Marxist - Leninist philosophy’s views on social consciousness and its meaning to the building of new social consciousness today

In the current context, under the influence of international integration, the Party affirmed that special attention must be paid to “protecting and promoting fine and sustainable values in traditional Vietnamese cultural system” - Photo: dangcongsan.vn

Vietnam is advancing to socialism with the orientation of “prosperous people, strong country, and democratic, equitable, and civilized society”. To this end, along with developing the economy, it is necessary to concurrently build and develop society’s spiritual life, of which social consciousness is a critical component.

1. The concept of social consciousness mentioned by K.Marx - F.Engels in The German Ideology

The primary content of social consciousness is clearly expressed in the work: “Consciousness can never be anything else than conscious existence”⁽¹⁾. Before reaching this conclusion, Marx and Engels clearly explained the relationship between people’s ideas and conceptions with their material activities: “...Conceiving, thinking, the mental intercourse of men, appear at this stage as the direct efflux of their material behavior. The same applies to mental production, as expressed in the language of politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc., of a people”⁽²⁾. These arguments affirm that social consciousness is the product of social beings. It originates from social beings, from the needs of social beings, and especially, it is the inevitable result of human social material activities and also meets the requirements of social beings.

Along with the concept of social consciousness, Marx and Engels also discussed the concept of social being. According to classical scholars, social being is the real life of people. It is the material activity and living process of individuals along with their material living conditions. In the whole life of a man, the position and decisive role of material production, especially the production of means of subsistence, are mentioned. Marx and Engels wrote: “By producing their means of subsistence, men are indirectly producing their actual material life”⁽³⁾.

Absorbing the ideas of Marx and Engels, and at the same time, based on the reality of the times and reality in Russia, V.I.Lenin developed and generalized more new and specific contents on original issues and the origin and nature of social consciousness. In his work Materialism and Empirio-criticism, after criticizing Bogdanov’s erroneous view of identifying social beings as social consciousness. V.I.Lenin emphasized, “that “Social being” and “social consciousness” are not identical, just as being in general and consciousness, in general, are not identical. From the fact that in their intercourse, men act as conscious beings, it does not follow that social consciousness is identical to social beings⁽⁴⁾. According to V.I.Lenin, “In all social formations of any complexity and in the capitalist social formation in particular, people in their intercourse are not conscious of what kind of social relations are being formed, under what laws they develop, etc. Social consciousness reflects social being - that is Marx’s teaching. A reflection may be an approximately true copy of the reflected, but to speak of identity is absurd”⁽⁵⁾ and he came to a conclusion: Consciousness, in general, reflects being - that is a general principle of all materialism. It is impossible not to see its direct and inseparable connection with the principle of historical materialism: social consciousness reflects social being”⁽⁶⁾.

Affirming that social consciousness is a reflection of and determined by social beings, Marxist - Leninist philosophy also emphasizes that social consciousness does not depend entirely on social beings but is relatively independent. This point of view is clearly shown in the criticisms of idealism when they absolutize the role of consciousness, social consciousness. In The German Ideology, Marx and Engels pointed out the idealistic conception of history (which is essentially a misinterpretation of the relationship between social beings and social consciousness) of the Hegelians, both the young and the old. “Since the Young Hegelians consider conceptions, thoughts, ideas, in fact, all the products of consciousness, to which they attribute an independent existence, as the real chains of men (just as the Old Hegelians declared them the true bonds of human society) it is evident that the Young Hegelians have to fight only against these illusions of consciousness. Since, according to their fantasy, the relationships of men, all their doings, their chains and their limitations are products of their consciousness”⁽⁷⁾.

When discussing the causes of the relative independence of social consciousness, Marxist - Leninist philosophy holds that the division of social labor is the first and most important cause. Marx and Engels penned: Division of labor only becomes truly such from the moment when a division of material and mental labor appears. From this moment onwards, consciousness can flatter itself that it is something other than the consciousness of existing practice, that it represents something without representing something real; from now on, consciousness is in a position to emancipate itself from the world and proceed to the formation of “pure” theory, theology, philosophy, ethics, etc”⁽⁸⁾.

Another cause of the relative independence of social consciousness is the division of society into classes and the emergence of the state. For the sake of class, the ruling classes are ready to impose their will and aspirations on cognitive activities as well as mental production activities. That makes social consciousness more or less subjective, not reflecting the actual socio-economic reality.

In addition to the above reasons, people’s intellect and cognition levels are also important causes leading to the independence of social consciousness. According to Engels, at the dawn of history, due to low intellects, people had misconceptions about the composition of their bodies, nature, and mysterious forces... Such misconceptions are expressed not only in religion but also in philosophy. In cognitive development, those misconceptions are gradually eliminated, but it is not because of that they no longer affect the following stages of cognitive development.

Along with pointing out the causes of the relative independence of social consciousness, Marxist-Leninist philosophy provides a view of the manifestations of the relative independence of social consciousness from social beings.

Firstly, the backwardness of social consciousness compared to social being. This is clearly shown in that social consciousness does not keep up with the changes of social beings and becomes more backward. In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx wrote: “Men make their history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under the circumstances chosen by themselves, but under the circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. And just when they seem engaged in revolutionizing themselves and things, in creating something that has never yet existed, precisely in such periods of revolutionary crisis, they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service and borrow from them names, battle cries and costumes in order to present the new scene of world history in this time-honored disguise and this borrowed language”⁽⁹⁾. Here, Marx showed us that people living in a particular era are not only affected by current social regulations and laws but also influenced by the ideas of the previous era.

Because outdated ideas, concepts, customs and traditions... still exist and become obstacles to the process of building a new society, according to V.I. Lenin, one of the basic tasks of the Communist Party is to “help with the education and training of the working class to overcome the old habits and customs left behind by the old regime, the habits and customs of the private property owners that have been infected deeply into the masses”⁽¹⁰⁾.

Secondly, the precedence of social consciousness over social being. In social consciousness, some parts can surpass social beings with the ability to predict the future, indicating the laws of movement and developing objective reality. Those are scientific inventions, and political theories, especially progressive and scientific political theories. In the work A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Marx took a decisive step in building a scientific worldview when he pointed out the precedent and pioneering role of theory. He wrote: “As philosophy finds its material weapon in the proletariat, so the proletariat finds its spiritual weapon in philosophy. And once the lightning of thought has squarely struck this ingenuous soil of the people, the emancipation of the Germans into men will be accomplished[...] The head of this emancipation is philosophy, its heart the proletariat”⁽¹¹⁾. “Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement”⁽¹²⁾. Only with a pioneering guiding theory will a party be able to fulfill the role of a pioneer soldier.

Thirdly, the continuation in the development of social consciousness. In a letter sent to C. Schmidt on October 27, 1890, when discussing the inheritance in the history of human thinking, Engels pointed out that, in France as well as in Germany, “philosophy and the general blossoming of literature at that time were also the result of a rising economic development”⁽¹³⁾. However, this development has its relative independence and is not entirely dependent on the development of the economy. The economy has its law of development, which is the law of continuation. He wrote: “...However, the philosophy of every epoch, since it is a solid sphere in the division of labor, has as its presupposition certain definite intellectual material handed down to it by its predecessors, from which it takes its start. And that is why economically backward countries can still play first fiddle in philosophy: France in the eighteenth century compared with England, on whose philosophy the French based themselves, and later Germany in comparison with both”⁽¹⁴⁾.

In a letter to F. Mehring, after criticizing the idealist and speculative views on the origin of thought, F. Engels said: “The historical ideologist (historical is here simply meant to comprise the political, juridical, philosophical, theological - in short, all the spheres belonging to society and not only to nature) thus possesses in every sphere of science material which has formed itself independently out of the thought of previous generations and has gone through its own independent course of development in the brains of these successive generations”⁽¹⁵⁾. V.I. Lenin in the article The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism pointed out that, in the process of development, human thought in general, and Marxism in particular, is always of continuation, not an utter negation. He wrote: “His doctrine emerged as the direct and immediate continuation of the teachings of the greatest representatives of philosophy, political economy and socialism [...] The Marxist doctrine is omnipotent because it is true... It is the legitimate successor to the best that man produced in the nineteenth century, as represented by German philosophy, English political economy and French socialism”⁽¹⁶⁾.

Next, in the Tasks of the Youth Leagues, V.I.Lenin wrote: “Proletarian culture is not something that has sprung nobody knows whence, it is not something thought up by people who call themselves experts in proletarian culture. That is all nonsense. Proletarian culture must be the natural and necessary development of the stores of knowledge which humankind has accumulated under the yoke of capitalist society, landlord society, bureaucratic society”⁽¹⁷⁾ and “You can become a communist only when you enrich your mind with the knowledge of all the treasures created by mankind”⁽¹⁸⁾.

Fourthly, the interaction and mutual influence between forms of social consciousness.

In their movement and development, forms of social consciousness reflect different areas of social life and constantly interact with each other. This impact causes each form of consciousness to possess aspects and properties that cannot be explained directly by social beings nor by material conditions but by the relative independence of social consciousness versus social being (especially the continuation in the development of social consciousness). This is a matter of law. Regarding this, Engels penned: “Political, juridical, philosophical, religious, literary, artistic, etc., development is based on economic development. However, all these react upon one another and the economic base. It is not that the economic position is the cause and alone active, while everything else only has a passive effect. There is interaction based on the economic necessity, which ultimately always asserts itself”⁽¹⁹⁾.  

Fifthly, the impact of social consciousness on social beings. In a letter sent to C. Schmidt on October 27, 1890, when discussing the relationship between “economic movement” and the state, the law, and ideology, Engels said that production, after all, is the decisive factor. However, “ideological views” can “change the economic basis” within certain limits. He wrote: “The reflection of economic relations as legal principles is necessarily also a topsy turvy one: it happens without the person who is acting being conscious of it; the jurist imagines he is operating with a priori principles, whereas they are only economic reflexes; so everything is upside down. Furthermore, it seems obvious that this inversion, which, so long as it remains unrecognized, forms what we call ideological conception, reacts in its turn upon the economic basis and may, within certain limits, modify it...”⁽²⁰⁾.

The law affects the economic base and even the political ideology through its corresponding social institution, the state, which affects the economy. Also, in this letter, F. Engels wrote: “The reaction of the state power upon economic development can be one of three kinds: it can run in the same direction, and then development is more rapid; it can oppose the line of development, in which case nowadays state power in every great nation will go to pieces in the long run; or it can cut off the economic development from certain paths, and impose on it certain others. This case ultimately reduces itself to one of the two previous ones. However, it is obvious that in cases two and three, the political power can greatly damage economic development and result in the squandering of great masses of energy and material”⁽²¹⁾.

2. Thorough and systematic understanding of the concepts of Marxist - Leninist philosophy on social consciousness is of great significance to building new social consciousness in Vietnam today

Firstly, according to the Marxist point of view, social consciousness is the reflection and decision of social beings; therefore, to build new social consciousness in Vietnam, it is necessary to continue accelerating industrialization and modernization, building and developing a socialist-oriented market economy. Industrialization and modernization are to create a material foundation for the establishment and development of new social consciousness. Vietnamese traditional agricultural society that follows Asian production methods has been for thousands of years. It is the production based on experience, manual, rudimentary and outdated tools. The economy with such characteristics became the essential basis for the formation of the views, ideas, habits, and customs... of the Vietnamese. Therefore, an essential fundamental task is to abolish backward agricultural production to build new social consciousness. Right from the Third National Congress (1960), the Party affirmed that to lift our country out of poverty and backwardness, it was necessary to carry out the process of industrialization. Industrialization and modernization is the process in which radical changes of production methods in the entire national economy are performed to achieve high social labor productivity, and its result is the transformation of a small-scale, backward manufacturing economy into a large-scale, modern manufacturing economy.

In the current conditions, along with the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Party emphasizes: “To continue to promote industrialization and modernization based on science, technology and innovation and technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution...”⁽²²⁾. This process establishes a material and technical foundation that changes economic conditions and creates a basis and a social environment for changes in thinking patterns, habits, lifestyles... of individuals and society as a whole. At the same time, people are the subject of the process of industrialization and modernization. Those people, while participating in the process of industrialization and modernization, are required to change, to give up old ideas, habits, ways of thinking, customs... which are no longer suitable and to form new ideas, views, lifestyles..., meeting the requirements of current socio-economic life.

Secondly, it is necessary to attach importance to the struggle against the remnants of outdated ideas, customs and practices and overcome them. Marxist - Leninist philosophical views have clearly shown that the backwardness in developing social consciousness is inevitable. In Vietnam today, outdated ideas, customs and practices remain, manifested in the gender prejudice and male chauvinism...; the backwardness is shown in the petty peasant mentality with various expressions such as sloppiness, living from day to day, short-sightedness; the bad customs, negative local habits, thoughts and practices formed during the system of centralized subsidies... These outdated traditions and practices are still affecting our social life. Therefore, one of the essential tasks of building a spiritual life in general and new social consciousness, particularly today in Vietnam, is fighting against those old and outdated customs and practices. Recognizing the importance of this issue, during his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: “We must radically change the ways of life, habits, thoughts and prejudices that are deeply rooted in people’s lives for thousands of years... we must turn an ignorant, miserable country into a country of high culture and happiness”⁽²³⁾. However, because these ideas, customs and practices have existed for a long time and are deeply rooted in various aspects of social life and each person, the process of overcoming negative manifestations is not simple. It is a long and challenging process. The document of the 13th National Congress (in 2021) also defines: “Step by step, to gradually eliminate outdated customs and practices”⁽²⁴⁾, but it is not possible to quickly eliminate them.

Thirdly, attention must be paid to the continuation and promotion of national traditional values and the cultural quintessence of humankind. Being deeply aware of the Marxist view of continuation in the development of social consciousness, in its leadership in the construction of culture in general and social consciousness in particular, our Party has always paid attention to inheriting and upholding traditional values. In the work Outline on Vietnamese culture (1943), the Party affirmed that a new culture is a culture that must ensure its national identity, which means it must continue and promote the traditional values of the nation. This view continued to be affirmed throughout building a new Vietnamese culture.

In the current context, under the influence of international integration, especially globalization, the Party affirmed that special attention must be paid to “protecting and promoting fine and sustainable values in traditional Vietnamese cultural system”⁽²⁵⁾. To this end, it is essential to distinguish between positive values and outdated and inappropriate elements of the tradition and the past; to transform old positive factors to suit the new conditions... Moreover, the continuous process of building new social consciousness in the country today is not merely a process of inheriting traditional national values. It also requires us to absorb and continue international spiritual values to enrich national culture. The documents of the 13th National Congress clearly state that it is necessary to “selectively absorb the cultural quintessence of mankind under Vietnamese reality”⁽²⁶⁾. This not only meets the needs of social and spiritual life development but also the needs of increasing international integration.

Fourthly, the role of new social consciousness in Vietnam today should be well acknowledged and promoted. According to Marxist - Leninist philosophy, social consciousness can strongly impact the development of social beings. Therefore, in the current process of national construction and development, promoting the role of new social consciousness is very important. It is to synthesize measures and ways to make the new social consciousness deeply ingrained, rooted and permeated into the Vietnamese people’s spirit, ideology, ethics, and lifestyle. With the ideological nucleus of Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, the Party’s guidelines and viewpoints, the state’s policies and laws, it can be said that the new social consciousness plays the most important role in orienting ideology, culture and society, contributing to building up a new and progressive morality and lifestyle for the people in the context where there have been a serious moral degradation and lifestyle of a part of cadres, party members and people. The new social consciousness also contributes to the fight against false and hostile views that attack, distort and refute the ideological foundation of the Party, which is Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought.

In summary, in the theoretical system of Marxist - Leninist philosophy, the issue of social consciousness is an important content that contributes to creating the theoretical basis for the materialist view of history, and together with the theory of surplus values, have become two great inventions of Marxism. That theoretical issues of social consciousness of Marx’s philosophy are deeply perceived and applied in building new social consciousness in particular and in spiritual life, in general, will make a practical contribution to the success of national construction towards socialism.

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Received: November 25, 2021; Revised: December 20, 2021; Accepted for publication: February 22, 2022.

Endnotes:

(1), (2), (3), (7), (8) K.Marx and F.Engels: Complete works, vol.3, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1995, pp.37, 37, 29, 27, 45.

(4), (5), (6) V.I.Lenin: Complete works, vol.18, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1995, pp.400, 400, 400.

(9) K.Marx and F.Engels: Complete works, vol. 8, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1993, pp.145.

(10), (17), (18) V.I.Lenin: Complete works, vol.41, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1995, pp.474, 361, 362.

(11) K.Marx and F.Engels: Complete works, vol.1, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2002, pp.589-590.

(12) V.I.Lenin: Complete works, vol.6, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1995, p.30.

(13), (14), (20), (21) K.Marx and F.Engels: Complete works, vol.37, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1997, pp.682, 681-682, 680, 678.

(15), (19) K.Marx and F.Engels: Complete works, vol.39, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1999, pp.133, 271.

(16) V.I.Lenin: Complete works, vol.23, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1995, pp.49-50.

(22), (24) CPV: Document of the 13th National Congress, vol.II, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, pp.104, 135.

(23) Ho Chi Minh: Complete works, Vol.11, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.92.

(25), (26) CPV: Documents of the 13th National Congress, vol.I, Truth National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, pp.143, 147.

Dr. TRAN SY DUONG

Institute of Philosophy,

Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics