The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the major task of opening up a new realm of Marxism's sinicization and modernization, emphasizing that this is the solemn historical responsibility of contemporary Chinese Communists. On the basis of summing up historical experience, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed and elaborated scientific methods to promote theoretical innovation, such as "two combinations". At the symposium on cultural inheritance and development, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that "the 'two combinations' are the biggest magic weapon for our success". On the occasion of the first anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the Forum on Cultural Heritage and Development, we should, from the height of "the solemn historical responsibility of contemporary Chinese Communists", deeply study and understand the scientific method and fundamental adherence of "two combinations" to promote theoretical innovation, and constantly promote the modernization of Marxism in China in the new era.
Put forward the "two combinations" to open up a new realm of Marxism's sinicization and modernization
The first time General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the "two combinations" was at the congress celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. He stressed that in the new journey, We should "adhere to the combination of the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality, and with China's excellent traditional culture, use Marxism to observe, grasp, and lead the times, and continue to develop Marxism in contemporary China and Marxism in the 21st century".
At the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the content of "two combinations" was written into the historical resolutions passed at the plenary session twice. First, when summarizing the historical experience of the Party in creating a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it was clearly pointed out that the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the main representative, insisted on combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality, and with China's excellent traditional culture, and created the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Second, when elaborating the historical experience of "adhering to theoretical innovation" accumulated by the Communist Party of China in its centennial struggle, it emphasized that "Marxist theory is not a dogma but a guide to action. It must develop with the development of practice, and it must be localized in order to take root and become popular. The reason why the Party can lead the people to accomplish arduous tasks that are impossible for other political forces in China to accomplish in the process of repeated exploration, setbacks and exploitation lies in the fundamental principle of emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, keeping pace with the times, seeking truth and pragmatism, and adhering to the combination of the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional culture, Adhering to practice is the only criterion for testing truth, adhering to the principle of proceeding from reality in everything, answering the questions of the times and the people in a timely manner, and constantly promoting the sinicization and modernization of Marxism ". Also at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, when General Secretary Xi Jinping explained the historical resolution and discussed the requirements of the CPC Central Committee on drafting the historical resolution, It points out that we should "deeply study the Party's adherence to the combination of the basic principles of Marxism with the specific reality of China and the excellent traditional culture of China, constantly promote the centennial process of the localization of Marxism in China, and deepen the understanding and mastery of the Party's innovative theory in the new era".
In the report of the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping not only pointed out that since the 18th CPC National Congress, our party has been brave in theoretical exploration and innovation, and created Xi Jinping's thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, It also emphasizes that the Chinese Communists have deeply realized that "only by combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and excellent traditional Chinese culture, and adhering to the application of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, can we correctly answer the major questions raised by the times and practice, and can we always maintain the vitality and exuberance of Marxism". General Secretary Xi Jinping made a brilliant exposition of the connotation and requirements of "two combinations" for the first time in the report of the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and on this basis stressed that "there is no end to practice and theoretical innovation, and it is the solemn historical responsibility of contemporary Chinese Communists to constantly write a new chapter of the sinicization and modernization of Marxism".
General Secretary Xi Jinping still has many discussions on this. From the perspective of these five discussions, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core proposed "two combinations". First, it is a profound summary of the successful experience of the CPC in its centennial struggle, especially in theoretical innovation in the new era; The second is the fundamental requirement for continuing to promote theoretical innovation in the new era. There is no doubt that the proposal of "two combinations" is the enrichment and development of the "sinicization of Marxism" thought proposed by Comrade Mao Zedong by General Secretary Xi Jinping. Mao Zedong, as the proposer of the "localization of Marxism in China", emphasized the first combination, that is, the basic principles of Marxism must be combined with China's specific reality; At the same time, he also pointed out that we should inherit the precious heritage of Chinese history and culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping, for the first time in the process of sinicization of Marxism, linked "the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality" and "the combination with China's excellent traditional culture" together and proposed at the same time. The reason why General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the "two combinations" after socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era is that we are required to open up a new realm of sinicization and modernization of Marxism in the new era. This is the solemn historical responsibility incumbent on contemporary Chinese Communists.
The only way to continuously promote the sinicization and modernization of Marxism
It is "the solemn historical responsibility of contemporary Chinese Communists" to truly understand that adhering to the "two combinations" and opening up a new realm of sinicization and modernization of Marxism is fundamentally, It is necessary to truly understand what General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the Forum on Cultural Heritage and Development: "It is the only way to open up and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics on the basis of more than 5000 years of Chinese civilization, and combine the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and excellent traditional Chinese culture.".
The "only way" emphasizes that the "two combinations" are scientific conclusions that have been repeatedly verified by the theoretical innovation practice of the Communist Party of China for more than 100 years. When Mao Zedong summarized the historical experience of the Party from infancy to gradual maturity in his "The Communist" Publication, he closely focused on the question of "the combination of the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality", that is, whether the Party and its cadres can make a unified understanding of Marxism and China's practice to judge whether the Communist Party of China is mature or not. It can be seen that whether we can solve the problem of "combining theory with practice" rather than "separating from practice" is closely related to the future and destiny of the Party. This is an extremely important historical experience. It should be pointed out that the reason why Mao Zedong emphasized the "combination" of theory and practice was not only because dogmatism had caused extremely serious losses to the Chinese revolution, but also because dogmatism had profound historical and social reasons for its long-term prevalence in the CPC. The Communist Party of China was founded in the process of combining Marxism Leninism with the Chinese workers' movement by advanced Chinese intellectuals under the impetus of the May 4th Anti imperialist Patriotic Movement. This has determined that the Communist Party of China will face a very complicated situation after its establishment. It will not only take Marxism as its fundamental guiding ideology and communism as its highest ideal, but also base itself on China, a semi colonial and semi feudal society, and shoulder the historical mission of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation without hesitation, We should also accept the leadership of the Communist International and the guidance of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. That is to say, the Communist Party of China, which leads the revolution in a semi colonial and semi feudal China, should adhere to Marxism and not dogmatize Marxism; We should accept the leadership of the Comintern and the guidance of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and we should not sanctify the resolutions of the Comintern and the experience of the Soviet Union; We should attach importance to practice, and we should not stick to our own experience and ignore the guidance of scientific theory. Therefore, the problem of "combining theory with practice" rather than "separating from practice" is highlighted in the ideological and theoretical construction and work guidance of the Communist Party of China. For this reason, Mao Zedong creatively put forward the proposition of "localization of Marxism in China" on the principle of combining theory with practice at the Sixth Plenary Session (enlarged) of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in October 1938. He pointed out: "Communists who become part of the great Chinese nation and are closely related to this nation, talking about Marxism without Chinese characteristics, is just abstract and empty Marxism. Therefore, the sinicization of Marxism makes it have Chinese characteristics in every performance, that is, to apply it according to Chinese characteristics has become an urgent problem for the whole Party to understand and solve. "
It is worth noting that when Mao Zedong put forward the proposition of "localization of Marxism in China", he had already put forward that "we are Marxist historicists, and we should not cut off history. From Confucius to Sun Yat sen, we should give a summary, and we should inherit this precious heritage." Mao Zedong stressed that "foreign stereotyped writing must be abolished, empty and abstract turns must be sung less, dogmatism must rest, and replaced with fresh and lively Chinese style and Chinese style, which are popular with Chinese people." It can be seen that handling the relationship between Marxism and Chinese history and culture is an important issue in the sinicization of Marxism. In May 1943, the CPC Central Committee put forward: "The rectification movement against subjectivism, anti sectarianism and anti party stereotype carried out by the Communist Party of China in recent years is to further integrate the revolutionary science of Marxism Leninism with the Chinese revolutionary practice, history and culture. This movement demonstrated the creative ability of the Chinese Communists in ideology, just as they did in revolutionary practice; It shows that the Chinese Communists must be able to work with the Chinese people to accomplish various historical tasks that the Chinese people have taught them. " Here, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Mao Zedong at the core not only summarized the significance of attaching importance to "Chinese revolutionary practice, Chinese history and Chinese culture" in the Yan'an Rectification Movement, but also summarized the experience that Marxism must and can be "combined" with this, emphasizing that this is "the creative talent of Chinese Communists in ideology". The "two combinations" are the profound summary of the CPC's hundred years of historical experience in theoretical innovation.
The "only way" emphasizes that the "two combinations" follow the cognitive law of dialectical materialism. Marxist epistemology tells us that human knowledge comes from social practice, and must return to social practice, and test and develop truth in practice, thus achieving the dialectical unity of knowledge and practice, theory and practice. That is to say, the resolutions of Marxism and the Communist International, the decisions and lines of the Party are all knowledge. To play a role, these knowledge must be applied in practice and tested by practice to prove what is in line with the laws of the Chinese revolution, and what is not in line with or not fully in line with the laws of the Chinese revolution, so as to achieve the unity of theory and practice. This is the cognitive law revealed by Mao Zedong in On Practice. We know that there are three key words in the "two combinations": first, "the basic principles of Marxism", second, "China's specific reality", and third, "China's excellent traditional culture". General Secretary Xi Jinping, at the symposium on philosophy and social sciences and the conference commemorating the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, It has repeatedly stressed that "the great social change in contemporary China is not a simple continuation of our historical and cultural template, a simple application of the ideas of Marxist classical writers, a reprint of socialist practice in other countries, or a copy of the development of modernization abroad". This paragraph was quoted again when the historical resolution adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee discussed the "two combinations". That is to say, if we want to adhere to the "two combinations" and promote the modernization of Marxism in China, we must deeply consider and study three major issues: first, how to treat the basic principles of Marxism scientifically, and adhering to the basic principles of Marxism is not simply a template for applying the ideas of Marxist classical writers; Second, how to scientifically analyze China's specific reality? The great social change in contemporary China is by no means a reprint of the socialist practice of other countries, nor a copy of the modernization development of foreign countries; Third, how to scientifically understand the excellent traditional Chinese culture and inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture is not to simply continue the mother plate of China's historical culture, but to achieve creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture. It can be seen that the modernization of Marxism in China must follow the cognitive law of dialectical materialism and deepen the understanding of these three issues in practice in order to achieve "two combinations".
In the "two combinations", the realization of the second combination, that is, "combination with excellent traditional Chinese culture", is a new topic. The reason why the basic principles of Marxism can be combined with the excellent traditional Chinese culture is that Marxism reflects the general laws of nature, society and thinking, while the excellent traditional Chinese culture is "special" to Marxism. The general lies in the special, and the special contains the general. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out profoundly at the forum on cultural inheritance and development, the premise of "integration" is mutual agreement. Marxism and Chinese excellent traditional culture have different sources, but they are highly compatible with each other. Only by mutual agreement can we combine organically. The result of "combination" must be mutual achievements, creating a new cultural life body with organic unity, making Marxism Chinese, Chinese excellent traditional culture modern, and making the new culture formed through "combination" a cultural form of Chinese modernization. At the same time, we should also recognize that the main body of "integration" is the Chinese Communists and the Chinese people who have the unique spiritual world of the Chinese people and a strong sense of national rejuvenation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We were born Chinese, the most fundamental thing is that we have the unique spiritual world of Chinese people, and the values that people use everyday without being aware of." "Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese nation since modern times." Social practice promoted in the interaction of such subject and object, It must be a social practice with the spiritual and historical pursuit of the Chinese nation; To promote the sinicization of Marxism on the basis of such social practice must be the sinicization combined with the indispensable element of Chinese excellent traditional culture. Obviously, such "combination" consolidates the cultural subjectivity, and the creation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the most powerful embodiment of this cultural subjectivity.
The "only way" emphasizes the "two combinations", which reveals the fundamental principle of comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese style modernization. Since the reform and opening up, in the journey of the whole party and the whole people to concentrate on promoting socialist modernization, from Deng Xiaoping's emphasis on "understanding Chinese history, which is a spiritual driving force for China's development" to the whole party's putting forward patriotism, collectivism and socialist education together as an important task of spiritual civilization construction, emphasizing the need to inspire the national spirit To strengthen national cohesion, and then to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we proposed to advocate socialist core values. We are increasingly aware that in the historical process of promoting Chinese modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, it is increasingly important to carry forward the excellent traditional culture of China and adhere to socialist core values. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward the "Chinese Dream", emphasized that "excellent traditional Chinese culture has become the gene of the Chinese nation, rooted in the hearts of the Chinese people, and imperceptibly influenced the way of thinking and behavior of the Chinese people", and emphasized "cultural self-confidence", and so on, In the history of the Party, it has never been emphasized to inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture. Combining the basic principles of Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture has consolidated the foundation of the road, made the socialist road with Chinese characteristics have a broader and deeper historical depth, and expanded the cultural foundation of the socialist road with Chinese characteristics; It has opened up the space for innovation, allowing us to grasp the initiative of thought and culture, and effectively act on the road, theory and system.
In a word, the reason why the "two combinations" are the "only way" to open up and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics on the basis of more than 5000 years of Chinese civilization, and open up a new realm of Marxism in China and the times, has its historical basis, its philosophical basis, and its practical basis.
"The second combination" is another ideological emancipation
At the symposium on cultural inheritance and development, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "the 'second combination' is another emancipation of the mind, which enables us to make full use of the precious resources of China's excellent traditional culture in a broader cultural space, and explore future oriented theoretical and institutional innovation." Only by fully understanding the innovative significance of the 'second combination', Only in this way can we truly understand that it is the solemn historical responsibility of the contemporary Chinese Communists to adhere to the "two combinations" and open up a new realm of Marxism's sinicization and modernization.
Why is it said that "the 'second combination' is another emancipation of the mind"?
The "second combination" breaks the ideological shackles of "Western centralism". The "first combination" is a great emancipation of the mind, mainly to break the subjectivism that has long existed in our party, especially the dogmatic tendency to treat Marxism. The "second combination" proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, combined with the "first combination", not only aims at the persistent problems of formalism and bureaucracy that do not proceed from reality, but also breaks the ideological shackles of "Western centralism". At the opening ceremony of the seminar on studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that "Chinese style modernization has broken the myth that modernization=westernization". He emphasized that "Chinese style modernization is deeply rooted in the excellent traditional culture of China, reflects the advanced nature of scientific socialism, draws on and absorbs all outstanding achievements of human civilization, represents the development direction of human civilization progress, shows a new picture different from the western modernization model, and is a new form of human civilization." In this sense, We said, "The second combination is another emancipation of the mind".
The "second combination" breaks the fog of "historical nihilism" and "cultural nihilism". After the October Revolution sent us Marxism Leninism, the Chinese people turned from passive to active in spirit. The era of looking down on the Chinese people and Chinese culture ended, and the era of rejuvenating the great Chinese people's culture began. However, some people, beginning with the mistakes in our socialist practice, discredit the history of the Chinese revolution with the attitude of historical nihilism and cultural nihilism, and negate the value of Chinese civilization with contempt. Since socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has repeatedly reminded us to be vigilant against these erroneous trends of thought and stressed that we should be confident in our path, theory, system and culture. At the symposium on cultural heritage and development, General Secretary Xi Jinping further analyzed the outstanding continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness and peace of Chinese civilization, Profoundly pointed out that: "The 'second combination' is our party's profound summary of the historical experience of the sinicization and modernization of Marxism, a profound grasp of the law of the development of Chinese civilization, indicating that our party's understanding of China's road, theory and system has reached a new height, indicating that our party's historical self-confidence and cultural self-confidence have reached a new height, indicating that our party is in the inheritance of China's excellent traditional culture The consciousness of promoting cultural innovation has reached a new height ". It is in this sense that we say that "the second combination" is another emancipation of the mind ".
The "second combination" breaks the superficial understanding of simply continuing our history and culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping repeatedly stressed that we should not only correctly understand the assumptions of Marxist classical writers, the socialist practices of other countries and the practices of foreign modernization development, but also correctly understand China's history and culture. We should pay special attention to this when we emphasize the promotion of Chinese civilization today. To this end, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward an extremely important proposition: "creative transformation" and "innovative development" of Chinese excellent traditional culture. As he said, "Chinese culture has a long history, and Chinese civilization is extensive and profound. Only by comprehensively understanding the history of Chinese civilization can we more effectively promote the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture, more vigorously promote the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.", A great significance is to enable us to further understand the cultural mission of the new era and continue to promote cultural prosperity, build a cultural power and build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation at a new starting point. It is in this sense that we say that "the second combination" is another emancipation of the mind ".
The important thought of "two combinations" put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping is a major theoretical innovation, reflects our party's understanding of the laws of the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and is the biggest magic weapon for us to solve the major issues of the new era. We should consciously assume the "solemn historical responsibility of contemporary Chinese Communists", deeply study and understand the scientific method and fundamental adherence of "two combinations" to promote theoretical innovation, and constantly open up a new realm of sinicization and modernization of Marxism in the new era.
(The author is the former Vice President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee)
