On Marx's Thought of People's Newspaper

"People's newspaper thought" is the newspaper thought of Marx and Engels in their youth, which is not only the newspaper thought before they became Marxists, but also the initial starting point of Marxist newspaper thought. Grasping the original starting point of Marxist news thought-"People's Newspaper Thought" and studying its essence and core seriously is of great significance for comprehensively and accurately understanding and grasping Marxist news thought and news theory.

First, the basic connotation of "People's Newspaper Thought"

In the early works of Marx and Engels, the concepts of "real newspaper", "free newspaper", "free publication" and "people's newspaper" are basically the same in connotation. They all refer to democratic newspapers that oppose feudal autocracy, but they have different usages on different occasions to emphasize some characteristics of newspapers. In order to accurately understand and master Marx and Engels' thought of "People's Newspaper", we must first make it clear.

About "Free Publications"

1842 In May, Marx first used the concept of "free publishing" in the debate (the first paper) of the Sixth Rhine Provincial Assembly. Marx believes that "free publications are the eyes of the people's spirit, the embodiment of people's self-trust, and the audio link connecting individuals with the country and the whole world; Free publication is a culture that turns material struggle into spiritual struggle and idealizes the rough form of material struggle ... "(see Complete Works of Marx and Engels). Marx believes that "free publications" must have people's nature and historical personality and express a certain people's spirit.

On "freedom of the press"

1842 in July, Marx officially used the concept of "free press" for the first time in the editorialNo. 179 of Keren Daily. He said: "Should newspapers be real newspapers, that is, free newspapers?" (The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 1, p. 124). Marx believes that free news is real news.

On People's Newspaper and Real Newspaper

Ten days before 1843 1, Marx used the concept of "people's newspaper" in the Seal of General Report in Leipzig. Marx first pointed out in an article protesting against the seizure of the General Report of Leipzig by the reactionary authorities: "Assuming that all these allegations are well-founded, then, are these allegations used to oppose the willfulness of the General Report of Leipzig, or are they used to oppose the inevitability that the Youth Daily is in the ascendant? The question is about the existence of a certain newspaper, or the non-existence of a real newspaper, the people's newspaper? " (The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, p. 186). Marx believes that the people's newspapers and periodicals in the ascendant are real newspapers and periodicals, which are vocal and express people's daily thoughts and feelings.

By reading Marx and Engels' early works on journalism, we can see that Marx and Engels' early news thoughts are mainly embodied in "people's newspaper thoughts".

Second, the core and development track of "People's Newspaper Thought"

Looking at Marx and Engels' early news activities, the "people's newspaper thought" is rich in connotation, and its core (subject) is nothing more than two aspects, namely, the people's nature of newspapers (people) and freedom of publication (freedom).

In every stage of the development of Marxist newspaper thought, we can find the development track of these two cores.

(A) the development track of "human nature"

The article "Prussia's Recent Censorship Order" published in February and June of 5438+0842+0 is not only the beginning of Marx's political newspaper activities, but also the beginning of his systematic exposition of the people's thoughts in newspapers and periodicals. This paper aims to call for the abolition of the censorship of books and newspapers and give the "people" real freedom and democracy. The real meaning of "person" at this time is a natural person.

From April 1842 to March 1843, Marx and Engels put forward and discussed the problems of "popularization of free publications" and "popularization of people's newspapers" in their articles published in Rheinische Zeitung. Marx pointed out that free publications are the eye of human spirit, the embodiment of human self-confidence, and the sound link between people and the world. In other articles, Marx also believes that newspapers and periodicals are only and should be the audio expression of people's daily thoughts and feelings. They must live among the people and sincerely share joys and sorrows with them. The meaning of "person" here has changed from "natural person" to working people.

In the article "Defending Moser's Journalists", Marx made a deeper discussion on the thought of "People's Newspaper", which reached a new height, and pointed out that the real reason for the emergence and development of "People's Newspaper" lies in the needs of the people, not the "charity" and "tolerance" of the Prussian government. At the same time, Marx and Engels also foresaw: "The people's trust is the condition for the survival of newspapers and periodicals. Without this condition, newspapers and periodicals will be depressed. " In other words, people's newspapers go deep into the people. The meaning of "people" here is the poor and the proletariat, not individual suffering groups, but the whole proletariat.

In the activities of proletarian newspapers and periodicals in Marx and Engels' later period, we can also find the development track of the thought of "the people's nature of newspapers and periodicals"

1844 The publication of the German-French Yearbook and the articles published by Marx and Engels on it marked that they had completed two transformations (from idealism to materialism, from democracy to * * * productism), and they put the task of creating a proletarian political party in the first place.

Marx pointed out: "According to its mission, the press is the defender of society, the indefatigable exposer against those in power, the omnipresent eyes and ears, and the long-awaited mouthpiece of the people's enthusiasm for safeguarding their freedom." (Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 6, page 257). The "people" here have evolved into the broad masses of people who are oppressed and exploited as opposed to those in power.

From the exposition of Marx and Engels, we can see that the proletarian press is the center of the proletarian movement and the eyes, ears and mouthpiece of the masses-the proletariat.

From the above historical facts, we can clearly tell the development track of Marx and Engels' thought of "the people's nature of newspapers and periodicals": free man → working people → class with nothing (poverty) → proletariat.

(B) the development track of "freedom"

The "freedom" of "people's newspaper" is another main idea of Marx and Engels' early political newspaper activities. "People's nature of newspapers and periodicals" and "freedom of newspapers and periodicals" constitute the core and theme of Marx and Engels' "People's Newspaper Thought".

Comment on Prussia's recent censorship order for books and newspapers marks the beginning of Marx and Engels' democratic revolution to strive for freedom of the press and oppose feudal autocracy. On the one hand, Marx and Engels exposed the dangers of the Prussian government's censorship of books and newspapers, on the other hand, they expressed their pursuit and cry for freedom of speech and publication-abolishing the censorship of books and newspapers. They regard freedom of the press as "natural human rights" and newspapers and periodicals as "the freest expression of human reason", and they stand at the initial starting line of Hegel's philosophy.

The debate of the 6th Rhine Provincial Assembly (the first paper) is another heavy gun for Marx and Engels to attack the censorship of books and newspapers in feudal dynasties and strive for freedom of the press. They bravely rushed out of the first step from the initial starting line of "Rationalism"

In Defending Mo Ze Journalists, Marx and Engels believed that the needs of poor people would inevitably lead to the emergence of people's newspapers. In this way, they went beyond the spiritual realm, from demonstrating freedom of the press with spiritual freedom to demonstrating the inevitability of freedom of the press with people's economic situation; From "free newspapers and periodicals are the embodiment of the people's spirit", it is further required that newspapers and periodicals safeguard the realistic material and spiritual interests of the people. The freedom of the press here gives the meaning of class. They believe that without freedom of the press, all other freedoms will be in vain, including the struggle for democracy and freedom.

With the deepening of Marx and Engels' democratic revolution and the change of world outlook, they put the freedom of the press into class society and class relations to investigate.

In news practice, Marx and Engels attached great importance to the struggle between freedom and freedom of the press. They stressed that freedom of the press should not be regarded as an industry freedom. "Freedom of the press-there's a gallows next to it!" (Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 6, page 432). The two tutors warned people that the working class, which has nothing, must be organized, and the freedom of the press, an effective weapon, should be used to seize power and realize the complete freedom of the proletariat.

The "freedom" of the "people's newspaper" can also be found in the future thoughts and activities of the party newspaper.

In the practice of guiding the first international organ newspaper and German organ newspaper, Marx and Engels formed a set of principles for the work of party newspapers. Marx and Engels believed that party newspapers must exercise freedom of speech and criticism. Only in this way can the party advance and develop, and the party newspaper can develop.

From the above historical facts, we can sort out the development track of Marx and Engels' thought of "freedom of newspapers and periodicals" as follows: freedom of natural persons (rationalism) → natural human rights → workers' movement needs freedom → proletarian movement needs freedom → party's struggle and development needs freedom.

(3) Some views on "human nature" and "freedom"

The core of Marx and Engels' early "people's newspaper thought" is embodied in "the people's nature and freedom of newspapers", which shines with immortal ideological brilliance and will naturally become the logical starting point of proletarian revolutionary newspaper thought and even party newspaper thought in the future.

In their youth, Marx and Engels always took it as their responsibility to transform society, and put the will, feelings, sufferings and demands of "ruling the people", especially the poor people, in a prominent position in society, hoping to get the attention, sympathy and concern of the whole society through the appeal of newspapers and periodicals. This is an unprecedented criticism of the contempt and insult of "ruling the people" and its feudal newspapers and periodicals to the working people for a long time. This is something that the early bourgeoisie never thought of, and it is even more difficult for early bourgeois newspapers to do, especially in terms of ideology.

It is precisely because Marx and Engels combined the struggle to transform the objective world with the struggle to transform the subjective world through political newspaper activities that the popularity of newspapers and periodicals was fully reflected.

However, we should also see that, limited by historical conditions, the "people's essence and freedom" in Marx and Engels' "people's newspaper thought" also contains idealism and fantasy to some extent. First, the starting point of Marx and Engels' People's Newspaper Thought is abstract rationality, human freedom and spiritual privilege, which has no practical social and political significance and content. Their "people's newspaper thought" is just a newspaper thought put forward by a democratic revolutionary based on his philosophical beliefs at that time, and it is inevitable that it has utopian elements. Second, during this period, Marx and Engels did not completely get rid of idealism and became thorough materialists. They still strive for freedom of the press with Hegel's view of spiritual freedom. They pinned their hopes for freedom on a publishing law, which was formulated by the Prussian government that had just issued a censorship order for books and newspapers. In this way, they fell into a very contradictory situation: on the one hand, they strongly opposed the autocratic rule of Prussian feudal countries that suppressed freedom and restricted freedom of the press; On the other hand, they demanded and hoped that such an authoritarian government would enact a publishing law. This contradiction shows that Marx and Engels' thoughts are influenced by Hegel's view that the state is the embodiment of reason, freedom and morality. In fact, in class society, there is no spirit or human freedom that is not restricted and bound by social objective conditions.

Despite this, after all, it is a flaw. Marx and Engels' "People's Newspaper Thought" still shines with the brilliance of the unity of people's nature and freedom, which has become the logical starting point of Marxist newspaper thought and the key to our systematic study of Marxist party newspaper theory and party newspaper thought.