by Massimo Introvigne
“A new form of human civilization” (人類文明新形態) is a concept increasingly mentioned in documents of the Chinese Communist Party. It is the new slogan for the 2022, and comes straight from the all-important Third Resolution on the History of the CCP passed by the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CCP.
A theoretical comment on this slogan was published earlier this month on the CCP organ People’s Daily by Ma Jiantang and Zhao Changwen, who are respectively the Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Development Research Center of the State Council and the Director of the China International Development Knowledge Center.
The comment shows that the claims of the CCP for its own role in the larger picture of human history are increasingly grandiose. They should not be ignored, however, as they have practical consequences.
The CCP, Ma ad Zhao write, has indeed “created a new form of human civilization.” Obviously, the immediate aim of the CCP was to gain and maintain power, and to make China a great international power. However, it is also the case that “the cause of the Party and the country is closely linked with the cause of progress for all humankind.”
This may not appear immediately obvious, but should be, according to Ma and Zhao, if one considers that China is now one of the few, if not the only, country governed according to “the basic principles of Marxism.” Every victory of China is a victory of Marxism; and by definition every victory of Marxism is a victory of the “cause of progress for all humankind.”
Yet, the CCP, Ma and Zhao claim, did not copy other Marxist models. Its application of Marxism led to “the coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization.” From all these points of view, the CCP has created a new civilization superior to all others that appeared in history.
Some can object that yes, the material civilization of China is impressive, but the same results have been achieved by the West. However, the article answers, it took centuries to develop the Western material civilization, while China achieved the same results in mere decades. Second, the material progress in China is “people-centered” and even “in harmony with the spiritual civilization,” which is not the case in the West.
The reference to spirituality may sound strange, but the text argues that Communist China is the first civilization in history that achieved a true balance between religious and atheistic citizens, and between different religions (perhaps, my comment not the authors’, because those who would disturb the balance are put in jail).
It is even more clear that the CCP has created a new form of civilization by looking at politics. The CCP has reversed, the text claims, a course of history that had been going on for centuries if not millennia, based on the domination of Western powers and culture. Now, the authors boldly state, civilization really “rises in the East and falls in the West.” By repudiating Western-style democracy, the CCP “avoids the disadvantages of Western money politics, party disputes, political polarization, indecision, and short-term policies,” which plagued the older civilizations.
And yes, Ma and Zhao write, it is a new and better “spiritual civilization” as well. “Our Party has continuously absorbed the essence of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, inherited and carried forward the revolutionary culture, developed the advanced Socialist culture, built the Chinese spirit, Chinese values, and Chinese strength, and consolidated the common ideological foundation.”
Of course, not all these roots are at the same level. As Xi Jinping stated, “the ancient should be used for the present, the foreign should be used for the Chinese.” “Traditional Chinese culture” becomes diluted in a cocktail where Marxism prevails, just as non-Han cultures are, in Xi Jinping’s clear terms, “used for the Chinese.”
That the CCP’s is a better social civilization should be, according to the authors, obvious: isn’t China the first country that has abolished poverty? Some may doubt this claim, but not the CCP cadres who read the People’s Daily. That China also has the better and higher “ecological civilization” may seem a bold statement, but Ma and Zhao invite their readers to consider that there is a “Marxist ecological view,” which is not necessarily identical to the non-Marxist one.
Even if each dimension of civilization would not be new, it is their combination that would create a new form of civilization at any rate. “Judging from the content covered by the new form of civilization, ‘new,’ the authors explain, is manifested in the fact that we have new creations in material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization, and these five civilizations are inherently unified.”
The CCP took “the advanced Socialist culture as the ontological foundation, fully absorbing into it the revolutionary culture, the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and the advanced achievements of all human civilizations.”
Make no mistake, the authors conclude, this civilization is “Marxist” and fully coherent with Karl Marx’s teachings. However, it is not a Western form of Marxism. The new form of civilization “breaks the ‘Western-centrism’ of civilizations, and provides a new path, wisdom and inspiration for realizing the values that humankind has been pursuing for thousands of years. Contemporary China has proved to the world that the Chinese nation can not only catch up with the times, but also do better in the pursuit of common human values.
The new form of human civilization created by the Chinese people led by our Party has expanded the path of realizing the common values of all humankind.” What humans sought to achieve for “thousands of years” has finally been achieved—by the CCP in China.
It is tempting to dismiss all this as propaganda. However, it has consequences. Since Xi Jinping is credited as the harbinger of the new form of civilization, yet another foundation is offered for his lifelong leadership. Who can replace the leader who has created a new form of civilization?
Second, the document claims that China, led by the CCP, who is in turn led by Xi Jinping, is “increasingly showing its great superiority in international comparisons.” So much for those who tell us that the Chinese ideology is not dangerous because it is for domestic use only and there is no attempt to export it abroad. If it is superior to all other theories and ideologies, not sharing it with the rest of the world would not only be against logic and fairness. It would be against the Marxist laws of historical materialism, the only laws the CCP is not prepared to breach.
