Dialectical and Historical Materialism
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Dialectical and Historical Materialism (Russian: О диалектическом и историческом материализме), by Joseph Stalin, is a central text within Soviet political theory Marxism–Leninism.
The work first appeared in 1938, drawing heavily upon both Vladimir Lenin's philosophical works and the then-new Short Course in the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). It later became the state doctrine of the Soviet Union. The title refers to dialectical materialism and historical materialism.
Synopsis[edit]
Stalin's writing is divided into three parts, and very systematically presented:
A: outline of the Marxist dialectical method, in contrast to metaphysics
- Nature is a unified whole
- Nature is in perpetual motion
- The development of nature is the transition of quantity into quality
- Natural phenomena possess internal contradictions as part of their struggle, and cannot be reformist, but rather revolutionary
B: outline of the Marxist philosophical materialism in contrast to idealism
- The world is materialistic in nature
- Being is objective reality, thinking is a reflection of matter, contributing ideas back to being.
- The knowledge of natural laws is examined by the practice, laws of social development, objective truth, analog biology, socialism is a science
C: Historical materialism
- What is the "Chief Determinant Force" in society? The mode of production of material goods and not the geographical environment or the growth of the population.
- The "real" party of the proletariat controls the laws of development of production
- A schematic picture of the story:
- A. Primitive communal / primitive communism
- B. Slavery
- C. Feudalism
- D. Capitalism
- E. Socialism (where evolution instead of revolution)
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
External links[edit]
- Dialectical and Historical Materialism at marxists.org.