[Langalibalele]

Materialist theory is based on the study of matter and motion, the study of objective phenomenon. Dialectics is the study of contradictions and harmony.

• The fusion of these two disciplines is called dialectical materialism and it is based upon several principles:
• Matter is primary; the natural world and the laws which apply to it govern the universe.
• Matter and all material objects remain in a constant state of agitation, or motion.
• Motion is the basis of change; change is the only constant in nature.
• Many small changes lead to great qualitative transformations; quality is derived from quantity.
• Opposites are harmonious and attract one another.
• A contradiction exists in everything.

Historical materialism applies the principles of dialectical materialism to society. Historical materialism, therefore, studies the objective motion of society and is rooted in understanding the material (economic) conditions of social forces. It divides society into two primary categories: class society, and classless society. Of the classless societies, there are two, classified according to mode of production.

• Communal society. This society has covered the longest period of human development, from its inception until the rise of the first class based society. Communal society was based upon common ownership of everything except operhaps the most personal items, and people lacked a concept of private ownership. Hence, there was no theft, no murder, no oppression. A division of labor existed between men and women, adults and children. These things are known from observations of communal societies in the Americas, Asia, the Pacific Islands, Oceania and Africa.
  
• COMMUNISM. Communist society does not exist. It is the mode of production which emulates communal society except it exists on a more sophisticated mode of production. The State does not exist, or is a minimum body which coordinates special activities. All persons in this society are workers, all people must labor, and nobody owns any possessions. Antagonistic competion is eliminated. All industries are collectivized, that is, held in common by society. Therefore, benefits and responsibilities are held in common as well. The phenomenon of uneven development disappears from society, as well as colonialism, war, rape, genocide, etc.

Of class societies there are the slave mode, feudal mode and capitalist mode of production.

• Slave mode. Characterized by empire building, the establishment of a State, a king, and a class which owns everything and everybody in society. This society is primitive, non-transformative, and static in terms of social mobility. War is not only inevitable but it drives the State.
  
• Feudal mode. Characterized by a State operated by a monarch, lords and barons, who own all the land, and the peasants are tenants. In this mode of production, the peasants are raided not only by pirates and foreigners but by their own rulers. The lords are in constant conflict, vying for power. This society is also static, with very little social mobility.
  
• CAPITALISM. This system is very dynamic. It came out of the thirst of the European feudal rulers for another Roman-style empire. However, capitalism was born worldwide, with the spread of mercenaries in the wake of Cristobal Colon and Vasco Da Gama. Capitalism came from the division of capitalists (the bourgeoisie) and laborers. The first capitalist laborers were slaves in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Press-gangs worked fields and mines. Capitalists in search of exotic plants and spices transplanted their finds to more fertile soils and climates, and grew them in massive amounts, to feed Europe's burgeoning population. Simultaneously, the capitalists first emptied Europes peasant population from the countryside into the cities, transforming them into workers, then from the cities into the Americas and elsewhere. Capitalism grew in knowledge and power from this dynamic system; capitalism also relied on its conquest of colonial territory and transforming collectively owned land into private real estate, backed up by documentation to give it the appearance of legimacy. In the 20th Century, simple capitalism morphed into Imperialism, the fusion of industrial and banking capital into INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CAPITALIM. Neo-colonialism is the last stage of this phase of capitalism.
  
• SOCIALISM. This is also a class system, which turns society upside down, that is, it places the masses of workers in power and presses society's weight upon the former ruling class. Thru violent revolution, because of the antagonistic contradictions rife within the capitalist system, the bourgeois mode is overthrown and the working class put in power. Thru its self-led proletariat, the workers wield power until the bourgeois classes are eradicated and all industries are collectivized. Following this, the socialist state withers away and the Communist era begins.