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What the Hell is Historical Materialism? 20 November 2004
The basis of Marxism is Historical Materialism. Sounds complicated? On the contrary, it is quite simple. There are several "axioms", if you will, to this. First, different groups of humans have different relations to the means of production; this is a class. Second axiom is that so long as there is a class society(or government/organ of class rule) there will always be an opposite of the class; or in the immortal words of Marx the "haves" and "have-nots". Third classes clash in history. Classes have always clashed in revolutions, intellectually or politically, there has been a revolution since the dawn of classism. Finally, a specific group of humans live in a specific spot with specific resources, this sculpts that group's culture, religion, etc.
There are several basic rules:
1) Everyone wants to be the ruling class. As long as there has been an organ of class rule, everyone has wanted to play it. However, the general rule is that only one class at a time can play it.
2) The ruling class is greedy. The particular group of humans which live off the labor of others always want more. But the ruling class always wants to kill each other off to live off more riches.
3) Events are triggered by material causes. Things in history aren't mere "accidents", a certain class(either the haves or have nots it doesn't matter) will do certain acts when it is in a specific situation which will benefit them.
The word "revolution" signifies a change in political change, and other changes when the ruling class changes. For example, the scientific revolution was the intellectual repercussion to the death of feudalism. This leads me to my next point: the laws of history.
There are two classes throught class history: the haves and have-nots. These two classes are not impermeable, there are varying degrees of classism. Point in case: capitalist society has the Proletarians (urban workers), the Lumpen Proletarians (people who work but neither make commodities nor live off the work of others), the Labor Aristocrats (the over paid workers), the Petit-Bourgeois (those who live off the work of others but not in luxury, for example union organizers or artisans), the Bourgeoisie (those who own the means of production and live off the work of the first three classes mentioned). The first three classes are the "have-nots" and the last two are the "haves", arranged in degree of revolutionary potential. But Capitalism is not the only class society, there have been other forms:
Primitivism - The average hunter-gatherer tribe without rigid class. There is no property except what one could carry during migrations. There were no settlements, no clergy/religion outside of a shaman/witch doctor, and so on and so forth.
Barbarism - People settle down into permenant settlements, rise of proto-class in clans, creation of property in slaves and animals, etc.
Asiatic Mode of Production (aka Oriental Despotism) - There is a despot for a leader(who has "divine right" or is God), creation of the clergy, Agriculture is discovered, etc.
Feudalism - The despot's power is effectively replaced by a new class of mini-despots("nobility"), this class owns large portions of agricultural land, laborers owned by the mini-despot class.
Capitalism - A newer mini-despot class(bourgeoisie) who owns the means of production and distribution, exploit the workers, and live off the work of the workers; slavery comes to an end.
The changes in stages have changes in intellectual beliefs. The Capitalist revolution brought about the scientific revolution, the feudal revolution brought about the Scholastic views, which in turn brought about the Humanists as a reactionary outcome, and so on and so forth.
Take music for example. During feudalism, it was incredibly simplistic with only a melody. The most revolutionary change during that change(no joke): counter-melody. During the Bourgeois' revolutions, it became Baroque and had symphonies, concerti, suites, etc.; new instruments, new changes(new chord progressions, new counter-point, etc.), new operas, etc.
Should the revolutions not be intellectual(or indeed, cultural), it ussually takes the form of activism. The French Revolution was Bourgeois motivated, the bourgeois used carrots to overthrow the feudalism of old to establish Capitalism. True, this was violent activism but it still retains the characteristic of activism.
But the degree of class through history has been: primitive equality, proto-class, despotism, mini-despots, then, Marx guessed, advanced equality(i.e. Communism). I'll investigate these in depth later, when I have time...