Analysis of the Freemasons in the Light of the Complete Works of Marx and Engels

Abstract

Abstract: Studies of Freemasons, even though rare and scattered, have been carried out by Chinese scholars for a long time, but they have never become focus of academic debates until recent years. There are dozens of discussions concerning Freemasons in The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, a legacy too precious to be overlooked. This article tries to summarize and analyze significance of Freemasons in context of Marx and Engels through a careful textual study using Complete Works. Finally, some conclusions and heuristics regarding a Marxist understanding of Freemasons are presented.Key words: Complete Works of Marx and Engels; Freemasons; textual analysis; FreemasonryThe Freemasons, an unfamiliar Western group, have become more and more recognized in today's China, partly because of their mysteriousness. But principal cause of this attention is many books that market themselves by using conspiracy theories to explain human history and that link Freemasons with some of most famous people and decisive events in history. However, some basic questions concerning Freemasons, such as nature of Freemasonry, its history, and what we can learn from existence of this kind of organization, are still open to more scientific investigations. In this article, I try to answer some of these questions in context of The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, and through an understanding of nature and characteristics of Freemasons.Literature ReviewAlthough serious research on Freemasons is rare, topic has been covered by Chinese scholars for a long time. Previous studies can be divided into two groups by research methodology: some of them focus on special topics in Freemasonry, while others try to draw a complete picture of Masonic order.Studies on special topics in Freemasonry always account for profound influence of Freemasons on notable people, disciplines, and nations. As far as studies of Freemasons' impacts on specific nations have been concerned, most of them are about Freemasonry in Russia. Zhao Shifeng (2007) showed us a comprehensive outline of research in last 20 years on Russian Freemasons done by Russian scholars, and summarized special trends during different historical periods: (1) Before 1917, focus of studies was Russian Freemasons in 18th and 19th century. (2) From 1917 to 1985, studies of Freemasons were considered unnecessary. (3) From 1985, studies paid more attention to relationship of Freemasons and Russian politics, religion, philosophy and literature. The history of Russian Freemasons and their relationship with Russian intellectuals had also been wildly discussed in that period.Regarding studies of Freemasons' impacts on specific disciplines, there are two major topics: philosophy and music. Zhang Baichun (1996) discussed three major figures of Russian Freemasons and their contributions: Novikov whose philosophical and religious doctrine helped build foundation of Russian Freemasons' ideology, Blokhin who set up rigorous routines and a related system of religion ethics, and finally, Schwartz who argued for a special theoretical system for Freemasons, a more Russian system. Zhang also summarized basic philosophy of Freemasons with respect to three dimensions: ontology, humanism, and philosophy of religion. He concluded that the Freemasons built foundation of 19th century Russian philosophy, and eventually fostered birth of Russian national philosophy. Xu Aizhen and Xiemin Su (2006) found that Freemasons not only had a clear doctrine, but also rigorous rules of music used in their rites, which could be seen as part of a practical education and reform movement inspired by Enlightenment ideas. Those rules had an impact, somehow, on formation of idea of freedom in Western musical culture from classical period, and finally fostered a new style of music with an idealistic tinge in 18th century. …