Lin Jinping: Guaranteeing and Improving People’s Livelihood in the Process of Development
People's livelihood constitutes the foundation of popular happiness and the root of social harmony. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-path Modernization, deliberated and adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, noted when discussing the "improvement of the institutional system for promoting and improving people's livelihood" [1] that: "Promoting and improving people's livelihood within the process of development is a major task of Chinese-path modernization." This fully reflects the high degree of importance the Communist Party of China (CPC) attaches to livelihood work. The classic works of Marxism contain rich ideas regarding people's livelihood. Re-examining these discourses helps us understand the profound internal meaning of "people's livelihood as the paramount priority" [2] and accurately grasp the principles and methods for promoting and improving livelihood on the New Journey [3].
People’s livelihood concerns the well-being of the masses
Marxist thought on people's livelihood takes as its fundamental point of departure the resolution of problems concerning the survival and development of "actual human beings." [4] It emphasizes the protection of the masses' basic subsistence needs, basic development opportunities, and basic rights and interests. As Marx and Engels pointed out in The German Ideology: "In order to be able to 'make history,' men must be in a position to live. But life involves before everything else eating and drinking, a habitation, clothing and many other things." They further emphasized that "man struggles not only for survival, but for enjoyment, and for the increase of his enjoyment." In the process of leading the Russian socialist revolution and construction, Lenin also pointed out that "it is necessary to raise the question of improving the living conditions of workers and peasants separately, so as to pay close attention to the achievements made in this regard," emphasizing that regarding the "living conditions of workers and poor peasants," we should "immediately take a series of measures to strive to improve the living conditions of the working class and alleviate their distress." Because livelihood concerns the well-being of the masses, Marxist political parties must always regard the promotion and improvement of livelihood as a vital task.
Marxist thought on livelihood primarily unfolds around three aspects: material production, the needs of "actual human beings," and the distribution of interests. First, material production is the foundation of livelihood. If the productive forces are backward and the level of material production is low, promoting and improving livelihood is out of the question. Second, satisfying human needs and realizing the well-rounded development of individuals [5] are the goals of livelihood construction. Human needs are diverse and hierarchical, and are closely related to the well-rounded development of the person. Only by fully satisfying the developmental needs of human beings—satisfying their productivity and creativity—can livelihood issues be truly resolved. Finally, the rational distribution of interests is the key to increasing the well-being of the people's livelihood. The profound analysis of capitalist livelihood issues by Marx and Engels revealed a truth: to promote and improve livelihood, relying solely on developed material production is insufficient; there must also be a rational mechanism for the distribution of interests and the establishment of a people-centered social system.
Accordingly, to truly promote and improve livelihood, we must realize people-centered development. On the one hand, we should focus on the development of productive forces and technological innovation, taking the development of productive forces as the fundamental task of modernization, so that the fruits of development benefit all people more extensively and fairly. On the other hand, we must continuously satisfy the people's aspirations for a better life, focusing on solving the "pain points" and difficult problems [6] closely related to the masses, thereby realizing the well-rounded development of individuals while promoting comprehensive social progress.
The leadership of the Party is the fundamental guarantee for livelihood construction
Promoting and improving livelihood cannot be separated from the leadership of a political party that takes the realization of the people's interests as its own responsibility. As Marx and Engels said: "The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to the other working-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole." The Communist Party grasps the laws governing the development of modern material production, represents the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people, and possesses the mission bestowed by socio-historical development and the authority recognized by the people. Engels pointed out in On Authority: "To want to abolish authority in large-scale industry is tantamount to wanting to abolish industry itself, to destroy the power-loom in order to return to the spinning wheel." In his view, the Communist Party, nurtured and grown within the environment of large-scale industry, is the "authority in large-scale industry." As a true working-class party, "The Communists, therefore, are on the one hand, practically, the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others; on the other hand, theoretically, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement."
Through a profound understanding of historical laws and a scientific summation of historical experience, the CPC has realized that the issue of livelihood is a complex whole that bears upon the success or failure of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It must be accorded high importance. In practice, we must use systems thinking and pragmatic measures to continuously resolve various livelihood issues, promoting the formation of a livelihood work pattern led by the government with broad participation from all sectors of society and active investment by individuals, jointly promoting the progress of livelihood undertakings. To promote the high-quality development of livelihood undertakings on the New Journey, we must resolutely uphold the Party Central Committee’s authority and centralized, unified leadership [7], implementing the Party's leadership in all aspects and links of livelihood undertakings to ensure we possess a powerful political cohesion for united struggle and confidence in development, gathering the majestic force of millions of people acting as one to overcome difficulties.
Promoting and improving livelihood should focus on institutional construction
Just as Marx recognized that "labor capacity itself as a capacity is the activity of creating value," the creation of social wealth is inseparable from human labor; it requires people to use their own physical and intellectual power—their own human capacity—to create. But even so, one cannot regard human beings merely as laborers. If all people are treated "only as workers, and nothing more is seen in them, and everything else is set aside," it is equivalent to treating the inner richness of human beings and the diverse needs of actual people solely from the perspective of "labor," making it easy to overlook the most basic subsistence needs and rights that human beings enjoy as members of society. Therefore, while vigorously developing the productive forces, we must focus more on satisfying people's survival and development needs through means such as social security.
The improvement and elevation of livelihood must rely on development, but it also cannot be separated from institutional guarantees. In the historical process of different periods of human society, different social systems have promoted social development to varying degrees. Marx and Engels once pointed out: "The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together." However, under capitalist private ownership, "with the devaluation of the world of men, which increases in direct proportion to the value of the world of things... the worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates." Marx profoundly realized that the existence of private ownership makes the distribution of social resources increasingly unequal, with massive wealth concentrated in the hands of a few while the lives of ordinary people cannot be guaranteed. Consequently, they set the establishment of a communist society as the goal for which humanity should strive.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the CPC has persisted in and developed Marxist livelihood thought. By continuously liberating and developing social productive forces, it has solved the problem of moving "from lack to presence" regarding the masses' material and cultural needs, and is now focusing on solving the higher pursuit of moving "from presence to excellence" regarding the people's needs for a better life. History and reality have proven that the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is one that respects labor; in this system, people’s livelihood is the greatest politics. In the practice of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization, we should continuously improve the income distribution system, refine the employment-first policy,健全 the social security system, deepen the reform of the medical and health care system, and improve the support and service system for population development. This will promote the continuous improvement of the institutional system for people’s livelihood and drive the well-rounded development of individuals and more obvious substantive progress in the common prosperity of all people.
(Author: Lin Jinping, Specially Appointed Researcher at the Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era)
Source: Guangming Daily (December 27, 2024, Page 11) Online Editor: Huihui