Opinion | Xi’s embrace of Marxism only goes as far as it bolsters his legacy

Is President and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping (習近平) a dedicated socialist and believer in Marxism, given his keenness to promote communist ideology?

Xi has shown greater enthusiasm for the communist orthodoxy than his four predecessors after Mao Zedong (毛澤東) – Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦), Zhao Ziyang (趙紫陽), Jiang Zemin (江澤民) and Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). On November 23, Xi chaired a Politburo session to study Karl Marx’s political economy theory. He has led two similar sessions, one on the German philosopher’s dialectical materialism, the other on his historical materialism.

Under Xi’s rule, the government has directed more resources to the study and fostering of the Marxist tradition and the works of Mao. He wants to make the world’s last major communist-ruled nation a global centre of Marxism.

READ MORE: The method in Xi Jinping’s Marxism: What’s behind the president’s push for the economic theory?

The revival of Marxism is a major departure from Deng Xiaoping’s (鄧小平) more pragmatic and fact-driven approach to development. And it seems all the more ridiculous to explore Marxist political economy for China’s development when the party has pledged to allow the market to play a “decisive role” in the distribution of resources.

While continuing Deng’s reformist path, Xi has also tried to revive some Maoist policy and resurrect slogans and practices from decades ago. For instance, he launched the Maoist rectification campaign, better known as the “mass line”, and ordered officials, academics, journalists and university students to take compulsory courses on Marxist philosophy.

He has repeatedly stated that Marxism must remain the ideological lodestar of the ruling party and the nation.