Deng Chundong: Upholding Fundamental Principles and Breaking New Ground to Advance the Adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese Context and the Needs of the Times
Practice knows no bounds, and likewise, there are no bounds to theoretical innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "To continue writing new chapters in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism is the solemn historical responsibility of contemporary Chinese Communists." To continue advancing theoretical innovation based on practice, we must first master the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and adhere to and apply the standpoints, views, and methods that run through it. In the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the "Six Must-Upholds," one of which is that we "must uphold the fundamentals and break new ground."
I
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "in the history of human thought, no single ideological theory has had such a broad and profound impact on humanity as Marxism." Marked by the publication of the Manifesto of the Communist Party, the birth of Marxism greatly advanced the process of human civilization and remains an ideological and discourse system with significant international influence to this day. Over the past century and more, human society has undergone earth-shaking changes, but the general principles expounded by Marxism remain, on the whole, entirely correct.
The vitality of a theory lies in constant innovation; promoting the continuous development of Marxism is the sacred duty of Communists. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "The history of the development of Marxism is a history of Marx, Engels, and their successors constantly developing [the theory] based on the development of the times, practice, and understanding." Marx's entire worldview is not a dogma, but a method. It provides not ready-made dogmas, but a starting point for further research and the method to be used for such research. As the world situation, landscape, and the face of human society undergo immense changes, Marxism—as a scientific understanding of the laws of social development—continues to advance with the times, constantly enriching and developing itself.
From the perspective of the history of world socialism, upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground is the key to the enrichment and development of Marxism. it concerns the vitality and influence of Marxist scientific theory, and the rise or fall of the cause of world socialism. To depart from upholding the fundamentals and betray Marxism will inevitably lead socialism toward setbacks and failure; to depart from innovation and allow Marxism to become dogmatic and ossified will inevitably lead socialism toward stagnation, a lack of vitality, and the loss of its superiority. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress: "We are engaged in a great undertaking without precedent. Only by upholding the fundamentals can we ensure that we do not lose our way or make subversive errors; only by breaking new ground can we grasp and lead the times."
From the perspective of the practice of the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground has permeated the CPC's century-long journey of struggle. For over a hundred years, in leading the processes of Chinese revolution, construction, and reform, the CPC has remained unswervingly committed to the guiding position of Marxism, exploring arduously, creating courageously, and advancing with the times to produce the Party’s theoretical innovations. On one hand, through a century of struggle, despite encountering difficulties, setbacks, and even failures, the CPC has always adhered to Marxism as its guide to action, writing the most magnificent epic in the thousands of years of the Chinese nation's history. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has unequivocally proposed adhering to the guiding position of Marxism, strengthening the Party’s ideological work, and persisting in arming the whole Party, educating the people, guiding practice, and promoting work with Marxism and its Sinicized and modernized achievements. On the other hand, while adhering to Marxism to guide practice, the Party has insisted on using its scientific worldview and methodology to solve China’s problems, rather than simply reciting and repeating specific conclusions and phrases, let alone treating Marxism as an immutable dogma to be applied mechanically to practice. By persisting in using Marxism to observe, interpret, and lead the times, using the vivid and rich practice of contemporary China to drive the development of Marxism, and absorbing all the excellent achievements of human civilization with a broad vision, the Party has upheld the fundamentals while creating the new, constantly transcending itself. By drawing on the strengths of others and continuously improving itself, the Party has deepened its understanding of the laws of governance by a communist party, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of the development of human society. It created Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory, formed the Theory of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development, and created Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, leading the cause of the Party and the people to constantly open up new horizons.
II
Practice has proven that the fate of Marxism has long been closely linked with the fate of the CPC, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation. Marxism provided a powerful ideological weapon for China's revolution, construction, and reform, enabling this ancient eastern power to create a miracle of development unprecedented in human history. In the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly expounded on the great significance of upholding the fundamentals—noting that "only by upholding the fundamentals can we ensure that we do not lose our way or make subversive errors"—and explicitly required that we continue to adhere to the "Three No-Waverings" on the new journey.
First, we must never waver in adhering to the basic principles of Marxism. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Times are changing and society is developing, but the basic principles of Marxism remain scientific truths. Although the era we live in has undergone huge and profound changes compared to the era of Marx, from the broad perspective of the 500-year history of world socialism, we are still in the historical era indicated by Marxism." Therefore, to promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, we must adhere to and apply the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. We must adhere to and apply the Marxist stance, viewpoints, and methods; its principles regarding the materiality of the world and its laws of development; its principles regarding the natural and historical character of human social development and its related laws; the laws regarding human liberation and free and well-rounded development; and the laws regarding the nature and development of cognition. We must adhere to and apply the Marxist views on practice, the masses, class, development, and contradiction, truly mastering and utilizing Marxism as our "master-skill" [1].
Second, we must never waver in adhering to the Party's overall leadership. The leadership of the Party is where the fate of the Chinese people and the future of the Chinese nation lie; it is an inevitable requirement for maintaining the guiding position of Marxism. Through a century of struggle, the Party has always been the people’s most reliable "backbone" [2] and the strongest, most powerful core of leadership. On the new journey of striving to advance the great cause of national rejuvenation and building a strong modern socialist country, the Party has successfully delivered new answers to the "Questions of the People," the "Questions of China," and the "Questions of the Times." Only under the Party's leadership, and by continuously deepening the understanding of the laws of governance by a communist party, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development, can the cause of the Party and the people advance in the right direction. History has fully proven that the foundation of upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground lies in adhering to the Party's overall leadership; this is the "core code" behind China's past great achievements. History will also prove that adhering to the Party's overall leadership is the fundamental guarantee for achieving the eternal great cause of the Chinese nation.
Third, we must never waver in adhering to socialism with Chinese characteristics. The path determines the destiny; the question of the path is a fundamental one. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a fundamental achievement made by the Party and the people through untold hardships and at a great cost; it is the only way to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This path did not come easily and must be held firmly in our own hands. This path is the correct one that conforms to China's development, reflects the people's will, and adapts to the trend of the times. We must carry forward the spirit of advancing with the times, constantly expanding the breadth and depth of our understanding of this path, so that it continues to lead China toward the future and toward new victories. Adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics is a "great article" [3]; to continue writing this great article, we must adhere to the Marxist view of development, give play to historical initiative and creativity, forge ahead with determination, explore boldly, and be brave and adept at analyzing and answering the urgent questions in real life and in the minds of the masses, constantly making new discoveries, new creations, new progress, and new innovations.
III
Upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground are dialectically unified and inseparable. Only by achieving innovation on the basis of upholding fundamentals can we better uphold those fundamentals through innovation. In the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly expounded on the significance of innovation, noting that "only by breaking new ground can we grasp and lead the times." He explicitly required that we keep pace with the times, comply with the development of practice, treat all newborn things with enthusiasm, and constantly expand the breadth and depth of our understanding. We must dare to say what our predecessors never said and do what our predecessors never did, using new theories to guide new practices.
We must treat science with a scientific attitude and pursue truth with the spirit of truth. The essence of both a scientific attitude and the spirit of truth is respect for objective laws. Upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground are, in essence, both a commitment to Marxism—which reveals objective laws—and a process of continuously revealing new laws through innovation. Consequently, deepening the understanding of the laws of governance by a communist party, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development, and following these laws based on scientific understanding, is the fundamental requirement for both upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground. Marxism is a science and a truth, but it is an open and constantly developing science. It has not exhausted truth, but has opened up the correct path for people to continuously attain more truth. To promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, we must follow the laws of scientific development, the laws of discovering and adhering to truth, and the laws of Marxist epistemology. We must persist in searching for the objective laws of the development of things in practice, obtaining new understandings of objective laws, forming new thoughts, views, and concepts, and continuously advancing the Party's theoretical innovation.
During its century-long struggle, the Party has accumulated much experience in this regard. For example, we must never mistake following old conventions and rigid dogmatism for "upholding the fundamentals." We cannot consider it "upholding the fundamentals" to mechanically copy every specific word our predecessors said, or to lack the courage to say new things or do new things that they did not. Even less can we treat persisting in past historical errors as "upholding the fundamentals." Conversely, we must never treat policy proposals that depart from the Marxist stance, depart from the basic principles of Marxism, or violate the fundamental socialist system as "innovation." We cannot treat the simple copying and mechanical application of the governance methods or socio-economic policies of developed countries—namely Western capitalist countries—as "innovation." We must persist in dialectical thinking, strategic thinking, bottom-line thinking, systemic thinking, historical thinking, and rule-of-law thinking. We must plan reform and construction with scientific thinking, identify what needs to be upheld and what needs to be innovated in practice, and design various policies scientifically and accurately. This ensures that the content of both upholding fundamentals and breaking new ground accurately reflects the requirements of the laws in all aspects of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, achieving the dialectical unity of the two.
We must persist in proceeding from China's reality and integrating with China's concrete reality. To promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, we must have a clear understanding of China's actual situation, base ourselves on China's reality, explain China's reality, and solve the actual problems of Chinese society. China's reality includes its historical characteristics and its current status. To promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, we must integrate the basic principles of Marxism with China's concrete reality and with fine traditional Chinese culture. We must focus on what we are currently doing, listen to the voice of the people, respond to realistic needs, and deeply summarize the practical experience of socialism with Chinese characteristics, focusing on solving practical problems in reform, opening up, and socialist modernization in the New Era. We must strengthen our confidence in our history and culture, persist in "making the past serve the present and weeding through the old to bring forth the new," [4] and bridge the essence of Marxist thought with the cream of fine traditional Chinese culture and the common values that the people "use daily without realizing it." [5] We must constantly endow scientific theory with distinct Chinese characteristics and continuously consolidate the historical and mass foundations for the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism. We must make accurate judgments regarding erroneous tendencies that jeopardize the implementation of the Party's correct line, persist in proceeding from objective reality, truly "aim the arrow at the target," [6] and seek truth from facts in the struggle against erroneous tendencies. Through active struggle, we can eliminate the interference of erroneous ideas and advance the Party's theoretical innovation through the Marxist ideological line.
Based on the characteristics of the era, we must answer the questions posed by China, the world, the people, and the times. To continue advancing the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, we must accurately grasp the great trends of the times, dare to stand at the forefront of human development, listen to the voices of the people, and respond to practical needs. We must persist in liberating the mind, seeking truth from facts, and upholding the fundamentals and break new ground, better unifying the persistence in Marxism with the development of Marxism, and adhering to the use of the "arrow" [7] of Marxism to shoot the "target" of China in the New Era. We must profoundly grasp the pulse and direction of world history, pay close attention to and study the great changes unseen in a century [8], strengthen research on contemporary capitalism, and analyze the various changes that have emerged and their essence. This requires deepening our regular understanding [9] of the profound and complex changes in capitalism and international political-economic relations, and accurately grasping the new changes and characteristics of contemporary capitalism. We must broaden our horizons, absorb all beneficial achievements of human civilization, and attend to and study new results in foreign Marxist research. We must analyze and discern these results, neither rejecting them wholesale nor copying them mechanically. Using Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods for analysis and judgment, and aiming to promote the development of the cause of the Party and the people, we must continuously propose new concepts, ideas, and methods that genuinely solve problems. We must systematically grasp the theoretical system of Chinese-path modernization, profoundly comprehend its Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, and major principles, correctly handle several major relationships in advancing Chinese-path modernization, and implement the strategic deployments for building a modern socialist country in all respects.
We must guide new practice with the Party’s innovative theories. Why the Communist Party of China is capable, and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good, is ultimately because Marxism works, and because Sinicized and modernized Marxism works. To continue advancing the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, we must resolutely uphold the regular understanding gained by the Party and the people through wisdom, sweat, blood, and life, and follow these laws in practice as we continue new explorations, continuously pushing forward the development of the Party’s cause and the Party’s theoretical innovation. Since the 18th National Congress [10], General Secretary Xi Jinping has engaged in deep reflection and scientific judgment on a series of major theoretical and practical issues concerning the development of the Party and state cause in the New Era. Regarding the major era-defining questions—such as what kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics should be upheld and developed in the New Era and how to uphold and develop it; what kind of great modern socialist country should be built and how to build it; and what kind of long-term governing Marxist party should be built and how to build it—he has proposed a series of original new concepts, ideas, and strategies for governance. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the Marxism of contemporary China and of the twenty-first century; it is the essence of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit in our times. To uphold the fundamentals and break new ground on the new journey of the New Era, we must unswervingly arm the whole Party, educate the people, and guide practice with this innovative theory. We must be courageous in continuously promoting theoretical innovation in combination with new practices, and be adept at using new theories to guide new practices. Through the "Two Combinations" [11], we will continuously open up new realms in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism and create more new miracles that will make the world look at us with new eyes.