Marx’s Theory of “World History” and the International Workers’ Movement

Although speculative German philosophers keenly grasped the globalizing trend of world history, they failed to break free from the shackles of metaphysics, and thus interpreted this globalization movement only from the world of ideas (whether a priori or absolute). The state theories of classical German philosophy often contain a perspective of world history, meaning that they do not remain within the limits of the nation-state but rather explain the trajectory of the political state within the universal interconnections of global relations. However, confined by the bonds of idealism, they could not truly grasp the essence of world history. Kant, within the field of world history, conceived a future of “perpetual peace” for the political state, where the state of peace among nations is a categorical imperative issued by the idea of transcendental freedom: “There ought to be no war.” Hegel, on the other hand, regarded the absolute spirit as the sovereign of world history and gave a logical, speculative expression to the necessary transition from the nation-state to world history: “States are each independent; their relations can only be external, so there must be a third above them that connects them. This third is the spirit, which gives itself reality in world history and is the absolute judge standing above the states.” [1]1 G.W.F. Hegel, *Elements of the Philosophy of Right*, §259 Addition. But these idealist constructions have no historical reality and thus cannot truly influence the course of human world history. The thinker who truly began from the actual relations of capitalism to analyze the process of world history was Marx.

思辨的德国哲学家虽然敏锐地把握到了世界历史的全球化趋势，却未能跳出形而上学的窠臼，因而只是从（先验的或绝对的）理念世界来阐释这场全球化运动。在德国古典哲学的国家学说里往往蕴含着一个世界历史的视域，意即不是停留于民族国家的限度内，而是处在普遍联系的全球关系中来阐释政治国家的走向。但是其停留于观念论束缚，不能真正把握世界历史的本质。康德在世界历史的场域中为政治国家构想了“永久和平”的未来，国家间的和平状态乃是先验自由理念所发布的一条绝对命令：“不应当有任何战争。”黑格尔则将绝对精神视为世界历史的主宰者，并对民族国家向世界历史的必然过渡做了逻辑上的思辨表达：“国家本身各自独立，它们之间的关系只能是一种外部关系，所以必须有第三者在它们之上，并把它们联系起来。现在这个第三者就是精神，它在世界历史中给自己以现实性，并且是凌驾于国家之上的绝对裁判官。”但这些观念论的建构并没有历史的现实性，从而无法真正影响人类世界历史的进程。真正从资本主义的现实关系入手来分析世界历史进程的思想家是马克思。

The Mode of Presentation of “World History”

“世界历史”的呈现方式

Marx took the world market opened up by the bourgeoisie as the material carrier of world history, and used the necessity of the global expansion of bourgeois relations of production to demonstrate the necessity of world history. Marx pointed out: “The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilization. … The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. … In place of the old local and national seclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal inter-dependence of nations.” [2]2 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The Communist Manifesto* (1848), Chapter I. The capitalist world system, as a self-regulating mechanism for shifting its internal contradictions, plays a very important role in maintaining the rule of the bourgeoisie in the core regions. In Marx’s view, the ultimate destination of world history is not the capitalist world market, but the transcendence and sublation of this existing system. The global system of universal intercourse and universal interconnection created by capital is the precondition for the proletariat to universally realize the communist system of freedom on a world scale. That is to say, only within the field of globalization can the proletariat overthrow the capitalist system and achieve its own universal emancipation. Therefore, the political revolutionary form of the proletariat correspondingly manifests as a global “world revolution.”

马克思将资产阶级所开辟的世界市场作为世界历史的物质载体，用资产阶级生产关系之全球扩张的必然性来论证世界历史的必然性。马克思指出：“资产阶级，由于开拓了世界市场，使一切国家的生产和消费都成为世界性的了。……过去那种地方的和民族的自给自足和闭关自守状态，被各民族的各方面的互相往来和各方面的互相依赖所代替了。……资产阶级，由于一切生产工具的迅速改进，由于交通的极其便利，把一切民族甚至最野蛮的民族都卷到文明中来了。”资本主义世界体系，作为转嫁其内在矛盾的自我调节机制，对于维系中心地区的资产阶级统治具有十分重要的作用。在马克思看来，世界历史的最终归宿并非资本主义世界市场，而是对这一既有体系的超越和扬弃。资本所造就的普遍交往、普遍联系的全球化体系乃是无产阶级在全世界范围内普遍地实现共产主义自由制度的前提条件。也就是说，唯有在全球化的场域中，无产阶级才能推翻资本主义制度而实现自身的普遍解放。因此，无产阶级的政治革命形态相应地表现为全球性的“世界革命”。

In Marx’s view, world revolution is possible. This is because the global market opened up by capital for its own expansion simultaneously globalizes its internal contradictions. As Engels said: “Single-handedly, large-scale industry established the world market, which so closely links together all the peoples of the earth, especially the civilized ones, that each people is affected by what happens in another.” [3]3 Friedrich Engels, “Principles of Communism” (1847), Question 18. In Marx’s view, this globalized contradiction has at least two forms of manifestation: First, while capitalism certainly shifts its contradictions through external economic expansion, it simultaneously transfers its own economic relations and their contradictory structure outward; when one day the crisis of capitalist contradictions has spread to every corner and there is nowhere left to flee, world revolution will erupt. Second, Eastern countries have not yet completed their capitalization, but they have already been incorporated into the capitalist world market as an important link within it. Therefore, Eastern countries will also inevitably affect the normal functioning of the capitalist world system.

在马克思看来，世界革命是可能的。这是因为资本为实现自身扩张而开辟的全球市场同时也让它的内在矛盾全球化了。正如恩格斯所说：“单是大工业建立了世界市场这一点，就把全球各国人民，尤其是各文明国家的人民，彼此紧紧地联系起来，以致每一个国家的人民都受到另一个国家发生的事情的影响。”这种全球化的矛盾在马克思看来至少有两种表现形式：其一，资本主义固然会通过对外经济扩张的方式转嫁矛盾，但与此同时它也将自身的经济关系及其矛盾结构对外转移了；当有朝一日资本主义的矛盾危机已经蔓延至每一个角落因而无地可逃的时候，世界革命就会爆发。其二，东方国家尚未完成资本主义化，但它们已然被纳入资本主义世界市场并作为其中的一个重要环节了。因此，东方国家也必将影响到资本主义世界体系的正常运转。

At the same time, world revolution is also necessary. If the crisis of capitalism is confined solely within one country and does not transmit to the whole world, then this crisis does not possess ultimate significance, and thus has not yet reached the final stage where it cannot be self-reconciled and is on the verge of self-negation. In other words, a capitalist country where a crisis erupts in isolation can completely shift its domestic crisis to other countries (for example, through foreign war or colonial export); in this case, the capitalist system still possesses the vitality for self-perpetuation, and its sublation becomes impossible. At the same time, if capitalism is still in a phase of expanding globally, then a localized communism not only cannot contend with it, but will instead be devoured by it; even if communism is initially formed within the scope of one country, “any extension of intercourse will abolish localized communism.” [4]4 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845-46), Part I. This is especially true for communist systems established in backward countries; surrounded by the capitalist world system, even the survival of their political power faces major threats, let alone actively inheriting the developmental achievements of capitalism to achieve industrialization of the economy (unless they accomplish this task through some distorted, unsustainable model). Conversely, if a revolution in one country extends to advanced capitalist countries and thus presents a situation of world revolution, then the communist regime in the backward country can obtain political and economic support from the proletariat of the developed countries, and its construction and development will also get on the right track.

与此同时，世界革命也是必要的。如果资本主义的危机仅仅局限在一国之内而没有传导到全世界，那么这种危机就不具备终极意义，因而也就尚未达到无法自我调和而濒临自我否定的最终阶段。换言之，孤立爆发危机的资本主义国家完全可以（例如通过对外战争或殖民输出的方式）将本国危机转嫁于他国；在这种情况下，资本主义制度就仍然具备自我延续的生命力，对它的扬弃便无从谈起。同时，如果资本主义仍处于向全世界扩张的态势，那么地域性的共产主义不仅不能同它相对抗，反倒要被它吞噬；即使共产主义在一国范围内初步形成了，“交往的任何扩大都会消灭地域性的共产主义”。特别是那些在落后国家建立起来的共产主义制度，由于它处在资本主义世界体系的包围之下，其政权之存续甚至都面临重大威胁，更毋论去积极继承资本主义的发展成果以实现经济发展的工业化了（除非它以某种畸形的、不可持续的模式来完成这一任务）。相反，如果一国革命扩展到发达资本主义国家因而呈现出世界革命的态势，那么落后国家的共产主义政权便可以获得发达国家无产阶级的政治经济支援，它的建设与发展也将步入正轨。

Therefore, “communism is empirically possible only as the act of the dominant peoples ‘all at once’ and simultaneously,” [5]5 Ibid. and “it can only exist as a ‘world-historical’ existence”; [6]6 Ibid. “united action, at least of the leading civilized countries, is one of the first conditions for the emancipation of the proletariat”; [7]7 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The Communist Manifesto*, Chapter II. “the emancipation of labor is neither a local nor a national problem, but a social problem embracing all countries in which modern society exists, and its solution depends on the practical and theoretical cooperation of the most advanced countries.” [8]8 Karl Marx, “Provisional Rules of the International Working Men’s Association” (1864). In his later years, Marx discerned new changes in the world situation and accurately predicted that the proletarian revolution might first break out in Russia; yet he still insisted that the Russian communist revolution must “become the signal for the proletarian revolution in the West, so that the two complement each other” [9]9 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Preface to the Russian Edition of the *Communist Manifesto*” (1882). in order to achieve final victory.

因此，“共产主义只有作为占统治地位的各民族‘一下子’同时发生行动，在经验上才是可能的”，“只有作为‘世界历史性的’存在才有可能实现”；“联合的行动，至少是各文明国家的联合的行动，是无产阶级获得解放的首要条件之一”；“劳动的解放既不是一个地方的问题，也不是一个国家的问题，而是涉及存在现代社会的一切国家的社会问题，它的解决有赖于最先进的国家在实践上和理论上的合作”。时至晚年，马克思洞察了世界格局的新变化，并精准地预见到，无产阶级革命有可能在俄国率先爆发；但他依然坚持，俄国的共产主义革命必须“成为西方无产阶级革命的信号而双方互相补充”才有可能取得最终胜利。

Thus, Marx grasped the inevitable globalizing trend of “world history” based on actual capitalist economic relations, and then, from the progressive standpoint of sublating capitalism, proposed the action plan of “world revolution.” The goal of world revolution is to abolish the rule of the bourgeoisie on a global scale and universally realize the communist system of freedom; in this sense, it is the concrete practical program of Marx’s concept of world history.

可见，马克思立足于现实的资本主义经济关系而把握了“世界历史”的全球化必然趋势，进而又从扬弃资本主义的进步立场提出了“世界革命”的行动方案。世界革命的目标乃是在全球范围内废除资产阶级的统治并普遍地实现共产主义的自由制度，在这个意义上，它就是马克思的世界历史概念的具体实践方案。

World History and the Emancipation of the Proletariat

世界历史与无产阶级解放

As is well known, the *Communist Manifesto* contains the following classic description of communism: “In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” [10]10 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The Communist Manifesto*, Chapter II. In fact, Marx also left another classic description in his later years, similar in wording but focused on the field of world history: “In opposition to the old society with its economic miseries and its political delirium, a new society is being born, whose international principle will be peace, because every nation will have the same ruler—labor!” [11]11 Karl Marx, “Inaugural Address of the International Working Men’s Association” (1864).

众所周知，《共产党宣言》曾对共产主义有过如下的经典描述：“代替那存在着阶级和阶级对立的资产阶级旧社会的，将是这样一个联合体，在那里，每个人的自由发展是一切人的自由发展的条件。”事实上，马克思晚年还有过另外一段表述类似的、但着眼于世界历史领域的经典描述：“同那个经济贫困和政治昏聩的旧社会相对立，正在诞生一个新社会，而这个新社会的国际原则将是和平，因为每一个民族都将有同一个统治者——劳动！”

From a philosophical path, Kant’s perpetual peace is a perfected state deduced from the transcendental idea of freedom; it is a categorical imperative that stands above the empirical world and demands that the empirical world should act accordingly. Precisely because of its transcendental nature, Kant’s categorical imperative is non-realistic; before living historical reality it is “impotent” (in Engels’ words) and can only degenerate into an “abstract ought” (in Hegel’s words). But communism is by no means such a transcendental, abstract, impotent moral imperative; it is deeply rooted in empirical relations of reality, a concrete conclusion generated from the actual possibilities of material economic relations and class relations. Marx clearly states: “Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things.” [12]12 Marx and Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845-1846), MECW Vol. 5, p. 49. In his later years, he again said: “The working class have no ideals to realize, but to set free the elements of the new society with which old collapsing bourgeois society itself is pregnant.” [13]13 Marx, “Inaugural Address of the Working Men’s International Association” (1864), MECW Vol. 20, p. 12. In other words, Marx consistently insisted on discovering within the objective world the factors capable of realizing perpetual peace. It is precisely because such factors indeed exist that he put forward the proposition of “peace”; and if these factors were lost, Marx would naturally be willing to acknowledge the objective reality of “non-peace.” Thus it can be seen that the abstract state of what ought to be presented by the theory of perpetual peace has not only nothing in common with the world peace conceived by Marx in terms of philosophical path, but is even diametrically opposed to it.

从哲学路径来看，康德的永久和平是从先验的自由理念中推导出来的完善状态，它是凌驾于经验世界之上并要求经验世界应该如此行事的绝对命令。正因其先验性质，康德的绝对命令是非现实性的，在活生生的历史现实面前它是“软弱无力的”（恩格斯语），只可能沦为一种“抽象的应该”（黑格尔语）。但共产主义绝不是这种先验的、抽象的、软弱无力的道德命令，它深植于经验的现实关系之中，它是从物质经济关系和阶级关系的实际可能性中生成而出的具体结论。马克思明确指出：“共产主义对我们来说不是应当确立的状况，不是现实应当与之相适应的理想。我们所称为共产主义的是那种消灭现存状况的现实的运动。”时至晚年，他再次谈道：“工人阶级不是要实现什么理想，而只是要解放那些由旧的正在崩溃的资产阶级社会本身孕育着的新社会因素。”换言之，马克思始终坚持在客观世界中发掘能够实现永久和平的因素。正因为确实存在着这样的因素，他才提出了“和平”的主张；而如果失去这些因素，马克思自然也愿意承认“非和平”的客观现实性。由此可见，永久和平论所呈现的那种抽象的应然状态同马克思所构想的世界和平在哲学路径上不仅毫无相同之处，甚至可以说是截然对立的。

From the perspective of a concrete political model, Kant’s perpetual peace requires the realization of a league of nations jointly formed by all countries of the world. And because Kant never put forward a plan for transcending the bourgeois state form, his so-called league of nations can naturally only be a union dominated by bourgeois political states. But Marx believed that the real force for bringing about perpetual peace does not lie in the bourgeois political state—the political state, as an intermediary instrument of the ruling class, often serves foreign wars for the expansion of its interests; on the contrary, true perpetual peace must be built on the revolutionary unity of the proletariat. It is a state of united world peace that eliminates the state in general by eliminating the bourgeois political state, and also a state of classless perpetual peace that eliminates class in general by eliminating bourgeois economic relations. Marx said: “The English working class stretch out the hand of friendship to the French and German working class. They are fully convinced that whatever the turn of the odious war may be, the union of the working classes of all countries will ultimately extinguish war.” [14]14 Marx, “Address of the General Council of the International Working Men’s Association on the Franco-Prussian War” (1870), MECW Vol. 22, p. 6. The First International was an important attempt by Marx, based on the perspective of world history, to promote the international unity of the proletariat. In terms of its ideological line, Marx was undoubtedly the “soul figure” of the International; “all the documents issued by the General Council of the International, from the Inaugural Address of 1864 to the manifesto on the Civil War in France of 1871, were almost all drafted by him”; [15]15 Engels, “On the History of the Communist League” (1885), MECW Vol. 26, p. 325. and in terms of its practice, it indeed played the world-historical function that Marx had set for it, namely “to enable the workers of one country to be constantly informed of the movements of the working class in all other countries,” and “in the event of international conflicts, to enable the affiliated societies to act simultaneously and in concert.” [16]16 Marx, “Provisional Rules of the International Working Men’s Association” (1864), MECW Vol. 20, p. 14. The international workers’ movement and the world socialist movement evoked by the First International unfolded vigorously, constantly impacting the political rule of the bourgeoisie and profoundly influencing the course of world history.

从具体的政治模式来看，康德的永久和平需要依靠一个世界各国共同组建的国际联盟来实现。并且由于康德根本没有提出对资产阶级国家形式的超越性的方案，他所谓的国际联盟自然只可能是由资产阶级政治国家所主导的联合体。但马克思认为，促成永久和平的真实力量并不在资产阶级的政治国家——政治国家作为统治阶级的中介工具往往为了其利益的扩张而服务于对外战争；相反，真正的永久和平必须建立在无产阶级的革命联合之上。它是一种通过消灭资产阶级政治国家从而消灭国家一般的、联合的世界和平状态，也是一种通过消灭资产阶级经济关系从而消灭阶级一般的、无阶级的永久和平状态。马克思说：“英国工人阶级向法国工人和德国工人伸出了友谊的手。他们深信，不管当前这场可憎的战争进程如何，全世界工人阶级的联合终究会根绝一切战争。”第一国际是马克思基于世界历史视域而推动无产阶级国际联合的一次重要尝试。就其思想路线而言，马克思无疑是国际的“灵魂人物”，“国际总委员会所发表的一切文件，从1864年的成立宣言直到1871年关于法兰西内战的宣言，几乎都是由他起草的”；而就其实践而言，也确曾发挥了马克思为其设定的世界历史性的功能，那就是“使一国工人能经常了解其他各国工人阶级运动的情况”，“在发生国际冲突时，使加入协会的团体能同时一致行动”。第一国际所唤起的国际工人运动与世界社会主义运动，轰轰烈烈地展开，不断冲击着资产阶级的政治统治，深刻影响着世界历史的进程。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗