Relations of Production

Also known as “social relations of production”. Social relations forged by men in the process of material production. Relations of production are the social form in which all factors of the productive forces are combined, i.e., the social form of the mode of production. Marx said that in the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. Among all social relations, the relations of production are the most fundamental. They are the relations of material interests among men, and determine other aspects of social relations such as politics and culture. The totality of the relations of production constitutes the economic foundation of society. In class society, the relations of production manifest themselves as class relations, and everyone is in a certain class relation.

The proposal of the category of relations of production was the basic hallmark of the founding of historical materialism. Its formation has undergone a process. In his early works such as the Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and The Holy Family, Marx investigated the relation between civil society and the State, and the concept of civil society gradually was gradually concretized and approached the category of “relations of production”. Marx and Engels used the concept of “relations of production” for the first time in The German Ideology, along with “relations of intercourse,” “forms of intercourse,” “relations of production and intercourse,” “modes of intercourse,” “property relations,” and “forms of ownership” and other terms to express the social relations forged by people in production, among which “forms of intercourse” is used in many places and expresses a meaning closest to the basic meaning of the relations of production. They have investigated the relation between the productive forces and the forms of intercourse, and the relation between the forms of intercourse and the State, and drawn the conclusion from an examination of history: all collisions in history have their origin, according to our view, in the contradiction between the productive forces and the form of intercourse. In The Poverty of Philosophy, the concept of “relations of production” was given a more clear definition and was basically determined, replacing the concept of relations of intercourse. Marx said: “Men make cloth, linen, or silk materials in definite relations of production”; “The relations of production of every society form a whole”; “a change in men’s productive forces necessarily brings about a change in their relations of production”. In the Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx has elaborated the relations between the four moments in material production, i.e., production, distribution, exchange, and consumption, holding that they all form the moments of a totality. This shows that the relations of production are embodied in the four moments of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption.

The relations of production are a system with a complex structure, constituted by three basic aspects: the relations of property in the means of production, the position of men within production, the relations of exchange, and the relations of distribution of products, and the relations of consumption immediately determined by it. The property in the means of production refers to whom the means of production belong to. Its essence is the relation between those who own means of production and the laborers, and is also the manner in the laborers and the means of production are combined. On the surface, the property in the means of production is a relation between man and things, but, in essence, it is a relation between people. The position of men within production and the relations of exchange refer to their respective position in the process of production and reproduction and how they exchange their products with each other. The relations of distribution of products and the relations of consumption immediately determined by it refer to whom the products of production belong to and how they are distributed and consumed. All aspects of relations of production are interconnected and together constitute an organic unity. In the structure of relations of production, the relations of property in the means of production is the most fundamental content. It determines the nature, features, and main types of relations of production. It is the basis of the relations of production as a whole and the objective ground for distinguishing different modes of production and determining the nature of the economic structure of society. According to the nature of the property in the means of production, human history has successively experienced five kinds of relations of production of different nature: primitive communal, slave, feudal, capitalist, and socialist. They can be divided into two main types: one is the relations of production based upon the public property in the means of production, including the primitive communal, socialist and future communist; the other is the relations of production based on the private property in the means of production and characterized by the exploitation of man by man, including slave, feudal and capitalist. Capitalist relations of production are the last antagonistic relations of production based upon private property. The property in the means of production determines the position of men within production and exchange relations, determines the relations of distribution of products and the relations of consumption. The two other aspects of relations of production are not passive, reactive; they in turn affect the relations of property in the means of production.

Relations of production and productive forces are an indivisible unity. The unity of productive forces and relations of production constitutes the mode of production of society. In the mode of production, the productive forces determine the relations of production, and the emergence, development and revolution of certain relations of production are all determined by the productive forces. Marx pointed out that the social relations within which individuals produce, the social relations of production, are altered, transformed, with the change and development of the material means of production, of the forces of production. The relations of production have also a dynamic reaction upon the productive forces. When the relations of production are appropriate to the nature and development requirements of the productive forces, they will promote the development of the productive forces and become an effective form for the development of productive forces; when the relations of production are inappropriate to the nature and development requirements of the productive forces, they will fetter or even damage the development of the productive forces and become a fetter to the development of the productive forces.