Final answer:
Historical Materialism is a socio-economic theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, positing that societies progress through class struggles leading from feudalism to capitalism and eventually to communism.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Historical Materialism
Historical Materialism is a theoretical framework proposed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that suggests the economic base of a society fundamentally determines its social structure and political superstructure. According to this theory, societal development progresses through stages, marked by the dominant mode of economic production and the corresponding class relationships.
Feudalism, characterized by the power of the nobility over the serfs, transitions into capitalism, where the bourgeois class (the capitalists) hold power over the proletariat (the workers). Marx and Engels theorized that these class tensions and conflicts would inevitably lead to the overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of socialism, a transitional phase towards a communist society—a classless, stateless social order where the means of production are communally owned.
The philosophy of Marxism underpins this outlook, viewing historical change as a product of the struggle between opposing social classes. In the industrial age, Marx and Engels foresaw the proletariat revolting against the bourgeoisie, leading to a societal transformation. The Communist Manifesto, one of history's most consequential political documents, sets forth these ideas and predicts the transition from capitalism through socialism to communism.