Attach importance to the unity of "the theme of the times" and "the essence of the times"
The recent Politburo meeting of the Chinese Communist Party pointed out that "at present, the theme of the times of peace and development has not changed". The scientific conclusion that peace and development are the themes of the present era provides a theoretical basis for our party to formulate correct strategic strategies.
The connotation of "the theme of the times" was put forward and defined by Comrade Deng Xiaoping. In the 1980s, he put forward that "peace and development are two major problems in the world today", which reversed the old idea that war is inevitable and imminent, and enabled the whole party to concentrate on construction. It can be said that this solved the problem of "the theme of the times". In the 1990s, he pointed out that "the general trend of historical development is irreversible" when socialism replaced capitalism, which strengthened his position and determination to engage in Socialism with Chinese characteristics, which can be said to have solved the problem of "the essence of the times". In a word, Deng Xiaoping put forward and solved these two basic problems step by step in the 1980s and 1990s according to the development of the objective situation and the needs of the actual struggle. According to Deng Xiaoping’s scientific judgment on the issue of the times, we must deal with the relationship between the theme of the times of peace and development and the general trend of historical development from the height of the times, and attach importance to the combination and unity of the theme of the times and the essence of the times.
First of all, peace and development are today’s "themes of the times", which has become the normative formulation of our party’s documents and won the consensus of the whole party. Deng Xiaoping first raised this issue in 1985. When he met with Japanese guests on March 4 that year, he said this: "The real big problems in the world now have global strategic issues, one is peace, and the other is economic or development. The issue of peace is an East-West issue, and the issue of development is a North-South issue. To sum up, it is four words: east, west, north and south. " After Deng Xiaoping’s assertion was put forward, some people in academic circles put forward that today is an era of peace and development, and even many monographs with this title were published, which is obviously misunderstood. Because Deng Xiaoping said that "peace and development" are the "two major problems" in today’s world, and they have not risen to the "times". Later, Deng Xiaoping emphasized that "the two major problems of peace and development have not been solved so far", which further shows that he thinks that "peace and development" are "problems", and by no means means that the world today is an era of peace and development. In 1987, the report of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China said that peace and development are the "two major problems in the world" at present, and in 1992, the report of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China formally proposed that peace and development are the "themes of the times" at present. Since then, peace and development have become the "theme of the times" and have become the normative formulation in the Party’s documents. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012 still said that "the world today is undergoing profound and complex changes, and peace and development remain the theme of the times".
Secondly, the assertion that "the general trend of historical development is irreversible" profoundly reveals the "essence of the times" today. Under the situation that "peace and development" has become the theme of the times, the struggle between capitalism and socialism "two isms" and "two systems" still exists, but how to understand and express this in the issues of the times is worth studying. Someone once mentioned "the era of peaceful competition between socialism and capitalism", because too much emphasis on "two doctrines" would give people the illusion that "two camps" still dominate the world, which was denied by most scholars. In recent years, some commentators have proposed that "socialism and capitalism have two futures, two roads, two fates, and the era of life-and-death game between two major forces", and not many people will respond. There are many, large and complicated contradictions in the world. The struggle between "two isms" and "two systems" is not always the "central problem" or "main problem" in the world, and the situation of the whole world is not dominated and controlled by it. The Second World War was not caused by the contradiction between the two systems, and the national liberation movement after the war was mainly to solve the national contradictions. After the Cold War, the world is developing in the direction of political pluralism and economic globalization. The contest of comprehensive national strength, which is guided by science and technology and centered on strengthening economic strength, national defense strength and national cohesion, is becoming increasingly fierce. This struggle is mainly not manifested in and depends on the struggle between the two social systems. Therefore, it is not appropriate to treat and deal with the contradiction between the "two systems" as the main contradiction in the world, and it is impossible to concentrate all kinds of complex contradictions and international struggles in the world.The struggle between "two systems" came up.
Obviously, Deng Xiaoping’s practice and judgment are the most intelligent and scientific. He realistically affirmed that "peace and development" is the theme of today’s times, and at the same time put today’s times into the long history of social development to consider (because the small era with peace and development as the theme of the times is not divorced from the big era of human social and historical development, which is completely appropriate and correct), and then pointed out that the historical general trend that socialism will inevitably replace capitalism is "irreversible". This profoundly reveals that the essence of the times is still "the transition from capitalism to socialism", which means that the "general direction" and "general trend" of historical development have not changed. This thesis is both scientific and contemporary. It not only points out the class content and essence of today’s era, but also changes the old expression that dogma is rigid and outdated on the issue of the times. At the same time, Deng Xiaoping emphasized that socialism "will inevitably replace" capitalism, but this will happen after socialism "develops in a long process" and said that "the road is tortuous". That is to say, in Deng Xiaoping’s view, the "essence of the times" of the transition from capitalism to socialism is closely related to the "theme of the times" of peaceful development. Only by using successful examples of socialist construction to prove that socialism is superior to capitalism can the existing socialist countries promote the revival and development of the world socialist movement. Therefore, "peace and development" has become the only way to consolidate and develop socialism and realize communism in the future.We must deal with the relationship between the theme of the times of peace and development and the general trend of historical development from the height of the times, and unify and combine the two. (Xiao Feng is the former deputy director of the Research Office of the International Liaison Department)