Lenin's in-depth study of Marxist literature

Author: ZHAO Yulan (Researcher, Collaborative Innovation Center for 21st Century Chinese Marxism Studies, Chinese Min University)

From Marx and Engels to Lenin, Marxism has made a major leap forward at the theoretical and practical levels. On the one hand, it was Lenin who led the October Revolution, which opened a new era in human history, and established the first socialist state in the history of the world; on the other hand, it was Lenin who, in the light of The reality of Russia, developed Marxism into the stage of Leninism. As an outstanding Marxist theorist, Lenin not only attached great importance to the study and study of the classic works of Marx and Engels, but also had great foresight, fundamentally promoting the first large-scale collection, collation and systematic publication of Marx and Engels's documentary heritage in world history, thus providing theoretical weapons and ideological guides for the international workers' movement and the world socialist movement.

In-depth study and preliminary translation of Marxist literature

From his youth, Lenin attached great importance to the study and study of Marx and Engels texts. If, in his work New Economic Changes in the Life of the Peasants, written in the spring of 1893, Lenin began to apply initially Marxist positions, viewpoints and methods to a concrete analysis of the situation of the Peasants in Russia, pointing out the antagonism between the rural bourgeoisie and the proletariat caused by the development of agrarian capitalism, then in the spring and summer of 1894, in What is the "Friend of the People" and how they attack the Social-Democrats, Lenin was already making a comprehensive use of the classic texts of Marxism in response to the views of the liberal populists represented by Mikhailovsky. Here, Lenin not only repeatedly quoted the important assertions in Capital for in-depth analysis, and elaborated on the classic expressions in the Preface to the Critique of Political Economy, but also mentioned and explained important works such as The Poverty of Philosophy, the Communist Manifesto, the Anti-Dühring Theory, and the Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State. Lenin even addressed the then-unknown manuscript of the German Ideology around the question of the materialist view of history. It can be seen that Lenin, who had just turned 24, had already had a broad and in-depth grasp of Marx and Engels's textual literature, but the young Lenin was not satisfied with this, and still eagerly read the classic texts of Marxism and paid close attention to the publication of important theoretical works.

With the deepening of his research, Lenin was no longer limited to simply studying various Russian translations of Marx and Engels's works, but personally participated in the translation and publication of the Russian version of Marx and Engels's works. In 1907, Lenin participated in two publishing projects on the collection of letters of Marx and Engels. First, Lenin revised the Russian translation of the Collected Letters of Ka Marx to Luku kugmann. In his handwritten preface, Lenin said that the compilation of Marx's letters to Kugelman was intended to enable "Russian readers to better understand Marx and Marxism." These materials contribute not only to the grasp of Marx's life, but also to the study of Marx's "direct comments on the various problems of the workers' movement and world politics." Secondly, Lenin wrote the preface to the Collected Letters of Jophie Becker, Joltsgen, F. Engels, Ka Marx, etc. to Vladimir A. Zorge, in which he pointed out that this collection of essays "is an indispensable supplement to the advanced Marxist literature of our country" and that the letters published in it are "of unquestionable significance to the history of the socialist movement and to the comprehensive elaboration of the activities of Marx and Engels." It can be said that from in-depth study to personally translating Marx and Engels texts, Lenin has deeply realized the great theoretical significance of Marx and Engels's documentary heritage and its fundamental role in promoting the Russian workers' movement.

Overall grasp of Marxist literature and publication expectations

At the end of 1914, Lenin wrote an entry about Marx for the famous Russian Encyclopedia of Granat, thus leaving the classic "Karl Marx" for posterity. In this article, Lenin not only made a general summary and a concise evaluation of the development of Marx's thought, but also made a detailed exposition of the Marxist world outlook, methodology, and basic viewpoints. Most notably, he lists Marx's writings and bibliographies of related studies at the end of the article. This bibliographic list shows Lenin's systematic investigation and overall grasp of marx and Engels's textual literature.

First, Lenin chronologically lists the important works and articles of Marx's life, including the dissertation on the philosophy of Epicurus in 1841, the article published in the Rheinische Zeitung in 1842, the Introduction to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law and the Question of the Jewish People published in the German-French Almanac in 1844, the Holy Family, first published in cooperation with Engels in 1845, the Theses on Feuerbach in 1845, the Poverty of Philosophy in 1847, and the Jewish Question in 1848. Communist Manifesto," articles published in The Neue Rhine 1848-1849, articles published in the New York Daily Tribune from 1851 to 1862, Monsieur Vogt in London in 1860, The Manifesto of the Founding of the International WorkingMen's Association in London in 1864, Das Kapital, vol. 1, published in Hamburg in 1867, The French Civil War in London in 1871, and participated in the writing of the chapter "Anti-Dühring" in 1876. and das Kapital, volumes 2 and 3, published by Engels in 1885 and 1894. It can be seen that Lenin at this time had a very comprehensive grasp of the documentary heritage of Marx and Engels, especially the published works and articles, and his brief description of these important documents also showed the depth of his research.

Secondly, and more deserving of our attention, when Lenin enumerated Marx's works in detail, he repeatedly mentioned a major historical task that needed to be completed. Referring to Marx's articles published in newspapers and periodicals such as Forward, Deutsche-Brussels, Westphalian Steamboat, Social Mirror, etc., from 1845 to 1847, Lenin pointed out that "most of these articles have not yet been collected, not republished, and not translated into Russian"; and referring to the Neue Rhine, Lenin pointed out that "many of the articles published by Marx in this organ newspaper, which is hitherto the best and most outstanding organ of the revolutionary proletariat, have not been collected, nor have they all been republished." Speaking of the Neue Oder from the end of 1854 to 1855, the Volks. 1859, and the Vienna-based Zeitung from 1861 to 1862, Lenin also pointed out that Marx's articles were not collected and were rarely published. In addition, Lenin mentioned that the manifestos, proclamations and resolutions drafted by Marx for the General Committee of the First International were not collected. It can be seen from this that as early as the October Revolution, Lenin was already keenly aware of the incomplete collection, insufficient publication, and insufficient research of Marx and Engels's works, and thus deeply felt the huge theoretical shortcomings caused by the lack of literature.

It is a fundamental impetus to the cause of systematically collecting and publishing Marxist literature

The victory of the October Revolution not only enabled Lenin to lead the Soviet people in the great practice of socialist construction, but also enabled him to devote himself to the collection and publication of the magnificent documentary heritage of Marx and Engels under the unique conditions entrusted by history.

First, the Marx and Engels Institute was founded. In December 1920, under the auspices of Lenin, the Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia (Brazzaville) decided to establish the world's first Marxist museum, which it called "a task of great international significance." In January 1921, in accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia (Brazzaville), the Marxist Museum was renamed the Marx and Engels Institute. Lenin appointed da Ryazanov, his most recognized and internationally renowned expert in Marx and Engels literature, as the first director of the Institute. Thus, Lenin laid a solid institutional and organizational foundation for the future project of compiling Marxist and Engels documents.

Second, plan the development strategy of the Marx and Engels Institute. As early as early February 1921, Lenin wrote two notes in succession to the newly inaugurated Ryazanov, asking about the collection of Marx and Engels's documentary heritage. In particular, in the second note, Lenin asks seven specific questions: "(1) Do you know where the lines of emphasis are drawn in Engels's epistles?" (2) Have these letters been published in their entirety? Where is the boarding place? (3) If it has been published, can I find and get it? (4) Can we... Buying letters from Marx and Engels? Or is it a photograph of the letter? (5) Do we have any hope of collecting in Moscow all the material published by Marx and Engels? (6) Is there a catalogue of materials that have been collected here? (7) Is it feasible for us to collect the letters (or reproductions) of Marx and Engels? Lenin's note can be said to have put forward a work program and development plan for the newborn Marx and Engels Institute from a strategic height.

Third, support the literature acquisition activities of the Marx and Engels Institute. Lenin's support for the Marx-Engels Institute was prominently reflected in the purchase of literature. There is a vivid case in the existing correspondence between Lenin and Ryazanov. In 1921, Ryazanov went to Vienna to negotiate the acquisition of the famous Mautnell Library and the Grunenberg Library. However, due to the shortage of 50,000 gold rubles provided by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia (Brazzaville), coupled with the bidding of the Osaka Research Institute in Japan, Ryazanov wrote a letter to Lenin for help, hoping to increase the funding to 125,000 gold rubles. Faced with this huge demand for funds, Lenin resolutely approved: decided to allocate an additional 75,000 gold rubles. This far-sightedness and strong support of Lenin laid a profound data foundation for the future project of compiling the works of Marx and Engels.

Finally, pay attention to the collection and compilation of marx and Engels's documentary heritage. In 1921, Ryazanov initially bought back a batch of copies of Marx and Engels's documentary heritage from abroad. He wrote to Lenin to report on the collection of documents, and sent copies of the Theses on Feuerbach and proofs of Volume 3 of the Letters of LaSalle. Thus, in the last surviving letter to Ryazanov written on 9 November, Lenin stated that he had read Lassalle's letter to Marx and hoped that Ryazanov would send him Engels's pamphlet on Schelling as soon as possible. In addition, Lenin mentioned that Ryazanov's proposal to set up a special committee to study the work of the Marx-Engels Institute and the publication work of the Comintern would be transferred to the members of the Politburo. It can be seen that Lenin, who is full of opportunities, is as concerned as ever about the collection of Marx and Engels's documentary heritage, and Ryazanov directly reports to Lenin on the progress and conception of the work of the Institute.

In short, it was through the study of Marx and Engels's textual literature that Lenin mastered the powerful theoretical weapon of Marxism, thus leading the victory of the October Revolution and opening a new era in history; and it was on the basis of the newborn Soviet power that Lenin personally promoted the systematic collection and compilation of Marx and Engels's documentary heritage, thus laying a profound ideological and theoretical foundation for the world socialist movement.

Guangming Daily (2020-06-29, 15th edition)