Translator’s Note
The following is a translation of an article by Zhao Yujie, published by Xuexi Shibao (“Study Times”), a publication of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China, via People’s Daily. Translated for SocInform by Liu Xuegang, China Section Editor. Further edits by the SocInform editorial board.
This article offers a comprehensive overview of the Communist Party’s position regarding economic development, and, it is hoped, will offer deep insights into some of the questions often asked by readers in the West. Certain turns of phrase, such as material civilization, are only seen in official policies and announcements from Chinese sources. As such, this translation attempts to bridge the gap between the nomenclatures of East and West by offering more common translations of expressions in English while retaining their original essence in Chinese.
Worth noting, some nomenclature requires contextualization, such as the Theory of Three Represents referring to the contributions to Marxist theory made by President Jiang Zemin, and the Scientific Outlook on Development referring to that of President Hu Jintao. These are components of the general framework of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics that correspond to the specific needs of the time, and likewise apply to the contributions by President Xi Jinping. In short, it will benefit the reader to understand that all of these concepts are components of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.
The second-to-last paragraph is noted as being quite wordy; this is because of the author’s usage of specific concepts that are more “compact” and fit together more smoothly when read in Chinese. In order to retain the author’s original purpose, the character of the passage has been largely preserved rather than paraphrased.
How Marxism Understands Productive Forces
Productive forces are the ultimate decisive force that pushes human society’s development and progress. The developmental state of productive forces represents the scope and depth of humanity’s transformation and utilization of nature, and marks the developmental stage, as well as the degree of civilization, of human society. Thus, the theory of productive forces has become the fundamental theory in the realm of Marxist socioeconomics and philosophy. Then, what are “productive forces”? How to understand the dynamic evolution of productive forces?
According to Marx, productive forces are the ability of humans to transform and utilize nature, which is to say, the material forces that take form during human productive practice and transform and impact nature to make it suitable for the needs of society. Productive forces stem from the practical relation between humans and nature. They are the comprehensive force that forms during the active transformation of nature by humans. Productive forces do not simply mean the accidental, singular or direct results from the laborer’s actions to their tool of labor to transform natural objects. As mentioned in The German Ideology (Die deutsche Ideologie) by Marx and Engles, “… just like the ‘struggle’ of man with nature, right up to the development of his productive powers on a corresponding basis,” productive forces stem from the historical relation between human and nature. Thus, productive forces are objectively and realistically constituted. Here in Marx’s theory, productive forces are not only a natural relation, but also a social relation. Regarding this idea, Marx and Engels described thusly in The German Ideology: “It follows from this that a certain mode of production, or industrial stage, is always combined with a certain mode of cooperation, or social stage, and this mode of cooperation is itself a ‘productive force.’” Thus, we can see that Marx and Engels have abandoned the traditional ideas of productive forces and turned to interpret productive forces through the angles of division of labor, production and intercourse instead. At the same time, “By ‘productivity’ of course, we always mean the productivity of concrete useful labour.” In Marx’s opinion, productive forces are formed during the process of labor, meaning, forces produced by labor. On this basis, Marx further proposed in Capital (Das Kapital) that the three fundamental elements are: the laborer, the instruments of labor, and the subject of labor, together forming the basic form of productive forces. This theory far surpassed the three fundamental elements in western (capitalistic) theories of productive forces: capital, labor, and land. These three elements proposed by Marx, as well as productive forces themselves, are present throughout the development of human society and history. Therefore, productive forces are socially and historically constituted.
Marx and Engels further analyzed the social effect of productive forces. Firstly, productive forces are the most basic driving element in the dynamic movement of social contradictions. They are the material basis of society’s existence and development. This is perfectly reflected by Engel’s quote from Dialectics of Nature (Dialektik der Natur): “The men who in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries laboured to create the steam engine had no idea that they were preparing the instrument which more than any other was to revolutionise social conditions throughout the world.” The developmental state of productive forces is the ultimate standard for measuring social development, as well as the most original and long-term driving force that pushes the development and progress of society. The development of productive forces not only is the fundamental content of the material advancement (material civilization) of a society but is also the fundamental material condition that constrains the development of political, cultural and ecological progress (political, spiritual and ecological civilization respectively). At the same time, it also moves the development of world history forward. Secondly, based on the laws of development of contradictions between productive forces and relations of production, it is revealed that productive forces are the ultimate decisive force that pushes human social and historical development forward. In The German Ideology, Marx and Engels explained the dialectical relation between productive forces and relations of production (forms of intercourse). They believed that social productive forces determine major changes in the relations and forms of a society. The contradiction between productive forces and relations of production determines the contradiction between economic base and superstructure, as well as the existence and development of other contradictions in a society, constituting the fundamental driving force for the development of social forms. This is also the basic view of historical materialism. Finally, as where the fundamental driving force of human socioeconomic development lies, the sum of productive forces determines social conditions. Just as Marx and Engels mentioned in The German Ideology, “ … the multitude of productive forces accessible to men determines the nature of society.” This is to say, during the course of transforming nature, the advance of the level of productive forces will impact social relations such as division of labor, forms of exchange etc., accelerate the form of existence of a society, increase the totality of material wealth, therefore determine the production efficiency and production level of society.
In the preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (Zur Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie), Marx mentioned: “At a certain stage of their development, the material forces of production in society come in conflict with the existing relations of production, or … property relations within which they had been at work before.” Thus, it is clear that the liberation and development of productive forces shall encompass the great practice of socialist revolution, construction and reformation. It is precisely under the guidance of this theory that the Communist Party of China (CPC) leads the Chinese people to liberate and develop productive forces. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, when faced with an underdeveloped agricultural country, Mao Zedong put the emphasis on liberating and developing productive forces through adjusting relations of production, renovating the factors of production, and establishing the socialist ownership of the means of production. This blazed the trail for concentrating all forces on developing socialist productive forces. Marx has mentioned many times that “science is also part of the productive forces.” Based on this, Deng Xiaoping emphasized that “To build socialism, we must first develop the productive forces.” He proposed, with great creativity, that *“science and technology are the primary productive force.”* During his talks in the South (1992), he regarded “liberating and developing productive forces” as the essence of socialism and “standards of productive forces” as one of the criteria for judging the success or failure of work. This led to a great advancement of productive forces during the Reform and Opening Up and showed a bright future for the development of productive forces under Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. The Theory of Three Represents proposed that “the CPC should represent the requirement to develop advanced productive forces” and revealed the essence of “advanced productive forces.” At the new stage in the new century, the Scientific Outlook on Development put the lynchpin on “comprehensive coordination and sustainability.” The key is to answer important questions such as, what kind of development should be achieved for productive forces, and how. This concept has since improved the situation with the contradictions between productive forces and relations of production, as well as between the economic base and superstructure, at the primary stage of socialism. Thus, the socialist productive forces were further advanced.
Ever since the 18th National Party Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping, during the comprehensive development of productive forces, further pushed for the renovation of productive forces and the reforging of relations of production. Faced with a new round of scientific revolution and industrial renovation, he proposed the original idea of “developing New Quality Productive Forces.” Thus, he turned a new page for elevating the new standard and new form of productive forces and illustrated a new blueprint. As Marx said, “Productive forces of labor are constantly developing with the continuous progress of science and technology,” and New Quality Productive Forces are born from this essence. Compared with traditional productive forces, New Quality Productive Forces are an innovation and development on the Marxist theory of productive forces by the CPC in the New Era. On the aspect of laborers, New Quality Productive Forces requires the laborers to equip themselves with a stronger sense of innovation, more knowledge and higher skill level. On the aspect of the means of labor, New Quality Productive Forces are guided by new ideas of development, driven by scientific and technological innovation, supported by original and groundbreaking technology, powered by digital technology and artificial intelligence, and marked by high technology, high efficiency and high quality. On the aspect of the objects of labor, the New Quality Productive Forces aim at using new industry, new modes and new energy as the points of breakthrough, using strategic emerging industries and future industries as their “trial grounds” and main carrier. Developing New Quality Productive Forces in the new era is helpful for China to accelerate its self-reliance in high level science and technology while adapting to the trend of new technological revolution and industrial renovation, and is of great significance to achieving high quality development, pushing forward Chinese modernization, and realizing the goal of comprehensively building a strong and modernized socialist country along the new journey of the New Era.
Marx and Engels have explained in detail the scientific essence and the basic features of productive forces, as well as their significant effects on socioeconomic development. Guided by this theory, the CPC, with the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people of China in heart, continues to deepen the Marxist understanding of productive forces during their planning for further liberation and development of socialist productive forces.