A new culture
The german ideology
The creation of historical materialism
Author lee sung-wang
How to interpret complex social historical phenomena? Are there any patterns in human history? What are the respective roles of ideology and realistic production in the development of human history? These large-scale problems attract a generation of philosophies who have suffered from poverty and have sought redress. The scientific answer to these questions was given by marx and engles at the height of human civilization, the culmination of their thinking, known as the german ideology, the foundation of historical materialism。
In this book, max engels, through his criticism of the young heggers, exposed the theoretical limits of germany's mindless interpretation of human history as an intellectual or spiritual domination, opened a whole new vision of how human history can be captured in the production of labour. For the first time, the existence of historical materialist fundamentals that determine social consciousness in society was systematically articulated, providing theoretical guidance for a profound grasp of the general patterns of human social development and the right path to human freedom。
I. The ideological background of the german ideology
The german ideology was written in autumn 1845 to may 1846. The “german ideology” in the title refers to the self-aware philosophy of the young hegel during the break-up of the hegel school. The book is composed of two parts: volume i, which mainly criticizes the young hegels, represented by powell, fairbaha and stina; and volume ii, which mainly criticizes the then popular german “real socialism” movement, based on the hegel dialectics and the phil baha'is. As a adversarial writing, it aims to establish a scientific historical perspective by criticizing the mind-based historical views of young hegels and to find the “real direction” of western philosophy after hegel。
As can be seen from the recent history of western philosophy, most philosophers believe that human history is a process dominated by ideas or spirituality. As a conglomerate of western philosophies, hegel attempted to achieve “real unity” between thought and existence through a process of dialectics that revealed “existence”, in a radical and mind-oriented manner. Young hegels blame christianity for the lack of freedom in reality, as well as for the hegel philosophy, which is the foundation of their rationality, and point out that both christianity and hegel constitute obstacles to the realization of individual freedom. Specifically, powell has established self-awareness in hegel philosophy as a new philosophical foundation, stating that human beings can be liberated only if they are freed from the constraints of christian theological worship on self-awareness, thus seeing human history as a dialectic of self-conscious progress. Ferbaha believes that the essence of theology is the science of man, not the creation of man, but the creation of god; that people believe in what they rely on, and that when the gods they worship become the almighty, the all-knowing, the all-good god, human beings become less and less free, and it follows that human history is the “religious of love” that replaces the history of christian religion. For his part, stiner understood human history as a process of achieving “self-consensual self-interesters” and believed that human freedom could be achieved by abandoning all previous philosophy。
According to max engels, young hegels tried to replace hegel's “absolute spirit” with “self-consciousness”, “emotionality” and “single person” by re-constructing mind-oriented theories to grasp historical patterns and thus achieve free human development, effectively failing to escape the paradigm of hegelian philosophy that transformed “the whole history into the history of ideas”. The young hagels do not see the important role of material production practices in the development of human history, fail to achieve the revolutionary and realistic unity of philosophy and thus fail to play its role as a catalyst for real social development, and certainly cannot find a real philosophical solution after hegels or represent the spirit of the times。
Ii. Systematic elaboration of historical materialist rationales in the german ideology
On the basis of an in-depth criticism of the mind-based historical view of the young hegels, the german ideology is structured around five closely interrelated logics that articulate the fundamentals of historical materialism。
First, the establishment of “production of material means of life” on the basis of a “pure empirical approach”, a practical premise for the examination of human history, goes beyond the “logical first” thinking of a german ideology based on a purely conceptual one。
The establishment of a scientific premise that captures the history of human development is the first link in the creation of historical materialism. In the eyes of marx and engels, young hegels are simply trying to make their philosophy realistic in the context of pure, unfalse hegels, such as “entities”, “self-consciousness” or the original, more secular, philosophical system against hegel, such as “types”, “single person”, “persons”. According to marx engels, “a purely empirical approach” can confirm that “the production of material means of life” is a prerequisite for the examination of human history. Although physical tissue and natural conditions are essential for the survival of any animal, the history of human beings is based on the fact that “human beings themselves begin to distinguish between themselves and animals”, whose symbol is “not that they have ideas but that they begin to produce their own means of subsistence”. The conscious production of material means that people are always producing their own material life. All social and historical phenomena, including human freedom, can be managed only by means of material means of production。
Secondly, based on the practical premise of looking at the historical development of humankind, marx-ngues points out that the historical process of humanity embodies a process of change in the form of ownership determined by the different stages of development based on the division of labour, going beyond the perception of a process of change in which the german ideology interprets the historical processes of humanity as concepts。
The objective process of examining the historical development of humankind constitutes the second essential link in the creation of historical materialism. On the basis of the establishment of the “production of material means of life” as a prerequisite for the examination of human historical developments, marx engus further pointed out that the production of material means of life had two characteristics: first, it was not an individual act, but began with the growth of the population; and second, it needed to evolve through division of labour and interaction. The level of development of the division of labour is both a sign of productivity levels and determines how people interact with each other, including ownership. As a result, the process of human history is reflected in a process of change in the state of production methods, through the stages of “tribal ownership”, “classic and ancient communal and state ownership”, “seasonal or hierarchical ownership”, “capitalist ownership”, and the coming of “communist ownership”。
It follows that the historical process of humanity is in fact a process of change in the form of ownership determined by the different stages of development of the division of labour, rather than a process of change in the sense of german ideology。
Thirdly, it is clear that the driving force of the historical development of human society derives from a contradiction between productivity and the form of interaction, and goes beyond the idea that german ideology interprets the dynamics of human history in a spiritual or conscious logical contradiction。
Marx-ngues, who has philosophies of social production and its mechanisms of operation, correctly answered the question of the dynamics of human history and constituted the third important link in the creation of historical materialism. Max and engles examined five original and evolving historical relationships in the process of human material production: the first is the production of material means of life as the first prerequisite for all human existence and history; the second is the fulfilment of the first needs themselves, the activities to meet them and the tools that have been acquired to meet them, and gives rise to new needs, so that the human being is constantly reproducing; the third is the reproduction of the population, which is a prerequisite for ensuring the continuity of history, and family relations constitute the first place of social relations; the fourth is the production of social relations; and the fifth is the production of spirituality. According to max engels, the true picture of human history is a reflection of the evolution and development of human history, driven by the interaction of these five types of production. The driving force behind the progress of human history stems from the contradiction between “productivity, social conditions and awareness” resulting from the division of labour in the process of the production of human material, rather than the inherent logic of the spirit or consciousness perceived by the german ideology。
Fourthly, science articulates the paradigm of human freedom that can be achieved only by the realistic elimination of private capitalism, the advancement of human society and a true community, beyond the german ideology to change the concept of human freedom。
Scientific grasp of the history of human development and, consequently, the scientific path towards human freedom, is the fourth important link in the creation of historical materialism. According to marx, the contradiction between productivity and forms of interaction has occurred on many occasions in human history and, although they have also been manifested in revolutionary forms, has not changed the nature of private ownership. Large industries have led to widespread competition among people, created large industrial cities and cheap and convenient transport, and created the preconditions for the emergence of a united and socially regulated communist society. Thus, marx engus made it clear that “the phenomenon of personal power (relationships) is transformed into a force of things by the division of labour, which cannot be eliminated by leaving out the general concept of the phenomenon in mind, but by re-managing the power of those things and by eliminating the division of labour”. It is only through the elimination of private capitalism by the proletariat and the advancement of human history into a “real community” that “everyone acquires his freedom in and through his own union”。
Fifthly, it should be made clear that the proletariat carries with it the historic mission of achieving a true community and freeing humanity as a whole, going beyond the mindset of the german ideology, where heroes are the subjects of history。
Pointing out that the proletariat was the main force driving the transition from capitalism to communism, constituting the fifth major link in the creation of historical materialism. Max engels argued that real human freedom must be realized by eliminating capitalism’s private system, which can only be resorted to a class that is “really disengaged from the old world and at the same time opposed to it” – the proletarian class – created by big industrial and modern social contradictions. First, large industries have made work itself an unbearable thing for workers, creating the same relations among the various classes of societies, i. E. Between the bourgeois and the proletarian classes, and creating a proletarian class that shares the same interests among all peoples and is truly separate from the old world and opposed to it. The claim of common interest to eliminate private capitalistism gives this class the urgency to unite. Secondly, the development of the division of labour has led to a contradiction between special interests and common interests, resulting in an independent form of the state that is separate from the actual individual interests and the interests of the whole, while in the union of private capitalistism, the proletarians are the most oppressed and revolutionary. Thirdly, major industries turn the proletarians into modern non-products who have completely lost their entire autonomous activities, and only by eliminating capitalist private ownership and liberating all human beings will they be able to achieve their full and unrestricted autonomous activities。
Iii. The contemporary meaning of the german ideology
The deutsche ideology, which more systematically sets out the basic principles of materialisticism, marks the fundamental formation of historical materialism, brings about a great change in the philosophical history and provides the proletarians with the right approach to the world and transform it. History is materialistic in the belief that society exists to determine social consciousness, productivity to determine productive relations, economic foundations to determine the upper layers of architecture, that the masses of the people are the creators of history, that human society is evolving from a lower to a higher level in social contradictions, and that the evolution of the fundamental contradictions of capitalism must break the yoke of capitalism, and that humankind will eventually move towards communism. The objectology is one of marx's two major discoveries and is at the heart of marxism. Lenin once valued historical materialism as “the greatest result of scientific thought”. Comrade mao has also applied the historical materialist approach in the creation of practice and contradiction. In may 2018, secretary-general xi referred to five marxist classics, including the german ideology, at the 200th anniversary commemoration of the birth of marx. Historic materialism is of great importance in the history of marxist development and the history of the communist movement, which has profoundly changed the recent history of the world and profoundly changed china’s history。
In december 2013, the 18th central political bureau devoted its collective study to the fundamentals of historical materialism and methodology. In conducting the study, general secretary xi stressed that, in china, a large country with a population of 1. 3 billion, and faced with a very complex domestic and foreign environment, with a heavy mandate to govern, it was difficult to overcome risks and difficulties and to move forward if it was not strongly supported by theoretical thinking. In the historical eras of revolution, construction and reform, our party used historical materialism, systematically, concretely and historically analysing china's social movements and their development patterns, constantly grasping and actively applying the norms of the world and transforming it into a world in which the party and people's cause had won one victory after another. History and reality had shown that only by adhering to historical materialism could we constantly raise to new levels of understanding of china's characteristic socialist patterns and open up new dimensions of contemporary chinese marxist development。
At present, my country is in a critical period of china's modernization, which is comprehensively promoting nation-building and national renewal. The general secretary of xi has repeatedly stressed the need for party cadres to strengthen theoretical learning and truly learn from marxism. The party cadres should study the german ideology in the light of the situation, focusing on the following areas. The first is the firm belief in communist ideals. Having carefully grasped the scientific arguments of the german ideology on the historical necessity of communism and the prerequisites required for the creation of a communist society, historical and dialectical views of the twists and turns of socialist development, building the communist faith on a rational acceptance of scientific theory, a correct understanding of historical norms, an accurate grasp of fundamental national conditions, and a true struggle for the objectives of the party at this stage. The second is adherence to popular views and popular lines. Having carefully received the german ideology's profound statement that the people are the creators of history, insisting that the rivers and mountains are the people, that the people are the rivers and mountains, that the people-centred idea of development is upheld, that the people's dominant position and initiative is respected, that the proper performance of government is established and implemented, that the people are served with all due diligence, and that the aspirations of the people for a better life are constantly met. Thirdly, the capacity to pursue change, promote development and ensure stability is enhanced. Learning to apply the principles and methods of the german ideology on the fundamental contradictions of society, properly grasping the main aspects of the main contradictions and contradictions facing the reform in a more comprehensive manner, addressing the relationship between liberationist ideas and reality, the relationship between overall advancement and focused breakthroughs, the relationship between the whole and local, the relationship between top-level design and touch across the river, the relationship between boldness and stability, the reform of stable relations, the relationship between economy and society, government and markets, efficiency and equity, dynamism and order, development and security, and the effective translation of reform initiatives into tangible results of high-quality development。
(author: lee sung-wang, professor-attorney, university of qinghua, marxist institute, ph. D
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Source: ministry of central organization of the chinese communist party, part ii, 2026
