Study On Hobsbawm’s Thoughts Of Democracy

Eric Hobsbawm, a Marxist historical master, has high reputation internationally and his historical thoughts have received much attention worldwide. However, research on his democratic thoughts at home and abroad is still in blank. Hobsbawm is the representative of the new Marxist historiography, and his thoughts and opinions are objective and innovative; therefore, analyzing his democratic thought is conducive to promote the exchange of the democratic culture between China and the West, and rethink the methods and experience of the democratic revolution in the world, which can bring enlightenment to China’s democratic construction.Through the methods of literature review and historical analysis, this paper sums up and sorts out Hobsbawm’s democratic thoughts and his related claims, refines the most core content of his democratic thoughts; that is, the working class is the major force to promote the democracy’s development, democratic politics is imperative and the essence of socialist democracy. Hobsbawm’s democratic thoughts emerged in the changeable 20 th century. Firstly, it can be concluded from the content of his democratic thoughts that, the working class is more advanced, and it is difficult for the social democracy and freedom to be realized through the capitalist which bases on the private economy. In the French revolution, for example, the working class always plays a more active role than the bourgeois, and the former’s ideological and theoretical level is far beyond the latter’s. Secondly, the construction of a democratic nation depends on the democratic forces, and it is necessary to implement the democratic politics. Thirdly, the socialist democracy is built on the basis of fairness and justice; therefore, in order to avoid the soviet democracy’s fate, China should adhere to the principle that Communist Party leads China scientifically and focus on strengthening Communist Party’s progressive construction.Due to the lack of detailed and specialized research and the limit time, energy and theoretical knowledge of the author, research on Hobsbawm’s democratic thoughts is still not complete and thorough, but it will urge the author to update and improve the results constantly in the later study. Finally, based on the essence of Hobsbawm’s democratic thoughts and his viewpoint for China, some revelation about China’s democratic construction can be concluded, that is, at the same time of focusing on the traditional culture integration, we should promote the popularization of the democracy and continue to strengthen the practice of socialist democracy.