HISTORICAL MATERIALISM 27 (2019) 1 - 36

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The Ancient Mode of Production, the City-State

and Politics

Carlos García Mac Gaw

Department of History, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
cgmacgaw@hotmail.com

Abstract

This paper briefly examines the concept of the ancient mode of production as ex-
pressed in Karl Marx’s Formations. It looks at how twentieth-century Marxist histori-
ography picks up this concept in its characterisation of the Greco-Roman city-state. It
explores the feasibility of the use of the concept in relation to the advancement of
knowledge of the city-state, especially through the development of archaeology. It ex-
amines how social classes are structured and relations of exploitation are presented.
And it analyses the need for politics in the organisation of this socio-economic form
in terms of how it is joined up with the social relations of production.

Keywords

pre-capitalist formations – ancient mode of production – city-state – politics

Introduction

In this article I look at the concept of the ancient mode of production as orig-
inally formulated by Karl Marx and at its significance for historiography. I also
suggest the possible incorporation of certain aspects not originally present in
this discussion. The subject is of central importance in that it explores the
emergence of the state in Greek and Roman Mediterranean societies of the
Archaic and Classical periods. This has a logical bearing on the study of the

© KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV , LEIDEN , 2019 | DOI 10.1163/1569206X-00001392

2 GARCÍA MAC GAW

forms of exploitation organised there. Unlike the concept of the Asiatic mode
of production, which has been of far greater significance for historiography,
the ancient mode of production was quickly overtaken by the interest awak-
ened by the concept of the slave-owning mode of production in relation to
studies on Ancient Greece and Rome. As will be seen later, it was Marx himself
who advanced the idea of an evolution from the ancient to the slave-owning
mode, and Marxist historical approaches have focused mainly on the latter
ever since. It is not possible to engage with these questions here, as their scope
exceeds the bounds of this article, but it should be remembered that the rela-
tionship between the ancient and slave-owning modes of production is of fun-
damental importance, as any theoretical reassessment of the ancient mode of
production necessarily entails a relocation of the debate about slave relations
of exploitation in classical antiquity within a different framework. I shall not,
however, be engaging with the matter here.
The formal body of the article is organised in four parts, plus an introduc-
tion and conclusions that summarise the most important points. The first sec-
tion sets out the concept of ancient mode of production as propounded by
Marx in the Grundrisse and describes its core elements, as well as the way the
concept has been taken up by certain historians. It broaches the debate about
forms of land appropriation, and the emergence of the state and its evolution-
ary dynamics. Despite Marx and some of the historians who take up his ideas
applying the concept indiscriminately to the Greek polis and the Roman civi-
tas, the present analysis focuses on the historical evidence for Greece as the
birthplace of the city-state, later spreading to certain Italic communities in
Magna Graecia. 1 The second section reviews current developments in this
field as regards the emergence of the Greek city-state, especially since the in-
corporation of archaeological studies, with a brief summary of the topic’s cur-
rent status. It also discusses the emergence of social classes. This section high-
lights certain major differences in the scope of knowledge between these ad-
vances and the period when Marx was writing. The third section focuses on
the problem of appropriation of surplus, starting with the current historical
evidence and moving on to theoretical aspects, particularly in relation to the
importance appropriation has for the analysis of economic factors in the defi-
nition of mode of production. This section also discusses the possibility of ap-
plying the concept of the tributary mode of production in the period. In the
fourth section I argue the importance of incorporating politics into the defini-
tion of the ancient mode of production as crucial to an understanding of its
functioning. The article closes with some brief conclusions.

1
Marx supports his arguments primarily with Roman examples but does not ignore Greek ones.

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM 27 (2019) 1 – 36