Social Progress

Abstract

In general, the development of society runs in an ascending line; it is progressive, a movement from lower to higher. Such is the conclusion drawn by Marxist theory from a scientific analysis of the historical process, based not on subjective hopes and wishes but on strictly objective criteria.... The objective criteria are different in the various domains of life.¹ In order to judge the forward motion of the whole society and not of its separate parts, it is necessary... to have general, universal criteria. Such a criterion, i.e. a measuring-stick of the progressive character of one or another formation, is for Marxism-Leninism the development of the forces of production. Progressive is that formation which includes new possibilities for the development of forces of production, which guarantees a higher rate of growth and reaches a higher level. (200)