Historical Materialism and the Evolution of Economic Systems
Historical Materialism and Communism
Economic Output as the Foundation of Social Systems
The central thesis of historical materialism is that economic output is the foundation of any social system and explains the basis for any historical phenomenon. It is used to understand the evolution of history.
Clearly, the economic sphere (praxis) comes first, and then the theory.
Infrastructure, Economic Structure, and Ideological Superstructure
The Economic Structure or Infrastructure
At the base of all social systems are economic structures: productive forces and production relations. These determine the entire economic structure, as well as the social, political, legal, and ideological systems in that society. They also determine the development of all these institutions throughout history.
The economic structure of society is studied from two fundamental concepts in Marx:
Productive Forces:
Used to analyze the “relationship between man and nature” (H/N) for its transformation. Marx interprets the relations of men among themselves through work. These productive forces include both labor and the means of production.
Relations of Production:
Used to analyze the “relationship of man with other men” (H/H) in the transformation of nature. Relations are established between the owners of the means of production and workers.
Social relationships depend on the material means of production. Men do not freely choose their social relationships, but they are conditioned by their position in the production system. It is on the basis of the productive forces that social classes are formed.
The Ideological Superstructure
On this base rises the superstructure, consisting of legal and political institutions and ideological structures.
The superstructure is a reflection of the infrastructure.
The relationship between structure and superstructure is a dialectical relationship. Marx asserts that “social reality determines consciousness” (and not vice versa).
Phases of Social Revolution
- Conflict breaks out during the normal development of the productive forces, which are no longer an adequate framework. The relations of production thus enter a phase of social revolution that causes a change in economic infrastructure. With the modified economic base, all the superstructures of society will collapse fairly quickly.
- History is driven by the development of productive forces, the main one of which is human work. The dialectic is the engine of history. History is enlivened by the presence of contradiction within reality, that is, in economic terms.
With that, class struggle is moving towards a classless society and the establishment of communism, which is the sense of history. This march of history will end alienation and allow the full realization of man.
While this progress is gradual and phased, the social revolution will occur when the material conditions are created and the exploited are aware of being an oppressed class.
Modes of Production and History
History knows five types of production: the primitive community, slave, feudal, capitalist, and socialist.
1. The Primitive Community: The base of the system is the primitive collectivism of social property. The means of labor and products obtained belonged to the company.
2. The System of Slavery: Social relations were of dominance and submission. The master owner exercised complete control over the productive forces.
3. The System of Feudalism: Social relations were similar to slavery. There was total ownership by the lords of the media and workers (servants). The feudal mode of production was based on a weak economy aiming at self-sufficiency. The means of production were very limited.
The individual is the producer, and the land is the source of wealth. However, any economic system and every mode of production has in itself the seeds of its destruction. Around cities and towns, a new social class was born: the bourgeoisie, which was devoted to trade. However, for trade to flourish, production needed to be increased. In contrast, the bourgeoisie played a role and finished by taking economic, social, political, and ideological power. This is the origin of the bourgeois revolution and the capitalist mode of production.
4. The System of Capitalism:
- It is based on private ownership of the means of production, although the worker (proletariat) is “legally free” but is forced to sell their labor to the employer. So, in practice, they cease to be free and remain alienated.
Capitalism carries within itself the germ—social class—that will lead to its destruction. Namely, “capitalism generates its own gravediggers”: the proletarian revolution. The bourgeoisie, by seizing the means of production, left the proletariat without more wealth than their own workforce. The capitalist appropriates with impunity everything produced by employees. This is the essence of capitalism: the exploitation of the working class. There is an incompatibility between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
- What would happen to the bourgeois mode of production or capitalism? That’s why we need a new social class that can resolve these contradictions by establishing a society that recognizes the social character of labor after the abolition of private ownership of the means of production.
With historical development, progress is being made towards liberation, whenever the operation is smoother.
Marx considered capitalism as a necessary step because it creates the material conditions necessary to make the jump afterward.