Commentator of "Qiushi" Magazine: Deeply Understand and Accelerate the Development of New Quality Productive Forces
"Developing new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and a primary focus for promoting high-quality development. We must continue to do a good job in the great undertaking of innovation to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces."
On January 31, 2024, while presiding over the eleventh group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech. Integrating theory with practice, he systematically elucidated the scientific connotation of new quality productive forces, profoundly pointed out the great significance of developing them, and put forward clear requirements for their advancement. From introducing "new quality productive forces" during his local inspection tours in 2023, to emphasizing the "development of new quality productive forces" at the Central Economic Work Conference, and finally to his systematic exposition during the Political Bureau group study, the General Secretary has issued a series of important discourses and major deployments. These have profoundly answered the major theoretical and practical questions of "what are new quality productive forces, why develop them, and how to develop them," providing scientific guidance for promoting high-quality development on the new journey.
High-quality development requires new productivity theory for guidance
Marxism holds that productive forces are the material premise of all social life, the most active and revolutionary factor promoting social progress, and that the criterion of productive forces is the fundamental standard for measuring social development. Marx and Engels pointed out that "the sum of productive forces achieved by men determines the state of society." Unswervingly promoting the development of productive forces and, on this basis, continuously improving the people's standard of living is the fundamental starting point of all our Party's work.
The fundamental task of socialism is to liberate and develop social productive forces. The superiority of socialism over capitalism is reflected in its ability to develop productive forces faster and better. After the founding of New China, Comrade Mao Zedong proposed that "the purpose of the socialist revolution is to liberate the productive forces." Following the launch of reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping clearly stated that "socialism has many tasks, but the fundamental one is to develop the productive forces." Since the founding of New China, our Party has led the people in completing the industrialization process that took developed countries hundreds of years in just a few decades, promoting China's development into the world's second-largest economy and creating a miracle of rapid economic development rarely seen in the world. An extremely important factor in this success has been the high degree of importance placed on the criterion of productive forces, consistently persisting in liberating and developing social productive forces, and continuously strengthening the comprehensive national power of the socialist state.
Entering the New Era, China's economic development has entered a new stage. The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core regards persisting in high-quality development as the "hard truth" [1] of the New Era. It has consistently liberated and developed social productive forces, made a series of major decisions and deployments, and pushed China's economy onto a path of higher quality, more efficient, fairer, more sustainable, and more secure development. The level of productive forces has achieved a massive lift and breakthrough development, forming a new qualitative state of productive forces development. Addressing this new situation, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that "new quality productive forces have already formed in practice and demonstrated a strong driving and supporting force for high-quality development."
At the same time, we must recognize that many factors restricting high-quality development still exist. For example, some key core technologies are controlled by others; industries face the problem of being "large but not strong" and "comprehensive but not superior"; and the pressure to transform production and lifestyle systems toward green and low-carbon models is significant. To further promote high-quality development, we must form new industries, new models, and new drivers of growth, hold key core technologies firmly in our own hands, create a modernized industrial system that is independently controllable, safe, reliable, and highly competitive, and build a green, low-carbon, and circular economic system to achieve intensive growth [2] driven by innovation. Ultimately, this means achieving greater breakthroughs and development at the level of productive forces. This presents a new subject for our theoretical development, requiring a further deepening of our understanding of new quality productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that developing new quality productive forces "requires us to summarize and generalize from a theoretical perspective to guide new developmental practices." The General Secretary’s important discourses on developing new quality productive forces point out the important focus for promoting high-quality development. They reflect a profound grasp of the laws of productive forces development and the prominent problems facing China's development, represent a profound summary of the laws of China's economic construction, further innovate and develop Marxist productivity theory, and constitute an important component of Xi Jinping Economic Thought. They possess significant theoretical and practical importance, and we must study them deeply, comprehend them profoundly, and use them to guide our practice.
Grasping the scientific connotation of new quality productive forces
What are new quality productive forces? General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In brief, new quality productive forces are advanced productive forces in a qualitative state where innovation plays the leading role. They break away from traditional economic growth modes and productivity development paths, possess the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, and align with the New Development Philosophy. They are catalyzed by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. Their basic connotation is the leap in workers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combinations. Their core indicator is a significant increase in total factor productivity. Their hallmark is innovation, the key lies in high quality, and their essence is advanced productivity." This important discourse profoundly points out the basic theoretical issues—such as the characteristics, basic connotation, core indicators, hallmarks, keys, and essence—of new quality productive forces, providing the fundamental follow-through for us to accurately grasp their scientific connotation.
New quality productive forces are a qualitative state of advanced productive forces where innovation plays the leading role, and their hallmark is innovation. Grasping new quality productive forces requires a profound understanding of the critical role of innovation in improving productivity. Looking back at history, from the mechanization of the first industrial revolution in the 18th century, to the electrification of the second in the 19th century, and the informatization of the third in the 20th century, every round of disruptive technological innovation brought about a great liberation of social productive forces and a leap in living standards, fundamentally changing the trajectory of human history. Some countries seized the rare opportunities of technological and industrial revolutions, rapidly strengthening their comprehensive national power and even leaping to become world powers. Currently, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is gathering momentum. Some major disruptive technological innovations are creating new industries and new business forms. Information technology, biotechnology, manufacturing technology, new materials technology, and new energy technology are extensively penetrating almost all fields, driving a cluster of major technological changes characterized by green, intelligent, and ubiquitous features. We have ushered in a period of historical convergence between the world's new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation and China's transition of its developmental mode. Facing a once-in-a-thousand-years historical opportunity, new quality productive forces emerged as the times required and continue to develop and grow in practice. New quality productive forces represent the new direction and trends of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and the developmental direction of advanced productive forces. Accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces means achieving a leading position in productivity development, seizing developmental opportunities in new fields and new tracks, and winning the initiative for development in fierce international competition.
Marx pointed out that "productive forces... mean the development of the productive capacity and its elements" and that "the productive power of labor is developed continuously with the uninterrupted progress of science and technology." New quality productive forces are the product of productivity development and scientific and technological progress, representing a revolutionary enhancement of humanity’s ability to transform nature. This enhancement is holistic and fundamental; consequently, the workers, means of labor, and objects of labor that constitute these forces must also have new connotations. Regarding workers: as the most active factor in productive forces, those matching new quality productive forces are no longer ordinary laborers focused on simple repetitive labor, but strategic talents capable of creating new quality productive forces and applied talents who can skillfully master new quality means of production. Regarding means of labor: acting as the "measurement of the development of human labor power," as original and disruptive technologies develop and are widely applied, more and more new types of production tools will be created, and old, backward tools will gradually be replaced by new, advanced ones—this is the main indicator of the development of productive forces. Regarding objects of labor: the improvement and widespread use of means of labor will inevitably lead to an expansion of the scope of objects of labor, including not only traditional natural substances but also non-material forms such as data, which are not restricted by space or time.
Only when various factors of production are combined can they form actual productive forces. New quality productive forces are manifested not only in the innovative development of various factors but also in the innovative development of the way these factors are combined. With the development and change of workers, means of labor, and objects of labor within new quality productive forces, the optimized combination of the three will also undergo revolutionary changes, bringing about new industries, new business forms, and new models, and forming new drivers and advantages for economic development. Productive forces determine the relations of production, and the relations of production react back upon the productive forces. The formation of new quality productive forces will inevitably cause revolutionary changes in the relations of production, requiring the formation of new relations of production that adapt to, protect, liberate, and develop them. Continuously reforming and improving the relations of production and forming new management models and institutional mechanisms is an important guarantee for promoting the continuous development of new quality productive forces.
In short, we must profoundly recognize that new quality productive forces are not local optimizations or simple iterations of traditional productive forces. Rather, they are advanced productive forces catalyzed by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. They will inevitably lead to changes in developmental and production modes, push China's social productive forces toward a new leap, and lay a more solid material and technical foundation for the comprehensive building of a modern socialist country.
Promoting the accelerated development of new quality productive forces
"We cannot fall behind on the new tracks"; "we must rise and catch up, striving to run alongside or even lead." At the 2023 Central Economic Work Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s words were inspiring. On the new journey of building a strong country and national rejuvenation, to promote Chinese-path modernization, the most fundamental task is to realize the modernization of productive forces. The essence of new quality productive forces is advanced productivity. We must effectively align our thoughts and actions with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech and the CPC Central Committee's decisions and deployments. We must focus on economic construction as the center of our work and high-quality development as our primary task, further enhancing our awareness and initiative in promoting the development of new quality productive forces and improving our practical ability to do so.
— Accelerate scientific and technological innovation. Scientific and technological innovation can catalyze new industries, new models, and new drivers of growth; it is the core element for developing new quality productive forces. We must strengthen scientific and technological innovation, especially original and disruptive innovation, accelerate the realization of high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology, win the battle for key core technologies, and cultivate new drivers for the development of new quality productive forces.
— Accelerate industrial innovation. Industry is the carrier of productive forces; scientific and technological achievements can only become social productive forces through industrialization. We must promptly apply the results of scientific and technological innovation to specific industries and industrial chains, transform and upgrade traditional industries, cultivate and strengthen emerging industries, plan and build future industries, and improve the modernized industrial system. We must arrange industrial chains around the development of new quality productive forces, enhance the resilience and security levels of industrial and supply chains, and ensure the industrial system is independently controllable, safe, and reliable.
— Accelerate innovation in development modes. Green development is the defining feature of high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces. We must accelerate the green transition of development modes, firmly establish and practice the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" [3], unswervingly follow the path of ecological priority and green development, and vigorously advocate for green and healthy lifestyles throughout society.
— Accelerate innovation in institutional mechanisms. Relations of production must adapt to the requirements of the development of productive forces. To develop new quality productive forces, we must further comprehensively deepen reform and form new types of relations of production that correspond to them. We must deepen reforms of the economic and scientific-technological systems, focusing on clearing "bottlenecks and obstacles" [4] that constrain the development of new quality productive forces. We must expand high-level opening up to the outside world to create a favorable international environment for the development of new quality productive forces.
— Accelerate innovation in talent work mechanisms. Talent is the primary resource, and innovation-driven development is essentially talent-driven. Developing new quality productive forces ultimately depends on innovative talents. According to the requirements for developing new quality productive forces, we must smooth the virtuous cycle of education, science and technology, and talent, and improve the mechanisms for talent cultivation, introduction, use, and rational flow. We must improve the mechanism for factors of production to participate in income distribution and create a good atmosphere that encourages innovation and tolerates failure.