馬克思主義簡介：政治經濟學1
按照歷史唯物主義的界定，原始部落、奴隸、封建和資本主義等社會，都先是一種生產方式，然後才是一種社會形態。總體而言，人類社會朝著生產力越來越高的方向發展。
而辯證唯物主義認為，矛盾關係的發展，推動了事物整體的發展。馬克思認為在資本主義社會，私有制和生產社會化是最主要的矛盾。私有制在一開始可以促進生產社會化，令資本主義的生產力比之前任何一種社會形態的生產力都要高。但資本主義不斷發展，也會由量變到質變，私有制發展到一定階段，就會對生產社會化產生制約，導致資本主義社會無法繼續運作。
一、什麼是私有制？
要理解這個觀點，首先需要介紹一下什麼是私有制。私有制指的不是個人財產的「私有」，而是對生產資料的「私有」，個人財產如果不用來投資生產資料，沒有辦法再產出新的價值。
在資本主義社會中，私有制的主體是資本家，資本家擁有土地、工廠、技術等生產資料，並且僱傭無產階級進行生產。與之相反的概念是公有制，也指生產資料的「公有」，而非個人財產的「公有」。
私有制衍生出的「自由貿易」同樣重要，指的是資本家可以不受干預，自由買賣生產資料以及商品，也可以叫做自由交換，或者自由競爭。
同樣道理，產品如果不進行交換，也無法產生價值。在資本主義社會中，自由交換永遠佔第一位，其他自由都處於次要位置。
因此，在資本主義社會，政府通常無法干預生產，只依賴市場的調節；政權通常由資產階級政黨掌握，並致力維護資本家的「自由貿易」，確保資產階級可以掌握生產資料，控制社會分配，令財富源源不斷地流向資產階級。
私有制是自由貿易的前提，自由貿易則為私有制提供財富，以上兩點注定了資本主義是一個以利潤最大化為目的，不斷競爭，不斷擴張「無休止的運動」。
二、什麼是生產社會化？
然後，我們介紹一下生產社會化。隨著資本主義的發展，生產變得越來越複雜，分散的小規模生產已經不能提高生產力，也不能帶來最大利潤，因此企業的規模變得越來越大，企業和企業之間的聯繫變得越來越緊密，令社會每一個人都參與到生產的過程當中，稱為生產社會化或者社會化大生產。這也是社會主義當中社會這一詞彙的由來。
在這種情況下，大量的生產工序需要不同的企業配合，大量的生產資料也需要不同的人共同使用。因此，生產的過程越來越依賴科學的統籌，令不同的企業和部門可以合作。但私有制卻強調生產資料的私有，令生產社會化的進程受到阻礙，形成資本主義最基本的矛盾，私有制也會造成以下的問題。
1、週期性經濟危機
馬克思認為，資本主義週期性的經濟危機，是由於私有制的生產過剩和由此形成的消費不足引起的。
無論生產力提高還是經濟發展，都依賴新科技的運用。新科技帶來的巨額利潤，在自由競爭的情況下，大量資金投入生產新商品，就會出現生產過剩，在生產過剩之後，利潤開始下降。這時資本家會採取兩種方式維持利潤：其一是剝削勞工，其二是擴大市場。
在馬克思的時代，最普遍的做法，是減少工資和提高工作時間，但無論沒時間還是沒有錢消費，都會導致消費不足。當社會的消費不足時，資本家為了維持利潤，只能提高剝削的力度來降低成本，更強力的剝削，卻又會令勞工的消費能力更加低。
商品只有售賣出去才能產生利潤，生產過剩後，大量積壓的商品賣不出去，群眾又消費不起，後果就是資本家破產、工廠倒閉、工人失業，形成經濟危機。在經濟危機期間，社會的生產力下降，供求失衡的情況得以緩解，在度過經濟危機後，又開始下一次生產過剩到消費不足的循環。
按照辯證唯物主義的觀點，這種循環不是簡單機械地重複，舊企業倒閉也會將土地、工廠、技術等生產資料釋放到社會，產生新的企業，但總體來說，週期性經濟危機朝著規模越來越大的趨勢發展。
2、全球化
如果剝削勞工此路不通，那麼擴大市場呢？馬克思認為資本主義必然會擴張到全世界，因為資本主義的強大生產力，生產出大量產品，資本家為了增加利潤，會擴大市場，向全球輸出產品。最終將衝擊一切落後的生產力和生產關係，令全世界不同的法律、關稅、文化、宗教和政府逐漸統一為一個市場，消滅除了資本主義以外的任何生產方式。但隨著全球化不斷深入，亦使得資本主義越來越難以開拓新的市場，反而令防止危機的手段越來越少。
3、壟斷
馬克思認爲，資本主義的競爭打破了封建主義的壟斷，產生了自由貿易，企業因為私有制的原因，傾向於控制生產和銷售的全部環節，規模變得越來越大，最終會再度產生壟斷，反過來建立壁壘破壞貿易的自由。
新科技出現促進了資本主義的發展，科技創新需要大量資金和人力的投入，而科技發展越來越複雜，回報週期越來越長，只有大型的企業，才能投入大量的資金和人力發展新科技。企業發展到壟斷階段，就會喪失繼續創新的動力，開始打壓新科技的應用，藉此維持當下的利潤。這是因為新技術一旦普及，舊技術就面臨淘汰，對擁有大量舊技術的企業造成損失。反過來破壞資本主義賴以為生的科技創新。
馬克思認為，最能解決資本主義這些問題的方式，是將私有制改為公有制，將生產資料社會化。同時，將自由貿易改為計劃經濟，才能確保生產社會化。
結語
辯證唯物主義強調，世界處於永遠的變化當中，任何主張都不同程度地受到時代局限性的影響，對於馬克思主義的理解應該也是這樣。馬克思的時代屬於資本主義的初期階段，在他逝世30年後，代表資本主義大規模生產的福特汽車，才開始使用世界上第一條流水線進行生產。當時並不存在最低工資和最高工時，也沒有反壟斷的法律，更不用說現代的物流、會計和統籌學。但馬克思已經能整理出資本主義發展的趨勢和邏輯，做了很有前瞻性的預判。
如今發達國家受到工人運動的衝擊，普遍實行了最低工資和最高工時，以及反壟斷的法律，多少舒緩了資本主義存在的問題，這本身就是馬克思的貢獻。但直到目前，資本主義的根本矛盾似乎未能解決。這也是需要繼續討論馬克思主義的原因所在。
Introduction to Marxism: Political Economy 1.
Now, let's shift our focus to political economy and discuss why Marx believed that capitalism would inevitably collapse.
According to historical materialism, societies such as primitive tribes, slavery, feudalism, and capitalism were initially modes of production before evolving into social forms. In general, human society develops toward increasingly higher levels of productive forces.
Dialectical materialism holds that the development of contradictions drives the progress of entities. Marx believed that in capitalist society, the primary contradiction lies between private ownership and the socialization of production. Initially, private ownership promotes the socialization of production, enabling capitalism to achieve higher productive forces than any previous social form. However, as capitalism develops, it undergoes a transformation from quantitative to qualitative change. At a certain stage, private ownership becomes a constraint on the socialization of production, leading to the inability of capitalist society to sustain itself.
1. What is Private Ownership?
To understand this perspective, we must first define private ownership. Private ownership does not refer to personal property but to the ownership of the means of production. Personal property, unless invested in the means of production, cannot generate new value.
In capitalist society, the primary agents of private ownership are capitalists, who own land, factories, technology, and other means of production, employing the proletariat for production. The opposing concept is public ownership, which refers to the collective ownership of the means of production, not personal property.
Equally important is the concept of "free trade," which arises from private ownership. It allows capitalists to freely buy and sell commodities and means of production without interference, also referred to as "free exchange" or "free competition."
Similarly, products must be exchanged to generate value. In capitalist society, free exchange takes precedence, while other freedoms are secondary.
Thus, in capitalist society, the government typically cannot intervene in production, relying solely on market regulation. Political power is usually held by bourgeois parties, which strive to uphold capitalists' free trade, ensuring the bourgeoisie's control over the means of production and social distribution, allowing wealth to flow continuously to them.
Private ownership establishes the foundation of free trade, while free trade generates wealth for private ownership. These two factors solidify capitalism as a system driven by the pursuit of maximum profits, perpetual competition, and ceaseless expansion.
2. What is the Socialization of Production?
Next, let's introduce the concept of the socialization of production. As capitalism develops, production becomes increasingly complex. Decentralized small-scale production can no longer enhance productive forces or maximize profits. As a result, enterprises grow larger and more interconnected, involving everyone in society in the production process. This is known as the socialization of production, the origin of the term "social" in socialism.
In this context, numerous production processes require coordination among different enterprises, and various means of production must be shared among individuals. Thus, production becomes increasingly reliant on scientific planning to enable collaboration among enterprises and departments. However, private ownership emphasizes exclusive control over the means of production, hindering the socialization of production and creating capitalism's fundamental contradiction. Private ownership also leads to the following issues:
2.1. Cyclical Economic Crises
Marx believed that capitalism's cyclical economic crises result from overproduction and underconsumption caused by private ownership.
Advancements in productive forces and the economy rely on new technologies. The massive profits generated by new technologies lead to significant capital investments in the production of new goods under free competition. This often results in overproduction, followed by declining profits. To maintain profits, capitalists resort to two methods: exploiting labor and expanding markets.
In Marx's time, the common approach was to reduce wages and increase working hours. However, this led to underconsumption due to workers' lack of time or money. When underconsumption occurs, capitalists intensify exploitation to reduce costs, further diminishing workers' purchasing power.
Profits are only realized when goods are sold. However, overproduction leads to a surplus of unsold goods, while the masses lack the purchasing power to buy them. This results in bankruptcies for capitalists, factory closures, and worker unemployment, culminating in an economic crisis. During such crises, social productive forces decline, and supply-demand imbalances are alleviated. Once the crisis passes, the cycle of overproduction and underconsumption begins anew.
From the perspective of dialectical materialism, this cycle is not merely mechanical repetition. The collapse of existing enterprises releases means of production like land, factories, and technology into society, giving rise to new enterprises. However, cyclical economic crises tend to escalate in scale.
2.2. Globalization
If labor exploitation is not viable, what about market expansion? Marx believed that capitalism would inevitably extend globally due to its powerful productive forces, which produce vast quantities of goods. To increase profits, capitalists expand markets by exporting products worldwide. This process impacts underdeveloped productive forces and relations, gradually unifying diverse laws, tariffs, cultures, religions, and governments into a single market, eliminating non-capitalist production methods. However, as globalization deepens, it becomes increasingly difficult to expand to new markets, reducing the means to avert future crises.
2.3. Monopolies
Marx argued that capitalism's competition shattered feudal monopolies, ushering in free trade. However, due to private ownership, enterprises tend to control all aspects of production and sales, growing larger until monopolies re-emerge, creating barriers that undermine free trade.
New technologies drive capitalism's development. Technological innovation requires significant capital and labor investments, and as technology grows more complex with longer return periods, only large enterprises can afford such investments. However, monopolistic enterprises lose their drive to innovate, suppressing new technologies to maintain profits. This is because new technologies render outdated ones obsolete, causing losses for enterprises reliant on older technologies and hindering the innovation capitalism depends on.
Marx believed that the most effective solution to these issues is to replace private ownership with public ownership, socializing the means of production, and substituting free trade with a planned economy to ensure the socialization of production.
Conclusion
Dialectical materialism emphasizes that the world is in constant flux, and all ideas are influenced by their historical context. This applies to our understanding of Marxism as well. Marx lived during capitalism's early stages. It was only 30 years after his death that the Ford Motor Company, representing large-scale capitalist production, introduced the world's first assembly line. At the time, concepts like minimum wages, maximum working hours, and antitrust laws did not exist, let alone modern logistics, accounting, and management practices. Yet, Marx discerned the logic and trends of capitalist development, making remarkably forward-thinking predictions.
Today, developed countries, influenced by labor movements, have widely implemented minimum wage laws, maximum working hours, and antitrust legislation. These measures have somewhat mitigated the inherent problems of capitalism, a testament to Marx's enduring influence. However, capitalism's fundamental contradictions remain unresolved, underscoring the continued relevance of Marxist discourse.
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