THE MATERIALISTIC CONCEPTION OF HISTORY
Socialism a theory of social evolution--Not economic
fatalism--Leibnitz and the savage--Ideas and progress--Value of
the materialistic conception of history--Foreshadowings of the
theory--What is meant by the term "materialistic
conception"--Results of overemphasis: Engels'
testimony--Application of the theory to religion--Influence of
social conditions upon religious forms--The doctrine of "free
will"--Darwin and Marx--Application of the theory, specific and
general--Columbus and the discovery of America--General view of
historical progress--Antiquity of communism--Cooeperation and
competition--Slavery--Serfdom--Class struggles--The rise of
capitalism and the wage system 75