Gu Hailiang: How to understand the basic socialist economic system?

Abstract: We are developing a market economy under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system, and we must never forget the term "socialism."

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has identified "adhering to the direction of socialist market economy reform" as a "major principle" of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, and has explained the relationship between the basic socialist economic system and the market economy system in many ways from the method of "dialectics and two-point theory", highlighting the institutional prescriptiveness of the socialist market economy and enriching the connotation of the socialist market economy as the theoretical theme of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics.

The prescriptive nature of the basic socialist economic system of the socialist market economic system is not determined by the general nature of the economic system, but by the particularity of the basic economic system that is "combined" with it, and by the "overall" nature of socialist economic relations. In the Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx pointed out: "In all social forms there is a certain kind of production that determines the status and influence of all other productions, and therefore its relations also determine the status and influence of all other relations." It is a pervasive light that obscures all other colors and changes their character. This is a special kind of ether that determines the proportion of all that is revealed within it. In the "totality" of capitalist economic relations, "capital", as the core category of capitalist private ownership of the means of production, is the "universal light" and "special ether" in this "totality", that is, the "economic power" that dominates everything in bourgeois society. In the "totality" of socialist economic relations, the public ownership of the means of production, which occupies the dominant position in the socialist ownership structure, is the "universal light" and the "special ether" in the "whole", and is the "economic power" that dominates everything in socialist economic relations, that is, the basis and conditions stipulated for the integration of the socialist market economic system into and the formation of the basic socialist economic system.

The socialist market economy is the unity of the general economic system and the special economic system. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the practice of comprehensively deepening the reform of the economic system has made the socialist market economic system more deeply compatible with the basic socialist economic system, and the prescriptive nature of the socialist basic economic system has also been more practically integrated and integrated with the market economic system, and has become the attribute of the market economy. This theoretical trend is profoundly embodied in Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. That is to say, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialist Economy with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era provides theoretical guidance for the generalization that the socialist market economic system is an integral part of the basic socialist economic system.

In the discussion of the institutional provisions of the socialist market economy, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era put forward three important views:

First of all, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed:

"The mainland practices a socialist market economic system, and we must still persist in giving play to the superiority of the mainland's socialist system and the positive role of the party and the government. The market plays a decisive role in the allocation of resources, but it does not play all the roles. ”

The development of China's socialist market economic system has been carried out within the framework of the socialist system, and it has been deeply regulated and influenced by the superiority of the socialist system, and at the same time, the superiority of the socialist system has also been profoundly demonstrated.

Upholding the party's leadership over economic work and persisting in people-centered development is a concentrated reflection of the superiority and essential characteristics of the socialist system. Fundamentally upholding the party's leadership over economic work means persisting in strengthening the party's centralized and unified leadership over economic work and ensuring that the mainland's economy develops in the right direction, which is the most basic issue in socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics. Adhering to the people-centered development philosophy is the most fundamental position of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping is guided by the basic Marxist theory that "the movement of the proletariat is an independent movement of the overwhelming majority of the people and for the interests of the overwhelming majority of the people" and the basic Marxist theory that "production will be aimed at the prosperity of all people" in the future society, and further formed the idea of "adhering to the people-centered development ideology, and taking the improvement of people's well-being, the all-round development of people, and the steady progress in the direction of common prosperity as the starting point and foothold of economic development". This is the fundamental stance that we must firmly adhere to in making arrangements for all economic work, formulating all economic policies, and promoting the overall economic operation, and it is also the most important institutional stipulation for the socialist market economy, and it is also the fundamental stipulation for integrating into the socialist market economic system and giving it the attributes of the basic socialist economic system.

Secondly, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed:

"The implementation of the basic economic system with public ownership as the mainstay and the common development of economies under various ownership systems is a major policy established by the Communist Party of China, an important part of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and an inevitable requirement for improving the socialist market economic system."

The development and perfection of the socialist market economic system is an inevitable requirement for upholding the basic socialist economic system, and is also the form of realizing the basic socialist economic system in the economic system.

In the process of "combining" with the basic socialist economic system, the socialist market economy reveals its prescriptive nature. We are developing a market economy under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system, and we must never forget the term "socialism." General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized:

"The reason why we say that we are a socialist market economy is that we must uphold the superiority of our system and effectively guard against the drawbacks of the capitalist market economy. We must adhere to the dialectical method and the two-point theory, and continue to make efforts to integrate the basic socialist system with the market economy. ”

Here, it is necessary to talk about "dialectics and the two-point theory" and make good use of both the "invisible hand" and the "visible hand". The roles of the government and the market are complementary to each other, not antagonistic, nor is it simply a matter of letting the market play more and the government play less. To adhere to the direction of socialist market economic reform, it is necessary to give play to the advantages of the market economy and the superiority of the socialist system; this is the key factor for the success of the socialist economy with Chinese characteristics, and it is also the basis for the system and regulations of the socialist market economic system.

Again, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed:

"The basic economic system with public ownership as the mainstay and the common development of economies under various ownership systems is an important pillar of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and the foundation of the socialist market economic system."

The basic economic system with public ownership as the mainstay is like the "universal light" and "special ether" of socialist economic relations, which has changed the general nature of the market economic system, laid the "foundation" of the socialist market economic system, and endowed the socialist market economy with new institutional provisions.

On the issue of integrating the socialist economic system with the market economic system, it is necessary to give play to the advantages of the market economy and the superiority of the basic socialist system. It is necessary not only to make the "invisible hand" play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, but also to give better play to the role of the government's "visible hand". To properly solve this core problem of the market and the government, it is necessary to deepen the reform of the socialist market economic system, take the basic economic system with public ownership as the mainstay and the common development of economies under various forms of ownership as the "foundation," resolutely remove the institutional and institutional obstacles to economic development, and promote the modernization of the state's governance system and governance capacity.

Looking back on the history of China's economic system reform over the past 40 years, the evolution from the adjustment of the economic mechanism to the "positioning" of the economic system and then to the "stereotype" of the economic system is described, and the basic direction of the reform of the socialist market economy and the process of the economic system are described. The important viewpoints of these three aspects put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping are a theoretical summary of the practice of economic system reform, a creative application of the overall methodology of Marxist political economy, and a theoretical essence for us to understand and grasp the connotation of the socialist market economic system as the basic socialist economic system.

(The author is a keynote speaker at the Chang'an Street Reading Club and a former member of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Education; Source: Kunlun Policy Network, recompiled from "Chang'an Street Reading Club", the original title "Gu Hailiang: How did the socialist market economy system rise to the basic system?" (Revised Release)