PRIMITIVE SLAVE SOCIETY

Slavery is, in the strictest sense of the term, any system in which principles of property
law are applied to people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals, as
a de jure form of property.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaver
y)

During primitive slave society, it

was characterized by “slave
holding” practices because it was
generally sustained by slave labor
and production formation. It was
started when primitive communal
society broke up because of the
onslaught of private property instigated by private individuals through the division of
labor.

The production of material means of subsistence was considered social, and the fruits
of labor, which is called surplus labor, were distributed by private individuals who owned
the means of production

During the rise of imbalance private ownership during that period, the practice of slavery
became a phenomenon throughout the world. In fact, ancient societies like Greece,
Egypt and Rome were maintained through the sweat and blood of their slaves. Behind
the expressions” Glory that was Greece” and “Grandeur that was Rome” was the
exploitation and oppression of hundreds and thousands of human beings.

The contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production under
slavery deepened with the ever worsening economic condition of the slave holding
state. (In Search of Meanings)
Slave Holding is having possession/ownership of one or more slaves.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slaveholding)

As slavery became an accepted norm, the State became

more protective of the interest of the slave owners.
Functions of society like morality, religion, philosophy, arts
and sciences deliberately manipulated by the dominant
class to function as preservatives of the Mode of Production
based on practice of slavery.

Thomas Aquinas, a foremost catholic scholar tried to justify

slavery to balance between mode of production, order and survival. (In Search of
Meanings)

Saint Thomas Aquinas was an Italian[3][4] Dominican friar, Catholic priest, and Doctor
of the Church. He was an immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the
tradition of scholasticism. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas)

Apostle Paul, the champion of the Christian Faith, advised “the slaves to obey their
masters”

Paul the
Apostle (Latin: Paulus; Greek: Παῦλος, translit. Paulos; c.
5 – c. 67), commonly known as Saint Paul, and also
known by his native name Saul of Tarsus (Hebrew: ‫שאול‬
‫התרסי‬, translit. Sha'ul ha-Tarsi; Greek: Σαῦλος
Ταρσεύς, translit. Saulos Tarseus)[4][5][6]was
an apostle (though not one of the Twelve Apostles) who
taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century
world.[7] He is generally considered one of the most
important figures of the Apostolic Age.[8][9] In the mid-30s to
the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took
advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish
and Roman audiences.

The Slave Codes also affected the religious life of slaves. They were permitted to hear
the Bible preached each Lord’s Day but only under the strict guardianship of slave
owners. They were allowed to attend their owners’ churches but had to sit in segregated
sections, oftentimes in the upper balconies. Slave owners often encouraged their slaves
to attend preaching services because it was thought such religious experiences would
make them more docile and cooperative. To nurture cooperation, white preachers would
admonish the slaves to obey their masters. Scripture passages like Ephesians 6:510
were distorted in an attempt to teach slaves that disobedience to their owners was
equivalent to disobeying God himself and would result in severe chastisement.
(http://www.bhacademic.com/wp-content/uploads/Enduring-Truth-Sampler.pdf)

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were right in saying that the ideology of any age is
but a preservative of the prevailing mode of production. (In Search of Meanings)

karl Marx[6] (/mɑːrks/;[7] German: [ˈkaɐ̯l ˈmaɐ̯ks]; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a
German-
born scientist, philosopher, economist, sociologist, journa
list, and revolutionary socialist. Marx's theories about
society, economics and politics—collectively understood
as Marxism—hold that human societies develop
through class struggle; in capitalism, this manifests itself
in the conflict between the ruling classes (known as
the bourgeoisie) that control the means of production and
working classes (known as the proletariat) that enable
these means by selling their labour for wages. Through
his theories of alienation, value, commodity fetishism,
and surplus value, Marx argued that capitalism facilitated
social relations and ideology through commodification, inequality, and the exploitation of
labour. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx)

Friedrich
Engels (English /ˈɛŋɡəlz/[2][3] or /ˈɛŋəlz/;[3] German: [ˈfʁiː
dʁɪç ˈɛŋəls]; 28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895) was
a German philosopher, social scientist, journalist,
and businessman.[4] He founded Marxist
theory together with Karl Marx
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Engels)

Later on slave owners began to realize that they were

too concern with the accumulation of too much wealth without giving due importance to
the improvement of the instrument of production and the welfare of the slaves. (In
Search of Meanings)

The term mode of production derives from the work of Karl Marx (1818–1883), and the
concept has played a significant role in subsequent Marxist theory. Mode of production
refers to the varied ways that human beings collectively produce the means of
subsistence in order to survive and enhance social being. Marx believed that human
history could be characterized by the dominant modes of production. In this sense the
term refers to a specific economic system. Marx was interested in doing two things:
providing an analytical framework for defining specific modes of production and locating
those modes in terms of a theory of historical development. That being said, he never
developed these two points in a consistent or systematic manner, and thus there are
both ambiguities and contradictions contained in his writings (not unlike his treatment of
social class). Nonetheless, the basic contours of what he was getting at are clear.
(http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-
reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts/mode)