Liu Yiwen: New Quality Productive Forces Empowering Common Prosperity
From his focus on the "problem of material interests" [1] during the Rheinische Zeitung period, to his research on alienated labor in the Paris Manuscripts, and to his profound analysis of the working class's existential plight in Capital, it can be said that the elimination of social poverty and the realization of a prosperous society constitute Marx’s consistent theoretical aim. Its realization is inseparable from the liberation and development of the productive forces. Today, as digitalization and "digital-intelligence" [2] advance at high speeds, the development of new quality productive forces—which are "spawned by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading; take the leap in workers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimal combination as their basic connotation; and take a substantial increase in total factor productivity as their core indicator"—has become the inevitable path for realizing common prosperity in contemporary China.
Common Prosperity: Eliminating Absolute and Relative Poverty
In Marx's time, the Industrial Revolution brought Europe into the era of industrial civilization. The vigorous development of capitalism led to a tremendous increase in social productive forces, but also made poverty a systemic social problem. Through his investigation of the phenomenon of poverty, Marx elucidated his own anti-poverty thought and indicated the theoretical aim of common prosperity. In his view, the poverty of the proletariat in capitalist society encompasses both absolute poverty, caused by the scarcity of material resources, and relative poverty, brought about by the injustice of social systems and the spiritual distress of the working class. Both poverty and its elimination are comprehensive socio-historical issues.
On one hand, Marx analyzed the absolute poverty of the proletariat in capitalist society from the perspective of the critique of political economy. Capital points out that the phenomenon of "those who labor do not acquire, and those who acquire do not labor" intensified in capitalist society. Its root lie in the inherent contradiction of bourgeois property rights—the separation of labor from property. Because labor is separated from property and capital, the working class cannot sustain their lives unless they sell their own labor power as a commodity. Once the worker sells their labor power, the products of labor belong to the capitalist; the law of ownership in commodity production thus transforms into the capitalist law of appropriation. It is precisely through this research trajectory—moving from the historical reality of the working class's material deprivation to the critique of property rights, the separation of labor and capital, and finally the critique of capital—that Marx located the root of absolute social poverty in his political economy studies.
On the other hand, standing on the position of a critique of political philosophy, Marx pointed out that the relative poverty of the proletariat in capitalist society is also a difficult problem that social development must solve. The relative poverty of the proletariat is a feeling of deprivation and hopelessness, pointing toward the injustice of the social distribution system and the general spiritual distress of the working class. The theoretical basis for Marx's view on distribution is his theory of surplus value. Ultimately, the key issue lies in the capital and its operational logic standing behind class exploitation and labor-capital relations. Under the capitalist mode of production, the infinite self-valorization of capital constitutes the purpose of all production stages. Capital's command over unpaid labor manifests in capitalist social reality as the exploitation of the working class by the bourgeoisie. One could say that in the process of capitalist reproduction, society develops toward an extremely unequal polarization.
New Quality Productive Forces Empower the Elimination of Absolute Poverty
To usher in a society of common prosperity for all, the primary task is to enable the broad proletariat to escape the condition of absolute poverty. The elimination of absolute poverty is inseparable from the liberation and development of the productive forces. In contemporary China, the historical mission of liberating and developing the productive forces points clearly toward the leap-frog development of new quality productive forces.
As a developmental phenomenon characterized by "innovation as the feature and high quality as the key," new quality productive forces have long since permeated every aspect of 21st-century Chinese social development. This is prominently manifested in the innovation of science and technology, the optimization and upgrading of industrial structures, and the improvement of the quality of the workforce.
First, the core of new quality productive forces lies in scientific and technological innovation. Such innovation brings about a leap in social productive forces and a comprehensive improvement in people's lives, thereby enabling the elimination of absolute poverty. In Marx’s view, technological innovation is by no means merely the discovery and rewriting of scientific theories or the improvement and invention of production tools—that is, a purely academic or technical issue—but is a comprehensive social issue closely related to the development of the times and the lives of the people. For contemporary China, technological innovation and its achievements are important guarantees for the people to escape absolute poverty and pursue a better life. This is the case because the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics has sublated [3] the logic of capital that restricts the process of human social development. In the process of developing new quality productive forces, contemporary China vigorously supports technological innovation and converts its achievements into development momentum and productive efficiency for impoverished areas, effectively improving the lives of the masses. In this regard, technological innovation is deservedly a major force in eliminating absolute poverty.
Second, the development of new quality productive forces brings about a comprehensive transformation of the socio-economic environment, among which the optimization and upgrading of industrial structures particularly assists in the elimination of absolute social poverty. As capital flows spontaneously within and between industries, activities and sectors with higher efficiency and profit will receive strong support and deep development. This further promotes industrial structural upgrading, socio-economic development, and the accumulation of social wealth. However, whether the growth of total social wealth brings about the improvement of people's lives depends on the role of capital power and its logic in development. Chinese-path modernization regards capital as a neutral economic instrument, rationally utilizing it to promote the processes of industrialization, urbanization, and "ecologization" [4] to better create high efficiency and benefits. This closely links the development of new quality productive forces and the growth of social wealth with the improvement of the people’s standard of living.
Finally, workers are the subjects of social development and the most active factor in the progress of productive forces. The improvement of the quality of workers is the subjective factor in how new quality productive forces empower the elimination of absolute poverty. In the process of developing new quality productive forces in contemporary China, neither scientific and technological innovation nor the upgrading of industrial structures could be realized without the participation of high-quality workers. Conversely, as workers participate more deeply in the development of new quality productive forces, they grow into a "new type of worker" possessing both robust physical health and exquisite technical skills, thereby enabling them to better escape the state of absolute poverty.
New Quality Productive Forces Empower the Elimination of Relative Poverty
As mentioned earlier, the relative poverty of the proletariat is caused by the injustice of the social distribution system and the general spiritual distress of the working class. Therefore, in contemporary China, the process of eliminating relative poverty is also the process of realizing social fairness, justice, and the free and comprehensive development of human beings. This process also relies on the development and assistance of new quality productive forces.
Marx profoundly analyzed the eras of agricultural and industrial economy experienced in the modernization process of human history. Today, we have entered a new stage of modernization—the era of the development of new quality productive forces. As a new type of economic form of modernization, new quality productive forces play a tremendous role in promoting the improvement of efficiency and the growth of wealth. Socialist modernization is a modernization distinct from capitalist modernization; the distinction lies in taking common prosperity as the fundamental pursuit of social development. Furthermore, common prosperity is oriented toward social fairness, justice, and the free and comprehensive development of individuals.
Specifically, new quality productive forces assist in these goals by accelerating the restructuring of the economic development model and the economic governance model. First, regarding the economic development model, the vigorous development of new quality productive forces can ameliorate the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development [5]. Second, regarding the economic governance model, the accelerated development and application of digital technology can better coordinate the relationship between the market and the government. This allows the socialist market economy to ensure that the fruits of development flow orderly to the masses while maintaining efficiency and vitality. It is evident that in the process of socialist modernization, new quality productive forces can provide opportunities for social fairness, justice, and human development, thereby empowering the elimination of relative poverty.
In summary, the vigorous development of new quality productive forces has brought about rapid advances in economic efficiency and wealth. Simultaneously, considerations of the fair and elective nature of the relations of production behind the development of productive forces, the quest for the free and comprehensive development of human beings, and the pursuit of the goal of common prosperity should become the core essence of socialist modernization. In fact, in the process of socialist modernization, the steady advancement of social fairness and the development of individuals rely on the leap in new quality productive forces. By restructuring both development and governance models, these forces empower the elimination of relative poverty.
To conclude, Marx’s investigation of social poverty pointed toward the theoretical aim of common prosperity. On one hand, he criticized the phenomenon of the total impoverishment of the proletariat in capitalist society; on the other, he provided rational reflections for the elimination of absolute and relative poverty in a future society. In an era where new quality productive forces are flourishing, contemporary China proceeds from actual conditions, recognizing that poverty is a comprehensive social issue. Therefore, it vigorously develops new quality productive forces to empower common prosperity, aiming to eliminate absolute and relative poverty and build a future society where everyone can develop freely and comprehensively.
(The author is a researcher at the Huazhong Agricultural University branch of the Hubei Provincial Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics)
Source: Chinese Social Sciences Net / China Social Sciences Today Web Editor: Huihui