Theory of Fundamental Contradiction of the Capitalist Society

The Marxist theory on the contradiction between the socialization of capitalist production and the capitalist private form of appropriation of the means of production.

The theory of fundamental contradiction of the capitalist society was put forth by Marx and Engels. In the 1850s, Marx and Engels, based on the principles of historical materialism, pointed out that the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production and the contradiction between the economic foundation and the superstructure based on it is the fundamental contradiction that runs through all forms of human society. When dealing with the contradiction between the social nature of production and the private appropriation by the capitalists in capitalist society, they pointed out, “fundamental contradiction, whence arise all the contradictions in which our present-day society moves.” Later, under the historical conditions of capitalism entering the epoch of imperialism, Lenin has further clarified this thought, revealing that the contradiction between the social nature of production and private appropriation occupies an important position as the ultimate root cause and concentrated manifestation of all contradictions in capitalist society.

The contradiction between the socialization of production and the capitalist private form of appropriation of the means of production is the fundamental contradiction of capitalist society; it is the concrete manifestation of the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production under capitalist conditions. The socialization of production is manifested in: firstly, the socialization of the use of the means of production, i.e., the transformation of the means of production used by individuals into those used jointly by a large number of workers. Secondly, the socialization of the production process. Secondly, the socialization of the production process, i.e., with the refinement of division of labor and specialization of production, all enterprises are bound up into a whole through the market, and social production is changed from acts of individuals to a social act. Thirdly, the socialization of products, i.e., the products are jointly completed by many people, and the sale of commodities has become more extensive, resulting in the formation of a unified domestic and international market. With the rapid development of the productive forces of society and the increasing degree of socialization of production, there is an objective requirement for the implementation of social appropriation of the means of production and the products of labor, only in this way can the society implement a planned regulation of the operation of production in accordance with the needs of society, distribute the products of society in accordance with the common interests of the workers, and make the relations of production correspond to the development of the productive forces. However, under the capitalist private ownership system, the private property in the means of production determines that the purpose of capitalist production is to pursue surplus-value, i.e., valorization (self-expansion) of capital. The main means for achieving this end is the development and use of science and technology, the increase in the productivity of labor, and the expansion of the scale of production in competition, which results in the increasing centralization of the private appropriation of the means of production and the products of labor. This gives rise to the contradiction between the socialization of production and the capitalist private form of appropriation of the means of production, which is essentially the contradiction between the capitalist relations of production and the productive forces.

The fundamental contradiction of capitalist society plays a decisive role among all contradictions of capitalist society, and it fully unfolds in all spheres of society, manifesting itself in the following ways: first of all, in the production, it manifests itself in the contradiction between the organized and planned production within enterprises and the anarchy of production in society generally. On the one hand, in order to obtain more surplus-value, capitalists always improve their management, increase the efficiency of production and carry out production in a planned manner; on the other hand, society as a whole is in a state of anarchy due to private property in the means of production, and individual enterprises are divided up, resulting in the antagonism between the organization of individual enterprises and the anarchy of production in society generally. Secondly, in class relations, the development of the fundamental contradictions of capitalism also leads to the development and intensification of the contradictions between the two antagonistic classes of capitalist society, namely the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The severance of the direct producer from the means of production, by which the workers are forced to sell their labor and are exploited by the capitalists forms the antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Finally, it also manifests itself in the contradiction between the tendency of capitalist production to expand indefinitely and the relative decrease in the demand for solvency of the working people. On the one hand, capitalists try to expand the scale of production to produce more and more wealth in pursuit of more surplus-value; on the other hand, the masses of working people lack the corresponding purchasing power because they are cruelly exploited, which causes the contradiction between the tendency of the huge growth of capitalist production capacity and the relative shrinkage of market demand, hence economic crises are inevitable. The fundamental contradiction of capitalism deepens with the development of the various contradictions inherent in capitalism. The fundamental solution to this fundamental contradiction could only be achieved through the socialist revolution, which replaces capitalist private property with socialist public property in the means of production.

The theory of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism is the core content of Marxist political economy, and is of fundamental significance for people’s understanding of the essence and laws of development of capitalism as well as the law of its inevitable fall.