Abstract: Scholars' understanding of Karl Marx's “the first premise of the whole human history” in previous studies mostly focused on the logic of starting material production it revealed. And in fact, in Marx's view, the first premise is the existence of the living human individuals, which directly highlights coexistence of all individuals in a certain mode of cooperation. As a model of social relations among individuals, this primitive mode of cooperation precedes the production relations, whereas it cannot be simply attributed to the relations. Human history is not only the history of human activities, but also that of the cooperation mode of individuals. Understanding the theory of “the cooperation mode of individuals” is prominent in clarifying or constructing a series of important theoretical issues. Firstly, it contributes to the clarification of the misunderstanding of “economic determinism” in historical materialism, highlighting the connotation, status and function of non-economic social life. Secondly, it leads to further understanding of the answer to “riddle of history”, and reveals the truth that human society or social humanity exists in the mode of cooperation among individuals. Thirdly, it provides a theoretical “interface” to the Marx's political philosophy, which can be understood as the philosophy of the cooperation mode of individuals in the light of wellbeing of human. Fourthly, it offers a theoretical support for building a community of a shared future for mankind, which lies in the formation of a reasonable and effective cooperation mode of human including the cooperation for individuals within or beyond the same nations and states, and the latter is more of forward-looking significance.

Key words: Karl Marx, individuals in reality, individuals, the cooperation mode, social relations