Theoretical Essence of the Openness Characteristics of Marxism

Authors: Kong Mingan and Chen Wenxu, are researchers at the Nankai University Base of Tianjin Research Center for the Theory of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, July 2018 

At the conference commemorating the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, Xi Jinping profoundly summarized the theoretical characteristics of Marxism, namely Marxism’s scientificity, people-orientedness, practicality and openness.

Xi Jinping emphasized: “Marxism is an ever evolving open theory that is constantly developing and always stands at the forefront of the times.” Scientifically understanding the theoretical essence of the openness characteristics of Marxism is of great significance for us to develop contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st century Marxism in the unity and benign interaction of theoretical innovation and practical innovation.

The openness feature is an important prerequisite for ensuring the scientific essence of Marxist theory. In the history of human thought, no ideological theory has reached the height of Marxism, and no doctrine can has had such a huge impact on the world as Marxism.

The reason why Marxism has such great truth power and strong vitality is that Marxism is always in constant development and openness, and is a theoretical system that is constantly enriched and developed. Xi Jinping pointed out: “The history of the development of Marxism is the history of Marx, Engels and their successors constantly developing their ideas according to the times, practice, and understanding, and it is the history of constantly absorbing all the outstanding ideological and cultural achievements in human history to enrich itself. Therefore, Marxism can always maintain its wonderful youth/vitality, constantly explore new issues raised by the development of the times, and respond to new challenges faced by human society.”

Thus he emphasized that Marxism is developing and that Marxism open to enrichment, and that it is inevitable to base itself on the characteristics of the times, in this way we should promote the innpvation of Marxism, better use Marxism to observe the times, interpret the times, and lead the times, truly understand the issues of the times, and deeply grasp the context and direction of world history.

Compared with the era in which Marx lived, human history has undergone tremendous and profound changes to this day, but looking from the perspective of the development of human history, the world is still in the great era of moving from capitalism to socialism as indicated by Marxism.

The basic contradictions of capitalism revealed by Marxism still exist, the laws of human social development revealed by Marxism and the historical trend of socialism replacing capitalism still exist and they take effect, and Marxism is still the truth of the present era. However, how to use Marxism to analyze and solve the problems of the times inevitably requires that the Marxist theory itself always remain open to development and enrichment and we should constantly realize the transformation and innovative development of the theory itself.

The openness character is the philosophical expression of the “dialectical negation” in Marxist theory.

Being open rather than closed, having the courage to self-negate and self-doubt, and constantly growing and developing in negation, these did not only became the action guide that Marx himself demonstrated when Marx was alive, but also became the theoretical character and practical characteristics of Marx’s successors who constantly innovated and developed Marxism.

The philosophical basis of the openness of Marxism comes from the dialectical negation within materialist dialectics.

Dialectical negation is not a simple, linear negation, but instead the “negation of negation”, the unity of opposites and the “self-negation” of the inner determination of contradictions. As we all know, Hegel inherited Spinoza’s view that “entity” is self-caused, and “entity” is self-caused, which means that entity is self-negative.

Hegel incorporated Spinoza’s characteristics of entity self-negation into his own idealist speculative system, and then formed the “affirmation, negation, and synthesis” syllogism model of concept self-negation. (concepts self-denying themselves)

However, Hegel’s inherent self-negative characteristics of concepts were completely bound by his idealist speculative system and could not extricate himself from.

Marx absorbed the spiritual essence of Hegel’s concept of “self-negation”, transformed it into materialism, and finally formed the philosophical view of dialectical materialism, that is, the dialectical negation of the unity of opposites under the perspective of materialism.

Marx pointed out: “Dialectics includes in its comprehension an affirmative recognition of the existing state of things, at the same time, also, it includes the recognition of the negation of that state, recognition of its inevitable breaking up; because it regards every historically developed social form as in fluid movement, and therefore takes into account its transient nature not less than its momentary existence; because it lets nothing impose upon it, and is in its essence critical and revolutionary.”

Therefore, the essence of the dialectical materialist view of contradictions is “unity of opposites”, which is synonymous of “self-negation” or “dialectical negation” in the dimension of historical materialism, which is the basic law of materialist dialectics.

The openness of Marxism means that Marxist theory adheres to a critical and revolutionary attitude towards all theories, thoughts and doctrines, including itself. This is the secret which ensures that Marxist theory always stands at the forefront of the times and leads the trend of development of the times, that is, constantly enriching and developing itself in response to the questions raised by the changes of the times. For example, the specific blueprint of socialism does not exist in the classical Marxist texts, but in the actual practical implementation of socialism in various countries.

Due to the limitations of their historical era, Marx and Engels did not describe a specific path for the realization of the future socialist system, nor did they clearly propose whether the socialist society could realize the “commodity economy” and “market economy”. The political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics realizes the “self-negation” and “dialectical negation” of the classical Marxist political economy..

The openness requires a scientific attitude towards Marxist theory.

History and reality have proved that Marxism is the root of the towering tree that continuously develops the cause of our party and the people. If we deviate from Marxism or abandon Marxism, our party will lose its soul and lose its direction.

On the fundamental issue of adhering to Marxism as a guide, we must be firm and unwavering, and we must not waver at any time or under any circumstances. This is the principle and bottom line that we must adhere to in dealing with Marxism.

Meanwhile, Engels also pointed out that Marxist theory “is a product of history, which will have completely different forms and different contents in different eras of history.”

In the 21st century, the basic principles of Marxism are still scientific truths, and the basic principles of scientific socialism cannot be ignored.

Socialism is the institutional premise and theoretical background of socialism with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, Marxism is by no means an unchanging dogma, and socialism does not have a set and unchanging routine.

Today, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the new era needs a new atmosphere, and the new era calls for new practical development and theoretical innovation. (Tr. 2012- )

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (2012), our party has formed Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era around the major issue of the times: what kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics should be upheld and developed in the new era, and how to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics.

At the same time, facing the ever-changing status of the international situaton, Xi Jinping emphasized: “The world pattern is in the process of accelerated historical evolution, which has produced a large number of profound and complex practical questions and raised a large number of theoretical issues that need to be answered. This requires us to strengthen the study of contemporary capitalism, analyze and grasp the various changes in contemporary capitalism and the essence of these changes, and deepen the understanding of the laws of the profound and complex changes in capitalism and international political and in economic relations.”

It can be seen that maintaining the openness of Marxist theory requires not only in-depth summarization (theorization) of the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics and better realization of the combination of the basic principles of Marxism with the specific reality of contemporary China, but also to broaden the horizon, absorb all the beneficial achievements of human civilization, and continuously innovate and develop Marxism.