No.2 2023

Marxism & Reality

CONTENTS

Guiding Principles from the 20th National Party Congress

How to Deepen Research on the Chinese Path to Modernization?Wu Zhongmin（1）

The Theoretical and Practical Logic of Endogenous Scientific and Technological

  Innovation Leading the Chinese Path to Modernization

Hong Yinxing & Liu Aiwen（12）

Research on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era

The Six Commitments of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics  for a New EraZhang Leisheng & Li Mengyun（20）

A New Civilization as Seen by Marxism Tang Aijun（27）

Research on the Compilation and Translation of Classical Marxist Works

Preface to Volume 39 of the Marx and Engels Collected Works in Chinese（35）

Research on Fundamental Marxist Theories

A Generalized and Retrospective Political-Economy Critique of the Private Property  System in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844Gong Jingcai（45）

On the Background and Content of Karl Marx’s Excerpts from an Edition of Friedrich Theodor von Vischer’s ? sthetik oder Wissenschaft des Sch?觟nesLi Suogui（54）

The Panic Category in Das Kapital and Its Contemporary Relevance Liu Xingang & Tian Xi（62）

An Enquiry into Marx’s Method of Rights Studies: A Reconstruction Centered

  on the Selection Objects in On the Jewish QuestionYao Yuan（71）

Asian Society and the Spatial Boundaries of Capital Expansion: Based on Marxian  Critique of CapitalWang Li（79）

The Multiple Dimensions and Value Thinking of Interpretation of the Concept of the  People in Early Marx: Based on the Discussion of Political Articles in the  Rheinische Zeitung and Critique of the Hegel’s Philosophy of RightCheng Bing（88）

Dialogue and Interviews

The Roots and Future of the Structural Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism:

  An Interview with Professor David Kotz/Chen Qin（96）

Research on Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics

State-Owned Capital in the Socialist Market Economy/Meng Jie（103）

The Logical Beginning of Socialist Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics  Xie Fusheng & Kang Meng（111）

Research on Political Communication

The Integration and Outbreak of Moral and Political Courses in Universities and

  Elementary and Secondary Schools: An Observation from Multiple

  Perspectives   Shen Zhuanghai & Liu Can（121）

Features on the New Scientific and Technological Revolution and Artificial Intelligence

Core Features and Response Strategies in a Period of Turbulent Changes in the World

  during the New Scientific and Technological Revolution Gao Qiqi（131）

Artificial Moral Agents: The Ethical Challenges of Artificial Intelligence and

  Possible ResponsesCui Zhongliang（140）

The Four Histories

Revisting the Policies of the Communist International on the “Negro Question”/Yan Jian & Chen Xuelian（148）

Research on Marxism Abroad

Foreground and Background: How to Tell a Complete Story of Capitalism?

Wang Xingfu（157）

Cultural Hegemony, Political Antagonism and Populism: The Post-Political Turn

  in the Theory of Antagonism /Kong Ming’an & Tian Tian（168）

The Contemporary Construction of the Discourse of Production in Historical Materialism  and Its Significance: Reflections on Lefebvre’s Reproduction Theory of the   Relations of ProductionZhang Xiaoyi（175）

Class Struggle in the Digital Age: Criticisms of and Reflections on the Theories of  Western Left-Wing ScholarsLiu Haoyan（183）

Political-Economy Critique of Surveillance Capitalism /Chen Lin & Deng Bojun（190）

The Struggle between Capitalism and Socialism in KenyaShiraz Durrani（197）

MAIN ABSTRACTS

How to Deepen Research on the Chinese Path to Modernization?

Wu Zhongmin

  To deepen and expand research on the Chinese path to modernization, great importance should be attached to research on the Chinese path to modernization itself and the meta-theory of modernization. To deepen research on the Chinese path to modernization itself, attention should be paid to the following issues: why China attaches great importance to modernization; the progressive mode of modernization; comprehensive advantages and disadvantages of a major country; how to keep alive the valuable historical genes in traditional civilization; and the backbone effect of the CPC in the process of modernization. To deepen research on the meta-theory of modernization, attention should be paid to important issues such as the reflection on the existing modernization theories; the new trends of modernization; the excessive welfare trap; and the win-win cooperation and exchanges between countries. In addition, it is also necessary to deepen and expand research ideas and research means, that is, to keep alive and develop the modernization ideas of Marx and Engels and stress modern interdisciplinary research and the comparative study of national modernization.

The Six Commitments of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era

Zhang Leisheng & Li Mengyun

      Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era applies the Marxism worldview and methodology to the research on a series of contemporary questions in the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, opening new chapters in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. The Six Commitments of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era are separate yet interconnected to make a whole, and must be always upheld in advancing the Party’s theoretical innovation. From the perspectives of their stance, viewpoint and method, the Six Commitments are a source of strength which enables the Party to gain a good command of the theoretical innovation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the key to understanding the essence of this theory and the reasons for its creation. In the new journey of advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through a Chinese path to modernization, the reason for adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times lies in always living by the Six Commitments.

A Generalized and Retrospective Political-Economy Critique of the Private Property System in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Gong Jingcai

    In terms of generalized political-economy critique, Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Outline of the Critique of Political Economy and Das Capital have successive relations internally, the core of which is the critique of the private property system. Reviewing the development of the ideas of the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 with the theories of generalized political-economy critique in the Outline of the Critique of Political Economy and Das Capital as a benchmark constitutes a retrospective perspective for understanding. The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 is a pioneering work of the critique of the generalized political economy, as the generalized political-economy critique of the private property system in it has laid the foundation and provided a theoretical perspective for the subsequent literature, especially the Outline of the Critique of Political Economy and Das Kapital. The generalized political-economy critique of the private property system in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 has seven aspects: the narrowed political-economy critique, economic philosophy critique, legal philosophy critique, political philosophy critique, historical philosophy critique, technological philosophy critique and human science critique. These critiques have repeatedly appeared in the Outline of the Critique of Political Economy and Das Kapital in a more mature way. All the theoretical facts above prove that the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Outline of the Critique of Political Economy and Das Kapital share a relationship of “three points on one line.” The line is the theory of generalized political-economy critique, and the differences among the theories of the three are only reflected as the different degrees of theoretical development.

The Roots and Future of the Structural Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism: An Interview with Professor David Kotz
Chen Qin

    Global capitalism have been in a long-run structural crisis since 2008, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in 2022. I interviewed David M. Kotz, professor emeritus in the Department of Economics at the University  of Massachusetts Amherst. He applied the social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory to analyze the causes and development of the structural crisis of contemporary capitalism. Specifically, he examined how neoliberal capitalism, as an SSA, emerged from the structural crisis in the late period of regulated capitalism, gradually changed from promoting to obstructing capital accumulation, and eventually brought a new structural crisis. He argued that the long-run economic crisis was rooted in the contradictory relationship between the process of capital accumulation on the one hand, and the economic, political, and cultural (including ideological) institutions supporting capital accumulation on the other. To conclude, he discussed the possibility of a new social structure of accumulation, such as authoritarian right-wing nationalism, social democracy, and socialism, to resolve the current crisis of capitalism.

State-Owned Capital in the Socialist Market Economy
Meng Jie
    China’s state-owned capital, which has come into being since the country introduced the reform policy in the late 1970s, is a form of socialist public ownership in a market economy. As a relation of production, state-owned capital involves three dimensions—the relations between the state and enterprise, between capital and labor, and between capital, the first of which always exerts decisive influences. The reform of state-owned enterprises and the management system of state-owned assets in the New Era bring about further definition and improvement of the relations between the state and enterprises, which results in the governance structure of state-owned assets as a whole, with the governance of state-owned enterprises as a part of it. The reform to manage capital based upon the reform of state-owned enterprises by category will be beneficial for strengthening, optimizing and enlarging state-owned capital. In addition, it is imperative to guide and constrain state-owned capital, in order to avoid the defects and risks in utilizing the laws of motion of modern finance capital.

Core Features and Response Strategies in a Period of Turbulent Changes in the World during the NewScientific and Technological Revolution
Gao Qiqi
    The main core features in a period of turbulent changes in the world are super uncertainty, intense conflict, and complex forms and means of struggle. As the basic driving force of the world’s turbulent changes, the new scientific and technological revolution promotes changes in the international system and may lead to a new round of globalization. The new scientific and technological revolution has dual connotations—the intelligent revolution and the zero-carbon revolution. In intelligence related technology, China and the United States are both in the first tier, but the latter enjoys more obvious advantages. In terms of the zero-carbon technology, China has shown obvious advantages in energy use, energy storage and the energy internet. The basis of the changes in the international power structure is scientific and technological changes. If the United States wants to maintain its hegemonic position, it will use all means to prevent China’s scientific and technological progress. The three main risks faced by China during the period of turbulent changes in the world are military conflict risks, “science and technology Cold War” risks and value science and technology alliance risks. In this period of turbulent changes in the world, China needs to play the three roles as an original innovation driver, endogenous system reformer and global development leader. To this end, China needs to use an endogenous drive to strive for the leadership of the new scientific and technological revolution, to resolve the three abovementioned major risks, and to promote the change of the global governance system.

Foreground and Background: How to Tell a Complete Story of Capitalism?
Wang Xingfu
     Marx’s classical critical theory of capitalism has two core points: (1) the capitalism is the apex of human prehistory, and it will be replaced by an association of free individuals, namely communism; and (2) the limit of capitalism is capital itself. Therefore, the inherent problems of capitalism, including economic problems and class struggle, will lead to the fall of capitalism and the victory of communism. However, the story of capitalism is not a monologue of capital, but a complex struggle between capital and the “other” of non-capital factors or fields. In recent years, Nancy Fraser has devoted herself to elaborating critical theory focusing on critique and diagnosis of neoliberalist capitalism. In her view, capitalism is not only an economic system, but also a complex social order. The problems between the internal elements of the capitalist economic system and the conflict between the two classes of its production system are only its foreground story. However, behind it, there is another background story around conflicts between its economic system and the social background conditions. The conception of extended capitalism should adhere to the perspective of dual critique. Actually, in the Marxist tradition there is a long story around the relationship between capitalism and the “other.” Fraser’s unique contribution is to thematize it and present the core concepts and analytical framework. However, her theory is not exhaustive. In fact, in addition to the reproduction and natural and political power of human beings mentioned by Fraser, human genes and intelligence, language and culture, and human sociality and communication desire are all the background conditions on which capital depends and which it also damages. In this regard, the conception of extended capitalism needs to be extended.