A Study On The Popularization Of Marxism

Aiming at building the core socialist values system and consolidating the guiding position of Marxism, the work report of the 17th National Congress of CPC proposed to publicize and popularize the theories of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and take Marxism of contemporary China to the general public.The work report of the 18th National Congress of CPC reiterated that we should continue to adapt Marxism to China’s conditions in keeping up with the times and increase its appeal to the people, and we should work hard to equip the whole Party with the system of theories of socialism with Chinese characteristics and educate the people in these theories. According to new requirements of popularization of Marxism under new conditions, the academic circles have made in-depth discussions about the necessity, historical process, basic connotation, inherent law, approaches, and experience and principles of the popularization of Marxism from the perspective of philosophy, politics, sociology and linguistics. A number of achievements have been made, which has laid a solid foundation for continuing the in-depth research on the issue of the popularization of Marxism. However, as a whole, the perspective is not inclusive enough. It lacks theoretical analysis tools and the vision based on globalization, not to mention the theoretical analysis from the perspective of communication. In the information era, whether a theory can be accepted by the general public not only depends on the attractiveness of the theory itself, but also on how the theory is publicized. To this end, this paper has made a comprehensive summary and analysis on the major issue of the popularized communication of Marxism from the perspective of communication. It not only is beneficial for exploring how to introduce the latest theoretical achievements of Marxism in contemporary China to the people, and pushing forward the transformation of the publicization and education theories of Marxism from the traditional way to a modern one, but also makes it much easier to popularize Marxism in the information era in a long term. It will effectively improve the attractiveness, cohesion and appeal of Marxism, and help people to understand Marxism theories more throughly so as to apply the theories voluntarily. Thus, we will improve the Party’s art of leadership and governance and promote the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in an all-round way.Guided by dialectical materialism and historical materialism, this paper takes the perspective of communication and is based on the realistic background of profound changes at home and abroad in the era of globalization, as well as the continuously developing media environment with modern information technology. On the basis of collecting, sorting out, summarizing and analyzing classical works of Marxism and relevant documents and materials of Marxism popularization theories by the Chinese communists, this paper applies relevant theories and approaches of various subjects including sociology, culturology, education and psychology, takes relevant examples and empirical study, and makes systematic and comprehensive analysis on the theoretical basis, basic principles, realistic environment, media environment and basic factors of the popularized communication of Marxism. On this basis, this paper proposes a comprehensive and practical strategy of improving the effects of the popularization of Marxism involving communicators, communication contents, channels and objects. It deepens and expands the fields of research on the popularized communication of Marxism, and develops the research on the popularized communication of Marxism in contemporary China from academic study to specific operation. It provides new thinking for establishing basic theoretical analysis framework of the popularized communication of Marxism in the future.This paper consists of five chapters besides the introduction and epilogue.Chapter I. Theoretical basis and basic principles of the popularized communication of Marxism. Chapter I summarizes the concepts of Marx, Engels, Lenin in the popularized communication of Marxism, as well as the theoretical contribution and practical exploration of the popularized communication of Marxism by the Chinese communists including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping. It announces the theoretical sources and basis of the popularized communication of Marxism. Meanwhile, it proposes the basic methods and principles of promoting the popularized communication of Marxism:the unification of one guiding ideology and diversified cultural values; the unification of theoretical and life logic; the unification of scientificity and popularity; the unification of inheritance and openness.Chapter Ⅱ. Research on the environment of the popularized communication of Marxism. Whether the popularized communication of Marxism can be adapted to the social environment exerts important influence on its effectiveness in a certain period. Chapter Ⅱ discusses the interactive relationship between the popularized communication of Marxism and social environment from the perspective of realistic and media environment. On one hand, it focuses on the basic features and major problems of the contemporary realistic environment including the opportunities and challenges brought forth by globalization, new features of economy, politics, social structure and social interests patterns caused by a sharp transition of domestic society, the historical changes and problems of contemporary China’s social mentality, as well as the theoretical innovation of Marxism lagging behind the social practice. It analyzes the constraint and promotion of historical conditions and backgrounds upon the popularized communication of Marxism. On the other hand, it focuses on the basic features and major problems of contemporary media environment including the origin and changes of media environment with oral communication era, text communication era, printing communication era, electronic communication era and digital communication era as its main part, the development of media society featuring on We media, interactive media, giant media and cross media, low development level of mass media, as well as the rigid and lagging communication approaches of Marxism theories. It analyzes the constraint and promotion of the development of media industry, information industry and media society upon the popularized communication of Marxism.Chapter III. Research on the factors of the popularized communication of Marxism. The study of communication argues that all the true scientific discussions dedicated to communication and its laws should focus on who, what, how, whom and its effects in communication. On this basis, chapter Ⅲ systematically investigates the five factors including communication subjects, contents, channels, objects and effects, resulting in the preliminary theoretical context and system of the popularized communication of Marxism. In light of communication subjects, the paper divides them into six categories according to their hierarchy and functions, namely, the CPC and its ideological departments, mass media organizations, experts and scholars, regular teachers, social individuals and social organizations. Analysis on their features has been conducted. In light of communication contents, the paper argues that the major contents should consist of the explicit contents of the Marxism classic works, theoretical achievements of the localization of Marxism in China, and the routes, principles and policies of the CPC, as well as the implicit contents of the theoretical essence reflected in the core theories of Marxism classics and the fine traditions and styles accompanying theoretical achievements of the localization of Marxism. Analysis on their features has been conducted. In light of communication channels, the paper explains the nature and functions of mass media in China and analyzes the characteristics and its attention characters of traditional media and the new one. In light of communication objects, the paper analyzes the masses’ connotation and characteristics and summarizes the masses’group psychological features and its psychological effects. In light of communication effects, the paper analyzes its connotation and constitution and summarizes the forming process of the effects of the popularized communication of Marxism.Chapter Ⅳ. Research on strategies of improving the effects of the popularized communication of Marxism. Chapter Ⅳ stresses the recommendations for improvements of the popularized communication of Marxism and summarizes the specific strategies and approaches to systematically upgrade its communication effects. Its main strategies include changing ideas and concepts to actively establish modern communication control concepts, shaping good images by taking the lead in believing in the Marxism truth, and strengthening self-construction to build a high-quality talent team. The content strategies include pushing forward theoretical innovation of Marxism, building the contemporary discourse system in the popularized communication of Marxism, and developing socialist cultural industry and timely exporting values. The channel strategies include exploring classified media managing models, building modern communication systems and following communication laws. The object strategies include being people-oriented and returning to their daily life, subdividing the audiences’characteristics by individualized teaching, improving audiences’quality accomplishments by further study and realizing audiences’participation by converting to practices. The four strategies coordinate and interact to establish overall and long-term mechanism to jointly promote its publicity and comprehensively improve its effects.Chapter V. Case study of the popularized communication of Marxism. Chapter V provides two cases for empirical analysis. The first case takes two movies of The Founding of a Republic and Beginning of the Great Revival as examples. It discusses their practical impacts and functions and analyzes how to achieve the subtle and unconscious expression and spreading of the mainstream ideology by using the entertainment carrier-movies through modern communication means and the market-oriented operation patterns. The second case analyzes how a documentary of A Bite of China, a mainstream cultural work broadcasted in CCTV, achieves its goal of invisible publicity by telling stories, providing beautiful audio-visual programs and applying new media communication. Equipped with the successful publicizing experiences by the documentary, the paper uses the case to provide effective explanations and practical proofs for the theoretical ideas in the paper.All in all, the promotion of the popularized communication of Marxism is a major and profound subject in research. It requires not only the mind of inclusiveness, theoretical achievements by learning from communication and theoretical innovation of this subject through interdisciplinary exchanges and integration, but also a clear-cut value standpoint and critical spirit. We should adhere to Marxist standpoint, viewpoint and method and stick to the principles of the Party. We should work hard to develop a distinctive and unique subject of the popularized communication of Marxism with clear inner values. We should also continuously summarize the universal and particular laws in promoting the popularized communication of Marxism as the theoretical exploration and practical contribution to speed up the realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.