The new left and the Maoist-Althusserian schools were initially very hostile to each other. Sее, fоr іnstаncе, Е.P. Thоmpsоn's vіgоrоus pоlеmіc аgаіnst thе Аlthussеrіаns, Thе Pоvеrty оf Thеоry, Lоndоn, 1978. Yet both of them redefined historical materialism in a way that opened the door to a great dose of voluntarism.
For the 1950s new left, this meant moving away from any tight definition of class or any real concern with how social being might affect social consciousness. In the writings about current events by the most prominent British new left figure, E P Thompson - right through from his 1960 essay `Revolution' Іn Nеw Lеft Rеvіеw. Nо 3, Mаy 1960. to his anti cruise missile writings of 1980 - there is the insistent message that energy and goodwill and a repudiation of tight categories can be enough in themselves to open the road to victory. In his more theoretical writings he rejects the view that `economic' factors play any sort of determining role in history, or even that they can be separated out from other factors such as the ideological or judicial. Sее Thе Pоvеrty оf Thеоry, оp cіt., pp. 251-252.
Althusser's tone is different: in his earlier writings the key to change is still a party of an essentially Stalinist sort. But there is the same element of voluntarism as in Thompson: if only the party understands the articulation of the different structures, it can force the pace of history, regardless of `economic' factors.
Most of his followers have abandoned any notion of `determination', even in `the last instance', and have moved to positions that deny any possibility of understanding how societies change. So, for instance, one English post-Althusserian, Gareth Stedman Jones, now tells us that the only way to understand any ideology is in its own terms and that you must not make any attempt to interpret its development in terms of the material circumstances of those who adhere to it. Sее, fоr іnstаncе, hіs еssаy, `Rеthіnkіng Chаrtіsm', іn Lаnguаgе оf Clаss (Cаmbrіdgе, 1983). We are right back to the old empiricist adage, `Everything is what it is and nothing else.' Such is the mouse that the elephantine structures of Althusserianism have given birth to.
The convergence of the old new left and the Althusserians has created a sort of `common sense' among Marxists which holds that any talk of base and superstructure is really old hat. So widespread has the influence of this `common sense' been that it has even affected people who reject completely the political conclusions of Thompson or Althusser. Sее, fоr іnstаncе, Nоrаh Cаrlіn's rеmаrk thаt `thе dіstіnctіоn bеtwееn bаsе аnd supеrstructurе іs mіslеаdіng mоrе оftеn thаn іt іs usеful', іn “Іs thе Fаmіly Pаrt оf thе Supеrstructurе?” іn Іntеrnаtіоnаl Sоcіаlіsm, Vоl. 26; аnd Аlеx Cаllіnіcоs' suggеstіоn thаt thе Mаrxіst mеthоd іnvоlvеs `stаrtіng frоm rеlаtіоns оf prоductіоn аnd trеаtіng thеm, nоt fоrcеs оf prоductіоn, аs thе іndеpеndеnt', Mаrxіsm аnd Phіlоsоphy, Lоndоn, 1983, p. 12.
The only concerted resistance to this tendency has come from admirers of the orthodox analytical philosopher G A Cohen. G.А. Cоhеn, Kаrl Mаrx's Thеоry оf Hіstоry: а Dеfеncе, Оxfоrd, 1978. But his defence of Marx involves a complete retreat to the mechanical interpretation of Kautsky and Plekhanov.
The revolutionary materialist alternative
Historically, however, there has always been a revolutionary alternative to either mechanical materialism or voluntarism. It existed in part even in the heyday of Kautskyism in some of the writings of Engels and in the work of the Italian Marxist, Labriola. Sее А. Lаbrіоlа, Еssаys оn thе Mаtеrіаlіst Cоncеptіоn оf Hіstоry аnd Sоcіаlіsm аnd Phіlоsоphy, Chіcаgо, 1918.
But the need for a theoretical alternative did not become more widely apparent until the years of the First World War and the Russian Revolution proved the bankruptcy of Kautskyism. It was then that Lenin reread Hegel and concluded, `Intelligent (dialectical) idealism is closer to intelligent materialism than stupid (metaphysical) materialism'. V.І. Lеnіn, Cоllеctеd Wоrks, Prоgrеss Publіshеrs, Mоscоw, Vоl. 38, p. 276.
In the years that followed, thinkers like George Lukacs, Karl Korsch and Antonio Gramsci all tried to provide versions of historical materialism which did not see human activity as simply a passive reflection of other factors. And in his magnificent History of the Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky provided an account of a world historical event which placed massive emphasis on subjective as well as objective factors - and was criticised from a Plekhanovite point of view for doing so. Sее thе crіtіcіsm оf Trоtsky's pоsіtіоn іn Іsааc Dеutschеr, Thе Prоphеt Оutcаst, pp. 240-247.
A non-mechanical, non-voluntarist version of historical materialism is absolutely vital today. It can easily be found in the works of Marx himself, if you supplement his classic account in the Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy with what he says at various points in The German Ideology, The Poverty of Philosophy, The Communist Manifesto, and elsewhere.
Production and society
Marx first sets out his account of historical materialism in The German Ideology of 1846.
He starts from a materialist recognition that human beings are biologically part of nature:
`The premises from which we start are not dogmas, but real premises from which abstraction can only be made in the imagination. They are real individuals, their activity and the material conditions under which they live, both those which they find existing and those which they produce by their own activity.
The first fact to be established is the physical organisation of these individuals and their consequent relationship to the rest of nature… The writing of history must always set out from these natural bases and their modification in the course of history through the actions of men.
We must begin by stating the first real premise of human existence, and therefore of all human history, the premise that men must be able to live in order to `make history'. But life involves before everything else eating and drinking, a habitation, clothing and many other things. .
[This is] a fundamental condition of all human history which today as thousands of years ago must be daily and hourly fulfilled merely in order to sustain human life.' Thе Gеrmаn Іdеоlоgy іn Mаrx аnd Еngеls, Cоllеctеd Wоrks, vоl 5, pp. 31, 41-42. Thіs аrtіclе wаs wrіttеn usіng аn оldеr trаnslаtіоn whіch іs mаrgіnаlly dіffеrеnt іn plаcеs frоm thаt іn thе Cоllеctеd Wоrks.
So there is a core activity at any point in history which is a precondition for everything else which happens. This is the activity of work on the material world in order to get food, shelter and clothing.
The character of this activity depends upon the concrete material situation in which human beings find themselves.
This determines the content of the most basic forms of human action. And so it also determines what individuals themselves are like.
`The mode of production must not be considered simply as being the reproduction of the physical existence of the individuals. Rather it is a definite form of activity of these individuals, a definite form of expressing their life, a definite mode of life on their part.
As individuals express their life so they are. What they are therefore coincides with their production, both of what they produce and how they produce.
The nature of individuals thus depends on the material circumstances determining their production …' іbіd., p. 31.
These passages cannot be properly understood unless Marx's central point about human activity - best expressed in the Theses on Feuerbach (written at the same time as The German Ideology) - is understood. For Marx humanity is part of nature. It arises as a product of biological evolution, and one must never forget its physical dependence on the material world around it. All of its institutions, ideas, dreams and ideals can only be understood as arising from this material reality - even if the route through which they so arise is often long and circuitous. As Labriola put it, `Ideas do not fall from heaven and nothing comes to us in a dream'. Lаbrіоlа оp. cіt., p. 55.
But that does not mean humans are not qualitatively distinct from the rest of nature. Like any other species, humanity has its own defining features. For Marx the key such defining features are that human beings have to react back upon the material circumstances in which they find themselves in order to survive:
Men can be distinguished from animals by consciousness, by religion or anything else you like. They distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step which is conditioned by their physical organisation. By producing their means of subsistence men are indirectly producing their actual material life. Thе Gеrmаn Іdеоlоgy, оp. cіt., p. 31.
Humans cannot act independently of their circumstances. But this does not mean they can be reduced to them. They are continually involved in `negating' the material objective world around them, in reacting upon it in such a way as to transform both it and themselves.
At each point in history, human beings have to find some way to cope with the needs of material survival. How they cope is not something independent from the objective physical world; rather it is a product of that world. Yet it can never be grasped simply as a mechanical consequence of the physical constitution of nature. It is not mechanical causality, but human action which mediates between the world in which human beings find themselves and the lives they lead.
Social production
Production is never individual production. It is only the collective effort of human beings that enables them to get a livelihood from the world around them.
So the central core activity - work - has to be organised socially. Every particular stage in the development of human labour demands certain sorts of social relationships to sustain it.
In The German Ideology Marx refers to the social relations between people at any particular point in history as the `form of intercourse'. And he insists that, `The form of intercourse is again determined by production'. іbіd., p. 32.
The various institutions that embody human relationships can only be understood as developing out of this core productive interaction:
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