【expert interview】
Editor's note
"The way to govern the country starts with enriching the people." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has united and led the entire party and the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country, and has always worked tirelessly towards the goal of achieving common prosperity.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized "solidly promote common prosperity" and regarded "the people's life is better, the overall development of people, and the common prosperity of all people have made more obvious substantive progress" as the basic realization of socialism in 2035. An important part of the modernization vision.
How to understand the major theoretical and practical significance of common prosperity?
How to promote common prosperity in high-quality development?
We invite experts to conduct in-depth discussions and seek answers from the voices of grassroots cadres and the masses.
Guests of this issue
Jiang Hui, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Member of the Party Leadership Group, Director of the Institute of Contemporary China
Lai Desheng, Deputy Director of the Social and Ecological Civilization Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School (National School of Administration)
Yu Jianxing, President of Zhejiang Gongshang University and Dean of the Institute of Social Governance, Zhejiang University
Deng Guosheng, Associate Dean of School of Public Administration, Tsinghua University
It’s not simultaneous wealth, nor egalitarianism
Reporter: How to understand that common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism and an important feature of Chinese-style modernization?
How to clarify the difference between common prosperity and simultaneous wealth, egalitarianism and other misunderstandings?
Jiang Hui: Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism, which means that it is determined by the fundamental nature of socialist society, and it is an inevitable requirement for achieving the goals of socialist production and embodying the superiority of the socialist system.
Marxism believes that the reason why socialism is fundamentally different from capitalism is that it must have a higher level of productivity than capitalism and create more and more abundant material and spiritual wealth. This is the meaning of "richness" that represents the requirements of advanced productivity. ; The second is to overcome the polarization of capitalism and economic and social inequality, and finally realize the all-round development of human beings and all-round social progress. This is the "common" meaning of realizing the requirements of the interests of the broad masses of people.
The combination of these two aspects is the organic unity of socialist productivity and production relations.
Achieving common prosperity is an inevitable requirement for the Communist Party of China to adhere to its nature, purpose and original mission, and to continuously consolidate the party’s long-term governance foundation; it is an inevitable requirement for the second century of striving towards building a modern and powerful socialist country on the basis of building a well-off society in all respects. ; It is an inevitable requirement for adapting to changes in the main social contradictions and focusing on solving the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development.
To achieve Chinese-style modernization, there must be no such thing as "the rich are untold and the poor eat the chaff" in an exploiting class society. Capitalist modernization must also overcome the pursuit of profit as the center, and a small number of people get rich, leading to a large gap between the rich and the poor. In the case of inequality, the promotion of common prosperity for all people must be the focus of the people's happiness, so that more and more economic and social development results can benefit all people more equitably.
Common prosperity is not egalitarianism.
Equalitarianism refers to the ideology that requires the average enjoyment of social wealth on the basis of small production. Extreme egalitarianism that is separated from the development of productive forces can only lead to common poverty.
Equalitarianism is not conducive to the liberation and development of productive forces, nor is it conducive to the implementation of the socialist principle of distribution according to work, and it is even less conducive to the realization of socialist production goals.
Common prosperity cannot be achieved through uniform and absolute synchronization.
It is necessary to fully understand the long-term, arduous, and complex nature of common prosperity, adhere to the gradual and orderly progress, and accumulate small wins into big wins.
Yu Jianxing: Common prosperity must not mean "equalizing the rich and the poor" indiscriminately. The historical thinking and practice of "equalizing the rich and the poor" all ended in failure.
After World War II, major western countries generally established welfare systems that benefited the entire people.
Among them, the Nordic social democratic model, known for its “high taxes and high welfare”, has the highest degree of decommodification. Even if people do not work, they will hardly be forced to livelihoods. Quality but not universal meaning.
At the same time, these countries are already experiencing problems such as insufficient vitality.
Other welfare states face a series of more severe challenges. The most significant problem is the "welfare disease", that is, an excessively high level of welfare will reduce the incentives for people to participate in labor, thereby causing the phenomenon of "raising lazy people".
Common prosperity has distinctive characteristics of the times and Chinese characteristics.
Achieving common prosperity depends on working together. Only when everyone participates and everyone does their best can the real enjoyment for everyone be realized.
In fact, common prosperity lies not only in the treatment and benefits the country has given to individuals, but also in guiding people to change the status quo and realize their dreams with a more active mental state. Common prosperity not only teaches people to fish, but also teaches people how to fish. Encourage workers to move towards a happy and beautiful life through hard work, legal operations, innovation and entrepreneurship; common prosperity is not to wait for the "welfare state" to fall from the sky, but to create a social atmosphere where the country, society, and people work together.
Deng Guosheng: Common prosperity is not low-level egalitarianism, but an accumulation process based on respecting labor, stimulating vitality, and ensuring high-quality development. It is to "divide good cakes" on the basis of continuous "big cakes"; common prosperity It is not simultaneous and equal wealth, it is a gradual process that takes a long time to work.
Only under the leadership of the party, all people can achieve this step by step through honest labor, legal management, and mutual assistance.
It is not only an important part of a good life, but also helps to alleviate major social conflicts
Reporter: What is the significance of promoting common prosperity from an overall perspective?
What is the role of the institutional arrangements that support Zhejiang's high-quality development and construction of a common prosperity demonstration zone?
Deng Guosheng: From the perspective of the domestic development environment, although my country has eliminated absolute poverty, the Gini coefficient is still high, the regional gap, urban-rural gap, and income gap are still large, and the size of the middle-income group is still small.
Because of this, the Party Central Committee timely proposed to promote common prosperity in high-quality development.
From the perspective of the international environment, the world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. The promotion of common prosperity through high-quality development can provide important basic support for the construction of a new development pattern. At the same time, in recent years, social unrest in some countries has intensified, and the reason is precisely that. It lies in the disparity between the rich and the poor.
We must learn from the experience and lessons of the development of various countries, and explore a sample of the world where high-quality development promotes common prosperity.
Building a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity is a systematic project. At present, Zhejiang has achieved initial results in promoting the construction of a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity.
First, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Supporting Zhejiang's High-quality Development and Construction of a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity" and the "Zhejiang High-quality Development and Construction of a Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone Implementation Plan (2021-2025)" were issued to build a demonstration zone for common prosperity. Provided the top-level design and specific implementation plan; the second is to carry out pilot projects according to local conditions through the cities, districts, counties, and towns of Zhejiang to provide experience and inspiration for other provinces and cities to promote common prosperity; third, to provide academics with common prosperity theory and policy research The "bonanza".
Lai Desheng: Realizing common prosperity is not only an important component of the people's ever-growing good life, but also helps to alleviate the contradiction between the people's growing need for a good life and unbalanced and inadequate development.
There are big differences in various regions of our country, and it is impossible to achieve common prosperity in unison. "Test first, then promote" is a proven effective method in the practice of reform and opening up. The institutional arrangements for the construction of a demonstration zone for common prosperity in Zhejiang are hoped that Zhejiang will test first and be timely. Form experiences and practices that can be replicated and promoted.
From the current point of view, Zhejiang is promoting various tasks in a solid and orderly manner, focusing on creating new kinetic energy, deepening the reform of the income distribution system, advancing the equalization of basic public services, strengthening the construction of spiritual civilization, creating a beautiful and livable living environment, and improving governance efficiency. The timetable and roadmap are clearer and more specific, and related research continues to deepen, forming a strong atmosphere for promoting common prosperity, and the demonstration effect is gradually showing.
It is necessary to protect legally getting rich, but also to reasonably regulate excessively high income
Reporter: The tenth meeting of the Central Committee of Finance and Economics proposed for the first time the establishment of basic institutional arrangements for the coordination of primary distribution, redistribution, and third distribution. How to implement it scientifically and steadily?
Lai Desheng: The primary distribution is income distribution based on the contribution of labor, capital, land and knowledge, technology, management, data and other production factors to national income, which is mainly formed through market mechanisms.
At present, the labor income share in my country's primary distribution is relatively low. Increasing the labor income share will help narrow the overall income gap.
To this end, we must build a harmonious labor relationship, strive to achieve the synchronization of residents' income growth with economic development, labor remuneration growth and labor productivity, increase the proportion of residents’ income in the national income distribution, and increase the proportion of labor remuneration in the primary distribution.
Redistribution means that the government collects money through taxation, and redistributes it through social welfare, public services, and transfer payments.
To this end, it is necessary to further improve the social security system and accelerate the equalization of basic public services.
The third distribution is another distribution of income and property through donations and charity.
To this end, it is necessary to encourage the first wealthy enterprises and people to assume more social responsibilities in terms of laws, policies, and social environment, and support and help the wealthy later to improve their living, education, medical care, and health conditions.
The three distributions must deal with the relationship between efficiency and fairness, and pay attention to three issues: how to continue to make the cake, how to avoid the trap of welfarism, and how to prevent the compulsiveness of the third distribution.
Deng Guosheng: The initial distribution should focus on efficiency, otherwise it will affect the enthusiasm of the main body of production factors.
However, the primary distribution has the greatest impact on the Gini coefficient of each country and the income distribution of the main production factors. If the primary distribution gap is too large, it will often affect social harmony and stability.
Therefore, the initial distribution must also take into account fairness.
It can be said that the difficulty of the initial distribution lies in how to balance the relationship between efficiency and fairness.
Therefore, the primary allocation must not only adhere to the market mechanism adjustment, but also use policy tools for moderate intervention or policy innovation.
Redistribution has a great moderating effect on the results of the initial allocation.
The government can implement tax reforms such as inheritance tax, gift tax, real estate tax, and increasing the proportion of direct taxes to improve redistribution capabilities.
On this basis, by increasing transfer payments, improving social security and social welfare systems and other means, promote the equalization of basic public services between regions and between urban and rural areas.
The three-time distribution is an important supplement to the initial distribution and redistribution.
my country's modern philanthropy started late, the scale of the three-time distribution is limited, and the potential is huge.
It is necessary to increase policy incentives to encourage high-income groups and enterprises to return to the society; to strengthen comprehensive supervision measures, to improve the transparency and credibility of my country's charity organizations, and to promote the standardized development of new forms of charity; to focus on the cultivation of talents in the field of charity in my country and the cultivation of charity culture , To inject lasting kinetic energy into the role of the three allocations.
Both "rich pockets" and "rich heads"
Reporter: What is the performance of "the common prosperity of spiritual life" and how to promote its realization?
Jiang Hui: With economic and social development and the improvement of people’s living standards, a rich spiritual and cultural life has become an important measure of people’s happiness index and a key factor in improving people’s quality of life.
Promoting the common prosperity of the people's spiritual life means to realize the modernization and all-round development of people on the basis of continuous abundance of material life. The people's spiritual life is constantly enriched and improved, the comprehensive quality and the level of civilization are continuously improved, and the construction of a society with Chinese characteristics is continuously improved. The enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of ism.
Guided by the core values of socialism, we must persist in cultivating people with morality and culture, carry forward the national spirit and the spirit of the times, strengthen education in patriotism, collectivism, and socialism, and continuously improve the people’s ideological awareness, moral standards, and civilized qualities. The level of civilization of the whole society, gradually realize common prosperity, and strive to build a Chinese-style modernization in which both material civilization and spiritual civilization develop.
Lai Desheng: It is necessary to strengthen the construction of socialist core values and increase the public's recognition of the party and the country's major policies.
Continue to increase the supply of spiritual and cultural life products and services, improve their quality, and improve their distribution to better meet people's growing spiritual and cultural needs.
Yu Jianxing: First, develop high-quality cultural industries and cultural undertakings.
The cultural industry itself has rich "wealth creation function" and "shared wealth connotation". Relying on local cultural products, cultural tourism and folk culture, etc. may bring about the spillover effect of "wealth creation".
The second is to create a good social moral and cultural atmosphere, so that civilized family style, civilized country style, and civilized corporate style will become the "ballast stone" of common prosperity.
The third is to speed up the cultivation of a charity culture and make charity awareness internalized in people's thoughts and behaviors.
(Our reporter Wang Simin Zhang Sheng)
(Project team: our reporter Zhang Sheng, Wang Simin, Hu Xiaojun, Zhang Yong, Jiang Xinjun, our reporter Xue Bin, Gao Shuying, Zhu Quanda)