History as Changing and Continuous Process - PowerPoint Presentation

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History as Changing and Continuous Process

Marx views history as a changing and yet continuous process. The

different phases in it are so clearly related to each other that it reveals a clear pattern

which seems to have been evolving in accordance with definite laws that are fully discoverable.

Marx is least interested in the history dominated by individuals. He is

interested in the history growing around peoples, i.e. the history of society,

more specifically, the

laws of the development of human society.

To determine these laws with the aid of his materialism Marx first

identifies the essence of human activity as resulting from human beings’ vital material needs

of having food, drink, clothing and shelter.

Conditions of Material Life

Whatever things human beings can do are all conditional on their having secured the means of life;

the way they live is very much determined by the way they make their living.

So the history of social development may alone be known on the basis of the

conditions of material life of society.

For Marx it is the

mode of production that reflects these conditions.

Every society, thus, thrives on a particular mode of production and it is the latter that

determines all activities and institutions of that society.

Changes Occur due to Changes in the Mode of Production

Then Marx goes on to explain how

changes in history occur due to changes in the mode of production.

Production, by nature, is a social activity

for it is impossible for an individual to produce alone the necessities of life.

Means of life are produced only by the collective efforts of individuals. Hence the

mode of production must always be viewed in its social aspect.

Considering the social aspect of the mode of production it is found to have

two basic components-

Forces of Production

; and

Relations of Production

Changes Occur…(contd.)

In order to produce, various

means of production

like tools, machines, raw materials, land, buildings, etc. are needed.

These means of production, however, do not by themselves produce things. Production is made possible only when the

means of production are used and utilized by people on the basis of their knowledge, skill and experience.

The

forces of production represent both these means of production as well as the people who use these means.

Since, by its very nature, production is social

people have to enter into mutual social relationship with each other while engaging in production.

Social Relations are Property Relations

These relations develop in the context of the way in which people engaged in production are

related to the means of production.

The social relations people develop among themselves while engaged in social production are, in fact, the

property relations.

These relations, however, are not the outcome of a deliberate act on the part of the people. Such relations are, in fact,

conditioned by the pattern of development of the forces of production.

In the

primitive type of production

where a whole tribe was collectively engaged in hunting expedition the

forces of production were such that there was no division of

labour

, and thus, no classes.

It was unnecessary to determine as to who was entitled to dispose of what kinds of means of production.

Emergence of Classes with Private Property

But later with the

further development of the forces of production there emerged division of

labour

.

Because the means of production came to be regarded as the

private property

of particular persons.

Consequently, the simple and direct relations among people began assuming the form of property relations. Thus relations among people were now determined on the basis of the

ownership and lack of ownership of the means of production.

It is the

totality of these relations of production that constitutes the economic structure of society

and it is this that represents the

real foundation of a society on which grow its legal and political superstructures.

It is also this

which conditions definite forms of social consciousness.

Change in the Mode of Production Caused by Antagonism

It is now evident that social change results from a

change in the mode of production that is caused by an antagonism between the forces of production and the relations of production.

The

forces of production of a society at a certain stage of their development come in conflict with the existing relations of production

, which is the property relations and the

consequence is a social revolution.

In

all hitherto existing societies, except in primitive society,

according to Marx, the relations of production have always appeared as a relation of domination and subordination among classes as in all such societies the

mode of production has been marked by the presence of exploiting and exploited classes.

Class Struggle

As explained earlier, class divisions are the natural outcome of property relations following from the division of

labour

.

Because of this division of

labour

different groups occupy different places in social production.

As a result they

stand in different relations to the means of production and hence appropriate the social product differently.

Social classes refer to these groups the relations among which represent the

class relations

of a society. Such class relations are

characterized by a persistent conflict which is of a fundamental nature

and thus, will only result in a revolutionary transformation of the society.

Class Struggle (contd.)

By virtue of their ownership of the means of production

one class

lives

without

labour

on the fruits of

labour

of the other class

which does not own the means of production.

Thus, the

class owning the means of production appropriate most of the social wealth and thereby exploit the other class

which is without ownership over the means of production.

The

exploited class owns nothing except their

labour

power which it is forced to sell for its bare sustenance.

Thus the relations between these classes cannot be anything but antagonistic and

the conflicts are irreconcilable in nature.

History is History of Class Struggles

For Marx,

all hitherto existing societies have been marked by class conflicts

and, therefore, their history must always be taken to be a history of class struggles.

It is with the aid of these general laws of history that Marx points out how in course of historical development different types of societies have evolved on the basis of different types of production relations.

In the earliest phase of known human history Marx identifies the

primitive communist society

where the

means of production are held in common,

generating no property relations and which, therefore, is conspicuous by the

absence of classes and exploitation.

History is…(contd.)

But, with the

development of metal tools and consequent changes in productive activities

, that is, with changes in the forces of production there came about

division of

labour

and consequently property relations, leading to the emergence of

slave society

where the master class owns the means of production.

The

labouring

slaves divorced from the means of production are exploited by the non-

labouring

slave-owners

who appropriate most of the social product.

With changes in productive forces

calling for initiative and interest on the part of those who produce, the

slave society breaks down and in its place rises the feudal society.

History is…(contd.)

Here the

feudal lords represent the exploiting class

who own the principal means of production, but who, however, are

no longer masters of slaves and have no legal right over the persons of the toilers.

The

serfs

(the

labouring

class), on the other hand,

have some of the means of production in their possession.

This is allowed to only to

enable them to show initiative and have interest in the cultivation of land

which is the chief productive activity in the feudal society.

Yet the serfs are

very much exploited as they have to hand over a substantial portion of the produce

from the land to the feudal lords and are also bound to give them services.

History is…(contd.)

Due to changes further in the forces of production the

feudal society disintegrates and there grows on its ruins the capitalist society.

In the capitalist society it is the

capitalist who owns the means of production, but not the workers who actually produce.

Thus in a sense,

those who

labour

to produce are personally free.

But in practice there is

no less exploitation here.

Since the

working class is entirely divorced from the means of production and they have nothing except their

labour

power

they are forced to sell it for wages just to collect their means of subsistence.

Socialist Society: An Inevitability

Like the previous social systems the capitalist society is also not permanent. It is liable to change and

the inevitability of this change is more and more manifest when the capitalist productive forces are fully developed.

It is at this point that

an irreconcilable contradiction of capitalism will come to the fore.

The more and more capitalism is developed the more and more its

productive forces tend to become social.

Development of capitalism is achieved through

expanding production and employing millions of workers in large mills and factories.

Thus development capitalism is brought about through

extending the area of collective effort and

labour

,

that is, by way of

an increasing socialization of the forces of production.

Socialist Society:…(contd.)

This

naturally calls for a social ownership of the means of production

which alone will ensure a harmony between the forces of production and the relations of production.

But

under the capitalist system the means of production always remain private capitalist property.

Thus, at a certain stage of its development, capitalism faces a contradiction that

foreshadows the imminence of change- a change that would be in the direction of a change in the ownership of the means of production

.

In other words,

capitalism is forced by the laws of history to be replaced by the socialist society where means of production are fully socialized

which will result in the end of exploitation of man by man.

Socialist Society:…(contd.)

The working class,

the property-less proletariat would be the vanguard of a process of revolutionary change

in the socialist direction.

At a developed stage of capitalism the

social productive forces have simply outgrown the control of the bourgeoisie.

So it is now the turn of the working class to assume leadership.

For this the

working class needs to be fully aware of its suffering in the capitalist system.

Thus, it is necessary to open their minds by

exposing the nature and working of the capitalist mode of production.

This is exactly what Marx does by

focusing on his economic theory of capitalism- the theory of surplus value.