The Ideological Connotation and Practical Requirements of Common Prosperity | Social | Requirements for Common Prosperity

[Reading Classic Theory]

Author: Duan Yan

Realizing common prosperity is not only an important goal of socialist modernization, but also an ideal state set by Marxism for future society. Marx and Engels described the significant characteristics of future society that are different from previous societies as follows: "The development of social productive forces will be so rapid that even though production will be aimed at the prosperity of all people, the time that everyone can freely dispose of will still increase." Reviewing the relevant discourse of Marxist classic writers, understanding their theories and ideas on achieving common prosperity has enlightening significance for us to solidly promote common prosperity in the new era.

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Realizing common prosperity has been a common ideal and pursuit of humanity since ancient times. Whether it is the ancient Chinese ideals of "moderately prosperous" and "great harmony", or the modern Western ideas of "utopia", they all reflect the longing and longing for common prosperity. However, in a class society where social productivity is underdeveloped and the exploiting class dominates, common prosperity is an unattainable dream. It was not until Marx and Engels criticized capitalist society and depicted a better future society that the basic outline and ideal form of common prosperity could be scientifically presented.

The criticism of the polarization caused by the private ownership of capitalist means of production is the logical starting point for the emergence of the Marxist concept of common prosperity. Marx and Engels lived in the era of great development of capitalism, and had in-depth thinking and research on the essence of capitalist production methods. Since the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution has greatly promoted the development of capitalist production methods. However, the rapid development of social productivity has not fundamentally improved the living conditions of the working class, and the wealth gap in society has further widened. Engels pointed out in his "Outline of Critique of National Economics" that in capitalist society, "labor only obtains the most necessary things, a little bit of means of living, and most of the products are obtained from capital and land ownership." "The concentration of this property is a law, like all other laws, inherent in private ownership; the middle class is bound to disappear more and more until the world splits into millionaires and destitute individuals, large landowners, and poor laborers.". Under the capitalist mode of production, although the wages of the working class have significantly increased, the private ownership of means of production will inevitably lead to more severe social wealth inequality. Marx further criticized the capitalist system in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. He believed that the essence of production in capitalist society is the exploitation of alienated labor. "The more wealth a worker produces, the greater the impact and scale of his production, and the poorer he becomes." He clearly explained that under private ownership and alienated labor conditions, the labor of workers not only fails to achieve prosperity, but also falls into poverty. "Finally, the distinction between capitalists and renters, as well as between farmers and workers, disappears, and the entire society inevitably splits into two classes, namely the proletariat and the working class without property."

In the view of Marx and Engels, under the capitalist mode of production, capitalists, in order to maximize surplus value, deeply exploit labor and occupy the surplus labor of the proletariat without compensation. "Capital is dead labor, like a vampire, and only by sucking on live labor can one have life. The more live labor one sucks on, the more vigorous their life becomes.". From this, it can be seen that private ownership of the means of production is the root cause of the polarization of the wealth gap. Therefore, Marx proposed a solution to poverty by abolishing the private ownership of capitalism. "The characteristic of communism is not to abolish general ownership, but to abolish the ownership of the bourgeoisie," "turning capital into public property that belongs to all members of society." By establishing a communist society based on public ownership of the means of production, all members of society can enjoy a more prosperous life.

Marx and Engels not only vigorously revealed and criticized the phenomenon and essence of capitalist polarization, but also focused on depicting and exploring the ideal social form of the future. In Marx and Engels' vision of the future society, capitalist society, due to its inherent contradictions, will inevitably be replaced by a higher society. "The replacement of the old bourgeois society with class and class opposition will be such a union, where the free development of each person is a condition for the free development of all people.". Marx pointed out in his Economic Manuscripts from 1857-1858 that in the new social system, "the development of social productive forces will be so rapid... production will be aimed at the prosperity of all people.". Because true wealth is the developed productivity of all individuals. This indicates that the ideal society for the future should achieve prosperity for all, and that "overproduction beyond the current needs of society will not only avoid poverty, but will also ensure meeting the needs of all.". In the future society, highly developed social productivity will create a large number of social products, and everyone will enjoy a rich and abundant material life. Engels further explained the conditions and paths for achieving prosperity for all. He pointed out in "The Anti Durin Theory" that "the proletariat will gain state power and first turn the means of production into state property", elucidating the form of public ownership of means of production under the conditions of proletarian dictatorship. At the same time, he further emphasized that based on the fact that the means of production are owned by the whole society, "through socialized production, it is not only possible to ensure that all members of society have a prosperous and increasingly abundant material life, but also to ensure that their physical and intellectual development and utilization are fully free.". That is to say, only by establishing highly developed social productive forces based on public ownership of the means of production can a solid material foundation be provided for achieving prosperity for all. And this kind of prosperity is based on the premise of shared ownership by all members of society, which is the common prosperity of material and spiritual life. Therefore, the value goal of "common prosperity" cannot be limited to material prosperity, but rather points to human liberation, promoting the improvement of human intelligence, physical strength, ideological and moral qualities, and scientific and cultural qualities, ultimately achieving free and comprehensive development of human beings.

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The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put the realization of common prosperity of all people in a more important position, and regarded it as one of the essential requirements of Chinese path to modernization. At a new historical starting point, to solidly promote common prosperity for all people, it is necessary to adhere to the innovative theory of Marxism and its sinicization and modernization as guidance, and better meet the people's aspirations for a better life through continuous struggle.

Vigorously developing social productive forces. Realizing common prosperity is a long-term and arduous task that requires highly developed social productivity as the fundamental premise and foundation. On the new journey, we must always base ourselves on the basic national condition that China is still in the primary stage of socialism and will continue to be the world's largest developing country for a long time. We must adhere to economic construction as the center, continuously liberate and develop social productive forces, continuously create and accumulate social wealth in a more efficient way, make the cake bigger and better, and lay a solid material foundation for promoting common prosperity. Adhere to and improve the basic socialist economic system, unwaveringly consolidate and develop the public ownership economy, unwaveringly encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public ownership economy, fully play the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, better play the role of the government, fully implement the new development concept, focus on solving the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development, vigorously improve the quality and efficiency of development, and promote sustained and healthy economic development.

Intensify efforts to narrow the income gap. Common prosperity is for the whole society, it is for the common prosperity of all people, not for a few people. The so-called "common" refers to the equal enjoyment of material wealth by all people, and we must not allow the wealth gap to widen. This requires the correct handling of the relationship between efficiency and fairness, and dividing the cake well while making it bigger. Therefore, efforts should be made to increase tax, social security, transfer payments, and other regulatory measures to narrow the income and wealth distribution gap and promote fair income distribution. Especially, we need to rectify the order of income distribution, clean up and regulate unreasonable income, resolutely ban illegal income, gradually form a reasonable distribution pattern for everyone, fully mobilize people's enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, promote everyone's participation, effort, and sharing, and create good conditions for promoting common prosperity.

Strive to meet the diverse and multi-level spiritual and cultural needs of the people. Realizing common prosperity is not only reflected in the material aspect, but also in the spiritual aspect, which is to achieve the unity of material and spiritual prosperity for all people. On the new journey, we must continuously meet the diverse and multi-level cultural needs of the people, adhere to the guidance of socialist core values, strengthen the construction of public cultural undertakings, improve the public cultural service system, and provide the people with richer and higher quality spiritual food. At the same time, taking the New Era Civilization Practice Center as a solid foundation, we will make efforts in learning and practicing scientific theories, promoting and preaching the Party's policies, cultivating and practicing mainstream values, enriching and activating cultural life, and continuously deepening the transformation of customs and traditions, continuously expanding the cultural space of people's spiritual life, making people's spiritual world more full and promoting the coordinated development of material and spiritual prosperity.