The First National Innovative Marxism Forum Successfully Convened

On March 27, 2021, the "First National Forum on Clerical Innovative Marxism" was held at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU). The conference was jointly organized by the China Society of Political Economy, the Center for Economic and Social Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the Office of Disciplinary Development of NPU, and the School of Marxism at NPU. More than 150 scholars from over 70 domestic and foreign universities and research institutions, as well as several academic journals and publishing units—including Journal of Management Science, Journal of Hebei University of Economics and Business, Contemporary Economic Research, and Journal of Chongqing University of Technology—attended the meeting.

Wu Wenchuan, Party Committee Secretary of the School of Marxism at NPU, presided over the opening ceremony. Chen Jianyou, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of NPU, extended a warm welcome to the experts and scholars on behalf of the organizers. Cheng Enfu, President of the China Society of Political Economy, delivered an address and presented a keynote report. He explained the academic background behind the founding of this forum and the strategic goals for the establishment of the Innovative Marxism Research Center. He emphasized that to uphold the fundamentals and break new ground in Marxism, one must persist in both developmental innovation and scientific critique. He noted two primary subjects of Marxist innovation: first, revolutionary leaders (i.e., Communist Party leaders) who develop Marxism as the guiding ideology for revolution and construction; and second, Marxist scholars who advance Marxist theory using academic language. He called for the organic integration of independent academic research, theoretical dissemination, and policy discussion—conducting scholarship for the Party, the state, and the working people, as well as for the global working class.

The keynote reports were divided into four sessions. The first session was chaired by Professor Zhang Yuesheng, editor-in-chief of Journal of Management Science. Professor Zhang Shunhong, former Director of the Institute of World History at CASS and member of the National Committee of the CPPCC ^[1], delivered a report titled "Reflections on Imperialism and the International Monopoly Bourgeoisie." Based on his understanding of the continuous rise of developing countries, the growing strength of socialist China, and international monopoly finance capital, he revealed the essence of the international monopoly bourgeoisie. He proposed the concept of "developing capitalist countries" and identified the downward trend of imperialism. Professor Liu Shulin, deputy editor-in-chief of Ideological and Theoretical Education Guide at Tsinghua University, gave a report titled "Reflections on 'Four Histories' ^[2] Education." Rooted in the Marxist historical outlook, the report proposed six reflections: establishing a historical outlook focused on the main theme, thread, and mainstream; sustaining the struggle to critique historical nihilism ^[3]; recognizing that the two thirty-year periods ^[4] of the PRC cannot negate each other; grasping the analysis of world history; maintaining the people-centered view of history; and the sublation ^[5] of traditional culture. Professor Cao Yongxin, deputy editor-in-chief of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Theory Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, focused on the basic experience of the Sinicization of Marxism over the Party's centenary, proposing that Chinese reality be studied according to four periods: the era of revolutionary war, the period from the founding of the PRC to reform and opening up, the post-reform and opening up period, and the New Era following the 18th National Congress. Professor Wu Jianqi, former Vice President of Hebei University of Economics and Business, explored the abstract definition and concrete content of the "basic economic system" ^[6] within its conceptual category from the perspective of academic norms.

The second session was chaired by Professor Sun Shaoyong, Director of the Innovative Marxism Research Center at NPU. Professor Zhang Xian, Director of the Academic Committee of the School of Economics at Sichuan University, researched and restated Marx’s study of the capitalist mode of production based on the formalization of continuous functions and non-negative matrices. This made explicit the mathematical methods inherent in Marx’s economics, effectively formalizing Marxist economics. Professor Feng Yanli, Deputy Director of the Institute of Philosophy at CASS, presented "The Philosophical Basis and Contributions of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era." He argued that its philosophical basis lies in historical materialism (worldview), seeking truth from facts and emancipating the mind (epistemology), and the people-centered approach (values). Its contributions are reflected in discourse innovation, epistemological innovation, new grasps of global issues, and methodological innovation. Professor Song Chaolong, Vice Dean of the School of Marxism at Peking University, integrated the critique of finance capital into the logic of Capital and proposed key reflections on the socialist political economy of the transition period. Professor Wang Wenyu, former Party Committee Secretary of the School of Marxism at Southwest University, offered rational reflections on rural revitalization in the New Era from the perspectives of consolidating poverty alleviation, eliminating poverty, resolving the principal contradiction ^[7] in Chinese society, and maintaining social stability and national unity. Professor Yang Yunxia, Dean of the School of Marxism at NPU, delivered a report titled "A New Form of Capitalist Monopoly: Intellectual Property Monopoly," discussing its foundations, manifestations, illegitimacy, essence, and unresolved issues in developed capitalist countries.

The third session was chaired by Professor Mu Aiying, deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hebei University of Economics and Business. Professor Wu Shanlin of the School of Economics at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics presented "The Political Economy of the Century-Long Industrialization of the Communist Party of China." Reviewing the hundred-year journey of China's industrialization, he argued that China’s economic development strategy has balanced the two dimensions of people’s livelihood and national security. Li Zhengtu, a researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, explored the institutional, developmental, and practical logic of the anti-poverty theory with Chinese characteristics. He argued that the logic of China's anti-poverty governance is an organic component of the governance logic of socialism with Chinese characteristics, constrained by the overall logic of national governance. Professor Liu Xingang, Dean of the School of Marxism at Beijing Institute of Technology, and Professor Kong Xiangli, President of the Shaanxi Research Association on Capital, respectively discussed theoretical and policy issues regarding China's "new development pattern" ^[8] and the interpretation of strategic choices.

The fourth session was chaired by Professor Zhang Yaonan of the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences at Beihang University. Professor Gao Xuhong, Chair of the Department of the School of Marxism at NPU, based on her experience conducting third-party assessments of poverty-stricken counties' exits from poverty, raised the issue of "governance of spiritual poverty." She explored how to strengthen the foundational support, balance the governance, optimize the methods, and reinforce the performance evaluation of spiritual poverty governance. Song Zhemin, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Academy of Management Science and a visiting professor at Duke Kunshan University, presented "Upholding Fundamentals and Breaking New Ground: Models and Paths for the Sinicization of Marxism." With a visionary perspective, he proposed that Chinese scholars should possess a "global concern" (tianxia xionghuai) to solve humanity's problems. He suggested transcending the logic of capital, overcoming the capitalist discourse system, and prioritizing theoretical and economic foundations, noting the unprecedented importance of Chinese-path modernization. Professor Zhang Yaonan used Zhang Dongsun’s Democracy and Socialism as an entry point to discuss the relationship between the "Middle Way" (zhongdao) and socialism.

The conference included three sub-forums. Participating experts and scholars reported and engaged in in-depth exchanges on three themes: "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era," "The Centenary of the Founding of the Party," and "Political Economy." Representatives from the sub-forums provided group reports. Sub-forum Group One was reported by Associate Professor Xiao Bin of Xiamen University, who summarized findings from the dimensions of world socialist development, economics, and culture. Sub-forum Group Two was reported by Professor Chen Xiuhua of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, who noted that the papers in that group mainly explained basic Marxist principles in a popular and clear manner through the lens of the Party’s centenary history. Sub-forum Group Three was reported by Professor Wang Xuejun of Northeast Normal University, who stated that the group discussed Marxist political economy from three perspectives: the law of proportional distribution, achieving wealth through labor and common prosperity, and capitalist free trade. These papers demonstrated both Marxist theoretical depth and strong practical relevance.

The closing ceremony was chaired by Professor Yang Yunxia. Professor Cheng Enfu provided the concluding remarks, affirming the high quality and efficiency of the forum. He offered brief comments on the presentations and proposed the establishment of an academic community for the "Innovative Marxism Forum" to play an important role in pushing Chinese Marxism to the world and promoting the internationalization and application of Marxism. In the closing ceremony, Professor Yang Yunxia introduced the features of Xi'an and NPU to the participants and warmly welcomed the scholars to join the School of Marxism team. Finally, she expressed sincere gratitude to the participating scholars, organizers, and staff, and looked forward to meeting more experts at the Second National Forum on Innovative Marxism.