Three scenarios for the sinification of Marxism

Source: China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily

Author: Chen Yuzhi

The October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China with the sound of a cannon, and Marxism took root in China ever since. Marxism was able to stand out from the fierce competition during the turbulent "May Fourth Period", not only because Marxism, as a scientific truth, has universal guiding significance, but also because generation after generation of advanced Chinese have consciously integrated the universal truth of Marxism with China's reality and creatively solved the problems facing China, thus enriching the theoretical system of Marxism.

From the very beginning of its founding, the Communist Party of China has taken Marxism as its guiding ideology in a clear-cut manner and has persistently promoted the process of sinicizing Marxism, achieving results that have attracted the attention of the world. In the magnificent process of sinicization of Marxism, we have selected three relevant scenes from the period of the new democratic revolution, trying to lead the reader to peek at the big picture and feel how the light of truth shines on the land of China.

Translators let more people taste the taste of truth

In Fenshuitang Village, Yiwu, Zhejiang, the first Chinese full translation of the founding work of Marxism, the Communist Manifesto, was published here in 1920. Accomplishing this undertaking was accomplished by the scholar Chen Wangdao. Chen Wangdao "painstakingly translated books five times as hard as usual" meticulously translated the Communist Manifesto. One day, his mother brought a plate of rice dumplings and brown sugar, Chen Wangdao, because he focused on translating books, mistakenly regarded the ink as brown sugar, when his mother asked if he wanted to add some brown sugar, Chen Wangdao said that it was already very sweet, completely unaware that his mouth was stained with ink. Chen Wangdao's translation of the Communist Manifesto was revised by Chen Duxiu and Li Hanjun, and was put into paper in August 1920, and the first 1,000 copies were quickly sold out, and reprinted a month later.

The translation, research and dissemination of Marxist works in China is an indispensable step in the sinification of Marxism. If the taste of truth is sweet, then the translators are the hard-working bees who collect nectar from the flower of truth and make it into sweet honey for more people to taste the taste of truth.

Two months before the first congress, the Zhonghua Book Company published Li Da's "Commentary on the Materialist View of History" written by guo Tai, a Dutchman translated by Li Da, and Li Da summarized and translated Marx and Engels's important expositions on the materialist view of history in the appendix. The popularity of the Materialist View of History at the time may be unimaginable to today's readers, and it was printed 14 times in 15 years. Two months later, the People's Publishing House was established, and the publishing plan included 15 kinds of "Marx's Complete Books" and 14 kinds of "Lenin's Complete Books", which was the first time in China's history that Marxist works were translated and published in the form of a series of books. Although this plan was not completed due to the interference of the counter-current force and other reasons, Li Da, as the editor-in-chief, single-handedly took on the work of editing, proofreading, printing, and distribution, and published a total of 15 kinds of books under very difficult conditions, including Chen Wangdao's translation of the Communist Manifesto.

The translation and introduction of Marxist works has made more and more Chinese realize the scientific nature of Marxism. In this sophisticated theoretical system, Capital, which Marx spent 40 years of energy to write, is hailed as the encyclopedia of Marxism. From 1928 onwards, Wang Yanan and Guo Dali began a journey of joint translation of Capital, and ten years later, the Chinese translation of Capital was finally published. In 1928, Guo Dali translated the first volume of Capital at the Great Buddha Temple in Hangzhou, and became friends with Wang Yanan, who was also planning to write a novel at the temple, and the two agreed to cooperate in the translation of Capital. For the classical economics criticized by Capital, Guo Dali confessed that he "did not even have a preliminary understanding" at that time, and he proposed that the two of them first start with the translation of classical economic works. In 1935, because the first volume of Capital, which Guo Dali had translated, had been destroyed by the war, they had to translate Capital from scratch, and after years of accumulation, their education was undoubtedly deeper than at that time, and the base text was from the Soviet Union, and the translation was naturally more accurate. It is worth mentioning that Wang Yanan later completed the writing of "The Original Theory of China's Economy", which "studied China's semi-feudal and semi-colonial economy according to the system and category of Capital, and sinicized Marxist economics".

When we read Marxist works today and are encouraged by the light of truth that shines in them, we should not forget the credit of generations of translators.

Attach importance to investigation and research, and oppose "bookishism"

In May 1930, in Xunwu County, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Mao Zedong conducted a social survey here. The investigation lasted for more than 10 days, and 11 people with different occupations and experiences, including local Soviet cadres, grocers, craftsmen, and poor people, participated in the investigation meeting presided over by Mao Zedong, who carefully recorded their statements and later compiled more than 80,000 words of "Investigation of Seeking U.S."

Mao Zedong's investigation of Wu wu was completed between battles. When we understand this background and open the "Search for Wu Investigation", we will be amazed at the fineness of this investigation.

Mao Zedong wrote "Against Originalism" during his investigation of Wu, which is an important document in the process of sinicizing Marxism. The article begins by revealing the truth that "no investigation, no right to speak".

In the text, Mao Zedong took a clear stand against "originalism." At the time of Mao's writing, there was a "erroneous tendency within the Party to dogmatize Marxism, to sanctify the resolutions of the Communist International and the experience of the Russian revolution." In 1928, the Sixth Congress of the Party was held in Moscow, and Bukharin made a political report on behalf of the Communist International, still advocating that the focus of the work of the Communist Party of China should be placed in the cities and opposing the establishment of consolidated base areas in the countryside. However, is this path really suitable for China?

Mao Zedong's practices in Jinggangshan, Gannan and western Fujian convinced him that China should follow a revolutionary path different from that of Russia. In the same year that "Against Originalism" came out, Mao Zedong wrote "The Spark of a Spark Can Ignite the Plains," which "for the first time clearly defined the strategic idea that the work of the Communist Party of China should be centered on the countryside, thus marking the basic formation of the theory of the road of the countryside encircling the cities and seizing power by force."

The year 1930 was undoubtedly a crucial year in the process of sinicizing Marxism. But the discovery and growth of truth is always inseparable from the fierce struggle with error. If the light of truth, when it is not yet understood by the majority, is merely a "spark of stars," it will eventually form a burning trend, as history has proved.

Yan'an witnessed the first historic leap in the sinification of Marxism

On September 29, 1938, in Qiao'ergou, Yan'an, Shaanxi, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Enlarged Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held here. Nearly five years have passed since the last plenum, during which the Red Army's Long March reached Yan'an, the War of Resistance broke out and the Kuomintang and the Communists cooperated again, and the situation of the Chinese revolution changed.

In the process of sinicizing Marxism, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee left a brilliant mark. At the meeting, Mao Zedong made a political report entitled "On the New Stage," which for the first time clearly put forward the concept of "sinicizing Marxism."

Li Dazhao, the earliest Marxist in China. As early as 1919, Li Dazhao had already "preliminarily expressed the idea that the general principles of Marxism must be integrated with the reality of the country and developed in the process of this integration." Twenty years have passed from 1919 to 1938, and the course of the Chinese revolution has repeatedly proved that the direction of sinicization of Marxism must be adhered to both in theory and in practice.

It is precisely in the hot land of Yan'an that the sinification of Marxism has reaped fruitful results. In 1945, the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China established Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding ideology of the Party and wrote it into the Party Constitution, which marked the first historical leap in the sinification of Marxism.

In Yan'an, Mao Zedong wrote a series of famous articles that had an important influence in the process of sinicizing Marxism. From July to August 1937, Mao Zedong successively wrote "On Practice" and "Theory of Contradictions", which criticized dogmatism and subjectivism from a philosophical height, demonstrated the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, and laid an important philosophical foundation for the sinification of Marxism. In 1941, when the rectification movement began, Mao Zedong's three reports, "Transforming Our Study," "Rectifying the Party's Work Style," and "Eight Shares of the Opposition Party," pointed the spearhead at subjectivism, sectarianism, and the eight units of the Party, and demanded the establishment of a Marxist style within the Party. Through the rectification campaign, the ideological line of seeking truth from facts has been established throughout the party. The essence of the sinification of Marxism is on the four words of seeking truth from facts. These four words are not easy to come by, and we should cherish them and pass them on forever as "heirlooms" from generation to generation.

The sinification of Marxism is a never-ending and constant process of innovation. In the great practice of socialist construction and reform, the Chinese Communists have gradually formed a theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and realized another historic leap in the sinification of Marxism.

Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has deepened its understanding of the law of the Communist Party's governance, the law of socialist construction, and the law of the development of human society with a new vision, carried out arduous theoretical exploration, achieved major theoretical innovations, and founded Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era. This is the latest achievement in the sinification of Marxism and Marxism in China in the twenty-first century. We must use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to arm our minds, lead all work, and strive to achieve the "two hundred years" goal and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.