The concept of the “second combination”, which refers to the synthesis of the basic principles of Marxism with the fine parts of traditional Chinese culture, is a novel theoretical proposition. As one of the fundamental approaches to promoting the sinicization and modernization of Marxism, its inception in fact dates back to the period of the New Democratic Revolution. Comrade Mao Zedong was the first to put forward the idea of the “first combination”, achieving “a liberation of thought” and laying the ideological foundation for the proposal of the “second combination” as another “liberation of thought”. As a great pioneer in the sinicization of Marxism, Mao Zedong proposed that “Marxism-Leninism, the science of revolution, should be further combined with the practice of the Chinese revolution, Chinese history, and Chinese culture”, thereby initiating the historical process of the “second combination”; and that “theoretical innovation should meet China’s needs”, so that Marxism thus developed has assumed Chinese features, style, and spirit.

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  Deng Panyi

　　From: World Socialism Studies.2024.No.2.