Build a spiritually rich modernity

The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that material poverty is not socialism, and spiritual poverty is not socialism. This assertion shows that to build socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must not only have a high degree of material civilization, but also a high degree of spiritual civilization. To follow the path of Chinese-style modernization, we must not only build a materially rich modernization, but also a spiritually rich modernization. At present, we are on a new journey of building a great modern socialist country, and it is particularly important to promote the building of socialist spiritual civilization, and we must vigorously develop advanced socialist culture and create a spiritual home for a better life for the people on the material basis of constantly consolidating modernization, so as to better meet the people's growing spiritual needs, enrich the people's spiritual realm, and enhance the people's spiritual strength.

Enriching the people's spiritual world is the essential requirement of Chinese modernization

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China profoundly expounded the basic characteristics and essential requirements of Chinese-style modernization, including the important conclusion that Chinese-style modernization is the modernization of the harmony between material civilization and spiritual civilization and that enriching the people's spiritual world is one of the essential requirements of Chinese-style modernization. These theses are not only a historical innovation and development of the theory of modernization, but also an independent choice of the Chinese path to modernization, and more prominently emphasize the importance of strengthening the building of spiritual civilization in the new stage of development.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, our party has been working hard to explore ways and means to enrich the people's spiritual world. One of the important aspects of how to find a road of integrating Marxism with China's specific reality is to grasp both material and spiritual civilizations. How to coordinate the development relationship between the "two civilizations" has always been a key issue facing the mainland in carrying out socialist modernization. Chinese modernization is different from both the "European and American model" and the "Soviet model" in that it has its own characteristics, and its ultimate goal is to promote the all-round enrichment of things and the all-round development of people. The Western capitalist modernization dominated by the logic of capital is essentially a kind of modernization with "things" as the core, and under this modernization model, workers are alienated from their own labor products, their own labor, and their own class essence, which ultimately leads to alienation between people. In Marx's view, the alienation of human beings caused by the development of Western capitalist modernization includes not only the alienation of workers (manifested in loss and enslavement), but also the alienation of capitalists (manifested in possession and enjoyment), and such development is a kind of abnormal development. On the basis of vigorously criticizing the modernization of Western capitalism, Marx and Engels revealed the basic characteristics of the future communist society in the Communist Manifesto, and Marxists in various countries have continuously deepened their understanding of these characteristics in their own practice. The contemporary Chinese Communists have formed their own understanding, that is, "a communist society will be a society in which material wealth is greatly enriched, the people's spiritual realm is greatly enhanced, and everyone is free and all-round development." This further shows that only on the basis of a high degree of development of material and spiritual civilization can people achieve free and all-round development.

The Chinese-style modernization guided by Marxism contains profound theoretical significance and practical value, and has achieved the transcendence of Western capitalist modernization at multiple levels, and the enrichment of the people's spiritual realm is one of the important embodiments. Chinese modernization is the modernization of material and spiritual prosperity, and the coordinated development of material civilization and spiritual civilization is an important manifestation of the superiority of socialism. In this regard, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed the need to "correctly handle the relationship between material civilization and spiritual civilization from a dialectical, comprehensive and balanced viewpoint". This requires us to coordinate the development of the two civilizations, continue to strengthen the building of socialist spiritual civilization, build a position and a homeland to meet the growing spiritual needs of the people, and enhance the spiritual strength of the people during the critical period when the beginning of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way has begun.

Achieving spiritual prosperity is a major task in building a great modern socialist country

The term "spiritual wealth" first appeared in Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, in which Marx profoundly expounded the importance of spiritual activity. Marx believed that a very important point that distinguishes human beings from animals is that human activities are purposeful and conscious activities, which are spiritual activities, while animal activities are instinctive activities. In Marx's view, spiritual activity occupies an important position in human activity, and the reason why man is able to create history is because man is able to carry out spiritual creation activities according to his own consciousness. In Capital, Marx vividly compares the activity of man in building houses with the activity of bees in building hives, and "the most lame architect is superior to the most dexterous bee from the beginning, and he has built the hive in his own mind before he builds it with beeswax." Here, Marx actually spoke highly of the creativity of man's mental activity. Based on this, when Marx and Engels explained the relevant theories of scientific socialism, they revealed from the perspective of economics that the root cause of capitalism's eventual replacement by socialism lies in the frenzied pursuit of material wealth by capitalist producers, which leads to an imbalance in the development of material production and spiritual production. In the long run, socialism will not only be able to better develop the social productive forces and solve material poverty, but will also be able to eliminate all kinds of greed, corruption, and injustice, gradually shake off spiritual poverty, and realize all-round human development and common prosperity for all the people.

Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the Chinese Communists, with a high degree of historical consciousness and historical initiative, have led the Chinese people to gradually form the idea of being rich in the socialist spirit in the process of solving material poverty. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "The socialist country we want to build must not only have a high degree of material civilization, but also a high degree of spiritual civilization. "In the new era, the main contradictions in mainland society have been transformed, the people's growing needs for a better life have become more extensive and diverse, and the status of spiritual life in a better life has become more critical. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the importance of achieving spiritual prosperity, pointing out: "Socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism with all-round development of material and spiritual civilization. It is difficult for a nation without spiritual strength to be self-reliant and self-reliant, and it is difficult for a cause without cultural support to last for a long time. ”

Based on the new stage of development, we can see that realizing spiritual prosperity is the proper meaning of building a great modern socialist country, and this is a complex and arduous systematic project. Therefore, we must firmly adhere to the fundamental system of Marxism's guiding position in the ideological field, persist in guiding cultural construction with the core socialist values, and constantly promote the unity of satisfying the people's cultural needs and enhancing the people's spiritual strength in practice, so as to promote the building of a great modern socialist country.