Since the CPC 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee, with Xi Jinping at its core, has developed and deepened the key theoretical achievements of contemporary Chinese Marxist political economy in accordance with the conditions of China’s development and the international dynamics, and has systemized and institutionalized these achievements, gradually forming and improving Xi Jinping’s economic thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, thus opening up a new realm of contemporary Chinese Marxist political economy. This latest theoretical development of contemporary Chinese Marxist political economy is adapted to contemporary Chinese conditions and the characteristics of the era; it is not only effectively directing China’s economic development, but also has an important guiding significance for the healthy development of the world economy.
The World Association for Political Economy (WAPE), an international academic organization founded voluntarily by Marxist economists and related groups around the world, aims to utilize modern Marxist economics to analyse and study the world economy on national and global levels, reveal their developmental laws and mechanisms, and explore approaches to promote economic civilization, social progress, and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, so as to better and faster advance the welfare of people around the world. Between 2006 and 2019, the WAPE has successively held 14 international forums in Shanghai(China), Shimane(Japan), Beijing(China), Paris(France), Suzhou(China), Massachusetts(USA), Mexico City(Mexico), Florianópolis(Brazil), Hanoi(Vietnam), Johannesburg(South Africa), Patiala(India), Moscow(Russia), Berlin(Germany), and Winnipeg(Canada); the association has gained a worldwide reputation and academic influence.
To further develop contemporary Chinese Marxist political economy and boost exchanges between the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and other political economy schools around the world, the WAPE and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) cohosted the 15th WAPE Forum themed as “Rethinking Global Economic Analysis: Perspective of Political Economy” on 18 and 19 December, 2021.
The Forum consisted of 6 main sessions and 30 panels for discussion, with nearly 300 scholars joining either in person or online from more than 40 countries including China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, India, the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, etc. Thorough discussions were made on the methodology, theories and policies of modern Marxist economics, the reform of the curriculum of economics, the theory of the capitalist stages and cycle, the future of socialism, labor and market, poverty and inequality, health and medical care, environment and development, the world economic system and globalization, neo-imperialism and the multipolar world, and the Belt and Road Initiative and a community with a shared future for humanity, and other topics.
At the opening ceremony, Professor Jiang Feng, Secretary of the SISU Party Committee, welcomed Marxist economists from all over the world to SISU to exchange ideas and hoped that the university would become an important front for the development of world political economy. Professor Cheng Enfu, President of the WAPE and Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), proposed to strengthen education and research on Marxist economics and the entire economic science guided by it, and deepen the study on the US-representing neo-imperialism, new changes in the world economic system, alternative economics of the global bourgeoisie, and the relevance between the control of covid-19 outbreaks and the basic system and governance capacity.
The Forum included a granting ceromony for the annual WAPE Awards. The Marxian Economics Award was conferred on Professor Guglielmo Carchedi, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Professor Ding Bing, the Capital University of Economics and Business, China, also known as General Counsel of the China Society of Foreign Economics. The Distinguished Achievement Award of World Political Economy went to Professor Andrey Kolganovr, Moscow State University, Russia; Professor Issa Shivji, the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Professor Zhu Andong, Tsinghua University, China; Professor Charan Singh Verma, the Giri Institute of Development Studies, India; Professor Moshe Machover, King's College London, UK; Professor Emmanuel Farjoun, Hebrew University, Israel; Professor Ding Xiaoqin and Professor Lu Pingyue, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China; Professor Julio Gambina, University of Rosario, Argentina; Professor Lynne Chester, University of Sydney, Australia; Professor Song Chaolong, Peking University, China; Professor Lefteris Tsoulfidis, University of Macedonia, Greece. The Forum also celebrated the debut of new books including the English edition of China’s Economic Dialectic: The Original Aspiration of Reform, and the Russian edition of Chinese Innovative Marxism: Selected Works of Enfu Cheng.
The Forum put forward many scientific theories and policy proposals, promoting profound exchanges and cooperation among scholars and groups in political economy around the world, consolidating the key status of Marxist political economy, and providing an important ideological weapon to unite working people around the world against the unjustified systems of capitalism and hegemonic practices of neo-imperialism, to build a community with a shared future for humanity, and to create new forms of human civilization.