Adapting Marxism to Chinese context strategic to Party and nation

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for greater efforts to adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the requirement in an instruction on the project of studying and developing Marxist theory in the new era.

A work meeting on the project of studying and developing Marxist theory was held in Beijing on Friday.

As the brief of the meeting points out, the project is of strategic importance to the Party's ideological and theoretical development. Over the past 20 years, researchers taking part in it have produced a large number of high-quality research results, playing an important role in promoting the Party's innovative theories and consolidating the guiding role of Marxism in the field of ideology.

In the new era, the participants in the project should continue to further intensify the systematic and academic research and interpretation of Marxism, enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of their learning and the application of their research findings, and promote the Party's innovative theories to become more pertinent to the practical needs of advancing the country's high-quality development and the national modernization.

In their research, they are expected to base their work on the needs of the Party and the nation, carry on Chinese cultural heritage, and build a solid academic foundation for the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times.

They need to conduct in-depth research on major issues in the process of advancing national modernization, accelerate the construction of an independent knowledge system of Chinese philosophy and social sciences, cultivate high-quality theoretical talents, and make greater contributions to promoting the sinicization and modernization of Marxism.

The instructions Xi has recently made on the project profoundly explain its status and role, clarify the task requirements of adhering to the right path and innovation to promote the study, research and publicity of the Party's innovative theories, and provide important guidance for the project's implementation in the new era.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to strengthening the Party with effective ideological work and innovation of theories. And Xi has published a series of important expositions on strengthening the study and development of Marxist theory, profoundly answered the directional and fundamental issues of adhering to and developing Marxism, and systematically explained the direction, goals, basic principles, fundamental tasks and key tasks of the study and development of Marxist theory.

The project, as required, should focus on improving the pertinence and effectiveness of studies and researches, deepening the systematic research and interpretation of Marxism and the actual conditions of China.

In specific, relevant researchers need to deepen the research on the basic principles of Marxism, answer China's specific practical problems, explore the rich connotation and contemporary value of China's traditional culture, and continuously stimulate the vitality of theoretical creation.

They need to adhere to the guidance of the Party's innovative theory, adapt to the requirements of the times, base their work on China's reality, systematically refine and summarize relevant classic Marxist concepts and theories, and promote the development of an independent knowledge system of philosophy and social sciences based on China's national conditions.

The project undertakers should thus continuously enhance the persuasiveness, appeal, and influence of China's academic discourse system. The researchers should consciously focus their attention on the deep-seated problems in China's reform, development and stability, the urgent problems of the people, the major issues in the international changes, and the outstanding problems facing the Party's development.

To that end, relevant departments should strengthen organization, improve institutional mechanisms, strengthen incentive guarantees, create an appropriate academic ecology, and accelerate the formation of a work pattern with strong coordination, scientific management, and incentive innovation.

That being said, the project should be conducive to promoting the whole Party and society to continue to strengthen their belief in Marxism, and continuously enhance their political, ideological, theoretical, and emotional identification with the Party's innovative theory, and providing more intellectual support for further comprehensively deepening reform in some difficult fields, and the overall high-quality development of the country.