Mode of Production

Also known as “mode of production of material means” or “mode of production of society”. The mode of acquiring the material means necessary for social life, i.e., the mode of joint activity of men in the production process, is the contradictory unity of the productive forces and the relations of production. In Marx’s works, the term “mode of production” has been used differently on different occasions. As a fundamental category of historical materialism, mode of production includes two aspects, the productive forces and the relations of production, and is the unity of the two. Marx said that a mode of production appears both as a relationship between the individuals, and as their specific active relation to inorganic nature, a specific mode of working. The productive forces are the material content of the mode of production, and the relations of production are the social form of the mode of production. The relations of production directly define the nature of a mode of production, and the productive forces ultimately determine the existence, development and revolution of the mode of production. Together with the geographical environment and the population factor, the mode of production constitutes the conditions of the material life of society. The mode of production of material means is the most important condition among them and it is the main content of social existence.

In order to survive, men must have material means of life, and in order to acquire them, men must carry out productive labor, and there must be certain productive forces and certain relations of production. The unity of certain productive forces and certain relations of production constitutes a certain mode of production. In the unity of mode of production, the productive forces constitute the most vibrant, dynamic and revolutionary factor, and the relations of production are the relatively stable factor. The productive forces determine the relations of production, the nature, level and development requirements of the relations of production, and the revolutions in the relations of production. Once developed to a certain degree, the productive forces require a change in the relations of production that are inappropriate to them, hence a change in the relations of production and the advent of a social revolution. Marx pointed out that the mode of production, the relations in which productive forces are developed, are anything but eternal laws, but that they correspond to a definite development of men and of their productive forces, and that a change in men’s productive forces necessarily brings about a change in their relations of production. The relations of production have a reaction upon the productive forces and can further or fetter the development of the productive forces. When the relations of production are appropriate to the state of development of the productive forces, they will act as a lever to the development of the productive forces; when the relations of production are inappropriate to the state of development of the productive forces, they will act as a fetter upon the development of productive forces. The interaction between the productive forces and the relations of production constitutes the contradictory movement of the mode of production. In the contradictory movement of the mode of production, the law that the relations of production have to be appropriate to the state of the productive forces is running through from beginning to end.

Mode of production is the determining force in the development of human society. It is the basis for the existence of human society that people engage in production in a certain mode of production. All activities of human society are established on the basis of productive activity. Mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; therefore, the production of the immediate material means forms the foundation. Mode of production determines, in the last instance, the nature and image of society. As the mode of production is, so the social structure will be. Different modes of production determine the different images of society. Marx pointed out that the mode of production of material life determines the whole process of social, political and intellectual life. Mode of production is the basic hallmark for classifying social formations. With the contradictory movement of the mode of production, one mode of production is replaced by another, the former social system is replaced by a new social system, and society is constantly developed from the lower to the higher. The development of human society through primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society and socialist society is the result of the contradictory movement of the mode of production. The entire history of human society is, in the last instance, the history of the development of the production of material means and the history of the supersession of the modes of production of material means. The principle that the mode of production is the determining force of the development of society is the fundamental principle of historical materialism and is the objective ground on which the proletariat and its political parties formulate their lines, guidelines and policies.