in the process is change in the material world, not the world of
ideas. These material changes affect everything in human expe
rience. The history of the world is the the history of the material
changes which have resulted from changes in the means of
production. The future history of the world is predictable accord
ing to the concept of economic determinism. During his lifetime,
Marx saw feudalism as the thesis, capitalism as the antithesis,
and communism as the final synthesis.
The material world is the only world, according to Marx. The
most important aspect of this concept is what Marx calls the
means of production. Whatever forces come into play regarding
the means of production cause the political, social, and ethical
principles which dominate a society at a particular time. Simply
stated, all institutions of any society are the product of whoever
controls the means of production, and the sum total of that
society’s ideology is the result. Political theory, art, literature,
social mores, education, religion, are merely the outgrowth of
ideological forces which emanate from those who control the
means of production, and thus the society.
The history of the world, says Marx, is the history of the class
struggle. Through the ages, because of the materialistic process
of history, each stage has seen the conflict between the owners
of the means of production and the exploited. Master and slave,
lord and serf, landowner and tenant, factory owner and worker—
the struggle has existed and continues to this day.
Capitalism is the stage in the concept of historical determin
ism which will give way to the final synthesis, communism. The
process evolves as follows, beginning with:
- The labor theory of value. The only value that an object has
is the labor that went into its production. - The surplus theory o f value. The factory owner pays his
workers less than he receives for the goods he sells; the surplus,
called profit, he keeps. - The concentration of capital. This profit is reinvested into
new machinery, causing some owners to put other owners out of
business and causing large number of workers to be put out of
work. - The new industrial army. The large number of unemployed
workers will grow, and their situation will become desperate.
184 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the State