The Origins of Capitalism

Abstract

In his account of societies based on the Asiatic mode of production Marx asked, as we have seen, why they seem to have been typified by a failure to evolve historically. In contrast to the dynamic evolution of Western Europe, with its sequence on the classic lines described in the Manifesto and Capital — classical society, feudal society, and the modern bourgeois society that is the precursor of socialist society — he stresses the long-drawn stagnation of Asiatic societies, whose ‘stationary social conditions’1 he sees as a direct result of a mode of production that is incapable of autonomous development. It is no accident that, despite his dislike of capitalists and colonisers, he looked to their conquests to bring about the destruction of the Asiatic mode of production and thereby provide the external impulse for breaking out of this gigantic. historical impasse, with consequences affecting the whole history of the world: England, it is true, in causing a social revolution in Hindustan, was actuated only by the vilest interests, and was stupid in her manner of enforcing them. But that is not the question. The question is, can mankind fulfil its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state of Asia? If not, whatever may have been the crimes of England, she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution.2 KeywordsSocial RevolutionSocialist SocietyAutonomous DevelopmentFeudal SocietyFeudal LordThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.