Marx And Engels’s Urban Theory And Its Value Contribution

Marx and Engels’ s urban theory was the entrance to the research of big capitalist industry so it was an important historical domain which could not be avoided in the whole process of Marx’s ideological logic. The theory did not come naturally but had its own historical situation and the ideological foundation of the formation. Three aspects are shown. First the sensitive and direct perspective to observe the capitalist social economic problems of industrial age was from Marx and Engels’ s half life experience in the urban. Second the objective background conditions was the industrial revolution to accelerate the urbanization process of the capitalist countries. Third the ideological enlightenment of the theory formation was provided by the urban theory of British classical political economy, Hegel’s civil society theory and Utopian socialism urban and rural relations theory.Marx and Engels finally reached to the consensus on the urban system through profound observation and understanding to city. According to the time and space of the system, the city can be divided into the origin, the process and the trend of the city. In other side, it can be a transition from "urban village" to "rural urbanization" and eventually to the urban and rural integration. From the generalized historical materialism sense, Marx and Engels discussed the driving force of urban development, which lied in the urban development phase, the development of productive forces and social division of labor. From a narrow sense, they disclosed the process of urban development from the criticism of capitalism city.Marx and Engels’ s urban theory core is the analysis of the mode of production. The capitalist mode of production is the foundation of the industrial civilization of urban expansion and development, meanwhile it was the root of human social problems. In addition, the urban theory was closely integrated with the critique of modernity which to the logic criticism of the city capital and labor in the big industrial period of capitalism. Finally it was found that the ultimate goal of the city is to realize the all-round development of human freedom.City was the entrance for Marx and Engels to study the capitalist production relations. For Marx, it was the best place to study and to practice materialism. It provided the history background and material force in his study field. Marx and Engels focused on city issues during the vast majority of life. They grasped the essence of all the activities of human society because they studied city which was the main communication practice in capitalist society. Urban theory had its own value not only in the whole philosophy system but also in contemporary society. Its contribution reflects in methodology, contemporary theory enlightenment and the realistic significance. First, it provides methodology of criticism, methodology of historical materialism and dialectic method. Second, the development of the city needs to follow the law of social division of labor and discard alienation. Finally, a strong theoretical support and guidance practice are provided to Chinese current urban development. For instance, urban development and planning should be based on the conditions of the development of productivity, should balance urban social wealth distribution, should narrow the gap between rich and poor, at the same time should take the road of urbanization with Chinese characteristics, should plan as whole on development of urban and rural areas. This is the historical progress and rational innovation of the evolution of the scientific laws of Engels and Marx’s thoughts on the city.