Adhere to the scientific methodology of unifying universality and particularity - the successful way for the Communist Party of China to forge a century-old great cause

【Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China】

Author: Yan Xiaofeng (Dean of school of Marxism, Tianjin University, researcher of Tianjin Research Center for theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics)

The century-old history of the Communist Party of China is the history of integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific reality, constantly promoting the sinification of Marxism, and achieving a series of theoretical achievements. On major theoretical and practical issues, correctly handling the important relationship between universality and particularity and realizing the concrete, historical, and practical unity of the two is an important experience of our party that has become more and more mature in theory, stronger politically, and constantly victorious in practice.

Handling the relationship between universality and particularity is a fundamental thread that runs through the party's century-old course

The Communist Party of China was established with Marxism as its guiding ideology. As far as our party is concerned, on the basis of upholding Marxism, it is also necessary to properly resolve such basic issues as how to uphold and treat Marxism, how to handle the relationship between the basic tenets of Marxism and China's specific reality, and how to promote the sinification of Marxism and how to promote the new development of Marxism. These questions are a reflection of the ideological theory of the relationship between universality and particularity. History has proved that if these problems are properly resolved and the unity of universality and particularity is realized, the party's cause can flourish and develop; if these problems are not solved well, either empiricism is practiced in contempt of scientific theories, or dogmatism is engaged in ignoring China's reality, and if universality and particularity cannot be effectively unified, the party's cause will encounter setbacks.

The century-old history of the Communist Party of China is the history of constantly exploring the road of revolution, construction and reform in the process of leading and promoting the great social revolution. Lenin inaugurated the road of the October Revolution, and for the Chinese Communists, who had just entered the stage of history, "followed the path of the Russians - this is the conclusion." The national conditions of China and Russia, China and the Soviet Union, are very different, and the Chinese Communists must transform the "Russian road" into their own road and embark on a road that closely follows the trend of the times, conforms to China's national conditions, and has national characteristics. This is a reflection of the relationship between universality and particularity in the exploration of the road.

The centennial journey of the Communist Party of China is the practice process of scientific socialism in China. The scientific socialism founded by Marx and Engels has determined the basic principles and essential connotations of socialism. The Soviet Union was the world's first socialist country, and the Soviet model undoubtedly had a demonstration effect on other socialist countries. The basic principles of scientific socialism are consistent, but the forms of socialism in different countries are not the same. What kind of socialism to build and how to build socialism are major issues that The Chinese Communists have diligently pursued and painstakingly explored. After the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, socialism with Chinese characteristics has moved forward firmly and vigorously, and the influence and significance of the world have grown day by day. This is a reflection of the relationship between universality and particularity in the history of the development of socialism.

The Chinese Communists' thinking and grasp of the relationship between universality and particularity begins with leading the revolutionary struggle and experiencing setbacks and failures; it is closely linked to opening up the road of the Chinese revolution and promoting the sinification of Marxism; it is clearer and deeper in the struggle against dogmatism and empiricism within the Party; and it is on the basis of summing up the practical experience of the Chinese revolution that it produces ideological crystallization and philosophical fruitful results. The founding of New China and the establishment of the socialist system in China have proved that integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific reality and unifying universality and particularity is the way to success of our Party. This integration and unification has been carried out and deepened in the exploration and practice of solving new problems in China's socialist construction and opening up a new road for China's socialist construction. In the final analysis, reform and opening up is a new practice of our party in integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the concrete reality of China's reform and opening up under the new historical conditions, and a new exploration of understanding and handling The relationship between China catching up with the times and upholding independence and self-determination under the theme of the era of peace and development. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, demonstrating the historic leap in the status and role of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the development of world socialism, and promoting the historic improvement of China's international influence, appeal and shaping power. The multiple docking and integration of theory and practice, history and the future, and the world and China have bred an extremely rich and profound and complex landscape of the times, providing a grand and magnificent historical stage for the Chinese Communists with Comrade Xi Jinping as the main representative to deeply grasp the new characteristics and new requirements of the relationship between universality and particularity, to write a new chapter in the era of Marxism and scientific socialism, and to create a new glory of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

We must persist in combining universality with particularity, and realize the close integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific reality

Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in his 1937 "Theory of Contradictions" that "the relationship between the universality of contradictions and the particularity of contradictions is the relationship between the commonality of contradictions and the relationship between individuality", and after analyzing the dialectical relationship between the two, he emphasized that this is "the essence of the question of contradictions in things, and not understanding it is equivalent to abandoning dialectics." This is an incisive exposition of Marxist materialist dialectics, a philosophical understanding of the successes and failures of the Communist Party of China over the past ten years or so since its founding, and a forging of the key to thinking and the soul of the methods for the party to lead the revolutionary struggle, formulate the line and principles, and enhance the ability to win. In the course of a century of tempering, our party has scientifically grasped this "essence" and applied it to the party's theory and practice, and has continuously achieved success in the political, economic, cultural, and military fields.

Human cognition follows a cyclical process from the special to the general and from the general to the special. This requires that after recognizing the common nature of things, people should continue to study various concrete things and find out their special essence under the guidance of this understanding. In the period of the democratic revolution, the dogmatists in the Party refused to do any strenuous research work on concrete things, and they regarded general truths as things that appeared out of thin air, as purely abstract formulas that people could not elusively grasp. Comrade Mao Zedong adheres to the epistemology of dialectical materialism and studies the laws of war in general, as well as the laws of revolutionary war, as well as the laws of China's revolutionary war. In particular, by applying the Marxist-Leninist stand, viewpoints, and methods, with the study of the practical problems of the Chinese revolution as the center, studying the logic, characteristics, tactics of the Chinese revolution, and the strategies and tactics suited to China's characteristics, we should make theoretical creations that meet China's needs from all aspects in the serious study of China's historical reality and revolutionary reality. Insisting on the combination of universality and particularity, and internalizing it into the way of thinking and decision-making of Chinese communists, has been consistent in the party's century-old history. Comrade Deng Xiaoping summed up the party's long-term historical experience and drew a basic conclusion, stressing the need to integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the concrete reality of our country. Over the past 40 -odd years of reform and opening up, it is precisely in this combination that socialism with Chinese characteristics has continuously pushed forward the cause of scientific socialism.

World history is divided into different eras, the trend of the times reflects the general trend of world history, and for our party, the relationship between universality and particularity is also expressed as the relationship between the trend of the times and the development of China. Our party's leadership of the revolution and the launching of construction are to catch up with the times, and the establishment of socialism with Chinese characteristics is also to catch up with the times. To catch up with the times is to make the development of contemporary China consistent with the requirements of the development of social productive forces, with the direction of progress of social and historical progress, and with the interests and needs of the broad masses of Chinese and people. Human civilization is a fusion of the civilizations of various nationalities, and the civilizations of all nationalities are not only integrated into human civilizations but also maintain their own characteristics. Proceeding from the reality of our own nation, our party persists in learning from each other's strong points and complementing each other's weaknesses, choosing the good and following them, enriching and developing Chinese culture while constantly absorbing the nutrients of various civilizations, strengthening exchanges and mutual learning with different countries, different nationalities, and different cultures in the world, and consolidating the humanistic foundation for jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Attach importance to reflecting universality from particularity and highlighting the creative spirit of Chinese communists

Universality and particularity are unified as interdependence, universality exists in particularity, and particularity contains universality. When expounding on the universality and particularity of contradictions, Comrade Mao Tse-tung prominently stressed that "the question of the particularity of contradictions should be studied with emphasis," because many comrades, especially dogmatists, "do not understand the particularity of the contradictions in the concrete things at present and what is of great significance for us in guiding the development of revolutionary practice." Therefore, paying attention to China's reality and the practical laws of the Communist Party of China, rising from particularity to universality, and using universality to look at particularity is by no means a "narrow empiricism", but a Marxist dialectic of understanding. The deeper the revelation of particularity, the more helpful it is to generalize universality. Consciously linking universality and particularity, and by deeply grasping the characteristics and laws of one's own practice, and then more accurately and profoundly understanding the universal laws, principles, and principles, we will ensure that the party's cause will always march on the correct track, and fully demonstrate our party's high degree of consciousness and practical consciousness.

Over the past hundred years, the Communist Party of China has persisted in opening up the way forward independently and has always taken the future and destiny of the party and the country into its own hands. This is due to the fact that our Party has come to realize more and more deeply that the road is under its feet and the "road" is in the road, and to go out of its own way is to embark on a broad road. The Chinese road is a great creation of the Chinese Communists and at the same time a major contribution to scientific socialism. This path contains both particularity and universality. Our Party has unswervingly followed its own path, opened up the road of new-democratic revolution, developed Marxist theory on the road of proletarian revolution; opened up the road of socialist revolution and construction, and solved the major problem of how countries in semi-colonial and semi-feudal societies should transition to socialism after the proletariat seized power; opened up the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics and enriched the path choice of scientific socialism from theory to practice. In the process of opening up and taking its own road well, our party is becoming more and more full of the spirit of exploration and practice of independence and self-determination. Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thinking of the "three represents", the scientific outlook on development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, as major theoretical achievements in the sinification of Marxism, embody the ideological crystallization of our party to take its own road and carry our party's theoretical contributions to Marxism and scientific socialism. The party's century-old history is more and more closely integrated with the history of the development of Marxism and the history of the development of socialism.

Promote the transformation of particularity to universality, and continuously enhance the self-confidence of the Communist Party of China in practice

Universality and particularity encompass each other and transform into each other. Changing from the particularity of reality to the universality of reality requires certain conditions and processes. Marxism has become the universal scientific truth and the theoretical guidance of the world proletarian party, which is inseparable from the conditions of the times, social development, and the scientific attitude and the spirit of truth of Marx and Engels, so that it has the influence of transcending countries and eras, and has become the essence of the entire human spirit. Today, Marxism is being inherited and spread around the world, and the Chinese Communists have the unshirkable responsibility to undertake the historical mission of the main inheritors and disseminators, and contemporary China has become another hometown of Marxism; the torch of scientific socialism has been held high by the Chinese Communists, and socialism with Chinese characteristics has created new glory and shown bright prospects in the land of China. Socialism with Chinese characteristics belongs not only to China, but also to the world. The report of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and "the continuous development of the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics has expanded the way for developing countries to modernize, provided new choices for countries and nations in the world that want to accelerate development and maintain their independence, and contributed Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to solving human problems." This shows that on the road of world modernization, there is not only one way to "Westernize", but China's plan has a more inspiring, reference and exemplary role in today's world. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has made a great leap from "catching up with the times" to "leading the times" from breaking the ice and riding the wind and waves to "hanging on the clouds and sails to the sea", and its own road has become broader and broader. Road self-confidence has further enhanced the self-confidence of the Chinese Communist Party.

The world influence and leading force of socialism with Chinese characteristics are concentrated in the theoretical radiation and practical creativity of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st century Marxism, which shows that this ideology is not only the theoretical achievement of the Chinese Communists in integrating the basic principles of Marxism with the specific reality of China in the new era, but also the theoretical contribution of the Chinese Communists to open up a new realm of Marxism in the 21st century. Contemporary Chinese Marxism refers to the fact that on the basis of inheriting the ideological achievements of predecessors, this ideology answers major issues of the times in China in the new era, promotes the latest development of the sinification of Marxism, and provides a powerful scientific theory for guiding China's development and progress in the new era. Marxism in the 21st century refers to the fact that on the basis of the continuous development of Marxism over the past 170 years, this ideology responds to the common, major and difficult problems facing human society and the world today, and writes the "Communist Manifesto" of the 21st century. In this sense, this idea adheres to the organic integration of the direction of development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the evolution trend of great changes in the world, which is applicable to China's comprehensive construction of a socialist modern country and to the world's joint efforts to create a better future for mankind. Contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st century Marxism are highly unified and are "a whole piece of steel."

To prevent one-sidedness and absolutization in the relationship between universality and particularity, we should both focus on and grasp the inner unity

To adhere to the dialectic of the unity of universality and particularity, it is necessary to prevent and resist the metaphysics of the relationship between the two, that is, to isolate one aspect of the two and to oppose the unified relationship between the two, thus leading to deviations in understanding and practice. In the history of the Party, there have been two kinds of one-sidedness and absolutism, dogmatism and empiricism. Dogmatism has no interest in the Chinese question, and "what they aspire to is the supposedly immutable dogma they learned from his husband", replacing particularity with universality. Empiricism has long been confined to its own fragmentary experience, satisfying itself with its own experience, and replacing universality with particularity. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "Dogmatism and empiricism, both of which are subjectivism, are things that occur from different poles. He led the Yan'an rectification, opposed subjectivism to rectify the study style, educated some comrades in the Party to liberate themselves from the "ignorance of the naïve," and firmly established the ideological line of seeking truth from facts in the whole Party in opposing dogmatism and empiricism, especially in the process of correcting dogmatic errors. By persisting in seeking truth from facts, adhering to practical standards, persisting in combining theory with practice, and constantly realizing a new unification of universality and particularity, our party has become more and more mature ideologically, theoretically, and politically.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the dialectical unity of the theoretical logic of scientific socialism and the historical logic of China's social development; it is the new great practice of our party in adhering to the unity of universality and particularity since the beginning of reform and opening up; it is a major creation of successfully applying Marxist theory to China's road choice under new historical conditions; and it is to open up its own development path in opposing various erroneous tendencies. The road of socialism with Chinese characteristics is neither a rigid old road nor an evil road of "Westernization", which has not deviated from the essence of socialism and has distinct Chinese characteristics. The theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is in the same vein as Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, and has not lost its ancestors, but has also persisted in upholding the principle of righteousness and new development, developing beyond, drawing on the strengths of all, constantly improving, and always speaking new words. The socialist system with Chinese characteristics has grown up in China's social soil, and there is no water and soil dissatisfaction, it is not a "flying peak", and it does not exclude any experience in the governance of other countries that is conducive to China's development and progress. Socialist culture with Chinese characteristics originates from China's excellent traditional culture, is cast in revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture, adheres to the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, absorbs all the outstanding achievements of civilization created by mankind, and faces modernization, the world and the future.

The centennial party has endured vicissitudes, and the new centenary is marching forward in its entirety. As the world's largest party, the ruling party of the world's largest socialist country, and a Marxist political party leading the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country, the COMMUNIST Party of China shoulders an unprecedented historical mission, and the task is heavy and the road is long, glorious and arduous. How to continue to shine the century-old glory in the new journey, how to open up a new situation in the new stage of the century-old great cause, and how to carry forward the essence of the century in new practice are the historical thinking, the examination of the times, and the people's hopes of our party in the second hundred years. By upholding and developing our party's way of success, unswervingly integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities in the new stage of development, and constantly opening up a new realm of contemporary Chinese Marxism and Marxism in the 21 st century, the CPC has great potential and great achievements.

Guangming Daily ( 2021-05-07 11 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily