea of wall paintings of animals.in southern
France o the:
no growth" is incompatible with the fortunès and
of a capitalist
northern Spain reflected the magical.
class that are generated.by need of hunter_ to depict their prey accurately
industrial growth. and naturally. The later åciès
geometric pottery por:
History-isinot the development of ideas, designs of _ettled ágriculturalists, it is claimed,
Maxand Engel5.tellus, bktrathertherdevel- were reflections of the nore abstract, mysteri hes
opment:ofipraductiveforces, and the forma- ous forces that determined whether:crops
o 1deas is.xpläined by these underlying would prosper ordieThis. revolutionan
.
 Materialist Conception of History 47
settled belicved that the bourgcois
to propcrty. Marx
change from hunting and gathcring statc would have be smashed by thc
which occurred becausc of radi to
agriculturc, and a that class
in turn prolctariat dictatorship of
new
pYoductive forccs (which
cally also cstablished in thc ncw socialist socicty. As
transformcd the rclations of production), socialism gives way to communism. :., the
other clemecnts of the superstructure,
altered and state will wither because, in a classless
lamily structures, religions, rulcs away
t such as no required.
society, organ of class rulc is
laws, governing bodics, thc games played, as an
and military organizations. The statc, howcver, administrator of
"thc such as a five-year plan, rather than
Marx regarded the rcligious world as things,
an
rcmains.
is a consola- oppressor.of subordinate classes,
rcflex ofthe rcal world." Religion
it is the
tionfor man's degraded condition; Dialectical Materialism
human perfection. It
imaginary real1zation of
rcla-
will finally vanish "when the practical Marx's view of social development has
m a n none but
dons of cveryday lile offer to becn.called by others."dialectical material-
perfectly intelligible and rcasonable relations j Marx's method of
phrásc refers to
with regard to his fellowmen and to Nature."ism. The social
change, a method that is
For capitalism, Marx reasoned, "Christianity ianalyzing in all of his major works.
with its cultus
ofabstract man, more cspecially strongly present the idealist
Marxian materialism reverses
in its bourgeois developments, Protestantism,
of
Deism, etc., is the most fitting form reli- japproach of viewing abstract ideas, concepts,
further by jand conscioúsness as divorced from real peo-
gion." Engels carried the analysis
views to ple and their activities. According to Marx,
linking somc changes in religious of
changes in material life over a period 2,000 imaterialism begins with "real, active men, i.
once jand on the basis of their feal life-process
years. But Engels was careful to note that the development of the ideolo-
an idcology (such as a set of religious views) demonstrates and echoes of this life-process."
arises, it develops in part independently of the {gical refiexes
to its The ideas in the human brain (morality, reli-
own laws.
economic.structure, subject
a product of gion, and all the rest of ideology) do not live
I n Marian thought, the state, as
2society at a çertain stage of development, completely independent lives. A person, in
arule is thcinstitution that protects the prop- trying to understand social history, should not
start with these phantoms-1with, say, the
ty and privileges of the ruling classes and of "frcedom"-for are all subli-
and concept they
reservesorder among the oppressed
It is a n instrument of class mates of the real material life-process. For
xploited classes.
rule, the manifestation of the irreconcilability example, the 16th century is not cxplainable
of class antagonisms. Nevertheless, Engels by "the idea of expansion," as though some
addcd: "By way of cxception, however, peri- people got this idea around 1500 and then
ods occur in which the.warring classes balance of proceeded to carry it out. Instead, the idea
cach other so nearly that the state power, as expansion came from revolutionary
ostensible mediator, acquires, for the moment, changes in the cconomic structures of Western
transforma-
certain, degree of independence of both." European societies, attended by
arists assert that over long periodstheform tions of the relations of production.
Tounderstand the world,a person must
of the state has chánged-fopéxample, from begin-withwhatis.basic-with
dicentralized to centralized monarchies, to real human
onstitutional goverFment, bourgeois demo- beings.andtheiractivitiesin the world. Marx
basic
cies, fascist dictatorships, and so on-in and Engels felt that work was the most
esponse to changes in cconomic structures. and most important of all, human activities.
he state is the guarantor of a given set of Most ofpeople's lives are speht working and
perty relations, and in capitalist society much of the rest is spent in an environment
ighest function is the protection of privatc which is shaped by the kind of productive
.'
.
.
 HISTORICAL MATERIALISM ANO THE RISE OF CAPITALISM e Essence o
48
For Marx, maller, not spirit, is the driving Jorc
technology available to them. For cxamplc, lof human history). Bul it is mattet in the peculiar
Formal lo
rivers
Indians lived in huts or tents n e a r the scnse that we have been consideringj not the wholly ern thought
thcy fishcd, while early industrial workers dehumanized matter ofthe alomists. This means that, o n the simpl
thc
lived in the company towns built'around Jor Marx, the driving Sorce is really man's relation o s c n s c axioms
factorics. In both cases, the work process n o t equal t«
matter, of which the most important part is his modk?
on their
CXCrted an all-pervading influcnce of production. In this way Marx's malerialism, in axioms like
lives, shaping the conditions of their cxistence practice, becomes economics. fixed catecgo
and therefore of their thoughts. Marxian to' explain sti
matcrialism maintains that idcas, philoso- Marx stated that we can really know an ence betwee
phics, religions, and so forth all take form object only by acting on it succcssfully, "And? Maxian ap
within the influcnce of real material condi- .
former post
sincc we change the object when we act upon
tions and are thercfore detcrmined by them. w i t h cach el
it," Russell appends, "truth ceases to bc
Materialism is also at the base of the Marx- static, and becomes something which is con t t y asit gro
ian concept of social class, for classes are the inually changing and developing. That is change allc
with ezch tt
result of people's lives being formed by thec why Marx calls his materialism 'dialcctical. thinig new 1
work process within a strict hicrarchical work When a person gains knowledge through
structure. Marx and Engcls believed that two investigation of the material world he not and its opp
major classes, the bourgeoisie and the prole- only changes that world-and hence "the Marxian
tariat (along with several minor ones), truth"-but changes himselfat the same time change: 4,
emerged with capitalisin. The bourgeoisie for in the process of knowing an object he? its opposite,
and the prolctàriat are distinct classes because The fundam
acquires new information, abilities, and
the former owns and controls the physical l i e s in thei
necds. This has been phrased very well bya
mcans of production-raw materials, energy, Ernst Fischer, the Austrian and struggle of
and capital goods-while the latter owns only
poet critic Whatever is
who wrote in The Essential Marx:
its labor-power and must sell it to thè bour- Capitalism
geoisie to survive. socialism wi
From the very start the species'man has not ap
Although Marx bclieved, along with other propriated the world passively but, áctively; through of capitalisr
materialists, that objects exist independently practice, labor, the settingof goals, thi giving of form Within cap
of human beings and their consciousness,still 4s men changed the world they expanded and refined its opposite
hs uaterialism was quite diffcrent from that their ability to know it, and the growing caparily Jot processes
18th century, as anticipated in the icognitionagain enhancèd their ability to change it.
of the in
poverty,
defined ind
ai
writings of John Locke. Bertrand Russell, workers in
his A Histor of Westerm Philosophy, has best What Fischer is describing is the dialectical
éelineated this difference by pointing out that relation between human beings and their relation
the older materialism regarded sensatüon of natural environment, an important instance ne is inco
the subject as passivec, with activity attributed of the dialectical process. that Marx ands
to the object. Russell explains that in Marx's Fngels believed pervaded human societices
view, on the other hand, "all acnsation or In its broadest swecp, the dialectic method
perception is an interaction between subject stresscs the following clements: 2.
and object; the bare object, apart from the
. All things are in constant change;|
activity.of thepercipient, is. a mere raw. mate-
rial, which is transformed in the process of 2: the ultimate source of the changc s within H
becoming known." Conscqüently,knowledge the thing or process itself; th
i s not passive contemplation, as Locke and 3/ihis source is thé struggle of opposites, the sp
others would havet Rather, Russell contin- contradiction, within cach thing;
ues othsubject and object, both the t h i s struggle, at nodal points, brings about
qualitative changes, or leaps, so that the thing
ot
knowerand thc thing known, arein a contin- as
ialspfoe s20t mutual ädaptation." Russell is.transformed into something clse; and, pr
cts Marx's materialism to his eco- 5. practical-critical activity resolves th of
tradictions. :ha
. .
 49
Essence of Capitalism
M
result of the struggle
which has dominated West-
social changc occurs as a
Formal logic,
for 2,000yecars, is based
betwcen these opposites.
rn thought some
common Dialectical thought, which Marx learned
on the simplest and secmingly most German philosopher
such as A is cqual to A
and A is from the work of the
SCnsc axioms,
to non-A. But by being based on ofHegel (1770-1831), hasbeen called the power
not cqual frecze reality intoo
ncgative thinking: This is because, accord-
axioms like these, which
hxed catcgories,
formal logic loscs its ability ing to
the dialccticalvicw, everything;
onc differ- includes its opposite (its negative); a thesis
tocxplain structural change. Thus, and has an' antithesis. The struggle of these oppo-
cncc between the bourgcois (traditional) sites leads to thc transformation of the thcsis
is that the
to cconomics
Marxian approach into some other and higher form of being-a
former postulates only quantilative change,
basic iden- synthesis. The development of the thesis
with cach clement maintaining its
whereas Marxian which results from the contradiction
does not
tity it grows o r contracts,
as at the opposite of what it was, but
rather
change allows for qualilative transformalion, stop
moves to a synthesis of itself and its opposite.
into some-
with ezch thing capable of turning this
thing new by becoming a svnthesis of itself Thus, a thing or process is never sinmply
and its opposite. or that; 1t is always both. "The simple-minded
Marxian dialectics is the logic of constant use of the notion 'right or wrong," English
itself but philosopher Alfred Whitehead wrote, "is one
Echange: A, which includes not onlyevolution. of the chief obstacles to the progress of under-
its opposite, non-A, is in continuous This is because right includes
nd The fundamental cause of change in all things standing.
wrong and wrong contains right. Likewise,
ies in their internal côntradictjons, 'in the one knows "that which is
struggle of opposites, in their self-movement. Engels wrote that
Whatever is has emerged from something else. recógnized now as true has also its latent false
Capitalism has evolved out of feudalism; side which will later manifest itself, just as
that which is now regarded as false has'also its
socialism will emerge out ofthe contradictions
true side by virtue of which it could previously
of capitalism, not because jt is "a better idea."
Within capitalism, wealth exists in unity with have been regarded as true. Onc knows that
nec its opposite, poverty; the very same economic what is. maintined to be necessary is. com
o processes have created bothwealth and posed of sheer accidents and that the so-called
poverty, and one, c2nnot or even be
exist accidental is the form behind which necessity
defined independently ofthe other. Similarly, hides itself.*
Marx can hardly be understood unless his
workers in capitalism can only be discussed
The
n relauon to their opposite, capitalists. and dialectical approach is kept constantlyin
mind.
one is inconceivable without the other,
2.2 The Essence of Capitalism
hin How should we define capitalism? What are its distinguishing feätuüres? In
the following reading Maurice Dobb argues Irom a historical materialist per-
h spective that capitalism can be characterizcd.as.asystem of produçtion for
the market in which labor-power. itself. has, become a commodity like any
other article of exchange. With this definition, capitalism can beidentiied
n
as a distirnct historical epoch. The prerequisite for the capitalist mode:of
production was the creation of a class of producersseparated from the means
of production 'and the concentration of those meäns of production in the
hands of another. class, the: capitalists. Thus for capitalism to exist, therel
.