Human society develops in private ownership XIV: private ownership and capitalist society

Chapter 14 Private Property and Capitalist Society

In the inevitable kingdom of human material stage, private ownership, which has been verified by the historical development of slave society and feudal society, cannot be rejected, denied and purged in capitalist society, but can only be determined by the natural laws of human nature, on the platform of the developed material category of human nature, on the basis of the new level of material productive forces and new production relations, to advance with the times and further scientific, to appear in a more advanced way in the age of capital, and to make new and greater contributions to the progress of human society.

Therefore, capitalism can only, or as it is, a social system based on private ownership of the means of production. That is, the bourgeoisie, which owns the means of production, realizes its own needs at the level of human material categories by purchasing a multifunctional intelligent tool or capitalized intelligent commodity, labor, and effectively organizing. It is not the gratuitous appropriation of slaves, or the complete domination of slaves as an intelligent tool, as in the slave society, but "purchase", which is a market-oriented transaction in which both parties reach an agreement, and a kind of cooperation with great differences, each in order to realize the needs of its own human material category; Nor is it the feudal society, which attracts and organizes the peasants through various forms of management and management of the possession of land; It is a higher level of private ownership, a kind of private ownership towards civilization, and a certain degree of private ownership that releases, satisfies, liberates and frees human nature at the material category level in the inevitable kingdom of the material stage.

Of course, in capitalist private ownership, in the needs of the material categories of human nature, the bourgeoisie is the advanced and wealthy demand compared with the proletariat which does not own the means of production; The release, possession and satisfaction at the level of human material categories are superior, at the forefront of the times and represent the advanced level of human needs. Society is full of competition and struggle, but this struggle, because the capitalists and the bourgeoisie, under the guidance of Marx's theory of social development and under the deterrence of the powerful forces of the "proletarian revolution", understand the scientific selfishness of individuals and classes, and no longer pursue capital profits in an unlimited and perceptual way, but a rational and bottom-line goal of realizing wealth, thus inventing the welfare capitalist system, so that the "proletariat" no longer has the will to engage in class struggle that risks their lives and pays a great price. Containment pacifies what a violent revolution might be. In this way, the capitalists and the bourgeoisie have not only extended their dominant position and safeguarded their capitalist interests to the greatest extent, but the living conditions of the laborers and the "proletariat" have also been constantly improving and improving with the times.

Of course, the economic benefits and social status obtained by the two classes are unequal, or rather unequal. This is the unity of opposites in capitalist society created by private ownership, and then the development of society is promoted in the movement of the unity of opposites. This is the inevitable expression of the last period in the inevitable kingdom of the material stage of mankind, the inevitable expression determined by the natural laws of human nature at the level of material productive forces in capitalist society, and the inevitable expression of the last social form on the road to freedom at the level of material categories of human nature. The end result of this manifestation is that there is no longer any difference between the capitalists and the toilers, between the bourgeoisie and the working class in the distribution, supply and consumption of material goods, starting with a small number of people, a small number of regions, and countries, then moving on to the majority of people, most regions, countries, and finally to the whole world and all mankind.

Under this high level of private ownership, capital, like slaves in a slave society and land in a feudal society, has become the engine and leader of social progress and development, thus becoming a huge social system. In its system, its blood spreads all over the world, permeates all corners, and unifies people's thoughts and actions. No matter what country, what nation, what society, what political party, or what government is given the ideological name, whether it is subjectively intentional or unintentional, the economic content under the cover of various political forms is objectively the same, the essence of the package under various material phenomena is the same, and the goal of social development under the banner of various ideologies is the same, that is, capital is playing a role, capital is building social relations, capital is promoting social development, and capital is attracting all people, all political parties, All governments must serve them, and be fully embraced and branded with capital, wear the logo of capital, and burst with the blood of capital in their hearts.

This is the age of capital, determined by the natural laws of human nature, and required by the natural laws of society. This is not something that can be changed by a single political party, a government or the will of the upper echelons. If anyone ignores it, he will be crushed by the giant wheel of capital and become the laughing stock and sinner of history.

The various forms in which this capital appears are the means of production of society. It can be expressed both as money and credit for the purchase of labor (laborers) and materials of production; It can also be manifested as tangible machines, equipment, and plants; or manifested as finished and semi-finished product inventory, commodity inventory, and so on. Whatever form it takes, it is privately owned capital controlled by the bourgeoisie, capitalists, and individuals.

Therefore, capital in capitalist society is privately owned (individual), not state-owned, that is to say, it is not public ownership, it is not shared equally by all members of society, it is not fair sharing by the whole world and all mankind, it is not egalitarianism and public resources, but more or less and there is and what is not, but it is prominently manifested as competitiveness, possession and exclusivity. Because of this, due to the existence of capital, a social order has been established, which dominates and determines people's way of life and quality of life, and embodies the different social material values of people in the material stage and in the kingdom of necessity.

Therefore, capital is the main manifestation and distinctive symbol of capitalist society or the age of human capital, which fully demonstrates the private ownership of capitalism and the high-end form and specific form of private ownership since the material stage of mankind. This state of capital not only shows that private ownership is the most advanced form of development on the basis of the first two steps of slavery and land, but also shows that material products are not extremely abundant, that the material category level of human nature has not yet been satisfied, emancipated and free, and that man and his main social activities are still constrained by the needs of the material category level of human nature.

In a capitalist society, the economy is dominated by the private sector, with no or little government intervention; Politically, bourgeois parties are in power, or bourgeois democratic political systems are implemented. The private ownership economy as the foundation of society and the private ownership ideology (politics) of the superstructure are matched, coordinated and developed together, creating and providing a good social and ecological environment for the full display of the value and role of private ownership, and promoting the smooth development of human society.

In capitalist society, capital determines everything, everything serves capital, and capital becomes a label of a person's social status and an aura of social value. Material production is for the purpose of sales, and laborers or laborers without capital have been materialized into a special commodity, thus creating a trading market for buying and selling labor. The mode of exchange is to pay a certain monetary wage according to a certain time (hourly wage system), or to pay monetary wage according to a specific job (piecework wage system), using money as a bridge, cooperation conditions and exchange medium, the capitalist and the laborer constitute a social unity, the capitalist realizes the management and arrangement of the laborer, and the laborer realizes the desire and acquisition of money. The capitalist takes possession of capital and thus dominates the production process and financial decision-making, and his entire economic behavior is aimed at the search for profit; The characteristics of capital determine that there is competition between capital, which makes it evolve into a monopoly tendency, and eventually leads to monopoly. Monopoly eventually goes to the whole world and all mankind, creating conditions for the construction of a community at the material level of human nature and material categories, and accumulating quantitative changes.

This is the process of the bourgeoisie, the capitalists, and capital for the bourgeoisie, the capitalists, and capital, and finally the process of eliminating the bourgeoisie, the capitalists, and capital. In this process, the goal and task of the inevitable kingdom of human society in the material stage will be realized, and the leap of human beings from the realm of material necessity to the kingdom of material freedom will be realized, that is, from the capitalist society to the socialist society (scientific socialist society) and the communist society, and from the private ownership of the main contradiction at the level of human nature and material categories to the public ownership of the secondary contradiction at the level of human nature and material categories. This is the manifestation of the dialectic of society, its class movement, and the movement of human nature, and this is the reflection and expression of the irresistible force and great role of the natural laws of human nature in the form of the natural laws of society in the process of social replacement.

Imperialism, also known as "monopoly capitalism" or "modern capitalism", is the highest and final stage of capitalist development, relying on the export of capital and the use of labor from other countries in order to make profits at home. In the face of the unstoppable power of capital, the realization of the last function of capital -- capitalists and capitalism have pushed mankind to globalization, to the power of capital, to the community of destiny built by capital, and to welcome the arrival of scientific socialism. It can be seen from this that in the material stage of human beings, the development of society is determined by the material productive forces, but the development of the material productive forces is maintained and promoted by private ownership determined by the natural laws of human nature.

Therefore, it can be said that the existence of private ownership is a natural and objective existence, not that it is an artificial existence of top-level design and planning at the beginning, but an existence of spontaneous order, which is its birth. Of course, its development is undoubtedly one such existence. Therefore, without private ownership, there would be no capitalism and its capital, and thus there would be no subsequent socialism (scientific socialism) and the sustainable development of human society. Therefore, the material productive forces created by capitalism are real social existence and social conditions, and it is impossible for anyone, any class, or any political party to abandon and transcend these existence and conditions and promote the development of human society.

In capitalist society, capitalists determine the circulation of capital and the production process, the choice of scientific research and technology, the preparation of products, the working environment and the sale of products, and the enterprises rely on loans, the issuance of stocks and the mortgage of factories to raise funds. These are the vivid, concrete and vivid display of material private ownership, in the process of material production and capital operation, and also the manifestation of the links and details of promoting social development bit by bit.

The history of capitalism has gone through two major stages: free competition capitalism and monopoly capitalism. Compatible with the advanced form of capitalist private ownership and the ruling form of its production relations, the various superstructures before capitalism have been replaced by the bourgeois superstructure, giving rise to the bourgeois state power, legal system and ideological system, and forming a social system that includes the capitalist mode of production and the superstructure corresponding to it.

The private ownership of capital, including material production, determines the formation of a complete and systematic set of private ownership in capitalist society, thus ensuring the in-depth and extensive development and effective role of material private ownership in capitalism.

In a capitalist society with private ownership, the system formulated by the bourgeoisie in a dominant and leading position is mainly to safeguard the interests of the bourgeoisie and capitalists, so as to safeguard the social development of the capitalists and the bourgeoisie to promote the interests of all members of society (the main working class) and the interests of the state; However, due to the differences and gaps in interests, the opposition between the interests of the bourgeoisie and the interests of the proletariat (working class) is inevitable. However, after the publication of the Communist Manifesto, the bourgeoisie accepted the inevitability of social development, and thus rationally practiced scientific selfishness and strategically defended the interests of its own class. Therefore, social unity is always greater than opposition, cooperation is always greater than struggle, and yin and yang always move within Tai Chi, thus promoting the development of society.

This is the manifestation of class selfishness determined by the natural laws of human nature, and this is the scientific existence of the objective and inevitable relations of production of capitalist private ownership.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the germ of capitalist relations of production had already appeared sparsely in certain cities on the Mediterranean coast, but the capitalist era was only on the right track in the 16th century. It shows that the capitalist society has been nurtured in feudal society for 100~200 years, and that the feudal private ownership has been bred and upgraded to capitalist private ownership for 100~200 years, and that the promotion of the material categories of human nature and the development of its material productive forces determined by the natural laws of human nature is an objective historical process and a spontaneous process, not a process determined by the will of a certain class or a certain political party, let alone the will of a certain great man or hero.

At the same time, it shows that in the material stage of human beings, the continuity, historicality, sociality, reality, objectivity and scientificity of material private ownership dominated by the natural laws of human nature are in a continuous line, and its existence is an inevitability when the conditions are not ripe and its role is not exhausted, rather than being created and artificially accelerated by the will of the so-called certain class or political party, or the advanced class or advanced political party.

We firmly believe that private ownership can mature and develop under the action of the natural laws of human nature, and after the completion of the goals and tasks of the material stage of human beings, it is also a matter of course under the natural laws of human nature. Therefore, no matter what kind of ownership is determined by the natural laws of human nature, not by man's utopian will, let alone by artificial operation and transformation.

Just like the progress of various countries and nations, due to various historical and practical reasons, capital cannot be synchronized, synchronized, average, reciprocal and quantified for the members of society. At the end of feudal society, the development of the commodity economy promoted the disintegration of the natural economy of feudal society and caused the polarization of small commodity producers. The primitive accumulation of capital hastened this differentiation: on the one hand, a large number of laborers and proletarians who lost their means of production and had to sell their labor power were formed; On the other hand, a small number of capitalists and bourgeoisie who have been transformed into capital by controlling huge amounts of money and means of production have been created correspondingly, and the two have jointly created the conditions for the emergence of the capitalist mode of production and laid a solid foundation. In the process of the formation of a new type of material production relations, at the time node of the transformation and upgrading of social forms, the powerful power of material private ownership is highlighted, and the social role of the unstoppable history of the natural law of human nature behind it is highlighted.

The primitive accumulation of capital means that the human strength of the socially powerful prevails over the human strength of the socially weak, and in the competition the weaker are extremely reluctant, but there is no way to separate them from their means of production. This process is the historical process of the primitive accumulation of capital, and the loss of land by a large number of peasants is the basis of the whole process.

It is not difficult to see that in the age of capital in the inevitable kingdom of human material stage, it is always a part of the people who want to lead society forward; There is always a part of the population that has to make sacrifices for the progress of society. The leader, i.e., the victor, becomes the capitalist; The victims, that is, the losers, become laborers. In this way, the former and the latter naturally form two social camps, and thus two classes.

This is the ruthless and helpless aspect of material private ownership, which is unwilling to be accepted by the disadvantaged groups, the toilers, and the proletariat, so that they hate and curse mercilessly against private property, and dream of its abolition and obtain benefits that are not now available in public ownership.

Although private property in the age of capital did not take a person's life like war, the dominant bourgeoisie did it with foresight and did everything it could. That is to say, to rule and dominate other people who voluntarily sell their labor power through the power of their own capital. This is human nature, that is, the selfishness of life, the selfishness of class, and the decisive role of the natural laws of human nature. On the premise that it does not lead to violent revolutions and social movements, it is acceptable scientific selfishness; If it hits the red line of violent revolution, it is unscientific and selfish. In the era of capital, what political parties and governments of various countries should do is to choose a scientific and selfish strategy, keep their Gini coefficient around 0.4, maintain the overall stability of society, and seek long-term development of the country.

It is also the selfishness of the class and the selfishness of life governed by the natural laws of human nature, but the results of its minority and majority are very different. There is no doubt that this is upheld and supported by a small number of people, and is opposed and dissatisfied by the majority. However, within a certain range, it is not determined by the strength of numbers, but by the strength of capital. If you are fortunate enough to be in the camp of the bourgeoisie, I bless you; If you are in the camp of the proletariat, I understand you. In the material stage of mankind, in the realm of material necessity, the development of society is like this. Otherwise, there will be no motivation for the progress of society, and mankind will never reach the other side of the kingdom of freedom.

However, this process has never happened in China, and this historical vacancy has become a difficult point in solving the problems of the rural areas, agriculture, and peasants, with the result that the rural areas, agriculture, and peasants have never been able to go under private ownership and on the track of market economy. Until now, there has been no way out, which has seriously affected the development of Chinese society.

The backward and self-sufficient natural economy was eliminated, and a large number of peasants and craftsmen lost their old mode of subsistence on the land or no longer had their own means of production, thus creating a double result for social progress: providing capitalism with free labour and creating a market for commodities. This is a necessary condition for capitalist society and for the development of the material productive forces corresponding to capitalist society. Without such a condition, capitalist material private ownership will not be able to penetrate the countryside, agriculture, and its peasants, and the agricultural material productive forces, which are the basis of the material productive forces of the entire society, will not be able to achieve substantial breakthroughs and development.

This situation and process is objective and cannot be changed by man. Although some people cannot become capitalists and step into the bourgeois camp, this is the social will of the natural laws of human nature, the social will of private ownership, and the needs of the development of human society as a whole.

This situation may be unacceptable to the disadvantaged groups and the people at the bottom of our society, and some people, strata and politicians who shout communist slogans without taking into account reality or without understanding social development may be objectively or subjectively opposed. However, this is a problem that the state must face and solve, otherwise the market economy and national development will be constrained, and the progress of a nation and society will be strategically affected.

The history of peasants and craftsmen changing their original mode of subsistence on the land, and the loss of the means of production has different characteristics and stages in different countries. The transformation of labor into commodities and the transformation of means of production into capital marks the transition from simple commodity production to capitalist production, that is, the upgrading from feudal material private ownership to capitalist material private ownership, so this also marks the deepening and development, leapfrogging and upgrading of material private ownership. This kind of deepening and development, leapfrogging and upgrading is with a certain degree of human nakedness. But this kind of openness and transparency is better than concealment and deception, better than form and hypocrisy, better than packaging and not admitting, better than seducing and deceiving people, so that it carries a certain amount of civilization and cultural progress.

The primitive accumulation of capital also included the encroachment and plundering of the colonies, as well as other violent means of exploiting the power of the state. This is the state form of private ownership and the manifestation of state selfishness. Of course, this is a manifestation of non-scientific selfishness, so it is a manifestation of no strategic value and significance.

The great geographical discoveries at the end of the 15th century and the ensuing colonization expanded the market for commodities and accelerated the transformation of handicrafts into factory handicrafts. The capitalist factory handicraft industry, because of the division of labor within the factory, greatly increased the productivity of labor compared with the handicraft industry that practiced simple cooperation in the early stage of capitalism. Behind all this is from the private ownership of materials, from the decisive role of the natural laws of human nature; None of this would have been possible without private ownership and without the natural laws of human nature.

By the 18th century, the rapid expansion of the domestic market and the world market in Britain and other advanced capitalist countries increasingly contradicted the narrow technical base of the factory handicraft industry. In order to obtain more profits in competition, the capitalists inevitably led to the occurrence of the industrial revolution, which promoted the continuous progress and application of science and technology to production, promoted the rapid development of material productive forces, extended the capitalist relations of production to all sectors of social production, and further deepened the confrontation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The emergence and development of capitalism has a common law in various countries and has brought about similar achievements of human material civilization, once again demonstrating the value of material private ownership and the decisive role of the natural laws of human nature.

The birth of the industrial revolution marked the establishment of the material and technical basis of capitalist production. The two antagonistic classes of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat have become the basic class structure of capitalist society. It is natural that the selfishness of life leads to the selfishness of the class, but it cannot lead to Marx's social movement – a violent revolution. Because, if this is the case, it is not scientific selfishness, it is not selfishness that conforms to and follows the natural laws of human nature. This is because the natural law of human nature determines the inherent selfishness, scientific selfishness, and class scientific selfishness, which is the antagonism between the two main classes of a society in unity, and the struggle in cooperation, and the power of unity is always greater than the power of opposition, and the power of cooperation is greater than the power of struggle. Once the upper limit and the bottom line are about to be touched, the ruling class (bourgeoisie) in the active position must immediately raise the social welfare security in line with the times, immediately consider taking measures such as taxation to let the huge wealth serve the society, and eliminate the negative impact of extreme private ownership carried by the level of material productivity in the capitalist era. The antagonism and struggle between the two classes can be eased and constantly resolved quantitatively.

In the capitalist society of human society promoted by private ownership, the freedom of private ownership flows everywhere like pure air, and takes care of human life and its society everywhere, but private ownership must be scientific private ownership, that is, it accepts Marx's ideological exposition of the inevitability of the development of human society ("regularity"), accepts the exposition of the law of the great cycle of human social development of the historical philosophy of life, and accepts the scientific selfishness of the essential requirements of the natural laws of human nature.

Knowing this, for some of us who are so-called "advanced" in thinking, especially for the people who are full of competition and have a poor ability to survive, and who are historically and realistically at the bottom of society, they will no longer complain about private ownership, but will work hard to improve their individual ability to survive.

In capitalist society, under the action of the natural laws of human nature, material private ownership will inevitably become a trend due to the concentration of capital and the emergence of joint-stock companies, monopoly organizations and state ownership, so that the whole world and all mankind will move towards a community with a shared future, pave the conditions for the arrival of a scientific socialist society, and accumulate strength.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, capitalism transitioned from the stage of free competition to its highest stage, that is, the stage of monopoly capitalism, and the value role of private ownership reached a new high.

In capitalism, profits are a necessary condition for economic growth, and the profits from that growth are reinvested instead of being consumed. This is the characteristic of capitalist private ownership, the nature of capital, and the necessity of the natural laws of human nature at the level of the material categories of human nature.

In an ideal free-market system, all economic decisions cannot be coerced, but are determined by trade, negotiation, cooperation, and competition among micro-agents. In this way, private ownership dominates the material and economic order of society, thus indirectly dominating, maintaining, supporting, and promoting the continuous development of society.

Therefore, it is not surprising that private ownership has a strong influence on the law, which in turn promotes the scientific development of private ownership. Capitalist laws recognize and protect the right to private property, providing property owners with the right to freely sell their property; If no one wants to buy it, then they have the right to continue to have it.

In a free market, the price of products and services is determined by a price agreement between the buyer and the seller, rather than by the government. This price is the price that the buyer is willing to pay for the goods and the price at which the sellers are willing to sell the goods, which is directly determined by supply and demand. Private ownership determines the market and determines free trade. Without private ownership, there would be no meaningful market economy.

Under the influence of the natural laws of human nature, in capitalist society, class selfishness determines private ownership, which determines the existence and development of the bourgeoisie, and thus determines bourgeois ideology. At its core, on the other hand, is the idea of private ownership and the adherence to liberalism, individualism, and egoism (rational egoism, scientific egoism). They strongly advocate humanitarianism of democracy, freedom, equality, and fraternity; He advocated the use of the rule of law to oppose the imperial autocracy and hierarchy of the feudal class, and pursued the emancipation of individuality. This is the contribution of private ownership to human thought in capitalist society, to the transformation of human nature from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom. Of course, this contribution is as limited as it has been and will be in the future, and it is conditional, not unlimited.

Private ownership plays an irreplaceable key role in the development of capitalist society, and its main manifestations in capitalist society are: privatization of means of production, that is, land, factories, equipment and other means of production are owned by individuals or private enterprises. This means that control of the means of production is held by private owners, who can decide how to use these resources based on market demand and profit motives; Economic competition, i.e., competition between enterprises as a result of the privatization of the means of production, promotes the formation and development of a market economy. In order to gain more market share and profits, enterprises continue to innovate and improve efficiency, and finally drive economic development and social progress; Profit pursuit, that is, the main goal of the enterprise is to pursue profit maximization, for which producers achieve profits by creating and selling goods or services, and this profit pursuit promotes the improvement of productivity and economic development; Property rights and freedom of contract, that is, individuals and enterprises have legal ownership and control over their property, private property is protected, and can be freely bought and sold, rented, mortgaged, etc. in the market. At the same time, freedom of contract is ensured, where individuals and businesses are free to enter into agreements and contracts; Social differentiation, that is, the privatization of the means of production, allows a few people to have enormous wealth and power, while the majority rely on selling their labor power to obtain the necessities of life, resulting in the class division of society, but due to the establishment of the social welfare system, it is always under control.

In short, capital is the soul of capitalist society, capital is the commander, everything exists around capital, either it is not a by-product of capital, it either serves capital, or it is determined by capital. But they are all given by human nature, and they are all things in the pocket of private ownership.

Of course, no social system is perfect, nor will it be once and for all, what we have to do is to weigh the pros and cons and serve social development in its main sense.

This is the case in capitalist society.

His real name is Zheng Jinmin, pen name Rabbit Wo Huangshan, a native of Luonan, Shaanxi, an independent scholar, the founder of historical philosophy of life, and a researcher of the "Four Treasures Culture" of Cangjie, Luoshu, Luohe and Linglun Shaanxi (Luonan).

He is the author of "Restoring the True Appearance of the Dao" (issued in the eighth special issue of "Sinology Research" in 2020, and won the "Sinology Research Monograph Award" and "Sinology Research Academic Achievement Award" of Shaanxi Sinology Research Association in 2019-2020 and 2023 respectively), "The Law System of Historical Philosophy of Life", "The Hypothesis of the Human Security Stage", "Life and the Law of Life", etc.

At present, he has written books such as "Discussion on the Classification of Life Culture and Human Nature", "Discussion on the System of Philosophical Unity", "Exploration of Relevant Philosophical Issues", "New Thought", "Luohe Anthology", "Cangjie Lectures" and "The Development of Human Society in Private Ownership". "The Way of Cangjie Character Making" and "The Status and Role of Cangjie Character Making" in Chinese history won the Kaifeng National Cangjie Cultural Paper Essay Award respectively in 2022. He has successively obtained 13 registration certificates of "national brand" works issued by the Copyright Office of the People's Republic of China, such as "Historical Philosophy and Philosophy Law System" (entered Baidu Library), "Cangjie Lecture Notes", "Cangjie Character Creation Luonan Examination", "Linglun Luonan Music", "Luoshu Luonan Examination", "Luohe Culture Luohe Examination", etc. On September 19, 2021, he accepted an hour-long live news interview with Xi'an Radio Station on the history and philosophy of life and the situation of "Shuyuanmen 1991".