The Materialist Conception of History

international | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis

Friday September 24, 2010 12:58

by Paddy Hackett

maxanger at live dot ie

The forces of production determine the character of the relations of production.

The Materialist Conception of History
Paddy Hackett

The forces of production determine the character of the ¬relations of production. These social relations of production are the forms by which the forces of production are developed. Under a given mode of production these forms of production change from forms of development to fetters on production. A conflict thereby emerges between the production forces and the production relations. This expresses itself, under capitalism, in the form of economic crises and class struggle. The instability generated by these contradictions can lead to intense class struggle resulting in social revolution. Under capitalism social revolution means communist relations of production replacing capitalist relations of production. Change in the forces of production is the dynamic that drives relations of production and ultimately all other aspects of society. It is this process that gives social being its historical character.
This conflict involves class consciousness. Class consciousness involves a worker’s being conscious that s/he is a member of the class of workers as opposed to the capitalist class. A worker is or is not class conscious. There can be no intermediary position whereby one is partly or quasi class conscious. A worker that is class conscious seeks class struggle and social revolution. Similarly there can no semi class struggle. There is either class struggle or there is not. Class struggle means that the working class is engaged in a struggle with the capitalist class for control and ownership of the forces of production. It is a life and death struggle. It is not a struggle for isolated reforms such as bet-ter medical care etc. The class struggle also takes the form of a theoretical struggle by the working class movement against bourgeois ideology in its many variants. This theoretical struggle between workers and capitalists is inseparable from the more concrete aspects of the struggle. The class struggle assumes an institutional character involving organised forms of the struggle against capital. The communist party or parties and workers’ councils are forms of this anti-capitalist struggle by the working class. There cannot be class struggle in the absence of proletarian forms of organisation.
However the realisation of communist society cannot be utopian. Given the core nature of humans there will be problems even under communist society. Given the Stone Age nature of the human body and brain there will be aspects of human behaviour that will still leave a lot to be desired. There will still be psychopaths and individuals capable of serial killing. Communists don’t accept the Rousseauesque principal that man is born equal and is unequal or corrupt due to the existence of society. For commuinists there are no noble savages.
Much of liberal ideology suggests that men are born equal. By this they mean that each of us is capable of the same achievements given that we are nurtured under identical environments. This means that given identical environments humanity can produce endless Einstein and Newtons. Environment is all and nature is nothing. Even much of the radical left adhere to such an Enlightenment ideology.
However because of the universal benefits of communism behavioural problems will be significantly less than they are now. On the whole the quality of human life will be enormously better.