Xu Meng and Guo Xiaoli: An Investigation into the Precious Editions of "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific"
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific was referred to by Marx as the "introduction to scientific socialism." This concise work is a selection of content compiled by Engels from his classic work, Anti-Dühring. At that time, in order to refute Eugen Dühring's so-called "socialist theory" and to defend the revolutionary power of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Engels critiqued Dühring's views from the perspectives of philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism. Later, to provide a complete exposition of Marx's principles of scientific socialism and to better guide the practice of the workers' movements in various countries, Engels—at the request of Paul Lafargue—extracted and revised the sections of Anti-Dühring concerning scientific socialism and materialism, creating a brand-new blueprint for Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
This pamphlet, which is both theoretical and revolutionary in nature, was widely esteemed by progressive forces in various countries upon its release. In the preface to the 1891 fourth German edition, Engels wrote: "At least three editions, totaling 10,000 copies, have been printed since the first edition appeared in March 1883." In the introduction to the 1892 English edition, he further noted: "The Polish and Spanish editions were translated from this French text... based on this German text, Italian, Russian, Danish, Dutch, and Romanian translations have also been published. Thus, including the current English edition, this little book has been circulated in ten languages. To my knowledge, no other socialist work, not even our Communist Manifesto of 1848 or Marx's Capital, has so many translations." At the turn of the 20th century, Marx and Engels' theory of scientific socialism was introduced to China as a progressive ideology. Because it met the practical needs of the Chinese revolution, it was gradually accepted by advanced Chinese intellectuals and developed into an ideological banner guiding the revolutionary struggle in China. During this period, relevant works by Marx and Engels were extensively translated and disseminated in China, including Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
Based on the various language editions published before 1949 that I have examined, this article intends to introduce and compare the differences in the origins, forms of distribution, and main contents of these different versions. This serves as a reference for us to explore the trajectory of the global dissemination of Marxist classics, to understand the tortuous course of world socialist development, and to identify the theoretical sources of Sinicized Marxism.
I. French Editions Socialism: Utopian and Scientific was originally an independent work that Engels created at Lafargue's request by extracting content related to scientific socialism and materialism from Anti-Dühring, deleting the polemical passages against Dühring, and rearranging and revising the material. Lafargue translated it into French and titled it Socialisme Utopique et Socialisme Scientifique (Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism); the first single-volume edition was released in 1880. Therefore, the preciousness of this version is self-evident. In 1980, Dietz Verlag in Berlin published a facsimile of the 1880 first edition, thereby reproducing for us the original appearance of this work. This version only included a foreword signed "P.L." (which research has confirmed was written by Marx, though signed by Paul Lafargue) and a main text without chapter divisions. This was the initial presentation of Engels' scientific socialist writings in French society.
Additionally, in 1924, the Librairie de l'Humanité in Paris published a revised French edition. This version included the introduction to the 1892 English edition, titled "England and Materialism" (l’Angleterre et le Matérialisme). The main text was divided into two parts, "Utopian Socialism" and "Scientific Socialism," with each part further subdivided into sections with distilled headings. Regarding its specific content, this edition carefully reviewed Lafargue's French translation and added some explanatory notes and Lafargue’s own notes as annotations. This edition also included a short biography of Engels written by Eleanor Marx, Marx's youngest daughter, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Engels' birth.
II. German Editions In the preface to the first German edition, Engels explained that, due to the unexpected success of Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism in French-speaking countries and the urgent need for new propaganda pamphlets within the Social Democratic Party of Germany, he edited and revised the text (in both form and content) to meet the needs of German society. It is evident that the German and French editions differ in both form and content. This was also confirmed in a letter from Engels to Lafargue dated October 30, 1882. Engels mentioned in the letter that the German edition, having been substantially supplemented, was about double the length of the French edition translated by Lafargue, and he asked whether Lafargue might be able to publish a new French edition based on the German one. The German title of the book was Die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft (The Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science), and the single-volume edition was first released in 1883.
The earliest German version I have verified is the 1919 edition published by the Vorwärts (Forward) [1] Bookstore in Berlin. This version includes Engels' prefaces to the 1882 first German edition and the 1891 fourth German edition, Karl Kautsky's preface to the 1907 fifth German edition, the main text, and the appendix "The Mark" (a long essay Engels wrote to disseminate basic knowledge about the history and development of land ownership in Germany within the German Social Democratic Party). The main text adopts a chapter structure different from the French version—namely, the now-standard three-chapter structure.
Furthermore, I have discovered the following German editions preserved in China:
The 1925 edition published by Dietz Verlag. This edition has the same structure as the 1919 edition.
The 1932 edition published by Internationaler Arbeiter-Verlag (International Workers' Publishing House). Edited by the German Social Democrat Hermann Duncker, this version includes Engels’ three chapters of the main text, preceded by Duncker's introductions to the 1924 and 1929 editions. It includes as an appendix the article "The Development of Socialism from Science to Action" (Die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Wissenschaft zur Tat), written in 1918 by Karl Radek, an early leader of the Comintern. This article provides new assessments and explanations of the development of the proletarian revolution from theory to practice after the First World War. In this edition, the editor also added numerous notes to aid reader understanding, including discussions of Marx's Capital and A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, as well as citations from the correspondence of Marx and Engels.
The 1945 standard edition published by Verlag Neuer Weg (New Way [2] Publishing House) in Berlin. The contents include the prefaces to the first and fourth German editions, the introduction to the English edition, the three chapters of the main text, and the appendix "The Mark."
Additionally, a 1930 collection of works by Engels and Lenin published by Internationaler Arbeiter-Verlag included the Duncker version of the text, along with Engels' The Peasant War in Germany and Lenin's “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder and The State and Revolution.
III. English Editions According to my research, the earliest English translator was Edward Aveling. This version was published simultaneously in 1892 by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. in London and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York (the notes to the 1892 English introduction in the 1924 revised French edition also indicate that the London and New York editions were published at the same time). The title of the book was Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. Engels attached great importance to the dissemination of scientific socialist theory in Britain and personally wrote an introduction that was no shorter than the main text—the 1892 English edition introduction.
In addition to the earliest English version, the early English editions preserved in China that I have examined include the following:
The 1901 edition published by the New York Labor News Company. Titled Socialism, Utopian and Scientific, it includes the 1892 English introduction and the appendix "The Mark." Compared to the 1892 British edition, this American version has the following differences: main headings were added to the three chapters of the text—namely, "Utopian Socialism," "Historical Materialism," and "Scientific Socialism"; a table of contents with detailed summaries was added; and notes regarding the concepts of the bourgeoisie and proletariat, written by the pioneer of American Marxist theory, Lucien Sanial, were included. Furthermore, the publication notice in this edition mentions that Daniel De Leon, leader of the Socialist Labor Party of America, had previously translated the main text of the book and published it in the party newspaper The People weekly, later issuing it as an independent pamphlet titled The Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science. It is noteworthy that this American version also includes a publisher's note from the New York Labor News Company, stating that this edition was translated from German by Aveling and reviewed by Engels, making it the complete authoritative English edition and the first complete English version published in the United States. However, since the note is undated, it is difficult to determine if it belongs specifically to the 1901 edition. Therefore, I believe the 1892 version jointly published in London and New York is the earliest American edition.
Two versions published by International Publishers in the United States in 1935, one of which added the preface to the first German edition and editorial notes; and a 1945 edition reprinted by International Publishers, which contains only the three chapters of the main text and was published to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Engels' birth and the 50th anniversary of his death. These editions were all translated by Aveling.
The 1925 sixth edition, in both hardcover and paperback, published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. in the UK. This is the standard English version, containing the 1892 English introduction, the three chapters of the main text, and the appendix "The Mark."
IV. Japanese Editions In the early period of Marxism's introduction to China, a large number of Marxist works were translated into Chinese via Japanese versions. The Japanese editions I have examined in China are introduced below.
The Sakai Toshihiko edition. It is generally accepted that the earliest Japanese edition was translated by the early Japanese socialist activist Sakai Toshihiko. The version the author has currently examined is the 1924 edition published by Hakuyosha, titled From Utopia to Science: Utopian and Scientific Socialism (空想から科学へ：空想的及科學的社會主義). Prior to the standalone volume, Sakai had translated the main text and published it in No. 4 of Socialist Studies (社会主义研究) in 1906 (verified as the earliest Japanese version). More than ten years later, as this journal had become difficult to locate, Sakai republished the translation in Vol. 4, Nos. 6 and 7 of The New Society (新社会) in 1918, though parts of Chapter III were banned from publication. Later, Kawakami Hajime, a pioneer of Japanese Marxist studies, published Chapter III in Vol. 17 of Studies on Social Problems (社会问题研究) in 1920. The 1924 Sakai edition we see today clearly shows traces of deletions and redactions from publication censorship, illustrating the strict control the Japanese authorities exercised over socialist doctrine at the time. In terms of content, the 1924 Sakai edition was translated from the English text, and thus its paragraph structure resembles the English version. In 1921, Sakai re-translated and revised his 1906 draft and translated the 1892 English introduction, naming it "Materialism and Religious Thought" (唯物论と宗教思想), resulting in the 1921 Daidokaku edition and the subsequent 1924 Hakuyosha edition. The uniqueness of this revised edition lies in Sakai’s subdivision of the English introduction and the three chapters of the main text into various sections based on content, adding descriptive headings to each chapter (including the introduction) and each section. For readers, especially those encountering socialist theory for the first time, these summaries served a guiding function. The Hakuyosha edition was released in September 1924, went into a second printing by October, and a third by November, demonstrating the broad influence of this version in Japan.
The Asano Akira edition. In September 1930, the "Iwanami Bunko" series planned by Iwanami Shoten published a version translated by Asano Akira titled From Utopia to Science (空想よリ科學へ). According to 1987 statistics, this book was ranked as one of the ten best-selling titles in the 60-year history of "Iwanami Bunko." In this 100-page pamphlet, Asano provided the complete English introduction and the Japanese text of the three main chapters. In the "Translator’s Afterword," he translated almost the entire text of Lenin’s 1913 article "The Historical Destiny of the Doctrine of Karl Marx" and partially cited the report on the first Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union adopted by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on May 12, 1930. As a member of the Japanese Communist Party, Asano believed that the victory of the 1917 Russian Revolution finally allowed the proletariat to sing the victory song of Marxism, leading the world into a fourth great era. Compared to the collapsing capitalist world, Soviet socialist construction—and particularly the implementation of the Five-Year Plan—had become the proletariat's most direct and successful practice.
The Takenuma Hayato edition. In January 1931, Kibōkaku published a version translated by Takenuma Hayato titled The Development of Socialism (社會主義の發展). This version followed Sakai Toshihiko’s practice of sectioning the main text, making only minor modifications to the headings. This version may be the first Japanese edition to completely translate the prefaces to the first and fourth German editions, the English introduction, and the appendix "The Mark."
The Yamagishi Tatsuzō edition. In August 1946, the Association for the Publication of Socialist Works published a version translated by Yamagishi Tatsuzō (the pseudonym of Japanese Marxist philosopher Yamada Sakaji) titled The Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science (空想から科學への社會主義の發展). The version was reprinted in October of that year, and a third edition was issued in February 1949, reflecting the influence of socialist thought in Japan at the time. The contents included the prefaces to the first and fourth German editions, "On Historical Materialism," the three chapters of the main text, and a "Translator’s Afterword," most of which were translated from the German edition edited by Duncker and the fifth German edition edited by Kautsky. The essay "On Historical Materialism" was Engels’s translation of the English introduction into German at Kautsky's request; he deleted the first seven paragraphs and modified relevant terminology and notes to suit the needs of German readers for publication in the journal Die Neue Zeit in 1892. As Engels's only work titled "Historical Materialism," it was rapidly translated into various languages. The corresponding section in the Yamagishi edition was translated from the English version published by the New York Labor News Company in 1919.
The Katō Tadashi edition. In 1949, the "Marxist Classical Commentary Series" released by Kagakusha published a version translated by Katō Tadashi titled The Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science (空想から科學への社會主義の發展). This translation included the preface to the first German edition, the first six paragraphs of the English introduction, and the three main chapters, with extensive annotations added. These included interpretations of Hegel’s "Idealism" and Darwinian theory, citations from Lenin’s Imperialism to elaborate on the capitalist "transition from free competition to monopoly," and calculations of the wealth status of the United Kingdom in 1885, 1895, 1905, and 1913 based on the theories of the famous British economist Robert Giffen as a supplement to the data cited by Engels. Given that the Japanese publisher Kagakusha specialized in Russian works and was regarded as the "authorized" publishing institution for the famous Soviet Science Publishers in Japan, we can infer that the Katō edition referenced the Russian version of the book.
V. Dutch Editions The author has identified three Dutch editions of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (De ontwikkeling van het Socialisme van Utopie tot Wetenschap) currently extant in China.
The 1886 Domela Nieuwenhuis translation published by Liebers Publishers in The Hague. This translation divided Engels’s main text into four chapters; in addition to the original three, it made a separate chapter out of Engels’s final summary regarding the historical development of human society and the historical mission of the modern proletariat. Notes were added to the main text, and "The Mark" was appended. Engels mentioned in his preface to the fourth German edition that several foreign translations had been published since the first edition, including a Hague edition in 1886. Based on this, it may be inferred that this is the Hague edition Engels referenced, though further verification is required.
The J.F. Ankersmit translation published by Awakening (Wekker) Publishers in Rotterdam. This translation included Engels’s prefaces to the first and fourth German editions and the three chapters of the main text. It is difficult to ascertain more content from this pamphlet of only 51 pages.
The 1934 translation published by Pegasus Publishers in Amsterdam. This translation included the prefaces to the first and fourth German editions, the English introduction, the three main chapters, and the appendix "The Mark." The translator is unknown, but the English introduction contains extensive editorial notes and annotations marked "P.L." (likely Paul Lafargue), suggesting this edition was translated from a French version.
VI. Chinese Editions Socialism: Utopian and Scientific was introduced to China in the early 20th century. As early as 1912, before the Russian October Revolution, New World (新世界), the publication of the Shaoxing branch of the Chinese Socialist Party, serialized Chapters I and II in full and part of Chapter III, translated by Shi Renrong under the title "Ideal Socialism and Practical Socialism" (理想社會主義和实行社會主義). In 1925, Awakening (觉悟), the supplement to the Shanghai Republic Daily (民国日报), serialized Utopian and Scientific Socialism, translated by Ms. Li Ying (Ke Bainian [3]), which was the earliest complete Chinese translation. In terms of standalone volumes, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific enjoyed even broader dissemination in China; the following are several early editions considered significant by the author.
The Zheng Cichuan edition. In August 1920, the Junyi Book Society and the Evans Book Company in Shanghai jointly published Scientific Socialism, translated by Zheng Cichuan and proofread by Wang Xiulu. The main text was divided into eight chapters, which were actually the contents of Chapter III of Engels’s Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, with a short biography of Engels as an appendix.
The Zhu Jingwo edition. The edition of The Development of Socialism published by the Creative Society Publication Department in Shanghai lists a publication date of May 30, 1925; however, the date in the "Translator’s Preface" is "March 1928." Consequently, it can be inferred that the book was printed no earlier than March 1928, and the "May 30, 1925" date was likely used to evade publication censorship [4]. According to the "Translator’s Preface," the Zhu edition was translated from the German edition edited by "Duka" (Duncker). The book contains only the three main chapters by Engels, following the German edition for notes and sectioning, though the detailed items in the front-matter table of contents reference Sakai Toshihiko’s Japanese edition.
The Huang Siyue edition. The Outline History of the Development of Socialism, translated by Huang Siyue and published by the Taidong Book Company in Shanghai, was first published in 1928, with a second edition in April 1929. According to Huang Siyue, this book was a re-translation based on Sakai Toshihiko’s Japanese edition, with the redacted parts of the Japanese version restored by referencing the English edition. The book includes a preface written by Sakai in August 1928, which cites the first six paragraphs of Engels’s 1892 English introduction and deletes the parts overlapping with "On Historical Materialism." In the preface, Sakai explains that this version was a 1928 re-translation based on the German edition and was therefore a completely new version distinct from the 1924 Sakai edition. Based on the author's examination, this edition marks some German proper nouns, and its citations of Marx’s relevant discussions in Capital and A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy are roughly identical to the Zhu Jingwo edition; thus, it can be inferred that Sakai likewise referenced Duncker’s German edition when translating this version. The structure of the Huang edition basically follows Sakai’s new version, containing the three chapters of the main text with detailed subheadings, as well as Sakai’s "Translator’s Preface" and a "Re-translator’s Postscript."
The Lin Chaozhen edition. In October 1929, the Hubin Book Company published Religion, Philosophy, and Socialism, translated by Lin Chaozhen (the pseudonym of Zheng Chaolin [5]). This book collected three of Engels’s works: "On the History of Early Christianity," "Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism," and "Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy." The source material for this book was the French collection Fr. Engels—Religion, Philosophie, Socialisme, translated and edited by the Lafargues and published in 1901. As the translator noted, the value of this edition lies in several points. First, at that time, except for the main text of "Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism," neither its English introduction nor the other two works by Engels had been translated into Chinese, and the long introduction Engels wrote personally for the 1892 English edition played an indispensable role. Second, "Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism" was originally published in French, and this French translation was not a literal word-for-word translation of the German original; it was later personally reviewed by Engels himself, giving the French version a unique value. Its layout, variations in phrasing, and the notes added by the French translator can be contrasted with the German edition, helping readers and researchers. Third, in the process of translation and proofreading, the translator also referenced Russian works such as Anti-Dühring and Historical Materialism.
The Wu Liping version. In June 1938, Jiefang She [6] (Liberation Association) published a translation of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Wu Liping [7]. This version was printed in horizontal layout and included the prefaces to the first and fourth German editions, the introduction to the English edition, and the main text. Wu Liping once mentioned his original intention for translating this classic text, which ranks alongside the Manifesto of the Communist Party: he believed the two Chinese translations he had encountered possessed "deficiencies," and that the main bodies of those texts failed to translate the revisions Engels had made in the fourth German edition, thus necessitating a re-collation and refinement. The source he relied upon was the "Russian Standard Edition" of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels published by the Institute of Marx-Engels-Lenin under the Central Committee of the CPSU. He also consulted the English version of the Selected Works, and in instances where discrepancies arose, he followed the Russian version in most cases. In addition to this edition, versions of Wu Liping’s translation include: the November 1938 edition by the China Publishing House (Zhongguo chubanshe); the May 1946 first edition and October 1946 second edition by Shanghai SDX Joint Publishing Company (Sanlian shenghuo shudian); and the June 1949 edition by Hong Kong New China Bookshop (Xin Zhongguo shuju). These aforementioned versions were all printed in vertical layout.
The Bo Gu version. In November 1943, the Yan'an Jiefang She published a version collated and translated by Bo Gu [8]. This version was translated based on the 1940 Russian edition of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume I, published by the State Publishing House for Political Literature of the USSR. It included the prefaces to the first and fourth German editions, the introduction to the English edition, and the three chapters of the main text. Following the Russian edition, the annotations in this book also incorporated expositions by Lenin and Stalin regarding free competition and monopoly. This edition was known as the "Revised Version" and became the standard edition for the "Required Reading for Cadres" [9] series. It was subsequently reprinted and published in large quantities by Xinhua Bookstores in Central China, East China, Shandong, the Hebei-Shandong-Henan region, Northern Anhui, and by the Political Department of the Eastern Military District.
- Conclusion
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific has been widely disseminated throughout the world, esteemed by progressive intellectuals in every nation and revered by the broad proletariat as a guide for revolution. However, due to differences across countries, historical contexts, and individual translators, variations of greater or lesser degree exist between versions in different languages. Regarding Engels himself, he attempted to adapt to the "free style" of the French when preparing the manuscript for the French edition; he strove to be "popular without compromising the content" when editing the German edition; and he made annotations and modifications for the "English 'respectable people'" when publishing the English edition. As for the translators and editors, each of them disposed of the original text differently based on their own understanding, their particular environment, and the needs of the era. This determines that any language or version of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific constitutes an independent work, possessing both commonalities and particularities to varying degrees. From a textual perspective, each reflects the different circumstances of diverse eras, nations, and societies, and each possesses its own research value and historical limitations. Consequently, only by placing the different versions within the context of historical changes and social structures can we fully and accurately understand their theoretical value and practical significance.