The first stage: handicraft era (16th century-1early 9th century).
Capitalist economy: Capitalist forms became an obvious trend in16th century. The religious reform in this century, the peasant war in Germany, the opening of new air routes, the Dutch revolution, the expansion of the British enclosure movement, the expansion of the Renaissance movement and the rise of mercantilism are all the effects and consequences of the rapid development of capitalist commodity economy.
In the period of workshop handicraft industry, capitalism was still in its childhood, and there was no clear distinction between industrial capital and commercial capital. Basically, commercial capital controls industry. Two types of handicraft workshops, namely, scattered handicraft workshops and centralized handicraft workshops, are run by businessmen (scattered handicraft workshops account for the majority, but few are concentrated). Businessmen, as early capitalists, not only controlled the industry, the upper class, that is, monopolists, but also gradually became financiers. This is the financial bourgeoisie, also known as the big bourgeoisie (the financial bourgeoisie mainly made a fortune by including taxes and issuing government bonds). They are the richest and most powerful stratum in the whole bourgeoisie. Commercial capital controls industry, and the financial bourgeoisie ranks first among the bourgeoisie, which does not mean that the industrial and commercial development is flat and the improvement is not great; At that time, the level of industrial and commercial development was quite high, and the import and export trade was also quite developed. 17 and 18 centuries, businessmen, especially those who formed overseas trade, rushed around the world to expand and colonize, seeking to occupy markets and raw material sites. International wars, such as the three Anglo-Dutch wars and the ten-year war between Britain and France, are essentially commercial wars, and the competition for the market has reached such a fierce level. In turn, it can be proved that the development of industry and commerce has reached an unprecedented height, and the capacity of the domestic market has been difficult to meet its needs.
The development of capitalist economy and the disintegration of feudal natural economy were the general trends in the economic field at that time. Taking the enclosure movement as an example, this paper explains the disintegration process of feudal land ownership in Britain.
Changes in land ownership: feudal land ownership was replaced by capitalist land ownership.
Changes in management methods: establishing bourgeois farms and pastures and employing farmers who have been deprived of their land for production.
The change of class structure: The formation of new noble played a leading role in the later bourgeois revolution.
Working conditions: A large number of free laborers are created for the development of capitalism.
Politics: At that time, the capitalist forces were still in their infancy, and only four countries established the capitalist system. Other countries and regions are still in the stage of development before feudalism or feudalism. From the perspective of power comparison, the weight of capitalism is really insignificant. However, as a new thing in the development history of human society, its vitality is strong. Inevitably, it will eventually replace the pre-capitalist system. The transformation from feudal system to capitalist system is basically nothing more than revolution and reform. Countries such as Britain and France entered the capitalist era through revolution, but most countries took the road of reform, and the revolution often showed the power to defeat feudal rule in one fell swoop, which was unmatched by the way of reform. Because the reform was basically carried out by the former feudal rulers with wise minds and long-term vision, because there was no struggle to change the dynasty, the reform methods were evolutionary and moderate, and their measures were carried out from the economic aspect first, rarely involving the political aspect at one time. Therefore, the transition to capitalism through reform is bound to be a long process, which will not happen overnight and will leave a strong feudal residue. However, reform rarely causes great turmoil, which is conducive to the protection of productive forces. At this stage, there is no case of completing the transition to capitalism through reform.
National liberation movement: At that time, colonialists practiced different ruling policies. First, take the colony as its own commodity sales market and raw material production area; One is robbery and plunder of wealth. The former are colonialists with developed capitalist economy, such as Britain and the Netherlands; The latter is a feudal country, represented by Spain and Portugal. Both of them plundered a lot of wealth from the colonies and brought great disasters to the local people. It's just different purposes and means. Because of this difference, the consequences of colonial economy are also different. Some capitalist industrial and commercial enterprises appeared in British and Dutch colonies, but this situation was extremely rare in Spanish colonies. This makes the outcome of the American War of Independence and the Latin American Independence Movement obviously different. The United States established a capitalist America, while Latin American countries established a distinctive authoritarian regime (Cordero system). Nevertheless, overthrowing colonial rule and striving for national independence is still a progressive phenomenon and a victory of the national movement.
Ideology: The mainstream of this period also reflects the objective law of the decline of feudal system and the prosperity of capitalism. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, the Enlightenment rose in Britain and the Netherlands. /kloc-the 0/8th century was called "the age of enlightenment" or "the age of reason", and a large number of great French thinkers pushed the Enlightenment to its peak.
International relations: During this period, there was an international war that shocked all of Europe-the Napoleonic War. No matter what kind of evaluation is made of Napoleon and his regime, one thing is certain, that is, Napoleon represents capitalist forces, and his opponents reflect the wishes of feudal dynasties in various countries. As for Britain, as long as France is regarded as a competitor. Napoleon's failure shows that even in Europe, where capitalism is the most powerful, feudal forces are still stronger, not to mention other parts of the world. Judging from the situation of capitalism itself, the level of productivity in the workshop handicraft industry stage can not completely eliminate the feudal system, and the bourgeoisie will become the leading force in the world only in the period of industrial capitalism after the industrial revolution.
The second stage: the steam engine era (1early 9 -65438+70' 09).
/kloc-The history of the 0/9th century actually began under the influence of the British Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, which greatly strengthened the power of capitalism economically and politically. The industrial revolution, in particular, has brought about great changes in the social, economic and class structure of the countries concerned, and has also had a far-reaching impact on the world. The growth of capitalist forces has promoted the reform and revolution of capitalist nature, and the liberal movement has become increasingly powerful; The proletariat is a new class caused by the industrial revolution, and it began to fight for its own interests soon after its birth. The workers' movement made commodity export the lifeline of capitalism. The bourgeoisie set off a wave of colonial expansion and triggered a wave of national movements. Liberalism, socialism and nationalism became three historical trends in the19th century. Among them, liberalism is the mainstream. In other words, the main contradiction in the world is the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and feudal forces, and the old capitalist system before the industrial revolution.
Liberalism: bourgeois revolution or reform movement. In a country still under feudal rule, its fundamental task is to overthrow the feudal system and establish a capitalist system; In capitalist countries, it is mainly the industrial bourgeoisie that is struggling with the old-style production before the industrial revolution; Internationally, it is to overthrow the reactionary order concocted by the 18 15 Vienna Conference.
Historical facts:/kloc-Spanish revolution in the 1920s,/kloc-Italian revolution and Greek revolution of independence in the 1920s,/kloc-French revolution in the 1930s and Belgian revolution under the influence of the July revolution.
1848 During the European Revolution, Britain carried out a series of reforms adapted to the nature of industrial capitalism, such as the first parliamentary reform in 1832, the abolition of "corn laws" in 1846, the free trade policy since the 1940s and the second parliamentary reform in 1867.
19, the abolition of Russia in the 1960s and 1970s, the unification of Germany and Italy, the new economic policy pursued by the Second Reich of France (which was an important reason for the completion of the industrial revolution), 1867, the establishment of the era of dual empire between China and Hungary, the American Civil War, and the Meiji Restoration in Japan. All these are the decisive victory of capitalism, that is, capitalism has finally been established all over the world. The establishment of capitalism not only includes the entry of the above-mentioned countries into the capitalist era, but also includes a large part of the world becoming a colony or semi-colony of capitalist countries, as well as many countries (such as Latin America) that are politically independent but economically controlled by capitalist powers. In this way, the capitalist world system was initially formed in the sixties and seventies of 19.
Socialism: The workers' movement is the direct result of the industrial revolution, and the real workers' movement started from the three major workers' movements.
Historical facts: The three major workers' movements were 1848 Paris Workers' Uprising in June, 1864 the establishment and activities of the First International, and 187 1 Paris Commune Revolution. The workers' movement at this stage generally has the following characteristics:
(1) Spontaneity; (2) More violence; (3) Political struggle is dominant.
These characteristics were caused by the social conditions at that time. 19 Before the 1970s, except for Britain, which was the first country to complete the industrial revolution, all other countries carried out industrial revolutions and the workers' movement appeared. Politically, it has not changed greatly with the development of industrial capitalism, and still maintains the traditional ruling style in the past. Some countries (such as Germany) are still feudal. These countries basically have no social legislation, and when dealing with social resistance movements, they mainly adopt high-handed policies, and even the emerging industrial bourgeoisie is suppressed. Of course, the bourgeoisie is not valued by the authorities, it has no political rights, and citizens' right to vote is also subject to various restrictions, including property qualifications. In this case, the broad masses of workers naturally think that their suffering is caused by their lack of social status and political rights. Once they fight, they will shout slogans of fighting for political rights and voting rights, and even demand to reform the political system or directly fight for political power. Therefore, most of the workers' movements in this period were political struggles.
At the same time, during the first industrial revolution, the bourgeoisie still retained the exploitation methods of extracting absolute surplus value, such as extending working hours, reducing wages, increasing labor intensity, hiring child workers and female workers, etc., which also reflected the relatively low labor productivity. This inhuman treatment filled the workers with anger, and once they rose up to resist, their anger would erupt. This is the reason why the workers' movement has taken a more intense struggle. (The Paris Commune Revolution typically embodies the above characteristics).
National Uprising: The most prominent area is in Asia, namely the Asian Revolutionary Storm.
After the industrial revolution began, seeking and expanding overseas markets became a top priority of capitalism, and the colonial expansion of the great powers basically put commodity exports in the first place. Among all kinds of unequal treaties signed by western powers against the invaded countries, the opening of trading ports was given priority, which showed the colonial characteristics of this period.
The Asian revolutionary storm has its own characteristics caused by the limitations of its times. These characteristics are often the reasons for its failure. Generally speaking, these struggles are the continuation of the traditional medieval resistance struggle, lacking modern content.
(1) Some movements still have the feudal tradition of changing dynasties;
(2) Some uprisings are under the banner of religion;
(3) None of the movements put forward a capitalist program;
The leaders of the movement are all peasant leaders or princes and nobles.
Pointing out these characteristics is by no means to belittle the significance of the Asian revolutionary storm. Those rebels and their leaders are still heroes in history. These characteristics are caused by the limitations of the times. The fundamental reason is that Asian countries did not have their own national capitalism except Japan at that time, which shows that the national movement has a process of evolution from the old type to the new type, not because it happened in modern history.
Ideology: In the first stage of the Enlightenment, the theme was "natural human rights", almost all of which were aimed at feudal autocracy and privilege, highlighting the anti-feudal theme. After entering age of steam, machine production put commodity output in a decisive position, and the theory of free competition prevailed. At the same time, the requirements of political reform to adapt to the development of industrial capitalism have also been put on the historical agenda. Reflected in ideology, liberalism has added new content, that is, it not only opposes privilege and feudal tradition, but also regards liberalism as the guiding theory for managing the economy and governing the country.
There is also a socialist trend of thought. After the rise of the workers' movement, the proletariat stepped onto the political stage, and Marx and Engels founded the theory of scientific communism. There are also utopian socialism, anarchism, various petty bourgeoisie and socialism. After the birth of scientific communism, it was only one of many socialist schools, and failed to gain a guiding position in the international workers' movement and the socialist movement. Only some advanced elements such as William and Liebknecht accepted Marx's theory. The basic principles expounded in the Declaration of * * * are correct, but there are mistakes in estimating the vitality of the capitalist system, failing to predict the development of large-scale industries and the rapid improvement of vitality, and greatly enhancing the self-regulation ability of the capitalist system. So half a century later, Engels declared very realistically that the original estimate was wrong. "At that time, the economic development of the European continent was far from mature enough to eradicate the capitalist mode of production. History has proved this with the economic revolution. " The failure of the Paris Commune proves this point. The failure of the Paris Commune has long been doomed. Even if we don't make any mistakes, we are doomed to fail. The fundamental reason lies in: France was between two industrial revolutions at that time, small-scale production still dominated, the French capitalist system was still in an upward development period, far from reaching a mature stage, and the time for the proletariat to seize power was not yet ripe. The revolution broke out not because the relations of production hindered the development of productive forces, but because the superstructure hindered the evolution of the economic base. However, the corruption in the later period of the Second Empire, the failure of the Franco-Prussian War and the incompetence of the "national defense government" aroused the indignation of the people in Paris.
International relations: In order to compete for the hegemony of colonies and Europe, fierce competition has been launched among big countries, and even some local international wars have broken out. The Crimean War is a typical example.
The third stage: the electrification era (65438+1970s-early 20th century).
Capitalism: The formation of monopoly organization indicates that capitalism has evolved to the stage of imperialism. Economically, science and technology are the guide, monopoly organizations are the means of organization and operation, politically, democratic representative system is the main political system, and party politics, citizen participation and free elections are implemented. It can be said that capitalism in the modern sense has basically taken shape. Capitalist foreign aggression and expansion intensified, and the whole world was carved up. With the final formation of the colonial system in the capitalist world, the capitalist world system was finally established.
Socialism: after the second industrial revolution, the characteristics of the workers' movement and the socialist movement have changed. First, organized struggle has increased; Second, legal struggle has become the main form, and violent armed struggle is almost absent; Finally, the economic struggle has surpassed the political struggle. (Eight-hour working system, salary increase, labor protection, industrial injury compensation, etc. ) This is mainly the case in Western Europe and North America. Russia in eastern Europe is another matter, where despotism prevails, and there is neither freedom of assembly and association, freedom of speech and publication, nor freedom to strike at will, let alone protest and oppose the government. Therefore, the workers' movement and the socialist movement there can only be carried out in secret underground struggles and take the road of armed uprising. These characteristics of the workers' movement in Western Europe and North America are caused by changes in social environment and conditions. The second industrial revolution greatly developed the capitalist economy and greatly improved the living conditions of workers. The rate of wage increase has obviously exceeded the rate of price increase. According to human nature, people can maintain food and clothing in life, but the necessary aspects are still not satisfactory. Then who is willing to risk death and imprisonment to fight? Armed uprisings and riots in history are the result of "revolt against Liangshan". Politically, political reforms in various countries have basically given male citizens the right to universal suffrage, as well as the right to assembly, association and publication of newspapers and periodicals. The Second International has held many congresses in France, Germany, Britain, Switzerland and other countries, and has never been officially banned or harassed. Now that the political rights it fought for in those years have been basically obtained, it has become a tool and means used by the workers' movement.
Nationalism: At this stage, the nature of the national liberation movement has changed greatly, from the old-fashioned national movement to the capitalist reform and revolution. At the same time, the economic aggression of major capitalist countries at the end of 19 mainly focused on capital export, which led to the birth of national capitalism and proletariat in colonial and semi-colonial countries. Usually, the proletariat was born before the bourgeoisie, because the workers employed by the first foreign-funded enterprises were locals.
National capitalism is a new thing that represents the advanced productive forces of colonial, semi-colonial and backward countries. The national bourgeoisie became the standard bearer of the national movement, put forward the capitalist struggle program and slogan, and changed the nature of the national movement. Prominent events are the awakening of Asia and the bourgeois revolutions in Cuba and Mexico.
National movements with new characteristics often have a development process from improvement to revolution. /kloc-the movement led by the moderates of the Indian National Congress at the end of 0/9 and the struggle led by Tilak by the radicals of the National Congress at the beginning of the 20th century all reflected this development trend. In the modern history of China, the Reform Movement led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao at the end of 19 and the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen at the beginning of the 20th century are typical manifestations of the transformation from improvement to revolution.
Ideology: Similarly, due to the changes in environment and conditions, some changes have taken place in the socialist ideological trend. The theory of advocating the gradual and peaceful realization of socialism has risen and spread, which is a revisionist theory. In addition, there is the birth of social Darwinism (philosophy of human will to power and superman philosophy in the field of philosophy reflect the background of imperialist hegemony).
International relations: Under the influence of the unbalanced law of capitalist economic and political development, imperialist countries waged fierce struggles for hegemony and colonies, forming three pairs of basic contradictions, which intensified, leading to the formation of two military groups, which frantically expanded their troops and prepared for war, and finally led to the outbreak of the First World War.