1. The essence of the socio-economic formation

The category of socio-economic formation occupies a central place in historical materialism. It is characterized, firstly, by historicism and, secondly, by the fact that it embraces each society in its entirety. The development of this category by the founders of historical materialism made it possible to replace abstract reasoning about society in general, characteristic of previous philosophers and economists, with a concrete analysis of various types of society, the development of which is subject to their specific laws.

Each socio-economic formation is a special social organism that differs from others no less deeply than different biological species differ from each other. In the afterword to the 2nd edition of Capital, K. Marx quoted a statement from a Russian reviewer of the book, according to whom its true value lies in “... clarifying those particular laws that govern the emergence, existence, development, death of a given social organism and its replacement by another , the highest."

In contrast to categories such as productive forces, state, law, etc., which reflect various aspects of the life of society, the socio-economic formation covers All aspects of social life in their organic interrelation. Each socio-economic formation is based on a certain method of production. Production relations, taken in their totality, form the essence of this formation. The system of these production relations that form the economic basis of the socio-economic formation corresponds to a political, legal and ideological superstructure and certain forms of social consciousness. The structure of a socio-economic formation organically includes not only economic, but also all social relations that exist in a given society, as well as certain forms of life, family, and lifestyle. With a revolution in the economic conditions of production, with a change in the economic basis of society (beginning with a change in the productive forces of society, which at a certain stage of their development come into conflict with existing relations of production), a revolution occurs in the entire superstructure.

The study of socio-economic formations makes it possible to notice repetition in the social orders of different countries that are at the same stage of social development. And this made it possible, according to V.I. Lenin, to move from a description of social phenomena to a strictly scientific analysis of them, exploring what is characteristic, for example, of all capitalist countries, and highlighting what distinguishes one capitalist country from another. The specific laws of development of each socio-economic formation are at the same time common to all countries in which it exists or is established. For example, there are no special laws for each individual capitalist country (USA, UK, France, etc.). However, there are differences in the forms of manifestation of these laws, resulting from specific historical conditions and national characteristics.

2. Development of the concept of socio-economic formation

The concept of “socio-economic formation” was introduced into science by K. Marx and F. Engels. The idea of ​​stages of human history, distinguished by forms of property, first put forward by them in “The German Ideology” (1845-46), runs through the works “The Poverty of Philosophy” (1847), “Manifesto of the Communist Party” (1847-48), “Wage Labor and Capital "(1849) and is most fully expressed in the preface to the work "On the Critique of Political Economy" (1858-59). Here Marx showed that each formation is a developing social-productive organism, and also showed how movement from one formation to another occurs.

In Capital, the doctrine of socio-economic formations is deeply substantiated and proven by the example of the analysis of one formation - capitalist. Marx did not limit himself to the study of the production relations of this formation, but showed “... the capitalist social formation as living - with its everyday aspects, with the actual social manifestation of the class antagonism inherent in production relations, with the bourgeois political superstructure protecting the dominance of the capitalist class, with the bourgeois ideas of freedom and equality etc., with bourgeois family relationships."

A specific idea of ​​the change in socio-economic formations in world history was developed and refined by the founders of Marxism as scientific knowledge accumulated. In the 50-60s. 19th century Marx considered Asian, ancient, feudal and bourgeois modes of production as “...progressive eras of economic social formation.” When the studies of A. Haxthausen, G. L. Maurer, M. M. Kovalevsky showed the presence of a community in all countries, and in various historical periods, including feudalism, and L. G. Morgan discovered a classless tribal society, Marx and Engels clarified their specific idea of socio-economic formation (80s). In Engels’s work “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” (1884), the term “Asian mode of production” is absent, the concept of the primitive communal system is introduced, it is noted that “... the three great eras of civilization” (which replaced the primitive communal system) are characterized by “... three great forms enslavement...": slavery - in the ancient world, serfdom - in the Middle Ages, wage labor - in modern times.

Having already identified communism in his early works as a special formation based on public ownership of the means of production, and scientifically substantiating the need to replace the capitalist formation with communism, Marx later, especially in the “Critique of the Gotha Program” (1875), developed the thesis about the two phases of communism.

V.I. Lenin, who paid much attention to the Marxist theory of socio-economic formations starting from his early works (“What are “friends of the people” and how do they fight against the Social Democrats?”, 1894), summed up the idea of ​​​​a concrete change of formations preceding communist formation, in the lecture “On the State” (1919). He generally agreed with the concept of socio-economic formation contained in “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State”, highlighting as successively one another: a society without classes - a primitive society; a society based on slavery is a slave-owning society; a society based on serf exploitation - a feudal system and, finally, a capitalist society.

In the late 20s - early 30s. Discussions took place among Soviet scientists about socio-economic formations. Some authors defended the idea of ​​a special formation of “merchant capitalism” that supposedly lay between the feudal and capitalist systems; others defended the theory of the “Asian mode of production” as a formation that supposedly arose in a number of countries with the decomposition of the primitive communal system; still others, criticizing both the concept of “merchant capitalism” and the concept of the “Asian mode of production”, themselves tried to introduce a new formation - “serfdom”, the place of which, in their opinion, was between the feudal and capitalist systems. These concepts did not meet with the support of most scientists. As a result of the discussion, a scheme for changing socio-economic formations was adopted, corresponding to that contained in Lenin’s work “On the State”.

Thus, the following idea of ​​formations successively replacing each other was established: primitive communal system, slaveholding system, feudalism, capitalism, communism (its first phase is socialism, the second, highest stage of development is communist society).

The subject of a lively debate that has unfolded since the 60s. Among Marxist scientists of the USSR and a number of other countries, the problem of pre-capitalist formations again arose. During the discussions, some of its participants defended the point of view about the existence of a special formation of the Asian mode of production, some questioned the existence of the slave system as a special formation, and finally, a point of view was expressed that actually merged the slave and feudal formations into a single pre-capitalist formation. But none of these hypotheses was supported by sufficient evidence and did not form the basis of specific historical research.

3. The sequence of changes in socio-economic formations

Based on a generalization of the history of human development, Marxism identified the following main socio-economic formations that form the stages of historical progress: primitive communal system, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist, the first phase of which is socialism.

The primitive communal system is the first non-antagonistic socio-economic formation through which all peoples without exception passed. As a result of its decomposition, a transition to class, antagonistic socio-economic formations takes place.

“Bourgeois relations of production,” Marx wrote, “are the last antagonistic form of the social process of production... The prehistory of human society ends with the bourgeois social formation.” It is naturally replaced, as Marx and Engels foresaw, by a communist formation that reveals truly human history. The communist formation, the stage of formation and development of which is socialism, for the first time in history creates conditions for the unlimited progress of mankind based on the elimination of social inequality and the accelerated development of productive forces.

The consistent change of socio-economic formations is explained primarily by antagonistic contradictions between new productive forces and outdated production relations, which at a certain stage turn from forms of development into fetters of productive forces. At the same time, the general law discovered by Marx operates, according to which not a single socio-economic formation dies before all the productive forces for which it provides enough space have developed, and new, higher relations of production never appear before they are in the bosom of the old societies, the material conditions of their existence will mature.

The transition from one socio-economic formation to another is accomplished through a social revolution, which resolves the antagonistic contradictions between productive forces and production relations, as well as between the base and the superstructure.

In contrast to the change of socio-economic formations, the change of various phases (stages) within the same formation (for example, pre-monopoly capitalism - imperialism) occurs without social revolutions, although it represents a qualitative leap. Within the framework of the communist formation, socialism grows into communism, carried out gradually and systematically, as a consciously directed natural process.

4. Diversity of historical development

The Marxist-Leninist doctrine of socio-economic formation provides the key to understanding the unity and diversity of human history. The successive change of the named formations forms the main line of human progress, which determines its unity. At the same time, the development of individual countries and peoples is distinguished by significant diversity, which is manifested, firstly, in the fact that not every people necessarily passes through all class formations, secondly, in the existence of varieties or local characteristics, thirdly, in availability of various transitional forms from one socio-economic formation to another.

Transitional states of society are usually characterized by the presence of various socio-economic structures, which, unlike a fully established economic system, do not cover the entire economy and everyday life as a whole. They can represent both the remnants of an old and the embryos of a new socio-economic formation. History does not know “pure” formations. For example, there is no “pure” capitalism, in which there would be no elements and remnants of past eras - feudalism and even pre-feudal relations - elements and material prerequisites of the new communist formation.

To this should be added the specificity of the development of the same formation among different peoples (for example, the tribal system of the Slavs and ancient Germans differs sharply from the tribal system of the Saxons or Scandinavians at the beginning of the Middle Ages, the peoples of Ancient India or the peoples of the Middle East, Indian tribes in America or nationalities Africa, etc.).

Various forms of combination of old and new in each historical era, various connections of a given country with other countries and various forms and degrees of external influence on its development, and finally, features of historical development determined by the totality of natural, ethnic, social, everyday, cultural and other factors , and the commonality of fate and traditions of the people they define, which distinguishes it from other peoples, testify to how diverse the characteristics and historical destinies of different peoples going through the same socio-economic formation are.

The diversity of historical development is associated not only with the difference in the specific conditions of the countries of the world, but also with the simultaneous existence in some of them of different social orders, as a result of the uneven pace of historical development. Throughout history, there has been interaction between countries and peoples who have gone forward and those who have lagged behind in their development, because a new socio-economic formation has always been established first in individual countries or a group of countries. This interaction was of a very different nature: it accelerated or, conversely, slowed down the course of historical development of individual peoples.

All peoples have a common starting point of development - the primitive communal system. All peoples of the Earth will ultimately come to communism. At the same time, a number of peoples bypass certain class socio-economic formations (for example, the ancient Germans and Slavs, Mongols and other tribes and nationalities - the slave system as a special socio-economic formation; some of them also feudalism). At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between historical phenomena of unequal order: firstly, such cases when the natural process of development of certain peoples was forcibly interrupted by their conquest by more developed states (as, for example, the development of Indian tribes in North America and nationalities was interrupted by the invasion of European conquerors Latin America, Aborigines in Australia, etc.); secondly, such processes when peoples who had previously lagged behind in their development received the opportunity, due to certain favorable historical conditions, to catch up with those who had gone ahead.

5. Periods in socio-economic formations

Each formation has its own stages, stages of development. Over the millennia of its existence, primitive society has gone from a human horde to a tribal system and a rural community. Capitalist society - from manufacture to machine production, from the era of the dominance of free competition to the era of monopoly capitalism, which developed into state-monopoly capitalism. The communist formation has two main phases - socialism and communism. Each such stage of development is associated with the emergence of some important features and even specific patterns, which, without canceling the general sociological laws of the socio-economic formation as a whole, introduce something qualitatively new into its development, strengthen the effect of some patterns and weaken the effect of others, make certain changes in the social the structure of society, the social organization of labor, the way of life of people, modify the superstructure of society, etc. Such stages in the development of a socio-economic formation are usually called periods or epochs. Scientific periodization of historical processes must therefore proceed not only from the alternation of formations, but also from eras or periods within these formations.

The concept of an era as a stage in the development of a socio-economic formation should be distinguished from the concept world historical era. The world-historical process at any given moment presents a more complex picture than the process of development in a single country. The world development process includes different peoples at different stages of development.

A socio-economic formation denotes a certain stage in the development of society, and a world-historical era is a certain period of history during which, due to the unevenness of the historical process, various formations can temporarily exist next to each other. At the same time, however, the main meaning and content of each era is characterized by “... which class stands at the center of this or that era, determining its main content, the main direction of its development, the main features of the historical situation of a given era, etc.” . The character of a world-historical era is determined by those economic relations and social forces that determine the direction and, to an ever-increasing degree, the nature of the historical process in a given historical period. In the 17th-18th centuries. capitalist relations did not yet dominate the world, but they and the classes they generated, already determining the direction of world-historical development, had a decisive influence on the entire process of world development. Therefore, from this time the world-historical era of capitalism dates back to a stage in world history.

At the same time, each historical era is characterized by a variety of social phenomena, contains typical and atypical phenomena, in each era there are separate partial movements, now forward, now backward, various deviations from the average type and pace of movement. There are also transitional eras in history from one socio-economic formation to another.

6. Transition from one formation to another

The transition from one socio-economic formation to another is carried out in a revolutionary way.

In cases where socio-economic formations same type(for example, slavery, feudalism, capitalism are based on the exploitation of workers by the owners of the means of production), there can be a process of gradual maturation of a new society in the bowels of the old (for example, capitalism in the bowels of feudalism), but the completion of the transition from the old society to the new acts as a revolutionary leap.

With a radical change in economic and all other relations, the social revolution is particularly profound (see Socialist revolution) and marks the beginning of an entire transition period, during which a revolutionary transformation of society is carried out and the foundations of socialism are created. The content and duration of this transition period are determined by the level of economic and cultural development of the country, the severity of class conflicts, the international situation, etc.

Due to the unevenness of historical development, the transformation of various aspects of social life does not coincide entirely in time. Thus, in the 20th century, an attempt at a socialist transformation of society took place in relatively less developed countries, forced to catch up with the most developed capitalist countries that had advanced in technical and economic terms.

In world history, transitional eras are the same natural phenomenon as established socio-economic formations, and in their totality cover significant periods of history.

Each new formation, denying the previous one, preserves and develops all its achievements in the field of material and spiritual culture. The transition from one formation to another, capable of creating higher production capacities, a more perfect system of economic, political and ideological relations, constitutes the content of historical progress.

7. The importance of the theory of socio-economic formations

The methodological significance of the theory of socio-economic formations lies, first of all, in the fact that it allows one to isolate material social relations as determining ones from the system of all other relations, to establish the recurrence of social phenomena, and to clarify the laws underlying this recurrence. This makes it possible to approach the development of society as a natural historical process. At the same time, it allows us to reveal the structure of society and the functions of its constituent elements, to identify the system and interaction of all social relations.

Secondly, the theory of socio-economic formations allows us to resolve the issue of the relationship between general sociological laws of development and the specific laws of a particular formation.

Thirdly, the theory of socio-economic formations provides a scientific basis for the theory of class struggle, allows us to identify which methods of production give rise to classes and which ones, what are the conditions for the emergence and destruction of classes.

Fourthly, a socio-economic formation makes it possible to establish not only the unity of social relations among peoples at the same stage of development, but also to identify specific national and historical features of the development of a formation among a particular people, distinguishing the history of this people from the history of others peoples

stage of progressive human development. society, representing the totality of all societies. phenomena in their organic. unity and interaction based on this method of production of material goods; one of the main categories of historical materialism. See Socio-economic formation.

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Socio-economic formation

a historically certain type of society, which is based on a certain method of production and production relations that determine all the main spheres of social, political, spiritual, etc. people's lives. One of the central categories of Marxism, according to which the history of the progressive development of society includes the succession of primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist formations, each of which has its own laws of emergence and development.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORMATION

a fundamental category in Marxism is a stage (period, era) in the development of human society. It is characterized by a combination of economic base, socio-political and ideological superstructure (forms of statehood, religion, culture, moral and ethical standards). A type of society that represents a special stage in its development. Marxism views the history of mankind as a successive change of primitive communal, slave systems, feudalism, capitalism and communism - the highest form of social progress.

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Socio-economic formation (SEF)

a historical type of society, which is a certain stage in the progressive development of humanity, based on a certain method of production with its base and superstructure.

According to the representative of this approach, K. Marx, the decisive factor in social development is the basis (the economic system of society, representing a certain system of historically determined production relations), which determines the corresponding type of superstructure elements (superstructure - a set of ideological relations and views - politics, law, morality, religion, philosophy, art and their corresponding organizations and institutions).

Depending on the types of economic basis, the following types of formations are distinguished: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, bourgeois and communist

Each formation corresponds to a certain type of production relations. Their change due to the improvement of the method of production (the method of creating material wealth) leads to a social revolution, to a transition from one formation to another. For example: the invention of the steam engine led to the emergence of fundamentally new tools of labor (machine tools), to the emergence of machine (factory production), and the transition from feudal to capitalist OEF.

The most important factor determining the type of state in this approach is its class essence (i.e., the interests of which class the state expresses), as well as the presence or absence of private property and commodity production.

The first OEF was a primitive communal one, but it knew neither private property, nor commodity production, nor classes, therefore there was no primitive type of state and the typology of states begins with the slaveholding and then each of the formations corresponds to its own historical type of state.

Slave owners and slaves, feudal lords and serfs, capitalists and the proletariat represent the main classes of the slave-owning, feudal and bourgeois OEF; there are antagonistic (irreconcilable) contradictions between them and therefore class struggle is inevitable.

The class struggle, during which the role of the masses, in particular the working class, is continuously strengthened should lead to a socialist revolution, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, which will ensure the transition to a classless communist OEF, where everyone is equal.

The advantages of this typology: 1) the very idea of ​​analyzing the historical process on the basis of socio-economic factors that really significantly influence society is productive; 2) shows the gradual, natural-historical nature of the development of society.

Weaknesses: 1) it is characterized by excessive programming; meanwhile, history does not always “fit” into the schemes drawn for it. There have always been and still are many transitional types in the world that “do not fit” into the framework of one or another formation (for example: Kievan Rus in the 10th-12th centuries); 2) only the bourgeois socio-economic formation had a universal character. Pure slave states existed only in Greece and Rome, feudal states only in Europe. The socialist state never became the highest type of state. 3) there is no explanation for very important differences between states of the same formation; 4) spiritual factors (religious, national, cultural, etc.) are underestimated.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORMATION

socio-economic, public) is the most important category of historical materialism, denoting a certain stage of progressive development of human society, namely such a set of societies. phenomena, the basis of the cut is the method of production of material goods that determines this formation and the cut is characterized by its own, inherent only to it types of political, legal. and other organizations and institutions, their ideological. relationship. The concept of "F. o.-e." introduced into science by K. Marx and F. Engels. The idea of ​​stages of human history, distinguished by forms of property, first put forward by them in “The German Ideology” (1845-46), runs through the works “The Poverty of Philosophy” (1847), “Manifesto of the Communist Party” (1847-48), “Wage Labor and Capital " (1849) and is most fully expressed in the preface to the work "On the Critique of Political Economy" (1858-59). Here Marx showed that each formation represents a developing social production. an organism, a certain system - with its own method of producing material goods, its own type of production. relations, the totality of which constitutes economic. the structure of society, the real basis, over which the Crimea rises juridically. and political superstructure and to which certain forms of societies correspond. consciousness. Marx also showed how movement occurs from one formation to another, as with a revolution in economics. production conditions, with changes in economics. the foundations of society (starting with a change in the productive forces of society, which at a certain stage of their development come into conflict with existing production relations), a revolution occurs in the entire superstructure (see K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, 2nd ed. ., vol. 13, pp. 6-7). In Capital the doctrine of F. o.-e. deeply substantiated and proven by the example of the analysis of one formation - capitalist. Marx did not limit himself to the study of production. relations of this formation, but showed “... the capitalist social formation as living - with its everyday aspects, with the actual social manifestation of the class antagonism inherent in production relations, with the bourgeois political superstructure that protects the dominance of the capitalist class, with the bourgeois ideas of freedom, equality, etc. etc., with bourgeois family relations" (Lenin V.I., Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 1, p. 139 (vol. 1, p. 124)). The doctrine of F. o.-e. contains in concentrated form the Marxist idea of ​​the material basis of societies. development and its most important laws. Burzh. science denies the concept of F. O.-E., which leaves no room for idealism. interpretations of history process. About F. o.-e. see also Art. Historical materialism (especially the section Basic theoretical principles of historical materialism). A specific idea of ​​the change in the world history of F. o.-e. developed and refined by the founders of Marxism as scientific knowledge accumulated. knowledge. In the 50-60s. 19th century Marx considered Asian, ancient, feudal and bourgeois modes of production as “...progressive eras of economic social formation” (see K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, 2nd ed., vol. 13, p. 7). When the studies of A. Haxthausen, G. L. Maurer, M. M. Kovalevsky showed the presence of a community in all countries, and in different historical sources. periods, including feudalism, and L. G. Morgan discovered a classless clan society, Marx and Engels clarified their specific idea of ​​\u200b\u200bF. o.-e. (80s). In Engels's work "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" (1884), the term "Asian mode of production" is absent, the concept of the primitive communal system is introduced, and it is noted that "... the three great eras of civilization" (which replaced the primitive communal system) are characterized by ".. .three great forms of enslavement...": slavery - in the ancient world, serfdom - in the Middle Ages, wage labor - in modern times (see F. Engels, ibid., vol. 21, p. 175). Having already identified communism in his early works as a special formation based on societies. ownership of the means of production, and scientifically substantiating the need for a change in capitalist. F.o.-e. communism, Marx later, especially in “Critique of the Gotha Program” (1875), developed a thesis about 2 phases of communism. V. I. Lenin, who paid great attention to the Marxist theory of F. o.-e. starting with his early works (“What are “friends of the people” and how do they fight against the Social Democrats?”, 1894), he summarized the idea of ​​​​the concrete change of the F. o.-e., preceding communist. formations, in the lecture “On the State” (1919). He generally agreed with the concept of F. o.-e., contained in “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State,” highlighting as successively one another: a society without classes - a primitive society; a society based on slavery is a slave-owning society; a society based on serfdom. exploitation - feud. system and, finally, capitalist society. In con. 20 - beginning 30s among the owls scientists have had discussions about F. o.-e. Some authors defended the idea of ​​a special formation of “merchant capitalism” that supposedly lay between the feudal. and capitalistic formation; others defended the theory of the “Asian mode of production” as a formation that supposedly arose in a number of countries with the decomposition of the primitive communal system (L. I. Magyar); still others, criticizing both the concept of “merchant capitalism” and the concept of the “Asian mode of production” (S. M. Dubrovsky), themselves tried to introduce a new economic economic system. - “serfdom”, a place cut, in their opinion, was between feudal. and capitalistic we are building. These concepts did not meet with the support of most scientists. As a result of the discussion, a scheme for changing the F. o.-e. was adopted, corresponding to that contained in Lenin’s work “On the State”. So it was confirmed. the following idea of ​​the F. o.-e., successively replacing each other: the primitive communal system, the slave system, feudalism, capitalism, communism (its first phase is socialism, the second, the highest stage of development, is communist society). Selection of basic periods of world history - antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern and modern times - are ultimately associated with the change of F. o.-e. But due to the wide variety of development paths, the department. countries and regions, the indicated periods in world history correspond to the formations underlying them only in general terms (for example, the beginning of the period of modern history is determined by the entry into the capitalist path of one advanced country - England, although the rest of the world was dominated - sometimes even long time - pre-capitalist relations; the beginning of modern history dates back to the Great October Socialist Revolution, although in the rest of the world pre-socialist relations still existed, etc.). The Marxist idea of ​​the change of the F. o.-e., bearing in mind the general development of mankind along the path of progress, assumes at the same time that in history each specific country follows its own path and can bypass certain stages. For example, German and glory peoples moved directly from the primitive communal system to the feudal one. In the modern period, after the revolution of 1921, Mongolia passed through the period of late feudalism and capitalism with the help of the USSR. formation and began to build socialism; an example of certain Sov nationalities. The North shows the peoples of young Africans. and Asian states (the path of non-capitalist development opens before them) the prospect of transition from feudalism. and even from the dofeod. forms, bypassing capitalist. stage - to socialism. Material accumulated by source. science to 2nd half. 20th century, set before Marxist scientists the task of further developing ideas about political economics and clarifying certain provisions. The subject of a lively debate that has unfolded since the 60s. Among Marxist scientists of the USSR and a number of other countries, the problem of pre-capitalism has once again emerged. formations. During the discussions, some of its participants defended the point of view about the existence of a special formation of the Asian mode of production, some questioned the existence of slave owners. building as a special formation, a point of view was finally expressed that actually merged the slave owners. and feud. F.o.-e. into a single pre-capitalist formation (for more details, see art. Slave system, see lit. there). But none of these hypotheses is supported by sufficient evidence and does not form the basis of a specific historical theory. research. The attention of historians and sociologists is also drawn to specific problems associated with the analysis of various forms and features of the transition from one political economy to economics. to the other, wearing a revolutionary. character. Lit. (except as indicated in the article): Ganovsky S., Socio-economic formation and peaceful coexistence, trans. from Bulgarian, M., 1964; Zhukov E.M., Lenin and the concept of “epoch” in world history, “NNI”, 1965, No. 5; him, Some questions of the theory of socio-economic formations, "Communist", 1973, No. 11; Bagaturia G. A., Marx’s first great discovery. Formation and development of a materialist understanding of history, in the book: Marx - historian, M., 1968; The principle of historicism in the knowledge of social phenomena, M., 1972; Barg M. B., Chernyak E. B., Structure and development of class-antagonistic formations, "VF", 1967; No. 6; Hoffmann E., Zwei aktuelle Probleme der geschichtlichen Entwicklungsfolge fortschreitenden Gesellschafts- formationen, "ZG", 1968, H. 10; Mohr H., Zur Rolle von Ideologie und Kultur bei der Charakterisierung und Periodisierung der vorkapitalistischen Gesellschaften, "Ethnographisch-Arch?ologische Zeitschrift", 1971, No. 1. V. N. Nikiforov. Moscow.

There are 5 formations in total. These are: primitive communal society, slaveholding formation, feudal society, capitalist system and communism.

a) Primitive communal society.

Engels characterizes this stage of development of society as follows: “here there is no place for domination and enslavement... there is still no distinction between rights and duties... the population is extremely rare... the division of labor is of purely natural origin; it exists only between the sexes.” All “pressing” issues are resolved by age-old customs; There is universal equality and freedom, the poor and needy do not. As Marx says, the condition for the existence of these social-production relations is “a low level of development of the productive forces of labor and the corresponding limitation of people within the framework of the material process of life production.”

As soon as tribal alliances begin to take shape, or barter trade with neighbors begins, this social system is replaced by the next.

b) Slave-owning formation.

Slaves are the same tools of labor, simply endowed with the ability to speak. Property inequality appears, private ownership of land and means of production (both in the hands of masters), the first two classes - masters and slaves. The dominance of one class over another is especially clearly manifested through constant humiliation and abuse of slaves.

As soon as slavery ceases to pay for itself, as soon as the slave trade market disappears, this system is literally destroyed, as we saw in the example of Rome, which fell under the pressure of barbarians from the east.

c) Feudal society.

The basis of the system is land ownership, together with the labor of serfs chained to it and the own labor of artisans. Hierarchical land ownership is characteristic, although the division of labor was insignificant (princes, nobles, clergy, serfs - in the village and masters, journeymen, apprentices - in the city). It differs from the slave-owning formation in that serfs, unlike slaves, were the owners of the tools of labor.

“Personal dependence here characterizes both the social relations of material production and the spheres of life based on it,” and “the state here is the supreme owner of the land. Sovereignty here is land ownership concentrated on a national scale.”

Necessary conditions for feudal production:

1. subsistence farming;

2. the producer must be the owner of the means of production and be attached to the land;

3. personal dependence;

4. poor and routine state of technology.

As soon as agriculture and handicraft production reach such a level that they begin to no longer fit within the existing framework (the fief of the feudal lord, the guild of artisans), the first manufactories appear and this marks the emergence of a new socio-economic formation.

d) Capitalist system.

“Capitalism is the process of production of the material conditions of existence of human life and... the process of production and reproduction of the production relations themselves, and thereby the bearers of this process, the material conditions of their existence and their mutual relations.”

Four main features of capitalism:

1) Concentration of the means of production in a few hands;

2) Cooperation, division of labor, hired labor;

3) Expropriation;

4) Alienation of production conditions from the direct producer.

“The development of the productive forces of social labor is a historical task and the justification of capital.”

The basis of capitalism is free competition. But the goal of capital is to make as much profit as possible. Accordingly, monopolies are formed. Nobody talks about competition anymore - the system is changing.

e) Communism and socialism.

The main slogan: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Lenin later added new symbolic features of socialism. According to him, under socialism “the exploitation of man by man is impossible... whoever does not work does not eat... with an equal amount of labor, an equal amount of product.”

The difference between socialism and communism is that the organization of production is based on common ownership of all means of production.

Well, communism is the highest stage of development of socialism. “We call communism such an order when people get used to performing public duties without special coercive apparatus, when free work for the common benefit becomes a universal phenomenon.”

a historical type of society based on a certain method of production, a stage of progressive development of humanity from the primitive communal system through the slave system, feudalism and capitalism - to the communist formation, this is not a society in general, not an abstract society, but a concrete one, functioning according to certain laws as a single social organism.

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/D/Okonomische Gesellschaftsformation; /E/ Socioeconomic formation; /F/ Formation economy et sociale; /Esp./ Formacion economico social.

A category that reflects the relationship between basic and superstructural social relations, the primacy of the former in relation to the latter. In epistemological terms, such a division allows us to reflect the specifics of cause and effect relationships in social life. In the most general form, a socio-economic formation can be defined as a society at a certain stage of historical development.

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Socio-economic formation

by - a society at a certain stage of historical development. Typically, primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist formations were distinguished. Although individual elements and examples of production (social) relations inherent in a particular formation can probably be found at any historical time.

From the point of view of the diatropic approach to the process of cognition, the formational description of society seems quite acceptable. Another thing is that it is probably possible to distinguish some intermediate or other forms, for example: socialism, ancient bureaucratic formations of China (eastern type), nomadic, etc.

Associative block.

But it is quite possible to identify a stage of development of man and society when the basis for obtaining material resources is the robbery of other people and nations.

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Socio-economic formation

a holistic concrete historical stage of development of society. O.e.f. - the basic concept of the social philosophy of Marxism, according to which the history of human society is a sequence of naturally replacing each other O.E.F.: primitive, slaveholding, feudal, bourgeois-capitalist and communist. This provision forms the basis of the law of formational development of society. Structure of O.e.f. constitute the economic basis, i.e. a method of social production and a socio-ideological superstructure, including political and legal ideas, relationships and institutions, over which the forms of social consciousness rise: morality, art, religion, science, philosophy. Thus O.e.f. represents a society at a specific historical stage of its development, functioning as an integral social system on the basis of its inherent mode of production.

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SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FORMATION

a historical type of society, based on a certain method of production and acting as a stage in the progressive development of humanity from the primitive communal system through the slave system, feudalism and capitalism to the communist formation. The concept “e0.-e. f.” first developed by Marxism and constitutes the cornerstone of the materialist understanding of history. It allows, firstly, to distinguish one period of history from another and, instead of discussing “society in general,” to study historical events within the framework of certain formations; secondly, to reveal the common and essential features of different countries that are at the same stage of development of production (for example, in capitalist England, France, Germany, the USA, etc.), and therefore, use the general scientific criterion of repeatability in the study, the application of which to social science is denied by subjectivists; thirdly, in contrast to eclectic theories that consider society as a mechanical set of social phenomena (family, state, church, etc.), and the historical process as a result of the influence of various factors (natural conditions or enlightenment, the development of trade or birth genius, etc.), the concept of “O.-e. f.” allows us to consider the human society in each period of its development as a single “social organism”, which includes all social phenomena in their organic unity and interaction based on the method of production. Finally, fourthly, it allows us to reduce the aspirations and actions of individual people to the actions of large masses, classes, the interests of which are determined by their place in the system of social relations of a given formation. The concept of “O.-e. f.” does not provide specific knowledge about the history of a particular country, a particular region or humanity as a whole, but it formulates the basic. theoretical and methodological principles that require a consistent scientific analysis of historical facts. The use of this concept is incompatible with the imposition of any a priori schemes and subjective constructions on historical knowledge. Each O.-e. f. has its own special laws of origin and development. At the same time, in each formation there are general laws that link them into a single process of world history. This especially applies to the communist formation, the stage of formation and development of which is socialism. Currently, in the course of revolutionary perestroika, a new idea of ​​socialism and, accordingly, of communist O.-e. is being formed. f. Ch. the goal is to overcome utopian views, to soberly take into account the reality and duration of the processes of formation and development of socialism and the communist formation as a whole.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORMATION

the central concept of the Marxist theory of society or historical materialism: “... a society at a certain stage of historical development, a society with a unique, distinctive character.” Through the concept of O.E.F. ideas about society as a specific system were recorded and at the same time the main periods of its historical development were identified. It was believed that any social phenomenon can be correctly understood only in connection with a certain O.E.F., an element or product of which it is. The term “formation” itself was borrowed by Marx from geology. Completed theory of O.E.F. not formulated by Marx, however, if we summarize his various statements, we can conclude that Marx distinguished three eras or formations of world history according to the criterion of dominant production relations (forms of property): 1) primary formation (archaic pre-class societies); 2) secondary, or “economic” social formation, based on private property and commodity exchange and including Asian, ancient, feudal and capitalist modes of production; 3) communist formation. Marx paid main attention to the “economic” formation, and within its framework, to the bourgeois system. At the same time, social relations were reduced to economic ones (“base”), and world history was viewed as a movement through social revolutions to a predetermined phase - communism. The term O.E.F. introduced by Plekhanov and Lenin. Lenin, generally following the logic of Marx’s concept, significantly simplified and narrowed it, identifying O.E.F. with the mode of production and reducing it to a system of production relations. Canonization of the O.E.F. concept in the form of the so-called “five-member structure” was implemented by Stalin in the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”. Representatives of historical materialism believed that the concept of O.E.F. allows us to notice repetition in history and thereby give it a strictly scientific analysis. The change of formations forms the main line of progress; formations die due to internal antagonisms, but with the advent of communism, the law of change of formations ceases to operate. As a result of the transformation of Marx's hypothesis into an infallible dogma, formational reductionism was established in Soviet social science, i.e. reduction of the entire diversity of the human world only to formational characteristics, which was expressed in the absolutization of the role of the common in history, the analysis of all social connections along the basis - superstructure line, ignoring the human beginning of history and the free choice of people. In its established form, the concept of O.E.F. together with the idea of ​​linear progress that gave birth to it, already belongs to the history of social thought. However, overcoming formational dogma does not mean abandoning the formulation and solution of questions of social typology. Types of society and its nature, depending on the tasks being solved, can be distinguished according to various criteria, including socio-economic ones. It is important to remember the high degree of abstraction of such theoretical constructs, their schematic nature, the inadmissibility of their ontologization, direct identification with reality, and also their use for constructing social forecasts and developing specific political tactics. If this is not taken into account, then the result, as experience shows, is social deformation and disaster.

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Socio-economic formation

the category of historical materialism, expressing a materialistic understanding of history, representing society as an organic integrity corresponding to a certain stage of development of world history. Category F. o.-e. presents the result of a study of society from the position of materialist dialectics, which allowed Marx and Engels to overcome the abstract ahistorical approach to understanding social life, discover general and specific laws of social development, and establish continuity between different stages of history. Development of F. o.-e. and the transition from one F. o.-e. to the other, in Marxist philosophy it is considered as a natural historical process, as the logic of history. F.o.-e. - this is a social-production organic integrity with its own method of material production, with its own special production relations, its own forms of social organization of labor, stable forms of community of people and relationships between them, specific forms of management, organization of family relations, certain forms of social consciousness. The system-forming principle of F. o.-e. is the method of production. A change in the method of production determines a change in the f. o.-e. Marx identified five F. o.-e. as stages of the progressive development of human society: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, bourgeois and communist. At the initial stage of history, labor is unproductive, so all members of society are equal in their poverty (primitive communism). Based on the improvement of the tools of labor and the social division of labor, its productivity increases and a surplus product appears, and with it the struggle for its appropriation. Thus, a class struggle arises for the right of ownership of the instruments of production, during which the state emerges as an instrument of class domination, as well as a certain ideology as a spiritual justification and consolidation of the privileged position of certain social groups in society. F.o.-e. - an ideal model of historical development, in history there have not been and do not exist “pure” F. o.-e., at any stage of history in society there are both dominant social relations characteristic of the dominant mode of production, as well as remnants of the past mode of production and emerging new production relations. In a particular society, various formational elements, various economic structures, and various elements of government structure coexist. In this regard, Marx’s position on the Asian mode of production is characteristic, about which a common point of view has not yet been developed even among Marxist researchers. The difference in the forms of combination of new and old, progressive and reactionary, revolutionary and conservative, connections with other countries, and historical features make the social life of each country unique, despite its belonging to the F. o.e. common to a number of countries. In addition, every F. o.-e. has its own stages of development, stages, tempo and rhythm. However, despite the unique historical situation in each country, any society has a certain socio-economic structure (scheme). The economic basis of the F. o.-e. are economic, production, material relations between people that arise in the production process. They form the economic basis of the F. o.-e. (the economic “skeleton” of society), which determines the ideological, political and legal superstructure and associated forms of social consciousness. Economic relations are, first of all, relations of property and regarding property, enshrined in political and legal norms, the observance of which is guaranteed by state institutions. However, the relationship between the basis and the superstructure is not strictly defined; based on the same basis, there are various options for the superstructure. A dialectical contradiction also develops between the base and the superstructure, reflecting the contradiction in the mode of production. Like the contradiction in the mode of production, the contradiction between the base and the superstructure is resolved in the course of the socio-political revolution. The concept "F. o.-e." Marx connected all the empirical diversity of historical events into a single system, identified historical types of society and methods of communication between them. The concept of "F. o.-e." - this is precisely the abstraction through which it is possible to see a general pattern behind the variety of historical events, explain the current situation and build a scientific forecast of the development of events, although no specific society coincides with its scheme, model. Thus, Marx revealed the trend of historical development, and did not “set” the history of each specific country. Despite certain shortcomings of the formational concept, which have become the subject of numerous discussions, historical materialism has significant explanatory and predictive potential, providing the opportunity to understand and consistently explain the unity and diversity of human history. In addition to the theory of F. o.-e. Marx also has a different approach to the periodization of history. He identifies three historical stages: a society based on the personal dependence of people (pre-capitalist society), a society based on material dependence (capitalist), and a society in which dependence is realized, determined by the individual development of a person. In bourgeois sociology, there is a classification of history close to this scheme: traditional society, industrial and post-industrial. The classification criterion is the technological method of production. The presence of different approaches to the study of history makes it possible to present society as a multidimensional phenomenon and to make maximum use of the cognitive capabilities of each method in historical practice. These concepts represent options for interpreting history as a universal linear progressive process. They are opposed by the concept of nonlinear development of society, the concept of local cultural and historical types.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORMATION

category historical materialism, which serves to designate a defined society. stage of history development. Dialectical-materialistic the method allowed Marx and Engels to overcome the abstract, ahistorical. approach to the analysis of societies. life, highlight the department. stages in the development of society, determine their characteristic features, discover specific features. laws underlying their development. “How Darwin,” wrote Lenin, “put an end to the view of species of animals and plants as unconnected, random, “created by God” and unchangeable, and for the first time put biology on a completely scientific basis, establishing the variability of species and continuity between them, - and so Marx put an end to the view of society as a mechanical aggregate of individuals, allowing for any changes at the will of the authorities (or, anyway, at the will of society and government), arising and changing by chance, and for the first time put sociology on a scientific basis, establishing the concept socio-economic formation, as a set of data of production relations, establishing that the development of such formations is a natural-historical process" (Works, vol. 1, pp. 124–25). In Capital, Marx showed “... the capitalist social formation as living - with its everyday aspects, with the actual social manifestation of the class antagonism inherent in production relations, with the bourgeois political superstructure protecting the dominance of the capitalist class, with the bourgeois ideas of freedom, equality, etc. etc., with bourgeois family relations" (ibid., p. 124). F.o.-e. is a developing social production. an organism that has special laws of origin, functioning, development and transformation into another, more complex social production. organism. Each such organism has a special method of production, its own type of production. relations, the special nature of societies. organization of labor (and in antagonistic formations, special classes and forms of exploitation), historically determined, stable forms of community of people and relationships between them, specific. forms of societies. management, special forms of family organization and family relations, special societies. ideas. The decisive feature of economic economics, which ultimately determines all the others, is the method of production. A change in production methods determines a change in the F. o.-e. Marx and Lenin identified five F. o.-e., representing the behavior. stages in human development societies: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist, the first phase of which is socialism. In Marx's works there is a mention of the Asian mode of production as a special economic system. structure. There is still debate among sociologists and historians about what Marx meant by the Asian mode of production. Some consider it a special political-economy that precedes slavery or feudalism; others believe that Marx wanted to emphasize the peculiarity of feud with this concept. production method in the East. Still others believe that the Asian method of production should be considered the final stage of the primitive communal system. Although debate on this issue continues, the discussions have not provided sufficient scientific data to support the thesis that the Asian mode of production represents a special formation. History does not know “pure” formations. For example, there is no “pure” capitalism, in which there would be no elements and remnants of past eras - feudalism and even pre-feudalism. relations - elements and material prerequisites of the new communist. F.o.-e. To this should be added the specificity of the development of the same formation among different peoples (for example, the tribal system of the Slavs and ancient Germans differs sharply from the tribal system of the Saxons or Scandinavians at the beginning of the Middle Ages, the peoples of Ancient India or the peoples of the Middle East, Indian tribes in America or African peoples, etc.). Various forms of combination of old and new in each historical. era, various connections of a given country with other countries and various forms and degrees of external influence on its development, and finally, the features of historical. developments conditioned by the entire set of natural, ethnic, social, everyday, cultural and other factors, and the common fate and traditions of the people determined by them, which distinguish them from other peoples, testify to how diverse the characteristics and historical are. the fate of different peoples passing through the same F. o.-e. Each F. o.-e. has its own stages, stages of development. Over the millennia of its existence, primitive society has evolved from human. hordes to the tribal system and villages. communities. Capitalist society - from manufacture to machine production, from the era of free competition to the era of monopoly. capitalism, which has developed into state-monopoly. capitalism. Communist the formation has two main principles. phases – socialism and communism. Each such stage of development is associated with the appearance of certain important features and even specific ones. patterns, which, without canceling the general sociological. laws of F. o.-e. in general, they introduce something qualitatively new into its development, strengthen the effect of some laws and weaken the effect of others, and introduce certain changes into the social structure of society, societies. the organization of labor, the way of life of people, modify the superstructure of society, etc. Such stages in the development of F. o.-e. are usually called periods or epochs. Scientific periodization of history processes must proceed, therefore, not only from the alternation of F. o.-e., but also from epochs or periods within the framework of these formations. Economical relations that form economic The structure of society, the basis of political economics, ultimately determines the behavior and actions of people, the masses, relations and conflicts between classes, social movements and revolutions. Sociologist and economist who study societies. relations, as a rule, can be limited to the characteristics of the basic. features of formations, their classification, the basis of the cut is based on the following. change of F. o.-e., change of eras within these formations. For a historian this is not enough. Studying the history of the department. peoples as part of world history. process, the historian is obliged to take into account the development of social movements, periods of revolution. rise and periods of reaction. Within the framework of general sociological periodization of world history and history department. of peoples, the historian is obliged to give a more “fractional” periodization, based on the cut, in addition to the course of socio-economic. development, stages of the class struggle in the country are laid down, will liberate. movements of the working masses. From the concept of an era as a stage in the development of F. o.-e. it is necessary to distinguish the concept of world-historical. era. World historical the process at any given moment represents a more complex picture than the development process in the department. country. The world development process includes different peoples at different stages of development. The character of world-historical eras are determined by those economic. relationships and social forces that determine the direction and, to an increasing extent, the character of history. process in this historical period. In the 17th–18th centuries. capitalist relations have not yet dominated the world, but they and the classes generated by them are already determining the direction of world history. development, had a decisive impact on the entire process of world development. Therefore, from this time the world historical dates back. the era of capitalism as a stage in world history. ?ct. socialist revolution and formation of world socialist. systems marked the beginning of a sharp change in world history; they guide world history. development, give modern. era, the nature of the transition from capitalism to communism. The transition from one F. o.-e. to the other the revolution is carried out. way. In cases where F. o.-e. are of the same type (for example, slavery, feudalism, capitalism are based on the exploitation of workers by the owners of the means of production), a process of gradual maturation of a new society in the bowels of the old one can be observed (for example. , capitalism in the depths of feudalism), but the completion of the transition from the old society to the new appears as a revolution. jump. With a fundamental change in economic and all other relations, the social revolution is distinguished by its particular depth (see Socialist Revolution) and lays the foundation for an entire transition period, during which the revolution is carried out. transformation of society and the foundations of socialism are created. The content and duration of this transition period are determined by the level of economy and cultural development of the country, the severity of class conflicts, international. situation, etc. In world history, transitional eras are the same natural phenomenon as the established historical economics, and in their totality they cover segments of history. Each new F. o.-e., denying the previous one, preserves and develops all its achievements in the field of material and spiritual culture. Transition from one formation to another, capable of creating higher production levels. power, a more advanced system of economic, political. and ideological. relations, constitutes the content of historical. progress. Existence is defined. F. o.-e., successively replacing each other in the history of mankind, does not at all mean that every nation must go through them in its development. Certain links of historical chains of development - slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and sometimes all of them together, the department can. peoples will not receive full development. Moreover, the people can bypass them, moving, for example, directly from the tribal system to socialism, relying on the support and assistance of socialists. countries Methodological the significance of the theory of F. o.-e. lies primarily in the fact that it allows us to distinguish material societies. relations as determining from the system of all other relations, to establish the repeatability of societies. phenomena, to find out the laws underlying this recurrence. This makes it possible to approach the development of society as a natural-historical one. process. At the same time, it allows us to reveal the structure of society and the functions of its constituent elements, to identify the system and interaction of all societies. relationships. Secondly, the theory of F. o.-e. allows us to resolve the issue of the relationship between general sociological. laws of development and specific laws dep. F.o.-e. (see Social regularity). Thirdly, the theory of F. o.-e. provides a scientific basis for the theory of class struggle, allows us to identify which methods of production give rise to classes and which ones, what are the conditions for the emergence and destruction of classes. Fourthly, F. o.-e. allows us to establish not only the unity of societies. relations among peoples at the same stage of development, but also to identify specific ones. national and historical features of the development of a formation among a particular people, distinguishing the history of this people from the history of other peoples. Lit.: see under Art. Historical materialism, History, Capitalism, Communism, Primitive communal formation, Slave-owning formation, Feudalism. D. Chesnokov. Moscow.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORMATION and population development., society and its main component - population, which are at a certain point. stages of history development, historically determined. type of society and the corresponding type of nation. At the basis of every F. o.-e. lies a certain way of societies. production, and its essence is formed by production. relationship. This econ. the basis determines the development of the population included in the structure of a given economic system. The works of K. Marx, F. Engels, and V. I. Lenin, revealing the doctrine of political economics, provide the key to understanding the unity and diversity of historical history. development of the population, are one of the most important methodological. foundations of population theory.

In accordance with the Marxist-Leninist teaching, which distinguishes five economic economic systems: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist, development of the people. also passes through these stages of history. progress, determining changes not only in its quantities, but also in qualities. characteristics.

Primitive communal f. o.-e., characteristic of all peoples without exception, marked the emergence of humanity, the formation of a nation. The Earth and its regions, the beginning of its development (see Anthropogenesis). The first social organism was the clan (tribal formation). Material production was the most primitive, people were engaged in gathering, hunting, fishing, there were natural things. division of labor. Collective property ensured that each member of society received a share of the produced product necessary for its existence.

Gradually, a group marriage developed, in which men belonging to a given clan could enter into sexual relations with any of the women of another, neighboring clan. However, the man and woman did not have any rights or responsibilities. Social norms regulating the reproductive behavior of the group and the seasonality of births were varied. sexual taboos, the strongest of which was the exogamous ban (see Exogamy).

According to paleodemographic data, cf. Life expectancy during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods was 20 years. Women typically died before reaching the end of their reproductive years. The high birth rate on average only slightly exceeded the death rate. People died. arr. from hunger, cold, disease, natural disasters, etc. Growth rate of numbers. peoples. Lands equaled 10-20% per millennium (see Demographic history).

Improvement produces. power flowed extremely slowly. During the Neolithic era, agriculture and cattle breeding appeared (8-7 thousand BC). The economy gradually began to transform from an appropriating economy into a producing one, and a definition appeared. surplus over the necessary product is a surplus product, which had a strong impact on the economy. development of society had great social and demographic. consequences. Under these conditions, a paired family begins to take shape. It replaced group marriage and was therefore characterized by such vestiges of it as the existence of “additional” wives and husbands along with the “main” ones.

During the Neolithic era, the nature of age-related mortality changed: child mortality remained high, but in adults the peak of mortality moved to older ages. The modal age at death crossed the 30-year mark, while the overall mortality rate remained high. The length of time women remain in their reproductive years has increased; Wed the number of children born to one woman has increased, but has not yet reached physiol. limit.

The longest primitive communal formation in the history of mankind ultimately ensured growth. forces of society, development of societies. division of labor ended with the emergence of individual farming, private property, which led to the disintegration of the clan, the separation of the wealthy elite, who turned first prisoners of war into slaves, then impoverished fellow tribesmen.

Private property is associated with the emergence of class society and the state; As a result of the decomposition of the primitive communal system, the first class antagonistic system in history took shape. slaveholding formation. The oldest slave owners states were formed at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. (Mesopotamia, Egypt). Classic forms of slave ownership the system reached in Dr. Greece (5-4 centuries BC) and others. Rome (2nd century BC - 2nd century AD).

Transition to slave ownership. formations in many countries caused fundamental changes in the development of the people. Although it does mean. part of us. were free small lands. owners, artisans, representatives of other social groups, slave owners. relations were dominant and affected all socio-economics. relations, determined all processes of development of the people.

Slaves were considered only as tools of labor and had completely no rights. Most often they could not have a family. Their reproduction occurred, as a rule, at the expense of the slave market.

The development of family and marital relations, which took place, therefore, almost entirely only among the free population, was characterized by its end. transition from a couple family to a monogamous one. At different peoples, this transition, which began during the period of decomposition of the primitive communal system, proceeded unequally. Monogamy was established only in a mature class society, when a family was formed in which the man reigned supreme, and the woman found herself in a subordinate and powerless position.

Definition changes also occurred in the processes of fertility and mortality. Among the causes of mortality, illness and losses in wars took first place. A certain increase in the life expectancy of the population has affected birth rates. Wed. the number of children born to one woman is estimated at 5 people.

In the states with the most developed, ancient form of slavery, the phenomenon of small children arises for the first time in history. Thus, in the Roman Empire in the last period of its existence it was noted that a drop in the birth rate among wealthy citizens, which prompted the authorities to resort to measures to regulate our reproduction. (see ´Law of Julius and Papias Poppaea´).

In some states, certain definitions arose. contradictions between the growth of numbers. us. and produces weak development. strength They were resolved by force. emigration, as a result of which Greek, Phoenician and Roman colonies arose in the Mediterranean.

With the emergence of slave ownership. state in fiscal and military. purposes, the first censuses of us began to be carried out: regular qualifications were carried out from the 5th century. BC e. 2 in. n. e. in Dr. Rome and its provinces.

In the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. within the framework of general philosophies. theories, the first views on the population were formed, which concerned primarily. problems of the relationship between the amount of resources and numbers. us. (see Plato, Aristotle).

The slave owner who replaced him. society feudalism as a special formation in its classic. form developed in Western countries. Europe and dates here to the period of approximately 5-17 centuries. In other countries of Europe and Asia, feudalism was characterized by a number of features. While in Europe, under the influence of the growth of production and certain other reasons, slavery disappeared, giving way to feudal serfdom. dependencies, in plural in Asian countries it continued to exist, but did not play an important role. Feudalism in Africa. relations began to take shape relatively late (and only in the Mediterranean countries); in America before the arrival of Europeans there was a feudal stage. Not a single Indian people achieved development.

Feudalism as class antagonistic. formation meant the division of society into two main ones. class - feudal landowners and peasants dependent on them, who made up the overwhelming majority of us. Being the owners of the land and having the right to it means. part of the labor of their serfs, as well as their sale to another owner, the feudal lords were interested in the numerical growth of the peasants. The patriarchal family that dominated under feudalism consisted of a number of consanguineous relatives. lines of individual families and represented as households. cell and main link in physical renewing us. feud. society. In reproductive terms, this type of family turned out to be the most productive of all forms of family organization that ever existed.

However, the high birth rate characteristic of the patriarchal family was “extinguished” by high mortality, especially among the enslaved. and labor strata of the feud. cities. This mortality rate was due to low development of production. strength, difficult living conditions, epidemics and wars. As it develops it produces. forces and especially agricultural production, the mortality rate slowly decreased, which, while maintaining a high birth rate, led to an increase in natural resources. growth of us.

In the West Europe has a relatively steady increase in us. began around the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, but it was greatly slowed down by frequent epidemics (see “Black Death”) and almost continuous feuds. civil strife and wars. With the development of feudalism and especially in the conditions of its crisis, dept. issues of national development. increasingly attracted the attention of thinkers of that era (see Thomas Aquinas, T. More, T. Campanella).

As a result of the decomposition of feudalism in the West. Europe (16-17 centuries) began the formation of the last class antagonistic. F. o.-e. is capitalist, based on private ownership of the means of production and exploitation of wage labor by capital.

Class antagonistic. the structure of capitalism permeates all societies occurring within it. processes, including the development of the people. Capital, improving production, also improves Ch. produces. strength - working us. However, the diversity of abilities and specific types of labor of workers serves only as a necessary condition, as well as a means of increasing value, is subordinate to capital and is limited by it within the limits that meet its social goals. The capitalists were able to obtain a large mass of surplus value at the stage of simple cooperation by increasing their number at the same time. employed workers both through the reproduction of the working population and the involvement of bankrupt small producers in production. At the stage of manufacture, with the deepening of the division of labor, in order to increase the mass of surplus value, along with an increase in the number of workers, qualities become increasingly important. characteristics of workers, their ability to increase labor productivity in the conditions of its deepening division. At the factory, especially at the automation stage. production, to the fore along with practicality. skills is the presence of a certain theoretical knowledge, and acquiring it requires appropriate increase in the level of education of workers. In modern conditions capitalism, which widely practices the introduction of scientific and technological achievements. progress to extract the greatest profit, increasing the level of knowledge of a large number of workers becomes the most important factor in the functioning and ensuring the competitiveness of the capital that exploits them.

A necessary result and condition of capitalism. production is relative overpopulation. The contradiction in the development of the people, as a contradiction between the objective and subjective elements of the labor process, under capitalism appears as the attitude of the worker. (the carrier of the commodity, labor) to the means of employment in the form of constant capital. The law relates. transferred is the main economic the law of the people. under capitalism.

Production the relations of capitalism determine societies. conditions in which demographics occur. processes. In “Capital” K. Marx reveals the law of the inverse relationship between birth rate, death rate and abs. the size of workers' families and their income. This law was derived by analyzing the position of decl. groups of workers, which form relates. transferred in a stagnant form. These groups are characterized by the lowest incomes and the largest share in natural resources. population growth, because for them, in conditions of the use of child labor, children are more economically profitable than for other layers of workers.

Specific production the relations of capitalism also determine the process of mortality of the worker. Capital, by its very nature, is indifferent to the health and life expectancy of workers, it “...is a waste of people, living labor, a waste of not only body and blood, but also the nerves of the brain” (Marx K., Capital, vol. 3, Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 25, part 1, p. 101). The progress of medicine has made it possible to reduce the mortality rate of workers, but its impact has a limit, beyond which the Crimea mainly A factor in reducing mortality is changes in our working and living conditions. Capital makes conflicting demands on the succession of generations of workers. On the one hand, he needs young, healthy people, and on the other, workers who have completed a general education. and prof. preparation, i.e., of older ages; Skilled and qualified workers are required, i.e., as a rule, older workers and at the same time representatives of new professions, i.e., younger people. To meet the needs of production, capital requires a rapid change of generations of employees. All R. 19th century this requirement acted as an economic law.

During the period of imperialism and the spread of state-monopoly. capitalism, the opposition to this rapid change on the part of the proletarian movement is significantly increasing, fighting against the growth of exploitation, intensification of labor, unemployment, for improving working conditions, increasing wages, shortening the working day, for organizing a professional system. preparation, improvement of medical maintenance, etc. At the same time, scientific and technical. progress and growth in the importance of prof. knowledge and production. experience force capital to show certainty. interest in creatures. increasing the duration of hiring the same workers. However, under all conditions, the limits of this duration are determined by the ability of the worker to bring in as much surplus value as possible.

Based on migrants. mobility of us. Under capitalism, the movement of labor follows the movement of capital. Attraction and pushing of workers into the department. phases of the cycle, industries, as well as departments. terr. determined by the needs of the production of surplus value. At the stage of imperialism, this movement becomes international. character.

Society production under capitalism is realized historically. the development trend of the working class. Technical progress presupposes a change in labor, improvement of the abilities, skills, and knowledge of workers, so that they are always ready to perform existing and newly emerging functions. Such demands on the labor force objectively go beyond the limits allowed by capital, and can be fully realized only when workers treat the means of production as their own, and not when they are subordinated to them. The development of the working class under capitalism encounters external influences. the limits set by the process of self-increasing value. The class struggle of the proletariat is aimed at eliminating the obstacles to the free all-round development of the working people that are insurmountable under capitalism, at revolution. replacement of capitalism with socialism.

The method of production, which determines the class structure of society, is historical. type of worker render beings. impact on the family. Already under the conditions of free competition capitalism, the family turns from being productive to being preeminent. into the consumer unit of society, which undermined the economy. the need for large patriarchal families. Only the cross. families retained production. functions, to the fore in capitalism. There are two types of families in society: bourgeois and proletarian. The basis for identifying these types is the specificity of the participation of their members in societies. production - in economics. form of wage labor or capital, as a result of which intrafamily relations also differ.

The first stage of the development of capitalism is associated with our rapid growth. Definition improvement of socio-economic conditions led to a reduction in mortality and a change in the structure of its causes. The decline in fertility, which began in the families of the bourgeoisie, is gradually spreading to the families of the proletariat, which were initially characterized by a high level. During the period of imperialism, the growth rate of us. in economically developed capitalist countries. countries are declining and remain low (see World population).

The development of capitalism has led to a sharp increase in societies. interest in the people. (see History of demographic science). However, the whole historical capitalist experience F.o.-e. convincingly showed that the solution to the problems of the population and its true development are impossible along the path of capitalism.

Such a solution is provided only by the communist F. o.-e., which marks the beginning of the true history of mankind, when the free harmonious development of all people is achieved, the ideal of societies is practically realized. devices.

Scientific communist theory F.o.-e. created by Marx and Engels, it is enriched and developed in relation to the changing historical. conditions of Lenin, the CPSU and other communists. and workers' parties, is fully confirmed by the practice of the USSR and other socialist countries. Commonwealth.

Communist F.o.-e. has two phases of development: the first is socialism, the second is full communism. In this regard, the term “communism” is often used to designate only the second phase. The unity of both phases is ensured by societies. ownership of the means of production, subordination of the entire society. production of achieving complete well-being and comprehensive development of people, the absence of any forms of social inequality. Both phases are also characterized by a single social type of development of the people.

In the system inherent in communist. F.o.-e. objective laws apply economics. the law of full employment (sometimes called the fundamental economic law of the population, communist mode of production), ensures its planned rationality in accordance with society. needs, abilities and inclinations of people. So, in Art. 40 of the USSR Constitution states: ´Citizens of the USSR have the right to work, that is, to receive guaranteed work with payment in accordance with its quantity and quality and not lower than the minimum amount established by the state, including the right to choose a profession, occupation and work in accordance with with vocation, abilities, professional training, education and taking into account social needs´.

Real full and rational employment in economic conditions. and general social equality has a decisive influence on the development processes of the people. Members of society have equal access to education and health care. assistance provided at the expense of societies. consumption funds, which is the most important factor in sustainable quality. improvement of the people. The free creation and development of a family is ensured with active, comprehensive assistance from society. society sources of well-being serve the ever more complete disclosure of creators. abilities of each person. In economics and general social programs, paramount importance is attached to the constant improvement of the education of the younger generation, with special attention to their labor education. A systematic course is being implemented towards the most rational settlement of people and the creation of a complex of favorable and basically equal living conditions in all populations and localities.

The unity of both phases of communism. F.o.-e. is of decisive importance, since they are distinguished within the same formation with the same objective patterns of development for it. At the same time, there are differences between the two phases of communism, including significant ones, which allow us to distinguish the first phase from the second. Lenin wrote about the first of them that “since the means of production become common property, the word “communism” is applicable here, if we do not forget that this is not complete communism” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 33 , p. 98). Such “incompleteness” is associated with the degree of development of production. forces and production. relations in the conditions of the first phase. Yes, society. ownership of the means of production exists under socialism in two forms (national and collective farm-cooperative); the society of working people, united in its character and goals, consists of two friendly classes - the working class and the peasantry, as well as the intelligentsia. The equal right of all members of society to the product created by their united labor is realized through distribution according to labor depending on its quantity and quality. The principle of socialism is “from each according to his ability, to each according to his work.” Therefore, the definition is preserved. (gradually and consistently decreasing) inequality in consumption with inequality in labor. Labor for each individual under socialism has not yet become the first need of life, but is a necessary means for obtaining the benefits of life.

Features of socialism as the first phase of communism. F.o.-e. are also found in the development of the people. Us. under socialism (as under full communism) these are the working people; in this, main sense, it is socially homogeneous (see Social homogeneity). Exploitation of man by man and unemployment have been abolished forever; everyone has and exercises an equal right to work, free education and medical care. service, recreation, provision in old age, etc. Everyone is equal in the possibilities of forming a family and receiving society in this. support in using the services of child care institutions, choosing a place of residence at will. The society financially and morally helps people moving to live in those communities. points for the implementation of economic plans. and social development require an influx of labor resources from outside. At the same time, since under socialism it produces. the forces of society have not yet reached the level required for the establishment of complete communism, the financial situation is desc. families and individuals are not yet the same. Family carries it means. part of the costs of reproducing the labor force, hence the possibility of inequality in both these costs and their results. The participation of the family in the material support of the reproduction of the labor force, taking into account the steadily increasing requirements for the quality of workers, affects the number of children chosen by the family.

In the documents of the CPSU, a fundamentally important conclusion was made that the Sov. society is now at the beginning of a historically long period. period - the stage of developed socialism. This stage, without going beyond the first phase of the communist, F. o.-e., is characterized by the fact that “... socialism develops on its own basis, the creative forces of the new system, the advantages of the socialist way of life, the working people of all enjoy more widely the fruits of the great revolutionary achievements´ [Constitution (Basic Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Preamble]. With the construction of developed socialism, a transition to preeminence takes place. intensive type of society. reproduction, which comprehensively affects the reproduction of us, especially its social characteristics. Already in the course of building socialism, the antithesis between city and countryside, between intellectuals, is gradually being eliminated. and physical through labor, universal literacy is achieved. In conditions of developed socialism, creatures are gradually overcome. differences between city and countryside, between mentalities. and physical labor ensures our high level of education. In the USSR - mandatory cf. education of youth, reform of general education is being carried out. and prof. schools, designed to raise education to a qualitatively new level, radically improve labor education and professional education. orientation of schoolchildren based on combining learning with production. labor, training of qualified workers in professional-technical schools, to supplement universal education with universal prof. education. If, according to the census of us. 1959, per 1000 people us. countries accounted for 361 people. from Wed. and higher (complete and incomplete) education, including with higher education - 23 people, then in 1981, respectively. 661 and 74, and among the employed - 833 and 106. More than 1/3 of all doctors and 1/4 of all scientists work in the USSR. workers of the world. A new stage in the development of the economy and social life was embodied, in particular, in the meaning. expanding family assistance measures, increasing government assistance to families with children and newlyweds. The benefits and benefits for these families are expanding, their living conditions are improving, and the state system is being improved. child benefits. The measures being taken (providing partially paid leave to working mothers until the child reaches the age of 1 year, benefits to mothers at the birth of their first, second and third child, etc.) improve the financial situation of 4.5 million families with children. Mature socialism ensures the acceleration of qualities. improvement of the people. At the same time, a certain stabilization of quantities. natural indicators reproducing us.

In developed socialist society is also gradually ensuring a more harmonious settlement of people. In the USSR, household management is carried out at a high pace. development of previously sparsely populated areas. territories, especially in the east. districts of the country. At the same time, along with industry, construction, transport, communications, all sectors serving us are developing proportionally: a network of institutions of education, health care, trade, consumer services, culture, etc. The scope of work to provide villages is significantly expanding. settlements of modern times household amenities.

During the transition from the first phase of communist. F.o.-e. By the second, major changes occur. At the highest phase of communist society, Marx wrote, “...labor will cease to be only a means for life, but will itself become the first need of life;...along with the all-round development of individuals, productive forces will grow and all sources of social wealth will flow in full flow” (Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 19, p. 20). Full communism is a classless society. build with a single common people. ownership of the means of production, highly organized organizations. society of the free and conscious. workers, in whom the principle “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” is implemented.

In the course of improving mature socialism, the features of the second, highest phase of communistism gradually begin to form. F.o.-e. Its logistics are being created. base. Progress produces. the forces of society are aimed at achieving a level that ensures an abundance of benefits; this creates the necessary basis for the formation of societies. relations inherent in complete communism. Along with the development of the method of production, the traits of a new man—a communist man—develop. society. Due to the unity of both phases of communist. F.o.-e. becoming defined the features of its highest phase turn out to be possible even before its achievement. The documents of the 26th Congress of the CPSU indicate: “...it is possible...to assume that the formation of a classless structure of society will mainly and fundamentally occur within the historical framework of mature socialism” (Materials of the 26th Congress of the CPSU, p. 53).

At the highest phase of communist F.o.-e. New conditions for the development of the people will also emerge. They will not depend on the material capabilities of the department. families, dept. person. The full opportunity for all members of society to directly rely on its enormous material resources will allow us to achieve a radical change in quality. development of the population, comprehensive disclosure of creativity. the potential of each individual, the most effective combination of his interests with the interests of society. Fundamentally changing societies. conditions must be provided by creatures. impact on our reproduction as well. All conditions will open for us to achieve our optimum. in all parameters of its development. It is communist. society is able to effectively control numbers. his us. taking into account all societies. resources and needs. Engels foresaw this when he wrote that communist. society, along with the production of things, if it turns out to be necessary, will regulate the production of people (see [Letter] to Karl Kautsky, February 1, 1881, Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 35, p. 124). At the highest phase of communist F.o.-e. conditions will be created to fully ensure optimal settlement of people across the territory.

Development of a set of specific problems for the people. in the conditions of the highest phase of communism. F.o.-e. is one of the important tasks of the science of peoples. The relevance of this task intensifies as mature socialism strengthens and the changes in the development of the people caused by it are revealed. The solution to this problem is based on the fundamental provisions on the development of the people, put forward and substantiated in the works of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, in the documents of the CPSU and fraternal parties, and on the successes of the entire Marxist-Leninist society. Sciences.

Marx K. and Engels F., Manifesto of the Communist Party, Works, 2nd ed., vol. 4; Marx K., Capital, vol. 1, ch. 5, 8, 11-13, 21-24; vol. 3, ch. 13 - 15, ibid., vol. 23, 25, part 1; his, Economic manuscripts of 1857-59, ibid., vol. 46, part 2; his, Critique of the Gotha Program, ibid., vol. 19; Engels F., Anti-Dühring, dept. III; Socialism, ibid., vol. 20; his, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, ibid., vol. 21; Lenin V.I., State and Revolution, ch. 5, Full collection cit., 5th ed., vol. 33; him, Immediate tasks of Soviet power, ibid., vol. 36; his, The Great Initiative, in the same place, vol. 39; him, From the destruction of the age-old way of life to the creation of a new one, in the same place, vol. 40; Materials of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, M. 1981; Marxist-Leninist theory of population, 2nd ed., M. 1974; System of knowledge about population, M. 1976; Management of population development in the USSR, M. 1977; Fundamentals of population development management, M. 1982; Theory of socio-economic formation, M. 1983.

Yu. A. Bzhilyansky, I. V. Dzarasova, N. V. Zvereva.

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