The Era Of Marxist National Theory Research

The ethnic issue universally exists in human society. It has deep historical rootsand great practical significance. Therefore, coordination of national interests andinterests of various ethnic groups and coordination of interests of different ethnicgroups have grown to be an important topic for multi-ethnic nations. In the mid-19thcentury, by scientific understanding of ethnic issue and its development in humansociety, the classical Marxist writers created the Marxist Ethnic Theory, which shedlight on how to deal with ethnic issues in human society. However, as time goes by, totruly inherit the scientific spirit of Marxism-Leninism in reality, the Marxist EthnicTheory needs to be updated continuously to explain the emerging ethnic issues. In fact,research on the basic viewpoints of Marxist Ethnic Theory scientific understanding ofprogress of Marxist Ethnic Theory, not only has great practical significance formodernization of our multi-ethnic country, but also has positive and profound impacton appropriate handling and resolving the ethnic issues in the human society.This dissertation will systematically study the Marxism in the contemporarytransformation. The introduction part briefly describes the rationale for selection ofthis topic. After that, the core concepts that are related to this research, such as nation,ethnic group, nation-state etc, are introduced. Based on systematic summary of thegeneration and contemporary development of the Marxist Ethnic Theory, wedemonstrate that the current era is the era of nation-state in the context ofglobalization, and that the core and focus of the contemporary Marxist Ethnic Theoryis to strengthen the integration of multi-nation-states. Meanwhile, by reflecting theexperiences and lessons learned from other countries in dealing with ethnic issues, weclarify the theoretic path and realistic road for Marxist Ethnic Theory in thecontemporary transformation. This dissertation consists of5chapters. A briefsummary of each chapter is as follows:In Chapter1, we systematically summarize the previous research work on theMarxist Ethnic Theory and its contemporary development. By analyzing the historicalpremise and the theoretical origin for the formation of Marxist Ethnic Theory, wesummarize the basic contents of the Marxist Ethnic Theory in the following areas: theclassic form represented by the ethnic ideology of Marx and Engels, thedevelopmental form represented by the ethnic theory of Lenin and Stalin, and thecontemporary form represented by the Chinese Marxist ethnic theory. In Chapter2, we focus on demonstrating that the current era is the era ofnation-state in the context of globalization. According to the Marxist historicalmaterialism, the ethnicity came from the clan and tribal development. Thedevelopment process for the human community can be expressed in this order: clan–> phratry–> tribal–> tribal union–> ethnicity (nation-state). Today, the majority ofcountries in the world are in the form of nation-state based political community. In thecontext of globalization, nation-states are facing challenges, in various extents, fromother economic, political, cultural and social fields. However, globalization does notinevitably lead to the decline of nation-state. The current era is the era of nation-statein the context of globalization.In Chapter3, after in-depth analyses, we claim that in the context ofglobalization, the core and focus of the contemporary Marxist Ethnic Theory is tostrengthen the integration of multi-ethnic-states. Since the current era is the era ofnation-state in the context of globalization, the major problem that the multi-ethniccountries are facing is how to achieve the multi-ethnic-state integration. Therefore,the core and focus of the contemporary Marxist Ethnic Theory is to achieve theintegration of multi-ethnic-states. The multi-ethnic countries are facing some commonproblems, mainly reflected by globalization, ethnic integration, ethnic culturaldiversity, nationalism, etc. To resolve these ethnic issues effectively and efficiently,one should not expect construction of a model that surpasses the nation-states. Thesolution is the national integration which can digest the series of problems themulti-ethnic countries are facing.In Chapter4, a comparative analysis is presented to summarize the practicalapproaches taken to deal with ethnic issues in multi-ethnic country. Many countrieshave explored special approaches to deal with the ethnic issues in practice. Accordingto the characteristics, these approaches can be classified into two categories: the‘melting pot’ model and the ‘large platter’ model. It has been proved that the ‘meltingplot’ model is the better way to resolve the ethnic issues in reality. The representativecountries taking this approach include The United States, India, etc. They value theethnic-state integration, ease the ethnic conflicts and issues to a certain extent, andeffectively prevent the split of the nation-state. In contrast, the ‘large platter’ model isthe less desirable way to deal with ethnic issues in practice. The representativecountries include Soviet Union (former), Yugoslavia (former), etc. They neglect the nation-state integration, thus the ethnic contradiction, political contradiction andsocial contradiction superimpose. These ultimately led to the disintegration of thenation-states. By comparative analysis of the ‘melting pot’ model and the ‘largeplatter’ model, we recognize the following basic idea in dealing with ethnic issues, i.e.,whether or not taking the concept of national unification of a multi-ethnic country.These two models, whether it is the successful experience of the former or the failurelesson of the latter, are important enlightenment to the contemporary Marxist EthnicTheory.In Chapter5, we propose the theoretic path and realistic road for Marxist EthnicTheory in the contemporary transformation. We argue that, according to the theory of‘one object multiple roots’, the multi-ethnic national integration, which can resolvethe ethnic issue, is the theoretic path and realistic road for Marxist Ethnic Theory inthe contemporary transformation. Specifically, we should dilute the ethnic attributesand ethnic consciousness, enhance national identity, strengthen and consolidate thebasis of multi-ethnic country from political perspective; we should establish anddevelop a unified national market and public service system from economicperspective; we should respect culture diversity, shape identical values, guide thenationalism into patriotism, build and enhance the cultural foundation of amulti-ethnic country from cultural perspective; we should refine policy design andenhance integration performance, improve and complete the basis of a multi-ethniccountry from institutional perspective. In addition, we should actively handle thefollowing relationships: the relationship of national interests and ethnic interests, therelationship between efficiency and equity, the relationship between ethnic issuesresolution and construction of democracy and people’s livelihood; the relationshipbetween near-term and long-term nature of the ethnic issues.In the end, aiming at the current status of ethnic issues in China, we propose tointegrate the ethnic-states, promote the contemporary Marxist Ethnic Theory, andultimately achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.