Lecture Series on Socialist Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics
Lecture 1
On the afternoon of September 23, Professor Ding Baojun from the School of Marxism at Zhejiang University was invited to visit the School of Economics
at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, where he gave an academic lecture titled "The Research Object and Method of Marxist Political
Economy" to teachers and students majoring in political economy, and also conducted political theory study for all faculty and staff of the school.
This lecture was the first in the Lecture Series on Socialist Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics. It was chaired by Professor Ma Yan of the
School of Economics and attended by more than 20 teachers and students from the Department of Political Economy.
At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Ding Baojun first gave an in-depth exposition of the capitalist mode of production as the research object of
political economy. He pointed out that Marx found the mode of production as the research object only through continuously deepening his
understanding of capitalist society. As a research object, the capitalist mode of production presents a dynamic process of development before researchers;
therefore, the study of the mode of production must be historical and dynamic. Professor Ding Baojun held that the research object of Das Kapital is the
social mode of production at a certain historical stage of human society, and that it is wrong to talk abstractly about relations of production beyond the
social mode of production.
Afterward, Professor Ding Baojun particularly emphasized the importance of the methodology of Das Kapital — historical materialism and materialist
dialectics. He stated that materialist dialectics is the scientific method that Marx actually applied in Das Kapital to analyze the capitalist mode of
production. It contains the general form of the movement of things revealed by Hegelian dialectics, and more importantly, it has the form of materialist
epistemology and historical outlook based on historical processes and historical facts. Professor Ding Baojun compared Marx's dialectics with Hegel's
dialectics, pointing out that Marx's dialectics is built on material production and social practice and possesses the characteristics of positive science,
whereas Hegel's dialectics is built on abstract thinking. Marx critically inherited Hegel's dialectics, thoroughly negating its idealist foundation while
fully affirming its dialectical form.
Finally, Professor Ding Baojun analyzed how to use the methods of political economy to guide the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
He pointed out that Marxist political economy, determined by the research object of political economy and the methodology of historical materialism,
is a genuine positive science different from idealist speculative philosophy. The construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the practice
of the path of Chinese-style modernization must both explore new social forms of realization of dialectics in the construction of the mode of production.
Professor Ding Baojun emphasized that socialism with Chinese characteristics is the practical achievement of the Sinicization of Marxism. The path of
socialism with Chinese characteristics is a path of building socialism by crossing the Caudine Forks, and the prominent feature of this path is that it does
not pass through the development stage of Western European capitalism while still absorbing and drawing on its achievements in the capitalist era.
The entire lecture lasted more than three hours, and Professor Ding Baojun's profound exposition of the research object and method of political
economy greatly benefited the teachers and students present. After the report, the teachers and students of the School of Economics had a lively
discussion and exchange with Professor Ding Baojun on issues such as how to study and make good use of political economy. Professor Ding Baojun
encouraged the students present to study the basic theories of political economy well, develop the habit of taking reading notes, and learn and conduct
research with critical thinking.
At the end of the lecture, Professor Ma Yan made concluding remarks. She said that Professor Ding Baojun's in-depth explanation of the research object
and method of political economy based on classic texts provided methodological reference for our researchers to carry out high-quality academic research.
Amid the friendly exchange between teachers and students, the first lecture of the SUFE Lecture Series on Socialist Political Economy with Chinese
Characteristics came to a successful conclusion.
