ABSTRACT
In a society, the productivity of labour expresses the level of the development of the productive forces. The productivity of labor itself depends upon the development of the means of labour, knowledge of nature, the producers’ skills, the organisation of labour, and natural conditions. Another type of intensification of the social productivity of labour was achieved through distributing work according to the labour power available at different times of the year in relation to the seasonally varying intensity of agricultural work. This chapter discusses how the relations of production and corresponding system of distribution in Inca society enabled this particular advancement of the productive forces. In conclusion, the application of the notion of the Asiatic mode of production to Inca society results in certain problems. In many traits, Inca society resembles societies which have been described as Asiatic; it differs fundamentally, however, from the model outlined by Marx in that the village communities were not self-sufficient.
