Historical Role, Fundamental Contradiction, and Historical Limits of the Capitalist Mode of Production: An Analysis from the Perspective of Historical Materialism

Abstract

Capitalism is a socioeconomic formation that takes shape at a specific historical stage of human social development. To understand capitalism scientifically, we must neither arbitrarily negate its historical role in developing social productive forces, expanding social exchanges and advancing scientific and technological progress in isolation from historical conditions, nor overlook its fundamental contradiction and the economic‑social problems stemming therefrom. Adhering to the fundamental standpoint of historical materialism, this paper examines the capitalist mode of production from three dimensions: its historical role, internal contradictions, and historical limits. The study holds that the capitalist mode of production played an important historical role in opposing feudal hierarchical relations and personal dependence and promoting the development of commodity economy and socialized large‑scale production. Nevertheless, its fundamental contradiction between the socialization of production and capitalist private ownership of the means of production has not been fundamentally eliminated by the development of productive forces and the improvement of macro‑regulation mechanisms. It manifests itself in forms such as cyclical economic fluctuations, wealth concentration, shifts in labor‑capital relations, financialization‑related risks, and ecological‑environmental pressures. The Marxist critique of capitalism is not a blanket negation of markets, technology, the rule of law and the achievements of modern human civilization. Instead, it reveals the historical attributes and institutional limits of capitalism on the basis of fully recognizing its historical progressiveness. The practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics shows that modernization is not confined to the single Western‑capitalist path. Upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics, Chinese modernization follows a people‑centered approach. Within the framework of the basic socialist economic system, it gives full play to the positive role of markets and capital in boosting the development of productive forces, regulates and guides the sound development of capital in accordance with the law, and makes solid progress toward common prosperity for all people. It provides Chinese practice for transcending the limitations of the capital‑centered Western modernization model and enriching and developing a new form of human advancement.