Materialism: the philosophical view that matter determines consciousness, that the world is essentially material and exists objectively without relying on human consciousness, and that consciousness is the reflection of material existence in the human brain.

Historical materialism is a science about the universal law of the development of human society, and it is the historical view of the proletariat. Historical materialism holds that the development of social history has its inherent objective laws. It holds that the mode of production of material life determines the general process of social life, political life and spiritual life. Social existence determines social consciousness, and social consciousness reacts on social existence; The contradiction between productivity and production relations, the contradiction between economic base and superstructure are the basic contradictions to promote all social development.

The research objects of the two are different, one is the whole world and the other is human history.