ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the historical evolution of the concept of the “Asiatic mode of production” in works of Marx and Engels over four periods—before 1853, mid-to-late 1850s, the period represented by Capital, and the period after Morgan’s publication of Ancient Society. Here, the two authors expressed their rudimentary thought concerning social classification based on ownership forms as determined by productivity, and divided pre-capitalistic history into three forms of ownership: “tribal ownership,” “ancient communal and State ownership,” and “feudal or estate property.” The preceding arguments of the western writers on the non-existence of private property in land in eastern countries do not accord with the history of the East. Indeed, in some eastern countries, such as India, the common ownership of land by village communities had long been in existence in various areas and the transformation from the common ownership of land to private property was extremely slow.
