Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2013

The Asiatic Mode of Production in World History Perspectives: From the Universal View of History to the Particularist View of History

(Abstract)

Tu Chenglin

Essentially, discussions on Marx’s “Asiatic mode of production” come down to the relationship between the universal view of history and the particularist view of history. Marx’s meditation and construction of the Asiatic mode of production underwent a transition from the universal view of history to the particularist view of history; the evolution from the “Russian path” and “Russian way” arising from October Revolution to Stalin’s “five forms” of social development represents a return from the particularist view of history to the universal view of history. There are three essential factors in the building of the Chinese view of history: the Chinese mode of historical development and the experience of practical development, the Marxist theory of social forms and his later ideas of the oriental society, as well as the “Russian path” and “transmutation” initiated by the October Revolution.