Written: 1915
Source: Lenin’s Collected Works, 4th Edition, Moscow, 1976,
Volume 38, pp. 303-314
Publisher: Progress Publishers
First Published: 1930 in Lenin Miscellany XII
Translated: Clemence Dutt
Edited: Stewart Smith
Transcription & Markup: K. Goins
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive (2008).You may freely copy, distribute, display and
perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works.
Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
Conspectus of Hegel’s book “Lectures on the Philosophy of
History” consists of a separate notebook on whose cover is written “Hegel.”
On the reverse side of the cover, in pencil, there is a list of Plato’s dialogues with
references to pages in Vol. XIV of Hegel, which contains the second book of Lectures on the
History of Philosophy.
Note that this document has undergone special formating to ensure that
Lenin’s sidenotes fit on the page, marking as best as possible
where they were located in the original manuscript.
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Materials: Notes of the lectures 1822-1831. |
| P. 5[1] |
...“Speeches ... are transactions be- tween people”... (hence these speeches are not mere talk). |
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| 7— |
The French and English are more edu- |
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cated (“they have more ... national culture”),—but we Germans rack our brains to discover how history ought to be written, rather than writing it. |
shrewd and clever! |
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| 9— | History teaches “that peoples and gov- | ||||||||
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ernments of a people have never learned anything from history; each pe- riod is too individual for that.” |
very clever! | ||||||||
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“But what experience and history teach is this—that peoples and gov- ernments have never learned any- thing from history, or acted accord- ing to the lessons that could have been drawn from it. Each period has such peculiar circumstances, it is a state of things so unique that one must and can judge of it only on the basis of itself.” |
NB NB NB |
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| 20: |
The substance of Matter is Gravity. The substance of Spirit is Freedom. |
schwach![2] | |||||||
| 22. |
“World history is the progress of the consciousness of freedom—a progress which we have to know in its ne- cessity....” |
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| 24— |
(approach to historical materialism). What guides the actions of men? Above all, “Selbstsucht”[3]—motives of love, etc., are rarer and their sphere nar- rower. What, then, is the outcome of this interweaving of passions, etc.? of needs, etc.? |
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| 28 |
“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion....” Pas- sion is the subjective and “therefore the formal side of energy....” |
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| 28 |
i.f.[4]—History does not begin with a conscious aim.... What is important is that which |
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| 29 |
...appears unconsciously for mankind as the result of its action.... |
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| 29 |
...In this sense “Reason governs the world.” |
NB | |||||||
| 30 |
...In history through human actions “something else results in addition beyond that which they aim at and obtain, beyond that which they direct- ly know and desire.” |
30 | |||||||
| 30 | ...“They” (die Menschen[5]) “gratify | ||||||||
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their own interest, but something fur- ther is thereby brought about, which was latent in their interest, but which was not in their consciousness or in- cluded in their intention.” |
NB (cf. Engels[6]) |
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| 32 |
...“Such are the great men in history, whose own particular aims contain that substantial element which is the will of the World Spirit....” |
“great men” | |||||||
| 36— |
the religiousness and virtue of a shep- herd, a peasant, etc., is highly honour- able (examples!! NB), but ...“the right of the World Spirit stands above all special rights....” |
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| 50. |
The constitution of a state together with its religion ... philosophy, thought, culture, “external forces” (climate, neighbours...) comprise “one substance, one Spirit....” |
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| 51 |
In nature movement takes place only in a cycle (!!)—in history, something new arises.... |
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| 62. |
Language is richer among peoples in an undeveloped, primitive state—lan- guage becomes poorer with the advance of civilisation and the development of grammar. |
? | |||||||
| 67: |
“World history develops on a higher ground than that on which morality has its position (Stätte)....” |
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| 73: | An excellent picture of history: the | ||||||||
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sum of individual passions, actions, etc. (“everywhere something akin to ourselves, and therefore everywhere something that excites our interest for or against”), sometimes the mass of some general interest, sometimes a multitude of “minute forces” (“an infinite exertion of minute forces which produce a tremendous result from what appears insignificant”). |
very good Sehr wich- tig![7] see below this passage more |
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| The result? The result is “exhaustion.” | fully[8] | ||||||||
| P. 74. End of the “Introduction.” | |||||||||
| P. 75 |
—“The Geographical Basis of World History” (a characteristic heading): (75-101). |
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| 75— |
“Under the mild Ionic sky,” a Homer could more easily arise—but this is not the only cause.—“Not under Turk- ish rule,” etc. |
NB cf. Plekha- nov[9] |
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| 82— |
Emigration to America removes “dis- content,” “and the continued exist- ence of the contemporary civil order is guaranteed...” (but this Zustand[10]— “riches and poverty” 81).... |
!!! | |||||||
| 82. |
In Europe there is no such outlet: had the forests of Germany still been in existence, the French Revolution would not have occurred. |
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| 102: |
Three forms of world history: 1) des- potism, 2) democracy and aristocracy, 3) monarchy. |
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| Subdiv |
isions: The Oriental World—The Greek—The Roman—The German World. Empty phrase-mongering about morality, etc., etc. |
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| China. |
Chapter I (113 to 139). Description of the Chinese character, institutions, etc., etc. Nil, nil, nil! |
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| India | —to 176—To... | ||||||||
| Persia |
(and Egypt)—to 231. Why did the Persian Empire fall, but not China or India? Dauer[11] is not as such vortreffliches[12] (229)—“The imperish- able mountains are not superior to the rose that quickly loses its petals in its fleeting existence.” (229) Persia fell because the “spiritual view of things” began here 230, but the Greeks proved superior, “higher principle” of organisation, “self-conscious freedom.” (231) |
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| 232: |
“The Greek World” ... the principle of “pure individuality”—the period of its development, flowering and decline, “encounter with the succeeding organ of world history” (233)—Rome with its “substance” (ibidem). |
world history as a whole and the separate peoples—its “organs” |
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| 234: |
The geographical conditions of Greece: the diversity of its nature (in con- trast to the monotony of the East). |
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| 242 |
—The colonies in Greece. Amassing of wealth. Want and poverty “always” bound up with it.... |
Wealth and poverty |
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| 246. |
“The natural, as explained by men, its internal, essential element, is the beginning of the divine in general” (in connection with the mythology of the Greeks). |
Hegel and Feuerbach[13] |
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| 251: |
“Man with his requirements behaves in a practical way in relation to ex- ternal nature; in making it serve for his satisfaction, he wears it away, there- by setting to work as an intermediary. For natural objects are powerful and offer resistance in many different ways. In order to subdue them, man intro- duces other natural objects, thus turn- ing nature against itself, and he in- vents tools for this purpose. These hu- man inventions belong to the spirit, |
Germs of historical materialism in Hegel |
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higher than a natural object.... The honour of human invention for sub- jugating nature is ascribed to the Gods” (among the Greeks). |
Hegel and Marx |
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| 264: |
Democracy in Greece was bound up with the small size of the states. Speech, living speech, united the cit- izens, created Erwärmung.[14] “Hence” in the French Revolution there was never a republican consti- tution. |
?? |
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| 322- |
323. “He” (Caesar) “removed the in- ternal contradiction” (by abolishing the republic, which had become a “shadow”) “and created a new one. For world rule had hitherto reached only to the rim of the Alps, but Caesar open- ed a new arena: he founded the theatre which was now to become the centre of world history.” |
Hegel and “contradic- tions” in history |
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| And then on the murder of Caesar: | |||||||||
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...“In general, a political revolu- tion is, as it were, sanctioned in man’s opinion if it is repeated” (Napoleon, the Bourbons).... “By repetition that which at first appeared merely a mat- ter of chance and possibility becomes something real and confirmed.” (323) |
catego- ries of the possible and contingent versus act- uality and confirmation in history |
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“Christianity.” (328-346) Banal, cleric- al, idealistic chatter about the greatness of Christianity (with quotations from the Gospels!!). Disgusting, stinking! |
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| 420- |
421: Why was the Reformation lim- ited to a few nations? Among other reasons—“the Slav nations were agri- cultural” (421) and this brings with it “the relation of lords and serfs,” less “Betriebsamkeit,[15]” etc. But why the Romanic nations? Their character (Grundcharakter[16] 421 i.f.) |
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| 429: |
...“Polish freedom likewise was noth- ing but the freedom of the barons against the monarchs.... Hence the people had the same interest against the barons as the kings.... When free- dom is mentioned, one must always be careful to see whether it is not really private interests that are being spoken of.” (430) |
NB class relations |
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| 439: |
On the French Revolution... Why did the French pass “immediately from the |
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theoretical to the practical,” but not the Germans? Among the Germans, the Reformation had “schon Alles gebes- sert,”[17] abolished “das unsägliche Un- |
!! | ||||||||
| recht,”[18] etc. | |||||||||
| 441: |
For the first time (in the French Revolution) humanity had arrived at the conclusion “that man bases himself on the head, i.e., on thought, and builds reality accordingly....” “This was ... a glorious dawn....” In considering further the “course of the Revolution in France” (441) Hegel stresses in freedom in general—freedom of property, and of industry (ibid.). |
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...The promulgation of laws? The will of all.... “The few should represent the many, but they often merely re- press them....” (442) “The power of the |
cf. Marx and Engels[19] |
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majority over the minority is to no less degree a great inconsistency” (ibid.). |
? | ||||||||
| 444: |
...“In its content this event” (the French Revolution) “is world historical....” |
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“Liberalism,” (444) “liberal institu- tions” (443) spread over Europe.
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| 446: |
“World history is nothing but the development of the notion of free- dom....” |
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NB: Most impor- tant is Ein- leitung,[20] where there is much that is magni- ficent in the formulation of the question |
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“If then, finally, we regard world history from the standpoint of the category through which it should be considered, we have before us an endless picture of human life and activity under the most varied circumstances, with all kinds of aims and the most diverse events and destinies. In all these occurrences and events we see human action and effort in the forefront; everywhere something akin to ourselves, and therefore everywhere something that excites our interest for or against. Sometimes it attracts us by beauty, freedom and richness, sometimes by energy, sometimes even vice succeeds in making itself important. Often there is the comprehensive mass of some general interest that cumbrously moves forward, but still more often the infinite exertion of minute forces, which produce a tremendous result from what appears insignificant; every where the motleyest spectacle, and as soon as one vanishes another takes its place.
“But the immediate result of this consideration, however attractive it may be, is exhaustion, such as follows after a very varied spectacle, a magic lantern show; and even if we accord to each individual representation its true worth, the question nevertheless arises in our minds, what is the final aim of all these particular events, is each one exhausted by its special aim, or ought one not rather think of a single ultimate aim of all these events; behind the loud noises at the surface is there not going on the labour and production of a work, an internal, quiet, secret work in which the essential force of all those transitory phenomena is stored up? But if one does not bring thought, rational cognition, to world history from the beginning, one must at least approach it with the firm unshakable faith that it has reason in it, or at least that the world of the intellect and self-conscious will is not a victim of chance but must reveal itself in the light of the self-knowing idea.” (73-74)[22]
((NB. In the Preface, p. XVIII, the publisher, i.e., the editor, Ed. Gans, states that up to p.73 the text was written by Hegel in 1830; the manuscript is an “Ausarbeitung[23]))
[1] Hegel, Werke, Bd. IX, Berlin, 1837.—Ed.
[2] feeble—Ed.
[3] “self-interest”—Ed.
[4] in fine—at the end—Ed.
[5] human beings—Ed.
[6] See F. Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, Chapter IV (see Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. II, Moscow, 1958, p. 391).
[7] very important!—Ed.
[8] See p. 313 of this volume.—Ed.
[9] Regarding the influence of geographical conditions on the development of society see G. V. Plekhanov, “Fundamental Questions of Marxism,” Chapter VI, and “N. G. Chernyshevsky,” Chapter II.
[10] order—Ed.
[11] duration—Ed.
[12] something excellent—Ed.
[13] Lenin is evidently comparing the formulations of Hegel and Feuerbach, who approach the question of the origin of religion from opposite standpoints. See, for example, Feuerbach’s thesis: “in a deified being, he (i.e., man-Ed.) objectifies solely his own being.” [See Feuerbach’s Essence of Christianity: Introduction §2, The Essence of Religion in General]
[14] ardour—Ed.
[15] “industriousness”—Ed.
[16] fundamental character—Ed.
[17] “already changed everything for the better”—Ed.
[18] “unspeakable injustice”—Ed.
[19] Lenin is probably referring to the following passage in Marx’s work The Civil War in France: “Instead of deciding once in three or six years which member of the ruling class was to misrepresent the people in Parliament, universal suffrage was to serve the people, constituted in Communes....” (See Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. I, Moscow, 1958, p. 520.)
[20] introduction—Ed.
[21] On the next page of the manuscript the excerpt “Hegel on World History” begins.—Ed.
[22] Hegel, Werke, Bd. IX, Berlin, 1837.—Ed.
[23] “elaboration”—Ed.
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