The Historical View of *The Communist Manifesto* and the Development of Modern Society

As a “programmatic document of Marxism,” *The Communist Manifesto* (hereinafter referred to as the *Manifesto*) not only establishes the communist goal in the form of a “manifesto,” but also scientifically expounds the materialist conception of history. The core idea of this materialist conception of history is that “the prevailing mode of economic production and exchange, and the social organization necessarily following from it, form the basis upon which is built up, and from which alone can be explained, the political and intellectual history of that epoch.” In the 1888 English edition “Preface,” Engels clearly pointed out that “this conception of history … is destined to do for history what Darwin’s theory has done for biology.” The transformation of the conception of history achieved by Marx and Engels not only reveals the theoretical purport of historical materialism (i.e., elucidating the laws of historical development of human society), but also highlights its practical implications (i.e., proposing the communist goal). Specifically, in the *Manifesto*, Marx and Engels, employing the basic positions, viewpoints, and methods of historical materialism, not only elucidate the existence of modern society and its historical mechanism of emergence, but also foresee the development of future society and its historical direction. This scientific conception of history still possesses indelible theoretical significance and practical value today, demonstrating the scientificity and truth of Marxist theory itself.

作为“马克思主义的纲领性文献”，《共产党宣言》（以下简称《宣言》）不仅以“宣言”的形式确立了共产主义的奋斗目标，而且科学地阐述了唯物主义的历史观。这一唯物主义历史观的核心思想，即“每一历史时代主要的经济生产方式和交换方式以及必然由此产生的社会结构，是该时代政治的和精神的历史所赖以确立的基础”。在1888年英文版“序言”中，恩格斯明确指出，“这一思想对历史学必定会起到像达尔文学说对生物学所起的那样的作用”。马克思恩格斯所实现的这一历史观变革，既揭示了历史唯物主义的理论旨趣（即阐明人类社会的历史发展规律），又凸显了历史唯物主义的现实意蕴（即提出共产主义的奋斗目标）。具体而言，在《宣言》中，马克思恩格斯运用历史唯物主义的基本立场、观点和方法，不仅阐明了现代社会的存在及其历史发生机制，而且预见了未来社会的发展及其历史方向。这一科学的历史观在今天仍然具有不可磨灭的理论意义和实践价值，它彰显了马克思主义理论本身的科学性和真理性。

The Existence of Modern Society and Its Historical Emergence

现代社会的存在及其历史发生

In the view of Marx and Engels, the formation and growth of the modern bourgeoisie, and the emergence and development of modern bourgeois society, are all linked to the development of modern productive forces and relations of production. The continuous development of productive forces and the constant transformation of relations of production are the basic preconditions and conditions for the existence of the modern bourgeoisie and modern bourgeois society. Marx and Engels clearly state that the modern bourgeoisie “cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society.” The historical formation of the modern bourgeoisie and modern bourgeois society is a product of a specific stage in the historical development of human society; it “has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society.” With the development of large-scale industry and the market economy, the old “feudal organization of agriculture and manufacturing industry” (i.e., “feudal relations of property”) could no longer meet the needs of the development of new productive forces, and was replaced by modern “bourgeois relations of production and exchange” (i.e., “bourgeois relations of property”). From the perspective of historical epistemology, Marx and Engels clearly point out that the existence of modern bourgeois society is not ready-made, but a product of long-term historical development. In the *Manifesto*, Marx and Engels, on the one hand, historically and objectively affirm the “highly revolutionary role” played by the modern bourgeoisie in history; on the other hand, they centrally and profoundly expose the inherent ills and historical crises of modern bourgeois society.

在马克思恩格斯看来，现代资产阶级的形成和壮大、现代资产阶级社会的产生和发展，都是与现代生产力和生产关系的发展相关联的。生产力的不断发展、生产关系的不断变革，是现代资产阶级和现代资产阶级社会存在的基本前提和条件。马克思恩格斯明确指出，现代资产阶级“除非对生产工具，从而对生产关系，从而对全部社会关系不断地进行革命，否则就不能生存下去”。现代资产阶级和现代资产阶级社会的历史形成，是人类社会历史发展特定阶段的产物，它“赖以形成的生产资料和交换手段，是在封建社会里造成的”。随着大工业生产和市场经济的发展，旧的“封建的农业和工场手工业组织”（即“封建的所有制关系”）已经无法适应新的生产力发展需求，取而代之的是现代“资产阶级的生产关系和交换关系”（即“资产阶级的所有制关系”）。从历史认识论的视野出发，马克思恩格斯明确指出，现代资产阶级社会的存在并不是现成的，而是历史长期发展的产物。在《宣言》中，马克思恩格斯一方面历史地客观地肯定了现代资产阶级在历史上所起到的“非常革命的作用”，另一方面又集中地深刻地披露了现代资产阶级社会的内在弊病和历史危机。

In Chapter 1 of the *Manifesto*, Marx and Engels positively affirm the historical role and historical status of the modern bourgeoisie and modern bourgeois society. In terms of transforming productive forces and relations of production, the modern bourgeoisie, as “a product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange,” not only “has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors,’” and “has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous ‘cash payment,’” but also has created “more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together,” bringing into being “a modern bourgeois society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange.” In terms of opening up world history, the modern bourgeoisie, as the initiator of modern capitalist civilization, not only has opened up the world market, making “production and consumption of all countries” cosmopolitan, but also has increasingly dissolved “national one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness,” drawing “all nations, even the most barbarian, into civilization.”

在《宣言》第一章中，马克思恩格斯从正面积极地肯定了现代资产阶级和现代资产阶级社会的历史作用和历史地位。在变革生产力和生产关系方面，作为“生产方式和交换方式的一系列变革的产物”的现代资产阶级，不仅斩断了“形形色色的封建羁绊”，破坏了“一切封建的、宗法的和田园诗般的关系”，而且创造了“比过去一切世代”所创造的生产力总和还要多得多的生产力，缔造了一个“庞大的生产资料和交换手段的现代资产阶级社会”。在开辟世界历史方面，作为现代资本主义文明开创者的现代资产阶级，不仅开拓了世界市场，把“一切国家的生产和消费”都变成世界性的，而且日益消解了“民族的片面性和局限性”，把“一切民族甚至最野蛮的民族”都卷入到现代资本主义文明中来。

Besides objectively affirming the historical role played by the modern bourgeoisie and the historical status of modern bourgeois society, Marx and Engels also scientifically analyze the historical decline of the modern bourgeoisie and the historical crisis of modern bourgeois society in the *Manifesto*. This historical decline and historical crisis are mainly manifested in the following three aspects. First, within modern bourgeois society, there exists an irresolvable contradiction: the contradiction between the socialization of production and the private appropriation of the means of production. The private appropriation of the means of production, i.e., “modern bourgeois private property,” is “the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few.” Marx and Engels clearly point out that the condition for the existence and rule of the bourgeoisie is “the accumulation of wealth in private hands.” Second, the nature of capital’s self-expansion leads to a fundamental antagonism between capital and wage labor. As the creation of wage labor, capital is “exploiting wage-labor,” a kind of property that “can only be increased by producing new wage-labor to exploit anew.” The profit-driven nature of capital causes “the epidemic of over-production,” leading to the frequent occurrence of periodic economic crises in modern bourgeois society. Third, modern bourgeois society gives birth to and cultivates “its own grave-diggers”—“the modern workers” (i.e., the proletariat). As a product of the development of modern large-scale industry, the modern workers, who constitute the vast majority of the population, are the lowest stratum of modern bourgeois society; they suffer from exploitation and oppression and possess strong rebelliousness and revolutionary character.

除了对现代资产阶级所起到的历史作用和现代资产阶级社会的历史地位进行客观的肯定之外，马克思恩格斯在《宣言》中还科学地分析了现代资产阶级的历史没落和现代资产阶级社会的历史危机。这一历史没落和历史危机主要体现在以下三个方面。其一，在现代资产阶级社会内部，存在着一对不可消除的矛盾，即生产的社会化与生产资料私人占有之间的矛盾。生产资料的私人占有，即“现代的资产阶级私有制”，它是“建立在一些人对另一些人的剥削上面的产品生产和占有的最后而又最完备的表现”。马克思恩格斯明确指出，现代资产阶级生存和统治的根本条件就是“财富在私人手里的积累”。其二，资本的增殖本性，导致了资本与雇佣劳动的根本对立。作为雇佣劳动的创造物，资本即“剥削雇佣劳动的财产”，它是一种“只有在不断产生出新的雇佣劳动来重新加以剥削的条件下才能增殖的财产”。资本的逐利本性造成了“生产过剩的瘟疫”，导致了现代资产阶级社会周期性经济危机的频发。其三，现代资产阶级社会催生和培养了“自身的掘墓人”——“现代的工人”（即无产阶级）。作为现代大工业发展的产物，占社会人口绝大多数的现代工人是现代资产阶级社会的最下层，他们饱受剥削和压迫，具有较强的反抗性和革命性。

The Development of Future Society and Its Historical Direction

未来社会的发展及其历史方向

Through an in-depth investigation of the existence of modern bourgeois society and its historical mechanism of emergence, as well as a profound analysis of the causes of the historical decline of modern bourgeois society, Marx and Engels scientifically foresee the development of future society and its historical direction. In the *Manifesto*, Marx and Engels clearly point out that from the fact of the ever-worsening conditions of existence of the proletariat, which constitutes the vast majority of the population, we can draw the conclusion that the modern bourgeoisie “is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an overriding law.” For, in essence, the existence of the modern bourgeoisie “is no longer compatible with society.” With the continuous development of modern social productive forces, the limitations of the corresponding modern capitalist relations of production become increasingly apparent, so that the entire “existence of the bourgeoisie is threatened,” and it can no longer contain “the wealth it has created.” Although the modern bourgeoisie can alleviate this crisis and delay its own demise by “destroying a great mass of productive forces” and “by conquering new markets,” the fundamental contradiction of modern bourgeois society (i.e., the contradiction between the socialization of production and the private appropriation of the means of production) can never be fundamentally resolved. The immense productive forces of modern society, this “sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells,” are no longer under the domination and control of the modern bourgeoisie.

通过对现代资产阶级社会的存在及其历史发生机制的深入考察，以及对现代资产阶级社会历史没落原因的深刻剖析，马克思恩格斯科学地预见了未来社会的发展及其历史方向。在《宣言》中，马克思恩格斯明确指出，从占社会人口绝大多数的无产阶级生存条件的每况愈下这一事实中，我们可以得出现代资产阶级“再不能做社会的统治阶级了，再不能把自己阶级的生存条件当作支配一切的规律强加于社会了”这一结论。因为就其实质而言，现代资产阶级的生存“不再同社会相容了”。随着现代社会生产力的不断发展，与之相适应的现代资本主义生产关系的局限性日益显现出来，使得整个现代“资产阶级所有制的存在受到威胁”，再也无法容纳“它本身所造成的财富了”。虽然现代资产阶级可以通过“消灭大量生产力”和“夺取新的市场”来缓解这一危机和延迟自身的消亡，但现代资产阶级社会的基本矛盾（即生产的社会化与生产资料私人占有之间的矛盾）始终无法得到根本解决。现代社会的巨大生产力，这一曾经被现代资产阶级“用法术呼唤出来的魔鬼”，再也不受现代资产阶级所支配和控制了。

In the view of Marx and Engels, the operational mechanism of modern bourgeois society unintentionally brought about the emergence and progress of the modern worker, and with the further development of large-scale industry, “the revolutionary combination of workers through association replaces their fragmented state due to competition.” That is to say, in modern bourgeois society, the proletariat, which suffers exploitation and oppression, can only achieve a new life by uniting to thoroughly overthrow the rule of the modern bourgeoisie. This new life can and can only be realized through proletarian revolution, and this revolution (i.e., the “communist revolution”) involves “the most radical rupture with traditional property relations.” In the 1883 German edition “Preface” to the *Manifesto*, Engels clearly pointed out that “the oppressed and exploited class (the proletariat) cannot liberate itself from the class (the bourgeoisie) that exploits and oppresses it without at the same time forever freeing the entire society from exploitation, oppression, and class struggle.” Only by uniting to carry out class struggle can the proletariat abolish modern bourgeois private property, liberate itself while liberating all humanity, and further promote the development of the productive forces. Regarding the historical trend of future social development, Marx and Engels clearly stated that “the fall of the bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.” Regarding the historical direction of future social development, Marx and Engels clearly stated that “in place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”

在马克思恩格斯看来，现代资产阶级社会的运行机制，无意中造就了现代工人的产生和进步，而随着大工业的进一步发展，使得“工人通过结社而达到的革命联合代替了他们由于竞争而造成的分散状态”。也就是说，在现代资产阶级社会中，饱受剥削和压迫的无产阶级，只有联合起来彻底推翻现代资产阶级的统治才能够获得新生。这一新生能且只能通过无产阶级革命来实现，这一革命（即“共产主义革命”）是“同传统的所有制关系实行最彻底的决裂”。在宣言1883年德文版“序言”中，恩格斯明确指出，“被剥削被压迫的阶级（无产阶级），如果不同时使整个社会永远摆脱剥削、压迫和阶级斗争，就不再能使自己从剥削它压迫它的那个阶级（资产阶级）下解放出来”。无产阶级只有联合起来进行阶级斗争，才能够消灭现代资产阶级私有制，在解放自身的同时解放全人类，并进一步推动生产力的发展。对于未来社会发展的历史趋势，马克思恩格斯明确指出，“资产阶级的灭亡和无产阶级的胜利是同样不可避免的”；对于未来社会发展的历史方向，马克思恩格斯明确指出，“代替那存在着阶级和阶级对立的资产阶级旧社会的，将是这样一个联合体，在那里，每个人的自由发展是一切人的自由发展的条件”。

Just as Marx and Engels stated in the 1872 German edition “Preface” to the *Manifesto*, although some of the discussions in this *Manifesto*, as a “historical document,” are “outdated,” the general principles it expounds are, on the whole, still entirely correct to this day, and the concrete application of these principles “must always depend on the historical conditions at the time.” More than 170 years later, revisiting the historical view in the *Manifesto* helps us further strengthen historical confidence, enhance historical consciousness, shoulder historical missions, and grasp historical initiative.

诚如马克思恩格斯在《宣言》1872年德文版“序言”中所言，这一作为“历史文件”的《宣言》虽然对某些内容的探讨“已经过时了”，但它所阐述的一般原理整个来说直到现在还是完全正确的，对这一原理的具体运用“随时随地都要以当时的历史条件为转移”。170多年后的今天，重温《宣言》中的历史观，有助于我们进一步坚定历史自信，提升历史自觉，担当历史使命，掌握历史主动。

(The author is an associate professor at the School of Marxism, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.)

（作者系华中科技大学马克思主义学院副教授）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心