Speech by Deng Chundong, Dean and Party Secretary, at the Inauguration Conference of the CASS Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
Distinguished leaders and colleagues:
Today, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is formally established. We feel immense joy, we are greatly encouraged, and we realize the weight of the responsibility placed upon us.
First, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies to express sincere gratitude and heartfelt respect to the leaders and scholars, both within and outside the Academy, who have long provided guidance, support, and assistance to the Institute’s work and to our research on Marxism and its Sinicization.
The 19th National Congress of the Party [1] summarized the Party's theoretical innovations as Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and established it as the guiding ideology that the Party must adhere to over the long term. This holds profound historical significance for our Party building and for the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has brought our Party’s understanding of the laws of Communist Party governance, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of the development of human society to a new theoretical height [2]. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era systematically answers the major epochal question of what kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics we should uphold and develop in the New Era, and how we should uphold and develop it. It is a powerful ideological weapon guiding our Party as it conducts the "Great Struggle," builds the "Great Project," advances the "Great Cause," and realizes the "Great Dream" [3]; it is the guiding ideology that our Party must adhere to over the long term.
The establishment of our Academy’s Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is a major event in the Chinese philosophy and social science circles. It begins our Academy’s journey of concentrating superior forces to research Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. As the work of the Research Center unfolds, the study, research, promotion, and interpretation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences will certainly enter a new stage. The establishment and operation of the Center will surely play a positive role in building our Academy into a strong fortress of Marxism, better utilizing its role as a think tank serving the decision-making of the Party and the state, and constructing the disciplinary, academic, and discourse systems [4] of the various branches of philosophy and social sciences under the guidance of Marxism.
As a specialized institution for Marxist research, all comrades of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies shoulder a sacred responsibility in studying, promoting, and interpreting Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Under the organization and coordination of the Academy’s Party Leadership Group, our Institute must earnestly fulfill this responsibility and actively participate in the Center's work. First, we ourselves must conscientiously study Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Henceforth, we will treat this study as the foundation and prerequisite for the professional work and academic activities of all comrades in our Institute. Building upon the diligent study of recent years and combining it with the study of the spirit of the 19th National Congress, we will proceed more systematically and deeply, striving to master the scientific system, accurate meaning, and spiritual essence of this Thought.
Second, we must treat the research of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the primary scientific research task and the main thread of all future research work at the Institute of Marxism Studies. The establishment of annual innovation projects, disciplinary settings, and the conduct of academic activities must all take this as an important basis. At the same time, when applying for major Academy projects and the National Social Science Fund, we must select projects centered on this content.
Third, we must vigorously promote and interpret Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. In recent years, the Institute of Marxism Studies has implemented the requirements of the Party Leadership Group and has already created and formed a series of "forum brands" for the promotion and interpretation of the Party's theoretical innovations. These include the more than ten "Marxism Sinicization Forums" we hold domestically each year, the CASS "Marxist Theory Research and Development Project" (Marxist Project) [5] Forums, and the "China Path Forums" we hold in Europe and Central and Eastern European countries. Henceforth, we will continue to use these forums as vehicles, connecting with domestic experts and scholars in Marxist research and teaching as well as foreign left-wing scholars, to persist in running these forums well every year. At the same time, we must actively participate in the tasks of the CASS Ideological and Theoretical Writing Group, publishing as many articles as possible in various domestic and foreign media and at academic events. We will strive in various ways to promote and interpret Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, making the due and greater contributions of the scholars of the Institute of Marxism Studies so that this scientific theory may better arm the whole Party, educate the people, propel work forward, and influence the world.