Text/Chen Peiyong
The short article before us, entitled "The Two Great Spirits of Marx," was published in the Guangdong Qunbao on May 23, 1922, and was originally a speech delivered by Chen Duxiu at the First National Congress of the Chinese Socialist Youth League on May 5, 1922.
May 5 is Marx's birthday; from 1922 to 2022, exactly one hundred years. Reading this article deeply, it is quite commemorative, there is a sense of time and space shuttle, and I can deeply appreciate the inheritance of Marxism in China for more than a hundred years.
An organization based on Marx's doctrine
On Marx's birthday, the convening of the inaugural meeting of the Chinese Socialist Youth League is obviously of profound significance.
According to Chen Duxiu, on the day of his speech, there were two congresses, one was the Marx Memorial Conference and the other was the inaugural meeting of the Chinese Socialist Youth League. The close relationship between the two congresses lies in the fact that the Chinese Socialist Youth League was founded on the basis of Marx's teachings.
It can be said that Marx's theory is the theoretical source of the Chinese Socialist Youth League. In view of the fact that the Chinese Socialist Youth League was renamed and gradually explicitly called the Chinese Communist Youth League, it can be said that the Marxist theory is the ideological core and theoretical pillar of the Communist Youth League.
As a mass organization of advanced youth under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Youth League not only has the organization of the League and the constitution of the League, but also the doctrine of the League and the ideology of the League. Studying Marx's theories and delving deeply into Marxism should be regarded as the theoretical tasks of the members of the Communist Youth League.
The relationship between Marx's doctrine and spirit
It can be seen from the title that Chen Duxiu's article is not to talk about Marx's doctrine, but to talk about Marx's spirit, about Marx's doctrine and the spirit in his behavior.
For a person who is not a philosopher or a thinker, it is inevitable to grasp his spirit and see through his actions. And for a person who appears as a philosopher and thinker, in addition to his behavior, he can also grasp his spirit from his doctrine.
The relationship between Marx's doctrine and Marx's spirit is something we should explore while still reading and studying Marx's theory.
Marx's doctrine and Marx's spirit are inseparable. Spirit is the soul of the doctrine, and without a unique spiritual temperament, this doctrine has no identity and no vitality. Doctrine is the carrier of the spirit, and through the doctrine itself, the spiritual essence can be captured.
To read Marx and study Marx, it is obvious that we must study Marx's doctrine and Marx's views. To grasp the spirit of Marx, we should also excavate from his doctrine, from his basic views, logical structure, and expression.
Without studying Marx's doctrine, is it possible to have the spirit of Marx's doctrine? Can't say it must not. A scholar who has not read Marx's books can unconsciously possess the spirit contained in Marx's books.
On the other hand, when studying Marx's doctrine, does it necessarily have the spirit of Marx's doctrine? It is not necessarily true that those who know Marx's doctrine well and who have studied it thoroughly and comprehensively are not necessarily willing or able to inherit the spirit of Marx's doctrine. Scholars who study Marx's theory very well may not have the spirit of Marx at all.
To study Marx, it is more important to have the spirit of Marx. Without the spirit of Marx's doctrine and behavior, we do not truly respect Marx, and we are not true Marxists.
On May 23, 1922, "Guangdong Qunbao" published "Marx's Two Spirits"
The spirit of practical research
Marx's first great spirit was the spirit of practical research. In Chen Duxiu's view, the reason why Marx's doctrine is scientific socialism rather than utopian socialism is because the method adopted is scientific induction, which collects many social facts to prove its principles and doctrines.
To study in marx's actual research spirit, it is necessary to study various situations in society and the political and economic conditions of society. "Young princes must study knowledge in the spirit of Marx's actual research, and not just study marx's doctrine. If he merely studied his doctrine, then the spirit of Marx's actual research was completely lost, but he was a Marxist scholar. ”
The spirit of practical research is the spirit of studying reality, that is, the spirit of studying for the real society and not only for certain texts, certain doctrines, and certain theoretical viewpoints. To study Marx, to follow Marx in learning, we must study Marx's doctrine, but we must not stay in Marx's text and not face the real society.
Marx's doctrine is aimed at human society, and the direction of its efforts is to change the real society and advance the process of human history. The purpose of this doctrine determines that it must study the actual society, to gain insight into major historical events, and to capture the laws of human social development.
Talking about the spirit of Marx's actual research is still practically pertinent today. The more we emphasize the independence of scholarship, discipline, and learning, the easier it is for the study of Marxist theory and Marxist philosophy to enjoy itself in returning to the text and ploughing the text, and the easier it is to simply regard Marx's theory as the object of academic research and objective analysis, and in fact not to study in the spirit of Marx's actual research.
Inheriting the spirit of Marx's practical research and mastering the Marxist theoretical research methodology facing the reality of Chinese society, what kind of research ideas and academic approaches should this be? It is not to talk about texts on the text, to make theories on theory, but to discover and analyze problems in China's real society, to devote itself to analyzing problems from the perspective of academic theory and law, to seek the help of Marx's theory and other theories in this link, to obtain the correct way to look at problems and solve problems, and to promote the development of Marxist theory itself in this process.
The spirit of the actual activity
Marx's second spirit is the spirit of practical activity. In Chen Duxiu's view, Marx was different from other socialists because he was a revolutionary socialist. The study of Marx's doctrine is different from the study of Confucius and Kant, and it is necessary to apply its doctrine to practical activities and devote ourselves to the revolution of dry society. Therefore, he stressed that "it is better to study Marx's doctrine less than to do more to the movement of Marx's revolution" and "we must give play to the spirit of Marx's actual activities, regard Marx's theory as the driving force of social revolution, and not regard Marx's theory as a pastime of old gentlemen, young masters, wives, and young ladies."
The spirit of practical activities is not only to study and learn in the study hall, but also to act, which is actually the spirit of combining theory and practice and guiding practice with theory. Marx's doctrine is not the study in the study, its well-known theoretical character is practice, is committed to leading the times and changing the world. From the time of its inception, this doctrine was not "philosophicalizing the world", not just to give a reasonable explanation of the world in which human beings live, but to "make philosophy cosmopolitan", to devote itself to the construction of a new world in the critique of the old world, and to promote the change of the historical process of human society.
Inheriting the spirit of Marx's practical activities requires us who study Marx and study Marx's theories to actively participate in practice and achieve the unity of theory and practice, subjectivity and objectivity, knowledge and action in going deep into reality and in investigation and research. Of course, to actively participate in practical activities is not to strictly follow Marx's words, to use today's reality to prove that Marx is right, to think that there are problems in reality that are different from Marx's ideas, and we should change them immediately, but we should develop theories in practical activities and guide practice with the developed theories.
To inherit the spirit of Marx's actual activities, it is necessary to be problem-oriented and critical thinking, but the spirit of practical activities cannot be reduced to hindering practical actions. Problem-oriented and critical thinking serve social progress, criticism is easy to build, deconstruct is easy to construct, leading the times, people need to transform this critical spirit into a driving force to promote the progress of the times, should be sublimated from a rational critic to an optimistic view of society of self-confidence, sublimated into a builder who actively promotes social progress.
The revolution that Marx was engaged in was a historical activity that conformed to the development trend of human society and promoted the progress of human society, and its original intention was to achieve fundamental social change. The Chinese revolution since modern times, understood as a whole, is to transform China from a traditional country into a modern country, to achieve all-round changes in Chinese society, and to realize China's comprehensive modernization. Inheriting the spirit of Marx's practical activities in the new era requires us to promote the comprehensive construction of a socialist modern power with a foreseeable vision and constructive efforts.
(The author is vice dean, researcher and doctoral supervisor of the School of Marxism, Peking University)
Attached: "Marx's Two Spirits"
Chen Duxiu
Today there are two congresses, one is the Marx Commemoration Conference and the other is the inaugural meeting of the Chinese Socialist Youth League, and these two congresses are very closely related. Where is the relationship?
For the Socialist Youth League was founded on the basis of Marx's doctrine. But today we will only talk about the important spirit of Marxism, because Marx's history and his theory are described in Marx's commemorative book, and all the monarchs can see it. Marx's doctrine and deeds have two great spirits, which happen to be the most lacking in Chinese.
First, the spirit of practical research. What is the spirit of practical research! It's a lot of clutter. Most of the ancient people's thinking was biased towards the method of interpretation, how is it called the method of interpretation? It is to apply many facts with one principle, and in modern scientific inventions, the inductive method is used.
What is induction?
It is to take many facts and prove a principle. This is the opposite of induction and translation. Naturally, we should apply these two methods to each other. However, after the invention of science, there are many places to use induction, because a principle is true, and many facts must be collected to establish a more accurate principle. In modern Europe, the natural sciences confirmed the inductive method, and Marx applied the induction method of the natural sciences to the social sciences.
Marx collected many social facts and proved his principles and doctrines one by one. Therefore, modern people call Marx's theory the sociology of science, because he applies the inductive method of natural science to study the social sciences. What Marx called economics or sociology is based on this scientific induction method, so it can be believed and based on it. This is where modern people say that Marx is a scientific socialism, different from utopian socialism. This is the spirit of Marx's practical research.
I very much hope that the young monarchs should study the knowledge in the spirit of Marx's actual research, and not just study with Marx's doctrine.
If he merely studied his doctrine, then the spirit of Marx's actual research was completely lost, but he was a Marxist scholar. I very much hope that the young monarchs can study the various situations in society in the spirit of Marx's practical research, and the most important thing is the political and economic situation of the current society, not only to study Marx's theory, this is the spirit of Marx, this is the spirit of Marx's first practical research.
Second, the spirit of Marx's practical activity. Marx is therefore different from other socialists because he is a revolutionary socialist. Those who can actually move can be revolutionary, not drinking tea and smoking in the house, studying their theories, it is enough, this is the study of Confucius and Kant's learning. When we study his doctrine, we must not only study it, but also put it into practice and carry out the revolution of society. I hope that young comrades would rather study Marx's theory less and not engage in Marx's revolutionary movement! Young people, especially the princes of the Socialist Youth League, must give play to the spirit of Marx's practical activities, regard Marx's theory as the driving force of the social revolution, and do not regard Marx's theory as a pastime of old gentlemen, young masters, wives, and young ladies.
I would like to talk about these two great spirits of Marx today, and I invite you to pay attention to them.
Originally published in The Guangdong Qunbao on May 23, 1922
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Zhang Qi Sun Ziqing