IV European Forum: China and EU – Political and economical cruxes in the framework of the “New Silk Road” and of a “New Globalization”

Rome, FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER
SALA CONVEGNI EUROSTARS ROMA AETERNA

PIAZZA PIGNETO 9

VERSIONE IN ITALIANO

www.marx21.itwww.marx21books.it
[email protected][email protected] 

The forum to be held on 13th October in Rome on «China and EU – Political and economical cruxes in the framework of the “New Silk Road” and of a “New Globalization”», promoted by the Chinese Academy of Marxism at the CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) in collaboration with the association “Marx XXI”, the website marx21.it and MarxVentuno editions, as well as by Gramsci Foundation, addresses the main cruxes of a turning point in contemporary history. As stressed by Fabio Massimo Parenti (see his paper: “The new way of silk as a strategic proposition of a multipolar world”), it’s about “a strategic choice between the use of weapons and the silk road”, between “a model of commercial, financial and political cooperation, aimed at interconnection, innovation and ultimately at creating material conditions for widespread development and mutual benefit” and a world order marked by regime changes (by means of “colored revolutions” [1] which that heavily marked the last three decades, since 1989 onwards) and pronounced militarization in the world, one of the most disturbing aspects of which is represented by the NATO expansion eastward.

This “IV European Forum” tends to set the contours and to define the problems of two main areas of the world, China and EU, and of their mutual relationship. For several years, Chinese Marxists [2] have been committed to promote opportunities of meeting and debating with European Marxists and studies centers linked to the tradition of European labor and democratic movement. The Chinese Academy of Marxism at the CASS, directed by Professor Deng Chundong, is among the main participants of these initiatives, which are aimed, on one side, at promoting the knowledge of cultural, ideological and political leanings of the “Chinese way” to development [3] and, on the other, at facing up to European Marxists and left-wing intellectuals about European development model, economic and social policies, the single currency, the crisis of Europeanist project.

Chinese Marxists – as we have seen for ourselves in the course of several meetings – have a totally non-dogmatic approach. They intend – to borrow from Machiavelli – “to consider the actual reality of the thing” (Deng Xiaoping called this approach “finding the truth in the facts”: shishi qiu shi), guided by the compass of Marxism-Leninism [4]. And they intend to learn from the experience of other countries.

In the previous three European forums (2014, 2015, 2016), which have affected Italy, France, Spain and Germany, predominantly focused on the debate about Chinese way to development, a way which enabled China to go from “loose sand” to world power [5] in the space of seventy years, by means of the important breakthrough consisting in the launch of the policies of reform and opening in 1978. That way, as pointed out by Li Shenming, president of the World Socialism Research Center at CASS and editor of the magazine World Socialism Studies [6], was paved by the revolutionary achievements of the previous three decades (since the seizure of the political power on 1st October 1949 until the lauch of the policies of reform and opening by Deng Xiaoping) [7]. Most of the Italian left (which Domenico Losurdo calls with the fine term “absent left” [8]) is still very prejudiced against the history of Chinese communists – which are going to hold their XIX Congress, starting on the day 18th October – and against the path they took, a path which eradicated poverty and turned the most populous country in the world into a world power, into a country able to develop at a fast pace and to improve the standard of living of its workers [9], while the Western capitalist countries were undergoing the great financial crisis started in the 2007-2008. That “absent left” essentially refuses to recognize the character of the long process of transition to socialism, which contains social and political contradictions and class struggle [10]. Already during the 3rd Forum in 2016, the association Marx XXI and the namesake magazine presented to Chinese scholars their analysis of the current reality of EU, its contradictions, its economical policies and the role of the Euro (cf. the report by Vladimiro Giacché [11]), as well as the forceful influence put in place by the NATO, which puts European countries under the guardianship of United States and turns them into accomplices of American imperialist policy (cf. the reports by Manlio Dinucci, Giulietto Chiesa, Fausto Sorini, Manlio di Stefano [12]).

The forum of this year, that Chinese Marxists opened to the participation of the Gramsci Foundation, is reserving a particular session to analysis of European economic system, to the role of the single currency (cf. particularly the important report by Sergio Cesaratto) and to the – evident and palpable – crisis of EU and of the European project. The topic of the European crisis will be debated from a historical point of view (Silvio Pons, President of Gramsci Foundation), besides of the topics of Italian left-wing forces and their position with regard to the EU (Alexander Hobel) and of the crisis of European social democracies (Paolo Borioni). European crisis comes from the same architecture of EU, from its neo-liberal plan that, along with the single currency, steals – as pointed out by Cesaratto – sovereignty to the national states. Along with Antonio Gramsci and Samir Amin , we refer to the popular-national sovereignty on which the structure of Italian Constitution of 1948 – written with the fundamental contribution of communists and socialists – is grounded. That Constitution is not a liberal-democratic one, but it’s referring to a “economical and social democracy”, as Salvatore D’Albergo always stressed [13]. In the current context of EU, the fight to preserve and implement the Constitution of 1948 is not something outdated and nostalgic; on the contrary, it is the compass pointing to the reaffirmation of the popular national sovereignty in opposition to ordoliberalism: it is the way to a strategy for overcome European crisis in a progressive sense [14]. The changes of the social policies in Europe have also effects and implications on China; this topic will be dealt with in the report by Lin Deshan, professor at the School of Politic and Public administration.

Considering the European crisis of national identity, Jiang Ningkang, professor at the Languages Department of the University of Nanjing, will discuss a topic of particular interest to us: European national identity in the process of new globalization. In the face of a dead-end scenario – the tunnel of the crisis is longer and longer and there is not any visible light nor significant change of trend, but only an ordoliberalist Europe, as pointed out by Cesaratto – the People’s Republic of China, that several years ago started distancing itself from Deng Xiaoping’s principle “Keep a low profile” [15], today offers a wide-ranging strategic plan for the whole world. It doesn’t mean that PRC today is not experiencing problems and contradictions, resulting from its spiraling growth. They are the problems of the most populous country in the world: problems of balance between different development areas, of overcoming the contradiction between city and countryside, of balance of the distribution of wealth; problems of political leadership, of development of the governor and governed relationship, of the mass institutes and organizations composing Chinese democracy, of active participation and fight against corruption. About the role of the Communist Party and about the characters of Chinese political system, we will listen the reports by: Chu Xin Yu, professor and director of the research center of Social Sciences of development (Characters and benefits of the democratic political development of China), Han Bing, researcher at the Political Research Institute, at the Academy of Social Sciences of Shandong (The new concept of development shows the new concept of Chinese Communist Party), Lan Hanlin, professor at the School of Marxism, at Technological University of Zhejiang, Party Secretary (CCP is a strong supporter of patriotism), Xin Xiangyang, teacher and PhD at the Institute of Social Sciences of Information at the CASS (The four great inventions and the political superiority of China).

The project of the Silk Road, as pointed out by Parenti and Fausto Sorini, goes far beyond a great project of infrastructure construction in Eurasia and Africa: it has the significance of a strategic proposal to the world, in the perspective of a newglobalization diametrically opposed to the imperialist and liberalist globalization that USA and the West attempted to impose after the dissolution of USSR and which leaded the world to a dead-end. WangZhongbao, associated researcher at Academy of Marxism-CASS and editorial director of the esteemed journal International Critical Thought addresses the issue of One Belt One Road and the new globalization. JinHuilan, professor at the School of Marxism, Tecnological University of Dalian, discusses the issues of the economical and commercial cooperation between China and EU along the Belt and Road strategy, from the point of view of the economical region of North-Eastern China. Li Yan, dean at the Institute of basic theory of ideological and political education at Northeast China Normal University speaks on: Promoting the culture of globalization. Li Chunhua, researcher at the Institute of urban and environmental development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Party Secretary, speaks on the world value of new globalization.

The Chinese strategy for a new multipolar world expresses respect and the recognition of peoples differences, peculiarities and cultures, resulting by an age-hold history; furthermore, it proposes the common construction of infrastructures and economical and political structures of a more and more interconnected world.

We are facing a crossroads of the history of humanity and we must be aware of it. The strategic proposal from China entails a fight to democratize international relations (that’s the issue dealt with by Domenico Losurdo, president of Marx XXI society). One hundred years after the October Revolution, the labor and democratic movement can redesign a prospect for the fight for a transition to socialism – as long advocated by Fausto Sorini – based on the comprehension of the international context and of its long-term dynamics.

Chinese Marxists exhort us to make something we are not anymore used to: thinking in long-term strategic terms, pointing to the development of humanity: this is the topic of the report by Yang Xiaowei, senior associated editor of Editorial Department Dongyue, CASS of Shandong.

We hope this Forum can contribute to develop a strategic thought, which Marxists, communists, Italian and European left are in a dire need of.

Andrea Catone
Director of MarxVentuno Magazine
Editorial director of MarxVentuno editions

Relations and interventions (in alphabetical order):

Paolo Borioni, Researcher in History of Doctrines and Political Institutions, PhD at the University of Copenhagen; collaborates with the Foundation “Giacomo Brodolini”: 
The crisis of European social-democracies

Andrea Catone, director of the magazine MarxVentuno: 
Italian Constitution versus current architecture of the EU

Sergio Cesaratto, Full Professor of International Economy, Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena: 
Single Currency and Crisis of European Democracies

ChuXinYu (储 新宇), Professor and Director of the Center for Social Science Research. Research – Department of Education: 
Character and Advantages of China’s Democratic Development Policy

Han Bing (韩 冰), researcher at the Institute of Political Research, Shandong Social Science Academy: 
The new concept of development highlights the new image of the Chinese Communist Party

Alexander Hobel: Historical, Gramsci Foundation, Director of Online Magazine Marxismo Oggi: 
Italian Leftists facing European Building

Jiang Ningkang (江宁康), professor at the School of Languages, University of Nanjing: 
European national identity in the process of new globalization

Jin Huilan (荆蕙兰), professor at the Marxist School of Technology at Dalian: 
Opportunities and Challenges of the Northeast Economic Region in Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the EU along the Belt and Road Strategy.

Lan Hanlin (蓝 汉林), professor at the School of Marxism, Zhejiang University of Technology, party secretary: 
The PCC is a convincing supporter of patriotism

LI Chunhua (李春华), researcher at the Institute for Urban and Environmental Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, party secretary: 
The Global Value of New Globalization.

Li Yan (李艳), professor of Dean at the Institute of Basic Theory of Ideological and Political Education, Normal University of Northeast: 
Promoting the culture of globalization.

Lin Deshan (林德 山), Professor at the School of Politics and Public Administration, Law and Political Science: 
Changes in Social Policies in Europe and their Implications for China

Domenico Losurdo: President of the Association Marx XXI, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Urbino: 
Democracy. Speech on values and democratization of international relations

Fabio Massimo Parenti, Ph.D. Associate Professor (ASN) Economic and Political Geography, The Italian International Institute “Lorenzo de ‘Medici”, Rome: 
The New Silk Road as a Strategic Proposal for a Multipolar World

Silvio Pons, President of the Gramsci Foundation. Full Professor of Contemporary History, Tor Vergata University, Rome: 
The European Union crisis in a historical perspective

Fausto Sorini, International Relations Officer of the Worker Movement, Director in charge of the magazine “MarxVentuno”: 
The international framework and prospects of the working and democratic movement

Wang Zhongbao (王 中保), research associate at the Marxism Academy-CASS, editor of the International Critical Thought magazine: 
OBOR and the new globalization

Xin Xiangyang (辛向阳), Ph.D. researcher at the CASS Information Society Institute: 
China’s four major inventions and political superiority.

Yang Xiaowei (杨晓伟), senior associate editor of Dongyue Publishing Department, Shandong CASS: 
The Five Development Concepts and Human Development Perspective.


1  The VI Forum of world socialism, promoted by the World Socialism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and by the Center for Contemporary World Studies of the International Department, Central Committee of CPC, has been dedicated to the “coloured revolutions”. See the text in Italian by Li Shenming, “Colored revolutions and cultural hegemony”, in MarxVentuno – Imperialismo e guerre nel XXI secolo, n. 1-2/2016, available online through the link http://www.marx21books.com/Imperialismo%20diviso%20per%20articolo/264.pdf.

2  The People’s Republic of China hosts the largest number of Marxist research centers, in addition to studies centers dedicated to Mao Zedong, present not only at the party schools of CPC, but also in universities and CASS subdivisions. A useful contribution to knowledge of Marxists of CASS can be found in the bilingual – Italian and English – little book Interviews to Chinese Marxists (published by MarxVentuno editions as supplement to the n. 3-4/2017 of MarxVentuno) with interviews by Francesco Maringiò to Cheng Enfu, director of the academic section of Marxist Studies of the CASS, as well as editor-in-chief, along with Deng Chundong, of the magazine Marxist Studies in China, and to Lv Weizhu, director of the International Communist Movement Department at Academy of Marxism at the CASS, and by Chen Zhigang to Deng Chundong, president of the Academy of Marxism at the CASS.

3 See the volume collecting the proceedings of the II European Forum in Rome (2015), La via cinese (Chinese way), by Andrea Catone, MarxVentuno editions, Bari, 2016.

4  See Cheng Enfu, Li Wei, “Il marxismo-leninismo è il metodo scientifico e la guida per conoscere e trasformare il mondo” (Marxism-Leninism is the scientific method and the guide to knowing and transforming the world), in Marx in Cina, special issue of MarxVentuno n. 2-3/2015. It’s possible to find it online at the link: http://www.marx21books.com/MARX%20IN%20CINA/Il%20marxismo%20leninismo%20di%20Cheng%20Enfu.pdf.

5  As it says in the title of the book by Diego Angelo Bertozzi [editorial staff of marx21.it], Cina. Da «sabbia informe» a potenza globale, Imprimatur editore, 2016.

6  The magazine World Socialism Studies, in continuity with the activity that the World Socialism Research Center has been conducting for several years, intends – as the comrade Wang Liquiang has told us – to promote the cooperation with magazines and studies centers all over the world, in the perspective of a critique of capitalism and imperialism by all points of view and of a common advance towards socialism. MarxVentuno magazine, along with the site, wants to be an active participant of this collective work worldwide, to which Chinese Marxists and communist are giving a more and more relevant contribution. See Andrea Catone: “World Socialism Studies A new magazine published in China opens a new window on the World Socialism”, https://www.marx21.it/index.php/en/51-articles/28159-world-socialism-studies, and http://www.marx21books.com/TESTI%20PDF%20SU%20SITO/World%20Socialism%20Studies.%20Presentation%20ENG.pdf 

7  Cf. Li Shenming, “Valutare correttamente I due periodi storici prima e dopo la ‘riforma e apertura’” (To properly evaluate the two historical periods before and after the ‘reform and opening up’), in MarxVentuno n. 1/2015. Now online at: http://www.marx21books.com/PDF%20LA%20RIVISTA/Valutare%20correttamente%20i%20due%20periodi%20storici%20di%20Li%20Shenming.pdf.

8  See the articles published on the site marx21.it and on the magazine by Pasquale Cicalese, a sharp and accurate observer of Chinese economy. In particular: “Dalla reflazione salariale post crisi 2008 alla proiezione mondiale della Cina. 7 anni di politica economica cinese” (From reflation wage post-2008 crisis to the world projection of China. 7 years of Chinese economic policy), in Marx in Cina, special issue of MarxVentuno n. 2-3/2015. http://www.marx21books.com/MARX%20IN%20CINA/Dalla%20reflazione%20salariale%20post%20crisi%202008%20p%20165.pdf. See also in English: http://www.marx21books.com/DETTAGLI/Marx%20in%20China.Presentazione%20in%20inglese.pdf.

9  D. Losurdo, “La sinistra assente”, Carocci, Roma, 2014.

10  On the subject, cf. A. Catone, “Marx in China today – Introduction”, in Marx in Cina, quoted above. It’s possible to find it online at: http://www.marx21books.com/DETTAGLI/Marx%20in%20China.Presentazione%20in%20inglese.pdf.

«The question of Kto pobedit? (Who will win?), posed in a clear way by Lenin in the early 1920s, when he was beginning the elaboration of a conception of transition to socialism that witnessed a long and closely-fought period of struggle and confrontation between capitalism and socialism, remains open for a whole historical epoch. And in order to understand the tendencies and processes that are under way in present-day China, Lenin’s reflections remain a fundamental reference both for those “leftist-leftist” interpretations that see China as irrevocably lost to capitalism and for those, indeed there are not many of them here, that uncritically approve every act and decision of the Chinese government. In China, and it could not be otherwise in a society in transition, there is a lively dialectic going on in the political, juridical, economic and ideological-cultural domain: in short, as it is normal in a society in transition, a class struggle, as the Chinese Constitution reminds us in its Preamble: “The exploiting classes as such are abolished in our country. However, the class struggle will still continue to exist, within certain limits, for a long period of time. The Chinese people has to fight against those forces and elements who, both at home and abroad, are hostile to the Chinese socialist system and try to undermine it». As stated by the president of CASS Wang Weiguang in the discussed article of 2014, “Adhere to the people’s democratic dictatorship, not wrong” (Red Flag Manuscripts, n. 18/2014). Cf. also the article by Fan Jianxin, vice-president of the Marxist Studies Institute-CASS, “Dieci questioni ideologiche spinose del 2014” (Ten thorny ideological issues of 2014), in Marx in Cina, pp. 71-93. It’s available online at: http://www.marx21books.com/MARX%20IN%20CINA/Dieci%20questioni%20ideologiche.pdf. 

11  V. Giacché, “Aspetti delle relazioni economiche Cina-UE”, at: https://www.marx21.it/index.php/internazionale/cina/27305-aspetti-delle-relazioni-economiche-cina-ue.

12  M. Dinucci, “Il ruolo di Usa e Nato nel rapporto della UE con la Cina”, at: https://www.marx21.it/index.php/internazionale/cina/27300-il-ruolo-di-usa-e-nato-nel-rapporto-della-ue-con-la-cina;
F. Sorini, “La situazione politica mondiale: alcune chiavi di lettura”, at: https://www.marx21.it/index.php/internazionale/cina/27325-la-situazione-politica-mondiale-alcune-chiavi-di-lettura; M. Di Stefano, https://www.marx21.it/index.php/internazionale/cina/27394-intervento-di-manlio-di-stefano-m5s-al-forum-la-via-cinese-e-il-contesto-internazionale; G. Chiesa, https://www.marx21.it/index.php/internazionale/cina/27277-la-via-cinese-e-il-contesto-internazionale.

13  Cf. S. D’Albergo, “La Costituzione di democrazia economico-sociale”, in Movimento operaio e lotta per la Costituzione, in MarxVentuno, n. 1-2/2017.

14  A. Catone, “Italian Constitution versus current EU architecture”.

15  Cf. F. Maringiò. “La politica estera cinese dopo il 18° Congresso” (China’s foreign policy after the 18th Congress) , in Imperialismo e guerre nel XXI secolo, MarxVentuno n. 1-2/2016, available online at: http://www.marx21books.com/Imperialismo%20diviso%20per%20articolo/232.pdf. 

The abstracts are in: http://www.marx21books.com/MarxVentuno%202016%201-2%20Indice,%20presentazione%20e%20abstract%20ENG.pdf. 

 

IV European Forum

China and EU – Political and economical cruxes in the framework

of the “New Silk Road” and of a “New Globalization”

Rome, FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER

SALA CONVEGNI EUROSTARS ROMA AETERNA

PIAZZA PIGNETO 9

www.marx21.itwww.marx21books.it

[email protected][email protected]

The forum to be held on 13th October in Rome on «China and EU – Political and economical cruxes in the framework of the “New Silk Road” and of a “New Globalization”», promoted by the Chinese Academy of Marxism at the CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) in collaboration with the association “Marx XXI”, the website marx21.it and MarxVentuno editions, as well as by Gramsci Foundation, addresses the main cruxes of a turning point in contemporary history. As stressed by Fabio Massimo Parenti (see his paper: “The new way of silk as a strategic proposition of a multipolar world”), it’s about “a strategic choice between the use of weapons and the silk road”, between “a model of commercial, financial and political cooperation, aimed at interconnection, innovation and ultimately at creating material conditions for widespread development and mutual benefit” and a world order marked by regime changes (by means of “colored revolutions”[1] which that heavily marked the last three decades, since 1989 onwards) and pronounced militarization in the world, one of the most disturbing aspects of which is represented by the NATO expansion eastward.

This “IV European Forum” tends to set the contours and to define the problems of two main areas of the world, China and EU, and of their mutual relationship. For several years, Chinese Marxists[2] have been committed to promote opportunities of meeting and debating with European Marxists and studies centers linked to the tradition of European labor and democratic movement. The Chinese Academy of Marxism at the CASS, directed by Professor Deng Chundong, is among the main participants of these initiatives, which are aimed, on one side, at promoting the knowledge of cultural, ideological and political leanings of the “Chinese way” to development[3] and, on the other, at facing up to European Marxists and left-wing intellectuals about European development model, economic and social policies, the single currency, the crisis of Europeanist project.

Chinese Marxists – as we have seen for ourselves in the course of several meetings – have a totally non-dogmatic approach. They intend – to borrow from Machiavelli – “to consider the actual reality of the thing” (Deng Xiaoping called this approach “finding the truth in the facts”: shishi qiu shi), guided by the compass of Marxism-Leninism[4]. And they intend to learn from the experience of other countries.

In the previous three European forums (2014, 2015, 2016), which have affected Italy, France, Spain and Germany, predominantly focused on the debate about Chinese way to development, a way which enabled China to go from “loose sand” to world power[5] in the space of seventy years, by means of the important breakthrough consisting in the launch of the policies of reform and opening in 1978. That way, as pointed out by Li Shenming, president of the World Socialism Research Center at CASS and editor of the magazine World Socialism Studies[6], was paved by the revolutionary achievements of the previous three decades (since the seizure of the political power on 1st October 1949 until the lauch of the policies of reform and opening by Deng Xiaoping)[7]. Most of the Italian left (which Domenico Losurdo calls with the fine term “absent left”[8]) is still very prejudiced against the history of Chinese communists – which are going to hold their XIX Congress, starting on the day 18th October – and against the path they took, a path which eradicated poverty and turned the most populous country in the world into a world power, into a country able to develop at a fast pace and to improve the standard of living of its workers[9], while the Western capitalist countries were undergoing the great financial crisis started in the 2007-2008. That “absent left” essentially refuses to recognize the character of the long process of transition to socialism, which contains social and political contradictions and class struggle[10]. Already during the 3rd Forum in 2016, the association Marx XXI and the namesake magazine presented to Chinese scholars their analysis of the current reality of EU, its contradictions, its economical policies and the role of the Euro (cf. the report by Vladimiro Giacché[11]), as well as the forceful influence put in place by the NATO, which puts European countries under the guardianship of United States and turns them into accomplices of American imperialist policy (cf. the reports by Manlio Dinucci, Giulietto Chiesa, Fausto Sorini, Manlio di Stefano[12]).

The forum of this year, that Chinese Marxists opened to the participation of the Gramsci Foundation, is reserving a particular session to analysis of European economic system, to the role of the single currency (cf. particularly the important report by Sergio Cesaratto) and to the – evident and palpable – crisis of EU and of the European project. The topic of the European crisis will be debated from a historical point of view (Silvio Pons, President of Gramsci Foundation), besides of the topics of Italian left-wing forces and their position with regard to the EU (Alexander Hobel) and of the crisis of European social democracies (Paolo Borioni). European crisis comes from the same architecture of EU, from its neo-liberal plan that, along with the single currency, steals – as pointed out by Cesaratto – sovereignty to the national states. Along with Antonio Gramsci and Samir Amin , we refer to the popular-national sovereignty on which the structure of Italian Constitution of 1948 – written with the fundamental contribution of communists and socialists – is grounded. That Constitution is not a liberal-democratic one, but it’s referring to a “economical and social democracy”, as Salvatore D’Albergo always stressed[13]. In the current context of EU, the fight to preserve and implement the Constitution of 1948 is not something outdated and nostalgic; on the contrary, it is the compass pointing to the reaffirmation of the popular national sovereignty in opposition to ordoliberalism: it is the way to a strategy for overcome European crisis in a progressive sense[14]. The changes of the social policies in Europe have also effects and implications on China; this topic will be dealt with in the report by Lin Deshan, professor at the School of Politic and Public administration.

Considering the European crisis of national identity, Jiang Ningkang, professor at the Languages Department of the University of Nanjing, will discuss a topic of particular interest to us: European national identity in the process of new globalization. In the face of a dead-end scenario – the tunnel of the crisis is longer and longer and there is not any visible light nor significant change of trend, but only an ordoliberalist Europe, as pointed out by Cesaratto – the People’s Republic of China, that several years ago started distancing itself from Deng Xiaoping’s principle “Keep a low profile”[15], today offers a wide-ranging strategic plan for the whole world. It doesn’t mean that PRC today is not experiencing problems and contradictions, resulting from its spiraling growth. They are the problems of the most populous country in the world: problems of balance between different development areas, of overcoming the contradiction between city and countryside, of balance of the distribution of wealth; problems of political leadership, of development of the governor and governed relationship, of the mass institutes and organizations composing Chinese democracy, of active participation and fight against corruption. About the role of the Communist Party and about the characters of Chinese political system, we will listen the reports by: Chu Xin Yu, professor and director of the research center of Social Sciences of development (Characters and benefits of the democratic political development of China), Han Bing, researcher at the Political Research Institute, at the Academy of Social Sciences of Shandong (The new concept of development shows the new concept of Chinese Communist Party), Lan Hanlin, professor at the School of Marxism, at Technological University of Zhejiang, Party Secretary (CCP is a strong supporter of patriotism), Xin Xiangyang, teacher and PhD at the Institute of Social Sciences of Information at the CASS (The four great inventions and the political superiority of China).

The project of the Silk Road, as pointed out by Parenti and Fausto Sorini, goes far beyond a great project of infrastructure construction in Eurasia and Africa: it has the significance of a strategic proposal to the world, in the perspective of a new globalization diametrically opposed to the imperialist and liberalist globalization that USA and the West attempted to impose after the dissolution of USSR and which leaded the world to a dead-end. Wang Zhongbao, associated researcher at Academy of Marxism-CASS and editorial director of the esteemed journal International Critical Thought addresses the issue of One Belt One Road and the new globalization. Jin Huilan, professor at the School of Marxism, Tecnological University of Dalian, discusses the issues of the economical and commercial cooperation between China and EU along the Belt and Road strategy, from the point of view of the economical region of North-Eastern China. Li Yan, dean at the Institute of basic theory of ideological and political education at Northeast China Normal University speaks on: Promoting the culture of globalization. Li Chunhua, researcher at the Institute of urban and environmental development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Party Secretary, speaks on the world value of new globalization.

The Chinese strategy for a new multipolar world expresses respect and the recognition of peoples differences, peculiarities and cultures, resulting by an age-hold history; furthermore, it proposes the common construction of infrastructures and economical and political structures of a more and more interconnected world.

We are facing a crossroads of the history of humanity and we must be aware of it. The strategic proposal from China entails a fight to democratize international relations (that’s the issue dealt with by Domenico Losurdo, president of Marx XXI society). One hundred years after the October Revolution, the labor and democratic movement can redesign a prospect for the fight for a transition to socialism – as long advocated by Fausto Sorini – based on the comprehension of the international context and of its long-term dynamics.

Chinese Marxists exhort us to make something we are not anymore used to: thinking in long-term strategic terms, pointing to the development of humanity: this is the topic of the report by Yang Xiaowei, senior associated editor of Editorial Department Dongyue, CASS of Shandong.

We hope this Forum can contribute to develop a strategic thought, which Marxists, communists, Italian and European left are in a dire need of.

Andrea Catone

Director of MarxVentuno Magazine

Editorial director of MarxVentuno editions


Relations and interventions (in alphabetical order):

Paolo Borioni, Researcher in History of Doctrines and Political Institutions, PhD at the University of Copenhagen; collaborates with the Foundation “Giacomo Brodolini”:

The crisis of European social-democracies

Andrea Catone, director of the magazine MarxVentuno:

Italian Constitution versus current architecture of the EU

Sergio Cesaratto, Full Professor of International Economy, Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena:

Single Currency and Crisis of European Democracies

ChuXinYu ( 新宇), Professor and Director of the Center for Social Science Research. Research – Department of Education:

Character and Advantages of China’s Democratic Development Policy

Han Bing ( ), researcher at the Institute of Political Research, Shandong Social Science Academy:

The new concept of development highlights the new image of the Chinese Communist Party

Alexander Hobel: Historical, Gramsci Foundation, Director of Online Magazine Marxismo Oggi:

Italian Leftists facing European Building

Jiang Ningkang (江宁康), professor at the School of Languages, University of Nanjing:

European national identity in the process of new globalization

Jin Huilan (), professor at the Marxist School of Technology at Dalian:

Opportunities and Challenges of the Northeast Economic Region in Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the EU along the Belt and Road Strategy.

Lan Hanlin ( ), professor at the School of Marxism, Zhejiang University of Technology, party secretary:

The PCC is a convincing supporter of patriotism

LI Chunhua (李春), researcher at the Institute for Urban and Environmental Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, party secretary:

The Global Value of New Globalization.

Li Yan (), professor of Dean at the Institute of Basic Theory of Ideological and Political Education, Normal University of Northeast:

Promoting the culture of globalization.

Lin Deshan (林德 ), Professor at the School of Politics and Public Administration, Law and Political Science:

Changes in Social Policies in Europe and their Implications for China

Domenico Losurdo: President of the Association Marx XXI, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Urbino:

Democracy. Speech on values and democratization of international relations

Fabio Massimo Parenti, Ph.D. Associate Professor (ASN) Economic and Political Geography, The Italian International Institute “Lorenzo de ‘Medici”, Rome:

The New Silk Road as a Strategic Proposal for a Multipolar World

Silvio Pons, President of the Gramsci Foundation. Full Professor of Contemporary History, Tor Vergata University, Rome:

The European Union crisis in a historical perspective

Fausto Sorini, International Relations Officer of the Worker Movement, Director in charge of the magazine “MarxVentuno”:

The international framework and prospects of the working and democratic movement

Wang Zhongbao ( 中保), research associate at the Marxism Academy-CASS, editor of the International Critical Thought magazine:

OBOR and the new globalization

Xin Xiangyang (辛向阳), Ph.D. researcher at the CASS Information Society Institute:

China’s four major inventions and political superiority.

Yang Xiaowei (杨晓伟), senior associate editor of Dongyue Publishing Department, Shandong CASS:

The Five Development Concepts and Human Development Perspective.



[1] The VI Forum of world socialism, promoted by the World Socialism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and by the Center for Contemporary World Studies of the International Department, Central Committee of CPC, has been dedicated to the “coloured revolutions”. See the text in Italian by Li Shenming, “Colored revolutions and cultural hegemony”, in MarxVentunoImperialismo e guerre nel XXI secolo, n. 1-2/2016, available online through the link

http://www.marx21books.com/Imperialismo%20diviso%20per%20articolo/264.pdf.

[2] The People’s Republic of China hosts the largest number of Marxist research centers, in addition to studies centers dedicated to Mao Zedong, present not only at the party schools of CPC, but also in universities and CASS subdivisions. A useful contribution to knowledge of Marxists of CASS can be found in the bilingual – Italian and English – little book Interviews to Chinese Marxists (published by MarxVentuno editions as supplement to the n. 3-4/2017 of MarxVentuno) with interviews by Francesco Maringiò to Cheng Enfu, director of the academic section of Marxist Studies of the CASS, as well as editor-in-chief, along with Deng Chundong, of the magazine Marxist Studies in China, and to Lv Weizhu, director of the International Communist Movement Department at Academy of Marxism at the CASS, and by Chen Zhigang to Deng Chundong, president of the Academy of Marxism at the CASS.

[3] See the volume collecting the proceedings of the II European Forum in Rome (2015), La via cinese (Chinese way), by Andrea Catone, MarxVentuno editions, Bari, 2016.

[4] See Cheng Enfu, Li Wei, “Il marxismo-leninismo è il metodo scientifico e la guida per conoscere e trasformare il mondo” (Marxism-Leninism is the scientific method and the guide to knowing and transforming the world), in Marx in Cina, special issue of MarxVentuno n. 2-3/2015. It’s possible to find it online at the link: http://www.marx21books.com/MARX%20IN%20CINA/Il%20marxismo%20leninismo%20di%20Cheng%20Enfu.pdf.

[5] As it says in the title of the book by Diego Angelo Bertozzi [editorial staff of marx21.it], Cina. Da «sabbia informe» a potenza globale, Imprimatur editore, 2016.

[6] The magazine World Socialism Studies, in continuity with the activity that the World Socialism Research Center has been conducting for several years, intends – as the comrade Wang Liquiang has told us – to promote the cooperation with magazines and studies centers all over the world, in the perspective of a critique of capitalism and imperialism by all points of view and of a common advance towards socialism. MarxVentuno magazine, along with the site, wants to be an active participant of this collective work worldwide, to which Chinese Marxists and communist are giving a more and more relevant contribution. See Andrea Catone: “World Socialism Studies A new magazine published in China opens a new window on the World Socialism”,

https://www.marx21.it/index.php/en/51-articles/28159-world-socialism-studies, and

http://www.marx21books.com/TESTI%20PDF%20SU%20SITO/World%20Socialism%20Studies.%20Presentation%20ENG.pdf

[7] Cf. Li Shenming, “Valutare correttamente I due periodi storici prima e dopo la ‘riforma e apertura’” (To properly evaluate the two historical periods before and after the ‘reform and opening up’), in MarxVentuno n. 1/2015. Now online at:

http://www.marx21books.com/PDF%20LA%20RIVISTA/Valutare%20correttamente%20i%20due%20periodi%20storici%20di%20Li%20Shenming.pdf.

[8] See the articles published on the site marx21.it and on the magazine by Pasquale Cicalese, a sharp and accurate observer of Chinese economy. In particular: “Dalla reflazione salariale post crisi 2008 alla proiezione mondiale della Cina. 7 anni di politica economica cinese” (From reflation wage post-2008 crisis to the world projection of China. 7 years of Chinese economic policy), in Marx in Cina, special issue of MarxVentuno n. 2-3/2015.

http://www.marx21books.com/MARX%20IN%20CINA/Dalla%20reflazione%20salariale%20post%20crisi%202008%20p%20165.pdf. See also in English:

http://www.marx21books.com/DETTAGLI/Marx%20in%20China.Presentazione%20in%20inglese.pdf.

[9] D. Losurdo, “La sinistra assente”, Carocci, Roma, 2014.

[10] On the subject, cf. A. Catone, “Marx in China today – Introduction”, in Marx in Cina, quoted above. It’s possible to find it online at:

http://www.marx21books.com/DETTAGLI/Marx%20in%20China.Presentazione%20in%20inglese.pdf.

«The question of Kto pobedit? (Who will win?), posed in a clear way by Lenin in the early 1920s, when he was beginning the elaboration of a conception of transition to socialism that witnessed a long and closely-fought period of struggle and confrontation between capitalism and socialism, remains open for a whole historical epoch. And in order to understand the tendencies and processes that are under way in present-day China, Lenin’s reflections remain a fundamental reference both for those “leftist-leftist” interpretations that see China as irrevocably lost to capitalism and for those, indeed there are not many of them here, that uncritically approve every act and decision of the Chinese government. In China, and it could not be otherwise in a society in transition, there is a lively dialectic going on in the political, juridical, economic and ideological-cultural domain: in short, as it is normal in a society in transition, a class struggle, as the Chinese Constitution reminds us in its Preamble: “The exploiting classes as such are abolished in our country. However, the class struggle will still continue to exist, within certain limits, for a long period of time. The Chinese people has to fight against those forces and elements who, both at home and abroad, are hostile to the Chinese socialist system and try to undermine it». As stated by the president of CASS Wang Weiguang in the discussed article of 2014, “Adhere to the people’s democratic dictatorship, not wrong” (Red Flag Manuscripts, n. 18/2014). Cf. also the article by Fan Jianxin, vice-president of the Marxist Studies Institute-CASS, “Dieci questioni ideologiche spinose del 2014” (Ten thorny ideological issues of 2014), in Marx in Cina, pp. 71-93. It’s available online at: http://www.marx21books.com/MARX%20IN%20CINA/Dieci%20questioni%20ideologiche.pdf.

[11] V. Giacché, “Aspetti delle relazioni economiche Cina-UE”, at:

https://www.marx21.it/index.php/internazionale/cina/27305-aspetti-delle-relazioni-economiche-cina-ue.

[13] Cf. S. D’Albergo, “La Costituzione di democrazia economico-sociale”, in Movimento operaio e lotta per la Costituzione, in MarxVentuno, n. 1-2/2017.

[14] A. Catone, “Italian Constitution versus current EU architecture”.

[15] Cf. F. Maringiò. “La politica estera cinese dopo il 18° Congresso” (China’s foreign policy after the 18th Congress) , in Imperialismo e guerre nel XXI secolo, MarxVentuno n. 1-2/2016, available online at: http://www.marx21books.com/Imperialismo%20diviso%20per%20articolo/232.pdf.

The abstracts are in: http://www.marx21books.com/MarxVentuno%202016%201-2%20Indice,%20presentazione%20e%20abstract%20ENG.pdf