THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARX - AN OUTLINE OF COMMUNIST THEORY

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• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 4, 1998
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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARX
AN OUTLINE OF COMMUNIST THEORY
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Neither the current tactics nor the strategic goal of the Communist
parties of the world - and of the Soviet Union - can be adequately
understood without some knowledge of the basic "philosophy" or theory
of the century-old revolutionary Marxist movement, The publication of
the Communist Ianifest2 exactly one hundred years ago (January, 1848)
initiated the era. of "scientific" socialism, socialism professedly
based not upon a sentimental attachment to the vision of a humanitarian
future nor upon a program of "social reforms" within the structure of
capitalist society, but upon a series of "scientific" analyses of the
dynamics of capitalist society and a "proof" of its inevitable ?ollapse,
accompanied by a vague program of the post-capitalist development of a
socialist society. The joint authors of the Mani.festo, Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels, gave the movement its revolutionary Bible in a series
of several major and countless minor writings which have been drawn
upon, in one fashion or another, by almost all socialist movements of
the past seventy-five years, During the early years of this century
Marx's theories and program were expounded and amended by Lenin, the
leQ,der of the revolutionary (or Bolshevik) wing of the Russian Social
Democratic Party, and with the successful assumption of power by this
Party faction in the October Revolution of 1917, the basic writings of
Lenin were added to the canon, and Marxism-Leninism became the revolutionary
theory of the twentieth-century Communist movement. A few additions
and some rigid reformulations of basic concepts by Stalin completed
the theory of Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism, which today gives to the
Communist movement its world view, its guide to action, and its ultimate
goal.
Origins of Soci lism a d Communism
Socialism, in its special sense of a movement aiming at the
collective organization of the community in the interests of all
its members by means of the common ownership and collective control
of the means of production and eeha, developed in the early 19th
century as a result of the combined affect of the developing factory
system produced by the Industrial Revolution and the ideas of Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity engendered by the French Revolution of 1789-94.
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The first socialists were the so-called utopian socialists (Robert Owen
in England, Fourier, St. Simon, Proudhon in France) who advanced
various prescriptions for the cooperative control of industry (villages
of cooperation, national workshops, communal estates) which were
designed to eliminate the poverty and unemployment of capitalist society
and to achieve a society in which all men (and women) would have the
opportunity to develop their faculties to the utmost degree. The
words "socialism" and "socialist" were first employed in English about
1830 to describe those idealistic reformers.
Utopian socialism hold first place in the "radical" or reformist
movements of western Europe up to the 1840's, when Marx and Engels
began preaching their anti-utopian, "scientific" socialism. Marx
derided the utopians as sentimental dreamers for believing that the
"natural laws" of socialism simply had to be expounded to the propertied
classes to be adopted and that no struggle would be required to achieve
socialist society. Marx's "scientific proof" of the inevitable collapse
of the capitalist system of private property, his insistent proaching
of the necessity for revolutionary action to break the power of the
ruling class, and his gradual success in gaining the acceptance of
his theories by working-class groups and parties in the fifties and
sixties spelled the end of utopian socialism as a political force,
and "Marxism" has become an integral part of the workers' political
and economic movement..
After the liquidation of the European revolutionary movements of
1848, and the subsequent political reaction, socialism of any sort
survived only as the creed of isolated sects until the organization
in 1864 of the International Working Mon's Association (The First
International) under the tutelage and theoretical direction of Marx
and the succeeding development of increasingly strong national workers'
parties in the countries of Europe: the Social Democratic Labor Party
of Germany (1875), the French Socialist Party and, after its failure
in the Paris Commune of 1871, the Parti Ouvrier (1875-6), the illegal
Russian Social Democratic Party (1898), etc. The movements out of
which these parties grow were more often called "Communist" in their
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early stages, and the terms "socialist" and communist" may for that
period be considered broadly synonomous.
The Marxist socialist movement gradually developed, about the
turn of the century, a basic split in the method to be followed in
achieving socialist society. The revolutionary tactics clearly advocated
by Marx were substantially "revised" or modified, particularly in the
British and German parties (revisionism, reformism), and peaceful
parliamentary methods of legal and constitutional reform were advocated
by most of the "Social-Democratic" and "Labor" parties of the Marxist
persuasion, with "revolutionary" groups generally in the minority. The
historically Not significant s.plit..edcurred in the Russian Social Demo-
:matic Party in 1903, The Menshevik.("minority") faction advocated collabo-
ration with middle-class parties in establishing'a constitutional republic
as a step to socialism, while the Bolshevik ("majority") faction under
Lenin stood for a revolutionary transformation of Tsarist Russia to be
carried out by the "dictatorship of the proletariat"N Both groups
quoted Marx -- the Mensheviks in accordance with the revised practices
of the West European social democrats, and the Bolsheviks adhering to
the revolutionary ideas of the Communist Manifesto of 1848 and the
various pronouncements of the International Working Men's Association,
The first (March) Russian Revolution of 1917, carried through
with the collaboration of Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries and
middle-class Liberals, commanded the universal support of Socialists
in all countries. The second (October) Revolution, by which the
Bolsheviks, aided by a section of the Social Revolutionaries, seized
power and proclaimed the "dictatorship of the proletariat", sharply
divided European Socialism, The division was accentuated when the
Bolsheviks, having established themselves in power, proclaimed themselves
the Communist Party, established a now (Third) Communist International
in opposition to the Social Democratic Second International, and sot
out to foster a world revolution on principles which they professed to
derive directly from Marx's writings, and especially from the Communist
M< nifesto of 1848. The now Soviet Communist leaders than denounced the
Social Democrats as "social traitors", guilty of the sin of repudiating
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Marxism and collaborating with the bourgeoisie for the maintenance
of capitalism; and the Social Democrats retorted by attacking the
Communists as tyrants who had crushed out liberty and democracy in
Russia, and had imposed their will by force on the mass of the common
people.
European socialism as a whole was split by this conflict, with
significant minorities, fractions, and groups breaking out of the old
Socialist and Social-Democratic parties and forming new Communist
Parties adhering to the Third International. The sharp divisions.
in the socialist movement helped prepare the way for fascism in Italy
and Gernny, and both Socialist and Communist parties found themselves
'):1LJ-pressed by authoritarian governments of central and eastern
:rurope. The existence of a common enemy helped somewhat to produce
local and temporary accommodation and collaboration, but even the war-
time resistance effort failed to affect the basic hostility of the two
warring camps. The tentative post-war sparring between the two camps
in 1945-7 was abruptly terminated with the restatement, in the recent
Nine-Party Cominforn declaration, of the basic hostility of the revo-
lutionary to the "democratic" Marxists.
Importance of Theory in the Communist hovenent
Marxist theory is not simply a collection of political beliefs and
economic dogmas, but a complete social philosophy which not only purports
to explain all aspects of human society but also dictates what action
must be taken to assist history in achieving the "inevitable" goal of a
socialist society. Marxist theory is therefore "not a dogma, but a
guide to action", and the inseparability of theory and action has been
heavily stressed by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin.
"Theory becomes a material force as soon as it has captured
the masses." (Lenin)
"Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary
movement." (Lenin)
"Theory... alone can give to the movement confidence, guidance,
strength and understanding of the inner relations between
events; it alone can help practice to clarify the process
and direction of class movements in the present and near
future." (Stalin)
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Since theory determines the correct strategy and tactics of the prole-
tarian movement, a major responsibility of the Communist Party is to
preserve the correct theory and apply it accurately to the strategy
and tactics of the revolutionary movement, testing it always in the
crucible of revolutionary activity:
"The role of the vanguard can be fulfilled only by a party
that is guided by an advanced theory." (Lenin)
"Revolutionary theory is the generalization of the experience
of the labor movement in all, countries." (Stalin)
A large port of the Soviet Communist effort in the past thirty
years has been directed at the maintenance of a uniformly interpreted
theory inside the world movement. In almost the entire 20th century
discussion of Marxist theory the writings of Marx and Engels and.
Lenin have been quoted with fund.ar.entalist regularity. This pose of
orthodoxy has, however, not precluded theoretical conclusions determined
more by the strategic or tactical necd.s -)f the moment than by the
actual words or intended meaning of Marx and Engels.
Theory in the Party
The Communist Party domands that every leader be a competent
Marxist theoretician--in party parlance, he r..iust be "politically
nature". There are usually, however, among the top party leaders
one or more mon who are accepted by their colleagues as the most
competent "Marxist dialecticians" and who are looked to for final
theoretical interpretations of a situation or a policy: for example,
Stalin and now Zhdanov in the CPSU, Duclos and Fajon in the CP France,
Alexander Bittelman (and V. J. Jerome and Robert Weinstono) in the
CPUSA.
All Party functionaries are expected to have a basic understanding
of Marxist theory and be able to "guide" the thinking of Party members
under their supervision, Errors Party functionaries commit are frequently
ascribed to "political immaturity", that is, lack of understanding of
Marxist theory. In the case of the Party rank-and-file, the Party
constantly attempts to "educate" all its members through study groups,
lectures, group discussion, and self--study, with the main emphasis
throughout on theory. The basic reading for the rank and file of the
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Party membership is The Short History of the CPSU, Stalin's
Problems of LeninjsD, and the Party press--not only the daily
newspaper which all Party members must road, but also its weekly
or monthly theoretical publications. Both functionaries and members
are educated in Marxist theory, not only at the regular Party schools,
but often in "special" schools at the regional level which are almost
exclusively dedicated to theoretical education, In some countries
non-Party "study groups", usually comprising white-collar workers, are
established to provide theoretical education for "sympathizing" non-
Party members or for members who, for a variety of reasons, do not
carry a Party card.
Agpoal and Strength of th-9 Marxist Theory
Marx's social philosophy reflected the rise to consciousness
and finally to political power of the working-class. Marx set hir_i-
self, first, to interpret democracy and liberalism as ideologies peculiar
to the middle classes, and secondly to create a social philosophy for
the working-class, or proletariat. His detailed criticism of capitalist
society and his call to action for the world proletariat has exerted an
enormous appeal not only to members of the industrial working class but
also to countless "intellectuals" of the bourgeois class whom Marx
assailed. It is of some importance to recognize the major factors in
the Marxist approach to life which are primarily responsible for this
appeal.
In many respects Marxism exerts the attractions normally found
in the major religions, the religion in this case promising Paradise
on this side of the grave. For the believer, Marxism represents a
system of ultimate ends giving the full meaning of life and providing
absolute standards for judging events and actions, and at the sane time
proscribes a plan of salvation which acts as a guide to those ends.
With all its pretended scientific and rational approach to the problems
of society, there is throughout Marx and modern Marxist theory a
powerful element of emotional exaltation: the so-called "scientific"
socialism of Marx actually ends up very close to blind faith,
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elements of society who receive the smallest material share of the
benefits aceruing from the capitalist system, It offers to the many
who feel thwarted and ill-treated an explanation of their failure
and arrays on its side all those Who take exception to one or another
aspect of society as it is currently constituted. There is little
question that one of the n j or strengths of Marxism is its energetic
appeal to familiar facts (unemployment, bad housing, crises, etc.)
which helps enormously in obtaining agreement on the explanation which
Marxism gives to those facts. The uncritically minded "masses" can
hardly be expected to supply complicated alternative exnnlanations of
these some facts.
Finally, one must not underestimate the appeal which any dynamic
and uncompromising revolutionary program holds for many individuals
and many groups in any por.od, but more particularly in the unstable
and challenging conditions of the 20th century, It capitalizes upon the
impulse to action of the born radical,, of the fanatic, of the severely
Within this "religious" context a b^sic appeal of Marxism is
the absolute dogma that Marxist, 1s .true. that it simply formulates
the inevitable course of history and therefore invites the believer
to cooperate in the inevitable march of civilization. The dogma that
socialism is inevitable, irrespective of human desires or will,
possesses a strong attraction for those who are temperamentally
disposed to subordinate themselves to a superior force.
The primary appeal of communist doctrine is, of course, to those
repressed. The more unstable the conditions in any society and the
greater the want er distress, the stronger the appcal of the extremist
whether of the Left or the Right.
Critique og Marxist Theory
The Marxist-Loninist-Stalinist doctrine is presented in the
following pages in a series of nineteen propositions, or summary state-
ments; which are briefly diseussod and illustrated from the theoretical
texts of Marxism. The principal statements of theory and their broader
significance have been presented as objectively and "correctly" as is
possible for a non,Marxist. The task of reducing the complicated
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formulas and analyses of Marxist theory to a simple and ocnnoraical
form is not easy, and expert Marxists would no doubt find distortions
and inadequacies in the presentation of their favorite political,
economic, or revolutionary doctrines. It is nonetheless felt that
the nineteen propositions as stated and annotated adequately formulate
the main outlines of Communist theory in relatively understandable
terms for readers who are not acquainted with the distinctive vocabulary
and complicated dialectics of Marxist thinking.
It would be an unwise compliment to the Marxist view of life to
permit many of its propositions to stand without evaluation or criticism.
In many cases, the reader will immediately grasp for himself the
unfounded assumption, the disagreement with fact, the prejudiced per-
spective, and the errors of prophesy which so richly decorate the pages
of Marxism. It is, however, beyond the scope of this paper to present
a detailed analysis of the errors, confusions, assumptions, and incon-
sistencies of Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism, particularly since the theory
itself is here presented in highly simplified terms. It is nonetheless
desirable to provide an overall evaluation of its principal weaknesses
and defects, with appropriate references to the pertinent propositions
presented in the text. The critique can therefore be only partially
understood until the main points of the theory itself have boon absorbed.
The principal weakness of revolutionary Marxist theory is its rigid,
dogmatic, and uncritical formulation of a series of assumptions, and
assumtions onon, into a set of "inevitable", necessary "laws": the
pages of Marxism are larded with constant repetitions of "irresistible",
"deterministic", "iron necessity", "universal", "absolute", "infallible",
compulsive". As the theory has developed from the Communist Manifesto
on, its formulas, abstractions, and hypotheses have become progressively
more and more hardened to the point where analyses and statements of Marx,
Lenin, and Stalin are, Must be, accepted as gospel truth: quotations
from the Marxist "Bible" simply cannot be challenged or amended, only
accepted and applied. This purportedly "scientific" theory, by any
standards whatevor, does not satisfy the most elementary requirements
of the scientific method, or even of common sense. To illustrate only
with a few of the more conspicuous cases:
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The D'a c tical Method (para.2) is basic to all Communist
political and economic analysis: although nature and
society display conflicts, "contradictions", or "opposites"
(not a novel discovery of Marxism), acceptance of this
hypothesis (unproved, naturally, since it is impossible)
as the sole "law" of development in a simple 1-2-3
succession ignores fact and limits theory to a completely
unrealistic view of the historical process.
The Mat, rialist Interpretatjon o Histoly (para. 3), "the
central point around which the entire network of ideas...
turns" (Lenin), was never advanced by Marx to assort
that economic forces are exclsivole responsible for all
events and changes in human society, but the subsequent
most exclusive en1b is an this one factor makes the
Marxist blind to the importance of countless other
factors, the recognition of whose existence would vitiate
a great many Marxist analyses: religious fanaticism,
dynastic ambition, tribal or racial hatred, "individual
caprice", etc.
The Doctrine of Class StruE,,le (para. 4) takes the crncept
of "social classes" (a concept not new with Marx and
which any historian normally accepts) and converts it
into a single, exclusive focus for all social and political
fact. The Marxist's narrow view of "classes" and class-
divisions misses reality on two major counts: (1) no such
watertight division exists, say, between the people (and
their descendants) who are supposed to be "capitalists"
once and for all, and others who are supposed to be
"proletarians" once and for all (a characteristic feature
of modern "classes" is the incessant rise and fall of
individual families into and out of the "upper" and
"lower" classes and the growth of a large "middle" class);
(2) "class antagonism" is highly exaggerated in the case
of recent capitalist society since the relation between
classes is normally one of cooperation, however argumentative,
for a common good,
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The economic arguments adduced as proof for the Inevitable
Breakc'own of yitB is1.1 rest upon a completely inacceptable
theory (Labor Theory: of Value, para. 7 ), a deduction
from this theory (Tr.Leorr of Surplus Value, para. 8)
which can itself be challenged on a number of grounds,
a statistically disproved "law" (Law of the Diminishing
Rate o Proiit para. 9), and a completely erroneous
forecast (Theory of the Grower Miseryr of the Proletariat,
para. 11): the constant improvements over the past
century in the position of the worker under capitalism
presents the strongest evidence agninst the entire Marxist
economic analysis dedicated to provi the "inevitable"
collapse of the capitalist system.
The Marxist prides himself on the ability which his "scientific"
theory gives him to understand the basic forces at work in a given
situation and to forecast their "inevitable" course of development. It
is then a fair test of Marxist theory to measure its success in prophesy-
ing history--and its record of failure here is enormous and not to be
clouded over by the fact that Lenin and Trotsky made some brilliant
"guesses" in the Russia of 1917. Even in the first stages of Marxist
analysis, from 1848 on, Marx and Engels were misled countless times
(by trade depressions, nationalistic revolts, international wars) to
foresee both "bourgeois" and "proletarian" revolutions just around the
corner - in each case they fizzled, and retrospective analyses of why
society did not behave the way it was supposed to simply underlined the
inadequacy of the "theory" to provide "scientific" analyses and forecasts.
The record of Bolshevik theoretical. leadership after the October Revolution
in Russia is characterized-by even grosser, and in this case bloody,
failures in recognizing "revolutionary situations". The Comintern began
its career with a series of grotesque errors based upon completely faulty
analyses: from the abortive putsches and "revolutions" in Germany up to
1923, the fiasco of the Soviet Republic in Hungary, and the ill-conceived
march on Poland in 1921 to the theoretically and strategically inept
direction of the Chinese Revolution in 1927. There is little reason to
suppose that history has appreciably adapted itself to Marxist theory in
the course of the past twenty years.
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Perhaps the greatest theoretical weakness of Communist theory,
even from the Marxist point of iew, is its failure to provide anything
more than a hazy, utopian pronisc of a distant Paradise as the final
goal of all Communist effort. Marx: himself never provided anything
tangible on the institutions, methods, or mechanisms of the socialist,
or communist system, nor oven on the nature of the dictatorship of the
proletariat which is destined to usher in socialist society. He stops
short with the successful end of the proletarian revolution, the seizure
of power, end the expropriation of :private property, It is precisely
here, as the Bolsheviks found out, that the real problems begin--and
the "theory" has nothing but a few hr ,d formulas to offer. This is
utopia - building with a vengeance, and the true Marxist would be
justified in resenting the fact that his theory, however "scientific"
for the destructive phase of Communist action, leaves him as much a
sentimental idealist or "utopian" in the constructive phase as those
early French and English "utopian socialists" whom Marx assailed with
such vehemence a century ago.
This theoretical inadequacy is publicized by the enormous gulf
that exists between the broad formulas of Marxism for the period of the
proletarian dictatorship and the course of events in the only actual
proletarian dictatorship so far realized. Marxist theory and Bolshevist
practice are strange bedfellows. Whatever the Bolshevik theoreticans
have had to say about domestic policy changes and the difficulties for
the "Socialist Fatherland" living in a "capitalistic encirclement", the
present spectacle of Soviet Russia should provide ample testimony to
the meaning for human progress of the Communist utopia. Step-by-step
the Revolution has adopted both "feudal-absolutist" forms of government
and "bourgeois-capitalist" economic principles and practices to support
its hold over the "toiling masses" of Soviet Russia, while its "progressive"
social reforms in most cases do not reach the levels attained by the
"bourgeois democracies" of the reactionary world. The final test of
theory, by Marxist standards, lies in practice: the theory is there to
read, the practice there to see. The Marxist reads the theory which thus
far has frequently blinded him to the reality.
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DOCTR NE OF THE CLASS STRUGGLE: MAFtX's TH ORY OF HISTORY
Materialis 1. THE DEVELOPMENTS OF HUMAN HISTORY, IN COMMON WITH THE
HISTORY OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD ITSELF, ARE tXCLUSIVELY DETERMINED
BY MEASURABLE MATERIAL FORCES WORKING ON HUMAN BEINGS.
The basic philosophical position of Marxism assumes that nothing
exists except matter and its movements and changes, and that the history
of the human race is determined by these material forces to the complete
exclusion of such non-material, or spiritual, forces as "God", "Providence",
a "universal will", an "absolute idea", etc. It stands in direct
opposition to any form of philosophic Idealism which, in general,
maintains that "ideas" (inside the human mind or in the mind of some
supernatural deity) are the only true reality, and that material things
merely reflect these "ideas". Marxism is thus directly opposed to both
the Christian and the philosophical concepts underlying European and
American political and moral values.
For the Marxist, the "mind", "soul", or "spirit" is the product
of matter and has no separate or superior existence:
"There is nothing in the world but matter and motion." (Lenin)
"Matter is primary. Sensation, thought, consciousness are
the supreme product of matter organized in a particular
way," (Lenin)
The Marxist is clearly hostile to any form of religion or belief
in a supernatural being exerting influence on the world or human affairs:
"There are no things in the world which are unknowable, but
only things which are still not known, but which will be
disclosed and made known by the efforts of science and
practice." (Short History)
"Religion is the opium of the people." (Marx)
"God is (from the historical and practical standpoint)
primarily a complex of ideas begotten by the crass sub-
missiveness of man, by external nature, and by class
oppression--ideas which tend to perpetuate this sub-
missiveness, to deaden the force of the class struggle...
Now (1913), both in Europe and in Russia, eves advocacy
or justification of the idea of god, even the most subtle,
even the best-intentioned, is a justification of reaction."
(Lenin)
"Socialism... enlists science in the struggle against
religious obscurity and emancipates the workers from
belief in a life hereafter by welding them together
for a real fight for a better life on earth." (Lenin)
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This "scientific materialism" also leads to a precise stand on the
age-old issue of "free will": the problem of whether men can make "free"
choices or decisions independent of the material forces around them.
Marxism does not stand for a rigid determinism which would not permit
any freedom of choice or decision (such a fatalism would make it pointless
for any one to attempt to do anything), but maintains that free will can
operate only within the possibilities allowed by material forces and
material laws which operate with "blind necessity". The Marxist holds
that he alone understands these material forces and laws and. is accordingly
the only one who can make "free" or intelligent decisions:
"Freedom is the appreciation of nocossity...Froodom of
the will therefore means nothing but the capacity to
make decisions with real knowledge of the subject." (Marx)
"...until we know a law of nature, it, existing and acting
independently and outside our mind, makes us slaves of
'blind necessity'. But once we know this law, which
acts independently of our will and our mind, we become the
lords of nature." (Lenin)
The Marxist is, therefore, in his own view the only true "scientist"
of nature and society.
Dialectics 2. THESE MATERIAL FORCES WORK THEMSELVES OUT IN HUMAN HISTORY
BY A DIALECTICAL PROCESS: BY THE CONFLICT OF THE CONTRADICTIONS
OR OP'OSITES INHERENT IN NATURE AND SOCIETY AND THEIR RESOLUTION
INTO A NEW AND "HIGHER" CONDITION.
Dialectics*, essentially the process of working out the contradictions
within nature and society, is based on the following principles:
a. Nature is a connected unified whole in which all things
are organically connected with each other.
b. Nature is in a state of continuous movement and change.
c. Development is not a simple process of growth, but a process
in which minor, imperceptible quantitative changes (e.g. water
becoming ice or steam) pass into qualitative changes rapidly
and abruptly.
d. Internal contradictions arc; inherent in all things, and the
struggle' between these contradictions or opposites constitutes
development (.o.ga, in biology, the strugf1o for existence; in
physics, action and reaction, movement of electrons and protons,
positive and negative electricity; in society, the class struggle;
etc.). Consequently, the Marxist fools that nothing can be under-
stood if taken by itself; that what appears stable and durable in
nature or society is not as important as that which is arising
and developing; and that development is not a gradual, steady
progress, not a "harmonious unfolding" of phenomena, but a series
of sudden "leaps" and"revolutions,"
-=Dialectics, with the Greeks, was the art of arriving at the truth by dis-
closing the contradictions in an argument and overcoming them by a superior
synthesis.
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All life and history are thus in constant movement - a movement
of dynamic change - and humanity is viewed as moving "upward" along a
zigzag path following an iron "law of motion": every event or state of
things (thesis) has within it the seed of its own destruction, its opposite
or contradiction (antithesis or negation) which develops in conflict with
it, and issues in a now and higher synthesis ("negation of the negation").
"Contradiction is the root of all motion and of all life."
(Hegol)
"What Marx and Engels call the dialectical method... is nothing
more or less than the scientific method in sociology, which
consists in regarding society as a living organism in a constant
state of development...., the study of which requires an
objective analysis of the relations of production that constitute
the given social formation and an investigation of its laws
of functioning and development." (Lenin)
"To the dialectical philosophy, nothing is final, absolute,
or sacred; everything is transient, subject to an uninter-
rupted process of becoming and disappearing, of an unending
ascent from the lower to the higher." (Engels)
The dialectical philosophy is fundamehtal to the entire position of
Marx, Lenin, Soviet communism, and revolutionary Marxists in general - it
provides the theoretical basis for the "theory of the class struggle",
furnishes "scientific proof" of the necessity for revolutionary change,
and guarantees the finality of communist society as the goal of humanity.
Materialist 3. THE BASIC CONFLICTS OF THE DIALECTICAL PROCESS IN HUMAN
Interprottation
of Histor SOCIETY OPERATE IN TERMS OF THE CHANGING FORCES OF PRODUCTION
(TOOLS, MACHINES) WHICH PLACE MEN IN CERTAIN RELATIONS WITH
OTHER MEN ("PRODUCTION RELATIONS"); THESE PRODUCTION RELATIONS
DETERMINE THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL PROCESSES
OF LIFE.
From the viewpoint of dialectical materialism, the history of society
is a science based on the study of the "laws of development" of society;
the material life of society is primary, its "spiritual" life a secondary
reflection of the material life. The ideas, political institutions, legal
systems, religions, arts, etc., of any society are "formed" by the con-
ditions of its mat_ eial or economic life.
What are those "conditions of material life of society". Not, says
the Marxist, geographical environment or the growth of population, but
the techniques for procuring the means of life (food, clothing, houses, etc).
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To produce these goods men and instruments of production (tools, machines,
etc,) are necessary, and in the process of production men enter into
relationships with each other. Together, these represent the mode of
production which is always in a state of change and development by
changes in the productive forces (stone tools - metal tools -- handicrafts -
manufacture - machines - large-scale machine industry) which bring about
changes in the production relatioq. Five types of production relations
have existed in human society:
primitive comr.unism: community owns the moans of production, labor
is in common,
slavery : slave-owners own the means of production and
the worker.
feudal system : feudal lord owns the means of production and
partially owns the worker (serf).
capitalist system : capitalist owns the moans of production, but
not the worker who is "free", yet dust sell
his labor power to the capitalist.
socialist system : society owns the moans of production and all
workers "cooperate" in the process of production.
The primary factor determining the history of society and the
conditions in any one society is accordingly the economic factor: the
relationship between men (master and slave, lord and serf, capitalist
and worker) involved in the process of producing goods. Marx himself
never hold that the economic factor alone produced all the other character-
istics of a society, but that it determined the origin of its political,
social, and intellectual elements - it was "the strongest, most
elemental, and most decisive" factor.
",..what individuals are depends upon the conditions
of material production." (Lenin)
"...the intellectual behavior of human beings arises
as the direct outcome of their material behavior." (Marx)
The entire fabric of any society (forms of government, legal system,
religion, ethics, economic theory) therefore reflects the values of the
ruling class, the class which owns the means of production:
"People always were and always will be the stupid victims
of deceit and self-deceit in politics until they learn to
discover the intermits of some class behind all moral,
religious, political and social phrases, declarations and
promises..... every old institution, however barbarous and
rotten it may appear to be, is maintained by the forces of
some ruling classes..." (Lenin)