K. Marx is a revolutionary scientist. His scientific and revolutionary thought does not go out of date as criticism but it is full of vigour and lives forever with the mankind in the cause of human liberation.

K. Marx in 1875

Marx completed his revolution in theory and thinking of social life, and made the struggle of international workers and labourer class become a self-conscious movement. Prior to Marxism, mankind had been drown in idealism and religions. As a genius in creation, Marx, together with F. Engels, has acquired the quintessence of mankind intellect to build up a complete scientific theoretical system, consisting of three components, namely: Marxist philosophy, Marxist political economics, and scientific communism. Mankind history has never witnessed such an influential theory as Marx’s. This is because all of the previous theories were exploited by the ruling class to oppress the mass in the darkness. In contrast, Marx’s theory has brought the self-consciousness into the international worker’s movement, tapped the potentials and lighted up the self-confidence of working people all around the world. He has fulfilled this theoretical and ideological revolution in social life with his two great discoveries, namely the historical materialism and the theory of surplus value. The historical materialism has provided mankind with a key to discover and get to know social life, as well as measures to improve it. It was this discovery that made Marx the greatest thinker among the modern ones. In his theory, Marx studied, analyzed and shed light on the capitalism. He pointed out that the nature of capitalism is to exploit the surplus value of the labourers. Then, he proved a fact that capitalism may change its form but not its exploiting nature. To date,  his conclusion is still of value. With sharp reasoning, Marx pointed out the inception, growth and inevitable end of capitalism. He also stated the historical mission of worker class and spread his theory into worker movement and turned it into an unbeatable strength of the proletariat revolution. The revolution was a rupture to the old social regimes with full of inequalities, liberated the people, and helped them take control of themselves and of the society and build a new life.

As shown in reality, Marx’s thought played an increasingly important role in the international communist and worker movements. “The Communist Manifesto” (February 1848) marked the birth of Marxism. Henceforth, worker movement in the world has been equipped with a revolutionary platform that made it a self-consciousness struggle. The “International Workingmen's Association” – The First International (1864 – 1876), then, became the first leadership of the world worker class. Then, the International Socialist Organization (The Second International) marked the growth of the communist and worker movement in Europe. Especially, the victory of the Russian October Revolution (1917) has visualized Marx’s revolutionary ideal and ushered in a new era – the transitional era from capitalism to communism. The inception and increasing growth of realistic socialism and revolutionary movement in the 20^th Century was a convincing truth proving the role and vitality of Marxism.

Marx’s theory continues to lead the struggle of international worker and labourer class. Mankind has entered the 21^st Century with fast and unpredicted changes. Thanks to the application of scientific and technological advances, capitalist countries have had adjustments both in productive forces and relations of production. This was praised by capitalist theorists as “human and people’s capitalism”. They tried to persuade us that Marx’s theory of “labour value” has been replaced by the “intellect  value” theory; and that the surplus value theory has been replaced by the theory that considers interest as the reward for the management of production, or the intervention of the State has eliminated non-governmental producing activities and economic crises; “the emerging middle class has eliminated the class contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeois”, etc. Reality in the modern capitalist countries has shown an opposite fact. Though the living standards of workers and labourers have somewhat been improved, their status remained the same; the management and operation of the plants and companies still fall in the hands of the capitalists. In the knowledge-based economy, the role of science and technology has been increasingly promoted but it is impossible to negate Marx’s theory of surplus value. Surplus value still exists in the modern capitalist production and it is human beings, not machinery, that produce surplus value. Therefore, the exploiting nature of capitalism does not change but becomes more sophisticated. Reality shows that the modern capitalism, with its crisis cycles, has proven the relevance of Marx’s conclusions. In the early of the 21^st Century, capitalist countries rushed to the “instructions” of Marx written in his “Capital” in a bid to get out of the global financial crisis. Moreover, in the trend of globalization, developed capitalist countries have made the full use of their competitive advantages to increase interest and exploitation in a global scale. This has increased the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeois. The gaps between the rich and the poor in capitalist countries and between rich countries and poor ones are increasingly widened. Over 1 billion people in the world are living in sub-standard conditions with lack of food, clean water, healthcare, increasing diseases and social evils, etc. These are insurmountable problems of the modern capitalism. Hence, the struggle of worker class against the proletariat is still going on and only ends when the communist model of production is established.

At present, socialism is facing some certain problems after the collapse of the USSR and socialist model in Eastern Europe. Making use of this, hostile forces have been trying to criticize and defame Marxism – Leninism with an attempt to destroy the ideological ground of communist countries and international worker movement. They consider the collapse of socialism in the USSR and Eastern Europe as the failure of Marxism – Leninism, hence calling for the abolition of the communist ideology and Marxism – Leninism and replace with new theories. However, above all, Marxism – Leninism still affirms its value amid the changes of the time and forever be the ideology supporting for millions of people who are struggling for justice, equality and a new good society. Marx’s ideal of a society without exploitation among people is still convincing as stated by the contemporary progressive theorists: mankind can not have future without Marx and his heritage. Communist parties and international worker movements are uniting for their common voice, and proactively renewing and innovating themselves to seek out the right path to development.

With the leadership of the Communist Party, Vietnam’s revolution has gained glorious victories and brought about independence, freedom, and happiness to the people. Over 30 years of renewal cause launched and led by our Party amid the difficulties both at home and abroad, with remarkable achievements, have further proved the noble communist ideal and the vitality of socialism in Vietnam and the strategic vision of our Party. The achievements are attributed to our Party’s adherence to the principle that: “During the course of renewal, it is vital to stay active and creative on the basis of being steadfast with the goals of national independence and socialism; creatively apply and develop Marxism – Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought; inherit and uphold national tradition, receiving the quintessence of mankind, and flexibly apply international experience into Vietnam’s reality”. Though difficulties remain, our revolutionary cause will definitely thrive as it is the only right choice of the nation which is suitable with mankind’s history. Grasping and apply Marxism – Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought creatively and appropriately in the cause of national construction and defence for the goals of “Prosperous people, strong country, democracy, equality, civilization” will contribute to sustaining and developing the values of Marx’s theory.

Assoc. Proff .Pham Van Nhuan, Ph.D