Social Sciences in China Review

No.3, 2019

The Inevitable Logic from Democracy and Science to Communism: On the Contemporary Viewpoints of “Return to Kang Youwei” and “Return to Kant” (Abstract)

Chen Xueming and Jiang Guomin

During the May Fourth New Culture Movement, leading Chinese intellectuals relentlessly pursued Mr. De (democracy) and Mr. Sai (science), which strongly urged them to turn to the position of Kangmennisite (communism). In today’s China, some people have shouted the slogan of “return to Kang Youwei” and advocated that China should return to the feudal system and ideology, fundamentally shaking the Chinese people’s pursuit of Mr. De and Mr. Sai. Some others uphold the position and approach of “return to Kant” and dispel the historical significance of revolution. In contemporary China, it is still necessary to adhere to the spiritual legacy of democracy and science in the May Fourth Movement, in particular so as to combine it with the revolutionary dialectics of communism and continue to promote China’s great social revolution.