Abstract: The theoretical self-consciousness of socialism with Chinese characteristics needs to go deep into Marx's manuscripts in his later years and clarify the inherent logic of "rural commune, oriental path,and Chinese characteristics".Marx tried to regard the rural commune as the foundation and essence of the oriental society,and raised it to the overall category,just like the function of commodities in the capitalist economic relations. Rural commune is not another problem outside the capitalist system, but a necessary part of it. Marx's study of rural communes is to establish the oriental dimension in the complete world system of "western capitalism-oriental society" and to find a key to unlock the mysteries of oriental society,so as to explain the overall capitalist crisis caused by the interaction between the East and the West.As for the specific situation that the commodity economy deconstructs the rural commune and affects the development of the oriental society,Marx conceived two models:the"leapfrogging"modelofRussiansocietyandthe "shock-disintegration-reconstruction" model of other oriental countries.Due to some special historical reasons,China has eliminated the rural communes and established a strong patriarchal imperial power system,so our modern historical path is quite unique.

Key words: rural commune, capitalist world system, oriental society, pre-socialist history, Marx