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Productive forces, productive powers, or forces of production (German: Produktivkräfte) refers to the combination of the means of labor (tools, machinery, land, infrastructure, etc.) and labor-power, In Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' own critique of political economy.
Together with the social and technical relations of production, they constitute the mode of production.
The productive forces are the unity of means of production and labour:
- All labour (individual, union)
- Instruments of production (buildings, machines)
- Subjects of production (raw materials, labor)
Modern uses[edit | edit source]
While the definition of productive forces hasn't changed, it's become a popular term in recent decades as the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been emphasizing increasing their economy's productive forces in order to advance to higher stages of socialism and eventually communism.
Deng Xiaoping[edit | edit source]
Deng Xiaoping, former head of state in the PRC, wrote about how the implementation of a Socialist Market Economy would help China to liberate and develop its productive forces.[1]