SLAVE PRODUCTION MODE: BACKGROUND AND CHARACTERISTICS - HISTORY - 2024

The slave mode of production is the second mode of production in the history of humanity and the first that is based on the exploitation of men. It was based on the use of slaves to produce goods that were used by great civilizations.

The mode of production refers to the ways in which human beings organize to produce livelihoods and meet their needs. The term arises from the work of Karl Marx, and his concept has played a significant role in Marxist theory.

Slavery was the condition used for one human being to be the property of another. It existed in a large number of societies in the past, but was rare among primitive hunter-trained peoples, because social differentiation was essential for slavery to flourish.

An economic surplus was also essential, since slaves were consumer goods that had to be maintained. Surplus was also essential in slave systems, as owners hoped to make financial gains from slave ownership.

Slaves were obtained in many ways, the most frequent being their capture in wars, either to encourage warriors or to get rid of enemy troops.

Others were kidnapped by piracy or slave raids. Some were enslaved as punishment for some crime or debt, others sold as slaves by their relatives, to pay debts or escape starvation.

Historical background

The first mode of production in human history was the primitive communal. It was based on the fact that ownership of the means of production was collective. The weakness of man alone and his difficulty in fighting in isolation with nature required that ownership of labor and the means of production be collective.

The first form of class society was slavery, which arose as a result of the disintegration and fall of the primitive communal system. It took a process of some three to four thousand years to pass from the primitive communal mode of production to the slave regime.

The transition from the primitive communal system to the slave system took place for the first time in history in the countries of the ancient East. The slave mode of production predominated in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China in the fourth millennium BC

At first, slavery had a patriarchal or domestic character, and there were few slaves. Slave labor was not yet the basis of production, it played a secondary role in the economy.

The growth of the productive forces and the development of the social division of labor and exchange formed the platform for the transition from human society to the slave system.

The evolution of tools from stone to metal considerably extended the limits of human work. The primitive hunting economy gave rise to agriculture and livestock, and crafts appeared.

Characteristics of the slave production mode

Thanks to slave labor, the ancient world achieved considerable economic and cultural development, but the slave system could not create the conditions for technical progress.

Slave labor was distinguished by extremely low productivity; the slave was not interested in the results of his work, he hated being under the yoke of work.

The concentration of large numbers of slaves in the hands of the state or individuals made it possible to supply labor on a large scale. This is endorsed by the gigantic works built in ancient times by the peoples of China, India, Egypt, Italy, Greece and Central Asia: irrigation systems, roads, bridges, cultural monuments…

The slave trade was one of the most profitable and flourishing branches of economic activity. Land and labor were the fundamental productive forces.

The slave was property, it belonged to someone else. He was an object of the law, not a subject, and legally he had no relatives. The owner could control the physical reproduction of his slaves.

The division of society into classes awakened the need for the state. It arose to keep the exploited majority at bay in the interests of the exploiting minority.

Types of slavery

There have been two types of slavery throughout history. The most common was patriarchal or domestic slavery. The main function of these slaves was to be servants of their owners in their homes.

The other guy was the productive one. Slavery existed primarily to produce in mines or plantations.

Production relationships

Slaves as property

The production relations of the slave society were based on the fact that not only the means of production, but also the slaves, were property. They were not only exploited, but also bought and sold like cattle, and even killed with impunity.

The exploitation of slaves by slave owners is the main characteristic of the relations of production of the slave society.

Slave labor was compulsory; They were forced to work with whips and were subjected to harsh punishment for the slightest negligence. They were marked so that they could be more easily captured if they fled.

The owner acquired all the product of the work. He gave the slaves the least possible amount of inputs to survive, enough to prevent them from starving and so that they could continue working for him. The owner not only had the slave's labor, but also his life.

Division between free and slaves

The population was divided into free men and slaves. The free had all the civil, property and political rights. Slaves were deprived of all these rights and could not be admitted into the ranks of the free.

Slave owners viewed physical labor with contempt, considered it an occupation unworthy of a free man, and led a parasitic way of life.

They squandered most of the slave labor: accumulating treasures, maintaining luxurious palaces or military fortresses. The Egyptian pyramids bear witness to the unproductive expenditure of great masses of labor.

Crisis of the model

The slave system concealed insurmountable contradictions that led to its destruction. The form of slave exploitation devastated the basic productive force of this society, the slaves. The slaves' struggle against harsh forms of exploitation was expressed in armed revolts.

Lifts

Slave uprisings broke out on more than one occasion over many centuries, achieving particular strength in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and in the 3rd to 5th centuries AD.

These uprisings radically undermined the ancient power of Rome and accelerated the fall of the slave system.

The redoubt of slaves could not reproduce itself and had to be supplemented with the purchase of slaves. Its supply began to deteriorate when the Empire suspended the wars of conquest, thus preparing the end of its expansionary trend.

Change of production model

In the last two centuries of the Roman Empire's existence there was a general drop in production. The rich lands became poor, the population began to decline, handicrafts perished, and the cities began to disunite.

The change was slow and gradual: the impossibility that the production prospered based on the slaves, together with the increase in price of this human material, led to the improvement of the techniques through the education of selected workers.

The owners began to free large groups of slaves whose work no longer brought them income. Large estates were divided into small parcels, which were given to both former freed slaves and free citizens who were now obliged to perform a series of duties for the benefit of the owner.

This was a new social stratum of small producers, who occupied an intermediate position between free and slaves, and had a certain interest in the results of their own work. They were the predecessors of the medieval serfs.

References

1. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Mode of production. Taken from en.wikipedia.org
2. Lawrence & Wishart, London (1957). Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Political Economy. Marxists Internet Archive. Taken from marxists.org
3. Thomson Gale (2008). Mode of Production. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Taken from encyclopedia.com
4. Richard Hellie (2018). Slavery. Sociology. Taken from britannica.com
5. Enrico Dal Lago, National University of Ireland, Galway Constantina Katsari, University of Leicester (2008). Slave Systems Ancient and Modern. Taken from assets.cambridge.org
6. Borísov, Zhamin and Makárova (1965). Virtual encyclopedia. Dictionary of political economy. Taken from Eumed.net