A brief introduction to collectivism

* * * The basic principles of socialist morality. Starting from the fundamental interests of the proletariat, it deals with the relationship between individual and collective, individual and society, emphasizes that the collective interests of the proletariat are higher than individual interests, and demands that individual interests obey collective interests, immediate interests obey long-term interests, and local interests obey overall interests.

Collectivism is an inevitable moral requirement for the proletariat to complete the historical mission of liberating itself and all mankind, and it is a concentrated expression of the noble character of the proletariat. Collectivism is formed by the proletariat in its production struggle and class struggle against the bourgeoisie. With the development of modern large-scale industry, the activities of every proletariat are restricted by each other and machines. At the same time, it is also related to the fate of the entire proletariat. In the face of capitalist economic exploitation and political oppression, no proletariat can change its own destiny alone. Only by relying on the collective strength can the proletariat get rid of exploitation and oppression. The practice of class struggle makes the proletariat realize that it is necessary to cherish collective strength and safeguard collective interests in the struggle.

The establishment of the socialist system provides conditions for the realization of the collectivist moral principle, and all the people also take the establishment of * * * ideals, * * * goals, * * * morality and * * * discipline as their own requirements. Under socialist conditions, the interests of the state, the collective and the individual are basically the same. National interests and collective interests are realized through the collective efforts of every worker, and the development of national interests and collective interests is the most reliable guarantee for the realization of individual interests. Only in the collective can individuals achieve all-round development.

Adhering to the principle of collectivism is consistent with recognizing legitimate personal interests. It is wrong to use collectivism to deny legitimate personal interests or to use personal interests to oppose collectivism. Collectivism first requires people to make their own contributions to the development of social collective interests; The principle of collectivism respects the legitimate personal interests of workers and gives full play to their personal talents.

The principle of collectivism and individualism are fundamentally opposed. The principle of collectivism opposes and condemns putting personal interests above the interests of the state and the collective, and it is not allowed to deny the interests of the state and the collective with personal interests. In real life, the consistency of the interests of the state, the collective and the individual does not mean that the interests of the three are completely consistent on every specific issue. Conflicts of interest and conflicts among the three are frequent. Collectivism, as a moral principle, on the one hand requires the state and the collective to constantly adjust various policies and measures, care about the personal interests of workers, and try their best to develop personal interests; On the other hand, it also guides people to consciously obey the collective interests with personal interests, and even sacrifices personal interests when necessary to protect the interests of the collective and the state.

In the * * * socialist moral system, the principle of collectivism has a profound influence on other norms of * * * socialist morality. Cultivating people's collectivism is an important part of socialist moral education. At present, the issue of values has gone beyond the scope of philosophy and become a fundamental issue in the field of humanities and social sciences. However, the discussion of values tends to be patterned, conceptualized and hollowed out. The more you talk, the less you see the core, and there are too many slogans and concepts, which makes people feel at a loss. Especially on the question of "what is the core values", there have been different opinions all over the sky, but most of them have missed the point. Some people think that "democracy", "freedom", "equality" and "fraternity" are the core values, others think that "free and all-round development of human beings" is the core values, and so on. Indeed, these concepts and categories have valuable connotations and reflect some values of human society, but they have largely become slogans, which makes the core values more and more wrapped in concepts and hinders people's understanding of the nature of the problem.

Values are people's reflection of social existence. Values refer to people's overall evaluation and general view of the significance and importance of objective things around them (including people, things and things), and are the standards used by social members to evaluate behaviors and things and choose their desired goals from various possible goals. These general comments and opinions, in the final analysis, reflect people's attitude towards interests. In other words, values are people's perceived benefits. The actual interests of people are diverse, and the interests realized by people are also diverse, so people's values are also diverse. Among many interests, there are two basic interests, namely, personal interests and public interests; At the same time, there are two basic values, namely individualism and collectivism. Therefore, judging from the essential decisive role of interest in values, it plays a leading role in other values in the human value system, and there are only two core values: individualism and collectivism.

Collectivism is the core value concept of socialism, which has been emphasized by the leading public opinion in our society. With the establishment of the market economy system, the traditional collective is undergoing profound changes, and the pattern of social interests has changed from single to multiple, and the social ideological trend of emphasizing the subject status, subject consciousness and subject rights of individuals has gradually become stronger. However, the socialist market economy requires stakeholders not only to move from monism to pluralism, but more importantly, to form a new whole with mutual benefit and coordinated development on the basis of multiple stakeholders. Modern market economy cannot be based on "atomization" and "desertification" caused by extreme individualism. The socialist market economy based on division of labor and multiple stakeholders itself contains the call for collectivism. However, collectivism in the past has not been baptized by market economy, and people have doubts about whether collectivism can be combined with market economy under the condition of emphasizing individual's dominant position. Therefore, it is necessary to sort out the history and logic of collectivism, and on this basis, make clear what collectivism and collectivism should be. Collectivism, as the basic principle of socialist morality, "is the fundamental criterion for dealing with individual interests and overall interests, and the most basic starting point and guiding principle for adjusting various normative requirements of people's mutual relations" [1]. Because the interests between individuals and others and between collectives are everywhere, the moral principles that regulate the interests between people actually cover all fields of social life. Collectivism is not only a moral principle, but also a basic value principle of society when it is not only the internal measure of individual behavior, but also the basic basis for integrating social order and designing system. Just as individualism is not only a moral principle in western society, but also the core value of the country, in the eyes of westerners, the whole society and its highest aspirations are closely linked to individualism, and giving up individualism is equivalent to giving up its deepest essence. In fact, in any society, whether it is realized or not, the basic social values contained in cultural traditions and embodied in social systems are always playing a fundamental role in integrating society. Individualism and collectivism are the two most basic types.

Compared with western society, it is not individualism but collectivism that plays a fundamental integration role in China society. However, it is wrong to think that collectivism is better than individualism on the whole, because collectivism and collectivism are qualitatively different. As we all know, Marx and Engels divided the collective into "realistic collective" and "illusory collective" ("false collective" and "pretend collective", etc.). A basic basis for Marx and Engels to distinguish between true and false collectives is whether individuals are free in the collective, that is, whether individuals "control their own living conditions and the living conditions of all members". They believe that in the past, among all kinds of pretend collectives, collectives were the "shackles" of the oppressed. Even the exploiter, because he is not an individual but a member of the ruling class, has so-called freedom. Once he transcends the class, he will face the freedom that he can no longer occupy the living conditions of others for free, so the country is also false to him. However, "in the collective of revolutionary proletarians who control their own living conditions and the living conditions of all members of society, the situation is completely different." In this group, individuals participate as individuals. It is such a combination of individuals (naturally based on the developed productive forces at that time) that puts the conditions for individual free development and movement under their own control. "Visible, only when the collective is to control their own and other members of the survival and development conditions of the individual" a consortium ",the collective is true for individuals.

Although Marx and Engels mainly discussed the truth and falsehood of the collective at the three levels of country, class and society, in a certain sense, "this' real collective' is the free association of human beings, that is, the capitalist society", but this does not affect our methodology of discriminating the nature of the collective, because the bud of the real collective in the future is included in the real collective. Its methodological enlightenment is: the collective has the distinction between true and false; Whether the collective is true or not depends on whether the individuals in the collective control the living conditions of themselves and others and the degree of control; True collectives are tools for individual survival and development, while false collectives are shackles for individual survival and development. This contradiction between the individual and the collective is the internal driving force to push the collective from fallacy to truth. In a word, when Marx and Engels analyzed the nature of the collective, they took the individual as the starting point and destination, and then revealed that the freedom and all-round development of the individual is the true meaning of the collective, the struggle of the individual to control the living conditions of himself and all the members is the internal driving force of the collective evolution, and the highest historical realm of the collective evolution is the union of free people. This historical materialism analysis of the collective provides us with a scientific methodology to distinguish between true and false collectives and collectivism. Adapting to the long feudal system, the core content of collectivism in China traditional culture is patriarchal clan system (or quasi-patriarchal clan system). "Patriarchal collectivism is also called feudal patriarchal collectivism, which is inseparable from the feudal patriarchal system. Under the feudal patriarchal clan system of China, the feudal society took blood as the link, combined with the national system to safeguard the hereditary rule and privileged behavior of parents, patriarchs and nobles, and formed a feudal patriarchal clan system composed of political power, divine right and exclusive right, forming a hierarchical patriarchal clan system. As the expression of these systems in the fields of ideology, culture and values, it is collectivism or holism centered on safeguarding the country, the nation and the nobility, and personal interests are absolutely subordinate to clan interests, so it is called patriarchal collectivism. "

The prominent feature of feudal patriarchal clan system is that consanguineous family system has become a model of state system. "On Mencius Li Lou" said: "People have a constant saying that all countries in the world are based on the country and the country is home." This statement confuses two different social organizations, "home" and "country", and regards home as the foundation of the country. In his book Reason and Democracy, Zhang gave a concrete description of this mixed social organization structure: "The social organization in China is a big family, and there are countless small families with many layers. It can be said that it is a family hierarchy. The so-called monarch is the father of the country and the minister is a gentleman. In such a hierarchical society, there is no concept of' individual'. Everyone is either a father or a son. Either the monarch or the minister. Either the husband or the wife. Either brothers or brothers. " This vividly shows that the family organization structure has a profound influence on the formation and development of chinese social organizations, and "the patriarchal clan system based on the ancient patriarchal concept of respecting the position and authority of the head of the family is the theoretical basis for the establishment of the China government organization".

Why is this characteristic of social organization formed? What's the point? Some scholars believe that this is related to the formation path of the early state: "The development vein of China's ancient history is not to replace the patriarchal society linked by clan blood with a slave country, but to move from family to country, and to maintain slavery by blood, forming a pattern of' integration of family and country'." Scholars who study the origin of the country believe that there are two different modes of the early origin of the country: one is the "clan mode", such as ancient Athens and Rome; Second, the "chiefdom model" to which ancient China belonged. As the earliest social organizations of mankind, clans and chiefdoms are ancient social systems based on consanguinity. With the entry of foreign population and the appearance of surplus products, the original principle of equal distribution within clans and chiefdoms was gradually broken, and the "fatherly and purely moral" power began to transform into the power structure of early countries along two different paths. The first is the path of decentralization under the clan model. For example, according to Morgan's research, clan and tribal political organizations have experienced the "one-power stage" in which power is concentrated in tribal meetings, the "two-power stage" in which tribal leaders' plenipotentiary meetings coexist with the supreme military commander, and the "three-power stage" in which the people's congress, a third power point besides chiefs' meetings and military commanders, has emerged. Obviously, the focus of the decentralization path is to prevent excessive concentration of power in the hands of individuals. Thus, "a model of great significance in the history of human politics has been formed, that is, the model of so-called democratic politics. Engels once directly called Athens a "democratic country". The second is the path of centralization under the chieftain system model. "In the national process of these societies, power evolved directly from the power of chiefs, that is, chiefs". When chiefs distribute more items to close relatives in the redistribution of surplus items, "the special role of individuals has economic significance"; When the chief distributes more surplus labor products to his followers in order to seek greater advantages in the tribe, "the special role of the individual has political significance." The chief's special role in collective management began to change to personal power, and he gathered around power to form a powerful group, which in turn strengthened the chief's personal compulsion. The difference between the above two modes lies in whether power is restricted. And "Emirates is a society with clear personal nature and political power. When they were transformed into countries, they inherited the legacy of personal rule politically and developed the earliest autocratic political form of mankind. "

First, patriarchal collectivism is the cultural soil that breeds individual power. In the category of patriarchal collectivism, patriarchal politics is its core content. A complex network of power relations has been formed around the patriarchal society, large and small. "Parents" are above the collective and control the fate of the members in the collective; Individuals are subordinate to the collective and form a personal attachment relationship with their parents. In the patriarchal clan system, the only thing that can prevail is absolutism plus "slave morality that respects oneself"

Second, patriarchal collectivism is the cultural soil to create a network of hierarchy and power relations. "The essence of patriarchal clan system is the politicization of family system" [6-2] refers not only to the isomorphism in organizational structure, but also to the isomorphism in governance. Family governance follows the principle of "humane kinship" explained in the Book of Rites: "Pro-ancestors, respect ancestors, respect ancestors and collect ancestors." Extending this logic to the society leads to the principle of governing the country with distinct levels: "Those who govern the people should not be in a hurry to be courteous ... the righteousness of the monarch and the minister, the affection of the father and son, the distinction between respect and inferiority, the killing of relatives and friends, the reward of the title, the difference between husband and wife, the equality of political affairs, the order of the young and the old, and the rise and fall." In this way, the hierarchy is endowed with natural rationality by the order of interpersonal relationships, the political game between different interest groups is suppressed by moral etiquette, and the ethical law of human affection and kissing eliminates the possibility of collective members forming communication laws based on their own interests.

Thirdly, patriarchal collectivism has restrained the formation of individual rights consciousness. Under the patriarchal clan system, the value of individual life is mainly realized in ethical and political relations. So "China has no personal concept; It seems that a person does not exist for himself. " Although "the sense of responsibility and obligation to the group is the universal social and psychological structure of the whole Chinese nation (from Tian Zi to Shu Ren)", "this Chinese concept of responsibility lacks the concept of personality as the only responsible subject" [9], and individuals only have the obligation of obedience and attachment, and there is no room for claiming individual rights.

Obviously, the essence of patriarchal collectivism is absolutism and slavery, which is incompatible with modern democratic system and the dross that we must abandon when we move towards modern democracy. The socialist society must establish the values with collectivism as the core, which is determined by the socialist economic base and socialist mode of production. Under the condition of socialism, because there is no fundamental conflict of interest among social members, the fundamental interests of society or the state, the collective and the individual are basically the same. The core values of collectivism under socialist conditions include three basic principles: first, the interests of society, collective and individual must be unified; Second, the interests of society and the collective are higher than those of individuals; Third, the legitimate interests of individuals are fully respected. When social and collective interests conflict with personal interests, personal interests should be subordinate to social and collective interests.

Therefore, judging from the development history of human society, individualism and collectivism are the products of the historical development of human society, which cannot be defined in general, let alone affirmed or denied in general, but depends on specific social and historical conditions. From the practice of human social development, individualism and collectivism have advanced aspects: individualism emphasizes the liberation of individuality, which is of positive significance for liberating people from the personal attachment relationship in medieval Europe, recognizing the right of individuals to pursue interests, giving play to their creativity and promoting social progress; Collectivism is extremely important under the historical conditions of objective and diversified interests of the nation, the country and the society. Without it, there will be no cohesion in society, especially for the poor and backward developing countries, which will form unity politically, ideologically and ideologically and play a vital role in the development of the nation-state. Traditional culture is the product of historical accumulation. As an established force, traditional culture can be combined with the progressive factors of the times to form an ideological force to promote social development, and can also be combined with the backward factors in reality to become a hotbed of decadent forces. If the core of political culture such as official standard and hierarchical system is excluded, the cultural connotation of collectivism carried by traditional culture, such as courtesy, honesty and trustworthiness, self-discipline, self-righteousness, diligence and honesty, self-denial and loyalty and patriotism, can be completely combined with the theme of the times and become inexhaustible social capital for shaping new collectivism. From the historical process, firstly, the Revolution of 1911 shook the foundation of the patriarchal collectivism system, and then the patriarchal clan system in the form of imperial power ended. However, patriarchal collectivism has not disappeared, but has survived with the power of culture and customs as the carrier, and it will nourish various forms of patriarchal collectivism whenever there is an opportunity. The New Culture Movement turned the criticism to the feudal orthodoxy represented by Confucianism, which opened the floodgate to curb the influx of new ideas. The spread of modern western ideas such as independence, equality, freedom and democracy has made people deeply reflect on and awaken absolutism and slavery under the patriarchal clan system.

The victory of Russian October Revolution made the advanced people in China see a new value subject that adapts to social development. Because the October Revolution was "the victory of the common people" and "the victory of the laborers", the thoughts of China people who were humiliated by imperialism and scuffled with warlords and had deep doubts about western capitalism changed: learn from Russia and "build a country of the working class (that is, the production class) by revolutionary means". For the first time, the "working class" is regarded as the value subject of the country. After Marxism entered China, it broke the historical view of dividing people by blood, patriarchal clan system and rank for thousands of years, and provided a new method to divide social people by the principle of economic interests, thus making the advanced elements in China "no longer look at the fog through the screen window", jump out of the vague concepts of "nation" and "China people" and realize that the real power to promote historical development-the working class, morality and interests are here for the first time.

After establishing a new value subject, the form of chinese social organizations began to change. Before the May 4th Movement, Mao Zedong's view of history was still a heroic view of history, but "after the revolutionary baptism of the Russian October Revolution and the May 4th Movement, he finally realized that only' mass unity' was the fundamental way to transform the country and society. He explored the' great origin' that he dreamed of for many years from the people. " This "grand alliance" based on class "common interests" is a denial of social organizations based on patriarchal relations. Its focus is no longer simply to separate individuals from the patriarchal clan system, but to break the patriarchal hierarchy, re-divide people according to the principle of interests, and re-integrate society according to the principle of equality. This profound change in the understanding of the subject of value laid the ideological foundation for the birth of China's * * * Production Party and the people's army with the people's interests as the highest purpose, and laid the foundation for China's transformation from a traditional country to a modern country.

During the revolutionary war, Mao Zedong clearly put forward the core values of "serving the people", which is the product of the combination of Marxist historical materialism, China revolutionary reality and China traditional culture. It not only puts the people's interests in the position of the highest purpose of a political party, but also puts the people in the position of the future masters of the country, and the * * * production party will always be a tool for the people to realize their own interests. Under this political logic, a new interpersonal relationship-comrade relationship has formed in the revolutionary collective. The relationship between "comrades" not only embodies the advanced concepts of human civilization such as independence, equality, freedom and democracy, but also carries the moral elements of China traditional culture such as loyalty to the monarch, benevolence, courtesy, wisdom and faithfulness. Individuals and self have achieved unprecedented unity in the liberation of class and nation, and revolutionary collectivism has emerged in the integration of Chinese and western cultures.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Constitution clearly stipulated that "all power of the people and the state of China belongs to the people". The problem is how to ensure that all the power of the country belongs to the people, and how to ensure that the public servants of the people will not become the masters of the people. Although Mao Zedong said that the * * * production party can jump out of the cyclical rate of historical ups and downs by promoting democracy, practice has proved that if there is no corresponding system, if there is no rule of law, democracy will also become the handmaid of power; Without the power of restriction, it is bound to combine with the dross in traditional culture and produce a new paternalistic politics. 1980, Deng Xiaoping profoundly revealed that the high concentration of power will inevitably lead to the emergence of "personal leadership", "paternalistic figures" and "personal attachment" in his article "Reform of the Party and State Leadership System". He said: "Under the slogan of strengthening the unified leadership of the party, all power is improperly concentrated in the party committees, and the power of the party committees is often concentrated in the hands of a few secretaries, especially the first secretary. He has the final say in everything. The unified leadership of the party often becomes personal leadership. " [12- 1] and "personal leadership" will inevitably lead to the resurgence of paternalistic politics: "There are paternalistic figures in many places and units, and their power is not restricted. Others listen to them and even form personal dependence on them." The subordinate relationship between superiors and subordinates has become "unprincipled obedience to individuals,' loyalty'" and "the relationship between monarchs, ministers and fathers or gangs in the old society" [12-2]. A prominent feature of this modern paternalistic politics is that "the individual is above the organization, and the organization becomes the tool of the individual". When this kind of paternalism that individuals are above organizations and take organizations as personal tools becomes a common phenomenon, the people's standard will become the official standard; When "the organization becomes the tool of the individual", the "collective" will become plural as opposed to the "individual", and there will inevitably be the coexistence of "deal with a man as he deals with you" and "deal with him as he deals with you". Ten years of "cultural revolution" turmoil is proof. Obviously, this collectivism based on official positions is a hotbed to nourish paternalistic politics, a shackle that binds people's free development, and will be abandoned by history sooner or later.