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Urgent~ The Formation and Development of Marxist Journalism

The historical trajectory of the formation of Marxist journalistic thought is briefly described.

I. The conditions for the formation of Marxist journalistic thought

The formation of Marxist journalistic thought is inseparable from the specific socio-economic and political background of the time, the cultural training and knowledge

accumulation of Marx and Engels, as well as their long experience of working in the press.

The formation of Marxist journalistic thought is inseparable from the specific socio-economic and political background of the time, the cultural training and knowledge

accumulation of Marx and Engels, as well as their long experience of working in the press. Marx, Engels to newspaper work, put forward

journalism ideas, it is the German society, "a new period of birth and over

degree of time". The dissolution of the feudal economy and the capitalist productive forces

Marx

The historical trajectory of the formation of Marxist journalistic thought

AbstractThe formation of Marxist journalistic thought went through three different periods, the Rheinische Zeitung, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, and the Social-Democrat

Personnel Zeitung, in which Marx, Engels Newspaper practice and revolutionary activities in the formation of journalistic thought,

shows us the historical trajectory of the formation of Marxist journalistic thought

Scientific boom, the decay of the authoritarian system and the intensification of bourgeois resistance activities, for the formation of Marxist journalistic thought provides extremely favorable economic and political conditions. Despite the fact that Germany was then a feudal and backward agrarian country, by the 1830s and 1840s the capitalist mode of production was still slowly developing through the overcoming of the guild system and feudal bondage, with the help of the Customs Union and the wings of science and technology.

With the take-off of the new economy, the contradictions and conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the feudal rulers became increasingly acute. The resistance movement of the German bourgeoisie at first took the form of intellectual revolt and literary activity. Marx and Engels threw themselves into the rapids of social struggles and theoretical exchanges with great enthusiasm; they argued, argued, explored, and wrote, and social movements and newspaper practice became schools for them to seek the truth, sharpen their fighting spirit, and liquidate their old consciousness. In the rich social practice over the years, they gradually deepened their proposal and finally formed the Marxist journalism ideology.

The fact that Marx and Engels could become the founders of Marxist journalistic thought, in addition to the economic and political conditions provided for them by the times

, also depended on the fact that they diligently studied all the knowledge created by mankind and possessed a comprehensive and rational intellectual structure. As far as journalistic thought is concerned, by criticizing, inheriting and innovating the spiritual heritage created by mankind, especially by studying and absorbing the reasonable elements of the theories of idealistic socialism, French Enlightenment thought, German classical philosophy and those of their contemporaries (such as Boo Powell, Luger, Hess, etc.), and by adapting and processing them, they arrived at the conclusion of scientific socialism, and formed Marxist journalistic thought on this basis. At the same time, good family and school education also played an important role in the growth of Marx's Engels' thought. Long-term newspaper practice and rich experience in journalism is an indispensable and important condition for the formation of Marxist journalistic thought.

Marx and Engels were worthy of the title of "press activists"

and their names are associated with a series of newspapers. A significant part of their

social experience was devoted to journalism, and they founded

and edited 12 newspapers, and wrote

for more than 200. 1848-1849, when they founded the Neue Rheinische Zeitung

was the heyday of their struggles, and in less than a year they published

more than 400 reports and commentaries.

In less than a year, they published

more than 400 reports and commentaries. 1851-1862, they wrote for the New

York Daily Tribune for 10 years, publishing about 500

newsletters, and in their later years, they guided the work of the organs of the Marxist political parties of various countries

leaving behind many invaluable instructions. It is in the newspaper activities of Marx and Engels for half a century that we can see the historical trajectory of the formation of Marxist

righteous journalistic thought.

Second, Marx and Engels' press practice

With the change of worldview and the deepening of press practice, the press thought of Marx

and Engels gradually went through the process of evolving from democratic press thought

to workers' press thought and then to the party's press thought. The democratic

main press idea is the preparatory stage of Marxist press idea.

The formation of the workers' press idea after the publication of the **** Proletarian Manifesto marked

the establishment of the Marxist press idea. Driven by the universal

establishment of proletarian parties and the vigorous development of the proletarian press, Marx

and Engels formed their own ideas on the party press, which marked the gradual maturation of Marxist

journalistic thought. The three stages of the formation of Marx and Engels' journalistic

thought centered on the three newspapers that were at the center of their revolutionary and newspaper

practical activities, which were the Rheinische

Press, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, and the Social Democrat newspaper, respectively. In the following, the author

will make

a historical examination of the evolution of the journalistic thought of Marx and Engels

in the order of the historical progress of their newspaper activities and revolutionary activities

.

(I) Rheinische Zeitung Period---Democratic Press Ideology

As early as November 1837, Marx began to write for the German Muse

Annals and planned to publish a magazine of dramatic criticism, but unfortunately it did not come to fruition.

Later he worked at the "Doctor's Club" and was a member of the "Doctor's Club". Later, he published two poems called "Rhapsody" in the Athenaeum, which was run by Maine, a member of the "Doctor's Club," and this was the first time he published his work publicly in a newspaper.

After the summer of 1838, Engels

began to use the spare time he had from his studies in business to write literary works, and in the same year, he began to publish a book on the subject. literary works, establishing contacts with the

Bremen City Courier, the Bremen Amusement and the Bremen

Miscellany. In addition, he published articles in the Morning Intellectuals and the

Gutenberg Memorial. Soon Engels came into contact with the Young

Young German Movement and began to write for its organ, the German-Italian

Zeitung, where his first political essay, "Letter from the Uppe Valley," was published in the German Telegraph, an essay that aroused a strong reaction at all levels of

society. For the first time

Engels expressed his unique opinion on the truthfulness of journalism, put forward his views on the question of freedom of the press

and sharply expressed his position against the policy of ideological confinement.

During this period Engels also expressed his views on the popular color of popular books and newspapers

. On the eve of Marx's graduation, the Prussian

press was in a dark period, which Marx likened to a spiritual

Lent, with no freedom of the press and no free press. 1840 saw the accession of Wilhelm IV, who issued a Christmas

pardon on December 24, 1841: the censorship of the press and the press was eased. The freedom of the press, long awaited, was to be realized by the new king. Amidst the cheers and thanksgiving

, only Marx issued a diatribe against the Christmas pardons, which was

Marx's first political work, Review of the Recent Prussian Censorship of Books and Newspapers

. In this essay he fully expounded his brand new ideas on the freedom of the press

.

From January 1, 1842 to March 31, 1843, the Rheinische Zeitung (Rheinische Zeitung für Politik, Wirtschaft und Gewerbehandlung) was published in the city of Cologne in the province of Rheinland

Feng Guangsheng, Zhang Qianping, and the Historical Trajectory of the Formation of Marxist Ideas on Journalism

109

. Marx contributed to the newspaper since March 1842, and the same article was published by the Rheinische Zeitung (Rheinische Zeitung für Politik, Wirtschaft und Gewerbehandlung) in the city of Cologne. From March 1842, Marx wrote for the newspaper, and from October of the same year he became editor of its political section. In this role, Marx showed both vigor and intelligence, writing editorials and arguing with the General Zeitung, which he had been falsely accused of. Earlier, he had launched a counterattack against another

newspaper, the Daily Columbo. In his political and newspaper

tracts, Marx addressed the relationship of the press to politics and touched on

the question of ****productivism, a very sensitive issue in Prussian society. From

this point on, Marx regularly read the writings of idealistic socialists and

participated in seminars on socialist issues. At the same time, as an editor-in-chief,

he often encountered "difficult problems" in expressing his views on various economic issues, which prompted

him to start studying political economy and discussing various socio-economic issues

which ultimately led to his becoming the founder of the great Marxist economics

. And at that time, with his sympathy for the people and countless solid and convincing materials obtained through his investigations, he wrote insightful articles on many economic problems and cried out for the politically and socially oppressed

poor people, most notably in defense of the poor people who collected dead branches for fuel and the dying peasants in the Mosel Valley, who were on the verge of bankruptcy.

essays in defense of the dying farmers of the Mosel Valley. These articles drew attention from all sectors of society and further

expressed Marx's ideas about the popularity of the press and the guarantee of the people's

freedom of the press. In the later years of the Rheinische Zeitung, the newspaper had to fight not only against censorship, but also against the errors of the "Freemen" group. It was in the latter struggle

that Marx began to develop and formulate strategic ideas for newspaper work.

In the final struggle to save the Rheinische Zeitung from seizure, Marx vigorously defended the right of the people's press to exist, systematically expounded

the social status and social function of the people's press, pointed out the principle of the press's relations with the

people and with the government, and once again attacked the anti-popularity of the censorship of newspapers and magazines. the anti-popularity of the censorship of the press. Engels also published a number of articles and chapters in the newspaper. Engels did not fully expose and systematically criticize the censorship of the press,

but he made a profound criticism of the provisions of the various laws of the Prussian state which restricted the freedom of the press.

(2) The period of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung - the idea of the workers' press

After Marx was forced to leave the Rheinische Zeitung, he decided to go with Luger to Paris, where the Prussian government was unable to confine him, and to found a magazine that adopted an independent

thinking

approach. This was the first socialist publication in Germany,

The Deutsch-Franz?sische Jahrbücher. The program Marx drew up for the magazine was an expression of his ideology since he was a ****animalist. The only issue of the

German-French Jahrbuch

was published in February 1844, and contained two articles each by Marx

and Engels, which marked the completion of their transition

from idealism to materialism, and from revolutionary democratism to

***productivism. Due to a gradual

divergence of ideological views with Luger and financial constraints, the German-French Yearbook could not be continued. As

an indomitable revolutionary, Marx devoted a great deal of energy to

philosophical and economic research on the one hand, and on the other, he wrote articles in newspapers such as La Forêt, Der Italie

Zeitung Brussel and other newspapers, which he transformed

into newspapers tending to ****analism and propagating ****analism. This stage

of newspaper practice further matured and perfected Marx's ideas

about the proletarian press.

In September 1844, Engels returned to his hometown of Barmen from England

. Before that, he had been writing for the Irvingite newspaper

The New German World

and the Charterist newspaper

The Polaris

. After returning to his hometown

, he enthusiastically engaged in socialist propaganda and organization

, while promoting the Forward, which Marx co-edited, reporting on the socialist movement on the continent for the Polaris

Star, and working with Hess and others to prepare for the publication of the Social Der Spiegel. Their joint founding message - a letter to readers

and contributors - reflects Engels' thinking on running a newspaper at the time.

In April 1845, Engels also moved to Brussels to work alongside Marx. There, they discussed the work of the newspaper together, but also *** with the organization

Organization of the ****productivist Committee of Correspondence. Later, Engels was commissioned by this committee to contact and organize a similar committee in Paris. During this time he also

helped the French ****anist organ, La Réforme, to overcome the influence of Proudhonism

and to propagate the ****anist world view to the French working class. At this time,

"true socialism" (a kind of petty-bourgeois socialism) began to

spread like the plague in Germany and to proliferate among a number of workers' organizations in France, England, and North America

. One of its representatives, Krieger,

in the People's Tribune, a weekly newspaper founded in the U.S., trumpeted "true

socialism." During this period, Marx and Engels, in addition to opposing

Coligai's errors, also fought against the erroneous tendencies of the petty-bourgeois democrat Karl

Heinzen, the "true socialist" Gruen, and the petty

bourgeois idealistic socialism of Proudhon. These activities of Marx

Engels upheld the proletarian orientation of the press,

demonstrated the principles and positions for the defense of the correct course of the press, and to this end

accumulated experience.

On May 31, 1848, the "best organ of the revolutionary proletariat" under the leadership of Marx and Engels, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (signed

), was published. (published on June 1, 1848) spread through the streets of Cologne. With a total of 301 issues of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Marx and Engels were able to develop their ideas and tactical principles of the press. After the failure of the revolution, Marx and Engels were forced into exile again and settled

in England. The counter-revolution had returned, and the revolutionaries' freedom of speech and of the press

was denied. Marx and Engels were faced with two tasks: to summarize

the experience of the revolution that had just passed and to designate a new strategy; and to train cadres for the new battles that were to come

. Neither of these tasks could be accomplished without

opening the press. After half a year's work,

Neue Rheinische Zeitung - Review of Political Economy

was finally launched, and six issues of this theoretical journal*** were published. In the process of founding and publishing

editions, Marx and Engels discussed the different characteristics of newspapers and magazines

, the social function of public opinion, the significance of workers' participation in running a newspaper, etc.

2007 Yulin Normal College Journal, No. 6

110

.The failure of the European revolutions of 1848-1849 and the period from 1864 to 1864, when the European Revolution was defeated, were the most important factors in the development of a new political economy. >

The founding of the First International in September 1864 was a period of low ebb in the workers' movement.

During this period, Marx and Engels devoted a great deal of energy to theoretical research

to forging theoretical weapons for the proletariat in future revolutions, while at the same time

continuing their newspaper activities under extremely difficult circumstances.

(III ") The period of the Social-Democrat Gazette --- the Party's newspaper ideology

On September 28, 1864, the first mass proletarian national

international organization - the

On September 28, 1864, the first mass international organization of the proletariat, the International Workingmen's Association (hereafter referred to as the "International"), was founded in London, with Karl Marx as its soul. He and Engels worked on it with

incredible enthusiasm. One of their contributions to the International

was to lead its organs and keep them proletarian

tendencies. The first organ of the International was the Beehive, but it was never a competent organ because of the influence of

Trade Unionism. At the suggestion of

Marx, the General Committee of the International agreed and entrusted him with the task of drafting a resolution to remove

The Beehive from the International, another important document of Marx and Engels on the work of

newspapers. Another important

organ of the International was the Workers' Advocate, with which Marx had been enthusiastically involved

and for which Engels had written. Their guidance and experience with the First International's

publication was one of the sources

of the Marxist theory of party newspapers. At the same time, Marx and Engels continued to write for a number of bourgeois newspapers

. The period of the Paris Commune was the most intense and bustling

busy time for their newspaper activities. They followed and evaluated the Commune's journalistic policy and press

activity, published statements on the Commune's activities, countered the slanders and attacks on the Commune by the bourgeoisie and

governments, and wrote

an important document on the events of the Commune, The Civil War in France. This stage of Marx Engels's

press activities provides useful insights for us to explore the characteristics of press politics

policy and the organic operation of the press under the dictatorship of the proletariat.

In the middle of the 1860s, the German workers' movement was growing in strength and

gradually developed into the center of the international workers' movement. The German workers' movement

was initially divided into the All-German Workers' Federation (AGWF), led by Lassalle, and the Eisenach faction (the Social Democratic

Labour Party of Germany (SPD)), led by Bebel and Liebknecht, which published their own organs. Marx and

Engels, as the guides and loyal fighters of the German proletarian movement

, adopted different attitudes toward each of the two organs. Out of concern for the propagation of the ideas of scientific socialism and the building of a genuine proletariat in Germany

, Marx and Engels at first agreed to write for the Social Democrat, the organ newspaper of the Lassalle faction

. When they discovered that the paper had reneged on its original promise to promote the cult of Lassalle and to pander to the Bismarckian

government, they immediately sharply criticized the paper and

had no hesitation in withdrawing as contributors. Their remarks criticizing Lassalleism and

criticizing the Social-Democrat were an

important element in the ideology of the party press, which demonstrated the distinctly class

nature of the work of the proletarian party press.

In sharp contrast to the opportunist press, Marx and

Engels cared for the real German Workers'

Party with a passionate and unfailing concern, and together with their comrades in arms working in the country they drew up the

correct policy and strategy for the press, criticized their errors, pointed out blunders and

shortcomings, raised money for them and writing timely newsletters and

theoretical articles for them. The party newspapers that took their lessons from Marx and Engels

are Demokratische Monatsschrift, People's State, Forward, Social-Democratic

Partisan (Red), and Neue Zeit, among others. In addition to the German party papers

the party papers of the working class in other countries also received

much correct guidance and warm and considerate help from them. Among these party newspapers

, the German party organ, the Social-Democrat (published in Zurich and London during the period when the Anti-Socialist

People's Extraordinary Law was in force, and known as the red

-colored Social-Democrat to distinguish it from the Lassallean Social-Democrat

Partisan), received the most help from Marx and Engels, and

for the longest time. Especially under Engels' guidance (since Marx

died in 1883), the Social Democrat became the best party newspaper of the 19th century

. The instructions of Marx and Engels on party newspapers and their summaries of the experience of

party newspaper work, especially their discussions on the Social-Democrat

(Red) and the party's theoretical journal New Times, greatly developed

and enriched their ideas on party newspapers, and gave a qualitative leap to their ideas on journalism, which they had developed

from the 40s onwards.

From 1864-1895, Marx and Engels' party newspaper thought

had been formed and constantly developed, and it marked that Marxist journalism

thought had developed to a new level. With regard to the party organs,

Marx and Engels both demanded that the press should work in accordance with the "spirit of the party",

and this demand was also directed at the leading organs of the party.

Whether it is the leading organs of the party or the party press, all of them have to follow the party's

program and the principles of the party's strategy.

The party press is the most important organ of the party. principles of Party strategy. They repeatedly declared that they were not associated with newspapers that did not carry out the

Party program and Party strategy, or criticized Party leading bodies or leaders that carried out the

wrong line. Engels wrote:

"What is the task of the party journal? First and foremost to organize discussion, to argue, expound

and defend the demands of the party, and to refute and overthrow the delusions and theories of the hostile party

." Meanwhile within the Party, he advocated the creation of a special journal of controversy, which would allow free criticism of certain Party programs and policies

within the limits of the Party

's program and morals

. Marx wrote to the party leaders asking them to listen to the criticisms of the party press and not to consider themselves "above the criticisms of the party and to denounce any criticism as treasonable". From this, we can

see that Marx and Engels had a clear understanding of the nature of the party newspaper and the mission of the party newspaper

. At the same time, for the specific

business of the party newspaper, Marx and Engels accumulated a wealth of experience, and formed

a clear guiding ideology of the newspaper. They believed that party newspaper workers should

have the qualities of political stance, moral character, business ability and other aspects,

and that they should strengthen their cultivation in the long period of work practice.

Feng Guangsheng, Zhang Qianping Historical Trajectory of the Formation of Marxist Journalism Thought

111

Third, the Evaluation of Marxist Journalism Thought

The main body of Marx and Engels' journalism thought during the period of the Rheinische Zeitung was

the viewpoints on the free press and the people's press, which were the journalism

thought of the period. Marx, Engels youth - early journalistic thought

thinking, is the first stage of their journalistic thought, but also the preparatory stage of Marx's main

righteous journalistic thought, which lays the

foundation of their journalistic thought, but in many ways it is still not mature and comprehensive enough. By the time of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung,

Internationale, ****productivism had replaced revolutionary democratism, and idealism

was replaced by materialism. The Marxist-guided view of freedom

and the proletarian-oriented view of the people raised the ideas of the free press and the human

people's press to a whole new level. So it is said that the idea of labor

people's press is the result of the scientific

learning development of the idea of democratic press according to the law of historical development. The mission and principles of the workers' press pointed out by Marx and Engels in this period set the tone of their life-long press

theory and practice, constituted the basic theoretical framework, and were adhered to in

subsequent press practice. Practice has proved that the idea of the workers' press in the period of the

Neue Rheinische Zeitung

, as the main body of Marxist journalistic thought

, not only comprehensively put forward the basic principles, guidelines and principles

, but also up to the deaths of Marx and Engels, they have continued to develop and deepen

, but have never wavered or fundamentally changed. The journalistic thought of Marx and Engels

at the time of the Social-Democrat was the newspaper thought of the period when their

political thought and scientific views were in a period of maturity and when the proletarian movement

was in a new stage of party building, and the party-newspaper thought

was a stage of advanced development of the thought of the workers' newspaper. The formation of this thought

marks the completion of the journalistic thought of Marx and Engels

Democratic Press---Workers' Press---Party The three developmental

stages of the press, the task of laying the foundation of Marxist journalistic thought has been completed.

The above review of Marx and Engels' newspaper activities shows that

Marxist journalistic thought is the result of Marx and Engels' theoretical summarization of newspaper practice

experience. It was the more than 50 years of rich practice of the democratic

main, workers' and party press, their numerous instructions, guidelines, programs, discourses and their series of critical

comments that shaped Marxist journalistic thought, and thus immortalized him

himself as the founder of Marxist journalistic thought.

History

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