The category of needs is an important part of Marx’s critique of political economy. Marx began to question the need from the self-consciousness, established the need of this shore in the return of civil society, developed the alienation theory on the basis of denying Hegel’s idealism, and discussed the anomie of need from the perspective of labor alienation, in order to go deep into the realistic relationship of material production and incorporate the category of need into the historical provisions. On this basis, Marx scientifically analyzed the materialized state of needs under the subjective status of capital logic, analyzed the dialectical relationship between needs and production links based on the social production process, recognized the decisive role of production mode in the category of needs, and clarified the return of the subject of needs in a higher social form. It is in the critique of political economy that Marx completed the unity of history and logic of the category of needs, and provided a theoretical basis for the change of the main contradictions in Chinese society in the new era.

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  Wei Xiaoxue

　　From: Studies on Marxist Theory.2023.No.11.