The evolution of slave – owning resulted in the establish ment of a whole system of slave trading . Slave markets sprang up in Rome and in other regions . Foreign trade prevailed . Agricultural produce and luxuries were imported from the many Roman ” provinces ” ( conquered regions and dependent countries ) , while Rome exported metal implements , wine and olive oil . Imports were greater than exports . However , the lack of exports was compensated for by outright pillage of the conquered lands and , in particular , by the influx of large sums of money . By seizing the silver mines of Spain , Rome was provided with a permanent source of mint . The growth of commerce and money in circulation Created usurious capital . Companies of tax – farmers , the so – called publicans , were formed to carry out various operations involving credit and usury . Money – changers ‘ shops , sprang up everywhere . Their owners not only changed coins , but banked money , provided loans at an interest and remitted sums . Persons whose occupation was commerce and usury gradually formed a separate estate of the ruling class ,
Growth of Population and the Development of Society
The existence of society and the production of material values are impossible unless there is a constant propagation of the human race. From this point of view the population , its growth and density are a natural condition of the material life of society , with a definite influence upon its development . Thus , in sparsely populated areas the development of society may be retarded , due to the difficulties in establishing economic ties among the people , while the development of production may lag , because the dissemination of production experience and skills is very slow . Finally, a low density of population can slow down the development of society, because there will simply not be enough people to counteract the forces of nature. Thus, it was impossible to build irrigation systems and use the power of rivers for producing material values for society in sparsely populated areas, since the labor force was insufficient. However, it does not follow that density of population determines the level of development of a given society. There are many countries with more or less equal populations and a similar figure for density of population but which are at different levels of development . There are countries with a lower density of population which in economic and social develop ment are ahead of countries with a higher density of population. Thus , the density of population is lower in the Soviet Union than in several countries of Western Europe , though the U.S.S.R. is farther ahead in its development . The influence of growth and density of population differ at various stages of social development . Under the primitive communal system , when human society was emerging , when man was helpless in the face of nature and production was , to a great extent , dependent upon the simple co – operation of the producers , when the productive skills and experience of primitive man were still negligible and the exchange of skills and experience played a tremendous role in the devel opment of production , the density and growth of population were comparatively more important to the evolution of society . During successive stages in the history of mankind the density and growth of population became less important to social development and merely created the necessary condi tions for a given rate of growth in the production of material values . In turn , the development of society and the produc tion of material values actively influence the density and growth of population ,
In the 19th century the workers used various methods of and struggle – demonstrations , meetings , strikes armed uprisings – to defend their economic and political interests . Two forms of working – class struggle were correspondingly distinguished : an economic struggle , i.e. , a struggle for their immediate interests ( raise in wages , shortening of the working day , normal housing conditions , etc. ) , and a political struggle , i.e. , a struggle for altering the policy of the government and the existing system . In the course of this struggle workers set up their own organisations – trade unions and different associations . The types of organisations , the effectiveness of their work and their ties with the masses depended on concrete historical conditions – the political system of the given country , the struggle experience of the working class , the economic conditions of its existence , etc. On the whole , however , the working – class movement of that time developed spontaneously . The workers did not as yet have a common outlook upon the world , society and its development , and the historical role of their class ; nor did they have a common ideology . The workers ‘ actions were therefore disunited and usually failed . At the same time the workers of the different countries lived under similar economic conditions . The workers became carriers of a new social mode of production which made the private method of appropriation of the products of social labour unneces sary and harmful . That created an objective necessity for the working class to elaborate its own ideology that was fundamentally opposed to the ideology of the bourgeoisie , which strove to retain private ownership of the instruments and means of production . Bourgeois ideologists regard capitalist society as the highest stage of development and cannot conceive humanity existing without private property . It follows that for successful struggle against the bour geoisie the working class must work out its own ideology and come to realise its historical mission of changing the social system . This task can be accomplished only by ideologists of the working class – people who do not work manually and understand the historical necessity for replacing the capitalist system by a new , socialist system based on social ownership of the instruments of labour and means of production .
The Oligarchy ( Sparta ) The entire population of Sparta was divided into three large groups : the Spartiates , who were full – fledged citizens , the perioeci , who were free but had no political rights , and the helots , who were , to all extents and purposes , the slaves of the Spartiates . The Spartan communes owned all the land , and each member had his own holding . The possession of land in Sparta was a prerequisite for citizenship . The land was tilled by the helots , who received but a small share of the harvest . In order to keep the helots in constant fear and submission , the Spartiates would regularly organise bloody massacres . The helots , as the land they tilled , were considered to be the community property of the Spartiates , who could neither sell them nor assign them to someone else . The helots often mutinied ; thus , the major uprising of 464 B.C. nearly led to the downfall of the Spartiates . The perioeci , who enjoyed personal freedom , were crafts men and traders . Unlike the Spartiates , they had the right to own property ; they also could join the Spartan army . However , they did not enjoy political rights and were obliged to pay a tribute to the Spartiates . Although the Spartiates comprised but a small part of the population , there was an influential and wealthy group among them . The two kings who headed the Spartan community belonged to this group . The kings were simply members of the council of elders ( gerousia ) , the highest governing body of the oligarchal rule . At the end of the 7th century B.C. Sparta headed the Pelo ponnesian League , which included the city – states of Pelopon nes . Sparta , a backward slave state , became the stronghold of reaction in Greece , the Spartiates attempted to establish and support the rule of the slave – owning aristocracy in all the polises .
At the beginning of the present era the Mayan tribes had a highly developed civilisation , a conglomeration of city states , on the Yucatán Peninsula and the surrounding territory . Each Mayan state consisted of a city and outlying region . The ruler of the state was endowed with supreme legislative , executive , juridical and religious power . The priests and warrior chieftains were his closest aides . Slavery was widespread . Warfare , the slave trade and debtors ‘ slavery were the chief sources for acquiring new slaves . The enslavement of various ” criminals ” , a practice common in ancient China , was to be found here as well . Merchants made up a significant part of Mayan society . There were no metal ores in the Yucatán but there was a lively exchange among the Mayas and the neighbouring tribes , with cocoa beans serving as the unit of exchange . Slash and burn agriculture was the basis of the Mayan economy . The Mayas were excellent tillers . They grew fruit , beans , cotton and cocoa and produced many strains of maize . Mayan craftsmen were magnificent weavers , ewellers , weapon – makers , masons , carvers in bone , wood and stone , and masters at creating feather head – dresses , etc. As there was a great scarcity of metal , they made various utensils , arti facts and weapons from obsidian ( natural glass ) , known for its amazing durability . The religious ceremonies of the Mayas were both complex and colourful . The many fierce gods that demanded ever new human sacrifices were needed to suppress and frighten the masses and slaves , to keep them in blind submission . However , there is evidence that within the Mayan city states a class struggle was taking place . The storing of knowledge combined with the practical needs of an agricultural civilisation produced the rudiments of mathematics , astronomy and history . The Mayas invented an accounting system based on units of twenty : they also invented a symbol for zero . The Mayan calendar charted the year to within a minute , which means it was more accurate than our own modern calendar . The Mayas invented a widely used hieroglyphic system of their own . Every twenty years a ing twenty – year period were recorded on it . The Mayas had books made of long strips of a special type of paper that were folded like a fan . A thousand such manuscript books were burned at the instigation of the Spanish Catholic clergy . The Mayas created magnificent architectural and sculptural monuments and amazing frescos . The dissociation of the Mayan people and the constant enmity between the various states made it possible for the Spanish colonialists to conquer the Yucatán and the out lying regions and to destroy the highly developed , unique culture of the Mayas .
The defeat of the revolutions in France , Germany and Italy was followed by a period of reaction . But the working class was no longer the former unconscious and unorganised class and did not want to be led by the bourgeoisie which betrayed it at every opportunity . The leaders of the proletariat – Marx and Engels and their adherents – learned serious lessons from the defeats of the revolutions of 1848. The experience of the struggle of the proletariat confirmed the correctness of the theoretical conclusion drawn in the Mani festo of the Communist Party on the necessity of uniting the workers of all lands . For this purpose Marx and Engels organised the International ( September 28 , 1864 ) , the first international association of workers based on the Union of Communists founded as early as 1847. The Constituent Manifesto and Rules ( drawn up by Marx ) of the International Association of Workers , as the International was initially called , contained the basic propositions of Marxism on the working class and its main mission of winning political power by common efforts and of building a new society . The International was organised on principles of democratic centralism , i.e. , elec tion of all bodies from top to bottom and subordination of the lower bodies to the higher bodies . The International was divided into national sections which were supposed to pursue the single line of the International . The very first steps of the International showed the workers its usefulness ; if a strike was organised in one place or one country , the workers of other countries sup ported the strikers , kept strikebreakers away from there , etc. The International grew increasingly more popular with each passing day . But the International also encountered quite a few difficulties in its activities . Many participants of the working class movement did not understand scientific communism and were under the influence of various petty – bourgeois theories . For example , the workers were considerably influenced by the theories of Proudhon and Lassalle who advocated only an economic struggle against the bourgeoisie . Marx and Engels showed that a purely economic struggle of the working class might bring only temporary success , but could not change the conditions of the workers , could not bolish exploitation . Only the assumption of power by the working class and abolition of private property is the yoke of capitalism . However , Marx did not in any way deny the importance of the economic struggle of the constituent element of the class struggle of the proletariat .He never advocated only violent revolutions , as it is incorrectly ascribed to him in the West , but held that with the existence of democratic liberties the working class could also assume power peacefully . Marx’s adherents in the Inter national therefore always strove to maintain close relations with trade unions and other organisations of the working class . The importance of the International was enormous . It played an important role in linking socialism with the working – class movement and in elaborating common tactics of the proletariat in its struggle for emancipation . The principle of proletarian internationalism is one of the foundations of the modern working – class movement . Within the framework of the International Marxism prevailed upon all the petty – bourgeois trends in socialism . The International paved the way for the creation of mass working – class socialist parties on the basis of national states .
Origin and Development of a Revolutionary Situation
Origin and Development of a Revolutionary Situation primarily the living standards of the peasants and workers . The crisis of Russia’s economic development affected The yoke of feudal obligations kept increasing . The countryside continuously starved because of crop failures , loss of cattle and lack of arable land and pastures . The poverty of the peasants led to epidemics , increased morbidity and mortality , and a decreased birth – rate . The serf system destroyed the rural workers , the most important productive force of the society of that time . The worsening of the peasants ‘ conditions stimulated their struggle against the landowners . The peasants refused to pay quit – rent and to perform the feudal services , ran away from the landowners , set fire to the landowners ‘ estates , beat and killed the serf – owners and their stewards . Between 1826 and 1861 , there were 1,186 serf uprisings . The disturbances involved almost every part of the country . In the outlying national districts this movement merged with the struggle of the peoples against national oppression ( Cauca sus , Poland , etc. ) . The struggle of the peasants was supported by workers who experienced the oppression , brutality and arbitrary rule not only of the proprietors and factory administration , but also of the landowners . The Russian peasants struggled for land and freedom , i.e. for abolition of the feudal dependence . Objectively these demands of the peasants were aimed at creating favourable conditions for the development of capitalism in Russia . The actions of peasants and workers were savagely suppressed by tsarism . The laws , prisons , army and all the policies of the landowner state defended the interests of the land- and serf – owners and hampered the development of new produc tion relations in Russia . The socio – economic development of the country required the removal of these obstacles by a social force which was interested in creating new production relations . The peasants were heterogeneous and disunited ; they were concerned only with their local interests and therefore could not combine their efforts to wage a revolutionary struggle for their demands . Only the working class could be the revolutionary leader of the peasantry , but at that time Russia had as yet no working class . The Russian bourgeoisie interested in the capitalist development of the country was economically and politically weak . By its origin it was in large measure connected with the landowner class . It had good knowledge of the bourgeois revolutions in Western Europe , saw the increasing struggle of the West – European proletariat and therefore feared the revolution . Afraid of a peasant war the Russian bourgeoisie only tried through the lips of liberals to persuade the land owners and tsarist officials to make a concession to capitalist development , to ” emancipate ” peasantry and thereby avoid revolution , abolition of landowners ‘ property rights and liquidation of autocracy . The aggravation of the crisis of the serf system led to a new stage of the revolutionary movement in Russia . The spokesmen for the peasantry in the 1840s – 60s were progres sive intellectuals who were cognisant of the aspirations of the labouring peasants . They stemmed from the petty clergy , officialdom , petty bourgeoisie , merchants , peasantry and declassed nobility and were revolutionary democrats by conviction . They were fully aware of the savagery of serfdom and unmasked it . They formulated the demands of the peasants as a programme of complete abolition of serfdom and of making land available to peasants without redeeming it from the landowners . The revolutionary democrats exposed the serf character of the projected ” emancipation of the Russian peasants from above . Many of them held that the people could obtain satisfaction of their demands only by abolishing the landowners ‘ property a rights and overthrowing the power of the land and serf owners by means of a peasant revolution . The Russian revolutionary democrats acted at the time when the revolutionary character of the bourgeois democracy in Europe was already dying off . The experience of the West showed them the miseries capitalism brought to the people . In connection with this , some of them who did not understand the new way of revolutionary development , in which the principal role is played by the proletariat , brought forward the utopian theory of a ” peasant socialism ” . In this theory the exposure of serfdom and the criticism and rejection of the capitalist system were combined with demand for a transition from backward Russian reality directly to socialism through development of the peasant community , which existed in Russia , with its ” everybody’s right to land ” , self – government , etc. The ideas of ” peasant socialism ” reflected the revolutionary aspirations of the peasants to equality , abolition of the landowners ‘ property rights and overthrow of the rule of the land- and serf owners . But this theory was far from scientific socialism because it rested on survivals of old social relations , on the disintegrating peasant community . Russia’s road to socialism ran through the stage of capitalist development . The revolutionary democrats – A . I. Herzen , V. G. Belinsky , N. G. Chernyshevsky and N. A. Dobrolyubov – deeply hated serfdom and tsarism and called on all progressive Russians to struggle against autocracy . Chernyshevsky demanded complete abolition of serfdom without redemption , complete freedom and a free transfer of all the land to the peasants . By castigating autocracy and serfdom the revolutionary democrats educated the progressive intellectual youth in a radical spirit and the youth started organising political circles . The proclamations of the revolutionary democrats unmasked the contemplated deal between tsarism and the landowners . Cheryshevsky called on the peasants to rise against tsarism and serfdom . ” Tell the Russian people to take up battle – axes , ” Chernyshevsky taught the revolution aries . The heroic efforts of the democratic forces in Russia did not suffice to organise and lead the struggling peasantry : The peasants waged a bitter struggle for land and freedom , which attested the existence of a revolutionary situation in Russia , but they were not organised politically and were incapable of overthrowing serfdom . Despite that the revolutionary upsurge was one of the most important factors that forced the landowners to abolish serfdom in Russia .
In the 1860s the relations between the northern industrial states and the southern slave owning states became extremely strained . The development of the northern states proceeded in the direction of industry and farming and was based on a system of hired labour . Contrariwise , the plantation economy of the southern states was based on slave labour . The slave plantation economy was conducted by predatory methods . The planters used no fertiliser and every three or four years started cultivating new lands , abandoning the old ones . This system of economy required vast spaces . The slave – owning planters moved westward , as did the farmers from the eastern and north – eastern states and the emigrants from Europe . The antagonisms between the farmers and slave – owning planters were becoming sharply aggravated in the struggle for the lands in the West . There were also sharp antagonisms between the industrial bourgeoisie of the North and the North – East and the slave owning planters . Slave – owning impeded the economic development of the southern states , which affected the volume of the internal market for the industry of the North and North – East . The capitalists of the northern states were extremely short of labour and regarded the Negro slaves as their future wage – workers . The southern planters exported cotton , tobacco and other products to England and from there imported the necessary industrial commodities . That roused the discontent of the capitalists of the North and North – East since such foreign trade of the South deprived the northern manufacturers of markets and sources of raw materials . The slave – owning plantation system experienced a deep crisis . The extensive methods of agricultural economy on the plantations of the South exhausted the land . Slave labour on which the slave – owning plantation system was based hampered the introduction of new agricultural machinery . Great difficulties in purchasing slaves arose , the average price of a slave , which was 150 dollars in the beginning of the 19th century , increasing to 2,000 dollars in 1860 , The slaves revolted and ran away from the plantations . The slave – owning planters did not confine themselves to domi nation in the southern states , but moved westward with the aim of expanding their plantations . In its domestic and foreign policies the government of the U.S.A. supported the interests of the slave – owners and encouraged the slave – trade . The slave – owning planters demanded an aggressive expan sionist foreign policy and advocated a programme of per petuating slavery . They regarded the aggressive war of 1846 48 against Mexico as the first stage of transforming South and Central America into a province of their slave – owning empire . The Republican Party which was organised in the North in 1854 and expressed in the main the interests of the big bourgeoisie , advocated the opening of lands in the West to free settling and opposed slavery . In 1860 Abraham Lincoln , Vice – President of the Republican Party and Member of the House of Representatives , was elected President of the U.S.A.
CIVIL WAR OF 1861-65 IN THE U.S.A. Causes of the War
The American Civil War , especially during its second stage , was of the nature of a bourgeois – democratic revolu tion . The popular masses waged a just revolutionary war of liberation against slavery , and victory was achieved by their heroic efforts . Workers , Negroes and farmers formed the main driving force of the revolution under the leadership of the progressive bourgeoisie . As the result of the vigorous actions of the popular masses the Civil War put an end to the political and economic disunion of the country , created the possibilities for rapid development of capitalism by eliminating the obstacles which hindered the transformation of the U.S.A. from an agrarian country into an industrial agrarian country , and contributed to the farmer ( so – called American ) way of development of capitalism in agriculture . The Civil War consolidated the political dominion of the country’s big industrial bourgeoisie by eliminating the claims of the slave – owners to power . The fruits of victory were reaped mainly by the big bourgeoisie which strove for a compromise with the planters . In 1865-66 the planters introduced anti – Negro ” black codes ” , set up Ku Klux Klan terrorist organisations , etc. Freed from slavery but devoid of land the Negroes found themselves in bondage to the planters and transformed into share croppers . The dependence of the farmers on banks increased . The big bourgeoisie consolidated its dictatorship and enriched itself by intensifying the exploitation of workers . The Civil War tremendously influenced the economic development of the U.S.A. In the last third of the 19th century capitalism in the U.S.A. developed uncommonly rapidly . In 1840 the U.S.A. held the world’s fifth place in industrial output ; in 1860 they advanced to fourth place . Until the end of the Civil War the U.S.A. were economically a European colony . In 1870 the U.S.A. were second in industrial production only to England , while in 1894 they became the world’s leading industrial power , turning out half the total industrial production of the capitalist countries . From 1860 to 1895 industrial production in the U.S.A. increased sevenfold . The following reasons for the rapid development of capitalism in the U.S.A. should be mentioned : long exist ence of a bourgeois – democratic republic ; absence of feudalism ; enrichment as the result of many wars in Europe ; chances to utilise European technology and capital ; rich natural resources ; rapid development of engineering ; immigration of millions of Europeans , Asians and Latin Americans ( more than 14 million immigrants came to the U.S.A. between 1860 and 1900 ) ; cruel exploitation of immigrants , Negroes and Indians ; plunder of neighbouring states and territories .
Trade Relations Trade relations were first established between countries situated along the sea coasts and the banks of rivers . At the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. the Phoenician slave owning city – states of the Mediterranean were chiefly commercial traders . They had established trade relations with Asia Minor , Cyprus , Crete , Greece and other Mediterranean coun tries . They bought silver , lead and iron in Asia Minor , copper in Cyprus , etc. In ancient times well – travelled trade routes which bound distant countries were established in Asia and Africa . The so – called ” spice route ” was a caravan route from Southern Arabia and the cities of the Mediterranean East Coast along the Red Sea Coast to the North . The trade was in lamp – oil , myrrh , Indian and African spices , gold and , later , slaves . Another caravan route from Southern Arabia led to Meso potamia . Merchants ferried their goods from East Africa across the narrow Bab el Mandeb Strait and then sent them on northward . The ancient caravan route through Central Asia connected China with Iran and the Mediterranean countries . The Chinese goods imported were metals , leather and , chiefly , silks . This route came to be known as the ” silk route ” . Central Asia was also a trading centre of note during the Kushan Kingdom . Kushan merchants took glass and jewel lery to China . Central Asia established trading ties with India , with the countries of the Mediterranean East Coast , Eastern Europe and the Roman Empire . The development of commodity exchange further increased economic inequality . In order to eke out a living , the poor were forced to rent their tools from the rich , to borrow money from them , etc. Non – payment of one’s debts meant debtors servitude . Thus , the army of slaves was swelled . Those who lent out money , on the other hand , were becoming ever richer , they were turning into usurers , persons who consciously amassed great sums in order to lend them out at great interest .
Capitalism Society 