The first general requirement: democracy and legal system. Democracy and legal system are the political basis and political guarantee for building a harmonious socialist society. The original meaning of the word "democracy" is "majority rule". Democracy must respect and reflect the wishes of the majority. Only in this way can the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the people and all sectors be mobilized. Socialist democracy is a new type of democracy that embodies the will of the vast majority of people. On the basis of summing up the experience and lessons of democratic political construction at home and abroad, especially the successful experience since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, our party clearly pointed out that it is necessary to develop socialist democratic politics and build socialist political civilization. The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China regards socialist democracy as an important goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee once again stressed that it is necessary to realize the institutionalization, standardization and proceduralization of socialist democratic politics, and to ensure that people enjoy a wide range of democratic rights. In order to realize that the people are the masters of the country, we must improve the democratic system, enrich the forms of development, expand citizens' orderly political participation at all levels, and ensure that the people manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings and social affairs according to law.
The 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the basic strategy of governing the country according to law. The basic essence of governing the country according to law is that the broad masses of the people, under the leadership of the Party and in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and laws, manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings and various social affairs through various channels and forms, ensure that all state work is carried out according to law, and gradually realize the institutionalization and legalization of socialist democracy, so that this system and law will not change because of changes in leaders' views and attention. To strengthen the construction of the socialist legal system, we must adhere to the principles of abiding by laws, strictly enforcing laws, and prosecuting offenders. We should be good at making the party's ideas become the will of the state through legal procedures, and ensure the implementation of the party's line, principles and policies from the system and law.
To build a harmonious socialist society, we must further develop socialist democracy, constantly improve the socialist legal system and build a socialist country ruled by law.
The second general requirement: fairness and justice. Fairness and justice is one of the core values of socialism. Marx and Engels made a profound, comprehensive and systematic exposition on social fairness and justice. They believe that the real fairness pursued by mankind for thousands of years can only be realized under the system of * * *; The degree of fairness depends on the development level of social productive forces, production determines distribution, and the premise of distribution depends on the products available for distribution; In the first stage and advanced stage of capitalist society, fairness and its degree of realization are different. They also believe that as the first stage of socialist society, fairness and its realization have their own characteristics: First, in socialist society, the basis of distribution can only be labor, which is Marx's "distribution according to work". But because everyone's work ability and family status are different, the result of distribution is bound to be unfair. Second, opportunities and environment are fair. The greatest fairness in socialist society is that class differences no longer exist. As long as people have the ability to work, society will provide them with equal conditions and let them give full play to their talents. This is what Marx called "from each according to his ability". The third is social adjustment, that is to say, before distributing social members, necessary deductions must be made. The deducted labor products are used for redistribution, including relief for members of society who have difficulties in life.
Promoting social fairness and justice is an important foundation for building a harmonious socialist society. Judging from the specific content and basic rules of fairness and justice in the modern sense, it must contain four interrelated and complementary principles, which is an indispensable organic whole. These four principles are: first, the principle of safeguarding basic rights. The basic rights mentioned here include the right to life, social security and education. As Engels pointed out: "All people, or at least all citizens of a country, or all members of a society should have equal political and social status." This requires that economic and social development must adhere to the people-oriented principle and be based on safeguarding the basic rights of social members. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that economic and social development benefits the vast majority of social members, achieve real development, and avoid the situation of "growth without development" in which only a few people benefit. Second, the principle of equal opportunity. In other words, to ensure that every member of society enjoys roughly the same equal development opportunities, members of society with roughly the same potential and will should have roughly the same development opportunities and prospects. Before participating in the distribution of social resources such as social wealth, the principle of equal opportunity requires abandoning the influence of pre-existing factors (such as identity, family background, gender, etc.). ) ensure that every member of society can have equal competition conditions and be treated fairly, so as to maximize the ability of every member of society. Third, the principle of distribution according to contribution. In other words, we should make different distribution according to the specific contribution of each member of society. In the process of forming social resources such as social wealth, the quantity and quality of labor and factors of production invested by each social member are different, so the contribution of each social member to society is also different. Distribution according to contribution is to closely combine each individual's specific contribution with his own vital interests. Doing so is conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of every member of society, thus stimulating the creative vitality of society and making all sources of social wealth flow fully. Fourth, the principle of social adjustment. That is to make necessary adjustments to the interest pattern formed after a distribution, so that members of society can generally enjoy the fruits of development. In the real society, because people's abilities, opportunities and specific environment are very different, because the systems and rules are imperfect and mismatched, and because there are various uncertain factors in society, especially in the market economy, there may be unreasonable or even unfair phenomena in different degrees after the initial distribution. Therefore, after the initial distribution, it is necessary for society to readjust. Therefore, it is necessary to establish and improve the coordination mechanism of social interests, especially an effective social transfer payment system with income tax system and social security system as the main contents.
It must be pointed out in particular that China is still in the primary stage of socialism and will be in it for a long time. The situation of large population, weak foundation, unbalanced regional development and underdeveloped productivity has not fundamentally changed. Therefore, the fairness in the primary stage of socialism can only be relative fairness. At present, there are some prominent social equity problems in China's economic and social life, such as the income distribution gap between regions and some social members is too large, and the costs borne by farmers, workers (especially landless farmers and laid-off workers) and other social groups for reform and development are not equal to their due compensation. It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive and scientific analysis of the current fairness problems in China's economic and social life, comprehensively use policy, legal, economic and administrative means, adhere to the principle of legal, timely and reasonable solution, and adopt education, consultation and mediation to solve them. On the basis of economic development, we should reform the tax system, increase public expenditure and transfer payments, rationally adjust the pattern of national income distribution, and solve the problem of excessive income distribution so that all people can enjoy the fruits of reform, opening up and modernization. For some sensitive issues, we should not only overcome the bureaucracy that turns a blind eye and is indifferent, but also prevent artificial speculation from affecting social stability and social order.
The third general requirement: honesty and friendship. It is necessary to advocate and form a social atmosphere and interpersonal relationship of honesty and trustworthiness, mutual help, equality for all, and friendship and harmony. Honesty requires social members to consciously abide by social rules, regulations and public order, and act in accordance with these norms. Friendship emphasizes advocating equality, friendship and harmony among all people in the whole society. Honesty and friendship is an important feature of a harmonious socialist society and a basic requirement for building a harmonious socialist society. To establish a socialist ideological and moral system that is compatible with the socialist market economy, coordinated with the socialist legal norms and inherits the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, it is important to be honest and trustworthy. First of all, because honesty is the foundation of all morality in human society, it is a basic moral norm in handling affairs and economic and social life, and it is an important code of conduct for regulating interpersonal relationships and regulating the order of economic and social life. A country with lack of credit and moral decay cannot have harmonious interpersonal relations and good social order, and the sustained, healthy, coordinated and rapid development of economy and society has become an empty talk because of the lack of good social environment support. Secondly, honesty is the premise and foundation for the healthy development of the socialist market economy. In a sense, the market economy itself is a credit economy. If the credit relationship is destroyed, the foundation of the market economy will be shaken, and the result will be chaos in the economic and social order. Therefore, the more developed the market economy, the more honest and trustworthy it is. Thirdly, honesty is also the key to the construction of socialist spiritual civilization and the fundamental improvement of social atmosphere. The construction of socialist spiritual civilization includes ideological and moral construction, education, scientific and cultural construction, and credit construction is an important content of socialist moral construction.
Honesty and friendship belong to the category of socialist moral construction. Socialist moral construction must adhere to the guidance of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and Theory of Three Represents, implement Scientific Outlook on Development, adhere to the party's basic line and program, adhere to the construction as the center, people-oriented, and firmly establish the ideal of building Socialism with Chinese characteristics and the correct world outlook, outlook on life and values throughout the nation. Vigorously advocate the basic moral norms of "patriotism and law-abiding, courtesy and honesty, unity and friendliness, diligence and self-improvement, dedication and dedication" in the whole society, strive to improve the moral quality of citizens, promote the all-round development of people, and cultivate generations of socialist citizens with ideals, morality, culture and discipline.
The fourth general requirement: full of vitality. A harmonious socialist society should be a vibrant society, a society that needs and can constantly stimulate development and creation. Our party proposes to mobilize all positive factors most extensively and fully, with the focus on promoting the creative vitality of the whole society from the policy and ensuring it from the system. The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee and the Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee all emphasized that we should fully implement the principles of respecting labor, knowledge, talents and creation, resolutely break down all kinds of obstacles, enhance the creative vitality of the whole society, make all creative aspirations conducive to social progress respected, support creative activities, give full play to creative talents and affirm creative achievements. The party should adhere to the principle of relying on the working class wholeheartedly, give full play to the role of the working class and the broad masses of peasants, including intellectuals, as the fundamental forces to promote economic and social development, and encourage and support new social classes with non-public economic people and freelancers as the main body to make positive contributions to economic and social development; We should not only protect the development vitality of developed areas, advantageous industries and the first rich groups, but also attach great importance to and care for underdeveloped areas, difficult industries and the masses.
The fifth general requirement: stability and order. It includes two aspects, one is social stability, that is, social peace and stability, harmonious relationship between people and people's psychological peace. Second, social order means that all aspects of economy, politics, culture and social life have rules to follow. The "chapter" here includes laws, systems, institutions, mechanisms, order and norms. The order in the political field is mainly manifested in the granting and operation of power, which represents the will of the people, conforms to democratic procedures, and the supervision and restriction of power are complete and effective. The order in the economic field is mainly manifested in the correct functional orientation of enterprises, markets and governments, and their behaviors conform to laws, regulations and market norms. The order in the ideological and cultural field is mainly manifested in correctly handling the relationship between the unification of guiding ideology and the diversity of ideological and cultural development. The order of social life is mainly manifested in adhering to the unified socialist moral norms and personal freedom under this premise.
A harmonious socialist society should be one in which people, people and society, social groups and social strata live in harmony. To achieve social stability and order, we must strive to achieve equality, harmony without differences, and mutual benefit and win-win results. Equality for all refers to the equality between people in personality, rights, opportunities, rules and distribution, which is the basic requirement of the socialist system. In modern society, every member of society should have equal personality, rights and opportunities. A harmonious socialist society should respect the independent personality of social members, and their basic rights and interests can be effectively guaranteed. Members of society have equal opportunities, follow fair rules and give full play to their abilities and talents. Harmony without difference means respecting individuals, accommodating individual differences and reaching a common understanding through consultation, so as to achieve coordination, cooperation and win-win in diversity. The value of harmony lies in the unity of diversity and difference. The premise of harmony but difference is to recognize and respect individual differences, that is, to recognize and respect diversity. The socialist harmonious society we want to build should not only respect diversity and individual differences, but also seek unity and complementarity in diversity. Only in this way can we achieve social stability and unity. Mutual benefit means that all social classes, groups and members can maintain mutually beneficial relations. In particular, when promoting their own interests, the social strata and groups in a higher position should not sacrifice and harm the interests of the social strata and social groups in a lower position, but should jointly promote their interests and achieve a win-win or win-win situation. Only in this way can social members achieve unity and harmony and achieve social stability and order.
The sixth general requirement: man and nature live in harmony. We must unswervingly follow the path of civilized development of production development, affluent life and good ecology. A harmonious society should not only achieve harmony between people, between people and society, which is of course the most important, but also between people and nature. The harmony between man and nature is an important content and goal of building a harmonious socialist society.
Whether man and nature can live in harmony will inevitably affect social harmony, which depends on the harmony between man and nature. There is a simple reason. Unrestricted plunder of nature will lead to the exhaustion of resources, the destruction and reduction of forests, the degradation, desertification and desertification of land, the reduction and pollution of water resources and the deterioration of human production and living environment. This will not only fail to achieve the goal of development, but also make the earth no longer suitable for human survival, and the harmony between man and society is out of the question, let alone the construction of a harmonious socialist society. At present, the problems of ecological destruction and environmental pollution in China are quite serious, and the contradiction between economic and social development and resources and environment is very prominent. If the ecological environment is not effectively protected, it will not only fail to achieve sustainable economic and social development, but also cause serious economic and social problems.
To realize the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, we must firmly establish and implement Scientific Outlook on Development, correctly handle the relationship between economic construction, population growth, resource development and utilization and ecological environment protection, and push the whole society onto the road of civilized development of production development, affluent life and good ecology. Therefore, we must always adhere to the basic national policy of family planning and environmental protection, realize the unity of economic and social development, environmental protection and ecological construction, adhere to the simultaneous development and conservation of resources, put conservation first, earnestly increase investment, and strengthen the governance and construction of the ecological environment.
At present, we should make unremitting efforts in the following aspects: First, we should vigorously advocate and establish the ethics of respecting and being kind to nature in the whole society. Human beings are always the sons of nature, enjoying the benefits of nature all the time, and human survival and development can not be separated from the natural ecosystem for a moment. The fate of mankind is closely intertwined with the fate of nature. We must learn to respect and treat nature well and consciously safeguard its balance, harmony and stability. Respecting and being kind to nature is actually respecting and being kind to yourself. Second, vigorously advocate and establish the scientific spirit in the whole society, correctly understand nature, understand and respect the laws of nature. Man's exploitation, utilization and transformation of nature will never stop. The problem lies in how to develop, utilize and transform. This requires us to know nature, especially its laws, and act according to them. Only on the basis of scientific understanding of nature and its laws can we develop, utilize and transform nature according to the laws of nature, thus achieving harmony between man and nature. In the process of pursuing development and progress, there has been a phenomenon of disharmony between man and nature, and the ecological environment has been seriously damaged. One of the important reasons is that we don't respect the laws of nature and act according to them. This lesson is profound. Third, we should attach great importance to and strengthen environmental pollution control and ecological construction. Faced with the grim reality that the ecological environment has been seriously damaged and polluted, we must take resolute actions with human conscience, foresight and verve to make up for the mistakes made by our predecessors and ourselves to nature. It is our bounden duty to protect nature and maintain the balance and harmony of natural ecosystem. It is necessary to enhance the awareness of environmental protection of the whole nation and form a good atmosphere of caring for and protecting the environment in the whole society. It is necessary to intensify the control of environmental pollution, resolutely prohibit all kinds of looting and destruction of nature, and resolutely change the extensive growth mode at the expense of destroying resources and the environment. Fourth, vigorously develop circular economy and build a conservation-oriented society. The resources on the earth are limited. In order to meet the needs of human sustainable development, we must strive to achieve a virtuous circle and sustainable utilization of natural resources. Firmly establish the concept of saving resources in the whole society, form a good social fashion of saving resources, strive to form a mode of production, industrial structure and consumption that is conducive to saving resources and reducing pollution, and build a resource-saving national economic system and a resource-saving society. (Author Qing Lianbin, Professor of Scientific Socialism Teaching and Research Department of Central Party School)
FYI