The Marxist view of history: Historical materialism

In this video from Socialist Appeal's "Marx in a Day" event earlier this year (which celebrated Karl Marx's 200th birthday), Josh Holroyd discusses the contribution made by the great revolutionary thinker towards our understanding of history.

With their ideas of "scientific socialism", Marx and Engels provided the first real materialist analysis of how history develops, explaining that the motor force behind society's evolution is the class struggle and the drive to increase the humankind's productive forces.

In his talk, Josh contrasts the Marxist view of history with that traditionally taught in textbooks: on the one side, the idea that history is the product of 'Great Men'; and on the other side, the postmodern position, that history is just a series of unconnected and unrelated events.

Above all, Josh explains, it is only by understanding the forces and factors that drive history - and, ultimately, our lives - that we can hope to change the world around us and realise a revolutionary socialist alternative.