Author: Han Source: Journal of Sichuan Provincial Party School in March 2006
A harmonious society is one characterized by democracy and the rule of law, fairness and justice, honesty and friendship, vitality, stability and order, and harmony between man and nature. Such a society is also the realistic goal of Socialism with Chinese characteristics designed by Deng Xiaoping. As a theoretical guide for building Socialism with Chinese characteristics, Deng Xiaoping Theory laid the foundation and provided guidance for building a harmonious socialist society.
First, ending the guiding ideology of "taking class struggle as the key link" is a major turning point in building a harmonious socialist society.
Historical materialism holds that the contradiction between productive forces and relations of production, the contradiction between economic base and superstructure are the basic contradictions of human society, and these two pairs of contradictions and their movements promote the continuous development of human society; In class society, the basic social contradictions are concentrated in class struggle, which is the direct driving force for the development of class society. China is a socialist society, and the basic contradictions are concentrated among the people. Since 1957, our party has misjudged the situation. The fundamental guiding ideology of all the work of the whole Party and the whole country is "class struggle". Under the guidance of this ideology, class struggle was enlarged and absolute, and reached its extreme in the Cultural Revolution, which led to the destruction of interpersonal relationships and the proliferation of anarchy, and social life was far from harmonious. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee categorically denied this wrong guiding ideology.
Deng Xiaoping and the second generation of the Party's collective leadership decisively ended the guiding ideology of "taking class struggle as the key link" and replaced it with "taking economic construction as the center", setting a correct course for the great ship China, which was a major turning point for China to start building a harmonious socialist society.
First of all, "taking class struggle as the key link" only tries to solve the relationship between people, not between man and nature, so it can't fundamentally solve the main social contradictions in our country. Only by "centering on economic construction", concentrating on modernization, speeding up the development of social productive forces and vigorously developing the economy is the only way to solve the main contradiction in our society, that is, the contradiction between the people's growing material and cultural needs and backward social production, and the only way to build a harmonious society.
Secondly, the main social contradictions in contemporary China have changed, and "taking class struggle as the key link" has lost its realistic social foundation. If we persist, it will only destroy social harmony. The harmonious coexistence of all classes and strata is an important content of a harmonious society. Harmony is not the absence of contradictions, but the unity of opposites in all aspects of contradictions. According to the classic writer's viewpoint that "confrontation will disappear and contradictions will exist", Deng Xiaoping put forward many new measures to correctly handle contradictions among the people and coordinate the relations among all social strata in China under the new historical conditions. First of all, it set things right, rehabilitated China's unjust, false and misjudged cases, and greatly changed the chaotic and disharmonious interpersonal relationship caused by the Cultural Revolution. Secondly, it puts forward the idea that intellectuals are part of the working class, which adds fresh strength to the working class as a leading class. Thirdly, it points out the importance of strengthening the alliance of workers and peasants under the condition of market economy, and puts forward some ideas to solve this problem in detail. For example, he said that steel workers work so hard, but vegetables and meat are scarce, and the basic conditions cannot be guaranteed. This kind of problem must be studied and solved concretely. This should be paid special attention to in cities with many industries. ..... A part of the land can be earmarked for growing vegetables, and the vegetables produced can be supplied to factories and citizens first. Workers have food and meat to eat, and farmers can also increase their income, which is also good for improving the relationship between workers and peasants [1]. Fourthly, it points out the necessity and importance of correctly handling and coordinating the relations between various classes and groups. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: Some people think that only workers and peasants can do things. This idea is generally wrong, but it is only half right in details. Workers and peasants are indeed the basic masses we rely on, but only doing the work of workers and peasants can't solve all problems. We must also deal with the relations between various classes and strata. It is the interdependence and mutual promotion of various classes and strata that have formed a historical resultant force. Deng Xiaoping pointed out in the rectification of 1975 that agriculture might hold back the industry, and our scientific research work would hold back the national construction. [3] Although this statement is aimed at the importance of scientific research, it is actually a concentrated summary and condensed expression of the interdependent, interdependent and inseparable relationship between workers and peasants intellectuals in the construction of the whole country. Sixth, the United front is one of the three magic weapons for the victory of China's new-democratic revolution, and it is also an important content, way and method for building a harmonious society. Deng Xiaoping put forward a series of new ideas to consolidate and develop the United front under the new historical conditions. In short, it is precisely because Deng Xiaoping put an end to the erroneous guiding ideology of "focusing on class struggle" and put forward the guiding ideology of taking economic construction as the center that the strength of people from all fronts, industries and classes in China has been condensed on the great ideal of socialist modernization, laying a solid ideological foundation for the formation of "a situation in which each can do his best and live in harmony". Internationally, Deng Xiaoping recognizes the interdependence and mutual penetration among countries in the world and the necessity of harmony among countries under the background of globalization, abandons the previous practice of shutting the country out and blindly excluding foreigners, boldly implements the policy of opening to the outside world, improves relations with other countries in the world, unites all friendly countries and people who support China's reform and opening up, and conducts exchanges and cooperation by introducing intelligence, resources and capital, so as to make suggestions and suggestions for China's modernization.
Marx pointed out: "Human beings always put forward only the tasks that they can solve, because as long as we observe carefully, we can find that the task itself will only come into being when the material conditions for solving the task already exist or at least are taking shape." According to Marx's thought, the task of building a harmonious socialist society and the material conditions and foundation for solving this task were created under the guidance of the idea of "taking economic construction as the center". Therefore, without the achievements made under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping's thought of "centering on economic construction", "development is the last word" and "persisting in centering on economic construction", there would be no material basis for the theory of harmonious society. Richness is the material premise of harmony, while poverty and harmony are incompatible and irrelevant. Harmonious society is a society rich in material and social wealth. Otherwise, as Marx said: "The reason why this development of productive forces is an absolutely necessary practical prerequisite is also because without this development, there will only be the popularization of poverty;" In the case of extreme poverty, we must restart the struggle for necessities, that is, all stale things will be revived. "Without the development of productive forces, there would be no harmony. Deng Xiaoping completely denied all kinds of absurd arguments such as "poor socialism", "poor capitalism" and "poor capitalism is mainly spiritual". Deng Xiaoping put forward the idea of taking economic construction as the center, taking the road of construction wholeheartedly, developing economy and eliminating poverty, which laid a solid material foundation for building a harmonious society. Especially after the Cultural Revolution, ten years of turmoil brought the national economy to the brink of collapse. Without efforts to develop productive forces and make a big cake of material wealth, it is impossible to reverse the passive situation of poverty. The primary measure to get rid of poverty is to solve the problem of food and clothing, which needs the support of economic construction. As Deng Xiaoping said, "No matter what happens in the world, as long as people have food, everything will be easy. "Solving the problem of food and clothing, from food and clothing to a well-off society, is the most primitive material starting point of a harmonious society.
After the problem of food and clothing was solved, Deng Xiaoping also put forward the beautiful ideal of "building a well-off society", and building a socialist harmonious society is also a further enrichment and improvement of the idea of "building a well-off society". However, the realization of these ideals is impossible without material foundation. Therefore, in building a harmonious socialist society, we must still adhere to the principle of "taking economic construction as the center". Taking economic construction as the center is not contradictory to the theory of "people-oriented" advocated by Scientific Outlook on Development and building a harmonious socialist society, but inseparable and complementary: economic development provides material basis and guarantee for human development; Human development injects vitality into economic construction.
Third, the strategic policy of "* * * with prosperity" is highly consistent with the value orientation of building a harmonious socialist society.
The thought of common prosperity is one of the theoretical sources of building a harmonious socialist society. The value orientation of a harmonious society is fairness and justice, and * * * and wealth are the core contents of fairness and justice.
* * * Common prosperity is the dream of the Chinese nation for many years and generations, the ideal that countless people with lofty ideals in China strive for, and the ultimate goal pursued by China people led by producers in China. Deng Xiaoping regards common prosperity as an important part of the essence of socialism, and points out that the essence of socialism is to liberate and develop productive forces, eliminate exploitation and polarization, and finally realize common prosperity.
Deng Xiaoping not only inherited the concepts of * * and prosperity in China's traditional thought, but also endowed it with richer connotations: the premise and foundation of * * and prosperity is the high development of productive forces; Deng Xiaoping pointed out more than once that while building a high level of material civilization, we should devote ourselves to developing a noble and rich cultural life and building a high level of socialist spiritual civilization. This shows that the * * * advocated by him is rich, and its field includes not only the richness of people's material life, but also the richness of people's spiritual and cultural living standards. * * * The main body of prosperity is all the people of China. Deng Xiaoping said that socialist wealth belongs to the people, and socialist prosperity means common prosperity for all people. "Socialism is not that a few people are rich, but most people are poor." . The greatest benefit of socialism is wealth, which embodies the essence of socialism. If we engage in polarization, the situation will be different. Ethnic contradictions, regional contradictions and class contradictions will all develop, and correspondingly, the contradictions between the central and local governments will also develop, which may lead to trouble. "This classic exposition expounds Deng Xiaoping's thought of * * * and prosperity from both positive and negative aspects.
Deng Xiaoping put the realization of * * * and prosperity on the basis of reality, and found a feasible way to finally realize * * * and prosperity: get rich first-get rich later-get rich first. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, under the guidance of the reform and opening-up policy, it is an indisputable fact that the people of China have gradually got rid of poverty and moved towards prosperity. Although, up to now, there are still some problems, such as the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the unfair distribution of benefits, and the unkindness of those who get rich first, but these are also problems in reform and development. Whenever Deng Xiaoping himself mentioned the issue of * * * getting rich, he always fully expounded the dialectical relationship of "getting rich first, getting rich later and getting rich". "Only by allowing some people to get better first and some areas to get better first can we achieve * * * prosperity faster." Deng Xiaoping also scientifically predicted: "* * * to achieve common prosperity, we said from the beginning of the reform that it would become a central topic one day." At present, the theory of building a harmonious socialist society shows that common prosperity has become the central topic of social development in contemporary China.
Although the current situation is far from reaching the ultimate prosperity and ideal state expected by a harmonious society, on the one hand, Deng Xiaoping Theory's thought of "efficiency first" created a material basis for Deng Xiaoping's "efficiency first, giving consideration to fairness", on the other hand, the principle of "efficiency first, giving consideration to fairness" was later embodied as "the primary distribution is more efficient, and the secondary distribution is more fair". At present, economically, in fact, Deng Xiaoping Theory's thought of "* * * common prosperity" also theoretically puts forward the principles and paths that should be followed to realize "* * * common prosperity". It can be said that the way to achieve the goal of * * * prosperity also means the way to achieve a harmonious society.
Fourthly, the idea of solving the problems of development and cost is put forward, which opens the way for building a harmonious socialist society.
In view of the experience and lessons of developed capitalist countries and the reality of China's reform and opening up, while emphasizing economic development, Deng Xiaoping also found some serious problems accumulated in the rapid economic and social development of China. These problems are not only the cost of development, but also the disharmonious factors that affect the further development of society. Deng Xiaoping realized the great practical significance and long-term strategic significance of solving the cost problems in development, and put forward the overall thinking and guiding principles of solving these problems with foresight, and put forward the idea of comprehensive and coordinated social development.
Generally speaking, the cost problem in China's development includes two kinds of problems: the moral decline in the social field and the ecological destruction in the natural field.
In view of the problem of moral decline in the social field, Deng Xiaoping put forward the famous "two-handed grasp": one hand grasping reform and opening up, the other hand grasping cracking down on various economic crimes and punishing corruption; Grasping construction on the one hand and the legal system on the other; Grasp material civilization on the one hand and spiritual civilization on the other. Through "grasping with both hands", a series of serious problems in modernization have been well solved, and various potential factors affecting social stability and further economic development in modernization have been effectively suppressed.
In view of the problem of ecological destruction in the natural field, Deng Xiaoping put forward that "science and technology are the primary productive forces", vigorously advocated the development of advanced science and technology, improved the scientific and technological content of industry and agriculture, improved the level of economic development, promoted the transformation of economic growth mode from extensive to intensive, and made a fuss about energy conservation and emission reduction, which changed the passive situation of "high consumption, high energy consumption and high pollution" caused by the development of extensive economic. This is of great significance to effectively avoid the old development model of "pollution first, then treatment" that developed countries have gone through. Deng Xiaoping also pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the formulation and improvement of relevant laws and regulations, and strive to ensure that environmental protection has laws to follow. In addition, Deng Xiaoping also advocated that from the perspective of people's own development, efforts should be made to improve people's quality and solve environmental and ecological problems such as harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
From "taking economic construction as the center" to "development is the last word", and then to the all-round coordinated development of society, it contains the essence of sustainable development thought and forms the ideological source of sustainable development theory and Scientific Outlook on Development theory. A profound understanding of Deng Xiaoping Theory's Scientific Outlook on Development Thought, guided by it, will help to create a gratifying situation of "production development, affluent life and good ecology" in which economic development and environmental protection are synchronized and man and nature live in harmony.
Fifth, put forward "stability first", which created a platform for building a harmonious socialist society.
Stability does not mean harmony, however, building a harmonious socialist society is inseparable from stability. Having personally experienced the turmoil of the ten-year Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping knows the importance of stability to a country's economic and social development. Deng Xiaoping put forward the importance of handling the relationship between reform, development and stability from the strategic height of a politician, and repeatedly emphasized that "stability is the first". "China's biggest problem is the need for stability. Without a stable environment, nothing can be done and the achievements already made will be lost. " The meaning of Deng Xiaoping's stability is broad and rich, which refers to both political stability and unity and sustained and steady economic growth. It not only refers to the stability of social order, but also refers to the constant unification of policies; It refers to both rural stability and urban stability.
Harmony is not only an ideal state, but also a dynamic process of continuous transition to the ideal state, and this process needs stability as the foundation and condition. Without a stable social order, the driving force of reform will lose its supporting point, the central task of development will lose its guarantee, the achievements of economic construction will be destroyed, and the solid material foundation for building a harmonious socialist society will be lost. In history, there are countless counter-examples that the unstable situation of disintegration has brought disasters to the broad masses of the people. The chaotic situation of "all-out civil war" in the decade of the Cultural Revolution completely paralyzed economic and social development, which is a typical example; Stability is also the meaning of harmonious society. Only with stability can there be a beautiful situation of stability and order, sound social organization mechanism, perfect social management, good social order and people living and working in peace and contentment, so as to maintain social stability and unity.
6. Management theory and practice based on the hypothesis of "harmonious people" is an important part of building a harmonious socialist society.
Although Deng Xiaoping never used the concept of harmonious man, his management thought contains the profound connotation of the hypothesis of harmonious man.
A harmonious person first refers to an individual, on the one hand, it refers to the harmony of people's real interest structure. Deng Xiaoping has always advocated proceeding from reality, paying attention to people's real needs and striving to meet the overall interests including economic, political and spiritual interests. On the other hand, it refers to the harmony of human development goals. Deng Xiaoping's proposal to cultivate new people with ideals, morality, education and discipline is actually to cultivate new socialist people with comprehensive and coordinated development of "ability, morality and body and mind". The hypothesis of harmonious people also includes the harmony of management relations. The harmony among leaders, managers and the managed is the concentrated embodiment and the highest realm of harmonious relationship between people. Deng Xiaoping's "leadership is service" implies that the harmony of management relations is the equality of building socialism. In the view of historical materialism, the masses of the people are the main body of creating history, and therefore the main body of managing society in the ultimate sense. The management of socialist countries is essentially the self-management of the people. However, "the state administrative organs and their staff can use the power entrusted by the people to implement management through administrative, economic or legal means, which is mandatory." In this case, people in enterprises and society often become managed and managed objects. In China's administrative management, the unanimous position of the people as subject and object shows that the people are the masters of the country ... on the other hand, it also reflects that the status of the people as subject and object of management is contradictory. Deng Xiaoping's theory of "leadership is service" comprehensively solved this contradiction. The proposition that "leadership is service" advocated by Deng Xiaoping embodies the equal and harmonious relationship between leading cadres and the broad masses of the people in China. First of all, managers establish a sense of service, which is in line with modern management concepts, is a manifestation of respecting people, and is the basic requirement for people to live in harmony; Secondly, taking "leadership is service" as the guiding ideology, under the new historical conditions, strengthening the construction of leading cadres' work style and establishing a new relationship between cadres and the masses are the inheritance and development of Marxist classic writer's theory of people's public servants, and also the inevitable requirement of socialist harmonious society management practice; Third, the democratic management advocated by Deng Xiaoping has greatly mobilized the enthusiasm, creativity and initiative of the broad masses of workers and peasants, added new vitality to the management of socialist countries, and fully exerted the power of socialist modernization.
In a word, Deng Xiaoping Theory is the theoretical prelude to building a harmonious socialist society. The new central collective leadership, with Hu Jintao as the general secretary, explored the road of consolidating the reform achievements and eliminating the disharmonious factors in theory and practice, and put forward the theory of building a harmonious socialist society. This is the latest development of Deng Xiaoping's theory of building Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new historical period, and it also marks that China producers have entered a brand-new stage in their exploration of Socialism with Chinese characteristics road.