“You can see that the construction has a very elegant and elaborate
roof. Probably the roof with its front gable is what strikes one first. This is what
we call the superstructure.”
“But the roof cannot float in thin air.”
“It is supported by the columns.”
“The building has very powerful foundations—its bases—supporting the
entire construction. In the same way, Marx believed that material relations
support, so to speak, everything in the way of thoughts and ideas in society.
Society’s superstructure is in fact a reflection of the bases of that society.”
“Are you saying that Plato’s theory of ideas is a reflection of vase
production and wine growing?”
“No, it’s not that simple, as Marx expressly points out. It is the interactive
effect of society’s basis on its superstructure. If Marx had rejected this
interaction, he would have been a mechanical materialist. But because Marx
realized that there was an interactive or dialectic relation between bases and
superstructure, we say that he is a dialectical materialist. By the way, you may
care to note that Plato was neither a potter nor a wine grower.”
“All right. Do you have any more to say about the temple?”
“Yes, a little. Could you describe the bases of the temple?”
“The columns are standing on a base that consists of three levels—or
steps.”
“In the same manner we will identify three levels in the bases of society.
The most basic level is what we may call society’s conditions of production. In
other words, the natural conditions or resources that are available to society.
These are the foundation of any society, and this foundation clearly
determines the type of production in the society, and by the same token, the
nature of that society and its culture in general.”
“You can’t have a herring trade in the Sahara, or grow dates in northern
Norway.”
“You’ve got it. And the way people think in a nomadic culture is very
different from the way they think in a fishing village in northern Norway The
next level is the society’s means of production. By this Marx meant the
various kinds of equipment, tools, and machinery, as well as the raw materials
to be found there.”
“In the old days people rowed out to the fishing grounds. Nowadays they
use huge trawlers to catch the fish.”
“Yes, and here you are talking about the next level in the base of
society, namely, those who own the means of production. The division of
labor, or the distribution of work and ownership, was what Marx called
society’s ‘production relations.’ “
“I see.”
“So far we can conclude that it is the mode of production in a society
which determines which political and ideological conditions are to be found
there. It is not by chance that today we think somewhat differently—and have
a somewhat different moral codex—from the old feudal society.”
“So Marx didn’t believe in a natural right that was eternally valid.”
“No, the question of what was morally right, according to Marx, is a
product of the base of society. For example, it is not accidental that in the old
peasant society, parents would decide whom their children married. It was a
question of who was to inherit the farm. In a modern city, social relations are