Driven by leader Xi Jinping, China is going all out to celebrate Marx’s 200th birthday on May 5 like no one else—and has even gifted a huge bronze statue of the German political theorist to his hometown, to be unveiled tomorrow. Last week, Xi ordered his colleagues to study Marx’s 1848 Communist Manifesto, written with German philosopher Friedrich Engels. Earlier this week, he paid a visit to the prestigious Peking University—which will hold a forum for Marxism researchers worldwide tomorrow—and thanked it for its role in promoting the left-wing theory. The state broadcaster has been carrying a five-part education show titled “Marx is Right.” And state papers have run dozens of articles remembering the German philosopher who predicted that workers’ struggle would lead to a classless society, with one saying (link in Chinese), “Let’s go back to Marx, and be people with ideals.” [...]
On the surface, China identifies itself as a socialist country, with Marxism enshrined in both the party’s and the state’s constitutions. But the truth is that the nation has long abandoned Marx’s views of class struggle and the inevitability of the workers’ revolution, after it began carrying out a series of market-oriented reforms in the late 1970s that led it to become the world’s second-largest economy. Today’s China bears all of the hallmarks of a capitalist society ranging from private property to rampant consumption to exporting its overproduction. [...]
But then, China’s celebrations of Marx aren’t about Marxism but about its own political model. Since taking power in late 2012, Xi has repeatedly called for greater confidence in China’s chosen path, theory, system and culture—together known as the “four confidences”—amid concerns about the Communist Party’s ever tightening controls over the Chinese society. More recently, a globalist Xi has floated the idea that the political system of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” can be a model for the world. During this year’s Davos forum, Chinese state media stated outright that the world should choose between Xi’s “shared future” vision and Donald Trump’s “America First” policy—two contrasting outlooks for humanity.
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