by Xinhua writers Jin Jing, Zhang Dailei
LONDON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Manifesto provides "an overarching sweeping" system of analysis and a perspective of how the Western society can change itself and serve the interests of the majority of people, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) has said.
The fundamentals of the Western Capitalist society have remained the same as a "class divided society" since Karl Marx's days, said Robert Griffiths in an interview with Xinhua ahead of the 170th anniversary of The Communist Manifesto's publication.
"It's the vast majority of people who still have little or no option but to work for a living, and in effect to work under the direction of those who own and control not just large parts of the economy, but therefore control really the whole direction in which the society moves," said Griffiths.
The Communist Manifesto, written by Marx and Friedrich Engels, was published in London in February 1848. The political pamphlet proclaimed that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" and that the inevitable victory of the proletariat, or working class, would put an end to class society forever.
RENEWED INTEREST IN SOCIALIST AND MARXIST IDEAS
The CPB chief said the West has witnessed a renewed interest in socialist and Marxist ideas as capitalism continues to fail to provide solutions to even the most basic problems of many millions of people in Britain, and billions of people around the world.
The global financial crisis and economic recession resulted from the rampant greed of corporations and the neo-Liberalism experiment have helped raise the question of what the Western society can do better to heed wider public concerns, he said.
"There are so many people who believe quite rightly that this cannot be the best that we can do. It must be possible to organize our society and our economy on a basis that would serve the interests of the vast majority, and not just the interests of a small wealthy and privileged and powerful few," said the party chief.
One of the great values of The Communist Manifesto is that it provides an overall analysis of human history, and how and why societies have changed and what the Western world can do to address the problem of great inequality, not just in terms of wealth but in terms of power, he said.
"That means that the Manifesto is still relevant today and what it proposes is still relevant," he said.
The CPB chief said he had been to China four times and the scale of what is being done and what has already been achieved in China is "phenomenal."
CHINA'S "UNEQUALLED" ACHIEVEMENT AND MARXIST IDEOLOGY
He said China's achievement in poverty alleviation is "unequalled in human history."
The party chief said he was impressed by an enormous process of modernization that China is undergoing with growing attention to the environment, to the needs of the poorest people, and to the poorest regions in the inner land.
"It is a change for the better. I don't think anybody, whatever their political views, could dispute that," he said.
What China has achieved does involve capital and the use of markets but essentially the changes are happening within the context of economic planning, large-scale public ownership and Communist Party rule, said Griffiths.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) is motivated by a desire to serve the interests of the mass of the people with a people-centered approach to development, to the environment, to all kinds of questions in China, said Griffiths.
"Of course all of those things are rooted in a Marxist conception of how society can be changed, and how it can be changed in the interests of the vast majority, in the interests of people and humanity as a whole," he said.
What the Chinese Communists are doing is applying the principles of Marxism to Chinese specific conditions and China's specific needs, he said, adding that the profound impact of Marxism in China is absolutely undeniable.
Marxism, though not a majority view in Britain, has always played a role as a system of analysis in the organized working class movement, policies of the Labour Party, in intellectual life and in the trade unions, said Griffiths.
"So Marxism has always been here in Britain. There is nothing alien about Marxism," he said.
