General Secretary of the Supreme Leader recently pointed out that it is not only a major theoretical proposition, but also a major practical proposition to make the market play a decisive role in resource allocation and give better play to the role of the government. It is of great significance to scientifically understand this proposition and accurately grasp its connotation for comprehensively deepening the reform and promoting the healthy and orderly development of the socialist market economy. In this article, I will talk about the role of government and market in resource allocation.
Economic construction and ideological work are not two parallel things.
Let’s start with the dialectical relationship between economic construction and ideological work. Comrade Supreme Leader pointed out at the National Conference on Propaganda and Ideological Work: "Economic construction is the central work of the Party, and ideological work is an extremely important work of the Party." This sentence explains the dialectical relationship between economic construction and ideological work from a strategic perspective. In short, economic construction creates a material foundation for ideological work, and only when the central work of economic construction is done well can ideological work have a solid material foundation; On the other hand, ideological work can escort the central work of economic construction and ensure the sustained, rapid and healthy development of economic construction.
According to the basic principle of historical materialism, the economic base determines the superstructure, and the superstructure will also react to the economic base. Of course, this also includes that ideology will react on the economic base.
In class society, including in the primary stage of socialism, ideology has a distinct class nature. Capitalist economic base determines capitalist ideology, and socialist economic base determines socialist ideology. The ideology representing the advanced class interests promotes the social economic development, while the ideology representing the reactionary class interests hinders the social economic development. Comrade Mao Zedong once pointed out: "Any attempt to overthrow a political power must first create public opinion, and always do ideological work first. The revolutionary class is like this, and so is the counter-revolutionary class. " Gong Zizhen said: "If you destroy a country, you must first go to its history." The disintegration of the Soviet Union is a vivid example. Nowadays, some remarks that vilify revolutionary leaders, deny the 30 years before the reform and opening up, and discredit the public-owned economy and state-owned enterprises are very obvious. Their ultimate intention is to subvert communist party’s leadership and change the socialist economic system. In this regard, we should be vigilant, deeply understand the importance, long-term and complexity of ideological work, and consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field.
Economic construction and ideological work are not two parallel things, and some ideologies are closely related to economic work. Ideology goes deep into economic work, and economic work itself also contains ideological factors, such as the guiding ideology of economic construction itself belongs to the category of ideology.
At present, among the popular erroneous thoughts in the ideological field, western constitutional democracy, "universal values", historical nihilism and civil society belong to the political, cultural and social fields; Neo-liberalism belongs to the trend of thought in the economic field and occupies a very important position in various trends of thought. The core viewpoints of neo-liberal economic theory, such as the hypothesis of "economic man", the theory of human nature pursuing self-interest, the theory of the perpetuity of private ownership, market fundamentalism, and the minimization of government functions ("night watchman"), have been widely spread in China’s economic and theoretical circles, exerting considerable influence on China’s economic reform and economic development. Where is our reform going, whether to take the completely liberalized market economy road or the Socialism with Chinese characteristics market economy road? To this, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made a clear answer: "We will unswervingly hold high the great banner of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, neither take the closed and rigid old road nor take the evil road of changing the flag."
Put all political and economic relations in order
At present, there is a popular saying at home and abroad about the political and economic situation in China, which is called "managing from the right to the left", that is, the economy tends to be more liberalized and market-oriented, and more control fields are liberalized; At the same time, it tends to be more authoritative politically, holding high the banner of Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought and tightening ideological control. It seems that our country leans to the "right" in the economic field, but to the left in the political and ideological fields. It seems that both the left and right sides have discussions about this, with different angles and different likes and dislikes.
Regardless of the right and wrong of the saying "ruling by the right and ruling by the left", theoretically speaking, this is a pair of contradictory concepts. According to the basic principle of historical materialism, politics, ideology and superstructure are determined by the economic base. If the superstructure is in the same direction as the economic base, the economic base can be consolidated; If the economic base deviates from the superstructure, then the economic base will be mutated and the original superstructure will be in danger of collapse.
Some people have analyzed that the risk of "ruling from right to left" may lead to social division, so this situation is difficult to last for a long time. If the socialist economy is eroded by western neo-liberal economic thoughts for a long time, the tendency of liberalization and privatization will continue to rise, and the tendency of planned and public-owned economy will continue to weaken, and the socialist economic foundation will eventually deteriorate and become something incompatible with socialist ideology and superstructure. With the development of private economy, the strength of the bourgeoisie is growing, and its ideological influence is also expanding. Sooner or later, they will ask for decentralization or even power. At that time, even if they insist on scientific socialism in political thought, I am afraid it will be unsustainable. This is determined by the economic base and superstructure, and it is not transferred by human will. We must have a clear understanding of this.
Since the reform and opening up, we have gradually established a socialist market economic system. According to the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, politically, "we must hold high the great banner of Socialism with Chinese characteristics and take Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Theory of Three Represents and Scientific Outlook on Development as the guidance", while economically, "we must adhere to the direction of socialist market economy reform". That is to say, we should hold high Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought as well as Deng Xiaoping Theory, Theory of Three Represents and Scientific Outlook on Development politically. Economically, we need both "market economy" and "socialism". If the above-mentioned political and economic relations between the two sides are put right, it will draw a clear line with the so-called "right politics and left politics".
Adhere to the direction of socialist market economy
Next, I would like to talk about the issue of "adhering to the direction of socialist market economy".
The reform direction of the socialist market economy itself is the unity of economy and politics. Our reform is to establish a "socialist market economy", not a simple market economy, but a "socialist+or × market economy". "Socialist market economy" is a complete concept and an organic unity that cannot be separated. When the report of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the reform goal of the socialist market economy for the first time, it was clearly stated that the preposition "socialism" was added before the word "market economy", and there was also a prerequisite, that is, "under the macro-control of the state", so that the market could play an important role in the allocation of resources. There are macro and micro levels of resource allocation, and there are many different areas of resource allocation. At the micro level of resource allocation, that is, the allocation of various resources among various market entities, the law of market value can promote efficiency through changes in supply and demand and competition mechanism, and play a very important role, which can also be said to be a "decisive" role. However, at the macro level of resource allocation, such as the comprehensive balance of total supply and demand, the proportional structure of departments and regions, the protection of natural resources and environment, the fair distribution of social resources, and the allocation of resources involving national social security and people’s livelihood welfare (housing, education, medical care), we can’t all rely on the market to adjust, let alone "decide". There are many defects and deficiencies in the market mechanism in these macro levels and important fields, which need state intervention, government management and planned adjustment to correct, restrict and supplement the market behavior, and make up for the defects of the invisible hand with the "visible hand".
In the past, when Comrade Deng Xiaoping proposed that socialism could also develop a market economy, he never denied the plan. He repeatedly said that both the plan and the market are means and can be used. The report of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China specifically pointed out that "the national plan is one of the important means of macro-control". Before the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, when General Secretary Jiang Zemin explained the reform goal of choosing the socialist market economy at the provincial and ministerial level cadre training class of the Central Party School, he reminded us: "The socialist economy has been planned from the beginning, which has always been clear in people’s minds and understanding. Just because the word’ planned’ does not appear in the formulation, there will be no doubt about whether the planned nature has been cancelled." The above shows that the socialist market economy is a planned market economy, and affirms that in the socialist market economy system, both planning and market means of resource allocation should be used. But later, due to the influence of neo-liberal economic thought, there was a tendency to highlight the market and dilute the plan. Some people think that we are now engaged in market-oriented reform and the "plan" is not worth mentioning. The 11th Five-Year Plan was renamed as the 11th Five-Year Plan, but the word difference made a big fuss, cheering that it was farther away from the planned economy and closer to the market economy, and "planning" seemed to be a forbidden area. However, the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China also proposed "giving full play to the guiding role of national development planning, planning and industrial policies in macro-control". The "the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Decision on Several Major Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision") adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 18 th CPC Central Committee,"Make the market play a decisive role in resource allocation" is followed by "Give full play to the role of the government". It has retained "a sound macro-control system guided by national development strategy and planning, with fiscal policy and monetary policy as the main means", but in fact it also expressed the meaning of "plan-oriented", only avoiding the word "plan". I think it doesn’t matter much as long as the "macro-control system" is "guided by the national development strategy and planning" as stated in the "Decision".
It is worth noting that the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out in the Explanation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Decision on Comprehensively Deepening Reform: "The market plays a decisive role in the allocation of resources, but it does not play a full role." It can be seen that the "decisive role" of the market is limited. According to this spirit, the Decision not only describes the "decisive role" of the market, but also emphasizes the role of the government and the state plan, that is to say, the government and the state plan should play a "guiding role" in resource allocation. In this way, the idea of "double adjustment" between market and government, market and plan in resource allocation is highlighted. "Dual regulatory role" is a recent formulation by Comrade Cheng Enfu on the relationship between the market and the government in the Decision, which is quite reasonable.
Then, in the adjustment of resource allocation, how to divide the work between the market and the government or plan? In my opinion, it is generally possible to divide the functions of market and government or plan according to the micro-level and macro-level of resource allocation. The market plays a decisive role in resource allocation and should be limited to the micro level. The reduction of government functions, such as administrative examination and approval, is also mainly in the micro field. As for the macro-level and micro-economic activities that have a significant impact on the macro-level resource allocation, the government should strengthen planning, regulation and management, and should not let the "invisible hand" of the market blindly manipulate and "decide" spontaneously. Of course, the government is duty-bound to provide services to the market, implement supervision and be a "night watchman".
Both "visible hand" and "invisible hand" should play an important role in resource allocation.
Understanding the relationship between "government" and "market" or "plan" and "market" in the socialist market economy in this way conforms to the principles of Marxist economics and is more conducive to adhering to the reform direction of "market economy" and "socialism".
The Decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee pointed out: "The market determines the allocation of resources is the general law of market economy", which is also the law of market value. However, what determines the allocation of resources in socialist economy is not the law of market value, but the law of planned and proportional development. Marxism holds that in common social production, that is, social production based on public ownership, the national economy should develop in a planned and proportional way. Marx said: "The saving of time and the planned distribution of labor time among different production departments are still the primary economic laws on the basis of joint production. This is even the rule at a much higher level. " This shows that the proportional distribution of labor time among production departments and the saving of labor time in utilization are the first economic law of collectivized economy. "Working time" includes living working time and materialized working time, which means human resources and material resources. It means to allocate and save resources in proportion in a planned way, which is the primary economic law to be followed in socialized production. Planned and proportional development is the sustained, stable and coordinated development that people consciously arrange. It is not the same as the traditional administrative mandatory planned economy, and it is not the "command economy" that some people disparage. "Planned" is mainly a guiding, strategic and predictive plan, which is used to guide the allocation of national resources and the development of national economy from a macro perspective. Of course, it also includes some necessary mandatory indicators, and does not rule out the accountability function of national plans. After the reform, we got rid of the disadvantages of the traditional planned economy and adapted to the national conditions in the primary stage.The socialist market economic system has been established, and the law of market value is respected, but the planned and proportional economic law under public ownership cannot be lost.
In the primary stage of socialism, the socialist economy accommodates the market economy and becomes a socialist market economy, not a pure market economy or other market economies. Such a socialist market economy cannot be dominated by only one market value law, but must be dominated by the "law of planned and proportional development" while the market value law works. Therefore, the "Decision" of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee said that "the market determines the allocation of resources is the general law of the market economy", which is absolutely correct as far as the market economy is concerned. It is also right to say that "the sound socialist market economic system must follow this law", but this is not the only law of the socialist market economy. The socialist market economy must first follow the law of planned and proportional development. This is the theoretical basis why in the socialist market economy, planning and market, government and market, conscious and spontaneous adjustment, "visible hand" and "invisible hand" all play an important role in resource allocation.
We must understand the relationship between market and government, market and plan in socialist market economy from the viewpoint of Marxist economic theory, not from the viewpoint of liberal economy like Hayek, so that we can master the steering wheel of China’s reform ship and sail for a bright future of realizing the Chinese dream.
(The author is a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)