Theory of Scientific Socialism

Science on the laws of development of the movement of emancipation of the proletariat. In a wider sense, it refers to Marxism, and in a narrower sense to one of the three component parts of Marxism.

The theory of scientific socialism arose in the 1840s and was founded by Marx and Engels. From the point of view of the background of the epoch, with the rapid development of modern mechanical production, capitalism gradually got the upper hand in Europe, the fundamental contradictions of capitalism have increasingly stepped forward, and the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie has risen to the principal contradiction of society. In the 1830s and 1840s, the Lyon workers’ (Canut) uprisings in France, the Chartist movement in England, and the Silesian weavers’ uprising in Germany marked that the proletariat has entered the arena of history as an independent political actor. With the constant rise of the workers’ movement, there was an urgent need for scientific theoretical guidance. In terms of theoretical sources, the new development of natural and social science in the 19th century, especially the utopian socialist doctrines, have prepared the conditions and provided necessary intellectual material for the establishment of the theory of scientific socialism. The utopian socialist doctrines represented by Saint-Simon, Fourier and Owen criticized the grievances of the capitalist system, explained the causes of social inequality and the historically transitory nature of the capitalist system from the economic aspects, and made a benign exploration of the ideal society of the future. Marx and Engels critically inherited the excellent intellectual and cultural achievements of mankind, and through participating in the workers’ movement, summed up the experience of the workers’ movement, established the theory of historical materialism and surplus-value—two great discoveries of Marx and Engels—realized the unity of socialism and the workers’ movement, and made develop socialism from a utopia to a science. In 1848, the publication of The Communist Manifesto drafted jointly by Marx and Engels marked the birth of scientific socialism. In order to distinguish themselves from the then prevailing currents of “socialism”, they began to call their doctrines “communism” or “revolutionary socialism”. In 1873, Engels used the name “German scientific socialism” in his article The Housing Question, and later, Marx used the term “scientific socialism” in his Conspectus of Bakunin’s Statism and Anarchy.

The theory of scientific socialism is a complete ideological system, and also a scientific theory which is constantly enriched and perfected with the development of practice. The main content of scientific socialism includes revealing the fundamental contradiction of the capitalist society, i.e., the contradiction between socialized large-scale production and private ownership system; the continuous movement of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism is the fundamental reason for the outbreak of cyclical economic crises of capitalism, which determines the emergence, development and downfall of capitalism. The immediate purpose of capitalist production is to produce surplus-value through unpaid appropriation of workers’ labor, thus to get rich. This is the economic root cause of the contradiction and struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, which necessarily manifests itself as the antagonism and struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The proletarian revolution is a revolution that completely abolishes all private property and replaces it with public property in the means of production. It is a revolution that abolishes all classes and class rule, a revolution for the benefit of the vast majority of people. The main form of proletarian revolution is to conquer the political power through violent revolution combined with other means of struggle, smash the old state machinery and establish a socialist state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Of course, emphasizing violent revolution does not exclude the possibility of a peaceful transition to socialism. This question does not depend on the proletariat, because the bourgeoisie often puts the bayonets first on the agenda. To fulfill its mission, the proletariat must establish its own party, and organize and unite its own ranks. The leadership of the proletarian party guided by Marxism is the fundamental guarantee for the victory of the cause of socialist revolution and construction. As for the future society, the theory of scientific socialism emphasizes that there must be a transition period from capitalist society to communist society, during which the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat must be exercised. In the first phase of communism, i.e., socialist society, which is still stamped with the birthmarks of the old society economically, morally and intellectually, the society can only implement the rule “from each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution”; in the higher phase of communism, where the productive forces are highly developed, where material wealth is abundant, where personality attained free and full development, and the rule “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” can be introduced.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Lenin has led the Russian proletariat to the victory of the October Socialist Revolution, thus made scientific socialism march from theory toward practice. Under the new historical conditions and in the practice of socialist revolution and construction, Lenin creatively developed the theory of scientific socialism, put forth the theory of imperialism, the theory of the construction of proletarian party, the theory that socialist revolution can be victorious first in one country, the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the worker-peasant alliance, etc., and enriched and developed the theory of scientific socialism from practice, i.e., practical reality. Chinese Communists represented by Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping have enriched and developed the theory of scientific socialism in the great process of combining the theory of scientific socialism with China’s practice of socialist revolution, construction and reform.

Over the past 100 years, under the guidance of the theory of scientific socialism, the practice of socialist revolution and construction carried out by the world proletariat and working people is the greatest practice in human history. Practice has repeatedly shown that the theory of scientific socialism is not an immutable dogma, but a guide to the practice of the international communist movement. Xi Jinping emphasized that socialism with Chinese characteristics is a dialectical unity of the theoretical logic of scientific socialism and the historical logic of China’s social development. It is a scientific socialism rooted in China’s soil, one that reflects the aspirations of the Chinese people, and one that is adapted to the conditions of progress in our times. It is the only way to comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society, accelerate socialist modernization and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Scientific socialism is bound to be enriched and developed continuously with the practice of socialist revolution and construction in all countries.