The method in Xi Jinping’s Marxism: What’s behind the president’s push for the economic theory?

Xi Jinping’s call last week to promote Marxist economic philosophy was more about the president’s desire to develop his own political theory and shape his legacy and less an attempt to return the country to communist orthodoxy, analysts said.

Xi has chaired three study sessions with Communist Party leaders on Marxism, most recently one last Monday with the Politburo on Marxist political economy. In the sessions, he stressed both Marxism and traditional Chinese culture and values as part of a broader push to fill a perceived ideological void in the country, analysts said.

Addressing the Politburo last week, Xi said Marxist political economy could “help conduct economic analysis in a scientific way, improve the capability of managing a socialist market economy, and better answer problems of economic development”, in the face of the extremely complex economic situation at home and abroad.

He also said the party had enriched Marxist political economy by combining its basic principles with new practices on the mainland.

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But Xi has also promoted market-oriented reforms, which run counter to Marxist thought. Rather than public ownership of the means of production, China has become a major destination for foreign capital and a centre for private enterprise.