Historical materialism
In 1743, the French philosopher Nicolas de Condorcet published a work that would later influence Karl Marx's thinking on history. This thinker argued that human progress was driven by the development of knowledge and reason rather than divine will or the actions of kings. Around the same time, Voltaire wrote extensively about the failures of religious dogma to explain social change. The Scottish economist Adam Smith began publishing his ideas on market forces in 1776, creating a framework for understanding economic behavior without relying on moral philosophy alone. These thinkers collectively challenged the notion that history was shaped by the whims of rulers or the intervention of gods. They proposed instead that material conditions and human labor formed the basis of all social organization. Marx inherited this tradition through the writings of Pierre Gassendi, who had argued centuries earlier that matter existed independently of thought. By the 1840s, Marx had synthesized these Enlightenment insights into a new method for analyzing historical change.
The German Ideology, written in 1845, marked the first systematic presentation of what would become known as historical materialism. Friedrich Engels collaborated closely with Karl Marx during the creation of this text while both were living in Brussels. Their work directly countered the philosophical views of Ludwig Feuerbach and Max Stirner, who believed that ideas alone drove historical transformation. In 1848, they published The Communist Manifesto, which distilled their theory into a political program accessible to working-class readers. This document explicitly stated that class struggle was the engine of history rather than the actions of great individuals. Marx never completed a single comprehensive treatise on his theory, leaving key concepts scattered across multiple works from the 1840s onward. Engels later clarified many of these ideas in his 1878 book Anti-Dühring, which received Marx's approval before the latter's death in 1883. The collaborative nature of their partnership meant that distinguishing between individual contributions remains difficult for modern scholars.
In the late Paleolithic period, early humans developed flint-sharpened spears and harpoons to hunt game and gather food. These tools represented the earliest forces of production, enabling survival through collective labor without private property. By 1400, China possessed printing presses, gunpowder, and knowledge of vaccination yet failed to develop capitalism despite having the necessary technological ingredients. This example demonstrates how productive forces can exist without automatically generating new social relations. Marx argued that when productive forces outgrow existing relations of production, revolution becomes inevitable. In feudal Europe, serfs worked land owned by nobles while producing surplus that benefited the aristocracy. The division between manual and intellectual labor created distinct classes with opposing interests. As technology advanced during the Industrial Revolution, factory workers replaced artisans as the primary producers. This shift transformed society from one based on land ownership to one organized around capital accumulation and wage labor.
The economic base of any society consists of its relations of production, which determine all other aspects of social life. Political institutions, legal systems, cultural norms, and religious beliefs form what Marx called the superstructure. In ancient Egypt, tomb paintings from the 15th century BC depicted agricultural divisions of labor that reflected the underlying economic structure of slave-based production. G.A. Cohen later argued in his 1978 book Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence that the superstructure stabilizes the economic base rather than merely reflecting it. Charles Taylor noted that these two directions of influence are complementary even though they operate asymmetrically. State power typically transfers only through violent upheaval when old relations of production no longer serve emerging productive forces. Modern nation-states emerged alongside capitalism to manage conflicts between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. These political forms existed primarily to enforce property rights and maintain class hierarchies established by the economic base.
Primitive communist societies relied on hunter-gatherer economies where all able-bodied persons shared resources equally without private property. Ancient civilizations like Rome and Greece developed slave-based modes of production after agriculture created surplus goods. Feudalism replaced slavery in Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire, establishing a system based on noble landownership and peasant serfdom. The capitalist mode of production emerged when the bourgeoisie gained enough economic power to challenge feudal restrictions. This transition involved the rise of nation-states and global markets as described in The Communist Manifesto published in 1848. Marx predicted that communism would eventually replace capitalism once the working class seized control of production means. Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro later argued that socialism represented a distinct lower stage of communist development. In higher-stage communism, Marx envisioned a society without classes, money, or states where distribution followed the principle: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
Karl Popper criticized historical materialism in his 1957 book The Poverty of Historicism, arguing it could explain any fact while remaining unfalsifiable. Walter Benjamin compared the theory to an 18th-century chess-playing automaton called the Turk in his 1940 essay Theses on the Philosophy of History. He claimed that theology secretly powered what appeared to be scientific objectivity. Leszek Kołakowski expanded these criticisms in his three-volume work Main Currents of Marxism published between 1971 and 1978. Engels himself warned against deterministic interpretations in letters written to Conrad Schmidt in 1890 and Franz Mehring in 1893. These correspondences emphasized that economic factors were ultimately determining but not exclusively so. Marx expressed reluctance throughout his life about offering universal truths regarding human history. His estate contained several cubic meters of Russian statistical publications at death, showing his commitment to empirical research over abstract speculation.
After Marx's death in 1883, Friedrich Engels continued developing Marxist theory through works like Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy published in 1886. Orthodox Marxist thinkers including Eduard Bernstein and Nikolai Bukharin systematized historical materialism despite many original texts remaining unpublished until the 1930s. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s led some scholars to declare Marxism obsolete while others sought renewal. Ellen Meiksins Wood wrote in 1995 that capitalism's triumphalism actually created new opportunities for Marxist critique. Karl Polanyi distinguished between formal economics based on rational choice and substantive economics rooted in social institutions. Jürgen Habermas argued that historical materialism needed revision to account for communicative action. Analytical Marxism emerged through G.A. Cohen's work in the late 20th century, emphasizing technological determinism as the core mechanism of historical change. These developments show how the theory evolved far beyond its original formulation while maintaining focus on class struggle and economic relations.
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Common questions
When did Karl Marx publish The German Ideology?
Karl Marx published The German Ideology in 1845. This text marked the first systematic presentation of historical materialism while he lived in Brussels with Friedrich Engels.
What year did Karl Marx die and who continued his work after his death?
Karl Marx died in 1883. Friedrich Engels continued developing Marxist theory through works like Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy published in 1886.
How does historical materialism explain the relationship between economic base and superstructure?
The economic base consists of relations of production which determine all other aspects of social life including political institutions, legal systems, cultural norms, and religious beliefs. G.A. Cohen argued in his 1978 book that the superstructure stabilizes the economic base rather than merely reflecting it.
Which philosopher criticized historical materialism in The Poverty of Historicism published in 1957?
Karl Popper criticized historical materialism in his 1957 book The Poverty of Historicism. He argued the theory could explain any fact while remaining unfalsifiable.
When was The Communist Manifesto published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels?
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto in 1848. This document distilled their theory into a political program accessible to working-class readers and stated that class struggle was the engine of history.