A common misconception about Marxism is that it is "economic determinist." That is, everything that happens in society is determined by the means of production in some kind of automatic way. In their writings, Marx and Engels showed the relation between the base of society and the edifice – the superstructure – which arose upon that foundation. While they emphasized the underlying role that the productive forces played in any process of social change, all their writings are based on an understanding that political change could only occur through the conscious intervention of human beings.
Let's look at this conceptual framework of base and superstructure a little closer. The base of society is the way people relate to one another in the production of their lives and their means of life, in other words, the productive relations. Classes are an aspect of these productive relations. People do not relate on just any basis. They relate to one another through their mutual relation to property. This in turn defines the society. A state, a legal system, social institutions, and ideas arise on this base. These elements make up what we call the superstructure. The superstructure reflects, protects, organizes and strengthens the base.
The leap in society begins with the introduction of qualitatively new productive forces. The leap is a series of changes wherein one quality is replaced quantitatively, or stage by stage, by another quality. Revolution is not simply the overthrow of one class by another, but rather the disruption and destruction of the entire society brought about by the introduction of the new quality. The base begins to disintegrate, and new relationships struggle to be born. New groups or new classes are created, unable to exist in the old productive relations.
While a qualitative change in the productive forces begins the process of destruction and polarization, it is the subjective element – consciousness – which determines the final outcome of the social and political forms. The Soviet Union and the US went through the same economic transition, but there was no organization in the US – no subjective movement that was capable of taking advantage of these changes in the same way as the Bolsheviks did in Russia in the early 20th century. It is then, as Marx and Engels pointed out, the complex and at times violent interplay of these various forces that determine the outcome, not simply one side or the other of the dialectic. In this sense, we can say that the character of productive relations is determined by force during the leap or transition from one quality to another. That is, by which class will command the political means of control.
Implications for Today
Today, as the relations that have held society together are destroyed, so too is the relation between the bourgeoisie and the worker broken. The workers can no longer fight the capitalists because labor-replacing technology is breaking the connection to production. The struggle becomes one over the political means of control.
Human beings, on the basis of their understanding, struggle and fight to create a new society that conforms to what the new means of production make possible. The outcome is not automatic. In the process of social revolution, all kinds of ideas and movements are generated, each going through the same process of polarization and dissolution. This is as true for fascist ideas and movement as it is for communist.
Once again, the methodology of Marxism shows us the pivotal role that revolutionaries can and must play in influencing the outcome of the leap toward a society that is based on cooperation and a sharing of the fruits of human civilization.
Discussion Questions and Readings
1. Discuss the concept of base and superstructure.
- a.) What relations make up the base? Discuss the process through which it is created. Use examples from the readings.
- b.) What makes up the superstructure? Discuss the process through which it is created. Why do Marx and Engels say "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ideas of the ruling class?"
2. What misconceptions about base and superstructure were Engels and Plekhanov attempting to straighten out? Why is this important?
Readings
- F. Engels, "Morality and Law, Eternal Truths," Anti-Duhring. (From "If then, we have not made" to "but also for cats!") http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch07.htm
- F. Engels to Joseph Bloch, September 1890. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/letters/90_09_21.htm
- K. Marx to P.V. Annenkov, December 1846. http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1846/letters/46_12_28.htm
- K. Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. (From "Legitimists and Orleanists" to "enthusiastic only about ground rent.") http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/ch03.htm
- K. Marx, "Preface" to the Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. ("The general result" to "human history to a close.") http://www.scienceofsociety.org/texts/marxpref.html
- G. Plekhanov, "Man and Necessity in History," Fundamental Problems of Marxism, pp. 68-69. ("As we see Herr Bernstein" to "claiming to be a science.") http://www.scienceofsociety.org/philo/texts/plekhanov1.html
3. Discuss the different stages of history and the distinction between the content of a time (manual to mechanical labor, etc.) and political forms (communal, feudal, etc.). Why is it important to distinguish between these two aspects? How does the example of Soviet society show that productive forces do not determine property relations or the character of a society? How does this show the interplay of the objective and the subjective aspects of the process?
4. Discuss the concept that the character of the productive relations is not determined by the productive forces, but is determined by force during the leap or transition from one quality to another. What do we mean by force?
5. Discuss the conditions which shift the struggle from an economic struggle to a political one. Why does this occur? Why does this open up the possibility for revolutionaries to play their role?
Readings
