Mode of production facts for kids

In the ideas of Karl Marx, a mode of production is a special way a society makes its goods and services. It's like a recipe that combines two main ingredients:

• Productive forces: These are all the tools, machines, factories, knowledge, and raw materials people use to make things. It also includes the skills and effort of the workers.
• Relations of production: These are the rules and relationships that decide who owns the tools and factories, how people work together, and how the things they make are shared. It's about power and control in society.

Marx believed that the way people produce things and how they relate to each other while producing are super important. He thought that in some systems, like capitalism, the way things are produced can actually stop people from developing their full potential.

What is a Mode of Production?

Marx thought that the way people produce things in their daily lives shapes everything else about their society. This includes their politics, their culture, and even their spiritual beliefs. He said that when people make clothes or other goods, they also create the "social relations" that exist around that work.

Imagine a society. The "secret" to understanding how it works and why it changes, according to Marx, is to look at its specific mode of production. He believed that this mode of production also affects how wealth is shared, traded, and used. To understand how money and goods are distributed, you first need to understand how they are made.

A mode of production is special because it's like a complete system that keeps making itself over and over again. It can stay stable for hundreds or even thousands of years. When working people produce more than they need to survive (this is called surplus labour), they help keep the social system going. The government often helps to manage this system.

However, every mode of production can also have old ways of doing things from earlier times, as well as new ideas that could lead to future changes. When new ways of producing things appear, they can cause conflicts within the current system. These conflicts can make the system change slowly, or they can cause a big breakdown and lead to a completely new system.

How Societies Change Over Time

Societies and economies change because technology gets better. When technology improves, the old ways people organize themselves might not be good enough anymore to use the new technology fully. This creates problems inside the society, especially leading to class conflict (when different groups of people have different interests and fight for power).

The old social rules can stop progress. This creates bigger and bigger problems between the level of technology (the productive forces) and the way society is set up (social relations). Eventually, the system can't keep itself going. This leads to a social revolution, where the old system is overthrown. New ways of organizing society then appear that fit better with the current technology.

The main reason for big changes in how civilizations are organized comes from practical things. This includes the level of technology, how much human knowledge there is, and the kinds of social groups these things make possible. Marx called this the "materialist conception of history." It's different from the idea that changes happen mainly because of the ideas of smart people.

Different Modes of Production

Karl Marx identified several main modes of production throughout history. These include primitive communism, slave society, feudalism, capitalism, and communism. In each of these stages, people interact with nature and produce things in different ways. Any extra goods produced were also shared differently.

Marx suggested that humans first lived in primitive communist societies. Then came ancient societies like Rome and Greece, which had a ruling class of citizens and a class of slaves. After that was feudalism, where nobles ruled over serfs. Then came capitalism, with the capitalist class (rich owners) and the working class (people who work for wages). In his idea of a future communist society, Marx believed that social classes would disappear, ending the exploitation of one group by another.

Primitive Communism

Marx and his friend Engels often talked about "primitive communism" as the earliest way humans produced things. For most of human history, people lived in tribal groups or as hunter gatherers. Technology in the Stone Age was very simple. There wasn't much difference between people in terms of wealth or power, and hunting grounds were shared.

Because their tools were basic (hunting and gathering), each person could only produce enough to feed themselves. There was no extra food or goods (no surplus) for anyone to take from others. This made their social relationships "communist" in a way, even though their tools were very simple.

Ancient Mode of Production

The agricultural revolution led to the first civilizations. When people started farming, they also developed new technologies like pottery and weaving. This led to a small increase in social differences and the beginning of classes. People started to own private property within family groups.

Ancient Greece and Rome are good examples of this "ancient mode of production." The tools and methods used included advanced farming (like using two fields for crops), using animals in farming, and developing industries like mining. They also had advanced trade networks.

This mode of production was different from the "Asiatic mode" because people could directly own other human beings (slavery). For example, in his ideal city, Plato imagined that the rich ruling class would have their farms worked by slaves. The ruling class in these societies usually didn't claim to be direct gods. Instead, they might say they were descendants of gods or find other reasons for their rule, sometimes allowing people to participate in politics.

Rome eventually built a huge empire around the Mediterranean Sea. This empire was connected by roads, harbors, and bridges. Engineers, architects, traders, and business owners helped trade grow between many cities.

Feudal Mode of Production

Feudalism was the third main mode of production, where land was the most important way to produce things. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, much of Western Europe went back to simple farming, with many towns becoming empty. Power became local, as roads were bad and farming was difficult.

By the 800s, a new social system appeared. It wasn't based on family or religion, but on a personal connection between a vassal (a person who served) and a lord (a powerful landowner). This connection was strengthened by giving land (called a fief) to the vassal. This was the feudal mode of production, which was common in the West after the Roman Empire fell and before capitalism grew. Similar systems also existed in many other parts of the world. During this time, large empires also started to break down into smaller nation-states.

The main way property was owned was through land. People had contracts where knights provided military service, and peasants or serfs (who were tied to the land) provided labor to the lord of the manor. Exploitation happened through these contracts, though it was ultimately based on the threat of force. The ruling class was usually a nobility or aristocracy, often supported by religious beliefs.

The main ways of producing things included very complex farming methods (like using two or three fields for crops) and using non-human power sources like windmills. Crafts also became more specialized, with artisans focusing on making just one type of product.

During this time, a merchant class (business people) started to grow. They were driven by the desire for profit. However, the nature of feudal society stopped them from making even more profits. For example, serfs were tied to the land and couldn't become factory workers who earned wages. This eventually led to a time of big social changes, like the English Civil War and the French Revolution. In these revolutions, the social and political structure of feudal society was overthrown by the rising business class (the bourgeoisie).

Capitalist Mode of Production

By the end of the Middle Ages, the feudal system was weakening. Free towns grew, people started paying money instead of working for their lords, and paid soldiers replaced feudal armies. Feudalism was followed by what Marx called the capitalist mode of production. This period includes everything from early trade (mercantilism) to modern global markets. It's usually linked to the rise of modern industrial society.

Marx believed that a key part of the new capitalist system was a change in how money was used. Before, money was mainly for buying and selling goods (Commodity-Money-Commodity). Now, money was used to make more money (Money-Commodity-More Money). This became the most important goal in society.

The main way property is owned in capitalism is as private property that can be bought and sold. This includes land, materials, tools, and even human labor. Everything can be turned into a "commodity" and exchanged for cash through contracts. Marx said that "man himself is brought into the sphere of private property."

The main way people are exploited is through wage labour. Workers are formally "free" but must sell their ability to work to survive. The ruling class, for Marx, is the bourgeoisie. These are the owners of capital (money and means of production). They exploit the proletariat (the working class) to gain surplus value. The workers only have their own labour power, which they must sell to live.

Under Capitalism, the main ways of producing things include the entire system of modern factories and businesses. This system is supported by things like bureaucracy (organized government offices), bourgeois democracy (a type of democracy where the capitalist class has a lot of influence), and especially finance capital (money used for investment). The ideas that support this system developed over time. For example, the Age of Enlightenment helped create new ways of thinking and living that fit a capitalist market society.

Communist Mode of Production

Lower-Stage of Communism

Marx believed that the bourgeoisie (the capitalist class) created the conditions for its own downfall. It also created the proletariat (the working class), who would be the new revolutionary class. Just as the bourgeoisie overthrew the nobles in feudalism, the proletariat would overthrow the bourgeoisie.

Marx thought that after capitalism, there would be a period of revolutionary change. During this time, the government would be a "dictatorship of the proletariat" (meaning the working class would be in control).

He also described a communist society that would develop alongside this working-class rule: "In a cooperative society where the means of production are owned in common, producers do not exchange their products. Individual labor no longer appears as the value of these products. This is because, unlike capitalist society, individual labor is now directly part of the total labor. What we are dealing with here is a communist society, not one that has fully developed on its own, but one that is just emerging from capitalist society. It still has the marks of the old society from which it came. So, the individual producer receives back from society—after necessary deductions—exactly what they gave to it. What they gave was their individual amount of labor."

This early stage of communist society, according to Marx, is similar to the early stage of capitalism (when it was transitioning from feudalism). Both societies still carry "birthmarks" from the old society they came from. The idea that new modes of production don't just appear out of nowhere but grow from previous ones is a key part of historical materialism.

There is a lot of discussion among communists about what this society would be like. Some, like Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro, believed this early stage of communism is its own mode of production, which they called "socialist." They thought it might still have concepts like property, money, and producing goods for sale. Other communists argue that this lower stage is still truly communist, just with some leftover features from capitalism, but without commodities or money.

Higher-Stage of Communism

For Marx, the higher-stage of communist society would be a "free association of producers." This means it would have successfully gotten rid of all parts of capitalism. This includes things like states, nationality, sexism, families, alienation (feeling disconnected from your work), social classes, money, property, commodities (goods for sale), the bourgeoisie and proletariat, the division of labor (people specializing in one task), the difference between cities and countryside, class struggle, religion, ideology, and markets. It would be the opposite of capitalism.

Marx made these comments about the higher stage of communist society: "In a higher phase of communist society, after people are no longer forced to specialize in one job, and the difference between mental and physical labor has disappeared; after labor has become not just a way to live but life's most important desire; after the ability to produce has also grown with the full development of each person, and all the sources of shared wealth flow more freely—only then can the narrow limits of bourgeois right be fully crossed. And society can then write on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!"

See also

In Spanish: Modo de producción para niños