productive forces

Calque of German Produktivkräfte.

productive forces pl (plural only)

1. (Marxism) The combination of means of labour and labour power which together with certain relations of production form a historically specific mode of production.
   • 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 8 January 2024:

     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.