China's "Triple Revolution Theory" and Marxist Analysis

Cheng Enfu and Yang Jun

IIn what is known as the New Era, beginning in 2012 with the rise of Xi Jinping as chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), there has been a steady advance of the Sinicisation of Marxist theory and of the concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics, spreading to all aspects of society and adopted as a governing principle for China as a whole. This transformation is not, however, seen as a sharp break with the past, but as a further progression of the Chinese Revolution, as symbolised by its three paramount leaders over its history, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping, symbolising the periods of the Revolutionary Seizure of Power, Revolutionary Reform (or Reform Revolution), and the New Era, now seen as representing the period of Transitional Revolution aimed at completing the revolution. The call to “carry the revolution to its completion,” which was first introduced by Mao, was taken up again by Xi in 2016, and in the last several years has been a persistent theme in his speeches, and in the longer-range strategies the CPC has been promoting. It thus represents a new phase in the Chinese Revolution, which recently celebrated in seventy-fifth anniversary.

These shifts in the historical progression of the Chinese Revolution have led to various attempts to theorize the three stages of the revolution. Here Cheng Enfu and Yang Jun provide what they call “Triple Revolution Theory.” Their article is a product of the Sinicisation of Marxism and is primarily written for a Chinese audience and for Marxists worldwide who have been following the progress of the Chinese Revolution. Since their argument is both logical and historical in character, while also depicting various alternative points of view, it should be readily understandable to patient and attentive readers. Nevertheless, we encourage MR readers who find the journey labourious to leap to the end, namely the conclusion in part IV, since this addresses what “carrying the revolution to completion” really means in the view of these authors. Having done so, it will be possible to examine their whole argument from beginning to end, with new and deeper insights into the evolution of Chinese Marxist thought in the present as history.

—The Editors

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