The traditional economy has characterized most societies in the first centuries. The traditional economy is built around the way of life of society and which customs and traditional beliefs are fundamental in the production of goods and services. It is based on traditional agriculture, hunting, harvesting and fishing, while barter trade is used instead of money. Family unity is an important factor in the traditional economy and most families progress from hunters to farmers only in places where they can build permanent structures. Given the traditional economy, economists have referred to the way of life and interactions in these societies as primitive communism.
Definition of primitive communism
Primitive communism was a concept proposed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who proposed that traditional hunters and gatherers were based on egalitarian social relations and common ownership. A Marxist model socio-economic society with primitive communism did not have a defined or hierarchical structure or capital. Marx has suggested that ancient production methods are the key pillars that define the transition of societies. The first characteristics of primitive communism involving the primitive methods of hunting and harvesting paved for the traditional methods of agriculture. Primitive communism is, therefore, a collective right to basic resources in a social relationship like society or family without authoritarian rules.
History of primitive communism
Karl Marx and Engels were inspired by the description of Lewis Henry Morgan of communism in life that characterized the Iroquois nation of North America. The speculative evolutionary history of Lewis highlighted the freedom and equality of the ancients that were evident in the family context of the Iroquois nation. Engels transformed this idea into an evolutionary theory with a publication “the origin of the family” in 1884. He argued that the transition from traditional modes of production to subsequent production involved a change of production for domestic or family use to production for sale or exchange and transformation from family relationships into a single family as the main economic unit. Marx and Engels extended the
Characteristics of primitive communist societies
In primitive communism and society, every disadvantaged person was engaged in food production and everyone shared the food that had been obtained from a hunt or gathering. There is no private ownership of property like clothing and similar objects because primitive society produces enough and is immediately consumed and there is no surplus. All that exists for a long time as tools and homes are common property. There is a division of labor with men who take most of the hunt while women are involved in the gathering. Pregnant women or nursing mothers are protected from the dangers of hunting to preserve the next generation. However, there is no division of labor in other aspects such as leadership,
The evolution of primitive communism
The rise of social society has changed human history. The common ways of organizing society have since changed. Humans have moved from a society of equality and community life to one characterized by oppression and exploitation. Agricultural revolutions around the world have turned most hunter-gatherers into farmers. The need for a political structure to advance community affairs has brought significant changes to leadership and decision-making.
