New Perspectives on Socialist Mode of Production

Author: Yu Jinfu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: This book takes the history and practice of world socialist development as its perspective to elaborate on the basic characteristics and theories of Marx and Engels' classical production methods and production relations. It also attempts to theoretically and practically prove that Chinese socialism is a adherence to and innovation of the basic principles of scientific socialism, an abandonment and transcendence of the traditional socialist model, and a learning and utilization of the outstanding achievements of modern capitalism. Socialism has been a beautiful ideal for humanity for hundreds of years. It is a great scientific theory in the modern world, a great experiment launched by humanity in the 20th century, and a great practice full of challenges yet full of hope. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the upheaval in Eastern Europe, the success or failure of China's socialist practice is not only related to China's future but also to the fate of socialism. The rise and fall of the cause of Chinese socialism not only determine the well-being of the entire Chinese people but also profoundly affect the future of people around the world. From the history and practice of socialist development, Marx and Engels, as the founders of scientific socialism, theoretically discussed the major issue of "what is socialism and how to achieve socialism"; Stalin and Mao, as the leaders of socialist practice, practically demonstrated the major issue of "what is socialism and how to build socialism"; and Deng Xiaoping, as the architect of reform and opening-up, clarified the new major issue of "what is the primary stage of socialism and how to build socialism in the primary stage." Since the "15th National Congress" of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the new generation of leaders has been working to solve the brand-new historical issue of "what is Chinese socialism and how to build Chinese socialism." This is both a major theoretical issue in the development of contemporary scientific socialism and a major practical issue faced by the entire Party and the nation. Building socialism with Chinese characteristics is not only a necessary path for socialist development but also a great cause full of challenges and hope. The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the development of socialism urgently require us to combine theory and practice to solve the major issue of "what is Chinese socialism and how to build Chinese socialism." So far, the nation has preliminarily formed some basic consensuses: From its scientific positioning, Chinese socialism adheres to and innovates the basic principles of scientific socialism; from its historical positioning, Chinese socialism abandons and transcends the traditional socialist model, affirms and develops the New Democratic Road; and from its realistic positioning, Chinese socialism learns from and utilizes the outstanding achievements of modern capitalism. However, the question remains: Is this truly the case, why is it so, and how should it be done? People's understanding and views are not only still diverse and subjective but also widely different and even opposing. For example, what exactly is Chinese socialism, and what are its socio-economic and political structures? Why should a socialist market economy be implemented, and what is its relationship with a capitalist market economy? Why should a public ownership-based economy with multiple forms of ownership be implemented, and what are the basic forms of public ownership at the current stage in our country: state ownership or laborer shareholding? Why should the principle of distribution based on the contribution of labor, capital, technology, and management be established, and what distribution system should be implemented: distribution based on labor or distribution based on factors of production? What is the social nature of Chinese socialism, and what is its relationship with traditional socialism and modern capitalism? In my opinion, all these issues must be sought in the political economy of the times, and it is necessary to study the modern socialist production methods and production relations with Chinese characteristics. This is because production methods determine the nature and appearance of social structures, as well as the trends and processes of social development. Political economy is both a "scalpel" for analyzing social structures and an "indicator" for predicting social development. Marx pointed out: "The mode of production of material life determines the general character of the social, political, and spiritual life of each age." "The dominant economic system and mode of exchange, as well as the social structure they inevitably produce, are the foundation upon which the political and spiritual history of that age is established, and only from this foundation can this history be explained." "With the acquisition of new productive forces, people change their mode of production, and with the change in the mode of production, they change all economic relations that are merely the necessary relations of this particular mode of production." "At all times, we must find the deepest secrets, the hidden foundations, of the entire social structure, and thus of the political forms of sovereignty and subordination, in the direct relationship between the owners of the means of production and the direct producers—the form of this relationship always naturally corresponds to a certain stage of development of labor methods and social productive forces." "A certain mode of production, together with the corresponding production relations, in short, 'the economic structure of society,' is the real foundation on which the legal political superstructure is built, and a certain form of social consciousness." "Just as the form of the state, the legal relations are not to be understood from themselves or from the so-called general development of the human spirit. On the contrary, they are rooted in material relations of life, the sum of which, Hegel, following the example of the Englishmen and Frenchmen of the 18th century, called 'civil society,' and the dissection of civil society should be sought in political economy." Engels pointed out: "Production and the exchange of products resulting from it are the foundation of all social systems. In each historically appearing society, the distribution of products and the division of society into classes or ranks that accompany it are determined by what is produced, how it is produced, and how the products are exchanged. Therefore, the ultimate cause of all social changes and political transformations should not be sought in the minds of people, in their ever-increasing understanding of eternal truths, but in the changes of production and exchange methods; not in the philosophy of the age but in its economy." "Political economy is a science that studies the conditions and forms of production and exchange, and the corresponding distribution of products in various human societies." "The task of economic science is to prove that the social evils now emerging are the inevitable result of the existing mode of production and also a sign that this mode of production is about to disintegrate. Moreover, it is to discover in the disintegrating economic forms the factors of future production and exchange organizations that can eliminate these evils." The above arguments of Marx and Engels elucidate two fundamental viewpoints: First, they hold that the mode of production is the determining factor of social existence and the driving force of social development. On one hand, the mode of production determines production relations and the superstructure, determining the socio-economic and political structures; on the other hand, the change in the mode of production determines the change in production relations and the superstructure, determining the basic direction of social transformation and political change. Second, they hold that to analyze socio-economic and political structures, reveal the laws of movement and development of social structures, it is necessary to focus on political economy research, primarily on the study of social production methods. Therefore, to solve the major issue of "what is Chinese socialism and how to build Chinese socialism" in theory and practice, it is necessary to vigorously strengthen the research on the political economy of Chinese socialism, comprehensively, deeply, and systematically study the production methods and production relations of Chinese socialism. On this basis, strive to achieve theoretical innovation and system reconstruction in the political economy of Chinese socialism, thereby comprehensively achieving theoretical and institutional innovation in Chinese socialism, and winning the comprehensive victory of the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Based on the above understanding, I have for several years seriously engaged in the fundamental theoretical research of Marxist political economy, especially the research on the object of political economy and the mode of production, while also working hard to study the realistic characteristics of the economy of Chinese socialism, especially the production forms, forms of public ownership, and distribution methods of Chinese socialism, and have achieved some preliminary research results in these main aspects. On this basis, after in-depth and comprehensive research, drawing on the research results of the academic circles, I have gradually formed some systematic theoretical viewpoints, established a unique theoretical system and framework structure of the political economy of Chinese socialism, and thereby wrote this book, "A New Theory of the Production Methods of Chinese Socialism." The main purpose of publishing this book is to summarize and introduce some research results of my political economy of Chinese socialism, thereby seeking advice from predecessors and colleagues who have long engaged in political economy research, in order to exchange ideas, pool wisdom, and jointly advance the theoretical research of the political economy of Chinese socialism, and to make due contributions to winning the victory of the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The reason why I titled this book "A New Theory of the Production Methods of Chinese Socialism" is not only because it is a monograph on the political economy of Chinese socialism but also mainly because I believe this book has the following three "new" characteristics: First, the research object is new. As a new monograph on the political economy of Chinese socialism, this book first innovates in the research object. It breaks through the traditional view that "the object of political economy is production relations and their development laws" and is different from the current popular view that the object of political economy is "production relations (economic system) resource allocation (economic system)," but instead, based on the scientific arguments of the founders of Marxism and drawing on new research results from academia, it clearly proposes the new viewpoint that "the object of political economy is a certain mode of production and the corresponding production relations, that is, a certain socio-economic structure." On this basis, I further clearly propose the new viewpoint that "the object of the political economy of Chinese socialism is the production methods and production relations of Chinese socialism, that is, the socio-economic structure of Chinese socialism." Second, the theoretical system is new. As a monograph dedicated to studying the socio-economic structure of Chinese socialism, this book comprehensively and systematically studies the actual content and realistic characteristics of the production methods and production relations of Chinese socialism, forming a new structure including the production methods of Chinese socialism, such as "the production conditions of Chinese socialism—the production forms of Chinese socialism—the social forms of Chinese socialism's production," and the production relations of Chinese socialism, such as "the management system of Chinese socialist enterprises—the distribution system of Chinese socialism," and conducting research according to the logical thread of "the theory of classical socialist production methods—the practice of traditional socialist production methods—the characteristics of Chinese socialist production methods." Third, the theoretical viewpoints are new. As a new monograph on the political economy of Chinese socialism, this book proposes original new viewpoints on some major aspects of the production methods and production relations of Chinese socialism. For example, this book proposes that the production method of Chinese socialism is a modern socialist production method that differs significantly from the classical socialist production method, with its basic characteristics reflected in its production conditions, production forms, and social forms. Among them, the production form of Chinese socialism is socialized commodity production and a modern market economy. The agricultural production organization of Chinese socialism is a socialized production organization form based on household family management, with cooperative farms and family farms as typical forms. The industrial production organization of Chinese socialism is a modern production organization form based on enterprise management, with modern companies and enterprise groups as typical forms. The social form of Chinese socialism's production is mainly the direct combination of laborers and means of production in a partial social manner. The basic form of public ownership in Chinese socialism should be laborer shareholding ownership, based on individual property rights, characterized by the socialization of individual property rights, and specifically manifested as socialized shareholding. The production relations of Chinese socialism are a new type of socialist production relations that differ significantly from traditional socialist production relations, with their basic characteristics reflected in their enterprise management systems, personal income distribution systems, etc. Among them, the enterprise management system of Chinese socialism should actively learn from the successful experience of employee participation management in developed countries and widely implement democratized enterprise management systems. From the perspective of the distribution system, Chinese socialism should neither continue to implement the equal distribution system of traditional socialism nor can it truly implement the distribution system based on labor of classical socialism. It should comprehensively adhere to and firmly implement the principle of distribution based on the contribution of labor, capital, technology, management, and information, and clearly write on its own banner: "distribution based on factors of production!" The content of this book mainly includes three parts: First, a summary and review of the theory of classical socialist production methods by the founders of Marxism, specifically the theoretical research on the basic characteristics of the production forms, production conditions, social forms of production, and production relations of classical socialism as elaborated by Marx and Engels. Second, a review and reflection on the practice of traditional socialist production methods, specifically the historical analysis of the production forms, production conditions, social forms of production, and production relations of traditional socialism in four aspects. Third, the views and insights on the target model of Chinese socialist production methods, specifically the theoretical viewpoints and policy proposals regarding the characteristics of the production forms, production conditions, forms of ownership, and production relations of Chinese socialism. The academic value of this book mainly includes two aspects: First, the research in this book helps to seriously summarize the practical experience of China's socialist construction under the guidance of the basic principles of Marxism, especially the fresh experience of reform and opening-up and the construction of socialism with modernization, thereby achieving the scientific development and innovation of the economic theory of scientific socialism in the aspects of production forms, forms of ownership, and production relations. Second, it helps to inherit and develop the classical economic theory of Marx, reflect on and