The Role of Force in History

A pamphlet by Engels specifically dealing with the question of force. Written between the end of December 1887 and March 1888. The manuscript was not finalized. First published in Die Neue Zeit, Vol. 1, Nos. 22–26, 1895–1896.

From the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, class contradictions in Western Europe had become increasingly intensified. To lead the movement of the working class better and profoundly expose the despotic rule of Bismarck’s regime, Engels planned to revise and publish three chapters included in the second part of his work Anti-Dühring by the end of 1886. In those chapters, he criticized Dühring’s theory of force and clarified his materialistic views on the interrelation of economics and politics. Engels also planned to revise and edit the two chapters in the “Morality and Law” (included first part of the book); “Eternal Truth” and “Equality” together with the three chapters mentioned above, to publish the book On Law and Force in World History. Later, Engels changed his plan and decided to publish only a pamphlet that contains the three chapters mentioned above and decided to add a fourth chapter, this chapter four applied the fundamental principles mentioned in the first three chapters to German history from 1848 to 1888, and analyzed this historical period from the point of view of criticizing “Bismarck’s policy as a whole.” However, due to his busy schedule, Engels could not complete the work, left only a part of his manuscript. The Role of Force in History comprehensively expounded on the positive role of force from the perspective of historical development. First, Engels clarified that force is a tool of class rule. In his view, the so-called force refers to the “power” that emerges from within the society but which overrides the society and gets increasingly separated from it, the essence of the rule of the bourgeoisie is that it is the tool of the ruling class to maintain its rule and to suppress the exploited class. On the other hand, the force of a non-organized wild rebellion by the masses of people is the opposite of the ruling force of the state, i.e., a revolution by the proletariat which can overthrow and prevent the other kind of force, as well as which can end the suffering caused by the force of the rule. Second, Engels demonstrated that force is the condition of national unity and national liberation. Engels argued that the revolution of an oppressed nation must be carried out in two steps, the first and the most important step is the national revolution against the oppression of other nations. The second step is the continuation of the first step, that is, to carry out a domestic revolution, against the domestic exploiting class and the system of exploitation, overthrow of the reactionary rule, the abolition of private property and the realization of socialism. Third, Engels pointed out that force is a prerequisite to transform the political form of the state. By reviewing the history of Europe, Engels pointed out that it that in the vigorous English bourgeois revolution, it was by virtue of the violence of the “New Model Army” that Cromwell finally crushed the despotic rule of the Stuart dynasty; in the American bourgeois revolution, it was by virtue of the violence of the “Continental Army” that Washington completely overthrew the British colonial rule; and in the French bourgeois revolution, the “Jacobins” persisted in using revolutionary force and eventually sent King Louis XVI to the guillotine so as to establish the French First Republic.

The Role of Force in History pointed out that the working class must take up arms and carry out a violent revolution to wrest the strong economic foundation from the ruling class in order to fight for class emancipation and national liberation, which played an important role in inspiring the emancipation of the proletarian movement.