The Exploration Process of Modernization Path during the New Democratic Revolution | China | Period

Author: Yu Zuhua

This path is inseparable from the unremitting efforts of the pioneers of the Party during the New Democratic Revolution. Reviewing this process and summarizing its experience and enlightenment is of great historical significance for the new era and new journey to comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese path to modernization.

The Historical Choice of China's Modernization Path

The CPC, founded in July 1921, came to the historical stage against the background of "various national salvation plans were introduced in turn but ended in failure" during the old democratic revolution; Once established, the Party became the leading force in the Chinese revolution and modernization, promoting a comprehensive exploration of the path from early modernization to seeking a truly suitable modernization path for China's national conditions. The exploration and formation of China's modernization path is an inevitable trend after repeated setbacks in modernization during the old democratic revolution. It is the trend of Chinese advanced elements reflecting on Western style modernization and the historical choice after various modernization plans were selected and compared during the new democratic revolution.

Awakening after setbacks. After the Opium War in 1840, in response to the historical disaster of "humiliation of the country, suffering of the people, and dust of civilization" suffered by the Chinese nation, various political forces carried out anti imperialist and anti feudal struggles in succession. People with lofty ideals promoted the transformation and modernization of implements, systems, and cultural levels from different angles, and put forward plans such as "saving the country by industry" and "saving the country by science". However, these efforts ultimately failed. The important task of leading and promoting the development direction of modern China fell on the CPC historically.

The turning point after reflection. In the minds of advanced Chinese people in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, Western modernization was once the blueprint for providing hope for a better future. However, the serious drawbacks of Western style modernization were constantly exposed during the First World War and the economic crisis of 1929-1933, which prompted various sectors of Chinese society to deeply reflect on it. The overall orientation shifted from advocating Western civilization to a non capitalist future. In the 26 articles discussing China's modernization in the 1933 Shenbao Monthly, most of them chose the socialist or non capitalist path. Our party conforms to the historical trend and promotes the transformation from learning from Taixi to learning from Russia in the modern reflection trend after World War I. After the discussion of modernization issues triggered by the economic crisis, we strongly advocate for the new democracy of "creating prerequisites for socialism".

The decision after comparison. Chinese path to modernization is the inevitable result of historical choice. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, it was precisely in the context of the ruthless elimination of bureaucratic capitalism modernization led by the Kuomintang regime by history, and in the context of the dream of free capitalism modernization that the British and American scholars hoped for, that the path of New Democratic modernization was proven by history to be "supported by more than 90% of the people in the country, and there is no second path to take." This is a necessary path to promote the Chinese nation to stand tall in the world's national forest with a new posture.

Creating political prerequisites for modern development

One of the topics discussed in the 1933 Shenbao Monthly about China's modernization was "the difficulties and obstacles of China's modernization" and the "prerequisites" needed to promote China's modernization. Our party has had a clear answer to this since its establishment. The early leaders of the Party have realized that fundamentally speaking, imperialism and feudal warlords are the two major obstacles hindering China's modernization process and disrupting the process of national rejuvenation. On September 13, 1922, the first issue of the "Guide" magazine published the "Declaration of Our Newspaper - Preface to the" Guide ", which pointed out:" In China today, the internal turmoil of warlords is undoubtedly the biggest obstacle to peaceful reunification and freedom, and the external threats of international imperialism are the demons that constrain the free development of our Chinese nation politically and economically. "Li Da pointed out in his article" What is Imperialism "published in April 1923," We analyze China's sources of turmoil from a political and economic perspective, and know that the two major obstacles that disrupt China are international imperialism and domestic military politics. Therefore, during the period of democratic revolution, the Party. "The historical task of" breaking through "is to clear the way for modernization through the struggle against imperialism and feudalism. In July 1922, the Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China passed the "Resolution on the United Front of Democracy", which proposed "to sweep away the oppression of feudal warlords and overthrow imperialism, and to build an independent country with true democratic politics", and formulated a democratic revolutionary program against imperialism and feudalism.

Mao Zedong deeply expounded the relationship between democratic revolution and national industrialization, and proposed creating the necessary political prerequisites for China's modernization by striving for the victory of the new democratic revolution. He pointed out in "On the United Government" that in semi colonial and semi feudal China, there could be no "development of industry, construction of national defense, and welfare of the people". "The liberation of the productive forces of the Chinese people and the possibility of their full development depend on the realization of the political conditions of new democracy throughout China.". In the report "The Current Situation and Our Tasks" in December 1947, "completing the reform of New Democracy and achieving national unity and independence" was regarded as the necessary foundation for "transforming from an agricultural country to an industrial country". In the article "Carry the Revolution to the End" at the end of 1948, the realization of national independence and people's liberation was regarded as a prerequisite for the transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country. The Liberation War overthrew the "Three Great Mountains" and established a strong and modernization oriented people's democratic regime, establishing the political premise and fundamental direction of China's modernization.

The gestation and development of the transitional form of Chinese path to modernization

During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, discussions and explorations about China's modernization cannot avoid an important proposition: "Which way should China's modernization adopt?" Should capitalism or socialism be adopted? Early Marxists had a clear choice before and after the founding of the Party: they must develop industry with socialism. In his article "Industry under Socialism" in March 1921, Li Dazhao pointed out that "the revitalization of China's industry must be achieved through the implementation of socialism.". In his article "Guidelines for the Chinese Labor Movement" published in May 1922, Cai Hesen pointed out that "capitalism in China, no matter what, cannot fully develop and solve China's economic problems", and should "develop China's large-scale production industry with socialist production methods".

The New Democratic Modernization Plan provided a profound interpretation that was in line with the world modernization trend and China's national conditions, targeting the three choices that the intellectual community had focused on at that time: industrialization or agriculturalization, capitalism or socialism, and westernization or sinicization.

One is "striving for China's industrialization", which depicts the goal of "transforming China from an agricultural country to an industrial country" and building a new democratic society. At that time, the understanding of the concept of modernization included both economic and technological changes centered on industrialization in a narrow sense, as well as overall changes in politics, economy, culture, and other areas in a broad sense.

At the economic and technological level, industrialization is regarded as the core connotation of modernization. The Party's industrialization ideology was initially expounded in the debate between "building the country through agriculture" and "building the country through industry". The early leaders of the Communist Party of China opposed the theory of "building a country with agriculture" proposed by Zhang Shizhao and others, and advocated for promoting national industrialization. In his article "The Congressional System and Warlords of Modern China" in July 1923, Qu Qiubai criticized Zhang for "not saying that China is still an agricultural country; let alone that China is an agricultural country and will forever stagnate." He pointed out that "China is gradually transitioning from an agricultural country in the style of religion to a commercial industrial country according to historical logic.". In his article "Can China Not Industrialize?" published in October 1923, Yun Daiying pointed out that "China must also become an industrialized country and then be able to survive on its own.". This fully demonstrates that the Party has consciously represented the development requirements of China's advanced productive forces since its establishment. Mao Zedong advocated for the development of Chinese industry in the late stage of the Great Revolution. Later, he talked about the problem of "changing from an agricultural country to an industrial country" or "industrialization of the country" in documents such as On the United Government, Speech at the Shanxi Suiyuan Cadre Conference, Report at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CPC, and On the People's Democratic dictatorship. In addition to focusing on industrialization, the other three aspects of the later "four modernizations", namely agriculture, national defense, and technological modernization, have also been brought into view. Mao Zedong mentioned in his book "On Enduring War" that "the reform of the military system cannot be separated from modernization", and in his report "On the United Government", he called for "the struggle for China's industrialization and modernization of agriculture"; The Xinhua Daily has successively established "Natural Science" and "Science Special Page" supplements, reflecting the high importance placed on promoting scientific and technological development.

At the level of overall transformation, a new democratic program integrating politics, economy, and culture has been proposed. Mao Zedong put forward the goal of "building a new society and a new country for the Chinese nation" in his "New Democratic Theory", which aims to create a "New Democratic Republic" that combines the politics, economy, and culture of New Democracy.

The second is to choose socialism and design a roadmap for the development from a new democratic society to a future socialist society. Mao Zedong pointed out in "A Talk with American Journalist Snow" that "there are two articles in the Chinese Revolution, the first one" Carrying out a National Democratic Revolution "and the second one" Carrying out a Socialist Revolution "." At present, it is a National Democratic Revolution, and when it reaches a certain stage of development, it will transform into a Socialist Revolution. ".

The third is to propose the proposition of "Sinicization of Marxism" and explore a modernization path that is in line with China's reality guided by the theoretical achievements of Sinicization of Marxism. In October 1938, Mao Zedong proposed in his report "On the New Stage" at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that "Marxism should be Sinicized, with Chinese characteristics in every expression.". He pointed out in "On New Democracy" that the New Democratic Republic is "on the one hand, different from the old form, European and American style, bourgeois dictatorship, and capitalist republic"; On the other hand, it is also different from the Soviet style, proletarian dictatorship, and socialist republic. "China's economy must follow the path of 'controlling capital' and 'equal land ownership', and 'cannot establish a capitalist society of European and American style'."; We also do not blindly copy Soviet style socialism. In the new democratic stage, "generally speaking, it is not yet the establishment of socialist agriculture". Apart from large banks, large industries, and large commerce, "private property of other capitalism is not confiscated.".

In a sense, the path of new democratic modernization is the accumulation of quantitative changes in China's modernization before the establishment of the socialist system, and the robust seedlings that emerge from the ground before growing into towering trees.

To lay a solid foundation for the exploration of Chinese path to modernization

The victory of the new democratic revolution and the establishment of the People's Republic of China show that since modern times, Chinese history and the Chinese people have finally made three correct historical choices, namely, they chose the CPC, Marxism and the socialist road, thus establishing the leadership, fundamental adherence and institutional basis for Chinese path to modernization. National independence, people's liberation and the three historic choices have contributed to the transformation and leap of China's modernization path, creating fundamental social conditions for the comprehensive exploration of Chinese path to modernization across the country. The CPC has become the largest ruling party in the world, "qualified to lead the Chinese people's revolution", and also has the position to lead large-scale modernization. The leadership of the Party determines the fundamental nature of Chinese path to modernization, and is a strong driving force to stimulate Chinese path to modernization. The socialist system has become a social system with remarkable advantages. Socialism has enabled New China to accelerate the development of social productive forces, and also has the conditions to achieve common prosperity. Socialism determines the direction of Chinese path to modernization, and is the institutional guarantee to ensure the stability of Chinese path to modernization. Marxism is a powerful spiritual force that enables Chinese people to "turn from passive to active". The promotion of "localization of Marxism in China" provides theoretical guidance for exploring Chinese path to modernization, and the sinicization and modernization of Marxism is the fundamental principle of Chinese path to modernization. It was the three historic choices that made the modern capitalist modernization led by other forces become "socialist modernization led by the CPC", followed the modernization development of "others" in order to follow their own path of modernization, and made the passive and dependent early modernization of China become active and independent Chinese path to modernization, thus opening a new era in the process of China's modernization.

Guangming Daily

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