Xi Wuyi: A Brief Discussion on "Science and Technology as the Primary Productive Force" and "Scientific Atheism"
The theme of the Second Forum on the Sinicization of Marxism is the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour Speeches [1].
Twenty years ago, Deng Xiaoping inspected the south and delivered important remarks. This act held landmark significance for the cause of our country’s Reform and Opening-up. In his Southern Tour Speeches, he once again emphasized that "science and technology are the primary productive forces." I believe that in the current disciplinary construction of scientific atheism, this thought is one of the theoretical cornerstones worthy of our close attention.
I. Theoretical Innovation of "Science and Technology are the Primary Productive Forces"
That "science and technology are productive forces" is a basic principle of Marxism. The development of modern science and technology has made their role in economic and social development increasingly prominent. Deng Xiaoping consistently valued the important role of science and technology in social development. Since the beginning of Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping, with great foresight, further proposed the thesis that "science and technology are the primary productive forces."
As early as 1977, before his official reinstatement, Deng Xiaoping pointed out in a conversation: "If we want to achieve modernization, the key is to ensure that science and technology can advance; to develop science and technology, it is impossible without grasping education."
In March 1978, the National Science Conference was grandly held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Deng Xiaoping delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He pointed out that science and technology are productive forces; this has always been a Marxist viewpoint. Modern science paves the way for the progress of production techniques and determines its direction of development.
On September 5, 1988, while meeting with Czechoslovak President Gustáv Husák, Deng Xiaoping further proposed the famous thesis: "Science and technology are the primary productive forces."
In early 1992, during his southern inspection, Deng Xiaoping again pointed out that "science and technology are the primary productive forces." He spoke with earnest concern: "We must promote science; only by relying on science is there hope."
Deng Xiaoping’s thesis that "science and technology are the primary productive forces" possesses profound connotations. First, science and technology have become the dominant factor among the various elements of productive forces, becoming the first-order factor determining the development of productive forces. Second, modern science and technology have become the most important driving force for economic development and a decisive factor for national prosperity. Third, science and technology play a decisive role in improving the quality of laborers.
Deng Xiaoping's thesis on "science and technology being the primary productive forces" greatly enriched the Marxist doctrine on productive forces and science and technology. Marxism holds that productive forces are the most fundamental determining factor of all social development. In Capital and the Economic Manuscripts of 1857–1858 (Grundrisse), Marx proposed that in any society, science is a general social productive force; under the conditions of large-scale industrial production, because science is incorporated into production, it becomes a "direct productive force." This affirmed that science and technology belong to the category of productive forces. More than a hundred years ago, based on the development of modern capitalist industry, Marx and Engels had already clearly pointed out that "productive forces also include science," emphasizing that science and technology are a revolutionary force in the highest sense. Lenin and Mao Zedong inherited this thought of Marx. However, it was Deng Xiaoping who highlighted science and technology from among the various elements of productive forces and elevated them to the first position.
Inheriting basic Marxist viewpoints and based on a scientific analysis of the laws and trends of contemporary social productive forces, Deng Xiaoping proposed the thesis that "science and technology are the primary productive forces." Treating science and technology as the primary element of productive forces is an important theoretical innovation. This is Deng Xiaoping's creative development of Marxist theory regarding science, technology, and productive forces. By the 1990s, when the international community proposed that humanity had entered the era of the "knowledge economy," the correctness of Deng Xiaoping's thesis was further proven. From "general social productive force" to "direct productive force," and then to "primary productive force," the understanding of the connotation of productive forces by Marxists has deepened continuously alongside the development of social practice.
Modern science and technology are the most active and decisive factors among the new social productive forces. In modern productive forces, compared with other constituent elements, the proportion of science and technology has risen to the first place; science and technology increasingly play a leading and forward-looking role in modern productive forces and socio-economic development. Contemporary science and technology determine the direction, speed, and scale of the development of productive forces. If we say that in the age of the steam engine, science and technology produced an "additive effect" on the development of productive forces, and in the age of electrification, they produced a "multiplier effect," then in the information age, science and technology produce an "exponential effect" on the development of productive forces. The rapid development of productive forces resulting from the revolution in science and technology is simply unimaginable. According to statistics, the contribution rate of science and technology in developed countries was 5%–20% at the beginning of the 20th century, 50% by the middle of the century, and had risen to over 75% by the end of the century. Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and are the concentrated expression and main hallmark of advanced productive forces. Science and technology are an important mark of human social progress and an important impetus for the development of productive forces.
The principle that science and technology are the primary productive forces requires that Chinese Communists, in the process of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, must attach great importance to the central position of science and technology in contemporary productive forces. This theory has held a very important guiding role in the practice of our country's Reform and Opening-up and modernization construction.
First, the history of world economic development is a history of advanced productive forces replacing and eliminating backward productive forces; the direct cause determining this process is the progress of science and technology. Especially in the modern era, science and technology have changed from a non-independent factor of productive forces into a relatively independent factor, increasingly demonstrating their importance.
Second, using science and technology to transform traditional industries, significantly optimizing our country's industrial structure, and achieving leapfrog development of social productive forces will be an important way for our country's advanced productive forces to exert their effect.
Third, in the current era, science and technology—particularly high technology—are increasingly becoming the decisive force for economic and social development and the focus of competition in comprehensive national strength. National core competitiveness is increasingly expressed as the capacity to cultivate, allocate, and regulate intellectual resources and intellectual achievements, and as the capacity to own and utilize intellectual property. By occupying an advantage in knowledge and technological innovation, one can occupy a more favorable strategic position in the competition for comprehensive national power. Fully exerting the role of science and technology as the "primary productive force" is the key to realizing the strategic goal of our country's socialist modernization.
II. "Science and Technology are the Primary Productive Forces" is the Theoretical Foundation of the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education
Deng Xiaoping’s thought on science and technology being the primary productive forces is the theoretical basis for the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education. In 1977, at a symposium on science and education work, Deng Xiaoping proposed: "If our country is to catch up with world advanced levels, where should we begin? I think we must start with science and education." "Calculated without grasping science and education, the Four Modernizations [2] have no hope and will become just empty words." He clearly proposed taking the development of science and education as the precursor for developing the economy and building a modern powerful country, placing it at the forefront of our national development strategy. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Deng Xiaoping persisted in the core idea that "to achieve the Four Modernizations, science and technology are the key, and the foundation is education," laying a solid theoretical foundation for the formation of the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education.
In the 1990s, Chinese Communists continued to develop the important thought that "science and technology are the primary productive forces," gradually forming the strategic thinking of rejuvenating the country through science and education. On October 12, 1992, at the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Jiang Zemin pointed out: "Science and technology are the primary productive forces; to revitalize the economy, we must first revitalize science and technology." "Technological progress, economic prosperity, and social development fundamentally depend on improving the quality of laborers and cultivating talent. We must place education in a strategic position of priority development and strive to improve the ideological, moral, scientific, and cultural levels of the entire nation; this is the fundamental plan for achieving our country's modernization."
The "Decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Accelerating Scientific and Technological Progress," promulgated on May 6, 1995, first proposed the implementation of the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education nationwide. At the National Science and Technology Conference, Jiang Zemin delivered a speech titled "Implementing the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education," pointing out: "Rejuvenating the country through science and education means comprehensively implementing the thought that science and technology are the primary productive forces, persisting in education as the foundation, placing science, technology, and education in an important position in economic and social development, strengthening the nation's scientific and technological strength and the capacity to transform productive forces, and improving the scientific and cultural quality of the entire nation."
In the same year, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee adopted the "Proposal of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the Ninth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-range Objectives Through the Year 2010," which listed the implementation of the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education as one of the important guidelines for accelerating our country's socialist modernization construction over the next 15 years and into the 21st century.
In 1996, the Fourth Session of the 8th National People's Congress adopted the "Outline of the Ninth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-range Objectives Through the Year 2010," and the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education became a basic national policy of our country.
On September 12, 1997, in the report to the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Jiang Zemin emphasized: "Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and technological progress is the decisive factor in economic development. We must fully estimate the huge impact of science and technology, especially high technology development, on comprehensive national strength, socio-economic structure, and people's lives; we must place the acceleration of technological progress in a key position of economic and social development, so that economic construction truly shifts to the track of relying on scientific and technological progress and improving the quality of laborers."
The Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education is a development strategy proposed by the Party Central Committee and the State Council in accordance with Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Party's basic line. It was formulated based on a scientific analysis and summary of world economic, social, and technological development trends and experiences—especially in the contemporary era—and a full estimation of the future impact of science and technology, particularly high technology, on comprehensive national strength, socio-economic structure, people's lives, and the modernization process, all tailored to our country's national conditions to achieve the grand goal of socialist modernization.
Entering the 21st century, Chinese Communists have vigorously implemented the Strategy of Rejuvenating the Country through Science and Education, continuing to promote the rapid development of the cause of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics. On June 23, 2008, at the 14th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 9th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Hu Jintao stated in a speech: "At that National Science Conference held in 1978, Comrade Deng Xiaoping comprehensively expounded on major issues such as the important status, development trends, and strategic priorities of science and technology, the political status of scientific and technological personnel, and the cultivation of talent. He held high the banner and proposed famous theses such as 'science and technology are productive forces,' 'intellectuals are part of the working class,' and 'the key to the Four Modernizations is the modernization of science and technology.' Since then, the Party and the state have consistently attached great importance to and vigorously promoted the cause of science and technology... establishing a series of major principles and policies... which greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the vast numbers of scientific and technological workers in our country to throw themselves into technological progress and innovation... ushering in a new historical period of great development for our country's scientific and technological cause."
Marxism holds that the continuous liberation and development of productive forces is the fundamental driving force for human social progress. The superiority of the socialist system is ultimately reflected in the development of productive forces faster than under other systems. Our country's socialist construction started from a very backward basis in economy, technology, and culture. To reach the level of productive forces that developed countries took hundreds of years to achieve within a relatively short period, and to "come from behind" (后来居上), we must even more concentrate our strength, vigorously develop and widely apply science and technology, and fully exert the huge driving role of technological productive forces in economic and social development.
Science and technology are the primary productive forces and constitute a revolutionary force driving the progress of human civilization. As we entered the 21st century, the momentum of the global revolution in science and technology became even more rapid, gestating new and major breakthroughs. Driven by this global revolution, the role of knowledge in economic and social development has become increasingly prominent; the growth of national wealth and the improvement of human life depend more and more on the accumulation and innovation of knowledge. Competition in science and technology has become the focus of international competition in comprehensive national strength. In the current era, whoever occupies the advantage in knowledge and technological innovation will be able to master the initiative in development. Countries around the world, especially developed nations, have one after another adopted the promotion of scientific progress and innovation as a national strategy, substantially increasing investment in science and technology, accelerating the development of scientific undertakings, emphasizing basic research, prioritizing the development of strategic high-tech and related industries, and accelerating the transformation of scientific achievements into actual productive forces. This is done to provide a lasting impetus for economic and social development and to seize the initiative in international economic and technological competition.
The "science" in the strategy of "reinvigorating the country through science and education" [3] should include both the natural sciences and the social sciences. In the process of understanding and transforming the world, the philosophy and social sciences are just as important as the natural sciences; cultivating high-level philosophers and social scientists is just as important as cultivating high-level natural scientists; and improving the philosophical and social scientific literacy of the entire nation is just as important as improving its natural scientific literacy. We must vigorously develop the philosophy and social sciences just as we develop the natural sciences, giving full play to their role in understanding and transforming the world.
III. The Strategy of "Reinvigorating the Country through Science and Education" and "Scientific Atheism"
The strategy of reinvigorating the country through science and education refers to the comprehensive implementation of the idea that science and technology are the primary productive forces. It involves persisting in education as the foundation, placing science, technology, and education in important positions within economic and social development, and strengthening the nation's scientific and technological strength and its capacity to transform these into actual productive forces. It aims to improve the scientific and cultural literacy of the entire nation and shift economic construction onto a track that relies on scientific progress and the improvement of the quality of laborers, thereby accelerating the realization of national prosperity and strength.
From the perspective of the history of human intellectual development, science itself is a vital soul of culture. Science is the internal driving force for the generation of new culture and is also an important component of culture. In human history, every major advance in science and technology has profoundly influenced cultural transformation. Science has changed human values and liberated humanity from ignorance and backwardness.
The development of modern science became an important driving force for the development of modern atheist thought. In modern Europe, Newtonian mechanics provided decisive natural scientific theoretical support for modern materialist philosophy, while Darwin’s theory caused the "crude dogma of God creating all things separately to be destroyed." Darwin's theory of evolution shook the foundations of religious theology and became one of the pillars of scientific atheism. To a certain extent, it can be said that modern science changed the face of Western culture. Precisely because of this, 18th-century Enlightenment writers "took the popularization of knowledge, including scientific knowledge, as their mission to advance the cause of the Enlightenment movement." Diderot, a core figure of the Encyclopedists, pointed out: "The first step toward philosophy is unbelief."
With the development of modern science and the emerging bourgeoisie's opposition to feudal theocratic rule, and under the influence of rationalist and liberal philosophers, modern Western atheist trends became increasingly prominent. This reached a climax from the Renaissance, through the Enlightenment, to the Young Hegelians. Because it possessed a distinct character of opposing the feudal system and critiquing theological politics, it was called "militant atheism." During the period of establishing Western capitalist state systems, it played a massive role in liberating the mind and served as the foundational point for constitutional democracy and individual freedom. Because it absorbed the achievements of modern natural science and used the scientific spirit and method as weapons to promote scientific development, it was also called "scientific atheism."
Marxist atheism also belongs to the category of scientific atheism and is its highest form. It inherited the excellent achievements of humanity, such as 17th- and 18th-century British and French materialism and 19th-century German Feuerbachian humanism, and manifested itself through the discovery of the materialist conception of history and the theory of surplus value. From then on, "scientific atheism, as the starting point and cornerstone of the Marxist worldview, moved from the realm of ideology and culture into the practice of the movement for scientific socialism."
Marxism points out that the emergence, development, and disappearance of religion have their own historical objective necessity. Religion is an inverted worldview, an illusory reflection of inverted social relations. The essence of religion can only be found in the social foundations from which it arises. To solve the religious problem, social relations must be transformed. Therefore, Marxist parties list the resolution of the religious problem as a constituent part of the cause of revolution and construction; they oppose replacing actual social transformation with mere ideological education alone, and even more so oppose "struggling against religion" in isolation from the Party’s general line. Marxist parties regard the propaganda of scientific atheism as an important task for mobilizing the masses, awakening them, and solving the many specific cognitive problems caused by theism. "To abandon atheism and reject the research and propaganda of scientific atheism is to uphold obscurantism and a policy of keeping the people in ignorance; conversely, attempting to use administrative means or decrees to solve problems of ideological belief is Blanquism." [4]
In modern China, all enlightenment thinkers were deeply influenced by Western scientific thought. The May Fourth Movement in modern China advocated "science and democracy," which included opposing superstition in ghosts and gods and propagating atheism; this became one of the intellectual hallmarks of China’s entry into the modern era. In the academic circles of modern China, the first to use the concept of atheism was the famous scholar Zhang Taiyan. Its edge was directed straight at monotheism, such as Christianity. Against the historical backdrop of modern China's struggle for national survival and cultural enlightenment, important thinkers of the May Fourth period—such as Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, and Cai Yuanpei—used Western atheist ideas to critique spiritualism [5] and break the ideological shackles of feudal superstition. They critiqued the theism of monotheistic religions like Christianity and launched the "Anti-Christian Movement" to resist imperialist cultural aggression.
The dissemination of scientific atheism in China was an important intellectual prerequisite for the birth of the Communist Party of China. Early leaders of the CPC, such as Li Dazhao, while disseminating Marxism, also took the dissemination of scientific atheism as their own important mission. The magnificent wars and revolutions brought about profound transformations in the social structure of old China. The founding of New China in 1949 laid a solid social foundation for the popularization of scientific atheism and the decline of religious theism. In the cause of socialist construction, Chinese Communists integrated the propaganda and education of scientific atheism into the overall strategy of ideological and cultural construction.
In the implementation of the strategy of reinvigorating the country through science and education in contemporary China, one of the important tasks of socialist spiritual civilization construction is to advocate the scientific spirit, including scientific atheist thought, and to resist ignorance and superstition. The development of science has already forced religion to lose many of its hereditary spiritual territories; therefore, developing scientific undertakings and promoting social progress are matters of paramount importance for scientific atheists. The construction of scientific atheism belongs to a part of the strategy of reinvigorating the country through science and education; local work must be subordinate to the overall situation. However, it should be pointed out that natural sciences like mathematics, physics, and chemistry are not themselves equivalent to scientific atheism in the field of philosophy. One of the driving forces of contemporary religious theology is its effort to adapt to new scientific discoveries, attempting to incorporate them into the scope of theological interpretation. Contemporary scientific atheism is directed at various forms of "neo-theism"; "it has its own specific objects of research and specific theoretical content, and it solves many specific cognitive problems that cannot be replaced by other disciplines." In this sense, the research, propaganda, and education of scientific atheism are necessary links for improving the intellectual quality of the nation.
IV. The Socialist Core Value System and Scientific Atheism
Stepping into the new period of the 21st century, the Party Central Committee with Hu Jintao as General Secretary proposed the implementation of the "people-centered" Scientific Outlook on Development, the construction of the socialist core value system, and the enhancement of the appeal and cohesion of socialist ideology. Strengthening the research, propaganda, and education of scientific atheism is an important constituent part thereof.
On May 28, 2004, six departments—the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Propaganda Department, the Office of the Spiritual Civilization Development Steering Commission, the Central Party School, the Ministry of Education, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences—issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Work of Research, Propaganda, and Education on Marxist Atheism. The document pointed out that strengthening this work "is of vital significance for consolidating the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, maintaining the advancement and purity of the Party, improving the ideological, moral, scientific, and cultural literacy of the entire nation, cementing the common ideological foundation for the united struggle of the whole Party and people, and promoting the coordinated development of socialist material, political, and spiritual civilizations."
Scientific atheism is the theoretical prerequisite and foundation of the Marxist worldview. Without scientific atheism, there would be no Marxism. To become a Marxist, one must first possess a scientific atheist worldview. An atheist and materialist worldview is the most fundamental basis for the words and deeds of Communists. Only on this basis can one master the higher-level theories within the Marxist theoretical system.
The primary tasks of research, propaganda, and education in Marxist atheism are: to focus on popularizing the basic viewpoints of materialism and basic common knowledge of the natural sciences; to aim at breaking through ignorance and superstition; and to revolve around the themes of propagating scientific ideas, carrying forward the scientific spirit, popularizing scientific knowledge, and disseminating scientific methods.
At present, external hostile forces are using the banner of religion and various channels to conduct infiltration against our country, undermining ethnic unity and splitting the motherland’s unity. Various trends of ignorant and superstitious thought still possess considerable influence in social life. Under the vigorous subsidies of religious missionary undertakings, various forms of "cultural theology" and "academic theology" are also quite active in academic circles. In contrast, the voice criticizing the negative factors of religion is very weak. Some scholars who claim to study the Marxist view of religion never mention atheism and attempt to castrate atheism from Marxism. This situation not only seriously affects the research and propaganda of scientific atheism but also poses a considerable threat to the research and construction of Marxist theory.
Scientific atheism supports its truth with science and reason, while theism reflects its absurdity through illusion and irrationality. Our spirit of the times is the national spirit of rejuvenating China and modern civilization. Moving from traditional Chinese humanism toward the modern spirit of "science and democracy" is the great trend of historical development. However, some cultural figures argue that the various social problems, declining public morality, and moral degeneration in modern China constitute a "crisis of faith" and that the best way to save people's hearts and maintain social order is religion. Currently, the high-profile "religious salvation theory" mostly comes from Western monotheism. We should loudly question these voices of cultural proselytization.
A worldview based on the existence of ghosts and gods does not conform to objective facts. Life views and values established according to theism damage human dignity, disparage human value, suppress human creativity, and make believers susceptible to control by those claiming to be representatives of the divine. Therefore, our opposition to the infiltration of religious belief into the field of education is an implementation of the national law of "separation of church and state" and a conformity with the trend of historical development; it is not hostility toward religious believers. Whether to believe in a religion should be entirely a personal matter; belief is a right of citizens and should be respected, but in the decision-making of the state, there is no place for God or deities. There is only one truth, and it must be defended courageously. The critique of theism by atheism is the self-critique and self-improvement of human society in the process of understanding and transforming the world; this is the inevitable trend of human society’s development.
Within the socialist core value system, the atheist materialist worldview and active outlook on life occupy an important position. The Party Central Committee has repeatedly pointed out: To consolidate the guiding position of Marxism and to enhance the appeal and cohesion of socialist ideology, the role of scientific atheism cannot be ignored. For some time, there has been a kind of public opinion attempting to expel scientific atheism from the Marxist view of religion and socialist ideology; this is dangerous. It neither conforms to the global trend of secularization in human history nor accords with China's humanist tradition.