Historical Materialism

Historical Materialism is the second volume in a series of three works on Marxist philosophy by Maurice Cornforth entitled Dialectical Materialism: An Introduction. It begins by defining Scientific Socialism and the methodology at the basis of the Materialist Conception of History. It then deals with the principal concepts of social development—the mode of production, exploitation, classes, social-economic formations. It summarizes the basic law of the development of society discovered by Marx, and deals with the evolution of the social “superstructure” on the economic base. Lastly, it outlines the Marxist theory of Socialism and Communism.