Ensuring and Improving People's Livelihood in the Course of Development

People's livelihood is the foundation of people's happiness and the basis of social harmony. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-path Modernization, deliberated and adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, points out when discussing "improving the system for ensuring and improving people's livelihood": "Ensuring and improving people's livelihood in the course of development is a major task of Chinese-path modernization." This fully reflects the great importance the Communist Party of China attaches to livelihood work. The classical works of Marxism contain rich thought on people's livelihood. Revisiting the relevant discussions helps us understand the profound connotation of "people's livelihood is paramount" and accurately grasp the principles and methods for ensuring and improving people's livelihood on the new journey.

民生是人民幸福之基、社会和谐之本。党的二十届三中全会审议通过的《中共中央关于进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的决定》在论述“健全保障和改善民生制度体系”时指出：“在发展中保障和改善民生是中国式现代化的重大任务。”这充分体现了中国共产党对民生工作的高度重视。马克思主义经典著作中蕴含着丰富的民生思想。重温有关论述，有助于我们理解“民生为大”的深刻内涵，准确把握新征程上保障和改善民生的原则方法。

People's livelihood concerns the well-being of the masses.

民生事关人民群众福祉

Marxist thought on people's livelihood takes solving the survival and development problems of real people as its fundamental starting point, emphasizing the guarantee of the basic survival needs, basic development opportunities, and basic rights and interests of the masses. As Marx and Engels pointed out in The German Ideology, "Men must be in a position to live in order to be able to 'make history.' But life involves before everything else eating and drinking, a habitation, clothing, and many other things." They further emphasized, "Man not only fights for survival, but for enjoyment, for the increase of his enjoyment." Lenin also pointed out in the course of leading the Russian socialist revolution and construction, "The question of improving the condition of the workers and peasants must be singled out so that close attention is paid to the achievements in this area," and emphasized that "the living conditions of the workers and poor peasants" should be "immediately taken a series of measures to try to improve the living conditions of the working class and alleviate their hardships." People's livelihood concerns the well-being of the masses, and Marxist political parties must always take ensuring and improving people's livelihood as an important task.

马克思主义民生思想以解决现实的人的生存和发展问题为根本出发点，强调保障人民群众的基本生存需要、基本发展机会以及基本权益。正如马克思恩格斯在《德意志意识形态》中所指出的，“人们为了能够‘创造历史’，必须能够生活。但是为了生活，首先就需要吃喝住穿以及其他一些东西”。他们进一步强调，“人不仅为生存而斗争，而且为享受，为增加自己的享受而斗争”。列宁在领导俄国社会主义革命和建设的过程中也指出，“必须把改善工农生活状况的问题单独提出来，以便密切注意这方面所取得的成绩”，强调对“工人和贫苦农民的生活状况”应“立即采取一系列的措施，竭力改善工人阶级的生活状况，减轻他们的困苦”。民生事关人民群众福祉，马克思主义政党必须始终把保障和改善民生作为重要任务。

Marxist thought on people's livelihood mainly unfolds around three aspects: material production, the needs of real people, and the distribution of interests. First, material production is the foundation of people's livelihood. If productive forces are backward and the level of material production is low, ensuring and improving people's livelihood is out of the question. Second, meeting people's needs and realizing people's all-round development is the goal of livelihood construction. People's needs have diversity and hierarchy, and are closely related to people's all-round development. Only by fully meeting people's development needs, satisfying people's productivity and creativity, can the livelihood problem be truly solved. Finally, rational distribution of interests is the key to enhancing people's well-being. Marx and Engels' deep analysis of livelihood problems under capitalism reveals a truth: ensuring and improving people's livelihood cannot rely solely on developed material production; it also requires a rational interest distribution mechanism and the establishment of a people-centered social system.

马克思主义民生思想主要围绕物质生产、现实的人的需要以及利益分配这三个方面展开。首先，物质生产是民生的基础。如果生产力落后、物质生产水平低下，保障和改善民生则无从谈起。其次，满足人的需要、实现人的全面发展是民生建设的目标。人的需要具有多样性和层次性，与人的全面发展密切相关。只有充分满足人的发展需要，满足人的生产性和创造性，才能真正解决民生问题。最后，合理的利益分配是增进民生福祉的关键。马克思恩格斯对资本主义民生问题的深刻剖析揭示出一个道理：保障和改善民生仅仅依靠发达的物质生产是不够的，还需要有合理的利益分配机制，确立起以人民为中心的社会制度。

Accordingly, to truly ensure and improve people's livelihood, it is necessary to realize people-centered development. On the one hand, attention should be paid to the development of productive forces and scientific and technological innovation, making the development of productive forces the fundamental task of modernization, so that the fruits of development benefit all the people more and more fairly. On the other hand, continuously meet the people's aspiration for a better life, and focus on solving the pain points and difficult problems closely related to the masses, while promoting comprehensive social progress to realize people's all-round development.

据此，真正保障和改善民生，就要实现以人民为中心的发展。一方面，应注重生产力发展和科技创新，把发展生产力作为现代化建设的根本任务，使发展成果更多更公平惠及全体人民。另一方面，不断满足人民对美好生活的向往，着力解决与人民群众息息相关的痛点难点问题，在促进社会全面进步的同时实现人的全面发展。

Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for livelihood construction.

党的领导是民生建设的根本保证

Ensuring and improving people's livelihood cannot be separated from the leadership of a political party that takes realizing the people's interests as its own responsibility. As Marx and Engels said, "The Communists are not a special party opposed to other working-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole." The Communist Party grasps the laws of development of modern material production, represents the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people, and has the mission endowed by socio-historical development and the authority recognized by the people. Engels pointed out in On Authority, "To abolish authority in large-scale industry is to abolish industry itself, that is, to destroy the power of the steam engine and the spinning machine and to restore the spinning wheel." In his view, the Communist Party, which has grown up in the environment of large-scale industry, is the "authority in large-scale industry." As a genuine working-class party, "in practice, the Communists are the most resolute and always pushing forward part of the working-class parties of all countries; in theory, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement."

保障和改善民生，离不开一个以实现人民利益为己任的政党的领导。正如马克思恩格斯所言，“共产党人不是同其他工人政党相对立的特殊政党。他们没有任何同整个无产阶级的利益不同的利益”。共产党把握了现代物质生产的发展规律，代表最广大人民群众的根本利益，有着社会历史发展所赋予的使命和人民认可的权威。恩格斯在《论权威》中指出，“想消灭大工业中的权威，就等于想消灭工业本身，即想消灭蒸汽纺纱机而恢复手纺车”。在他看来，在大工业环境中孕育成长起来的共产党，就是“大工业中的权威”。作为一个真正的工人阶级政党，“在实践方面，共产党人是各国工人政党中最坚决的、始终起推动作用的部分；在理论方面，他们胜过其余无产阶级群众的地方在于他们了解无产阶级运动的条件、进程和一般结果”。

Through a profound understanding of historical laws and a scientific summary of historical experience, the Communist Party of China has deeply realized that the livelihood issue is a complex whole, concerning the success or failure of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It must be taken seriously, and in practice, with systematic thinking and pragmatic measures, continuously solve various livelihood issues, promote the formation of a livelihood work pattern led by the government, with extensive participation from all sectors of society and active individual input, and jointly promote the progress of the livelihood cause. To promote high-quality development of the livelihood cause on the new journey, it is necessary to resolutely uphold the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, implement Party leadership in all aspects and links of the livelihood cause, ensure strong political cohesion and confidence in development for united struggle, and gather the mighty force of one heart and one mind, overcoming difficulties together.

通过对历史规律的深刻认识和对历史经验的科学总结，中国共产党深刻认识到，民生问题是一个复杂整体，事关中国特色社会主义事业的成败，必须高度重视，并在实践中以系统思维和务实举措持续解决各类民生问题，推动形成政府主导、社会各界广泛参与、个体积极投入的民生工作格局，共同推动民生事业进步。新征程上推动民生事业高质量发展，必须坚决维护党中央权威和集中统一领导，把党的领导落实到民生事业各方面各环节，确保拥有团结奋斗的强大政治凝聚力、发展自信心，集聚起万众一心、共克时艰的磅礴力量。

Ensuring and improving people's livelihood should focus on institutional construction.

保障和改善民生应注重制度建设

Just as Marx affirmed that "labour-power itself, as a capacity, is the activity that creates value," the creation of social wealth cannot be separated from human labour; it requires people to use their own physical strength and intelligence, that is, their own abilities, to create. But even so, people cannot be regarded merely as labourers. If all people are regarded "only as workers, and nothing else, and everything else is set aside," it is equivalent to viewing the inner richness of people only from the perspective of "labour," treating the rich and diverse needs of real people, and easily neglecting the most basic survival needs and rights that people enjoy as members of society. Therefore, while vigorously developing productive forces, more attention should be paid to meeting people's survival and development needs through means such as social security.

正如马克思认可“劳动能力自身作为一种能力，是创造价值的活动”一样，社会财富的创造离不开人的劳动，它需要人们运用自身体力和智力即人自身的能力去创造。但即使这样，也不能将人仅仅视为劳动者。如果把所有人“只当作劳动者，再不把他们看作别的什么，把其他一切都撇开了”，就相当于仅仅是从“劳动”的视角去看待人的内在丰富性，去对待现实的人的丰富多样的需要，而容易忽视人作为社会成员享有的最基本的生存需要和权利。因此，在大力发展生产力的同时，更要注重以社会保障等手段满足人们的生存需要和发展需要。

The improvement and enhancement of people's livelihood depends on development as well as institutional guarantees. In the historical development of different periods of human society, different social systems have played a promoting role in social development to varying degrees. Marx and Engels once pointed out, "The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together." But under capitalist private ownership, "as the worker is debased spiritually and physically to the condition of a machine, and as he becomes an abstract activity and a stomach, he becomes more and more dependent on all fluctuations of the market price, on the use of capital and the caprice of the rich." Marx deeply recognized that the existence of private property makes the distribution of social resources increasingly unequal, with a large amount of wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, and the lives of ordinary people cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, they regarded the establishment of communist society as the goal for which humanity should strive.

民生的改善与提升既要靠发展，也离不开制度保障。在人类社会不同时期的历史发展进程中，不同的社会制度对社会发展不同程度地起到过促进作用。马克思恩格斯曾指出，“资产阶级在它的不到一百年的阶级统治中所创造的生产力，比过去一切世代创造的全部生产力还要多，还要大”。但在资本主义私有制下，“随着工人在精神上和肉体上被贬低为机器，随着人变成抽象的活动和胃，工人也越来越依赖于市场价格的一切波动，依赖于资本的使用和富人的兴致”。马克思深刻认识到，私有制的存在使社会资源分配越发不均，大量财富聚集在少部分人手中，普通民众的生活无法得到保障，因而，他们把建立共产主义社会作为人类应该为之奋斗的目标。

Since the founding of New China, the Communist Party of China has adhered to and developed Marxist thought on people's livelihood. By continuously liberating and developing social productive forces, it has solved the problem of the masses' need for material and cultural life "from lack to existence," and is now focusing on solving the problem of the masses' need for a better life "from existence to excellence" as a higher pursuit. History and reality prove that the socialist system with Chinese characteristics is a system that respects labour. In this system, people's livelihood is the biggest politics. In the practice of further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese-path modernization, we should continuously improve the income distribution system, improve the employment-first policy, improve the social security system, deepen the reform of the medical and health system, and improve the population development support and service system, so as to promote the continuous improvement of the livelihood system, and promote more obvious substantive progress in people's all-round development and common prosperity for all.

新中国成立以来，中国共产党坚持和发展马克思主义民生思想，通过不断解放和发展社会生产力，解决了广大人民群众对物质文化生活需要“从乏到有”的问题，正在着力解决广大人民群众对美好生活需要“从有到优”的更高追求问题。历史和现实证明，中国特色社会主义制度是尊重劳动的制度，在这个制度中，民生是最大的政治。在进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的实践中，我们应不断完善收入分配制度、完善就业优先政策、健全社会保障体系、深化医药卫生体制改革、健全人口发展支持和服务体系，以促进民生制度体系的不断健全，推动人的全面发展、全体人民共同富裕取得更为明显的实质性进展。

(Author: Lin Jinping, Distinguished Researcher of the Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era)

（作者：林进平，系广东省习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧