China: Marx Is Dead - Long Live Marx

After introducing a number of economic reforms over the past few years, China last week adopted a device common in Western newspapers: the correction. That rare gesture came after People's Daily printed a front-page commentary asserting "We cannot expect the works of Marx and Lenin to solve our present-day problems of that time." Two days later, however, the paper announced that its commentary should have read, "We cannot expect the works of Marx and Lenin of that time to solve all of our present-day problems."

The original remark was attributed to a recent address by Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang,...