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==Class consciousness== | ==Class consciousness== | ||
The first objective of <nowiki>''</nowiki>We already live in socialism<nowiki>''</nowiki> is a direct clash with the pre-conceived [[Social-democracy|social-democratic]] concept of messianic socialism. Instead of socialism as | The first objective of <nowiki>''</nowiki>We already live in socialism<nowiki>''</nowiki> is a direct clash with the pre-conceived [[Social-democracy|social-democratic]] concept of messianic socialism. Instead of socialism being regarded as a distant ideal, it can be recognized as an already immediately objective reality. The affirmation of this is inherently revolutionary, as it propels the worker to understand only his seizing of the means of production is left to start the communist movement.<blockquote>The expansive force of the means of production bursts the bonds that the capitalist mode of production had imposed upon them. Their deliverance from these bonds is the one precondition for an unbroken, constantly-accelerated development of the productive forces, and therewith for a practically unlimited increase of production itself. (...) The possibility of securing for every member of society, by means of socialized production, an existence not only fully sufficient materially, and becoming day-by-day more full, but an existence guaranteeing to all the free development and exercise of their physical and mental faculties — this possibility is now, for the first time, here, but ''it is here''. <ref name=":0">[https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch03.htm Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific]</ref></blockquote> | ||
==Dialectical significance== | ==Dialectical significance== | ||
The phrase directly deals with the question: where does the socialist mode of production come from? Is it the consciousness of men which compose the mode of production? This is not the case in the case of dialectical materialism, the mode of production is an objective and historical reality. <blockquote>The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or – this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms – with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy]</ref></blockquote>Further, using Marxist [[dialectics]], the Marxist conclusion is that there is no single defining point where the mode of production changes. The previous mode of production contains in itself the germ for the new one, and the new one contain remnants from the old. <blockquote>This contradiction, which gives to the new mode of production its capitalistic character, ''contains the germ of the whole of the social antagonisms of today''. The greater the mastery obtained by the new mode of production over all important fields of production and in all manufacturing countries, the more it reduced individual production to an insignificant residuum, ''the more clearly was brought out the incompatibility of socialized production with capitalistic appropriation''.</blockquote>The change thus comes when the previous mode of production develops its inherent contradictions to such extent that it is not materially sustainable anymore. Engels refers to the mode of production being in contradiction with the mode of exchange, i.e, the socialist mode of production is in rebellion against the capitalist mode of production. <blockquote>In these crises, the contradiction between socialized production and capitalist appropriation ends in a violent explosion. The circulation of commodities is, for the time being, stopped. Money, the means of circulation, becomes a hindrance to circulation. All the laws of production and circulation of commodities are turned upside down. The economic collision has reached its apogee. ''The mode of production is in rebellion against the mode of exchange.'' <ref name=":0" /></blockquote><nowiki>''We already live in socialism''</nowiki> becomes even more important when Engels analyzes the inherent developing social aspect of the forces of production, components of the mode of production. This can very well be equated with the information revolution and the information warfare, the internet, ideological branding and corporate culture of the 21st century. <blockquote>The solution can only consist in the practical recognition of the social nature of the modern forces of production, and therefore in the harmonizing with the socialized character of the means of production. But, with the taking over by society of the productive forces, the social character of the means of production and of the products will be utilized by the producers with a perfect understanding of its nature, and instead of being a source of disturbance and periodical collapse, will become the most powerful lever of production itself.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>The recognition of the social nature of the modern forces of production is exactly what the worker does when he utters the phrase <nowiki>''We already live in socialism''</nowiki>. The logical next step of this conscious realization is the seizing of the means of production. | The phrase directly deals with the question: where does the socialist mode of production come from? Is it the consciousness of men which compose the mode of production? This is not the case in the case of dialectical materialism, the mode of production is an objective and historical reality. <blockquote>The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or – this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms – with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy]</ref></blockquote>Further, using Marxist [[dialectics]], the Marxist conclusion is that there is no single defining point where the mode of production changes. The previous mode of production contains in itself the germ for the new one, and the new one contain remnants from the old. <blockquote>This contradiction, which gives to the new mode of production its capitalistic character, ''contains the germ of the whole of the social antagonisms of today''. The greater the mastery obtained by the new mode of production over all important fields of production and in all manufacturing countries, the more it reduced individual production to an insignificant residuum, ''the more clearly was brought out the incompatibility of socialized production with capitalistic appropriation''.</blockquote>The change thus comes when the previous mode of production develops its inherent contradictions to such extent that it is not materially sustainable anymore. Engels refers to the mode of production being in contradiction with the mode of exchange, i.e, the socialist mode of production is in rebellion against the capitalist mode of production. <blockquote>In these crises, the contradiction between socialized production and capitalist appropriation ends in a violent explosion. The circulation of commodities is, for the time being, stopped. Money, the means of circulation, becomes a hindrance to circulation. All the laws of production and circulation of commodities are turned upside down. The economic collision has reached its apogee. ''The mode of production is in rebellion against the mode of exchange.'' <ref name=":0" /></blockquote><nowiki>''We already live in socialism''</nowiki> becomes even more important when Engels analyzes the inherent developing social aspect of the forces of production, components of the mode of production. This can very well be equated with the information revolution and the information warfare, the internet, ideological branding and corporate culture of the 21st century. <blockquote>The solution can only consist in the practical recognition of the social nature of the modern forces of production, and therefore in the harmonizing with the socialized character of the means of production. But, with the taking over by society of the productive forces, the social character of the means of production and of the products will be utilized by the producers with a perfect understanding of its nature, and instead of being a source of disturbance and periodical collapse, will become the most powerful lever of production itself.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>The recognition of the social nature of the modern forces of production is exactly what the worker does when he utters the phrase <nowiki>''We already live in socialism''</nowiki>. The logical next step of this conscious realization is the seizing of the means of production. | ||