ABSTRACT
The starting point of a coherent deterministic theory of transition can be traced to Fredrick Engels. Classical historical materialism (CHM) was in turn deployed to explain the societal components and their connections, and more importantly, they helped chart the logic of transition of society that was teleological in character. Given a Development Thesis, the basic idea of transition in historical materialism is that the forces of production (FOP) "select" particular relations of production (ROP) that in turn will promote the development of the FOP as consistently explained through functional explanation (FE). The medium of transitional change is class struggle. Dialectical Materialism tends to embrace Hegelian dialectics as an explanatory device. This chapter identifies class sets in terms of the performance and appropriation of surplus labor (FCP), which is of three types, namely, self-appropriation, exploitative appropriation and collective appropriation. Distribution takes the form of commodity and non-commodity, while workers' remuneration appears in two forms, wage and nonwage.
