1892 Introduction to the English Edition of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

Engels’ introduction to the English edition of his book Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. Written in April 1892, published in Engels’ Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, in 1892 in London, translated into German excerpts by the author and published in Die Neue Zeit, 11th Year, Vol. 1, Nos. 1–2, in 1892, under the title Über Historischen Materialismus (On Historical Materialism). Individual parts of the introduction were published in French in Le Socialiste, Nos. 115, 116, 118, 119 and 120, on December 4, 11 and 25, 1892 and January 1 and 9, 1893 under the title of Les Trois Batailles de la Bourgeoisie contre le Féodalisme and Le Parti Ouvrier.

In 1892, Engels’ Socialism: Utopian and Scientific was translated into English by Edward Aveling and published in London under the title of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. In order to enhance the understanding of this work and promote the spread of Marxism, Engels wrote this introduction. In the text, Engels first introduced the background of writing of Anti-Dühring and the situation of the publication and circulation of the pamphlet Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, arranged from the three chapters of Anti-Dühring. Next, Engels examined the development of the bourgeoisie from advocating materialism and opposing religion to advocating religion and opposing materialism in the light of the historical development of capitalism, with a focus on elaborated on the social background and class substance of the struggle between materialism and religion, and between materialist and idealist conceptions of history, and clarified the reasons for the agnosticism’s presumptuous attempts to reconcile materialism and idealism, thus exposed the English bourgeoisie’s grip on religion and its opposition to materialism, and proved the knowability of the world with the achievements of natural sciences, and explicated the fundamental principle of Marxist epistemology that knowledge comes from practice and is tested by practice. Further, Engels began to express the materialist conception of history in terms of “historical materialism”, pointing out that “that view of the course of history […] seeks the ultimate cause and the great moving power of all important historic events in the economic development of society, in the changes in the modes of production and exchange, in the consequent division of society into distinct classes, and in the struggles of these classes against one another”. He elaborated the history of the European bourgeoisie from revolution to reaction and the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie from the point of view of historical materialism, exposing the bourgeoisie’s attempt to use religion to stem the rising tide of proletarian revolution, pointing out that religion will be “no lasting safeguard to capitalist society” and that “no religious tenets will ever suffice to prop up a tottering society”. Lastly, Engels elaborated on the development of the English workers’ movement and the question of how socialism is triumphing in England, showed that the English workers’ movement is growing and gradually absorbing the thought of scientific socialism, which is becoming more and more accepted, but that “the triumph of the European working-class does not depend upon England alone. It can only be secured by the co-operation of, at least, England, France, and Germany.”

1892 Introduction to the English Edition of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific is an important document in the development history of Marxism. By analyzing the change in the attitude of the bourgeoisie towards materialism and the religious question, it revealed the essence of the relation of bourgeoisie to religion, promoted the ideological enlightenment among the British working class to overcome the influence of idealism and religion, helped the English working class to better embrace Marxist scientific socialism, thus giving a strong impetus to the development of the English workers’ movement and the world socialist movement.