Marx and the Chinese Revolution

By focusing on the “Sinification of Marxism,” the nature of the Communist Party of China, the strategic concepts of class and nation, the theories of a “new democratic revolution” and “continuous revolution,” and the notion of revolutionary modernity, the historical processes, characters and significance of the communist revolution in China can be outlined. Beginning with the shift in Marx’s conception of history that affirms the potential for “socialist revolutions” in the East before Europe, and ends with his methodological illumination for understanding and interpreting world-historical revolutionary transformations, the argument centers on the epic effects and impact of the Chinese revolution and the enduring relevance and power of Marx’s ideas, as well as those creatively developed by Chinese Marxists in practice. However, measured by its original goals of freedom, democracy, and prosperity for the laboring people, it must be recognized as an unfinished revolution. The revolution’s intrinsic and unresolved dilemmas, along with the partial undoing of its groundwork in market reforms, sharpen the predicament of historical communism. 1949 was only the first threshold in China’s ongoing long march.