Theoretical Exploration of Japanese Marxist Studies in China in the 21st Century

Author: Shi Wanting Zhang Xiuhua (Postdoctoral Fellow, Professor, School of Marxism, China University of Political Science and Law)

Japanese Marxist studies are an important part of foreign Marxist studies and have formed their own independent academic paradigms. In the field of academic research and social development, Japanese Marxist studies have certain theoretical reference value for Marxist studies in China. In the past 20 years, domestic research on Japanese Marxism has shown the characteristics of rich content, diverse paths, and profound questioning. To this end, it is necessary to examine, analyze, and present the overall appearance of the problems and responses of domestic Japanese Marxist studies in the 21st century.

The establishment of the Japanese Marxist research paradigm

As an independent academic paradigm, "Japanese Marxism" should become a philosophical paradigm juxtaposed with Western Marxism and Soviet and Eastern European Marxism in the study of Marxism abroad in our country. This is a theoretical goal of Japanese Marxist studies in China, and it is mainly demonstrated through the following aspects.

First, by reviewing the formation process of Japanese Marxism, it is pointed out that Japanese Marxism was born in the 1960s as an independent Marxist genre, and Japan, as the first country in East Asia to translate and study Marxist works, has strong oriental characteristics in the absorption and understanding of Marx's works.

Second, it summarizes the main characteristics of Japanese Marxism. As Professor Han Lixin of Tsinghua University pointed out, first, Japanese Marxism attaches importance to Marxist philology and the historical examination of classic texts, as well as the interpretation of the ideological content of texts on this basis; second, Japanese Marxism has a comprehensiveness across a variety of disciplines, involving philosophy, economics, history and other disciplines; third, Japanese Marxism has a rich and keen sense of the times, which is not only pure academic research, but also a strong response to problems existing in real society. The study of Japanese Marxism in China has sorted out the arrangement and interpretation of Japanese Marxist manuscripts against Marx and Engels, such as "German Ideology", "Outline of Criticism of Political Economy", "Capital" and other documents.

Third, through the examination of civil society, it is shown that "Japanese Marxism has made a new interpretation of Marx's view of history with a new theoretical framework." The civil society school, represented by Kiyoshi Mochizuki, together with hiromatsu's philosophy, constituted the main object of domestic academic research on Japanese Marxist philosophy. Domestic translations of Japanese Marxist philosophy mainly include "Japanese Marxism Translation Series" and "Hiromatsu Philosophy Series".

Philological Exploration and Philosophical Interpretation of Japanese Marxist Studies

Regarding the philological exploration of Japanese Marxist studies, domestic research is represented by the investigation of Hiromatsu's "German Ideology in the Context of Philology". Professor Zhang Yibing of Nanjing University summarized and summarized the characteristics of the editorial work of the edition of Guangsong's "German Ideology": First, Guangsong used the method of "double page typesetting" to edit and typeset the new and old texts in the manuscript "in a two-page side-by-side manner"; second, it explicitly presented the content written by Marx and Engels in different forms; the third was to mark the text content added or rewritten by Marx and Engels, organize and show the differences in editing each version, and so on. The research and analysis of the editing of Guangsong's literature shows a unique understanding of the structure of Guangsong's manuscript.

In terms of specific philosophical interpretations, the discussion of philosophy in domestic Japanese Marxist studies mainly focuses on two research approaches: the study of Hiromatsu's philosophical theory, and the investigation of the civil society school represented by Kiyoshi Mochizuki.

First, the study around Guangsong shibu includes both Guangsongshi's interpretation of Marxist philosophy on the basis of philology and Guangsongshi's own original philosophical logic. First, in the interpretation of Marxist philosophical theory, a large number of studies revolve around the transcendence of Guangsong's "alienation" theory to the "materialization" theory of Marx. The basic proposition of this research in China is that Hiromatsu believes that with the "German Ideology" as the boundary, Marx completed the transformation from "alienation" to "materialization" theory. The second is the philosophical logic of Guangsong's own involvement. Through the interpretation of "The Outpost of the Worldview of Things", the study of the problems surrounding Hiromatsu's philosophical system focuses on the analysis of the "worldview of things" and the structure of limbs.

Second, another important study of Japanese Marxism in China is the investigation of Marxism of the civil society faction represented by Kiyoshi Mochizuki and Kiyoshi Hirata. In the study of civil society theory, through the analysis of concepts such as "division of labor", "alienation", "civil society", and "community", we aim to grasp the basic content and clues of Kiyoshi Mochizuki's historical theory. Kiyoshi Mochizuki focused more on the interpretation of the Outline of the Critique of Political Economy, thus forming an understanding of Marx.

Japanese Marxist studies examine the theoretical and practical issues of ecological environment and economics

In the investigation of ecological and environmental issues, domestic Japanese Marxist research focuses on two aspects: on the one hand, it reveals the ecological concept of Japanese Marxism on nature", "environmental protection priority" and harmonious coexistence between man and nature. The existing achievements revolve around the Marxist view of nature of Shigeru Iwasawa and Takashi Shimazaki, pointing out that man and nature are subjects, the two are equal, and the interaction between man and nature needs to be recognized by each other. On the other hand, the japanese Marxists' vision of the future ecological society at the level of social system is discussed. For example, the exploration of the philosophical connotations of Marxism in Otoseki's "symbiosis" on Tuesday, and the exploration of the "symbiosis" concept of Japanese Marxism. This highlights the theoretical conception and active attempts of Japanese Marxists to integrate environmental protection with future social systems and to solve the ecological crisis.

In the examination of economic theory, the theories of the Uno school, Makoto Ito's market socialism, and mathematical economics school are discussed, with a focus on Ito's market socialism. Scholars not only point out that the market economy can inject vitality into the development of society from the perspective of money, enterprises, division of labor, economic crisis, industrial reserve army, etc., but also emphasize that prices are determined by the free trade of the market. Thus, the basic viewpoint of the Japanese Marxists on the socialist market economy was demonstrated.

In the investigation of practical issues, domestic Japanese Marxist studies not only pay attention to the analysis of theoretical issues, but also turn their attention to the field of practice and adhere to the principle of unifying Marxist theory and practice. The study of the Japanese Communist Party's party program and party constitution focuses on a series of adjustments made by the Japanese Communist Party after the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Between the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Japan in 1994 and the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of Japan in 2004, the Japanese Communist Party made important revisions to its program and constitution. In addition, domestic research on Japanese Marxism also discusses the theoretical conception of "future society" by Tetsuzo Butaru, one of the main leaders of the Japanese Communist Party, and his important contributions to the development of the Japanese Communist Party.

Guangming Daily (2021-05-24 15 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily