Xuelin's Essay | Why did modern China move towards "a new era of socialist economics transforming the world"

The development and innovation of theory must always be based on practice. Since modern times, in the practice of exploring the road to prosperity and strength, the Chinese people have diligently sought a good way to guide economic revitalization and the development of productive forces, and have chosen Marxism and its economic theory through identification, debate, and abandonment.

Chinese traditional economic thought focuses more on national governance, has considerable insights in currency, finance, prices, land, etc., and has a profound impact on actual policies and economic operations.

Before modern times, traditional Chinese economic thinkers were more concerned with how to “divide the cake.” For example, Tang Zhen's "Enriching the People" advocates coordinating the distribution between the people's wealth and the government's use of it. You Zhen's "Jincheng Jingyi" simplifies economic policy into a choice of increasing taxes to enrich the country or reducing taxes to enrich the people.

With the rise of capitalism, economic analysis methods, academic paradigms and theoretical systems in Western Europe have accelerated their development. In 1776, British scholar Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, the foundation work of modern economics, arguing that the growth of national wealth comes from the improvement of labor productivity, opening up a new field of wealth creation research.

After the Opium War, some Chinese people began to think about how to learn from Western development experience and establish new industries and commerce. British classicism, which advocated free trade and promoted the development of industry and commerce, became the first economic doctrine that Chinese people came into contact with. Wei Yuan proposed in "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" that "Learn from the barbarians and develop skills to control the barbarians" and advocated the creation of military and civilian industries.

As the Westernizationists continued to promote the changes of "self-improvement" and "seeking wealth" and actively established new factories and bookstores, by the end of the 1870s, many Chinese people were proud of their knowledge of Westernization and hoped to imitate Europe to enrich the country and strengthen the army. Increase economic increment by establishing new industries.

Xue Fucheng proposed in "A Preliminary Discussion of Foreign Affairs" that Westerners' prosperity comes from "putting industry and commerce first", and China should also put industry as the foundation and commerce as the key link; reformist Chen Chi concluded that the essence of Westerners' theory is to enrich the people first and then To make the country rich; Ma Jianzhong, who returned from France, advocated building a railway as the "foundation of prosperity" and suggested going to the British and French capital markets to issue bonds to raise funds.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the impact of the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1899 prompted China to become more proactive in exploring ways to become rich and powerful overseas. When Yan Fu translated Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", he bluntly stated that studying foreign economic theories was of great significance to "China's wealth and poverty" and "the rise and fall of the yellow race."

During this period, economic theories from various schools poured into China. For example, in 1901, the magazine "Translation Book Collection" excerpted the German historical school's famous work "The National System of Political Economy" and advocated that backward countries should implement free trade at the beginning of their development so as to transform from "remote areas" to "prosperous areas" as soon as possible. "land"; after "progressing a little in prosperity", it implements protected trade to cultivate productivity; after industry and commerce matures, it switches to free trade, and then "competes with other countries."

What is epoch-making is that Marxist economic theory was also introduced during this period. In 1898, the Guangxi Society's edition of "Taiwan Civil Law" translated the British socialist Kirkup's work "History of Socialism", introduced the socialist ideological trend since Saint-Simon, and explicitly mentioned Marxist political economy. Since then, Marxist economic theory has been repeatedly cited and discussed in the debates on revolution and reform in the early 20th century.

In 1905, Zhu Zhixin mentioned part of "Das Kapital" in his "Biographies of German Social Revolutionaries" and believed that capital should be restricted to reduce the "dividing gap between rich and poor." In his speech when he resigned as interim president in 1912, Sun Yat-sen proposed that only socialism can make the country rich and strong while preventing "the abuses of capitalist monopoly."

The diplomatic failure at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 shattered all walks of life's illusions about imperialism. The Chinese people have further realized that only by relying on their own strength to develop independently can the country truly be prosperous and strong.

Scholars such as Zhang Shizhao, Dong Shijin, and Liang Shuming noticed that Western-style modernization may lead to "two classes of rich and poor" and advocated giving priority to the revitalization of agriculture and the construction of vast rural areas to avoid many disadvantages such as overproduction in Western industrialized countries. Many intellectuals who returned from studying abroad, such as Yang Quan, Wu Jingchao, Zhang Peigang, etc., called for sparing no effort to build industry in order to achieve real economic progress and get rid of the invasion of foreign powers.

Marxist theorists creatively put forward the development concept of "socialist industrialization" and advocated a two-pronged approach of economic revolution and social revolution. Li Dazhao proposed that we should "operate industry according to socialist organizations", eradicate the predatory class internally, and resist economic invasion externally. Chen Duxiu emphasized that only by changing the production system through workers' revolution can we avoid the shortcomings of capitalism and truly save China's destiny. Qu Qiubai pointed out more clearly in "Problems of the Development of Capitalism in China" that only by first liberating the workers and peasants revolution and then "implementing socialist industrialization" can we become economically independent and avoid becoming a vassal of imperialism.

The Chinese Communists’ various thoughts and discussions on the direction of industrial construction and the path of social development were influenced to a certain extent by the demonstration effect of the Russian October Revolution, but fundamentally they depended on the internal cause of the great awakening of the Chinese nation. Progressive elements who aspired to a prosperous and powerful country and a rejuvenated nation widely absorbed advanced overseas ideas and gradually discovered the feasibility and necessity of using Marxist economic doctrine to discuss China's issues.

Marxist economic theory is of people's nature and is therefore consistent with China's rich and simple utopian socialism.

Putting the people first is the mainstream social trend throughout Chinese history. From the Datong social ideal in the Confucian classic "Book of Rites" to the "Juhetang" rural experiment of the Ming Dynasty thinker He Xinyin, from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's idea of ​​the "Celestial Land Acquisition System" to Sun Yat-sen's exploration of the "Three People's Principles", the social ideal tradition of the Chinese nation "has "The distinctive and lasting characteristics of socialism" has similarities with Marxism in its spiritual core.

Marxist economic theory is scientific and can therefore help China transcend utopian socialism and understand social and economic operations and historical development from the perspective of scientific socialism.

The reason why various previous utopian theories and practices have become utopian is because they always try to pursue an absolute ideal paradigm that transcends history and times, instead of choosing appropriate strategies and the right path based on the development stage of productive forces and production relations.

Marxism makes scientific predictions based on a deep understanding of the basic contradictions of society, the laws of economic operation and the logic of historical development. It is different from Confucianism and the previous utopian theory. The dissemination of Marxist economic theory has provided theoretical weapons for the Chinese people to scientifically understand and deeply understand the historical rationality of capitalism and the historical inevitability of its demise, thereby moving towards the "social perspective" proposed by Li Dazhao in "My View of Marxism" A new era in which socialist economics will transform the world."

Marxist economic theory is developmental and can continuously revolutionize itself with the development of the times, practice and science, providing the possibility to promote the sinicization of Marxism with the times.

At the beginning of the introduction of Marxist economic theory, many Chinese Marxists proposed that they should not rigidly apply its theoretical dogma, but should carry out exploration and innovation that are Chinese-style and contemporary.

Li Ji believes that Marx and Engels "are also human beings with round heads and square toes." His theoretical insights were unique but were also limited by the environment at that time. Future generations should adjust them according to the current situation and "must not blindly follow them."

Li Da emphasized that it is necessary to study the Chinese economy to understand "the special posture of the general principles of economic evolution in the specific Chinese economic conditions", and then establish a new theory that can guide China's economic transformation.

China's problems must be based on China's basic national conditions and must be answered by the Chinese themselves. For more than 100 years, the Chinese Communists have persisted in combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional culture, and have successfully promoted and expanded Chinese-style modernization through long-term exploration and practice.

Facing the future, Chinese economics must continue to use the creative practice of the Chinese people as an inexhaustible source of theoretical innovation, solidly build an independent knowledge system, and make new contributions to the development of Chinese Marxism with a more active historical responsibility and creative spirit.