The signing of the Anglo – Russian agreement completed the creation of the Entente as an imperialist bloc of England , France and Russia . A period of bitter struggle between the two imperialist groups began . However , there were such great contradictions within the groups themselves ( disagree ments between Italy and Austria – Hungary over Tyrol , the Adriatic coast and other territories ) that Italy began to seek support from the Entente countries , and during World War I left the Triple Alliance and joined the Entente . There were disagreements also within the Entente . Russia was dissatis fied with the striving of England and France to prevent Russia’s access to the Black Sea Straits ( Bosporus and Dardanelles ) which had long been the aim of expansion of Russian tsarism . Despite the agreement on the division of spheres of influence in Africa reached by England and France , certain disagreements between the two countries persisted . The United States of America legally observed neutrality , although they actually sided with the Entente because they considered German imperialism the greatest threat to their own interests .
By the 6th century B.C. more or less similar religious beliefs were held in common in all regions inhabited by the Greeks . These beliefs formed the basis of the Olympian religion , so called after Mount Olympus which was believed to be the home of the Gods , headed by Zeus . The Olympian religion was not connected with any organised religious body , dogma or ritual . The temples of the gods , though of definite significance in the religious lives of the people , did not , how ever , form a single system ; likewise , there was no special strata of religious attendants , no high priests . When necessary , persons chosen by the popular assembly carried out various religious functions . By making the gods human , the Olympian religion was able to penetrate deep into the masses and influence the working people . In time the cult of the Olympian gods became the official religion of the Greek polises , sanctifying the class suppression of the slaves and poor labourers . The masses , dissatisfied with their lack of civil rights , often coun tered the official religion by inaugurating cults of their own patron gods . Such , for instance , was the cult of Dionisius , patron of the tiller , in whose honour feasts and celebrations were held . This religious dissention can be considered the prototype of all later religious heresies .
Articulate human speech evolved in the processes of labour . Human thought and consciousness have the quality of abstract thinking , i.e. , a generalised reflection of reality in concepts , expressed in words . This capacity for abstract thought made it possible to express an idea , a sum of impressions in words , and with their aid man could inform other human beings of his impressions . However , this ability to communicate his thoughts to another human being through the aid of words was insufficient to stimulate speech . What was lacking was the necessity to communicate one’s thoughts to another . This necessity arose and developed in the process of man’s conscious labour . Labour was always a social activity . The work of a single human being was an integral part of the life of the human community . The unity of a commune of human beings in productive labour resulted in the fact that the individual in his mind , thoughts and actions regarded himself as a member of the commune , as subservient to it . That is why in the process of collective labour people felt the need to com municate with each other , to speak to each other . In the beginning , various shouts and cries used in the process of labour and arising from various actions were the sole means of communication . These cries gradually became established and remembered . This , in turn , brought about a change in the corresponding human organs . Under the in fluence of the pressing need to communicate in the process of common labour , the undeveloped throat was gradually transformed into an organ capable of producing articulate sounds . Thus , as a result of collective labour over a great period of time , articulate speech gradually evolved as a means of exchanging thoughts , as a means of human associa tion . Speech was of tremendous significance in the further development of society , since it helped to unite man’s efforts in labour as well as in organising collective labour ; speech made it possible for man to retain and pass on to coming generations his labour experience . Since the history of primitive society is a history of small , isolated human communities , the language of each such com munity developed independently and was unlike the language of other communities .
In the 19th century archeologists discovered the remains of extinct , highly developed primates called Dryopithecinae , or tree apes . Charles Darwin , the great English naturalist , and his followers analysed the evolution of the animal world over the course of many centuries and used these discoveries to scientifically prove the biological relationship between man and the animal world , as well as man’s evolution from the highly developed tossil apes . The proof of this theory was to be found in the data provided by anatomy , embryology , paleontology and , specifically , by the basic similarity of skel etal structure , brain development and the composition of the blood of modern man and the anthropoid apes . The develop ment of modern science has proved the validity of this mate rialist theory magnificently .
Tiahuanaco Tiahuanaco ,erroneously referred to as the Inca Empire , was the largest slave state of America . The history of Tiahuanaco has been grossly distorted . In a number of Latin American and other countries the theory of the ” socialist ” , or even ” communist ” system of Tiahuanaco is taught in the schools and universities . It is not difficult to see through these class – inspired allegations . LuisBoudin of France , one of the chief proponents of this theory , has writ ten the following : ” in this practically socialist system it is often difficult to draw the line between a freeman and a slave . What was the social system of the Incasreally like ? Tiahuanaco encompassed all of present – day Peru and Equador and a great part of Bolivia , Argentina and Chile . The Inca tribe considered themselves to be descendents of the Sun and the Moon and were the ruling tribe of the state . They were headed by a supreme ruler , the Sapa Inca ( Only Inca ) , or Inca . The Inca ruled over millions of his subjects , over peoples and tribes . He was the defender of the slave – own ing class , which consisted of the Inca warrior chieftains , officials and priests . The Incas waged constant wars , subjugating the neighbouring Indian tribes and peoples . They resettled some of them in other lands and turned them into slaves ( ” black people ” ) . According to ancient legend , six thousand Indians were first turned into slaves for taking part in an uprising against the SapaInca . The children of slaves were born into slavery . The commune was the social and economic unit of society . but , as in the countries of Asia and Africa , the status of a freeman in the Inca slave state was not much different from that of a slave . The freemen were compelled to give one third of their harvest to the Inca and another third to the Sun ( the priests ) ; besides , they had to support the local chieftains . Thus , the tiller could retain less than a third of what he produced . The communes were charged with keep ing the irrigation systems in good repair , with building new canals , providing workers for the mines , road repair and construction . Freemen were not allowed to trayelfreely , they were only permitted to eat the foods the officials and chieftains decreed they could and had to wear a specific type of clothing . The Sapa Inca , the Inca nobility , the priests and the nobility of the tribes that had voluntarily accepted Inca rule lived in glittering splendour in magnificent palaces and temples lavishly adorned with gold and precious stones and built by slaves and freemen . A staggering amount of material values created by the freemen and slaves and appropriated by the slave – owning Inca state was used for the upkeep of the great army and state apparatus . The history of Tiahuanaco is full of incidents reflecting a bitter class struggle . One such incident was the mutiny of the conquered tribes against the despotion .The Tiahuanaco civilisation was very advanced for its time . Irrigated agriculture was the basis of the Inca economy . There were numerous canals , the mountain slopes were trans formed into vast irrigated terraces by the skilful hands of the labourers . There is indication , that the inhabitants of Tiahaanacoeven watered their meadows . The Incas raised numer ous vegetables , among them maize and manioc , several varie ties of potatoes , pepper , medicinal herbs , etc. They used guano for fertiliser . Unlike the various other regions of America , animal hus bandry was widely developed , with the llama and similar breeds most popular : there were also several varieties of domestic fowl . The majority of llama herds were the sole . inviolable property of the Sapa Inca . The Incas used their great herds of llamas as beasts of burden : like the other peoples of America , they did not know the use of the wheel , though they did know the geometric representation of a circle . The Inca weavers , builders , potters and smelters were exquisite masters of their trade . Inca buildings were all but indestructible . The Incas reduced and refined gold , copper , lead and tin . Existing data lead us to believe that they knew how to smelt meteorite iron ore and were about to produce their first iron from ore . The vast territory of the Inca state was criss – crossed by broad ( 5-6 metres ) roads . There were bridges , most of which were suspension bridges . across the rivers and .gorges that crossed the roads . Water transport was one of the major means of transporta tion . There were skilfully made dug – outs and sailing boats . as well as rafts which sailed up and down the rivers and lakes . The Incas also embarked on distant sea voyages on their great rafts . There is good reason to believe that Inca seafarers reached Central America and Mexico . Though these voyages were aimed at extending trade , both home and foreign trade was at a low level of development . Barter was the chief farm of trade . The monetary unit in use was a The Incas , as the Mayas , had a hieroglyphic system of weiting . However , it was known only to the Sapa Inca and a small number of high officials and priests . There were various commonly known means of transmitting informa tion and keeping accounts , and the most widely accepted system was the so called knotted cord writing known asquipu . . There were oral literary works and the dance , music , and sculpture were all highly developed . Dramatic presentations were very popular . The Inca calendar had 365 days and was divided into 12 months , each of which was divided into four ” weeks ” . The year began with the December opposition . Tiahuanaco and its flourishing civilisation fell victim to the Spanish invaders who profited by the lack of unity among the various Indian tribes . Equally important was the suprem acy of Spanish arms . The Indians had never seen firearms or horses and during the first battles especially both wrought terror in the Indian camp .
The bourgeois revolutions on the European continent led feudal fetters were torn off the capitalist production rela to the downfall of feudalism in a number of countries . The tions and the way for their rapid development was cleared . In the countries where the first bourgeois revolutions occurred , and under their influence in other countries , as the capitalist relations matured , capitalist industry rapidly developed . This development did not consist in a mere increase in the number of enterprises employing wage workers or in a mere increase in the volume of production . The character of this development and its results were of much greater significance to society . The bourgeois revolutions destroyed the obstacles to the development of the productive forces , and considerably accelerated the growth of these forces and brought about a revolution in technology , i.e. , the invention of the machine . The development of capitalist industry , consequently , meant the replacement of manual labour , which predominated in the capitalist manufactories , by machine labour . The change from the manufactory stage of capitalism with its manual technology to the machine industry is called the industrial revolution . In this case the term ” revolution ” is used because the replacement of manual labour with machine labour considerably influenced the development of the socio – economic relations of the time , which in a certain measure determined the fate of capitalism .
Germany on the Eve of the Revolution In the 1840s there had as yet been no bourgeois revolution in Germany. The country was broken up into a number of independent states. The German Union formally unified 34 German states and four free cities. The supreme body of the Union was the Bundestag which exercised practically no power; It had no army, no legal rights and no diplomatic representatives abroad. The decisions of the Bundestag came into effect only after their approval by the heads of all the states and cities. In other words , no centralized state – basis for the development of capitalism – had as yet formed in Germany ; The country had no single internal market and the trade relations between the various German states were hampered by customs barriers. Under those conditions the development of capitalism in Germany encountered great difficulties . A customs union unifying 18 German states with a population of 23 million formed only in 1818-34 . The industry and cities developed slowly . For example , in the 1840s the 12 largest cities of Germany had a slightly larger population than Paris . In the middle of the 19th century the industrial revolution in Germany was only going through its initial stage. The German bourgeoisie was faced with the problem of carrying out a bourgeois revolution , creating a centralised state and winning power . However , the cowardly German bourgeoisie preferred not to raise the question of altering the political system , but to pursue a course of reforms . The German working class , which developed later than the working classes of England and France , began its struggle in the middle of the 19th century ; it tried to set up its own organisations and came out with its own demands . Owing to the severe police regime the German workers set up their organisations abroad , in Switzerland and England , where the political system was more democratic , and tried to guide the working – class movement from there . One of these organisations was the German People’s Union but , like the others , this organisation had weak ties with the workers of the German states and therefore could not exercise any practical guidance of the working – class movement . At the same time the workers began to struggle for their rights openly . The workers of Silesia ( the best developed area in Germany ) who lived under intolerable economic conditions rose against the capitalists in 1844 , but the government immediately dispatched troops to defend the interests of the exploiters . In the middle of the 19th century German industry advanced from the manufactory stage to machine produc tion , and its further development now depended on how rapidly feudalism was abolished in the country . Since the the necessary reforms , a government of the German Union was unwilling to carry out Germany . revolution was impending in Germany.
The import of large quantities of goods to the oppressed countries enlivened the commodity – money relations in them . The local feudal lords and tribal chiefs began to use the market increasingly more often . The result of that was an intensified exploitation of the peasantry , its pauperisation and often ruination . Under the direct pressure of foreign capital ists , the colonial administration and the country’s own feudal lords , middlemen and usurers , peasants had to produce raw materials and foodstuffs for the capitalist market and sell them at uncommonly low prices . The slightest fluctuation in the capitalist market affected the conditions of the peasants in the colonies and semicolonies . The flooding of the colonies and semicolonies with large quantities of industrial commodities from the parent states which were , of course , unable to compete with the industries led to a decline of the local handicrafts and manufactories of the advanced countries . Thus the marketing of the articles manufactured in the parent states impeded the industrial declined together with the handicrafts . Not only the peasants development of Asia , Africa and Latin America . Local trade and handicraftsmen , but even the local bourgeoisie was becoming impoverished , except the part of the bourgeoisie which began to play the role of an intermediary in the trade between the colonialists and the subjugated peoples ( the so – called comprador bourgeoisie ) . ” Free trade ” was the main , but not the only method of exploiting the colonies . Capitalism also developed a system of plantation economy ( West – Indies , Indonesia , India , etc. ) and organised land plunder of the colonies and their settle ment by way of ” free ” colonisation ( Algeria , South Africa , etc. ) . In the countries of plantation economy the English and French colonialists had to abolish slavery which had completely outlived itself , was unproductive and was incapable of making the plantations more profitable . But even after the abolition of slavery the former slaves and the new contract workers from China and India were subjected to monstrous exploitation , continued to live under inhuman conditions and died en masse of starvation and disease . Whereas after abolition of slavery the English and French planters used a system of labour contracts , the Dutch colonialists in Indonesia , where the local population was employed as labour power , introduced a system of forced labour . Usually 5-10 villages were attached to an enterprise which processed raw material . The population was forced to supply the enterprise with raw material and labour power . During the period of pre – monopoly capital , when the main form of economic relations between the parent states and the colonies was ” free trade ” , capitalist relations did not as yet develop in the colonies . At the same time , having been drawn into world trade , the colonies were becoming an exploited part of the forming world capitalist system .
It was during the third medieval period that the productive forces reached a level at which capitalist relations became widespread in the midst of the feudal economy. This process is related to the emergence of the bourgeoisie, the class which owned the means and instruments of production, and the proletariat, the class of hired workers, deprived of these means and forced to sell the capitalist their labour power. The capitalist-owner of the means and instruments of pro- duction-began forcing the worker to labour more than was necessary to sustain his own life and the life of his family. As a result, surplus value was created and was appropriated by the capitalist. This appropriation of surplus value is a spe- cific form of exploitation under capitalism and is its basic law.
The second way of development of capitalism in agriculture is slower and harder for the peasants . In this case the landowners remain the dominant force in the countryside and , as a rule , in the whole of the country . The greater part of the land is owned by landowners , while the peasants are transformed from serfs into farm hands or tenants . Only a negligible number of rich peasants embark on the path of capitalist exploitation and use hired labour . This way of capitalist development in agriculture is connected with the existence of reactionary political systems , domination of the landowners ‘ class . The most typical of this way of capitalist development in agriculture were Germany , especially Prussia , and tsarist Russia . Neither in Germany nor in Russia ( until 1917 ) was the agrarian problem solved in a revolutionary way . That is why the development of bourgeois relations in the agriculture of these countries was the result not of a revolutionary over throw of feudalism , but of a slow and tormenting for the peasantry development of serf forms of exploitation into capitalist forms . In Prussia serfdom was abolished in 1806 , but the feudal obligations actually existed until the middle of the 19th century . A law on redeeming the feudal obligations was passed only in 1850 , and the peasants paid the land owners 1,000 million marks . These enormous sums received by the landowners from the peasants accelerated the trans formation of the landowners ‘ estates into capitalist farms and at the same time ruined many peasants . A similar picture was observed in Russia after the ” emancipation ” of the peasants in 1861 . The landowners ‘ way of development of capitalism in agriculture means persistence of the survivals of feudalism in the economy and the political system of the state . Elimina tion of these survivals becomes one of the objectives of the revolutionary movement .
Capitalism Society 