Page 15 - Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive in Unity to Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects

development.

II. A New Frontier in Adapting Marxism to the Chinese Context
and the Needs of the Times

Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology upon which our Party and
our country are founded and thrive. Our experience has taught us that, at the
fundamental level, we owe the success of our Party and socialism with
Chinese characteristics to the fact that Marxism works, particularly when it is
adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of our times. The sound
theoretical guidance of Marxism is the source from which our Party draws its
firm belief and conviction and which enables our Party to seize the historical
initiative.

Adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times is a
process of seeking, revealing, and applying truth. With new changes and
practical demands emerging both in and outside of China since the 18th
National Congress, there was an urgent need for us to provide in-depth
theoretical and practical answers to a series of epochal questions on the cause

of the Party and the country as well as the Party’s governance of China.
With the courage to make theoretical explorations and innovations, our
Party has, from an entirely new perspective, deepened its understanding of
the laws that underlie governance by a communist party, the development of
socialism, and the evolution of human society. It has achieved major
theoretical innovations, which are encapsulated in the Thought on Socialism

with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The main elements of this theory
are summarized in the 10 affirmations, the 14 commitments, and the 13 areas
of achievement that were articulated at the 19th National Congress and the
Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Party Central Committee, all of which we
must adhere to over the long term and continue to enrich and develop.

Chinese Communists are keenly aware that only by integrating the basic
tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and fine traditional culture
and only by applying dialectical and historical materialism can we provide
correct answers to the major questions presented by the times and discovered
through practice and can we ensure that Marxism always retains its vigor and
vitality.

To uphold and develop Marxism, we must integrate it with China’s
specific realities. Taking Marxism as our guide means applying its worldview
and methodology to solving problems in China; it does not mean memorizing
and reciting its specific conclusions and lines, and still less does it mean

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