The Epistemological Foundation of Lenin’s “Theory of Imperialism”

At the beginning of the 20th century, capitalism transitioned from the stage of free competition to the stage of monopoly. The rule of monopoly organizations and finance capital expanded continuously on a global scale, and the international monopoly capital alliance’s “carving up of the world” intensified conflicts and contradictions among capitalist countries and between capitalist countries and backward, weak nation-states. In order to profoundly grasp the essence and basic characteristics of imperialism, reveal the law of uneven political and economic development under capitalism, and enable the socialist revolution to succeed first in a relatively economically and culturally backward country, Lenin took “the criterion of practice as the foundation of materialist epistemology,” firmly grasped the issue of the dialectical unity of subjective initiative and objective law, and, under the principle of the identity of logic, dialectics, and epistemology, systematically elucidated the dialectical process and materialist foundation of thought’s cognition of the world. He objectively analyzed the complex international situation created by imperialism, the nature of Russian society, and its acute internal and external contradictions, thereby laying the Marxist epistemological foundation for breaking the single pattern of the capitalist world system and establishing the first socialist state.

20世纪初，资本主义从自由竞争阶段进入垄断阶段，垄断组织与金融资本的统治在全球范围内不断扩张，国际垄断资本同盟“瓜分世界”造成了资本主义国家之间、资本主义国家与落后弱小民族国家之间的矛盾冲突加剧。为深刻把握帝国主义的实质与基本特征，揭示资本主义政治与经济不平衡发展规律，使社会主义革命首先在一个经济和文化比较落后的国家获取成功，列宁将“实践标准作为唯物主义认识论的基础”，紧紧抓住了主观能动性与客观规律性的辩证统一问题，在逻辑学、辩证法、认识论三者同一的原则下，系统阐发思维认识世界的辩证过程与唯物主义基础，客观分析帝国主义造成的复杂国际形势与俄国社会性质及其内外部尖锐矛盾，为打破资本主义世界体系的单一格局、建立第一个社会主义国家奠定了马克思主义的认识论基础。

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 directly led to the collapse of the Second International, the worldwide socialist organization, and pushed Russia, the weakest link in the imperialist chain, to a historical turning point. For the already organized Russian working class, this was a moment on the eve of the socialist revolution, when it was possible to transform the imperialist war into a civil war and to begin the revolution in Russia, where internal and external contradictions were acute and complex. Lenin profoundly recognized that the latest situation of the proletarian revolution had to be unified with the creative development of Marxism in the era of imperialism. However, the revisionists and opportunists of the Second International, in order to conceal imperialist contradictions and defend the imperialist war, ignored the complexity of the war and the reality of the revolution’s occurrence. Not only did they revise Marxism in an idealist manner, but they also took relativism as the foundation of epistemology, one-sidedly distorting materialist dialectics into absolute skepticism, agnosticism, and sophistry. In *Materialism and Empirio-Criticism*, Lenin emphasized that “ignorance of materialist dialectics inevitably leads from relativism to philosophical idealism.” Idealism in epistemology likewise leads to a subjectivist stance in practice, that is, not proceeding from the objective reality of the highest stage of capitalism, which is “monopolistic, parasitic, moribund, and decaying,” but abstractly separating and opposing subjective will to objective reality, evading the imperialist nature of the war and the specific conditions for revolutionary transformation, and opposing the proletarian revolution by preaching reformism and vulgar evolutionism.

1914年第一次世界大战的爆发，直接导致了世界性社会主义组织第二国际的崩溃，并且将处于帝国主义链条最薄弱环节的俄国推向历史的转折点。对于已经组织起来的俄国工人阶级而言，这是有可能将帝国主义战争转变为国内战争，使内外部矛盾尖锐复杂的俄国开始社会主义革命的前夜。列宁深刻认识到，必须将无产阶级革命的最新形势与马克思主义在帝国主义时代的创造性发展统一起来。然而，第二国际的修正主义者、机会主义者为掩盖帝国主义矛盾、支持帝国主义战争辩护，无视战争的复杂性与革命发生的现实性，不但对马克思主义进行唯心主义的修正，而且把相对主义作为认识论的基础，片面地将唯物主义辩证法歪曲为绝对怀疑论、不可知论和诡辩论。列宁在《唯物主义与经验批判主义》中强调，“不懂得唯物主义辩证法，就必然会从相对主义走到哲学唯心主义”，在认识论上的唯心主义同样会导致实践中的主观主义立场，即不是从“垄断的、腐朽的、寄生的、垂死的”资本主义最高阶段的客观实际出发，而是抽象地将主观意志与客观实际割裂并对立起来，回避战争的帝国主义性质以及革命转化的具体条件，通过宣扬改良主义、庸俗进化论以反对无产阶级革命。

Under the above urgent circumstances, Lenin put forward the theoretical task of applying the materialist conception of history to the concrete reality of the Russian revolution and defending 20th-century Marxism through the development of materialist epistemology: First, to objectively apply dialectics, comprehensively studying the stage-specific characteristics and transformation trends of monopoly capitalism from the perspective of development, objectively analyzing the universality of the basic contradictions of capitalism and the particularity of capitalist development in Russia, grasping the latent germs of contradiction, and seeking the real conditions for transformation into opposites; second, to criticize the epistemological foundation of relativism, elucidating that the predicament of various subjectivist ideologies lies in their inability to discover new revolutionary subjects and their failure to understand the tortuousness and inevitability of the real, developing proletarian revolution. Only by overcoming the abstract opposition between economic determinism and subjective initiative can the subjectivity and revolutionary character of the masses—that is, the power of the masses’ free creation—be truly taken as the fundamental driving force of social revolution.

在上述迫切形势下，列宁提出了将唯物主义历史观运用于俄国革命具体实际、通过发展唯物主义认识论捍卫20世纪马克思主义的理论任务：第一，客观地运用辩证法，从发展中去全面研究垄断资本主义的阶段性特征及其转化趋势，客观分析资本主义基本矛盾的普遍性以及俄国资本主义发展的特殊性，抓住矛盾潜在的胚芽，寻求向对立面转化的现实条件；第二，批判相对主义的认识论基础，阐明各种主观主义思想的困境在于无从发现新的革命主体，不理解现实的、发展着的无产阶级革命的曲折性与必然性。只有克服经济决定论与主观能动性之间的抽象对立，才能真正将人民群众的主体性和革命性，即人民群众自由创造的力量，作为社会革命的根本动力。

Lenin reduced the conflicts in the ideological line within and outside the Party to a fundamental opposition of philosophical standpoints, clarifying from the essence the materialist foundation and dialectical nature of epistemology. In *On Some Peculiarities of the Historical Development of Marxism*, Lenin pointed out that “dialectics, i.e., the doctrine of development in its fullest, deepest, and most comprehensive form, the doctrine of the relativity of the human knowledge that gives us a reflection of eternally developing matter,” and that dialectics is the “living soul” and “fundamental theoretical foundation” of Marxism. In *On the Question of Dialectics*, Lenin summarized the essence of dialectics as “development is the ‘struggle’ of opposites,” and “the unity of opposites (the division of a unity into mutually exclusive opposites and their reciprocal relation).” Dialectics, as the epistemology of Marxism, is the study of “the contradictions in the very essence of objects,” and therefore has a living, infinitely rich content. The dialectical process of cognition requires grasping the transition, transformation, and unity of opposites within the relation of opposition, achieving a unity that is fuller and richer than any single aspect through the dialectical development of the thing itself. An epistemology proceeding from dialectics is necessarily grounded in materialism; active materialist epistemology “is the recognition (discovery) of contradictory, mutually exclusive, opposite tendencies in all phenomena and processes of nature (including the spiritual and the social).” However, the metaphysical stance of subjectivist philosophy attempts to eliminate contradictions and struggles in nature and history, preaching smooth vulgar evolutionism or eclectic sophistry in reality, treating contradictions and opposites as the result of subjective consciousness, and failing to grasp the basis of the thing itself, the interconnections among its parts, and the transition and transformation of one part into another through the development of concepts and thought.

列宁将党内外在思想路线上的冲突归结为哲学立场的根本对立，从实质上阐明认识论的唯物主义基础与辩证性质。列宁在《论马克思主义历史发展中的几个特点》中指出，“辩证法即关于包罗万象和充满矛盾的历史发展的学说”，辩证法是马克思主义“活的灵魂”与“根本的理论基础”。在《谈谈辩证法问题》中，列宁将辩证法的实质概括为，“发展是对立面的统一（统一物之分为两个互相排斥的对立面以及它们之间的相互关系）”，辩证法作为马克思主义的认识论，就是研究“对象的本质自身中的矛盾”，因而具有活生生的、无比丰富的内容。辩证的认识过程要求在对立关系中把握矛盾双方的过渡、转化与统一，通过事物自身的辩证发展达到比某一方面更加充实和丰富的统一。从辩证法出发的认识论必然是以唯物主义为根据的，能动的唯物主义认识论“就是承认（发现）自然界的（也包括精神的和社会的）一切现象和过程具有矛盾着的、互相排斥的、对立的倾向”。然而，主观主义哲学的形而上学立场试图在自然界和历史中消除矛盾和斗争，在现实中宣扬平滑的庸俗进化论或折中主义诡辩论，将矛盾和对立作为主观意识的结果，无法通过概念和思维的发展把握事物自身的根据、事物各个部分之间的相互联系以及一部分向另一部分的过渡转化。

Materialist dialectics regards the contradictory movement of things themselves as universal, holistic, necessary, immanent, and objective, emphasizing that the transformation of opposites in universal connection and necessary development is conditional, temporary, and relative, thereby directing all disputes in the realm of subjective consciousness toward objective reality or the social realm. In his *Conspectus of Hegel’s Book The Science of Logic*, Lenin emphasized the necessity to “study how opposites can be identical, how they become identical—under what conditions they are identical, transforming themselves into one another.” In this regard, only by dialectically analyzing the specific manifestations of the basic contradictions of capitalism in the stage of imperialism, the class nature of the imperialist war, and the specific conditions for the outbreak of revolution, and by exposing the complexity of unjust imperialist wars of aggression, anti-aggression and anti-oppression national liberation wars, and civil wars of the ruled class against the ruling class, can one attain an understanding of the essence and laws of human historical development, thereby providing an active materialist epistemology for the victory of the October Revolution.

唯物辩证法将事物自身的矛盾运动看作普遍的、整体的、必然的、内在的、客观的，强调处于普遍联系与必然发展中的对立面的转化是有条件的、暂时的以及相对的，从而将主观意识领域中的一切争论导向客观实际或社会现实领域。列宁在《黑格尔〈逻辑学〉一书摘要》中强调，必须“研究对立面怎样才能够同一，是怎样（怎样成为）同一的——在什么条件下它们是相互转化而同一的”。就此而言，只有辩证分析资本主义基本矛盾在帝国主义阶段的具体表现、帝国主义战争的阶级性质与革命爆发的具体条件，揭露非正义的帝国主义侵略战争、反侵略反压迫的民族解放战争以及被统治阶级反抗统治阶级的国内战争之间的复杂性，才能够达到对人类历史发展本质性和规律性的认识，进而为十月革命取得胜利提供能动的唯物主义认识论。

Lenin emphasized that the theoretical error of the Second International lay in abolishing the dialectical process and objective content of cognitive activity, and thus it was unable to grasp monopoly capitalism as a transition to a higher social form in the unity of contradiction, transformation, leap, and qualitative change. In his *Conspectus of Hegel’s Book Lectures on the History of Philosophy*, Lenin pointed out: “What is the difference between dialectical transition and non-dialectical transition? It lies in the leap. In contradiction. In the interruption of gradualness.” In *Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism*, Lenin analyzed the qualitative change in the new tendencies of imperialism, emphasizing that only when capitalism develops to a certain, very high stage does free competition transform into its opposite, forming a monopoly that stands above and coexists with free competition, thereby pushing more intense contradictions and conflicts into the world system as the totality of the capitalist economy. The principle of qualitative change and leap has fundamentally important epistemological significance for analyzing the epochal characteristics of imperialism. On the one hand, the carving up of the world by monopoly organizations and finance capital creates sharper contradictions, conflicts, and even wars within monopoly alliances, between monopoly alliances, and between monopoly alliances and weak nation-states; on the other hand, with the continuous improvement of the level of socialized production, the unity and struggle of the proletariat also transcend national boundaries and become worldwide, bringing the narrow capitalist private ownership system ever closer to its historical limit. The imperialist war to carve up the world, as the inevitable result of the global expansion of the basic contradictions of capitalism, creates a complex situation in which the rapid development trend of monopoly capitalism and its trend of stagnation and decay are interwoven with each other.

列宁强调，第二国际的理论错误在于取消了认识活动的辩证过程与客观内容，因而无法在矛盾转化、飞跃与质变的统一性中将垄断资本主义把握为向着更高社会形态的过渡。列宁在《黑格尔〈哲学史讲演录〉一书摘要》中指出，“辩证的过渡和非辩证的过渡的区别何在？在于飞跃。在于矛盾性。在于渐进过程的中断”。在《帝国主义是资本主义的最高阶段》中，列宁分析了帝国主义新趋势的性质转变，强调只有在资本主义发展到一定的、很高的阶段，自由竞争才会转化为自己的对立面，形成凌驾于自由竞争之上并与之并存的垄断，从而将更加激烈的矛盾与冲突推向作为资本主义经济总体的世界体系。质变与飞跃原理对于分析帝国主义的时代特征具有根本重要的认识论意义，一方面垄断组织与金融资本瓜分世界造成了垄断同盟内部、垄断同盟之间以及垄断同盟与弱小民族国家之间更加尖锐的矛盾冲突甚至战争，另一方面随着社会化生产水平的不断提高，无产阶级的联合与斗争也超出一国范围成为世界性的了，使狭隘的资本主义私人占有制不断接近自身的历史限度。瓜分世界的帝国主义战争作为资本主义基本矛盾全球扩张的必然结果，造成了垄断资本主义迅速发展趋势与停滞腐朽趋势彼此交织的复杂情势。

The epistemological line and line of thought carried through by dialectical materialism require grasping the “unchanging” within “change,” the “qualitative change” within the “unchanging,” as well as the real conditions and revolutionary forces that bring about “qualitative change” and the transformation into its opposite. Lenin placed the particularity of Russian society and capitalist development within the complex contradictions of the world system, examined in detail the characteristics of Russia’s socio-economic system and class structure that differed from Western European capitalism, and revealed that the particularity of Russian capitalism lay in its economic backwardness and lack of independence—internally dependent on the landlord-serf-owning class and externally dependent on European and American capital. In *The Development of Capitalism in Russia*, Lenin argued that the land reform of 1861 [8]8 The 1861 land reform in Russia abolished serfdom, granting personal freedom to serfs but requiring them to pay redemption payments for land allotments, which perpetuated economic dependence and rural poverty. not only failed to resolve Russia’s crisis but, at a higher stage of Russian capitalist development, deepened the reactionary character of the bourgeoisie and the internal contradictions of the country’s class structure, thereby laying a mass foundation for a broader political alliance for the Russian revolution. Proceeding from the objective reality of Russia’s capitalist backwardness and lack of independence, and based on Russia’s internal and external situation within the chain of imperialism, Lenin defined the nature of the Russian revolution as a “revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry.” Through the leadership of the proletariat’s “vanguard” Party, he combined the Russian bourgeois-democratic revolution with the international workers’ movement against imperialism and with the movement of colonies and weak nations for the right to national self-determination. In leading the process of the October Revolution in Russia, the active materialist epistemology emphasized, on the one hand, the subjectivity and initiative of human activity—that is, “human purposeful activity”—and, on the other hand, the objective premises and real basis of human activity, providing the scientific guidance of Marxist theory for the leap of socialism from science to practice and from one country to many countries in the era of imperialism.

由唯物辩证法所贯彻的认识论以及思想路线，要求把握“变”中的“不变”、“不变”中的“质变”，以及引起“质变”并向对立面转化的现实条件与革命力量。列宁将俄国社会与资本主义发展的特殊性置于世界体系复杂矛盾之中，详细考察了俄国社会经济制度和阶级结构不同于西欧资本主义的特点，揭示出俄国资本主义的特殊性在于对内依赖农奴主—地主阶级、对外依赖欧美资本的经济落后性与非独立性。在《俄国资本主义的发展》中，列宁认为1861年土地改革非但没有解决俄国危机，反而在俄国资本主义发展的更高阶段上加深了资产阶级的反动性质与本国阶级结构的内在矛盾，从而为俄国革命形成更广泛的政治联盟奠定了群众基础。列宁从俄国资本主义落后性与非独立性的客观实际出发，根据俄国在帝国主义链条中所处的内外部情势，将俄国革命的性质确定为“无产阶级和农民的革命民主专政”，通过无产阶级“先锋队”政党的领导，将俄国资产阶级民主革命与反对帝国主义的国际工人运动、与殖民地和弱小国家争取民族自决权运动结合起来。在领导俄国十月革命进程中，能动的唯物主义认识论一方面强调人的活动的主体性和能动性，即“人的有目的的活动”；另一方面强调人的活动的客观前提和现实基础，为帝国主义时代社会主义从科学向实践、从一国向多国的飞跃提供了马克思主义理论的科学指导。

(The author is a professor at the Institute of Marxist Philosophy and Chinese Modernization and the Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University.)

（作者系中山大学马克思主义哲学与中国现代化研究所暨哲学系教授）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心