• THE MATERIALIST THEORY OF HISTORY

What are the forces at work in society which bring about revolution? How can we explain the dynamics of social change? Why do we say that social and political upheavals are inevitable in class-divided societies?

These are vital questions for revolutionaries to think about today. At a time when the imperialist world is desperately trying to “damp down” the explosive contradictions in southern Africa and deflect the course of the liberation movements into harmless, neocolonial channels, a scientific understanding of the nature of revolution is essential indeed, for the world of political struggle is a harsh one and it is not enough to tackle questions of social change simply in terms of what we would “like” to see happen or may “dream” about. Effective leadership of the forces of liberation rests upon an ability to creatively combine a careful and continuing analysis of particular events (e.g., the struggles of Soweto and the developments since June 16th, 1976 the twists and turns of U.S. strategy towards Zimbabwe and Namibia) with an overall understanding of the nature of revolution itself and the reasons for historical change.

It is because communists seek to link the particular with the general in this way that they can claim, in the words of the Manifesto, to “always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole”: if they form an advanced and resolute section of the movement, that is because theoretically

they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement.[1]

A precise understanding of particular events must be linked to an understanding of history and society itself.

Previous articles have looked at the principles of dialectical materialism and the way in which Marxist philosophy helps us understand the world in general: what must now be tackled is the way in which we relate dialectical materialism to the social development of man — the study of what is generally called “historical materialism” or “the materialist theory of history." An analysis of this theory must begin with a consideration of [...click "Next"]