With regard to the future and destiny of socialism in the 21st century this paper puts forward the proposition that socialism
is a
historical process with turns and twists in its development. In summing up the historical experience of socialism under the guidance of Marxism, we should put the emphasis on the contents of mistakes made and the causes thereof and we must neither affirm nor negate everything. We must, in practicing socialism, seek truth from facts and start from the actual conditions. The
scientific socialist theory must develop with the development of practice and sciences. The key to sticking to the ideological line of seeking truth from facts is to make clear what is socialism and how to construct it. Deng Xiaoping expounded profoundly the historical experience of successes and setbacks of socialism in China and referred to experiences and lessons in other socialist countries before he gave a scientific answer to this question, thus raising the understanding of socialism to a higher level. The vigorous development of socialism with Chinese characteristics proved in practice the great vitality and the incomparably bright future of socialism.