Historical materialism holds that "the people, only the people, are the driving force to create world history." Man is an important social and historical category of historical materialism. It is quantitative, that is, it refers to most residents; At the same time, it has qualitative stipulation, which refers to all people who play a driving role in social history, including all classes, strata and social groups that play a role in promoting historical development in class society. No matter how the historical situation changes, the main body and stable part of the people are always the working people and their intellectuals engaged in the production of material materials. The people play a decisive role in historical development, which is fully reflected in all aspects of social life. People are the creators of social material wealth and social spiritual wealth, and they are the decisive force to change the social system.

Historical materialism profoundly reveals that people's creative activities themselves are restricted by social and historical conditions. Social and historical conditions refer to the sum of all existing social factors, which can be roughly divided into three categories: economy, politics and spirit. Economic conditions include productivity and relations of production, among which productivity is decisive for people to create history. Under different political systems, the role of the people in creating history is very different. In spiritual conditions, science and culture occupy a very important position. The development level of science and culture in the whole society, especially the level of mastering science and culture by the masses, directly affects the role of the masses in creating history. It is the strategic task of a socialist country to vigorously develop scientific and cultural undertakings and give full play to the role of the people as historical masters.

Historical materialism opposes the heroic historical view and insists that the people are the creators of history, but it does not deny the role of historical figures in historical development. Mainly manifested in the following aspects: historical figures are the parties to historical events, and historical figures are often the direct participants, planners and commanders of major historical events, so they always have to put their own brand on historical events. Historical figures are the initiators of historical tasks. He stands taller and sees farther than the average person. His desire to solve historical tasks is stronger than others, which points out the direction for the development of historical process. Historical figures are the influencers of the historical process. They can influence or even decide historical events and accelerate or delay the settlement of historical tasks. However, historical materialism does not exaggerate the role of historical figures, and holds that the role of historical figures should be restricted by social and historical conditions. Because the appearance of historical figures is the product of certain social and historical conditions, that is, the times make heroes. The hero created by a certain situation must have the characteristics of the times. In other words, any historical figure has its historical limitations. In a class society, historical figures are bound by class. Therefore, the evaluation of historical figures should adhere to two basic principles: the scientific attitude of historical materialism and the class analysis method.