Dialectal materialism

[Subversive Pessimist]

I've read quite a bit on communism lately, but I've not yet understood the concept of dialectal materialism. Could someone please explain? Thank you

[ComradeRed]

From the redstar2000 papers... (http://redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1082912812&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&) This is, from my understanding, what dialectic materialism is, but I could be wrong!

In the beginning, according to Marx, is material reality. A particular group of humans, living in a specific part of the world, with a unique history, a particular technology, etc.

It is Marx's idea that those specific details produce a certain kind of society with certain kinds of classes, certain relationships between them.

In turn, those relationships generate ideas, religions, cultures, etc.

So we have an "orderly" explanation of human society: material conditions leading to technology leading to classes leading to culture.

It was Marx's observation that there were "regularities" over long periods of time in this process. (He called them "laws" because that was the custom in 19th century European science.) He saw the evolution of human society in these "regularities" or "stages":

Savagry: hunter-gatherer societies with no fixed classes at all--sometimes called "primitive communism", no private property outside the realm of personal and usually portable possessions, a very primitive technology of hand-tools, no agriculture or domesticated animals, etc.

Barbarism (nomadism): the rise of private property in animals (and women), the emergence of the clan or extended family as a proto-class, etc.

Oriental despotism: the rise of agriculture and private property in land and people (slavery), the despot as "god" or "appointed by god" and ultimate "owner" of everything, the emergence of "clergy", etc. (Marx called it "oriental" because it looked "eastern" from the Euro-centric attitudes of the 19th century--but the Roman Empire was, of course, a despotism as much as anything found in Persia or China.)

Feudalism: the replacement of a single despot by a small number of mini-despots who owned huge tracts of agricultural holdings, with laborors being the property of the estate rather than the "lord" (serfs).

Capitalism: a new and much larger class of mini-despots who own the means of production and distribution and exploit the labor of those who don't; the end of private property in people.

We know, of course, that these are not rigid and impenetrable catagories (it's pretty certain that Marx knew it, too). There were "capitalists" in ancient Greece and probably in ancient Egypt. There are remnants of feudalism and even ancient despotism in modern capitalist societies today. But it seemed to Marx that there was a kind of large-scale progression of one kind of social order to another over extended periods of time, highly correlated with advances in human technology and other changes in material conditions.

The Marxist hypothesis is that while the ultimate cause for such changes lies in technological innovation, the means by which one social order surplants another is that of class struggle. Nomads had to physically defeat savages; early despots had to defeat nomad barbarians; feudal lords had to defeat the despots; and capitalists had to defeat the feudal lords.

[T_SP]

Can't be arsed to type much so here's a link!

Dialectical Materialsim, The ABC of...... (http://www.marxist.net/marx/w2frame.htm?WhatIsMarxism4.htm)

[T_SP]

That article will also explain historical materialism! Hope this helps dude!

[redstar2000]

Disputing Dialectics (http://redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1087002057&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&)

On "Dialectics" -- The Heresy Posts (http://redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1082735164&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&)

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[Subversive Pessimist]

Thank you.

A lot of people use the word 'material' very often, almost like a slogan... Is this related to dialectal materialism?

In example:

The only obstacle is the thought of the fact that there is much more actual (material) proof that there is no life after death than there is for actual (material) proof of life after death.

[T_SP]

Originally posted by [email protected] 16 2004, 10:11 PM
Thank you.

A lot of people use the word 'material' very often, almost like a slogan... Is this related to dialectal materialism?

In example:

The only obstacle is the thought of the fact that there is much more actual (material) proof that there is no life after death than there is for actual (material) proof of life after death.
I think material is in reference to something that actually exists, as opposed to an idea or thought.

[T_SP]

Vulgar thought is compared to a still photograph, whereas Dialectical thought is in relation to a film or a moving picture. The idea is you can never stand in the same stream twice, and the negation of the negation.

[T_SP]

When I have more time, maybe I can explain it better. Tell me what part of it you struggle with!