The Development and Dissemination of Evolutionary Theory and Marxist Atheism

Natural scientific theories represented by evolutionary theory are an important intellectual source of the Marxist view of religion and atheism. In the 19th century, researchers and disseminators of evolutionary theory such as Darwin and Haeckel proved that the emergence of human beings, like that of other species, is the result of natural evolution, lifting a corner of the dark cloud of creationism that had long hung over humanity’s worldview. Their thought possessed spontaneous materialist characteristics and a tendency toward naive dialectics, becoming one of the natural scientific preconditions of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. In the era of Marx and Engels, evolutionary theory served as a “letter of severance” delivered by natural science to theology; together with other scientific advances, it wrested the power to create “man” from the hands of “God” and returned it to nature, powerfully refuting creationism. In modern Soviet Russia, evolutionary theory acted as an “accelerator” in the process of overthrowing feudal rule, conducting anti-religious propaganda, and establishing the proletarian regime, adding a combative connotation in the political context on the basis of refuting creationism. In modern China, the dissemination of evolutionary theory gradually made people realize that they had to adapt to the already changed international and domestic environment in order to achieve the goal of national salvation and survival. In this process, deeply rooted concepts such as “change,” “transformation,” and “development” became the theoretical intermediary for the spread of Marxism in China, and evolutionary theory played a “catalyst” role in the dissemination of Marxism. With the establishment of socialist China and the unfolding of national construction, Marxism gradually became the mainstream in theory and practice, while the influence of evolutionary theory gradually returned to the field of natural science.

以进化论为代表的自然科学理论是马克思主义宗教观与无神论重要的思想来源。19世纪，以达尔文、海克尔等为代表的进化论研究者、传播者，证明了人的出现与其他物种一样，都是自然演化的结果，将长期笼罩在人们世界观上空的神创论的阴云掀开一角。他们的思想具有自发的唯物主义特征与朴素的辩证法倾向，成为辩证唯物主义与历史唯物主义的自然科学前提之一。在马克思与恩格斯的时代，进化论承担了自然科学向神学递交的“绝交书”的作用，与其他科学进展一同将创造“人”的权利从“神”的手中夺下，交还给自然界，有力地驳斥了神创论。在近代苏俄，进化论在推翻封建统治、进行反宗教宣传与建立无产阶级政权的过程中起到了“加速器”的作用，在驳斥神创论的基础上增添了政治语境中的斗争意蕴。在近代中国，进化论的传播使时人逐渐认识到，必须适应已经变化了的国际国内环境才能实现救亡图存的目标，在此过程中，深入人心的“变化”、“变革”、“发展”等观念成为马克思主义在中国传播的理论中介，进化论在马克思主义传播过程中起着“催化剂”的作用。随着社会主义中国的建立和国家建设的展开，马克思主义逐渐成为理论与实践的主流，进化论的影响则逐渐回归自然科学领域。

I. Evolutionary Theory Laying the Foundation for Materialism and the Atheist Thought of Marx and Engels

一、为唯物论奠基的进化论与马克思恩格斯的无神论思想

“Through the theory of natural selection, Darwin proved that human beings have no special status compared with animals, and that the emergence of human beings is not the result of divine creation but the result of adaptation to the environment. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Haeckel became the main interpreter and disseminator of scientific evolutionary theory after Darwin and Huxley. Haeckel was a German naturalist, philosopher, and ecologist; he not only made certain achievements in the field of natural science but also constructed his own monistic philosophical system. Haeckel believed that evolutionary theory was not just a theoretical hypothesis but also a concept used to explain human society. This subjected him to fierce attacks from idealist philosophers, scientists constrained by theology, and ecclesiastical forces.

“通过自然选择学说，达尔文证明了人与动物相比并没有特殊的地位，人的出现不是神创造的结果，而是适应环境的结果。19世纪末20世纪初，海克尔成为达尔文、赫胥黎之后科学进化论的主要阐释者、传播者。海克尔是德国博物学家、哲学家、生态学csr，不仅在自然科学领域有一定的建树，而且构建了自己的一元论哲学体系。海克尔认为，进化论不只是一种理论假说，更是一种用来解释人类社会的理念。这使他受到了唯心主义哲学家、受神学禁锢的科学家和教会势力的激烈抨击。

Marx and Engels paid close attention to the latest developments in natural science. In the process of their theoretical explorations, they always maintained close contact with natural scientists, and in their works and thoughts, they frequently mentioned the views of Darwin and Haeckel. It can be said that natural scientific theories represented by evolutionary theory are an important theoretical cornerstone of Marxist atheism. Marx and Engels were not born atheists; around 1839, during his student days at the University of Berlin, Marx gradually turned from traditional theism to atheism. His materialist view of religion and atheist thought were derived from repeated reflection on the basis of ideological materials provided by social reality and natural science. Although Engels was born into a Christian family, he likewise completed the transformation from a religious theist to a scientific atheist. In this process, evolutionary theory became an important basis for Marx and Engels to complete their ideological transformation.

马克思与恩格斯十分关注自然科学的最新进展。他们在进行理论探索的过程中，始终同自然科学家保持密切的联系，在他们的著作和思想中，经常提到达尔文、海克尔的观点。可以说，以进化论为代表的自然科学理论是马克思主义无神论重要的理论基石。马克思与恩格斯并非天生的无神论者，1839年前后，在柏林大学求学时期，马克思逐渐从传统有神论转向了无神论。其唯物主义宗教观与无神论思想，是在对社会现实与自然科学提供的思想材料基础之上反复思考而得来的。恩格斯虽出生于基督教家庭，也同样完成了从宗教有神论者向科学无神论者的转变。在此过程中，进化论成为了马克思与恩格斯完成思想转变的重要依据。

The development of Marx’s atheist thought was synchronized with the developmental process of his theoretical research. Marx’s doctoral dissertation, as the formal starting point of his philosophical system, already contained the seeds of Marx’s understanding of the relationship between religious theology and science. While living in London, he several times went to hear Huxley’s lectures on evolutionary theory out of admiration. After Darwin’s evolutionary views were published, they sparked widespread discussion in society. Marx and Engels keenly realized that Darwin’s thought was a powerful argument for historical materialism. In 1860, less than a year after the publication of Darwin’s *On the Origin of Species*, Marx and Engels had already read the book and affirmed its great significance. On this basis, the two completed the integration of materialism and history on a broader foundation, carrying forward the logical continuation of the critique of classical German philosophy. In 1861, in a letter to Ferdinand Lassalle, Marx pointed out that Darwin’s work “for the first time dealt a fatal blow to ‘teleology’ in natural science,” confirming the positive role of evolutionary theory in refuting theology and idealism. In addition, Marx and Haeckel shared a common field of discourse in the critique of religion; for example, by dividing concepts of God into theism (God and the world are two different things) and pantheism (God and the world are one), Haeckel saw the essence of theism: “God has personality and is similar to humans; the human God is a self-portrait of humanity.” This view is consistent with Marx’s view that “religion is the fantastic realization of the human essence.”

马克思无神论思想的发展与其理论研究的发展进程是同步的。马克思的博士论文作为其哲学体系大厦的正式起点，已经蕴含了马克思对于宗教神学与科学关系认识的萌芽。居住在伦敦时，他曾几次慕名前去听赫胥黎的进化论讲座。达尔文进化论观点发表后，在社会中引起了广泛讨论。马克思与恩格斯敏锐地意识到，达尔文的思想是唯物史观的有力论据。1860年，马克思和恩格斯在达尔文的《物种起源》出版后不到一年，便已读过此书并肯定其重要意义。以此为基础，两人在更广阔的基础上完成了唯物主义与历史的结合，对德国古典哲学批判进行了逻辑延续。1861年，在《致斐迪南·拉萨尔》中，马克思指出，达尔文的著作“第一次给了自然科学中的‘目的论’以致命的打击”，确认了进化论在驳斥神学和唯心主义中的积极作用。此外，马克思与海克尔在宗教批判方面有着共同的话题域，例如，通过把有关神的概念分为有神论（神和世界是两种不同的事物）与泛神论（神和世界为一体），海克尔看到了有神论的本质：“神具有人格而和人类相似，人类的神是人类的自画像。”这一观点与马克思“宗教是人的本质在幻想中的实现”的观点便是一致的。

According to the different theoretical divisions of labor between Marx and Engels, in the latter half of the 19th century, Engels tended to advance the study of materialism and dialectics through natural scientific research, and his attention to evolutionary theory further confirmed its inherent materialist attributes. During this period, with the rapid progress of natural science, the time was ripe for philosophically summarizing and generalizing nature and revealing the laws of materialism and dialectics. Engels recognized that natural scientific theories represented by Darwin’s evolutionary theory could become the scientific foundation of atheism. In the manuscripts of *Dialectics of Nature*, Engels analyzed in detail the developmental process of natural science and elucidated the natural connection between atheism and natural science. He proposed: “Whether I call what I cannot explain ‘chance’ or ‘God,’ it is completely irrelevant to the matter itself. Both are merely different ways of expressing that I have no knowledge of it, and therefore they do not fall within the scope of science.” Engels criticized the tendency toward theism resulting from a lack of scientific knowledge, pointing out that the way to solve the problem lies in the development of science, rather than merely attributing it to “chance” or theism.

根据马克思与恩格斯的不同理论分工，19世纪后半叶，恩格斯偏向通过自然科学研究来推进唯物主义与辩证法研究，他对进化论的关注进一步确认了进化论天然的唯物主义属性。在这个时期，随着自然科学的大踏步前进，从哲学上概括、总结自然界并揭示唯物论与辩证法规律的时机业已成熟。恩格斯认识到，以达尔文进化论为代表的自然科学理论能够成为无神论的科学基础。在《自然辩证法》的手稿中，恩格斯详尽地分析了自然科学的发展历程，阐明了无神论与自然科学之间的天然联系。他提出：“我把解释不了的东西叫做偶然还是叫做上帝，这对事情本身来说是完全无关紧要的。这两者无非以不同的方式表示，我对此没有认识，因此它们不属于科学的范围。”恩格斯批判了由于缺乏科学知识而导致的有神论倾向，指出解决问题的途径在于科学的发展，而非仅仅将其归结于“偶然”或是有神论。

Evolutionary theory negated creationism, attributing the origin of human beings to the result of natural evolution, and possessed a spontaneous materialist stance; its views on heredity and adaptation are also excellent evidence of dialectics. In *Anti-Dühring*, Engels pointed out: “Through Haeckel, the concept of natural selection was expanded, and species variation was seen as the result of the interaction of adaptation and heredity.” Among these, adaptation is the aspect that causes variation in the process, while heredity is the aspect that plays a preservative role in the process. Haeckel expanded the concept of natural selection while simultaneously emphasizing the interaction between heredity and adaptation, further perfecting evolutionary theory. He believed that heredity is the positive aspect of species preserving what meets environmental requirements and can ensure the continued survival of the species, while adaptation is the negative aspect of species discarding what does not meet environmental requirements and cannot ensure the continued survival of the species. Haeckel illustrated this view through useless or non-functional tissues in animals and plants, such as the wings of birds that can no longer fly and the appendix in humans; these organs degenerate due to disuse, but they do not disappear immediately due to lack of exercise; rather, heredity maintains them for many generations, and they only slowly disappear after a long period. This invisible struggle for existence among organs caused both the generation and formation of organs and their degeneration and disappearance. This view further negated creationism and the theory of the immutability of species, while having transformative significance in both biology and philosophy.

进化论否定了神创论，将人类的起源归结为自然界演化的结果，具有自发的唯物主义立场；其遗传与适应等观点也是辩证法的绝佳证据。在《反杜林论》中，恩格斯指出：“通过海克尔，自然选择的观念扩大了，物种变异被看作适应和遗传相互作用的结果。”其中，适应是过程中引起变异的方面，遗传则是过程中起保存作用的方面。海克尔将自然选择的观念扩大，同时强调了遗传与适应的相互作用，进一步完善了进化论。他认为，遗传是物种保存符合环境要求的、能够保证物种继续生存的、肯定的方面，而适应是物种扬弃不符合环境要求的、无法能够保证物种继续生存的、否定的方面。海克尔通过动植物无用或不起作用的组织阐释了这一看法，例如翅翼不能再飞的动物与人类的盲肠，这些器官由于不使用而退化，但也并不会由于不锻炼就立即消失，而是遗传维持很多世代，很长时期之后才慢慢消失。这种看不见的器官间的生存竞争既造成了器官的产生和形成，也导致了它们的退化和消失。这一观点进一步否定了神创论与物种不变论，同时具有生物学与哲学上的变革意义。

In the era of Marx and Engels, with the rapid progress of natural science, the sphere of influence of religion continuously shrank. Scientific progress wrested from the hands of God the power that should have been exercised by human subjective initiative and returned it to humanity. With the development of science, humanity’s subjective initiative in understanding and transforming nature increasingly strengthened, and people gradually came to realize that it is humans who play a role, not gods. [1]1 This sentence is a direct translation of the original Chinese. The original Chinese text reads: “是人在起作用而非神在起作用,” which is rendered faithfully as “it is humans who play a role, not gods.” This phrasing may appear tautological in English but preserves the author’s emphasis.. [1]1 This sentence is a direct translation of the original Chinese. The original Chinese text reads: “是人在起作用而非神在起作用,” which is rendered faithfully as “it is humans who play a role, not gods.” This phrasing may appear tautological in English but preserves the author’s emphasis. This sentence is a direct translation of the original Chinese. The original Chinese text reads: “是人在起作用而非神在起作用,” which is rendered faithfully as “it is humans who play a role, not gods.” This phrasing may appear tautological in English but preserves the author’s emphasis.

在马克思与恩格斯的时代，伴随着自然科学的大步前进，宗教的势力范围不断缩小，科学的进步把本该发挥主观能动性的权力从神手中夺下，还给了人。随着科学的发展，人认识自然和改造自然的主观能动性日益加强，人们逐渐认识到，是人在起作用而非神在起作用。

II. Evolutionary Theory in a Unique Social and Political Context and Lenin’s Atheist Thought

二、独特社会、政治语境下的进化论与列宁的无神论思想

In late-19th and early-20th-century Russia, where ideological conflicts were intense, the development of the natural sciences was stamped with an extra-scientific brand, being used in the struggle between materialism and idealism and in the transformation of the old system. Before the October Revolution, multiple political forces were contending for power, and evolutionary theory was undoubtedly one of the most controversial theories of the era. Russian academic circles and society greatly admired the basic tenets of Haeckel’s doctrine and his stance tinged with evolutionary theory; his works were used by radical forces for ideological and political struggle and anti-religious propaganda, and were attacked by conservatives and banned by the tsar. After the outbreak of the 1905 Russian Revolution, feudal forces continued to obstruct the dissemination of Haeckel’s philosophical works, and already-published books and pamphlets were listed as prohibited items; this obstruction persisted until the outbreak of the First World War.

“在19世纪末和20世纪初期意识形态冲突激烈的俄国，自然科学的发展被打上了科学之外的烙印，被用于唯物与唯心之争和旧制度的变革中。十月革命前的俄国，多方政治力量角力，进化论无疑是这个时代最具争议性的理论之一。俄国学界与社会十分推崇海克尔学说的基本主张与带有进化论色彩的立场，他的著作被激进势力用以意识形态与政治斗争、反宗教宣传，受到了保守派的攻击与沙皇的封禁。1905年俄国革命爆发之后，封建势力依然阻挠海克尔哲学著作的传播，已经出版的书籍与宣传册则被列为js，这种阻挠一直持续到第一次世界大战爆发。

Due to changes in the historical context and social practice, Lenin, in addition to valuing its role in theoretical elaboration, also took note of the specific function of evolutionary theory in the political context, clearly distinguishing vulgar evolutionism from scientific evolutionism, and placing scientific evolutionism on a more combative and thoroughgoing atheist footing. Vulgar evolutionism originated with Spencer, who applied Darwinian evolutionary theory to human society, creating the social organism theory, denying the possibility of qualitative change in nature and society, and holding that nations, peoples, and individuals must likewise engage in the survival competition of the survival of the fittest; it is a metaphysical view of development that is anti-dialectical. Lenin pointed out that the revisionists, following the bourgeois professors, “crawled into the mire of philosophically vulgarizing science, replacing ‘cunning’ (and revolutionary) dialectics with ‘simple’ (and peaceful) ‘evolution’.” [2]2 V. I. Lenin, *Materialism and Empirio-Criticism*, Chapter 6, Section 4. The quotation is from Lenin’s critique of the revisionist distortion of dialectics. Lenin criticized the Bernstein faction’s attempt to replace materialist dialectics with vulgar evolutionism and sophistry, and analyzed the opportunist essence of the Bernstein faction.

由于时代背景与社会实践的变化，列宁除了重视其对理论阐发的作用，也注意到了进化论在政治语境中的具体作用，将庸俗进化论与科学进化论清楚地区分开来，将科学进化论放置于更具有斗争性与彻底的无神论立场之上。庸俗进化论缘起于斯宾塞，将达尔文进化论套用于人类社会，创立社会有机论，否认自然与社会质变的可能性，认为国家、民族、人之间同样要进行优胜劣汰的生存竞争，是一种反辩证法的形而上学发展观。列宁指出，修正主义者跟着资产阶级教授“爬到从哲学上把科学庸俗化的泥潭里面曲，用‘简单的’（和平静的）‘演进’去代替‘狡猾的’（和革命的）辩证法”。列宁批判了伯恩施坦派试图用庸俗进化论和诡辩论取代唯物辩证法的做法，剖析了伯恩斯坦派的机会主义实质。

In *Materialism and Empirio-Criticism*, Lenin defended and developed the Marxist worldview by criticizing idealism. This work not only deconstructed the idealist view of Machism and empirio-criticism that “things are complexes of sensations” by using the unity of opposites between matter and consciousness, but also became a theoretical weapon in the ideological realm of dialectical materialism, defending Marxist philosophy on the basis of summarizing advances in the natural sciences. In Chapter Six, Lenin specifically commented on Haeckel’s book *The Riddle of the Universe*. Lenin believed that, contrary to Mach’s practice of “selling out the natural sciences to fideism,” Haeckel’s work possessed a natural materialist tendency, providing a foundation for Marxist atheism. Lenin particularly affirmed Haeckel’s radical atheist thought, highly evaluating the natural-scientific materialist views in *The Riddle of the Universe*, comparing them to a “huge and solid rock” that smashed the facts that professorial philosophy tried to conceal. Lenin pointed out: “Every page of Haeckel’s book is a slap in the face of the ‘traditional’ doctrine of the whole of professorial philosophy and professorial theology.” [3]3 V. I. Lenin, *Materialism and Empirio-Criticism*, Chapter 6, Section 4. Lenin made clear his stance, namely that natural-scientific materialism, represented by evolutionary theory, was fundamentally different from the philosophical idealism, empirio-criticism, and other doctrines of the same era. By analyzing the history of the emergence and development of Machism and the Machists’ stigmatization of Haeckel’s doctrine, Lenin exposed the subjective idealist and agnostic essence of its “latest natural-scientific philosophy,” criticized the Machists’ erroneous views on Marxist historical materialism, and advocated adhering to the correct views of Marxist philosophy, rejecting any act of reconciling the opposition between materialism and idealism.

在《唯物主义和经验批判主义》中，列宁通过批判唯心主义来捍卫和发展马克思主义的世界观，该著作不仅利用物质与意识的对立统一关系解构了马赫主义和经验批判主义“物是感觉的复合”的唯心观点，也成为在辩证唯物主义这一思想领域的理论武器，在总结自然科学进展的基础上捍卫马克思主义哲学。在第六章中，列宁专门评述了海克尔的《宇宙之谜》一书。列宁认为，同马赫“将自然科学出卖给信仰主义”的做法相反，海克尔的著作带有天然的唯物主义倾向，为马克思主义无神论提供了基础。列宁对海克尔激进的无神论思想尤为肯定，高度评价了《宇宙之谜》中自然科学的唯物主义观点，将其比作揭开教授哲学力图隐瞒事实的“巨大和坚固的磐石”，列宁指出：“海克尔这本书的每一页都是给整个教授哲学和教授神学的这种‘传统’学说一记耳光。”列宁表明自己的立场，即以进化论为代表的自然科学唯物主义与同时代的哲学唯心主义、经验批判主义等学说从根本上便是不同的。列宁通过分析马赫主义产生与发展的历史以及马赫主义者对海克尔学说的污名化，揭露了其“最新自然科学哲学”的主观唯心主义和不可知论的实质，批判了马赫主义者对马克思主义历史唯物主义的错误观点，主张坚持马克思主义哲学的正确观点，拒绝一切调和唯物主义和唯心主义对立的行为。

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, religion played the role of depicting an ideal world and was tightly grasped by the bourgeoisie as a tool for maintaining the old order and numbing the masses. As *The Riddle of the Universe* mentions: “Hundreds of thousands of people die every year in war; those highly developed civilized nations that believe in Christian love set aside the greatest part of state property for this kind of mass slaughter… The belief in an ‘ethical world order,’ which still prevails and is taught in schools, possesses a high ideal value. It comforts the suffering, strengthens the weak, saves the unfortunate; it satisfies our feelings of doubt and places us in the ideal world of the ‘hereafter,’ where the defects of the ‘present’ earthly life will be overcome.” [4]4 Ernst Haeckel, *The Riddle of the Universe*, Chapter 19. The passage is Haeckel’s critique of the social function of religious belief. In response to this situation, Haeckel believed that the belief in the immortality of the human soul was merely a dogma, in irreconcilable contradiction with the empirical laws of modern natural science. While drawing on Haeckel’s doctrine, Lenin expanded the exposition of the essence of religion into “spiritual劣质酒” [5]5 “Spiritual劣质酒” (jingshen shang de liezhi jiu) is Lenin’s metaphor for religion as a kind of intoxicating and stupefying opiate for the people, appearing in his work *Socialism and Religion* (1905).. Lenin pointed out that the Party’s program is based on a materialist worldview, opposed to theism, and that scientific atheist propaganda should be carried out to “dispel the fog of religion” and help the working people free themselves from superstition about life after death. At the same time, Lenin also profoundly pointed out that it is superficial to think that the reason the masses believe in religion is a lack of education and ignorance, because the real root of religious belief lies in the unequal social system ruled by capital. Therefore, although Lenin emphasized the powerful role of natural-scientific theories such as evolutionary theory in atheist propaganda, he still stressed that social revolution is the fundamental way to eliminate the root of religion’s existence.

19世纪和20世纪之交，宗教扮演着描绘理想世界的角色，被资产阶级作为维护旧秩序、麻痹民众的工具紧紧抓住不放。正如《宇宙之谜》中提到的：“成千上万的人年年死于战争，那些高度发达、信仰基督之爱的文明国家把国家财产的极大部分准备用做这种集体屠杀……至今还盛行并在学校里讲授的对一种‘伦理的世界秩序’的信仰，具有一种高度的理想价值。它使痛苦者得到安慰，使弱者坚强，使不幸者得救；它满足了我们怀疑的情感，并把我们置于‘来世’的理想世界之中，在那里‘今世’尘俗生活的缺陷将得到克服。” 针对这种状况，海克尔认为，人类灵魂不死的信仰只是一种教条，它和近代自然科学的经验规律处于不可调和的矛盾之中。列宁在参考海克尔学说的同时，将宗教本质的论述扩展为“精神上的劣质酒”。列宁指出，党的纲领是建立在唯物主义世界观的基础上的，与有神论对立，要进行科学的无神论宣传以“驱散宗教的迷雾”，帮助劳动人民摆脱对死后生活的迷信。同时，列宁也深刻地指出，不能肤浅地认为人民群众信仰宗教的原因在于缺少教育、愚昧无知，因为宗教信仰的真正根源在于资本统治的不平等社会制度。故而，列宁虽然强调进化论等自然科学理论在无神论宣传中的强有力作用，但他仍然强调社会革命是摆脱宗教存在根源的根本途径。

Before the October Revolution, Lenin actively reflected on the strategy of atheist propaganda, emphasizing the importance of the natural sciences as an ideological weapon in the struggle against theism. After the October Revolution, Lenin explored various practical avenues for atheist propaganda, concretizing Marxist theory on religion. In his last important work on religious issues before his death, *On the Significance of Militant Materialism* (1922), he proposed that the newly founded journal *Under the Banner of Marxism* should unequivocally propagate atheism, forming an alliance not only with non-Communist materialists but also with modern natural scientists. These scientists obviously included not only the proposer of the theory of relativity, Einstein, but also the advocate of scientific evolutionary theory, Haeckel, and the famous biologist Lloyd Morgan, a student of Darwin’s “bulldog” Huxley. [6]6 “Darwin’s bulldog” was a nickname for Thomas Henry Huxley, a prominent defender of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Lloyd Morgan was a British psychologist and zoologist known for Morgan’s Canon.

在十月革命前，列宁就积极思考无神论宣传的策略，强调自然科学作为思想武器在与有神论斗争中的重要性。十月革命后，列宁多方探索无神论宣传的实践途径，将马克思主义的宗教理论具体化。在列宁生前最后一份重要的宗教问题论著《论战斗唯物主义的意义》（1922年）中，他提出，新创刊的《在马克思主义旗帜下》杂志，要旗帜鲜明地宣传无神论，不仅要同非共产党员的唯物主义者结成联盟，还要与现代自然科学家结成联盟。这些科学家，显然不仅包括相对论的提出者爱因斯坦，也包括科学进化论的倡导者海克尔，以及达尔文的“斗犬”赫胥黎的学生、著名生物学家劳埃德·摩根。

III. Evolutionary Theory Breaking the Cyclical View of History and Modern Chinese Atheist Thought

三、打破循环史观的进化论与近代中国的无神论思想

In modern China, evolutionary theory was used by reformist figures to oppose Confucianism and superstition. In the 21st year of the Guangxu reign (1895), Yan Fu, in his essay “On the Urgency of World Change,” had already noted that, unlike the traditional Chinese cyclical view of history based on the Way of Heaven, the Western view of social progress was linear. Yan Fu translated and published *Tianyan Lun* (1897) [7]7 *Tianyan Lun* (《天演论》) is Yan Fu’s influential Chinese translation and adaptation of Thomas Henry Huxley’s *Evolution and Ethics*, which introduced social Darwinist ideas to China. based on Huxley’s *Man’s Place in Nature* and *Evolution and Ethics*, bringing to modern Chinese philosophy an evolutionary worldview that “the world is in constant change” and “everything is a product of change,” impacting China’s past cyclical view of history that “heaven does not change, earth does not change, and the Way does not change.” Applying the views of evolutionary theory to human society provided excellent evidence for arguing that human society, like nature, is in constant change, coinciding with modern China’s mentality of seeking progress, change, and development, and becoming a powerful weapon against the fatalism or determinism in Chinese culture.

“在近代中国，进化论被维新派人物用来反对孔教与迷信。光绪二十一年（1895年），严复发表《论世变之亟》时已经注意到，与中国传统以天道为基础的循环史观不同，西方的社会进步观是线性发展的。严复基于赫胥黎的《人类在自然界的位置》和《进化论与伦理学》翻译出版了《天演论》（1897年），为近代中国哲学带来了“世界处于变化之中”、“一切都是变化的产物”的进化论世界观，冲击了中国过去“天不变，地不变，道亦不变”的循环史观。将进化论的观点用于人类社会，是论证人类社会与自然界同样处于变化之中的绝佳依据，与近代中国求进步、求变革、求发展的心态不谋而合，成为反对中国文化中宿命论或命定论的有力武器。

Furthermore, the dissemination of evolutionary theory changed the concept of waiting for “gods” to change the fate of individuals and the nation, prompting people to seek more theories to fulfill the mission of national salvation and survival. For example, Chen Duxiu advocated replacing religion with science, believing that Haeckel’s doctrine refuted all “religious superstitions” and “illusory ideals”; Hu Jia considered Haeckel the “foremost figure of materialism in the 19th century” and a “stalwart opponent of religious superstition.” [8]8 Hu Jia (胡嘉) was a Chinese intellectual and writer active in the early 20th century, known for his promotion of science and materialism. Interpreting human society through the evolutionary view of “survival of the fittest” could break the old concepts of traditional society, conform to the pursuit of change among modern Chinese intellectuals, make the ideas of change and progress deeply rooted in people’s minds, serve as a theoretical intermediary for people to accept historical materialism, and provide the necessary ideological prerequisite for the development of Marxist atheist thought in China.

此外，进化论的传播改变了等待“神”来改变个人与民族命运的观念，促使着人们寻求更多的理论以实现救亡图存的使命。例如，陈独秀提倡用科学取代宗教，认为海克尔学说反驳了一切“宗教的迷信”与“虚幻的理想”，胡嘉认为海克尔是19世纪“唯物论中之第一人物”与“反对宗教迷信的健将”。用进化论中“适者生存”的观点解读人类社会，能够打破传统社会的旧观念，顺应近代中国知识分子对于变革的追求，使变化、进步的观念深入人心，成为人们接受唯物史观的理论中介，为马克思主义无神论思想在中国的发展提供了必要的思想前提。

Mao Zedong’s acquaintance with evolutionary theory began in his youth; his understanding and elaboration of it were representative for that period, and evolutionary theory served as the theoretical intermediary for Mao’s transformation of his worldview. Mao always paid attention to the development of the natural sciences. In his early years, at the Hunan Provincial Library, Mao read the works of Spencer and Darwin. By this time he had already successively accepted the ideas of “Chinese learning as the substance, Western learning for practical use,” the reformist school, and the revolutionary school, and had seen the term “socialism,” but had not yet come into contact with Marxism. In the margins of Paulsen’s *System of Ethics*, Mao wrote the sentence, “Humanity cannot long remain without change.” After the founding of New China, Mao still often mentioned *On the Origin of Species* and *Evolution and Ethics*, [9]9 *Evolution and Ethics* (《天演论》) is the Chinese translation by Yan Fu of Thomas Henry Huxley’s work, which introduced evolutionary ideas to China in the late 19th century and had a profound impact on Chinese intellectuals. and he valued the transformation of worldview brought about by the development of evolutionary theory. Mao insisted that the masses of the people are the creators of history, and evolutionary theory became one of the natural-scientific foundations for his elaboration of historical materialism and his eradication of superstitious ideas.

毛泽东对进化论的了解从青年时期便开始了，他对进化论的理解与阐述在同时期具有代表意义，进化论是毛泽东完成历史观转变的理论中介。毛泽东一向关注自然科学的发展，早年在湖南省立图书馆，毛泽东便读到了斯宾塞和达尔文的著作。此时他已先后接受中体西用、改良派、革命派思想，见过“社会主义”这个词，但尚未接触马克思主义。在泡尔生《伦理学原理》的书边，毛泽东写下了“人类不能久无变化”的句子。新中国成立后，毛泽东依旧常提起《物种起源》与《天演论》，重视进化论的发展所带来的世界观变革。毛泽东坚持人民群众的历史创造者地位，进化论成为他阐释唯物史观、破除迷信观念的自然科学基础之一。

The progress of modern natural sciences, including evolutionary theory, prompted Chinese atheists to complete a conceptual transformation. In modern China, the natural sciences represented by evolutionary theory once gave hope to people of lofty ideals who were fervently committed to saving the nation, and were applied in practice. Coupled with humanistic factors rooted in traditional Chinese culture, such as “man can conquer nature” and “the unity of heaven and humanity,” this gave the Chinese people a thinking characteristic, since ancient times, of trusting more in “man” than in “God.” Consequently, evolutionary theory became a powerful weapon for modern Chinese people to sweep away superstition and firmly establish a materialist worldview. With the spread of Marxism in China and the founding of the Communist Party of China, atheist education was further developed, and practical activities to eradicate feudal superstition were carried out extensively. People, from the perspective of the foundation of social and historical practice, combined the critique of theism with the struggle against imperialism and feudalism, revealing the economic and social roots of theism and the historical laws of its emergence, development, and extinction.

进化论等近代自然科学的进展，促使中国的无神论者完成了观念上的转化。在近代中国，以进化论为代表的自然科学曾经让胸怀救国热忱的仁人志士看到了希望，并应用于实践之中，加之“人定胜天”、“天人合一”等根植中国传统文化中的人本主义因素，使中国人自古以来具有比起相信“神”更加相信“人”的思维特点，从而使得进化论成为近代中国人扫除迷信、坚定唯物主义世界观的有力武器。随着马克思主义在中国的传播与中国共产党的成立，无神论教育得到进一步发展，破除封建迷信的实践活动大量开展，人们从社会历史实践基础的角度将对有神论的批判与反帝反封建的斗争结合起来，揭示了有神论产生的经济社会根源，与其生成、发展、消亡的历史规律。

However, as a theory of natural science, evolutionary theory cannot fully explain the phenomena and laws of human society. The translation and study of evolutionary theory by contemporaries was not only motivated by the original intention of introducing and disseminating the latest achievements of Western natural science, but also aimed to introduce the evolutionary viewpoint into society and clarify the goal of seeking change in modern Chinese society. Therefore, based on the mentality of modern translators to awaken the Chinese people with evolutionary viewpoints, evolutionary theory, once introduced to China, was to a certain extent misread. This deliberate misreading incorporated more of the views of Spencer and Huxley, selecting the parts of their evolutionary thought concerning competition and change, blending them with the traditional Chinese thought of Daoism, Confucianism, Legalism, and Buddhism, and mixing in elements of theism. After the founding of the CPC, the widespread dissemination of Marxism and further discoveries in the natural sciences led to the continuous development of thoroughgoing atheist thought in China.

然而，进化论作为一种自然科学理论，并不能完全解释人类社会的现象及规律。时人翻译与研究进化论，不仅出于译介与传播西方最新自然科学成果的初衷，更是为了将其中的进化观点引入社会中，明晰近代中国社会求变的目标。因此，基于近代翻译家以进化观点来唤醒国人的心态，进化论一经传入中国，便在一定程度上遭到了误读。这种有意的误读更多融入了斯宾塞、赫胥黎的观点，选取了其进化思想中竞争和变化的部分，融合了中国传统道、儒、法、佛的思想，混杂着有神论的因素。中国共产党成立后，马克思主义的广泛传播与自然科学的更多发现使得彻底的无神论思想在中国不断发展。

Furthermore, when extending evolutionary theory to human society, people often equate “struggle for existence” with “survival of the fittest” and “the strongest always prevail,” the reason being that, from a moral standpoint, the stronger are regarded as the fittest. It is worth noting that “survival of the fittest” itself emphasizes not so much competition; the primary goal of biological evolution is to adapt to the environment and survive, not to evolve to be more “advanced.” Although the word “evolution” in evolutionary theory is not entirely synonymous with “development” or “progress,” it does share a certain similarity with the concept of “development” in Marxist philosophy, and coincidentally aligns with the modern society’s pursuit of “progress,” thus enabling it to occupy a place in the social sphere beyond the natural sciences. Although evolutionary theory has points of agreement with Marxist philosophy, overemphasizing “natural selection” in the social sphere while neglecting differences among subjects can lead to the shackles of dynamism [10]10 “Dynamism” (力本论) refers to a philosophical or social theory that emphasizes force, power, or energy as the primary driving principle, often associated with a crude interpretation of competition. and social Darwinism. Moreover, mechanically applying the misread concept of “evolution” to human society has also given rise to the social Darwinist view that “races must compete to survive.”

此外，在将进化论扩展到人类社会时，人们常常会把“生存竞争”当作“适者生存”和“最优者常胜”，其原因在于从道德意义上把较强者当作了最优者。值得注意的是，“适者生存”本身更多强调的并不是竞争，生物演化的首要目的是为了适应环境和生存，而不是进化得更“高级”。尽管进化论中的“进化”二字与“发展”、“进步”的词义并不完全等同，但也与马克思主义哲学中“发展”的概念有一定的相似度，并与近代社会中人们追求“进步”的观点不谋而合，从而能够在自然科学领域之外的社会领域也占有一席之地。进化论虽与马克思主义哲学存在一致之处，但在社会领域过分强调“物竞天择”，忽视主体间的差异性，则会陷入力本论和社会达尔文主义的桎梏。此外，将被误读的“进化”的观念机械地套用于人类社会，也引发了“种族之间必须竞争才能生存”的社会达尔文主义的观点。

IV. Conclusion

四、结语

“The viewpoint of evolutionary theory confirms the materialist stance and is a natural ally of Marxist atheism. It has played the role of a natural-scientific foundation in the genealogy of the generation and development of Marxist atheism, and has also played the role of a natural-scientific premise and theoretical-logical groundwork in the process of the dissemination and practice of Marxist atheism. In the first fifty years after the founding of Marxism, the main function of evolutionary theory was to clarify the distinction between materialism and idealism and to confirm the scientific stance of Marxist atheism; in the second fifty years of Marxist development, in modern Soviet Russia, the atheist stance elucidated by evolutionary theory was implemented in state governance. In our country, evolutionary theory, introduced since the end of the 19th century, was endowed with distinct ideological and atheistic characteristics amid the drastic changes in social systems and frequent collisions of social thought currents, and became a powerful argument for Marxist atheists. After the mid-20th century, this characteristic gradually weakened. With the widespread dissemination of Marxism in China, the influence of evolutionary theory gradually returned to the field of natural sciences, accompanying the victory of the New Democratic Revolution and the progress of socialist construction.

“进化论的观点印证了唯物主义立场，是马克思主义无神论天然的盟友，在马克思主义无神论生成与发展的脉络中起到了自然科学基础的作用，也在马克思主义无神论传播与实践的过程中扮演了自然科学前提与理论逻辑铺垫的角色。在马克思主义创立后的第一个五十年中，进化论的主要作用在于厘清唯物主义与唯心主义的区别，证实马克思主义无神论的科学立场；到了马克思主义发展的第二个五十年，在近代苏俄，进化论所阐发的无神论立场在国家治理中得以贯彻。在我国，进化论自19世纪末传入，曾在社会制度剧烈变革、社会思潮频繁碰撞中被赋予了鲜明的意识形态与无神论特征，并且成为马克思主义无神论者的有力论据，20世纪中叶之后，这种特征逐渐减弱。随着马克思主义在中国的广泛传播，进化论的影响则伴随着新民主主义革命的胜利与社会主义建设的进行逐渐回归了自然科学领域。

Historically, ignoring natural laws and artificially prescribing rules for human society leads to idealism; conversely, overemphasizing the wholesale transplantation of natural laws into human society leads to the other extreme of social Darwinism. These two tendencies are like the two ends of a scale; with the slightest carelessness, it will tip. Looking at human history, from religious theology that excessively restrains human subjective initiative, to social Darwinism that overemphasizes competition, to anthropocentrism that overly believes humans can conquer nature, humanity seems often unable to maintain balance at the two ends of the scale. How to simultaneously pay attention to and avoid these two extreme tendencies requires adhering to dialectical thinking and historical materialism, understanding and transforming nature with the attitude and viewpoint of Marxist atheism, and while highlighting the subject position of humans, neither becoming a “one-dimensional man” [11]11 “One-dimensional man” is a reference to Herbert Marcuse’s concept from his 1964 book *One-Dimensional Man*, critiquing advanced industrial society for creating individuals incapable of critical thought or resistance. created by scientific progress and technological domination, nor becoming a “believer” imprisoned by fatalism and creationism.

历史上，忽略自然规律、人为地为人类社会做规定，便会走向唯心主义；而过于强调把自然界中的规律全盘搬进人类社会，则会走向社会达尔文主义的另一个极端。这两种倾向正如天平的两端，稍有不慎便会倾斜。纵观人类历史，从过于禁锢人类主观能动性的宗教神学，到过于强调竞争的社会达尔文主义与过于相信人能够征服自然界的人类中心主义，人类似乎经常无法保持天平两端的平衡。如何同时注意并避免这两种极端倾向，需要坚持辩证法思想与唯物史观，用马克思主义无神论的态度和观点认识自然、改造自然，在突出人的主体性地位的同时，既不做科学进步与技术统治造成的“单向度的人”，也不做被宿命论与神创论禁锢的“信徒”。

Evolutionary theory in the history of Marxist development demonstrates how a natural-scientific theory in a specific historical context became a theoretical source for Marxist atheism, and how, thereafter, it was disseminated, popularized, and absorbed locally as a concept. It reveals the mutually constitutive relationship between changes in social consciousness and the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, and enlightens us to continue paying attention to the development of the natural sciences, to use new developments in the natural sciences as evidence for Marxist atheism, and to continuously provide new paths and new plans with an atheist orientation for the development of the natural sciences within the theoretical field of Marxism.

马克思主义发展史中的进化论体现了特定时代背景中的自然科学理论如何成为马克思主义无神论的理论来源，以及在此之后如何作为一种观念被本土化地传播、普及与吸收，揭示了社会意识的改变与科学知识的生产与传播之间的互构关系，启示着我们要继续关注自然科学的发展，以自然科学的新发展作为马克思主义无神论的佐证，在马克思主义理论场域中不断为自然科学发展提供无神论导向的新路径、新方案。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心