Five Hundred Years of World Socialism and Its Prospect: Interview with Professor Enfu Cheng

ABSTRACT

Recently, Dr. Jun Zhang interviewed Enfu Cheng, a well-known Marxist theorist and economist, President of the World Association for Political Economy, and Chief Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Cheng reviewed the five hundred years of world socialist development up to our own time, and examined the further prospects for socialism and communism. He explained the different stages of world socialist development, the evolution of world socialist thought, and how a future communist society might be conceived and realized. He explored the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first socialist country in the world, and analyzed China’s achievements in developing the socialist planned economy and socialist market economy.

KEYWORDS:

• World socialism
• communism
• Marxism
• Soviet Union
• China

Acknowledgements

This article was translated from Chinese by Associate Professor Shuqing Li at the Yantai Research Institute, China Agricultural University.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Enfu Cheng

Enfu Cheng is Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chief Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Director of the Research Center of Economic and Social Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is currently President of the World Association for Political Economy, President of the Chinese Society of Political Economy, and President of the Chinese Society of Foreign Economics. His scholarly research focuses on Marxist theory and political economy.

Jun Zhang

Jun Zhang, PhD in Economics, is Lecturer at the School of Marxism, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. His scholarly research focuses on Marxist political economy.