On The Influence Of Arnold Ruge’s "political Critique" On The Development Of Marx’s Early Thought

At present,there is a lack of individual knowledge of Ruge’s “political critique” in academic research,and there is a gap in the overall study of the role of the Young Hegelians in influencing the development of Marx’s early thought.The lack of a systematic understanding of Ruge’s role in the development of Marx’s early thought leaves room for research into the understanding of Marx’s early political critique and the development of his thought that resulted from it.In fact,Marx’s interaction with Ruge was one of the important stages in the development of Marx’s early thought.The aim of this essay is to sort out the opportunities and common problems faced by Marx and Ruge,to study the theoretical sources and core content of Ruge’s “political critique”,to point out the influence of Ruge’s “political critique” on Marx’s turn towards a realistic political critique of Germany,and to examine the increasingly prominent “Ruge problem” from the perspective of Marx’s “political critique”.It is then possible to clarify the new development of Marx’s “political critique” of Ruge,and thus to establish Marx’s position on the “Ruge problem”.This will enable the new development of Marx’s “political critique” of Ruge to be clarified,thus establishing the role of Marx’s overcoming of the “Ruge problem” in his early intellectual development.The paper develops the argument in four main chapters:The first chapter introduces the background to Marx’s engagement and collaboration with Ruge.In the course of their collaboration,they were confronted with the problems of the times,such as the need to change the dire situation of the Prussian press,to criticise Hegel’s conception of the philosophy of law,and to open fire on the Prussian feudal system.The second chapter deals with the main elements of Ruge’s “political critique” and the four influences it had on Marx’s turn towards a realpolitik critique of Germany.Ruge’s “political critique” was born out of his particular emphasis on the political philosophy of ancient Greece,as well as his deep knowledge of Enlightenment and Hegelian legal philosophy.In the process,Ruge’s “political critique” aspired to the democratic freedoms of ancient Greece,criticising the abstract concepts of Hegelian law and the feudal and authoritarian Prussian state system,and defending rationalism in his arguments with Leo.In the process,Ruge’s “political critique” had many influences on Marx’s turn towards a political critique of German reality,such as directing Marx’s attention to German reality,prompting him to engage in political critique,influencing Marx’s gradual clarification of Feuerbach’s religious problem,and pushing Marx to turn towards transforming Prussian political practice.The third chapter illustrates the process and outcome of Marx’s conversion to Ruge’s “political critique”.In the course of his collaboration with Ruge,Marx discovered the increasingly obvious “Ruge problem”,which connoted that Ruge’s political critique in reality was confined to the German feudal system and that his position was always petty-bourgeois.The “Ruge problem” was manifested in Ruge’s opposition to the textile workers’ revolt,his emphasis on political revolution,his promotion of political reason,his belief that political criticism was a decisive criticism,his opposition to the communist movement,and his aim to establish a democratic political state.Marx,having absorbed the positive elements of Ruge’s “political critique”,criticised it negatively,as Marx supported the textile workers’ revolt,valued the social revolution,promoted social reason,considered political critique as a critique of necessity,supported the communist movement and wanted to build a true community.Marx and Ruge moved towards a break with each other due to many differences in the preparation of the German-French Yearbook and the question of opposing principles of thought and position.After the break with Ruge,Marx began a ruthless critique of everything that existed,completing three turns from an external critique of religion to an internal critique of politics,from a religious critique to an economic and social critique,and from revolutionary democracy to communism,ultimately achieving human liberation by using the proletarian revolution to eliminate political oppression.Marx has thus completed a new development of Ruge\s “political critique”.The last chapter discusses how Marx’s overcoming of the Ruge problem played a key role in the development of Marx’s early thought.Marx was able to overcome the“Ruge problem” because he remained on the side of the proletariat and criticised modern civil society as a whole.In the process of overcoming the Ruge problem,Marx attached importance to dissecting civil society,combining revolutionary theory with revolutionary practice,studying the class consciousness of the proletariat,and uniting and strengthening the class forces of the proletariat.Marx initially developed the concept of historical materialism and approached the idea of communism,for example by moving from a focus on the concept of religious politics to the reality of the proletariat,fundamentally revealing that civil society after the bourgeois revolution was a political state led by the bourgeoisie and that Marx aimed to achieve a genuine community of communism.