Socialist economic theory

Author: Yang Ruilong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-04-01
Features:
1. The Construction and Development of Socialist Economic Theory
China is a socialist country, and development and reform are the two major themes of the current stage. The growth and development of socialist economy, as well as the reform of the socialist economic system, both require the guidance of socialist economic theory and provide a foundation for its construction and development. The socialist system has a relatively short history in human history and has not left much mature experience or exemplary socialist economic theory achievements. Since the basic completion of the three major transformations, China's socialist system has only been in place for over 40 years. In the long history of social and economic development, this is a brief period. Setting aside the several hundred thousand years of the primitive society and the thousands of years of the slave and feudal societies, even taking only the capitalist society into account, from the establishment of the capitalist system in 16th-century Western Europe to the development of world capitalism today, it has been more than four or five hundred years. Marx wrote his immortal work "Das Kapital" and other relevant economic works while capitalism was already mature in the 19th century, delving deeply into the capitalist economy. Contemporary Western economics largely uses the developed capitalist economy of the present day as its research model. However, the history of the socialist system is still short, and China's socialist economy is not yet mature and is in fact undergoing institutional transformation and exploration. Especially for a country like China, which was once a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country with a very backward economy and had not experienced an independent capitalist development stage, we cannot dogmatically copy the socialist model Marx envisioned a hundred years ago based on a developed capitalist foundation, nor can we blindly copy foreign models. We can only start from our own specific economic and social conditions and unique national conditions, take our own path, and establish socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The "left" errors in the first two decades of the reform and opening-up period caused immense harm to China's socialist cause, delayed our economic development, and damaged the construction of our socialist economic theory. Summarizing past experience and lessons has shown that we had a poor understanding of what socialism is and how to build socialism. Comrade Deng Xiaoping firmly grasped this major issue, leading the entire Party and the people of the country to re-examine socialism. The core or theme of Deng Xiaoping Theory is to clarify what socialism is and how to build socialism. The extent to which we understand and solve this fundamental issue largely determines the development status of socialist economic theory or socialist economics. An immature socialist economy finds it difficult to reflect mature socialist economic theory. China's socialist construction and development will take the time of ten or even dozens of generations. Socialist economic theory or socialist economics can only and will inevitably develop along with the practice of socialism. However, economic theory cannot merely be a reflection of economic practice or merely a summary and generalization of past economic practice. In that case, economic theory would only serve as a tail to economic practice. Economic theory must not only reflect and generalize past economic practice but also have foresight, be able to recognize and grasp the laws of economic movement, gain insight into the historical trends of social and economic development, and propose scientific forecasts for future development stages. Marx's study of the capitalist economy not only profoundly analyzed and summarized the essence of capitalist economic relations but also elaborated on the laws of capitalist economic movement and the historical trends of capitalist development, proposing some scientific forecasts for future social and economic development. Socialist economic theory, on the one hand, needs to summarize and generalize socialist economic practice from a theoretical perspective, and on the other hand, needs to scientifically analyze and predict the development of socialist economy and its historical trends. It should have both summarizing and generalizing characteristics, as well as foresight and predictability. It should be both theoretical and academic, as well as practical and scientific. This is an important sign for measuring the maturity of socialist economic theory or socialist economics. The "left" climate in the past two decades blocked the development path of socialist economic science. If economic research follows political trends, lacking independence, stability, and scientificity, it will be difficult to produce high-quality socialist economic theory achievements. If we have a poor understanding of what socialism is and how to build socialism, we cannot produce scientific socialist economic theory.
Western economics can provide useful aspects for socialist economic theory and practice. It is wrong to simply reject and denounce it, but it is also wrong to blindly copy and blindly worship it. We must treat Western economics correctly. What concepts, principles, and methods can be used to supplement socialist economics? This needs to be seriously explored and studied. Although Marxism is the guiding ideology of socialist theory and practice, we must avoid dogmatism and literalism. Western economics is mainly the result of research on capitalist economies and cannot become the guiding ideology for the theory and practice of socialist economics, let alone dogmatism and literalism towards it.
China is still in the preliminary stage of the primary stage of socialism, and our understanding and mastery of the laws of socialist economic movement are still insufficient. There are still many unknown areas that we must navigate. Added to certain artificial obstacles, as well as one-sidedness and superficiality in research methods and theoretical understanding, objective and subjective conditions are not yet in place for the formation of a mature and scientific socialist economics. The author strives to, under the existing conditions, take Marxism, Mao Zedong Thought, and Deng Xiaoping Theory as the guidance, draw on some scientifically valuable theoretical achievements from socialist economic research both at home and abroad, learn from the useful parts of Western economics, and with a serious and conscientious attitude, write a socialist economic theory textbook that combines theory with practice, has independent insights, and offers new perspectives.
What is the research object of socialist economic theory or socialist economics? There are different views in academia. The political economy established by Marx to analyze the capitalist economy focused on researching capitalist relations of production, i.e., economic relations. Although Marx's monumental work "Das Kapital" also discussed the operating mechanisms of the capitalist economy, including supply and demand mechanisms, competition mechanisms, value mechanisms, price mechanisms, interest mechanisms, accumulation mechanisms, etc., and the role of market mechanisms in allocating resources or the spontaneous allocation of social total labor to different sectors by the law of value, it also discussed how to reduce costs, increase labor productivity, and thus increase the rate of profit. It also discussed the development process and stages of productive forces in capitalist society. However, these discussions were subordinate to the study and elaboration of capitalist economic relations. The task of Marx's economics was to reveal the objective economic laws of capitalist society, to reveal the essential relationship between the bourgeoisie exploiting the surplus value of the working class and the division of surplus value among different strata of the bourgeoisie, and to provide the working class with a theoretical weapon to replace capitalism with socialism. The research object of socialist economics also needs to study the relations of production. This aspect of research is still insufficient. However, the task of socialist economics is not only to study the relations of production but also to provide theoretical services for the growth and development of socialist economy, for exploring the effective forms of socialist relations of ownership, direct production relations, distribution relations, and exchange relations, for reforming and establishing the socialist economic system and operating mechanisms, and for establishing effective resource allocation methods. Therefore, the research object of socialist economics should be broadened. It includes both the qualitative nature and forms of realization of socialist relations of production, which cannot be weakened, as well as the methods of resource allocation under socialist conditions, the methods and pathways of economic growth and development, and the improvement of economic systems and operating mechanisms. All of these involve economic interest relations. Marxist economics also refers to the relations of production as economic interest relations. Therefore, people often use these two terms interchangeably. However, in fact, economic interest relations cover a broader scope than the relations of production. For example, issues such as division of labor and cooperation, reducing costs, increasing labor productivity, playing a role of market mechanisms, and choosing resource allocation methods do not necessarily relate to specific social nature of the relations of production, but they all involve economic interest issues. Therefore, I believe that when discussing the research object of socialist economics, it is better to say it is economic interest relations rather than the relations of production. Marx's study of capitalist economic interest relations focused on the relations of production, while our study of socialist economic interest relations has a broader scope than the relations of production. If socialist economic theory or socialist economics is limited to studying the relations of production while ignoring other aspects of economic interest relations, then it would be crippled and lack vitality.
2. Clarifying the Fundamental Points of What Socialism Is and How to Build Socialism
Summarizing and reflecting on the theoretical guidelines and policies before the reform and opening-up period reveals that our understanding and practice of socialism in the past were highly subjective and blind. This is mainly manifested in two fundamental issues: first, what historical stage our socialism is in; and second, what the fundamental tasks and ultimate goals of socialism are.
(1) Regarding the issue of China being in the primary stage of socialism. In correctly understanding what socialism is and how to build socialism, it is first necessary to clarify that China is still only in the primary stage of socialism. In other words, our socialism is still only socialism in the primary stage. China is already a socialist country, which is our national condition. Our socialism is still in the primary stage, which is also our national condition. The theory, policies, and measures related to socialism cannot be divorced from this fundamental national condition. The question of what socialism is and how to build socialism needs to be concretized as what kind of socialism in the primary stage it is and how to build socialism in the primary stage. To emphasize being socialist while ignoring and forgetting being in the primary stage will lead to actions that transcend stages. To emphasize the primary stage while ignoring or downplaying socialism will deviate from the socialist direction and track.
The theory that China is in the primary stage of socialism now seems to have no difficult aspects to understand, but it is a theoretical achievement gained at a heavy cost in China's socialist practice. It is a correct judgment drawn from the scientific summary of the experience and lessons of socialist construction and development before the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee. One of the main reasons for the serious errors in socialist theory, policy, and practice before the reform and opening-up period was the failure to correctly understand what historical stage our socialism was in, resulting in actions that transcended stages. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, one of the fundamental reasons for our great success in reform and development has been the overcoming of those erroneous theories and policies that were divorced from reality and transcended stages, and the clarification that we need to go through a historical period of about 100 years for the primary stage of socialism. We can only build socialism in the primary stage.
The theory of the primary stage of socialism was the first to be clearly proposed in China. There was a prevailing view in academia that Lenin had divided the socialist period into two historical stages: the primary form of socialism and developed socialism, seemingly equivalent to dividing socialism into the primary stage and the advanced stage, which is a misunderstanding. What Lenin referred to were the initial forms of socialism in the early stages of the Soviet regime, i.e., the initial form of socialism in the early stages of the "transitional period" before the establishment of the socialist system, which was not at all about the primary stage of socialism. As for Lenin's reference to "developed socialism," it referred to the underdeveloped socialist components that were growing in the "transitional period" and had not yet developed, i.e., underdeveloped socialism. In other words, it referred to the socialism that had been established and developed after the end of the "transitional period," not proposing that socialism should go through an advanced stage relative to the primary stage.
In socialist practice, due to the desire to achieve success quickly and the lack of a scientific understanding of the historical stage they were in, subjectivism and voluntarism would flourish in theory and practice. This would inevitably lead to violations of objective laws, distortion and damage to scientific theoretical thinking, and the transformation into a "left" set of theories and practices.
After the founding of the new China, in terms of the understanding of the historical stage they were in, the correct and relatively correct guiding principles were repeatedly changed, bringing about many negative consequences. Before and after the founding of the new China, Comrade Mao Zedong initially proposed a guiding principle: due to the backward productive forces in old China, which was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, it was necessary to first establish a new democratic society through the new democratic revolution and then transition to socialism when conditions were ripe. The new democratic society was not a brief or only a few years long. The Common Program adopted by the First Session of the did not mention socialism, and some representatives suggested adding China's socialist future into it, but it was not adopted. The Party Central Committee believed that socialism was a matter for the distant future. However, just six months after the initial recovery of the national economy in 1953, Comrade Mao Zedong criticized someone in a central political affairs meeting for still advocating their "new democracy," unaware of the transformation of the revolutionary nature. He also criticized the phrase "establishing the order of the new democratic society," saying this was harmful and hindered the development of the socialist cause. In other words, Comrade Mao Zedong, just three and a half years after the founding of the new China, did not allow the continuation of "new democracy." He believed that the founding of the new China marked the beginning of the socialist revolution and the transition to socialism. He then proposed the general line of the "transitional period," "One Transformation and Three Adjustments." "From the founding of the People's Republic of China to the basic completion of the socialist transformation, this is a transitional period." As a result, where was the new democratic society? Its space and time became vague and unclear, and in fact, it was squeezed out. Moreover, not only did the duration of the "transitional period" that Mao Zedong originally planned for 15 years, but under the pressure of the then situation, the basic completion of the three major transformations was announced in 1956, and socialism was entered. In other words, from the proposal of the general line of the "transitional period" in 1953 to the basic completion in 1956, only three years were used. This left many negative impacts on the socialist cause.
China not only prematurely leaped over the new democratic society but also prematurely leaped over the "transitional period," even wanting to prematurely leap over socialism.
In 1956, having prematurely entered socialism, in 1958, the "communist wind" blew again, with the practice of people's communes and the "big leap forward" being implemented, completely divorced from China's actual conditions. It seemed that socialist society was only a few years or a decade long, and that it was possible to enter the communist society, i.e., the advanced stage of communism as Marx described. After the failure of the people's communes and the "big leap forward," profound contradictions and crises arose in the economic and social life, and thus different opinions both inside and outside the Party were suppressed by measures such as class struggle and line struggle. At the central work conference in Beidaihe in 1962 and the Ninth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee in September, it was proposed that socialist society was a long historical stage. If this was aimed at correcting the error of transitioning too quickly to communism and viewing socialist society as a short period, then it was correct. Unfortunately, the long-term nature of socialism mentioned here was subordinated to the long-term and complex nature of class struggle and line struggle. The emphasis on class struggle and line struggle in socialist society, lasting year after year, month after month, and day after day, was to keep class struggle at the forefront. In the name of class struggle as the core, socialist society was portrayed as a "transitional period" from capitalism to communism. Marx's "transitional period" to communism was originally meant to be the transition to the primary stage of socialism, i.e., the socialist society. Comrade Mao Zedong's "transitional period" in 1953 was also a transition to socialism. However, later, as the "left" atmosphere expanded, especially after the major ideological debate with the former Soviet Communist Party, the original correct understanding was altered, and the "transitional period" was interpreted as a transition to the advanced stage of communism. The argument that the "transitional period" would necessarily be a period of extremely harsh class struggle and extremely sharp forms of class struggle, as had stated, was added to socialist society as a theoretical basis for "putting class struggle at the forefront." The contradiction between the two classes and the two roads was defined as the main contradiction in socialism, changing the proposal of the Eighth National Congress regarding the main contradiction in China's socialism. The task and purpose of developing productive forces and improving the material and cultural living standards of the people gradually became blurred or even disappeared from the vision. Attention and energy were focused on vigorously pursuing class struggle, leading to the ten-year "cultural revolution," which slowed down the development of productive forces and the overall socio-economic development of China. The standard of living of the people in the twenty years had not improved much, which meant twenty years of "common poverty" socialism.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Party, it was proposed to shift the focus of the entire Party's work and the attention of the people of the country to the construction of a socialist modernization,。Following this, the conclusion of the primary stage of socialism was proposed, and it was pointed out that the main contradiction was the growing material and cultural needs of the people versus the backward social production. Following this theory and guiding ideology, it was inevitable to emphasize the task and purpose of developing productive forces and meeting the people's needs.
(2) Regarding the issue of developing productive forces and common prosperity. Why did communists advocate socialism? What was the starting point? If it is understood and publicized only from the perspective of moral principles or belief principles, it departs from the truth of historical materialism and scientific socialism. The scientific socialism of Marxism starts first and foremost from the principle of productive forces. In other words, it is to overcome and eliminate the inherent contradictions in the old social system that hinder the development of productive forces, in order to better and faster improve the level and quality of social productivity. The implementation of public ownership or social ownership in socialism is precisely to liberate and develop productive forces through changes in ownership. Marx and Engels as far back as 150 years ago in the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" explicitly proposed that the working class, after gaining political power, would concentrate all means of production in the hands of the state and maximize the total amount of productive forces. This was in reference to the task of the working class in developed capitalist countries after they gain state power. China achieved victory in the revolution on a foundation of a very backward economy and is still a developing socialist country today. Accelerating the development of productive forces is an urgent task. Lenin emphasized after the October Revolution that the primary and fundamental need of the working class after gaining state power was to increase the quantity of products and greatly improve social productivity. The superiority of socialism over capitalism and the superiority of public ownership over private ownership should first be reflected in its favorability in developing productive forces better and faster. As for eliminating exploitation and eliminating class antagonism, they should be secondary compared to the requirement of developing productive forces.
Comrade Mao Zedong, while，。1944，，，，。1945，。，，，，。?。，，?，。《》，180、203、228，，，1993。
In the issue of developing productive forces, China once had "left" errors. In 1958, by violating the objective laws of productive forces development, it launched the "big leap forward" subjectively and proposed to "overtake Britain and catch up with the United States" in a short period of time, only to be punished by the law and causing serious damage to productive forces and severe economic difficulties. The decision-makers did not well sum up the experience and lessons, but instead turned to vigorously pursuing class struggle and line struggle, criticizing "productivity theory" and neglecting or abandoning the fundamental task of developing productive forces, thereby delaying and hindering China's economic development.
Deng Xiaoping Theory is in line with Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, he restored, inherited, and developed Marxism, repeatedly emphasizing that the task and fundamental task of the Communist Party is to develop productive forces. He said, "The Communist Party is for developing productive forces; otherwise, it violates Marxist theory." The superiority of socialism over capitalism should be reflected in better conditions for developing productive forces than capitalism. The basic principle of Marxism is to develop productive forces. The main task in the socialist period is the development of productive forces. He also included the liberation and development of productive forces in the essential nature of socialism.①
Why does Marxism and scientific socialism emphasize the development of productive forces? Because productive forces are the final decisive force in historical development. It is the development of productive forces that drives social progress and economic and cultural development, as well as the improvement of the level of human civilization. The development of productive forces determines the emergence, development, and maturity of new production relations. It is the development of productive forces that decides the consolidation and final victory of the new social system over the old social system. Second, the development of productive forces is the condition for eliminating exploitation. Marxist，the emergence and existence of exploitation are both the result of productive forces developing to a certain stage and producing surplus products that make exploitation possible, as well as the result of insufficient development of productive forces. Undoubtedly, socialism is to eliminate exploitation, and Comrade Deng Xiaoping's argument about the essential nature of socialism also includes the elimination of exploitation. Due to China's backward productive forces, our socialism is still in the primary stage, and we cannot implement a single public ownership system. We must develop private economy and foreign-funded enterprises under the condition of public ownership being dominant, and we cannot completely eliminate the phenomenon of exploitation. To eliminate all forms of exploitation, it is necessary to vigorously develop productive forces.
The fundamental goal of socialism is to achieve common prosperity. Marx said: "In the new social system, 'the development of social productive forces will be so rapid that although production will take the wealth of everyone as its goal'"《》，1，46()，222，，，1980。Engels said in the article "Karl Marx" that in the socialist system, it is necessary to "increase social productive forces to the extent that it can guarantee the increasingly full satisfaction of everyone's reasonable needs." Lenin spoke more clearly: "Socialism is to 'make all laborers live a better and happier life"《》，3，3,546，，，1995。Comrade Deng Xiaoping also repeatedly emphasized that common prosperity is one of the fundamental principles of socialism, and he regarded it as the essential nature of socialism. To achieve common prosperity, it is necessary to vigorously develop productive forces. The degree to which common prosperity is achieved depends on the level of productive forces development. Due to the low starting point of China's economic development, by the mid-21st century, per capita GNP should reach around $16,000 to reach the level of a medium-developed country at that time. This requires an annual economic growth rate of about 8%. And to reach the level of a developed country, it will require an even longer period of rapid development of productive forces.
In conclusion，only by continuously, rapidly and healthily developing social productive forces can we continuously and as soon as possible narrow the economic gap between China and developed countries, thus enabling China to enter the ranks of advanced countries in the world as early as possible. Only in this way can we have increasingly sufficient conditions to consolidate China's socialist system.
In the issues of what socialism is and how to build socialism，there are two one-sided and incorrect understandings. One is to talk about and do socialism while ignoring the task and goal of developing productive forces and common prosperity, isolatedly publicizing and insisting on public ownership, wage distribution，and planned and proportional development. In the "left" environment, the word "wealth" was linked to capitalism and revisionism；the word "poverty" was linked to socialism，and people were afraid to talk about getting rich、rushing to get rich、and showing off wealth. However，slow or even stagnant development of productive forces cannot be called socialism. A long-term low standard of living cannot be called socialism. Although there was also adherence to public ownership，wage distribution and planned and proportional development，the result was a "backward" and "poor" public ownership，"poverty" wage distribution，and "planned and proportional" development with low efficiency that was often broken. China's "left" environment for the twenty years before the reform and opening-up period was a socialist that pursued such a path. After the Third Plenary Session of the Party，the focus of the Party's work and the attention of the people of the country were shifted to the construction of a socialist modernization。Emphasizing that socialism should liberate and develop productive forces，develop productive forces，and achieve common prosperity brought the Party back to the correct track required by scientific socialism.
The other is to simply emphasize that socialism is just developing productive forces，isolatedly“”，and neglecting "，，"。Deng Xiaoping's understanding of socialism's essence，its content is unified and indivisible. There is also a one-sided understanding，，， from the definition of socialism. The main reasons for this are two：first，Deng Xiaoping viewed "，，，，" as the essential nature of socialism，and did not mention public ownership. This reason cannot stand. Since it is talking about the "essential nature of socialism"，it assumes the existence of public ownership as a given premise. Comrade Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized that public ownership is a fundamental principle of socialism, and he linked the development of productive forces and common prosperity to the development of public ownership. "We must develop productive forces and the public ownership of socialism." "A public ownership，，。”“，，，。”（《》()，26、30、32。)The liberation and development of productive forces must be achieved by reforming and making the public ownership system work well and dynamically. The implementation of socialist public ownership was originally meant to liberate and develop productive forces. The existence and development of public ownership are also the for eliminating exploitation、eliminating polarization between the rich and the poor，and finally achieving common prosperity. Without socialist public ownership，we cannot and cannot achieve the essence of socialism. Denying the intrinsic nature of public ownership as part of socialism is another reason. The argument that any society in history has had public ownership cannot stand either. First，the primitive society did indeed implement public ownership, but it was the result of extremely low productive forces, it was a primitive public ownership based on clan and blood ties rather than the foundation of production socialization, and it cannot be compared with socialist public ownership. Moreover，because it implemented primitive public ownership，it was also referred to as a primitive communist society.，、 were all based on private ownership. state-owned or imperial economy，capitalist states' state-owned economy be called public ownership is still a matter of different views，but at least they were not the public ownership of the working people. What we call socialist public ownership is the public ownership jointly owned by the working people, serving the interests of the working people, and gradually。，，，“”， the necessity and importance of public ownership for socialism.
Public ownership is not equivalent to socialism，but socialism can only and can only be established on the basis of public ownership. Without public ownership，there is no economic for socialism，and there is no socialist system. The rise and fall of public ownership are closely linked to the rise and fall of socialism.，the public ownership we refer to as the public ownership as the economic of socialism is the public ownership genuinely owned and enjoyed by the working people.，“”、、、、、“”，、“”。。
， just stay on the surface and in writing. It must be through effective measures to make the public ownership economy，especially the state-owned economy，work well and dynamically, and make it a living and dynamic economic。， especially the state-owned economy 、、，，， especially the state-owned economy 。，“、”，。，、。Author: Wei Xinghua
Date: October 6, 1998