Li Dazhao was the first Marxist in the history of China, and his name was closely related to the spread of Marxism in China.
Of course, this does not mean that no one had talked about Marx and his theory in China before Li Dazhao. For example, at the end of 19, Marx was mentioned in some publications of Shanghai Optical Society. 1902 Liang Qichao's Revolutionary Theory of Evolution published in Xinmin Cong Bao also mentioned Marx; 1903 Ma wrote a comparison between socialism and evolution in the translation compilation, and also mentioned the declaration of the * * * producers' party in Marx's appendix. 1905, Zhu Zhixin's Biography of German Social Revolutionaries published in People's Daily not only mentioned the lives of Marx and Engels, but also talked about the main points of the Producers' Party Manifesto, and so on.
However, can these be regarded as signs of the spread of Marxism in China? The answer is no, which can be seen from both subjective and objective aspects: subjectively, the authors of these articles have no intention of believing, spreading and practicing Marxism. For example, some books and periodicals published by Shanghai Broadcasting Society 19 at the end of the year only introduce various socialist theories popular in the West as a supplement while promoting the Christian doctrine of salvation; Liang Qichao mentioned Marx in passing when he introduced Jed's theory of evolutionist, which was not only brief but also critical (he quoted some comments of Jed on Marx). Although Zhu Zhixin introduced the main viewpoints of Marx, Engels and the Manifesto of the Producer Party, his purpose was only to realize the political proposition that social revolution and political revolution should be "a fight to the death". Objectively speaking, Marxism has not spread. From the Revolution of 1911 to 19 18, there were few articles in China newspapers introducing Marx and Engels and their theories.
According to the above analysis, the spread of Marxism in China should be counted from the May 4th period, and its representative should also be Li Dazhao.
Li Dazhao, like many people with lofty ideals who sought the truth of saving the country in modern China, also pursued bourgeois political ideals of democracy, freedom and equality, and was deeply influenced by various European and American social thoughts such as evolution, mutual aid and humanitarianism. But all this did not make him find a way out for China. The First World War and the October Revolution made him realize the insurmountable contradictions of capitalist society itself, that capitalism and imperialism are the root causes of waging wars of aggression and exploiting and oppressing the working class and working people in colonial and semi-colonial countries, and that the new dawn of socialism will inevitably replace the law of capitalist social development, thus realizing the Marxist principle of surplus value, historical materialism and the correctness of scientific socialist theory. Through continuous exploration, identification, sublation and practice, he gradually got rid of the influence of various bourgeois and petty-bourgeois social thoughts, and finally chose Marxism to become the pioneer of capitalism in China.
Li Dazhao was an early disseminator of Marxism in China.
Li Dazhao was the first person who enthusiastically praised and publicized the great significance of the October Revolution in Russia. In several papers written by 19 18, he began to analyze the causes of the First World War and the October Revolution from the perspective of Marxism. He said: "The real cause of this war is the development of capitalism. National boundaries can't accommodate his productive forces, so the capitalist government wants to break national boundaries through war, build a great empire of the world with its own country as the center, and become an economic organization that seeks benefits for its own domestic bourgeoisie. The working society in Russia, Germany and other countries first saw through their ambitions and began social revolution without hesitation during the war to stop the war of this capitalist government. " ①
Li Dazhao enthusiastically praised the October Revolution as a victory for labor and the people. In the future, everyone in the world will become an ordinary person and they will all become workers. "It is important to know that the future world will become a world of labor. We should take this trend as an opportunity to turn everyone into a worker, not an opportunity to turn everyone into a robber. " ②
Li Dazhao published my views on Marxism in 19 19, Volume 6, No.5 of New Youth, which is a long article with more than 20,000 words and serialized in two issues. This paper expounds the three components of Marxism-historical materialism, political economy and scientific socialism. This article should be regarded as a sign that Li Dazhao became a Marxist.
Before and after, he clearly publicized the public opinion at that time and actively spread Marxism. In his articles, such as Re-discussion of Problems and Doctrine, Material Change and Moral Change, and Explaining the Reasons of China's Modern Thought Change from the Perspective of Economics, he not only advocated using Marx's theory to understand and transform society, but also actively advocated combining with the reality of various countries. He said: "A socialist, in order to make his theory have some influence in the world, must study how to apply his ideal to the reality around him as much as possible." He even suggested: "In our country where bureaucratic robbers who do not engage in production are rampant, we can also use him as a tool to drive out these natural bureaucratic robbers."
Li Dazhao not only wrote articles in person, but also set up a "Marx research number" in New Youth, and helped the supplement of Morning Post to open a column of "Marx research". From May 5th to June 5th,165438+1October, 1 1, in more than six months, this column published five works, including: Marx's Labor and Capital, Kaucki's interpretation of Marx's Capital, and. In addition to the column, the supplement of Morning Post also published biographies of some revolutionary leaders (Marx, Lenin, Liebknecht, etc. ) and articles introducing the international proletarian movement.
The spread of Marxism is carried out in the struggle. As we all know, Li Dazhao played an important role in the discussion of 19 19 on "problems" and "ism".
1920, Li Dazhao continued to write a large number of articles promoting Marxism, and in March of that year, he secretly launched a seminar on Marxist theory with Deng Zhongxia and Gao in Peking University. This seminar set up a translation room, which consists of three groups: English, German and French, and translated many works of Marx and Engels. The seminar was not made public until 192 1.
1in the autumn of 920, after Li Dazhao officially became Professor Peking University, he continued to expand the propaganda of Marxism by using the forum of colleges and universities. At the end of 1920, Li Dazhao pointed out: "Recently, there are few history professors in colleges and universities who are enthusiastic about creating a new social life without being influenced by historical materialism." ③
Li Dazhao is a mentor and friend of young people. Under his influence, many advanced young people not only became intellectuals with initial ideology during the May 4th Movement, but also quickly became Marxists.
Because of Li Dazhao's historical contribution and role in spreading Marxism, and because he and Chen Duxiu actively engaged in the activities of establishing the China * * * production party, Li enjoys a high reputation among pioneers in the ideological circle.
The spread of Marxism made the people of China choose the socialist road.
The spread of Marxism in China has achieved a new leap in China's people's political thought.
First, the spread of Marxism in China has raised China people's understanding of imperialism from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge.
Before accepting Marxism, the people of China had long opposed imperialism, but they had no essential understanding of imperialism. The working people at the lower level only feel that "foreign devils" are hateful, while the intellectuals at the upper level are "spreading western learning to the east", but they don't understand why Mr. Wang always infringes on students.
After the spread of Marxism in China, the people of China began to realize the essence of imperialism. As mentioned above, Li Dazhao has begun to analyze the causes of the First World War and the October Revolution from the contradiction between productive forces and relations of production.
On New Year's Day (19 19), Li Dazhao clearly put forward the concepts of national self-determination and imperialism in his article Great Asianism and New Asianism. He pointed out that the "Great Asianism" put forward by the Japanese invaders at that time was "the argot of annexing China" and "the name of Great Japan", and said: "This" Great Asianism "is not pacifism, but aggression; It is not national self-determination, but imperialism that annex the weak and weak ethnic groups. " The word "imperialism" may have appeared in newspapers long ago. For example, 190 1 has an article on the development of imperialism and the future of the twentieth century, which explains imperialism as bandits. Another example is Liang Qichao 190 1 On the Similarities and Differences of the Changes of National Thoughts published in Qingyi Daily, and the word "national imperialism" is also mentioned. However, Li Dazhao clearly put forward national self-determination and opposed imperialism from the perspective of Marxism, which is rare in history. /kloc-In May, 2008, in the article Secret Diplomacy and Robber World published in Weekly Review, he clearly stated: "Our three vows are: to transform the robber world, to deny secret diplomacy and to implement national self-determination."
The above situation strongly illustrates such a scientific conclusion: China people's understanding of imperialism, "the first stage is a superficial perceptual knowledge stage, which is manifested in the universal anti-foreign struggle such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the Boxer Rebellion. In the second stage, we entered the stage of rational understanding, and saw all kinds of contradictions inside and outside imperialism, and saw the essence of imperialism uniting with the comprador class and feudal class in China to oppress the people of China. This understanding began around the May 4th Movement in 19 19. " ④
Second, after the spread of Marxism in China, the people of China linked their destiny with that of the people of the world.
On the eve of the May 4th Movement, some papers about the October Revolution written by Li Dazhao have begun to realize this. For example, he wrote in the article "New Era": "This new era is a new era of world revolution and a new era of human awakening. We seem to have a glimmer of light in this dark China and lifeless Beijing, just like getting a little star in the middle of the night and seeing the road to a new life. " 19191June 12, Li Dazhao clearly pointed out to the participants of the May 4th Movement at the annual meeting of Nation magazine: "It is inappropriate for this movement to only consider patriotism, and it is also a part of the human liberation movement." ⑤
Thirdly, the spread of Marxism in China made China intellectuals pay attention to the great power of workers and peasants.
Li Dazhao pointed out in the article "On the October Revolution" that the October Revolution was a victory for the common people and labor. The strength shown by China workers and laborers in the June 3rd Movement has attracted the attention of the intellectual community. 1920 In May, Li Dazhao hoped that the Mayday movement of China people was not only a movement of "three or five literati", but also a movement of writing with pen and ink.
Under the call and influence of Li Dazhao, a large number of advanced intellectuals in China went deep into the workers and peasants and the reality of revolutionary struggle.
Fourthly, the spread of Marxism in China made the people of China begin to realize the difference between new democracy and old democracy.
1922 Li Dazhao pointed out in the article "civilian politics and workers' politics" that the old bourgeois democracy is not real civilian politics, and only the new proletarian democracy is real civilian politics. "Unless this hypocritical parliamentary system is broken, it is impossible to realize real civilian politics"; Now civilian politics is developing from the civilian politics of the middle class to the civilian politics of the proletariat. Then, in the article "October Revolution and the People of China", he pointed out: "All the people in an oppressed nation-state like China should deeply realize their responsibilities and unite a' democratic united front' without hesitation as soon as possible, so as to establish a people's government and resist international capitalism, which is also part of the world revolutionary work. Mao Zedong later elaborated some arguments in the Theory of New Democracy, which are consistent with these ideas.
On the occasion of Comrade Li Dazhao's centenary birthday, we should commemorate his great achievements in the history of Marxist communication. Comrade Li Dazhao wrote a pair of couplets before his death: "Iron shoulders bear morality and skillful hands write articles". He has been practicing these two famous sayings all his life, which are really: iron shoulders shoulder * * * ideology and morality, and skillfully write Marxist-Leninist articles. We should explore, sort out and study his moral character and articles in various ways, because this is "the heritage of pioneers and a monument in the history of revolution." These "heritages" and "historical sites" are not only of practical significance to contemporary people, but also good teaching materials for educating future generations.