Question: Chen Zhixiong, Commander of the Xiamen Branch Headquarters of Fujian Aid to Xinjiang, Deputy Secretary of the Jimsar County Party Committee of Xinjiang
We often read this passage from Marx: "In order to realize ideas, there must be people who use the power of practice." At the symposium to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Comrade Hu Yaobang's birth, General Secretary Xi Jinping quoted this passage in his speech. May I ask, how to understand the background and profound connotation of Marx's words?
Interpretation: Shang Zhixiao, professor of Shandong Normal University, dean of the Institute of Contemporary Chinese Marxism in Shandong Province
This passage of Marx comes from the book "The Holy Family" that he co-wrote with Engels. The book was written after the meeting between Marx and Engels in Paris at the end of August 1844 and published in February 1845, with Marx writing most of it. This book was the first cooperation between Marx and Engels in the elaboration of ideas and the writing of books, and thus opened the road of deep friendship and theoretical creation between the two for more than 40 years.
The writing of The Holy Family and the critical spirit it contains
The book "The Holy Family", the full title of which is "The Holy Family, or Critique of the Critique of Criticism: A Refutation of Bruno Powell and His Associates". The term "Holy Family" is taken from the title of a famous painting by the famous Italian painter Mantenia depicting the Virgin and the Holy Child, which is a kind of playful name for the Young Hegelians and their followers; The subtitle highlights the highly characteristic term "criticism" in German philosophical circles at that time, and uses "critical criticism" to refer to the subjective idealism of the Young Hegelians.
The Young Hegelians, who were formed after Hegel, were the leaders of the German advanced trend of thought compared to the conservative Old Hegelians, and had a certain positive influence on the German bourgeois revolution. Later, however, due to the suppression of the revolutionary struggle by the Kingdom of Prussia and other factors, the Young Hegelians gradually transformed into a conservative and even reactionary position. The "free men" group, represented by the Powell brothers, is detached from real life, despises the masses, accuses the workers' movement, is intoxicated with abstract speculation and preaching, and is good at making empty remarks. In the view of Powell and others, only outstanding figures, that is, the embodiment of "spiritual" and "pure criticism," are the creators of history, while the masses of the people are just lifeless things and obstacles to historical development. Powell tried to put "self-consciousness" into social reality, arguing that a kind of conceptual critique can really change the world.
Marx and Engels had been members of the Young Hegelians in their early years, but in the summer of 1842 they had serious differences in ideas with the group of "free men". In a letter to Lugar in November of the same year, Marx said: I ask them to send less marginal empty arguments, less high-pitched songs, less self-appreciation, more clear opinions, more attention to concrete realities, and more practical knowledge. In the following two years, Marx and Engels completed the transformation from idealism to materialism in terms of ideology and standpoint, and are gradually realizing the transformation from revolutionary democrats to communists, and their theoretical and political differences with the Young Hegelians have reached an irreconcilable level. In the face of the degeneration of the Powell brothers and their colleagues, it was inevitable that Marx and Engels would break with the ideas of the Young Hegelians. It is in this context that "The Holy Family" came into being.
With the mission of exposing and criticizing the subjective idealism of the Young Hegelians, The Holy Family is presented as a polemical work. The "Preamble" begins with a direct attack on the tricks and dangers of Powell's preaching: In Germany, there is no more dangerous enemy for true humanism than spiritualism, that is, speculative idealism. It replaces the actual individual man with "self-consciousness", or "spirit", and joins the evangelists in teaching: "The spirit creates all beings, but the flesh is weak and impotent." "Obviously, this detachment from the flesh has spiritual power only in one's own imagination. What we refute in the critique of Powell is precisely the speculation that is reproduced in the form of cartoons. We consider this speculation to be the most complete expression of the German principle of Christianity, the ultimate aim of which is to establish itself by turning "criticism" itself into some supra-empirical force. "The Holy Family" begins with a clear statement that shows the difference from the position of Powell and other young Hegelians: Powell is like a theologian who transforms self-consciousness into a new transcendent God to create the real world; On the other hand, we adhere to a materialist position, taking the real world as our starting point, and seeing all the ideas that are generated in our minds as a reflection of the real world.
Marx's preliminary elaboration of the view of historical materialism
While criticizing the subjective idealism of the Young Hegelians, The Holy Family systematically expounded the historical materialist viewpoint that was in the process of being formed, and established its important position in the process of the founding of Marxism. In the view of Powell and others, history is not produced in "rough material production", but is interpreted in "the misty clouds and fog in the sky", and history is the product of ideological activity; And the masses of the people are superficial, and they cannot understand the true meaning of thought. Therefore, in order for ideology to embody its own truth and lead the progress of world history, it must draw a clear line of demarcation from the material interests of the masses. In response to this erroneous argument, Marx emphasized that real history is nothing but the activity of men who pursue their own ends, and when critical criticism applies to real life what they conceive in their minds, they find that the mysterious power of their free consciousness cannot lift even a grain of sand. Marx pointed out that material production is the birthplace of human history, and history is the product of the masses and not of ideological activity. If the revolution was unsuccessful, it was not because it "aroused" the "enthusiasm" of the masses, not because it aroused the "concern" of the masses, but because for the overwhelming majority of the masses, unlike the bourgeoisie, revolutionary principles did not correspond to their actual interests, not their own revolutionary principles, but merely an "idea", and therefore only temporary enthusiasm and superficial enthusiasm.
Is the failure of the revolution due to the inability of the masses to keep up with the ideas and to carry them out, or is it because the ideas themselves do not belong to the masses, but to the minority and their social base? On such a matter of principle, Marx particularly emphasized that ideology is by no means an otherworldly subject detached from the material masses, but is presented in the spirit of the material interests of the class. If the ideology really wants to be integrated with the masses, it must descend from the fairyland of free roaming and put forward the most urgent practical demands of the masses, not the kind of thinking that the "critical criticism" professes itself to. If ideology wants to lead reality and embody its own truth, it must take root among the masses and serve the practical needs of the masses, otherwise, it will not be able to achieve anything at all, just like the ideas created by Powell and other young Hegelians.
The realization of ideas necessarily requires people who have the power to use practice
"In order to realize ideas, there must be people who use the power of practice." Such a classic can be said to be the condensation of the concept of the book "The Holy Family", and it is an accurate revelation of the spiritual essence contained in "The Holy Family". To understand the connotation and essence of Marx's words, in addition to grasping the historical background and theoretical status of the work "The Holy Family" and grasping the preliminary elaboration of the basic viewpoint of historical materialism in "The Holy Family", it is also necessary to combine Marx's consistent thinking and theoretical exposition to deeply understand and think deeply from multiple levels.
First, the ideology that Marx talked about must be a rational understanding that is based on the foundation of social reality, reflects the requirements of economic and social development, and conforms to the aspirations of the masses of the people, and is by no means the "absolute spirit" that can create all things in the world, as Hegel said, and still less is it a "critical critique" that Powell and other young Hegelians sprouted from their own imaginations. As Marx pointed out in 1843: "In the past, philosophers kept all the mysteries in their desks, and the ignorant mundane world had only to open its mouth and wait for the roast pigeon of absolute science to fall in." "What we should do now is to be relentlessly critical of what exists." Such criticism is not afraid of its own conclusions, nor of clashes with existing forces. Only in this way can we get the right thoughts. Otherwise, those ideas that claim to be "thoughts" are precisely a betrayal of the true meaning of ideas; Those critics who call themselves "thinkers" are precisely the taint of the title of true thinker.
Second, in Marx's view, true thought, because it comes from social reality, reflects the nature and laws of things, and it must contain tremendous energy under the shell of ideas, and this energy is its inner impulse to come from reality and strive to change reality. "Philosophers just interpret the world in different ways, and the problem is to change the world." Once Marx embarked on the scientific road of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, he unswervingly believed that all social life is practical in nature, and that all the mysteries that lure theory into mysticism can be reasonably resolved in the practice of man and in the understanding of this practice. In the face of social and historical practice, the "critical critique" of Powell and other young Hegelians has nothing to hide; Ideology is not something that cannot be realized, but mainly depends on what kind of ideology it is and whether it comes from practice and from the masses of the people.
Third, Marx has always emphasized that the inner impulse of thought to change reality cannot be realized by thought itself, and that thought must be integrated into practice and can play a role with the help of the power of practice. The real practice is the practice of the masses of the people, the real force of practice is the power of the masses of the people, the masses of the people are the promoters and creators of history, and the masses of the people are the people who use the power of practice for the realization of ideas. No one, without the masses of the people, a capitalized "person," no matter how correct their thinking is, can only think empty of their minds, and can only look at "reality" and sigh because they cannot be integrated with practice. "Whether or not human thinking has objective truth is not a matter of theory, but of practice. People should prove the truth of their thinking in practice, that is, the reality and power of their thinking, and the nature of their thinking. ”
"In order to realize ideas, there must be people who use the power of practice." Thoughts are compared to man, man is primary; Ideas come first compared to practice. The power of thought is contained in the power of practice. We advocate practice and hard work, but we can't ignore the guidance of thought; We respect manpower and artificiality, and we cannot detract from the energy of ideas. Only by organically combining the two aspects can the essential requirements and essence of Marxist materialist dialectics lie.