Fundamentals of Historical Materialism : The Marxist View of History and Politics

Contents: Introduction. 1. Historical materialism as a science. 2. Social being and social consciousness. 3. Forms of social consciousness and their social function. 4. Material production: the basis of social life. 5. The socioeconomic formation. 6. Social revolution. 7. Social classes and class struggle. 8. The political organisation of society. 9. The historical forms of human community. 10. The Marxist conception of history and revolutionary optimism. Notes.

"Mainstream social science fragments the study of society into a number of unconnected disciplines such as archaeology, social anthropology, economics, political science, history, none of which is concerned with actually uncovering the fundamental lass which govern the origin, development and organisation of society.

Marxism, however, is concerned with the big picture. Furthermore, it regards history and society as the product of collective human action which can therefore be changed by the struggle of the working people. But in order to do this, we need a scientific understanding of the laws that govern and shape social life. That is what historical materialism provides.

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the Marxist theory of history and politics." (jacket)