Common Interests in Community

Community is a very important perspective through which Marx and Engels understood and grasped the laws of human social development and evolution. From this perspective, the development and evolution of human society manifest as the development and evolution of community forms. And the development and evolution of community forms are closely linked to changes in the common interests formed by people in production and life.

共同体是马克思恩格斯理解与把握人类社会发展与演进规律的一个非常重要的视角。基于这个视角，人类社会的发展与演进，表现为共同体形态的发展与演进。而共同体形态的发展与演进，又与人们在生产与生活中形成的共同利益的变化紧密联系在一起。

Three Basic Forms of Community

共同体的三种基本形态

Community, in terms of its connotation, refers to the production community, life community, and life-community [1]1 The term "life-community" (生命共同体) here refers to a community formed around shared biological existence and reproduction, distinct from the "life community" (生活共同体) formed around daily living activities. formed by people in joint production, joint living, and mutual interaction, as well as other forms of community derived from these three, such as cultural community and political community. Among the communities formed in human society, the production community, life community, and life-community are the earliest forms of community and also the most basic forms. With the continuous development of human society, communities become increasingly complex, their content constantly enriched, and their forms of expression increasingly diverse. The communities existing in human society can be classified from many dimensions, but if we take the development and evolution of human society itself as the yardstick for classification, human society has produced two basic forms of community in its historical development: one is the naturally formed narrow community, and the other is the illusory community. From the perspective of historical materialism, after the illusory community completes its historical process, human society enters the stage of development of the association of free individuals. For the naturally formed narrow community, the clan is its main form of expression and classic form; for the illusory community, the state is its main form of existence.

共同体，就其内涵而言，就是人们在共同生产与共同生活以及互相交往中形成的生产共同体、生活共同体和生命共同体，以及在这三种共同体的基础之上衍生出来的其他共同体形式，例如，文化共同体、政治共同体等。在人类社会所形成的共同体中，生产共同体、生活共同体与生命共同体是最早的共同体形式，也是最为基础的共同体形态。随着人类社会的不断发展，共同体变得越来越复杂，其内容在不断丰富，其表现形式也越来越多样化。对于在人类社会中存在的共同体，是可以从很多维度去划分的，但如果以人类社会本身的发展与演进为尺度去划分共同体的话，人类社会在其历史发展中，产生过两种基本的共同体形态，一种是自然形成的狭隘的共同体，另一种是虚幻的共同体。在唯物史观看来，虚幻的共同体在走完其历史进程之后，人类社会就进入到自由人的联合体的发展阶段。对于自然形成的狭隘的共同体而言，氏族是其主要表现形式与经典形态；而对于虚幻的共同体而言，国家是其主要存在形态。

The above community forms correspond respectively to different relations of production. The relations of production on which the first form of community depends for its survival are primitive communal land ownership, while the second form is mainly established on the basis of private ownership. As for the third form of community, human society is evolving toward it. The naturally formed narrow community is already a thing of the past for human society, while the illusory community, although still in the present tense, is also nearing its historical end. Compared with the illusory community, the association of free individuals is the future tense of human society. Although the first form of community is a naturally formed narrow community, it nevertheless exists as the first real community. Although the illusory community is illusory, it is nevertheless the sublation and development of the first form of community. The association of free individuals is in turn the sublation and development of the illusory community, the second form of development of the real community, and also a higher form of development compared with the first real community. In the process of evolution from the illusory community to the association of free individuals, some transitional social communities will also emerge. A community with a shared future for mankind can be said to be both a transitional form existing in the process of human society's evolution toward the association of free individuals, and the social foundation and historical conditions for human society's evolution toward a higher form of social community.

以上共同体形态，分别对应着不同的生产关系，第一种共同体赖以生存的生产关系是原始的土地公有制，而第二种共同体，则主要是建立在私有制的基础之上。至于第三种共同体，人类社会正在向其演进。自然形成的狭隘的共同体，早已是人类社会的过去时，而对于虚幻的共同体而言，虽然它仍是进行时，但也快走到其历史的尽头。相比于虚幻的共同体，自由人的联合体是人类社会的未来时。第一种共同体虽然是自然形成的狭隘的共同体，但又是作为第一个真实的共同体而存在的。虚幻的共同体虽然是虚幻的，但却是对第一种共同体的扬弃与发展。自由人的联合体，又是对虚幻的共同体的扬弃与发展，是真实的共同体的第二种发展形态，也是相较于第一种真实的共同体更高的发展形态。在社会虚幻的共同体向自由人的联合体的演进过程中，还会产生一些过渡的社会共同体。人类命运共同体，既可以说是人类社会向自由人的联合体演进过程中存在的一种过渡形态，也可以说是人类社会向更高形态的社会共同体演进的社会基础与历史条件。

Common Interests and Community

共同利益与共同体

The process of the formation of a community is precisely the process of the formation of common interests. Every community is established on the basis of common interests. Whether it is a real community or an illusory community, common interests are its foundation and the real basis of its existence. For a real community, it is established on the basis of real common interests; for an illusory community, it is mainly established on the basis of illusory common interests. It should be pointed out that illusory common interests do not mean that there is no element of reality in those common interests, but rather that those common interests are not real for the majority of people, but this does not mean they are unreal for the minority within such a community. When the minority presents its own interests as the common interests of all people in the community, such common interests are not real for the majority. For a community, among its common interests, material interests or economic interests are the most fundamental common interests. Besides these, there are other forms of common interests; for example, in an illusory community, common political interests often constitute an important component of its common interests.

共同体的生成过程，其实就是共同利益的生成过程。任何共同体都是建立在共同利益的基础之上的，无论是真实的共同体，还是虚幻的共同体，共同利益都是其构建基础，也是其存在的现实根基。对于真实的共同体而言，其建立在真实的共同利益基础之上；对于虚幻的共同体而言，其主要是建立在虚幻的共同利益之上。需要指出的是，虚幻的共同利益并不是说其共同利益中没有一点真实性，而是说其共同利益对于大多数人而言，不是真实存在的，但这并不意味着对于这类共同体中的少数人而言，它是不真实的。当少数人把自身的利益说成是共同体中所有人的共同利益的时候，这样的共同利益对于大多数人而言，就不是真实的。对于共同体而言，在其共同利益中，物质利益或经济利益是最为根本的共同利益。除此之外，还存在着其他的共同利益形式，例如，在虚幻的共同体中，共同的政治利益也往往构成其共同利益的重要构成部分。

The logic of the formation of common interests differs for different communities. In the naturally formed narrow community, its common interests are generated in people's narrow production activities and the common life determined by those narrow production activities. In the illusory community, however, its common interests are generated in the mutual interaction of different individuals, "and this common interest does not exist merely in the imagination, as the 'general interest,' but first of all in reality, as the mutual interdependence of the individuals among whom the labour is divided." [2]2 This quotation is from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–1846). Without the interests of individual persons or individual families, there would be no common interests in the illusory community. Illusory common interests arise precisely in the actual struggle between the common interests of particular individuals and the particular interests of each individual. In the illusory community, the ruling class has the common interests of the ruling class, and the non-ruling class has the common interests of the non-ruling class. Once the real common interests of the ruling class are described as the universal interest of society, this universal interest often manifests as illusory common interests. In the illusory community, class struggle often manifests as a struggle between the real common interests (also a kind of particular interest) of one class and the illusory common interests represented by another class. This split between particular interests and common interests inevitably leads to the more universal common interests represented by the state becoming an alienated common interest and an alien social force.

不同的共同体，共同利益的生成逻辑是不同的。在自然形成的狭隘的共同体当中，其共同利益是在人们狭隘的生产活动以及由狭隘的生产活动所决定的共同生活中生成的。而在虚幻的共同体中，其共同利益则是在不同个人的相互交往中产生的，“而且这种共同利益不是仅仅作为一种‘普遍的东西’存在于观念之中，而首先是作为彼此有了分工的个人之间的相互依存关系存在于现实之中”。没有单个人的利益或单个家庭的利益，就不会有虚幻的共同体中的共同利益。虚幻的共同利益就是在各个人的特殊利益的共同利益与各个人的特殊利益的实际斗争中产生的。在虚幻的共同体中，统治阶级有统治阶级的共同利益，非统治阶级有非统治阶级的共同利益。一旦统治阶级真实的共同利益被描述为一个社会的普遍利益，这个普遍的利益往往就会表现为虚幻的共同利益。而在虚幻的共同体中，阶级斗争往往表现为一个阶级的真实的共同利益（也是一种特殊利益）与另一个阶级所代表的虚幻的共同利益之间的斗争。这种特殊利益与共同利益之间的分裂，必然会导致国家所代表的更为普遍的共同利益变为一种异化的共同利益与异己的社会力量。

The Degree of Reality of Common Interests Determines the Degree of Illusoriness of the Community

共同利益的真实度决定着共同体的虚幻度

Whether a community is a real community or an illusory community depends mainly on the degree of reality of its common interests, or whose real interests its common interests are. The greater the degree of reality of common interests, the smaller the degree of illusoriness of the community; conversely, the smaller the degree of reality of common interests, the greater the degree of illusoriness of the community. For a community in reality, especially for a real illusory community, the degree of reality of its common interests is not constant but can change. Precisely because the degree of reality of a community's common interests can change, for an illusory community, its degree of illusoriness is also not immutable but changes as the degree of reality changes. When the degree of illusoriness of an illusory community is not decreasing but increasing, then within that illusory community, the opposition or antagonism between its different interest groups will intensify, and the degree of its internal division will deepen. If, within a community, its common interests are the real interests of a minority, then this community is a community that safeguards the real interests of the minority, and for the majority, such a community must be illusory. If, within this illusory community, the interests representing the minority and the interests representing the majority become increasingly opposed, then the degree of illusoriness of this illusory community will increase sharply. When it increases to a certain extent and causes a qualitative change, it is often also the time when this illusory community reaches its historical end. Of course, this is also when, as Marx and Engels said, the historical conditions for social revolution are already in place.

一个共同体，是真实的共同体，还是虚幻的共同体，主要取决于这个共同体的共同利益的真实度或其共同利益是谁的真实利益。共同利益的真实度越大，共同体的虚幻度就越小；反之，共同利益的真实度越小，共同体的虚幻度就越大。对一个现实中的共同体而言，特别是对现实中的虚幻的共同体而言，其共同利益的真实度不是恒定不变的，而是会发生变化的。正是因为共同体的共同利益的真实度会发生变化，因而对于一个虚幻的共同体而言，其虚幻度也不是一成不变的，而是随着真实度的变化而发生变化。当一个虚幻的共同体的虚幻度不是在减小而是在增大时，那么在这个虚幻的共同体内部，其不同利益体之间的对立或对抗就会加剧，其内部分裂的程度就会加深。如果在一个共同体内部，其共同利益是少数人的真实利益，那么这个共同体就是维护少数人的真实利益的共同体，而对于大多数人而言，这样的共同体对于他们来说，必定是虚幻的。如果在这个虚幻的共同体中，代表少数人的利益与代表大多数人的利益越来越对立，那么这个虚幻的共同体的虚幻度会急剧增加。当其增加到一定的程度并引起质的变化的时候，往往也是这个虚幻的共同体走到历史尽头的时候。当然，这也是马克思恩格斯所说的社会革命的历史条件已具备的时候。

In a false community, there is an essential difference between whether the common interest is the real interest of 10 percent or less of the total population of society, or the real interest of 90 percent or more of the total population of society. In the future association of free individuals, since its common interest reflects the real interest of all people in this community, or of all humanity, the degree of authenticity of its common interest is the highest; it can be said that in such a community, the degree of authenticity of the common interest reaches 100 percent. It is precisely for this reason that the association of free individuals is, in its essence, a real social community. What social character a false community possesses is often very closely related to the position of the masses of the people in that community, and is also usually directly linked to the relationship between the ruling class and the masses of the people. When the ruling class still maintains a close relationship with the entire mass of society, its degree of falsity is relatively small; when the ruling class increasingly separates itself from the entire mass of society and gradually moves toward the opposite of the masses of the people, its degree of falsity is constantly increasing. As the number of people in the ruling class becomes smaller and smaller, and as social class solidification becomes more and more severe, the false common interest will inevitably become more and more false. And the beautiful society depicted by its ideology can only remain in the political ravings of the ruling class. At that point, a new social community will replace the old social community, and human history will develop forward in this process of continuous replacement.

在虚幻的共同体中，其共同利益是占社会总人数的10%及以下的人的真实利益，还是占社会总人数的90%及以上的人的真实利益，有着本质上的区别。在未来的自由人的联合体中，由于其共同利益反映的是这个共同体中所有人或说全人类的真实利益，因而，其共同利益的真实度是最高的，可以说，在这样的共同体中，共同利益的真实度达到了100%。也正是因为如此，自由人的联合体，就其实质而言，是一个真实的社会共同体。虚幻的共同体是何种社会性质的共同体，往往与这个共同体中人民群众的地位有着十分紧密的关系，也通常与统治阶级和人民群众之间的关系有着直接的联系。当统治阶级与社会全体群众还保持着紧密关系的时候，其虚幻度相对而言是较小的，当统治阶级日益脱离社会全体群众并逐渐走向人民群众的对立面的时候，其虚幻度是在不断增加的。随着统治阶级这个群体的人数越来越少，且随着社会阶级固化越来越严重，虚幻的共同利益必然会越来越虚幻。而由其意识形态所描绘的美好社会，也只能停留在统治阶级的政治呓语中。届时，新的社会共同体就会取代旧的社会共同体，人类历史也将会在这种不断取代中向前发展。

(The author is an associate professor at the School of Marxism, Central China Normal University)

（作者系华中师范大学马克思主义学院副教授）