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Primitive communism is, according to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the primeval society of humanity.Life for the earliest humans was difficult and precarious, marked by a constant struggle to obtain food. Everyone had to work, and everyone also shared in what was produced by hunting and gathering. There was no private property (other than articles of clothing and similar personal items) because society produced almost no surplus; everything that was produced was quickly consumed. The few things that existed — tools, housing — were held communally.
Domestication of animals and plants (i.e., herding and agriculture) is seen as the turning point from primitive communism to class society. Because society produced a surplus of food, there was the opportunity for private ownership and slavery, with the inequality that it entailed. In addition, since food production no longer required everyone's full-time attention, a portion of the population was freed up for other activities, such as manufacturing, culture, philosophy, and science. This stratification led to the development of social classes.
According to Marxism, society will, if it lasts long enough, return to its communal roots by developing into communism. Like its primitive ancestor, communism involves public ownership of the means of production, and its basic principle is (as Marx put it): "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Communism differs from primitive communism in that production is highly advanced — advanced enough, said Marx, to meet the material needs and wants of practically everyone. Communism has not yet been implemented in any part of the world.
A few isolated peoples in Africa, Papua New Guinea, South America, and other parts of the world still have a primitive-communist society. However, they are dwindling under the (not always beneficial) influence of the surrounding modern civilisation.
Communism
