Marxism

The scientific theoretical system founded by the mentors of the international proletarian revolution Marx and Engels and developed by their successors. With capitalism as its object of criticism and the construction of socialism and realization of communism as its goal, it is the scientific world outlook and methodology for the emancipation of the proletariat and mankind.

Marxism arose in the 1840s and was the product of the intensification of the contradictions of capitalism and the development of the workers’ movement. At that time, capitalism had achieved a considerable degree of development in Western Europe, industrial revolutions had been or were being achieved in England, France and Germany, and the productive forces of society and science and technology had reached an unprecedented level. While modern capitalist socialized production has attained rapid development, it has also caused deep social disasters. On the one hand, the cyclical economic crises erupted frequently, causing great damage to society. On the other hand, due to the cruel squeeze of the bourgeoisie, the workers increasingly fell into extreme poverty, and the polarization in society has intensified, which has triggered the fierce resistance of the workers. The outbreak of the three major workers’ movements in Europe in the 1830s and 1840s marked that the proletariat had entered the arena of world history as an independent political actor, gradually transforming from a class-in-itself to a class-for-itself. The workers’ movements were in urgent need of summing up and sublimating the experiences of their own struggles, forming a scientific theory, and guiding their revolutionary struggles.

Marxism has assimilated and changed all excellent achievements of human thought and culture. Its three main theoretical sources are classical German philosophy, classical English political economy and British and French utopian socialism, i.e., the thoughts of dialectics and materialism in classical German philosophy, the analysis of the classical English political economy of the capitalist production and economic relations and its thought that value is created by labor, and the utopian socialists’ criticism of the capitalist society and prospects for the future society. The three major scientific discoveries in the 19th century, namely the law of conservation and transformation of energy, cell theory and the theory of biological evolution also provided Marx with the premises of natural sciences. The ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, the intellectual achievements of the Renaissance, the thoughts of the French Enlighteners and the doctrine of class struggle of the historians of the Restoration period also provided useful intellectual material for Marxism. In February 1848, the issue of The Communist Manifesto, co-authored by Marx and Engels, marked the birth of Marxism. The birth of Marxism was a great transformation in the history of human thought. It has established for the first time a scientific world outlook and methodology, thus pointing out the correct direction and road for the emancipation of the proletarians of all countries and all mankind and providing a sharp ideological weapon.

Marxism is a complete scientific theoretical system, which chiefly includes three component parts: Marxist philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism. Among them, Marxist philosophy, also known as dialectical and historical materialism, is the theoretical basis of Marxism, the doctrine of the general laws governing the development of nature, society and thinking; based on the standpoint of practice, it has scientifically solved the question concerning the relation of thinking and being and achieved the unity of materialism and dialectics, materialist epistemology and ontology, and materialist conception of nature and history, and is the only scientific world outlook and methodology. Marxist political economy is the main content of Marxism. It has revealed the laws and fundamental contradictions of the operation of the capitalist mode of production, exposed the secret of capitalist exploitation, and pointed out the historical necessity that capitalism will, under the impact of its own contradictions, tend towards its fall and eventually be replaced by socialism and communism. Scientific socialism is the core and highest goal of Marxism. It points out that the proletariat must establish the dictatorship of the proletariat under the leadership of its own party through socialist revolution; on the basis of a scientific analysis of the reality of capitalism, it has put forth some fundamental principles concerning the future society and offered a scientific conception of the socialist and communist society. The three components of Marxism are not divorced from each other but take the realization of the emancipation of the proletariat and mankind as their main line, constituting an interconnected organic whole. In addition to this, Marxism also includes political science, military science, history, pedagogy and many other aspects.

The main feature of Marxism is the unity of scientificity and revolution, embodied in the world outlook and methodology founded on dialectical and historical materialism, the political standpoint committed to safeguarding the fundamental interests of the proletariat and the broad masses of the people, the theoretical quality of keeping pace with the times and the lofty social ideal of communism. Marxism is not a dogma, but a guide to action; it is not an ultimate truth, but a constantly developing and open scientific system. Marxism has always been tightly coupled with the international workers’ movement and the communist movement. It has become the guiding thought of the working-class parties in various countries and has been continuously enriched and developed with the development of the conditions of the epoch and social practice. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, capitalism entered its monopoly stage. Lenin applied the fundamental principles of Marxism to the revolutionary practice in Russia under the new historical conditions. On the basis of summing up the experience of the proletarian revolution and socialist construction in Russia, he founded Leninism and advanced Marxism to a new stage. Since the day of its founding, the Communist Party of China has written Marxism on its banner, upheld to combine the fundamental principles of Marxism with China’s concrete realities and the features of the epoch, applied Marxism to China’s practices of revolution, construction and reform in a creative manner, and constantly carried the Sinicization of Marxism forward, successively forming the two theoretical achievements of Mao Zedong Thought and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and further enriching and developing Marxism.