Pan kun,Wang Dan

(College of Marxism Sichuan Agriculture University,Yaan Sichuan 625014)

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The Duet of Passion and Comprehensiveness:How Historical Materialism Was Understood and Used in Twentieth-century China

Pan kun,Wang Dan

(College of Marxism Sichuan Agriculture University,Yaan Sichuan 625014)

This article seeks to prove that the coexistence of the passion to innovate or criticize,and comprehensiveness,is a characteristic of historical materialism.It is this feature that attracted Chinese intellectuals to the concept 100 years ago.In the past century,the understanding and use of historical materialism in China has been influenced by the elements of passion and comprehensiveness,and in this way,the road of Chinese social innovation has been significantly altered.In some sense,it seems that the evolution of China over the past 100 years has been a duet of passion and comprehensiveness.

passion;comprehensiveness;historical materialism;China

Ⅰ.Passion and comprehensiveness in historical materialism

1.Two kinds of passion in historical materialism

In the nineteenth century,Germany entered a period of enlightenment,but was still not unified;hence,nationalistic sentiment was pervasive.If the enlightenment brought Germany a spirit of rationalism,then combined with nationalistic sentiment they produced passion.Such passion is deeply rooted in the concept of historical materialism,a concept first described by Carl Marx.Within historical materialism,the future ideal society is not based on spontaneous,objective necessity,and is not seen as the result,which is mechanical,natural and inevitable.On the contrary,it is filled with many kinds of possibilities,which poses some risks.For human freedom,and also for survival,people have to face these possibilities through conscious practice and finally achieve ideals.Thus,in the understanding and use of historical materialism,we should combine possibility and necessity,and passionately create a humane history via the consciousness of practice.The passion of the creation in history,which originates from the consciousness of practice,can be divided into two categories.One is the passion to actively innovate,and the other is to strongly criticize.Both kinds of passion are based on the exploration of objective laws about social evolution,which reflect the consciousness of necessity and are rooted in the spirit of rationalism.

Historical materialism also describes objective laws about the evolution of society.These exist within two kinds of social contradictions between forces and relationships of production:the economic base and the superstructure.Among these factors,the force of production is the most fundamental.Therefore,in most cases,the passion to innovate,which is rooted in historical materialism,always means the confirmation of the determining action of production in human history.As an alternative to historical idealism,historical materialism was first presented by Marx and Engels in The German Ideology (1846).In that publication,Marx asserted that historical materialism is based on human “material behavior”,that is,human production.Engels stated that,“according to the materialist conception of history,the ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life.Other than this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted〔1〕”.

Another passion is the passion of critique.Marx and Engels’ monographs focus on the critique of capitalism,such as a discussion of the evils of the bourgeoisie and modern industrial civilization.As everyone knows,the most important feature of Marx’s monograph regarding this kind of critique is the theory of capital.However,we should also pay close attention to his view that capital is not only fortune,but also the right to dominate and be dominated,control and be controlled,between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.Thus,the object is social relationships in capitalist society.In essence,it is the critique of alienation,and in some sense it reflects the strong thirst for a more advanced society than capitalism.

2.Views of comprehensiveness in historical materialism

In historical materialism,besides confirmation that production should play a determining role in history,Marx also explicitly expresses its limitation.He wrote:No social order is ever destroyed before all the productive forces for which it is sufficient have been developed,and new superior relations of production never replace older ones before the material conditions for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society.〔2〕This sentence explains that production is not almighty,it cannot work freely.Furthermore,in 1890,Engels believed that while human history,even production,is surely the most important determining factor,but it is not only one.He explains as follows:But from the fact that the wills of individuals — each of whom desires what he is impelled to by his physical,constitution and external,in the last resort economic,circumstances (either his own personal circumstances,or those of society in general) — do not attain what they want,but are merged into an aggregate mean,a common resultant- it must not be concluded that they are equal to zero.〔3〕To those who believed production is the only determining factor,he made the following comment,“Hence if somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only determining one,he transforms that proposition into a meaningless,abstract,senseless.” He certainly confirmed the decisive action of production,but added some other factors as follows:

The economic situation is the basis,but the various elements of the superstructure — political forms of the class struggle and its results,to wit:constitutions established by the victorious class after a successful battle,etc.,juridical forms,and even the reflexes of all these actual struggles in the brains of the participants,political,juristic,philosophical theories,religious views and their further development into systems of dogmas — also exercise their influence upon the course of the historical struggles and in many cases preponderate in determining their form”.Finally,he provided a summary,“there is an interaction of all these elements”〔4〕.

Hence,Marx and Engels insisted that capitalism should be evaluated in an overall way.According to the standard of the forces of production,capitalism made a great contribution to human history,even though it alienated the relationship between hierarchies.They even asserted in the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) that “the means of production and of exchange,on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up,were generated in feudal society,therefore,the bourgeoisie,historically,has played a most revolutionary part”.Above all,comprehensiveness in historical materialism means that human history should be understood as a course of multiple factors of cooperation;thus,both capitalism and the bourgeoisie should be evaluated comprehensively.Only as a prerequisite of this comprehension,can production,capitalism and the bourgeoisie be evaluated and treated correctly in human history.

Ⅱ.The first movement of the duet:the period of military revolution (1927-1949)

Most Chinese scholars agree that there are four main reasons for the significant reduction in Red Army numbers during the Long March.The first is combat attrition,which caused the greatest reduction in numbers.For example,in the battle of the Xiang River,over 20,000 soldiers were killed or injured.The second is that seriously injured soldiers had to be carried and cared for during the Long March.The third is soldiers running away from their battalions or being repatriated home.The final reason is soldiers fleeing from the troops,as most of them were new recruits and non-combatants.

From 1937 onwards,an anti-Japanese united front was established and the Eight-year War began,with the Japanese surrendering in 1945.During the Eight-year War,the CPC established many anti-Japanese democratic regimes in its base areas.These regimes were called “three three regimes”,because the members consisted of members of CPC,left-camp members and centrists,each representing one-third of the whole regime.In terms of historical events,the united front with the Guo Mingdang and centrists during the Eight-year War was one of the keys to the defeat of the Japanese and the improvement of base areas.In 1939,Mao concluded that the CPC experience was based on “three magic weapons”:the united front,the military struggle,and the construction of the CPC.The armed struggle led by the CPC aimed to defeat Japanese imperialism and Guo Mingdang,which represented domestic compradors,bureaucratic capitalist classes,and feudalism.Thus,the military struggle took the form of a conflict that reflected the passion to critique as seen above.Furthermore,the united front clearly reflected comprehensiveness.Thus,the construction of the CPC successfully combined passion and comprehensiveness in the understanding and use of historical materialism.

After 8 years battling the Japanese,China was immediately thrown into civil war.From 1946 to 1949,the CPC kept fighting the Guo Mingdang,and continued to maintain a united front with democratic parties outside of the CPC.In addition to their roles in winning battles,leading to the nationwide CPC regime in 1949,the political contribution of democratic parties to politics cannot be ignored.On September 21,1949,the first Chinese people’s political consultative conference was convened by both the CPC and democratic parties,and a temporary platform was born from this conference.Thus,the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established.

The birth of the PRC was a notable milestone,and it marked the victory of the CPC’s military revolution.In military terms,the PRC was born from crucial battles.Within the meaning of the constitution,the PRC was created by the CPC and the other democratic parties.Regarding historical materialism,the birth of the PRC was rooted in realistic understanding and use,particular regarding both passion and comprehensiveness.

Ⅲ.The second movement of the duet:a period of construction and reform (after 1949)

The convening of the third plenary session of the 11th congress of the CPC in 1978 can be used as a dividing line,separating the history of PRC into two stages.The first denotes the construction of socialism,which occurred between 1949 and 1978,and the other is the various reforms since 1978.In this section,I will review some important issues from the two stages,such as the Great Leap Forward,the Great Cultural Revolution and the Great Development,which has occurred since the reform period.I will also continue to discuss the understanding and use of historical materialism in this period.

During the foundation of the PRC,it can be said that both land reform and socialist transformation were generally efficient and successful.However,the Great Leap Forward in 1958,which can now be considered as an odd and unsuccessful movement,destroyed the normal process of socialist construction.The Great Leap Forward promoted the idea of going “beyond the United Kingdom and catching up with the United States in 15 years” as a goal of modernization,and tried to promote the steel industry and the implementation of modernization goals.However,in the process,various communities in their quest for steel production via inefficient home-made furnaces felled large numbers of trees for fuel and building materials,and led to the degradation of water and soil.Furthermore,agricultural production suffered because significant labor power was directed to the inefficient production of steel.This illogical movement finally produced a very tragic consequence.A great famine occurred between 1959 and 1961.At that time,China was largely an agricultural country.As a consequence of the famine,agricultural production and basic agricultural consumption were severely diminished,even though China’s gross domestic product grew,based on the development of industry under the background of the planned economy.

Despite the PRC being in its infancy,it attempted to pursue its key aim of surpassing the United Kingdom and matching the United States in economy.In 1958,the United Kingdom and the United States were the most advanced capitalist countries in the world.The determination to go beyond these nations reflects the PRC’s overwhelming desire to self-improve and vanquish capitalism,which can be considered a passion to innovate and critique.

Nevertheless,in the Great Leap Forward,the development of productive forces was simply understood as the only force of socialist construction,and this development was also merely interpreted as steel production productivity,and ignored the actual conditions required for iron and steel production and the relevant technical details.Finally,it brought about tragedy and disaster via the devastating famine.In summary,the Great Leap Forward was a prime example of the passion to innovate and critique,which is rooted in historical materialism.

Compared with the Great Leap Forward,a more severe disaster,the Great Cultural Revolution,emerged in 1966.It was launched by Mao Zedong and ended in 1976.In China,this period is officially known as the “ten years of catastrophe”.Prior to 1949,a large number of officials,intellectuals and elites,including capitalists and landowners,were prosecuted under the “clean-up of capitalism in the CPC”.For most of these people,history repeated itself between 1966 and 1976.Many people were imprisoned,isolated,discriminated against,or even killed alongside their family members.A well-known case was that of Liu Shaoqi,the chairman of the PRC.He supported the idea of capitalism playing a role in China and suggested that private property and the market economy should be preserved in the socialist society.He was prosecuted for these beliefs and later executed.Liu Shaoqi’s political ally Deng Xiaoping was exiled to the countryside until 1976.In addition to economic stagnation,the general mood of Chinese society was largely destroyed by the Great Cultural Revolution,and the whole nation was brought into ideological disorder.

However,it must be noted,the Great Cultural Revolution also introduced some positive features,such as “barefoot doctors” in the Chinese countryside,which provided basic medical and health care to peasants.China’s national defense force also grew in power,with the manufacture of its first atom bomb in 1964,followed by the hydrogen bomb in 1968.Meanwhile,significant industrial infrastructure was established in China’s central and western regions,and those housing minority nations.Despite these achievements,the Great Cultural Revolution can still be considered a great disaster.Nevertheless,in my opinion,just as productive forces were seen as paramount in the Great Leap Forward,the purity of socialist productive relationships was also seen as a top priority in the Great Cultural Revolution.This is one of the many influences at play.In the nature,both kinds of making absolute,which is implied via understanding and use,were conducted with a blind passion,and ignored the comprehensiveness of historical materialism.Thus,a lack of comprehensive study of the various forces at work in history has failed to dialectically evaluate capitalist society.

Since the third plenary session of the 11th central committee of the CPC in 1978,significant reform has been initiated,affecting the history of the PRC.The designer of Chinese reform,Deng Xiaoping,immediately visited the United States and Japan in 1978 on becoming vice premier;the former being the leading capitalist country in the West and the latter in Asia.That visit reflected his eagerness to recognize and re-evaluate capitalism.

His visit showcased the success of capitalism.In Japan,when Deng learned that the total number of cars produced by Toyota in one day matched that produced by Changchun,China’s leading truck factory,in a year,he sighed,“I know what the modernization is now”.In the era of reform,the PRC actively attracted foreign funds,and gradually encouraged the development of the private economy.In 1992,Deng stated that China should use capitalism to better understand the market economy.Since then,the PRC has gradually widened and loosened the markets in both urban and rural districts,by introducing many different policies.In the past 30 years,China has created a miracle of economic development,which now attracts attention from all over the world.

Regarding the concept of historical materialism,at first,the origin of the achievements in reform was rooted in the successful liberation of productive forces,which reflects the passion to innovate.The second stems from the successful use of experiences from capitalism when we assessed capitalism in general,and this reflects comprehensiveness.The third reason is the successful cooperation of many strategies,not only in production,but also including policies regarding the reform of social management,administration and ideology.Just like comprehensiveness in historical materialism,social development can be pushed by many different factors.

It must be noted that the era of reform has also produced a number of failures including corruption,pollution and divisions among various hierarchies or areas.Furthermore,the gap between urban and rural areas has widened since the reforms,and this can be seen in the contrast between income and Engel coefficient.This situation is especially evident in western China and in regions inhabited by minority nations.Some scholars now believe we cannot escape the teachings of capitalism.However,through these phenomena and this explanation,we will find some new problems stemming from passion.Thus,some scholars appear to have lost the ability to critique capitalism.

Ⅳ.Conclusion

Marx wrote in 1843 that “theory is fulfilled in a people only insofar as it is the fulfillment of the needs of that people … It is not enough for thought to strive for realization,reality must itself strive towards thought〔5〕.” Thus,a correlation can be drawn between events of the past century,and the cooperation of passion and comprehensiveness in historical materialism.Simply put,the understanding and use of historical materialism can be described as a duet.In this duet,passion is the soprano and comprehensiveness is the bass.If only the passion exists in the comprehension and use of historical materialism,then it will become too harsh and at times too piercing and may cause tragedy,such as the Great Leap Forward and the Great Cultural Revolution.In past century,when passion and comprehensiveness have been combined,just like the voices of the soprano and bass,the duet has become harmonious and pleasing,and this has been proved in the victory of revolution and in the success of reform.

〔1〕Historical Materialism (Marx,Engels,Lenin),Progress Publishers,1972,p.294.

〔2〕A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy,Progress Publishers,1977,p.122.

〔3〕Historical Materialism (Marx,Engels,Lenin),Progress Publishers,1972,p.296.

〔4〕Historical Materialism (Marx,Engels,Lenin),Progress Publishers,1972,pp.294-296;.

〔5〕Marx’s Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1843),Cambridge University Press,1970,p.44.

About the author：Liu Wenyuan,an English teacher at Foreign Language institute,Tianjin Normal University,research interests:English language and culture,teaching methodology.