Editor's Note: General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that Communists should take reading Marxist classics and understanding Marxist principles as a living habit and a spiritual pursuit, and use classics to cultivate righteousness, refine ideas, sublimate realm and guide practice. In order to further promote the formation of a strong atmosphere of reading classics, learning theories, strengthening quality and setting an example, the 2020 reading activity of the central and state organs "strengthening quality and setting an example" will be themed on "reviewing Marxist classics and deepening Xi Jinping's study of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era", and will invite a series of domestic authoritative experts to guide the reading of the Communist Party Declaration German Ideology, Das Kapital, State and Revolution and other classic works. As the fifth lecture of the "Reviewing Marxist Classics" series (132 issues in total), Chen Peiyong, Vice Dean of the School of Marxism of Peking University, guided the reading of "Socialism from Utopia to Scientific Development" with the theme of "Only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China".
speaker: Chen Peiyong, Vice President of the School of Marxism, Peking University
Wonderful opinions
·Engels' Socialism from Utopia to the Development of Science was first published in 1880. It is a work that systematically elaborates the theory of scientific socialism. Marx called it "the introduction of scientific socialism".
·General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that, "Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the dialectical unity of the theoretical logic of scientific socialism and the historical logic of China's social development. It is scientific socialism rooted in China, reflecting the will of the Chinese people, and adapting to the development and progress of China and the times. It is the only way to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, accelerate socialist modernization, and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." Reading "Socialism from Utopia to Scientific Development" can provide important enlightenment for us to deeply understand the theory and practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and can provide theoretical enlightenment for us to break the misunderstanding and doubt of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
· Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a new exploration of socialism and a new thing in human society, which is different from the socialist society and socialist road described by any thinker. Socialism with Chinese characteristics begins with the rethinking of the socialist cause and is the product of emancipating the mind on the question of "what is socialism".
·The common point of the early utopian socialists is that, on the basis of the enlightenment theory, they emphasized that equality is not only the equality of political rights, but also the equality of economic and social status, not only to eliminate class privileges, but also to eliminate class differences themselves. This is of course progressive. But the problem is that they ignored the historical development of productive forces, failed to see the progress of social relations, fell into egalitarianism and even asceticism, and went against the trend of history, reversing the trend of history.
·The mode of thinking of materialistic dialectics only lays the methodological foundation for scientific socialism. But what directly promoted socialism from utopia to science were two great discoveries, one was the historical materialism, the other was the surplus value.
·Socialism is bound to come true because there are inherent and unsolvable contradictions in the capitalist mode of production. The most basic contradiction is the contradiction between socialized production and private possession. The contradiction between social production and private possession is manifested in two aspects: one is the opposition between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The other is the opposition between the organization of production in individual factories and the anarchy of production in the whole society.
·Socialist society is the ideal we pursue, but the ideal is not a mirage and cannot rise out of thin air. It is the source of people's confusion about socialism that people leave reality to dream about socialism, ignore the objective process of Chinese society, and artificially imagine what socialism should be like. There is no problem in imagining a socialist society, but the problem is that we should encourage social construction regardless of reality, empty talk and ideals, and the objective laws of social development.
·Therefore, we should have a tolerant attitude towards socialist construction. We should not conclude that it is a false science or dressed in the cloak of science because of the setbacks in practical exploration. To truly follow scientific socialism, it is still necessary to explore boldly, base more on reality, explore more laws, and pay attention to both the inheritance of history and the pursuit of future development.
·The cause of socialism should be committed to straightening out the relations of production, and social fairness and common prosperity should be taken as the tasks. But socialism is not only a problem of relations of production and value ideals, but also a problem of productivity, which is more fundamental. The problems of relations of production and value ideals should be solved on the basis of solving the problems of productivity.
·Socialism with Chinese characteristics is based on the development of productive forces, centered on economic construction, and taking into account common prosperity and social equity. It has both the objective basis of China's national conditions and the theoretical support of philosophical theories. The view that it is not socialism is untenable. It is indeed necessary to emphasize that in contemporary China, adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics means truly adhering to socialism. We should also believe that only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China.
Q&A of the main points of this lecture:
1. What is the writing background of Socialism from Utopia to Scientific Development?
A: From 1876 to 1878, Engels spent two years writing. He published a series of articles criticizing Du Lin in succession and published them on the German Social Democratic Party organ newspaper Forward. In the summer of 1878, Engels collected and printed these articles into a book under the name of "The Changes Mr. Ougen Dulin Implemented in Science", namely "Anti Dulin Theory". In 1880, at the request of Paul Lafarge, the French revolutionary, Engels changed the three chapters (the first chapter of the introduction and the first and second chapters of the third part) of Anti Dulin Theory into an independent and popular work, which was translated into French by Lafarge and published under the title of Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism, and later under the title of Socialism from Utopia to Scientific Development The name goes down in history.
2. What is the historical position of Socialism from Utopia to Scientific Development?
Answer: This book has an important position in the development history of Marxism. Marx called it "the introduction to scientific socialism", Lenin called it "the book that outlines the history of socialist development", "the basic classic works of scientific socialism", and called it, like the Communist Manifesto, "the book that every conscious worker must read". Until today, we can also say that it is a must read classic literature to understand the original socialist theory of Marx and Engels, and has great reference and inspiration significance for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
3. What is the theoretical origin of scientific socialism?
Answer: In Engels' view, the first is the enlightenment theory. Engels pointed out at the beginning that socialism, as far as its theoretical form is concerned, initially manifested as a further and seemingly more thorough development of the enlightenment principle. The second theoretical source of scientific socialism is utopian socialism. Utopian socialism, together with the Enlightenment, appeared almost simultaneously in Europe.
4. How to correctly understand the utopian nature of socialism?
A: This is not only a historical problem, but also a realistic problem today. Our criticism of utopian socialism does not mean that we will never become utopian socialists. If we carry out socialist practice, overemphasize the socialist ideal, and eagerly realize the socialist goal, we may fall into the fantasy of socialism. This is something that needs vigilance and has been solved in the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Of course, a correct understanding of the utopian nature of socialism cannot be without ideals, as if talking about ideals is utopian. We should realize that socialism is not only based on reality, but also higher than reality. It is a necessary historical stage for social development, and also an ideal and belief that people are committed to pursuing.
5. How can socialism change from utopia to science?
Answer: As a theory, if we want to truly change the world, socialism must move from utopia to science and transform into scientific theory. It must be deeply rooted in the facts of material economy and scientifically explain the development laws of human society and history. The transformation of socialism from utopia to science depends on the establishment of materialist dialectics, historical materialism and surplus value theory.
6. How to correctly understand the scientific nature of socialism?
Answer: The reason why scientific socialism is scientific is that it understands the method of social and historical development, rather than some eternal principles, because it is not committed to criticizing the original social form, not to envisioning the ideal social situation in the future, but to examining the objective historical and economic process. It regards socialism in the general process of human social development, does not separate from the general historical development stage, the world historical and economic process, and talks about the ideal of socialism.
7. Why is a socialist society inevitable?
Answer: Scientific socialism should show that a socialist society is bound to come. The inevitable realization of socialism is determined by the basic contradictions of human society. The development of human society has proved that the development of productive forces is unstoppable. The original mode of production always adapts to its development at the beginning, but later restricts its development due to lagging behind. The impulsion of productivity will break through the original mode of production and promote the generation of new modes of production. The productive forces released by capitalism, in conflict with the capitalist mode of production, will eventually destroy capitalism.
8. How to correctly understand the inevitability of socialist society?
A: First of all, we should realize that socialism is bound to come, which does not mean it will come soon. We should also recognize that socialism is the product of history, that socialism is bound to come, and that it is the result of the advancement of the objective historical process. It cannot be artificially claimed that entering developed socialism, or running can lead to communism. This will not enhance people's confidence in the inevitable realization of socialism, but will make people question the inevitable arrival of socialism. As long as we talk about necessity, it means that it is objective and not something that you can achieve through subjective claims. This is the logic of history, and no trifling is allowed. As long as we put our heart into it, we will see the growth of socialist factors in the contemporary world. This is the embodiment of objective inevitability. To correctly understand the inevitability of socialism, of course, we should not only emphasize the inevitability, but forget the realization of socialism, which is the combination of objective necessity and subjective struggle.
9. How to view the future prospects of socialism with Chinese characteristics?
A: Socialism with Chinese characteristics has a long way to go. It is responsible for strengthening people's belief in socialism and communism, enabling countries around the world to find a way out of the dilemma of capital logic, and promoting the whole human society towards a better future. Therefore, socialism with Chinese characteristics should be committed to bringing Chinese characteristics to the world, actively promoting the realistic presentation of socialist ideals, striving to open up a socialist road of world significance, and exploring experience for human society to learn from as it moves out of the historical stage of capitalism.
10. How to view the relationship with the capitalist world system?
Answer: In practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the contradiction that must be faced is actually the contradiction between socialism in one country and the capitalist world system. In fact, as two theories, socialism and capitalism have their opposites, but not absolute opposites. Socialism with Chinese characteristics clarifies the relationship between the two theoretical systems of socialism and capitalism. It overcame the heavy theoretical burden, respected the capitalist civilization, and tried to incorporate the good factors of capitalism into socialist practice. Our socialism has indeed gained enough room for development in its exchanges with the capitalist system. At the same time, to follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, to prevent socialism from being assimilated by capitalism and to follow the path of convergence with capitalism, we must prevent the infiltration of capital logic into the whole society, make capital logic only play a role in the economic field, and resolutely resist its infiltration in the political and social fields.
Introduction to the "Strong Quality · Set an Example" Reading Activity:
The reading activity of "strengthening quality and setting an example" is hosted by the Central Committee and the Working Committee of the State Organs, the State Press and Publication Administration, undertaken by the People's Daily News Network of the Communist Party of China, and co organized by the learning platform of "learning to strengthen the country", the Bank of Communications, the People's Publishing House, and the People's Daily Press. Since its establishment in 2009, it has insisted on a monthly reading activity. So far, 131 reading activities have been held. In order to better implement the instruction of General Secretary Xi Jinping that "the central and state organs must be in the forefront of theoretical learning, and act as a good example in learning, understanding and doing well", the sponsor has carried out a new upgrade and revision of the 2020 reading activity, with the theme of "Reviewing the classic of Marxism, deepening the study of Xi Jinping's socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era", Based on the guidance of Marxist classics, we will create a new classroom for Party members and cadres to learn theory and a new platform for organizing life. The reading activity was first broadcast on the branch work APP, People's Daily Online, the CPC News Network, the WeChat public account of "Learning Big Country", "People's Party Building Cloud", the People's Video Client, the People's Smart Cloud Client and other platforms, expanded the coverage and communication of learning with the help of new Internet media, and explored the learning methods suitable for the characteristics of young government officials, So that more Party members and cadres can benefit from it.
Past reviews
[Lesson 1] Remembering the Original Intent and Mission of Communists: A Guide to the Communist Manifesto
[Lecture 2] Adhere to historical materialism: Introduction to German Ideology
[Lecture 3] Adherence to and Application of Marxist View of Practice: Introduction to the Outline of Feuerbach
[Lecture 4] Realizing the Harmonious Development of Man and Nature: Introduction to Dialectics of Nature
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