Historical Experience of the Innovative Development of Adapting Marxism to the Chinese Context

The founding of the Communist Party of China formally opened the prelude to the organic integration of Marxism with the awakening of the Chinese national consciousness; in this sense, it can also be said to have opened the historical prelude to the innovative development of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context.

中国共产党的成立正式拉开了马克思主义与中华民族意识觉醒有机结合的序幕，在这个意义上可以说也拉开了马克思主义中国化创新发展的历史序幕。

During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Chinese Communists innovatively developed Marx and Lenin’s theory of proletarian revolutionary victory. Marx once predicted that a proletarian revolution would have to occur simultaneously in several highly developed capitalist countries to achieve victory. In response, Lenin developed this in an inherited manner, proposing that in the weakest link of the imperialist chain at the time, Russia, a single country could first achieve victory in the proletarian revolution. By comparison, Chinese Communists, in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China, where productive forces or social development were even more backward, led the Chinese people to victory in the proletarian revolution and established a socialist New China. Lenin formulated a path of the “October Revolution” for the Russian proletarian revolution, while the CPC, based on China’s actual conditions, appropriately formulated a revolutionary path of “encircling the cities from the countryside,” creatively launching a vigorous people’s war. In continuous revolutionary practice, the CPC established the mass line as the Party’s lifeline and fundamental working line, and the mass line also became an important guarantee for the victory of the New Democratic Revolution; in particular, the thought of “for the masses, relying on the masses, coming from the masses, and going to the masses” scientifically resolved, from the perspective of Marxist epistemology, the relationship between historical figures/social elites and the masses of the people. This series of innovative developments in adapting Marxist revolutionary theory to the Chinese context gradually coalesced into a major theoretical achievement of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context—Mao Zedong Thought.

在新民主主义革命时期，中国共产党人创新发展了马克思列宁的无产阶级革命胜利理论。马克思当年预言，无产阶级革命要同时在几个高度发达的资本主义国家发生才能取得胜利。对此，列宁予以继承式发展，提出在当时帝国主义链条最薄弱的环节俄国一个国家也可以首先取得无产阶级革命的胜利。相较而言，中国共产党人则在生产力或社会发展更加落后的半殖民地半封建的旧中国，带领中国人民取得了无产阶级革命的胜利，建立了社会主义新中国。列宁当年为俄国无产阶级革命制定了一条“十月革命”的路线，而中国共产党则根据中国的实际情况恰当地制定了“农村包围城市”的革命路线，创造性地发动了一场轰轰烈烈的人民战争。中国共产党在不断革命实践中确定群众路线为党的生命线和根本工作路线，而群众路线也成为新民主主义革命胜利的重要保障；尤其是，“一切为了群众，一切依靠群众，从群众中来，到群众中去”的思想从马克思主义认识论高度科学地解答了历史人物/社会精英与人民群众的关系问题。而这一系列马克思主义革命理论的中国化创新发展，逐渐凝聚成马克思主义中国化创新发展的重大理论成果——毛泽东思想。

During the period of socialist revolution and construction, the innovative development of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context was mainly reflected in the establishment of the basic socialist system. At that time, the opportunists of the Second International absolutized and dogmatized Marx’s prediction of the victory of the proletarian revolution, believing that countries with relatively backward economies and cultures could not complete the socialist revolution and establish a socialist system before developed countries, thus forming a vulgar theory of productive forces determinism, which negated the dialectical relationship between the universal and the particular. On the basis of adhering to the principle of the dialectical relationship between the universal and the particular, Chinese Communists firmly grasped the special reality of old China and discovered that only scientific socialism could ignite the hope of the Chinese nation for national salvation and survival, and only Marxism adapted to the Chinese context could discover and awaken the vitality supporting the resurgence of the Chinese nation. Thus, Chinese Communists explored a path for the Chinese people to become masters of their own affairs. Because only by achieving the people’s mastery of their own affairs could foreign invasion be shaken off and the “three big mountains” [1]1 The “three big mountains” (三座大山) refers to imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, which Mao Zedong identified as the three oppressive forces that the Chinese revolution needed to overthrow. be overthrown, enabling the Chinese nation to decide its own destiny and making national prosperity, strength, and rejuvenation possible.

在社会主义革命和建设时期，马克思主义中国化创新发展主要体现在社会主义基本制度的确立上。当时第二国际的机会主义者把马克思关于无产阶级革命胜利的预言绝对化、教条化，认为经济文化比较落后的国家不能先于发达国家完成社会主义革命、建立社会主义制度，从而形成一种庸俗的生产力决定论，否定了普遍与特殊的辩证关系。中国共产党人在遵循普遍与特殊辩证关系原理的基础上，牢牢抓住旧中国的特殊现实，发现只有科学社会主义能够燃起中华民族救亡图存的希望，只有中国化的马克思主义才能发现和唤起支撑中华民族重新崛起的生命力。于是，中国共产党人探索了一条中国人民当家作主的道路。因为只有实现人民当家作主，才能摆脱外敌入侵、才能推翻“三座大山”，中华民族的命运才能自己作主，国强民富、民族复兴才有可能。

The mission of resolving these special contradictions historically chose the Chinese Communists: politically, the promulgation and implementation of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in September 1954 clearly stipulated the people’s democratic dictatorship as the state system and the system of people’s congresses as the form of government of the new China; economically, by the end of 1956, the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce was completed, establishing an economic structure in which socialist economic components held an absolute advantage and socialist public ownership became the economic base of society. These marked the end of the modern era of profound suffering and humiliation for the Chinese nation, the demise of the exploitative system that had lasted for thousands of years in Chinese history, and the establishment of a new, basic socialist system. Internally, the Chinese people gained a new lease on life, the impoverished reality of modern China was improved, and the nearly stagnant productive forces were revitalized, laying the political premise and institutional foundation for the development and progress of the new China, achieving a great leap from the continuous decline of the Chinese nation in modern times to a fundamental reversal of fate and sustained progress toward prosperity and strength; externally, the Chinese people who had stood up won national dignity and creatively proposed the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence” for handling international affairs.

这些特殊矛盾的解决使命，历史性地选择了中国共产党人：在政治上，1954年9月颁布实施《中华人民共和国宪法》，对新中国人民民主专政的国体和人民代表大会制的政体作了明确的规定；经济上，至1956年底完成对农业、手工业和资本主义工商业进行社会主义改造，已经建立了社会主义经济成分占绝对优势、社会主义公有制成为社会经济基础的经济结构。这些标志着中华民族近代苦难深重的屈辱史的结束、中国历史上长达数千年的剥削制度的消亡和崭新的社会主义基本制度的确立。对内，中国人民重获新生，近代中国贫乏的现实得到改观，几近停滞的生产力再度焕发生机，为新中国的发展进步奠定了政治前提和制度基础，实现了中华民族由近代不断衰落到根本扭转命运、持续走向繁荣富强的伟大飞跃；对外，站起来的中国人民赢得了民族尊严，创造性地提出了处理国际事务的“和平共处五项原则”等。

Entering the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, the innovative development of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context continued to advance, with a series of important achievements emerging one after another. For example, we further clarified the essence of socialism conceptually as liberating and developing productive forces, abolishing exploitation, eliminating polarization, and ultimately achieving common prosperity; through the stage of the “great discussion on the criterion of truth” [2]2 The “great discussion on the criterion of truth” (真理标准问题的大讨论) was a nationwide debate in 1978 that challenged the dogmatic “two whatevers” policy and reestablished practice as the sole criterion for testing truth, paving the way for reform and opening up., we firmly advocated emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, with practice as the sole criterion for testing truth; at the same time, we also deeply recognized the great significance of science and technology for the development of productive forces, proposing that science and technology are not only productive forces, as Marx said, but also the primary productive force; we began reform and opening up, introducing market mechanisms into the development of the socialist economy, developing a socialist market economy, breaking through the conceptual blockade that had constrained the economic development of the new China, and China’s productive forces and economic development entered a fast track; and on the historical issue of national reunification, we creatively proposed “one country, two systems.” It can be said that the revolutionary practice and exploration of Chinese Communists have greatly enriched and developed Marxism and creatively continued to adapt Marxist theory to the Chinese context.

进入改革开放和社会主义现代化建设新时期，马克思主义中国化创新发展持续推进一系列重要成果相继诞生。例如，我们从概念上进一步将社会主义本质厘清为解放生产力，发展生产力，消灭剥削，消除两极分化，最终达到共同富裕；经过“真理标准问题的大讨论”阶段，我们坚定地主张解放思想、实事求是，实践是检验真理的唯一标准；同时，我们还深刻认识到科学技术对于生产力发展的重大意义，提出科学技术不仅像马克思说的那样是生产力，而且是第一生产力；我们开始改革开放，在社会主义经济发展中引入市场机制，发展社会主义市场经济，突破了禁锢新中国经济发展的观念封锁，中国的生产力和经济发展进入快车道；并在祖国统一的历史问题上，我们创造性地提出了“一国两制”。可以说，中国共产党人的革命实践探索，极大地丰富和发展了马克思主义并创造性地将马克思主义理论不断中国化。

Entering the 1990s, with the proposal of the important thought of the “Three Represents” [3]3 The “Three Represents” (三个代表) is a guiding theory proposed by Jiang Zemin in 2000, stating that the CPC must always represent the development of advanced productive forces, the direction of advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the broadest majority of the Chinese people., the innovative development of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context reached a new starting point. It reflected Chinese Communists’ adherence to the unity of embodying the character of the times and grasping the laws of development, the unity of maintaining continuity and keeping pace with the times, the unity of the essence of governance and governance capacity, and the unity of the great cause and the great project of Party building—these are all basic experiences in advancing the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context. As the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a critical period, a period of tackling deep-seated reforms, and a period of prominent contradictions in the 21st century, Chinese Communists timely proposed the Scientific Outlook on Development: economic and social development as the primary task, putting people first as the core stance, comprehensive, balanced, and sustainable development as the basic requirement, and overall consideration as the fundamental method. The proposal of the Scientific Outlook on Development represents Chinese Communists’ deep understanding of the dialectical relationship between the fundamental goals of human social development and the constraints of conditions. During this period, under the guidance of a series of major theoretical achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, the momentum of productive forces was strong, and China quickly rose to become the world’s second-largest economy.

进入20世纪90年代，随着“三个代表”重要思想的提出，马克思主义中国化创新发展到了一个崭新起点上，它体现出中国共产党人坚持体现时代性和把握规律性的统一、坚持一脉相承和与时俱进的统一、坚持执政本质和执政能力的统一、坚持伟大事业和伟大工程的统一，这些都是推进马克思主义中国化的基本经验。随着中国特色社会主义建设在21世纪进入关键期、改革攻坚期和矛盾凸显期，中国共产党人又适时提出科学发展观：经济社会发展为第一要义，以人为本为核心立场，全面协调可持续为基本要求，统筹兼顾为根本方法。科学发展观的提出，是中国共产党人对人类社会发展的根本目标与条件制约之间辩证关系的深度认知。这个时期在一系列马克思主义中国化重大理论成果的指导下，生产力发展势头强劲，中国很快跃升为世界第二大经济体。

Entering the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the innovative development of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context has continued the past and opened up the future, becoming increasingly comprehensive and profound. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the inheritance and development of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of the “Three Represents,” and the Scientific Outlook on Development; it is the latest achievement in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context; it is the crystallization of the practical experience and collective wisdom of the Party and the people; it is an important component of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics; and it is the guide to action for the entire Party and the entire people in striving for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It must be upheld and continuously developed for a long time.

进入中国特色社会主义新时代，马克思主义中国化创新发展继往开来，愈发全面与深入。党的十九大报告指出，习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想，是对马克思列宁主义、毛泽东思想、邓小平理论、“三个代表”重要思想、科学发展观的继承和发展，是马克思主义中国化最新成果，是党和人民实践经验和集体智慧的结晶，是中国特色社会主义理论体系的重要组成部分，是全党全国人民为实现中华民族伟大复兴而奋斗的行动指南，必须长期坚持并不断发展。

The innovative development of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context has carried forward the past and opened up the future, advancing step by step. In particular, the innovation of thought or theory has mostly been synchronous and isomorphic with the innovation of practice, so the Chinese nation has been able to achieve a series of leaps from the profound suffering of modern times to standing up, growing rich, and becoming strong in the modern era. Lenin once said: “To judge the historical merits of an activity, it is not based on whether the historical activist provided what modern times require, but on whether they provided something new compared to their predecessors.” Over the past century, Chinese Communists, with collective wisdom, have both upheld the spirit of classical Marxism and kept pace with the times, constantly innovating Marxism in light of China’s actual conditions. It can be said that only through a historical review of the theory of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context can we explore “why the CPC can succeed, why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good, and why Marxism works,” and only then can we unlock the spiritual code of why the CPC, after a century, remains in its prime.

马克思主义中国化创新发展承前启后、梯次递进，尤其是思想或理论的创新大多与实践的创新同步同构，所以中华民族才能实现由近代的苦难深重到现代的站起来、富起来到强起来的系列飞跃。列宁曾说：“判断历史的功绩，不是根据历史活动家没有提供现代所要求的东西，而是根据他们比他们的前辈提供了新的东西。”一百年来，中国共产党人以集体的智慧，既秉承着经典马克思主义精神又与时俱进地结合中国实际时刻创新着马克思主义。可以说，只有通过对马克思主义中国化理论的历史梳理，我们才能探寻“中国共产党为什么能，中国特色社会主义为什么好，马克思主义为什么行”，才能解开中国共产党历经百年依然风华正茂的精神密码。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗