The Research On Evaluation Of Historical Figures In Historical Materialism In1980s

The endless practice activities of human constitute history. People work ondifferent areas of practice activities according to different social divisions of labor.There’re always many outstanding representatives in every practice activities area,their words and behaviors are very striking in the development of history.The reasons that1980s is being chosen as the time node in this thesis are on oneside,1980s is a very important period in Chinese history. From the point of view ofChinese society at that time, reform had become the main theme of the1980s. At thesame time, rebuild the great banner of Marxism, reform and innovation had becomethe greatest voices of ht historians. On the other side, as a special period, theevaluation of historical figures had made tremendous progress and development in1980s. Many new ideas and thoughts were put forward in the studies and discussionsabout the values, standards, principles and methods of the evaluation of historicalfigures. Scholars published numerous theses to argue about relevant questions aboutthe evaluation of historical figures and made which the focus and hot spot of thehistorical studies.The evaluation of historical figures is chosen as the starting point is because first,in the long history, we always give commendatory or derogatory evaluations for thepast historical figures, who should be the judge of “right or wrong” for the legacy?Second, in historical studies, the evaluation of historical figures has traditionally beenconsidered as one of the most controversial and challenging contents, and also the finetradition of the Chinese ancient history study. Third, the evaluation of historicalfigures is not only the basic research subject of the historians, but also a majortheoretical issue in the history science of Marxism. Since the founding of our countrymany historians began to study to use historical materialism, to study and evaluatevarious periods of historical figures. They had set discussions about the evaluation ofhistorical figures and set off two climaxes about the evaluation of historical figures.Evaluations about representative historical figures are always a very importantpart of the history study, both in the Chinese and foreign history study. Chineseancient historians in every generation had generally paid high attention about theevaluation and research of historical figures. It has been a very important part inChinese tradition history study since Sima Qian created biographical history form. Since the founding of our country, the discussions about the evaluation of historicalfigures were never been interrupted. People discussed about the related issues of theevaluation of historical figures in depth which improved the cognitive level about theevaluation of historical figures, and also increased common views about it. But it isundeniable that there are still discrepancies about the evaluation of historical figuresamong historians.Into the1980s, with the constantly liberation of people’s mind, historians madecomprehensive and profound explorations about the related theoretical issues of theevaluation of historical figures. In specific research practices, many disputedhistorical figures were put into new discussion; arguments about evaluations ofrelated historical figures were started again. The summarized innovation about themethods and principles of the evaluation of historical figures promote the furtherdevelopment of Marxist historiography. Based on that, this thesis is intended to takethe evaluation of historical figures as the core, make a systematic and comprehensiveanalysis about the argument of the evaluation of historical figures and its follow-upaffects, and also take a profoundly rethink to help us know and understand Marxismin a deeper way.