An Exposition of Marx and Engels’s Methodology of Investigation and Research

Investigation and research are important means of understanding and transforming the world, a basic method for discovering, recognizing, and solving problems, and “our Party’s heirloom and the fundamental skill for doing all work well.” As our Party’s heirloom, investigation and research are also an inevitable requirement for upholding and developing Marxism. Marxism is a science of practice; it is a scientific conclusion drawn from systematic investigation and in-depth research starting from the practice of real production and life. Mao Zedong once pointed out: “Understanding the world is not an easy thing. Marx and Engels labored all their lives, did a great deal of investigation and research work, and only then completed scientific communism.” It was precisely through investigation and research that Marx and Engels obtained the theory for understanding the world, namely scientific socialism. Although Marx and Engels never explicitly used the concept of “investigation and research,” every step of their effort on the road to exploring scientific socialism was investigation and research in the true sense. They turned social investigation into a conscious action and constructed theoretical research on the basis of in-depth investigation of real society. Their methodology concerning investigation and research still possesses important guiding significance in the present era. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically sort out the methodological principles of Marx and Engels’s investigation and research, so as to provide intellectual support and methodological guidance for investigation and research in the New Era.

调查研究是认识世界和改造世界的重要手段，是发现问题、认识问题、解决问题的基本方法，“是我们党的传家宝，是做好各项工作的基本功”。作为我们党传家宝的调查研究，也是坚持和发展马克思主义的必然要求。马克思主义是实践的科学，是从现实生产生活实践出发，通过系统调查和深入研究得出的科学结论。毛泽东曾指出：“认识世界，不是一件容易的事。马克思恩格斯努力终生，作了许多调查研究工作，才完成了科学的共产主义。”正是通过调查和研究，马克思恩格斯获得认识世界的理论即科学社会主义。马克思恩格斯虽然并未明确使用“调查研究”这一概念，但在探究科学社会主义的道路上，他们每一步的努力都是名副其实的“调查研究”，他们把社会调查变成了自觉的行动，把理论研究建构在对现实社会深入调查的基础之上，他们有关调查研究的方法论在当今时代仍具有重要的指导意义。因此，有必要对马克思恩格斯的调查研究方法论原则进行系统梳理，以为新时代的调查研究提供智力支持和方法指引。

I. Taking the Stand of the Proletariat

一、站在无产阶级的立场上

Stand restricts people’s attitude and foothold in observing and analyzing problems and determines the direction and results of investigation and research. If the stand differs, the purpose of investigation and research differs, the objects served differ, and the results of investigation also differ. In fact, with regard to the activity of investigation and research itself, it has no stand at all; there is only the distinction between scientific and unscientific. But the application of investigation and research has a distinct stand. Different people, taking different stands, or viewing from different angles, when investigating situations and studying problems, will reach completely different conclusions. The most distinctive feature of Marx and Engels’s investigation and research is that they took the stand of the proletariat, used dialectical materialism and historical materialism as guidance, employed scientific research methods, revealed the law that communism inevitably replaces capitalism, and pointed out the path forward for the liberation of the proletariat.

立场，制约着人们观察、分析问题的态度和立足点，决定着调查研究的方向和结果。立场不同，调查研究的目的不同，服务的对象不同，调查的结果也不同。其实，就调查研究活动本身而言，它并无立场可言，只有科学与不科学之分，但调查研究的运用，却是有着鲜明的立场。不同的人，站在不同的立场，抑或是站在不同的角度，去调查情况、研究问题，将得出完全不同的结论。马克思恩格斯的调查研究最鲜明的特点是站在无产阶级立场上，以辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义为指导，运用科学的调研方法，揭示了共产主义必然代替资本主义的规律，为无产阶级的解放指明了前行之路。

As is well known, Marx and Engels always stood at the forefront of the proletarian revolution. Their entire lives were spent fighting for the proletariat and the cause of human liberation. Their investigation and research were invariably centered on the “proletariat.” From the purpose of investigation and research to the objects of investigation and research, and then to the results of investigation and research, all manifest their distinct proletarian stand.

众所周知，马克思恩格斯始终站在无产阶级革命的前沿，他们的一生都在为无产阶级、为人类的解放事业而奋斗，他们的调查研究无不是围绕“无产阶级”来展开，从调查研究的目的到调查研究的对象，再到调查研究的结果，无不彰显其鲜明的无产阶级立场。

First, from the perspective of the purpose of investigation and research, both Marx and Engels were committed to overthrowing the old world where the proletariat was oppressed and establishing a new world belonging to the proletariat. The old world is capitalist society. In capitalist society, the proletariat, which owns no means of production, has nothing except its labor power. It is at the very bottom of society, deeply oppressed and exploited by the bourgeoisie. Marx and Engels personally participated in the workers’ movement, went deep among the working masses to conduct investigation and research. In their investigation and research, Marx and Engels ruthlessly exposed the selfish, reactionary, and decadent nature of the bourgeoisie, vividly described the suffering life of the working class under oppression and exploitation, and “opened fire” on the old world of capitalism to change the tragic fate of the proletariat. In 1843, when Marx was editor-in-chief of the *Rheinische Zeitung*, faced with the unwarranted accusations by the Rhine Province governor against two articles published in the newspaper, and on the basis of in-depth investigation and research into the living conditions of residents in the Moselle River region and extensive reference to materials, he published “The Defense of the Moselle Correspondent,” refuting those arrogant government officials with detailed facts. Engels was equally full of sympathy for the oppressed and exploited working class. In his “To the Working Classes of Great Britain,” he once said: “I forsook the assemblies and the dinner-parties, the port-wine and champagne of the middle classes, and devoted my leisure hours almost exclusively to the intercourse with plain working men.” In this way, he “had the opportunity of

首先，从调查研究的目的来看，马克思恩格斯都致力于推翻无产阶级受压迫的旧世界，建立属于无产阶级的新世界。旧世界，即资本主义社会。在资本主义社会，不占有任何生产资料的无产阶级，除了劳动力以外，一无所有，他们处于社会的最底层，深受资产阶级的压迫和剥削。马克思恩格斯亲身参加工人运动，深入工人群众中进行调查研究，在调查研究中，马克思恩格斯无情地揭露资产阶级利己主义和反动腐朽的本质，鲜明地描述工人阶级受压迫受剥削的苦难生活，并为改变无产阶级的悲惨命运向资本主义旧世界“开炮”。1843年，马克思在担任《莱茵报》主编时，面对莱茵省总督对《莱茵报》发表的两篇文章的无端指责，在对摩泽尔河沿岸地区居民生活状况进行深入调查研究和查阅大量资料的基础上，发表《摩泽尔记者的辩护》，以详尽的事实驳斥了那些傲慢的政府官员。恩格斯对受压迫受剥削的工人阶级同样充满了同情。他在《致大不列颠工人阶级》中就曾说道：“我抛弃了社交活动和宴会，抛弃了资产阶级的葡萄牙红葡萄酒和香槟酒，把自己的空闲时间几乎都用来和普通的工人交往。”这样，他“就有机会为这个受压迫受诽谤的阶级做一件应该做的事情”，即反对当权的资产阶级极端自私自利的政策。可以说，马克思恩格斯所进行的调查研究无不表明他们为受苦难的下层民众代言的鲜明立场。

Second, from the perspective of the object of investigative research, Marx and Engels took the oppressed and exploited proletariat as the main object of their investigative research, and it was precisely because they took the proletariat as the object of investigation that they discovered the great power of the proletariat. Based on his experience of participating in political struggles and his investigative analysis of the social classes in Germany, France and other countries, Marx pointed out: “The proletariat proclaims the dissolution of the hitherto existing world order, only because it is the actual dissolution of that order.” [1]1 Karl Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s *Philosophy of Right*: Introduction,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 3, p. 186. Here, Marx indicated the historical position of the proletariat, making clear that only the proletariat is the true creator of future society. In his famous work of investigative research, *The Condition of the Working Class in England*, Engels conducted a profound analysis of the condition of the English working class, pointing out that the proletariat is not merely a suffering class but possesses the power to “destroy the whole bourgeoisie.”

其次，从调查研究的对象来看，马克思恩格斯把受压迫受剥削的无产阶级作为主要调查研究的对象，也正是因为以无产阶级为调查对象，他们发现了无产阶级的伟大力量。马克思根据他参加政治斗争的经验和对德、法等国社会各阶级的调查分析，指出：“无产阶级宣告迄今为止的世界制度的解体，只不过是揭示自己本身的存在的秘密，因为它就是这个世界制度的实际解体。”在这里，马克思指出了无产阶级的历史地位，点明了只有无产阶级才是未来社会的真正创造者。恩格斯在《英国工人阶级状况》这部调查研究名著中，对英国工人阶级状况进行了深刻分析，指出无产阶级不只是一个受苦的阶级，而且具有“摧毁整个资产阶级”的力量。

Finally, from the perspective of the results of investigative research, Marx and Engels pointed the way for the liberation of the proletariat and all humanity. As revolutionary mentors of the proletariat, Marx and Engels, through social investigation, revealed a series of truths concerning the liberation of the proletariat and the development of future society, putting forward that “the fall of the bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable,” [2]2 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *Manifesto of the Communist Party*, *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 6, p. 503. scientifically answering major epochal questions such as where human society is heading and how to achieve human liberation, founding scientific socialism, and pointing the direction for the proletariat to overthrow capitalism and realize socialism and communism.

最后，从调查研究的结果来看，马克思恩格斯为无产阶级和全人类的解放指明了道路。作为无产阶级的革命导师，马克思恩格斯通过社会调查揭示了关于无产阶级解放和未来社会发展的一系列真理，提出“资产阶级的灭亡和无产阶级的胜利是同样不可避免的”，科学回答了人类社会向何处去、如何实现人类解放等重大时代课题，创立了科学社会主义，为无产阶级推翻资本主义、实现社会主义和共产主义指明了方向。

In fact, before the proletariat stepped onto the stage of history, bourgeois scholars also conducted investigative research and even accumulated a large amount of material. However, unlike Marx and Engels, bourgeois scholars always stood on the side of the bourgeoisie, guided by bourgeois idealism and metaphysical methods, proceeding from subjectivism, distorting the truth of the facts, and attempting to conceal class contradictions; their investigative research served the political purposes of the bourgeoisie. In his analysis of bourgeois political economy, Engels once said: “Because the ready-made principles that Adam Smith and Malthus saw were merely fragmentary things, while before the most recent economists there was already a complete doctrine; all conclusions had already been drawn, and various contradictions were very clearly expressed, yet they did not investigate the individual premises.” [3]3 Friedrich Engels, “Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 3, p. 419. Due to their standpoint, bourgeois theorists could not proceed from reality, nor could they reveal real contradictions; instead, they strove to conceal contradictions, avoid truthful descriptions of the actual situation, and even turn black into white. They held extreme prejudice against the proletariat, believing that the proletariat was supported by the bourgeoisie, viewing the proletariat as a “sore” on society, and worrying that this “sore” would continue to expand, endangering the healthy development of society. Clearly, this is contrary to the facts, erroneous, and absurd.

其实，在无产阶级登上历史舞台之前，资产阶级学者也进行调查研究，而且还积累了大量的材料。但是，与马克思恩格斯不同，资产阶级学者始终站在资产阶级的立场上，在资产阶级的唯心主义和形而上学方法指导下，从主观主义出发，歪曲事实真相，试图掩盖阶级矛盾，他们的调查研究是为资产阶级的政治目的服务的。恩格斯在对资产阶级政治经济学分析时曾说道：“因为亚当·斯密和马尔萨斯所看到的现成的原理只不过是一些片断的东西，而在最近的经济学家面前却已经有了一套完整的学说；一切结论都已经做出来了，各种矛盾都表现得十分清楚，但是他们却没有去追究各个前提。”由于立场问题，资产阶级理论家不可能从实际出发，也不可能揭示现实的矛盾，而是竭力掩盖矛盾，避免对现实情况的真实描述，甚至颠倒黑白。他们对无产阶级有着极端偏见，认为无产阶级是由资产阶级来养活的，将无产阶级视为社会的“溃疮”，并担心这个“溃疮”会不断扩大，危及社会的健康发展。显然，这是违背事实，是错误的、荒谬的。

II. Adhering to the Combination of “Problem Consciousness” and “Problem Orientation”

二、坚持“问题意识”和“问题导向”相结合

“Problems” are both the starting point and the endpoint of investigative research. The key to investigative research lies in solving problems, and the prerequisite for solving problems is discovering and raising problems. In investigative research, one must always establish a problem consciousness and adhere to a problem orientation. Without problem consciousness and without taking problems as the orientation, investigative research will become a mere formality, or even go astray, achieving half the result with twice the effort and yielding little effect. In their investigative research, Marx and Engels were always permeated with problem consciousness, always unfolded their work around problems, and were always able to raise, analyze, and solve problems in a targeted manner.

“问题”是调查研究的出发点，也是落脚点。调查研究的关键在于解决问题，而解决问题的前提是发现问题、提出问题。在调查研究中要始终树立问题意识，坚持问题导向，没有问题意识，不以问题为导向，调查研究就会流于形式，甚至误入歧途，事倍功半、收效甚微。在调查研究中，马克思恩格斯总是透着问题意识，总是围绕问题展开，也总能有针对性地提出问题、分析问题并解决问题。

Investigative research must establish a “problem consciousness” and adhere to a problem-oriented approach; the first step is to be adept at discovering and raising problems in practice. Problems are the prerequisite for investigative research, but the existence of a problem and its discovery and formulation are not identical; due to the complexity of objective things and differences in subjective understanding, discovering and raising problems is no easy task. Marx and Engels were extremely sensitive to problems and adept at grasping the essence of problems behind the chaotic phenomena. In April 1880, at the invitation of French socialists, Marx personally compiled a *Workers’ Questionnaire*, which was published in the journal *La Revue Socialiste*. In this questionnaire, Marx posed 99 investigative questions, such as: “In which industrial branch do you work?” “What lighting is used in your workplace—gas lamps, kerosene lamps, or other lighting equipment?” “Is night work carried out?” “Are the machines cleaned by specially hired workers, or by the workers operating them during the normal working day without extra pay?” “What penalties does the employer face if he violates the contract?” “Is overtime paid separately? How much?” and similar questions. Through these concrete investigative questions, workers could clearly perceive the unfair treatment and miserable situation they suffered under capitalism, and gradually came to recognize the brutal exploitation inflicted upon them by the bourgeoisie. It was also through these investigative questions that Marx revealed the secret of the bourgeoisie’s uncompensated appropriation of surplus value in capitalist society. In France at the time, this questionnaire was called a “weapon” for exposing capitalists’ exploitation of workers and a “bugle call” summoning workers to revolution.

调查研究要树立“问题意识”，坚持问题导向，首先要善于在实践中发现问题、提出问题。问题是调查研究的前提，但问题的存在和问题的发现与提出并不一致，由于客观事物的复杂性和主观认识上的差异，发现和提出问题并非易事。马克思恩格斯对问题极具敏锐性，善于从纷繁的现象背后抓住问题的本质。1880年4月，马克思应法国社会党人之约，亲自编写了一份《工人调查表》，公开发表在《社会主义评论》杂志上。在这份调查表中，马克思提出了99个调查问题，如“你在哪一个工业部门工作？”“你的工作场所用什么照明？是煤气灯、煤油灯还是其他照明设备？”“开不开夜工？”“机器是另外专门雇一些工人来擦拭的，还是由操作机器的工人在正常工作日内无报酬地擦拭的？”“老板如果违反合同，要受什么样的处罚？”“加班是不是另给工资？给多少？”等诸如此类的问题。通过这些实实在在的调查问题，工人可以明确感知自己在资本主义社会中所遭受的不公平待遇和所处的悲惨境地，也逐渐认清了资产阶级对自己进行的残酷剥削。也正是通过这些调查问题，马克思揭示出在资本主义社会里资产阶级无偿占有剩余价值的秘密。在当时的法国，这份调查表被称之为揭露资本家剥削工人的“武器”，号召工人进行革命的“号角”。

Although he did not draw up a detailed questionnaire like Marx, Engels was equally sharp in capturing problems. Engels’s investigative research into social issues began slightly earlier than Marx’s. The first investigative report in the history of Marxist investigative research—*Letters from Wuppertal*—was written by Engels at the age of 19, based on his investigation of the living conditions of the bourgeoisie and working people in his hometown. The filthy waters of the Wupper River, the widespread poverty and chronic illness of the workers—these problems drove Engels to conduct on-site investigations in the factories and, through analysis and research, to expose the cruel facts. In this report, Engels revealed the hypocrisy and ignorance of the bourgeoisie in his hometown, depicted the impoverished lives of the local workers, and exposed the spiritual poisoning they suffered at the hands of the most reactionary “mystics” or “pietists” in the local church. Engels’s investigative report caused an uproar among the bourgeoisie and religious apologists in the Wuppertal Valley.

虽然没有像马克思那样制定一份细致的调查表，但恩格斯对于问题的捕捉同样敏锐。对社会问题的调查研究，恩格斯比马克思要略早一些。马克思主义调查研究史上的第一篇调查报告——《伍珀河谷来信》，就是恩格斯19岁时在对其家乡的资产阶级和劳动人民生活状况调查基础上所写。伍珀河污浊不堪的河水、工人的普遍贫困和疾病缠身，这些问题让恩格斯深入工厂去实地调查，并通过分析研究揭露残酷的事实真相。在这篇报告中，恩格斯揭露了他家乡资产阶级的伪善和愚昧，描绘了当地工人的贫困生活以及所遭受的当地教会中最反动的“神秘主义者”或“虔诚主义者”精神上的毒害。恩格斯的这篇调查报告，在伍珀河谷资产阶级和宗教卫道士圈子里引起轩然大波。

Of course, discovering and raising problems is only the first step in investigative research; analyzing and solving problems is the fundamental purpose of investigative research. Through their analysis of problems in their investigative research, Marx and Engels found remedies for social ills and charted a path for the working class to escape its real predicament. As Marx said: “World history itself has no other way than to answer old questions with new ones and to solve old problems with new ones.” [4]4 This is a paraphrase of a passage from Marx’s letter to the editor of the *Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher* (March 1843), in which he discusses the relationship between posing new questions and resolving old ones in history. The investigative research of Marx and Engels was invariably conducted to solve the great problems of their era. Unlike the social surveys of modern Western countries, which focused on specific social issues, the investigative research of Marx and Engels placed greater emphasis on fundamental social problems of major significance to the cause of revolution and construction, and on answering the questions of the times. Marx and Engels’s conscious cognition of the conditions and basic trends of social life in their investigative research enabled them to fundamentally reflect on social contradictions and problems, thereby conducting penetrating critique and analysis and proposing practical and feasible solutions.

当然，发现问题、提出问题只是调查研究的第一步，分析问题和解决问题才是调查研究的根本目的。马克思恩格斯在其调查研究中通过对问题的分析，寻找到了医治社会问题的良方，为工人阶级找到摆脱现实困境的道路。正如马克思所说：“世界史本身，除了用新问题来回答和解决老问题之外，没有别的方法。”马克思恩格斯的调查研究无不是为解决他们时代的大问题而进行的。与近现代西方国家社会调查侧重于一些具体社会问题不同，马克思恩格斯的调查研究则更侧重于对革命和建设事业具有重大意义的带根本性的社会问题，侧重于对时代问题的回答。马克思恩格斯在调查研究中对社会生活状况与基本趋势的自觉认知，使得他们能从根本上思考社会矛盾与社会问题，从而进行鞭辟入里的批判与分析，并提出现实可行的方案。

III. Adhering to the Combination of Typical Investigation and Comprehensive Investigation

三、坚持典型调查与普遍调查相结合

As the name implies, typical investigation refers to the conscious selection of representative objects for detailed investigation on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the research subjects, so as to understand the essence of things and the laws of their development and change; comprehensive investigation refers to investigating all objects one by one, often used to collect precise data on the research subjects at a given point in time. The epistemology of dialectical materialism holds that the law by which people understand things proceeds first from the particular to the general, and then from the general to the particular. It can be said that typical investigation is a useful supplement to comprehensive investigation, and sometimes even the main method of investigative research, especially for certain specific research subjects and objects. On the basis of their typical investigation of Britain, the “mature form” of capitalism, Marx and Engels also proposed a comprehensive investigation of the condition of the working class.

顾名思义，典型调查，是指在对调查对象全面分析的基础上，有意识地选择具有代表性的对象进行细致调查，从而认识事物的本质和发展变化规律；普遍调查，则是指对全部对象逐一进行调查，常用来搜集调查对象在某一时点上的精确资料。辩证唯物主义认识论认为，人们认识事物的规律是先从特殊到一般，再从一般到特殊。可以说，典型调查是普遍调查的有益补充，有时甚至是调查研究的主要方式，特别是对某些特定研究主体和对象的调查。马克思恩格斯在对资本主义“成熟形态”的英国进行典型调查的基础上，同时还提出了对工人阶级状况的普遍调查。

The “typical” inherently contains the universality and particularity of the development of things. Marx and Engels, precisely by focusing on the group commonalities and unique individual characteristics contained in the form of typical things, discovered that universality must be expressed through particularity. In the process of conducting investigative research on the capitalist world system, they consistently adhered to “valuing the typical” and abstracted the general characteristics of capitalist society from its “typical form,” revealing the laws of economic operation of capitalist society. Marx believed that to study capitalism, one should study its “mature form”; he took “Britain” as the typical site and laboratory for studying the capitalist mode of production and its corresponding relations of production. As he stated in the preface to the first edition of *Capital*: “In this work I have to examine the capitalist mode of production, and the conditions of production and exchange corresponding to that mode. Up to the present time, their classic ground is England. That is the reason why England is used as the chief illustration in the development of my theoretical ideas.” [5]5 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume I, Preface to the First Edition (1867). After 1849, Marx settled in London for a long period; an important reason was that “London is a convenient vantage point for the observation of bourgeois society.” [6]6 This is a remark by Marx, cited in various biographical sources, explaining his decision to reside in London for the study of bourgeois society. Although living expenses were high and the climate was very bad, he refused to move elsewhere in order to “observe” capitalist society. London, as the typical center of capitalism, provided Marx with a favorable environment for scientific research, enabling him to conduct a comprehensive scientific analysis of capitalist society.

“典型”内在地蕴含着事物发展的普遍性与特殊性，马克思恩格斯正是关注到典型事物形态中所蕴含的群体共性与独特的个性特征，发现了普遍性需要通过特殊性才能表现出来，他们在对资本主义世界体系展开调查研究的过程中将“重视典型”一以贯之，并从资本主义社会的“典型形态”中抽象出资本主义社会的一般特征，揭示出资本主义社会的经济运行规律。马克思认为，要研究资本主义，就应研究资本主义的“成熟形态”，他把“英国”作为研究资本主义生产方式及其相应生产关系的典型处所和实验室。正如他在《资本论》出版序言中所说：“我要在本书研究的，是资本主义生产方式以及和它相适应的生产关系和交换关系。到现在为止，这种生产方式的典型地点是英国。因此，我在理论阐述上主要用英国作为例证。” 1849年以后，马克思长期定居伦敦，一个重要原因就是“伦敦对于考察资产阶级社会是一个方便的地点”，尽管那里生活费用昂贵、气候很坏，可是为了“考察”资本主义社会，他不肯迁居别处去。伦敦作为资本主义的典型中心，为马克思进行科学研究提供了一个良好的环境，使他能够对资本主义社会进行全面的科学分析。

Similarly, “Britain” also occupied a pivotal position in Engels’s investigative research. He conducted a 21-month in-depth investigation into the condition of the British working class, revealing the two opposing classes that emerged from the Industrial Revolution: the modern industrial proletariat and the modern industrial bourgeoisie. As Engels said: “It is only in England that the proletariat can be studied in all its relations and from all sides.” [7]7 Friedrich Engels, *The Condition of the Working Class in England* (1845), Preface to the First Edition. “Only in the British Empire, and particularly on English soil, does the condition of the proletariat assume a typical form, and appear in its most complete development; and only here can the necessary material be collected, which is so complete and confirmed by official investigations, as is required for a detailed exposition of the subject.” [8]8 Ibid. Engels took Britain as the typical representative to analyze the condition of the entire European proletariat, grasping the overall condition of the working class as a class and the future development trends of the workers’ movement.

同样，“英国”在恩格斯的调查研究中也占据着举足轻重的位置，他对英国工人阶级状况进行了21个月的深入调查，揭示出从产业革命中分化出的两个对立阶级：现代产业无产阶级与现代产业资产阶级。正如恩格斯所说：“只有在英国，才能把无产阶级放在它的一切关系中并从各个方面来加以研究。”“只有在不列颠帝国，特别是在英国本土，无产阶级的状况才具有典型的形式，才表现得最完备；而且只有在英国，才能搜集到这样完整的并为官方的调查所证实的必要材料，这正是对这个问题进行比较详尽的阐述所必需的。”恩格斯以英国为典型代表来分析整个欧洲无产阶级的状况，弄清了工人阶级作为一个阶级的整体状况，以及工人运动的未来发展趋势。

Compared with typical-case investigation, comprehensive investigation emphasizes precision and completeness, thereby avoiding one-sidedness. Besides taking England as a “typical case,” Marx and Engels also placed great importance on comprehensive investigation of the working class. At the very founding of the International Workingmen’s Association, Marx proposed launching investigative research activities by the working class itself and systematically set out the purpose, requirements, and a specific investigation outline. Under the guidance of Marx and Engels, the “statistical investigation of the condition of the working class” was listed as an important component of the Association’s “Common Rules and Organizational Regulations.” In the additional organizational rules document of the International Workingmen’s Association’s statutes, the principles of proletarian comprehensive investigation were discussed under the title “On the Comprehensive Investigation of the Working Class.” The organizational rules required that every branch affiliated with the First International must establish a special statistical committee, and that “all groups shall give certain rewards to the secretaries of the statistical committees according to the contribution of their work to the working class.” “The general branch committees or statistical committees of each country must submit all materials concerning their own country to the General Council before August 1 each year; the General Council shall write a general report based on these materials.” It can be seen from this that Marx and Engels also attached great importance to the comprehensive investigation of the condition of the working class.

相较典型调查，普遍调查重在精确、全面，避免了片面。除了将英国作为“典型”，马克思恩格斯还非常重视对工人阶级的普遍调查。在国际工人协会创立之初，马克思就提出开展工人阶级自己的调查研究活动，并系统地提出了调查研究的目的、要求以及具体的调查大纲。在马克思恩格斯的指导下，对“工人阶级状况的统计调查”被列为协会的“共同章程和组织条例”的重要内容之一。在国际工人协会章程的附加组织规则文件中以《关于工人阶级的普遍调查工作》为题论述了无产阶级普遍调查原则。组织规则要求参加第一国际的每一个支部务必成立专门的统计委员会，“所有小组视统计委员会秘书的工作对工人阶级的贡献如何而给予他们一定的奖励”。“各国总支部委员会或统计委员会必须在每年8月1日以前把有关本国的所有材料送交总委员会；总委员会根据这些材料写出总报告”。从中可以看出，马克思恩格斯也非常重视对工人阶级状况的普遍调查。

IV. Adhering to the Integration of Investigation Work and Research Work

四、坚持调查工作与研究工作相结合

Literally, investigative research consists of “investigation” and “research.” Investigation means that people use various investigative methods to purposefully understand the true state of things; research means processing and transforming the investigative materials by discarding the dross and selecting the essential, eliminating the false and retaining the true, proceeding from the one to the other and from the surface to the core, systematizing and theorizing unsystematic and incomplete raw material, so as to obtain an understanding of the essence and laws of objective things. Investigation targets the truth of the problem; research targets the essence of the problem. Investigation and research complement and interpenetrate each other; neither can be dispensed with. If investigative research stops only at the investigation stage, then even if a wealth of material has been accumulated, and even if that material is truthful, objective, and comprehensive, one can only obtain some surface facts and external phenomena; without meticulous research, it is impossible to arrive at an understanding of laws. Therefore, on the basis of investigation work, further analytical and inferential research on the investigation results must be carried out. A very important reason why Marx and Engels were able to found Marxist theory is that they placed great emphasis on investigating and researching social reality; they studied society starting from social life itself, and carried out theoretical creation on the basis of social investigation and the collection and analysis of data.

从字面上看，调查研究由“调查”和“研究”组成。调查，即人们通过各种调查方法有目的地了解事物真实情况；研究，即对调查材料进行去粗取精、去伪存真、由此及彼、由表及里的改造加工，将不系统不完整的素材系统化、理论化，获得对客观事物本质和规律的认识。调查的是问题的真相，研究的是问题的本质。调查与研究相辅相成、相互渗透，二者缺一不可。如果调查研究仅仅停留在调查阶段，虽然积累了众多素材，即便素材是真实的、客观的、全面的，但那也只能获得一些表面的事实和外在的现象，缺乏细致的研究，是不可能求得规律性的认识。因此，必须在调查工作的基础上，对调查结果作进一步的分析推理研究。马克思恩格斯之所以能够创立马克思主义学说，很重要的原因就是他们十分重视对社会实际的调查与研究，他们从社会生活本身出发研究社会，在社会调查和收集、分析资料的基础上进行理论的创造。

To do investigation work well, one must first do a good job of collecting and organizing materials. Marx and Engels attached great importance to collecting first-hand empirical materials, while also consulting a large number of books and reports. While reading the “wordless book” of society well, they also read well the “book with words” of texts. In the autumn of 1844, after Marx and Engels met in Paris, they began their joint social investigation. “During his stay in Paris, Engels, introduced by Marx, became acquainted with activists of the French workers’ movement and Russian exiles, investigated the French workers’ movement, and together with Marx attended gatherings of French socialists and communists.” Marx and Engels placed great importance on direct investigation of the actual situation in the workers’ movement, and from it collected a large amount of first-hand empirical materials. To understand the living conditions of the working class, Engels often lived in workers’ homes, engaging in daily conversations and observations with them; he was also one of the earlier scholars to engage in empirical investigation and field research. From July to August 1845, Marx and Engels jointly investigated the economic life, political life, and workers’ movement in England. Besides emphasizing personal social investigation, Marx and Engels also attached great importance to the study of documents, materials, and reports. They conducted literature research on classical economics, utopian socialism, and English scientific literature, and using various data obtained from investigations by some bourgeois governments and sociologists, wrote great works such as *Capital*. In March 1961, Mao Zedong pointed out at the Guangzhou Central Work Conference: “The principles and tenets put forward by Marx and Engels were conclusions drawn from investigation. Without the London Library, Marx could not have written *Capital*.” Reading the “book with words” well was another important way for Marx and Engels to collect materials.

做好调查工作，首先就要做好资料的搜集和整理。马克思恩格斯高度重视搜集一手的实证资料，同时还查阅大量书籍、报告等，在读好社会这本“无字书”的同时，也读好书本这部“有字书”。1844年秋，马克思恩格斯巴黎会见以后，便开始了他们共同的社会调查，“恩格斯在巴黎逗留期间，经马克思介绍结识了法国工人运动的活动家和俄国流亡者，考察了法国工人运动，并且和马克思一起参加了法国社会主义者和共产主义者的集会”。马克思恩格斯非常重视对工人运动中实际情况的直接调查，并从中搜集大量的第一手实证资料。恩格斯为了了解工人阶级的生活状况，常常住在工人家里，与他们进行日常交谈和观察，他也是较早从事实证调查、田野研究的学者。1845年7月至8月，马克思恩格斯共同考察了英国的经济生活、政治生活和工人运动。除了注重亲身的社会调查，马克思恩格斯也非常重视对文献、资料和报告的研究。他们对古典经济学、空想社会主义和英国科学文献进行了文献调研，并通过一些资产阶级政府和社会学家调查所得的各种资料，写下了《资本论》等巨著。1961年3月，毛泽东在广州中央工作会议上指出：“马克思、恩格斯提出的那些原理原则是经过调查得出的结论。如果没有伦敦图书馆，马克思就写不出《资本论》。”读好“有字书”，是马克思恩格斯搜集资料的又一重要方式。

If collecting and organizing materials is the first step of investigative research, then analyzing and researching the various materials obtained from the investigation is the second step, and a crucial one. The so-called “three parts investigation, seven parts research” captures this principle. The process of analysis and research is the process of “seeking truth from facts” (实事求是), the process of seeking the inherent laws of things. *Capital*, which took Marx 40 years of painstaking effort to write, was built on the foundation of his long-term investigative research on capitalist society. On the one hand, Marx elevated the large amount of facts obtained from his participation in revolutionary struggle into theory; on the other hand, Marx consulted vast amounts of documentary materials in the British Museum, conducting in-depth research on the economic, political, and ideological conditions of capitalism, thereby completing this epoch-making masterpiece. In the British Museum, Marx studied even the Blue Books containing reports from Scottish investigators and factory inspectors that the library had collected or even discarded as waste paper. Marx once said: “Research must fully appropriate the material, analyze its various forms of development, and trace their inner connection. Only after this work is done can the actual movement be appropriately presented.” That is to say, after fully appropriating the material, one must also analyze its various forms and probe the inner essence behind them. Like Marx, Engels also did a great deal of investigative research work. He not only made detailed records of the conditions of workers in Manchester and other places, but also exhaustively studied all previously published works on this subject, critically examined various official and unofficial documents, and finally wrote *The Condition of the Working Class in England* — “one of the outstanding works in the world socialist literature.” In short, by making horizontal and vertical comparisons of investigative materials, contrasting parts with the whole, and weighing history against reality, Marx and Engels found the laws within chaotic and bewildering social phenomena.

如果说搜集整理资料是调查研究的第一步，那么对调查得来的各种各样的资料加以分析研究，就是调查研究的第二步，也是关键一环。所谓“三分调查，七分研究”就是这个道理。分析研究的过程，就是“求是”的过程，就是寻求事物内在规律性的过程。马克思用了40年的心血所写的《资本论》，就建立在他对资本主义社会进行长期调查研究的基础上。一方面马克思把参加革命斗争中调查所得的大量事实上升为理论，另一方面马克思通过大英博物馆查阅了浩瀚的资料文献，对资本主义的经济状况、政治状况和意识形态进行了深入研究，从而完成了这部旷世巨作。在大英博物馆时，马克思把图书馆收藏的甚至被当成废纸扔掉的载有苏格兰调查员会以及工厂视察员报告的蓝皮书都作了研究。马克思曾说：“研究必须充分地占有材料，分析它的各种发展形式，探寻这些形式的内在联系。只有这项工作完成以后，现实的运动才能适当地叙述出来。”即是说，在充分占有材料之后，还要分析它的各种形式，探寻其背后的内在本质。同马克思一样，恩格斯也做了大量的调查研究工作，他不仅对曼彻斯特等地的工人状况做了详细的记载，同时还详尽地研究了以前出版的关于这个问题的全部著作，批判地审查了各式各样的官方文件和非官方文件，最终写成《英国工人阶级状况》——“世界社会主义文献中的优秀著作之一”。总之，马克思恩格斯通过对调查材料进行横向与纵向的对比、部分与全局的对照、历史与现实的权衡，从混沌迷离的社会现象中找到了规律性。

V. Adhering to the Organization and Institutionalization of Investigative Research

五、坚持调查研究的组织化和制度化

The organization and institutionalization of social investigation inevitably bring about high efficiency in investigative research. Acquiring the latest information is difficult to accomplish relying solely on individuals or a few research institutions; it is necessary to broadly draw on social forces, cooperate with multiple research institutions, and rely on an investigative research network to obtain the latest news quickly and in a timely manner. If the social investigation activities carried out by Marx and Engels in their early period were individual and partial, then after they became professional revolutionaries, their investigative research activities became organized, comprehensive, and macroscopic. From acting alone to cooperating as a pair, and then to conducting investigative research in an organized, planned manner with an outline, from partial investigations of factories, enterprises, or a certain region to carrying out a “great international union,” their level of investigative research reached a new historical height at that time, enabling them to base all their theories on objective facts and laws, so much so that “those who opposed Marx could never prove that he had made the slightest oversight, nor could they point out that his arguments were based on facts that could not withstand rigorous examination.” Through the establishment of an international investigative information network, Marx and Engels constantly absorbed the latest information from around the world, laying a solid foundation for the creation of their theories.

社会调查的组织化、制度化，必然带来调查研究的高效化。最新信息的获取，如果仅仅靠单个人或少数调研机构是很难胜任的，必须广泛地借助社会的力量，同多家研究机构协同合作，依靠调查研究网络才能迅速、及时地得到最新消息。如果说马克思恩格斯早期所进行的社会调查活动是个人的、局部的，那么他们在成为职业革命家后，其调查研究活动就是有组织的、全局的、宏观的。从单枪匹马到两人合作，再到有组织、有计划、有大纲进行调查研究，从工厂企业、某一地区的局部调查到进行“伟大国际性联合”，使得他们的调查研究水平在当时达到了历史新高度，得以把他们的全部理论建立在客观事实和规律上，以至于“反对马克思的人从来也不能证明他有一点疏忽，不能指出他的论证是建立在受不住严格考核的事实上的”。通过国际性调查信息网的建立，马克思恩格斯时时汲取世界范围内的最新信息，为其理论的创造奠定了坚实的基础。

Marx and Engels placed great emphasis on the organization of investigation and research. The establishment of the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee in early 1846 was in fact an international social investigation information network set up by Marx and Engels. The Communist Correspondence Committee was not only a command system for the revolutionary movement but also a form through which communists from various countries could exchange actual investigative materials with one another. Marx pointed out: “The question is only to establish a regular correspondence that will ensure an understanding of the social movements in each country, so that rich and many-sided results may be obtained, which can never be achieved by the efforts of a single person.” [11] The Committee’s task was to unite socialists and advanced workers from various countries ideologically and organizationally, to establish connections among socialists from different countries, and to exchange information on social conditions in each country and locality. The establishment of the Communist Correspondence Committee enabled their social investigations to be organized for the mutual exchange of information. With the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee as the center, Marx and Engels established Communist Correspondence Committees in many German cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, and Leipzig, as well as in countries such as England, the Netherlands, and Denmark. On the one hand, they used socialists in various places to investigate various social conditions and provided them with a large amount of practical investigative materials through correspondence; on the other hand, they themselves conducted in-depth social investigation and research and exchanged information with socialists from various countries and localities. This great initiative of Marx and Engels with far-reaching historical significance — international correspondence-based social investigation — was, under the historical conditions of the time, a relatively feasible method for conducting social investigation and research on a worldwide scale. It was precisely because of such an international social investigation network that Marx and Engels were able to promptly gather a vast amount of diverse real-world social information, laying a solid foundation for their social research. Works such as *The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850* and *The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte* were written by Marx on the basis of his understanding of the conditions of the workers’ movement in various European countries through the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee and his direct participation in the European revolutions of 1848.

马克思恩格斯非常重视调查研究的组织化。1846年初布鲁塞尔共产主义通讯委员会的建立，实际上就是马克思恩格斯建立的国际性的社会调查信息网。共产主义通讯委员会不仅是革命运动的指挥系统，还是各国共产主义者相互交流实际调查资料的形式。马克思指出：“问题只在于建立一种经常性的通讯联系，保证能够了解各国的社会运动，以便取得丰硕的、多方面的成果，而靠一个人的努力是永远也做不到这一点的。”委员会的任务是从思想上和组织上团结各国的社会主义者和先进工人，建立起各国社会主义者之间的联系，互通有关各国和各地社会情况；共产主义通讯委员会的建立，则使他们的社会调查得以有组织的互通信息。马克思恩格斯以布鲁塞尔共产主义通讯委员会为中心，在柏林、汉堡、莱比锡等许多德国城市和英国、荷兰、丹麦等国建立了共产主义通讯委员会。他们一方面通过各地社会主义者调查各种社会情况，运用通讯的方式向他们提供大量实际调查资料；另一方面他们自己也进行深入的社会调查与研究并与各国各地社会主义者互通情况。马克思恩格斯这一有深远历史意义的伟大创举——国际性通讯社会调查，是在当时历史条件下，进行世界范围内的社会调查与研究较为可行的方式。也正是因为有这样一个国际性的社会调查网，使得马克思恩格斯能够及时汇集巨量的各类现实社会信息，为他们进行社会研究打下坚实基础。《1848年至1850年的法兰西阶级斗争》《路易·波拿巴的雾月十八日政变记》等正是马克思通过布鲁塞尔共产主义通讯委员会了解欧洲各国工人运动状况，直接参加1848年欧洲革命的基础上写成的。

At the same time, Marx and Engels also placed great emphasis on the institutionalization of investigation and research. The *Provisional Rules of the International Working Men’s Association* (hereinafter referred to as the *Rules*) and the *Provisional Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men’s Association* (hereinafter referred to as the *Regulations*), drafted personally by Marx, are quite compelling evidence. The *Rules* and the *Regulations* clearly stipulate that organizing extensive international social investigation is a regular and important task of the General Council. For example, Article 6 of the *Rules* states: “The General Council is the international agency connecting the national and local organizations of the Association in the various countries, so that one country’s workers may constantly be kept informed of the movements of the working class in all other countries; and that, under a unified leadership, simultaneous investigations of the social conditions in the various European countries may be carried out.” [12] The *Regulations* clearly stipulate: “The General Council shall put into effect Article 6 of the Rules, which concerns the general statistics of the working class, as well as the resolution adopted on this question by the Geneva Congress of 1866.” [13] To obtain sufficient materials, Marx and Engels did not confine their vision to a specific region but conducted investigation and research on an international scale, using various means to extensively collect information, listen to the voices of the working class in various countries and regions, and understand the most authentic conditions of the working class in each region, thereby making ample preparations for the study of the theory of proletarian revolution.

同时，马克思恩格斯也非常重视调查研究的制度化。马克思亲自起草的《国际工人协会共同章程》（以下简称《章程》）及《国际工人协会共同章程和组织条例草案》（以下简称《草案》），就是颇为有力的证明。《章程》和《草案》明确规定组织进行国际性的广泛的社会调查是总委员会一项经常性的重要工作，例如《章程》中的第六条规定：“总委员会是在协会各国的全国性组织和地方性组织之间进行联系的国际机关，应使一国工人能经常了解其他各国工人阶级运动的情况；在统一领导下对欧洲各国社会状况同时进行调查。”《草案》中明确规定：“总委员会应将章程中涉及对工人阶级进行普遍统计的第六条以及1866年日内瓦代表大会就这一问题所做的决议付诸实施。”为了获取充分的材料，马克思恩格斯没有把眼光局限在一定的区域内，而是放眼国际进行调查研究，利用各种手段广泛地收集信息，倾听各个国家、各个地区工人阶级的呼声，了解各个地区工人阶级最真实的情况，为研究无产阶级革命理论做充足的准备。

VI. Conclusion

六、结 语

Tracing the methodological principles of Marx and Engels’s investigation and research, we can find that through investigation and research they obtained the magic weapon for penetrating the general laws of society and moving toward truth, and these principles still have important enlightening significance in the present era. In contemporary times, the primary task of investigation and research is to adhere to a people-centered approach, putting the people first. The people’s standpoint is the fundamental standpoint of the Communist Party of China and also the fundamental standpoint of investigation and research. In 1988, when Comrade Xi Jinping was Secretary of the Ningde Prefectural Party Committee in Fujian Province, immediately upon taking office he conducted a month-long investigation and research, going deep into the grassroots, listening to the voices of the people, and observing the conditions of the people, opening up the work with investigation and research, and proposing the work system of “going down to the grassroots level on four fronts.” [14] What went down was the “grassroots level,” but what was reached was the “people’s hearts.” Thirty-five years later, “going down to the grassroots level on four fronts” remains the “golden key” for Fujian’s various localities to connect with the masses, smooth the flow of public opinion, and serve the masses. Xi Jinping once said: “Only by keeping the masses in your heart and planning everything for the people can you gain their sincere support.” “Going down to the grassroots level on four fronts” embodies the people’s standpoint of conducting investigation and research for the people and investigation and research serving the people. Of course, investigation and research must also be problem-oriented, adhering to the combination of the universal and the typical, and the combination of investigation and research. In practical investigation and research, to ensure that investigation and research achieve practical results, it is necessary to seriously study and judge “new problems,” grasp “major problems,” highlight “key problems,” and focus on “hot and difficult problems.” It is necessary not only to grasp the key points and do a good job with typical cases but also to pay attention to the extensiveness of investigation and research, and after the investigation is completed, to engage in meticulous thinking, systematize fragmented understandings, deepen superficial understandings, discover the essential laws of things, and find the correct methods for solving problems. Taking the fight against poverty as an example, Xi Jinping conducted more than 50 investigations and research trips, visiting all contiguous poverty-stricken areas across the country, thereby gaining a very profound understanding and study of the poverty problem and proposing highly targeted work ideas and methods, providing strong guidance for winning the battle against poverty. The proposal of the concept of “targeted poverty alleviation” [15] is not only the

追溯马克思恩格斯调查研究的方法论原则，可以发现他们通过调查研究获得了透视社会一般规律、走向真理的制胜法宝，而这些原则在当今时代仍有重要的启示意义。在当代，调查研究首要的就是坚持以人民为中心，人民至上。人民立场是中国共产党的根本立场，也是调查研究的根本立场。1988年，时任福建宁德地委书记的习近平同志，赴任之初，就开展了一个月的调查研究，深入基层、听民声、察民情，以调研开路，以调研开局，提出“四下基层”的工作制度，下的是“基层”，到的却是“民心”。35年后的今天，“四下基层”依然是福建各地联系群众、畅通民意、服从群众的“金钥匙”。习近平曾说：“只有心中装着群众，事事为人民打算，才能得到群众真心实意的支持。” “四下基层”体现了为人民调查研究、调查研究为了人民的人民立场。当然，调查研究也要以问题为导向，坚持普遍与典型相结合、调查与研究相结合。在实际的调查研究中，要确保调查研究取得实效，就要认真研判“新问题”，抓住“大问题”，突出“重点问题”，聚焦“热点难点问题”，既要抓住重点、搞好典型，也要注重调查研究的广泛性，并且在调查结束后进行细致的思考，将零散的认识系统化，把粗浅的认识深刻化，发现事物的本质规律，找到解决问题的正确方法。以脱贫攻坚为例，习近平先后进行了50多次调研，走遍了全国所有的连片贫困地区，由此对贫困问题有了非常深刻的了解和研究，并提出富有针对性的工作思路和方法，为打赢脱贫攻坚战提供了有力指导。“精准扶贫”理念的提出不仅是习近平普遍调查的结果，“精准”二字更是他典型调研的写照；不仅是调查的结果，更是研究后的理论提升。此外，党中央《关于在全党大兴调查研究的工作方案》提出的，“完善调查研究的长效机制，使调查研究成为党员、干部的经常性工作，在全党蔚然成风、产生实效”。调查研究的组织化、制度化，使全社会形成一个上下贯通、纵横相联的调查研究网络，这将大大提升调查研究的整体效益。

Web editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗

Source: *Theoretical Exploration*, Issue 1, 2024

文章来源：《理论探索》2024年第1期