The Three ‘Historical Missions’ of Capitalism - Marx

 

This article sheds light on Marx’s notion of the « historical missions » of the capitalist mode of production, a notion unfortunately little understood or misunderstood in the field of revolutionary Marxism... read our two articles on this subject in Controverses n°9 (in French): Marx versus Lenin et al on the obsolescence of capitalism and Has capitalism been obsolete since 1914?

Indeed, it is only when capitalism has accomplished its three historical missions: (1) the development of the productive forces, (2) the increase in labor productivity and (3) the creation of a global production and market, that it enters its phase of obsolescence, i.e. at the hinge between the 20th and 21st centuries: read our article entitled Periodisation of capitalism, revolutionary positions and the Marxist basis of its obsolescence.

 

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• « The hundreds of millions crowding the fertile plains of China and India once drawn within the confines of capitalism, its chief work is accomplished. (…) Then its further expansion is checked. (…) Then the workers must choose between inertly succumbing and actively fighting to win freedom. Then they will have to take up their task of creating a better world out of the chaos of decaying capitalism. »
  Anton Pannekoek, 1946: Workers’ Councils. First English edition by J.A. Dawson, 1950; Ch. II The Fight, 6. The Worker’s revolution.

 

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Throughout his work, Marx has never ceased to emphasize the three “historical missions” that the capitalist mode of production ensures in the trajectory of human societies: developing the productive forces, increasing the productivity of labour and creating the world market as well as a production conditioned by the latter – the three quotes below are taken from the part on the contradictions of the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in Capital Vol. III (1894).

 

1- Developing the productive forces

« Development of the productive forces of social labour is the historical task and justification of capital. This is just the way in which it unconsciously creates the material requirements of a higher mode of production » [1].

 

2- Increasing the productivity of labour

« Its historical mission is unconstrained development in geometrical progression of the productivity of human labour. It goes back on its mission whenever, as here, it checks the development of productivity. It thus demonstrates again that it is becoming senile and that it is more and more outlived. » [2].

 

3- Creating the world market as well as a production conditioned by the latter

« The capitalist mode of production is (…) a historical means of developing the material forces of production and creating an appropriate world-market and is, at the same time, a continual conflict between this its historical task and its own corresponding relations of social production. » [3]. The same idea can be found in the letter by Marx to Engels of October 8, 1858: « The proper task of bourgeois society is the creation of the world market, at least in outline, and of the production based on that market. »

 

Marx is obviously not referring to the religious sense of the term but rather to the function, the historical role assured by capitalism [4]. However, these ‘missions’ do not in any way constitute progress made by the bourgeoisie for the benefit of humanity, but a constraint based on the tempestuous imperatives of the expanded accumulation of capital: «Accumulation for accumulation’s sake, production for production’s sake: by this formula classical economy expressed the historical mission of the bourgeoisie.» [5].

Similarly, it is not a conscious task since Marx also specifies that « this is just the way in which it [capital] unconsciously creates the material requirements of a higher mode of production. » [footnote 2] Nevertheless, even “unconsciously”, the achievement of these three missions is essential because, failing this: « (…) if we did not find concealed in society as it is the material conditions of production and the corresponding relations of exchange prerequisite for a classless society, then all attempts to explode it would be quixotic » [6]. In effect, communism cannot come about with the level reached by the productive forces of feudalism, Antiquity or the royal societies. A certain stage of development is therefore necessary to make the advent of communism possible.

However, if the achievement of these three historical missions constitutes a necessary condition, it is however not sufficient to overcome capitalism. In effect, the latter will not fall like a ripe fruit: as long as the proletariat has not wrested power from the hands of the bourgeoisie, the system will continue to survive by spreading its miasmas to the point of mortgaging the very life of men on earth, whether by nuclear war or ecological catastrophes.

 

The Obsolescence of Capitalism according to Marx

 

After having prematurely stated the diagnosis of the obsolescence of capitalism four times, Marx and Engels corrected themselves in view of the persistent prosperity of capitalism. The whole question came therefore down to the ability of determining when capitalism reaches this “certain stage of maturity” of the productive forces [7] ! The answer provided by Marx is very clear but it has nevertheless been rarely identified and even less understood.

In effect, Marx has very clearly defined the advent of the obsolescence of capitalism when it completes its three great “historical missions”. More precisely, when wage labour – this social relation of production at the root of capitalism [8] – becomes an obstacle to the development of the productive forces, of labour productivity and of the world market, that is to say a phase where « from forms of development of the productive forces that they were, these relations become obstacles ».

In other words, it is precisely because these three missions constitute existential imperatives for capitalism – The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society [9] – that a structural obstacle to the realization of these missions signals its entry into its phase of obsolescence. Marx has expressed this well for each of the three great « historical missions » of capitalism that he highlighted:

 

1- The development of the productive forces

« ...Beyond a certain point, the development of the powers of production becomes a barrier for capital; hence the capital relation a barrier for the development of the productive powers of labour. When it has reached this point, capital, i.e. wage labour, enters into the same relation towards the development of social wealth and of the forces of production as the guild system, serfdom, slavery, and is necessarily stripped off as a fetter » [10].

This passage is particularly clear in that it defines “wage labour” as constituting “a barrier for the development of the productive powers of labour” within capitalism, just as, Marx compares, feudal “serfdom” or ancient “slavery” have become “a fetter” that ”is necessarily stripped off“.

 

2- The growth of labour productivity

« Here the capitalist mode of production is beset with another contradiction. Its historical mission is unconstrained development in geometrical progression of the productivity of human labour. It goes back on its mission whenever, as here, it checks the development of productivity. It thus demonstrates again that it is becoming senile and that it is more and more outlived. » [11].

Here too, this passage is important in that it clearly specifies the onset of senility of capitalism when it is no longer able to fulfil its historical mission of developing labour productivity. The evolution of labour productivity therefore plays a pivotal role between the ascending period, where it “develops in geometrical progression”, and its “senile” period, where it acts as an "obstacle".

 

3- Creation of a global production and market

« The proper task of bourgeois society is the creation of the world market, at least in outline, and of the production based on that market. Since the world is round, the colonisation of California and Australia and the opening up of China and Japan would seem to have completed this process. For us, the difficult question is this: on the Continent revolution is imminent and will, moreover, instantly assume a socialist character. Will it not necessarily be crushed in this little corner of the earth, since the movement of bourgeois society is still, in the ascendant over a far greater area? » [12].

This passage is very illuminating in that it makes the advent of capitalism’s obsolescence and the possibility of a revolution dependent on the completion of the creation of the world market. Indeed, it defines the latter, as well as production conditioned by it, as a pivot between the “ascending phase of bourgeois society” and the one in which this “proper task” has been “completed” and where “revolution will instantly assume a socialist character”. It should be noted, however, that Marx remains cautious about the actual completion of the creation of the world market, since he uses the expression that this process “seems” to have been completed. We will return to this point.

 

C.Mcl Translation by H.C. March 2025