On Marxist Interest Theory And Its Practical Enlightenment

There are abundant thoughts of "interest" in the theoretical system of Marxist philosophy. The essence of interest is about issues concerning with material benefit based on historical materialism.In Chapter I, the paper aims to explore and explain the relation between interest and historical materialism. From the perspective of the history of Marxism, questions concerning interest provide Marx and Engels an important opportunity to study, discover and establish historical materialism, which is considered the valuable content of its logical starting point based on the system of historical materialism.In Chapter II, the paper mainly deals with the exploration and explanation of Marxist Interest Theory. Firstly, interest plays an important role in the generating, existing and developing and it is the initial essence of the basic transmission mechanism—the contradictory movement between productivity and productivity relations and one between economic foundation and superstructure. Therefore, interest serve as the driving force of human history. Secondly, interest determines politics and ideology in historical materialism. There are generally three points to illustrate it. A. Countries do not appear until the emergence of divisions of work, private ownership of property and classes and they are the product of the irreconcilable class contradiction. B.A country represents and protects the benefit of ruling class and its actual nature is at service of them.C. The ultimate reason and motivation of social changes and class contradiction lie in interest. There are basically three reasons accounting for it. (1) Interest is thing-in-itself and ideology is derivatives from the perspective of relations between social existence and social consciousness; (2) In class society, different classes have unequal class consciousnesses due to the hierarchical class status. The consciousness of ruling class is in a dominant position and becomes mainstream ideological thoughts. However, the consciousness of the inferior class is often ignored, suppressed and restricted;(3) Owing to the fact that interest is the center of human thoughts, dominating all social activities and behavior of human beings, interest is the goal of people’s ideas and behavior. This is generally because interest is of significant importance to the survival and development of mankind. Thirdly, "common interest" is defined by two different types of interest. They are "real common interest" (People’s social connections and dependence occur while pursuing personal interests.) and "deceptive common interest" (It is declared as "general benefit" by the ruling class and it is the manifestation of "real common interest". But the fact that the interdependence exists in the division of work is claimed to be reasonable and equal and it neglects and conceals the difference in the mutual interest of people—class difference. Therefore, it is believed that this type of common interest is deceptive.).In ChapterⅢ, the paper endeavors to explore and explain some practical enlightenment of Marxist Interest Theory based on the discussion in ChapterⅡ. In this chapter, a wide range of topics are involved, including economic construction, distribution and free and comprehensive development of mankind;superstructure and social control; "common interest" and "common prosperity" among main market participants;"common interest" in international relations and;analytical method of interest.Laws are objective.Human beings should abide by and make use of it, but never be enslaved by it. The adherence to subjective initiative and proper development of mankind are crucial to break through the blockades of interest and fulfill scientific development and the free and overall development of mankind.