Lin Ke: Lenin's Concept of Cultural Anti-poverty in Socialist Countries and Its Implications
"In a country of illiterates, it is impossible to build a communist society." To consolidate the fledgling proletarian regime, Lenin proposed raising the cultural level and political consciousness of the worker-peasant masses, leading the public out of cultural poverty to provide the internal drive for socialist development from the people themselves. During the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP), Soviet Russia sought to employ progressive elements of capitalism to develop socialism while gradually guiding a modern transformation of social attitudes. Guiding the masses toward a rational understanding of the complexity of revolutionary development and fostering a militant enthusiasm for policy mandates were the key focuses and challenges of Lenin’s leadership in the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) regarding cultural anti-poverty efforts. Existing scholarly achievements focus largely on the basic principles Lenin proposed for cultural anti-poverty or the historical logic of its Sinicization. Notably, in the construction of Soviet Russian political power, Lenin’s conception of cultural anti-poverty embodied the unity of the Marxist party’s leadership and the people’s principal status; there remains room for research on these theories and practices. By synthesizing the methodological insights contained therein, we can summarize action strategies for socialist states to liberate the minds of the masses and give play to the people’s principal role, providing a reference for refining an anti-poverty discourse system with Chinese characteristics.
I. The Socialist System as the Fundamental Guarantee for Eliminating Cultural Poverty
Under the system of capitalist exploitation, "wage slaves are so crushed by poverty that they 'have no time for democracy' and 'no time for politics,'" with the majority of inhabitants excluded from socio-political life, let alone obtaining the cultural knowledge necessary to escape poverty. To liberate the minds of the masses, a Marxist party must first start with the construction of political power, using the socialist system to provide a fundamental guarantee for cultural anti-poverty.
After the victory of the October Revolution, Lenin led the Bolshevik Party in constructing the first socialist state and advocated for mobilizing the creativity of the masses in state-building. He emphasized that proletarian political power meant "combining the initiative, independence, and freedom of action from below, the majestic vigor, and the voluntarily implemented centralism that is incompatible with dead formulas." Although Soviet Russia's own economic and cultural conditions were relatively backward, it could, through revolution, "catch up with the people of other countries on the basis of worker-peasant power and the Soviet system." During the NEP, Lenin proposed the construction of a systematic social education project to cultivate the capacity and literacy of the proletariat for participating in public affairs from the two levels of cultural proficiency and political consciousness, thereby stimulating the enthusiasm of the masses for building socialism.
Guaranteeing the right of laborers to education is a prerequisite for mobilizing the masses to participate in consolidating political power. Lenin believed that "it is impossible to achieve electrification as long as we have illiterates," and what the nascent Soviet state "lacks most is culture and the ability to manage." He noted that "the NEP fully guarantees, economically and politically, the possibility of building the foundations of a socialist economy. The question is 'only' of the cultural strength of the proletariat and its vanguard." The root cause of the generally low cultural level of the Russian proletariat lay in the monopoly on educational resources formed by the capitalist system. As Engels said, "Since the bourgeoisie provides the worker only with what is absolutely necessary for his existence, it is not surprising that it allows him only as much education as is in its own interest." In 1897, less than one-quarter of every 1,000 people in Russia were literate. Until 1917, the average literacy rate of the Russian rural population was only 38%. To break the pattern of knowledge monopoly in capitalist society, one must inevitably start by establishing a socialist education system.
The Russian Bolshevik Party sought to construct a systematic social education project to provide the worker and peasant masses with the cultural knowledge necessary to escape their existential plight. In the Draft Decree on the People’s Commissariat for Education, Lenin required the RCP(B) to refine the socialist educational system, with the People's Commissariat for Education (Narkompros) at its core, establishing various administrative departments such as the Social Education Department and the Higher Education Department (Main Administration for Vocational Education). He also advocated that the Soviet Narkompros provide free newspapers and books to local libraries and reading rooms, establishing a networked system of cultural institutions for the broad worker-peasant masses. In July 1920, the Extraordinary Commission for the Eradication of Illiteracy was established under Narkompros, responsible for setting up literacy schools, training teachers, and publishing primers and teaching plans. Simultaneously, the Soviet regime emphasized cultivating a corps of intellectuals to serve the masses, advocating for "raising the status of the teacher to the proper height" and formulating national economic budgets according to the needs of educational work. Integrating cultural education into the overall planning of national economic development helps achieve full coverage of educational resources, ensuring that the masses can acquire the cultural knowledge to improve production efficiency and escape existential poverty.
In the historical context of the NEP, Lenin’s conception of cultural anti-poverty included two goals: the popularization of knowledge and political education. "Whether socialism can be realized depends on how well we combine the Soviet power and the Soviet organization of administration with the latest progressive features of capitalism." In the summer of 1921, in the draft report on the tactics of the RCP(B), Lenin advocated that to achieve socialism in a backward petty-peasant country, it was necessary to develop "capitalism supervised and regulated by the proletarian state." In October of the same year, at the Second All-Russian Congress of Political Education Departments, Lenin emphasized that the Political Education Committees must help implement the NEP and "establish a capitalism directed by and serving the state." To utilize the positive factors of capitalism to develop socialism, national propaganda departments had not only to popularize cultural knowledge to promote the development of productive forces but, more importantly, to raise the political consciousness of the masses and guide society in the struggle against non-proletarian ideologies. Capitalist modes of production influence social perceptions; one must "attach importance to the ideological struggle against petty-bourgeois influences, trends, and tendencies within trade unions, especially when the NEP must to some extent strengthen capitalism." "There has never been a Great Wall [1] between the workers and the old society. Workers also retain many traditional psychological traits of capitalist society... We are building on the soil of capitalist society, in a struggle against all the weaknesses and defects present in the working people themselves, which constantly pull the proletariat back." To this end, political education committees were established under the national education departments of the Soviets at all levels, responsible for what Lenin envisioned as "a cultural literacy that teaches people to fight against red tape [2] and graft." For the RCP(B) to construct socialism comprehensively, it needed to help the worker-peasant masses cast off the shackles of conservative and backward consciousness, thereby leading them out of a state of poverty at the level of ideology and cultural concepts.
"Only by relying on the comradely discipline of the working people, their maximum initiative, sense of responsibility, and strict mutual supervision over labor productivity" could national productive forces be restored and developed. Taking this as a logical point of departure, Lenin conceived the Russian Bolshevik strategy for cultural anti-poverty, forming a systematic social education project through educational departments at all levels. Through this, the broad masses were able to gradually improve their cultural levels and political consciousness, beginning to possess the capacity, literacy, and militant enthusiasm to devote themselves to the construction of a socialist state.
II. Giving Play to the Leading Role of the Vanguard Party in the Transformation of Social Conceptions
Cultural anti-poverty is a complex and systematic project; its practical logic is far from a simple linear narrative. In capitalist society, laborers are mostly placed on the periphery of the political participation system, making it difficult for them to form a comprehensive and accurate understanding of a complex revolution. Lenin found that when facing poverty and exploitation, even if the masses had not fully encountered or mastered advanced theory, they would launch resistance against the old system based on intuitive perceptual cognition [3] out of simple ideas of fairness and justice. However, "the feeling of resentment among the masses against exploitation alone will never lead them onto the correct path to socialism." During the NEP, Soviet Russia also needed to use progressive elements of capitalism to develop socialism, which fully reflected the complexity of the revolutionary struggle. To help the masses view the various elements of state-building dialectically, Lenin advocated guiding the masses to gradually elevate their perceptual cognition of complex realities to rational cognition [4], leading the modern transformation of social concepts with the advanced nature of the proletarian vanguard. Simultaneously, Lenin proposed that capitalist economic development could be permitted under state regulation to serve socialism—that is, "to carry out a retreat in order to return better prepared for the offensive against capitalism." The report of the Eleventh Congress of the RCP(B) pointed out that "on the basis of the development of capitalist relations, the influence of the bourgeoisie on the petty-bourgeois strata, and even on the most backward part of the proletariat, is inevitably increasing." The specificity of Soviet social development dictated that the Bolshevik Party guide the masses in distinguishing between progressive elements in capitalism and backward, conservative ideas. The proletarian vanguard had to guide the masses to understand policy programs rationally and dialectically, enabling them to master the general laws of revolutionary development and elevate their perceptual cognition to rational cognition, thereby liberating individual thought in the true sense and achieving poverty alleviation at the cultural level.
How does the vanguard party help the masses fully understand complex policy programs and lead the modernization of social concepts? First, as the leader of political power construction, the Marxist party must provide guidance for social development through its own advanced nature. In November 1920, at a conference of provincial and county political education departments, Lenin pointed out the need to "help train and educate the laboring masses so that they overcome the old habits and customs left over from the old system—those proprietary habits and customs that are deeply rooted in the masses." As the most advanced part of the proletariat, the Marxist party should "set for the entire proletarian mass an example of thoughtful, persevering, and bold criticism." Communists should play a vanguard exemplary role among the masses, using the revolutionary theory they have mastered to guide the proletarian struggle, lifting the intuitive perceptual cognition of individuals to rational cognition that conforms to the laws of development, and helping the masses gradually move out of cultural poverty.
Second, the proletarian vanguard must not only reflect a consciousness and quality higher than that of the ordinary masses but must also integrate into the masses, incorporating the will of the masses into the various activities of socialist construction. Lenin emphasized that "without a party capable of observing the moods of the masses and influencing those moods, it is impossible to conduct such a struggle successfully." Therefore, the Bolshevik Party should combine mass opinions to improve national governance, thereby consolidating its strong leadership in the construction of political power. In September 1921, Lenin pointed out the need to pay attention to absorbing the opinions of non-Party laborers, which would help the Bolshevik Party improve its organizational purity, "becoming a class vanguard that is much stronger than before, having closer ties with the class itself, and being better able to lead the class to victory through difficulties and dangers." In this way, the Marxist party can "concentrate fully conscious and loyal communists who have been educated and tempered by stubborn revolutionary struggle," maintaining close ties with the masses and mobilizing the proletariat to excite "the full power of a revolutionary onslaught."
Third, the Marxist party should guide the masses to accurately understand complex policy programs according to changes in the revolutionary situation. During the NEP, the Bolshevik propaganda departments encouraged the masses to submit articles to them to strengthen communication between the Soviet regime and grassroots workers. Workers and peasants from various places actively contributed to newspapers, providing feedback on the implementation of policy programs at the grassroots level and participating as much as possible in the construction of the Soviet state through these submissions. Of course, the views expressed in mass manuscripts did not always fully grasp the main spirit of the policies. Yet, even if the masses failed to fully understand the original goals of the program, the vanguard party, through interaction and communication with readers via the press, could use its knowledge and ideological consciousness to guide the ordinary masses.
In the realms of material life and idiocultural life, the process of an individual escaping poverty is not smooth sailing. After the October Revolution, because "the old maladies of petty-bourgeois cowardice, fragmentation, individualism, and the shift from fanaticism to despondency recurred within the proletariat," there was a negative impact on mass conceptions. The proletarian vanguard should help the masses understand and grasp the complex and volatile reality; it must both stimulate the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses and guide them to view the tortuous process of social development rationally and calmly, thereby promoting the construction of political power in a planned and strategic manner. Lenin’s ideas enabled the proletarian vanguard to integrate the will of the masses into the practical field of socialist construction, completing revolutionary tasks of various periods through flexible methods of struggle, thus guiding the masses toward an accurate understanding of revolutionary complexity through actual results. This helps the Marxist party better play a leading role in the transformation of social concepts.
Integrating Propaganda and Educational Work into the Daily Life of the Masses
Based on the laws of development of human society, the process of modernizing social mindsets is gradual. Lenin believed that while military tasks could be won in the short term, the cultural sphere "requires a longer period, and we must adapt ourselves to this longer period, plan our work accordingly, and display a spirit of persistence, indomitability, and consistency." If the vanguard of the proletariat wishes to help the masses escape cultural poverty, it must combine advanced policy concepts with the daily lives of the masses, using continuous propaganda and educational work to incrementally drive the modernization of social mindsets.
How should propaganda and education be carried out? One of the most effective media of communication at that time was the newspaper. Marxism holds that newspapers "can intervene in the movement daily, become the mouthpiece of the movement, reflect the diverse events of each day, and establish a continuous and lively connection between the people and their daily press." As a form of mass media with a relatively fixed publication cycle, the newspaper provides readers with a dynamic perspective for understanding the ongoing construction of political power; it also serves as a bridge and link for communication and interaction between the political party and society. The newspapers founded by the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [RCP(B)] under Lenin's leadership presented grand and abstract revolutionary theories to the masses in the form of concrete examples, guiding the proletariat to gradually cast off ideological and cultural poverty. Social existence determines social consciousness. The propaganda departments help the masses raise their cultural standards and political awareness not only by fully explaining policies but also by emphasizing how to advance the construction of people's livelihoods. Distinct from the media of capitalist society, proletarian periodicals must not be "tools for the rich to get wealthy and provide news and amusement for the rich," but rather "tools to enlighten the masses, to teach them how to live after driving out the landlords and capitalists, and how to build their own economy." Lenin believed that the publications of propaganda departments should adhere to the working principle of serving the proletariat: "It is not private gain or greed, nor fame or status, that draws one new force after another into the ranks of writers," but rather serving "the millions and tens of millions of working people, the cream of these countries, the strength of the country, and the future of the country."
The Bolshevik Party used newspapers to publish the relevant work experiences of Party organizations and government functional departments at all levels, using these as a fulcrum to educate the masses on how to improve their quality of life by building socialism. "The latest achievements of human revolutionary thought must be enriched by the experience of the socialist proletariat and its vibrant work," combining the historical experience of scientific socialism with the proletarian struggle. In 1919, in the "Draft Program of the RCP(B)," Lenin proposed that the Soviet regime should implement compulsory and polytechnical education [5], combining education with social productive labor, helping workers and peasants raise their cultural levels in all respects, and attracting the working people to actively participate in educational endeavors. Lenin believed that propaganda work should focus on content regarding economic production, "especially by giving more practical, professional, and mass-oriented consideration to actual experience," rather than "empty talk and abstract slogans." Propaganda departments need to use cases from real life to educate the masses, forming a writing style that serves the proletariat, and taking care to "collect, meticulously verify, and study various facts in the actual construction of the new life," while "paying more attention to how the worker and peasant masses actually create new things in their daily work. Check more frequently to see how much communism there is in these new things."
The 11th Congress of the RCP(B) required that the RCP(B) propaganda departments establish various local periodicals in cities and rural areas, with content serving the practical needs of workers and peasants—such as "issues concerning local construction, the life, work, and struggle of the working people, while simultaneously analyzing these issues in the newspapers in a lively manner that directly responds to the needs and demands of the readers." As socialist construction unfolded across Soviet Russia, the RCP(B) propaganda departments constructed a systematized network of press and media, publishing both abstract theory and concrete grassroots work experience, transforming these into effective capacities to meet the living needs of the people.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." A Marxist party must not only disseminate the texts of revolutionary theory but, more importantly, apply them to guide the revolutionary practice of social modernization. Lenin pointed out that the peasant masses must be guided to recognize that "there is a connection between the life of hardship and the work people are doing for the great socialist ideals. It must be ensured that every ordinary laborer understands that his situation has improved in some way." According to Lenin's vision, the RCP(B) formed a propaganda work mechanism capable of driving the process of social modernization. Using periodicals as a fulcrum, the Bolshevik Party's propaganda departments integrated policy propositions into the process of raising the masses’ standard of living. In this sense, grand, systematic, and profound revolutionary theory was externalized into concrete examples in the daily lives of the masses. Once individuals perceive the actual efficacy of Marxist theory in helping them escape poverty in reality, they can gradually form an identification with the revolutionary regime.
IV. Synchronously Conducting Ideological Enlightenment and Political Mobilization
As Marx said, "The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism by weapons, material force must be overthrown by material force; but theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses." A Marxist party disseminates advanced revolutionary theory to the proletariat to arm the minds of the masses, thereby transforming revolutionary propositions into conscious actions for participating in the consolidation of political power. Therefore, cultural anti-poverty work in a socialist state on one hand helps the masses master the theoretical knowledge that can improve their living standards, and on the other hand, it must transform the individual's will to escape their survival predicament into practical action for participating in the consolidation of the regime. The synchronous conduct of ideological enlightenment and political mobilization helps realize the subject status of the masses in the construction of political power, providing endogenous power for the development of the socialist state.
Allowing the masses to learn Marxist theory through struggle is the most effective way to enlighten proletarian thought. According to Lenin's conception, the proletarian party "needs to explain in practice how socialism should be built. The entire propaganda work should be built on the political experience of economic construction," grounding it in the various practices of guiding national construction and "making the worker masses understand communism as their own cause." Lenin believed that "it is extremely incorrect to grasp the discourse on communism solely from books," as "our speeches and articles are all linked to daily work in all its aspects. Departing from work and struggle, the book knowledge about communism obtained from communist pamphlets and works is, one might say, worthless." The socialist cultural construction carried out by the RCP(B) was not merely the introduction of revolutionary theoretical texts; it focused more on allowing the masses to master the ability to build a new society through practical activities.
The cultural anti-poverty work of a Marxist party, in the final analysis, is to allow the people to exert their own creativity in the construction of political power. Lenin emphasized, "It is necessary for the working masses to independently undertake the management and construction of the socialist state." Taking this as the logical starting point, the Bolshevik Party allowed the masses to participate in the dissemination of revolutionary consciousness, stimulating the initiative of the proletariat in actual struggle. As early as before the October Revolution, Lenin founded Rabochaya Gazeta (Workers' Gazette), the popular organ of the Bolshevik Party. In the publication announcement, Lenin encouraged workers to participate actively in running the newspaper and become correspondents, "writing reviews, writing articles, providing materials, reflecting situations, and expressing opinions." At the same time, the newspaper opened columns such as "Party Life" and "Letters from Various Places," publishing letters and dispatches from workers and local Party organizations. After the establishment of Soviet Russia, the RCP(B) propaganda and education departments continued to implement Lenin's ideas, mobilizing the masses to join in press work and constructing another channel for political participation for the proletariat, inviting the working people into the practical field of social transformation. After the establishment of the Soviet regime, Lenin further required that propaganda departments "should enable the peasants to use the skill of reading and writing to improve their own management and improve the condition of their country." The RCP(B) propaganda and education departments actively mobilized the masses to participate in writing and submitting articles, becoming worker-peasant correspondents [6]. This process guided the masses from being a propaganda audience that merely reads periodicals and receives information to becoming subjects who disseminate revolutionary consciousness and devote themselves to the various activities of Soviet regime construction.
As socialist construction proceeded vigorously in Russia, the worker and peasant masses, under the leadership of the RCP(B), participated in the supervision of political power through news writing. In the article "Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power?", Lenin proposed relying on the masses to stabilize the revolutionary regime, the most important of which was to "exercise the most precise and serious accounting and supervision on a national scale, that is, worker supervision over the production and distribution of products." He suggested that the Soviet regime absorb workers and peasants into the work of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection (Rabkrin). The Bolshevik Party turned Lenin's proposal into reality, mobilizing the masses to write dispatches for the propaganda departments and the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection, reflecting various deviations that appeared in policy implementation. The Central Control Commission of the RCP(B) stipulated that the Workers' and Peasants' Inspections at all levels should appoint specific personnel to be responsible for worker-peasant correspondence work, maintaining contact with the masses who actively write articles through Party newspapers, ensuring that "the specific defects of government agencies, and all phenomena of bureaucracy, arrogance, negligence, and corruption exposed by worker-correspondents in workers' newspapers receive a response, enabling the Control Commission and the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection Bureau to take corresponding measures."
The purpose of a Marxist party educating the masses is to enable the proletariat to possess the capacity to transform the old system and participate directly or indirectly in the practice of regime construction. During the period of the New Economic Policy [7], to achieve the regulation and management of private commerce and private capitalism, the "level of maturity and cultural standard" of the working people was key. Attention had to be paid to guiding the masses to learn how to struggle against capitalism and defend the class interests of the proletariat, "training workers and all laborers on the spot to manage the national economy of the whole country," and "enabling every laborer to contribute their own strength to consolidate the worker-peasant state." By writing dispatches, worker-peasant correspondents revealed the inadequacies in the construction of political power and struggled against backward ideas in their own way; their scope of work transcended the general category of news writing. In participating in writing, the masses grew from being responders to revolutionary calls into builders of the new society.
Lenin pointed out that, on the one hand, "there must be a correct estimation of the political situation and we need correct tactical slogans"; on the other hand, "the masses must support these slogans with actual combat strength." According to Lenin's vision, the propaganda departments mobilized the masses to participate in running newspapers, turning them from audiences of press propaganda into active subjects disseminating revolutionary consciousness, contributing the wisdom and experience of grassroots laborers to socialist construction. The Organizational Bureau of the RCP(B) Central Committee advocated for allowing the masses to join the ranks of worker-peasant correspondents, gradually growing into "executors of proletarian-communist influence over the broad masses of working people," striving to cultivate the worker and peasant masses into "powerful assistants in the work of improving Soviet organs, eliminating existing defects, and correcting behaviors that bureaucratically distort the Party line." The Soviet propaganda and education system, exemplified by the worker-peasant correspondent system, displayed the characteristics of combining ideological enlightenment with political mobilization. The propaganda departments mobilized the masses to deepen their understanding of policies through learning news writing and other methods; this was also a form of political participation that transformed individual political awareness into conscious action to promote socialist development.
V. Practical Enlightenment from Lenin's Vision of Cultural Anti-Poverty
In Lenin's vision, Marxist parties rely on the socialist system and use systematic educational projects to cultivate the masses' caliber and ability to participate in public affairs. Within this, the vanguard of the proletariat leads society to form a rational understanding of revolutionary reality, gradually transforming mass concepts into conscious actions for consolidating the construction of political power. Lenin's series of propositions regarding cultural anti-poverty in a socialist state can provide wisdom and experience from the masses for consolidating people's political power. The methodological insights contained therein have reference value for cultural anti-poverty work in Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.
First, guiding the modern transformation of social concepts through the advanced nature of the Marxist party. As members of the vanguard of the proletariat, Communists should leverage a level of political consciousness and theoretical literacy higher than that of the general masses to play an exemplary leading role, "guiding all the people to socialism, directing and organizing the new system, and becoming the teacher, guide, and leader of all the exploited laborers in the cause of building their own social life without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie." At the Eighth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Lenin summarized the report on the Party program, emphasizing that "the program should explain to the masses how the communist revolution happens, why it is inevitable, where its significance, essence, and power lie, and what problems it ought to solve." Marxist parties possess advanced theories that reveal the laws governing the development of human society; they scientifically formulate and implement policies and lines, helping the masses liberate their minds as they gradually break free from material poverty. For the Communist Party of China (CPC), advancing Chinese-path modernization requires "continuously consolidating the material conditions for the people's happy life while vigorously developing advanced socialist culture" to promote well-rounded human development. The work of cultural anti-poverty led by the proletarian vanguard reifies profound, abstract, and systematized revolutionary theories through the practical results of policy programs. It explains the scientific and rational nature of policy proposals to the masses, helping the public form a rational understanding of realistic issues such as poverty. This is conducive to cultivating a consciousness of struggle among social members—rewriting one's destiny through self-effort to create a better life—and stimulating the creativity of the masses in building socialism.
Second, transforming mass concepts into conscious action in anti-poverty work through diverse forms of political participation. Lenin instructed Soviet organs at all levels to educate and mobilize the masses of workers and peasants to participate in public affairs, and to "conduct political education for them based on their own personal experience, thereby for the first time setting about making the truly entire people learn to manage, and begin to manage." In addition to organizing government elections and mass organizations, the propaganda departments of the RCP(B) implemented Lenin's proposals by encouraging laborers to learn news writing and to assist the work of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection [8] in the capacity of worker-peasant correspondents, reflecting deficiencies in state-building and summarizing experiences. It can be said that the system of worker-peasant correspondents designed by Lenin established a flexible channel for political participation, cultivating the ability and literacy of the masses to participate directly or indirectly in various public affairs. Similarly, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to "focus on transforming the people's yearning for a better life into a powerful momentum for poverty alleviation" and to "respect the principal status and pioneering spirit of the people, fully stimulating the wisdom and strength inherent among the masses." The 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed "broadening the channels for various grassroots groups to participate in grassroots governance in an orderly manner, and ensuring that the people manage grassroots public affairs and public welfare undertakings in accordance with the law." Based on the established requirements of Chinese-path modernization, Chinese Communists should provide institutional support for the masses to exercise their agency in state-building by developing whole-process people's democracy. Drawing on Lenin's theoretical assertions regarding the worker-peasant correspondent system is conducive to integrating the people's will into the various activities of the CPC’s governance of the country, perfecting whole-process people's democracy, and manifesting the unity between the Party's leadership and the people's principal status.
Third, implementing the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability [9] through cultural anti-poverty to grasp the initiative in modernization. "In cultural matters, haste and sweeping leaps are most harmful." In carrying out cultural anti-poverty, a Marxist party must make judgments consistent with the laws of revolution while adhering to the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, thereby grasping the initiative in the modernization of society. In Lenin’s conceptualization of cultural anti-poverty, propaganda departments should guide the masses toward a rational understanding of the complex and tortuous revolutionary struggle, thereby shaping a social public opinion landscape favorable to the steady advancement of state-building. Similarly, the arduousness and complexity of Chinese-path modernization are unprecedented. Chinese Communists should "neither aim too high nor be stuck in old ways; maintain historical patience, and persist in seeking progress while maintaining stability, moving forward step-by-step and continuously." In carrying out anti-poverty work, Chinese Communists must, on the one hand, cultivate the ideological consciousness of the masses to attain prosperity through hard work and the pursuit of a better life; on the other hand, they must foster a social atmosphere of seeking truth from facts and seeking progress while maintaining stability. This guides the masses to recognize how to scientifically mobilize all positive factors conducive to socialist construction and explore an anti-poverty institutional system with Chinese characteristics. As Mao Zedong said, "Truth is not completed all at once, but is completed gradually" [10]; one must master the laws of revolutionary development through investigation and research, grasping the initiative in building socialism while adhering to seeking truth from facts. For a socialist state, carrying out cultural anti-poverty should involve implementing the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability and promoting the formation of a social consciousness focused on seeking truth from facts among the public. This helps in grasping the initiative to overcome various risks and challenges on the road to Chinese-path modernization.
(Author Biography: Lin Ke, PhD in Law, Assistant Researcher at the School of Marxism, Nanjing University)
Web Editor: Tong Xin Source: Southeast Academic (Dōngnán Xuéshù) Issue 3, 2023