productive forces

noun

The combination of means of labour and labour power which together with certain relations of production form a historically specific mode of production.

Meanings

nounproductive forces pl (plural only)
  1. Marxismpluralplural onlyThe combination of means of labour and labour power which together with certain relations of production form a historically specific mode of production.
    1 more example

    The productive forces of our country, especially in industry, were social in character, the form of ownership, on the other hand, was private, capitalistic. Relying on the economic law that the relations of production must necessarily conform with the character of the productive forces, the Soviet government socialized the means of production, made them the property of the whole people, and thereby abolished the exploiting system and created socialist forms of economy.

    1972 [1951], Joseph Stalin, “Character of Economic Laws Under Socialism”, in Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R., Foreign Languages Press, retrieved 08 Jan 2024

Origin

  1. GermanProduktivkräfte
  2. Englishproductive forces

Calque of German Produktivkräfte.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese 生產力 /生产力
  • 生產力 /生产力 (shēngchǎnlì)Translations
German Produktivkräfte
  • ProduktivkräfteTranslations
Spanish fuerzas productivas
  • fuerzas productivasTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

productive forces. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/productive%20forces

MLA

“productive forces.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/productive%20forces. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “productive forces,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/productive%20forces.

Source: productive forces on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.