p Marxism draws a distinction between the main economic epochs in the history of society in accordance with the instruments of labour. That is the starting point for any scientific analysis of society. Marx stressed: “It is not the articles made, but how they are made, and by what instruments, that enables us to distinguish different economic epochs. Instruments of labour not only supply a standard of the degree of development to which human labour has attained, but they are also indicators of the social conditions under which that labour is carried on."  [266•6  But instruments of labour as a measure of the extent to which human labour power and social relations have been developed are important in that they determine the efficiency, the results and the productivity of labour. The concept of mode of production is inseparable from the concept of labour productivity, which is characteristic of that given mode of production. No mode of production has disappeared from the arena of world history before it has worked out its potentialities for greater labour productivity. Every new socio-economic formation has brought with it a higher productivity of labour, requiring a new organisation and new social relations, in accord with the greater productive forces. The advantages of the new social system were 267 displayed in the new social organisation, resting on the development of the productive forces achieved, which helped to secure a higher productivity of labour and, consequently, a quantitative and qualitative increase in material welfare that is the basis of spiritual welfare.

p So long as a given form of relations of production—property relations—corresponds to a definite stage of production, and consequently, to a definite level of productivity of social labour, society keeps developing and advancing. When the relations of production no longer accord with the greater productive forces of society, its technology and manpower, these relations begin to hamper the development of the productive power of social labour and become a fetter on it. The mode of bringing together the means of production and labour power creates the basis for the development of labour’s productive power and in antagonistic formations also puts definite limits to such development.

p Marxism has shown that the secret of the collapse of the slave-holding world and the triumph of feudalism, a problem which generations of bourgeois thinkers had been unable to solve, lay ultimately in the fact that the labour of the medieval serf and artisan was more productive than that of the slave.

p The slave had no incentives for work, for developing his productive power. That is why slave labour ultimately carried society into a dead end, and there was general scorn for labour. The further growth of production entailed nothing but the capture of more and more slaves. There were no prospects for technical progress. When Greek scholars first discovered the importance of steam, it was used to open the gates of temples, so as to amaze men.

p A new level of labour productivity was reached by the slight improvement in the condition of the serf as compared with that of the slave, giving more room for initiative and incentive to labour, for he had to produce something over and above the product he himself needed to meet his own wants and those of his family, and this marked the victory of feudalism over the slave-holding system. Capitalism brought a fresh spurt in the productivity of labour.

p In The Development of Capitalism in Russia, Lenin showed very well that the existence of precapitalist forms of exploitation, characteristic of the feudal-absolutist order in Russia and in the West, tended to slow down the progressive development of labour productivity. Lenin said that “labour-service necessarily presupposes the lowest productivity of labour; hence, no possibility exists for increasing income by increasing the surplus product; that can only be done by one means, namely, by employing all sorts of bonded forms of hire".  [267•7  Under a purely capitalist economy, said Lenin, “to raise the productivity of labour becomes not 268 only possible, but also necessary as the sole means of increasing income and withstanding severe competition".  [268•8 

p However, there came a time in the development of capitalism when private appropriation ceased duly to stimulate the growth of labour productivity. On the contrary, the emancipation of labour from all exploitation alone carried with it an unprecedented growth of labour productivity. Today, progress is connected entirely with the future of social property and with the potentialities which it creates for growing labour productivity. The forms of exploitation were stages in the development of labour productivity, but today there is need to release labour from all exploitation for it to reveal its creative power to the full.

p Before the emergence of socialist society there was no instance in history of labour productivity being advanced by workers voluntarily allied with each other and consciously making use of advanced technology. In Soviet society the change and improvement in working habits, once largely a spontaneous process, is becoming a process generating vast creative initiatives among the working people, impelling them to innovations and scientific and technical experiments. On the other hand, science, which has ceased to be a means of exploitation, blends with the working people’s initiative and innovation. Therein lies one of the reasons for the tempestuous growth of the productive forces in the new society.

p The development of social labour has always been connected with changes in the means of production and labour power, and has always implied the existence of definite labour skills and their improvement. The steady improvement of labour skills results in constant changes which now and again remain unnoticed. That is an expression of the growth of the productive power of social labour. The urge to change and improve the means of production has been expressed in the process of labour ever since it originated.

p Throughout the history of mankind until the emergence of socialist society this most important process was basically spontaneous, with conscious effort going mainly into inventions and scientific discoveries in technology, which were determined by the needs of developing production and by the level of labour development and then exerted a stimulating influence on production. The form of exploitation determined the limits within which labour skills and technology were improved and science applied to production. Exploitative society has never left any room for extensive initiative among the producers, and has subordinated the power of science to self-seeking ends.

p In socialist society, the growing productivity of labour means above all a growing role for every worker in the process of material production. This is in line with the principle of “working according to one’s ability”, 269 and the requirement made by society on every one of its members that all should put their best into labour for the common good, improving their capacities with the development of social labour.

p The role of every working person in social life tends to increase. Those who have risen to a higher productivity of labour are of great value for the whole of society and enjoy its respect. The working person who has risen to a high standard of labour productivity becomes a public figure whose opinion is of national importance.

p Working people in socialist society have an interest in the results of their labour, and this is the basis of the principle of material incentives, an important principle underlying the development of socialist society on its way to communism. But material incentives can be held out to everyone only when there is a vigorous effort in the whole collective, and also those who supply the raw materials for production, the instruments of labour, and the goods to meet the individual’s various requirements. Consequently, every individual has an interest in the results of the labour of other working people in socialist society. That is an important basis for all the other social relations.

p In Soviet society, alongside the individual interest and material incentives of each worker in the results of production there is the common interest of the given collective of working people and the national interest, which range over the whole of social production and determine society’s requirements on the activity of the individual industries and enterprises. This national interest takes the form of state interest. The Soviet state of the whole people expresses and safeguards the aspirations of the whole of society and of its members, who have an interest in developing production. The state has economic and political instruments of influence and control, which it uses to have the national interest correctly taken into account in the work of every enterprise, every industry and production as a whole.

p However, it is not only the state and its agencies that are concerned with bringing out the national interest, with taking account of this interest and controlling its complete satisfaction. The substance of Soviet socialist relations is such that this interest tends ever more widely to be considered by all members of society, becoming a basis for their practical activity, the basis for all social ties.

p Socialism makes it possible to combine personal material incentives, the interests of the given production collective of workers and the national, state interest. But this combination cannot be achieved of itself, spontaneously, apart from men’s vigorous activity. A knowledge of the laws and requirements of social development has helped the Soviet people to tackle the tasks posed by life.

The Party Programme shows what social and economic progress in our age means. Its main principle is that the mighty technology produced by mankind which helps to release the vast productivity of labour can, given 270 the right social organisation, create a society with an abundance of material and spiritual goods for all. Today, continued industrial development makes it imperative that social labour should be organised on the highest rational level.