The "Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-term Goals for the Year 2035" deliberated and adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward "more obvious substantive progress in the common prosperity of all the people" in the long-term goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035, and highlighted the "solid promotion of common prosperity" in improving the people's quality of life. This is the first time this has been expressed in the party's plenum document. General Secretary Xi Jinping explained: "Promoting the common prosperity of all people is a long-term task, but as our country builds a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and starts a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, we must put the promotion of common prosperity of all people in a more important position, be down-to-earth, work for a long time, and work more actively and promisingly towards this goal." ”
Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism
Common prosperity is the value pursuit of scientific socialism. In view of the shortcomings of capitalist society, Marx and Engels, on the basis of criticizing and borrowing from the idea of utopian socialism, clarified that the new society should achieve common prosperity in the future. Marx proposed that in the future the new society "production will aim at the prosperity of all men" and that the productive forces of society and their results will continue to grow," "sufficient to ensure that all the legitimate needs of each person are met to an increasing degree." Engels pointed out that this means that a communist society will "put an end to the situation of sacrificing the interests of some to meet the needs of others." After the birth of the first socialist state, Lenin stressed that only socialism can "enable all working people to live the most beautiful and happiest life."
Common prosperity is the embodiment of the superiority of the socialist system. In capitalist society, capital is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few capitalists, and everything is subordinated to the capitalists' purpose of pursuing surplus value, which leads to capitalist society on the one hand the accumulation of wealth on the one hand, and "the accumulation of poverty, labor torture, enslavement, ignorance, rudeness and moral degeneration" on the other. Marx pointed out that "the poverty of the masses and the restriction of the consumption of the masses" have always been the "ultimate cause of the crisis" of capitalism. Research by the contemporary French economist Thomas Piketty has found that the trend of increasing concentration of wealth in capitalist societies has not changed. In a socialist society, wealth belongs to the people. Comrade Deng Xiaoping clearly pointed out: "The characteristic of socialism is not poverty, but wealth, but this kind of prosperity is the common prosperity of the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "allowing the broad masses of the people to share the fruits of reform and development is the essential requirement of socialism, the concentrated embodiment of the superiority of the socialist system, and an important embodiment of our party's adherence to the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly."
Common prosperity is the fundamental principle of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The founding of New China and the establishment of the socialist system have created the basic premise and provided institutional guarantees for the realization of common prosperity. After the reform and opening up, China encouraged some regions and some people to get rich first, and then led more and more people to get rich and achieve the purpose of common prosperity. Entering a new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only way to realize China's socialist modernization and the only way to create a better life for the people. This road "not only continuously liberates and develops the social productive forces, but also gradually realizes the common prosperity of all the people and promotes the all-round development of the people." There must be absolutely no phenomenon of "the rich accumulate tens of thousands, while the poor eat chaff and chaff.".
The necessity and possibility of a new journey to promote common prosperity
Comply with the people's new expectations for a better life. After long-term efforts, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that this new era is "an era in which the people of all ethnic groups in the country unite and struggle, constantly create a better life, and gradually realize the common prosperity of all people." The main contradiction in our society has been transformed into a contradiction between the people's growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development, and the connotation of the people's need for a better life has been continuously enriched and the level has been continuously improved. In the past, we solved the problem of "whether there is one or not", and now we solve the problem of "good or not". To this end, it is necessary to improve the quality and efficiency of development, better meet the growing needs of the people in many aspects, and better promote the common prosperity of all people.
Rallying people's hearts and minds to promote social stability. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "What we want is common prosperity, so that society will be stable. Only with social stability can we develop the economy. "Social stability is the prerequisite for reform and development. China's reform has entered a period of tackling tough problems and deep-water areas, social stability has entered a period of risk, various contradictions are intertwined and superimposed, and the sensitivity of some major issues has increased significantly. Only by coordinating the relationship of interests can we avoid the intensification of problems and ensure the continuity and stability of China's development. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that development is still the first priority of our party to govern and rejuvenate the country, "but economic development and material life improvement are not all", "development, there is also the problem of common prosperity." Material abundance, but the development is extremely unbalanced, the gap between the rich and the poor is very large, the society is unfair, polarized, can it win the hearts and minds of the people? "We must focus on the overall situation of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and steadily advance in the direction of common prosperity."
Since the founding of New China, the party's unity and leadership of the people to achieve common prosperity have never stopped, and the people's living standards have been continuously improved. Especially since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics has been further improved, and the level of modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity has been significantly improved. In this "big test" of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics has shown its unique advantages in scientific decision-making, social governance, and ideological unification, and once again demonstrated the remarkable advantages of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. In addition, after the completion of this year's comprehensive poverty alleviation target, China will achieve the poverty reduction target of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, and the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way is about to be achieved as scheduled. All these have laid a solid foundation for promoting common prosperity in the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country.
Promote common prosperity for all people
Dialectical view of narrowing the development gap between urban and rural areas. The gap between urban and rural and regional development is also potential, and these potential needs will become the driving force for development. Cities and villages, and different regions assume different main functions. Narrowing the development gap not only refers to the gap between GDP and growth rate, but also the gap in residents' income, infrastructure, basic public services, and people's living standards.
Consolidate the achievements in poverty alleviation and solve the problem of relative poverty. Strengthen monitoring and early warning, timely discovery, timely assistance, and improve long-term mechanisms to prevent returning to poverty. Enhance the effectiveness of industrial poverty alleviation and relocation of poverty alleviation, and improve the self-development ability of the poor masses. Poverty alleviation is not the end, but the starting point of a new life and a new struggle. Make overall arrangements in planning, policies and strength to achieve an effective connection between poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategies. The problem of relative poverty will exist for a long time, and it is necessary to determine the measurement standards suitable for China's national conditions and coordinate the work of urban and rural poverty reduction.
Make the "cake" bigger, and divide the "cake". On the one hand, without economic development, distribution is water without a source. We should firmly grasp the central task of economic construction, constantly enlarge the "cake," and lay a still stronger foundation for the improvement of the people's living standards. In particular, the world is experiencing major changes unprecedented in a century, instability and uncertainty have increased significantly, and it is particularly important to achieve high-quality development. On the other hand, divide the "cake" that is bigger so that the people have more sense of gain. Promote the orderly realization of the urbanization of the able agricultural transfer population, and promote equal employment and equal pay for equal work for urban and rural workers. The growth of residents' income and economic growth are synchronized, and the increase in labor remuneration and labor productivity are synchronized. Increase the proportion of labor remuneration in the primary distribution, and promote the effective convergence of policies in the field of tertiary distribution. The middle-income group can play a "stabilizer" role in society, and the middle-income group should be expanded and an olive-shaped distribution pattern should be gradually formed.
Do your best and do what you can. Common prosperity will not be achieved naturally, and small victories should be accumulated into big victories, and we should continue to advance towards the goal of common prosperity for all people. It should be noted that excessive welfare will lead to inefficiency, stagnant growth, inflation, and eventually worsening income distribution. Common prosperity cannot be achieved overnight, cannot go beyond the stage, we should insist on starting from reality, income improvement must be based on the improvement of labor productivity, welfare level improvement must be based on sustainable economic and financial growth, avoid empty welfare commitments, and strive to overcome the "middle-income trap".
(Author: Zhang Da, Tianjin Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences; Source: Party Building Network)