Some bourgeois intellectuals, represented by Hu Shi, had played a certain role in the New Culture Movement before the May 4th Movement, but they did not want to see the New Culture Movement develop into a movement to spread Marxism widely. Hu Shi wrote in 1922, "My Wrong Way", saying: "19 19 In mid-June, Chen Duxiu was arrested, and I took over the Weekly Review, so I felt that I had to talk about politics. At that time, the new elements in China remained silent on specific political issues, but talked about anarchism and Marxism. I put forward my introduction to political theory in the third1issue of Weekly Review, which is called' study more problems and talk less about ism'. " [1] Li Dazhao read this article and wrote Re-discussion on Issues and Doctrine, and then Hu Shi published three or four Issues and Doctrine. Just as the debate was about to deepen, the Weekly Review was closed at the end of August, so the debate was forced to stop. 1920 1 Li Dazhao published "Explaining the Reasons for the Changes of Modern China Thought from the Economic Point of View", which expressed his sharply opposite views with Hu Shi.
The debate mainly revolves around two issues. First, whether it is guided by Marxist theory. Hu Shi thinks that empty talk is useless, and the Marxist theory of class struggle can't be China's prescription, but it will stage a historical tragedy. Li Dazhao believes that the problem cannot be divorced from socialism. In other countries, "socialism can be used as a tool to overthrow the bourgeoisie", and it can also be used in China. He also believes that idealism and the study of practical problems are "complementary" and "parallel". This clearly answers that solving China's social problems needs the guidance of Marxism. Second, whether the social problems in China should be "fundamentally solved" by revolutionary means. Hu Shi tried to lead people to the road of reformism, but Li Dazhao refuted Hu Shi's reformism bit by bit, thinking that the fundamental way to solve the China problem lies in solving the economic problem, which must rely on revolution and class struggle, and Marxist theory of class struggle is the guidance to solve this problem. In this way, Li Dazhao refuted Hu Shi's reformist theory with Marxist revolutionary theory and affirmed that China's social problems can only be solved by revolutionary means.
2. Fight for socialism
After the debate on "Problems and Doctrine", there was also a debate between Marxism and some bourgeois intellectuals about whether socialism was suitable for China's national conditions. 1920110 In October, Zhang published another lesson from traveling in the mainland, and later published "Now and the future", pointing out that China "does not advocate socialism for the time being" proposed by Russell, the most urgent task is to "develop China's resources" and develop it. Liang Qichao also published "On Zhang's Socialist Movement" and other articles in February 192 1, opposing China's socialist practice. Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Li Da and others have published articles one after another, and the fourth issue of New Youth, Volume 8, has also set up a column on socialism, among which Li Da's On Socialism and Liang Rengong and Chen Duxiu's Criticism of Socialism have the greatest influence and criticized anti-socialist remarks.
The socialist debate mainly revolves around two issues. First, the direction of social development in China is capitalism or socialism. Zhang and Liang Qichao believe that the development direction of China society is capitalism. They think that "the only disease in China is poverty", so "there is only one way to save China. In a word, it is to increase R&F, and increasing R&F is to develop industry. " "The fastest way to develop industrial methods is capitalism." Supporters of socialism point out that under the capitalist production system, "private capital" and capitalists plunder "surplus value" and "overproduction leads to economic crisis", which makes "the working class increasingly oppressed" and "almost no way out" and cannot solve the poverty problem in China. It is believed that "if China wants to develop industry today, it must organize the government by pure producers, so as to eradicate the domestic predatory class, resist the capitalism of this world and run the industry according to the socialist organization". Second, whether the social problems in China are solved by revolutionary means or improved means. Zhang and Liang Qichao, members of the research department, advocated "peaceful or gradual" methods to solve the warlord problem. For foreign capital forces, they think that China has no resistance and can only "use its gap to develop industry", and put forward the idea of reconciling the contradiction between labor and capital, which is actually the reformist thought of developing capitalism. Supporters of socialism refuted the reformism that they advocated to reconcile the contradictions between the labor and the class, and thought that to solve the social problems in China, the purpose of social revolution should be achieved through the direct action of workers and peasants, that is, they advocated to seize political power from the bourgeoisie by revolutionary means and make the proletariat in a dominant position. The essence of the socialist debate is about whether China should take the capitalist road or the socialist road, and whether it should adopt the revolutionary method or the improved method to transform China society.
3. The dispute between Marxism and anarchism
Anarchism is a social and political trend of thought of the petty bourgeoisie. Its slogan is: the individual is supreme, the individual is omnipotent, and it opposes all countries and all power politics. During the May 4th Movement, the ideological trend of propagating anarchism was quite popular, and the main representatives were Huang, Huang, Huang, Huang, Huang, Huang, Huang and Huang. 19 19 In September, Huang published Critique of Marxist Theory, opposing the dictatorship of the proletariat and the principle of socialist distribution. Later, anarchists published some anti-Marxist articles one after another. In September, 1920, * * * producers began to fight back. Chen Duxiu published On Politics, criticizing the basic viewpoint of anarchism, and then defending anarchism. The argument didn't end until 1922 began.
The debate between Marxism and anarchism revolves around three issues: first, the state theory of proletarian dictatorship. Anarchists oppose all powers and countries, all political struggles and violent revolutions, and the reactionary regime in China. At the same time, they also pointed the finger at Marxist state theory and Russian proletarian dictatorship. Chen Duxiu said: "I think power is so hateful because some people use it to support the strong, the ignorant and oppress the weak and justice. If, on the other hand, it is used to save the justice of the weak and exclude the ruthlessness of the strong, it will not be hateful. " Strongly refutes the view of anarchism. The second is about freedom. Anarchists declared: "Anarchism is extremely liberal, because it regards the individual as everything, so anarchism is a good friend of individualism." Marxists, on the other hand, think this idea is not feasible. Groups are made up of individuals, while society is made up of groups. In other words, everyone is a social person, and it is common for individuals to have different views. If people as a society can freely withdraw from society because of different opinions, such a society will become a pile of loose sand. The third is about production and distribution. Anarchists advocate decentralized production, oppose centralized production, and entrust all production organs to free and joint management; In terms of distribution, he advocated that everyone should get what he needs immediately after the revolution and attacked the socialist principle of distribution according to work as inequality. Marxists pointed out: "Anarchist production organizations have one of the biggest shortcomings, that is, they can't even maintain productivity." In order to maintain the equal productivity of all localities and occupations, we must rely on the strength of the central government in any case. "And that the anarchist's" take what you need "can only be implemented when the productive forces are very developed.