Stalin’s Thoughts on Dialectical and Historical Materialism

A term which originated in the Soviet Union that implies Marxist philosophy in terms of the content of the term. The main content and basic features of Marxist philosophy are discussed in the second section of the fourth chapter of the Short Course on the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (B), written by Stalin himself during 1937-1938, under the title of “Dialectical and Historical Materialism”.

Stalin defines dialectical and historical materialism separately. Dialectical materialism is the worldview of Marxism-Leninism. Its approach to the phenomena of nature, its method of studying and apprehending them, is dialectical, while its interpretation of the phenomena of nature, its conception of these phenomena, its theory, is materialistic. And historical materialism is the extension of the principles of dialectical materialism to the study of social life, an application of the principles of dialectical materialism to the phenomena of the life of society, to the study of society and of its history. Stalin pointed out that the dialectical materialism of Marxist philosophy are derived from the “rational kernel” of Hegel’s dialectic and the “inner kernel” of Feuerbach’s materialism, respectively, but are essentially different from them.

Stalin outlined the basic features of Marxist dialectics: (1) Dialectics regards nature as a connected and integral whole, in which things, phenomena are organically connected with, dependent on, and determined by each other. (2) Dialectics regards nature in a state of continuous movement and change, of continuous renewal and development, where something is always arising and developing, and something always disintegrating and dying away. (3) Dialectics regards the process of development as a development from insignificant, imperceptible quantitative changes to open fundamental changes to qualitative changes. (4) The starting point of dialectics is that the contradictions inherent in things and natural phenomena, as a struggle of opposite tendencies which operate on the basis of these contradictions and as the inherent content of development. Stalin then applied dialectics to the social sphere and explained the dynamics of human social development.

Stalin outlined the basic features of Marxist dialectical materialism: (1) The world is by its very nature material, the multifold phenomena of the world constitute different forms of matter in motion, the interconnection and interdependence of phenomena as established by dialectics are a law of development of moving matter, and the world develops in accordance with the laws of movement of matter. (2) Matter is primary, while consciousness is secondary. (3) The world and its laws are fully knowable. By applying materialism to the social sphere, Stalin emphasized the strength and vitality of Marxism-Leninism is derived from the fact that it relies upon an advanced theory which correctly reflects the needs of development of the material life of society, that it elevates theory to a proper level, and that it deems it its duty to utilize every ounce of the mobilizing, organizing and transforming power of this theory.

With regard to historical materialism, Stalin pointed out that the material conditions of the life of society include the geographical environment, the demographic factor and the mode of production of material values. The development of the mode of production of material values is the main force determining the change of social forms. Stalin summarized at great length the three main characteristics of production: (1) Production is always in a state of change and development, and furthermore, changes in the mode of production inevitably call forth changes in the whole social system. Therefore, the proletarian party, in formulating its party program and in carrying out its practical activities, should, first of all, start from the laws of the development of production. (2) The change and development of production always begins with the change and development of the productive forces. (3) The new productive forces and the relations of production that correspond to them arise from within the old system. Stalin illustrated the characteristics of production to show that the law of the contradiction between the productive forces and relations of production is the basic law of human social development. The inevitable demise of capitalism and the inevitable victory of socialism are the objective results of the basic laws of human society; the Soviet socialist mode of production arose within the old relations of production in Russia and required a strong revolutionary power of the proletariat to destroy all the old relations of production.

Stalin outlined the content of Marxist philosophy in a concise and popular manner and with originality. It points out the intrinsic connection between the class and party nature of dialectical materialism and the worldview basis of the Marxist-Leninist parties; it correctly reveals the relationship between Marxist philosophy and classical German philosophy and points out the critical inheritance and revolutionary changes of Marxist philosophy to Hegelian dialectics and Feuerbachian materialism. But Stalin did not reveal the relationship of Marxist philosophy with British and French philosophy, as well as with British classical political economy and French idealistic socialist theory. He elaborated the basic features of dialectical and historical materialism, affirmed the decisive significance of materialist dialectics in Marxist philosophy, and outlined the order of people’s understanding of the objective world from the appearance to the essence. In his elaboration of the basic features of Marxist dialectical materialism, he answers the questions of “what is the origin of the world” and whether thought is identical with existence after it arises and points out the fundamental differences between dialectical materialism and dialectical idealism, between dialectical materialism as general materialism and general idealism, and between dialectical materialism as true scientific agnosticism and all forms of agnosticism.

Stalin, in elaborating the basic features of historical materialism, revealed the content of the “material conditions of the life of society” and their respective roles in the process of social development, suggesting that “nature which surrounds society”, i.e., the “geographical environment” and the “growth of population” and the “density of the population” are two conditions that can “accelerate or retard the process of social development” but “cannot be the chief force of social development” and do not have a “determining influence” on social development; Stalin pointed out that “the mode of production of the material values” is the determining force and decisive condition for social development. He emphasized that new social ideas, new theoretical perspectives, new political institutions, and new political powers, once they emerge on the basis of the conflict between the new productive forces and the old relations of production, and on the basis of the new economic demands of society, in turn, play a great role in social life and social history, demonstrating the historical and dialectical nature of Marxist materialism. He also elaborated that the mode of production is the determining force of social existence and development, pointing out that the mode of production determines the nature of society and drives the development of one social form to another, and that its change inevitably causes changes in the entire social and political structure.

There are also obvious limitations in Stalin’s understanding of Marxist philosophy, such as in the elaboration of the law of unity of opposites, in the elaboration of the relationship between dialectical and historical materialism, and in the discussion of the relationship between the relations of production and the productive forces under the capitalist and socialist systems.