Preface

The compilation of this Great Dictionary of Marxism is a Major Entrusted Project of the National Social Science Fund of China undertaken by the Centre for Collaborative Innovation of Marxist Theory and Chinese Practice, Wuhan University, as well as a key project for the prosperous development of philosophy and social sciences in Hubei Province. The project took five years from its inception in 2013 to its finalisation in November 2017, and the first drafts of the entry articles were written in two and a half years from the winter of 2013 to the end of April 2016. From the beginning of May 2016 to the end of November 2017, it took more than a year to unify the drafts, resulting in 2,094 entries. Of them, according to the stages of development of Marxism, 626 are on Marxism (General Theories & Strict Sense), 382 on Leninism, 578 on Mao Zedong Thought, and 508 on the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (including Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Important Thought of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era), and by kind, 1,023 are on basic concepts and principles, 552 on representative works, 147 on representative figures, 150 on major historical events, newspapers and periodicals, organisations and institutions, 124 on important meetings, 56 on schools of thought and 42 on historical context. On the occasion of the publication of the Great Dictionary of Marxism by Chongwen Books of the Hubei Changjiang Publishing and Media Group, I would like to make some points on a number of issues.