Outline for ​Dialectical and Historical Materialism ​by J. V.

Stalin
These outlines are intended to be ​supplementary​ ​material, to be read alongside the
original text or as a study aide.

I. What is ​dialectical materialism?

A. Dialectical materialism is the philosophical basis for Marxism.
1. “It is called dialectical materialism because 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​.**​”
a) Dialectics* ​is a philosophical term for a method of studying and
understanding events that occur in the universe. We’ll get more
into that later.
b) Materialism**​ i​ s a philosophical term for the view that the
fundamental substance of the universe is matter, or material.
II. What is ​historical materialism?
A. “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​.”
1. Essentially, historical materialism is the application of dialectical
materialism to the study of history and social science.
III. The Marxist Dialectical Method in detail.
A. “Nature connected and determined.”
1. Dialectics holds that the fundamental nature of the world is
interconnected and all events are determined by causes.
a) This means that, thinking dialectically, events are understood
within the context of their causes and connections.
B. “Nature is in a state of continuous motion and change.”
1. Contrary to ​Zeno’s paradox of the arrow​ in Western metaphysics, which
argues that there is no such thing as motion, dialectics holds that nature
is constantly in a state of motion.
a) “...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.”
b) Thus, dialectics holds that things should be understood not only
through their connections to other things, but also through their
change over time.
C. “Natural quantitative change leads to qualitative change.”
1. A ​quantitative change​ is defined as a small, imperceptible change that
occurs within something, while a ​qualitative​ ​change​ is considered a
fundamental change.
a) Think of a pot of boiling water. When you first put the pot on the
stove, the water is qualitatively not boiling. Over time, the small
quantitative changes taking place within the water (rising
temperature), which are imperceptible, accumulate and boil over
(in a qualitative leap) into, qualitatively, boiling water.
b) Thus, the development of all things must be understood as “an
onward and upward movement, as a transition from an old
qualitative state to a new qualitative state, as a development
from the simple to the complex, from the lower to the higher.”
D. “Contradictions inherent in nature”
1. Dialectics holds that, within all things, there is a struggle of opposites
(contradictions) that causes (or, essentially ​is)​ their development.
E. “Everything depends on the conditions, time, and place”
1. Therefore, if we want to understand something, we must study the
material conditions and contradictions that led to the development of the
phenomena being observed.
2. “The slave system would be senseless, stupid and unnatural under
modern conditions. But under the conditions of a disintegrating primitive
communal system, the slave system is a quite understandable and
natural phenomenon, since it represents an advance on the primitive
communal system.” - Here, Stalin is not claiming that slavery was ​morally
justifiable, but was, to those societies in those contexts, an economic
necessity.
F. A note on comparing Marx’s dialectic to Hegel’s dialectic
1. While Hegel’s dialectic holds thoughts to be ultimate reality and the
“creator” of reality, Marx holds thoughts to be the human reflection of
reality, which is the material world.
a) “‘My dialectic method,’ says Marx, ‘is not only different from the
Hegelian, but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, ... the process of
thinking which, under the name of 'the Idea,' he even transforms
into an independent subject, is the demiurgos (creator) of the real
world, and the real world is only the external, phenomenal form of
'the Idea.' With me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing else than
the material world reflected by the human mind and translated
into forms of thought​.’”
IV. Marxist Philosophical Materialism
A. Materialist
1. "The materialistic outlook on nature," says Engels, "means no more than
simply conceiving nature just as it exists, without any foreign admixture."
(Marx and Engels, Vol. XIV, p. 651.)
B. Objective Reality
1. While philosophical idealism holds that reality only exists in our
consciousness, Marxist materialism holds that there ​is​ a material reality,
and that our consciousness is our subjective perception of that objective
reality.
2. Matter is primary, since it is the source of sensations, ideas,
consciousness, while consciousness is secondary, since it is a reflection of
matter, a reflection of being; that thought is a product of matter which in
its development has reached a high degree of perfection, namely, of the
brain, and ​the brain is the organ of thought​ - therefore, one cannot
separate thought from matter without committing a grave error.
C. The World and Its Laws are Knowable
1. Marxist dialectics holds that the world and the laws that govern it (i.e.,
the laws of physics) are knowable, and there is no level at which human
knowledge is limited by “things-in-themselves,” only levels of scientific
discovery that human knowledge has simply not obtained yet.
D. Implications
1. This means that the laws of the development of society are knowable,
and that the history of society is not an accidental sequence of events.
2. The study of the history of society thus becomes a “science,” since
society has developed according to discernable laws that are discoverable
through the dialectic method.
3. Therefore, the theories and actions of the “party of the proletariat,”
(socialists and communists) should not be guided by the wishes of great
individuals nor by abstract, eternal principles, but on the laws of the
development of society and practical applications deduced from the
study of those laws.
4. The source of social ideas, theories, political views and institutions are
the material world, and can only be understood through the material
conditions of society at a given stage of its development. This is because
consciousness is secondary and it follows that the social conscious is
secondary to material reality.
 a) “Whatever is the being of a society, whatever are the conditions
of material life of a society, such are the ideas, theories political
views and political institutions of that society.”
5. “The strength and vitality of Marxism-Leninism lies in the fact that it does
base its practical activity on the needs of the development of the
material life of society and never divorces itself from the real life of
society.”
6. This does not mean that social ideas, theories, political views and
institutions have no effect on the material life of society. Thus far, Stalin
has been writing on the origination of social ideas within the material life
of society. Dialectics stresses the role and importance of social theories
and institutions on material life, as well.
V. Historical Materialism
A. What are the distinguishing features of the “conditions of material life of
society?”
1. Geography
a) While geography has immense effects on the general form and
development of society, it is not the chief determining factor in
the development of society. This is because social changes occur
at a much faster rate than geographic changes.
2. Population growth and density
a) Population growth also has important effects on the development
of society, but is also not its chief determining force. This is
because population growth does not explain why global economic
practices change so precisely from one system to another.
Otherwise, China and India would have long surpassed the world
in social development.
B. What is the chief determinant force?
1. Historical materialism holds that the chief determinant force in the
character of a social system and the development of society is the
“method of procuring the means of life necessary for human existence,
the mode of production of material values.”
a) People need to produce basic material needs in order to live, as
well as the instruments needed to produce those material needs.
The people who produce such material needs must be trained
properly to use the instruments of production in order to produce
them. All of these together constitute the ​productive forces​ of
society.
 b) There are also relations between the people who participate
within the productive forces of society. These relations can be
free of exploitation, relationships of dominance and control, etc.
These relations are known as the ​relations of production​, and are
just as important to being an aspect of the ​mode of production
(which is the chief determinant force of the character of a social
system and the development of society) as the ​productive forces
are.
C. The first feature of production
1. Production never stays at one point for a long time and is always
changing/developing, and calling for changes to the mode of production
inevitably means calling for changes to the entire social/political system
surrounding production.
D. The second feature of production
1. The changes and development to production always begin with changes
and developments of the ​productive forces, s​ pecifically with
changes/development of new ​instruments of production.​
a) “First, the productive forces of society change and develop, and
then, depending on these changes and in conformity with them,
men's relations of production, their economic relations, change.”
2. If the ​relations of production​ do not change in line with the development
of the ​productive forces,​ economic crisis ensues.
a) This incongruity between the relations of production and the
productive forces constitutes the basis for ​social revolution.​
b) “Whatever are the productive forces such must be the relations of
production.”
E. Five main types of relation to production
1. Primitive communal system
a) The means of production are socially owned. The limitations of
stone tools and other primitive instruments of production forced
humans to work together in order to survive. Labor was
performed by everyone, and everyone sustained themselves off
of the fruit of that collective labor. Private ownership of
production, exploitation, and classes did not exist.
2. Slave system
a) The slave-owner owns the means of production as well as the
laborers. Since metal tools now existed, pasturage and tillage of
land followed. Products could now be exchanged between
societies, and so, wealth was no accumulated in the hands of the
 few. Slave-owners thus constitute the prime property-owners
with the development of private ownership.
3. Feudal system
a) The feudal lord owns the means of production, but no longer
completely owns the worker - though, he can still buy and sell the
worker. Workers in this time are expected to take initiative to
their work, as the labor and productive forces they engaged with
(ironworks, agriculture, horticulture, manufacture and workshops)
demand as such. Private property as a social concept and the
struggle between exploiter and exploited continue to develop.
4. Capitalist system
a) The capitalist owns the means of production, but not the workers,
and the capitalist cannot buy or sell the workers as they are
personally “free.” In order to survive, however, workers must sell
their labor to the capitalist. Machinery takeover mills and
factories. Since workers need to be educated enough to operate
these machines, social institutions emerge in order to produce
workers intelligent enough to operate the capitalist’s machines,
but still necessitate employment.
(1) There are further contradictions: “But having developed
productive forces to a tremendous extent, capitalism has
become enmeshed in contradictions which it is unable to
solve. By producing larger and larger quantities of
commodities, and reducing their prices, capitalism
intensifies competition, ruins the mass of small and
medium private owners, converts them into proletarians
and reduces their purchasing power, with the result that it
becomes impossible to dispose of the commodities
produced. On the other hand, by expanding production
and concentrating millions of workers in huge mills and
factories, capitalism lends the process of production a
social character and thus undermines its own foundation,
inasmuch as the social character of the process of
production demands the social ownership of the means of
production; yet the means of production remain private
capitalist property, which is incompatible with the social
character of the process of production.”
5. Socialist system
 a) Under the socialist mode of production, there is social ownership
of the means of production. Goods produced are distributed
according to labor performed. The process of production is
highlighted by cooperation, not competition. The ​relations of
production a​ re fully in line with the character of the ​productive
forces.​ There is no exploitation.
F. The third feature of production
1. The rise of new ​productive forces​ takes place not after the disappearance
of the old system, but ​within​ the old system.
2. The rise of new productive forces takes place spontaneously and
independently of human intentions. Why?
a) People can’t choose which mode of production to participate in.
Everyone is born into a dominant mode of production and often
grows up to accept it, as many generations of their families have
before.
b) Most people are concerned with their day-to-day activities, and
seldom consider the social implications of their work. This goes
too for inventors and innovators, who do not consider the
long-term social implications of their creations.