So what is the view of history? In short, what do you think of history?

There are many kinds of historical views, for example, some people call history "a little girl who can dress up", which can be called "a little girl's historical view"; Some people think that history is the stage of heroic activities, which is the heroic historical view. Wait a minute.

Speaking of this, we should emphasize a problem: "historical materialism" cannot be literally understood as "a view of history that only sees the function of matter" because of poor translation of terms. The correct understanding of historical materialism is that it still advocates the principle of material first when studying social and historical phenomena.

So what is the first principle of matter? I don't want to talk too much about profound Marxist philosophical propositions for the time being, and I don't want to make complicated arguments. I think quoting Engels' sentence can well summarize what is historical materialism or the material first principle in the field of social history: "People must eat, drink, live and wear before they can engage in politics, science, art, religion and so on" (see Engels' speech at Marx's grave).

Well, after talking a lot about what historical materialism is, now it comes to the next question: why do I think historical materialism is correct? Some people say, do you think Marx and others are right? That was not the case. In fact, Marx also made some mistakes, which I may talk about in other articles later-of course, the proportion of these mistakes is not very high, and it is mainly caused by the limitations of the times.

So how to demonstrate? I don't want to imitate the long speeches in official textbooks, because I think the correctness of historical materialism can be directly felt or even unavoidable. For myself, although I know historical materialism because I read books, it is life itself that makes me believe that historical materialism is correct.

Take a common example in life: when we were students, most of the time we had eight classes a day, four in the morning and four in the afternoon. In the morning, because time is tight, I often don't have enough to eat, so I hurried to school. In this way, many children, including me at that time, will feel hungry after morning reading, morning exercises and the first two classes. Hunger will reduce learning efficiency! The school has thought of a way to extend the break between the second and third classes a little, so that we can go to the canteen to buy some snacks and add meals.

So what does this have to do with my belief in historical materialism? Yes Because I just learned historical materialism in senior high school, I inadvertently observed that in ordinary debates, although students are divided into many factions, some advocate historical materialism, some advocate heroic historical view, some advocate that God decides everything, some are subjective idealism, and think that what I think is what I want, and so on; However, on how to solve the problem of hunger, the performance is surprisingly consistent.

We can analyze, when hungry, in fact, according to our different views, we can also make several choices:

1, the choice of subjective idealism: I won't be hungry, as long as I think I'm not hungry.

2. The choice of objective idealism (such as believing in God): I pray that God will keep me from being hungry. As long as you are religious, it will be effective.

3. The choice of heroic historical view: I am waiting for a kind hero like Superman to send me food.

4. materialistic choice: take money to sell vegetables, and after you buy them, use practical things to meet the needs of your stomach, thus providing energy for you to study in the next two classes.

However, we all know the actual situation: although there are several choices in theory, except those who forget to take money, most people will definitely choose the last one to buy food to fill their stomachs, but most people do not associate this phenomenon with historical materialism. In fact, this is exactly what Engels said: "People must have food, drink, shelter and clothing to engage in politics, science, art, religion and so on." The best proof of a word, and this is the essence of historical materialism. Then it occurred to me that only students. No matter what period, occupation or position people are in, the material needs of drinking water and eating are always the most basic needs. Moreover, if these needs are not met, people can not only do any activities, but also survive.

Therefore, since high school, after thinking about what I have learned repeatedly, I have strengthened the correctness of historical materialism-until now, I have not found an example that can overthrow Engels' famous saying. On the contrary, when observing life, I find more and more phenomena that conform to historical materialism.

This is why I think historical materialism is correct.