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On the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly put forward the important proposition of the “historical initiative” and regarded it as an essential character and trait that has empowered the CPC to achieve monumental historical accomplishments over the past century (Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, 2021: 27). The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC states that: “We must remain confident in our history, exhibit greater historical initiative, and write an even more magnificent chapter for socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.”(Xi, 2022: 1-2) The historical initiative of the proletariat is an important proposition of scientific socialism, as elaborated in The Communist Manifesto and The Civil War in France. Marx provided a detailed and incisive exposition of it through the historical dialectics that unifies objective regularity and subjective initiative, demonstrating the historical mission of the proletariat to emancipate itself and emancipate the world. On the occasion of the centenary of its founding, the prominence of this proposition marks a significant leap in the self-awareness of the Communist Party of China as a proletarian party. An in-depth examination of the scientific connotation of the “historical initiative of the proletariat” from the perspective of historical dialectics carries important implications for the CPC to uphold and develop the cause of scientific socialism and to continue to carry forward the historical initiative on the new journey of the new era.

1 The Historical-Dialectical Dimension of the Proletariat’s Historical Initiative

Marx revealed the objective laws of human historical development through historical materialism, yet he never regarded human history as an independent process divorced from human activity. This is because the contradictory movements between the productive forces and the relations of production, as well as between the economic base and the superstructure, can only be realized through human practical activity. Therefore, the evolution of the social organism toward a higher stage is simultaneously a process in which humanity gradually achieves emancipation through its own practical activities. The conscious historical practice of the proletariat is the primary driving force for human history to move from spontaneity to self-consciousness and onto the road to communism. In this historical process, the proletariat’s historical initiative is both a manifestation of the proletariat’s subjective agency vis-à-vis social history and a product of objective historical laws and trends. From the dimension of objective regularity in historical dialectics, the proletariat’s historical initiative is far from being a contingent subjective will, but an inevitable outcome of social history developing to a specific stage and the contradictory movement between productive forces and relations of production reaching a certain level, a concrete manifestation of objective historical trends in class relations. The proletariat’s emergence as the bearer of the mission of world history is an inevitable result of the operation of historical dialectics. From the dimension of subjective initiative in historical dialectics, the proletariat’s historical initiative does not merely derive from passive adaptation to objective laws, but from the active fulfillment of its own historical mission on the basis of grasping the trend of historical development. This is a vivid embodiment of historical dialectics in the practice of the proletariat.

Marx explicitly put forward the proposition of the “proletariat’s historical initiative” in The Communist Manifesto (Marx, 1975a: 515). In the first section, “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, he systematically explained the objective historical trend of capitalism from its emergence and development to its demise, and then expounded the complete process of the proletariat as the historical subject from its emergence and development to uniting and launching class struggle. Viewed from the wholeness of historical development, these are two aspects of the same historical process: the developmental trend of capitalism constitutes the historical premise and material foundation for the emergence of the proletariat’s historical initiative; without the contradictory movement of the capitalist mode of production, there would be no awakening of the proletariat’s class consciousness or the occurrence of its distinctive historical actions. Conversely, the historical activity of the proletariat is the driving force of this objective trend. The historical trend of capitalism’s demise and socialism’s victory can only be advanced through the proactive endeavors of the proletariat. “But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons—the modern working class—the proletarians.”(Marx, 1975a: 490) This statement profoundly clarifies the dialectical relationship between the historical subject and historical trend. It more clearly highlights the objective inevitability of the proletariat’s historical initiative: emerging and growing alongside the emergence and development of the capitalist mode of production, the proletariat is the “negating force” bred by capitalism itself, and the exertion of its historical initiative is an inevitable result of the development of objective historical trends. The intensification of the basic contradiction of capitalist society—the contradiction between socialized production and private ownership of the means of production—represents an irreversible objective developmental trend, which inevitably leads to intensified class antagonism. As an oppressed and exploited class, the proletariat’s own existential plight is directly linked to the intensification of capitalism’s basic contradictions. This class antagonism and existential crisis not only enable the proletariat to deeply understand its historical situation, but also provide a solid historical premise and realistic impetus for its exercise of historical initiative. The proletariat’s revolutionary movement against the capitalist political status quo and for its own emancipation appears to be an expression of the proletariat’s subjective will. Still, in reality, it is an active response to the objective trend of the intensification of capitalism’s basic contradictions, an inevitable historical action driven by objective historical laws. The revolutionary movement of the proletariat conforms to the historical trend of the inevitable demise of capitalism and the inevitable victory of socialism. It is a concrete manifestation of the proletariat exerting its subjective initiative and advancing history on the basis of grasping historical laws. Thus, the proletariat’s revolutionary movement is both in line with the objective laws of social and historical development and a social practice in which the proletariat, as the historical subject, actively strives for emancipation. Marx demonstrated the proletariat’s historical initiative clearly and through two complementary logical threads: the development of the social organism and the activity of the historical subject.

In The Civil War in France, Marx’s commentary of the Paris Commune’s historical initiative unifies the objective historical laws and the activities of historical subjects in a dialectical way: “in order to work out their own emancipation, and along with it that higher form to which present society is irresistibly tending by its own economical agencies, they will have to pass through long struggles, through a series of historic processes, transforming circumstances and men. They have no ideals to realize, but to set free the elements of the new society with which old, collapsing bourgeois society itself is pregnant”(Marx, 1975b: 335). The economic factors of capitalist society—the contradiction between productive forces and relations of production—are the fundamental driving force propelling society toward a higher form. Capitalist society itself nurtures new and more advanced social factors. The historical task of the proletariat is essentially to follow this objective trend, to liberate the new social factors constrained by the capitalist system through prolonged class struggle, and to propel the evolution of social formations to higher stages. The exertion of the proletariat’s historical initiative is a vivid practice of the dialectical unity of objective regularity and subjective initiative in historical dialectics.

From the perspective of the overall historical development process, the proletariat’s historical initiative is both a concrete manifestation of the objective law of historical dialectics—that is, the productive forces determine the relations of production and the economic base determines the superstructure—and a concentrated expression of this law at the class level. The socialized development of productive forces is an objective historical trend of human social development, which inevitably requires breaking the shackles of capitalist private ownership and establishing relations of production compatible with socialized production. This law does not depend on human will. As direct participants and core representatives of socialized production, the proletariat’s class interests are highly consistent with the developmental requirements of socialized production, and its historical mission is highly aligned with the objective trend of social development. This determines that the proletariat is bound to become the subjective force bearing the historical mission and advancing history. Therefore, the proletariat’s historical initiative is essentially the class expression of the objective requirements of productive force development, a concrete manifestation of the law that relations of production must adapt to the development of productive forces. Its emergence is deeply rooted in the soil of objective historical development and is an inevitable product of objective historical trends. This is precisely the core characteristic of the proletariat’s historical initiative from the perspective of historical dialectics.

2 The Scientific Connotation of the Proletariat’s Historical Initiative

The proletariat’s historical initiative is the inherent spiritual quality that the proletariat embodies in advancing historical progress to emancipate itself and the whole world on the basis of a clear historical consciousness of its class position, historical context and future destiny. Emerging from the dialectical movement of the capitalist mode of production, the proletariat, with its historical initiative, acts as the negative factor within capitalist society, serving as the gravedigger of capitalism and the founder of a new and advanced mode of production. The most precious legacy The Communist Manifesto left to the proletariat is not a prophecy of the fate of capitalism and socialism. Still, the proletariat’s historical initiative is imbued with the spirit of historical dialectics: the objective situation of the movement of the capitalist mode of production determines the proletariat’s position, standpoint, and historical mission as the historical subject; the historical activity of the proletariat, exerting subjective initiative promotes and accelerates the arrival of a new society by eliminating backward social factors and liberating advanced ones. The scientific connotation of the proletariat’s historical initiative can be unfolded along four dimensions. These four dimensions are interrelated and organically unified, reflecting both the requirements of objective regularity of historical dialectics and the subjective initiative of the proletariat. They comprehensively outline the core characteristics of the proletariat’s historical initiative and clarify the mission and responsibility of the proletariat as the historical subject.

2.1 Being the Historical Subject and Representing the Fundamental Interests of the People

The formation of the capitalist mode of production begins with the primitive accumulation of capital. Capitalists complete primitive accumulation by violently depriving peasants and small producers of their land and means of production, turning them into wage laborers with nothing but personal freedom, rapidly concentrating large amounts of capital in a few hands, and thus forming capitalist relations of production. On this premise, with the application of science and technology to the production process, social productive forces continuously improve and develop in a socialized direction, marking a qualitative leap in the productive forces of human society. Socialized production is characterized by three features: first, the concentration of the means of production in the hands of a few capitalists, which transforms them from tools for individual small-scale production to those only usable by large groups of laborers working collectively; second, the transformation of the production process from small-scale, labor-cooperative production to large-scale production organized and managed by capitalists, with products being the fruit of numerous workers’ joint labor; third, the production of goods to meet the common needs of society under socialized production, even as individual capitalists organize production independently to maximize profits, leading to large-scale social cooperation and anarchy in social production.

Socialized productive forces inevitably give rise to a revolutionary class connected with them: the proletariat, which emerges with capitalist large-scale industry. The proletariat is the group directly engaged in the production of material goods, modern workers mastering advanced labor skills in socialized production, and the embodiment of social productive forces. The vast quantities of commodities and value created by the proletariat form the material foundation for the survival of the entire society. In this sense, the proletariat is the objective material force driving historical progress and the creator of history. The capitalist mode of production increasingly turns the overwhelming majority of the population into proletarians dependent on selling their labor power, making them the de facto majority, whose exploitation and oppression are universal in nature. In A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction, Marx described the proletariat as “a class with radical chains, a class of civil society which is not a class of civil society, an estate which is the dissolution of all estates, a sphere which has a universal character by its universal suffering and claims no particular right because no particular wrong, but wrong generally, is perpetrated against it…”
(Marx, 1975c: 186) Therefore, the proletariat’s demand to overthrow the bourgeoisie and achieve self-emancipation is also universal in nature. The standpoint of the proletariat is that of socialized productive forces, of the overwhelming majority of society, and is a revolutionary and progressive standpoint.

2.2 Acting as a Revolutionary Class to Proactively Oppose the Capitalist Political Status Quo

The basic contradiction of capitalist society is the contradiction between socialized production and private ownership of the means of production. Under the capitalist mode of production, socialization of the means of production, production process, and products greatly liberates and develops productive forces. Yet, the means of production are privately owned by capitalists; individual capitalists control the production process, and they privately appropriate the products. In the production relations where capitalists extract surplus value from wage laborers through ownership of the means of production, socialized productive forces appear as the capacity of capitalists to realize value multiplication and profit maximization. The opposition between the organized nature of production in individual enterprises and the anarchic nature of social production leads to frequent economic crises. The more rapidly the capitalist mode of production advances, the more pronounced the incompatibility between socialized production and capitalist appropriation becomes. The periodic outbreak of economic crises in capitalist society indicates that the basic contradiction of capitalism has intensified to a state of acute antagonism that cannot be fundamentally resolved. This is the inevitable result created by the bourgeoisie for itself, and the proletariat can only achieve final victory by taking advantage of this historical condition.

The basic contradiction of capitalist society manifests itself in class relations as complete antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, making the proletariat the most thorough revolutionary force opposing the capitalist political status quo. Corresponding to the bourgeoisie as the positive factor, the proletariat exists as the negating factor within the capitalist social organism. The increasingly inhumane conditions suffered by the proletariat drive them increasingly below the conditions of existence of their own class. As The Communist Manifesto states: “The bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society... It is unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within his slavery, because it cannot help letting him sink into such a state, that it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him.”(Marx, 1975c: 495) In periods of economic prosperity, workers face intense competition among themselves, which depresses wages below the value of labor power, while they endure inadequate food, housing, working conditions and excessively long working hours; in times of depression, they face the risk of mass unemployment—a direct threat of death that forges the proletariat into the most revolutionary class. Having nothing to lose but their chains, the proletariat can only reclaim their human dignity through revolution. “Whilst the capitalist mode of production more and more completely transforms the great majority of the population into proletarians, it creates the power which, under penalty of its own destruction, is forced to accomplish this revolution.”(Engels, 1975: 320) In the course of revolutionary practice and inspired by proletarian theory, the proletariat gradually realizes that the object of their struggle is not individual capitalists, but the capitalist class as a whole, or private ownership itself. Only by abolishing private ownership, capitalist relations of production, and the existing irrational social system can they achieve emancipation.

2.3 Representing the New Direction of Social Development

The development of human society is driven by the contradictory movement between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, manifesting as a succession of social formations from lower to higher stages. The replacement of capitalist society by socialist society is precisely based on the operation of such objective laws. In a capitalist society, concentrated means of production are used jointly by large numbers of workers, products embody the joint labor of workers, and the production process becomes large-scale social cooperation. Socialized productive forces inevitably demand breaking the constraints of private ownership of the means of production, returning them to the possession of laborers, distributing products to laborers for common ownership, and placing the production process under social management, regulation, and supervision to realize the socialization of production development. Socialized productive forces are nurtured in the womb of capitalism. When capitalist relations of production can no longer adapt to them, this social organism is bound to collapse and be replaced by a socialist society based on public ownership of the means of production.

The downfall of capitalism and the victory of socialism require conscious revolutionary action by the proletariat. Born in the womb of the old society, the proletariat is the negating factor of capitalist society, the revolutionary factor breaking the shackles of capitalist private ownership, and the representative of advanced and socialized productive forces. Its advanced demands for emancipation align with the requirements of socialized production, embody the new direction of social development, and will build new relations of production compatible with socialized production, becoming the builder of a new society. In The Civil War in France, Marx comprehensively demonstrated the historical initiative of the Paris Commune in establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat. On the premise of recognizing its historical mission, the working class transformed the social environment and human beings themselves, with no intention of creating a utopia, but “to set free the elements of the new society with which old collapsing bourgeois society itself is pregnant”(Marx, 1975b: 335), enabling society to continuously develop toward a higher form and eventually usher in communist society under the action of economic factors. As the world’s first proletarian regime, the Paris Commune lasted only 72 days, yet all its creative measures aimed at liberating the working class. It was a great attempt to actively seize political power and creatively transform society in accordance with the advanced demands of the working class, to actively oppose the status quo to meet the needs of the people, and a vivid embodiment of historical initiative. “Working, thinking, fighting, bleeding Paris—almost forgetful, in its incubation of a new society, of the cannibals at its gates—radiant in the enthusiasm of its historic initiative!”(Marx, 1975b: 341)

2.4 Achieving a High Degree of Historical Consciousness Armed with Scientific Theory

In the history of the communist movement, the proletariat’s historical initiative evolves from a spontaneous state rooted in revolutionary instinct to a state of high historical self-awareness. Marxist theory was the key to the proletariat’s shift from spontaneity to self-consciousness. Social being determines social consciousness; human understanding of history is constrained by history itself, and Marxist theory is a product of its era. The decisive factor for the proletariat to take Marxist theory as a powerful ideological weapon is not the genius and unremitting efforts of its two founders, but the entire era of capitalism: the rapidly developing productive forces and specific relations of production, the inherent, unresolvable contradictions of capitalism exposed by economic crises, and the acute antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Marx fully absorbed the nourishment of the times, recognized the self-emancipation demand of the proletariat that had emerged on the historical stage, and furthermore discovered the realistic path to a communist society in which everyone achieves free and all-round development.

The success of the proletariat’s practice in promoting historical progress depends on its understanding of the objective laws of social history. To overthrow capitalist society and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat, the proletariat must profoundly understand the objective laws of social and historical development, its own status as the historical subject, historical situation, and historical mission. Marxism responded to these questions with scientific theory, letting “the lightning of thought” struck “this ingenuous soil of the people”(Marx, 1975c: 187), transforming the proletariat from a class-in-itself into a class-for-itself. Its historical initiative shifted from a spontaneous state of revolutionary instinct to a state of high historical self-awareness, releasing powerful historical energy in the history of the communist movement and advancing the world socialist movement.

3 Contemporary Enlightenment of the Proletariat’s Historical Initiative

The scientific connotation and inherent historical dialectics of the proletariat’s historical initiative carry important implications for the Communist Party of China in its continued efforts to carry forward the great historical initiative. Over the course of its more than 100-year glorious history, the CPC has achieved remarkable historical accomplishments. The formation and development of its historical initiative are rooted in the historical context of different stages of China’s development, and it has been shaped through long-term practical exploration and self-understanding. In the New Era, the historical initiative of the CPC is rooted in a brand-new historical context and has achieved a creative sublimation under new contemporary conditions. It is of profound enlightening significance for the CPC in the New Era to seize greater historical initiative to interpret the connotation of the proletariat’s historical initiative from the perspective of the dialectical unity between the objectivity of historical laws and the dynamism of historical subjects.

3.1 The People’s Standpoint is the Foundation for Seizing the Historical Initiative

The people’s standpoint is the foundation for seizing the historical initiative. Historical materialism holds that the people are the creators of history, the most fundamental material force driving social progress, and the criterion for evaluating social progress.

China is a socialist country where the people are the masters. The close bond between the Party and the people, forged in the long historical practice of revolution, construction, and reform, constitutes a solid foundation for the Party to champion the spirit of historical initiative. Marx clearly defined the class nature of the Communist Party in The Communist Manifesto: “The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to the other working-class parties.” “They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole.” “They do not set up any sectarian principles of their own, by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement.”(Marx, 1975a: 497) In other words, the historical subject status of the proletarian party is bestowed by the people. All the Party’s actions and propositions represent the fundamental interests and demands of the people. This not only follows the objective law that “the people make history” but also reflects a profound grasp of the people’s role as the historical subject.

The people’s position is the fundamental political stance of the CPC, and the source of strength, value orientation, and testing criterion for seizing the historical initiative. At different historical stages, the CPC has accurately discerned the principal contradiction in society, always taken the people’s real needs as its goal, taken the initiative to launch revolution, plan reform and advance development, and thus gained the initiative to guide historical development. History is made by the people, whose lives and experiences contain infinite wisdom and strength. The Party has always adhered to the mass line—from the masses, to the masses—listening to the people’s voices, pooling their wisdom, and elevating their practical experience into theoretical achievements and policy measures. Respecting the pioneering spirit of the people and fully stimulating their initiative and creativity are the key supports for the Party to seize historical opportunities and overcome developmental difficulties. To carry forward historical initiative, we must consider whether the people are satisfied as the criterion for testing its effectiveness. Only by always standing firm on the people’s position can we ensure that the historical initiative does not deviate from the correct direction. We should realize, safeguard and develop the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in keeping with the historical trend, so that the Party’s cause always wins the wholehearted support of the people, and continuously takes the initiative and creates the future on the new historical journey.

3.2 Having the courage to Fight Is the Core of seizing the historical initiative

Having the courage to fight is the core of promoting the historical initiative. Marx expressed it as “to revolutionize the existing world”, and “practically coming to grips with and changing the things found in existence”(Marx, 1975d: 38-39). In the course of proactively shouldering its historic mission and advancing historical progress, the revolutionary and fighting nature of the CPC is grounded in a profound understanding of historical laws and a full grasp of the historical foundation. It serves not only as a sharp weapon for breaking through historical dilemmas but also as a source of confidence for following the trend of history, and above all, constitutes the distinctive hallmark of the historical initiative of the Party throughout its century-long journey.

Having the courage to fight is a key approach to solving the problems of the times and advancing the historical process, which embodies the thinking of contradictions. At present, the profound changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world, the international balance of power is undergoing profound adjustment, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, and uncertainties in global development have increased significantly. Meanwhile, China faces arduous and heavy tasks in reform, development and stability. Pressures from internal transformation and external environment are intertwined, and the risks and challenges confronting our development are unprecedented. This is both the historical context for China’s development in the new era and the realistic foundation for us to carry out struggles and gain the initiative.

From the “bottleneck” problems in key and core technologies, to the vested interests that urgently need to be broken as comprehensively deepening reform has entered deep-water zone, and to the complex and severe external environment and multiple games of interests-- the advancement of every major task in the new era demonstrates that the CPC cannot advance socialist modernization without an indomitable spirit of struggle and firm will to struggle. Without the courage to fight, shrinking back and retreating in the face of contradictions and difficulties, and ignoring the objectivity of contradictions and the necessity of struggle, the historical initiative will be reduced to an empty slogan.

Only by accurately grasping the nature, characteristics and development trends of various contradictions, daring to “tackle formidable problems” and bravely “navigate perilous shoals”, can we advance the course of history by overcoming difficulties and defusing risks. Only by always having the courage to fight, using dialectical thinking of contradictions to perceive the essence and solve problems, and always standing on the side of the overwhelming majority of the people, can we firmly seize the historical initiative in the complex and grave historical process and constantly break new ground in history.

3.3 Historical Creation Is the Only Path to Seizing the Historical Initiative

Historical creation is the only path to seizing the historical initiative. The historical initiative includes the consciousness of action based on practice and changing reality, and historical creation is the only path to transform such consciousness into historical progress. The way for the proletariat to build a new society is not to construct a castle in the air according to blueprints of an ideal society, but to emancipate new factors that promote social development, eliminate obstacles hindering their growth, and transform society creatively in practice. Therefore, the historical creation of the proletariat comes from the study of objective social reality, from grasping the existing historical foundation, from identifying the potential progressive direction within it, and realizing it in practice.

The history of the Chinese people’s revolution, construction, and reform under the leadership of the CPC is also a process of constantly eliminating backward social factors, liberating progressive forces, and creatively advancing historical progress. Guided by Marxism at all times, the CPC applies a scientific worldview and methodology to analyze various contradictions and problems in the historical process, thereby identifying the correct direction for promoting historical advancement. Rooted in a brand-new historical context, the CPC in the New Era has given an entirely new contemporary interpretation to the historical initiative. Chinese modernization is an unprecedented pioneering undertaking with no ready-made experience to follow; it therefore requires blazing a trail through historical creation. Every major historical task demands that we break away from path dependence and solve problems through creative practice. In the New Era, the CPC has not only solved many long-standing difficult problems but also fulfilled many major undertakings that had long been aspired to but never realized in the past, and pushed the cause of the Party and the country to attain historic achievements and undergo historic transformations, fully demonstrating the powerful force of the spirit of historical creation.

3.4 Theoretical Innovation Is the Cognitive Premise for seizing the historical initiative

Theoretical innovation serves as the cognitive prerequisite for promoting the historical initiative. Like a lighthouse piercing the fog of history, theoretical innovation consolidates the cognitive foundation for actively grasping the general trend of history and shouldering the historical mission by deepening the understanding of historical laws, clarifying the direction of practice, and building ideological consensus.

Theoretical innovation reveals historical laws and provides a scientific basis for seizing the historical initiative. Over the past century, the CPC has continuously achieved a benign interaction between practical innovation and theoretical innovation. Each theoretical innovation represents a deeper understanding of historical laws and a summary and refinement of practical experience. These theoretical innovations have clearly pointed out the practical direction of socialist modernization, enabling the Party to take the initiative in calibrating its course when advancing reform, responding to risks, and guiding development, so as to avoid losing its way at the crossroads of history.

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the fundamental guideline and action guide for seizing the historical initiative in the New Era. Based on the new historical context of the New Era, this Thought scientifically answers major questions of the times, deepens the understanding of the laws governing the CPC’s governance, socialist construction, and human social development, and provides scientific guidance for grasping the general trend of history and taking historical initiative. Guided by this Thought, we should draw fresh experience and forge new theoretical achievements from China’s practice, absorb the outstanding achievements of human civilization with a broad vision, and continuously consolidate our ideological foundation and build synergy for our forward march. In this way, we will provide an inexhaustible source of spiritual impetus for advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

4 Conclusion

The historical achievements made by the CPC in leading the Chinese people over the past century represent a major victory for the world communist movement. In the period of the new-democratic revolution, the CPC led the Chinese people in carrying out a national revolution against foreign aggression and a democratic revolution at home. It liberated the Chinese people from profound suffering, realizing the independence of the Chinese nation and the liberation of the Chinese people.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as the ruling party, the CPC embarked on a historical journey of establishing and developing a socialist society in accordance with the interests and demands of the people. Through arduous exploration, it has successfully forged the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, lifting national development and national rejuvenation to new heights. In this glorious century-long history, the CPC’s historical initiative embodies the dialectical unity of the objective laws of historical development and the subjective initiative of historical subjects. Historical experience has proved that we will surely fail if we ignore objective laws and emphasize subjective initiative unquestioningly. We will regress if we superstitiously believe in objective laws and abandon subjective initiative. Only by grasping both the objective laws of historical development and the subjective initiative of the historical subject amid the tide of history can the CPC truly seize the historical initiative and remain invincible in the face of various risks, challenges, and tests. The historical initiative is a spiritual quality of a proletarian party that condenses the past, faces the present, and points to the future. On the centenary of the founding of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the historical initiative as a hallmark character of the Party, marking that the CPC’s level of self-understanding has reached a new level. Analyzing the scientific connotation of the “proletariat’s historical initiative” by historical dialectics is conducive to the Party seizing an even greater historical initiative on the new journey and writing new chapters in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times.

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