How Marx, Engels and Lenin developed Marxism in practice

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How Marx, Engels and Lenin developed Marxism in practice

The classic Marxist writers always based on the changes and changes in practice In order to meet the needs of struggle, we must constantly enrich and develop our own theories. In-depth study and research of their theoretical innovation activities and their achievements will help us adhere to the party's ideological line of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts under the new historical conditions, and use the basic principles of Marxism to creatively solve the major theoretical issues and practices we are currently facing. It is of great significance to advance the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

1. The prefaces to each edition of "The Communist Manifesto" provide an excellent example of the continuous development of Marxist theory

In 1848, "The Communist Manifesto" publishing. In the following decades, Marx and Engels wrote multiple prefaces to different editions of it. They believed: "The Declaration is a historical document and we no longer have the right to modify it." However, based on changes in historical conditions and in-depth research, they explained, revised or supplemented some parts of the Declaration in the preamble. , making it more perfect.

In 1872, Marx and Engels pointed out in the preface to the German edition: "No matter how much the situation has changed in the past 25 years, the general principles elaborated in this "Manifesto" still remain relevant until now. Absolutely correct." At the same time, he pointed out: "The actual application of these principles, as stated in the Manifesto, must be subject to the historical conditions of the time at any time, so the revolutionary measures proposed at the end of Chapter 2 are not special at all. The significance. If it were today, this paragraph would be written differently in many aspects. Due to the tremendous development of large-scale industry in the past 25 years, the party organizations of the working class have also developed along with it, and due to the reality of the February Revolution. Later, especially with the actual experience of the Paris Commune, where the proletariat first took power for two months, this program is now obsolete in some places. In particular, the Commune has proved that: 'the working class cannot simply grasp what is ready. '"

In 1882, Marx and Engels pointed out in the preface to the Russian edition: In the more than 30 years since the publication of the Manifesto, capitalist countries in Europe and the United States have emerged. A new situation: "It was European immigration that enabled North America to carry out large-scale agricultural production, and the competition in agricultural production shook the foundations of land ownership in Europe. In addition, this immigration also enabled the United States to use huge power and Exploiting its rich industrial resources on such a scale that it will soon destroy the industrial monopoly of Western Europe, especially Britain, has been noted by Marx and Engels that the development of capitalism is uneven. This preface also analyzes the special national conditions of the "Russian communes" in which most of the land in Russia is still owned by peasant communals, and proposes whether Russia can make a "direct transition from this original form of communal ownership of land to "The problem of advanced communist forms of public appropriation".

The preface to the 1883 German edition was written by Engels, by which time Marx had died. This preface points out that "all history (since the disintegration of the original public ownership of land) is the history of class struggle." Engels further explained this in the English version in 1888, pointing out that "this refers to all history recorded in writing." This is true for the proposition in the original text of the Manifesto that "the history of all societies up to now is the history of class struggle." is an important revision and addition.

In short, in the view of Marx and Engels, as a historical document, the Manifesto does not have the right to modify it, but some of its ideological viewpoints should be continuously tested, improved and developed based on the development of objective practice. . The prefaces of the Manifesto are strong proof that Marx and Engels adhered to a scientific attitude and continued to develop their own theoretical doctrines in practice.

2. Engels’s development of historical materialism in his later years

In 1884, Engels wrote the book "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", which he used historical materialism to elaborate Morgan's masterpiece on the research results of ancient society refers to Marx's comments in "Abstract of Morgan's "Ancient Society"" in many places. It realizes Marx's long-cherished wish to write a similar work and fills the gap in the study of historical materialism. A blank.

In 1886, Engels wrote "Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of German Classical Philosophy", which further developed and enriched the ideas in "The German Ideology", "Preface to the Critique of Political Economy" and other works. Basic principles of historical materialism.

Especially in his later years, Engels wrote to Johan Bloch (September 21-22, 1890), Kon Schmitt (October 27, 1890), Val Borgiu In many letters about historical materialism written by John Strauss (January 25, 1894) and others, he criticized the tendency at that time to misinterpret Marxism as metaphysical "mechanical determinism" and "economic determinism". Engels pointed out that when he and Marx founded the theory of historical materialism, the Hegelian school was disintegrating and idealism was prevalent. In order to meet the needs of struggle, in the relationship between material and spirit, economic base and superstructure, they more often emphasize the decisive role of material on spirit and economic base on superstructure, while focusing on the decisive role of spirit on material and superstructure on economic base. Reactions are not explained enough. Engels believed that it is necessary to comprehensively elaborate on the interrelationships of the basic contradictions in society in order to grasp them comprehensively and correctly.

He pointed out: "According to historical materialism, the decisive factor in the historical process is ultimately the production and reproduction of real life. Neither Marx nor I have ever affirmed anything more than this. If someone To distort it here and say that economic factors are the only decisive factor is to turn this proposition into contentless, abstract and absurd nonsense." ("Selected Works of Marx and Engels" 2nd edition, Volume 4, No. 695. —Page 696) "The development of politics, law, philosophy, religion, literature, art, etc. is based on economic development. However, they all interact with each other and have an impact on the economic base. It is not only the economic situation that is the cause, is the positive one, and everything else is just a negative result." (ibid., p. 732) "History is created in this way: the final result always arises from the conflict of many individual wills, each of which. A will becomes what it is due to many special life conditions. In this way, there are countless intertwined forces, and there are countless parallelograms of forces, which produce a resultant force, that is, a historical result, and This result can be seen as the product of a force that acts unconsciously and involuntarily as a whole." (ibid., page 697) Engels also criticized himself: "Youth. Marx and I are partly responsible for the fact that we sometimes overemphasize the economic aspect. In refuting our opponents, we often have to emphasize the main principles that they deny, and there is not always the time, place and opportunity to give others. The factors involved in the interaction are given due weight. But as soon as the question concerns the description of a certain historical period, that is, of practical application, the situation is different and no error is allowed here." (ibid., Page 698) The letters about historical materialism written by Engels in his later years made important contributions to helping people fully and correctly understand historical materialism.

3. Always pay attention to observing and studying new changes in capitalism

Marx and Engels paid great attention to revealing the laws of motion of capitalist society throughout their lives. In "Das Kapital", Marx began by analyzing commodities, which are the economic cells of capitalist society, and then revealed the insurmountable nature of the contradiction between the social nature of production and the private ownership of the means of production, the basic contradiction of capitalism, and pointed out that The inevitable destruction of capitalism and the inevitable victory of socialism are the historical development trends.

Marx and Engels did not stop at existing conclusions, but continued to observe capitalist society and pay attention to studying every major new change in it. For example, with the development of capitalism, joint-stock companies emerged. Marx studied this new phenomenon keenly and profoundly, pointing out that “capital, which itself is based on the social mode of production and presupposes the social concentration of production means and labor force, directly acquires social capital (that is, those who capital as a direct association of individuals, as opposed to private capital, and its enterprises also appear as social enterprises, as opposed to private enterprises. This is capital as private property within the scope of the capitalist mode of production itself. of sublation.

"(Selected Works of Marx and Engels, 2nd Edition, Volume 2, Page 516) However, "This transformation into the form of shares itself is still limited within the boundaries of capitalism; therefore, this transformation does not overcome the importance of wealth as social wealth. The opposition between the nature of wealth and its nature as private wealth only develops this opposition in new forms. ” (ibid., page 520)

Marx also noted and analyzed the significance of the workers’ cooperative factory that emerged under capitalism, pointing out that it was “the first opening of the old form within the old form. The gap, although it exists in its own actual organization, reproduces everywhere, of course, and necessarily reproduces all the shortcomings of the existing system. However, the antagonism between capital and labor has been sublated in this kind of factory." "This kind of factory shows that at a certain stage of development of material productivity and the social production form corresponding to it, a new mode of production How can it naturally develop and form from a mode of production. Without the factory system that emerged from the capitalist mode of production, it would be impossible for cooperative factories to develop; similarly, without the credit system that emerged from the capitalist mode of production, it would be impossible for cooperative factories to develop. The credit system is the main basis for the gradual transformation of capitalist private enterprises into capitalist joint-stock companies. Likewise, it is the means for the gradual expansion of cooperative enterprises on a larger or smaller national scale. Capitalist joint-stock enterprises, like cooperative factories, should be regarded as transitional forms from the capitalist mode of production to the associated mode of production. " ("Selected Works of Marx and Engels" 2nd edition, Volume 2, page 520)

Engels also saw the emergence of a large number of joint-stock companies, and production run by a single entrepreneur became increasingly an exception. . Production run by joint-stock companies is no longer private production, but production for the benefit of many people combined; "Not only is there no more private production, but there is no more unplanning. " ("Selected Works of Marx and Engels" 2nd edition, Volume 4, page 408)

Concerning the fate of capitalism, Engels in his later years rethought the conclusions he and Marx had made earlier. In 1892, he wrote "Britain The preface to the second German edition of "The Condition of the Working Class", the 1895 introduction to Marx's "The Class Struggle in France from 1848 to 1850", and other documents believe that the "Communist Manifesto" reveals the fundamentals of capitalist development The general laws and trends are not wrong, but the potential for the development of capitalism at that time was underestimated. “History shows that we and all those who think the same as us are wrong. History clearly shows that the economic development situation of the European continent at that time was far from mature enough to eradicate the capitalist mode of production; history proved this with the economic revolution, which swept the entire European continent starting in 1848, and in France , Austria, Hungary, Poland and recently Russia have truly established large-scale industry for the first time and turned Germany into a truly first-class industrial country. All of this happened on the basis of capitalism, so this basis is The 1848 also had great expansion capabilities. ” (The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, 1st edition, Volume 22, pp. 597-598) Engels believed that the situation described in his book “The Condition of the Working Class in England” published in 1845, at least as far as Britain is concerned, is now in many cases. All aspects have become a thing of the past. Capitalism has produced some "new spirit", "business ethics" has developed to a certain level, and the bourgeoisie has adopted a series of "improvement measures". He said: "One of the laws of modern political economy... …that is: the more capitalist production develops, the less capable it is of the petty coaxing and deception that characterized its earlier stages. ...These cunning tricks are no longer cost-effective in the big market, where time is money and where business ethics must develop to a certain level. The reason for this is not out of ethical fanaticism, but purely to avoid wasting time and hard work. . "(Selected Works of Marx and Engels, 2nd edition, Volume 4, page 419) Engels also said that in the book "The Condition of the Working Class in England", "I calculated the cycle of the great industrial crisis as five years. This conclusion about the length of the cycle is obviously drawn from the course of events between 1825 and 1842. However, the industrial history from 1842 to 1868 proves that the actual cycle is 10 years, and the intermediate crises are only of a minor nature and gradually disappeared after 1842. From 1868 onwards the situation changed again".

(Ibid., page 424) In "Impressions of American Travel" written at the end of September 1888, Engels gave a positive evaluation of the pragmatic and enterprising spirit of Americans, and analyzed and thought about the United States, a rising capitalist country. . (The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, 1st edition, Volume 21, pages 534-536)

IV. Determining the proletarian struggle strategy based on changes in historical conditions

The founder of Marxism Views on the conditions, paths, methods, means, strategies, etc. of the proletarian revolution continue to develop with changes in historical conditions and practice.

On September 8, 1872, Marx pointed out in his speech at the Hague Congress of the First International: “The workers must one day seize power in order to establish a new labor organization; Like the early Christians who abandoned politics, the eternal loss of their heavenly kingdom on earth should lead to the overthrow of the old politics that maintained the old order. But we never assert that the same means should be adopted everywhere to achieve this end." "The Complete Works of Marx and Engels" 1st edition, Volume 18, Page 179)

Engels paid great attention to and studied more new methods and strategies of the proletarian revolutionary struggle in his later years. The "Introduction to "Class Struggle in France"" written by him in 1895 concentrated on his views. He said that for a long time after 1848, he and Marx not only had insufficient understanding of "the potential of capitalist development", but also had "deficiencies" in their understanding of the conditions and methods of the proletarian liberation struggle. “History has shown us that we were also wrong, that our views were an illusion. History has gone further: it has not only destroyed our mistaken views, but has completely changed the conditions under which the proletariat fights. 1848 The method of struggle is now obsolete in all respects, and this point deserves to be discussed more carefully here." ("Selected Works of Marx and Engels" 2nd Edition, Volume 4, p. 510) "The era of surprise attacks is driven by consciousness. The era of a small number of people leading the unconscious masses to achieve revolution has passed." (ibid., p. 521) Engels paid great attention to the study of the new struggle strategies with universal suffrage as the core in Germany at that time. He believed that the use of universal suffrage was a new weapon given by the German workers to "comrades from all over the world - one of the sharpest weapons." Although Marx and Engels generally emphasized the path of violent revolution in terms of the way the proletariat seized power, they never refused to use peaceful means when possible. What is important is that it depends on the specific historical conditions.

The founder of Marxism believed that capital has an international nature. Therefore, proletarians from all countries should unite to carry out socialist revolution together. In 1847, Engels pointed out in "Principles of Communism": "Large industry has made the social development of all civilized countries roughly the same, so that in all these countries, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat have become the two decisive players in society. Therefore, the communist revolution will not be a revolution in just one country, but will occur in all civilized countries, at least in England, the United States, France, and Germany. The revolution that took place..." ("Selected Works of Marx and Engels", 2nd edition, Volume 1, page 241) In the 1870s, when Marx analyzed the lessons of the Paris Commune, he believed that one of the reasons for its failure was that "in all major Centers such as Berlin, Madrid and other places did not break out at the same time a great revolutionary movement corresponding to the high level of the proletarian struggle in Paris." ("The Complete Works of Marx and Engels" 1st edition, Volume 18, page 180)

Based on his in-depth study of the laws of uneven political and economic development in the imperialist era, and based on new historical conditions, Lenin raised the possibility of the proletarian revolution winning first in one or several countries. In 1915, he pointed out in his article "On the Slogan of the European Federation": "The imbalance of economic and political development is an absolute law of capitalism. From this, it should be concluded that socialism may first develop in a small number or even in a single capitalist state. "Victory within the country" ("Selected Works of Lenin", 3rd edition, Volume 2, page 554) In 1917, he also pointed out in the article "The Military Program of the Proletarian Revolution": "The development of capitalism is extremely unfavorable in various countries. Balanced. And this can only be the case under commodity production, which leads to an inevitable conclusion: socialism cannot win in all countries at the same time.

It will be victorious first in one or a few countries, while the rest will remain bourgeois or pre-bourgeois for a while. ” (ibid., page 722) Under the guidance of this theory, the Russian October Revolution achieved victory.

5. The new economic policy proposed by Lenin is a major development of scientific socialism

In 1875, Marx believed in the "Critique of the Gotha Program" that future socialism would mean "in a collective society based on the public ownership of the means of production, producers do not exchange their products; The labor here does not appear as the value of these products, nor does it appear as some physical attributes of these products, because at this time, contrary to capitalist society, individual labor no longer goes through tortuous roads. Rather, it exists directly as a component of total labor. "(Selected Works of Marx and Engels, 2nd Edition, Volume 3, Page 303) In Marx's view, the future socialist society, as the primary stage of communism, has eliminated commodity currency.

Lenin initially held this view, believing that “socialism requires the elimination of the power of money and capital, the elimination of all private ownership of the means of production, and the elimination of the commodity economy. " ("The Complete Works of Lenin", 2nd edition, Volume 12, page 75)

According to the above ideas, Lenin initially proposed a socialist construction plan from 1917 to 1920 and put it into practice. This is mainly reflected in the following: Confiscate the land of landlords, abolish private ownership of land, nationalize large banks and large industries, implement workers' supervision and labor compulsory system, organize workers to carry out the most extensive, all-encompassing and all-encompassing calculation and supervision of the production and distribution of products, and The entire national economic apparatus becomes an economic body that makes millions of people work according to a plan. Grain monopoly is implemented and free trade is strictly prohibited. Farmers will hand over the amount of grain required by the country in accordance with the surplus grain collection system, and the state will distribute the grain. To various factories, they believed that this was the implementation of communist production and distribution, which obviously exceeded the level of productivity development at that time, so it did not achieve the expected purpose in practice.

Soon, due to the civil war. With the outbreak of the epidemic and foreign armed intervention, some major grain-producing areas were under the control of the interventionists and white bandits, and the country fell into an "extremely painful famine". The Soviet regime had no choice but to establish a "war communism" system. , replacing trade with planned and organized distribution of products across the country, organizing all residents into production and consumption communes, and uniformly distributing all necessities. At that time, many state-owned enterprises were in a state of suspension or semi-suspended production, and management was chaotic. Many local farmers were dissatisfied.

Faced with this situation, Lenin made a timely reflection on the wartime communist policies. He said: "It may be more accurate to say that we planned poorly. ) use direct orders from the proletarian state to adjust the country's production and distribution of products in accordance with communist principles in a small peasant country. Real life shows that we are wrong. "(The Complete Works of Lenin, 2nd edition, Volume 42, Page 176) "We have made many mistakes in this regard and have gone too far: we have gone too far in nationalizing commerce and industry, and in prohibiting local transfers. "Too far" and "some things have gone too far." Trying to completely ban and block the development of all private exchanges, that is, the development of commerce, "is doing something stupid and committing suicide." " ("Selected Works of Lenin", 3rd Edition, Volume 4, Pages 450, 464, 504) Therefore, in March 1921, the Russian Communist Party held the 10th Party Congress and unanimously adopted the "On Substituting Kind Taxes for Surplus Grain" Lenin made the "Report on Replacing the Surplus Grain Collection System with In-kind Taxes" and "Concluding Remarks on the Report on Replacing the Surplus Grain Collection System with In-kind Taxes", which specifically elaborated on the implementation of policy changes and the replacement of surplus grain collection systems with in-kind taxes. The necessity of the surplus grain collection system stipulates the basic principles of the new economic policy. Lenin's thinking is generally as follows: the civil war intensifies the economic destruction, and the most affected are the proletariat. To improve the living conditions of the workers. We need food and fuel. To increase food and fuel, we must improve the living conditions of farmers and increase their productivity. Therefore, the solution to the problem should start from the farmers' side and seriously change the food policy to allow farmers to pay the food tax. After that, the surplus grain can be freely traded on the market in exchange for the goods they need, instead of the state forcibly taking away the farmers' surplus grain as before.

During the period of implementing the New Economic Policy, Lenin proposed. Many profound thoughts.

He said: "We have to admit that our entire view of socialism has fundamentally changed." ("The Complete Works of Lenin", 2nd edition, Volume 43, page 367) He deeply realized that "in a country where small peasant producers account for the majority of the population In a country like this, the implementation of socialist revolution must go through a series of special transitional measures." It is impossible to attempt to implement a direct transition by relying on state power. ("Selected Works of Lenin" 3rd edition, Volume 4, page 444)