Historical Materialism Research Articles

Friedrich Engels, historical materialism and the Crimean War

Friedrich Engels, historical materialism and the Crimean War

A Historical Materialist Review of AI Technology Reshaping People’s Labor

人工智能重塑了人类劳动形态，抽象化了劳动的社会历史意义。因此，在新的技术条件下，以马克思主义劳动观和机器观为指导，重新审视劳动的本质和技术对于劳动的变革，就成为马克思主义时代化的理论要求和规范技术发展的实践要求。劳动不是规律的形式运用和结果的物理实现，而是人的主体对象化的实践活动。现实劳动场域中的技术替代体现出劳动辩证法的颠倒和资本逻辑的泛滥，本质是资本逻辑下的技术异化和资本与技术的联合宰制。因此，必须要发挥社会主义的制度优势，促进制度文明和技术文明的协调发展，在新的时代条件下探索解决技术异化的途径。

Confronting multiple global crises: a political economy approach for the twenty-first century

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to develop a political economy approach able to examine the multiple, global crises of our times, a crisis of global capitalism, a crisis of global labour relations, a crisis of global gender relations, a crisis of global race relations and a crisis of global ecology. Based on the philosophy of internal relations, I make three claims in this paper. First, we need a historical materialist approach to comprehend the historical specificity of capitalism. Second, we need an expanded conceptualization of capitalist accumulation, understanding that capitalist reproduction depends not only on the exploitation of wage labour in the sphere of production, but equally on different forms of expropriation in the sphere of social reproduction. Third, to reveal the internal relations between these different crises, we need to focus on class struggle in our analysis, defining both class struggle and labour movement broadly when doing so.

O nowych rozwinięciach nie-Marksowskiego materializmu historycznego

The subject of the review is a scientific monograph edited by Krzysztof Brzechczyn, entitled “New Developments in the Theory of Historical Process. Polish Contribution to Non-Marxian Historical Materialism” (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2022) that collects application of non-Marxian Historical Materialism by Leszek Nowak and his followers. The author of the review draws special attention to the explanatory power of Nowak’s theory and the relevance of the predictions about the totalitarianization of capitalism, formulated by the Nowak several decades ago.

МУИС-ИЙН 80 ЖИЛИЙН ТҮҮХЭН ДЭХ ФИЛОСОФИЙН СУРГАЛТ, СУДАЛГААНЫ АГУУЛГА, АРГА ЗҮЙН ӨӨРЧЛӨЛТ

Over the past 50 years of the Mongolian People’s Republic’s history, and within the initial 30 years of Mongolia’s history, spanning the 80-year existence of the National University of Mongolia (NUM), the aim of this article is to investigate changes in philosophy, research, and methodology during this specific timeframe. In this context, the examination of philosophy in Mongolia is categorized into two periods—pre and post the 1990s. The analysis covers the shift from the dominant Marxist Leninist philosophy, encompassing dialectical and historical materialism before 1990, to the current content of the philosophy curriculum in higher educational institutions in Mongolia. Furthermore, the update of the bachelor’s and master’s philosophy programs at NUM has been explored through the lenses of meta philosophy, theoretical philosophy, and the history of philosophy.

Secularism and its Discontents: Forms of Freethought in Mathilde Blind's Periodical Poetry

Abstract: The poet and woman of letters Mathilde Blind (1841–1896) achieved her early fame — and notoriety — as a radical freethinker, especially as a translator and champion of David Friedrich Strauss's The Old Faith and the New: A Confession (1873), which articulates an antitheist form of historical and scientific materialism. Her subsequent prose works — essays, reviews, and translations — confirm this reputation. But her verse, which makes use of what Percy Bysshe Shelley in The Revolt of Islam called "a subtler language within language," speaks in a subjective, non-polemical voice. Focusing on the poetry Blind published in a range of Victorian periodicals, including Dark Blue , the Athenaeum, Black and White , and The Savoy , this essay argues that these poems express the tension between materialism and idealism that characterize her poetry as a whole, while also illuminating the complex dynamics of secularism in the Romantic and post-Romantic eras.

Hegemony and Sustainability. A Call for Historical Materialism

Social scientists have been critical about sustainability from its appearance. However, as the literature on post-politics highlight, they have failed to address why our society endures in unsustainability in what some authors call the post-ecological paradox. This article reflects on some of the major theoretical assumptions of urban political ecology, presenting the urban sustainability fix framework as the most valuable tool to perform a critique of sustainability. It adds to the debate arguing that empirical obstacles are related and rooted in theoretical incompatibility between neo-Marxist and post-structural literatures which shape the discipline, stating the need for a return to historical materialism starting by Antonio Gramsci. To this end, the article proposes to use Jessop’s RSA to analyse sustainable development.

От «азиатского способа производства» к «политаризму»: становление историософской концепции Ю.И. Семенова

The article examines the origin of the concepts of ‘politarism’ and its derivatives ‘political mode of production’, ‘political society’, which are quite often used in the Russian domestic socio-historical and socio-philosophical literature. It is shown that the immediate predecessor of this concept was the ‘Asian mode of production’ and its various analogues (‘Eastern despotism’, ‘the era of Asian kings’ etc.) in the works of K. Marx, which remained mainly in manuscript form. The fi rst discussion around the Asian mode of production (AMP), which unfolded in the USSR in the 1920s, although it was suppressed by harsh administrative methods, nevertheless brought a significant revival to the Soviet social philosophy, which was already under the powerful pressure of the dogmas of the ‘historical materialism’ and the so-called five-term scheme of socio-economic formations. A second similar discussion, which took place in the 1950s and 1960s, also played such a role, prompting, among other things, a significant part of professional orientalists to large-scale and conceptual socio-historical generalizations. The activities and works of the recently deceased professor Yu. I. Semenov, whose name is directly related to the appearance of the term ‘politarism’ in Soviet and then Russian social philosophy, are specially considered. Y.I. Semenov’s original historiosophical concept, created and developed by its author in the conditions of his conscious opposition to the aggressive ideological environment and administrative dictate, has become a valuable component of the conceptual and scientific understanding of the historical process, retaining its heuristic significance to this day. The concepts used by Y.I. Semenov and, in general, his very approach to understanding social and political reality deserve attention as one of the versions of non-dogmatic, creative Marxism, which occupies a noticeable niche in modern domestic and foreign academic discourse.

Marxist Archaeology Today. Historical Materialist Perspectives in Archaeology from America, Europe and the Near East in the 21st Century, de Ianir Milevski

Marxist Archaeology Today. Historical Materialist Perspectives in Archaeology from America, Europe and the Near East in the 21st Century, de Ianir Milevski

Is domestic labor productive labor: an inquiry based on historical materialism

ABSTRACT An important concern in contemporary feminist Marxist studies is the concept of “domestic labor.” Western feminists present two different positions in the debate surrounding the question of whether domestic labor is productive labor. However, from the perspective of Marx’s critique of political economy, neither position surpasses the basic theoretical framework of the capitalist mode of production. An analysis based on Marx’s theory of the correlation between productive and unproductive labor reveals that this framework alone is insufficient for theorizing domestic labor. To highlight its theoretical significance, it is necessary to examine it within the framework of Marx’s historical materialism.

Representações sociais, racismo e educação

We intend to address, in this production, reflections on the reproduction of racist social representations in the educational field, the bases for identifying ideological mechanisms that produce and reproduce ethnic-racial inequalities. Based on the theoryof social representations formulated by Serge Moscovici and in dialogue with Historical and Dialectical Materialism, the aim is to interpret the power relations and the instruments that promote oppression and exclusion based on the racialization and hierarchization of society as mechanisms of perpetuation of privileges. In this way, we intend to address elements that obstruct an anti-racist education and reproduce segregating actions, highlighting the recent setbacks that marked the conduct of social policies of social and racial inclusion.

Notes on Wealth as a Real Abstraction and the Critique of Suffering

The object of a critical theory of society is Man [Menschen] in her historically specific forms of life. The article argues against ontological conceptions of social labour and of economy. Instead it insists that historical materialism far from being a materialism of nature and history, is fundamentally a critique of the objectivity of the capitalist economic categories. For a critical theory of society, the economic concept, capital as a process of the valorisation of value, is not a natural thing but a social relationship between persons that is mediated through things. The fetishism of commodities is real. In the mediated world the social individuals appear as personifications of the economic object; and yet there would be nothing without their social practices—of self-preservation. Human suffering is objectively mediated. The article concludes that suffering is the non-conceptual content of the concept of society as a process of valorisation. The sheer unrest of life is the social constituent of the economic object.

An Analytical Examination of the Extent of Civil Society (Ir)Relevance & Its Historical Materialism in Championing Good Governance

An Analytical Examination of the Extent of Civil Society (Ir)Relevance & Its Historical Materialism in Championing Good Governance

Hermann Cohen’s Neo-Kantian Ethical Socialism

Abstract Hermann Cohen, the founding father of Marburg neo-Kantianism, is known for criticising capitalism from a Kantian ethical perspective. Thus far, the role of the notion of humanity in this critique has been viewed as grounding what I shall call the ‘purposive labour reading’. This reading takes Cohen’s primary interest to lie in a reorganisation of work so that our humanity, which requires us to be treated as ends, remains intact. With the aim to better understand the relevant notion of humanity, I contextualise the discussion within the overall framework of Cohens’ neo-Kantian account of ethical cognition and situate his ideas in the context of his contemporary interlocutors. Revisiting Cohen’s remarks on socialism and capitalism against this backdrop reveals that his discussion of labour serves as an exemplar, showcasing how ethical rationality manifests in the liberal socialists’ demands. I argue that his primary aim was not to prepare the ground for a prescriptive labour theory – though this is likely to follow – but to argue for a framework alternative to historical materialism, allowing us to perceive and interpret social practices in an ethical light.

Towards a Processual Social Movement Theory: Diachrony, Dialectics, and Danda

Interest in temporality and the effects of social movements over periods of time has increased over the past few years. This has created the need for diachronic approaches to the study of movements and accounts for how movements create social change and have an impact on the course of history. There have been some struggles to account for history in existing approaches to social movements, with eventful or ruptural accounts of social change remaining prominent in some recent works. This article proposes a conversational philosophy between African philosophies such as ubuntu and ibuanyidanda and Marxist humanism as an approach that can allow us to explore dynamic ontologies. Marxist approaches to social movement studies have so far yielded the most dynamic approaches to social change. I contend that ubuntu and ibuanyidanda offer ontological perspectives that allow us to understand humans and the societies they create as dynamic, changing, and interrelated, in a way that can complement, and enhance, the historical materialist model of a society created by collective human agency, albeit not in circumstances that they choose.

A study on the capital accumulation system, distribution regulation mechanism and stakeholder relationships from the perspective of Marx’s theory of ground rent

Purpose Ground rent has been playing a vital role in China’s economic and social development, which has a clear practical logic. It is also necessary to present the historical inevitability and institutional mechanisms that realize this role of ground rent concerning its theoretical and historical logic. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on the theories of the French regulation school and the social structure of accumulation theory to establish a preliminary analytical framework. This paper explores the process of ground rent formation under certain land institutional arrangements, as well as the association between the capital accumulation system, the distribution regulation mechanism and relevant stakeholder relationships. From the perspective of historical materialism, the paper examines the functions of ground rent in feudal and capitalist societies and their mapping association between the capital accumulation system, distribution regulation mechanism and stakeholders. This paper further investigates the inevitable trends in the evolution of different social systems from the perspective of rent. Additionally, based on Marx’s view on ground rent under socialism, the paper elucidates the formation, types of rent and its engagement in social production under the conditions of China’s socialist market economy, identifying the inherent value orientation and distinct institutional advantages. Findings Although considerable research has explored the reasons for the existence, categories and functions of rent in a socialist market economy, there is a relatively insufficient examination of its historical evolution and how it influences real-world economic dynamics. Existing studies have primarily focused on agricultural rent, lacking an in-depth analysis that puts the behaviors of landowners, land operators and laborers in fundamental contexts. Originality/value As China enters a new stage of development, it is imperative to improve the public ownership of land from a new historical starting point, encourage the rational use of ground rent leverage, and establish and enhance the capital accumulation system, the distribution regulation mechanism and relevant stakeholder relationships, enabling their more harmonious alignment with the socialist market economy. The following effort should be made to ensure that such actions will be put into place.

The thought of community with a shared future for mankind and the construction of China’s international political economy

Purpose Central to this paper, Western international political economy cannot well explain China’s peaceful development and its political and economic ties with the outside world, and it is even more difficult to reflect the characteristics of the times that the great changes unseen in a century and socialism with Chinese characteristics have entered into a new era, which are synchronously intertwined and mutually agitated. Constructing China’s international political economy not only emphasizes the Chinese perspective, Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative but also examines the development trend and major problems facing the world from the height of world history and applies the position, viewpoints and methods of Marxist historical materialism to observe the times, interpret the times and lead the times. Design/methodology/approach Looking back at the development of China’s international political economy, from introducing Western international political economy to increasingly emphasizing the Chinese perspective, Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative, we analyze the distinctive features of China’s international political economy from Western international political economy. Findings The thought of community with a shared future for mankind is the latest development and concentrated embodiment of Marxist thought on world history in the 21st century, which gives China’s international political economy a distinctive epochal, scientific and practical character, stipulates the research stance and fundamental purpose, establishes the research theme and main line and expands the research space for the construction of Chinese international political economy. Originality/value The construction of China’s international political economy is not only to create a “Chinese school” of international relations but more importantly to construct a discourse and academic system of China’s international political economy that can understand and grasp the changes in the world, the times and history, providing academic support for in-depth thinking and answering the question of “What is wrong with the world? What should we do?” and contributing Chinese wisdom.

Sobre los orígenes comunales de la Crítica de la economía política de Karl Marx

Two hundred years after the birth of Karl Heinrich Marx, it is pertinent to return to the rational core of his great theoretical project, which is not historical materialism or dialectical materialism, but the Critique of Political Economy, as the author himself termed it. In this work, we aim to begin the reconstruction of the genesis of this project, both logically and historically, by examining Marx's 1842 journalistic manuscripts on the theft of firewood and the criminalization of peasants in the Moselle Valley. This is done in polemical engagement with the conventional Marxism of Armando Bartra, arguing that Marx's Critique of Political Economy was from its inception developed as an alliance between the young Marx and the "stubborn community" of poor peasant.

Generational shifts in scientific atheism: Ideology and strategy in 20th century Czechoslovakia

Abstract The paper delves into scientific atheism, distinguishing between atheist thought as mere opinion and its development into a comprehensive worldview under Marxist-Leninist influence. It explores scientific atheism’s role as both a philosophical discipline and an ideology that has significantly impacted philosophers from our region across generations. Initially, scientific atheism represented an ideological commitment to materialism and rationalism. However, for subsequent generations, it evolved into a pragmatic strategy for consolidating political power, fostering social unity, and enhancing state control. This study not only outlines the integration of dialectical and historical materialism into Czechoslovakia’s mid-20th-century scientific and education systems but also examines the shifting perception of scientific atheism through different philosophical generations, highlighting its practical significance in Marxist-Leninist-dominated regions.

SOCIAL CONTROL AND DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION: THE PERFORMANCE OF THE MUNICIPAL HEALTH COUNCIL DURING THE CRISIS AND POST-COVID IN THE CONTEXT OF ULTRANEOLIBERALISM

The neoliberal dictates and financial capitalism that have been taking place in the 2000s have been causing significant changes in the environment, people's lives, and the global order. In addition to these changes that permeate the areas of industry and automation, technology, politics, economy, and culture, we are experiencing a recent pandemic. In Brazil, especially, the second half of the 20th century was marked by intense struggles for the achievement of rights and democracy, and the 2000s have been marked by the loss of rights that had been achieved. To analyze the guarantee of social control in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and post-pandemic (2020-2023) is an observation from the Municipal Health Council of the Municipality of Bom Jesus do Itabapoana-RJ. This is an exploratory research, with a qualitative approach, epistemologically guided by dialectical historical materialism, where we will carry out a literature review, documentary and field research. Data collection will be carried out in the municipality of Bom Jesus do Itabapoana, in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, where we will interview councilors and former councilors of the Municipal Health Council. A questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument. The study thus seeks to offer an in-depth analysis of social control in a context of increased neoliberalism, especially in the health sector, during the COVID-19 crisis and its subsequent recovery period. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Municipal Health Council of Bom Jesus do Itabapoana-RJ adapted by holding remote meetings, but faced low community participation, which limited the effectiveness of policies. Most councilors dedicated between one and three hours per week to activities, with financial support available.