What is Dialectical Materialism and Its Role In Marxism?
Marxism as an ideology, frames itself as a science. As Mao Tse Tung put it:
“Marxism–Leninism is the science of the laws of development of nature and society, the science of revolution of the oppressed and exploited masses, the science of building communism.”
It’s not a science in the way physics and chemistry may be, but in the fact that it has a set method. That it sees the world materialistically and not idealistically. It is a science for the liberation of the proletariat. However, like physics and chemistry, it has a method, the method of ‘dialectical materialism’. Dialectical materialism is a complex topic. It’s considered one of the most complex topics within marxism. However, without it, one cannot make a proper and good analysis. So, we must dig deep into this concept to best understand it.
Dialectical materialism unites the world outlook of materialism, and the analytical method of Hegelian dialects. Hegel himself was idealist, and the previous non dialectical materialists were vulgar materialists. Both of those options are insufficient and do not work standing alone, but, if we use them together, they do. Dialects are the study of how the world changes through contradiction. Materialism is the world outlook that material conditions are the driving factor of a society, not morality or ideas alone. With dialects and materialism together, we can best understand how material conditions create contradictions and how we are to solve them.
So what exactly do dialectical materialist believe?
Dialectical materialism asserts that the world is always in motion through the clashing of opposing forces, also called contradictions, which are caused by one’s material conditions.This sets the dialectical idealists apart from the dialectical materialists. The Hegelians and idealists believe contradictions arise from non-physical forces, such as ideas or spirituality.
So, what then does materialism have to do with this? The way we act, such as social interactions, goals, how productive we are, and what we believe, are shaped by our material conditions. When marxists use the term ‘material conditions’ we specifically mean your access to things like housing, education, healthcare etc. — but most importantly, your relation to the means of production. Your relation to the means of production is the utmost important factor in how you act. Thus, when taken into account with dialects, we see that history is driven forward by these changes in material conditions, especially changes in modes of production.
Hegel believed in an idealistic way in interpreting the motion of ideas, the sort of ‘world spirit’ that moved history forward. Marx in a way flipped this on its head. He saw that it was not ideas alone that drove the world, it was our material conditions. As he famously said:
“It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.”
What drives this whole process? Contradictions. Contractions, in the field of marxism, contradictions are opposing phenomena that clash and push solutions forward. The grand, larger, and prevailing contradictions we see are called primary contradictions. The primary contradictions which we see most prevalent in the 21st century are that of capitalism and imperialism. Contradictions can also be found in your daily life, in your social interactions, in your community, and with yourself. Contradictions are the moving force of society.
We can see this play in real life in many ways. I like to use the example Stalin had outlined in Anarchism or Socialism.
Imagine there is a petty bourgeois textile shop owner. He lives his life exploiting a few workers within the shop. His worldview is petite bourgeois, this is because his class is petite bourgeois. His interests are that of the petite bourgeois class. However, one day a larger monopoly textile company moves next door and absorbs his business. The shipowner then is forced to work as a proletarian for the larger textile company rather than being a petty bourgeoise who can exploit a few proletarians. After occupying a proletarian job, he eventually realizes he is being exploited, and gains class consciousness. This is dialectical materialism playing out in real life, a change in one’s material circumstances occurs, contradictions arise, and a change in mindset follows.
Now what is the takeaway?
Marxism is a science, it’s the science of the liberation of all oppressed people. It has a method, that method is dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism is an essential tool, and it is the backbone of all marxist philosophy.
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