The “Second Integration” of Marxism with the Chinese Reality

In early April 1956, when discussing on the important article "Historical Experience on the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Mao Zedong put forward that the most important lesson is to think independently, to integrate the basic principles of Marxism with the concrete realities of our revolution and construction, and independently formulate our line, principles and policies.

During the period of democratic revolution, China went through a detour and only after suffering a great loss did it successfully realized this integration and won the revolution. Now that we have entered the period of socialist revolution and construction, we should carry out a second integration and explore a path suitable for the socialist construction in China.

The aim of "first integration" was to solve the problem of how to carry out the national democratic revolution in China, so as to lead the people to win the nation-wide victory and realize the historical task of winning nation’s independence and people's liberation, thus create the premise and open up the path for concentrating on socialist modernization; and the "second integration" was proposed to solve the problem of how China concentrates its efforts on socialist modernization construction, so as to lead the people to complete the new historical task of realizing the prosperity of the country and the common prosperity for all.

In putting forward the proposition of "the second integration", considering the tendency of copying the Soviet Union's methods in the past economic construction work implemented in China, Mao Zedong stressed: “now we should pay more attention to starting from China's national conditions, use our brains, emphasize creativity, and work hard to realize a second round of efforts to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism with China’s realities” and "act according to China's situation, and stop being superstitious as before."

After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in view of the fact that the Western forces hostile to socialism set off a worldwide anti-Communist wave, Mao Zedong and the CPC Central Committee pointed out that the lessons of the revolution and construction of the Soviet Union should be seriously learned, but those basic experiences with universal significance should be upheld. In terms of basic principles, the path of October Revolution "reflects the general law of revolution and construction in a specific stage of the development of human society.”

The article "More on the Historical Experience of Proletarian Dictatorship" published at the end of 1956 on the basis of discussions within the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee summarized the above-mentioned basic principles in five points as follows:

(1) The advanced members of the proletariat organize themselves into a Communist Party which takes Marxism-Leninism as its guide to action, builds itself up along the lines of democratic centralism and establishes close links with the masses, strives to become the core of the labouring masses and educates its Party members and the masses of people in Marxism-Leninism.

(2) The proletariat, under the leadership of the Communist Party, rallying all the laboring people, takes state power from the bourgeoisie by means of revolutionary struggle.

(3) After the victory of the revolution, the proletariat, under the leadership of the Communist Party and on the basis of a worker-peasant alliance, establishes a dictatorship of the proletariat and carries out the nationalization of industry and the step-by-step collectivization of agriculture, thereby eliminating the system of exploitation, private ownership of the means of production and classes.

(4) The state, led by the proletariat and the Communist Party, leads the people in the planned development of socialist economy and culture, and on this basis gradually raises the people's living standards.

(5) The state, led by the proletariat and the Communist Party, resolutely opposes imperialist aggression, recognizes the equality of all nations and defends world peace; firmly adheres to the principles of proletarian internationalism, strives to win the help of the laboring people of all countries, and at the same time strives to help them and all oppressed nations.

The article says that we must "defend the Marxist-Leninist path opened by the October Revolution” which is of "great significance in the present international situation”. That is to say, adhering to the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and proceeding from the concrete reality of China's socialist construction should be organically combined. If we deny the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and the commonality of socialism, that is, the basic characteristics that socialism must possess, then we will not be socialist; and if we do not proceed from China's reality, it is impossible to do well in socialist construction. It is also impossible to imagine that the concrete development process and manifestation of socialism in various countries can only have a uniform format.

Mao Zedong’s thought of “the second round of efforts to integrate” the basic tenets of Marxism and China’s reality provided the basic guiding principles for the CPC and the Chinese people to explore the path of socialist construction suitable for China’s situation, pointed out the correct direction, and had important guiding significance for the development of Marxism in China.