[Expert Talk] Grasp the nature and characteristics of Marxism in an all-round way.

　　Today, when we study and commemorate Marx, the most important thing is to master the scientific theory named after him — — Marxism. In his speech commemorating the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader scientifically expounded the nature and characteristics of Marxism from four aspects, which provided scientific guidance for us to master Marxism completely and accurately.

　　First, Marxism is a scientific theory, which creatively reveals the development law of human society. The socialist theory before Marxism did not point out the correct way to realize social alternation and did not find the class power to realize social alternation, so it was utopian socialism. Therefore, based on the view of scientific practice, Marx revealed the scientific law that social existence determines social consciousness, productivity determines production relations, and economic foundation determines superstructure. In this way, he went deep into social history and founded the historical materialism. On the basis of historical materialism, Marx innovated the labor theory of value, further studied the law of contradictory movement of capitalist mode of production, discovered the secret of surplus value, and revealed that the demise of capitalism and the victory of socialism were inevitable. This is the representative of advanced socialized mass production — — The historical mission of the proletariat. In this way, socialism has achieved a leap from fantasy to science. Scientific socialism points out the future development direction of human society. Moreover, compared with all previous social and historical theories, Marxism made social theory a social science for the first time. It can be seen that Marxism has distinct scientific nature and truth.

　　Of course, this scientificity and truth are not limited to the social and historical fields. Marxism also scientifically reveals the materiality of the world and its development law, the essence of cognition and its development law, and the law of human liberation and free and all-round development. Therefore, the scientificity and truth of Marxism are as follows: Marxism is a science about the universal laws of nature, society, thinking and human development, especially about the laws of human social development. Historical materialism and surplus value theory are Marx’s greatest contributions to science.

　　Second, Marxism is the people’s theory, which created the ideological system of people’s self-liberation for the first time. Who to trust, who to rely on and for whom, whether to always stand in the position of the overwhelming majority of the people, is a watershed to distinguish historical materialism from historical idealism, and also a touchstone to judge Marxist political parties. All social and historical theories before Marxism are for the benefit of a few people and are tools for the ruling class to enslave the people. In contrast, the proletarian movement is an independent movement for the benefit of the overwhelming majority of people. Therefore, Marxism regards the realization of people’s free and all-round development as the future ideal. In this way, Marxism pointed out the road of human freedom and liberation from the standpoint of the people for the first time, and laid a scientific theoretical foundation for the ultimate establishment of an ideal society without oppression, exploitation, equality and freedom for all. It can be seen that Marxism has a distinct people’s character. People’s nature is the most distinctive character of Marxism. The popularity of Marxism lies in the unity of solving the basic problems of social historical view and the main problems of social history, and points out that only the people are the driving force to create world history.

　　However, there is a prerequisite to realize the free and all-round development of human beings, that is, to completely eliminate the old bourgeois society with class opposition and establish a free association. Marx and Engels pointed out: "instead of the old bourgeois society where class opposition existed, it would be such a consortium, where the free development of everyone is the condition for the free development of all people." In this way, the people and class nature of Marxism are unified. The class nature of Marxism is embodied in the theory that Marxism openly declares that it serves the liberation of the proletariat. The proletariat and the working people are the backbone of the people. Realizing class liberation and realizing human liberation are unified.

　　Third, Marxism is a theory of practice, guiding people’s actions to transform the world. In the process of changing from idealism to materialism and from revolutionary democracy to communism, Marx saw that the old materialism only understood the world from an intuitive aspect and did not know how to understand it from a practical aspect; On the contrary, idealism develops the dynamic aspects abstractly. Therefore, Marx established a scientific view of practice, which regarded practice as the sum total of all activities that actively changed the world. While acknowledging the objectivity and premise of the original nature, Marxism reveals the law of the formation of humanized nature; It is pointed out that all social life is practical in essence, and the history of labor development is the key to open the history of social development. It is revealed that the essence of human thinking lies in the change of the world, and practice is the basis, source, motivation and standard to test its truth. In addition, Marx unveiled the duality of labor — — The secret of concrete labor and abstract labor makes the theory of surplus value based on scientific labor theory of value. Marxism also points out the prospect of labor liberation. It can be seen that Marxism has distinct practicality.

　　Today, adhering to the practicality of Marxism means that we should base ourselves on the great practice of building Socialism with Chinese characteristics, absorb the achievements of the new scientific and technological revolution, make use of the opportunities and conditions provided by globalization, and rely on the wisdom and strength of the people to promote the all-round development and progress of socialism. On this basis, we should promote the creative development of Marxism.

　　Fourthly, Marxism is a developing and open theory, and always stands at the forefront of the times. Marxism emphasizes that everything must be transferred by the transfer of time, place and conditions. Marxism also treats itself with this scientific spirit. On the 25th anniversary of the publication of the communist party Declaration, Marx and Engels pointed out that the Declaration was outdated in some places due to the passage of time, especially the experience of the Paris Commune Revolution. However, since Marx and Engels had no right to change the Declaration as a historical document, they created seven prefaces through the opportunity of reprinting and publishing a foreign language version, and further expounded the basic principles of Marxism according to the new situation. Similarly, Marx opposed the unconditional application of the theory on the origin of capitalist mode of production in western Europe in Das Kapital to Russia, and believed that the greatest strength of the theory of historical philosophy lies in its insistence on concrete analysis of specific issues. In order to oppose the wrong practice of mechanically understanding Marxism, Marx declared that he was not a Marxist, and Engels emphasized that Marxism was a method rather than a dogma. It can be seen that Marxism has distinct openness and times. The openness of Marxism is not only reflected in keeping pace with the times, but also in the openness to all civilized achievements created by human beings. Marxism is a dynamic and open scientific system.

　　Today, adhering to the openness and modernity of Marxism means constantly promoting the modernization and popularization of Marxism in China in the great practice of building Socialism with Chinese characteristics, further closely combining the basic principles of scientific socialism with the specific reality and requirements of China’s new era, and constantly opening up a new realm of Marxism in contemporary China and Marxism in the 21st century.

　　In short, it is precisely because of the above-mentioned nature and characteristics of Marxism that once it was born, it was like a magnificent sunrise, illuminating the way for human beings to explore historical laws and seek their own liberation.

　　(Author: Zhang Yunfei, Research Fellow, National Institute of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of Marxist College)