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"Staying Alert to Danger in Times of Peace: World Socialism Small Series" Vol. 8

Book Reviews

The eighth series of the Be Prepared for Danger in Times of Peace: Small Book Series on World Socialism is being published by Contemporary China Publishing House. To date, five titles in this eighth series have been released: The Fundamental Causes, Lessons, and Inspirations of the Collapse of the Soviet Party and State; A Brief History of China's Socialist System; The History of New China as a Required Course for Upholding and Developing Socialism with Chinese Characteristics; The Second International and the Theory and Practice of the World Socialist Movement; and Certain Basic Issues of Marxist Productive Forces Theory: Reflections Based on Labor Subjectivity. These works conduct research centered on core issues of socialist theory and practice. They respectively analyze the root causes and lessons of the collapse of the Soviet Party and state; trace the developmental trajectory and unique advantages of China’s socialist system; clarify the significance of studying the history of New China for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics; focus on the rise and fall of the Second International and its influence on the world socialist movement; and explicate the core connotations and contemporary value of Marxist productive forces theory.

Li Shenming serves as the Editor-in-Chief of this series, with Chen Zhihua as the Executive Editor-in-Chief. Since its debut in 2012, the series has reached its 75th volume in the eighth series. This is a set of theoretical readers dedicated by the World Socialism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) to the general public to popularize common knowledge of scientific socialism; it is also a set of serious theoretical works meticulously written by relevant experts and scholars from both within and outside the Academy based on long-term research.

Although it is a "small" book series, it addresses major domestic and international theoretical and practical issues. It primarily introduces innovations in the basic theories and important viewpoints of scientific socialism, major historical events and key leaders in the international communist movement, and the current theoretical practices and developmental trends of Communist Parties in major countries. While focusing primarily on reflecting contemporary foreign socialist theory and practice, it also includes the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To adapt to the fast pace of modern life, the word count for each volume is generally limited to approximately 40,000 characters. Such a length helps readers finish a book in one sitting during their leisure time or while traveling.

Editorial Committee of the "Be Prepared for Danger in Times of Peace: Small Book Series on World Socialism"

Editor-in-Chief: Li Shenming Executive Editor-in-Chief: Chen Zhihua Editorial Committee Members (Sorted by surname stroke count): Yu Haiqing, Ma Yuan, Wang Lei, Wu Enyuan, Xin Xiangyang, Zhang Shuhua, Luo Wendong, Hou Huiqin, Cheng Enfu, Cai Jihui, Fan Jianxin

General Catalog

No. | Author | Title

Series I

  1. Li Shenming — Concern for the People and Concern for the Party: An Inquiry into Mao Zedong’s Thought on Preventing the Party from Degenerating
  2. Chen Zhihua — The Russian October Socialist Revolution
  3. Mao Xianglin — Cuba: An Indigenous and Viable Socialism
  4. Xu Shicheng — Socialist Trends of Thought and Practice in Contemporary Latin America
  5. Jiang Hui, Yu Haiqing — Socialist Trends of Thought in the Western World
  6. He Bingmeng, Li Qian — An Analysis and Critique of Neoliberalism
  7. Zhou Xincheng — An Analysis and Critique of Democratic Socialism
  8. Liang Zhu — An Analysis and Critique of Historical Nihilism [1]
  9. Wang Tingyou — An Analysis and Critique of "Universal Values"
  10. Wang Zhengquan — Gorbachev and "Humane, Democratic Socialism"

Series II 11. Wang Weiguang — Marxism and the Historical Destiny of Socialism 12. Li Shenming — Be Prepared for Danger in Times of Peace: Historical Lessons from the Collapse of the CPSU 13. Li Jie — Mao Zedong’s Historical Contributions to New China 14. Jin Huiming, Li Ruiqin — The "Communist Manifesto" and World Socialism 15. Li Chongfu — Mao Zedong and the Sinicization of Marxism 16. Luo Wendong — The Theory and Practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics 17. Wu Enyuan — The Truth Behind Several Contentious Issues in Soviet History 18. Zhang Shuhua, Shan Chao — Privatization in Russia 19. Gu Yuanyang — Vietnam’s Socialist-Oriented Renovation 20. Zhu Jidong — Chavez’s "21st Century Socialism" 21. Wei Jianlin — Globalization and the Communist Party 22. Xu Chongwen — How to Understand Democratic Socialism

Series III 23. Wang Weiguang — On Democracy, the State, Class, and Dictatorship 24. Liu Guoguang — Issues Regarding the Direction of China’s Economic System Reform 25. You Lin et al. — An Analysis of Abstract Human Nature Theory 26. Hou Huiqin — The China Path and the China Model 27. Zhou Xincheng — Socialism Continually Advances Through Exploration 28. Gu Yulan — Lenin’s Theory of Imperialism and Its Contemporary Value 29. Liu Shuchun — Twenty Years of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation 30. Chai Shangjin — Laos: Taking Flight Amidst Renovation 31. Chi Fangxu — Mao Zedong’s Creative Contributions to China’s Rule of Law Construction After the Founding of the PRC 32. Li Yanyan — The Eastward Strategy of Western Civilization and China’s Response

Series IV 33. Wang Weiguang — A Comprehensive Discussion on Ideological Issues 34. Zhu Jiamu — A Wide-Ranging Discussion on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics 35. Jiang Hui — New Characteristics of World Socialism in the 21st Century 36. Fan Jianxin — The Basic Economic System of Our Country’s Primary Stage of Socialism 37. Zhou Xincheng — Several Theoretical Issues in Contemporary Chinese Marxist Political Economy 38. Zhao Changqing — The Rise and Fall of Socialism in Kazakhstan 39. Li Donglang — The Communist Party of China Was the Mainstay in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression 40. Wang Zhengquan — The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 41. Yu Haiqing, Tong Jin — European Communist Parties and the Anti-Fascist Resistance: A Great Contribution Carved into History 42. Zhang Jian — Socialism and Ecological Civilization

Series V 43. Wang Weiguang — Theoretical Achievements of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era 44. Zhu Jiamu — A Powerful Ideological Weapon for the Struggle Against the Trend of Historical Nihilism 45. Cheng Enfu, Duan Xuehui — "Das Kapital" and Socialist Construction 46. Li Chongfu — On Leninism 47. Zhang Shuhua — Lessons from the Ideological Work of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 48. Shi Zhenping — Marx’s View of Socialism 49. Wang Guang — Marxism and Comprehensively Governing the Country According to Law 50. Li Yanyan — America’s Strategy for Exporting Internet Political Ideology and Our Response 51. Lei Hongyan — Socialist Movements and Trends of Thought in the United States 52. Zhang Zhongmin et al. — Decoding Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era

Series VI 53. Li Shenming — Ten Theoretical Issues Regarding "Governing the Country According to Law" 54. Zhu Jiamu — Several Basic Issues in the Compilation and Research of the History of the People’s Republic of China 55. Xu Shicheng — The Updating of the Cuban Economic and Social Model 56. Hou Huiqin — Philosophical Adherence and Innovation in Socialism with Chinese Characteristics 57. Li Baogeng et al. — A Community with a Shared Future for Humanity: A Chinese Solution to the Global Governance Crisis 58. Yu Jun, Zhang Xian — The "Belt and Road" Initiative and Building a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity 59. Li Xiaoyan — New Characteristics and Trends of New Western Social Movements in the 21st Century 60. Tong Jin — The View of Socialism Among Foreign Left-wing Scholars

Series VII 61. Ma Xipu — The Three Yugoslavias 62. Chen Zhihua — The Paris Commune: The World’s First Proletarian Regime—Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Paris Commune Revolution 63. Cheng Enfu, Zhu Bingyuan — Engels’ Major Contributions to Marxist Political Economy 64. Wang Weiguang — A Philosophical Assessment of the International Situation Under Great Changes Unseen in a Century [2] 65. Sun Duo — Political Science Reflections on Lenin’s Critique of Bernsteinism 66. Zhang Weinan — American Imperialism is the Declining Stage of Capitalism 67-68. Li Jie — Viewing a Century of Party History Through Five Threads (Parts I & II) 69. Wang Chuanli — The Adherence to Faith and Tenacious Struggle of Communists 70. Zhu Jiamu — The Primary Stage of Socialism and Socialism of the Primary Stage [3]

Series VIII 71. Li Shenming et al. — The Fundamental Causes, Lessons, and Inspirations of the Collapse of the Soviet Party and State 72. Li Zhenghua et al. — A Brief History of China’s Socialist System 73. Zhu Jiamu — The History of New China as a Required Course for Upholding and Developing Socialism with Chinese Characteristics 74. Chen Zhihua — The Second International and the Theory and Practice of the World Socialist Movement 75. Zhang Yu — Certain Basic Issues of Marxist Productive Forces Theory: Reflections Based on Labor Subjectivity

General Preface

We Wish to Be the Harbingers of Spring — General Preface to the Be Prepared for Danger in Times of Peace: Small Book Series on World Socialism

The Be Prepared for Danger in Times of Peace: Small Book Series on World Socialism is a set of theoretical readers dedicated by the World Socialism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to the general public to popularize common knowledge of scientific socialism; it is also a set of serious theoretical works meticulously written by relevant experts and scholars from both within and outside the Academy based on long-term research.

To adapt to the fast pace of modern life, the word count for each volume is generally limited to approximately 40,000 characters. Such a length helps readers finish a book in one sitting during their leisure time or while traveling. The series has been released starting from July 2012.

This is a "small" book series, yet it addresses major theoretical and practical issues both at home and abroad. It primarily introduces the basic theories of scientific socialism and innovations in its key viewpoints, major historical events and significant leaders in the international communist movement (including negative figures), and the contemporary theoretical practices and developmental trends of Communist Parties in major countries. It simultaneously aims to answer the related difficult questions that frequently arise in people's minds, focusing on reflecting contemporary foreign socialist theory and practice while also taking into account China's cause of revolution, construction, and reform and opening up.

In a certain sense, popular theoretical works are even more difficult to write. It is truly no easy task to take a series of major theoretical and practical issues surrounding scientific socialism—particularly world socialism—and, within a limited space, explain the essence and laws of things clearly using popular, fresh, and vivid language for the propositions, evidence, and argumentation process, so as to attract and persuade people. This is undoubtedly a challenge for professional theoretical workers. However, we are willing to exert our efforts toward this end.

The root cause of the currently deepening international financial crisis is the rapid polarization between rich and poor on a global scale following the drastic changes in Eastern Europe [4] and the demise of the Party and the state in the Soviet Union. The international financial crisis has lasted for a full ten years. In the author's view, even in another eight or ten years, the shadow of the international financial crisis will remain lingering. This is primarily because the birth and development of new high-tech revolutions and new production tools, represented by "Internet Plus" and artificial intelligence, have greatly enhanced social productive forces [5] on a global scale, but at the same time have intensified the global polarization of wealth ownership and income distribution. As Marx emphasized: In capitalist society, "all progress of civilization, or in other words every increase in the powers of social production [6] (or the productive powers of labor itself),—such as results from science, inventions, division and combination of labor, improved means of communication, creation of the world market, machinery etc.—enriches not the worker but rather capital." This is to say, within the framework of capitalist relations of production, in general and in essence, the wealthier capital becomes, the poorer the broad masses of laboring people must become; the poorer the broad masses of laboring people become, the more the effective demand of society must decrease. Economic globalization dominated by the Western capitalist world headed by the United States will inevitably make the broad masses of people worldwide increasingly poor, causing a sharp reduction in the relative demand of society.

We can further make this prediction: in the next twenty to thirty years, on a global scale, a large number of intelligent robots will displace even more existing manual jobs, and unmanned factories will spring up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain [7] all over the world. This process may be much faster than ordinary people imagine; its coverage may be much broader than ordinary people imagine. Imagine, if capitalists no longer hire workers and ordinary people no longer have wages, who will buy these high-quality and inexpensive products? The brutal competition for high profits among various monopoly capital groups—triggering the development of new high technology, especially the popularization of intelligent robots—leads to massive new unemployment—reducing relative social demand—triggering more factory bankruptcies and worker unemployment—exacerbating the reduction of new relative social demand—further triggering new factory bankruptcies. This logic will inevitably form round after round of vicious cycles, continuously intensifying the global polarization between rich and poor. The international financial crisis that broke out in 2008 was, in essence, a comprehensive crisis of capitalist economic, political, and cultural values; it was a total explosion of the basic contradiction of capitalism—namely, the contradiction between highly developed social productive forces (the socialization and even globalization of production) and the existing relations of production (the private ownership of the means of production by a tiny minority). History has repeatedly proven that this basic contradiction is fundamentally impossible to resolve within the framework of capitalist relations of production. As this contradiction continues to develop and deepen, it can be asserted that even greater financial disasters will inevitably break out in succession in the years immediately following.

Leaning against the railing and listening quietly to the whistling rain, the people of the world are in deep reflection [8]. This crisis is driving the ordinary masses of all countries and walks of life, especially in developed and broad developing countries, to reflect further and more deeply. It can be said that the spring breeze of another round of great liberation of human thought has already "risen from the tip of the green duckweed." [9] However, spring often brings "late-spring cold snaps"; under specific conditions, human society may still encounter new and greater disasters, and world socialism may yet enter a new and greater trough. But we firmly believe that "green mountains cannot hide it; after all, it flows eastward." [10] Around the mid-21st century, world socialism is highly likely to see another incomparably brilliant spring. Our small book series is willing to serve as the skylark heralding this spring.

"In the midst of the surging tide, the true character of a hero is revealed." [11] Currently, the Chinese people of all ethnic groups are uniting more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. Under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and especially Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, they are marching calmly and firmly toward an incomparably beautiful spring. We are full of confidence in the socialist cause of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China!

At present, all publishing and distribution enterprises are navigating the tides of the market economy; a publishing house cannot survive if it does not make a profit. However, we hope that the price of each volume in this small series will be moderate. After relevant parties obtain appropriate profits, they should yield benefits to the ordinary masses so that ordinary people can afford to buy and read them. If more people buy them and the circulation becomes larger, it will generate economies of scale.

We sincerely hope that all sectors of society will provide criticism and guidance for this series. At the same time, we sincerely look forward to relevant experts, scholars, leaders at all levels engaged in practical work, and people from all walks of life actively writing and submitting manuscripts to us. Our criteria for selecting manuscripts are that they must meet the requirements of this series in terms of subject matter, quality, style, and word count.

Li Shenming May 5, 2018