A Research Of Adam Schaff’s Humanitarianism Thought

Marxism has the important characteristics of development,which can be enriched and perfected in the constant grasp of the needs of the times.Adam Shaff,an important representative of new Marxism in Eastern Europe,is a new Marxist transformed from an orthodox Marxist.He has made unique contributions to enriching and developing Marxism.From the Second World War to the sixties,under the influence of the introduction of western humanism Marxism,under the historical background of a series of historical events in Poland and even Eastern Europe,Shaff began to reflect on the theory and practice of Stalinism.Starting from criticizing existentialism,Shaff developed and constructed Marxist humanitarian thought system.Through rediscovery of young Marx’s humanism and reinterpretation of the theory of labor alienation,Shaff points out that understanding human is the key to the development of Marx’s ideology and demonstrates the humanitarian nature of Marxism.Using the analytical methods of dialectical materialism and historical materialism of orthodox Marxism,Schaffer studies and expounds the concept,freedom,happiness,alienation and other issues of human individual,and finally constructs the Marxist humanitarian ideological system.This kind of Marxist humanitarianism thought takes the historical people who are in the special social concern as the starting point,takes the human individual as the research center,and takes the realization of human freedom,liberation and all-round development as the ultimate goal.The Marxist humanitarianism thought constructed by Shaff has important theoretical value and practical significance for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.This paper focuses on the following five chapters:1.The theoretical origin and the background of the times of Marxist Humanitarianism constructed by Shaff.This chapter first introduces the humanism thought of young Marx,and the rediscovery and emphasis of Western Marxists on the human problem in young Marx’s thought.Inspired by the Western Marxists,Shaff’sMarxist research has opened a humanitarian perspective.Then it introduces the failure of the practice of Stalinist socialism in the east of Soviet Union and summarizes the defects of Stalinism.The historical process of non Stalinization is the background of the ideological turn of a large number of new Marxists in Eastern Europe,such as Shaff.Finally,it introduces Shaff’s firm adherence to Marxism all his life.It is on the basis of his profound theoretical accomplishment of Marxism that Shaff consciously uses Marxist Analytical Methods to study and rediscover young Marx’s works,and finally develops and enriches Marxism.2.The starting point of Shaff’s humanitarian thought is the human problem.Shaff drew theoretical nutrients from the works of young Marx,and criticized various Western non Marxist philosophical schools with dialectical materialism and historical materialism as weapons,focusing on the human problems that were missing in the official Marxism of the Soviet Union and the East and concerned by Westerners.On the one hand,it embodies the staunch maintenance of Schaff’s position on Marxism,on the other hand,it is the process of continuously trying to put the new topics put forward by the times into the theoretical system of Marxism for research,so as to deepen and develop Marxism.3.The core of Schaff’s humanitarian thought is human individual.From the perspective of human’s sociality and historicity,Shaff discusses the freedom of choice from individual behavior,which shows his realistic view of freedom.If the individual overcomes the blindness of choice and chooses actions freely and scientifically on the basis of self-consciousness of the inevitability of historical development,the individual is the creator of history.Individuals eliminate alienation through social practice,and ultimately achieve human totality,that is,the freedom and all-round development of human individuals.4.The ultimate goal of the humanitarianism thought constructed by Shaff is the all-round development of human beings.Shaff attributes Marxism to humanitarianism and humanitarianism to happiness theory.Through the research of "negative method",Shaff proved that we can create the necessary conditions for the universal individualto achieve happiness by constantly eliminating the conditions of universal unhappiness.This kind of method is more realistic and operational,which can increase the possibility of individual happiness.Shaff further pointed out that the overall development and happy life of individuals can only be achieved through social happiness.In order to eliminate the social obstacles of individual’s all-round development and happiness,it can only be realized through the struggle of changing production relations and eliminating alienation,from which it can move towards the Communist position.5.The evaluation of Shaff’s humanitarian thought affirms its unique contribution to the development of Marxism,and points out the limitations of Shaff’s thought.In particular,it remains to be discussed that Shaff regards the issue of human beings as the core element of dominating the whole Marxist thought.We need to look at Schaff’s humanitarian thought dialectically.