Karl Marx’s Historical Materialism: Dialectics and Social Change
Historical Materialism: Key Concepts
Marxist philosophy is Dialectical Materialism. It is materialism because it posits that the only existing reality is matter. It is dialectical because matter is not static but is always changing, governed by universal laws that apply to nature, society, and thought.
The Universal Laws of Dialectics
According to Marx, there are three universal laws:
- Law of the unity and struggle of opposites
- Law of the transformation of quantity into quality
- Law of the negation of negation
Historical Materialism is a specific application of dialectical materialism, representing the dialectical interpretation of history. From this standpoint, the transformation of society results from the intervention of the laws of the dialectic applied to historical processes.
The Material Basis of History
The history of humankind is the history of the material conditions that allow people to sustain their lives. History must explain how humans live and how their societies are structured. For Marx, the human being is part of nature, but unlike animals, humans must produce their livelihoods. Marx calls this the “economic process of production and exchange” (material life).
This process is different in each historical period, defining a specific Mode of Production. The fundamental character of material and social production asserts that the available resources, the products, the methods of obtaining them, and the relations of production determine social structures and the history of societies.
Components of the Mode of Production
In the production of material life, individuals relate to each other. Every mode of production is defined by two essential components:
- Productive Forces (Forces of Production): These are all necessary elements in the production process, such as raw materials, tools, machinery, technology, and human labor power.
- Relations of Production: These are the relationships established between people in the productive process, regulating the division of labor and property ownership (who owns the means of production).
Infrastructure and Superstructure
The productive forces and relations of production are interdependent and correspond with each other in every historical period, constituting what Marx called the Economic Infrastructure. This infrastructure is the foundation upon which rests the Superstructure (legal, political, and cultural institutions).
Being the basis means that the economy fundamentally determines the superstructure—including laws, forms of the state, ideology, and culture.
Historical Modes of Production
Marx showed that there have been several modes of production throughout history:
- Primitive societies
- Slavery (Ancient)
- Feudalism
- Capitalism (where the bourgeoisie owns the means of production and dominates the proletariat, who only possesses their labor power)
The Engine of History: Class Struggle
Within any given mode of production, the productive forces evolve and eventually clash with the existing relations of production, which impede their further development. This conflict produces a situation of antagonism and class conflict. This conflict, following a process of awareness, unity, and claim by the oppressed class, leads to a social revolution that overturns existing property ownership and institutions, replacing them with new ones.
The motor of history is this antagonism and conflict between classes—the class struggle. A social group is called a class if, within a mode of production, its members share the same economic situation.
The conflict between the productive forces (represented by the dominated class) and the relations of production (imposed by the ruling class) creates the conditions for the emergence of a new class. This emerging class confronts the ruling class and eventually triumphs, transforming the relations of production and creating a new economic system dominated by the emerging class. The first step in the triumph of the emerging class is achieving class consciousness; the speed of the revolution depends on this awareness.
The Path to Communist Society
In conclusion, history is a succession of class struggles and modes of production that culminates in bourgeois society (capitalism). According to Marx, capitalism must be overcome because it produces a development of productive forces (the proletariat) that conflicts with the existing social order, leading to a revolution and ultimately a communist society.
The revolutionary process required to overthrow capitalism must pass through three stages:
- Democratic stage
- Socialist stage (Dictatorship of the Proletariat)
- Communist stage (Classless society)