Preliminary notes on the Marxist debates on “historical forms of social production” in a surplus approach perspective

The search for the income distribution cores of pre-capitalist formations in the light of the classical surplus approach led to a re-examination the Marxist debates on the concept of mode of production. Unfortunately the Marxist debate is not only vast, but often wordy (this paper not being an exception), so we limit that ourselves to some episodes and scholars that sound particularly relevant for the relationship between forms of exploitation and economic modes. For a start, I shall consider some Marx’s insights on pre-capitalist formation which appear relevant also in the light of subsequent Marxist debates. I shall then outline some earlier Marxist debates which focused on the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Other debates focused on the concept of mode of production from Althusser and Perry Anderson to Jairus Banaji, John Haldon and others. Some conclusions try to make sense of these debates