Issues in the Development of China's Communist Struggle in the 21st Century – English

However, in the economic sphere, the market has been granted a "decisive role" in resource allocation, providing vast development space for private capital. While we uphold the dominant position of public ownership, the side effects of this marketization process—such as structural downward risks, declining capital returns, high living costs, uneven distribution of educational resources, and insufficient coverage of medical security—are impacting the lives of ordinary workers at an unprecedented speed and scale. This excessive reliance on efficiency and market competition is precisely the outcome of "right-leaning" economic practices.

This profound internal inconsistency constitutes the fundamental source of contemporary youth confusion and fertility rate issues.

While individuals are educated about "the working class being the masters of the country" and "common prosperity," they simultaneously face harsh competition driven by market dominance, exploitation violating labor laws, and survival pressures from "involution." When individuals discover their economic problems cannot be resolved through "collective" efforts but instead require "extreme personal struggle" anda 12-hour work system without overtime pay or vacations-style sacrifices just to barely survive, their sense of belonging in collective life completely vanishes. This uncertainty about the future, economic pressures, and the vast gap between ideals and reality directly lead many young people to lose sight of how to plan for their future development. Ultimately, this manifests at the societal level as a significant decline in willingness to have children.

We must squarely face that the people demand continuous new progress in education for all, fair remuneration for labor, accessible medical care, support for the elderly, and adequate housing. This is the most fundamental test of our Party's governance legitimacy. If the fruits of development cannot "benefit all people more extensively and equitably," and if social fairness and justice are weakened, then any ideological propaganda will be empty, powerless, and merely scratching the surface.

2. Looking Back at the 1970s: Inherit the Revolutionary Spirit, Not the Impoverished System

In response to the current structural challenges, a dangerous and unrealistic ideological trend has emerged in society—fantasizing about returning to the highly centralized planned economy of the 1970s to solve current issues of unfair distribution and unemployment.

This line of thinking is extremely perilous; its harm lies in only seeing the superficial aspects of history while ignoring the essence:

First, poverty is not socialism. China's economy in the 1970s was relatively backward and stagnant, which was precisely the negative consequence of "Left" errors and a rigid system restraining productive forces. We must not forget that the historic decision of reform and opening up was made precisely to liberate productive forces, solve the people's basic needs for food and clothing, and ultimately achieve national prosperity. The notion that returning to the past can solve all problems is a typical example of historical idealism, which would lead us into an economic dead end once again.

Second, we must safeguard the achievements of reform and opening up. Reform and opening up is the "crucial move that determined the fate of contemporary China." It greatly liberated and developed productive forces, enabling our economy to achieve unprecedented vigorous growth. We must adhere to the "Two Unwaverings"—encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of the non-public sector of the economy while maintaining the dominant position of public ownership. This is the dialectical approach of "both/and," embodying the integration of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution. Those who criticize our "both/and" approach fail to understand that we must utilize the "invisible hand" of the market under the dominance of public ownership to develop productive forces, serving the fundamental socialist goal of common prosperity.

However, we must deeply study and inherit from the 1970sthe spirit of class struggle andrevolutionary spirit. What we must learn from that era is the spirit of daring to break all conventions, to venture and strive, and to combat bureaucratism. Comrade Mao Zedong, when speaking of revolution, emphasized the courage to fight, to fear no hardship, and to despise American imperialism. This dauntless revolutionary courage and the spirit of thorough critique against old systems and ideologies are precisely what we urgently need today to counter the "peaceful evolution" in the economic sphere.

3. Reshaping the Focus of Struggle: The Bourgeois Bureaucrats Are Our Primary Enemy

Our target of struggle must not remain at the abstract level of "resenting the rich" or rigid debates over "public versus private ownership." Our true danger and primary task are to prevent the emergence of new classes in the country and to ensure that workers, peasants, and the proletariat do not lose political power.

The core of Marxist theory lies in class struggle, and true Marxists must simultaneously acknowledge the dictatorship of the proletariat. We must clearly recognize that in the primary stage of socialism, class struggle has not ended. The struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is protracted, tortuous, and at times even intense in the ideological realm.

Currently, the greatest danger is the formation of bourgeois bureaucrats. They attempt to usurp political power，By abusing their power, they privatize state resources and use the authority granted by the people for personal gain.

Simultaneously, theyexploit the working masses,becoming bosses who violate labor laws to squeeze labor, harming the people's vital interests and creating social conflicts.They furtherpromote social regression,，They area small handful of class enemies attempting to transform our country into a high-tech slave society, combining capital and technology to reduce laborers intoslaves of the new era, while they become slave owners.

We must study and inherit the profound vigilance in Mao Zedong Thought against such internal corruption and degeneration. Comrade Mao Zedong emphasized that cadres must adhere to the system of participating in collective productive labor, calling it "a fundamental matter under the socialist system," which helps overcome bureaucracy and prevent revisionism and dogmatism. This bureaucratic style conflicting with the masses is one of the contradictions among the people.

During the 1970s, especially in the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, the approach to opposing the bureaucratic bourgeoisieis commendable. Although the Cultural Revolution, in its later stages,was proven in practice to be an erroneous political movement,its early phase,Its revolutionary core of opposing bureaucracy and the privileged class is what we still need to learn today. Our enemies are precisely that handful of class enemies attempting to turn our country into a high-tech slave state, those bosses who exploit labor in violation of labor laws, and the bourgeois bureaucrats. They are attempting to incite contradictions among our people, and we must remain highly vigilant and resolutely struggle against this.

Once Party cadres develop tendencies toward hedonism, bureaucracy, and detachment from the masses, the Party will lose its combat effectiveness and ultimately face the danger of the Party's and country's collapse. The fundamental reason for the collapse of the Soviet Party and state was precisely the ideological and political degeneration of its leadership, which abandoned the Party's vanguard character as the working class, progressing from formalism and bureaucracy to ultimately betraying the fundamental interests of the masses.

4. The Awakening of the Masses and the Victory of the "Economic Color Revolution

Faced with internal and external pressures, we must not lose confidence. We must not turn a blind eye to the economic achievements we have already made, while also maintaining full confidence in the future.

The world belongs to the youth, and China's future also belongs to the youth. We must trust in the wisdom and strength of the masses.

Comrade Mao Zedong taught us: "The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history." We must believe that the majority of the masses support socialism, with only about ten percent disapproving or opposing it. Our task is to unite over ninety percent of the people.

Since capitalism can carry out an economic color revolution within communist countries，Through peaceful evolution, privatization, and ideological infiltration, as seen during Gorbachev's era in the Soviet Union ，Then we, the people, should have the ability to launch a "color revolution" to return to communism. This does not refer to a violent revolution, but rather a "economic development revolution" consciously and voluntarily participated in by the masses, with the core goal of consolidating and developing the public ownership economy.

The essence of this "economic color revolution" is to leverage the superiority of the socialist system to resolve the injustices and contradictions brought about by marketization, thoroughly defeating the class enemies who attempt to turn our country into a high-tech slave state. Its specific path is:

1. Public debates to win over the middle ground: In the face of economic challenges, we cannot "sing the loudest praises of China's economy" to evade problems. We must use the methods ofthe Cultural Revolution period—speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates, and writing big-character postersThese forms created by the masses, under leadership, freely unfold nationwide debates, acknowledge economic development issues, and steer solutions toward the development of the public-owned economy. The purpose of such debates is precisely to win over those "wavering centrists who are half-convinced and half-skeptical," helping them understand the laws of social development and recognize that ultimately, they must heed the words of the proletariat and follow the socialist path.

2. Reshaping the "dominant" advantage of the public-owned economy: Since private enterprises contribute to unemployment, state-owned enterprises, as the embodiment of the public-owned economy, must take on the primary responsibility for stabilizing employment, ensuring people's livelihoods, and enhancing the well-being of workers. We must strengthen the control and influence of the state-owned economy, enabling it to better play the government's role in ensuring fair competition, promoting sustainable development, and advancing common prosperity. This is not a simple return to a planned economy but rather transforming the public-owned economy into a dominant force full of vitality and dynamism.

3.Resolutely Combat Exploitative Class Enemies: We must analyze the bourgeoisie and bourgeois intellectuals, and firmly combat and reform those bosses who exploit labor in violation of labor laws and degenerates who have transformed into bourgeois bureaucrats through the means of the people's democratic dictatorship. After the armed enemies are eliminated, unarmed enemies still exist and will inevitably engage in a desperate struggle against us. We must adhere to the principle of "learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones, and curing the sickness to save the patient," but at the same time, we must resolutely struggle against those who are "beyond redemption.

This economic development revolution will take the interests of the people as the highest standard and uphold the principle that practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. We must firmly believe in the masses, share their hearts and minds, share weal and woe, and unite in struggle. Only by relying on the wisdom and strength of hundreds of millions of people can we consolidate the achievements of reform and opening up, broaden the path of socialism, and ultimately realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Our future does not depend on a simple repetition of history, but on whether we can, under new historical conditions, use the living soul of Marxism—seeking truth from facts and the mass line—to thoroughly resolve internal class contradictions, enabling workers, peasants, and the proletariat to truly become the decisive subjects of this nation and era.

The Essential Distinction Between Reform and Revisionism—Vigilance Against the New Forms of "Economic Color Revolution

We must maintain a high degree of clarity and vigilance. Currently, China's economic development has undeniably advanced at the forefront of reform, with remarkable achievements. However, we must clearly distinguish the essential difference between reform and revisionism. Reform, as Comrade Deng Xiaoping stated, is China's "second revolution," aimed at liberating and developing social productive forces, ultimately establishing a vibrant and dynamic socialist economic system. Such reform must serve the fundamental principles of socialism: public ownership as the mainstay and common prosperity. Revisionism, on the other hand, is an erroneous and even reactionary ideological and political line, ultimately leading to the betrayal of the Party and the state, causing them to lose their legitimacy and foundation of justice.

The most pressing danger at present lies in the fact that a small faction of bourgeois bureaucrats and interest groups is attempting to use the great achievements of our reform as a tool to develop revisionism and even promote an economic color revolution. They exploit loopholes within the system and dependence on capital, gradually eroding the fabric of socialism without being noticed.

1. Manifestations of Capitalist Maladies in China: Media Imbalance and the Collapse of Public Trust

We observe that excessive marketization of the economy and reliance on capital have infiltrated departments that should inherently uphold ideological positions. Many state-owned television stations and media outlets, driven by economic interests, now fundamentally conflict with the nature of a Marxist political party in their conduct.

1 . Media Alienation and Blind Obedience to Capital

In the face of substantial advertising profits, some state-owned media have abandoned the proletarian class stance and the ideological line of seeking truth from facts. In pursuit of economic benefits, they disregard whether advertising content constitutes false propaganda, and even in news production, fabricated reports have become commonplace. Such behavior essentially signifies the erosion of the principle that ideological and political work serves as the "lifeline of all economic work.

As Comrade Mao Zedong emphasized, ideology and politics are the commanders and the soul, while economic and professional work are the "subordinates." Once political work is neglected, economic and technical work are bound to deviate onto a wrong path. When state-owned media, as bastions of propagating the political line, become dominated by the corrosive influence of capital, they lose their essential purpose of serving the proletariat and all people. This corruption and profit-seeking mentality precisely reflect the decadent and declining ideology of the bourgeoisie.

2 . Loss of Credibility and the Breach for Color Revolutions

This infiltration of capital is causing China's media to lose credibility, which precisely serves as the first breakthrough point for an economic color revolution. When the masses discover that even institutions representing national ideology are lying and shielding false propaganda, cracks begin to form in their trust in the system.

We must acknowledge that one foundation of our governance legitimacy lies in our ability to continuously strengthen national unity, improve people's livelihoods, and sustain the development of productive forces. However, if we become detached from the masses and lose their support and endorsement, we will ultimately face failure. If the needs and voices of the grassroots cannot be truthfully reflected, and instead are filled with false "strongest voices," the people's "aspiration for a better life" will be difficult to realize. When the fundamental interests of the people are harmed by these bourgeois bureaucrats and the media they have bought off, contradictions accumulate, undoubtedly providing an opening for hostile forces to implement peaceful evolution strategies.

2. Ideological Disguise and Reactionary Forces Under the Banner of "Patriotism

More threateningly, the current ideological struggle has entered a highly complex phase of camouflage.

1 .Anti-Socialist Core Cloaked in the Guise of "Patriotism

Today, the challenge we face is that many cultural creators and capitalists are well aware of our vigilance against "color revolutions"—particularly liberalizing tendencies in culture. They no longer openly oppose socialism but instead adopt a more deceptive strategy: under the banner of patriotism, the films they produce and the cultural works they create actually carry a core that opposes socialism and glorifies privatization.

This behavior precisely exploits and distorts our struggle against "bourgeois liberalization." The trend of bourgeois liberalization worships Western capitalist "democracy" and "freedom" while negating socialism. These so-called "patriotic" works amplify individual struggle, excessively idolize private capital, downplay class contradictions, and even promote abstract theories of human nature and humanitarianism to advocate for bourgeois ideology. This "white before red" approach—，first endorsing the bourgeois worldview, then feigning support for the proletariat, or in other words, "speaking Marxism while practicing liberalism"—is a two-faced tactic that severely corrupts the minds of the masses, especially the younger generation.

We must remember that the dictatorship of the proletariat must cultivate its own intellectual ranks and transform them into proletarian intellectuals. Those intellectuals who do not align with the proletariat but instead rely on "the rice bowl of socialist public ownership" risk becoming "gentlemen on the beams"—detached and opportunistic.

II . The Fog of Struggle: Who Is the True Enemy？

The direct consequence of this "economic color revolution" draped in patriotic banners is: those who truly recognize the problems and criticize capital's erosion are vilified as enemies of socialism by capitalists and cultural creators cloaked in patriotism. Meanwhile, the true class enemies package themselves as defenders of socialism. They exploit our fear of color revolutions to cleverly implement economically right-leaning policies, thereby achieving their revisionist goals.

This obfuscation creates a risk that our Party may struggle to "see clearly to the bottom" in class struggle. Genuine hardcore anti-socialists likely constitute only about 2%, but they are scattered everywhere. Only through mass-created new forms like "great debates, mass expression, big-character posters, and free airing of views" can we discern the true situation. Without class analysis and examination of the bourgeoisie and bourgeois intellectuals, it becomes difficult to penetrate this fog.

3. Social Consequences of Structural Imbalance: Loss of Belonging and Reproductive Difficulties

Ideologically leaning left，Holding high ideals, emphasizing collectivism，While economically moving right，The tension between market brutality and capital exploitation is issuing the most severe warning through tangible social consequences.

I . The Collapse of Belonging and Youth Disorientation

When young people are ideologically required to firmly uphold "serving the people," "hard work and plain living," and becoming "proletarian intellectuals," yet in economic reality face bosses who exploit labor in violation of labor laws and the risks of a "high-tech slavery system," they will experience a deficiency in "spiritual calcium.

Young people are in the prime period of learning; they need correct political perspectives and must integrate their life ideals into the great cause of national prosperity and rejuvenation. However, if the pressure of economic reality severely diverges from their ideals and beliefs, it will lead to confusion about their future direction. What they personally experience are the consequences of the erosion of the public sector's dominant position by private capital, which inevitably causes issues with their sense of belonging to collective life and the nation. This problem is precisely one of the deep-seated social reasons for the significant decline in China's birth rate.

II . The Birth Crisis and the Shaking of the Economic Foundation

The global decline in birth rates is a universal phenomenon, influenced by factors such as rising childcare costs and increased female education and labor participation. However, China's low birth rate issue is particularly pronounced. Although the state is alleviating burdens through policies on taxation, housing, and education, if young people generally perceive that a capital-dominated competitive environment cannot guarantee their future stability and well-being, any policy support will struggle to fundamentally resolve the problem.

We must admit that the social structural imbalances caused by this economic rightward shift have undermined people's confidence in the future, which is more alarming than a simple economic downturn. This runs counter to our Party's pursuit of "the people's aspiration for a better life.

4 . A Revolutionary Path to Counter Economic Color Revolutions: Trust the Masses, Rekindle the Spirit of Struggle

We should deeply recognize that blaming current economic problems on "returning to the 1970s" is extremely dangerous. The system of the 1970s had severe economic issues, with productive forces constrained—such poverty was never socialism. We must safeguard the achievements of reform and opening up and adhere to economic development as the central task.

1 .Learn the Spirit of Struggle from the 1970s

What we need is to learn the spirit of the 1970s—the courage to break through all barriers and dare to venture and strive—particularly the revolutionary core of opposing the bureaucratic bourgeoisie during the Cultural Revolution. Although the Cultural Revolution has been proven to be an erroneous political movement, its spirit of opposing privileged classes and bureaucratism remains worthy of vigilance and inheritance.

We must, as Comrade Mao Zedong demanded, maintain a style of humility, prudence, and freedom from arrogance and impatience, and continue to uphold the spirit of hard work. This style helps resist corruption.

2 .Trust the Masses: Launching the "Great Debate" in the Economic Field

The best way to counter economic color revolution is not to evade problems but to confront them directly and trust the masses. As Comrade Mao Zedong proposed during the socialist revolution, speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates, and writing big-character posters are innovative forms created by the masses. These methods enable leaders to "see the bottom clearly," distinguishing the majority who support socialism from the die-hard minority firmly opposed to it.

We should:

1. Publicize and guide: Address the contradictions and issues in economic development openly and gradually steer solutions toward advancing the state-owned public sector economy. Be transparent with the masses, helping them understand the laws of social development.

2. Initiate debates, divide the enemy: Utilize great debates to win over those "wavering centrists" who are half-convinced and half-skeptical of socialism, ultimately persuading them that the proletarian direction is correct. This approach can prevent incidents like those in Hungary.

3. Resolve contradictions through public ownership: Let socialism and the public sector economy address the many economic challenges arising from China's capitalization. We must uphold and develop the public sector economy, enabling it to play a leading role in solving core issues such as employment and narrowing the wealth gap, thereby consolidating the people's democratic dictatorship.

III . Refocusing on class struggle: The enemy lies within our ranks

Our enemies are the bourgeois bureaucrats, the bosses who exploit labor in violation of labor laws, and the handful of class adversaries attempting to transform our country into a high-tech slave society. They are precisely those who leverage power for rent-seeking, engage in departmentalism, and detach themselves from the masses—corrosive elements both inside and outside the Party.