Marx's
Perception of History in The German Ideology: praxis, property and the division
of labor
Marx's
Perception of History in The German Ideology stresses the material aspect of
human existence. Marx argues that humans must be able to live in order to make
history. For Marx, the basis of all human activities, be it politics, art or
religion, is material survival. The way mankind has been meeting it survival
needs for the past thousands years is according to Marx production. According to
Marx, the first ever historical act, which initiated history, was an act of
production that what designed to meet survival needs.
Man
does not only produce food, but also the means to produce it. This is what for
Marx distinguishes man from animal – the ability to engage in production. This is
the basis for Marx's concept of "praxis". Praxis according to Marx is
conscious, thoughtful and meaning ascribing act of production. Marx denies the
traditional distinction between manual and mental labor as a capitalist lie,
and he argues that the two are inevitably entangled with each other in the
praxis.
Marx
also concluded that man's productive activity necessitates "negotiation"
between individuals, which are the social-order surrounding production. The first
ever division of labor is according to Marx that which exists between a man and
a woman, first in the act of making children and consequently is the process of
rearing them. This is the division of labor of human reproduction. This makes
to family the first social unit and thus, for Marx, the first economical
production unit which is based on a division of labor, inequality and private property
(of the man over to woman and children).
In "The
German Ideology" Marx describes how increasing production has led to the
formation of larger social units (the clan, tribe, polis, city, kingdom and
state), while in the process more advanced concepts of ownership and division of
labor were developed. According to Marx, property is the ownership over the
means of production and their produce. Division of labor according to Marx is
describes that different positions assumed by individuals in the process of
production.
In The
German Ideology Marx describes history as an increasing process of division of
labor with different relations of production appearing at different stages of
history. The division of labor according to Marx is bound with the means of
production. Primitive societies that have little and simple means of production
have accordingly a very simple and minimal division of labor. But in the course
of history society is continually being divided into more and more specific
practices.
According
to Marx, the division of labor is belligerent one which relays on the formation
of property over the means of production. Thus society is divided into
different classes according to whoever has ownership (property) over the means
of production. The class who has property subordinates the ones who don't which
depend on them for their existence.
Workers of the world, support your laboring comrades by donating (upper right side) or check these out (you get smarter, we get a fee):
Workers of the world, support your laboring comrades by donating (upper right side) or check these out (you get smarter, we get a fee): 
More summaries of Marx's writings and ideas:
An Extended Summary of The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels (chapter 1, chapter 2, chapters 3 and 4)
