Heine, a famous German poet of the 19th century and a friend of Marx, in his book On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany (1833), said: "Thought precedes action, just as lightning precedes thunder." Of course, German thunder is like the Germans... As soon as you hear a crackling sound that has never been seen in the history of the world so far, you should know that the German Thunderbolt has finally achieved its purpose. The goshawks will fall to the ground, and the lions of the African desert will clip their tails and burrow into their kings' caves. Germany is about to put on a good show. By contrast, the French Revolution was nothing more than an innocent pastoral song. "I have always believed that this is Heine's prediction of the birth of Marxism. History has confirmed this prophecy.
The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Press and Publications of China and the Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House photocopied and published "The Original Initial Heart- A Compilation of the Early Publications of the Party" (hereinafter referred to as "The Original Initial Heart"), which restores the lightning and thunder of Marxism in China in the early 20th century. The book consists of fifteen titles, originally published from 1920 to 1930, spanning ten years. Among them, there are original works by Marx and Engels, such as "The Communist Manifesto" and "The Chinese Revolution and the European Revolution"; there are also important works of Russian Marxism, such as Bukharin's "ABC of Communism" and Pugdanov's "Outline of Economic Science"; as well as Chinese's own works, such as Chen Duxiu's "Collected Papers on the Chinese Revolution" and "Discussions on Socialism"; and Zhang Bojian's "Brief History of Social Evolution". They show readers in their original form the stormy meetings of China's ideological circles in the early 20th century, how Marxist and communist literature penetrated into the spiritual world of Chinese, and how the socialist movement took root in China, and after several tribulations, it finally became today's towering trees and stood in the world. Reading and studying this set of books is bound to yield many rewards.
First, glimpse the original appearance of history
Since this set of books is a photocopy, it can naturally have the effect of peeking at the original appearance of history, can brush away the dust of time, and see from the text what kind of state Marxist literature is influencing China's advanced elements.
The greatest influence was Chen Wangdao's translation of the Communist Manifesto, published in August 1920 under the name of the Shanghai Socialist Research Society. At the beginning of 1899, the name of Marx and Engels and the fragments of the Communist Manifesto were introduced to China. However, the first complete Chinese edition of this work was separated from the original by more than twenty years before it was translated by Chen Wangdao and published in Shanghai. From Chen Duxiu's founding of the New Youth in Shanghai to the publication of the Communist Manifesto, a network of publications and distribution of Marxist works centered in Shanghai began to take shape.
▲ The communist manifesto Chinese full translation
The first edition was first published in August 1920 (left) and the second edition in September
As soon as the first complete Chinese edition of the Communist Manifesto was launched, it had the effect of lightning and thunder, and a second edition was printed in September, and the cover title of the book with the first print was corrected. Later, the book was repeatedly reprinted in various forms and became a must-read document for Members of the Communist Party of China. It was not until 1928 that Huagang again translated the Communist Manifesto in English, also published by the party's publishing agency, the Shanghai Huaxing Bookstore, in 1930. If Chen Wangdao's translation is of pioneering significance, then the Huagang translation has the significance of textual integrity. Unlike Chen Wangdao's translation, the Huagang translation uses the 1888 English version, which was personally proofread by Engels, in the form of Anglo-Chinese contrast. The edition also revealed for the first time in China three Prefaces to the German Edition, of which the preface to the 1872 edition stated that the "practical application of the principles of the Communist Manifesto, as stated in the Manifesto, must be subject to the historical conditions of the time at all times, so that the revolutionary measures proposed at the end of chapter two are of no particular significance." The Huagang translation also translates the closing sentence of the whole text as "The proletariat of the whole world unites" (Chen Wangdao's translation is "the laborers of all nations unite together"), which is close to the current popular translation of "proletarians of the whole world, unite".
The original historical appearance provides us with the process of deepening the spread of Marxism itself as a deepening of ideological understanding. For example, the word "bourgeoisie" is translated here only as "propertied class" and cannot contain the economic meaning of "capital"; and there is a core sentence in the Communist Manifesto, which Chen Wangdao translates as: "Therefore, the theory of the Communist Party, in a word, is to abolish private property." At that time, other translations were "abolition", "abolition", "abolition", referring to "private property" and "private property", and the 1949 Moscow translation was: "Communists can summarize their theory in one sentence: the abolition of private property." Later this became the standard translation of the Chinese translation. Property refers only to the material form itself, while private property highlights the institutional design of specific property, which frees the proletarian revolution from the understanding of house robbery. Obviously, from "abolishing private property" to "abolishing private property", the translation of the sentence reflects that Chinese understanding of Marxism is a process, and in general it is a process of becoming more and more mature.
Regarding the introduction of Marxism into China, Mao Zedong's image theory is that the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism with the sound of a cannon. Naturally, this is said in a relative sense, referring to an input on a relatively large scale, which contains two related meanings, one is that the Russian Bolsheviks took Marxism as their aim, which made Chinese pay attention to the Marxist literature; second, the Russians carried out the socialist revolution, they not only applied the ideas of the founders of Marxism, but they carried out their own theoretical work and created their own Marxist ideas, from Plekhanov to Lenin, Stalin, Bukharin, Trotsky, Since the Russian Revolution was a successful revolution, the advanced elements in China naturally paid attention to the Russian Marxist literature.
▲ Cover of "New Youth"
Before the representatives of the Comintern came to China, the Chinese translations were mainly of the works of Marx and Engels, and the number of translations of Lenin and Stalin gradually increased. The Leninist literature imported during this period included "The Tasks of the Party and the Proletariat in Russia", "The Report on the Programme of the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Russia (Brazzaville)", "The State and revolution" and "The First Draft of the Outline on the National and Colonial Question", in total, in four parts. In the original original "Initial Heart", lenin and Stalin's literature on the national question is included in the "Principles of National Revolution" edited by Tang Jie.
After the founding of the Communist Party of China, with the development of the revolutionary situation, the particularity of the Chinese question, that is, China as a semi-colonial country, the cross-cutting relationship between the national revolution and the class struggle, was also more and more revealed, not only the Comintern was aware of this, but also the Chinese Communists. Thus, the theoretical demand for the national revolution rises. In April 1927, the New Youth Society published the book "Marxist Theory of National Revolution", which included Li Dazhao's translation of Marx's "Chinese Revolution and European Revolution", which was translated as "Marx's View of the Chinese National Revolution". In May 1929, the book was reprinted, the title was changed to "On national revolution", and the compiler signed it as "Tang Jie". The photocopy seen now is the "First Edition" of the Principles of National Revolution, which was "first published" by Huaxing Bookstore in January 1930. The book is divided into three parts: the first is "The Part of the Program", the second is "The Principle of Marxism on the National Question", and the third is "Marxism and the Chinese Question". "The Chinese Revolution and the European Revolution" (originally titled "The Revolution in China and Europe") is included in the third part, which occupies little space. More are the treatises of Lenin and Stalin on the national question.
Most of the book is devoted to Lenin and Stalin's literature on the national question, but interestingly, the translation fails to unify the Chinese translations of Lenin and Stalin. Stalin wrote "Stanleyn" and "Stalin". Lenin's name is even more inconsistent. In the Principles of the National Revolution, Lenin's name is "Li Ning"; Lenin's "First Draft of the Theses on the National and Colonial Question", "Principles of the National Revolution" is translated as "Program of the National and Colonial Question", signed "Urianov"; Lenin's "Speech at the Second International Congress", signed "Breito", but at the end of the article, he is signed "Urianov"; Lenin's "Speech at the Second International Congress" is signed "Breito", but at the end of the article it is signed "Urianov"; Lenin's "Urianov" Backward Europe and Advanced Asia", and the epithet "Ulianov" is signed in parentheses at the end of the article. Elsewhere in the book, however, the translated name Lenin is more prevalent. This historical original appearance can not only show that there was no strict standard for the translation of Western names and Chinese names in the publishing circles at that time, but also reflected that the influence of Marxism in China was gradually expanding, and in the process of expansion, we further understood the whole content of Marxism.
Socialist literature other than Marxist classic writers
Socialist literature other than the classic writers of Marxism, Bukharin's two books were first promoted in the Original Initial Heart: "The Communist Bottom Plan" and "The ABC of Communism". Bukharin was one of the important leaders of the early Days of the Russian Communist Party, and Lenin once commented that he was one of the few theoreticians in the Party. But modern Chinese understanding of the Marxist writings of Soviet Russia was for a long time only Lenin and Stalin, and Bukharin's name was heard only in a negative sense. But in the early days of the Chinese revolution, Bukharin's name and writings were an important part of the Russian-Soviet Marxist ideological system and were introduced as Russian-Soviet Marxist thought.
Bukharin (1888-1938)
In The Communist Party's Bottom Plan, Bukharin answers a series of questions faced after the proletarian revolution, from political power (the dictatorship of the proletariat of the working class and the working peasantry) to the establishment of a socialist economic order (nationalization of banks, industry, land, socialist distribution, etc.), and the international relations between socialism and capitalist countries. The book "ABC of Communism" is a popular theoretical book specially written by Bukharin and Preobrazhinsky to cooperate with the propaganda of the New Party Program adopted by the Eighth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Brazzaville). Lenin's assessment of the book was: "We already have a party programme, and comrades Preobrazhinsky and Bukharin have given excellent explanations in a small but extremely valuable book. "The ABC of Communism deals in its entirety with the whole process from the historical development of capitalism to the communist revolution, and also discusses in the last part the questions of the Second and Third Internationals, which should be said to be a textbook of scientific socialism, and unlike the relevant works of Marx and Engels, this book is based on the success of the Russian Revolution. Deng Xiaoping said in a 1992 Southern Talk: "My introductory teachers were the Communist Manifesto and the Communist ABC. ”
Other major works, such as The Outline of Economic Science (first edition 1897) by А. Pogdanov (now translated as Bogdanov), were collectively described by the translator Shi Cun as "a world masterpiece, and it can be said to be an unprecedented world masterpiece", which is essentially a history of social development.
Marxism is an ideological system, and its practical form is the socialist movement. In October 1920, the New Youth Society published a history of socialism by the Englishman Kerkap (now Known as Thomas Kirkup). Kokap was a well-known English socialist (Fabian). The History of Socialism, first published in 1892, was edited by the British in 1913 by Edward R Pease and added to the trajectory of the socialist movement in the 20 years since the publication of the original book. In the original preface, Hesi pointed out: "Kekapu wrote this History of Socialism, and before his death, it was published for the fourth time, and in the preface to the fourth edition he said that he had two purposes for publishing his book: the first was to mark out the main aspects of socialism in history, and the second was to make a general criticism and interpretation of the socialist movement. Although neither of them was a Marxist, they objectively introduced the various schools of socialism and made a relatively comprehensive exposition of the history of the development of socialism.
Li Ji, the translator of the book, pointed out in the preface to the "History of Socialism": "Since the May Fourth Movement in our country, new ideological trends have shaken the whole country, and there is really a trend of 'a thousand miles a day.'" In the past year, there have been hundreds of newly published newspapers and magazines, all of which compete with the new doctrines of the world's civilizations, which are the focus of socialism in particular and are very popular in society. But we shall discuss a doctrine for which there must be a unified knowledge before we can judge his good and evil and whether he can carry it out or not. Socialist movements are not always (constantly) developed in Europe, Australia, and the United States, and there are many factions, and if we want to have a unified knowledge of this movement, we must first start with history, and this is the purpose of my translation of Kekapu's History of Socialism. ”
It is worth noting that this book, as an overview of the socialist movement, also played such a role in Mao Zedong's Marxist beliefs, and Snow recorded in the "Journey to the West" that Mao Zedong once said: "There are three books that are particularly deeply engraved in my heart and establish my faith in Marxism. Once I accepted that Marxism is the correct interpretation of history, my faith in Marxism has never wavered. The three books are: The Communist Manifesto, translated by Chen Wangdao, the first Marxist book published in Chinese; Class Struggle, by Kautsky; and History of Socialism, by Kokapp. It can be seen that under the historical conditions at that time, this book still exerted its role to the extreme.
▲ "Journey to the West"
Revolutionary Enthusiasm and Rational Thinking: The Chinese Mind's Digestion of Foreign Thought
Digesting foreign ideas and then transforming them into their own discourse is another important aspect of the publishing history of early Marxism, and several typical works are collected in the Proceedings of the Chinese Revolution, the Discussion On Socialism, and A Brief History of Social Evolution.
The discussion of socialism was sparked by the British philosopher Russell. In October 1920, Russell paid a ten-month visit to China, a pivotal time when the Chinese Communist Party was founded. Russell gave a lecture in Changsha on "Bolsheviks and World Politics", which sparked a polemic about socialism. Zhang Dongsun accompanied Russell to Hunan, and after returning, he published an article in the "Current Affairs New Daily" entitled "Another Lesson Learned from Traveling in the Interior", in which he said that he found that "the only disease in China is poverty, and China is really extremely poor" and that he has no "qualifications to talk about any doctrine and no room for adopting any doctrine." Zhang Dongsun quoted Russell's point of view, arguing that only the development of industry in China and the increase of "rich and powerful" is the fundamental way to solve the problem. Regarding Zhang Dongsun's remarks, Chen Wangdao, Shao Lizi and others issued articles criticizing them. The "Socialist Discussion Collection" contains several articles of controversy, as the third part, and also named "Discussion on Socialism", Chen Wangdao directly questioned Zhang Dongsun, "You now reject all socialism ... But I want to 'develop industry'. Do you want to use 'capitalism' when you call 'development industry'? You think that 'there is only one way to save China', but do you actually believe that 'capitalism' is the only way? ”
Russell (1872-1970)
Then, Chen Duxiu wrote to Russell and said: "The great wars of the past and the great economic revolutions in the future are the products of capitalism, which everyone knows, fortunately, we in China only created the education industry at this time, and when the capital system was not yet developed, we just used capitalism to develop education and industry, so as not to take the wrong road in Europe, America and Japan." Recently, however, the organ newspapers of some capitalist political parties in China have repeatedly praised you for advocating: China is the first thing to say about education, the second is to develop industry, and there is no need to advocate 'socialism'. ”
Whether Russell replied to Chen Duxiu is not known. However, the inclusion of polemical articles in the "Socialist Discussion Collection" makes people today see that at that time, those who advocated that only socialism could save China and tried to avoid the stage of capitalist society were indeed not individuals, indicating that the tide of the times was mighty.
Shi Cuntong was one of the earliest members of the Communist Party of China and was elected as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Youth League in 1922. In August 1921, the Communist Party of China had already opened. Shi Cuntong published an article entitled "Marx's Communism" (see "Socialist Discussion Collection") in the magazine "New Youth", which discussed socialism and insisted on Marx's view in "The French Civil War" (the first Chinese translation of "The French Civil War" was translated by Wu Liping and Liu Yun, that is, Zhang Wentian, and only published in 1938 by the Yan'an Liberation Society, shi Cuntong may be a foreign language version): "If the working class wants to achieve its own class goals, it is useless to grasp the existing state alone. Thus, Shi Cuntong denied the illusion of parliamentary politics, saying: "Those gentlemen who want to achieve socialism in parliament and cling to the propertied class Democrashy are clearly contrary to the teachings of Marxism in this regard. ”
Shi Cuntong (1898-1970)
However, when discussing the Chinese question, the article compares the theory of the stage of socialism in Marx's Critique of the Gotha Program and proposes: "If we advocate Marxism in China, there is really no need to violate the essence of Marxism, but it is the application of the essence of Marxism. We know very well that if Marxism is to be practiced in China, there may be a contradiction with what Marx said on the surface; but it does not matter, because Marxism itself is not a rigid model. Therefore, we only need to abide by the fundamental principles of Marxism; as for the policy of branches and leaves, there is no need to be rigid. ”
In Russia and China, Shi Cuntong argues, there is a "transitional period from capitalism to socialism, a period in which "we cannot predetermine the duration of time." Shi Cuntong's views in 1921 were later verified in the process of revolution and construction, which can be said to be the rudimentary form of Marxist thought on sinicization. However, because history has just begun, it is difficult for people to have a very accurate prediction of the future, and few people pay attention to this view.
As far as the more influential works are concerned, Zhang Bojian's "A Brief History of Social Evolution" is worth mentioning. Zhang Bojian (1898-1926) was one of the first generation of Bai Communists. After the May Fourth Movement, he went to Paris, studied Marxism, and gradually abandoned the illusion of work-study. He joined the Communist Party of China in Germany in the winter of 1921. In 1922, he entered the Moscow Eastern University and began to systematically study Marxist theory, becoming a Marxist with both a high theoretical level and practical experience.
Zhang Bojian (1898-1926)
In 1925, Guangdong published his "A Brief History of Social Evolution", and in 1927, the Shanghai Changjiang Bookstore published this book again. In 1926, Mao Zedong presided over the Sixth Agricultural Lecture Institute, and used books such as Zhang Bojian's "A Brief History of Social Evolution" as extracurricular theoretical readings for students. Judging from the current data, Zhang Bojian's "A Brief History of Social Evolution" should be the first complete "history of social development" work that Mao Zedong came into contact with, which left a deep impression on Mao Zedong. In 1950, Mao Zedong said that to read books, we should explore Both Chinese and foreign countries, not only read books translated by foreigners, but must read Marxist-Leninist books written Chinese, and clearly pointed out that we should read Li Da's "Outline of Sociology", Aischi's "Ideological Methodology", "Historical Materialism, History of Social Development", and Zhang Bojian's "Brief History of Social Evolution".
On the occasion of the successful celebration of the centenary of the founding of the CPC, browsing these Marxist and socialist documents published before and after the founding of the Communist Party of China allows people to touch history and ideological history at close range, deeply feels the huge power of history, and also makes people see more clearly. If China continues without hesitation, the glory of national rejuvenation will appear.
(The author is a professor of the Philosophy Department of the Party School of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the winner of the "Outstanding Contribution Award" for the teaching and research of Marxist theory in Shanghai.) This article is authorized by Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House to be excerpted from "The Original Initial Heart - A Compilation of the Party's Early Publication Literature" (all 8 volumes), with a slightly simplified length)
Source: China Youth Daily client