The 2021 National Forum on Basic Principles of Marxism Successfully Held at Northwestern Polytechnical University
On December 4, 2021, the 2021 National Forum on the Basic Principles of Marxism was held at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU). The conference was hosted by the Department of Marxist Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, and the Collaborative Innovation Center for the Theory of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in Beijing Colleges and Universities (China University of Political Science and Law). It was organized by the Discipline Development Office, the School of Marxism, and the Center for Innovative Marxism Research at NWPU. Over 300 experts and scholars from major universities across the country participated in the forum through a combination of online and offline platforms.
(Photo by Guo Youjun)
At the opening ceremony, Chen Jianyou, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Northwestern Polytechnical University, delivered a speech on behalf of the organizers, extending a warm welcome to the attending experts and scholars. Professor Lin Jianhua, Vice President of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, delivered an address and a keynote report. He provided a comprehensive overview of the history of the National Forum on the Basic Principles of Marxism and, based on the relevant important discourses of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee [1], offered a profound exposition on how to advance the study of basic Marxist principles. Cheng Enfu—a Member of CASS, Chief Professor at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and member of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the National People's Congress—presented a keynote report. He focused on current trends in the study of basic Marxist principles and the development of Marxism internationally. Addressing the domestic issue of neglecting the importance of Leninism, he delivered a report titled "What is the Scientific Nature and Contemporary Value of Leninism?—A Discussion with British Academician David Lane," profoundly pointing out that Leninism is an international Marxist theory on equal footing with Marx-Engelsism. The keynote reports of this forum were divided into four sessions.
The first session was chaired by Li Gang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Marxism at NWPU. Professor Xu Zhongwei, former Party Secretary of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, delivered a report titled "Ten Issues Worth Noting in the Disciplinary Education and Development of Basic Marxist Principles." Adopting a problem-oriented approach with a penetrating vision, he pointed out ten major issues currently facing the field, including serious formalism, prevalent dogmatism, neglect of scientific systems, pragmatic [2] attitudes, non-academic understandings, and a lack of scientific spirit. He encouraged scholars to overcome these issues to advance the discipline. Professor Yu Bin, Director of the Department of Marxist Principles at the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, delivered a report titled "On the Totality of Marxism as a Totality." Starting from the integrity of Marxism, he argued that studying Marxist works should not be limited to classic passages; rather, Marxist theory must be examined within the context of total social practice and the entire era to avoid the mistake of "blind men feeling an elephant" [3] or taking the part for the whole. Professor Wang Yan—a Yangtze River Scholar Distinguished Professor, National Renowned Teacher, member of the Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee for Ideological and Political Theory Courses, and Director of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics base of the Jiangsu Provincial Center for the Study of the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics—delivered a report titled "Revisiting the People's Perspective in the 'Three Constantly Read Articles' [4] and its Implications." From a fresh perspective, he scrutinized the "Three Constantly Read Articles," providing profound analysis of questions such as "Who are 'the people' in Mao Zedong's writings?", "How are 'the people' possible in Mao's writings?", and "How is the consciousness of purpose [5] in Mao's writings consistently maintained?" He proposed that "the people" is a politically rich concept with different connotations under different historical conditions, and that being "people-centered" represents a new transcendence of the concept of the people. Professor Du Yuhua of the School of Marxism at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a member of the State Council’s Discipline Review Group and the Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee for Ideological and Political Theory Courses, delivered a report titled "The Modernization Process and its Essence from Marx's Perspective," profoundly expounding on the conceptual categories of modernization and Marx's understanding of it, suggesting that modernization must be understood within the process of globalized modernization.
The second session was chaired by Professor Sun Shaoyong, Director of the Center for Innovative Marxism Research at NWPU. Professor Yan Lianfu, member of the State Council’s Discipline Review Group, Young Yangtze River Scholar, and Dean of the School of Marxism at Xi'an Jiaotong University, delivered a report titled "General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Discourses on Spiritual Life." He explained several important orientations of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s discourses on spiritual life and the paths for promoting the development of the people's spiritual life. From the height of a community with a shared future for humanity, he analyzed the General Secretary’s vision for promoting civilizational exchange and building a community of shared spiritual life for humanity. Professor Yang Yunxia, Dean of the School of Marxism at NWPU, delivered a report titled "Utilizing Rule-of-Law Means in the Opposition to Historical Nihilism" [6]. Using the opposition to historical nihilism as an entry point, she conducted an in-depth study of Xi Jinping's discourses on the subject, the experience of using legal means to combat it, and the achievements of rule-of-law construction in the struggle within the ideological sphere. Based on an examination of domestic and international situations, she proposed that the national strategy of comprehensively governing the country according to law determines the trend toward the legalization of ideology, which has strict boundaries. Professor Hou Yanshe of the School of Marxism at Renmin University of China delivered a report titled "Learning from the Past to Chart the Future, Moving Forward Proactively—Ten Points of Experience Systematically Revealing the Party's Path to Success." He profoundly analyzed the historical experience of the CPC through its century-long struggle, closely following the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s Centennial Endeavor [7]. He expounded on the developmental trajectory, profound connotations, and distinct characteristics of the Party's century of historical experience, arguing that each "persistence" [8] contains profound meaning and that the Resolution embodies the Marxist historical materialist outlook. Professor Zhou Shaodong of the School of Marxism at Wuhan University delivered a report titled "Historical Materialism and the Party's Historical Resolutions." He conducted a scholarly study of the Party's historical resolutions through a historical review, sequentially discussing the Resolution in relation to the revolutionary historical outlook and the modernization historical outlook, proposing that the third historical resolution should be studied with a correct outlook on Party history. Professor Du Liming of the School of Marxism at Sichuan University delivered a report titled "Achievements and Proclamations: Four Leaps on the Road to the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation," studying the four leaps from the perspective of the CPC's developmental history. He expounded on key viewpoints including the Party leading the people's war to bring about the first leap, leading the people in independence and hard struggle for the second, leading the people in innovation and progress for the third, and the Party's overall management of the "Four Greats" [9] to bring about the fourth leap.
The third session was chaired by Professor Tan Jinsong, former Dean of the School of Marxism at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Professor Tai Lihua, Executive Dean of the School of Marxism at China University of Political Science and Law, delivered a report titled "Research on Income Distribution Fairness under the Vision of the Common Prosperity Goal." She focused on the formal fairness of distribution under the ownership of the means of production, the substantive fairness of distribution under the ownership of the means of production by the whole society, and the major innovations in promoting distribution fairness in socialism with Chinese characteristics. Researcher Zhang Jianyun, Director of the Marxist Philosophy Office at the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, delivered a report titled "Analysis of the Essence and Value of Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of Marx's Labor Theory." He explored the nature and value of AI using Marx's labor theory, proposing that the essence of human labor is the activity of the objectification of the subject, and analyzed the internal mechanism and essence of AI "labor," as well as its value and significance. Professor Zhao Yan'an, Dean of the School of Marxism at Northwest A&F University, delivered a report titled "Promoting the Study of Marxist 'Three Rural Issues' [10] Theory," elaborating on the research background, foundation, and fields of Marxist agrarian theory, and introducing the development and results of "three rural issues" research at his university. Professor Zhang Yunlong, Vice Dean of the School of Marxism at NWPU, delivered a report titled "Three Rational Dimensions of a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity." From a philosophical perspective, he explored the public rationality, communicative rationality, and practical rationality of the community with a shared future for humanity—namely, public rationality based on "being-with," communicative rationality for achieving harmonious coexistence, and practical rationality emphasizing action and results.
The fourth session was chaired by Professor Kong Xiangli, President of the Shaanxi Provincial Association for the Study of Capital and Professor at the International Business School of Shaanxi Normal University. Researcher Yang Jing, Deputy Director of the Marxist Principles Department at the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, delivered a report titled "Common Prosperity: Argumentation of Views and Theoretical Analysis," pointing out the current state of research on common prosperity, nine points of focus in academia, and the essence of academic debates. She offered suggestions on how to view the prosperity of common prosperity, including deepening its connotation and synergistically promoting measures for its achievement. Professor Duan Xuehui, Director of the Center for Innovative Marxism Research at Yan'an University, delivered a report titled "Methodological Investigation and Inspiration of the Logical Starting Point of Marx's Political Economy." From a high-level perspective, she analyzed the logical starting point of political economy with Chinese characteristics, the existing divergences and the methodology behind them, and profoundly interpreted the logical starting point and methodology of Marxist political economy. Professor Chen Huixiong, Director of the Institute of Humanistic Economics at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, delivered a report titled "The Road to Happiness: The Structural Logic of Completing the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and the Natural Scale of Common Prosperity," exploring the core mechanism of completing a moderately prosperous society and further elaborating on the relationship between wealth, affluence, and common prosperity. Professor Ren Xiaowei, Vice Chairman of the Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee for Ideological and Political Theory Courses and Vice President of Shaanxi Normal University, delivered a report titled "The Original Contributions of the CPC's Century of Struggle to World Socialism." Drawing from the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s Centennial Endeavor, he discussed five major and far-reaching original contributions made by the CPC to world socialism and world development, particularly for developing countries.
The conference included three parallel sub-forums. Participating experts and scholars engaged in in-depth exchanges and discussions on three themes: "The CPC's Application and Development of Basic Marxist Principles over the past Century," "Special Research on the Theory of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Marxist Modernization Theory," and "Classic Interpretation and Frontier Theoretical Research on Basic Marxist Principles." Representatives from the three sub-forums gave group reports, with the reporting session chaired by Professor Yang Yunxia. Associate Professor Yao Yu of Shaanxi Normal University reported for the first sub-forum, detailing the number of participants, the five exchange themes, and the results of the discussions, evaluating it as an academic exchange with novel ideas and fruitful results. Associate Professor Xiao Bin of Xiamen University reported for the second sub-forum, detailing themes including scientific and technological innovation, common prosperity, dual circulation, and a community with a shared future for humanity, noting the rich content and diverse outcomes. Associate Professor Zhang Quansheng of Xi'an University of Finance and Economics reported for the third sub-forum, noting that the themes—including Marx's views on authority, religious thought, and alienation theory—were characterized by a younger membership, a rational membership structure, diverse research themes, and a modernized research perspective.
(Photo by Guo Youjun)
The closing ceremony was chaired by Professor Yang Yunxia. Professor Cheng Enfu delivered the concluding remarks, fully affirming the achievements of the forum. He noted the high quality of the speeches, the diversity of themes and disciplines, and the richness of the novel viewpoints and ideas. He provided insightful commentary on the speakers' content, interpreted the concept of common prosperity, and cautioned scholars against over-generalizing it. He argued that the construction of democratic systems should combine top-down and bottom-up approaches, with top-down management as the primary focus. He expressed hope that scholars would persist in the organic integration of independent academic research, theoretical publicity, and policy exploration to better promote the study of basic Marxist principles. At the closing ceremony, Professor Yang Yunxia affirmed the conference discussions and expressed heartfelt thanks to the participating scholars, organizers, and staff. She introduced the cultural landscape of Xi'an and NWPU to the participants and warmly welcomed experts and scholars to work at the School of Marxism. Finally, she wished all scholars more and better research results in the future to further advance the study of Marxist theory.
(Contributed by Sun Shaoyong, Zhou Wei, and Chen Yongsheng)