“A profound transformation in favor of Marxism and socialism has taken place,” the CCP says.
by Massimo Introvigne
Rumors are that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will produce this month a major ideological statement. We can see in which direction it is heading from an article published on October 28 in the ideology page of the CCP’s daily newspaper People’s Daily.
The article is signed by Ren Lixuan (任理轩), a name that does not indicate a physical person but is used as a collective pseudonym by the newspaper’ propaganda department.
The article elaborates on the now popular theme of “modernization with Chinese characteristics.” Making China a modern country is hailed as “a miracle in the history of human civilization.” According to the Party line about Chinese history, the failures of modernization in pre-Communist China are largely blamed on foreign imperialism. Then, Chairman Mao came, and modernized China through his five-years plans—whose failures and economic disasters are conveniently forgotten.
In the poetic words of Xi Jinping, the CCP “dared to teach the sun and the moon to change the sky,” achieving the most exceptional results in the history of China and humanity. This has been, however, a modernization “with Chinese characteristics,” which means that it was not a spontaneous process but was planned and governed by “the strong leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.”
What is important, the text notes, is that it was not only a victory for China, it was a victory for Marxism. “In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the Soviet Union disintegrated and Eastern Europe changed drastically, theories that ‘Socialism has failed’ and we were at ‘the end of the history’ became dominant.” For a moment, it looked like Marxism had lost, and liberalism had won.
Happily, “in the face of tremendous pressure and challenges, China never wavered in its firm belief in Socialism.” After the fall of the Soviet Union, the CCP fully assumed its duty as custodian and leader of international Marxism.
Then, Comrade Xi Jinping came, and under him China has “made historic achievements and undergone historic changes.” CCP ideologists believe China has now achieved world leadership—they often mention that it can rally a majority of countries at the United Nations when it needs it—and its handling of the COVID crisis has proved the superiority of its system over those of Western-style democracies.
Socialism “radiates strong vitality in China in the 21st century.” “The competition of two ideologies and two social systems continues worldwide.” But, thanks to China, “a profound transformation in favor of Marxism and Socialism has taken place.” Marxism has proved that it produces “the better social system for humankind.” With Xi Jinping’s China, the world has now “the proof of the scientific and truthful nature of Socialism.”
I am sure some of our readers will not be persuaded by the CCP, and will object that Marxism should mean abolition of private property, while China has a record number of owners of large companies and even of billionaires. While this number is now being actively reduced by Xi Jinping’s dreaded strategy of “common prosperity,” the Chinese President has answered this objection time and again.
Marx predicted a necessary Socialist stage before the final Communist stage, Xi explained, and we are in that Socialist stage, which is compatible with private property and even the presence of billionaires, provided all is strictly controlled by the Communist Party. The Party made the billionaires and can quickly unmake them when it wants, as recent cases have abundantly proved.
