Ai Silin: Promoting High-Quality Development of Marxist Theoretical Disciplines in the New Era with Greater Confidence

Professor Ai Silin, a member of the State Council's Academic Degrees Committee’s Subject Review Group and Dean of the Institute for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era at Tsinghua University, systematically reviewed the core achievements of the two-decade development of the discipline of Marxist Theory under the theme "Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Discipline of Marxist Theory in the New Era with Stronger Confidence." He pointed out that the major breakthroughs in the discipline's development are reflected not only in quantitative improvements—such as the growth of doctoral degree conferral points from 21 in 2005 to 115 today, and the fact that there are now over 120,000 full-time ideological and political theory course ^[1] teachers—but more importantly in a fundamental transformation of its internal spiritual state: the comprehensive enhancement of "disciplinary confidence."

This confidence stems from a triple support system. First is the theoretical advantage: the vitality of Sinicized and modernized Marxism continues to manifest, completely reversing the situation in which Marxism was "silent, missing, or voiceless" ^[2] in certain fields. The consensus that "Marxism works" and "Sinicized and modernized Marxism works" has become established throughout society. Second is the academic advantage: the academic community’s understanding of "what kind of Marxist theory discipline to build and how to build it" has continued to deepen. Their grasp of the laws governing disciplinary development has grown increasingly profound, leading to a scientific understanding based on the "Six Unifications" ^[3]—such as the unification of political and academic character, the unification of disciplinary logic and ideological and political course logic, and the unification of inheritance and innovation. This has significantly raised the level of scientific rigor in the discipline’s development. Third is the practical advantage: the disciplinary system has been continuously refined, the cultivation system for undergraduate, master's, and doctoral talents has been steadily improved, and the discipline’s role in supporting ideological and political courses has been continually strengthened, laying a solid foundation for the high-quality development of the discipline.