The 2024 Annual Meeting of the New Collective Economy Research Branch of the Chinese Society of Political Economy and the 3rd Rural Vitalization Forum Successfully Held
On December 21, 2024, the 2024 Annual Conference of the New Collective Economy Research Branch of the Chinese Society of Political Economy and the 3rd Rural Revitalization Forum were held at the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Hosted by the New Collective Economy Research Branch of the Chinese Society of Political Economy, the forum's theme was "Development of the New Collective Economy and the Construction of Socialist Ideology." The objective was to deeply study, research, publicize, and implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and the second and third plenary sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee, promote the high-quality development of the new rural collective economy, and build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership. Experts and scholars from institutions including CASS, the Agricultural and Rural Development Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Development Research Center of the State Council, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Minzu University of China, China Agricultural University, and the Hunan Academy of Social Sciences attended for exchange and discussion.
The opening ceremony was presided over by Research Fellow Fan Jianxin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Political Science at CASS. Research Fellow Luo Wendong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Marxism Studies at CASS; Research Fellow Gong Yun, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Economics at CASS and President of the New Collective Economy Research Branch of the Chinese Society of Political Economy; and Research Fellow Hou Weimin, President of the Chinese Society of Political Economy, delivered speeches on behalf of the sponsoring organizations—the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, the New Collective Economy Research Branch, and the Chinese Society of Political Economy, respectively.
Fan Jianxin first expressed his gratitude to the organizers and participants. He noted that while academic conferences are currently numerous, themes such as "Development of the New Collective Economy and the Construction of Socialist Ideology" are rare. This meeting, he stated, takes a clear-cut stand and shows commendable courage; it is of great significance to the smooth advancement of agricultural and rural modernization, Chinese-path modernization, the building of a strong country, and the great cause of national rejuvenation.
Luo Wendong pointed out that the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was a milestone meeting held at a critical period for comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, issuing a call to action for further comprehensively deepening reform. The meeting required developing the new rural collective economy by constructing operational mechanisms with clear property rights and rational distribution to endow farmers with more substantial property rights. It also proposed improving the responsibility system for ideological work and perfecting the system for arming the whole Party, educating the people, and guiding practice with the Party’s innovative theories. He expressed hope that this forum would deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on "Three Rural Issues" [1] work and the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, focusing on major issues such as the development of the new collective economy and socialist ideological construction to contribute to the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and the swift realization of rural revitalization.
Gong Yun argued that developing the new collective economy and continuously consolidating the foundation of the rural socialist collective economy are major issues concerning the socialist direction of agricultural and rural development, the common prosperity of farmers, and Chinese-path modernization. Developing the new collective economy is urgent and brook no delay; it is an important handle and effective measure for advancing "Three Rural Issues" work and achieving Chinese-path modernization. In terms of ideological understanding, it is necessary to "clear the source and rectify the roots" [2] in constructing socialist ideology and to adhere to the guiding position of Marxism. Developing the public ownership economy is an inherent requirement of socialism. CASS has always attached importance to collective economy research, but the current academic focus is insufficient. He hoped young scholars would treat collective economy research as an "academic goldmine" to be continuously excavated and passed down.
Hou Weimin argued that the collective economy is an important prerequisite for upholding the Party’s leadership. Agricultural and rural modernization requires the support of the collective economy; developing the new collective economy is an effective means of organizing farmers and the "only path" [3] to promoting rural revitalization. It plays a vital role in consolidating the guiding position of socialist ideology. Prioritizing collective economy research is an unwavering tradition and commitment of the Chinese Society of Political Economy. He hoped Chinese Marxist political economy scholars would continue to focus on major issues regarding collective economy development, promote the development of agricultural new quality productive forces, and contribute to the accelerated realization of agricultural and rural modernization.
The keynote report session was presided over by Gong Yun. Speakers included Research Fellow Wu Li, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Contemporary China Studies at CASS; Research Fellow Fan Jianxin; Professor Zhu Youzi (online), former President and Party Secretary of the Hunan Academy of Social Sciences; Yang Chunhua, Deputy Director of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; and Professor Wang Chuanli of the School of Marxism at Tsinghua University.
Wu Li argued that the new collective economy is an important component of Chinese socialism’s economy. Formed through seventy years of socialist exploration since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it is a new economic form adapted to the socialist market economy through innovation and transformation. It plays a significant role in achieving common prosperity in rural areas, promoting rural grassroots governance, and ensuring the Party's grassroots leadership. It is necessary to fully inherit and develop historical experience while continuously exploring the path of new collective economy construction.
Fan Jianxin argued that persisting in rural land collective ownership and developing the new collective economy is the political direction for the rural revitalization strategy and the important path for achieving the "second leap" [4] in rural reform. It is an inevitable requirement and essential guarantee for developing modernized large-scale agriculture, consolidating the Party's governing foundation in rural areas, and rebuilding the rural community in the New Era.
Zhu Youzi argued that developing the new rural collective economy essentially involves activating "red resources," "red funds," and "red assets" [5] while strengthening market resources, funds, and assets. The more the new collective economy develops, the stronger the Party’s ability to lead, serve, and unite farmers. This is a concrete manifestation of the continuous strengthening of the Party’s leadership over the countryside and the consolidation of its governing status.
Yang Chunhua argued that the rural collective economy is an important part of the socialist public ownership economy, representing the "bottom line" and direction of rural reform. It is a basic requirement for consolidating socialist public ownership and perfecting the basic socialist economic system. New-type urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization are highly correlated and mutually reinforcing, acting as the "two wings of a bird and the two wheels of a cart" for Chinese-path modernization. To promote people-centered new-type urbanization, the key lies in vigorously developing the new rural collective economy, accelerating the "citizenization" of the rural migrant population, and using the county level as a primary entry point to break the urban-rural dual structure and promote integrated urban-rural development.
Wang Chuanli argued that individualized and fragmented operations easily lead to disorder in the rural economy, culture, social governance, and social security. The collective economy is the support for mainstream rural values, the "birthplace" of socialist ideology, the material basis for constructing a new type of industry-agriculture and urban-rural relationship, and an inherent requirement for rural grassroots Party building. Only on the basis of the collective economy can the spontaneity and lack of discipline of small-scale farmers be overcome in favor of organization and the implementation of Party building work.
The first stage of the thematic reports was presided over by Peng Haihong, Research Fellow at the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies and Vice President/Secretary-General of the New Collective Economy Research Branch. Speakers included Research Fellow Yang Tuan of the CASS Institute of Sociology; Professor Song Chaolong, Vice Dean of the School of Marxism at Peking University; Duan Chunting, Party Branch Secretary of Nanyu Village, Sanpo Town, Laishui County, Hebei Province; Professor Yan Hairong of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University; and Professor Zhang Hui, Dean of the School of Marxism at China Agricultural University.
Yang Tuan argued that the new collective economy is an economic form centered on rural collective economic organizations. It involves multiple participants and construction methods within and beyond rural markets. It is a new form of rural collective economy that perfects the basic rural management system and achieves the "integration of unified and separate management." Rural collective economic organizations act as the executors of national policy, managers and preservers of collective property, protectors of smallholders’ rights, and leaders of various economic subjects. Currently, development faces issues such as weak organizations, lack of capacity building, and imbalanced development. To persist in rural land collective ownership, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Rural Collective Economic Organizations must be resolutely implemented to elevate the quality of these organizations.
Song Chaolong argued that the core of industrial development is substituting factory labor as the basic organizational unit for blood-relation communities. The "three-level ownership with the production team as the basis" [6] was the institutional design of Marxist political economy regarding ownership structures; its spatial division of ownership rights offers profound inspiration for the current development of the new collective economy. Addressing crises in the industrial system and rural problems must be elevated to the level of ownership structures, predicated on the continuous improvement of the public ownership economy and the expansion of the collective economy.
Duan Chunting reviewed Nanyu Village’s success in recent years through Party-branch-led cooperatives and the development of the village collective economy. He emphasized that Nanyu Village will further stimulate grassroots development vitality and effectiveness by developing new management entities, coordinating village-level collective funds, assets, and resources, and developing joint-stock cooperative operations to expand the village-level collective economy.
Yan Hairong explained the new collective economy theoretically through the concepts of "resource integrity" and "holistic productive forces." She argued that holistic productive force is a type of new quality productive force and an advantage of the new collective economy. Taking the practice of Gacuo Township in Tibet as an example, she pointed out that its development expanded the connotation of holistic productive forces, embedded production within ecology, and fostered the subjectivity and initiative of members. This broke the dualistic opposition between subject and object, forming a "life community" of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass, and sand, thereby practicing Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.
Zhang Hui argued that developing the new rural collective economy on the new journey of the New Era places higher requirements on the leadership of rural grassroots Party organizations. They must not only maximize economic returns and welfare but also focus on improving comprehensive efficiency. She analyzed the fundamental questions of why and how rural grassroots Party organizations can lead development through five capacities: policy grasp, social mobilization, stable income growth, rational distribution, and supervision/management.
The second stage of thematic reports was presided over by Hou Weimin. Speakers included Research Fellow Zhao Zhikui of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies; Research Fellow Jiang Yu of the Development Research Center of the State Council; Research Fellow Liu Jianjin of the CASS Institute of Rural Development; Professor Chen Yiyuan of China Agricultural University; Professor Zhao Yihuan of Henan Agricultural University; and Huang Kai (online), Party Branch Secretary of Hexie Village, Guiyang County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province.
Zhao Zhikui, based on surveys in villages such as Maojiayu (Tianjin), Xingshifu (Heilongjiang), Liuzhuang (Henan), Tangxi (Zhejiang), and Yingdong (Shanghai), analyzed the development, achievements, and problems of China's new rural collective economy since the 18th CPC National Congress. He argued for the importance of "telling the China story well," particularly the story of Chinese rural development, and strengthening the external publicity of the new collective economy.
Jiang Yu argued that rural collective economic organizations have drawn a "bottom line" for collective economy development, while Party-branch-led cooperatives provide a way to connect these organizations with the large-scale market. Developing the rural collective economy must solve the problems of consolidating collective ownership and strengthening collective management. Guiding farmers toward organization and collectivization through Party-led cooperatives is a feasible path for high-level collective economy development.
Liu Jianjin argued that research on the new collective economy should focus not only on its extension but also on its intension. The new collective economy refers to a new form characterized by clear property rights and defined responsibilities derived from reforms. It possesses multiple meanings, including promoting economic development, maintaining social stability, and enhancing resource mobility.
Chen Yiyuan analyzed the significance of the "re-organization" of village communities through the practice of Party-branch-led cooperatives in Yantai City. She argued that under conditions of smallholder production, the most important task is to re-organize farmers through new collective economic organizations. A specific village in Yantai achieved coordination of agricultural production through such cooperatives, solving dilemmas of smallholder production and structural adjustment, leading to increased income, establishing the prestige of Party members, and exercising the "fighting fortress" [7] role of rural grassroots Party organizations.
Zhao Yihuan argued that the relationship between the development of the rural collective economy and the growth of collective members' welfare is essentially the relationship between production, distribution, and consumption. The development of the rural collective economy can effectively promote the growth of collective members' welfare. Materially, it facilitates the effective enhancement of labor productive forces and labor efficiency, favoring the transformation of labor productivity and the rational distribution of the fruits of labor. Spiritually, it facilitates the scientific integration of education with productive labor and promotes the well-rounded development of collective members. It is necessary to correctly understand the relationship between individual prosperity and collective prosperity, persist in distribution according to work [8], gradually increase the provision of collective welfare, and continuously develop and expand the rural collective economy.
Huang Kai, focusing on the theme of "Leading Revitalization through Party Building and Promoting Development through the Integration of Culture and Tourism," shared the practices and achievements of Hexie Village, Zhenghe Town, Guiyang County, Hunan Province, in promoting comprehensive rural revitalization in recent years. Hexie Village has adopted a new grassroots governance model characterized by "Party building leadership, village-enterprise alliance, industrial development, and mass benefit." By formulating plans based on local conditions, optimizing services from the inside out, and seizing opportunities to "string pearls into a chain" [9], the village has actively explored the "Three Chains" Party building model—building branches on the industrial chain, gathering Party members on the industrial chain, and enriching the masses on the industrial chain. They founded a Branch Farm, established a "strong village company" [10], and adopted an operating method of "Party Branch + Company + Base + Farmers." By taking equity in enterprises through land and capital, the village collective economic cooperative has bonded with enterprises to form a new "common prosperity" model of village-enterprise alliance. This has made the village's living environment more beautiful, the villagers' lives more affluent, and rural governance more harmonious, thereby promoting comprehensive rural revitalization.
The conference also featured four sub-forums. Participating experts and scholars conducted academic discussions on topics such as "Agricultural and Rural Modernization and Chinese-path Modernization," "Rural Collective Economy and Rural Revitalization," "Rural Grassroots Party Building and Rural Governance," and "Socialist Ideology and the Development of Rural Spiritual Civilization." They reached a broad consensus on developing and expanding the new quality rural collective economy and strengthening the construction of socialist ideology, and offered suggestions on issues such as developing the rural collective economy, promoting rural revitalization, and accelerating the realization of agricultural and rural modernization.
The closing ceremony of the forum was presided over by Zhang Jiangang, a researcher at the Institute of Marxism Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and deputy director of the editorial department of Marxist Studies. Liu Haihua, an official from the Science Research Department of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies; Lu Fengyi, a doctoral student at the School of Marxism of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Guo Benyong, vice president of the Party School of the Linyi County Committee of the CPC; and Wang Jiaqi, a doctoral student at the School of Marxism of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, delivered group reports on behalf of their respective sub-forums. Researcher Peng Haihong delivered the concluding remarks for the forum.
(Contributed by Lu Fengyi, Yue Xiaofeng, and Peng Haihong; images provided by the same.)