Originally published at: 思想斗争指南（节选） – 曙光
Flame of Fire
The process of ideological transformation of the petty bourgeoisie, or the revolutionary process of the petty bourgeoisie, can be summarized as a development from "democratic faction to revolutionary faction." The petty bourgeoisie is the middle class in capitalist society; this class itself is a product of the capitalist mode of production and is a supplement to capitalist production. "In any capitalist country, there is always a broad petty bourgeoisie class coexisting with the proletariat, that is, the small proprietor class. Capitalism was born from small-scale production in the past, and it is still continuously emerging from small-scale production today. Capitalism will inevitably give rise to many 'middle classes'."[1] Many production sectors or production links themselves are characterized by small-scale and dispersed production, and the bourgeoisie, to ensure profits, still needs to use a large amount of manual labor and household labor. This makes small-scale production of the petty bourgeoisie an inevitable supplement to large-scale capitalist production, existing together with capitalism. Getting rich without exploiting the poor—this is the fundamental principle. The petty bourgeoisie operates its own industries just like capitalists operate enterprises, based on the recognition of capitalist private ownership and individual possession of social labor.[2] In other words, the petty bourgeoisie’s "way of making money" is similar to that of the bourgeoisie, relying on capital exploitation, but it shifts from utilizing its own labor to employing wage labor. This production method, close to that of the bourgeoisie, inevitably leads them to pursue the lifestyle of the bourgeoisie, which is the basis of the petty bourgeoisie’s personal wealth-accumulation mentality. Even petty bourgeois intellectuals are like this; although they seem to have no industries to operate, their mental labor as part of capitalist production serves the bourgeoisie. They belong to the bourgeois camp (unless they participate in revolution), receiving a portion of social labor from the bourgeoisie, with the possibility and desire to rise to the bourgeoisie. This economic characteristic of the petty bourgeoisie determines that they fundamentally uphold the capitalist system. They share the bourgeoisie’s strong desire for personal enjoyment, which is the origin of petty bourgeois reactionism. “Therefore, they are not revolutionary but conservative. Not only that, they are even reactionary because they try to reverse the wheels of history.”[3]
However, the petty bourgeoisie is not "a reactionary gang"; they also have a side close to the people. The character of the petty bourgeoisie is contradictory and complex. On one hand, they pursue the lifestyle of the bourgeoisie; on the other hand, they oppose capitalism due to the oppression it causes, "In a developed society, petty bourgeoisie, due to their own position, inevitably become both socialists and economists—meaning they are enamored with the luxury of the big bourgeoisie while sympathizing with the suffering of the people. They are both capitalists and the people."[4]
From another perspective, the petty bourgeoisie is also oppressed. Because their small-scale production cannot compete with the bourgeoisie, most will inevitably go bankrupt and join the proletariat, except for a few successful speculators. It is precisely because the petty bourgeoisie often feels the oppression of the bourgeoisie that they may harbor anti-capitalist and anti-bourgeois sentiments, and pursue personal liberation, which is the source of their revolutionary potential. Out of opposition to capitalist oppression, the petty bourgeoisie has certain democratic ideas. Before the proletariat takes the stage in history, the petty bourgeoisie was the extreme left wing of the democratic camp, such as the Jacobins during the French Revolution.
The democratic ideas of the petty bourgeoisie are completely different from those of the bourgeoisie.
The bourgeoisie is an exploiting class; its democratic ideas were only progressive when it was still the ruling class, as a weapon against the feudal landlords who held power. The bourgeoisie’s idea of democracy and equality was to abolish the privileges of the feudal aristocracy and eliminate all restrictions imposed by feudalism on their economic and political life. They advocated "money before all, equality for all," which essentially meant replacing the feudal hierarchy with a monetary hierarchy. During this period, when the bourgeoisie was rising, they never cared about the people's lives; their democracy was only for their own benefit. After gaining power, the false nature of their democratic ideas became even more exposed. The bourgeoisie shouted slogans of "liberty, equality, fraternity," using formal democratic rights to deceive the people, while sitting in a privileged class of wealth and doing as they pleased. Their democracy was merely a periodic change of rulers every few years.
“In the most advanced, most civilized, most democratic republics, despite the significant progress of bourgeois culture and democracy, the vast majority of the working masses remain ignorant, exploited slaves or oppressed peasants, subjected to plunder and insult by a small number of capitalists.”[5]
The democratic ideas of the petty bourgeoisie are closely linked with their sympathy for the suffering of the people. Their mode of production and lifestyle are capitalist; generally, they support the capitalist system. However, their economic status still cannot reach that of the bourgeoisie. Their minds have absorbed various bourgeois ideas, but their bodies still live among the people, sharing some common feelings. Because their worldview is based on individualism, their sympathy for the people often starts from their own suffering. They only sympathize with oppressed people when they themselves are oppressed.
The revolutionary potential of the petty bourgeoisie is unreliable. “This revolutionary nature is unstable, superficial, and prone to quick shifts into submission, despair, or even obsession with fashionable bourgeois trends—this is well known.”[6] The contradiction in petty bourgeois ideology between personal enjoyment and personal liberation is fundamental. In this contradiction, personal enjoyment always takes precedence. Because their lifestyle is stubborn, as long as they remain small producers living free from oppression and isolated from the world (at least from constant bourgeois oppression), their conservatism and reactionary tendencies will often manifest. Their revolutionary potential is only occasional, because compared to their stubborn way of life, bourgeois oppression is seen as occasional. As petty bourgeois self-mockery goes, they are “intermittently striving, continuously eating and waiting to die.”
“The so-called class is composed of groups that, due to their different positions in a certain socio-economic structure, can possess the labor of another group.”[7] This is Lenin’s definition of class, clearly illustrating that class relations are economic relations. There are no classes that betray economic interests, but individuals can betray their class. As Marx said: “The environment is changed by people, and the educators themselves must be educated.”[8] People have subjective initiative; under certain conditions, they can change their class stance. As the middle class in capitalist society, the petty bourgeoisie will inevitably undergo polarization, with some moving towards the right under bankruptcy pressure, seeking personal enjoyment and becoming accomplices or even tools of the bourgeoisie (a few become bourgeoisie themselves), or turning reactionary. Others, stimulated by social darkness and the suffering of the people, develop their ideas from seeking personal liberation to seeking social liberation, transforming from democratic to revolutionary.
The revolutionary transformation of the petty bourgeoisie cannot be achieved overnight; it is a long and painful process of ideological reform that requires perseverance.
“Great energy is produced only for great purposes.”[9] The revolutionary transformation of the petty bourgeoisie must be driven by the great goal of revolution—liberating all mankind—to persist continuously. In other words, the motivation for petty bourgeoisie revolution is a sense of revolutionary social responsibility. This sense of responsibility can only arise from deep feelings for the people. Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s revolutionary hero Hong Rengan once expressed his feelings: “Having traveled through ten years of dust and hardship, I deeply understand the evil tricks of demons and monsters. Having traveled across the lakes, I understand the hardships of the common people.”[10] “Tartars annually plunder hundreds of millions of Chinese resources,” “spend tens of millions of silver on opium and tobacco,” “while our Chinese people are impoverished,” “I, as a military strategist, have no knowledge, how can I endure repeated hardships? I am committed to the growth of China, and there are things I cannot refuse to do.”[11] The statement makes it clear that Hong Rengan regarded saving the Chinese people as his own inescapable responsibility because he deeply recognized the darkness of the Manchu Qing rule and the suffering of the people. Growing up in a poor rural area, working in agriculture while attending school, he maintained an inseparable blood and flesh connection with farmers. Therefore, he could stand on the oppressed class’s position to fight and sacrifice for revolution.
In summary, the petty bourgeoisie has the potential to develop into both revolutionary and reactionary directions. This root lies in the duality of petty bourgeoisie ideology: the contradiction between ideas of personal liberation and personal enjoyment. The key to transforming petty bourgeoisie ideas of personal liberation into social liberation lies in whether they can change their attitude and feelings towards the people. If they only see oppression as an occasional event rather than part of their own class, they cannot truly understand the people's feelings. To change their stance, petty bourgeoisie must achieve the "Four Combinations": combine with society, combine with the people, combine with practice, and combine with labor. Someone who is detached from society, the people, practice, and labor has no correct understanding in their mind, does not understand or hate reactionaries, does not sympathize with or support the people; from such a life, feelings of aversion to labor and the people will only grow, ultimately leading down the reactionary path of pursuing personal enjoyment. Today, among the youth and intellectuals, the petty bourgeois lifestyle remains widespread. On one hand, they yearn for democracy and pursue freedom; on the other hand, they often indulge in their personal small worlds, equating "liberation" with personal pleasure and future security. As a result, some can temporarily feel anger when facing oppression, but once life becomes more comfortable, they lose fighting spirit and even turn reactionary. This vividly reflects the instability and unreliability of petty bourgeois ideology and revolutionary potential. The only way to resolve this issue is through social practice and labor reform. True democrats, if they do not turn into revolutionaries, will inevitably regress into reactionaries. Only by connecting themselves with the masses, uniting personal fate with social fate, and elevating personal liberation to social liberation can they complete their revolutionary transformation in class struggle and become part of the proletariat.
Therefore, for the petty bourgeoisie to truly revolutionize, they must bravely admit their shortcomings, undergo profound ideological and emotional transformation, participate in social practice, labor reform, and class struggle, and not see themselves as merely "researchers" or "experiencers" among the working people. During labor, they must correctly identify the class nature of different people in the work environment, oppose the bourgeoisie and its lackeys, unite and cooperate with the proletariat, sincerely help them, and integrate themselves into the exploited class and the people. They must study Marxist theory diligently, apply what they learn, improve their theoretical level, and promote Marxism across all social strata. They should stay concerned about domestic and international news and current affairs, cherish the motherland, keep an eye on the world, care about people's lives, and pay attention to global developments, maintaining an open perspective to avoid falling into the narrow, selfish circle of petty bourgeois life. They should stay enthusiastic about organizational work and comrades’ situations, always regard the revolutionary cause and the progress of comrades as their responsibility. They must dare to fight, be good at fighting, take the lead in struggles, fear no saboteurs, leaders, capitalists, or police, skillfully use Marxist theory, and combine legal and illegal means to combat the arrogance of the bourgeoisie. Only a righteous Marxist with a firm stance, excellent theoretical level, and fearless fighting spirit can earn the trust of the working people and truly promote Marxism. Only in this way can the petty bourgeoisie be tempered in the turbulent class struggle, achieve their revolutionary transformation, and become qualified Marxists.
- Lenin: "Marxism and Revisionism," Selected Works of Lenin, Volume II, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- This is a relatively complex issue. As a social system, private ownership does not represent the relationship between people and objects (property), but rather the relationship between people. The essence of private ownership is the recognition of individual possession of social labor. According to Marxist political economy, labor is both individual labor and social labor. However, in the contradiction between individual labor and social labor, social labor occupies the main aspect. Because humans are social animals, the essence of humans is the sum of social relations, and humans exist within social movements. Labor is an activity through which humans consciously transform the objective world; from the very beginning, it has been carried out collectively by humans, and without society, there is fundamentally no such thing as labor. Therefore, no one has the right to treat social labor as their private property. From this, it is evident that private ownership violates the laws of human social development. However, since private society recognizes the right of individuals to control social labor, it inevitably also admits oppression and exploitation, because exploitation itself is the possession of another's labor by one party, and oppression involves using the labor they control to suppress the oppressed. The petty bourgeoisie recognizes private ownership, and thus admits the legitimacy of exploitation; they will start from owning their own labor to then possess the labor of others, even if they currently do not exploit. The so-called "propertyless" proletariat does not mean they do not possess or consume material wealth, but that they do not have the right to possess social labor, nor do they recognize this right. Therefore, the proletariat is the most advanced and selfless class. ↑
- Marx and Engels: "The Communist Manifesto," Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume I, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Marx: "Marx's Letter to Pavel Vasilevich Annenkov (December 28, 1846)," Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume X, People's Publishing House, 2009. ↑
- Lenin: "Great Achievements," Selected Works of Lenin, Volume IV, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Lenin: "Left-Wing" Childishness in the Communist Movement," Selected Works of Lenin, Volume IV, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Lenin: "Great Achievements," Selected Works of Lenin, Volume IV, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Marx: "Theses on Feuerbach," Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume I, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Stalin: "The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and Its Current Tasks," Collected Works of Stalin, Volume I. ↑
- Hong Rengan: "Discourse to Officials, Soldiers, and People Inside and Outside Kyoto," "Gan Wang Hong Bao System." ↑
- Hong Rengan: "Imperial Army Regulations." ↑