Sun Jinsong: Deng Xiaoping’s Creative Contributions to the World Socialist Movement
In the process of exploring a Chinese path for socialist development, Deng Xiaping proposed the major concept of "China's own model" (中国的模式), leading the Communist Party of China (CPC) to successfully open up socialism with Chinese characteristics at a major historical turning point. From the perspective of the history of the world socialist movement, the exploration and successful practice of this "Chinese model" of scientific socialism is of great significance; it constitutes one of Deng Xiaoping's creative contributions to world socialism. The Soviet model and "China's own model" mark two developmental stages in the practice of world scientific socialism. The Soviet model represents the founding period of socialist practice, while "China's own model" represents socialist practice entering a new period of in-depth exploration. The significance of "China's own model" for world socialism lies in this: at the historical moment in the 20th century when Soviet socialist practice experienced stagnation, institutional rigidity, and eventual collapse due to structural problems, "China's own model"—through the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics—provided a new direction and path for the continued forward exploration of world socialism in the 21st century.
I. Deng Xiaoping was the first to explicitly use the concept of "China's own model"
As early as May 1980, in a conversation with leading central comrades regarding how to handle relations with fraternal parties [1], Deng Xiaoping explicitly used the concept of "China's own model." Deng said: "The Chinese Revolution did not proceed according to the model of the Russian October Revolution; rather, it started from China's actual conditions, using the countryside to encircle the cities and seizing political power through armed force. Since the victory of the Chinese Revolution relied on integrating the universal principles of Marxism-Leninism with our country's concrete practice, we should not demand that other developing countries follow China's own model in conducting their revolutions, much less demand that developed capitalist countries adopt China's own model. Of course, one cannot demand that these countries all adopt the Russian model either." In September 1982, at the opening ceremony of the 12th National Congress of the CPC, Deng Xiaoping once again used the phrase "taking our own path" to express the fundamental connotation of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Deng delivered a very famous passage: "In our modernization drive, we must proceed from China's realities. Whether in revolution or construction, we must pay attention to learning from and drawing on foreign experience. However, mechanically copying the experiences and models of other countries has never been successful. We have had many lessons in this regard. To integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the concrete realities of our country, take our own path, and build socialism with Chinese characteristics—this is the basic conclusion we have reached after summing up our long-term historical experience." In this passage, "taking our own path and building socialism with Chinese characteristics" is contrasted with the "experiences and models of other countries."
In a 1983 conversation with foreign experts, Deng Xiaoping said: "The modernization we are pursuing is Chinese-path modernization. The socialism we are building is socialism with Chinese characteristics." In a 1984 conversation with President Gayoom of the Maldives, he particularly emphasized that both Chinese revolution and construction must follow their own path: "If there is any experience to be found in the achievements we have made, it is that in recent years we have reaffirmed the principle of seeking truth from facts advocated by Comrade Mao Zedong. The success of the Chinese Revolution was due to Comrade Mao Zedong integrating Marxism-Leninism with China's reality and taking his own path. Now, in pursuing construction, China must also integrate Marxism-Leninism with China's reality and take its own path. Over the past six years, China's countryside has achieved success by following its own path according to this principle. The recently adopted decision on reform centered on the cities is also an integration of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with China's reality to take our own path. This is experience we summarized after suffering many hardships." In Deng Xiaoping's view, the cause of China's revolution, construction, and reform must all persist in integrating Marxism-Leninism with China's reality to forge its own developmental path.
Deng Xiaoping’s most direct and classic expression of the "China model" occurred in 1988 during a meeting with the President of Mozambique, where he stated: "It is impossible to solve the world's problems with a single model. China has China's own model, and Mozambique should have Mozambique's own model." It is evident that Deng Xiaoping repeatedly used similar concepts such as "China's own model," "China's own unique model," and "taking one's own path." This fully demonstrates that "China's own model" possesses a profound theoretical logic and rich scientific connotation within the system of Deng Xiaoping Theory, specifically manifested in six dimensions:
First, from a conceptual standpoint, Deng Xiaoping essentially used the three expressions "China's own model," "taking one's own path," and "socialism with Chinese characteristics" as concepts with the same meaning. Among these, "taking one's own path" and "socialism with Chinese characteristics" are equivalent. The primary distinction between the three is that "China's own model" was frequently used in conversations with foreign leaders, while "taking one's own path" and "socialism with Chinese characteristics"—though used both internally and externally—were used more often domestically.
Second, from the perspective of content, when Deng Xiaoping used these three concepts, he usually referred to China's developmental path or developmental model. In addition, Deng also used the concept of "Chinese-path modernization" to express the particularity of the Chinese road.
Third, from the perspective of inheritance, the theoretical foundation for Deng Xiaoping's use of the "China's own model" concept is Mao Zedong Thought. The "living soul" and core essence of Mao Zedong Thought are seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and independence. Deng Xiaoping took the basic principles of "seeking truth from facts" and "independence" proposed by Mao Zedong as the theoretical basis for "China's own model" and "taking one's own path to build socialism with Chinese characteristics." He used the experience of the Chinese Revolution's victory and the initial explorations of socialism under Mao's leadership as the practical basis. For example, Deng pointed out that the Chinese Revolution was not identical to the Russian October Revolution; the CPC followed the path of "encircling the cities from the countryside," whereas the Russian October socialist revolution led by Lenin followed the path of urban uprisings. New China's approach to dealing with capitalists was also different from Lenin's, employing "socialist transformation" [2] including policies such as redemption (buy-outs). Deng Xiaoping believed: "Our most successful feat was the socialist transformation... Because we adopted these methods based on China's own characteristics, there were almost no setbacks; production did not fall but rose continuously, there was no unemployment, and social products were abundant." It can be said that while Deng Xiaoping pioneered the concept of "China's own model," its core inherits the essence of Mao Zedong Thought. In 1956, while revising the draft of the Political Report for the Eighth National Congress of the Party, Mao Zedong pointed out: "It is inconceivable that the concrete developmental process and forms of manifestation of the socialist system in various countries could have only one monolithic format. Our country is a large Eastern nation. Therefore, our country not only possessed many of its own characteristics during the democratic revolution, but also carries many of its own characteristics in the process of socialist transformation and socialist construction; moreover, even after the future completion of a socialist society, its own characteristics will continue to exist." In this passage, Mao spoke of three stages with three sets of characteristics: the democratic revolution, socialist transformation and construction, and the future socialist society. The commonality across all three stages was that under the universal principles of socialism, China has "many of its own characteristics." Integrating Marxist theory with the concrete practice of Chinese revolution and construction is a vital feature of Mao Zedong Thought. From Deng Xiaoping's discourses on "China's own model," one can clearly see the continuous thread of inheritance between Deng Xiaoping Theory and Mao Zedong Thought.
Fourth, from the perspective of time and space, the content of the "China's own model" concept proposed by Deng Xiaoping runs through the entire process of the Chinese socialist revolution and socialist construction led by the CPC. The Chinese revolution followed its own path of "encircling the cities from the countryside," which differed from the Russian model; the same is true for the construction and reform of New China. Particularly on the issue of persisting in the direction of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping firmly stated many times that we cannot take the Western road, nor can we follow the path of the Soviet model. Therefore, in the context of Deng Xiaoping Theory, "China's own model" has long been fused into the historical tradition of the CPC and the historical process of China's revolution, construction, and reform. This point is consistent with the views expressed by Mao Zedong at the Eighth National Congress.
Fifth, from the coordinate system of comparison, the "China's own model" proposed by Deng corresponds to the Soviet model (Russian model) and the Western model. There is an essential [ontological] difference between "China's own model" and the Western model, whereas the difference with the Soviet model is "homogenous"—that is, both "China's own model" and the Soviet model are practices of the socialist system under the guidance of Marxism and belong to specific forms of the world socialist movement.
Sixth, from the perspective of cognition, Deng Xiaoping's views on "China's own model" and "taking one's own path" indicate that the CPC has become more theoretically mature and more conscious in its actions. On June 30, 1949, Mao Zedong wrote in On the People's Democratic Dictatorship: "The salvoes of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism... Follow the path of the Russians—that was the conclusion." The shift from "following the path of the Russians" to "taking our own path" represents a deepening of ideological understanding, signifying the maturity of the CPC in its theoretical innovation and practical exploration of scientific socialism.
II. The ideological sources and practical basis of Deng Xiaoping's "China's own model" concept
Deng Xiaoping personally experienced and worked for a long time within the core leadership of the Party. He knew the practical experiences of the Chinese revolution, construction, and reform like the back of his hand. Moreover, as a comrade-in-arms of Mao Zedong, working under Mao's leadership and influence for many years, he had long ago mastered the essence and "living soul" of Mao Zedong Thought—"seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and independence"—and applied them with ease in actual work. In 1963, during a conversation with a delegation from the Communist Party of Indonesia, Mao Zedong pointed out: "In the past, we were like students having our hands held by a teacher to learn how to write. From the founding of the Party in 1921 until 1934, we suffered because of the 'teacher' [3]; the program was drafted by the teacher, and the resolutions of the Central Committee plenums were also drafted by the teacher. In 1934 especially, we suffered great losses. After that, we understood that we must think through problems ourselves... Truly understanding independence began with the Zunyi Meeting [4], which criticized dogmatism. The dogmatists said everything in the Soviet Union was correct and did not integrate Soviet experience with Chinese reality. The slogan 'integrating the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism with China's concrete practice' was proposed during the Yan'an Rectification Movement [5]. This slogan was written into the 1957 Moscow Declaration... Foreign experience, no matter from which country, can only serve as a reference." Let us further read Mao Zedong's remarks concerning how "without engaging in science and technology, productive forces cannot be raised." While listening to a report by Nie Rongzhen, Vice Premier and Director of the State Science and Technology Commission, on the ten-year plan for science and technology, Mao pointed out: "The battle for science and technology must be fought, and it must be fought well. In the past, we fought the battle of the superstructure—establishing the people's political power and the people's army. Why did we establish this superstructure? It was to engage in production. The purpose of establishing the superstructure and relations of production is to liberate the productive forces. Now that the relations of production have changed, we must raise the productive forces. Without engaging in science and technology, the productive forces cannot be raised." From these conversations, it is easy to see that the spiritual essence contained in Deng Xiaoping's discourse is identical to Mao Zedong Thought, and the historical facts upon which his ideological views are based are the same. Whether it is Deng's proposal of "China's own model" of "taking one's own path" or the view that "science and technology are the primary productive force," both are ideological principles consistently upheld by the CPC. Thus, Deng Xiaoping highly summarized the basic experience permeating the entire process of Chinese revolution, construction, and reform. Summarizing the historical characteristics of China's revolution, construction, and reform as "China's own model" is a brilliant distillation of contemporary Chinese historical practice and a summary of the rich experience of his own life.
"China's own model" was not generalized by Westerners and subsequently marketed to the world; it is a great creation carried out by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out on January 5, 2013, in a speech to a seminar for newly elected members and alternate members of the Central Committee: "We have always maintained that the developmental path of each country should be chosen by its own people. The so-called 'China model' is the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics created by the Chinese people in their own practice of struggle."
III. Proposing "China's own model" is a profound summary and powerful impetus for the development of contemporary world socialism
(To be continued)
From the perspective of the world-historical dimension of the development of scientific socialism, scientific socialism has undergone roughly three milestone stages. First, in the mid-to-late 19th century, the publication of the Manifesto of the Communist Party in 1848 and the first volume of Das Kapital in 1867 marked the completion of the founding of the theoretical system of scientific socialism. Second, in the early 20th century, the success of the Russian October Socialist Revolution in 1917 marked the entry of the basic principles and value objectives of socialism into the stage of social practice with the state as its entity. The institutional characteristics of this stage were manifested in the Soviet model. Third, at the end of the 1970s, the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee marked the successful opening of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the Chinese path for the practice of scientific socialism gradually matured. The successful development of socialism with Chinese characteristics fully proves that the concept of the "Chinese model" [6] proposed by Deng Xiaoping is, in fact, the second model for the practice of scientific socialism.
As previously mentioned, when Deng Xiaoping spoke of the "Chinese model," it was generally consistent with the content of "taking one's own path" and "Chinese characteristics," and was established within a coordinate system contrasted with the Soviet model (the Russian model). It must be admitted that the practice of scientific socialism objectively possesses the function of providing a standard for socialist development; the vast majority of people's understanding of socialism is obtained through socialist practice. The Soviet model was the world’s first practical model of scientific socialism and could be called the first socialist standard. This standard carried both theoretical and universal significance. While the Soviet model was Soviet, its nature was industrialized and Europeanized. The theoretical significance of the Soviet model lies in its basic implementation of Marx and Engels' theoretical design for a socialist society, while its universal significance lies in its provision of institutional norms for the practice of a socialist society. The basic characteristics and theoretical genealogy of the Soviet model originated from the logical deductions of Marxist theory and the modernity of European culture. This basic judgment can be clearly seen in works such as Marx and Engels' Manifesto of the Communist Party, Engels' Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Marx's Critique of the Gotha Programme, and Lenin's The State and Revolution. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) also promoted internationalism under this cognition. Therefore, on the eve of the founding of New China, Mao Zedong issued the call: "Follow the path of the Russians—that is the conclusion," [7] as the basic cognition of the Communist Party of China regarding socialist society. Without a doubt, this "path of the Russians" was the path to socialism identified by the Communist Party of China. Although the Soviet model, as the first practice of a socialist state, carried inevitable imperfections and structural defects of the founding stage, and the CPSU failed to handle various problems in practice—ultimately leading to the painful lesson of the collapse of the CPSU and the disintegration of the Soviet Union—the masses of people in Asia, Africa, and Latin America nevertheless came to know socialism through the Soviet model, setting off a wave of struggle against imperialism and colonialism worldwide.
The "Chinese model" is the world's second practical model of scientific socialism. The "Chinese model" bears a strong distinctiveness, which is China's own uniqueness—that is, the "Chinese model" bears a clear Chinese imprint. This includes: establishing and improving the socialist market economy in the field of economic structural reform; persisting in the leadership of the Communist Party of China as the inevitable choice for the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity; and the path of Chinese-path industrialization and agricultural modernization, which solved major difficulties such as the cultural isolation between industrial and agrarian societies and the structural rupture between urban and rural societies. Obivously, the theory of the "Chinese model" was formed on the extremely thick foundation of over 5,000 years of history and culture accumulated by Chinese society. On the one hand, the theory of the "Chinese model" establishes the direction of human social development represented by Marxism as the theoretical guide for social progress; on the other hand, it boldly draws upon the instruments of capitalist development and the elements of civilization in contemporary social development, while practicing the inclusive assimilation and reshaping of modernity. These are the essential characteristics of the Chinese model, providing contemporary vitality for the development of scientific socialism.
It is evident that the "Chinese model" provided a correct methodology of cognition for China to persist in the socialist direction of development and for the forward development of scientific socialism within various countries at a time when the Soviet model could no longer provide better solutions for socio-political and economic development. It provided a new direction and path for the continued exploration of world socialism in the 21st century.
The Soviet model and the "Chinese model" represent two developmental stages of the practice of scientific socialism on a global scale. One is the founding period, and the other is the period of in-depth exploration. The historical stages of the development of scientific socialism as a whole are divided into three: first, the stage of ideological and theoretical creation, where Marxist theory founded scientific socialism, primarily solving the problem of theoretical guidance; second, the stage of practical exploration, the historical period where the Soviet Union established socialist state power, practiced Marxist theory, and carried out socialist modernization; third, at the turning point where the practice of scientific socialism encountered major setbacks, socialism entered a new period of deeper exploration. From the Soviet model to the "Chinese model," the practice of world scientific socialism has undergone a developmental process from the general to the particular. This will surely promote the vigorous development of the world socialist movement in the 21st century and further enhance people's theoretical understanding of the universal laws of the future socialist movement.
From the world dimension of representation of scientific socialism, the successful opening of socialism with Chinese characteristics marks the realization of a creative development in the path-form of scientific socialism. After Marx and Engels published the Manifesto of the Communist Party and founded scientific socialism, they clearly pointed out: "The general principles laid down in this Manifesto are, on the whole, as correct today as ever," but "the practical application of the principles will depend, as the Manifesto itself states, everywhere and at all times, on the historical conditions for the time being existing." Shortly after Lenin led the victory of the October Revolution and established the world's first socialist state, he realized that "for Russia, the era of debating the socialist program from books has passed, and I am convinced it has passed never to return; today we can only talk about socialism based on experience." [8] Thereafter, how to build socialism in an economically and culturally backward Russia became a difficult problem and a major test for "actually existing socialism." After Lenin's death, Soviet socialist practice gradually formed the Soviet model characterized by a highly centralized political and economic system. It should be recognized that the Soviet model played an important role in promoting the development of world socialism, but as the times developed, the Soviet model gradually became rigid and dogmatic. In the second half of the 20th century, socialist countries in Eastern Europe successively began socialist reforms—such as Yugoslavia's path of socialist self-management, the Polish path and the "socialist renewal line," and Hungary's "New Economic Mechanism"—all of which aimed to reform the drawbacks of the Soviet model and explore socialist paths suited to their own national conditions, but all ultimately ended in failure. Deng Xiaoping led the Communist Party of China to persist in proceeding from reality and taking one's own path. Through the historic achievement of successfully opening socialism with Chinese characteristics, he found the correct path for building socialism in countries that are relatively backward economically and culturally, allowing world socialism to break free from the conceptual entanglements and practical constraints of a single-model mindset, thus entering a historical stage where multiple paths coexist and develop. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a great creation resulting from the integration of the basic principles of Marxism with China's concrete reality; the development of this path is both a contribution to Chinese socialism and a contribution to world socialism.
(The author is a professor at the Central Party School of the CPC (National Academy of Governance)) Network Editor: Ma Jingren Source: Scientific Socialism, Issue 2, 2025