Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations

Description

Translated into English for the first time, these notes of 1857-58 throw light on Marx’s views concerning the economic development of human society as a whole, from “primitive communism”  to capitalism and socialism. They deal particularly with the various epochs of historic development and their evolutionary stages. which for some time have been a subject of controversy among Marxist historians. They are important for understanding the approach of historical materialism, and also as background for further development of the Marxist study of history. Dr. Eric J. Hobsbawm provides a full explanatory introduction, and additional texts are included from German Ideology and the Correspondence.