Engels’s Critique of Erroneous Trends of Thought

The history of the development of Marxism can also be said to be a history of struggle against various erroneous theories and trends of thought. Reading the classic works of Marxism, one can see that many of its brilliant ideas and classical theories were formed, developed, and gradually matured in the process of analyzing and criticizing various erroneous ideas and debating various erroneous trends of thought. Engels relentlessly exposed and incisively criticized those theories and trends of thought that harmed the workers’ movement.

马克思主义的发展史，可以说也是一部同各种错误理论和思潮斗争的历史。品读马克思主义经典著作，可以看到其中的许多天才思想和经典理论都是在分析和批判各种错误思想、同各种错误思潮的论战过程中形成、发展并不断走向成熟的。对于那些危害工人运动的理论和思潮，恩格斯毫不留情地予以了坚决揭露和鞭辟入里的批判。

Criticizing Proudhonism, promoting Marxism as the guiding ideology of the “First International” [1]1 The International Workingmen’s Association (1864–1876), often called the First International, was the first major international organization aiming to unite various left-wing political groups and trade unions.. Engels’s critique of Proudhonism began as early as the 1840s. Proudhon, a petty-bourgeois thinker, held a very contradictory attitude towards capitalism. On the one hand, Proudhon exposed the ills of the capitalist system, proposing that “property is theft”; on the other hand, he opposed the proletarian revolution and the workers’ movement, advocating for reforming society while preserving the capitalist system and universalizing private property. Proudhon also colluded with Grün, a representative of “true socialism” in Germany at the time, flattering each other and loudly preaching reformism among the ranks of the workers, denying violent revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, causing great harm to the workers’ movement. To eliminate the pernicious influence of Proudhonism and “true socialism,” Engels resolutely went to Paris and immediately set about criticizing Proudhon and Grün. Engels criticized the pipe dream proposed by Proudhon and Grün of accumulating small shares from the proletariat to set up workshops, helping the proletariat become masters of their own labor, thereby depriving capital of the power to dominate labor and obtain profit. He also satirized their “excellent plan” of attempting “to buy up the whole of France temporarily, and perhaps later the rest of the world as well, with the savings of the proletariat and by renouncing the profit and interest generated by their capital” [2]2 This is a paraphrase by the authors of a passage from Engels’s 1846 text “The Festival of Nations in London.”, exposing the anti-proletarian, anti-communist essence of this plan and proving the necessity of violent revolution. Engels’s critique of Proudhonism provided theoretical preparation for Marx’s later destruction of Proudhon’s reactionary ideas in *The Poverty of Philosophy*, and also provided an important theoretical prerequisite for Marxism to comprehensively defeat Proudhonism within the “First International” and become its guiding ideology.

批判蒲鲁东主义，推动马克思主义成为“第一国际”的指导思想。恩格斯对蒲鲁东主义的批判早在19世纪40年代就开始了。身为小资产阶级思想家的蒲鲁东，对资本主义的态度是十分矛盾的。一方面，蒲鲁东揭露了资本主义制度的弊端，提出“财产就是盗窃”；另一方面，他却反对无产阶级革命和工人运动，主张在保存资本主义制度的前提下对社会进行改良，将私有制普遍化。蒲鲁东还和当时德国的“真正的社会主义”的代表人物格律恩沆瀣一气，相互吹捧，在工人队伍中大肆鼓吹改良主义，否认暴力革命和无产阶级专政，给工人运动造成极大危害。为消除蒲鲁东主义和“真正的社会主义”的恶劣影响，恩格斯毅然前往巴黎，并立即着手对蒲鲁东和格律恩进行批判。恩格斯批判了蒲鲁东和格律恩提出的通过积蓄无产者手中的小额股份来设立作坊，帮助无产者成为自己劳动的主人，进而使资本丧失支配劳动和获取利润的权力的天方夜谭，还讽刺他们企图“用无产阶级的储金并通过放弃他们的资本所产生的利润和利息的办法暂时收购下整个法国，以后也许还要收购下其余的世界”的“卓越计划”，揭露了这个计划的反无产阶级、反共产主义实质，证明了暴力革命的必要性。恩格斯对蒲鲁东主义的批判，为后来马克思在《哲学的贫困》中粉碎蒲鲁东的反动思想进行了理论准备，也为马克思主义在“第一国际”中全面战胜蒲鲁东主义、成为“第一国际”的指导思想提供了重要的理论前提。

Criticizing Bakuninism, ensuring the guiding position of Marxism in the “First International.” After achieving victory in the struggle against the right-wing Proudhonists within the “International,” criticizing the anarchism represented by Bakunin became an important task for Marx and Engels. Some petty bourgeoisie, represented by Bakunin, opposed Marxism by appearing in the guise of the “Left.” Bakunin denied all authority and the necessity of the dictatorship of the proletariat, arguing that the state created capital, and therefore “the state must first be abolished, then capital will collapse on its own.” In Engels’s view, only by first abolishing capital and eliminating the bourgeois private ownership, the economic base of the capitalist state system, could the state ultimately be eliminated. Engels retorted, “Our position is exactly the opposite: abolish capital, i.e., abolish the monopoly of the few over the means of production, and the state will collapse on its own. The difference is essential: to abolish the state without first implementing social transformation is absurd; abolishing capital is precisely the social transformation, which includes the transformation of the entire mode of production.” This view of Engels exposed the idealist essence of Bakunin’s concept of the state and clarified that the fundamental condition for the withering away of the state is the implementation of social transformation, especially the completion of the transformation of the entire mode of production, i.e., the destruction of the capitalist system and the implementation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Furthermore, Bakunin’s anarchists advocated abandoning all political activities because “the state is the main evil,” so “nothing should be done to sustain the life of the state.” In response, Engels emphasized, “To preach to the workers that they should renounce politics under all circumstances is to push them into the arms of the priests or the bourgeois republicans.” Indeed, political movements are often intertwined with economic movements; even if a movement is purely economic in purpose, its outcome inevitably has political significance.

批判巴枯宁主义，保证马克思主义在“第一国际”的指导地位。在反对“国际”内部右派蒲鲁东主义者的斗争取得胜利后，批判以巴枯宁为代表的无政府主义就成了马克思恩格斯的重要任务。以巴枯宁为代表的部分小资产阶级以“左”派的面貌出现来反对马克思主义。巴枯宁否认一切权威，否认无产阶级专政的必要性，认为是国家创造了资本，因此“必须首先废除国家，那时资本就会自行完蛋”。而在恩格斯看来，只有首先废除资本，消灭资产阶级私有制这一资本主义国家制度的经济基础，才能最终消灭国家。恩格斯反驳道，“我们的说法恰好相反：废除了资本，即废除了少数人对全部生产资料的占有，国家就会自行垮台。差别是本质性的：要废除国家而不预先实行社会变革，这是荒谬的；废除资本正是社会变革，其中包括对整个生产方式的改造”。恩格斯的这一观点揭露了巴枯宁国家观的唯心主义实质，阐明了国家消亡的根本条件是实行社会变革，尤其是完成对整个生产方式的改造，即消灭资本主义制度，实行无产阶级专政。此外，巴枯宁无政府主义者还主张放弃一切政治活动，因为“国家是主要祸害”，所以就“不应当做出任何事情来维持国家的生命”。对此，恩格斯强调，“向工人宣传在任何情况下都应当放弃政治，这就等于把他们推到传教士或资产阶级共和主义者的怀抱里去”。诚然，政治运动与经济运动往往是交织在一起的，即便运动是出于纯粹的经济目的，其结果也必然具有政治意义。

In 1872, at the Hague Congress, Bakunin was expelled from the “International,” marking a major victory for Marxism in its struggle against Proudhonism and Bakuninism. This victory promoted the widespread dissemination and in-depth development of Marxism, making it a powerful ideological weapon guiding the workers’ movement.

1872年，在海牙代表大会上，巴枯宁被开除出“国际”，标志着马克思主义对蒲鲁东主义和巴枯宁主义的斗争取得重大胜利。这一胜利推动了马克思主义的广泛传播与深入发展，使马克思主义真正成为指导工人运动的强大思想武器。

Criticizing Dühringism, systematically expounding the three components of Marxism and their interconnections, demonstrating the complete and rigorous scientific theoretical system of Marxism. In the 1870s, with the vigorous development of the international workers’ movement, a large number of petty-bourgeois elements had infiltrated the ranks of the proletariat, the most representative of whom was Dühring. Dühring, under the banner of socialism and posing as a socialist reformer, published works such as *Critical History of National Economy and Socialism*, launching a comprehensive attack on Marxism. To prevent the further spread of the erroneous trend of Dühringism among the proletariat and to avoid ideological confusion within the German Social Democratic Party, Engels took the initiative to counter Dühring, launching a profound critique of Dühringism from the three aspects of philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism. Engels comprehensively and systematically expounded the basic principles of Marxism, eliminated the negative influence of Dühringism on the workers’ movement, and played a positive role in promoting the international communist movement. Engels criticized the idealist essence and metaphysical views of Dühring’s philosophical system, expounding the Marxist materialist dialectical view of nature, history, and thought; criticized Dühring’s vulgar economics, expounding the labor theory of value and the theory of surplus value; criticized Dühring’s so-called socialist theory constructed on the basis of historical idealism, expounding the theory of scientific socialism. The Marxist theoretical system is an organic whole composed of three interconnected and inseparable parts: philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism. Engels’s scientific exposition of the three components of Marxism and their internal connections was an important theoretical contribution to Marxism.

批判杜林主义，系统阐述了马克思主义的三个组成部分及其相互联系，论证了马克思

Criticizing dogmatism, further elaborating historical materialism, defending and developing Marxism. In late 19th-century Germany, a dogmatic tendency emerged. They ignored Marx and Engels’s examination of specific historical contexts, clung to individual words and specific conclusions, and dogmatically understood or even distorted the Marxist emphasis on “the determining role of economic factors in historical development.” This included both bourgeois scholars represented by Paul Barth and the “Youth” faction [3]3 A group of young, radical intellectuals and writers in the German Social Democratic Party in the late 1880s and early 1890s who advocated a dogmatic and ultra-leftist interpretation of Marxism. within the workers’ party, led by Ernst. They either one-sidedly understood and distorted Marxism as a “techno-economic conception of history,” claiming that Marx only recognized the determining role of the economy while ignoring the importance of ideological factors in history, or vulgarized Marxism into “economic materialism.” In response to the dogmatists’ one-sided and vulgarized understanding of Marxism, Engels pointed out, “According to the materialist conception of history, the ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life.” But “if somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms that proposition into a meaningless, abstract, senseless phrase.” On this basis, Engels elaborated the view that the superstructure built upon a certain economic base possesses relative independence, put forward the thesis that “economically backward countries can still play first violin in philosophy” [4]4 A phrase used by Engels in his 1890 letter to Conrad Schmidt, arguing that while the economic base is ultimately determinant, ideological spheres like philosophy can develop relatively independently and even lead in certain respects., systematically expounded the principle of the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, further elaborated historical materialism, and resolutely defended and developed Marxism.

主义完备而严整的科学理论体系。19世纪70年代，伴随着国际工人运动的蓬勃发展，无产阶级的队伍中混入了大量小资产阶级分子，其中最具代表性的就是杜林。杜林打着社会主义的旗号，以社会主义的改革家自居，出版了《国民经济学和社会主义批判史》等著作，对马克思主义发起了全面攻击。为防止杜林主义错误思潮在无产阶级队伍中的进一步传播，避免德国社会民主党内部的思想混乱，恩格斯主动担负起回击杜林的责任，从哲学、政治经济学和科学社会主义三个方面对杜林主义展开了深刻的批判。恩格斯全面系统地阐述了马克思主义的基本原理，清除了杜林主义对工人运动的消极影响，为推动国际共产主义运动起了积极作用。恩格斯批判杜林哲学体系的唯心主义实质和形而上学的观点，阐述了马克思主义唯物辩证的自然观、历史观和思维观；批判杜林的庸俗经济学，阐述了劳动价值论和剩余价值学说；批判杜林基于历史唯心主义建构起来的所谓社会主义理论，阐述了科学社会主义理论。马克思主义理论体系是由哲学、政治经济学和科学社会主义三个部分组成的相互联系、不可分割的有机整体。恩格斯关于马克思主义三个组成部分及其内在联系的科学阐述，是对马克思主义的重要理论贡献。

Criticizing dogmatism, it further elucidated historical materialism, and defended and developed Marxism. In late 19th-century Germany, a dogmatic tendency emerged. They set aside Marx and Engels’ examination of specific historical contexts, seized upon individual phrases and concrete conclusions, and dogmatically interpreted or even distorted the Marxist emphasis on “the determining role of economic factors in historical development.” Among them were bourgeois scholars represented by Paul Barth, as well as the “Young” faction [5]5 The “Young” faction (Jungen) was a group of young intellectuals and writers in the German Social Democratic Party in the early 1890s who advocated a radical, anti-parliamentary line and were criticized by Engels for their dogmatic and sectarian tendencies. within the workers’ party led by Ernst. They either one-sidedly understood and distorted Marxism as a “technological-economic conception of history,” claiming that Marx only recognized the determining role of the economy while ignoring the importance of ideological factors in history, or vulgarized Marxism into “economic materialism.” In response to the dogmatists’ one-sided and vulgarized understanding of Marxism, Engels pointed out, “According to the materialist conception of history, the ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life,” but “if therefore somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms that proposition into a meaningless, abstract, senseless phrase.” [6]6 Engels, Letter to Joseph Bloch, 21–22 September 1890. On this basis, Engels elaborated the view that the superstructure, built upon a certain economic base, possesses relative independence, put forward the thesis that “a country which is economically backward can still play first fiddle in philosophy,” [7]7 Engels, Letter to Conrad Schmidt, 27 October 1890. systematically expounded the principle of the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, further elucidated historical materialism, and resolutely defended and developed Marxism.

批判教条主义，进一步阐发了唯物史观，捍卫和发展了马克思主义。在19世纪晚期的德国，出现了教条主义的倾向。他们抛开马克思恩格斯对特定历史背景的考察不谈，抓住个别字句和具体结论不放，对马克思主义强调的“经济因素在历史发展中的决定作用”进行教条理解甚至歪曲。其中既有以保尔·巴尔特为代表的资产阶级学者，也有工人阶级政党内部以恩斯特为首的“青年派”。他们或将马克思主义片面地理解和歪曲为“技术经济史观”，声称马克思只承认经济的决定作用，却忽视观念因素在历史中的重要性；或将马克思主义庸俗化为“经济唯物主义”。针对教条主义者对马克思主义的片面、庸俗化理解，恩格斯指出，“根据唯物史观，历史过程中的决定性因素归根到底是现实生活的生产和再生产”，但“如果有人在这里加以歪曲，说经济因素是唯一决定性的因素，那么他就是把这个命题变成毫无内容的、抽象的、荒诞无稽的空话”。在此基础上，恩格斯阐述了建立在一定经济基础之上的意识形态具有相对独立性的观点，提出了“经济上落后的国家在哲学上仍然能够演奏第一小提琴”的论断，系统阐述了经济基础与上层建筑的辩证关系原理，进一步阐发了历史唯物主义，坚决捍卫和发展了马克思主义。

In sum, Engels was not only the founder and developer of Marxism, but also its loyal defender. While Marx was alive, Engels willingly served as the “second fiddle”; after Marx’s death, Engels actively took up Marx’s unfinished cause, waging a resolute struggle against various non-Marxist erroneous trends of thought, and made an indelible contribution to developing, upholding, and defending Marxism. A systematic review of Engels’s critique of non-Marxist trends of thought is of great significance for consolidating the guiding role of Marxism in the ideological domain, and it is also the best way for us to commemorate the great revolutionary mentor Engels.

总之，恩格斯不仅是马克思主义的创立者、发展者，更是马克思主义的忠诚捍卫者。马克思在世时，恩格斯甘当“第二小提琴手”；马克思逝世后，恩格斯主动承担起马克思未竟的事业，积极同各种非马克思主义错误思潮进行斗争，为发展、坚持和捍卫马克思主义作出了不可磨灭的贡献。系统梳理恩格斯对非马克思主义思潮的批判，对巩固马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位具有重要意义，也是我们对伟大革命导师恩格斯的最好纪念。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗