Xin Xiangyang: Xi Jinping's Discussion on Marxist World Outlook and Methodology Historical Materialism | Dialectical Materialism | Marxism

The report of the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that the people of the CPC deeply realized that only by combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality, with China's excellent traditional culture, and adhering to the application of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, can we correctly answer the major issues raised by the times and practice, and can we always maintain the vitality and exuberance of Marxism.

We must adhere to and develop Marxism in combination with China's specific realities on the one hand, and on the other hand, we must use the Marxist worldview methodology to solve China's problems, rather than memorizing and repeating its specific conclusions and phrases, let alone treating Marxism as an unchanging dogma.

1、 The scientific worldview and methodology of Marxism enable us to deeply understand and grasp the basic national conditions

It should be said that in the more than 100 years of historical process, our party has grasped two basic national conditions: one is the basic national conditions of the New Democratic Revolution period, which is a semi colonial and semi feudal society; Another is that after the reform and opening up, we have realized the basic national conditions in the primary stage. These two basic national conditions ensured that we achieved victory in the New Democratic Revolution. After the victory of the New Democratic Revolution, our socialist revolution, socialist construction, especially the reform and opening up, achieved a series of achievements, which are closely related to our understanding of the national conditions. So the understanding of the two national conditions guarantees the great rejuvenation of our Chinese nation.

2、 To understand the new stage of development, we must adhere to the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism

In his speech at the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, he further pointed out that we must comprehensively grasp the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, and deeply understand that the realization of communism is a historical process gradually achieved by a phased goal. So, it is precisely based on this ideology that we understand the primary stage of socialism, especially our new stage of development.

The new stage of development is an important stage in the process of socialist development in China. The primary stage of socialism is not a static, unchanging, stagnant stage, nor is it a spontaneous, passive stage that can be crossed naturally without much effort. It is a dynamic, positive, and always filled with vibrant vitality. It is a process of progressive development, continuous progress, and increasingly close to qualitative leaps and quantitative accumulation and changes.

3、 To solve the main contradictions in society, we must adhere to the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism

From the past, we only had a basic need for material culture, to now we have a higher demand for material culture, and we also have needs in areas such as democracy and the rule of law, fairness and justice, and a safe environment. We not only need to solve the problems that exist, but also the problems that are good or bad. We not only have the expansion of demand areas, but also the development of demand quality. For example, we need better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher levels of medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, more beautiful environment, and richer spiritual and cultural life. We not only need to pay attention to the objectivity of people's needs, but also to the subjectivity of people's needs, so we need to pay attention to the issue of people's sense of gain, happiness, and security.

4、 Only by adhering to the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism can we correctly understand the origin of Chinese civilization

On September 28, 2020, the 19th Central Political Bureau held the 23rd collective study on the latest discoveries in Chinese archaeology and their significance.

Comrade Wang Wei, a member of the Department of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, specifically discussed this issue in an article. He said that the exploration project has broken through the shackles of the "three elements of civilization". Especially regarding the country as a symbol of entering a civilized society, we know this is Engels' view. Engels emphasized that a country is a summary of civilized society. It is precisely through the dialectical materialism and historical materialism of Marxism that we have revealed a very important criterion for entering a civilized society, which provides us with sufficient basis for the 5000 year history of Chinese civilization. So in this sense, without the dialectical materialism, historical materialism, and methodology of Marxism, it is difficult to understand the criteria for judging how civilization originated.

5、 Using the standpoint, viewpoint, and method of historical materialism to understand the history of Chinese civilization

At the beginning of the reform and opening up, some people said that the reason why we have fallen behind in modern times is because there are rigid or closed genes in our Chinese civilization itself. In fact, this is a wrong view. From the perspective of materialist history and the perspective of grand history, this viewpoint is very wrong.So, looking at the 5000 year history of civilization, our history of seclusion is very short, occupying only a moment in the long river of history. Our main history is open.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a cloud gathering of envoys, merchants, and international students from various countries in Chang'an City. In Chang'an City, with a permanent population of one million, there are often tens of thousands of foreigners living there, indicating that it is quite internationalized. So, the great characteristics of the Chinese nation are one is change, and the other is openness. In terms of transformation, we have the Wu Qi Reform and the Shang Yang Reform. The emergence of the rule of Wen Jing and the rule of Zhen Guan in the Han Dynasty was definitely due to changes. So only from the perspective of materialist and grand historical perspectives can we correctly understand the history of the Chinese nation.

The Marxist worldview and methodology are indeed profound and profound. They serve as a powerful ideological weapon for truly understanding and transforming the world. We have fully utilized them in China's revolution, construction, and reform practices, especially in the new era. We have fully utilized the Marxist worldview and methodology to solve a series of problems we face in the new era.