The Revolutionary Character of Marx’s Thought

*Theses on Feuerbach* (hereinafter referred to as the *Theses*) was called by Engels “the first document in which is deposited the genius seed of the new world outlook.” Although the full text consists of only eleven theses and just over a thousand characters, it is an epoch-making document of great significance in the history of the development of Marxism. During his work in Fujian Province, General Secretary Xi Jinping published an article specifically discussing the important significance of the *Theses*, pointing out that the *Theses* “marks the initial establishment of Marxist dialectical materialism” and is “an important ideological weapon for the proletariat and its party to carry out socialist revolution and construction.” The *Theses* presents important viewpoints of the Marxist worldview and methodology with extremely high information density, and especially vividly embodies the revolutionary character of Marx’s thought.

《关于费尔巴哈的提纲》（以下简称《提纲》）被恩格斯称作“包含着新世界观的天才萌芽的第一个文献”，全文虽然只有11条一千余字，却是在马克思主义发展史上具有划时代意义的重要文献。习近平总书记在福建工作期间，曾发表文章专门谈到《提纲》的重要意义，指出《提纲》“标志着马克思主义的辩证唯物主义由此而初步创立”，是无产阶级及其政党“进行社会主义革命与建设的重要思想武器”。《提纲》以极高的信息密度展示了马克思主义世界观和方法论的重要观点，尤其是鲜明体现了马克思思想的革命性特质。

The Revolutionary Character Running Through Marx’s Life and Thought

贯穿马克思生平与思想的革命性

Revolutionary character is a prominent attribute of Marxism. *The German Ideology*, written in the same period as the *Theses*, clearly states: “For the practical materialist, i.e., the communist, it is a question of revolutionizing the existing world, of practically attacking and changing existing things.” As the founder of Marxism, revolutionary character is fully embodied in Marx’s theoretical and practical activities throughout his life.

革命性是马克思主义的突出属性。与《提纲》创作于同一时期的《德意志意识形态》中明确提出，“对实践的唯物主义者即共产主义者来说，全部问题都在于使现存世界革命化，实际地反对并改变现存的事物”。作为马克思主义的创立者，革命性充分体现在马克思一生的理论与实践活动中。

This revolutionary character is first of all embodied in his fierce critique of reality. The 19th century in which Marx lived was precisely the period of rapid industrialization in Western countries. Machine-based large-scale industry created unprecedented material wealth, but at the same time caused a series of problems such as intensified polarization between rich and poor and frequent social conflicts. Some people were intoxicated by the rapid social development and progress, believing that human society had ushered in a bright future, but many thinkers also saw the crises hidden behind prosperity. Marx was precisely one of the most critical thinkers of his time. He did not deny the developmental achievements of capitalism, pointing out that “the bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together,” but he always insisted on “ruthless criticism of everything existing.” From his youth, Marx fiercely criticized the “poverty of governance” of Prussian bureaucratic politics and deeply studied the governance of capitalist states, revealing that in class society “the modern state authority is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.” After shifting his research focus to the field of political economy, in the face of brutal capitalist exploitation, Marx even more vividly described: “Capital comes [into the world] dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” Throughout his life, Marx always maintained the fierce critical attitude of a revolutionary.

这种革命性首先体现在对现实的激烈批判上。马克思生活的19世纪，正是西方国家工业化高速发展的时期，机器大工业创造出前所未有的物质财富，同时也造成了贫富分化加剧、社会冲突频发等一系列问题。有些人陶醉于社会迅速发展进步，认为人类社会已经迎来光明前景，但也有不少思想家看到了繁荣背后所潜藏的危机。马克思正是当时最具有批判性的思想家之一。他不否认资本主义的发展成就，指出“资产阶级在它的不到一百年的阶级统治中所创造的生产力，比过去一切世代创造的全部生产力还要多，还要大”，但他始终坚持“要对现存的一切进行无情的批判”。从青年时代起，马克思就激烈批判普鲁士官僚政治“治理的贫困”，并深入研究资本主义国家治理，揭示出阶级社会中“现代的国家政权不过是管理整个资产阶级的共同事务的委员会罢了”；在将研究重心转入政治经济学领域后，面对残酷的资本主义剥削，马克思更是辛辣地描写道，“资本来到世间，从头到脚，每个毛孔都滴着血和肮脏的东西”。终其一生，马克思始终保持着革命者的激烈批判态度。

Marx’s critique of reality was not an emotional catharsis driven purely by moral indignation, but a thorough theoretical critique based on a profound understanding of the laws of development of human society. Marx combined his observation of reality and his study of history with ever-deepening philosophical critique, sharply criticizing Hegelian philosophy and the Young Hegelians. He then underwent an intellectual development from admiration of Feuerbach to critique of him, and through the sublation of idealist dialectics and old materialism, established a new materialist doctrine. On the basis of critiquing classical economics, Marx further devoted himself to the study of political economy, delving into social production for detailed analysis, forming a scientific understanding of the internal contradictions of human society. Moreover, unlike many fierce critics, Marx did not fall into pessimism or nihilism because of the problems and contradictions of real society. He stated: “We do not anticipate the world dogmatically, but rather wish to find the new world through criticism of the old one,” pointing to the possibility of a higher social formation in the future, founding scientific socialism, and providing the proletarian revolution with a powerful revolutionary conviction and systematic theoretical support.

马克思对现实的批评不是单纯出于道德义愤的情感宣泄，而是建立在深刻认识人类社会发展规律的基础上的彻底的理论批判。马克思将对现实的观察、对历史的研究与不断深化的哲学批判结合起来，尖锐批判黑格尔哲学和青年黑格尔派，随后又经历了对费尔巴哈从推崇到批判的思想发展，通过对唯心主义辩证法和旧唯物主义的扬弃，建立了新的唯物主义学说。在批判古典经济学的基础上，马克思进一步投身政治经济学研究，深入社会生产中进行细致剖析，形成了对人类社会内在矛盾的科学认识。而且，与许多尖锐批判者不同的是，马克思没有因为现实社会的问题与矛盾而陷入悲观虚无。他表示，“我们不想教条地预期未来，而只是想通过批判旧世界发现新世界”，指出了未来更高级社会形态的可能性，创立了科学社会主义，为无产阶级革命提供了有力的革命信念和系统的理论支撑。

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.” For Marx, revolution was not only a theoretical theme but was even more prominently embodied in practical action. The *Theses* marks Marx’s intellectual transformation into a communist, and it was precisely during this period that he participated more directly in the proletarian revolutionary movement in action. In the year following the writing of the *Theses*, that is, early 1846, Marx and Engels jointly founded the Communist Correspondence Committee in Brussels. Thereafter, they not only conducted theoretical research centered on the needs of revolutionary practice but also never detached themselves from the real struggles of the workers for their rights. As a writer, Marx completed only a small part of his writing plan during his lifetime, and a large number of unpublished manuscripts remain to be sorted out to this day. As an organizer, he also encountered many setbacks and failures in the process of founding the First International and organizing the workers’ movement. But this does not diminish Marx’s greatness, because Marxism has, as never before, extensively and directly changed human society. After the emergence of Marxist philosophy, socialism underwent a development process from utopia to science, from one country to many countries, and from a specific model to characteristic exploration. The revolutionary pursuit that Marx maintained throughout his life is being continuously carried forward in the practice of generations of communists.

“哲学家们只是用不同的方式解释世界，问题在于改变世界。”革命对于马克思而言不仅是理论主题，更突出地体现在实践行动中。《提纲》标志着马克思在思想上向共产主义者的转变，也正是在这一时期，他在行动上更加直接地参与到无产阶级革命运动之中。写下《提纲》次年即1846年初，马克思与恩格斯在布鲁塞尔共同创立了共产主义通讯委员会，此后他们既围绕革命实践的需要开展理论研究，也始终不曾脱离工人争取权利的现实斗争。作为一个著述者，马克思生前只完成了写作计划的一小部分，至今仍有大量尚未理清的遗稿；作为一个组织者，他在创立第一国际、组织工人运动的过程中也遭遇了许多挫折与失败。但这并不影响马克思的伟大，因为马克思主义已经前所未有地、广泛直接地改变了人类社会。马克思主义哲学产生以后，社会主义经历了由空想到科学、由一国到多国、由特定模式到特色探索的发展历程，马克思终其一生的革命追求，正在一代代共产党人的实践中不断接续。

Initiating a Revolutionary Philosophy Through a Philosophical Revolution

以哲学革命开创革命哲学

The *Theses* is a concentrated expression of the revolutionary character of Marx’s thought. From a theoretical perspective, the *Theses* demonstrates Marx’s “philosophical revolution” that transcended traditional philosophical viewpoints, marking the birth of a new Marxist philosophy. From a practical perspective, a series of important formulations in the *Theses* laid the philosophical foundation of worldview and methodology for the proletarian revolution; it is a revolutionary philosophy.

《提纲》是马克思思想革命性特质的集中体现。从理论的角度看，《提纲》展现了马克思超越传统哲学观点的“哲学革命”，标志着马克思主义新哲学的诞生。从实践的角度看，《提纲》中的一系列重要表述，为无产阶级革命奠定了世界观和方法论的哲学基础，是革命哲学。

The philosophical revolution in the *Theses* is mainly embodied in the scientific understanding of the essence of man, the new view of practice, and the establishment of the new materialism. The reason this philosophical revolution was triggered by Feuerbach is that when Marx first criticized Hegelian philosophy, he once greatly admired Feuerbach, believing that he “gave socialism a philosophical foundation.” However, in his investigation of real problems, Marx realized that Feuerbach’s materialism was an incomplete theory. The *Theses* states: “Feuerbach resolves the religious essence into the human essence.” Its error lies in the fact that “the human essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations.” Abstractly viewing “real man” determined that the major defect of Feuerbach’s philosophy was the absence of the concept of practice, that is, reality is not “understood as sensuous human activity, as practice.” Starting from real, practical man, Marx in the second and third theses of the *Theses* further answers the question of the truth of human thought and the question of human agency in relation to the environment, and in the eighth thesis states that “all social life is essentially practical.” The seemingly scattered theses of the *Theses* present a creative intellectual whole from different aspects. On the basis of the new view of practice, it transcends the opposition between subject and object, and between individual and society, creating a new materialism based on “human society or social humanity.” The title of the *Theses* is a critique of Feuerbach, and thereby also achieves a revolutionary transformation of the Western philosophical tradition.

《提纲》中的哲学革命，主要体现在对人的本质的科学认识、新的实践观以及新唯物主义的确立上。这一哲学革命之所以由费尔巴哈引发，是因为马克思在最初批判黑格尔哲学时，一度非常推崇费尔巴哈，认为他“给社会主义提供了哲学基础”。但在对现实问题的考察中马克思意识到，费尔巴哈的唯物主义是一种并不彻底的理论。《提纲》中写道，“费尔巴哈把宗教的本质归结于人的本质”，其错误在于，“人的本质不是单个人所固有的抽象物，在其现实性上，它是一切社会关系的总和”。抽象地看待“真正的人”，决定了费尔巴哈哲学的重大缺陷是实践观念的缺失，即对现实“不是把它们当做感性的人的活动，当做实践去理解”。从现实的、实践的人出发，马克思在《提纲》的第二、三条中进一步解答了人的思维的真理性问题和面对环境的能动性问题，并在第八条中表明“全部社会生活在本质上是实践的”。《提纲》看似分散的条目从不同方面呈现出一个创造性的思想整体，在新的实践观的基础上，超越了主体与客体的对立、个人与社会的对立，创建了立足于“人类社会或社会的人类”的新唯物主义。《提纲》的标题是对费尔巴哈的批判，也由此实现了对西方哲学传统的革命性变革。

“Practice” is the core category through which the *Theses* [on Feuerbach] achieves a philosophical revolution, but this does not mean constructing a new metaphysics of a practical ontology. To correctly understand “practice” is like correctly understanding “man”: it cannot be grasped abstractly but must be seen as sensuous, actual practice. In the *Theses*, the actual connotation of “practice” points distinctly toward “revolution.” Marx points out in the third thesis of the *Theses* that “the coincidence of the changing of circumstances and of human activity or self-change can be conceived and rationally understood only as revolutionary practice.” [15]15 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” Thesis 3. The translation follows the standard English version: “The materialist doctrine that men are products of circumstances and upbringing, and that, therefore, changed men are products of other circumstances and changed upbringing, forgets that circumstances are changed by men and that it is essential to educate the educator himself. Hence, this doctrine necessarily arrives at dividing society into two parts, of which one is superior to society. The coincidence of the changing of circumstances and of human activity or self-change can be conceived and rationally understood only as revolutionary practice.” As seen from the first thesis, the origin of this judgment is a critique of old materialism. Old materialism, based on the actual material world, explains the laws of motion but cannot effectively account for the subjective initiative of human beings possessing free will; hence, when explaining the development of social history, it cannot adhere to materialism, either sliding into the error of mechanical determinism or separating human society from the natural world and providing mystical or other idealist explanations. Faced with this problem, Marx proposed a solution: whether human thought can both rely on objective truth to transform the world and at the same time not be simply dominated by this objective truth—“this is not a theoretical question but a practical question.” If human beings, while clearly recognizing objective laws, can in practice realize the transformation of themselves and their circumstances, they can also “prove the truth, that is, the reality and power, of their thinking.” The *Theses* expresses the active reflection theory of dialectical materialism: consciousness is determined by the material world, but human beings are not simply dominated by their environment; they can change the environment in which they find themselves. This is “revolutionary practice.” The *Theses*, through a philosophical revolution, provides a revolutionary philosophical foundation for explaining “the real movement which abolishes the present state of things”—that is, communism.

“实践”是《提纲》实现哲学革命的核心范畴，但这并不意味着构建一种实践本体论的新形而上学。正确理解“实践”就和正确理解“人”一样，不能抽象地去认识，而是要将其看做感性现实的实践。在《提纲》中，“实践”的现实内涵鲜明地指向了“革命”。马克思在《提纲》第三条指出，“环境的改变和人的活动或自我改变的一致，只能被看做是并合理地理解为革命的实践”。从《提纲》第一条看，这一论断的缘起是对旧唯物主义的批评。旧唯物主义立足现实物质世界解释运动规律，但无法有效阐释拥有自由意志的人的主观能动性，因而在解释社会历史发展上难以坚持唯物主义，要么滑向机械决定论的谬误，要么将人类社会与自然世界分割开来，另外提供神秘主义或其他唯心主义的解释。面对这一问题，马克思提出了解决方法，即人的思维能否既依托客观真理去改造世界、同时本身又不是单纯地由这种客观真理所支配，“这不是一个理论的问题，而是一个实践的问题”。人如果能够在清醒认识客观规律的同时，在实践中实现对于自身和所处环境的变革，也就能够“证明自己思维的真理性，即自己思维的现实性和力量”。《提纲》表明了辩证唯物主义的能动反映论，即意识由物质世界所决定，但人不是简单地被环境支配，而是可以去改变自己所处的环境，这就是“革命的实践”。《提纲》以哲学的革命，为阐释“消灭现存状况的现实的运动”即共产主义，提供了革命的哲学基础。

“We are still in the historical epoch indicated by Marxism,” and the revolutionary character of Marx’s thought displayed in the *Theses* remains “the spiritual quintessence of the times.” [16]16 The first quotation is from Xi Jinping’s speech at the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of Marx’s Birth (May 4, 2018). The second is a paraphrase of Marx’s description of philosophy as “the spiritual quintessence of the times” (from the *Rheinische Zeitung*). General Secretary Xi Jinping points out, “Do not forget the original aspiration and founding mission; do not forget that we are Communists, we are revolutionaries, and do not lose the revolutionary spirit.” [17]17 Xi Jinping, speech at the 19th National Congress of the CPC (October 18, 2017), part of the call to “remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind.” For contemporary Marxists, insisting on leading social revolution through self-revolution is both a theoretical understanding and a practical task; it must be continuously advanced by closely integrating Marxism with the conditions of the times.

“我们依然处在马克思主义所指明的历史时代”，《提纲》所展现的马克思思想的革命性特质，仍然是“时代的精神上的精华”。习近平总书记指出，“不忘初心，牢记使命，就不要忘记我们是共产党人，我们是革命者，不要丧失了革命精神”。对于当代的马克思主义者来说，坚持以自我革命引领社会革命，是理论认识，也是现实任务，要在将马克思主义与时代状况紧密结合中不断向前推进。

(Author: Li Yang, Researcher at the School of Marxism, Peking University)

（作者：李洋，系北京大学马克思主义学院研究员）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心