The Historical Validity of Marx's Theory of Historical Materialism

Abstract

The current study aims to shed light on the historical validity of Marx's materialist theory which is considered the economic ties as the basis of the social ties. The study also showed that Marx though that it was in three directions: German Philosophy, British Classical Economics, and French Socialism. These components help in producing Marx's historical materialism that succeeds in defining the economic doctrine and the social system of each historical stage of human life. They also rejected the idea of any economic and social doctrine that could be able to accommodate several different historical roles. Marx explained that the origin of historical conflicts is the disparity between the situation of the forces of production and the patterns of relations of production.  He also claimed that the class struggles in societies is   only a social expression of the imbalance between production forces on the one hand, and production relations on the other. His theory also stressed that it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. The current study also explained the forms of social consciousness such as political, religious and moral.

Keywords: Historical materialism, dialectical materialism, Karl Marx, Marx's theory.