IDEOLOGY IN MARXIST THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGE 5 political forms of the class struggle and its results, to wit: constitutions established by the victorious class after a successful battle, etc., juridical forms, and even the reflexes of all these actual struggles in the brains of the participants, political, juristic, philosophical theories, religious views and their further development into systems of dogmas—also exercise their influence upon the course of the historical struggles and in many cases preponderate in determining their form. There is an interaction of all these elements in which, amid all the endless host of accidents (that is, of things and events whose inner interconnection is so remote or so impossible of proof that we can regard it as non-existent, as negligible) the economic movement finally asserts itself as necessary. Otherwise the application of the theory to any period of history would be easier than the solution of a simple equation of the first degree/'3 Engels was replying to the following question raised by Joseph Bloch: "According to the materialist conception of history the produc-tion and reproduction of real life is the determining element in history. How should this proposition be understood? Are the economic relations only the determining element, or do they form a firm basis only to a certain extent for other relations which can then also operate by themselves? Have not in the course of history quite often purely political, dynastic even individual interests also played a role?" In his letter to Schmidt (October 27, 1890), Engels observes: "If. therefore, Barth supposes that we deny any and every reaction of the political, etc., reflexes of the economic movement on the movement itself, he is simply tilting at windmills."4 Marx and Engels, in analysing contemporary developments, or the past, took all the factors into consideration while conceding primary importance to the economic factor. Analysing past history they never failed to take into consideration the role of the State which, once arisen out of historical developments, played a role in subsequent history. It either played a role in conformity with the economic development, accelerating it, or against the current, retarding it, in which case it would go to pieces. It can prevent economic development from going on certain lines and prescribe other lines. In his letter to W Borgius written on January 25, 1894, Engels observes: "Political, legal, philosophical, religious, literary, artistic, etc., development is based on economic development. But all these react upon one another and also on the economic basis. One must think that the economic situation is cause, and soley active, whereas everything else is'only passive effect. On the contrary interaction takes place on the basis of economic necessity, which ultimately always asserts itself. The State, for instance, exercises an influence by 3 Maix-Engels, Selected Correspondence, pp 394-395. 4 Ibid, p 401.