| Debate is a traditional method for politicians to speak up,and it is also a core attribute of Marx’s news commentary.This dissertation takes Marx’s practices of news commentary as the research object.The author selects 1053 news commentary works from Marx’s collected works(in both the first and second Chinese versions),covering Marx news commentary history over nearly forty years(1842-1881)during significant social and historical changes and revolutionary struggles.The purpose is to explore how Marx’s news commentary practice unified in Marx revolutionary practice.The dissertation divides Marx’s news commentary career into four periods based on previous research and textual features: the Rheinische Zeitung period,the European Revolution period,the low period of the workers’ movement,and the International Workingmen’s Association period and after.Each period’s news commentary presents distinct phase characteristics according to changes in the revolutionary situation and specific tasks.The dissertation extracts a series of elements from the process of argumentation in the text,including tasks,targets,strategies,and the impact of argumentation,to analyze Marx’s revolutionary tasks during each period and the argumentation activities he carried out around them.This is reflected in the argumentative objects,topics,arguments,and methods contained in each news commentary work.Through a horizontal analysis of these phases,the overall picture of Marx’s news commentary practice and Marx consistent ideological approach are revealed.As a revolutionary who aimed to transform society,Marx engaged in corresponding argumentation activities under different social and historical conditions.Through argumentation,Marx promoted his ideological views,revealed the subjects and objects of revolutionary struggles to the public,and provided direction for resolving the inherent contradictions of capitalist society and the social divisions caused by social transformation.The greatness of Marx’s news commentary lies not in its objects of commentary but in its historical materialist approach.This approach provides Marx’s news commentary with profound insight and the power to transform society.The dissertation aims to clarify three points.Firstly,Marx’s news commentary,like his theoretical research,are both means of ideological struggle.These debates were also inseparable from the material struggles of the revolutionary movement,and together they formed the main content of Marx’s revolutionary career.In this sense,Marx’s news commentary should be understood in the context of social-historical structures and Marx revolutionary practice,rather than being limited to the realm of journalistic professionalism.The former serves as the logical starting point,Marx’s news commentary is no longer seen as a simple transmission of information between sender and receiver,but as a means of struggle embedded in the revolutionary practice.News commentary transforms from a means of communication to an intermediary of revolutionary practice,thereby revealing the practical subjects and objects behind the activities of information transmission.This change in understanding implies a rethinking of existing research paradigms at the level of perspective.Secondly,in reflecting on Marx’s revolutionary practice,relevant research should also focus on the historical context and writing background of Marx’s commentary.The former provides an understanding of the social and historical conditions under Marx’s news activities,while the latter explains the practical structure of Marx’s engagement in news commentary.This approach reveals the reasons for writing texts,the process of its creation,and the connections between them.It also establishes the continuity and integrity of Marx’s thought and methodology.Therefore,historical context and writing background,continuity and stages are the key factors in understanding Marx’s news commentary practice and thought.Thirdly,Marx pointed out in his debates that the news media was not inherently independent,even at a time when liberalism was celebrated throughout Europe.The liberal system was a reflection of certain social relations that were built on a particular material foundation,and were not determined by the will of the media or the government.Therefore,Marx openly exposed the class and partisan nature of the news media in his commentary.However,Marx’s news activities did not receive much attention.The development of news theory based on liberalism marginalized Marx’s ideological views,even with a derogatory connotations.With the weakening of class struggle,the logical starting point of Western Marxist media research has shifted from ideological struggle to social division of labor.On the basis of inheriting Marxist political and economic criticism,it criticizes the capitalist news and communication industry.Therefore,news communication activities have been directed towards specific industries and professions,and the understanding formed from them has essentially become vocational studies,that is,the understanding of the professional activities of journalists.Journalism has become a natural product of social division of labor.While Marx observed news communication activities from the perspective of ideology,the so-called cultural industry is the production of ideology,and journalism is not a profession in essence,but an ideological construction.Practice has proved that contemporary global news activities are still within the scope of Marx’s vision,and Marx’s news commentary is an important part of the history of world news commentary.Marx thought and methodology are an important resource for constructing the theoretical framework of Marxist news studies.Understanding Marx’s news commentary is of great significance for constructing the theoretical system of Marxist journalism. |
