Despite the central position occupied by an interpretation of historical change in Marx's thought, his economic writing was focused primarily on only one stage of historical evolution.

The objective of his major work, as he described it, was to 'lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society'1 - i.e. of the capitalist mode of production. Though his scheme did provide the basis for an interpretation of pre-capitalistic productive arrangements, he made no systematic analysis of the economic system that would replace capitalism following the collapse he held to be inevitable.

1.