Final answer:
Marxist evolution entails five steps: Primitive Communism, Slave Society, Feudalism, Capitalism, and culminating in Socialism and Communism. The theory predicts a transition from class struggle under capitalism to a classless and stateless society in which the proletariat overthrow the bourgeoisie.
Step-by-step explanation:
The five steps in the Marxist evolution of humankind, according to Karl Marx's historical materialism, are:
- Primitive Communism - Societies without a structured government or class system, living in collective harmony.
- Slave Society - The division into classes begins, leading to societal progress through the exploitation of slaves.
- Feudalism - A further development of class divisions, with landowners becoming the ruling class over the serfs.
- Capitalism - The bourgeoisie (capitalists) own the means of production and exploit the proletariat (workers), leading to vast wealth disparities.
- Socialism and Communism - Marx believed that the proletariat would eventually revolt against the bourgeoisie, leading to a dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally, a classless and stateless society where production is communally owned.
Marx's criticism of capitalism stemmed from the observation that it perpetuates class conflicts and inequality. He theorized that these tensions would lead to a workers' socialist revolution, which would evolve into communism, a society without classes or state governance.