Marx’s View of Revolution and Its Implications for the New Era

The view of revolution is an important component of Marx’s thought and has profoundly changed the world. Yet Arendt, a twentieth-century thinker, regarded Marx as “the greatest theorist of all time” who “almost completely ignored the original intention of revolutionaries, namely, the foundation of freedom.” [1]1 The “theory of the two great revolutions” refers to the Party’s formulation of using the great self-revolution to lead the great social revolution, a key theoretical innovation in the New Era. Clearly, Arendt misread Marx’s view of revolution, and her misreading is highly representative. Its main thrust is to negate Marx’s view of revolution by first negating the concept of freedom in Marx’s theory, and to assert that the mature Marx negated the young Marx. Only by correctly elucidating the close connection between political revolution and social revolution in Marx’s view of revolution, and grasping the relationship between freedom and Marx’s view of revolution, can we better understand the scientific content and value significance of Marx’s view of revolution, and on this basis explain in what sense China in the New Era speaks of continuing the revolution.

革命观是马克思思想的重要内容并深刻改变了世界，但是阿伦特这位20世纪的思想家却认为马克思作为“有史以来最伟大的理论家”，“几乎完全忽略了革命者的本来意图，也就是自由立国”。显然阿伦特误读了马克思的革命观，同时阿伦特的误读又很有代表性，其主要观点在于，通过否定马克思理论中的自由观，进而否定马克思的革命观，主张成熟时期马克思对青年马克思的否定。只有正确阐释马克思革命观中政治革命和社会革命的密切关联，把握自由与马克思革命观的关系，才能更好地理解马克思革命观的科学内涵和价值意义，并在此基础上阐释新时代的中国在何种意义上言说继续革命。

I. The Scientific Content of Marx’s View of Revolution

一、马克思革命观的科学内涵

In *On the Jewish Question*, Marx examined bourgeois political revolution. Through his analysis of the revolutions in England, France, and the United States, Marx discovered that the freedom realized by bourgeois political revolution is merely formal freedom; behind the rights-based freedom lies the control of society by the Jewish spirit. [2]2 The second centenary goal is the goal of building China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the middle of the 21st century, following the completion of the first centenary goal (building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021). Therefore, to transcend formal freedom, it is necessary to advance revolution to social revolution, creating the social conditions for the universal realization of genuine freedom.

马克思在《论犹太人问题》中对资产阶级政治革命进行了考察。通过对英国、法国和美国革命的分析，马克思发现资产阶级政治革命所实现的自由只是形式的自由，以权利为基础的自由背后是犹太精神对社会的控制。因此，要超越形式自由就需要将革命推进至社会革命，创造真实自由普遍实现的社会条件。

1. Political Revolution in Marx’s View of Revolution

1.马克思革命观中的政治革命

In Marx’s view, revolution in the general sense is political revolution, referring to the struggle between different classes for the seizure of state power. By criticizing the limitations of bourgeois political revolution, Marx pointed to the necessity of proletarian political revolution. Although the bourgeoisie once took the universal principle of freedom as the goal of revolution, the result of bourgeois political revolution was the establishment of the political state and the safeguarding of the bourgeoisie’s particular interests. Bourgeois revolution led to the separation of state and civil society; the outcome of political revolution was the establishment of the bourgeois state and the institutionalization of its political ideas. The state, as a political community, serves the ruling class through political power, causing a separation between power and society. Although the bourgeois state power once played a role in breaking the autocracy of the feudal state, it has now become a reactionary force hindering the emancipation of the workers; the state parasitizes society and in turn obstructs the free development of society. Therefore, seizing state power becomes “the great mission of the proletariat.” In Marx’s view, a factory worker’s struggle for his own rights still belongs to struggles over social issues, but when the proletariat begins to demand universal institutional change, the motive for revolution transcends mere material interests, and this movement rises to the level of political revolution—for example, struggles for laws such as the eight-hour workday. From this we can see that struggles centered on political power belong to political revolution, including both the violent outbreak of the seizure of state power and the process of building political institutions around that power.

在马克思看来，一般意义上的革命就是政治革命，指不同阶级之间为了夺取政权而进行的斗争。马克思通过批判资产阶级政治革命的局限性，指出了无产阶级政治革命的必要性。虽然资产阶级曾将自由的普遍性原则作为革命的目标，但是资产阶级政治革命的结果是建立政治国家并维护资产阶级的特殊利益。资产阶级革命导致了国家与市民社会二分，政治革命的结果是资产阶级国家的建立及其政治理念的制度化。国家作为一个政治共同体凭借政治权力服务于统治阶级，造成权力与社会的分离。资产阶级国家政权虽然曾经起到过打破封建国家专制的作用，但现在却成为阻碍工人实现解放的反动力量，国家寄生于社会又反过来阻碍社会的自由发展。因此，夺取政权成为“无产阶级的伟大使命”。在马克思看来，某个工厂工人对自己权利的争取还属于围绕社会问题的斗争，但是当无产阶级开始要求具有普遍性的制度变革时，革命的动机超越了单纯的物质利益，这种运动就上升为政治革命，比如为争取八小时工作日等法律而进行的斗争。由此我们可以看出，围绕政治权力而展开的斗争属于政治革命，包括争取国家政权的暴力爆发过程，也包括围绕政权展开的政治制度建设过程。

Regarding the means of achieving political revolution, Marx opposed the Blanquist [3]3 Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) was a German-American political theorist whose work *The Human Condition* (1958) distinguishes between labor, work, and action, and critiques Marx’s reduction of politics to economics. method of manufacturing revolution through conspiracy, but he believed that under conditions of acute social contradiction, the proletariat should actively lead the revolutionary struggle. This does not mean that Marx’s theory of political revolution is equivalent to violent revolution. In fact, Marx did not regard violent revolution as the only path of political revolution; rather, he required each country to choose an appropriate revolutionary method based on its own specific conditions. In his later years, Marx indicated that the proletariat in England, the United States, and even the Netherlands could obtain political power through universal suffrage.

对于政治革命的实现方式，马克思反对布朗基派通过阴谋制造革命，但认为在社会矛盾尖锐的情况下，无产阶级应该积极主导革命斗争。这不是说马克思的政治革命理论等同于暴力革命，实际上马克思并没有将暴力革命看作政治革命的唯一途径，而是要求各国结合本国具体情况选取合适的革命方式。晚年马克思曾表示，英国、美国包括荷兰的无产阶级都可以通过普遍选举制获得政治权力。

2. Social Revolution in Marx’s View of Revolution

2.马克思革命观中的社会革命

Hal Draper, an American scholar of the history of Marx’s thought, conducted a profound and comprehensive examination of Marx’s revolutionary theory in his *Karl Marx’s Theory of Revolution*, defining social revolution as “a basic change in the social system involving its class basis.” [4]4 Hal Draper, *Karl Marx’s Theory of Revolution*, Vol. 2: *The Politics of Social Classes* (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1978), p. 35. This process of change is an overall transformation of society based on the mode of production, and it is also a slow and imperceptible process. Draper points out that in concrete revolutionary practice, political revolution and social revolution are often combined, and the distinction between them is more of a theoretical one.

美国的马克思思想史研究学者哈尔·德拉波在其《卡尔·马克思的革命理论》中对马克思革命理论进行了深刻和全面的考察，将社会革命定义为“社会制度中涉及其阶级基础的一种基本变革”。这个变革过程是以生产方式为基础的社会整体变化，也是一个缓慢而不易察觉的过程。德拉波指出在具体的革命实践中政治革命和社会革命常常结合在一起，对两者的区分更多是理论上的区分。

First, social revolution encompasses the development of productive forces. Marx’s grasp of the laws of development of human society indicates that the driving force of change and development in human society lies in the economic base. Changes in the mode of production propel humanity from relations of dependence to relative independence, and then to the free development of individuality under communism. In this process, productive forces are the embodiment of human creativity. Through the progress of science and technology and the development of productive forces, material wealth increases and human power over nature is enhanced, providing the necessary material foundation for human freedom. The advancement of technology and the increase in production efficiency also create more free time for people, and this is precisely the key to the transition from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom.

首先，社会革命包含了生产力的发展。马克思对人类社会发展规律的把握，指出人类社会发展变化的动力在于经济基础，生产方式的变化推动人从依赖关系到相对独立，再到共产主义的个性自由发展。在这个过程中，生产力是人创造力的体现，通过科学技术的进步、生产力的发展带来物质财富的增加和人在自然面前力量的增强，为人的自由提供了必要的物质基础。技术的进步和生产效率的提高，也为人创造出更多的自由时间，而这正是从必然王国 到自由王国的关键。

Second, social revolution encompasses the transformation of the ownership of the means of production. In an article responding to Ruge, [5]5 Arnold Ruge (1802–1880), a German radical democrat and Young Hegelian, with whom Marx collaborated and then broke over the nature of revolution and emancipation. Marx pointed out that neither the National Convention, Napoleon’s state, nor England could eliminate the problem of poverty, because the root of poverty lies in civil society, and civil society is precisely the precondition and foundation of the political state. Bourgeois political revolution did not realize the universal principle of freedom; the root of unfreedom lies in private ownership. Capitalist private ownership is “class ownership that turns the labor of the many into the wealth of the few.” Under private ownership, the labor of the proletariat, while creating social wealth, simultaneously produces its own poverty. The alienation of labor is a negation of the worker’s freedom and a manifestation of the failure of the universal principle of freedom. Because private ownership of the means of production exists, the free time brought by the development of productive forces is enjoyed only by a portion of people. Therefore, only by abolishing private ownership of the means of production and, on the basis of public ownership of the means of production, transforming production into the associated activity of autonomous workers, can the universality of freedom be realized.

其次，社会革命包含生产资料所有制的转变。马克思在回应卢格的一篇文章中指出，无论是国民公会、拿破仑的国家还是英国都无法消除贫困问题，因为贫困问题的根源在于市民社会，而市民社会正是政治国家的前提和基础。资产阶级的政治革命并没有实现自由普遍性原则，不自由的根源在于私有制。资本主义的私有制是“将多数人的劳动变为少数人的财富的阶级所有制”。无产阶级在私有制之下的劳动在创造社会财富的同时生产着自身的贫困。劳动的异化是对劳动者自由的否定，也是自由普遍性原则落空的体现。由于生产资料私有制的存在，生产力发展带来的自由时间只为一部分人所享有。因此，废除生产资料私有制，在生产资料公有制基础上把生产变为自主劳动者的联合活动，才能实现自由的普遍性。

Finally, social revolution is the foundation of political revolution. Marx believed that under the condition of Germany’s backwardness relative to the developmental level of modern countries, it was possible, through grasping the essence of revolution, to enable the German revolution to achieve a thorough, universal human emancipation. The method for Germany to transcend the existing revolutionary stage and achieve thorough revolution lies not only in having a “purely political revolution” but also in further achieving universal emancipation through social revolution. In an 1844 article in *Vorwärts!*, [6]6 *Vorwärts!* (Forward!) was a German-language newspaper published in Paris in 1844, in which Marx published several articles criticizing Ruge and developing his own revolutionary theory. Marx refuted Ruge’s view that political revolution and social revolution are opposed, pointing out that political revolution cannot be separated from social revolution; the outbreak of political revolution signifies the intensification of the contradiction between the demands of the development of productive forces and the existing relations of production. “The emancipation of the oppressed class necessarily implies the creation of a new society. For the oppressed class to be able to emancipate itself, it is necessary that the existing productive forces and the existing social relations should no longer be capable of coexisting.” [7]7 Karl Marx, “Critical Marginal Notes on the Article ‘The King of Prussia and Social Reform. By a Prussian,’” in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 3 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 205. Historically, after completing political revolution, the bourgeoisie transformed society into bourgeois society. The view that political revolution is merely a palace coup changing the ruler has become a thing of history since the outbreak of bourgeois revolution. In the *Communist Manifesto*, the proletarian revolution also consists first of all in making the proletariat the ruling class through political revolution, and then immediately developing the productive forces as rapidly as possible, continuing the social revolution.

最后，社会革命是政治革命的基础。马克思认为在德国落后于现代各国发展水平的状况下，可以通过对革命本质的把握使德国革命达到彻底的、全人类的解放。德国超越现有革命阶段达到彻底革命的方法就在于不仅要有“纯政治的革命”，还要进一步通过社会革命实现普遍解放。1844年马克思在《前进报》的发文中，反驳了卢格政治革命与社会革命对立的观点，指出政治革命离不开社会革命，政治革命的爆发意味着生产力发展的要求与现存生产关系之间的矛盾激化。“被压迫阶级的解放必然意味着新社会的建立。要使被压迫阶级能够解放自己，就必须使既得的生产力和现存的社会关系不再能够继续并存。”历史上的资产阶级在完成政治革命后，将社会改造为资产阶级社会。那种认为政治革命仅仅是统治者变化的宫廷政变，随着资产阶级革命的爆发已经成为历史。《共产党宣言》中无产阶级革命也在于首先通过政治革命使无产阶级夺取政权成为统治阶级，紧接着尽快地发展生产力，继续社会革命。

II. The Value Pursuit of Marx’s View of Revolution

二、马克思革命观的价值追求

Marx’s conception of revolution inherits and transcends the Enlightenment tradition of “freedom, equality.” The French Revolution was the practice in reality of the universal principle of freedom nurtured by the Enlightenment, and it thereby became the consensus of the era. In the *Communist Manifesto*, Marx affirmed the modern significance of revolution. Marx pointed out that revolutions in history are all class struggles in which the oppressed fight the oppressors for freedom, and that the revolutionary role of the bourgeoisie in history lies in its having “pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors’.” The mature Marx’s conception of revolution did not abandon the idea of freedom; in the critique of political economy in *Capital*, Marx also held that the historical characteristic of human society would be “free individuality.” Therefore, it is not that Marx abandoned the idea of freedom, nor is there any opposition between a so-called young Marx and a mature Marx. Specifically, Marx’s conception of revolution concerns the realization of freedom, which is embodied in the pursuit of political freedom and social freedom.

马克思革命观是对“自由、平等”启蒙传统的继承和超越。法国大革命是孕育于启蒙的自由普遍性原则在现实中的实践，也使其成为时代的共识。马克思在《共产党宣言》中肯定了革命的现代意义。马克思指出历史上的革命都是被压迫者为了争取自由与压迫者之间的阶级斗争，资产阶级在历史上的革命作用在于“它无情地斩断了把人们束缚于天然尊长的形形色色的封建羁绊”。成熟时期马克思的革命观并没有放弃自由理念，在《资本论》的政治经济学批判中，马克思也认为人类社会的历史特征将是“自由个性”。因此，并不是马克思放弃了自由的理念，存在所谓青年马克思和成熟时期马克思的对立。具体来说，马克思革命观关注自由的实现，体现在对政治自由和社会自由的追求中。

1. The Pursuit of Political Freedom

1.对政治自由的追求

Marx regarded the Paris Commune as a great attempt at political emancipation. In the Commune, the people took state power back into society, realizing the self-management of social organizations and replacing the state that oppresses the people. Political revolution, through the sublation of the state and civil society, produces a genuine community. Only in a genuine community can individuals participate in the political power of the community, truly realize the unity between the individual and society, and thereby create the political conditions for individual freedom. In the *Critique of the Gotha Programme*, Marx opposed the German Workers’ Party’s goal of a “free state,” not because he denied political freedom itself, but because he was dissatisfied with this self-contradictory formulation. In fact, both Marx and Engels believed that freedom cannot be realized within a class state. Freedom in a class state is merely the privilege of a specific class. Engels later explained further: “Since the state is only a transitional institution that is used in the struggle, in the revolution, to keep down one’s enemies by force, it is pure nonsense to talk of a free people’s state: so long as the proletariat still needs the state, it does not need it in the interests of freedom but in order to keep down its enemies, and as soon as it becomes possible to speak of freedom, the state as such ceases to exist. We would therefore propose to replace the word ‘state’ everywhere by the word ‘community’ [Gemeinwesen], a good old German word which corresponds to the French word ‘commune’.”

马克思将巴黎公社视为政治解放的伟大尝试。公社中人民将国家政权收归社会，实现社会组织的自我管理，取代压迫人民的国家。政治革命通过对国家和市民社会的扬弃，产生真正的共同体。只有在真正的共同体中，个人参与共同体的政治权力，才能真正实现个人和社会之间的统一，进而创造个人自由的政治条件。《哥达纲领批判》中马克思反对德国工人党“自由国家”的奋斗目标，并不是否定政治自由本身，而是不满于这种自相矛盾的说法。实际上，马克思和恩格斯都认为在阶级国家内是无法实现自由的。阶级国家的自由只是特定阶级的特权，恩格斯后来进一步解释，“既然国家只是在斗争中、在革命中用来对敌人实行暴力镇压的一种暂时的机关，那么，说自由的人民国家，就纯粹是无稽之谈了：当无产阶级还需要国家的时候，它需要国家不是为了自由，而是为了镇压自己的敌人，一到有可能谈自由的时候，国家本身就不再存在了。因此，我们建议把‘国家’一词全部改成‘共同体’［Gemeinwesen］，这是一个很好的古德文词，相当于法文中的‘公社’”。

2. The Pursuit of Social Freedom

2.对社会自由的追求

Marx’s conception of revolution, in its sublation of the French Revolution, achieves a transcendence of the Enlightenment tradition. Because the French Revolution descended into the Reign of Terror, German thinkers put forward different propositions on how to realize the universal principle of freedom. Marx believed that the French Revolution descended into the Reign of Terror because the universal principle of freedom it pursued turned back upon itself. Using the logic of “civil society – political state” inherited from Hegel, Marx acutely grasped the inner contradiction of the French Revolution: on the one hand, the Revolution “recognizes and sanctions modern bourgeois society in the form of the rights of man,” thereby releasing civil society from the despotism of the feudal hierarchy and religion, making free competition and egoism the main principles of society; on the other hand, at the political level of the state, it attempted to return to the republicanism of ancient Rome, which inevitably became increasingly detached from the real world. In this sense, the Reign of Terror was a sign of the failure to reconcile this inner contradiction. The ultimate result of the development of this contradiction was the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1830; the universal principle of freedom pursued by the Revolution was in fact abandoned, the particular interests of the bourgeoisie gained political recognition, and the principle of particularity in civil society emerged victorious.

马克思的革命观在对法国大革命的扬弃中实现对启蒙传统的超越。由于法国大革命走向恐怖政治，德国思想家对于如何实现自由普遍性原则，提出了不同的主张。马克思认为法国大革命走向恐怖政治，缘于大革命所追求的自由普遍性原则对自身的反噬。马克思运用继承自黑格尔的“市民社会—政治国家”逻辑，敏锐地把握了法国大革命的内在矛盾：一方面大革命“以人权的形式承认和批准现代资产阶级社会”，使得市民社会从封建等级制和宗教的专制之下松绑出来，自由竞争和利己主义成为社会的主要原则；另一方面在国家的政治层面试图回到古罗马的共和制，结果必然是日益脱离现实世界。在这个意义上恐怖政治是内在矛盾协调失败的标志。矛盾发展的最终结果是1830年波旁王朝复辟，大革命所追求的自由普遍性原则在事实上被放弃，资产阶级的特殊利益得到政治上的承认，市民社会的特殊性原则取得胜利。

Marx’s concern for social freedom has a deeper foundation, namely the theory of civil society derived from Hegel. Hegel’s examination of the radicalization process of the French Revolution “questions the relationship between politics and the economy established by the liberal tradition,” holding that absolute poverty leads to the absence of any substantive rights. Marx pushed the “politics-economy” line of thought further, using Feuerbach’s method to critique Hegel’s theory of the state, pointing out that the relationship between the state and civil society is not, as Hegel argued, that the state determines civil society, but that civil society determines the state. “The state is built upon the contradiction between social life and private life, upon the contradiction between general interest and private interest.” The result of the bourgeois political revolution is only the realization of the freedom of the state; the freedom of concrete individuals in society is not realized. Such freedom is merely formal freedom.

马克思对社会自由的关注有着更深远的基础即源于黑格尔的市民社会理论。黑格尔对法国大革命激进化过程的考察“质疑由自由主义传统建立起来的政治与经济之间的关系”，认为绝对的贫困导致无任何实质性的权利可言。马克思将“政治—经济”思路进一步推进，用费尔巴哈的方法批判了黑格尔的国家理论，指出国家与市民社会的关系并不是如黑格尔所论述的国家决定市民社会，而是市民社会决定国家。“国家是建筑在社会生活和私人生活之间的矛盾上，建筑在普遍利益和私人利益之间的矛盾上的。”资产阶级的政治革命的结果只是国家自由的实现，社会中具体人的自由却没有实现，这样的自由只是形式上的自由。

In *Capital* and its manuscripts, Marx demonstrated, from the perspective of capitalist economic development, the inevitability of revolution and a more realistic freedom based on historical materialism. Arendt’s concept of freedom is a kind of transcendent political action, essentially a political utopia of classical republicanism. In Arendt’s view, Marx confused freedom with liberation; although liberation is a prerequisite for freedom, the absence of action in the public sphere makes freedom impossible. In fact, what Arendt criticizes is precisely the alienated labor that Marx sought to sublate. Marx might agree that the purpose of revolution should include the satisfaction of the material necessities required for survival, but if the purpose of revolution is only this, in Marx’s view, it reduces humans to animals: “Eating, drinking, procreating, etc., are indeed also genuinely human functions. However, when abstracted from the other spheres of human activity and turned into the ultimate and sole ends, they are animal functions.” In *Capital*, Marx pointed out that labor to meet external necessary needs always belongs to the realm of necessity. Only with the development of the productive forces, only on the other side of the realm of necessity, in communism, which abolishes private property and sublates alienated labor, and on the basis of universal intercourse and free association, is it possible to reach the realm of freedom and realize the full development of human species-powers. Marx’s concept of freedom is a real freedom in society, based on a more realistic foundation, i.e., the common ownership of the means of production, human autonomy in nature and society, and the sublation of the state through universal suffrage, which “is also the resurrection and regeneration of the classical spirit on a larger scale and at a higher level.” The revolutionary spirit in Marx’s conception of revolution is not the abstract freedom of liberalism, but the real freedom in society.

马克思在《资本论》及其手稿中从资本主义经济发展角度论证了革命必然性和唯物史观基础上更现实的自由。阿伦特的自由观是一种超然的政治行动，实质是一种古典共和主义的政治乌托邦。在阿伦特看来，马克思混淆了自由与解放，解放虽然是自由的前提，但是缺少公共领域的行动无法实现自由。实际上，阿伦特所批判的正是马克思要求扬弃的异化劳动。马克思也许会赞同革命的目的应包含对生存所需物质资料的满足，但是如果革命的目的仅仅如此，在马克思看来是将人降低为动物，“吃、喝、生殖等，固然也是真正人的机能。但是如果加以抽象，使这些机能脱离人的其他活动领域并成为最后的和唯一的终极目的，那它们就是动物的机能”。马克思在《资本论》中指出满足外在必然需要的劳动始终是处于必然王国，只有随着生产力的发展，只有在必然王国的彼岸，在消灭私有制、扬弃异化劳动的共产主义，在普遍交往和自由联合的基础上，才有可能达到自由王国，实现人的类能力的全面发展。马克思的自由观是在更真实基础上即生产资料的共同所有基础上，人在自然、在社会中的自主，普选制对国家的扬弃“也就是古典精神在更大范围、更高程度上的复活和再生”。马克思革命观中的革命精神不是自由主义抽象的自由，而是社会中的真实自由。

III. The Subject of Revolution in Marx’s Conception of Revolution

三、马克思革命观中的革命主体

In the *Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right*, Marx put forward the idea of proletarian revolution. Only a universal class like the proletariat can demand universal emancipation, and the proletariat armed with philosophy is the way out for Germany’s liberation. The process of advancing the revolution is also the process of the growth of the revolutionary subject; the proletariat realizes its transformation from a class in itself to a class for itself in the revolution. The practice of revolution promotes the political growth of the proletariat itself and drives the transformation from social revolution to political revolution. The proletariat will, in its revolutionary practice, resolve the contradictions between idea and reality, between universality and particularity, and ultimately achieve the true realization of individual freedom within the community.

马克思在《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》中提出无产阶级革命的观点，无产阶级这样一个普遍的阶级才能要求普遍的解放，被哲学武装的无产阶级才是德国解放的出路。革命推进的过程同时也是革命主体成长的过程，无产阶级在革命中实现从自在的阶级到自为的阶级的转变。革命的实践促进了无产阶级自身在政治上的成长，并推动了从社会革命到政治革命的转变。无产阶级将在其革命实践中解决观念与现实、普遍性与特殊性之间的矛盾，最终达到共同体中个人自由的真正实现。

1. The Proletariat Achieves the Unity of Idea and Reality in Revolution

1.无产阶级在革命中实现了观念与现实的统一

In his critique of Bauer, Marx pointed out that what Bauer called the relationship between “spirit” and “the masses” in essence manufactured “the opposition between a few outstanding individuals as active spirit and the masses as spiritless, as material, as the rest of humanity,”[1]1 The “theory of the two great revolutions” refers to the Party’s formulation of using the great self-revolution to lead the great social revolution, a key theoretical innovation in the New Era. an expression that was a “caricature” of Hegel’s thought. In Hegel, absolute spirit obtains its material in the masses and is expressed by the philosopher after its movement has been completed. In Bauer, by contrast, the conflict between the masses and the philosopher, which had originally been unified through the concept of “absolute spirit,” became thoroughly antagonistic. But Marx held that the idea of philosophy can be realized only in socialism, “and hence it is only in the proletariat that it can find its positive element of liberation.” Influenced by Hegel’s *Phenomenology of Spirit*, Marx pointed out that the formation of cognition is not mechanically determined by the external world but is formed in the process of shaping and changing the external world; what it reflects is sensuous activity rather than the sensuous certainty of which Feuerbach spoke. Avineri summarizes this by saying that in Marx, the self-consciousness of the proletariat and practice are one and the same process.

马克思在对鲍威尔的批判中指出，鲍威尔所说的“精神”与“群众”的关系，实质是制造了“作为积极的精神的少数杰出个人与作为精神空虚的群众、作为物质的人类其余部分相对立”，这种观点是对黑格尔思想的“漫画式”的表达，在黑格尔那里绝对精神在群众中取得材料，并由哲学家在其完成运动后来表达。而在鲍威尔这里，原本借助“绝对精神”这一概念统一起来的群众和哲学家之间的冲突彻底对立了起来。但是马克思认为哲学的观念只有在社会主义中才能实现，“因而也只有在无产阶级身上才能找到它的解放的积极因素。”受到黑格尔的《精神现象学》的影响，马克思指出，认识的形成不是由外部世界机械决定的，而是在塑造和改变外部世界的过程中形成，所反映的是感性活动而不是费尔巴哈所说的感性确定性。阿维纳瑞对此总结，在马克思那里，无产阶级的自我意识与实践是同一个过程。

2. The proletariat achieves the unity of universality and particularity

2.无产阶级实现普遍性与特殊性的统一

In *On the Jewish Question*, Marx fully refuted the universality that Hegel ascribed to the state, but Marx agreed with Hegel’s point that classical liberalism remained at the level of formal freedom. Carrying forward Hegel’s line of thought, Marx pointed out that the condition of the proletariat’s inequality and unfreedom in actual social relations is “the general paradigm of the human condition,” and that in revolution the proletariat resolves the conflict between universality and particularity. Marx assigned to the German revolution a special mission: to transcend the existing level of revolution and attain a thorough revolution at the height of the human. The completion of this special mission requires a material force, namely the proletariat. In Marx’s view, the proletariat is a special estate: “not recognized as a class, it already appears as the dissolution of all classes, nations, etc., within present society.” The emergence of the proletariat is the result of the dissolution of the old society brought about by the development of capitalist machine industry. The proletariat, “bound by total chains,” stripped of all humanity, encounters injustice in its universality. The proletarian revolution does not pursue a particular interest but the universal interest of this society; it is the restoration of the human. The proletarian revolution possesses a thoroughness different from that of previous revolutions. The struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie remains a class struggle; the condition of proletarian emancipation is the abolition of all classes and the creation of “an association that abolishes classes and class antagonism.” The social revolution of the proletariat can be summarized as a “revolution at the height of the human,” launched by the proletariat against private property, developing the productive forces, and establishing a genuine community.

马克思在《论犹太人问题》中对于黑格尔所赋予国家的普遍性进行了充分的批驳，但是马克思认同黑格尔所指出的古典自由主义停留在形式自由的问题，继承了黑格尔的思路，指出无产阶级在现实社会关系中不平等、不自由的状况是“人类状况的一般范式”，无产阶级在革命中解决了普遍性与特殊性之间的冲突。马克思赋予德国革命特殊的使命，就是超越现有革命水平，达到彻底的、人的高度的革命，这个特殊使命的完成，需要一个物质性的力量，就是无产阶级。在马克思看来，无产阶级是一个特殊的等级，“不被承认是一个阶级，它已经成为现今社会的一切阶级、民族等等的解体的表现”。无产阶级的出现是资本主义机器工业发展带来原有社会解体的结果，无产阶级“被戴上彻底的锁链”丧失所有人性，自身遭遇到的是普遍性的不公。无产阶级革命不是追求特殊的利益而是这个社会的普遍利益，是人的复归。无产阶级革命具有不同于之前革命的彻底性，无产阶级与资产阶级之间的斗争依然是阶级斗争，无产阶级解放的条件是消除一切阶级，创建“一个消灭阶级和阶级对抗的联合体”。无产阶级的社会革命可以概括为，由无产阶级发动的反对私有制、发展生产力，建立真正共同体的“人的高度的革命”。

In examining the German workers’ movement, Marx noted that workers initially participated in strikes only for their own interests, and what they pursued still remained at the level of civil society. But in the course of strike struggles, the workers gradually united, so that the workers’ struggle began to acquire a political character, transforming from a class in itself into a class for itself, giving rise to a “political revolution with a social soul.” The workers’ alliance played an important role in the awakening of proletarian class consciousness; it was precisely in revolutionary practice that proletarian self-consciousness took shape and the class passed from the state of being in itself to the state of being for itself. The proletariat “can rid itself of all its inherited filth only in revolution, and can become fit to found society anew only in revolution.” In the alliance, the workers changed their mode of life and also changed their social consciousness; in the concrete dialectic of social revolution, the proletariat was produced and matured politically.

马克思在对德国工人运动的考察中注意到工人参加罢工最初只是为了自身的利益，所追求的还停留在市民社会层面。但是在罢工斗争中，工人逐渐联合起来，使工人的斗争开始具有政治性，从一个自在的阶级转变为自为的阶级，出现“具有社会灵魂的政治革命”。工人的结盟在无产阶级阶级意识的觉醒中发挥重要作用，正是在革命实践中无产阶级自我意识形成，阶级从自在状态进入自为状态。无产阶级“只有在革命中才能抛掉自己身上的一切陈旧的肮脏东西，才能胜任重建社会的工作”。无产阶级在同盟中改变了自己的生活方式，也改变了自己的社会意识，在具体的社会革命的辩证法中无产阶级在政治上产生和走向成熟。

4. The implications of Marx’s view of revolution for the New Era

四、马克思革命观的新时代意蕴

Revolution is an important perspective for understanding China’s construction and development. The founding of New China was the fruit of the new-democratic revolution. The success of the revolution was not only the success of violent political revolution but also included the social revolution that followed: on the one hand, the establishment of the socialist system; on the other, the emphasis on developing the productive forces and launching modernization. The success of China’s reform and opening up was likewise a great success of social revolution. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, comprehensive deepening of reform and opening up, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and on the practical foundation of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics, has endowed Marx’s view of revolution with new content and new development.

革命是透视中国建设和发展的重要视角，新中国的成立是新民主主义革命的成果，革命的成功不仅是暴力政治革命的成功，也包含其后的社会革命，一方面是社会主义制度的建立，另一方面是注重生产力发展启动现代化建设。中国改革开放的成功，同样是社会革命的伟大成功。党的十八大以来，全面深化改革在习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想指导之下、在中国特色社会主义现代化建设的实践基础之上，赋予了马克思革命观新内容、新发展。

1. “Self-revolution”: as the content of political revolution

1.“自我革命”：作为政治革命的内容

Marx’s view of revolution holds that the revolutionary subject generates and perfects itself in revolutionary practice. The Communist Party of China was born in China’s modern revolution and grew continuously in the Chinese revolution. Entering the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and facing the “two overall situations,”[2]2 The second centenary goal is the goal of building China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the middle of the 21st century, following the completion of the first centenary goal (building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021). the CPC, with a high degree of political self-awareness, has the courage to carry out self-revolution, maintains its own revolutionary character, and has become the steadfast leading force of Chinese-path modernization.

马克思革命观认为革命主体在革命实践中自我生成、自我完善。中国共产党在中国近代革命中诞生，在中国革命中不断成长。进入中国特色社会主义新时代，面临“两个大局”，中国共产党以高度的政治自觉勇于自我革命，保持自身革命性，成为中国式现代化的坚定领导力量。

First, the Party’s “self-revolution” conforms to the importance that Marx’s view of revolution attaches to the proletarian party. Political revolution in the New Era is prominently embodied in the CPC’s “self-revolution.” In the *Communist Manifesto*, Marx pointed out that the Communist Party consistently and firmly advances the political revolution of the proletariat and promotes the transformation of the proletariat from a class in itself into a class for itself. The Communist Party advocates the abolition of the old relations of production and the realization of an association of “the free development of all”; the thoroughness and scientific character of its revolution distinguish the Communist Party from other proletarian parties and enable it to become the leading force at every stage of the proletarian revolution. On the basis of the class struggle of the European workers, Marx repeatedly pointed out the importance of the proletarian party, and in the *Rules of the International Working Men’s Association* he indicated that the proletarian party is a necessary condition for the success of the proletarian revolution.

其一，党的“自我革命”符合马克思革命观中对无产阶级政党的重视。新时代政治革命突出体现在中国共产党的“自我革命”。马克思在《共产党宣言》中指出，共产党始终坚定地推动无产阶级的政治革命，促进无产阶级从自在的阶级转变为自为的阶级。共产党主张消灭旧有生产关系，实现“一切人的自由发展”的联合体，其革命的彻底性和科学性，使共产党区别于其他无产阶级政党，能够成为无产阶级革命各阶段的领导力量。在欧洲工人阶级斗争的基础之上，马克思多次指出无产阶级政党的重要性，在《国际工人协会章程》中指出无产阶级政党是无产阶级革命成功的必要条件。

From the perspective of China’s modernization, upholding and strengthening Party leadership is the key to revolutionary success. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly pointed out that Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for doing the work of the Party and the state well. Upholding Party leadership is a summation of the experience of the success of the revolution of New China and is also the guarantee for realizing Chinese-path modernization under changes unseen in a century.

从我国现代化建设看，坚持和加强党的领导是革命成功的关键。习近平总书记多次指出，党的领导是做好党和国家各项工作的根本保证。坚持党的领导是新中国革命取得成功的经验总结，也是在百年未有之大变局之下实现中国式现代化的保障。

Second, the Party’s “self-revolution” embodies the dialectical thought in Marx’s view of revolution. In Marx’s view, the dialectical significance of revolution lies in the fact that revolutionary practice realizes the unity of thought and being, of universality and particularity; the proletariat and its party that participate in revolution will liberate themselves in revolutionary practice, and the liberation of the proletariat is the driving source for the realization of the freedom of the whole of society. As a major party in long-term governance, how can it maintain its own vitality and vigor so that the Party can continue to be the leading force of social revolution? The answer lies in the Party’s self-revolution. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has promoted comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, directly confronting problems existing within the Party, strengthening Party building, placing political construction first, remaining true to the original aspiration and keeping the founding mission firmly in mind, maintaining the revolutionary spirit, while at the same time improving democratic institutions, accepting the supervision of the people, and making self-revolution long-term and effective through the improvement of intra-Party regulations.

其二，党的“自我革命”体现了马克思革命观中的辩证法思想。在马克思看来，革命的辩证法意义就在于革命实践实现了思维与存在、普遍性与特殊性的统一，参与革命的无产阶级及其政党将在革命实践中自我解放，而无产阶级的解放是整个社会自由实现的动力来源。作为一个长期执政的大党，如何保持自身的生机和活力，使党能够持续成为社会革命的领导力量？答案就在于党的自我革命。党的十八大以来，习近平总书记推动全面从严治党，直面党内存在的问题，加强党的建设，首先把政治建设摆在首位，不忘初心、牢记使命，保持革命精神，同时完善民主制度，接受人民的监督，并通过党内制度的完善将自我革命长效化。

The thought of self-revolution embodies the self-awareness of class consciousness formed by the CPC in revolution and construction. From the very beginning of its founding, the CPC took the liberation of the oppressed and the realization of communism as its explicit political goal. Over a century of history, it has achieved the victory of the new-democratic revolution, the completion of socialist transformation, and the development of reform and opening up. In the New Era, in the face of new challenges and difficulties, only by upholding and improving the Party’s self-revolution can the Party maintain its enduring vitality in revolutionary practice and continue to advance from victory to new victory.

自我革命思想体现了中国共产党在革命和建设中形成的阶级意识自觉。中国共产党自建党之初即以寻求被压迫者的解放、实现共产主义为明确政治目标。百年历史取得新民主主义革命的胜利、社会主义改造的完成、改革开放的发展。新时代面对新的挑战和困难，只有坚持和完善党的自我革命，才能实现党在革命实践中的活力永驻，不断从胜利走向新的胜利。

Third, the Party’s “self-revolution” embodies the close relationship between political revolution and social revolution. As a major party that has long been in power, the revolutionary character of the Communist Party of China is manifested in its self-revolution and its leadership of social revolution. The Communist Party of China is the driving force of revolution and the proponent of revolutionary theory; this theory is not a pure theory invented or discovered by some revolutionary, but a summation of practical experience. Social revolution is an important component of Marx’s view of revolution, reflecting the transcendence of Marx’s view of revolution over the Enlightenment view of revolution. The promotion and leadership of the Communist Party is an important element of the proletarian revolution. Using the great self-revolution to lead the great social revolution, i.e., the “theory of the two great revolutions,”[1]1 The “theory of the two great revolutions” refers to the Party’s formulation of using the great self-revolution to lead the great social revolution, a key theoretical innovation in the New Era. is a major theoretical innovation of the Party. It is the concrete embodiment and enrichment of Marx’s revolutionary theory as socialism with Chinese characteristics enters the New Era, indicating that the Party-led socialist construction has entered a new historical juncture.

其三，党的“自我革命”体现了政治革命和社会革命的密切关系。中国共产党作为长期执政的大党，革命党的身份体现在自我革命和对社会革命的领导之上。中国共产党是革命的推动力，革命理论的提出者，这个理论并不是由某个革命家所发明或发现的纯粹理论，而是实践经验的总结。社会革命是马克思革命观的重要内容，体现了马克思革命观对启蒙革命观的超越。共产党的推动和领导是无产阶级革命的重要内容。以伟大自我革命引领伟大社会革命即“两个伟大革命论”是党的一个重大理论创新，是马克思革命理论在中国特色社会主义进入新时代的具体体现和丰富发展，表明党领导的社会主义建设事业进入新的历史方位。

2. “Common Prosperity”: An Important Component of Social Revolution

2.“共同富裕”：社会革命的重要内容

Marx’s view of revolution takes the realization of individual freedom and all-round development in the “association of free individuals” as its goal, pointing out that the survival condition of workers’ poverty and the state of alienated labor under the capitalist system are the real causes of unfreedom. Achieving common prosperity for all the people constructs the real foundation for the free and all-round development of the individual from the perspectives of productive forces and relations of production, and constitutes the essential distinction between Chinese-path modernization and Western capitalist modernization.

马克思革命观以“自由人联合体”中个人自由和全面发展的实现为目标，指出资本主义制度中工人贫困的生存状况和异化的劳动状态，是不自由的现实原因。实现全体人民共同富裕是从生产力和生产关系角度构建了人的自由全面发展的现实基础，是中国式现代化同西方资本主义现代化的本质区别。

First, common prosperity is based on the development of socialist productive forces. After more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China has achieved remarkable results in all aspects of socialist modernization, and socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new stage of development. The principal contradiction in society has shifted from the contradiction between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and backward social production to the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. It is necessary not only to further develop social productive forces, but also to meet the people’s needs in areas such as democracy, the rule of law, fairness, and ecological protection. This determines that revolution in the new period will have new content.

其一，共同富裕以社会主义生产力的发展为基础。经过改革开放40多年的发展，我国在社会主义现代化建设各方面取得显著的成就，中国特色社会主义进入新的发展阶段。社会的主要矛盾从人民日益增长的物质文化需要同落后的社会生产之间的矛盾，转变为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾。不仅要进一步发展社会生产力，也要满足人民对民主、法治、公平、生态保护等方面的需要。这也就决定了，新时期的革命将具有新的内容。

With the victory in the fight against poverty and the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the first centenary goal of the Communist Party of China has become a reality. Socialist modernization has entered a new historical stage. The new journey toward the second centenary goal[2]2 The second centenary goal is the goal of building China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the middle of the 21st century, following the completion of the first centenary goal (building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021). adheres to the people-centered governing philosophy, and “it is necessary to make the promotion of common prosperity for all the people the focal point for seeking the people’s well-being.”

随着脱贫攻坚战的胜利，我国全面建成小康社会，中国共产党第一个百年奋斗目标成为现实。社会主义现代化建设进入新的历史阶段，第二个百年奋斗目标新征程坚持以人民为中心的执政理念，“必须把促进全体人民共同富裕作为为人民谋幸福的着力点”。

Second, common prosperity requires the adjustment of relations of production. As pointed out earlier, it was precisely the concern with the problem of poverty that led Marx to reflect on social issues in revolution, establishing the foundational role of social revolution. Marx had already pointed out that the problem of poverty is a problem created by the capitalist political system itself, and that the bourgeois political state cannot solve the problem of poverty. The realization of common prosperity in the New Era must uphold the dominant position of public ownership of the means of production, actively leverage the role of the public sector of the economy, while simultaneously promoting the healthy development of the non-public sector of the economy.

其二，共同富裕要求生产关系的调整。正如前文所指出，正是对贫困问题的关注引发马克思对革命中社会问题的思考，确立了社会革命的基础性作用。马克思已经指出贫困问题是资本主义政治制度自身造成的问题，资产阶级政治国家无法解决贫困问题。新时代共同富裕的实现要坚持生产资料公有制的主体地位，积极发挥公有制经济的作用，同时促进非公有制经济的健康发展。

Third, common prosperity provides a real foundation for the realization of human freedom. In the *Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie* (1857–1858), Marx pointed out that in the future society “production will be aimed at the wealth of all.” The realization of common prosperity will be accompanied by an increase in individuals’ free time, thereby realizing human freedom. Common prosperity embodies the socialist nature of relations of production, is an essential requirement of socialism, and is also a proper characteristic of Chinese-path modernization. Common prosperity requires not only further liberating and developing productive forces, but also perfecting the distribution system, allowing the people to share the fruits of reform and opening up and social development, and enhancing the people’s sense of gain. It involves not only the enrichment of material wealth, but also the promotion of a rich spiritual life, creating a real foundation for the all-round development of the individual. “Common prosperity” encompasses both the transformation of productive forces and relations of production in accordance with the ruling class, and the transformation of the masses in the course of revolution, laying the foundation for the realization of communism from the two aspects of productive forces and human development.

其三，共同富裕为人的自由的实现提供现实的基础。马克思在《政治经济学批判（1857—1858年手稿）》指出未来社会“生产将以所有的人富裕为目的”，共同富裕的实现将伴随着个人自由时间的增加从而实现人的自由。共同富裕体现生产关系的社会主义性质，是社会主义的本质要求，也是中国式现代化建设的应有特征。共同富裕不仅要进一步解放生产力、发展生产力，也要完善分配制度，要让人民共享改革开放社会发展的成果，增强人民的获得感。不仅是物质财富的丰富，也要促进精神生活的丰富，为人的全面发展创造现实的基础。“共同富裕”既包含生产力和生产关系符合统治阶级的改造，也包含了在革命中群众的转变，从生产力和人的发展两个方面为共产主义的实现奠定基础。

In the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must comprehensively understand the rich connotations of Marx’s view of revolution, continuously promote the integration of Marx’s view of revolution with China’s concrete realities, implement the revolutionary spirit in the Party’s practices of “self-revolution” and “common prosperity,” and forge a path of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics.

中国特色社会主义新时代，我们要全面理解马克思革命观的丰富内涵，不断推动马克思革命观与中国的具体实际相结合，将革命精神落实在党的“自我革命”和“共同富裕”的实践中，走出具有中国特色的社会主义现代化道路。

Source: *Theory Circle*, Issue 10, 2024

文章来源：《理论界》2024年第10期

Online Editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆