Political Economy Review 2003 Issue 3

Author: Lin Gang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: Engels once pointed out, "With every epoch-making discovery in the field of science, materialism must also change its form." As humanity enters the 21st century, faced with ever-changing developments, Marxist economics or political economy, as a scientific proof of historical materialism, must also adapt its form accordingly. In the past two years, we have repeatedly proposed on different occasions: establishing a modern form of Marxist economics and promoting its innovation and development. Based on this idea, we have recently written a series of academic papers and books, and have begun to compile a new political economy textbook. As a national-level planning textbook for general higher education under the "Tenth Five-Year Plan," the guiding ideology and basic principles of this textbook are: 1. Marxist economics takes historical materialism as its methodological principle and, on this basis, has formed a unique theoretical paradigm for analyzing economic phenomena. Adhering to Marxist economics fundamentally means adhering to its methodological principle and analytical paradigm. 2. Developing Marxist economics requires close connection with the realities of contemporary economic development, using the analytical paradigm of Marxist economics as a guide to explain new phenomena, answer new questions, reveal new laws, and propose new themes, concepts, categories, and theoretical principles. 3. Marxist economics has emerged and developed through dialogue and confrontation with other schools of economic thought. Developing Marxist economics should critically learn from modern Western economic theories, absorbing their reasonable components, rather than practicing unprincipled compromise. 4. With an attitude of keeping pace with the times, it is necessary to reflect on and answer such questions: What are the fundamental principles that embody the essence of Marxism? What are the distorted additions by later generations? What must be upheld and remain unshakable in Marxist economics? What, on the other hand, must be revised and adjusted with the development of the times? 5. Content and form cannot be equated, nor can they be completely separated. Marxist economics opposes the blind pursuit of mathematical formalization and detachment from social life, but it should and can fully utilize mathematics as an important analytical tool and a means of formalization.