On October 13, Party Committee Secretary and Dean Deng Chundong met with leaders of the Communist Party of Italy and the Party of Communist Refoundation

On October 13, 2018, Deng Chundong, Party Committee Secretary and President of the Institute of Marxism Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), met in Bologna, Italy, with Bruno Steri, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Italy (PdI), and Franco Ferrari, head of the Foreign Liaison Department of the Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC). Representing the Chinese side at the meeting were Professor Wang Binglin, Director of the Social Science Development Research Center for Higher Education Institutions under the Ministry of Education; Professor Zhao Zhongyuan, Dean of the School of Marxism at Guangzhou University; Professor Zhou Lisheng, Dean of the School of Marxism at Jiangxi Normal University; Professor Wang Tingyou from the School of Marxism at Renmin University of China; He Xinyuan, Deputy Director of the Research Department of the Institute of Marxism Studies at CASS; and Chen Airu, Director of the Editorial Department of National Development Strategy Research (a Russian-language journal) at the Institute of Marxism Studies, CASS. Representing the Italian side were relevant leaders and members of the Communist Party of Italy and the Party of Communist Refoundation.

Deng Chundong, Party Committee Secretary and President of the Institute of Marxism Studies, meets with leaders of the Central Committees of two Italian Communist Parties.

Deng Chundong noted that the "European Forum on the Chinese Path" has been held annually since 2014, and that Italian Communists have provided immense assistance to the successful convening of each session over the past five years. He expressed sincere gratitude on behalf of the Chinese side for the full recognition and affirmation Italian Communists have given to the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese path ^[1].

Deng Chundong, Party Committee Secretary and President of the Institute of Marxism Studies, speaks during the meeting.

Bruno Steri, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Italy, and Franco Ferrari, head of the Foreign Liaison Department of the Party of Communist Refoundation, pointed out that China has chosen the correct path of development and that the CPC has led the Chinese people to achieve great successes in socialist construction. They stated that these achievements are worthy of study by both the Communist Party of Italy and the Party of Communist Refoundation. They noted that the ranks of Italian Communists are currently in a state of fragmentation, with multiple Communist parties existing simultaneously, primarily due to internal disagreements. Furthermore, in contemporary Italy, Communist parties have focused their energy on seeking more votes rather than rooting themselves in strengthening their own Party building ^[2]. They have neither seriously synthesized the experiences and lessons of the Soviet Union’s dissolution nor introduced specific measures to attract young people to join the Party, both of which they hope to improve in the future.

Bruno Steri, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Italy, speaks during the meeting.

Franco Ferrari, head of the Foreign Liaison Department of the Party of Communist Refoundation, speaks during the meeting.

Scene of the meeting.

(Report and photography by Chen Airu)