天涯网友译：美国革命共产党宣言

美国革命共产党简介

　　目前美国有两个共产党：一个是美国共产党，一个是美国革命共产党。

　　“美国共产党”、“美国革命共产党”这两个党成立的背景以及路线、方针和政策都有明显区别。

　　“美革共”被称作美国国内目前最大的“毛主义”组织。它是受我国“文革”影响成立的，党刊名为《革命》（周报）。该组织的前身是1968年由美国一些青年学生在加利福尼亚州建立的“湾区革命联盟”（BARU）。1971年，“湾区革命联盟”召开全国代表大会，改称“革命联盟”(RU)，1975年9月，“革命联盟”又改称“革命共产党”（RCP）。该党成立之初，有党员近1000人，1977年最鼎盛时达到2000人左右。

　　至今，该党的指导思想一直没有发生根本变化，仍然主张在美国发动由工人阶级领导的暴力革命，通过武装夺权来使美国走上社会主义道路。1978年前后，主要因为对中国问题看法上的分歧，“美革共”发生分裂，成员逐渐减少。到上世纪80年代末，党员人数大约只有成立时的一半。根据有关资料，近年来，“美革共”的党员有所增加，在20来个城市设有支部。该党自建立后，总部一直设在芝加哥。现任领导人罗伯特·阿瓦基安，1943年出生，是该党的创建人之一。

　　容易与之相混淆的美国共产党则是在俄国十月革命和共产国际的影响下，于1919年9月1日成立的，至今已有90年历史。其总部现设于纽约曼哈顿，现任领导人是萨缪尔·韦伯。

　　美共成立初期曾被美国政府宣布为非法，1923年合法化。上世纪三四十年代，美共在钢铁、纺织、煤矿等工业部门和农业工人中领导大规模的群众斗争，积极支持黑人反对种族歧视的斗争，大力动员群众支持和参加反法西斯战争，其力量一度得到比较大的发展。

　　1943年，苏、美、英三国首脑会晤德黑兰会议，美共总书记白劳德认为世界已进入资本主义与社会主义“长期信任与合作”的时期，主张美共放弃自己的“成见”和“特殊利益”，实现包括大资产阶级在内的团结，反对进行革命。1944年5月，美共召开十二大，根据白劳德的提议，通过了解散美共的决定。1945年4月，法国共产党领导人雅克·杜克洛撰文批判白劳德的错误主张，在国际主义运动中产生很大影响。同年7月，美共召开紧急代表大会，重组美国共产党，由威廉·福斯特任全国委员会主席。上世纪末，麦卡锡主义一度盛行，美共又被迫转入“地下”。60年代后，美国政府放松了对美共的限制，美共活动逐渐增多。至1984年，时任美共总书记葛斯·霍尔曾四度以“人民高于利润”的口号竞选美国总统。

　　中国共产党成立初期，美共就曾积极声援。抗日战争时期，美共在国内发动了“不许干涉中国”的群众运动，并派遣医疗队援助中国革命根据地。国际共运大论中，美共与中共的关系一度中断；1988年6月，美共总书记霍尔率代表团访华，两党恢复交往。

　　“美革共”成立初期曾与中共关系非常密切，但两党在1978年断绝往来。1979年初邓小平访美时，“美革共”还在党主席阿瓦基安的带领导下，在华盛顿等地举行反对邓小平访美的示威游行，甚至还组织过试图暗杀邓小平的恐怖活动。阿瓦基安因此遭美国政府逮捕，后被驱逐出美国。前些年国内出版的小说《白宫突围》曾提到此事，但作者也混淆了“美共”与“美革共”，错把美共主席葛斯．霍尔当成暗杀邓小平的策划人。

　　当前，“美革共”和美共的国内政策有着明显区别。比如，比如，在去年的美国总统选举中，美共没有提出自己的总统候选人，而是号召党员及其支持者投奥巴马一票；而“美革共”抵制总统选举，在奥巴马当选后，则极力反对政府和各种改革措施，仍然继续鼓吹暴力革命    （王保贤）

　　本月10日，激进的美国革命共产党想出解决美国困境的新方法：那就是推翻政府，推行新宪法。规模不大的革命共产党主动联系了媒体，公布了《北美新社会主义共和国宪章（草案）》。

　　同一天，革命共产党在声明中承诺，“新宪法”将扮演带头角色，“建立并带领我们走向完全不同，更加美好的共产主义社会。”

　　美国极端保守的政治人物与媒体人士，常把民主党总统奥巴马的自由主义倾向，形容成社会主义或共产主义。但是，革命共产党并不把奥巴马视为革命同志。

　　“新宪法”称：北美新社会主义共和国在是统一战线在无产阶级领导的战略方向的延续，在新的社会，无产阶级的利益相一致，作为一个阶级，最根本和最大的意义，取消一切剥削，并通过遍布世界的革命斗争实现这一目标，共产主义原则的完美体现。社会主义新共和国在北美，像所有的国家，一个独裁，专政，无产阶级的形式，这意味着，在其本质特征及其基本原理，结构，体制和政治进程中，它必须体现和服务其所有目标的无产阶级，它的开发是对资本主义的财富和资本主义社会的运作积累的发动机，其解放的条件，只能通过共产主义革命带来的根本利益关系消灭剥削和压迫，实现全人类的解放。

　　美国革命共产党被称作美国国内目前最大的“毛主义”组织。它是受中国“文革”影响成立的。该组织的前身是1968年由美国一些青年学生在加利福尼亚州建立的“湾区革命联盟“。1971年，”湾区革命联盟“召开全国代表大会，改称”革命联盟“，1975年9月，”革命联盟“又改称”革命共产党“。该党成立之初，有党员近1000人， 1977年最鼎盛时达到2000人左右。

　　至今，该党的指导思想一直没有发生根本变化，仍然主张在美国发动由工人阶级领导的暴力革命，通过武装夺权来使美国走上社会主义道路。1978年前后，主要因为对中国问题看法上的分歧，“美革共”发生分裂，成员逐渐减少。到上世纪80年代末，党员人数大约只有成立时的一半。根据有关资料，近年来，“美革共”的党员有所增加，在20来个城市设有支部。该党自建立后，总部一直设在芝加哥。现任领导人罗伯特.阿瓦基安，1943年出生，是该党的创建人之一。
据本博秦全耀回忆，早在上世纪文革时，中国的媒体就常常报道美国革命共产党。但老秦要提示一句美国革命共产党不是美国共产党。美国共产党当时被骂成是修正主义。苏东剧变使美国共产党跌入了低谷，但美共中央坚持不改党名，不变党性，从组织和思想上保全了党。美国共产党一直认为社会主义建设要基于美国民主传统之上，把民主作为社会主义的核心和本质特征。在党章修改前后美共围绕“社会主义权利法案”的问题展开了非常活跃的讨论。党的主席韦伯提醒全党不要把“社会主义权利法案”变成陈词滥调，也不要把它变成新的颂歌。

　　美共究竟有多少党员，美共没有正式宣布，估计的数字很不相同，有的说有1.5万人，有的说 7000人左右，有的说4000人左右，而有的则说1500人，但无论哪个数字较准确，对于美国共产党来说，要想在美国社会中发挥重要作用并通过投票箱实现社会主义，目前党的力量还是远远不够的。

　　美国共产党在上届的美国总统选举中，没有提出自己的总统候选人，而是号召党员及其支持者投奥巴马一票，而美国革命共产党抵制总统选举，在奥巴马当选后，则极力反对政府和各种改革措施，继续鼓吹暴力革命。

共产主义：一个新时代的开端——美国革命共产党宣言
COMMUNISM: THE BEGINNING OF A NEW STAGE——A Manifesto from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

2008年9月
September 2008

　　【原文】

　　Despite what is constantly preached at us, this capitalist system we live under, this way of life that constantly drains away—or in an instant blows away—life for the great majority of humanity, does not represent the best possible world—nor the only possible world. The ways in which the daily train of life has, for centuries and millennia, caused the great majority of humanity to be weighed down, broken in body and spirit, by oppression, agony, degradation, violence and destruction, and the dark veil of ignorance and superstition, is not the fault of this suffering humanity—nor is this the “will” of some non-existent god or gods, or the result of some unchanging and unchangeable “human nature.” All this is the expression, and the result, of the way human society has developed up to this point under the domination of exploiters and oppressors…but that very development has brought humanity to the point where what has been, for thousands of years, no longer has to be—where a whole different way of life is possible in which human beings, individually and above all in their mutual interaction with each other, in all parts of the world, can throw off the heavy chains of tradition and rise to their full height and thrive in ways never before experienced, or even fully imagined.

　　【译文】

　　无论它向我们怎样宣扬，这个我们身处的资本主义，这种绝大数人类的生活方式——生命在其中要么慢慢流逝，要么瞬间被吹散，并不代表最好的世界——也不代表唯一可能的世界。这些生命列车在其中行驶了数百年、数千年的生活方式——压迫、痛苦、堕落、暴力、破坏、无知与迷信的神秘面纱，迫使绝大多数人类疲于奔命，身心遭受重创——绝不是这苦难人类的自身过错，不是某些不存在的一神或众神们的“意志”，也不是某些不变的、不可改变的“人性”的结果。所有这些都是人类社会在剥削者和压迫者的统治下，这种方式发展的表现和结果…但是，恰恰是这种发展将人类带到了这样一个临界点——在这儿，过往数千年来的陈规乱俗都已不再有效；在这儿，一种完全不同的生活方式将成为可能：在世界各地，人类无论是个体还是群体，在彼此的交流之中，能够抛开传统的沉重锁链，穷尽其能，以一种前所未有的、甚至是无法完全想象的方式繁荣成长。

　　【备注】

　　此处the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA译为美国革命共产党，它与美国共产党有区别，美国共产党为：CPUSA，全称：the Communist Party USA。中间的god or gods理解为一神信仰和多神信仰的区别，不然没必要这样表达，g大些God才是上帝的意思。

　　【原文】

　　I.The Long Darkness— and the Historic Breakthrough

　　Exploitative economic and social relations, including the systematic domination of women by men and the division of human society into different classes with conflicting interests, have not always existed among human beings. A situation in which a small group monopolizes not only wealth but the very means to live, and thereby forces far greater numbers to slave under their command, in one form or another, while that small group also monopolizes political power and the means of enforcing this exploitation and dominates the intellectual and cultural life of society, condemning the vast majority to ignorance and subservience—this has not always been part of human society. Nor is this destined to remain the way human beings relate to each other, so long as human beings continue to exist. These oppressive divisions arose thousands of years ago, replacing early forms of communal society, which themselves had existed for thousands of years, and which were made up of relatively small groups of people holding in common their most important possessions and working cooperatively to meet their needs and to raise new generations.

　　The break-up of these early communal societies was not due to some “natural inclination” of people to seek a superior position above others and to “get ahead” at the expense of others, nor to some supposed “genetic predisposition” of men to subjugate women or of one “race” of people to conquer and plunder other “races.” No doubt there were conflicts at times when people in early communal societies encountered each other and were not able to readily reconcile the differences between them, but these societies were not characterized by institutionalized oppressive divisions with which we are all too familiar today.
 To people in those communal societies the idea of some people within these societies establishing themselves as the masters over others, and seeking to acquire wealth and power by forcing others to work for them, would have seemed strange and outrageous. Rather, the emergence of class divisions and oppressive social relations among people was owing to changes in the ways human beings interacted with the “external” natural environment, and in particular changes in the ways these human beings carried out the production of the material requirements of life and the reproduction and rearing of new generations.

　　【译文】

　　I. 漫长的黑暗—和历史性的突破

　　剥削性的经济和社会关系，包括男人对女人成体系的统治，和将人类社会分割为彼此利益冲突的不同阶级的分化行为，并不一直存在于人类之间。一直存在这样种状况：少数群体不仅垄断了财富，而且也垄断了生活资料，由此迫使更多的人以这种或那种方式成为自我需求的奴隶。同时，这些少数群体也垄断了政治权利和施加剥削的工具，主宰了社会的智力和文化生活，迫使广大的多数群体处于无知和顺从的地位。这种状况，并不一直是人类社会的一部分。只要人类继续存在，这种人类间交互的方式也不可能注定保持下去。这些压迫性的分化行为在数千年前产生，取代了公共社会的早期模式，早期的公共社会存在了数千年，是由相互有血缘关系的少数群体共同组成，他们共同拥有最重要的财产，相互协作，以满足他们的生存需求并抚养后代。

　　早期公共社会的消亡，不是因为某些有“自然倾向”的人会去谋求高于他人的优越地位，牺牲他人为己谋利；也不是因为一些所谓的男人必定征服女人或一个种族必定征服和掠夺其它种族的“基因预设”。毫无疑问，在早期的公共社会中，有时不同社会间会发生遭遇并不能调和矛盾，从而爆发冲突，但是这些社会并没有展现出制度化的社会压迫分化现象，而后者在今天，我们已经不能再熟悉了。对于那些早期公共社会中的人来说，妄图成为他人主人，通过迫使他人工作谋求财富和权力的行为，是奇怪的和令人不能容忍的。确切的说，社会分化和人们之间压迫关系的出现，是由于人类与“外部”自然环境的交互方式发生了变化，以及尤其是维系人类生存的物质生产、再生产和抚养后代等方式的变化。

　　【备注】

　　means to live仿造means of production译为生产资料的模式，译为“生活资料”；communal society译为公共社会，不知是否妥当，且将就如此。

　　【原文】

　　In particular, once the organization of this production and reproduction began to be carried out in such a way that individuals, instead of society as a whole, began to control the surplus produced by society, above and beyond what was necessary for mere survival, and especially once people settled more or less permanently on specific segments of land and began to carry out agricultural production on the land they settled, then the long night was ushered in, in which human beings have been divided into masters and slaves, the powerful and the powerless, those who rule and those who are ruled over, those whose role is decisive in determining the direction of society, and those whose destiny is shaped in this way, even while they have no effective role in determining that destiny.

　　Throughout these thousands of years of darkness for the great majority of humanity, people have dreamed of a different life—where slavery, rape, wars of plunder, and a lifetime of alienation, agony, and despair would no longer constitute “the human condition.” This yearning for a different world has found expression in different forms of religious fantasy—looking beyond this world to a god or gods who supposedly control human destiny and who supposedly will, in some future existence, if not in this life, finally reward those who have endured endless suffering during their time on earth.
But there have also been repeated attempts to actually change things in this world. There have been revolts and uprisings, massive rebellions, armed conflicts, and even revolutions in which societies, and the relations between different societies, were transformed in major ways. Empires have fallen, monarchies have been abolished, slave owners and feudal lords have been overthrown. But for hundreds and thousands of years, while many people’s lives were sacrificed, willingly or unwillingly, in these struggles, the result was always that the rule of one group of exploiters and oppressors was replaced by that of another—in one form or another, a small part of society continued to monopolize wealth, political power, and intellectual and cultural life, dominating and oppressing the great majority and engaging repeatedly in wars with rival states and empires.

　　【译文】
 　
　　尤其是，一旦负责生产和再生产的组织开始以这样一种方式进行运作：个人，而非社会整体，开始控制社会生产的盈余（盈余是指超出最低生存需要的那部分）；一旦人们或长或短的长期定居于某个地方，并在此土地上开始农业生产；漫长的黑暗便降临了。从此，人类便被分化为主人与奴隶，有权者与无权者，治人者和被治者，社会命运的决策者和个人命运的被决策者，即使这些决策者并不能发挥有效作用。

　　在大多数人类都处于黑暗之中的这数千年里，人们一直梦想着一种不同的生活—在那儿，奴役、强奸、掠夺的战争、异化的一生、痛苦和绝望将不再构成“人的条件”。这种对不同生活的渴望在各种形式的宗教幻想中得到体现—超脱凡世，皈依一神或诸神，神控制着人类的命运，即使不是在此生，也会在来世奖励那些今生忍受无穷痛苦的人们。但在俗世，也反复有想真正改变世界的企图出现，一直以来，在社会中、不同社会之间，反抗和起义、大规模的叛乱、武装冲突、甚至革命此起彼伏，并被演化成为实现这种企图的主要方式。帝国消亡了，君主制被废除了，奴隶主和封建领主被推翻了。然而，数百数千年来，虽然许多人，情愿也好不情愿也罢，为这些斗争牺牲了自己的生命，但是结果却始终如一：一个剥削者、压迫者集团倒下了，另一个剥削者、压迫者集团又站立了起来—以这种或那种方式，一个少数人群体继续垄断了财富、政治权利、社会的智力和文化生活，继续统治和压迫绝大多数人，继续投入与敌对国家和帝国的战争之中。

　　【备注】a lifetime of alienation中的alienation译为“异化”，因为记得马克思爷爷好像经常提这个概念。
　　【原文】

　　All this remained fundamentally unchanged—the light of a new day never appeared for the masses of humanity, despite all their sacrifice and struggle… Until, a little more than 100 years ago, something radically new emerged: people rising up who embodied not only the desire but the potential to put an end to all relations of exploitation and oppression and all destructive antagonistic conflicts among human beings, everywhere in the world. In 1871, amidst a war between “their” government and that of Germany, working people in the capital city of France, long exploited, impoverished, and degraded, rose up to seize power and established a new form of association among people. This was the Paris Commune, which existed only in that one part of France, and which lasted for only two short months, but which represented, in embryonic form, a communist society in which distinctions of class and oppressive divisions among people would be finally abolished. The Commune was crushed by the weight and force of the old order—with thousands slaughtered in a valiant but ultimately vain attempt to keep the Commune alive. But the first steps had been taken toward a new world, the path had been opened, the way shown, if only fleetingly then.

　　Even before the events of the Paris Commune, the possibility of a radically new world, without exploitation and oppression, had been scientifically established through the work of Karl Marx, together with his contemporary and collaborator, Frederick Engels, the founders of the communist movement. As Marx himself put it, only a few years before the Commune:

　　”Once the inner connection is grasped, all theoretical belief in the permanent necessity of existing conditions breaks down before their collapse in practice.1 ”

　　And that is what Marx had done: He had scientifically excavated and brought to light not only the “inner connections” of the system of capitalism, which had become the dominant form of exploitation in Europe and was increasingly colonizing large parts of the world, but also the “inner connections” between capitalism and all previous forms of human society—and in so doing he had shown that there was no “permanent necessity” either for the continuation of capitalism or for the existence of any other society based on the exploitation and oppression of the many by the few. This was a profound breakthrough in human beings’ understanding of reality, which established the theoretical basis for a world-historic breakthrough in practice, for an unprecedented revolutionization of human society and the relations among people, all over the world.

　　【译文】

　　所有这一切都没有发生根本的变化—对于人类来说，新的曙光从未浮现，尽管他们为此一直在牺牲和斗争着…直到稍稍一百多年前，一些全新的事物出现了：站立起来的人们不仅实现了渴望，还拥有结束一切剥削与压迫关系，结束人类在世界各角落中一切对抗性冲突的可能。1871年，在普法战争期间，在法国首都巴黎，长期遭受剥削、贫苦不堪的劳动人民站立起来，夺取了政权并且在人民内部建立了一个全新的组织。这就是巴黎公社，虽然它仅仅只存在于法国的那一小块土地，也只延续了短短的两个月，但是它描绘了共产主义社会的雏形，在共产主义社会中，一切人民内部之间的阶级分化和压迫将被最终消除。巴黎公社最后还是被旧秩序的力量所镇压，成千上万英勇的人们被屠杀，他们想要保存巴黎公社的努力最终化为泡影。但是，朝向新世界的第一步已经迈开了，道路已经敞开，方法业已显现，只剩下飞驰的时间去实现。

　　即使在巴黎公社之前，一个没有剥削和压迫的全新世界的可能性，已经被卡尔.马克思和他同时代的合作者，共产主义运动的创始人弗里德里希.恩格斯所科学的证明。马克思在巴黎公社革命数年前就说过：

　　“一旦掌握了其内在的关系，所有认为现有状况的存在是永恒必要的理论信仰，必将在实践崩塌之前就已垮掉。”

　　这正是马克思所做到的：他科学地挖掘和揭示的，不仅仅有资本主义制度的“内在联系”，当时资本主义在欧洲已成为最重要的剥削形式并且逐渐殖民了世界上的大多数地方，还包括了资本主义与人类社会以前的所有制度之间的“内在联系”—通过这种阐述，马克思告诉我们，无论是对于资本主义的延续，还是对于任何建立在少数人剥削与压迫多数人这个基础之上的社会的存在，都不是“永恒必要”的。这在人类对现实理解的历史上是一个影响深远的突破，它为实践一个世界范围内的历史性突破，为人类社会以及全世界人们之间关系的前所未有的革命化，提供了坚实的理论基础。

　　【备注】

　　俺水平有限，头段最后一句if only fleetingly then比较纠结，暂且这么理解：if only为“要是…就好了”，then指the new world到来的那时，fleetingly表示时间飞快。如此理解的意思是：“要是能疾驰到这一天该多好”，似乎与前面不协调，因此全改意译了。

　　【原文】

　　The most fundamental discovery that Marx made was that the character of human society, and the relations among people in society, is not determined by the ideas and the wills of individuals—either individual human beings or fantastical supernatural beings—but by the necessity people face in producing and reproducing the material requirements of life and the way in which people come together, and the means they utilize, to meet that necessity. In today’s world, with the highly sophisticated technology that exists—and, in particular, for those who are more removed from the actual process of producing the basic requirements of life—it can be easy to forget that, if the productive activity is not carried out to meet these basic requirements (food, shelter, transportation, and so on), and if human societies are not capable of reproducing their own populations, then life will soon come to a standstill, and all the things that go on in society, whose functioning is more or less taken for granted so long as things are proceeding “normally,” will no longer be possible. To penetrate beneath all the complex layers of human historical development and social organization to this underlying foundation and essential core of human social functioning was a great achievement and invaluable contribution of Marx.

　　But Marx also showed that, at any given time, whatever the means are with which people carry out the production and reproduction of the material requirements of life—whatever is the character of the forces of production (the land and raw materials, the technology, whether simple or more complex, and the people themselves with their knowledge and abilities)—will basically and ultimately determine the way in which people are organized, the relations of production into which people enter, in order to best utilize the productive forces. Again, Marx showed that these relations of production are not a matter of the will, or the whims, of individuals, no matter how powerful, but must, of necessity, basically conform to the character of the productive forces at any given time. For example, if the information technology and related processes of production that are pivotal in today’s modern economies were introduced into societies made up of small groups of people foraging and hunting over large areas (relative to the size of their populations), which was the way of life in early communal societies, the introduction of this technology would bring about dramatic changes in the character of those societies: their way of life would be disrupted and changed in significant ways. Nor, for example, could modern technology be efficiently utilized in the plantation agriculture that was the backbone of the way of life in the southern United States, during the period of slavery and for nearly a hundred years after literal slavery was abolished through the Civil War in the 1860s. That plantation agriculture was marked by a low level of technology but very labor-intensive work carried out, first, by large numbers of slaves and then by sharecroppers and farm laborers: back-breaking toil from “can’t see in the morning till can’t see at night.” And in fact, in the period after World War 2 in particular, the introduction of new technology into southern agriculture—especially tractors and mechanized planting and picking machines, on an increasing scale—undermined the old plantation system and was a major impetus in driving many Black people, who had been formerly chained to the land in one form or another, off the land and into the cities of the North as well as the South.And this, in turn, constituted an important part of the material basis on which the struggle was waged to end legal segregation and open terror by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists—a struggle which, through tremendous sacrifice and heroism, brought about very significant changes in U.S. society, and in the position of Black people in particular, even while it did not, and could not, put an end to the oppression of Black people, which has been, and today remains, an integral and essential element of the capitalist-imperialist system in the U.S.
 
　　【译文】

　　马克思最根本的发现是，人类社会的性质和社会中人们的关系，并不是由个体的观念或意志所决定，无论这种个体是人还是某些荒诞的鬼神——而是由人们生产和再生产物质资料以维持生活时所面临的需求，以及人们借以群居在一起的方式，和人们满足需求时所利用的生产资料所决定的。当今世界，在尖端技术的帮助下，一些人逐渐从生产基本生活所需的进程中剥离出来——这使得我们很容易忘记：如果生产活动并非以满足这些基本需求（食物、住房、交通等）为目的，如果人类社会不能繁衍自己的人口，那么生活将很快瘫痪，社会中所有的事物——只要一切正常它们便或多或少的被认为是理所当然的，将不再是可能的。穿透人类历史发展和社会组织的厚厚躯壳，直达人类社会功能的最底层和关键核心，是马克思的一个伟大成就和宝贵贡献。

　　但是马克思也指出，任何时候，无论人们利用什么样的生产工具生产和再生产生活必需品——无论是何种生产力内容（土地、原材料、技术——无论简单或是复杂、人们自身的知识和能力）——它都将根本上最终性的决定人们的组织方式、生产关系，以便最好的利用生产力。同样，马克思指出，这些生产关系与意志或个人的喜好无关，不管它们有多么强大，但生产关系必须也是必要，在任何时候都要基本符合生产力的性质。举例来说，如果将信息技术和相关的生产过程（它们在今天的现代经济社会中是至关重要的）介绍到早期公共社会（由少数原始人群体组成，他们在与其人口规模相匹配的大片土地上四处觅食和狩猎借以谋生），将会给那些社会带来戏剧性的变化：他们原有的生活方式将被打破，并且发生重大的转折。又如，也不能将现代技术有效的利用于种植园农业，种植园农业，在种植园奴隶制期间，和1860年代南北战争结束后奴隶获得自由的将近一百年内，一直都是美国南方式生活的主心骨。种植园农业的特点是技术含量低，属于劳动异常密集型农业，起先是大量的奴隶，而后是众多的佃农和雇农：工作极为辛苦，日出而作，日落而息。事实上，直到二战后，尤其是新农业技术被引入到南部地区——特别是拖拉机、机械化种植和采棉机的逐渐增加——破坏了旧的种植园制度，驱使大量黑人（此前他们都被以这种或那种方式牢牢栓在土地上）离开土地，进入到北方和南方的城市中。而这又反过来构成了一场抗争的重要物质基础，这场抗争最终结束了美国的种族隔离制度和3K党及其他白人至上主义者的公开恐怖行为，通过巨大的牺牲和英雄主义，这张抗争给美国社会，特别是黑人地位带来了极大的变化，尽管它没有，也不能完全消除对黑人的压迫，而这种压迫过去一直是，今天依然是美国资本主义-帝国主义体系中一个不可或缺的基本组成部分。

　　【原文】

　　This illustrates another crucial fact brought to light by Marx: On the foundation of the existing production relations at any given time, there will arise a superstructure of politics and ideology—political structures, institutions and processes, ways of thinking, and culture—which in a fundamental sense must and will correspond to, and in turn serve to maintain and reinforce, the existing production relations. And Marx further demonstrated, since the time that changes in the productive forces led to the emergence of production relations characterized by subjugation and domination, society has been divided into different classes, whose position in society is grounded in their differing roles in the process of production. In class-divided society, it is the economically dominant class—that group in society which monopolizes ownership and control of the major means of production (technology, land and raw materials, etc.)—which will also dominate the superstructure of politics and ideology. This economically dominant class will exercise a monopoly of political power. This monopoly of political power is embodied in the state—particularly the instruments of political suppression, including the police as well as the army, the legal system and penal institutions, as well as the executive power—and it assumes a concentrated expression in the monopoly of “legitimate” armed force. So, too, the dominant ways of thinking that hold sway in society, including as this is expressed in the culture, will correspond to the outlook and interests of the dominant class (as Marx and Engels put it in the Communist Manifesto, so long as society is divided into classes, the ruling ideas of any age are ever the ideas of its ruling class).

　　【译文】
 
　　这阐明了另外一个由马克思揭露的事实：在任何时候，现有生产关系的基础上必将出现一个政治和思想的上层建筑——政治结构、制度和程序，思维方式，以及文化——它们从根本上讲，必须也将一定会，与现有生产关系保持一致，并且还会反过来维持和加强这种生产关系。马克思进一步说明，自从生产力发生变化从而导致带有征服和统治特性的生产关系出现之时，社会便已被分为不同的阶级，不同阶级在社会中的地位是由他们在生产过程中的角色所决定的。在阶级分化的社会，是经济上占主导地位的阶级垄断和控制了主要的生产资料（技术、土地和原材料等），它们同时也统治了政治和思想的上层建筑。这种经济上的统治阶级也必将垄断政治权力。政治权力的垄断体现在国家这个概念上——特别是政治镇压工具，包括警察和军队，司法制度和惩罚机构，以及行政权——它给所谓的“合法”武装力量的垄断提供了一个集中的表达词。同样，社会中占主导地位的思维方式，包括文化中体现此思维方式的内容，必将与统治阶级的世界观和利益保持一致（如同马克思和恩格斯在《共产党宣言》中所说的那样：只要社会被分化为不同阶级，任何时代，占统治地位的思想总必然是统治阶级的思想）。

　　【备注】

　　此处superstructure of politics and ideology中的ideology不直接译为“意识形态”，而是译为“思想”。貌似上层建筑分为政治上层建筑和思想上层建筑，思想上层建筑一般便是指意识形态，所以不好再译为 意识形态的上层建筑。

　　【原文】

　　Then what is the fundamental basis, and what are the underlying, driving forces, of change in society? Marx analyzed how, through the activity and innovation of human beings, the productive forces are being continually developed, and at a certain point the new productive forces that have been developed will come into antagonism with the existing relations of production (and the superstructure of politics and ideology that corresponds to those production relations). At that point, as Marx characterized it, the existing production relations have become, in an overall sense, a fetter, a chain, on the productive forces; and when this situation emerges, a revolution must be carried out whose fundamental aim is to revolutionize the production relations, to bring them into line with the productive forces, to bring about a situation where the production relations are now more an appropriate form for the development of the productive forces, rather than a fetter on that development. Such a revolution will be driven forward by forces representing a class which embodies the potential for carrying out this transformation of the production relations, to bring them into line, essentially, with the way in which the productive forces have developed. But this revolution must, and can only, take place in the superstructure—in the struggle for political power over society, through the overthrow and dismantling of the old state power and the establishment of a new state power—which then makes possible the transformation of the production relations, as well as the superstructure itself, in line with the interests of the new ruling class and its ability to more fully unleash and utilize the productive forces.

　　Of course, revolution is an extremely complex process, involving many different people and groups with a diversity of views and aims, and those who carry out such a revolution may be more or less conscious of what are the underlying contradictions—between the forces of production and the relations of production—whose development has established the need and given rise to the dynamics that make such a revolution possible, and necessary. But ultimately the influence of these contradictions and dynamics will bring to the fore those who can and do act essentially in accordance with the need to transform the production relations to bring them into line with the development of the productive forces. This is what happened, for example, in the French revolution of the late 18th century and early 19th century, the most radical of all bourgeois revolutions: Many different class forces and social groups took part in that revolution, but in the final analysis it was political forces who proceeded to establish the capitalist system, in place of the old feudal system, who were able to entrench themselves in power, fundamentally because this transformation of the economy, and of the society as a whole on that foundation, represented the necessary means for bringing the relations of production into line with the way in which the productive forces had developed.

　　【译文】

　　那么什么是根本基础，什么又是社会变革的根本驱动力？马克思分析了如何通过人类的活动与创新生产力进而得到持续的发展，当达到某一临界点，新的生产力将与现存的生产关系，以及与生产关系相适应的政治、思想上层建筑发生冲突。在这一点上，正如马克思描绘的，现有的生产关系已经在整体意义上成为新生产力的一种桎梏和枷锁，当这种情况发生时，必须进行革命，从而彻底改变现有生产关系，使它与新生产力相一致，从而带来一种新境况，在此中生产关系成为一种更适合生产力发展的形式。但是革命必须，也只能发生在上层建筑，通过推翻和瓦解旧政权获取社会政治权利，建立新的国家政权，如此才能改变生产关系和上层建筑，使之与新统治阶级的利益保持一致，从而能更充分的发挥和利用生产力。

　　当然，革命是个极其复杂的过程，涉及到许多有不同看法和目的的人和群体，进行这样一场革命时他们或多或少会意识到生产力和生产关系之间存在的根本冲突，他们的认知和进步使得革命成为必要，并且积聚了使革命成为可能的动力。但最终，这些冲突和动力将影响到到底谁能，谁确实是采取了行动，遵从了变革生产关系的需要，使之与生产力的发展相一致。这正是，例如，18世纪后期19世纪初法国最激进的资产阶级革命所发生的：众多不同阶级力量和社会团体都参与了此次革命，但归根到底，只有那股后来建立了资本主义制度（它取代了旧的封建制）的政治力量能够夺取权力，根本的原因是：经济的变革和以经济为基础的整个社会的变革，必须代表那种能使生产关系与生产力发展相一致的必要手段。

　　【原文】

　　The American Civil War also provides an illustration of the basic principles and methods that Marx developed and applied to human historical development. This Civil War came about fundamentally as a result of the fact that two different modes of production—characterized by different systems of production relations: capitalism and slavery—had come into antagonistic conflict with each other, and could no longer co-exist within the same country. And the result of this Civil War was that, with the victory of the capitalist class, centered in the North, the slave system was abolished and the capitalist system became dominant in the country as a whole—even though, especially after a brief period of Reconstruction following the Civil War, the southern landowning aristocracy and developing capitalists in the South were re-integrated into the ruling class of the country as a whole, and in fact have had a major influence within that ruling class, while the former slaves were subjugated once again, in forms of exploitation and oppression hardly less onerous than slavery (and some forms of actual slavery continued to exist, particularly in the South, long after slavery was legally and formally abolished).

　　From these historical examples, it can be seen how, in the revolutions that have brought about qualitative changes in society but have nevertheless only led to the establishment of a new exploiting class in the dominant position, the pattern has repeated itself that the masses of oppressed people sacrifice (or are sacrificed) in these revolutions (for example, 200,000 former slaves fought on the side of the North in the U.S. Civil War, once they were allowed to do so, and they died in much greater percentages than others in the Union army) yet, in the final analysis, exploiters of the masses, new or old, reap the fruits of this sacrifice. This is the way it has been since the time that class divisions, and domination by exploiting classes, have emerged in and have characterized human society. This was all that was possible…Until now.

　　【译文】
 
　　美国的南北战争也为了马克思的一些基本原则和方法提供了良好的阐述，马克思发展出这些基本原则和方法用来解释人类历史发展的规律。这场内战从根本上是由于两种不同生产模式（分别代表了两种不同的生产关系：资本主义和奴隶制）之间发生相互冲突，进而不能在同一个国家共存。内战的结果是，伴随着胜利，资产阶级进入了南方，奴隶制被废除，资本主义制度在全国范围内的占据统治地位——即便如此，在经历短暂的战后重建后，南方原有土地贵族和兴起中的资本家也重新被纳入到这个国家的统治阶级之中，并且实际上，它们还对统治阶级产生了巨大的影响，先前解放了的奴隶们再次被统治，遭受到的剥削和压迫并不比奴隶制时要低（在奴隶制被依法正式废除后很长一段时间内，实际奴役还继续以某种形式存在着，尤其是在南方）。

　　从这些历史事例中，我们可以看到给社会带来实质性变化的革命如何最终还是导致了一个新的剥削阶级的产生，这种模式不断重复，广大被压迫的人民在这些革命中牺牲（或者被牺牲）自己（例如，南北战争期间，由于北方允许他们入境，20万农奴纷纷逃往北方，他们的死亡率要大大高于那些联邦军中农奴的死亡率），但归根结底，还是由剥削者，旧的或新的，收割了这些牺牲换来的果实。自阶级分化、剥削阶级占据统治地位成为人类社会一种特性以来，这种现象便成为一个惯例。这一切都是可能的…直到现在。

　　【原文】

　　The most significant, and liberating, thing that Marx brought to light is that the development of human society, as a result of the dynamics which he unearthed, has led to a situation where a radically different world is possible. We have reached the point where, through all the complex development that has only been sketched out here in very basic terms, the productive forces now exist which make it possible to create, and to continually expand, an abundance which, in fundamental terms, can be shared among humanity as a whole and utilized to meet the material needs of people everywhere, while also providing for an ever-enriched intellectual and cultural life for everyone. It is not only that the technology has developed which makes this possible in a general sense, but also that this technology can be—and in fact must be—used by large groups of people working cooperatively. Marx revealed the fundamental contradiction of the capitalist system which dominates the world today, at such great cost and with such great peril for humanity: the contradiction between the socialized way in which production is carried out, and the fact that this process of production, and what it produces, is controlled and appropriated privately, by a small number of capitalists. As the Constitution of our Party emphasizes:

　　In today’s world the production of things, and the distribution of the things produced, is overwhelmingly carried out by large numbers of people who work collectively and are organized in highly coordinated networks. At the foundation of this whole process is the proletariat, an international class which owns nothing, yet has created and works these massive socialized productive forces. These tremendous productive powers could enable humanity to not only meet the basic needs of every person on the planet, but to build a new society, with a whole different set of social relations and values…a society where all people could truly and fully flourish together.

　　【译文】

　　马克思揭示的最重要、最具有解放性的事情是：人类社会的发展，作为一种动力（由他揭示的）的结果，正一直导向一个可能存在的完全不同于如今的世界。我们已经到达这样一种状态，通过各种复杂的发展（我们可以利用最基本的术语勾画出它），现存的生产力，有可能创造并不断增加丰富的物质财富，使之在根本上为全人类所共享，以满足世界各地人民的物质需要，同时它还可以不断的为每一个人提供丰富的智力和文化生活。这不仅是因为技术已发展到使这一切都可实现的地步，也是由于这些技术能够——实际上是必须——为大多数群体所共同利用。马克思揭露了主导世界的资本主义制度的最基本的矛盾（它是人类社会的巨大成本和危险）：社会化生产方式与生产过程、产品都被少数资本家控制和私人占有的事实之间的矛盾。就像我们美国革命共产党党章所强调的：

　　“当今世界，物质的生产和产品的分配，完全由大量在高度协调化网络中集体工作的劳动者所执行。这整个生产和分配过程的基础是无产阶级，一个不拥有任何东西的全球性阶级，然而他们创造了大量的社会生产力。这些大量的生产力本可以使人类不仅仅能满足每个人的基本需要，还能创建一个拥有全新社会关系和价值观的新型社会…这样的社会中，所有的人都能真正一起享受充分的繁荣。”

　　【原文】

　　To achieve this—to resolve, through revolutionary means, the fundamental contradiction of capitalism, and to move beyond the division of human beings into exploiters and exploited, rulers and ruled—is the aim of the communist revolution. This is a revolution that corresponds to the most fundamental interests of the proletariat, which carries out, under conditions of capitalist domination and exploitation, socialized production and which embodies the potential to bring the relations of production into line with the productive forces, and to further unleash those productive forces, including the people themselves. But, unlike all previous classes which have carried out a revolution in their interests, the revolutionary proletariat does not aim simply to establish itself and its political representatives in the ruling position in society; it aims to move beyond the division of society into classes, to uproot all oppressive relations, and with that to eliminate all institutions and instruments through which one part of society dominates and suppresses others. As Marx succinctly summarized it, this revolution aims for—and will be concluded only once it has achieved—what have come to be called the “4 Alls”: the abolition of all class distinctions, of all the production relations on which those class distinctions rest, of all the social relations that correspond to those production relations, and the revolutionizing of all the ideas that correspond to those social relations. Marx also succinctly and powerfully captured the essence of this in emphasizing that the proletariat can emancipate itself only by emancipating all humanity.

　　All this is why the communist revolution represents the most radical, and truly liberating, revolution in human history.

　　【译文】

　　通过革命的手段消除资本主义的基本矛盾，消除将人类分割为剥削者和被剥削者、统治者和被统治者的社会分化现象，是共产主义革命的目的。这种革命与无产阶级的根本利益是相一致的，它是在社会化生产中资产阶级占据统治和剥削地位的条件下进行的，它将使生产关系与生产力再次保持一致，并进一步释放生产力，包括人们自身。但是，不像以前那些通过革命实现自身利益的阶级，无产阶级革命的目的不是简单地使自己或代表人在社会中取得执政地位，它的目的是消灭将社会分割为不同阶级的社会分化现象，铲除一切压迫关系，进而消除所有使得一部分人借以统治和压迫另一部分人的制度和制度工具。正如马克思的简洁概括，这种革命的目标是——只有当革命成功的那刻才可作结论——“四个全”：所有阶级差别全部被废除；所有产生阶级差别的生产关系全部被废除；所有与这些生产关系相一致的社会关系全部被废除；所有反应这些社会关系的观念全部被革命化。马克思同样简洁却有力的抓住了这种革命的本质：无产阶级只有解放了全人类才能最后解放自己。

　　这也是为什么共产主义革命代表了人类社会最本质也是最有解放意义的革命。

　　【原文】

　　In surveying the immense historical experience that went into the conclusions he drew, Marx pointed to the profound understanding that indeed people make history, but they do not make it in any way they wish. They make it on the basis of the material conditions—and in particular the underlying economic conditions and relations—which they have inherited from previous generations, and the possible pathways of change that reside within the contradictory nature of these conditions. As Bob Avakian, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, has pointed out in “Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity” (Part 1):

　　”We can make an analogy here to evolution in the natural world. One of the points that is repeatedly stressed in the book on evolution by Ardea Skybreak is that the process of evolution can only bring about changes on the basis of what already exists…. Evolution in the natural world comes about, and can only come about, through changes that arise on the basis of, and in relation to, the existing reality and the existing constraints (or, to put it another way, the existing necessity).”

　　This provides the basic answer to those who raise: Who are you to say how society can be organized, what right do you communists have to dictate what change is possible and how it should come about? These questions are essentially misplaced and represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the dynamics of historical development—and the possible pathways of change—in human society as well as in the material world more generally. This is akin to asking why birds cannot give birth to crocodiles—or why human beings cannot produce offspring that are capable of flying around the earth, on their own, in an instant, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, and having x-ray vision that can see through solid objects—and demanding to know: Who are you to dictate what can come about through reproduction, who are you to say that human offspring will have particular characteristics and not others? It is not a matter of “who are you” but of what the material reality is and what possibilities for change actually lie within the—contradictory—character of that material reality. The point here is twofold:

　　【译文】

　　在研究了大量历史经验后，马克思得出了自己的结论，马克思指出了他深刻认识到的一点：历史的确是由人民创造的，但他们并没能按照自己希望的方式创造。他们依照当时的物质条件基础创造了历史——尤其是最基本的经济条件和经济关系——这些都是他们从上一代那继承而来的，变化的可能途径就隐藏在这些条件的矛盾特性之中。正如美国革命共产党主席鲍勃·艾沃肯在“革命起来，解放全人类”（Part 1）中说指出的：

　　“我们在此可以用自然界的进化论做个比喻。Ardea Skybreak在其关于进化论的书中反复强调的一点是，在进化过程中，进化只能给那些已经存在变化基础的东西带来变化…自然界中的进化通过现实和现有限制（或者换句话说，现有必要性）中已经出现的相关变化得以实现，而且也只能如此。”

　　这为一些人提出的某些问题提供了根本的答案，这些问题包括：你是谁啊，你凭什么说社会可以如此如此的组织起来？你们共产主义者有什么权力规定什么改变是可能的，并且按照某种方式进行？这些问题本质上是错误的，代表了对人类历史发展动力和人类社会（广泛意义上还包括物质世界）中变革的可能途径的一个根本误解。这相当于问为什么鸟类不能生鳄鱼，或者问为什么人类不能繁衍可以飞翔的后代，他们可以在一瞬间，轻轻一跳便可飞跃高高的大楼，拥有可以穿透固体的X-光般的眼力——并且想知道：你是谁啊？凭什么规定繁衍要如此进行？你是谁啊，凭什么说人类后代拥有某种特质而不是另外一种？这其实不关“你是谁”什么事，而与物质现实和隐藏其中的矛盾的可变性有关。这里的问题是双重的：

　　【原文】

　　For the first time in the history of humanity, the material conditions have come into being that make possible the final abolition of relations of domination, oppression, and exploitation; and the theoretical understanding to guide the struggle toward that goal has been brought into being on the basis of drawing from the material reality, and its historical development, that has brought this possibility into being.

　　At the same time, this world-historic transformation of human social relations can only come about on the basis of proceeding from the actual material conditions and the contradictions that characterize them, which open up this possibility but which also embody obstacles to the achievement of this radical social transformation; and it requires a scientific understanding of and approach to these contradictory dynamics—and the leadership of an organized group of people that is grounded in this scientific method and approach—in order to carry through the complex and arduous struggle to achieve this transformation through the advance to communism throughout the world.

　　【译文】

　　在人类历史上，物质条件第一次达到这种阶段，可以使统治关系、压迫和剥削的最终废除成为可能；指导完成这一斗争目标的理论认识也已与物质现实基础，和使此成为可能的历史发展规律完成衔接。

　　同时，这个世界历史性的人类社会关系变革，只能基于实际的物质条件和隐匿其中的矛盾向上出发，它打开了这个可能性，但同时也体现了实现这一根本性社会变革所将遭遇到的阻碍；它要求对这些矛盾动力和组织团体里的领导力有科学性的认识和解决方法，（组织团体是以这种科学方法和方式为基础建立起来的）——以进行艰巨而复杂的斗争，通过向全世界各地推行共产主义实现这一变革。

　　【原文】

　　II.The First Stage of Communist Revolution

　　The Paris Commune was a first great attempt to scale the heights of human emancipation, and it was a harbinger of the future, but it lacked the necessary leadership and was not guided by the necessary scientific understanding to be able to withstand the inevitable counter-revolutionary onslaughts of the forces of the old order and then to carry out a thoroughgoing transformation of society, in all spheres: economic, social, political, cultural, and ideological. Some who approach the experience of the Commune with a romanticized, instead of a scientific, outlook and method like to cite the lack of an organized vanguard leadership, unified on the basis of a scientific, Marxist viewpoint, as one of the virtues of the Commune. But the fact is that this was one of its greatest weaknesses and one of the main factors contributing to its defeat, after only a very short period of existence. The lack of such a leadership—and the attempt to immediately implement measures which would essentially eliminate any institutionalized leadership—is one of the main reasons why the Commune did not sufficiently suppress organized forces which were determined to wipe out the Commune and to ensure that the specter of communist revolution—so terrible from the standpoint of exploiters and oppressors—would never rise again. In particular, as Marx pointed out, the Communards failed to march immediately on the stronghold of the counter-revolution, in the nearby city of Versailles; and so the counter-revolution was able to gather its strength, march on Paris, and deliver the death-blow to the Commune, slaughtering thousands of its most determined fighters in the process.

　　But beyond the immediate consequences that flowed, to a significant degree, from the shortcomings and limitations of the Paris Commune, the reality is this: Had the Commune defeated the attacks of the counter-revolution and survived, it would then have faced the even greater challenge of reorganizing and transforming the whole society, and not just the capital of Paris, where it held power for a brilliant but all too brief period. It would have had to create a radically new and different economy, a socialist economy, in a country still made up largely of small farmers (peasants), and it would have had to overcome profound and tradition-steeped inequality and oppression, in particular the chains that have bound women for thousands of years. And here again the weaknesses and limitations of the Commune stand out: Women played a vital and heroic role in the creation of the Commune and the fight to defend it, but they were nonetheless maintained in a subordinate position within the Commune.

　　【译文】

　　II.共产主义革命的第一阶段

　　巴黎公社是人类第一次尝试去丈量人类解放的高度，它也是人类对未来的一个预示，但是它缺乏必要的领导，也没有得到必要的科学指导以便抵御旧秩序不可避免的反革命冲击，从而在社会的各个领域：经济、社会、政治、文化和思想里进行彻底的变革。一些不是以科学观点和科学方法，而是以浪漫主义观点看待巴黎公社革命的人喜欢引述说，失败的原因是有组织的先锋队缺乏强有力的领导，不能以科学的马克思主义基本观点团结在一起（这本来可以成为巴黎公社的一个优点）。但事实是，这只是巴黎公社众多弱势之一，也只是导致其短暂存在便最终失败的众多因素之一。领导力的缺失，和试图立即实施那些会根本上消除任何制度化领导的措施的行为，是巴黎公社不能有效抵御旧有势力反扑的主要原因，这些有组织的剥削者和压迫者发誓要铲除巴黎公社，并确保共产主义的幽灵永不再现。尤其如马克思所指出的，巴黎公社的公社社员们没有乘热打铁拿下凡尔赛城这个临近的反革命据点，此后一旦反革命势力积聚了力量，他们便反攻巴黎，将死亡风暴吹到了巴黎公社，导致成千上万最坚定的革命战士在战斗中被屠杀。

　　但排除巴黎公社革命失败后的直接后果，在相当大程度上，从它的缺点和局限上看，现实问题是：如果巴黎公社成功击败了反革命力量的反攻，并且存活了下来，那么它将随即面对更为艰巨的挑战：重组和改造整个社会，这不仅仅局限于首都巴黎（在这儿它辉煌的占据过权力，但持续时间太短）。它将不得不在这个仍主要由小农（农民）组成的国度里，建立一个全新不同的经济：社会主义经济；它将不得不克服深刻的、传统思维里根深蒂固的不平等和压迫，尤其是几千年来一直套在妇女身上的锁链。在这里，巴黎公社的弱点和局限再次被显现：妇女在巴黎公社的创建和保卫过程中担当了至关重要的角色，发挥了英勇的作用，但是尽管如此，她们还是在巴黎公社中处于从属地位。

　　【原文】

　　In less than 50 years after the defeat of the Paris Commune, beginning in the midst of the first world war among imperialists, a much more sweeping and deep-going revolutionary transformation was carried out in what had been the Russian empire. This revolution overthrew the Tsar (Russian monarch) who was the hereditary ruler of this empire, and then overthrew the capitalist class which attempted to step into the “vacuum of power” and seize control of society once the Tsar had been toppled. Through this revolution, which was led by V.I. Lenin, the Soviet Union was brought into being as the world’s first socialist state; and although Lenin himself died in 1924, for several decades after that socialist transformation was carried out in the Soviet Union, even as it faced relentless threats and repeated attacks from counter-revolutionary forces, inside and outside the country, including the massive invasion of the Soviet Union by the imperialist Nazi Germany during World War 2, which cost the lives of more than 20 million Soviet citizens and brought great destruction to the country.

　　In leading the Russian revolution, in its first great step of seizing and consolidating political power and embarking on the road of socialist transformation, Lenin proceeded on the basis of the scientific breakthroughs that Marx had achieved, and he continued to develop that living science of Marxism. He drew important lessons from the Paris Commune, as well as from the historical experience of human society, and the natural world, more broadly. Of great importance, Lenin systematized the understanding that a vanguard communist party was essential in order to enable the masses of people to wage an increasingly conscious struggle to overthrow the rule of the capitalists and then carry out the radical transformation of society toward the ultimate goal of communism, worldwide.

　　Lenin also applied and developed the understanding forged by Marx, on the basis of summing up the bitter lessons of the Paris Commune, that in carrying out the communist revolution, it is not possible to lay hold of the ready-made machinery of the old state, which served the capitalist system; it is necessary to smash and dismantle that state and replace it with a new state: In place of what is in reality the dictatorship of the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie), it is necessary to establish the political rule of the rising, revolutionary class, the dictatorship of the proletariat, as a radically different kind of state, which will increasingly involve the masses of people in carrying forward the revolutionary transformation of society. This revolutionary dictatorship is necessary, Lenin emphasized, for two basic reasons:

　　1) To prevent exploiters—old and new, within the country and in other parts of the world—from defeating and drowning in blood the struggle of masses of people to bring a radically new society, and world, into being, to advance toward the achievement of the “4 Alls.”
15.

　　【译文】

　　在巴黎公社失败不到50年后，在帝国主义之间的第一次世界大战期间，一场更猛烈、更深刻的革命变革在当时的俄罗斯帝国爆发。这场革命推翻了沙皇（俄罗斯帝国世袭君主）的统治，随后又推翻了资产阶级，他们试图跨入沙皇被推翻后的“权力真空”，攫取社会的控制权。通过这场由列宁领导的革命，苏联成为世界上第一个社会主义国家，尽管列宁本人在1924年去世，但此后的数十年间，苏联一直在进行着社会主义改造，在此期间，苏联遭遇了国内外反革命势力的残酷威胁和反复攻击，包括纳粹德国在第二次世界大战期间对它的大规模入侵，这场战争夺去了2000万苏联公民的生命，并对它造成了巨大的破坏。

　　在领导俄国革命时，在踏出夺取和巩固政权并走上社会主义变革之路的第一步时，列宁在马克思取得科学突破的基础上往前更进了一步，继续发展鲜活的马克思主义科学。他从巴黎公社，还有其它人类社会历史经验，乃至更广阔范围上的自然界那汲取教训。非常重要的一点是，列宁系统化了如下的认识：为了使人民大众不断觉醒起来进而推翻资产阶级统治，实施根本的社会变革，朝着在世界范围内实现共产主义的终极目标前进，一个具有先锋作用的共产主义政党是非常必要的。

　　列宁也利用和发展了马克思在总结巴黎公社惨痛教训时所得出的认识：在进行共产主义革命之时，是不能去利用旧有的国家机器（它们是服务于资本主义制度的）；必须打破和摧毁这个国家并代之以一个新的国度：在现实中有资产阶级专政的地方，有必要建立起属于正日益上升的革命阶级的政治统治，无产阶级专政，作为一种完全不同的国家形态，将使越来越多的人民大众进入到社会革命变革的进程之中。这种革命专政是必要的，列宁强调，他总结出两个原因：

　　1）防止剥削者——旧的和新的，国内的和国外的——破坏和淹没人民大众建立一个全新社会和世界，并实现马克思所说的“四个全”成就的抗争。

　　【原文】

　　2) To guarantee the rights of the people at every point, even with the inequalities that will remain, to varying degrees, between different sections of the people during various phases of the socialist transition to communism, at the same time as the goal of the dictatorship of the proletariat is to continue to uproot and eventually move beyond such social inequalities and to reach the point, throughout the world, where oppressive social divisions can no longer arise, and the state, as an institutionalized instrument of enforcement of laws and of rights, will no longer be necessary, and the state itself will be replaced by the self-administration by the people, without class distinctions and social antagonisms.

　　To quote once again from the Preamble to the Constitution of our Party:

　　All previous states have served the extension and defense of relations of exploitation; they have enforced the domination of exploiting classes, and have fortified themselves against any fundamental changes in these relations. The dictatorship of the proletariat, by contrast, aims at the eventual abolition of the state itself, with the abolition of class distinctions and all antagonistic social relations leading to exploitation, oppression, and the constant regeneration of destructive conflicts among people. And, in order to continue advancing toward that objective, the dictatorship of the proletariat must increasingly draw the masses of people, from many different sections of society, into meaningful involvement in the process of running society and carrying forward the advance toward the ultimate goal of communism throughout the world.

　　In the few short years during which Lenin headed the new Soviet state, he led it in embarking on the transformation of the economy, and the society as a whole, and in giving theoretical guidance and active support to the revolutionary struggle throughout the world. But, with the death of Lenin in 1924, the challenge of leading this process forward, in a hostile world dominated by powerful imperialist countries and other reactionary states, fell to others in the Soviet Communist Party, and in particular to Joseph Stalin, who emerged as the leader of the Soviet Communist Party. This was an unprecedented historical experience: For several decades, the economy as well as social relations broadly—including the relations between women and men, as well as between different nationalities—and the political institutions and the culture of the society and the worldview of masses of people underwent profound changes. The standard of living of the people improved greatly and in all spheres, including health care, housing, education, and literacy. But more than that, the burden of exploitation and the weight of age-old tradition began to be lifted from the masses of people. There were great achievements in all spheres of life and society, but not surprisingly also very real limitations, shortcomings, and errors—some of them owing to the situation the Soviet Union found itself in, as the world’s only socialist state for several decades (until after World War 2), and some of it owing to problems in the outlook, approach, and method of those leading this process, in particular Stalin. With the necessary historical perspective, and the application of a scientific, materialist and dialectical, approach and method—and in opposition to the seemingly endless emission of distortions and slanders spewed forth against socialism and communism—the conclusion can, and must, be clearly drawn that the historical experience of socialism in the Soviet Union (and even more so in China, after socialism was established there) was decidedly positive, even with undeniable negative aspects—all of which must be deeply learned from.

　　【译文】

　　2）保证人民的每一份权力，即使不平等现象在不同程度上，在社会主义向共产主义过渡的不同阶段，依然存在于人民不同阶层之间。与此同时，无产阶级专政的目的是继续铲除，并最终超越这样的社会不平等现象，进而在全世界范围内达到这样一点：那儿，压迫性的社会分化将不再存在，国家，作为法律和权力实施的制度化工具，将不再是必要的，而国家本身也将被人民的自我管理所取代，没有阶级差别和社会对立。

　　再次引述我们美国革命共产党党章前沿所说的：

　　“人类社会以前所有的国家一直都在拓展和保护剥削关系：他们一直都是剥削阶级占据统治地位，并且一直保护自己避免任何对这种关系的根本性改变。无产阶级专政，相反，目的是国家本身的最终废除，一切阶级差别的废除，一切导致剥削与压迫，导致人们之间反复出现破坏性冲突的的对立社会关系的废除。而且，为了继续朝这一目标前进，无产阶级专政必须越来越多的吸取社会不同阶层中的民众，让他们有意义地加入将社会不断往前推进，进而在全世界实现共产主义伟大目标的进程当中。”

　　在列宁领导这个新苏维埃国家的短短数年间，他领导了经济、包括整个社会的转型，并且给世界各地的革命斗争提供理论指导和积极的支持。但是，随着他在1924年病逝，在那个被力量强大的帝国主义国家和其它反动国家占据统治地位的罪恶世界里，领导这一进程继续往前的挑战落到其它的苏联共产党人头上，尤其是约瑟夫.斯大林，他成为苏共新的领导人。这是历史上一个前所未有的经历：几十年来，经济以及广泛的社会关系——包括男女之间的社会关系、不同民族之间的关系，政治体制，社会文化和人民大众的世界观都发生了深刻的变化。在各个领域，人民的生活水平都有了显著的改善，包括医疗、住房、教育和扫盲。但更为重要的是，剥削和古老传统的重担开始从人民大众身上解除。生活和社会的各个领域都取得了巨大的成就，但同时可以预料的是，这儿也有许多很现实的局限、缺点和错误——其中一些归因于数十年来苏联一直是世界上唯一的社会主义国家（直到二战后），另外一些归因于领导该进程的那些人的世界观、方法和手段出现了问题，尤其是斯大林。依照必要的历史论观点，应用科学的、唯物的和辩证的方法和手段，并反对那种看起来毫无休止的对社会主义和共产主义的曲解和诽谤，社会主义在苏联的历史经验清晰的表明它依旧是非常积极的，尽管也有一些不容否认的消极影响——所有这一切我们都要深刻学习和吸取教训。

　　【原文】

　　It was Mao Tsetung who led the revolutionary struggle in China over several decades, culminating in the victory of the first stage of this revolution with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. To understand the immense importance of this, it is necessary to keep in mind that conventional wisdom, including within the communist movement, held that, in a country like China, a revolution could not be made that would lead to socialism and become part of the worldwide struggle aiming for the ultimate goal of communism, in the way this was actually done with Mao’s leadership. It was not only that China was a backward, largely peasant country (this had been true of Russia as well, at the time of the 1917 revolution there), but China was not a capitalist country itself; it was dominated by other, capitalist-imperialist countries, and the economy and the society overall in China were bent to the imperatives of foreign imperialist domination and capitalist accumulation serving those imperialists. Along with that, the revolution Mao led in China did not immediately aim for socialism but instead built a broad united front against imperialism and feudalism (and bureaucratic capital linked to imperialism and feudalism); and this revolution was carried out not by centering it in the cities, among the small working class there, but through waging a protracted revolutionary war, based among the peasantry in the vast countryside, surrounding the cities from the countryside and then finally defeating the reactionary forces in their strongholds in the cities and winning power throughout the country, completing the first stage of this revolution and opening the road to socialism.

　　Yet, as Mao himself emphasized, as important and historic as this victory was, it was still only the first step in a long march. The challenge had to be immediately faced of moving forward on the socialist road, or even the initial victories of the revolution would be lost—the country would come under the domination of exploiting classes and of foreign imperialist powers once again. But that was not all: As the process of building a socialist economy and carrying out corresponding changes in the other spheres of society was undertaken, and as Mao summed up this initial experience, he increasingly came to the realization that it was necessary to develop a different approach to socialist transformation than the “model” of what had been done in the Soviet Union. Mao’s approach to this gave more initiative to people on the basic levels and to the local areas, and above all it put emphasis not so much on technology—although the development of more advanced technology was recognized by Mao as very important—but, first and foremost, on the conscious initiative of the masses of people. This became concentrated in the slogan grasp revolution and promote production, which provided the basic guideline for carrying out economic construction in a way that would strengthen the basis for the continued advance on the socialist road and would be mutually reinforcing with the revolutionary transformation of the production relations and the political and ideological superstructure.

　　【译文】

　　毛泽东领导了中国二十多年来的革命斗争，在1949年中华人民共和国建立之时，这一革命的第一阶段达到了高潮。理解这一点非常重要，必须要记住：传统的观点上，包括共产主义运动本身的观点，在中国这样一个国家，通过革命达到社会主义并成为世界范围内为最终实现共产主义而进行的斗争的一部分，是不可能的，可就是在毛泽东的领导下，中国采用了这样的方式（并获得了成功）。这不仅仅因为中国是一个落后的、拥有大量农民的国家（这点与1917年革命时的俄罗斯相像），还因为中国本身不是一个资本主义国家；它被其它资本主义-帝国主义国家所控制，中国的经济和整个社会都屈从于外国帝国主义的统治和它们资本积累的需要。也因为如此，毛领导的中国革命并没有立即走向社会主义，而是建立了一个广泛的统一战线，反对帝国主义和封建主义（和与帝国主义、封建主义都有联系的官僚资本主义）；这场革命并非立足于城市，依靠那儿少量的工人阶级，而是扎根于广大农村地区的农民阶层，通过打一场长期的革命战争，从农村包围城市，并最终打败了盘踞于城市之中的反动势力，在全国内赢得了政权，进而完成了这场革命的第一个阶段，并向社会主义道路敞开了怀抱。

　　然而，正如毛本人所强调的，虽然革命取得了重要的历史性胜利，但这还只是漫漫征途的第一步。挑战马上就出现，是继续向前走上社会主义道路，还是（停滞不前）甚至革命的初步胜利都可能失去——这个国家将再次处于剥削阶级和外国帝国主义列强的统治之下。但这还不是全部的挑战：在建设社会主义经济的过程中，在社会其他领域也发生相应变化的过程中，在毛总结此初级阶段经验的过程中，他越来越意识到，有必要发展一种不同于“苏联模式”的新方法来进行社会主义改造。毛这样的方法，给基层人民和各地方政府赋予了更多的主动权，首先，它对技术不够重视——虽然毛认为先进技术的发展是非常重要的——但是，这种方法首先专注的（也是最专注的）是人民大众的自觉行为。这些在“抓革命促生产”这条口号中得到了集中展现，它为经济建设提供了基本的指导方针，在这种方式下经济建设将促使社会继续在社会主义道路上不断前进，相互加强生产关系和政治、思想上层建筑的革命性变革。

　　【原文】

　　All this was related to, and part of the process of development of, Mao’s most important and decisive contribution to the cause of communist revolution: the theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, toward the final goal of communism, and Mao’s leadership in translating this theory into a powerful revolutionary movement of masses of people, during the course of the Cultural Revolution in China, for a decade beginning in the mid-1960s. Breaking once again with the “received wisdom” of the communist movement, Mao made the pathbreaking analysis that throughout the socialist period there would remain the material conditions that would pose the danger of defeat for the socialist revolution. Contradictions within the economic base, in the superstructure, and in the relation between base and superstructure of the socialist countries themselves, as well as the influence, pressure, and outright attacks from the remaining imperialist and reactionary states at any given time, would give rise to class differences and class struggle within a socialist country; these contradictions would constantly pose the possibility of society being led on either the socialist or the capitalist road, and more specifically would repeatedly regenerate an aspiring bourgeois class, within socialist society itself, which would find its most concentrated expression among those within the Communist Party, and particularly at its highest levels, who adopted revisionist lines and policies, which in the name of communism would actually accommodate to imperialism and lead things back to capitalism. Mao identified these revisionists as “people in authority taking the capitalist road,” and he pinpointed the struggle between communism and revisionism as the concentrated expression, in the superstructure, of the contradiction and struggle in socialist society between the socialist road and the capitalist road. Mao recognized, and emphasized, that so long as these material conditions and their ideological reflections existed, there could be no guarantee against the reversal of the revolution and the restoration of capitalism, no simple and easy means of preventing this, no solution other than to continue the revolution to restrict and finally, together with the advance of the revolution throughout the world, uproot and eliminate the social inequalities and other vestiges of capitalism that gave rise to this danger.

　　Again, it is hard to overstate the importance of this theoretical analysis by Mao—which cleared up a great deal of confusion as to whether, and why, there was a danger of capitalist restoration in socialist society, and which provided fundamental guidance in mobilizing masses to advance on the socialist road in opposition to revisionist forces whose orientation and actions were leading precisely toward such a capitalist restoration. The Cultural Revolution in China was the living embodiment of such a mass revolutionary mobilization, in which tens and hundreds of millions of people debated and struggled over questions bearing decisively on the direction of society and of the world revolution. For ten years, this mass upsurge succeeded in holding back, and putting on the defensive, the forces of capitalist restoration, including high officials in the Chinese Communist Party such as xxx. But shortly after the death of Mao in 1976, ——————-. This was, unfortunately, a living demonstration of the very danger that Mao had so sharply pointed to, and whose basis he had so penetratingly analyzed.

　　【译文】

　　所有的这些都与毛~泽东对共产主义革命事业所作的最重要和决定性的贡献相关，或者本身就是这些贡献发展进程中的一部分，这些贡献包括：在无产阶级专政下朝共产主义目标继续革命的理论，以及领导了将此理论转化为强大的人民大众革命运动，这场革命运动始于1960年代中期，延续了十年，即“文化大革命”。毛再次打破了共产主义运动的“公认看法”，作出了个开创性的分析：在整个社会主义阶段，始终有可以导致社会主义革命失败的物质条件存在。经济基础内部的矛盾，上层建筑内部的矛盾，充当基础和上层建筑的不同社会主义国家之间关系上的矛盾，还有任何时候来自于帝国主义和反动势力国家的影响、压力和赤裸裸的攻击，都会在一个社会主义国家内部制造阶级差别和阶级斗争；这些矛盾会不断导致一个国家在社会主义道路与资本主义道路之间徘徊，更具体的说，就是这些矛盾会反复的在社会主义内部制造出一个有抱负的资产阶级，他们会集中出现在共产党内部，尤其是他们中最高级别的人，他们以共产主义之名采纳修正主义路线和正常，在实际上拥抱帝国主义，并致使所有事物回到资本主义。毛将这些修正主义者称为“走资本主义道路的当权派”，他将共产主义与修正主义之间的斗争，确定为上层建筑中走社会主义道路派和走资派之间矛盾和斗争的集中表现。毛认识到，并强调：只要这些物质条件和与之对应的思想依就存在，就不能保证革命不会倒退，资本主义不能复辟，没有容易和简单的手段可以阻止这些发生，也没有其它解决方案，除了继续革命，直到最终，随着革命在全世界的推进，它会根除和消灭一切社会不平等和导致这种危险产生的资本主义残余。

　　再次，很难夸大这个由毛提出的理论分析的重要性——对于是否，以及为什么在社会主义社会有资本主义复辟的危险这样的问题，该理论清除了大量的混乱认识；在发动大众继续在社会主义道路上前行，反对修正主义势力（它们的目的与行为正导致资本主义的复辟）的运动上，该理论提供了基本的理论指导。中国的文化大革命活生生的体现了这样一个规模庞大的革命动员运动，数以亿计的人一起辩论和争斗着那些对社会发展方向和世界革命有决定性影响的问题。十年来，这种大规模的运动成功的阻挡了那些资本主义复辟势力（包括一些中共高级官员，比如xxx），使之处于防守地位。但是在1976年毛去世后不久，（敏感内容删除）——并在中国恢复了资本主义制度。这一切都不幸地，活生生的演示了毛所指出的那种危险，而这种危险的根基毛也曾深刻的分析过。

　　【原文】缺

　　【译文】

　　III.一个阶段的终结——以及从这些历史经验中，我们要吸取什么，抛弃什么。

　　随着修~正主义在C~的政变和资本主义的复辟，以及20年前修正主义势力在苏联的抬头，共产主义革命的第一阶段走向了终结。就像我们在美国革命共产党的党章中以一种基本且简单的语言所说的：“自革命无产阶级在一些国家取得政权以来，已经过去数十年了，但是今天，无论他们贴的是什么样的标签，这世界上已经没有社会主义国家了。”

　　更严重的是，社会主义和共产主义事业的这种挫折和苏联（其实很久以前它就不再是个社会主义国家了）的灭亡，已经在发动势力中激起了鲨鱼般的狂喜和癫狂，这些反动势力，一直以来对共产主义革命和对他们代表的那个社会的根本变革恨之入骨，他们不断反复的，利用任何可能的手段，去打击和破坏这种革命。他们变本加厉的使尽浑身解数栽赃共产主义和自由变革，以无情的意识形态上的攻击去扭曲和诽谤这种革命，以企图永远压制革命的爆发；他们宣传资本主义制度的胜利是不可逆的；他们将那个实现完全不同的、更好的世界的梦想——具体指世界范围内的共产主义革命，描述为一个噩梦；他们将这个真实的、无穷噩梦般的现行体制，粉饰为人类的最高可能形式。

　　【原文】

　　Imagine a situation in which Christian fundamentalist creationists have seized power, in the academies of science and in society overall, and have proceeded to suppress knowledge of evolution. Imagine that they go so far as to execute and imprison the most prominent scientists and educators who had insisted on teaching evolution and bringing knowledge of this to the public, and they heap scorn and abuse on the well-established scientific fact of evolution, denouncing and ridiculing it as a flawed and dangerous theory which runs counter to well-known “truth” of the biblical creation story and to religious notions of “natural law” and the “divinely ordained order.” And, to continue the analogy, imagine that in this situation many intellectual “authorities,” and others following in their wake, jump on the bandwagon: “It was not only naïve but criminal to believe that evolution was a well-documented scientific theory, and to force that belief on people,” they declare. “Now we can see that it is ‘common wisdom,’ which no one questions (so why should we?), that evolution embodies a worldview and leads to actions that are disastrous for human beings. We were taken in by the arrogant assurance of those who propagated this notion. We can see that everything that exists, or has existed, could not have come into being without the guiding hand of an ‘intelligent designer.’” And, finally, imagine that in this situation, even many of those who once knew better become disoriented and demoralized, cowed into silence where they do not join in, meekly or loudly, in the chorus of capitulation and denunciation.

　　【译文】

　　想象一下，坚信神创论的基督教原教旨主义者攫取了政权，在科学学术机构里和整个社会中，持续打压进化论的知识。想象一下，他们居然处死和监禁那些坚持向大众教授进化论知识的最杰出的科学家和教育家，他们藐视和辱骂众所周知的进化论知识，谴责和嘲弄后者是一个错误和危险的理论，这只是因为后者违背了圣经创始故事的所谓“真理”、（作为）“自然法”的宗教观念和“神灵保佑的秩序”。继续思考类似情况，想象一下，许多知识“当局”以及后头的跟风者，像个小丑一样蹦跳着：“相信进化论是一个证据充分的科学和迫使其他人相信与此的行为，不仅仅是幼稚的，也是种犯罪。”他们如此宣称，“我们现在可以看到这是一个‘公理’，没有人会质疑它（那我们为什么质问？），进化论只是代表了一种世界观，它将给人类带来灾难性的后果。我们会被那些信誓旦旦宣传此观点的人卷入其中。我们可以认识到：一切现存事物，或者曾经存在过的事物，没有（造物主这个）‘智能设计师’的指引，都不能存在。”最后，再想象在这种境况下，在投降和谴责的合奏下，甚至许多更有见识的人都最终迷失了方向，士气低落，被迫限于沉默（本来无论是逆来顺受还是大声喊出，他们都不会沉陷于此）。

　　【原文】

　　The temporary defeat of socialism and the end of the first stage of the communist revolution has had many features and consequences that are analogous to such a situation. Among other things, it has led to lowered sights and low dreams: Even among many people who once would have known better and would have striven higher, it has led, in the short run, to acceptance of the idea that—in reality and at least for the foreseeable future—there can be no alternative to the world as it is, under the domination of imperialism and other exploiters. That the most one can hope for and work for are some secondary adjustments within the framework of accommodation to this system. That anything else—and especially the attempt to bring about a revolutionary rupture out of the confines of this system, aiming toward a radically different, communist world—is unrealistic and is bound to bring disaster.

　　At the same time, in the “vacuum” created by the reversal of socialism and accompanying setbacks for communism, and with the continuing, and even heightening, depredations carried out by imperialism—with all the upheaval, chaos, and oppression this means for literally billions of people throughout the world—there has been a significant growth of religious fundamentalism and its organized expression in many parts of the world, including among the desperately oppressed. Imperialist marauders and mass murderers, and fanatical religious fundamentalists—the former more powerful and doing greater harm, and in so doing giving further impetus to the latter, but both representing a dark veil, and very real chains, of enslavement and enforced ignorance, reinforcing each other even when they oppose each other.
But all this has not done away with reality: the reality of how the world is, under the domination of this capitalist-imperialist system and the daily horror this involves for the great majority of humanity—or the reality of what communism actually represents for humanity and the possibility of making new breakthroughs and advances on the road of communist revolution.

　　【译文】

　　社会主义暂时的失败和共产主义革命第一阶段的结束有其自身的表现特征，以及与其相对应的后果。与其它事情一道，它降低了人们的视野和理想：即使那些一度有希望看得更高、更远的人，在短期内，都接受了这样一种观点——实际上或至少可预见的将来内——现行帝国主义和其他剥削者的统治都是不可替代的。人们所能达到的最大期盼和目标也只是在此种制度的框架内做一些次要的调整。另外的想法——尤其是引导一场打破现行体制，建立一个根本不同的共产主义世界的企图——是不现实的，也必将招致灾难性的后果。

　　同时，在由社会主义的倾覆和随后共产主义的挫折所制造的“真空”中，伴随着帝国主义持续并不断加强的掠夺行为，伴随着全世界数十亿人民遭受到的动荡、混乱和压迫，宗教原教旨主义的势力得到了极大的增强，他们在世界各地包括那些遭受压迫最为严重的人群中，不断有组织的出现。帝国主义强盗、民众屠夫和狂热的原教旨主义者——前者势力更大，危害也更大，并对后者产生进一步刺激，都代表了（人类社会中）最黑暗的阴暗面和奴役与无知的枷锁，它们即使相互对立，也会增加各自的罪恶。

　　但是所有这一切都没有消除掉这样一些现实：世界在这个资本主义-帝国主义制度统治下，大多数人都处于日常恐怖之中的现实——或者，共产主义实际能够带领人类实现突破，并在共产主义革命道路上继续前行的现实。

　　【原文】

　　When we examine, with a scientific outlook and method, the rich experience of the first socialist countries and the first stage of the communist revolution overall, we can see that the problem is not, as has been constantly drummed at us, that the communist revolution, in attempting to do away with capitalism, was seeking in vain to overcome some unchangeable trait that causes people to pursue selfish ends as their “bottom line” motivation, a motivation which must be the guiding and driving principle of human society, lest it violate “human nature” and thereby plunge society into catastrophe and subject the people to tyranny. The problem has been that—while it has brought about profound changes, in circumstances and in people, as a result of the increasingly conscious initiative of people taking up the communist viewpoint—this revolution has taken place not in a vacuum, and with people as a “blank slate,” but as conditions and people have emerged out of the old society and with the “birthmarks” of that society (and of thousands of years of tradition embodying and rationalizing oppressive relations among people). And the new socialist societies that have been brought into being through these revolutions have existed in a world still dominated by imperialism, with its still very formidable power—economically, politically, and militarily.

　　As Marx and Lenin understood in basic terms—and as Mao discovered and explained much more fully—socialism is not an end in itself: it is not yet communism but is the transition to communism which can be achieved not in this or that country by itself, but only on a world scale, with the overthrow of all reactionary ruling classes and the abolition of all exploitative and oppressive relations everywhere. And during this entire period of socialist transition, because of the fact that reactionary states will continue to exist and for some time will encircle and threaten socialist states which are brought into being; and because of the vestiges of the old society—in the production relations, the social relations, and in the superstructure of politics, ideology, and culture—which still exist within socialist society itself, even as the advance on the socialist road leads to restricting these vestiges and transforming important aspects of them in the direction of the final goal of communism…because of all this, there remains the possibility that the hand of the past, not yet dead and still powerful, can seize hold of society and drag it back. In short, for these reasons, the danger of capitalist restoration continues to exist throughout the socialist transition period, and this can be combated and defeated only by continuing the revolution, within the socialist country itself, and doing so as part of and while actively supporting and promoting the communist revolution throughout the world.

　　【译文】

　　当我们以科学的观点和方法审视第一批社会主义国家和共产主义革命第一阶段的丰富经验时，我们可以发现，问题并不像我们一直以来所遭受的指责那样：共产主义革命试图推翻资本主义的行为，是一种寻求克服（人类本身）一些不变特质的徒劳行径，这些不变特质导致人们把追求个人利益作为“底线”动机，而这种根本性的动机必然是推动人类社会发展的指导性原则。共产主义革命违背了这种“人性”，进而将人类社会拖入灾难之中，使人们成为暴政的牺牲品。这种指责的问题在于——随着采取共产主义观点的人们的主动性越来越强，共产主义革命将会在社会环境和人民大众中诱发出深刻的变化——革命不再是发生在真空之中，不再认为人民大众是白板一块而是条件的产物，人民已经脱离了旧社会，虽然留有旧社会的一些“胎记”（这些都是数千多年来的传统和人与人间已理性化的压迫关系的产物）。通过这些革命而建立的新的社会主义社会，会一直存在于这个依然由帝国主义占据统治地位的世界（帝国主义在经济、政治和军事上依旧拥有非常强大的力量）。

　　由于马克思和列宁对这些（共产主义）基本术语的充分理解，已经毛对此更充分的挖掘和解释，社会主义本身并不是终结，而是通向共产主义的过渡阶段，共产主义不能单独在这个或那个国家实现，它只能在世界范围内统一实现，前提是世界各地所有的反动统治阶级都被推翻，所有的剥削和压迫关系都被消灭。在社会主义过渡的整个阶段，由于反动国家依旧继续存在，并随时会包围和威胁社会主义国家，由于在生产关系、社会关系、政治和思想的上层结构以及文化上的旧社会残余在社会主义的继续存在，甚至在社会主义最终通向共产主义的前进道路上，虽然会不断限制和改变它们的属性，这些残余还会存在…由于这一切，过去的势力依旧有可能没有消亡，并仍然强大，可能会夺回社会的控制权并使之倒退到原来。简而言之，因为这些因素，在整个社会主义过渡阶段，资本主义复辟的危险会继续存在，只有通过在社会主义内部继续革命才能阻止这种危险的发生，同时，这种继续革命作为共产主义革命在全世界兴起的一部分，它也会积极支持和促进这个进程。

　　【原文】

　　The reversal of socialism and what is in fact the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union and China was not a matter of “the revolution eating its own children”…of “conspiratorial communist revolutionists turning into totalitarian tyrants” once they have power…of “bureaucratic leaders, entrenched in power for life, stifling and suffocating (bourgeois) democracy”…it was not “the inevitable result of perpetuating hierarchal organization of society”…or any of the other fundamentally erroneous and unscientific notions which are so ceaselessly propagated these days in attacking communism. Those who directly brought about the defeat of the revolution in the Soviet Union and in China were in fact people with high positions in the revolutionary party and state, but they were not some group of faceless, and classless, bureaucrats, mad for power for its own sake. They were, as Mao characterized them, people in authority taking the capitalist road. They were representatives not of communism but of capitalism, and in particular the vestiges of capitalism that had not yet been thoroughly uprooted and surpassed—and could not be in the short term and within the confines of one or another particular socialist country.

　　【译文】

　　社会主义的倾覆和实际意义上资本主义在苏联和中国的复辟，并不代表“革命会虎毒食子”…并不代表一旦掌握权利后“阴谋的共产主义革命者将变成集权主义暴君”…并不代表“官僚主义的领导者，终身揽权，扼杀和窒息（资产阶级式）民族”…它也不是“永远等级森严的社会组织不可避免的结局”…也不属于任何其它根本性错误的不科学的观念（它们最近一直被用来反复攻击共产主义）。那些直接导致苏联和中国革命失败的人，实际上是那些在革命党内和国家里担任高职位的人，但他们不是一些为自身利益而疯狂追逐权力的难辨认的、无阶级的官僚权力集团。按照毛给他们的定性，他们是“走资本主义道路”的当权派。他们不是共产主义的代表，而是资本主义的代表，尤其是那些未被彻底清除和超越的资本主义残余的代表——这些残余既不能在短期内清除和超越，也不能只在这个或那个特别的社会主义国家内部清除和超越。

　　【原文】

　　The fact that these revisionists were high-ranking officials in the party and state apparatus does not reveal some fundamental flaw in communism or in the communist revolution and socialist society as it has taken shape up to this point. It does not point to the need to find a whole other means and model for bringing about a radically different world. The causes of these reversals of socialism lie deeper, and they are consistent with a scientific communist understanding of society, and in particular of socialism as a transition from capitalism to communism: They reside in the contradictions that are, in significant aspects, carried forward from the old society which has been overthrown but whose features and influences have not yet been entirely transformed. These contradictions—including that between mental and manual labor, which is bound up with the division of society into classes and has itself constituted an integral and profound division in all societies ruled by exploiting classes—both give rise to the need for an organized communist vanguard to lead the revolution, not only in overthrowing the capitalist system but then in continuing the revolution in socialist society, and at the same time give rise to the danger of the revolution being betrayed and reversed by people who hold leadership positions within that vanguard. Given the actual historical development of human society and the possible pathways of change this has now opened up (recall the analogy to evolution in the natural world and the relation there between constraint and change), the question—the actual alternatives, in the real world, if we are in fact setting out to radically change this world, so as to uproot and abolish exploitation and oppression—is not leadership vs. no leadership, democracy vs. no democracy, dictatorship or no dictatorship; it is the socialist road or the capitalist road, leadership which takes things in one direction or the other, democracy—and dictatorship—which is in the service of and furthers one kind of system or the other, toward the reinforcement and perpetuation of exploitation and oppression or toward their eventual elimination, and with that, finally, the elimination of the need for a vanguard party or a state, once the material and ideological conditions that make that possible have been brought into being with the triumph of the communist revolution throughout the world.

　　【译文】

　　这些修正主义者往往是党内和国家中高级别官员这一事实，并不是共产主义或者共产主义革命以及发展到现阶段的社会主义的基本缺陷。它也不代表（我们）需要另一种完全不同的手段和模式来实现一个截然不同的世界。这些社会主义的倾覆有更深层次的原因，它们与对社会，尤其是对社会主义是通向共产主义的过渡阶段这一事实的科学共产主义理解相一致：它们主要隐含在那些从旧社会中保留下来的矛盾之中，旧社会虽然已经被推翻，但是它的一些特质和影响依旧未被完全根除。这些矛盾，包括脑力劳动与体力劳动之间的矛盾（它与社会阶级分化现象密切关联，且本身已构成这种分化的一部分），和剥削阶级统治下社会的深刻分化——一方面，这些矛盾使得组织一支共产主义先锋队成为必要，不仅用来推翻资本主义制度，而且继续推进社会主义内部的变革；另一方面，这些矛盾同时又促发了革命被一些在先锋队中处于领导地位的人出卖和颠覆的危险。考虑到人类社会真实的历史发展进程和变革的可能道路（这种变革已经发生，它相当于自然界中的进化，令人想到限制与改变之间的关系），（社会）实际替代的问题——在这个现实的世界中，如果实际上我们已经开始从根本上去改变这个世界，为的是根除和消灭一切剥削和压迫——并不是有领导权与没有领导权的问题，不是民主与不民主的问题，也不是独裁与不独裁的问题；而是社会主义道路与资本主义道路的问题，是将事物引导到某方向或另一方向上领导力本身的问题，是民主和集权本身的特性——它们服务并促进于某种或另一种（社会）制度，要么加强和延续剥削与压迫，要么消除剥削与压迫，由此，最终一旦随着共产主义革命在全世界的胜利，物质和思想条件达到了那种状态，对党和国家而言，先锋队可以不再需要。

　　【原文】

　　In sum on this point: The first stage of the communist revolution went a long way, and achieved incredibly inspiring things, in fighting to overcome the very real obstacles it faced and to advance toward a world where all relations of exploitation and oppression would be finally eliminated and people would enjoy a whole new dimension of freedom and would undertake the organization and continuing transformation of society, throughout the world, with a conscious and voluntary initiative unprecedented in human history. But, not surprisingly, there were also significant shortcomings and real errors, sometimes very serious ones, both in the practical steps that were taken by those leading these revolutions and the new societies they brought forth, and in their conceptions and methods. These shortcomings and errors were not the cause of the defeats of the initial attempts at communist revolution, but they did contribute, even if secondarily, to that defeat; and, beyond that, this whole experience of the first stage—with both its truly inspiring achievements and its very real, at times very serious, even if overall secondary, errors and shortcomings—must be learned from deeply and all-sidedly, in order to carry forward the communist revolution in the new situation that has to be confronted, and to do even better this time.

　　【译文】

　　在此总结一下：共产主义革命的第一阶段往前迈出了一大步，并取得了难以置信的、鼓舞人心的成就，它克服了它所面对的诸多阻碍，它引导社会朝一个全新世界前行，在那儿，所有的剥削和压迫关系都被最终消除，人们享有全新的自由，并且以一种人类历史上前所未有的自觉、自愿精神，领导社会组织，继续全世界范围内的社会变革。但并不奇怪的是，无论是在那些革命领导者所采取的实际步骤中，还是在他们创建的新社会里，或是在他们的理念和方法上，这一阶段都存在着许多重大缺陷和实际错误，有时甚至是非常严重。这些缺陷和错误并不是这共产主义革命初次尝试失败的根本原因，但是它们的确加速了这种失败，甚至是失败的次要因素；除去这些，第一阶段的整个经历，连同它鼓舞人心的成就和非常真实的，有时是非常严重的，甚至完全是次要因素的错误和缺陷，我们都要进行深刻而全面的总结，以便在我们必须面对的新形势下继续推进共产主义革命，并且这次做得更好。