Marx Restored

A theoretical article written by Li Da in Shanghai on December 26, 1920 and published in the journal New Youth (Volume 8, No. 5) in January 1921. The full text includes nearly 7,000 characters and is not distinguished into titles. The author stated at the beginning: “Marx's socialism has been fully realized in Russia. But there are still many people who are doubting that and there is a real need to give them an explanation.” “The tenor of this text is to first explain the essence of Marxism, secondly to explain the reasons for and the history of the degeneration of Marxism, and finally to explain the fact of the revival of Marxism, so that the people can understand the true Marx.”

The article's restoration of Marx is mainly embodied in the following aspects:

(1) Brief introduction and summary of what is Marxism. That is to say, "the principles, means, methods and ideal society of the social revolution described by Marx" is introduced, and "the nature of Marxist socialism is revolutionary, non-compromising, it is internationalist and advocates the dictatorship of working class" is summarized. The article also points out that "Marxist socialism is scientific and its important principles are the following five: firstly, materialist view of history; secondly, theory of capital concentration; thirdly, theory of the collapse of capitalism; fourthly, the theory of surplus value; fifthly, the theory of class struggle."

(2) Making a clear investigation and analysis of the "degeneration of Marx’s socialism" from a practical point of view. It mainly investigated the situation of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (also known as the "Social-Democratic Workers' Party of Germany") from its establishment in Gotha in 1875 to the support of the unjust imperialist war after the outbreak of World War I, and clearly pointed out:

"Marx’s socialism, after the ravage of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany, has completely disappeared, degenerated from internationalism to nationalism, from socialism to liberalism, from revolutionism to reformism, from class struggle to class reconciliation, from direct action to parliamentarianism.”

(3) Analysis of the "degeneration of Marx’s socialism" from the theoretical point of view. Its main points are: (A) The so-called "Marxists" raised doubts about Marx's foresight of "capital accumulation and social and natural revolution... Therefore, they did not believe in the doctrine of the necessity of revolution, thinking that in the process from the old society to the new society, only evolution without revolution, only movement without purpose, and the so-called revisionist movement prevailed." (B) “The most remarkable thing is the political movement of the Marxist school.” That is to say, the faction attaches importance to “the common issues of classes, is dedicated to the political movement, and subordinates the movement of class confrontation within the scope of the political movement. Hence, the great banner of the Socialist Party's parliamentarianism has been displayed in the world.” (C) “To overthrow capitalism, class struggle must be enforced. Therefore, the movement of the group and class of workers is of utmost importance.” However, “it is just a dream for the Social-Democratic Party to combine the political movement and the class movement and openly want to achieve the goal of social revolution by means of parliamentary policy”.

(4) Taking "the founding of workers’ and peasants’ Russia" as an example and "clarifying and praising" "the truth of Marxism". The article states: "All the people on earth who see with ears say that the doctrine practiced by workers’ and peasants’ Russia is a kind of radicalism are regarded as vicious people in general. In fact, in my eyes, there is no novelty in the establishment of workers’ and peasants’ Russia. That's what Russia did, the "dictatorship of labor" that every country feared most was proposed and advocated by Marx decades ago and there is no need to make a useless fuss about it. The article also highly praised Lenin and other leaders for "restoring the true face of Marx" and "it is a very important fact, in the development of Marxist socialism.” Although some individual statements in the article "Marx Restored" can be said to be not rigorous enough, in the face of the international and domestic environment at that time, the article quoted the historical facts of the international communist movement and deeply analyzed the betrayal of Marxism by the revisionist faction of the Second International in theory and practice, which laid the theoretical foundation for the founding of the Communist Party of China from an important aspect. Later, the article was included in Volume 1 of the Collected Works of Li Da published by People's Press, 1980, and also in the Volume 1 of Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Communist Party of China edited by the Literature Research Office and Central Archives of the CPC Central Committee, and published by the Central Party Literature Press in 2011.