Section 3: The great significance of socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out: “The entry of socialism with Chinese characteristics into a new era means that the Chinese nation, which has suffered for a long time in modern times, has ushered in a great leap from standing up, getting rich to becoming strong, and ushered in the bright prospect of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; it means that scientific socialism has radiated strong vitality in China in the 21st century and held high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the world; it means that the path, theory, system, and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics have been brought high. The continuous development of culture has expanded the way for developing countries to modernize, provided new choices for countries and nations in the world that want to accelerate development while maintaining their independence, and contributed Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to solving human problems.“1 These “three meanings” profoundly expound the historical, political and world significance of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

1. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation ushered in bright prospects

Peoples that have created glorious things better understand the meaning of rejuvenation; nations that have experienced hardship are more eager to realize rejuvenation. With a long history of more than 5,000 years and splendid culture, the Chinese nation has been at the forefront of the world for a long time and has made indelible contributions to the progress of human civilization. From the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, due to the ideological imprisonment of the ruling class and the obstacles of the feudal social system, the Chinese nation gradually entered the modern history of humiliation after experiencing the prosperity of the Kang Qian era. After the Opium War, China gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. From the cry of the enlightenment thinkers to “master and destroy with great skill”, to the attempts of bourgeois reformists to restore and change the law, to the Xinhai Revolution of the bourgeois revolutionaries to overthrow the feudal monarchy, it has not changed the miserable situation of modern China. It was not until Marxism spread to China and the Communist Party of China entered the historical stage that the Chinese nation truly found the backbone of seeking national independence, the people’s liberation, the country’s prosperity and strength, and the people’s happiness, and that the Chinese people changed from passive to active spiritually. The birth of the Communist Party of China was a “groundbreaking event” and a major milestone in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in modern times, profoundly changing the direction and course of the development of the Chinese nation after modern times, and profoundly changing the future and destiny of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. Just as Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: After the birth of the Communist Party of China, it united and led the whole party and the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country to complete the new democratic revolution and socialist revolution through protracted struggle, established the People’s Republic of China, established the basic socialist system, and realized the great leap of the Chinese nation from being the sick man of East Asia to standing up; since the reform and opening up, the Chinese Communists have united and led the people to carry out the new great practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, enabling China to catch up with the times in great strides and realize the great leap of the Chinese nation from standing up to becoming rich; since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chinese Communists have united and led the people in great struggles, building great projects, advancing great causes, realizing great dreams, promoting all-round and groundbreaking historical achievements in the cause of the party and the country, and taking place profound and fundamental historical changes, the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from prosperity to strength.1 1 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of Marx’s Birth,” People’s Daily, May 5, 2018. China Aerospace Studies Institute 38 Translation published Fall 2023Basic Issues of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era The successive three great leaps are the “trilogy” in which the Communist Party of China has led the people to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in modern times. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, opening a new chapter in the third part of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and ushering in a new journey for the Chinese nation from prosperity to strength. The new era is a fundamental leap period to realize national rejuvenation from quantitative change to qualitative change, and a period of historical transformation of China from a big country to a strong country. This leap is not simply the improvement of the total amount of material wealth, but also the process of overall leap in comprehensive strength such as economic strength, national governance ability, cultural soft power, social development level, ecological civilization level, military and national defense strength, scientific and technological innovation ability, international discourse power and world influence, political party leadership ability and governance level, and it is also the decisive process of the final realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Focusing on achieving the goal of the new era, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese Communists have systematically planned, made overall layouts and all-round efforts in various fields such as economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization, military national defense, motherland reunification, diplomacy and party building, and promoted the comprehensive national strength and international influence, and the Chinese nation has taken more solid steps on the journey of becoming stronger. By the middle of the 21st century, China will be built into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country in an all-round way, material, political, spiritual, social and ecological civilizations will leap forward in an all-round way, becoming a country with leading comprehensive national strength and international influence, and the Chinese nation will stand tall among the nations of the world with a more lofty attitude.

2. scientific socialism has radiated strong vitality in China in the 21st century

Faced with the low tide of world socialism in the late 80s and early 90s of the 20th century, Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “I firmly believe that there will be more people in favor of Marxism in the world, because Marxism is a science.“1 “As long as socialism in China does not fall, socialism will always stand in the world.“2 Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, China, which accounts for one-fifth of the world’s population, has not only adhered to and defended the largest position of socialism in the East and retained the inextinguishable fire of socialism, but also successfully explored a path of socialist development with Chinese characteristics by integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific conditions.

Instead of collapsing, China’s comprehensive national strength is increasing day by day, and “the scenery is unique here.” The “Chinese miracle” created by more than 40 years of reform and opening up has revitalized socialism, which was once at a low point, and revived people’s confidence in socialism around the world.

After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Comrade Xi Jinping made a systematic review of the 500-year historical development of world socialism in the “Speech at the Seminar for New Members and Alternate Members of the Central Committee to Study and Implement the Spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China”, dividing the historical process of socialist thought from its inception to the present into six time periods: the emergence and development of utopian socialism; Engels founded the theoretical system of scientific socialism; Lenin led the October Revolution to victory and practiced socialism; the Soviet model gradually took shape; the Communist Party of China explored and practiced socialism after the founding of New China; and our party made the historic decision to carry out reform and opening up, and created and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics. The division of these six stages clearly defines the position of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the history of socialist development, and also clarifies the relationship between socialism with Chinese characteristics and scientific socialism that is consistent, consistent and advancing with the times. In the new era, the world is undergoing major changes unprecedented in a century, China is experiencing extremely extensive and profound social changes in history, and is also carrying out the most grand and unique practical innovation in human history. Comrade Xi Jinping demanded that the Chinese Communists neither follow the old road of closure and rigidity, nor take the evil path of changing the banner, but also adhere to the basic principles of scientific socialism and give it distinctive Chinese characteristics according to the conditions of the times, enrich and develop the connotation of the times of socialism with Chinese characteristics from both theoretical and practical aspects, and open up a new journey of socialism with Chinese characteristics from a big country to a strong country. The basic principles and value pursuit of scientific socialism have been fully demonstrated in China in the new era, and the theoretical vitality and institutional superiority of scientific socialism have been best proved in China in the new era. As Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: “The success of scientific socialism in China is of great significance to Marxism and scientific socialism and to world socialism.“1

At the meeting to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, Comrade Xi Jinping further emphasized: “In the new era, the communists who rush to the country should still study Marx, study and practice Marxism, constantly draw scientific wisdom and theoretical strength from it, and adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era with more determination, confidence and wisdom in the overall layout and coordinated advancement of the five-in-one and the four comprehensive” strategic layout, so as to ensure that the giant ship of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation always moves forward along the correct course and breaks the waves.” 1

3. socialism with Chinese characteristics has broadened the way for developing countries to move toward modernization

Generally speaking, modernization is the process of transforming from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society, and it is a process of achieving a leap in the development of human civilization. The historical process of modernization began in Europe and the United States. Therefore, relying on their own hegemony in discourse, Western countries have tried their best to advocate the “universality” of their modernization path, and “Western-centrist” people even describe the modernization path that began in Europe as the only successful and correct development path, believing that modernization is equal to Westernization. Affected by this, after World War II, many developing countries either passively or actively chose the path of Western modernization. Decades on, however, most countries that had pinned their hopes on the Western model of modernization have not ushered in the bright prospects they wanted. On the contrary, many countries have developed slowly, with many difficulties, and some even have constant wars and people’s livelihoods, and even if a few countries have achieved modernization with Western assistance, they have to sacrifice political autonomy and bury hidden dangers for long-term development. In recent years, due to the intensification of the inherent contradictions in capitalist society, some old capitalist countries have also suffered from development crises repeatedly, and the authority and influence of Western modernization theory have continued to decline. In sharp contrast, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, New China has embarked on a development path of independently exploring socialist modernization. In 459, Comrade Mao Zedong for the first time put forward the development goals of building socialist industrial modernization, agricultural modernization, scientific and cultural modernization, and national defense modernization. In 1964, Comrade Zhou Enlai followed Comrade Mao Zedong’s instructions and wrote it into the “Government Work Report” of the First Session of the Third National People’s Congress.

Under the guidance of this goal, China has gradually established an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system, laying an important material foundation for modernization. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, Comrade Deng Xiaoping clearly put forward the idea of “Chinese-style modernization” and opened the relay exploration of building socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics. The 13th CPC National Congress made a “three-step” strategic arrangement for socialist modernization. The 18th CPC National Congress further put forward the “two centenary goals.” While making decisions and arrangements for the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, the 19th CPC National Congress made two-stage strategic arrangements for the second centenary goal, thus opening a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. In terms of guiding ideology, the path of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics adheres to the guiding position of Marxism and the practice of using the developing Marxism to guide practice, which not only adheres to the ideological and theoretical advancement with the times, but also ensures a high degree of ideological unity between the whole party and the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country; in the political aspect, it adheres to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, adheres to the party’s leadership, the people are masters of their own country, and The organic unity of governing the country according to law, centering on adhering to and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, continuously promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity; in the economic aspect, unswervingly taking development as the primary task of the party’s governance and rejuvenating the country, implementing the basic economic system with public ownership as the main body and the common development of various ownership economies, insisting on making the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources and giving better play to the role of the government, and constantly building a modern economic system, • Promote the realization of high-quality development; in terms of culture, adhere to the direction of progress of advanced socialist culture, adhere to the position of Chinese culture, and develop a national, scientific, and popular socialist culture oriented to modernization, the world and the future; in the social aspect, we always put the interests of the people in the supreme position, persist in ensuring and improving the people’s livelihood in the process of development, constantly meet the people’s growing needs for a better life, and constantly promote social fairness and justice, so that the people’s sense of gain, happiness and security will be more fulfilling and more secure. More sustainable; in terms of ecological civilization, adhere to the principle of giving priority to conservation, protection and natural restoration, form a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production mode and lifestyle that conserve resources and protect the environment, and strive to achieve harmonious coexistence between man and nature. This road of modernization “is not a simple continuation of the master version of China’s history and culture, it is not a simple application of the template conceived by the classic writers of Marxism, it is not a reprint of the socialist practice of other countries, nor is it a copy of the modernization development abroad.”

Instead, proceeding from China’s reality and striving to realize comprehensive modernization, it is the road of seeking modernization independently and self-reliantly. In particular, the path of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics is a path of seeking modernization through peaceful development, which is fundamentally different from the Western modernization path of accumulating the foundation of modernization by colonial plunder and relying on power politics to engage in development models and value export.

The entry of socialism with Chinese characteristics into a new era indicates the historical orientation of China’s comprehensive realization of modernization, the degree of modernization will leap from a lower level to a higher level, the scope of modernization will be from some fields and some regions to all fields and all-round coverage, and the connotation of modernization will extend from the material level to the spiritual level and human literacy. Achieving this goal of the times means that the largest developing country, which surpasses the total population of the existing developed countries, will enter the ranks of modernization, and it also means that the world’s largest socialist countries will modernize people. The success of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics has broken the “path dependence” of developing countries on Western modernization, and “China’s development has provided successful experience and bright prospects for the vast number of developing countries to modernize, is a powerful force for promoting world peace and development, and is a major contribution of the Chinese nation to the progress of human civilization.”2