From “the Individual Character of Personal”to“the Overall Development of Individuals”——Research on People’s Problem of Marx and Lenin〔＊〕

Li Ting

（Information Science ＆Technology Nanjing University，Nanjing Jiangsu 210044）

Ⅰ.Marx and“individual character”

Natural personal，accidental individual and the character of individual are three stages of a personal development，which were used by Marx.In Marx’s theory，people，as members of the human society，are not isolated，but always in a certain historical process.Every social individual in each stage lives in its unique way，and the ways of life always have some essential relations between each other.

In“German ideology”，Marx firstly put forward the category “accidental personal”，and regarded“accidental individual”not as a real person，but a personal in state of alienation.For this purpose，he foresaw that“individual character”will sublate“accidental personal”in the development of human history.The dif-ference between individual personal and accidental personal，is not only the difference of logic，but a historical fact.〔1〕On the basis of the situation of human existence，in which individual’s independent activity were promoted or suppressed，the personal development process is divided into three stages，i.e.natural individual，accidental personal and the individual character.

Marx believed that in order to realize people’s development of the third stage，the stage of“individual character”，the freedom of man’s all-round development is the performance of“personality”，and “free association”is a social community which is composed of“individuals”.Marx thought that man’s allround development was a comprehensive way；that is to say，as a whole person，he must have its own comprehensive nature，so that everyone can get the equal，complete，free and harmonious development.A person’s comprehensive free development continuously exceeds certain historical shackles，and in turn，promotes the history of the people’s liberation process.This is also a process of gradual improvement and continuous progress.

Communism is a kind of realistic movement.It is a united body of individual freedom.It is not a person who has a lot of things，but the human with development is regarded as the subject.It must be a man in a highly developed historical premise to do the masters of nature，to do their own masters.So we need to sublate alienation and enable people to create a labor materials and products，not as an alien force dominates，but under the human’s control，so that people can get the free and comprehensive development in a rich and comprehensive social relations，and truly become a free personality.Individual character is a concentrated expression of the people’s development，which is the concentrated reflection of individual’s physiological，the heart，the social quality in the different social field.It is full displayed by the people’s initiative and creative.

Ⅱ.Marx’s materialist conception of history：the theoretical source of Lenin’s Philosophy

Lenin is an outstanding successor of Marx’s philosophy，but the formation and development of Lenin’s philosophy have their own characteristics.Although Lenin did not develop a special study of various kinds of questions about people and anthropology，but concerned on the exploration in Russia and the road of socialism in practice，combined with the special national conditions of Russia.Lenin always paid close attention to the two basic problems；one was the complex and diverse ethnic difference and the other numerous and important peasant problems.Based on the social relations of production and practice research Lenin focused on the real person，thereby avoiding abstract and humanitarian.At the same time，Lenin insisted on the dialectical unification of individual and society.When studying on the person’s liberation problems，he focused on the socialist trans-formation of the whole society.The most pressing task of Lenin is about the social revolution and the socialist transformation of the whole society.Therefore，in the two aspects of man and society he first focused on the society，and the people themselves were relatively less.In order to gain victory in the revolution and social transformation，he first focused on the masses and the collective in people’s problem，and the discussion of personal issues were relatively less.But Lenin’s theory didn’t lack of human problems，he combined people’s problems with promoting the materialist conception of history and summing up the experience of the Russian Revolution.The socialist revolution and construction career were fused together.

Lenin’s historical practice and the process of thought development had its own characteristics.We can’t have a simple comparison between Lenin and Marx.Lenin uniquely formed his Marxism world outlook under certain historical conditions.He neither experienced the fundamental change that Marx experienced from idealism to materialism in world outlook，nor had that experience which Lukacs did from the non-Marxism to Marxism，more complex psychological transformation.That is to say，Lenin basically did not experience a period of being dominated by one or more of the elements of the doctrine.He began to grasp the people’s problem from the view of historical materialism，which became a basic thread of Lenin’s whole theory.

Lenin further researched on people’s problem in the study of epistemology.He foreground social practice in the position of epistemology and emphasized that“human and the human practice are the validation and criterion to understand the objectivity of cognition.“The world does not appease the person，who determines to change the world with their own actions.”〔2〕In “notes of philosophy”，Lenin’s epistemology was combined with social practice，reality and the creative role.Lenin revealed that the understanding of the dialectical development contained two leaps，which were from vivid intuitive to abstract thought and the abstract thought to practice.The second leap was more important and more meaningful because it was more direct and could more reflect a person’s role to change the world.But no matter which leap man is the body of understanding and practice.

Ⅲ.A great leap from “the individual character of personal”to“the overall development of individuals”，as well as from theory to practice

1.Putting the general all-round development thought of the people in the development of society as a whole

Social development and people’s all-round development are inevitable inner link.The whole human’s history is nothing but history of human’s development itself.Therefore，social development and people’s all-round development are not only the ideal goals of future society，but the historical process of objective reality.Under the guidance of Marx’s historical materialism，Lenin pointed out：on the one hand the society is a society and all history is composed of individual activities.Leaving your personal activities there is no more social.〔3〕On the other hand，Man is a social person，and any individual is a social existence.In his early works，Lenin pointed out that the materialism of social scholars regards a certain social relationship between people as their own research object，so it is necessary to study on the real individual，because these relations are composed of individual activities.In fact，the real person is the people of the society and sociality is the human’s essential attribute.At the same time，social relations are formed and reflected by human’s practice activities，and change along with the development of the practice.Lenin then deduced that development is a historical process.Comprehensive development can be achieved with“the fully developed，fully consolidated and formed，fully launched and mature communism ”.The current task is to restore and develop the national economy and to train talents in accordance with the needs.

2.Being cultivated is a concentrated manifestation of“overall development of individuals”

The scientific interpretation of Lenin’s comprehensive development of the Marx doctrine is based on the accurate grasp of the essence of Marx’s comprehensive development.Although many of his formulation is not as rich as Marx’s thought and philosophy in depth，but more close to the reality of socialism and to the concrete and fresh human nature.Lenin believes that new generation of socialism are not only workers but also creators of culture；not only the creators of material civilization but also the direct creators of spiritual civilization；not only to enjoy the highest benefits of material life but also to make the essential strength and rich personality to be fully demonstrated and comprehensive developed；not only to actively participate in social life and social interaction but also to learn to manage the country’s art.In short，it is the comprehensive development of human’s practical activities，social contacts，material cultures and creativities，what can be the potential quality of human’s nature.〔4〕

At that time，Lenin specially emphasized on the newbie’s ideal and culture.In Lenin’s view，a new generation can“get the most intense fighting power from the communist ideal”and they also“can become communists only by understanding all the wealth created by mankind and use them to enrich their minds.”〔5〕Therefore，Lenin requires that modern education should cultivate a new generation of socialist，in which moral and intellectual，mental and physical，aesthetic and labor skills are harmonious and comprehensive.Lenin inherited Marx’s theory that people’s all-round development was of multi dimensional development combined with human abilities，social relationships and personality characteristics.His understanding of “people’s development in an all-round way”was more vivid and concrete compared with Marx.

3.The combination of education and practice，an important way to cultivate the“overall development of individuals”

The important way of development is the combination of education and productive labor，which is the combination of theory and practice in the process of education.In Kapital，Marx pointed out：“education in the future is for all children under a certain age.It is the production of labor combined with intellectual and physical education.It is not only a kind of method to improve social production，but also the only way to create a comprehensive development.”〔6〕In a deep understanding of the founders of Marxism about the education and the productive labor combination，the principle of core content was expressed more clearly and thorough— “All the people should be educated，at the same time，all the people should take part in the production of labor.”Meanwhile，“human’s overall development was extended to ‘universal human’s all-round development”，which explored an effective way in promoting people’s all-round development.

Jo Shah Co J，representative of the populist，regarded that“for those who cannot afford to pay the tuition”，participating in productive labor was hard obligations，and“for the rich，productive labor was unnecessary”.Lenin regarded that obviously distorted and belittled the principle which education and productive labor should be combined.Lenin said：“the general production of labor and the combination of universal education”，“must make all the people take part in the production of labor obligations”.〔7〕In March 1919through the “Russian Communist Party（Bull J Vic）program”，Lenin clearly defined，men and women under the age of 17should be free of obligation of general education and comprehensive technical education from the theory and practice（familiar with the main production department），which could combine education and the social productive labor closely”.So that we could“develop members of the communist society’s filled with scale development”.〔8〕

〔1〕Complete Works of Marx and Engle，vol.3，People’s Publishing House，1960，pp.79-80.

〔2〕Collected Works of Lenin，vol.55，The Collected Works of Lenin，1990，p.227.

〔3〕Selected Works of Lenin，vol.2，People’s Publishing House，1995，p.558.

〔4〕Wangdong，The Real Source of the Path of Reform，Peking University Press，1990，p.246.

〔5〕Collected Works of Lenin，vol.39，The Collected Works of Lenin，1986，p.299.

〔6〕Complete Works of Marx and Engle，vol.44，People’s Publishing House，1986，pp.556-557.

〔7〕The Collected Works of Lenin，vol.2，The Collected Works of Lenin，1984，p.462.

〔8〕Selected Works of Lenin，vol.2，People’s Publishing House，1995，p.413.