ABSTRACT
The historical materialist approach to understanding the structure and dynamic of a society starts from the relationship between the social forces and the social relations of production. Within the historical materialist framework, the dynamic for societal change comes from the development of a contradiction, a lack of fit, between the forces and the relations of production. The classical Marxist argument is that capitalist social organization initially develops the forces of production but then begins to hold back their further development. Exactly the same argument applies to the social organization characteristic of the mode of production in the Soviet Union and the other statist countries. It is important to note that common, or social, ownership has traditionally been counterposed to private not capitalist ownership. It is important to note that common, or social, ownership has traditionally been counterposed to private not capitalist ownership.
