The Science of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

Section 2: The scientific connotation of socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era

The major political judgment of socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era has rich and profound ideological connotations. In the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Comrade Xi Jinping revealed the scientific connotation of the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics from five dimensions, comprehensively described the beautiful prospects of China in the new era from the perspective of the continuity of history and reality, the combination of goals and approaches, and the connection between domestic and international, and clarified the direction of efforts to win new victories of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

1. The new era is an era of carrying forward the past and forging ahead into the future, and continuing to win the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics under new historical conditions

The connotation of the new era of this dimension focuses on the historical development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, bases itself on today’s reality, plans the positioning of future development, clarifies the historical context of the new era, and highlights the temporal and spatial nature of the new era.

Only by not forgetting the original and absorbing foreign countries can we face the future. Socialism with Chinese characteristics, bearing the ideals and explorations of generations of Chinese communists, the long-cherished wishes and expectations of countless people with lofty ideals, and embodying the struggle and sacrifice of hundreds of millions of people, is the inevitable choice of China’s social development since modern times, and is the fundamental achievement of the party and the people in the past hundred years of struggle, creation and accumulation. China’s historical development since 1840 has proved that only socialism and no other doctrine can save China; the historical practice of China’s socialist construction proves that China cannot develop China by following the old road of closure and rigidity; the historical lessons of the drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union prove that taking the evil road of changing the banner will inevitably bury socialism; and the latest practice since the beginning of reform and opening up has proved that only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, our party has led the people to adhere to their own path and adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, which has greatly stimulated the creativity of the Chinese people, greatly liberated and developed the social productive forces, greatly enhanced social vitality, and enabled China to develop and grow at an unprecedented speed.

In the new era, adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics is the fundamental guarantee for us to open up the future. To promote the development of the cause of the party and the country, we must persistently hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Comrade Xi Jinping stressed: “Our generation has inherited the cause of our predecessors, carried out today’s struggle, and opened up tomorrow’s road.” 1 To continue to win the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the new historical conditions, we must, as always, closely focus on the theme of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, which is the party’s entire theory and practice, unite and lead the people to strive to achieve the “two centenary goals”, so that socialism can show strong vitality in China.

2. the new era is an era of decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and then building a modern and powerful socialist country in an all-round way

The connotation of the new era of this dimension, focusing on the national development goals, based on the existing foundation of struggle, makes strategic planning for the steps of socialist modernization, clarifies the practical path of the new era, and highlights the practical nature of the new era.

In the early days of reform and opening up, our party made strategic arrangements for China’s socialist modernization drive and put forward a “three-step” development strategy, in which the two goals of solving the problem of food and clothing for the people and achieving a moderately prosperous level of living standards on the whole have been achieved ahead of schedule. On this basis, our party has put forward the “two centenary goals.” Focusing on the realization of the “two centenary goals”, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made strategic arrangements for economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction, ecological civilization construction and party building, which are highly strategic, forward-looking and targeted.

Building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way by 2020 is a solemn commitment made by the Communist Party of China to the people and to history. According to the actual completion of various indicators of economic and social development, we are fully confident that we will build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way by 2020 and achieve the first centenary goal as scheduled. From the 19th CPC National Congress to the 20th CPC National Congress, it is a period of historical convergence of the “two centenary goals.” We must not only build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and achieve the first centenary goal, but also take advantage of the situation to start a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. Building a modern and powerful socialist country in an all-round way is the goal of the second centenary struggle. From the perspective of world development history, most of the countries and regions that have achieved modernization have experienced nearly 300 years since the industrial revolution to gradually complete, and China will take 100 years to complete the modernization process that developed countries have gone through for hundreds of years, which is not only extraordinary in speed and scale, but also extraordinary in the breadth, depth and difficulty of change.

Comprehensively analyzing the international and domestic situations and China’s development conditions, the 19th CPC National Congress clearly made a new strategic arrangement of “two steps,” that is, basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035 and building China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful modern socialist power by the middle of this century.

Compared with the requirements of the third step in the original “three-step” strategy, the “two-step” strategic arrangement has a fuller connotation, more comprehensive content and more ambitious goals. What we want to achieve is not modernization in the ordinary sense, but to build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist power. Comrade Deng Xiaoping once said, “In the end, convincing those who do not believe in socialism depends on our development.” If we reach the level of moderate prosperity within this century, we will be able to sober them up a little; by the middle of the next century when we build a moderately developed socialist country, we will be able to convince them further.“1 Comrade Xi Jinping further pointed out: “Big does not equal strong, and weight does not equal strong.”2 If you are strong in all aspects, you are a strong country. The new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics is essentially an era that highlights the superiority of socialism with Chinese characteristics and an era in which China becomes stronger.