[Commemorating the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth] Revisit Marx and Engels’ United Front Thought!

　　The United front is a basic strategic and tactical issue of Marxism.On the basis of summing up the experience of proletarian revolutionary struggle scientifically, Marx and Engels solved the problem of proletarian self-unity and fighting for allies, and created the proletarian United front thought.On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, let’s review Marx and Engels’ thoughts on the United front.

　　The proletariat must strengthen its unity.

　　The unity of the proletariat itself is one of the basic problems of the proletarian United front. In order to accomplish the historical mission entrusted by history, the proletariat must first unite its own strength.Marx and Engels have always placed this issue in a very important position throughout their revolutionary careers. In 1864, International Working Men’s Association (later called "First International"), founded by Marx and Engels, was a joint organization of workers from all countries and an organization of workers’ united front. Participants in the First International include communists, Proudhon, trade unionists, co-operatives, bakunin, and so on. In the "Common Articles of Association" drafted for International Working Men’s Association, Marx fully considered the acceptance level of workers of all factions. On the one hand, he adhered to the principle of scientific socialism in content, and on the other hand, he was flexible and gentle in wording, making it a common program for workers of all countries and factions to embody the internal United front of the working class. He pointed out that one of the reasons for the founding of International Working Men’s Association was that "the liberation of the working class should be won by the working class itself", and the reason why the previous proletarian revolutionary movement "failed to receive results was because the workers in different labor departments in each country were not United enough, and because the working classes in various countries lacked close alliance with each other". "The success of the workers’ movement in every country can only be guaranteed by the strength of unity and union." Engels said: "Since the situation of workers in all countries is the same, since their interests are the same and they have the same enemies,Then they should fight together, and they should fight against the bourgeois brotherhood of all ethnic groups with the workers’ brotherhood of all ethnic groups. "The above discussion and practical activities not only illustrate the necessity and importance of unity and unity within the proletariat, but also prove the possibility of realizing this unity.

　　The unity and unity of the proletariat includes two aspects: on the one hand, the unity and unity of the proletariat itself within a country, and on the other hand, the international unity among the proletariat of all countries in the world.Marx and Engels carefully investigated and analyzed the characteristics of capitalism in Europe and America in the middle and lower 19th century, which was due to the development of large-scale capitalist industry, which broke the regional division and closed-door state of natural economy in the Middle Ages and formed a unified world market. Capitalist production is no longer a national production, and capitalists exploit not only domestic workers. Proletarians all over the world have the same social status. They are all wage laborers, do not possess any means of production, and are exploited and oppressed by capitalists. In the struggle for their own liberation, they face a common class enemy — — International bourgeoisie. Based on common interests, the bourgeoisie of all countries are consistent and mutually supportive in opposing the proletariat. If a proletarian revolution occurs in a country, they will take joint action to suppress it. Therefore, the proletariat of all countries must also unite. For this reason, Marx and Engels put forward in the communist party Declaration that "proletarians all over the world, unite!" Slogan, and devoted his life to promoting the practice of international proletarian unity. For example, they reorganized the League of the Rightists into the League of Communists in 1847, guided the proletariat of all countries to take correct actions in the European Revolution in 1848, acted in the first international, and Engels acted as a consultant to the second international after Marx’s death, all of which were their practice of devoting themselves to international proletarian unity.

　　On the issue of the unity and unity of the proletariat itself, Marx and Engels also expounded the relationship between ordinary proletarians and the people of communist party, as well as the unity among the workers’ political parties. They pointed out: communist party people are not special political parties opposed to other workers’ political parties, and they have no interests different from those of the proletariat as a whole. "The differences between communist party people and other proletarian political parties are as follows: on the one hand, in the struggle of proletarians in various countries, communist party people emphasize and adhere to the common interests of the entire proletariat regardless of nationality; On the other hand, communist party people have always represented the interests of the whole movement at all stages of development experienced by the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. " In September 1871, at the First International London Delegate Conference, Marx and Engels also pointed out that the Paris Commune was "an alliance of all organizations and factions in the working class against the bourgeoisie" based on the experience of the Paris Commune. It shows that the working class can only act as a class if it is organized as an independent party opposed to all the old political parties established by the bourgeoisie in its struggle against the joint power of the bourgeoisie. That is to say, if communist party does not unite with other workers’ parties, it will affect the extensiveness of the internal unity of the proletariat, so if there is no independent proletarian party, it is impossible to truly realize the unity and unity of the proletariat itself.

　　In the process of revolution, the proletariat should strive to form alliances with other classes, political parties and social forces that can participate in the revolution.

　　In order to realize its historical mission, eliminate class and class differences and finally realize communism, the proletariat should not only realize its own unity and unity, but also unite the vast number of allies.

　　The proletariat must unite with the peasants.Marx and Engels pointed out that in the struggle against capitalism and all exploitation systems, the proletariat must first unite with the peasants. "The exploitation of farmers and the exploitation of the industrial proletariat are just different in form. The exploiters are the same: capital. " Similar economic status and common political requirements are the solid foundation of the workers-peasants alliance; It is the common interest of the workers and peasants to get rid of the exploitation and oppression of capital. Whether the proletariat can form an alliance with the broad masses of peasants is always the key to the success or failure of the revolution. The important reason for the failure of the European Revolution in 1848 and the Paris Commune in 1871 was the failure to solve the problem of the workers-peasants alliance. When summing up the experience of the revolution in 1848, Marx pointed out: Before the revolution made the peasants and petty bourgeoisie "recognize the proletariat as their vanguard and move closer to it, the French workers could not move forward and touch the bourgeois system at all." On the contrary, if the peasants support it, "the proletarian revolution will get a chorus. Without this chorus, its solo in all peasant countries will inevitably become a lonely and mournful." Only by winning over the broad masses of peasants, "can we win a lasting victory", and they also pointed out that when the proletariat rises to the ruling class, it should also adhere to the alliance with peasants.

　　The proletariat must unite with the urban petty bourgeoisie.In the works of Marx and Engels, the urban petty bourgeoisie is usually regarded as "petty bourgeois democrat" or "democratic petty bourgeoisie". In the second half of 19th century after the establishment of scientific socialism, petty-bourgeois democrats have always been an important political force active in the political arena of some major capitalist countries in Europe and America. It not only has a deep foundation among urban residents, but also many farmers, including the rural proletariat, which has not been supported by the urban proletariat, have followed it for a long time. Therefore, if the proletariat wants to effectively fight against capitalism and all exploitation systems, it must pay attention to uniting these forces. Marx and Engels believed that the revolutionary workers’ party should adopt the following attitude towards the petty-bourgeois democrats: "Go together with the petty-bourgeois democrats to oppose the factions that the workers’ party wants to overthrow;" When the petty-bourgeois Democrats want to consolidate their position for personal gain, they must oppose it. "

　　The proletariat must unite with the bourgeoisie in the struggle against feudalism.In the modern history of the world, when the European proletariat took the lead as an independent political force on the historical stage, the bourgeois democratic revolution against feudalism in most European countries has not yet been completed. In this way, in a feudal monarchy country, the enemy faced by the proletariat is, first of all, the reactionary feudal class, which is behind the bourgeoisie. According to the social class situation at that time, Marx and Engels believed that the bourgeois revolution was the direct prelude to the proletarian revolution, and it would be impossible to realize the proletarian revolution without first completing the bourgeois democratic revolution and overthrowing the feudal system. Therefore, they declared to the proletariat all over the world: "communist party people everywhere support all revolutionary movements against the existing social and political systems." It is argued that the proletariat will not hesitate to support the bourgeois struggle against feudalism. As they pointed out when talking about the situation in their hometown of Germany: "As long as the bourgeoisie takes revolutionary action, communist party will join it in opposing absolute monarchy, feudal land ownership and the reactiveness of ordinary citizens."

　　In the era of Marx and Engels, the proletarian revolution was intertwined with the bourgeois national democratic revolution. The above-mentioned views of Marx and Engels on the proletariat uniting with the petty bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie have actually included the idea of the proletariat uniting with the petty bourgeoisie and the bourgeois democratic parties. The communist party Declaration pointed out: "communist party people are striving for unity and agreement among democratic political parties all over the world." According to this principle and the situation in Europe at that time, Marx and Engels also elaborated the policy that communist party people should adopt towards democratic political parties in different countries and under different conditions. For example, in France at that time, communist party people should unite with the socialist democratic party of the petty bourgeoisie to oppose the bourgeoisie; In Switzerland, communist party people should support radical bourgeois parties to oppose monks and nobles and carry out democratic reforms; In Poland, the people of communist party should support the revolutionary democratic party that launched the Krakow Uprising in 1846 and its struggle for national independence and agrarian revolution.

　　Marx and Engels put forward the strategic and tactical principles of the United front, which not only provided powerful ideological weapons for the proletariat, but also they themselves were outstanding practitioners of these principles.During the German Revolution in 1848, they participated in the editing of New Vegetable Newspaper as Democrats, and successfully cooperated with bourgeois and petty-bourgeois Democrats during the running of the newspaper. Later, when Engels talked about the importance of this alliance, he pointed out that if we didn’t do it at that time, "then we would have to publicize communism in a tabloid in a remote place and have to create a small Sect instead of a huge action party."

　　Proletarian political parties must maintain their independence when uniting with other classes and political parties.

　　Proletarian political parties maintain their independence when forming alliances with other classes and political parties, including ideological and political independence and organizational independence, which is the embodiment of the advanced nature of the proletariat and the inevitable requirement of its advanced nature.When talking about this advanced nature, Marx and Engels pointed out: "In practice, communist party people are the most determined part of the workers’ political parties in various countries and always push the movement forward; Theoretically, their superiority over the rest of the proletariat lies in their understanding of the conditions, process and general results of the proletarian movement. " This advanced nature of the proletarian political party determines that it always represents the future of the movement even when it unites with other classes and political parties to fight for the recent goals and interests of the working class. Therefore, when communist party people unite with the revolutionary petty bourgeoisie to oppose the bourgeoisie, "it does not give up the right to take a critical attitude towards those empty talks and fantasies that have emerged from the revolutionary tradition"; When communist party people unite with the bourgeoisie to oppose the feudal system, "they don’t neglect to educate workers as clearly as possible to realize the hostile opposition between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat"; Proletarian political parties, when acting jointly with political parties of other classes, "must be based on the premise that the proletarian nature of the party will not cause problems."

　　Marx and Engels’ thought of maintaining the independence of proletarian political parties also contains the leadership of the United front.When the proletariat and its political parties form alliances with other classes and political parties for certain political purposes, they are faced with the question of whether you lead the allies or the allies lead you. This is related to the fundamental direction and road of the United front, that is, to the leadership of the United front. Proletarian political parties must maintain their independence, that is, independent thoughts, theories, policies and programs, independent organizations and actions, and maintain the right to criticize their allies. If we lose this independence, we will lose the leadership of the United front. This is self-evident to Marx and Engels. Moreover, they believe that there are conditions for the proletariat and its political parties to unite with other classes, political parties, groups and forces, and once these conditions are destroyed, the alliance will be dissolved immediately. Marx and Engels resolutely opposed the kind of alliance that might damage the independence of the proletariat and lose its principles.

　　Marx and Engels were the founders of the proletarian United front, and they laid the theoretical and strategic foundation for the proletarian United front, thus providing theoretical guidance for the international communist movement that flourished in the second half of the 19th century.As a valuable spiritual heritage of the world proletariat, its basic ideas and principles were inherited and developed by Lenin in the late 19th century and 20th century, and further developed in China’s revolution and construction.