The October Revolution and the historical destiny of scientific socialism:in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution

With the birth of scientific socialism in the mid 19th century the socialist movement became an irresistible historical trend. The victory of the October Revolution turned socialism from an ideal into a reality and brought Marxism to a new stage： the stage of Leninism. The October Revolution changed the direction of world history and the Chinese revolution, a continuation of the October Revolution, became part of the proletarian-socialist world revolution. Any talk about Marxism in isolation from China＇s characteristics is merely Marxism in the abstract, Marxism in a vacuum. We can put Marxism into practice only when it is integrated with the specific characteristics of our country and acquires a definite national form. Deng Xiaoping Theory comes down in one continuous line from Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought and is Marxism in practice with the characteristics of the times and national traits. The magnificent achievements in the development of contemporary Chinese society are the outcome of unwavering adherence to and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the context of economic globalization, we are still living in a transitional time from capitalism to socialism, an era started with the October Revolution. The 21 st century will see the rejuvenation of socialism, for the replacement of capitalism by socialism is an inevitable trend of world history.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics in a comparative vision

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a product of the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with Chinese realities and the primary stage of socialism in China, marked by reform and opening up. In this stage capital and market exist and play important roles and capitalism is utilized for the Chinese modernization drive under the leadership of the Communist Party. With changes in historical conditions, the ideal of scientific socialism raised by Marx and Engels is confronted with a lot of challenges. It is the historical mission of Chinese Marxists to take up the gauntlet in response to these challenges and solve the historical enigma of human development in contemporary society.

The changing world under the corona virus threat-from human needs to SDGs and what next?

The COVID-19(coronavirus)disease has affected over 100 countries in a matter of weeks.The way humans live and work on planet Earth has changed profoundly over the last months.Many lives and livelihoods have been lost.Ways of working,shopping,and social interactions are all vastly different for most of us.We do not know when the current crisis will end,or how far we will“return”to the way things were before the pandemic.The world is experiencing one of the most transformative moments of the last 100 years.The social,economic,and political influences of the COVID-19 crisis have already been hugely momentous,we do not utterly understand it.Looking ahead,we have inevitably had to make important public health,economic,governance,and ecological decisions with less information than usual and to reverse recently adopted policies,which can lead to an era of disruptive transformations to sustainability.During these historic times,we must understand the hidden reality of the earth system and attempt to transform our needs so that we all have a sustained future on our planet.