Cultural Perspective Spread And Development Of Early Marxism In China

Taking a cultural angle of the sinicized Marxism, this article constructs a brand new view of research, namely a cultural view, for the early spreading and development of Marxism in China. Comprising four progressive aspects, which are cultural spreading, selecting, blending and creating, this article focuses on a historical investigation of the founding of new Chinese culture, with logic argumentation included.Seeing from the cultural view:Firstly, the sinicization of Marxism has its cultural nature. The sinicization of Marxism was not only a process, but also a result. Either has vivid cultural features and typical cultural natures. Secondly, Marxism finished its early historical process within a cultural and logic framework of four progressive stages, namely spreading, selection, blending and creation. Thirdly, when studying the blending of Marxism and traditional Chinese culture, we should not make comparisons simply and rigescently, or seek proofs only for agreement. Instead, we should analyze the possibility of their blending by considering their common cultural spirits. Fourthly, the new democratic cultural thoughts have a complete philosophical and logical system. Its form enabled modern Chinese culture to get out of a dilemma of selection, set the direction for, and helped realize a historical transcendence of modern Chinese culture.Spreading and selecting is the logic starting point of the sinicization. In China’s early modern period, the closeness, conservativeness and backwardness of traditional cultural ideas had become the biggest barrier to the social transition of China. Even after the Opium War when the national crisis was more and more serious, the Chinese realms of thoughts were still lost in argumentations of conflicting ideas. Chinese people with advanced ideas realized that the root of China’s backwardness lied in the backwardness of thoughts, thus they put up the banners of democracy and science, and started the large-scale anti-feudal New Culture Movement. Accompanied by the cultural stirring of last century, Marxism started to be spreading in China. Its scientific and rational thoughts satisfied China’s requirement of self-saving and survival. Advanced Chinese people selected and accepted Marxism. The Chinese communist party selected Marxism and founded the national, scientific and public new democratic culture. It was under the guidance of this new culture that the Chinese revolution and socialist construction moved step by step to victory and splendidness. Blending and transiting was the critical part of the sinicization of Marxism in China. Compared to the Chinese culture, Marxism was an overseas culture, therefore if it were to become the guiding thought of the Chinese revolution and construction, and to be accepted by the Chinese people, it got to be blended with the traditional Chinese culture, with the practice of Chinese revolution and construction, and to solve the problems of China, to have the disposition of the Chinese national culture. Breakthrough and creation was the theoretical direction of the sinicization of Marxism in China. The view of motion and development by the materialistic dialectics was also the basic principle for Mao Zedong to investigate the development of Chinese culture. Since nothing in the world remains unchanged, both Marxism and Chinese culture are always in motion and development. Breakthrough and creation was the theoretical direction of the sinicization of Marxism in China.The construction of the new democratic cultural thoughts provided the socialist cultural construction with precious history experience. The new democratic cultural construction and the Chinese socialist cultural construction are almost a century apart, but we have no doubt that both of them represented the developing direction of the then Chinese advanced culture, and both had the common cultural disposition of the advanced cultures. It is safe to say that the Chinese socialist cultural theory was an inheriting and creating of the new democratic culture. Many standpoints, viewpoints and approaches of the new democratic culture still have remarkable inspirations for our cultural construction today.