In the face of Western“degeneration theory,”“recession theory”and the confusing use of related concepts, it is necessary to answer several disputes between the working class and the proletariat. According to Marx and Engels, although the working class is a historical product of the rise of industrial capitalism, only the rise to the proletariat can have world historical significance. The proletariat is not a direct product of capital logic, but confirms its dominant position through private property relations, and thus requires a complete rewrite of the overall framework of capitalism. Then what are the historical conditions for the rising of the working class to the proletariat, what are the key factors, how the rise was achieved, and what changes have been brought about. Through the“two clues”of the working class and the proletariat, Marx and Engels revealed that the purpose of rising is to realize the transformation from capital restricting workers to the proletariat restricting capital logic, playing a “variation” of the self-denying development of capitalism. They focus on the future to investigate the historical mission of the proletariat, grasping the transcendence of the times and open-mindedness of the proletariat at a conceptual level, and are inspiring for exploring the specific path of the proletarian revolution and analyzing the development trend of the modern world.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:Fudan Journal(Social Sciences Edition).2021.No.2.