The Social Thought of Karl Marx by Justin P. Holt

Author:Justin P. Holt
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Sage Publications Inc.
Published: 2017-08-04T13:49:24.298165+00:00

From Primitive Communism to Capitalism

The development of society from primitive communism to slave society to feudalism and then to capitalism occurs because of the development of the productive forces. Marx gives an overview in several of his writings of his understanding of the development of human society. The majority of his work is on the transition from feudalism to capitalism. He discusses the other transitions, too.

Primitive communism is the original mode of production of humans. This is when land or a herd of animals is held in common and individual property does not exist (Marx, 1965, pp. 67–70). In this early form of existence, humans are born into communities in which they are automatically possessors of the land and resources they require to live (Marx, 1965, pp. 90–91). Primitive communism is a situation in which alienation of individuals from the means of production is impossible. People are always owners of the means of production and there is no activity that can separate them from the means of production.

Society transitions from primitive communism to a slave society due to the inability of primitive communist relations of production to meet the needs of the society’s members (Marx, 1965, pp. 93–94). As primitive communist societies attempt to maintain their way of life, the holding of land in common, they are confronted with a common side effect of the development of the productive forces: an increase in population. Further development of the productive forces is thus fettered. Primitive communist relations of production are unable to meet the need of individual land for each person. The solution is annexation of the neighbors’ lands. These people, if they are not killed outright, are either exiled or turned into slaves. They cannot be included as full members of the invader’s group since the whole reason the invasion takes place is to obtain more land.

A classless society attempting to preserve its classless nature thus becomes a class society through the pressures of population growth and invasion. It is interesting that classlessness results in classes. Would this be an obvious and smooth transition for a community? Is it hard for people who have never experienced class relations to become the forceful, dominant class? Marx and Engels mention that slavery is latent in the family (Marx & Engels, 1978, p. 151). Perhaps the move from classlessness to class has psychological components that are facilitated by the material causes.

Slave societies are the result of productive forces development, but the transition from slavery to feudalism is due to a decline of particular productive forces. In particular, Marx and Engels identify the collapse of the Roman Empire as the cause of feudalism:

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