Zheng Yongnian: Sinicization of Marxism

Zheng Yongnian column

If the history of modern China began was defeated by the West, that is, the Opium War, everything that happened in China since modern times is indeed inseparable from the West.Whether it is changes in ideas and changes in material technology, it is a direct product of Western influence.However, at the actual level, in many aspects of development, especially the development of the system, it is more based on the logic of China itself; some development seems to be Western, but the deep level is still Chinese style.of.Here is a problem of western affairs & ldquo; Sinicization & rdquo;.

Since modern times, many people have regarded China's modernization as a process of westernization, but the whole westernization exists only in people's ideas, because at the practical level, the whole westernization is impossible.Even before the Communist Party of China, politicians did not want to westernize.Mr. Sun Yat -sen's & ldquo; The Five Power Constitution & RDQUO; It is a good example.The Five Power Constitution is to combine the three powers (that is, legislation, administration and justice) with the traditional Chinese & rdquo; (that is, the examination and supervision).Although various political forces are affected by the West, different political forces accept different Western influences.The Communist Party of China accepts Marxism, so there is a problem of Marxism & ldquo; Sinicization & rdquo;

During the Revolutionary period and early construction, although the Chinese Communist Party's thoughts and practice were models of Soviet Russia, even so, they could not be fully Marxist or Soviet.Revolution and construction are not a simple theoretical issue, but more practical issues.Even & ldquo; Marxist Sinicization & rdquo; proposition itself is not the theoretical issue, but that foreign thoughts fail in practice, and they are proposed.From Mao Zedong to contemporary, & ldquo; Sinicization of Marxism & rdquo; generally experienced three historical periods.

Mao Zedong's reform started from the reconstruction

The first historical period was the Mao Zedong period.The Mao Zedong period was divided into two stages, namely the revolutionary period and the construction period.During the revolution, he had worked in cities -centered strikes based on western experience during the revolution, but he failed tragically.After that, Mao Zedong and other leaders proposed the actual & ldquo; armed struggle & rdquo; and & ldquo; rural surrounding cities & rdquo;, reversed the fate of earlier failure.Even the armed struggle is not the Soviet -Russian tradition, but the inherent tradition of China.The long -lasting peasant war in Chinese history is a model of & ldquo; armed struggle & rdquo;.& ldquo; Rural surrounding cities & rdquo; It is just the opposite of the Western revolution.In the West, because of industrialization, the focus of the revolution is in the city.

After 1949, China transferred into the construction period. In the 1950s, from the complete imitation of the Soviet Union model to the anti -Soviet model.This transformation is important.Many studies have shown that the reason why Mao Zedong's reform after China has become possible and can achieve success. It has a lot to do with the Mao Zedong era.The main difference between China and the Soviet Union is that the Soviet system is highly centralized, and the high degree of decentralization of the Chinese system is at least economical.

After saying goodbye to the Soviet model, Mao Zedong embarked on his own & ldquo; utopian model & rdquo;.& ldquo; Utopia model & rdquo; There are also deep Chinese traditional factors. Before, China had at least experienced the reform of Wang Mang's reform, Wang Anshi reform, and Zhu Yuanzhang reform.Mao Zedong's Utopia reform started from the transformation of the transformer. This is a new factor and is profoundly influenced by the West.

There has never been a transformer in Chinese history.The transformer started in modern times and the West.Before Mao Zedong, Liang Qichao's concept of & ldquo; Xinmin & rdquo;Reforming people from the cultural level has always been the theme of the Grand Revolution from May 4th to the Cultural Revolution.When human beings itself becomes a test product, it is unavoidable to have serious consequences, which is a profound historical lesson.In other words, Mao Zedong successfully performed & ldquo; Marxist Sinicization & RDQUO; but in the later period, this problem was not resolved.

Deng Xiaoping is the second period.During this period, China successfully solved economic problems, that is, the problem of not development.The solution of economic issues is inseparable from the concept of the concept of socialist market economy & rdquo;The concept of this concept is the result of & ldquo; Marxist Chinese & rdquo;.In the later period of the Cultural Revolution, the Marxism of the Soviet Russian version, that is, the planned economy had failed because the planned economy led to the & ldquo; poor socialist & rdquo;

What Deng Xiaoping accepted the European version is more of the European version of Marxism or socialism, which is intended to solve economic development and social fairness.Although many problems have occurred, as far as economic development is concerned, it is undoubtedly very successful.A poor economy before reform and opening up has developed into the world's second largest economy after 40 years, which has promoted nearly 700 million people to get rid of poverty. This is a rare miracle in the history of the world economy.

During this period, the western & ldquo; market economy & rdquo; became China's & ldquo; socialist market economy & rdquo;.Although whether it is & ldquo; socialist & rdquo; factors, or & ldquo; market factors & rdquo; and similar factors can be found in Chinese traditions, but foreign Soviet -style planned economic models obviously hinder these traditional factors.The reason why Deng Xiaoping was able to solve this problem is mainly to remove & ldquo; market economy & rdquo; ideologicalization. It is believed that the market economy is just a tool for developing the economy. It can be used by both capitalism and socialism.This new demonstration of & ldquo; market economy & rdquo; has promoted the recovery of traditional market factors and the introduction of new market mechanisms (Western style).This has a revolutionary impact on the Chinese economy.

Politically, Deng Xiaoping also made a lot of exploration.Overall, in the 1980s, China focused on the exploration of social democracy.After experiencing the Cultural Revolution, at that time, whether it was a political elite or a knowledge group, it was believed that Western democracy was not only expected, but also possible.

However, political events that occurred in the late 1980s showed that Western democracy was difficult to become a reality, at least at this stage.Since the 1990s, the ruling party has embarked on a & ldquo; the line in the party's democracy & rdquo;However, because of this, some people mistakenly believe that China will embark on a western -style social democratic line, namely Western and Nordic Social Democratic Party routes.This does not become a reality.Although the Communist Party of China has also absorbed some Western democratic factors, the overall system has not evolved into a Western system.

Insufficient Sinicization of Marxism

After entering the Deng Xiaoping era for many years, people have not emphasized the Sinicization of Marxism enough.Although China's reality has changed greatly, there is not much innovation in Marxist theory.The current situation of Marxism in China today is: not only can explain the changes in the real level of China's reality, nor does it take advantage of the rich experience of China to enrich itself.

On the surface, Chinese Marxist research has reached a new climax. For many years, it has invested a large number of manpower, financial resources, and material resources. Many Marxist colleges have been established. Marxist research has become official learning.But did Marxism really revive in China?If China can revive Marxism, the primary condition is the Sinicization of Marxism.Marxism is the product of Western history. It can scientifically explain the history of the West, but it cannot scientifically explain Chinese history.Only after the Sinicization of Marxism can Marxism explain China; at the same time, only in the process of Marxist Sinicization, China can use its own rich practical experience to enrich and develop Marxism.

What can be said to be the Sinicization of Marxism?To a large extent, in the theoretical or academic world, Chinese Marxism began & ldquo; Dodging & rdquo;.Under the banner of Marxism, people mechanically use Marxism to & ldquo; explain & rdquo; Chinese reality.Rather than & ldquo; Explanation & rdquo;, it is better to say that it is & ldquo;Marxism & ldquo; Democratic & rdquo;, had appeared before Marx's lifetime, so that Marx denied that he was & ldquo; Marxist & rdquo;.The spirit of Marxism is to seek truth from facts. Thoughts must change with the changes of the times. The lack of this spirit of change, it violates Marxism in itself.

The reason for contemporary Marxist education is not difficult to understand.The core of the first generation of leaders Mao Zedong himself is both a practitioner and the theorist. There are no major problems in the Sinicization of Marxism.At the practical level, Mao Zedong felt the need for Sinicization, because if it was not Sinicized, it would lead to failure; and Mao Zedong's theoretical cultivation also contributed to the theoretical level to complete the Sinicization of Marxism.

The same is true of the core of the second -generation leader Deng Xiaoping.Although at the theoretical level, Deng Xiaoping did not have a long discussion like Mao Zedong, but after experiencing lessons and lessons of the Mao Zedong era, Deng Xiaoping had richer experience in construction to expand and develop Marxism.

But in the post -Deng Xiaoping era, Marxism only existed in the Chinese scholars' study.What's more, Marxism becomes dogmatic and the only ideology, making Marxism lack new sources of ideology.Marxism was originally competing, generated and developed in many ideas. Once Marxism became dogmatic, it became a standard & rdquo; the depletion of its thoughts became unavoidable.

Explain Chinese reality in Marxism

China's development has entered a new period.In addition to the guiding ideology of Marxism for the ruling party again, should it be that the task of Sinicization of Marxism should be raised to the agenda?This is undoubtedly a top priority in practice or theoretical level.Although some traditional cultural factors are revived, the theoretical legitimacy of the ruling party is largely relying on Marxism.The history of the development of the ruling party itself is inseparable from Marxism.

If Marxism cannot be effectively sinicized, it is difficult to explain China's practice.If Marxism cannot explain Chinese practice, it can only become a pure ideology and loses its realistic vitality.The process of giving Marxism to explain China's reality is the process of Sinicization of Marxism.

In the new period, where is the focus of Sinicization of Marxism?If the main task of the Sinicization of Marxism in the Mao Zedong era is to seize power and maintain the country's unity.Construction and national governance.If you can't recognize this historical logic of China's development, any form of Marxist Sinicization will be manifested as nothing.

Specifically, the Sinicization of Marxist in the new era will be manifested in the pursuit of the institutionalization of the rule of law and the pursuit of social fair goals.This is consistent with the reform and development line established since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.Economically, it is manifested in the control of capital, mixed ownership, and reaching mutual balance between various capitals.Politically, the political participation of various social forces, that is, democracy.

Marx criticized the democracy of the bourgeoisie because bourgeois democracy is the democracy of a few people.Obviously, in the Marx era, democracy was the democracy of capital.Marx not only does not deny the importance of democracy, but pursues democracy with a broader social foundation, that is, social democracy.

At the personal level, it is manifested as a social system that helps people liberate.Although Chinese civilization itself does not have the value of democracy and freedom, regardless of whether people like it, these values have been accepted and pursued by Chinese society in modern times.In other words, these values have also become part of Chinese culture expectations.

From a higher level, from the perspective of the development of Chinese civilization, China has reached a new stage, that is, absorbing and digesting Western civilization into Chinese civilization.Traditionally, China has spent nearly a thousand years, absorbing digestion of Buddhist civilization, making Buddhist civilization an inner part of Chinese civilization.To this day, if China cannot absorb digestion of Western civilization, it will not only be difficult to integrate traditions since modern times into the great tradition of Chinese civilization, but also more difficult to manage a society that has accepted democracy, freedom, and equal western values.In any case, Marxism is the product of Western civilization.That is to say, the process of Chinese civilization absorbs digestion of Western civilization, which is the process of Sinicization of Marxism.

The author is the director of the East Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore

The article only represents personal point of view