“Two Inevitables” and “Two Nevers”

Marx and Engels’ thought and theory on the inevitable replacement of capitalism by socialism and the time and conditions of social revolution.

In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels, from the standpoint of the principles of historical materialism, according to the objective laws of human historical development, and on the basis of the analysis of the fundamental contradictions of the capitalist society, held that the capitalist society, like all societies in the history of mankind, has its own laws of emergence, development and fall, and that is inevitable that it will ultimately be replaced by a communist society, and that “the fall of the bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.” Lenin pointed out that it is evident that Marx deduces the inevitability of the transformation of capitalist society into socialist society and wholly and exclusively from the economic law of the development of contemporary society. These assertions, summarized as “the inevitable downfall of capitalism and the inevitable victory of socialism”, or the “Two Inevitables” for short, are in fact a single inevitability, i.e. that capitalism will inevitably be replaced by communism (socialism), also known as the theory of replacement or the theory of transformation. The “Two Nevers”, i.e., “No social order is ever destroyed before all the productive forces for which it is sufficient have been developed, and new superior relations of production never replace older ones before the material conditions for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society”, addressed the time and conditions of social revolution, and has shown that a form of social order is never destroyed until all the productive forces of society for which it is sufficient have been developed, and that new superior forms of relations of production never replace older ones before the material conditions for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society.

“Two Inevitables” and “Two Nevers” are embodiments of the law of movement of the fundamental contradictions of society, the two are intrinsically and highly unified theories based on the materialist conception of history, and they are interconnected, complement and proof each other. “Two Inevitables” and “Two Nevers” revealed the law of development of human society from different angles and aspects. “Two Inevitables” is the conclusion drawn from the analysis of the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production, while “Two Nevers” reveals the development trend of “Two Inevitables” from the perspective of the trend of development of the productive forces, thus makes an important supplement to “Two Inevitables”, which is the application and embodiment of the assertion of “Two Inevitables”. From the perspective of capitalist development, the fundamental contradiction of capitalism is the contradiction between the socialization of production and the capitalist private property in the means of production, which is the general root cause of all contradictions of the capitalist society. In social production, this contradiction manifests itself as the antagonism between the order of production in the individual enterprise and the anarchy of production in society generally, leading to the outbreak of cyclical economic crises in capitalist society; in class relations, it manifests itself as the antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, leading to the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. This shows that the capitalist relations of production can no longer meet the needs of the development of productive forces and have become a fetter to the development of the productive forces and call for a revolution to break the old and establish the new, and replace private property with public property, which is an objective law independent of man’s will. But before that, when the conditions for revolution are not yet ripe, or when capitalism still has the function of self-regulation, it will constantly make adjustments or revolutions within the original relations of production in order to moderate the contradiction with the productive forces and postpone its fall. The bourgeoisie will not spontaneously withdraw from the arena of history until all the productive forces that capitalism can accommodate are brought into play. The laws of “Two Inevitables” and “Two Nevers” show that the development of productive forces is the decisive factor in the development of human society, and that people’s knowledge should conform to the objective laws of social development, so as to formulate correct strategies and tactics in line with the actual situation.

“Two Inevitables” and “Two Nevers” are important conclusions drawn by Marx and Engels on the basis of applying the fundamental principles of historical materialism to investigate the general laws of development of human society and the particular laws of capitalist development. It is an important theoretical ground for our knowledge of socialism and capitalism, which makes us firm in our conviction and reduces our blindness.