Marx's Historical Materialism on Trial

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 1,0, Seoul National University, language: English, abstract: This essay looks at states and places in which there had been (or is said to happen) a transition between different modes of production, especially feudalism, capitalism, and socialism, with the aim of verifying or falsifying Marx's historical materialism. It begins with a short explanation of the historical materialism and its modes of production and theoretical arguments against the concept. Then it looks at all the political entities which called themselves socialist and communist. The countries which fit Marx's definition quite well can be divided into two groups: those that were feudalistic before the transition to another mode of production, and those that already were capitalistic before the transition. The essay will answer the question if the socialist states are becoming truly communist, or if the system is just stable, or if they are doomed to 'regress' to capitalism. For the capitalist countries, It will also research their future development: if they will become socialist, if they stay capitalist, or if they will regress to some form of feudalism. The research will show which of the possibilities have happened or are bound to happen, and therefore it is possible to say if the development predicted by Marx and Engels is realistic.