President Xi Jinping's thought on socialism is the "Marxism of modern China", a CPC ideologue has said, as the ruling Communist Party celebrated the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx acclaiming his ideology as a saviour of the nation.
Xi has become the only leader, after the Communist Party of China (CPC) founder Mao Zedong, whose "Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" has been enshrined in the country's Constitution this year and that of the party last year.
The Chinese President's thought on socialism outlines the ideological course China should take to emerge as the most powerful and developed country in the coming decades.
"Xi Jinping's thought on 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era' is the Marxism of modern China and a new development of Marxism in the 21st century," Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Politburo, said at a symposium yesterday, attended by more than 230 experts and researchers in social science.
Besides being part of the seven-member Standing Committee, headed by Xi, which rules the country, Wang is also the top party ideologue.
Xi's "Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" is the latest theoretical outcome of the party in upholding and developing Marxism in the new era with innovative and strategic perspectives, the state-run China Daily today quoted Wang as saying.
He called on the experts and researchers in social sciences and theories to study the spirit of the speeches by Xi, who is regarded as the most powerful leader of China after Mao, as he heads the CPC, the Presidency and the military.
Mao's successor Deng Xiaoping had first enunciated the socialism with Chinese characteristics as the ideological line.
It successfully merged the market economy with all levers of power vested with the CPC, which has remained in power since 1949 ruling the country with iron clad one party dictatorship, since the founding of the People's Republic.
Critics of this ideological line say, in the process China remained a Communist country all but in the name, giving the CPC monopoly on political power.
On May 4, speaking at a special function organised to commemorate Marx's 200th anniversary, Xi defended as "totally correct" the CPC's adherence to Marx's theory of socialism for 97 years, saying that it profoundly changed China from the "sick man of Asia" to the second largest economy of the world.
"Marxism has not only profoundly changed the world, but also China," Xi told a special function here organised to celebrate Marx's 200th anniversary.
He said Marxism had pointed out the direction forward, offering a brand-new choice for Chinese people in their struggle to survive, and setting the scene for the birth of the CPC.
"This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only through socialism can we save China," Xi said.
Founded in 1921, the CPC headed by Mao Zedong came to power after a prolonged violent national liberation struggle in 1949 and remained in the power since in the one-party state.
Since the advent of Mao and the CPC, theories of socialism and communism propounded Marx underwent rapid changes with radical ideological differences leading to a deep split in the international Communist movement, including in India.