报纸何以成为工人的“必要生活资料”——马克思关于工人读报需求的再探讨

How Newspapers Become"Necessary Means of Living"for Workers

有关马克思“报纸是英国工人必要生活资料”的研究,在我国最早开始于1984年。本文从马克思强调工人在“自由意识”下进行精神消费的视角,深化研究此问题。笔者认为,英国报刊属于低价格弹性的“必要生活资料”,工人对报刊的需求、阅读与购买并非19世纪中期的新兴现象,而是作为“自由人”在独立意识下的长久精神需求。马克思将论述置于“工人”和“奴隶”的关系范畴,既揭示在“自由”背后,货币关系对“工人从属于资本家”的遮蔽,又强调工人自由意识中蕴含的革命性。

The examination of Karl Marx's 1862 thesis regarding newspapers as a vital necessity for British workers commenced in China in 1984.This article delves deeper into this topic by focusing on Marx's emphasis on the spiritual consumption of workers under the notion of"free consciousness",From the author's perspective,the British press was indeed considered a"necessary means of life"with"low price elasticity".The demand,reading habits,and purchasing behavior of workers regarding newspapers were not merely emerging phenomena in the mid-19th century.but rather reflected the enduring spiritual needs of workers who identified as"free individuals"with a consciousness of independence.By contextualizing the discourse within the framework of the relationship between"workers"and"slaves,"Marx not only revealed how the monetary dynamics masked the subordination of workers to capitalists behind the facade of"freedom,"but also underscored the revolutionary potential inherent in the free consciousness of workers.