The core
modes of production that Marx identified include
primitive communism,
slave society,
feudalism,
capitalism and
communism.
Mercantilism,
mixed economy,
Asiatic mode of production and
socialism are sometimes included in the modes of production by later authors, philosophers, politicians and theorists. In each of these stages of production, people interact with nature and production in different ways. Any surplus from that production was distributed differently. Marx propounded that humanity first began living in
primitive communist societies, then came the ancient societies such as
Rome and
Greece which were based on a ruling class of citizens and a class of
slaves, then feudalism which was based on
nobles and
serfs, and then capitalism which is based on the
capitalist class (
bourgeoisie) and the
working class (
proletariat). In his idea of a future communist society, Marx explains that classes would no longer exist, and therefore the exploitation of one class by another is abolished.
Primitive communism To historical materialists,
hunter-gatherer societies constituted
primitive communist societies. In a primitive communist society, the
productive forces would have consisted of all able-bodied persons engaged in obtaining food and resources from the land, and everyone would share in what was produced by hunting and gathering. There would be no
private property, which is distinguished from
personal property such as articles of clothing and similar personal items, because
primitive society produced no surplus; what was produced was quickly consumed and this was because there existed no division of labour, hence people were forced to work together. The few things that existed for any length of time - the
means of production (
tools and land),
housing - were held communally. In Engels' view, in association with matrilocal residence and matrilineal descent,
reproductive labour was shared. There would have also been a lack of
state.
Ancient mode of production Slave societies, the
ancient mode of production, were formed as
productive forces advanced, namely due to
agriculture and its ensuing abundance which led to the abandonment of nomadic society. Slave societies were marked by their use of
slavery and minor
private property;
production for use was the primary form of production. Slave society is considered by historical materialists to be the first class-stratified society formed of
citizens and
slaves. Surplus from agriculture was distributed to the citizens, who exploited the slaves that worked the fields.
Feudal mode of production The
feudal mode of production emerged from slave society (e.g. in Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire), coinciding with the further advance of productive forces. Feudal society's class relations were marked by an entrenched
nobility and
serfdom. For Marx, what defined feudalism was the power of the ruling class (the
aristocracy) in their control of arable land, leading to a class society based upon the exploitation of the peasants who farm these lands, typically under serfdom and principally by means of labour, produce and money rents.
Simple commodity production existed in the form of artisans and merchants. This merchant class would grow in size and eventually form the
bourgeoisie. However, production was still largely for use.
Capitalist mode of production The
capitalist mode of production materialized when the rising bourgeois class grew large enough to institute a shift in the productive forces. The bourgeoisie's primary form of production was in the form of
commodities, i.e. they produced with the purpose of exchanging their products. As this
commodity production grew, the old feudal systems came into conflict with the new capitalist ones; feudalism was then eschewed as capitalism emerged. The bourgeoisie's influence expanded until commodity production became fully generalized: The feudal system of industry, in which industrial production was monopolised by closed guilds, now no longer sufficed for the growing wants of the new markets. The manufacturing system took its place. The guild-masters were pushed on one side by the manufacturing middle class; division of labour between the different corporate guilds vanished in the face of division of labour in each single workshop.
Vladimir Lenin shared a similar view on nation-states. There were two opposite tendencies in the development of nations under capitalism. One of them was expressed in the activation of national life and national movements against the oppressors. The other was expressed in the expansion of links among nations, the breaking down of barriers between them, the establishment of a unified economy and of a world market (
globalization); the first is a characteristic of lower-stage capitalism and the second a more advanced form, furthering the unity of the
international proletariat. Alongside this development was the forced removal of the
serfdom from the countryside to the city, forming a new proletarian class. This caused the countryside to become reliant on large cities. Subsequently, the new capitalist mode of production also began expanding into other societies that had not yet developed a capitalist system (e.g.
the scramble for Africa).
The Communist Manifesto stated: National differences and antagonism between peoples are daily more and more vanishing, owing to the development of the bourgeoisie, to freedom of commerce, to the world market, to uniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions of life corresponding thereto. The supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to vanish still faster. United action, of the leading civilised countries at least, is one of the first conditions for the emancipation of the proletariat. In proportion as the exploitation of one individual by another will also be put an end to, the exploitation of one nation by another will also be put an end to. In proportion as the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end. Under capitalism, the bourgeoisie and proletariat become the two primary classes.
Class struggle between these two classes was now prevalent. With the emergence of capitalism, productive forces were now able to flourish, causing the
Industrial Revolution in Europe. Despite this, however, the productive forces eventually reach a point where they can no longer expand, causing the same collapse that occurred at the end of feudalism: Modern bourgeois society, with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells. [...] The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, they have become too powerful for these conditions, by which they are fettered, and so soon as they overcome these fetters, they bring disorder into the whole of bourgeois society, endanger the existence of bourgeois property. The proletariat, then, must seize power as the new revolutionary class in a
dictatorship of the proletariat. Between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the
revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. This lower-stage of communist society is, according to Marx, analogous to the lower-stage of capitalist society, i.e. the transition from feudalism to capitalism, in that both societies are "stamped with the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges." The emphasis on the idea that modes of production do not exist in isolation but rather are materialized from the previous existence is a core idea in historical materialism. There is considerable debate among communists regarding the nature of this society. Some such as
Joseph Stalin,
Fidel Castro, and other
Marxist-Leninists believe that the lower-stage of communism constitutes its own mode of production, which they call socialist rather than communist. Marxist-Leninists believe that this society may still maintain the concepts of property, money, and commodity production.
Higher-stage of communism To Marx, the
higher-stage of communist society is a
free association of producers which has successfully negated all remnants of capitalism, notably the concepts of
states,
nationality,
sexism,
families,
alienation,
social classes,
money,
property,
commodities, the
bourgeoisie, the
proletariat,
division of labor,
cities and
countryside,
class struggle,
religion,
ideology, and
markets. It is the
negation of
capitalism. Marx made the following comments on the higher-phase of communist society: In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the
division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of
bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners:
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs! == Criticisms and warnings against misuse by Marx and Engels ==