Historical Materialism: Economic and Social Development
Historical Materialism
Historical materialism, as understood in Marxism, holds that history is a consequence of the dialectical development of economic and social infrastructure. This is because the facts and engine of the evolution of humanity are economic relationships. These relationships give rise to social classes and the infrastructure that determines the formation of a superstructure, consisting of ethics, culture, religion, and the legal system. According to Marx, the ideology of an epoch is that of the dominant class. Thus, the bourgeoisie, upon seizing power from their ownership of the means of production (infrastructure), creates a sense of ethics, culture, and a legal system (superstructure) that are favorable to the system.
In the course of development, the productive forces of society come into contradiction with existing production relations, and these relations turn into fetters of productive relations. This marks an era of social revolution, which affects the structure of ideology, so that people become conscious of the conflict. Historically, capitalist relations of production are the last antagonistic form of the historical process. The mode of production of industrial capitalism will lead to the overcoming of private property, not only by the revolt of the oppressed but also by the evolution of capitalism itself. In this evolution, the progressive accumulation of capital would determine the need for new relations of production based on collective ownership of the means of production. Once private property is surpassed, humanity would overcome economic alienation, and subsequently all other forms of alienation. The classless society, achieved through revolutionary praxis (practice), would be the synthesis of the historical process.
The Human Being as the Subject of History
The human being is the subject of history, the concrete human being trying to realize themselves through their work. Humanity lives alienated, but not exactly in the same way that Feuerbach described. Religious alienation is a secondary form of alienation that will disappear when the real alienation, economic alienation, is addressed.
Economic Alienation
Alienation of labor is fundamental to Marxism and is the root of all other forms of alienation. Economic alienation is twofold:
- Alienation from the product: The worker is dispossessed of the result of their work.
- Alienation in the act of production: The worker loses their individuality; their work is not their own. It is a frustrated and frustrating endeavor. Under capitalism, the worker receives only what is right and necessary to subsist.
Economic alienation is the root cause of all human ills.
Religious Alienation
Religious alienation consists of the imaginary projection onto a God of attributes that belong only to humanity. Humans are lost in the illusion of a transcendent world. This alienation is motivated by the state of misery in which humanity finds itself. It’s like a relief, a sigh of the oppressed creature, and is the opium of the people.
Ideological Alienation
Nature, and humanity as a part of it, are the only reality. Humanity is a process, a product not only of nature but also of society. Therefore, it is in the hands of humanity to change the material and social circumstances that are the basis of current human alienation. Staying in theory, isolated practice can be explained only by the tearing and contradictions of the current situation. However, only with revolutionary practice can one arrive at the final theoretical positions. In other words, ideological alienation can be overcome by the removal of the material contradictions that sustain it.