Engels’s View of Scientific Socialism

As is well known, Engels, as Marx’s “second fiddle,” made independent and distinctive contributions to the founding, elucidation, defense, and development of Marxism. Specifically regarding the three component parts of Marxism, relative to Marxist philosophy and Marxist political economy, whose core tenets are Marx’s two great discoveries, Engels played a pivotal role in the part on scientific socialism. Revisiting Engels’s reflections on scientific socialism is of great directional and principled significance for deeply understanding the superiority of the socialist system, the existence of the contemporary capitalist system, and for firmly upholding the lofty ideal of communism.

众所周知，恩格斯作为马克思的“第二小提琴手”，对马克思主义的创立、阐发、捍卫与发展作出了独立而独特的贡献。具体到马克思主义的三个组成部分，相对于以马克思的两个伟大发现为核心要义的马克思主义哲学与马克思主义政治经济学，恩格斯在科学社会主义部分发挥了关键性作用。重温恩格斯对科学社会主义的思考，对于深刻认识社会主义制度的优越性、当代资本主义制度的存在、坚定共产主义远大理想具有重要方向性与原则性意义。

Revealing the Real Basis for the Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science

揭示社会主义从空想发展到科学的现实基础

The reason Engels undertook reflections on scientific socialism stemmed directly from his critical reflection on reactionary socialism, conservative or bourgeois socialism, and especially on critical-utopian socialism and communism. After more than three centuries of development, utopian socialism in the 19th century produced three major critical-utopian socialist schools that everywhere broke through the shell of fantasy to reveal the sprouts of genius ideas. [1]1 The “three major critical-utopian socialisms” refer to the doctrines of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, and Robert Owen, which Marx and Engels regarded as the direct ideological precursors of scientific socialism. Among them, Saint-Simon discerned the class-struggle essence of the French Revolution and reduced politics to the science of production. Fourier divided social history into four stages: savagery, patriarchy, barbarism, and civilization, moving from a phenomenal exposure of the harsh conditions of both material and moral poverty in the capitalist world to an essential identification of capitalist private property as the root of evil. Owen, meanwhile, closely combined the construction of communist theory with practical implementation: on the one hand, he dialectically evaluated the gains and losses of capitalist society’s development of productive forces; on the other, he devoted himself to transcending capitalist private property and transitioning to communism through organizing cooperatives and labor markets.

恩格斯之所以展开对科学社会主义的思考，直接源于他对反动的社会主义、保守的或资产阶级的社会主义，特别是对批判的空想的社会主义和共产主义的反思批判。空想社会主义经过3个多世纪的发展，在19世纪发展出处处突破幻想外壳而显露天才思想萌芽的三大批判空想社会主义。其中，圣西门洞察了法国革命的阶级斗争实质，把政治归结为关于生产的科学。傅立叶把社会历史划分为蒙昧、宗法、野蛮和文明四个阶段，从对资本主义世界物质和道德双重贫困严酷状况的现象揭露，深入对资本主义私有制这一罪恶根源的本质指认。欧文则紧密结合共产主义理论建构与实际践行，一方面辩证评价资本主义社会生产力发展的利弊得失，另一方面致力于通过组织合作社和劳动市场扬弃资本主义私有制、过渡到共产主义。

Engels highly appraised the historically progressive significance of the three major critical-utopian socialisms, calling them the direct ideological source of scientific socialism. However, the absence of a real basis meant they could never escape the rut of utopianism and were thus essentially distinct from scientific socialism. Engels pointed out that the maturity of theory corresponds to the maturity of the conditions of capitalist production and class conditions. Although the machine-based large-scale industry of the early 19th century greatly promoted the development of the capitalist mode of production and class relations, it had not yet reached the point where quantitative change could trigger qualitative change toward self-transformation. Therefore, both the social problems themselves and the methods for solving them remained hidden in underdeveloped economic relations. This situation was fundamentally transformed in the 1830s and 1840s. With the high development of machine-based large-scale industry, the capitalist mode of production removed all obstacles to the pursuit of surplus value, confirmed its exploitative nature, and developed the forces and means for its own transformation. In this process, capitalist relations of production gradually changed from a form of development of the social productive forces into a critical fetter. The contradiction between socialized large-scale production and the capitalist private ownership of the means of production, along with the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie as its class expression, moved toward antagonism and conflict. Thus, the real conditions for transforming the capitalist system and transitioning to communism had matured, and the development of socialism from utopia to science truly became a real possibility.

恩格斯高度评价三大批判空想社会主义的历史进步意义，称其构成了科学社会主义的直接思想来源，但是现实基础的缺失，又使其始终无法摆脱空想窠臼而本质区别于科学社会主义。恩格斯指出，理论成熟与否是同资本主义生产状况和阶级状况成熟与否相适应的，19世纪初的机器大工业虽然极大推动了资本主义生产方式和阶级关系的发展，但是尚未达到以量达质促成自我变革的程度，因此无论是社会问题本身还是解决社会问题的办法，都还隐藏在不发达的经济关系中。这种局面在19世纪三四十年代得到彻底改变，随着机器大工业的高度发展，资本主义生产方式破除一切阻碍追逐剩余价值的障碍，确证自己的剥削性质，发展实现自我变革的力量手段。在这一过程中，资本主义生产关系逐渐由社会生产力的发展形式变成关键桎梏，社会化大生产同生产资料资本家私人占有形式之间的矛盾，以及作为其阶级表征的无产阶级同资产阶级之间的矛盾走向对抗冲突。由此，变革资本主义制度转向共产主义的现实条件已然成熟，社会主义从空想到科学的发展真正具备了现实可能性。

Revealing the Theoretical Cornerstone for the Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science

揭示社会主义从空想发展到科学的理论基石

If examining the real basis was meant to solve the problem of why utopian socialism could be characterized as utopian and what real conditions socialism needed to possibly develop from utopia to science, then exploring the theoretical cornerstone is meant to solve, on the basis of the real basis, the theoretical grounds for why scientific socialism is scientific. In this regard, Engels attributed the fundamental basis to Marx’s two great discoveries, proposing that the establishment of historical materialism and the theory of surplus value realized the transformation of socialism from utopia to science.

如果说考察现实基础，是为了解决空想社会主义何以被定性为空想、社会主义需要何种现实条件才有可能从空想发展到科学的问题，那么探赜理论基石，则是为了立足现实基础解决科学社会主义之所以科学的理论根据问题。在这方面，恩格斯把根本依据归结为马克思的两个伟大发现，提出唯物史观和剩余价值学说的创立实现了社会主义从空想到科学的转变。

Regarding Marx’s classic formulation of historical materialism in the “Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy,” Engels reduced it to one sentence: people must first solve basic material life problems such as eating, drinking, shelter, and clothing before they can engage in politics, science, art, religion, and other activities. He pointed out that historical materialism not only reveals the general laws of the development of human society but also elucidates the subject forces, driving forces, and methodological principles required to achieve this historical leap. Regarding the theory of surplus value, which Marx systematically expounded in Capital but never gave a classic formulation, Engels provided a popular expression similar to Marx’s classic formulation of historical materialism in the “Preface to the Second German Edition of The Condition of the Working Class in England.” He pointed out that the theory of surplus value not only reveals the secret of capitalists’ exploitation of workers and the specific laws of the development of capitalist society but also demonstrates the historical trend of the inevitable demise of capitalism and the inevitable victory of socialism, as well as how the necessary force elements for this are realized under conditions of capitalist private property. Scientific socialism is essentially distinguished from utopian socialism in theory precisely because it conforms to the general laws of the development of human society revealed by historical materialism and the specific laws of the development of capitalist society revealed by the theory of surplus value—thus possessing conformity with law—and simultaneously satisfies the strong will of the working class, as the representative of advanced productive forces, to transform the capitalist system—thus possessing conformity with purpose.

对于马克思在《〈政治经济学批判〉序言》中作出的唯物史观经典表述，恩格斯把它归结为一句话，即人们必须首先解决吃喝住穿等基本物质生活问题，然后才能从事政治、科学、艺术和宗教等活动，指出唯物史观不仅揭示了人类社会发展的一般规律，而且阐明了实现这种历史跃升所需的主体力量、动力源泉和方法遵循。对于马克思系统阐述于《资本论》但未曾作过经典表述的剩余价值学说，恩格斯在《〈英国工人阶级状况〉德文第二版序言》中作了类似马克思唯物史观经典表述的通俗表达，指出剩余价值学说不仅揭示了资本家剥削工人的奥秘和资本主义社会发展的特殊规律，而且论证了资本主义必然灭亡和社会主义必然胜利的历史趋势，及其所需力量要素是如何在资本主义私有制条件下实现的。科学社会主义正是因为契合了唯物史观所揭示的人类社会发展一般规律和剩余价值学说所揭示的资本主义社会发展特殊规律，具有合规律性；同时满足了作为先进生产力代表的工人阶级变革资本主义制度的强烈意愿，具有合目的性，才使其在理论上同空想社会主义本质区别开来。

In Engels’s view, the emergence of scientific socialism and the application of historical materialism to class struggle were inseparable from Germany’s materialist dialectics, Britain’s developed economic relations, and France’s developed political relations; none of the three could be absent. Germany’s materialist dialectics provided the scientific method of thinking for the emergence of scientific socialism, while Britain’s and France’s developed economic and political relations provided the real economic and political conditions for its emergence. Scientific socialism was precisely the inevitable product of using German materialist dialectics to critique the developed economic and political relations of Britain and France.

在恩格斯看来，科学社会主义的产生以及唯物史观在阶级斗争上的应用，都离不开德国的唯物辩证法、英国的发达经济关系和法国的发达政治关系，三者缺一不可。德国的唯物辩证法为科学社会主义的产生提供了科学的思维方法，英国和法国的发达经济关系和政治关系则为科学社会主义的产生提供了现实的经济政治条件，科学社会主义正是运用德国唯物辩证法批判英法发达经济政治关系的必然产物。

Charting the Inevitable Path for the Development of Socialism from Ideal to Reality

擘画社会主义从理想发展到现实的必由之路

Elucidating the real basis and theoretical cornerstone for why scientific socialism is scientific only solves the problem of why socialism could develop from utopia to science. How to then proceed from this basis to realize the development of socialism from ideal to reality in practice is even more important, and this became the fundamental purpose of Engels’s reflections on scientific socialism.

阐明科学社会主义之所以科学的现实基础和理论基石，只是解决了社会主义为什么能够从空想发展为科学的问题，而如何基于此进而在实践中实现社会主义从理想到现实的发展则更为重要，这也成为恩格斯思考科学社会主义的根本旨归。

Engels pointed out that capitalism liberated serfs to become free wage laborers, greatly increased labor productivity through the innovative application of science and technology, and achieved the deep development and utilization of natural resources, truly turning them into useful things. In particular, capitalism created material wealth greater in quantity and magnitude than the sum total of all previous historical stages. These facts fully demonstrate the superiority of its system. However, this comparative advantage exists only relative to pre-capitalist system forms, and it was realized in the form of creating the alienation of labor, the alienation of science and technology, and the alienation of nature. Periodically erupting economic crises show that, within the framework of capitalist private property, the contradiction between private ownership of the means of production and socialized large-scale production, as well as the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, are unavoidable and insurmountable. The underlying logic of the operation and development of the capitalist system determines that, to fundamentally solve the problem, it is necessary to thoroughly transform the capitalist mode of production and the relations of production and relations of intercourse corresponding to it, moving toward the communist realm of freedom that can realize the liberation of all humanity and the free and comprehensive development of each individual. To achieve this lofty goal, the proletariat must deeply understand and fulfill its class nature and historical mission. Under the strong leadership of the proletarian party and the scientific guidance of Marxist revolutionary theory, it must unite all working people and the exploited to overthrow bourgeois rule through violent revolution, smash the bourgeois state machine, and then establish a proletarian state power and a proletarian state machine, thereby thoroughly transcending capitalist private ownership of the means of production, transforming the social means of production into public property, implementing public ownership of the means of production, and reconstructing individual ownership of the means of subsistence.

恩格斯指出，资本主义使农奴获得解放成为自由劳动力，通过创新应用科技极大提高了劳动生产率，实现了对自然资源的深度开发利用使之真正变成有用物，特别是资本主义创造了比以往各历史阶段总和还要多、还要大的物质财富，这些充分证明了其制度的优越性。但是，这种比较优势只是相对于前资本主义制度形态而言的，而且是以制造劳动异化、科技异化、自然界异化的形式实现的。周期性爆发的经济危机表明，在资本主义私有制框架内，生产资料私有制同社会化大生产之间的矛盾以及资产阶级同无产阶级之间的矛盾是不可避免且无法克服的，资本主义制度运行发展的底层逻辑决定了，想要根本解决问题，必须彻底变革资本主义生产方式以及与之相适应的生产关系和交往关系，走向能够实现全人类解放和每个人自由全面发展的共产主义自由王国。为了达成这一崇高目标，无产阶级必须深刻认识并践行自己的阶级性质和历史使命，在无产阶级政党的坚强领导下，在马克思主义革命理论的科学指导下，联合一切劳动人民和被剥削者通过暴力革命推翻资产阶级统治、打破资产阶级国家机器，进而建立无产阶级政权和无产阶级国家机器，用以彻底扬弃资本主义生产资料私有制，变社会生产资料为公共财产，实行生产资料公有制、重建生活资料个人所有制。

In sum, it is precisely through his reflections on why utopian socialism is utopian, why scientific socialism is scientific, how scientific socialism emerged, and how scientific socialism is to be realized that Engels elucidated the real foundation, theoretical cornerstone, and practical path for socialism’s development from utopia to science and from ideal to reality, providing later generations with a comprehensive and systematic “introduction to scientific socialism” as evaluated by Marx. The truth-bearing basic principles of scientific socialism contained therein still possess powerful theoretical explanatory force and practical guiding power to this day.

总之，恩格斯正是通过对空想社会主义何以空想、科学社会主义何以科学、科学社会主义何以产生、科学社会主义何以实现等问题的思考，阐明了社会主义从空想发展到科学、从理想发展到现实的现实基础、理论基石和实践路径，为后人提供了全面系统的马克思评价的“科学社会主义入门”，其所蕴含的真理性科学社会主义基本原理时至今日仍然具有强大的理论解释力和实践指导力。

(The author is an associate professor at the School of Marxism, Hubei University of Technology, and a researcher at the Research Center for the Study and Propagation of the Party’s Innovative Theory in the New Era, Hubei University of Technology.)

（作者系湖北工业大学马克思主义学院副教授、湖北工业大学新时代党的创新理论学习宣传与研究中心研究员）