Engels’ Late Thought On The People’s Subject And Its Relevance

The idea of the people’s subject manifests the fundamental position and basic views of Marxism,and the realisation of the people’s subject position is the tireless pursuit of the proletarian party.In the course of leading the world proletarian revolution,Marx and Engels correctly treated the decisive role of the people in the development of social history,explored the realisation of the subjectivity of the people and formed a logical,comprehensive and systematic idea of the subjectivity of the people.After Marx’s death,in order to defend the truth of historical materialism and guide the development of the world proletarian revolution,Engels further elaborated and argued for the materialistic view of history,enriching and developing the Marxist theory of the people’s subject.At present,the comprehensive deepening of reform has entered deep water,the international situation is complex and volatile,and conflicts concerning people’s immediate interests are frequent.On the new journey of building a modern socialist power,it is the historical mission of the CPC to govern the country given by the times to systematically study and learn from Engels’ late thought on the people’s subject,to deal with the relationship between development and the people,to safeguard the people’s subject status and to stimulate their power.Overall,the thesis is divided into four parts:The first part focuses on the relevant concepts,background,theoretical origins and evolution of Engels’ idea of the people’s subject in his later years.The thesis first clarifies the core concepts of Engels’ idea of the people’s subject in his later years,and analyses the background of the times and its theoretical sources in the light of the new changes in capitalism,the development of the international workers’ movement and the crisis of historical materialism.Finally,on the basis of Engels’ later writings,Engels’ idea of the people’s subject in his later years is divided into three stages: theoretical prominence,theoretical deepening and theoretical perfection,laying the foundation for systematically sorting out the theoretical connotations of Engels’ idea of the people’s subject in his later years.In the second part,the main content of Engels’ thought on the people’s subject in his later years is comprehensively elaborated from three dimensions: economic,political and cultural.Firstly,Engels proposed to guarantee the economic subjectivity of the people through the elimination of private ownership,the development of socialist management methods and the integration of human and social production.Secondly,Engels took the realization of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the grasp and the construction of a proletarian democratic republic as the goal,integrated the proletarian revolutionary strategy of violent revolution and peaceful transition,promoted internal party democracy and guaranteed the political subject status of the people.Finally,Engels emphasized the need to firmly grasp the people’s historical position as the creators of spiritual wealth,and consolidate the people’s cultural subject position by building a proletarian intelligentsia,implementing the people’s character of literature and art,and guarding the propaganda position.The third part is based on the whole of Engels’ thinking on the people’s subject in his later years,highlighting the special perspectives and methods of Engels’ interpretation of the people’s subject in his later years and summarizing its basic features.Firstly,Engels criticized the naturalistic view of history,Feuerbachian humanism and economic determinism respectively to strengthen his understanding of the basic connotation of the idea of the people’s subject.Secondly,Engels overcomes the limitations of the previous paradigm of the study of the idea of the people’s subject and reflects the innovative development of the idea of the people’s subject in Engels’ later years.Thirdly,Engels takes the perspective of Marxism as a whole and reveals the value pursuit of the people’s subject in the overall theory of Marxism.The fourth part mainly distils and summarises the theoretical value and practical inspiration of Engels’ thought on the people’s subject in his later years from the theoretical and practical perspectives.In terms of theoretical contribution,Engels’ late thought on the people’s subject complements and improves Marxism’s theory of the people’s subject,providing a theoretical vision and theoretical reference for the new era’s "people-centred" development thought and the concept of "community of human destiny".From the perspective of practical inspiration,in order to further safeguard the status of people as subjects of power,values,practice and evaluation,the Party and the State need to develop socialist political civilization,ensure that the fruits of social development are shared by the people,create a social governance pattern of co-construction,governance and sharing,and build a future society that is "people’s satisfaction".