New Quality Productive Forces Empower Common Prosperity

From his attention to the “problem of material interests” during the *Rheinische Zeitung* period, to his study of alienated labor in the *Paris Manuscripts*, and then to his profound analysis of the survival predicament of the working class in *Capital*, it can be said that the elimination of social poverty and the realization of a wealthy society are Marx’s consistent theoretical objectives, and their realization depends on the liberation and development of productive forces. In today’s era of rapid digitalization and intelligentization, developing new quality productive forces, which are “driven by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading, with the basic connotation being the leap in workers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combination, and the core symbol being a substantial increase in total factor productivity,” has become the necessary path for contemporary China to achieve common prosperity.

从《莱茵报》时期对“物质利益难题”的关注，到《巴黎手稿》时期对异化劳动的研究，再到《资本论》对工人阶级生存困境的深刻解析，可以说，社会贫困的消除和富裕社会的实现是马克思一以贯之的理论旨归，其实现离不开生产力的解放和发展。在数字化和数智化高速推进的今天，发展“由技术革命性突破、生产要素创新性配置、产业深度转型升级而催生，以劳动者、劳动资料、劳动对象及其优化组合的跃升为基本内涵，以全要素生产率大幅提升为核心标志”的新质生产力，成为当代中国实现共同富裕的必由之路。

Common Prosperity: Eliminating Absolute Poverty and Relative Poverty

共同富裕：消除绝对贫困与相对贫困

In Marx’s time, the Industrial Revolution brought Europe into the era of industrial civilization, and the vigorous development of capitalism greatly enhanced social productive forces while also making poverty a social problem. Through his investigation of the phenomenon of poverty, Marx developed his own anti-poverty thought and indicated the theoretical objective of common prosperity. In his view, the poverty of the proletariat in capitalist society encompasses both absolute poverty caused by a lack of material means and relative poverty rooted in unjust social systems and the spiritual distress of the working class; poverty and its elimination are comprehensive social historical issues.

在马克思所处的时代，工业革命将欧洲带入工业文明时期，资本主义的蓬勃发展使得社会生产力得到极大提升，也让贫困成为社会性难题。通过对贫困现象的考察，马克思阐发了自身的反贫困思想，并指示了共同富裕的理论旨归。在他看来，资本主义社会中无产阶级的贫困现象既涵盖了物质资料匮乏导致的绝对贫困，又包含着社会制度不公正、工人阶级精神困窘带来的相对贫困，贫困和消除贫困都是综合性的社会历史问题。

On the one hand, Marx analyzed the absolute poverty of the proletariat in capitalist society from the perspective of a critique of political economy. *Capital* points out that in capitalist society the phenomenon of “workers toil without gain, while capitalists are idle and profiting” intensifies, the root of which lies in the inherent contradiction of the bourgeois property right—the separation of labor from property right. Because labor is separated from property right and from capital, the working class cannot sustain life without selling their labor power as a commodity; yet once workers sell their labor power, the fruits of labor belong to the capitalist, and the law of commodity production ownership transforms into the law of capitalist appropriation. It is precisely in the research thread that moves from the actual social historical situation of the working class’s material deprivation to the critique of property right, to the separation of labor and capital and their relationship, and then to the critique of capital, that Marx found the root of the problem of social absolute poverty in his political economy research. On the other hand, standing on the ground of a critique of political philosophy, Marx pointed out that the relative poverty of the proletariat in capitalist society is also a problem that social development must solve. Relative poverty of the proletariat is a feeling of deprivation and hopelessness, pointing to the injustice of the social distribution system and the widespread spiritual distress of the working class. The theoretical basis for Marx’s view on distribution is his theory of surplus value. Ultimately, the key lies in the capital and its operational logic standing behind the relations of class exploitation and the labor-capital relationship—under the capitalist mode of production, the infinite expansion of capital constitutes the purpose of all production links, and the dominance of capital over unpaid labor is manifested in capitalist social reality as the exploitation of the working class by the bourgeoisie; it can be said that in the process of capitalist reproduction, society develops toward extreme inequality and polarization.

一方面，马克思从政治经济学批判的角度分析了资本主义社会中无产阶级的绝对贫困。《资本论》指出，资本主义社会中“劳动者劳而不获、资本家不劳而获”的现象愈演愈烈，其根源在于资产阶级财产权的固有矛盾——劳动与财产权相分离。由于劳动与财产权、与资本相分离，工人阶级如果不将自身的劳动力作为商品出卖，就无法延续生命；而一旦工人出卖自身劳动力，劳动所得即归资本家所有，商品生产的所有权规律即转变为资本主义占有规律。正是在从工人阶级物质匮乏的现实社会历史到财产权批判、到劳动与资本的分离及其关系、再到资本批判的研究脉络中，马克思在其政治经济学研究中找到了社会绝对贫困问题的根源所在。另一方面，马克思站在政治哲学批判的立场，指出资本主义社会中无产阶级的相对贫困也是社会发展必须解决的难题。无产阶级的相对贫困是一种贫乏、无望的感受，指向的是社会分配制度的不公正及工人阶级的普遍精神困窘。马克思看待分配问题的理论基础是其剩余价值理论。归根结底，问题的关键在于阶级剥削关系、劳资关系背后伫立着的资本及其运行逻辑——在资本主义生产方式下，资本的无限增殖构成一切生产环节的目的，资本对无酬劳动的支配权在资本主义社会现实中呈现为资产阶级对工人阶级的剥削；可以说，在资本主义再生产的过程中，社会朝着极度不平等的两极化发展。

New Quality Productive Forces Empower the Elimination of Absolute Poverty

新质生产力赋能消除绝对贫困

To usher in a society of common prosperity for all, the first step is to free the broad proletariat from absolute poverty, and the elimination of absolute poverty cannot be separated from the liberation and development of productive forces. In contemporary China, the historical task of liberating and developing productive forces explicitly points to the leapfrog development of new quality productive forces. As a development phenomenon characterized by “innovation as its feature and quality excellence as the key,” new quality productive forces have already permeated all aspects of social development in 21st-century China, prominently manifested in scientific and technological innovation, the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, and the improvement of the quality of workers.

要想迎来一个所有人共同富裕的社会，首要的便是使广大无产阶级摆脱绝对贫困的处境，而绝对贫困的消除离不开生产力的解放和发展。在当代中国，解放和发展生产力的历史重任明确地指向了新质生产力的飞跃式发展。“新质生产力”作为一种“特点是创新，关键在质优”的发展现象，早已渗透于21世纪中国社会发展的方方面面，突出表现为科学技术的创新、产业结构的优化升级和劳动者素质的提升。

First, the core of new quality productive forces lies in scientific and technological innovation, which brings about a leap in social productive forces and an overall improvement in people’s lives, thereby making it possible to eliminate absolute poverty. In Marx’s view, scientific and technological innovation is by no means merely a matter of discovering and rewriting scientific theories or improving and inventing production tools—that is, a purely academic or technical matter—but a comprehensive social issue closely related to the development of the times and people’s lives. For contemporary China, scientific and technological innovation and its achievements are an important guarantee for the people to shake off absolute poverty and pursue a better life. The reason for this is that the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics has sublated the logic of capital that constrains the process of human social development. In the process of developing new quality productive forces, contemporary China vigorously supports scientific and technological innovation and transforms its achievements into development momentum and production efficiency for impoverished areas, effectively improving the lives of the masses; in this sense, scientific and technological innovation is indeed an important aid in eliminating absolute poverty. Second, the development of new quality productive forces brings about a comprehensive transformation of the social economic environment, and the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure in particular contributes to the elimination of absolute poverty. As capital flows spontaneously within and across industries, activities and sectors with higher efficiency and higher profit receive strong support and in-depth development, which further promotes the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, social economic development, and accumulation of social wealth. However, whether the increase in total social wealth improves people’s lives depends on the role of the power of capital and its logic in development. Socialist modernization treats capital as a neutral economic means, rationally uses capital to advance industrialization, urbanization, and ecologicalization, and better creates high efficiency and high benefits, thereby closely linking the development of new quality productive forces, the growth of social wealth, and the improvement of people’s living standards. Finally, workers are the subjects of social development and the most active factor in the progress of productive forces; the improvement of the quality of workers is the subjective factor in the empowerment of new quality productive forces to eliminate absolute poverty. In the process of developing new quality productive forces in contemporary China, neither scientific and technological innovation nor the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure can be realized without the participation of high-quality workers. Conversely, as workers participate more deeply in the development of new quality productive forces, they increasingly grow into new-type workers with strong physical quality and superb technical quality, thereby better able to escape the situation of absolute poverty.

首先，新质生产力的核心在于科技创新，科技创新带来社会生产力的飞跃和人民生活的全面改善，从而使得绝对贫困得以消除。在马克思看来，科技创新绝非仅仅是科学理论的发现与改写或生产工具的改良与发明，即纯粹学术、技术领域的问题，而是一个与时代发展、人民生活息息相关的综合性社会问题。对于当代中国来说，科技创新及其成果是人民摆脱绝对贫困、追求美好生活的重要保障。之所以如此，是因为中国特色社会主义发展扬弃了制约人类社会发展进程的资本逻辑。当代中国在发展新质生产力的过程中大力支持科技创新并使其成果转换为贫困地区的发展动力、生产效能，有效改善了群众生活；就此而言，科技创新当之无愧是消除绝对贫困的重要助力。其次，新质生产力的发展带来了社会经济环境的全面变革，其中的产业结构优化升级尤为突出地助力了社会绝对贫困的消除。随着资本在产业内部和不同产业间的自发流转，更高效率、更高利润的活动和部门将得到强力支持和深入发展，这进一步推动了产业结构优化升级、社会经济发展、社会财富积累。然而，社会财富总量的增长是否带来人民生活的改善，取决于资本权力及其逻辑在发展中的角色。社会主义现代化将资本视为一种中性的经济手段，合理运用资本推进工业化、城市化和生态化进程并更好地创造高效率和高效益，从而使新质生产力的发展、社会财富的增长与人民生活水平的提升紧密关联在了一起。最后，劳动者是社会发展的主体，也是生产力进步最活跃的因素，劳动者素质的提升是新质生产力赋能消除绝对贫困的主体性因素。在当代中国发展新质生产力的过程中，不论是科学技术的创新发展还是产业结构的优化升级，如果没有高素质劳动者的参与，都是不可能实现的。而反过来，随着劳动者愈发深入地参与到新质生产力发展的进程之中，他们就愈发成长为拥有强壮身体素质和精湛技术素质的新型劳动者，从而能够更好地摆脱绝对贫困境况。

New Quality Productive Forces Empower the Elimination of Relative Poverty

新质生产力赋能消除相对贫困

As mentioned earlier, the relative poverty of the proletariat is caused by the injustice of the social distribution system and the widespread spiritual distress of the working class. Therefore, in contemporary China, the process of eliminating relative poverty is also the process of realizing social fairness and justice and the free and comprehensive development of human beings, and this process also depends on the development and assistance of new quality productive forces.

如前所述，无产阶级的相对贫困是由社会分配制度的不公正及工人阶级的普遍精神困窘导致。因此，在当代中国，消除相对贫困的过程也即实现社会公平正义和人的自由全面发展的过程，而这一过程也有赖于新质生产力的发展与助力。

Marx deeply analyzed the agricultural economy and industrial economy eras experienced by the modernization process of human history. Today, we have entered a new stage of modernization, the era of the development of new quality productive forces. As a new type of economic form in modernization, new quality productive forces greatly promote the improvement of efficiency and the growth of wealth. Socialist modernization is a form of modernization distinct from capitalist modernization, and the distinction lies in taking common prosperity as the fundamental pursuit of social development; common prosperity, in turn, points to social fairness and justice and the free and comprehensive development of human beings. Specifically, new quality productive forces contribute to fairness and justice and the free and comprehensive development of human beings in two aspects: accelerating the restructuring of the economic development model and the economic governance model. First, in accelerating the restructuring of the economic development model, the vigorous development of new quality productive forces can improve the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development. Second, in accelerating the restructuring of the economic governance model, the accelerated development and application of digital technology can better coordinate the relationship between the market and the government, enabling the socialist market economy to ensure efficiency and vitality while allowing development results to flow orderly to the people. Thus, in the process of socialist modernization, new quality productive forces can provide opportunities for social fairness and justice and the free and comprehensive development of human beings, thereby empowering the elimination of relative poverty in society.

马克思深刻分析了人类历史的现代化进程所经历的农业经济和工业经济时代，而今，我们进入了现代化的新阶段，即新质生产力发展的时代。作为一种现代化的新型经济形态，新质生产力对于效率的提升和财富的增长具有极大的促进作用。社会主义现代化是与资本主义现代化相区别的现代化，其区别就在于将共同富裕作为社会发展的根本追求；而共同富裕又是指向社会公平正义和人的自由全面发展的。具体而言，新质生产力在加速重构经济发展模式与经济治理模式两方面助力公平正义和人的自由全面发展。其一，在加速重构经济发展模式方面，新质生产力的蓬勃发展能够改善不平衡不充分的发展问题；其二，在加速重构经济治理模式方面，加速发展和投入运用的数字科技能够更好协调市场与政府的关系，使社会主义市场经济在保有效率和活力的基础上让发展成果有序地流向人民群众。可见，在社会主义现代化进程中，新质生产力能够为社会的公平正义和人的自由全面发展提供机遇，从而赋能消除社会的相对贫困问题。

In summary, the vigorous development of new quality productive forces brings about rapid progress in economic efficiency and wealth. At the same time, consideration of the fairness and justice of the relations of production behind the development of productive forces, the pursuit of the free and comprehensive development of human beings, and the pursuit of the goal of common prosperity should become the core meanings of socialist modernization. In fact, in the process of socialist modernization, the steady progress of social fairness and justice and the free and comprehensive development of human beings relies on the leap of new quality productive forces. In the two aspects of accelerating the restructuring of the economic development model and the economic governance model, new quality productive forces empower the elimination of relative poverty in society.

概言之，新质生产力的蓬勃发展带来了经济效率和财富方面的突飞猛进，与此同时，对于生产力发展背后生产关系之公平正义性质的考量、对于人的自由全面发展的求索、对于共同富裕目标的追求，应该成为社会主义现代化的核心要义。事实上，在社会主义现代化进程中，社会公平正义和人的自由全面发展稳步推进依托于新质生产力的飞跃，在加速重构经济发展模式与经济治理模式两方面，新质生产力赋能社会相对贫困的消除。

To summarize, Marx’s investigation of the social poverty problem points to the theoretical objective of common prosperity. On the one hand, he criticized the phenomenon of comprehensive poverty of the proletariat in capitalist society; on the other hand, in the wake of his critique, he provided reasonable reflections for the elimination of absolute and relative poverty in a future society. Situated in the era of the vigorous development of new quality productive forces, contemporary China proceeds from reality, recognizes that poverty is a comprehensive social problem, and thus vigorously develops new quality productive forces to empower common prosperity, with the aim of eliminating absolute and relative poverty and constructing a future society where all people freely and comprehensively develop.

综上所述，马克思对社会贫困问题的考察指向了共同富裕的理论旨归，他一方面批判了资本主义社会中的无产阶级全面贫困现象，另一方面在批判之余为未来社会绝对贫困和相对贫困的消除提供了合理之思。身处新质生产力蓬勃发展的时代，当代中国从实际出发，认识到贫困是综合性的社会问题，因而大力发展新质生产力并赋能共同富裕，以期消除绝对贫困和相对贫困、构建所有人自由而全面发展的未来社会。

(The author is a researcher at the Huazhong Agricultural University Branch Center of the Hubei Provincial Research Center for the System of Theories of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics)

（作者系湖北省中国特色社会主义理论体系研究中心华中农业大学分中心研究员）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧