Annotations on Reading Bo Gu’s Translation of *Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism*[1]

(After December 1938 to before May 1939)

Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism

Dialectical materialism is the world outlook of the Marxist-Leninist party. This world outlook is called dialectical materialism because its attitude towards the phenomena of nature, its method of studying the phenomena of nature, its method of apprehending these phenomena is dialectical, while its interpretation of the phenomena of nature, its understanding of the phenomena of nature, its theory is materialist. [Page 1]

Dialectics is fundamentally and directly opposed to metaphysics.

(1) Marxist dialectics has the following basic characteristics:

A. Contrary to metaphysics, dialectics does not regard nature as an accidental agglomeration of objects and phenomena detached from one another, isolated from one another, and independent of one another—but as a connected, unified whole,

[1] This book is Section 2 of Chapter IV of the *Short Course of the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)*, "Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism," authored by Stalin. Translated by Bo Gu based on the *Pravda* edition of September 12, 1938.

is connected, whole, in which objects and phenomena are organically connected with one another, mutually not unconnected. dependent on one another, and condition one another. ... B. Contrary to metaphysics, dialectics observes nature not as a state of rest and immobility, stagnation and invariability, but as a state of constant motion and change, constant renewal and development, in which something is always arising and developing, and something disintegrating and outliving its time. ... C. Contrary to metaphysics, dialectics observes the process of development not as a simple process of ascent, a process in which quantitative changes do not lead to qualitative changes, but as a development in which, from insignificant, hidden quantitative changes there is a transition to open changes, fundamental changes, in which qualitative changes occur not gradually, but rapidly, suddenly, in the form of a leap-like transition from one state to another state, and qualitative changes occur not accidentally, but lawfully, as the result of the accumulation of imperceptible, gradual quantitative changes. ... D. Contrary to metaphysics, the starting point of dialectics is that the objects of nature, the phenomena of nature, are inherently possessed of internal contradictions, for all of them have their negative and positive sides, their past and future, their declining aspect and developing aspect, and the struggle of these opposites, the struggle between the new and the old, between the declining and the growing, between the dying out and the developing, constitutes the internal content of the process of development, is internal contradiction

hence changing, not only external contradiction. the internal content, the internal content of the transformation from quantity to quality. Therefore, dialectics holds that the process of development from the lower to the higher takes place not through the harmonious unfolding of phenomena, but through the development of the contradictions inherent in objects and phenomena, through the "struggle" of opposing tendencies operating on the basis of these contradictions. [Pages 3–9]

Slavery under modern conditions is an absurdity, a counter-natural folly. Slavery under the conditions of the disintegrating primitive communal system is an entirely understandable and lawful phenomenon, since it represents a step forward compared with the primitive communal system.

In the eighties of the last century, in the era of the struggle between Marxists and the Narodniks, the proletariat in Russia at that time constituted a very small minority compared with the vast majority of the population, the peasants. But the proletariat as a class was developing, while the peasantry as a class was disintegrating, and precisely because the proletariat as a class was developing, the Marxists based themselves on the proletariat. And they were not mistaken, for, as is well known, the proletariat subsequently grew from an insignificant force into a historical and political force of the first rank.

To look backward means opposing guerrilla warfare, opposing the three stages. This means: In order not to make mistakes in politics, one must look forward, not backward.

As for Marxist philosophical materialism, it is fundamentally

and directly opposed to philosophical idealism.

(2) Marxist philosophical materialism has the following basic characteristics:

(A) Contrary to idealism, which holds that the world is the embodiment of the "absolute idea," the "world spirit," "consciousness"—the starting point of Marxist philosophical materialism is: that the world by its very nature is material; that the manifold phenomena of the world constitute different forms of matter in motion; that the interconnection and mutual dependence of phenomena, as determined by dialectics, are the laws of the development of matter in motion; that the world develops according to the laws of the motion of matter and requires no "world spirit." [Pages 10–14]


(B) Contrary to idealism, which asserts that only our consciousness really exists, and that the material world, being, nature, exists only in our consciousness, sensations, perceptions, concepts—the starting point of Marxist philosophical materialism is: that matter, nature, being, is an objective reality existing outside and independent of consciousness; that matter is primary, since it is the source of sensations, perceptions, consciousness, while consciousness is secondary, derivative, since it is a reflection of matter, a reflection of being; that thought is the product of matter which has reached a high degree of development—namely, the product of the brain, and the brain is the organ of thought, and therefore one cannot separate thought from matter without falling into a gross error. [Page 15]

The world is material, not spiritual.

Matter determines spirit, not spirit determines matter.

(C) Contrary to idealism, which doubts the possibility of knowing the world and its laws, does not believe in the reliability of our knowledge, does not recognize objective truth, and holds that the world is full of "things-in-themselves" which can never be known to science—the starting point of Marxist philosophical materialism is: that the world and its laws are fully knowable; that our knowledge, tested by experience and practice, is reliable knowledge, possessing the significance of objective truth; that there are no things in the world which are unknowable, but only things which are not yet known, and which will be discovered and known through the efforts of science and practice. [Pages 16–18]

If the connection and mutual dependence of natural phenomena are laws of the development of nature, then the connection and mutual dependence of the phenomena of social life are likewise not accidental matters, but laws of the development of society.

This means: The practical activity of the proletarian party should not be based on the good wishes of "outstanding individuals," nor on the demands of "reason," "universal morality," etc., but on the laws of the development of society, on the study of these laws.

This means: The practical activity of the proletarian party should not be guided by any accidental considerations, but by the laws of the development of society, by the practical conclusions drawn from these laws. [Pages 20–21]

The material world is knowable, not unknowable.

The War of Resistance Against Japan should be based on the study of the laws of the War of Resistance Against Japan.

One should not look only at accidental phenomena.