Marxism Research Network
Unofficial English Translation

2017 Annual Working Meeting of the CASS Project for the Construction and Theoretical Research of Marxist Disciplines was held on January 24

Discipline Development

On the morning of January 24, 2017, the "2017 Annual Work Meeting of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Project for the Construction of Marxist Theoretical Disciplines and Theoretical Research" was held at the headquarters of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Leadership of the Academy in attendance included Comrade Wang Weiguang, President and Secretary of the Leading Party Members’ Group; Comrade Li Peilin, Vice President and Member of the Leading Party Members’ Group; Comrade Jing Huimin, Member of the Leading Party Members’ Group and Director of the Institute of Contemporary China; and Comrade Li Shenming, former Vice President and Vice Chairman of the Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress. The meeting was presided over by Comrade Zhang Jiang, Vice President and Member of the Leading Party Members’ Group. Over 70 people, including heads of various units affiliated with CASS and representatives from some research departments, participated in the meeting.

The meeting began with exchange presentations from three units—the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, the Institute of Industrial Economics, and the Information Management Office—regarding their implementation in 2016 of the Leading Party Members’ Group’s "Opinions on Strengthening the Party’s Ideological Work and Building a Strong Stronghold for Marxism." [1]

Subsequently, Comrade Jing Huimin delivered a work report. In the report, Comrade Jing summarized the 2016 progress across the entire Academy regarding the Project for the Construction of Marxist Theoretical Disciplines and Theoretical Research (Marxist Project) [2] and the implementation of the Leading Party Members’ Group’s "Opinions on Strengthening the Party’s Ideological Work and Building a Strong Stronghold for Marxism." He also deployed the work plan and set forth requirements for the Marxist Project in 2017.

Finally, Comrade Wang Weiguang put forward three requirements for all units regarding the Academy's Marxist Project and ideological work in 2017:

  1. Adhering to the guiding position of Marxism and strengthening the Party’s ideological work is our Academy’s primary political task; it must be treated with the highest level of importance. It is necessary to enhance the "Four Consciousnesses," [3] align with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and firmly grasp the central thread of upholding the guiding position of Marxism and ensuring the success of the Party’s ideological work.

  2. The Marxist Project must be treated as the "No. 1 project," the "soul project," the "strategic project," and the "foundation project" for guaranteeing the guiding position of Marxism in our Academy and within the philosophy and social sciences, and for ensuring the strengthening of the Party’s ideological work. All units across the Academy must attach high importance to it, participate actively, and strive to advance it. They must not act as mere supporting players, treat it as optional, or, even worse, view it as a burden. The "top leaders" [4] must take the lead in grasping it and ensuring its rigorous implementation.

  3. The implementation of the Marxist Project requires, on the one hand, researching the basic tenets of Marxism, and on the other hand, strengthening the research, dissemination, and innovation of the Sinicization of Marxism. At present, the study, research, and dissemination of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches and the new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies for governance [5] must be placed in a position of paramount importance. Every discipline in our Academy must integrate the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, and method [6] into its own disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system to guide scientific research within that discipline. 2017 is the third year of our Academy’s construction of these "Three Systems" [7]; actual results must be seen, and there must be substantive outputs. Simultaneously, we must fully implement the responsibility system for ideological work, carry out active ideological struggle, organize forces to criticize erroneous trends of thought, defend the Marxist stronghold, and consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the philosophy and social sciences.

In his concluding remarks, Comrade Zhang Jiang required everyone to fully recognize the extreme importance of the Marxist Project and ideological work. After the meeting, the spirit of the meeting [8] should be conveyed comprehensively and in a timely manner, and implementation work should be carried out meticulously and effectively to make new and greater contributions to the prosperity and development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and to the accelerated construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics.