On the Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization

Xi Jinping pointed out: “Chinese-path modernization is socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China. It contains elements that are common to the modernization of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.” [1]1 Xi Jinping, “Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive in Unity to Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects — Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,” October 16, 2022. Chinese-path modernization belongs to the category of socialist modernization and inevitably possesses the common characteristics of socialist modernization. An in-depth exploration of the common characteristics of socialist modernization has important theoretical and practical value. Some scholars have noted: “The relationship between modernization and socialism is a simple and clear issue, but upon closer examination, it is a question raised by the world modernization process and the reform practice of socialism, yet one that people have not yet thoroughly explored as a whole.” [2]2 Source not provided in the original text; likely a reference to a Chinese scholar’s work. At present, domestic academic circles have produced fruitful research results on the common characteristics of world modernization and the distinctive features of Chinese-path modernization, but there are few high-quality research results on the common characteristics of socialist modernization. The common characteristics of socialist modernization not only reflect the ideal state of socialist modernization at the level of value goals, but also reflect the actual content of general laws in the practice of socialist modernization construction. They constitute an organic unity of the basic principles of scientific socialism and the universal laws of modernization, forming the essential requirements that all socialist countries must follow in advancing their own modernization construction. This article, through a historical longitudinal investigation and international horizontal comparison of socialist modernization, systematically summarizes the common characteristics of socialist modernization, with a view to providing theoretical support for better advancing socialist modernization construction.

习近平指出：“中国式现代化，是中国共产党领导的社会主义现代化，既有各国现代化的共同特征，更有基于自己国情的中国特色。”中国式现代化归属于社会主义现代化范畴，必然具备社会主义现代化的共同特征。深入探究社会主义现代化的共同特征，具有重要的理论与实践价值。有学者指出：“现代化与社会主义的关系问题是一个简单而明了的问题，但细微观之，这又是世界现代化进程和社会主义的改革实践所提出、而人们至今尚未从整体上深入探讨的问题。”目前，国内学界关于世界现代化的共同特征及中国式现代化的鲜明特色的研究成果丰硕,但鲜有关于社会主义现代化共同特征的高质量研究成果。社会主义现代化的共同特征，既体现了社会主义现代化在价值目标层面的应然状态，也反映了社会主义现代化建设实践中的一般性规律等实然内容，是科学社会主义基本原则与现代化普遍规律的有机统一，构成了各社会主义国家推进本国现代化建设必须遵循的本质要求。本文通过对社会主义现代化进行历史纵向考察与国际横向比较，系统总结社会主义现代化的共同特征，以期为更好地推进社会主义现代化建设提供理论支撑。

I. The Phased Presentation of the Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization

一、社会主义现代化共同特征的阶段性呈现

From Marx and Engels’ theoretical conception and principled definition of socialist modernization based on historical laws, to the early practice of socialist modernization centered on industrialization after the October Revolution in Russia, to the traditional socialist modernization path typified by the Soviet model, and to the new type of modernization emphasizing comprehensive social development, the common characteristics of socialist modernization have undergone a phased transformation from theoretical construction to practical exploration, from partial and one-sided to systematic and scientific.

从马克思、恩格斯基于历史规律揭示的对社会主义现代化的理论设想与原则性界定，到俄国十月革命后以工业化为核心的社会主义现代化早期实践，再到以苏联模式为典型的传统社会主义现代化道路，以及强调社会全面发展的新型现代化形态，社会主义现代化的共同特征经历了从理论建构到实践探索、从局部片面到系统科学的阶段性转变。

(A) Marx and Engels’ Theoretical Conception and Principled Provisions on Socialist Modernization

(一)马克思、恩格斯对社会主义现代化的理论设想与原则性规定

In Marx’s theory, “modern society” was more often used as a synonym for “capitalist modern society.” His analysis and critique of capitalist modern society constitute the core content of his modernization theory. In his prediction of the inevitable demise of the capitalist system, he clearly presented the theoretical prototype of socialist modernization. Capitalist modernization achieved a complete transformation of productive forces. “The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part. … 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.” [3]3 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *Manifesto of the Communist Party* (1848). At the same time, capitalist modernization created the predicament of modernity development. “On this evil foundation, every new development of the productive forces of labor necessarily deepens social contrasts and intensifies social antagonisms.” [4]4 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume 1 (1867), paraphrase. Therefore, the replacement of capitalism by socialism is an objective trend in the development of productive forces and the progress of human modern civilization. Based on this conclusion, Marx made the following reasonable conception of the future ideal society: the future society, i.e., communist society, is an association of free individuals, which is the value goal; the tremendous growth and high development of productive forces are the prerequisite for establishing a communist society; there is a transitional period of the dictatorship of the proletariat between capitalism and communist society; the future society is a society of constant change. The above characteristics constitute Marx and Engels’ principled provisions for the future ideal society and are the theoretical principles that socialist modernization must adhere to and the value goals to be urgently realized.

在马克思的理论中，“现代社会”更多是作为“资本主义现代社会”的同义语被使用的，他对资本主义现代社会的剖析与批判是其现代化理论的核心内容，他在资本主义制度必然灭亡的预判中，清晰呈现了社会主义现代化的理论雏形。资本主义现代化实现了生产力的全新变革。“资产阶级历史时期负有为新世界创造物质基础的使命：一方面要造成以全人类互相依赖为基础的普遍交往，以及进行这种交往的工具；另一方面要发展人的生产力，把物质生产变成对自然力的科学支配。”同时，资本主义现代化造成了现代性发展困境，“在现代这种邪恶的基础上，劳动生产力的任何新的发展，都不可避免地要加深社会对比和加强社会对抗”。因此，社会主义取代资本主义是生产力发展和人类现代文明进步的客观趋势。基于这一结论，马克思对未来理想社会作了如下合理构想：未来社会即共产主义社会是自由人的联合体，这是价值目标；生产力的巨大增长和高度发展是建立共产主义社会的前提；资本主义与共产主义社会之间存在一个无产阶级专政的过渡时期；未来社会是不断变革的社会。以上特征构成马克思、恩格斯对未来理想社会的原则性规定，是社会主义现代化必须坚守的理论原则与亟待实现的价值目标。

When turning his research focus to Eastern societies, including Russia, Marx confirmed the historical possibility of a non-capitalist path to modernization. In his reply to Vera Zasulich, Marx emphasized that the crisis of the capitalist system “can only end with the elimination of capitalism and the return of modern society to a ‘primitive’ type of common ownership.” [5]5 Karl Marx, “Drafts of a Reply to Vera Zasulich” (1881), paraphrase. Thereafter, Marx concentrated on exploring the non-capitalist path of Russian social development, thereby demonstrating, from the perspective of the dialectical laws of social formation evolution, the historical inevitability of economically and culturally relatively backward countries taking the socialist modernization path. It was precisely in his critique of the anti-modern and anti-civilization essence exposed by capitalist modernity that Marx conducted an in-depth investigation of issues such as the basic prerequisites, driving forces, internal contradictions, and laws of motion of social development, as well as the evolution of human social formations from lower to higher stages. He put forward the possibility and necessary historical conditions for economically and culturally relatively backward countries to bypass the capitalist system and take the socialist modernization path, initially constructing the earliest theoretical form of socialist modernization.

在将研究目光转向包括俄国在内的东方社会时，马克思确证了非资本主义现代化道路的历史可能性。在给维·伊·查苏利奇的复信中，马克思强调资本主义制度的危机“只能随着资本主义的消灭，随着现代社会回复到‘古代’类型的公有制而告终”。此后，马克思集中探讨了俄国社会发展的非资本主义道路，进而从社会形态演变的辩证规律角度论证了经济文化相对落后的国家走社会主义现代化道路的历史必然性。正是在对资本主义现代性所暴露的反现代、反文明本质的批判中，马克思对诸如社会发展的基础前提、动力、内在矛盾及其运动规律以及人类社会形态从低级向高级演进等问题作了深入考察，提出了经济文化相对落后的国家跨越资本主义制度、走社会主义现代化道路的可能性及其所需的历史条件，初步建构了社会主义现代化的最初理论形态。

(B) The Development of Socialist Modernization with Industrialization as the Main Feature after the October Revolution in Russia

(二)俄国十月革命后以工业化为主要特征的社会主义现代化发展

“Modernization is a process in which a new form of civilization (industrial civilization) is gradually established.” [6]6 Source not provided in the original text; likely a reference to a modernization theory scholar. The fundamental reason why modern society differs from traditional society, which is based on the material foundation of a farming economy, is that modern large-scale industry, through machinery, can convert nearly inexhaustible sources of inanimate motive power into enormous production and manufacturing capacity. The Soviet regime in Russia was established after the basic industrialization of the major Western European countries. Therefore, Lenin attached great importance to the establishment and development of modern large-scale industry in Soviet Russia, emphasizing that “large-scale machine industry and its introduction into agriculture are the sole economic foundation of socialism,” [7]7 V. I. Lenin, “The Tax in Kind” (1921), paraphrase. and explicitly stating that “it is necessary to restore industry and agriculture on the basis of the latest modern scientific achievements,” [8]8 V. I. Lenin, “Report on the Work of the Council of People’s Commissars” (1920), paraphrase. where the basis referred to was electrification. Based on this, Lenin put forward the slogan “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country,” [9]9 V. I. Lenin, “Our Foreign and Domestic Position and the Tasks of the Party” (1920). and formulated and implemented the GOELRO plan [10]10 GOELRO plan: The State Commission for the Electrification of Russia, a comprehensive plan for the electrification of Soviet Russia adopted in 1920. conducive to Soviet Russia’s industrialization construction. While affirming the correctness of Lenin’s thought on the fundamental and decisive role of industrialization in socialist construction, Stalin gave greater prominence to the role of heavy industry, explicitly stating that “the center of industrialization, the foundation of industrialization, is the development of heavy industry (fuel, metals, etc.),” [11]11 J. V. Stalin, “On the Tasks of Economic Executives” (1931), paraphrase. thereby establishing the Soviet Union’s basic tone of socialist construction prioritizing the development of heavy industry. In 1925, the Fourteenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) formally adopted the industrialization policy and determined the priority development of heavy industry. Thereafter, the Soviet Union roughly completed industrialization in three five-year plans. In 1937, the Soviet Union’s industrial production level leaped to first place in Europe and second in the world, demonstrating the unique advantages of the socialist system in promoting national industrialization.

“现代化是一种新的文明形式(工业文明)逐渐确立的过程。”现代社会之所以不同于以农耕经济为物质基础的传统社会，根本原因在于现代大工业通过大机器，能将几近无穷的无生命动力源泉转换为巨大的生产与制造能力。俄国的苏维埃政权是在西欧主要国家基本实现工业化之后建立起来的，因此，列宁高度重视在苏俄建立和发展现代化大工业，强调“大机器工业及其在农业中的推广，是社会主义唯一的经济基础”,明确提出“必须在现代最新科学成就的基础上恢复工业和农业”,而这里所说的基础就是电气化。基于此，列宁提出了“共产主义就是苏维埃政权加全国电气化”的口号，制定并实施了有利于苏俄工业化建设的全俄电气化计划。斯大林在肯定列宁关于工业化对社会主义建设具有基础决定作用思想正确性的同时，更加突出重工业的作用，明确提出“工业化的中心，工业化的基础，就是发展重工业(燃料、金属等等)”,由此确立了苏联优先发展重工业的社会主义建设基调。1925年，联共(布)十四大正式提出工业化方针，并确定优先发展重工业。此后，苏联大致用三个五年计划完成了工业化，1937年，苏联的工业生产水平跃居欧洲第一位、世界第二位，这彰显了社会主义制度在推进国家工业化发展中的独特优势。

The achievements of the Soviet Union’s early socialist construction show that although industrialization did not fully reflect the essential characteristics of socialist modernization, it conformed to the universal laws of world modernization at the time and met the development needs of late-developing socialist countries to escape backwardness and catch up with advanced countries in the world.

苏联初期的社会主义建设成就表明，工业化虽然未全面体现社会主义现代化的本质特征，却符合当时世界现代化发展的普遍规律，契合后发社会主义国家摆脱落后困境、追赶世界先进国家的发展需求。

(C) The Expansion of the Traditional Socialist Modernization Path Represented by the Soviet Model during the Cold War

(三)冷战时期以苏联模式为代表的传统社会主义现代化道路的拓展

The Soviet model “formulated plans through state functional departments, aimed at enhancing national defense capabilities, prioritized the development of heavy industry, and established a national economy dominated by state-owned enterprises and collectivized agriculture,” [12]12 Source not provided in the original text; likely a reference to a Chinese scholar’s definition. constituting “a catch-up industrialization path taken with extraordinary means under conditions of insufficient internal spontaneous economic impetus.” [13]13 Source not provided in the original text; likely a reference to a Chinese scholar’s characterization. The socialist camp formed in the mid-20th century and its exploration of socialist modernization, due to specific historical conditions, exhibited significant characteristics such as a weak material foundation and a “one large, many small” internal relationship, [14]14 “One large, many small”: A phrase referring to the Soviet Union as the dominant power and the other socialist countries as smaller members within the socialist camp. and the Soviet model became the object of emulation for various socialist countries.

苏联模式“通过国家职能部门制定计划，以增强国防实力为目标，优先发展重工业，建立以国营企业和集体化农业为主导的国民经济”,“是一种在内部自发经济动力不足的条件下以非常手段进行的赶超型工业化道路”。20世纪中叶形成的社会主义阵营及其对社会主义现代化的探索，因特定历史条件而具有物质基础薄弱、内部关系呈“一大诸小”等显著特征，苏联模式成为社会主义各国仿效的对象。

The Eastern European socialist states learned from the Soviet model, relying on five-year plans to establish a socialist construction policy prioritizing heavy industry. For example, in 1950 Poland began implementing a six-year plan, proposing that after six years industrial output would increase by 85–95% over 1949; Romania proposed that by 1955 industrial output would double compared to 1950; Hungary proposed that during the first five-year plan the gross value of industrial output would increase by 86.4%; Yugoslavia proposed that industry’s share of the national economy would rise from 45% in 1939 to 64% in 1951; and so on. [15]15 The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1956) was a landmark event where Nikita Khrushchev delivered the “Secret Speech” denouncing Stalin’s personality cult and initiating de-Stalinization. After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Bulgaria imitated the Soviet Union in reforming its domestic politics and economy, proposing a restoration of Leninist principles. [16]16 The Albanian Party of Labour was the ruling communist party of Albania from 1941 to 1992, led by Enver Hoxha, known for its extreme isolationist and Stalinist policies. Albania not only learned from the Soviet economic model but also replicated the Soviet Union politically, enabling the Albanian Party of Labour to lead everything without any restrictions. Furthermore, the influence of the Soviet model on socialist states outside Eastern Europe was concentrated in the establishment of a highly centralized planned economic system. The radical faction of the Communist Party of Cuba, represented by Che Guevara, believed that the basic method for achieving socialism was comprehensive nationalization, high centralization, economic planning, and accelerated industrialization. The Third Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba regarded maintaining relations with the socialist camp, especially the Soviet Union, as its fundamental strategic principle, confirming the Soviet model orientation of Cuban socialist construction. In 1950, Mao Zedong, having personally witnessed the great achievements of Soviet socialist construction, stated: “The Soviet Union’s experience in economic, cultural, and other important constructions will become a model for New China’s construction.” In 1953, at the Fourth Session of the First National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, he again proposed: “A nationwide upsurge in learning from the Soviet Union should be launched to build our country.” With the completion of the socialist transformation of the means of production in 1956, China gradually established a highly centralized planned economic system.

东欧社会主义国家学习苏联模式，依托五年计划确立优先发展重工业的社会主义建设方针。例如，1950年，波兰开始实施六年计划,提出六年后工业生产将比1949年增长85%—95%;罗马尼亚提出要在1955年使工业生产比1950年增长一倍；匈牙利提出要在第一个五年计划期间使工业生产总值增加86.4%;南斯拉夫提出要使工业占国民经济的比重由1939年的45%提高到1951年的64%;等等。苏共二十大后，保加利亚仿照苏联对国内政治经济进行改革，提出恢复列宁主义原则。阿尔巴尼亚不仅学习苏联的经济模式，而且在政治方面复刻苏联，使阿尔巴尼亚劳动党不受任何限制地领导一切。此外，苏联模式对东欧以外的社会主义国家的影响集中表现为高度集中的计划经济体制的确立。以切·格瓦拉为代表的古巴共产党激进派认为，实现社会主义的基本方法就是全盘国有化、高度集中、经济计划化和加速工业化，古巴共产党三大将维护与社会主义阵营尤其是同苏联的关系视为其根本战略原则，确定了古巴社会主义建设的苏联模式取向。1950年，毛泽东在亲历苏联社会主义建设的伟大成就时提出：“苏联经济文化及其他各项重要的建设经验，将成为新中国建设的榜样。”1953年，他在全国政协一届四次会议上再次提出：“应该在全国掀起一个学习苏联的高潮，来建设我们的国家。”随着1956年对生产资料私有制的社会主义改造的完成，中国逐步建立了高度集中的计划经济体制。

During the Cold War, the achievements of world socialist modernization demonstrated the significant advantages of the Soviet model. However, “because it envisaged and strove to establish the most advanced and perfect social system on a backward or very backward foundation, the most prominent characteristic of the Soviet model of socialism was the non-equilibrium nature of social development, such as the imbalance between politics and economy, between relations of production and productive forces, between industry and agriculture, and between heavy and light industry.” [17]17 This quotation is from a Chinese scholarly source analyzing the Soviet model’s internal contradictions. After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, some socialist states attempted to integrate Marxism with their own national construction practices, hoping to achieve a transformation of the socialist modernization model through institutional reform. This gave rise to attempts such as the “Polish Road,” but these explorations of modernization failed to achieve their expected goals due to the inertial constraints of the Soviet model and the influence of the international situation.

冷战时期，世界社会主义现代化建设的成就彰显了苏联模式的显著优势，但“由于设想和力图在落后或非常落后的基础上建立最先进、最完美的社会制度，苏联模式的社会主义最突出的特点就是社会发展的非均衡性，如政治与经济的不平衡、生产关系与生产力的不平衡、工业和农业的不平衡、重工业与轻工业的不平衡等”。苏共二十大后，部分社会主义国家曾尝试将马克思主义与本国建设实践相结合，希望通过体制改革实现社会主义现代化建设模式的转换，所以有了“波兰道路”等尝试，但是这些对现代化的探索均因苏联模式的惯性束缚和国际局势的影响而未能达到预期目标。

(4) After the Cold War, Socialist Modernization Innovation Centered on Comprehensive Social Development

(四)冷战后以社会全面发展为主要内容的社会主义现代化创新

The drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe showed that the traditional socialist practice exploration centered on industrialization failed to objectively and comprehensively reflect the essential requirements and scientific connotations of socialist modernization. This led people to misunderstand socialist modernization and triggered setbacks in socialist practice. The drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe marked the end of the traditional Soviet path of socialist modernization. After the end of the Cold War, socialist states represented by China, in deepening their understanding of the essence of socialism and the scientific connotations of modernization, promoted the comprehensive development of socialist civilization, causing socialist modernization to exhibit the main characteristic of comprehensive social development.

苏东剧变表明，以工业化为核心的传统社会主义实践探索未能客观、全面地体现社会主义现代化的本质要求和科学内涵，这导致人们错误地理解了社会主义现代化并引发了社会主义实践的挫折。苏东剧变标志着苏联传统社会主义现代化道路的终结。冷战结束后，以中国为代表的社会主义国家在深化对社会主义本质和现代化科学内涵的认识中，推动社会主义文明的全面发展，使社会主义现代化呈现出社会全面发展的主要特征。

In fact, before the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the Communist Party of China had established the basic line centered on economic construction, confirming the decisive significance of material civilization for socialist modernization. The Twelfth National Congress of the CPC set the general task of the Party in the new historical period as: “Unite the people of all ethnic groups across the country, rely on our own efforts and hard work, and gradually realize the modernization of industry, agriculture, national defense, and science and technology, building China into a highly civilized and highly democratic socialist state,” proposing to “vigorously promote the construction of socialist material civilization and cultural-ethical progress.” After the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, China’s socialist modernization construction gradually expanded from the construction of “two civilizations” to the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan. Promoting comprehensive human development through comprehensive social development constitutes the clear main line of the evolution of Chinese-path modernization. In 2001, Jiang Zemin emphasized at the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the CPC: “All our work must focus not only on the people’s actual material and cultural life needs but also on improving the people’s quality, that is, striving to promote the comprehensive development of people. This is the essential requirement of Marxism for building a new socialist society.” The Sixteenth National Congress of the CPC proposed to “promote comprehensive social progress and promote the comprehensive development of people,” emphasizing that “grasping this point means fundamentally grasping the people’s aspirations and the essence of socialist modernization construction.” The Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC proposed to “promote the comprehensive development of people, gradually achieve common prosperity for all people, and build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, and harmonious socialist modern state.” The Nineteenth National Congress of the CPC proposed to “better meet the people’s growing needs in economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological aspects, and better promote the comprehensive development of people and comprehensive social progress.”

实际上，苏东剧变前，中国共产党就确立了以经济建设为中心的基本路线，确认了物质文明对社会主义现代化的决定性意义。党的十二大将中国共产党在新的历史时期的总任务定为：“团结全国各族人民，自力更生，艰苦奋斗，逐步实现工业、农业、国防和科学技术现代化，把我国建设成为高度文明、高度民主的社会主义国家”,提出要“大力推进社会主义物质文明和精神文明的建设”。苏东剧变后，中国的社会主义现代化建设逐渐从“两个文明”建设拓展为“五位一体”总体布局，以社会全面发展推进人的全面发展构成中国式现代化演进的鲜明主线。2001年，江泽民在庆祝中国共产党成立80周年大会上强调：“我们进行的一切工作，既要着眼于人民现实的物质文化生活需要，同时又要着眼于促进人民素质的提高，也就是要努力促进人的全面发展。这是马克思主义关于建设社会主义新社会的本质要求。”党的十六大提出，要“推动社会全面进步，促进人的全面发展”,强调“把握住这一点，就从根本上把握了人民的愿望，把握了社会主义现代化建设的本质”。党的十八大提出，要“促进人的全面发展，逐步实现全体人民共同富裕，建设富强民主文明和谐的社会主义现代化国家”。党的十九大提出，要“更好满足人民在经济、政治、文化、社会、生态等方面日益增长的需要，更好推动人的全面发展、社会全面进步”。

Realizing the ultimate communist goal of the free and comprehensive development of people has always been the intrinsic value pursuit of socialist modernization. However, the common characteristics of socialist modernization differ significantly across historical periods. The common features exhibited by socialist modernization at different historical stages do not exclude the uniqueness and differences in the modernization construction practices of various socialist states. The Soviet Union’s emphasis on industrialization profoundly influenced the modernization practice explorations of socialist states during the Cold War. During the Cold War, attempts within the socialist camp to reform the Soviet model accumulated valuable experience and profound lessons for socialist states to carry out economic and political system reforms after the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Industrialization, as an important component of modernization, has always been a development goal persistently pursued by socialist states in their modernization construction, reflecting the distinctive characteristics of mutual confirmation between practice and theory and the interconnection between history and reality. The phased evolution of the common characteristics of socialist modernization fully proves that its development process is an organic unity of stages and continuity, twists and progress, profoundly revealing the inherent laws and development logic of socialist modernization construction.

实现人的自由全面发展这一共产主义终极目标始终是社会主义现代化的内在价值追求，但社会主义现代化的共同特征在不同历史时期存在显著差异，社会主义现代化在不同历史阶段呈现的共性特征，也并不排斥各社会主义国家现代化建设实践的独特性与差异性。苏联对工业化的重视，深刻影响了冷战时期各社会主义国家现代化实践探索。冷战时期，社会主义阵营内部对苏联模式的改革尝试，为苏东剧变后社会主义国家进行经济政治体制改革积累了宝贵的经验和深刻的教训。作为现代化重要内容的工业化，是社会主义国家现代化建设始终坚持的发展目标，体现了实践与理论相印证、历史与现实相贯通的鲜明特征。社会主义现代化共同特征的阶段性演变，充分证明其发展进程是阶段性与连续性、曲折性与进步性的有机统一，深刻揭示了社会主义现代化建设的内在规律与发展逻辑。

II. The Horizontal Expansion of the Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization

二、社会主义现代化共同特征的横向展开

As a systematic social transformation, modernization involves multiple levels including people, material, and institutions. As an important practice of a new form of human modern civilization, the common characteristics of socialist modernization exhibit the distinctive feature of the dialectical unity of the modernization of people, the modernization of material, and the modernization of institutions.

作为系统的社会变革，现代化关涉人、物质、制度等多个层面。作为人类现代文明新形态的重要实践，社会主义现代化的共同特征展现出人的现代化、物的现代化与制度现代化三者辩证统一的鲜明特征。

(1) The Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization Manifest as the Organic Unity of the Modernization of People, the Modernization of Material, and the Modernization of Institutions

(一)社会主义现代化的共同特征表现为人的现代化、物的现代化与制度现代化三者的有机统一

The modernization of people, the modernization of material, and the modernization of institutions each have their own emphases yet are closely interconnected, jointly constituting socialist modernization. The modernization of people is the fundamental goal of socialist modernization, profoundly manifesting the people-centered value core, and becoming the essential marker distinguishing socialist modernization from capitalist modernization. The modernization of material is a realistic choice based on the level of development of productive forces in the primary stage of socialism, serving as the material foundation for realizing socialist modernization. The modernization of institutions, as the fundamental guarantee of socialist modernization, plays a key role in coordinating social development and human progress, balancing the pattern of social interests, and meeting people’s developmental needs.

人的现代化、物的现代化与制度现代化既各有侧重又紧密关联，共同构成社会主义现代化。人的现代化是社会主义现代化的根本目标，深刻彰显以人民为中心的价值内核，成为社会主义现代化区别于资本主义现代化的本质标识。物的现代化则是立足社会主义初级阶段生产力发展水平的现实选择，是实现社会主义现代化的物质根基。制度现代化作为社会主义现代化的根本保障，在协调社会发展与人类进步、平衡社会利益格局、满足人的发展需求等方面发挥着关键作用。

The organic unity of the modernization of people, the modernization of things, and the modernization of institutions is the unique advantage of socialist modernization. Capitalist modernization and traditional socialist modernization once represented two different paths of human modernization, both of which made important contributions to the development of modern human civilization. Capitalist modernization once demonstrated a unique advantage in advancing the modernization of things through the application of advanced productive methods and continuous institutional innovation. Capitalist civilization “is more conducive than all earlier forms, such as slavery and serfdom, to the development of the productive forces, to the development of social relations, and to the creation of the elements of a higher new form.” [18]18 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 3, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 46 (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2003), p. 925. [Translator’s note: This is a standard Chinese edition citation; the English text follows the Chinese translation of Marx’s original.] However, the inherent contradictions of capitalism cause the comprehensive abundance of things in capitalist modernization to come at the cost of human alienation. “The intensification of contradictions between labor and capital, between colonies and metropoles, and among the major imperialist powers inevitably leads to the outbreak of a general crisis of capitalism, making world war and proletarian revolution imminent.” [19]19 Lenin, “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism,” in *Lenin Collected Works*, vol. 27 (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1990), p. 437. [Translator’s note: Standard Chinese edition citation; English text follows the Chinese translation.] The traditional socialist modernization path represented by the Soviet model laid the social institutional foundation for the comprehensive development of human beings through the holistic transformation of relations of production, yet it neglected the issue of institutional modernization that still exists under socialist institutional conditions and is incompatible with the development of productive forces. This caused socialist practice to deviate from the Marxist value pursuit of human emancipation. That is to say, the material-centric stance of capitalist modernization turns its institutional modernization into the legal basis for the legitimate exploitation of capital, while traditional socialist modernization, by neglecting institutional modernization, hinders the process of the modernization of things and reduces the comprehensive development of human beings to a value slogan lacking substantive content. Socialist modernization should always adhere to a people-centered value stance, advance the process of the modernization of things through the construction of institutional modernization, and achieve the organic unity of the modernization of people, the modernization of things, and the modernization of institutions.

人的现代化、物的现代化与制度现代化三者有机统一是社会主义现代化的独特优势。资本主义现代化与传统社会主义现代化曾代表人类现代化的两种不同道路，均为人类现代文明发展作出过重要贡献。资本主义现代化曾因先进生产方式的应用和持续的制度创新而在推进物的现代化方面展现出独特优势，资本主义文明“同以前的奴隶制、农奴制等形式相比，都更有利于生产力的发展，有利于社会关系的发展，有利于更高级的新形态的各种要素的创造”。但资本主义的内在矛盾使资本主义现代化中物的全面丰富以人的异化为代价，“劳动和资本之间、殖民地和宗主国之间、帝国主义各主要强国之间的矛盾激化，必然导致资本主义总危机的发生，使世界大战和无产阶级革命的到来迫在眉睫”。以苏联模式为代表的传统社会主义现代化道路以生产关系的整体性变革为人的全面发展奠定了社会制度基础，却忽视了社会主义制度条件下依然存在同生产力发展不相适应的制度现代化问题，从而导致社会主义实践背离了马克思主义关于人类解放的价值追求。也就是说，资本主义现代化的物质中心主义立场使其制度现代化成为资本合法剥削的法律依据，而传统社会主义现代化则因忽视制度现代化而阻滞物的现代化进程，并使人的全面发展沦为缺乏实质内容的价值口号。社会主义现代化应当始终坚持以人民为中心的价值立场，以制度现代化建设推进物的现代化进程，实现人的现代化、物的现代化与制度现代化的有机统一。

Historical experience shows that advancing socialist modernization must adhere to the modernization of people to lead the direction of development, use the modernization of things to consolidate the foundation of development, and employ the modernization of institutions to optimize the development environment, achieving the organic unity of the three. In terms of the direction of development, it is necessary to shape modern subjects with innovative spirit, scientific literacy, and social responsibility, providing ideological and theoretical guidance and practical impetus for technological progress and institutional innovation. At the level of the material foundation, high-quality material products and service supply must be created to meet the people’s growing needs for a better life and provide practical conditions for the comprehensive development of human beings. At the level of institutional environment construction, a dynamic balance between fairness and efficiency must be achieved by establishing fair distribution mechanisms, perfecting the rule-of-law system, and optimizing governance effectiveness.

历史经验表明，推进社会主义现代化必须坚持以人的现代化引领发展方向，以物的现代化夯实发展根基，以制度现代化优化发展环境，实现三者的有机统一。在发展方向上，要通过塑造具有创新精神、科学素养和社会责任感的现代化主体，为技术进步与制度创新提供思想理论指导与实践动力支撑；在物质根基层面，要创造高质量的物质产品与服务供给，以满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要，为人的全面发展提供现实条件；在制度环境建设层面，要通过建立公平分配机制、完善法治体系、优化治理效能，实现公平与效率的动态平衡。

(II) The modernization of people is the fundamental goal of socialist modernization.

(二)人的现代化是社会主义现代化的根本目标

“The essence of modernization is the modernization of people.” [20]20 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Central Conference on Urbanization Work” (December 12, 2013), in *Xi Jinping on Governance and Administration*, vol. 1 (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2014), p. 194. [Translator’s note: This is a standard Chinese edition citation; the English text follows the Chinese original.] Achieving the modernization of people, with the comprehensive development of human beings as its core content, is an inherent requirement of socialist modernization. First, the modernization of people is the prerequisite for socialist modernization. To achieve socialist modernization, the modernization of people’s ideas and modes of thinking must be the prerequisite; that is, people as the subjects of modernization must embody socialist ideals, beliefs, and spiritual realms, representing the direction of development of advanced productive forces and advanced culture. Second, the modernization of people is the driving force of socialist modernization. The modernization of people is accompanied not only by the liberation of people’s ideas but also by the enhancement of people’s ability to apply and innovate modern scientific and technological knowledge and modern rules and institutions. Finally, the modernization of people is an important content of socialist modernization. Communist society is a social form based on the principle of the comprehensive and free development of each individual; therefore, socialist modernization, which takes communism as its ultimate goal, inherently requires the realization of the comprehensive development of human beings. In other words, the comprehensive development of human beings as a historical process naturally exists in the actual movement of socialist modernization.

“现代化的本质是人的现代化”,实现以人的全面发展为核心内容的人的现代化，是社会主义现代化的内在要求。首先，人的现代化是社会主义现代化的前提。实现社会主义现代化，必须以人的思想观念与思维方式的现代化为前提，即作为现代化主体的人必须体现社会主义理想信念与精神境界，代表先进生产力与先进文化发展方向。其次，人的现代化是社会主义现代化的动力。人的现代化既伴随着人的思想观念的解放，又表现为人对现代科技知识与现代规章制度的运用及创新能力的提升。最后，人的现代化是社会主义现代化的重要内容。共产主义社会是以每个人的全面而自由的发展为基本原则的社会形态，因而以共产主义为终极目标的社会主义现代化，必然内在要求实现人的全面发展。换言之，作为历史过程的人的全面发展，天然存在于社会主义现代化的现实运动中。

Based on the free and comprehensive development of human beings, vigorously advancing the modernization of people runs through the practical process of socialist modernization construction. Lenin was a pioneer who recognized the importance of the modernization of people for socialist construction and actively explored paths for the comprehensive development of human beings. In the process of exploring the modernization of people, Lenin affirmed the great significance of people’s subjective initiative for the practice of socialist construction and clearly set the goal of educational modernization to shape socialist new people with proletarian ideology. At the same time, Soviet Russia also proposed implementing the principles of combining education with productive labor and polytechnical education. The Soviet Russian leaders, mainly Lenin, recognized the dialectical relationship between the modernization of people and socialist construction. Guided by Marxism, they implemented a socialist education policy combining education with productive practice, shaped socialist culture and values with proletarian ideology, and promoted the modernization transformation of the people’s ideas and modes of thinking through educational line reforms and the practice of proletarian cultural construction. This greatly enhanced the people’s scientific and cultural literacy and their ability to adapt to modern industrial civilization, significantly advancing the process of the modernization of people under socialist conditions. In the process of modernization, socialist countries gradually recognized the importance of the free and comprehensive development of human beings and made efforts to achieve the modernization of people through various measures. For example, China “continuously enriches the material foundation of modernization, continuously consolidates the material conditions for the people’s happy life, and at the same time vigorously develops advanced socialist culture, strengthens education in ideals and beliefs, inherits Chinese civilization, and promotes the comprehensive abundance of things and the comprehensive development of human beings.” [21]21 Xi Jinping, “Report to the From emphasizing the “two grasps” [22]22 The phrase “poverty is not socialism; socialism must eliminate poverty” is a well-known statement by Deng Xiaoping, encapsulating the reform-era rejection of egalitarian poverty as a socialist ideal. of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress to proposing the coordinated development of the five civilizations—material, political, cultural-ethical, social, and ecological—Chinese-path modernization has always adhered to the people’s standpoint, achieving the organic unity of subject, object, and connecting intermediary in the modernization process. Practice shows that continuously advancing the modernization of people, with the comprehensive development of human beings as its core content, has always been the fundamental goal of socialist modernization. The overall progress of society and the comprehensive development of human beings constitute two sides of the same coin in socialist modernization.

立足人的自由全面发展，着力推进人的现代化，贯穿于社会主义现代化建设实践进程。列宁是意识到人的现代化对于社会主义建设的重要意义并积极探索实现人的全面发展路径的先行者。在探索人的现代化的过程中，列宁肯定人的主体能动性对于社会主义建设实践的重大意义，明确以无产阶级意识形态塑造社会主义新人的教育现代化目标。同时，苏俄还提出要实行教育与生产劳动相结合及综合技术教育原则。以列宁为主要代表的苏俄领导人认识到人的现代化与社会主义建设的辩证关系，以马克思主义为指导，实行教育与生产实践相结合的社会主义教育方针，以无产阶级意识形态型塑社会主义文化与价值，在教育路线改革与无产阶级文化建设实践中推动民众思想观念、思维方式的现代化转变，提高民众科学文化素养及其对现代工业文明社会的适应能力，极大推进了社会主义条件下人的现代化进程。在现代化进程中，社会主义国家逐渐认识到人的自由全面发展的重要性，通过各种举措努力实现人的现代化。例如，中国“不断厚植现代化的物质基础，不断夯实人民幸福生活的物质条件，同时大力发展社会主义先进文化，加强理想信念教育，传承中华文明，促进物的全面丰富和人的全面发展”。从强调物质文明与精神文明“两手抓”到提出以物质、政治、精神、社会与生态五大文明协调发展，中国式现代化始终坚持人民立场，实现了现代化进程中主体、客体与连接中介的有机统一。实践表明，持续推进以人的全面发展为核心内容的人的现代化，始终是社会主义现代化的根本目标，社会的整体进步与人的全面发展，构成社会主义现代化的一体两面。

(III) The modernization of things is the basic prerequisite of socialist modernization.

(三)物的现代化是社会主义现代化的基本前提

The modernization of things is essentially a historical process in which human society breaks free from its dependence on things and transitions toward the full abundance of material wealth and, on this basis, the free and comprehensive development of human beings. “Human history does not first manifest itself as the history of the alienation of human essence, but as the history of actual economic movement, the history of the movement of material production (alienated labor).” [23]23 The term “war communism” refers to the economic policies of the Soviet state during the Russian Civil War (1918–1921), which included nationalization of industry, forced grain requisitioning, and the abolition of money, intended as a direct transition to communism. Marx and Engels emphasized that “only in the real world and using real means can real liberation be achieved” and that “when people cannot obtain sufficient guarantees in terms of the quality and quantity of their food, drink, housing, and clothing, they cannot achieve liberation at all.” [24]24 The phrase “the bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production…” is from *The Communist Manifesto* (1848) by Marx and Engels. In discussing the nature of exchange value and social exchange relations, Marx clearly pointed out that the degree of human liberation and the degree of realization of free individuality in different social forms depend on the level of development of social productive forces. Therefore, although real socialism, under special historical circumstances, has transcended the capitalist system and escaped the comprehensive domination of society by capital, it cannot skip the stage of dependence on things. Only by achieving the full development of things can socialism be promoted to evolve from its primary stage to a higher stage.

物的现代化实质是人类社会摆脱对物的依赖状态，向物质财富充分涌流以及建立在此基础上人自由全面发展转变的历史进程。“人类历史并不首先表现为人的本质异化的历史，而是现实的经济运动的历史，是物质生产(异化劳动)运动的历史。”马克思、恩格斯强调，“只有在现实的世界中并使用现实的手段才能实现真正的解放”,“当人们还不能使自己的吃喝住穿在质和量方面得到充分保证的时候，人们就根本不能获得解放”。马克思在论述交换价值和社会交换关系的性质时，明确指出不同社会形态下人的解放程度及其自由个性的实现程度取决于社会生产力的发展水平。因此，尽管现实社会主义在特殊历史境遇下跨越了资本主义制度并摆脱了资本对社会的全面统治，但却无法跨越对物的依赖阶段，只有实现物的充分发展，才能推动社会主义由初级阶段向更高阶段演进。

The material dimension of modernization is the developmental process of advancing material civilization in modern society and universally raising people’s living standards. It is the historical process by which socialist states extricate themselves from relative economic and cultural backwardness and achieve industrialization, the commodification of production, and socialization. As a marker of the degree of human civilization, the material dimension of modernization is both a system of goals and a developmental process, encompassing multiple dimensions such as the economy, technology, politics, law, culture, and human beings as social subjects. In early modernization studies, modernization was understood as a phenomenon of economic and social development primarily manifested in industrialization and urbanization. The material dimension of modernization focuses on the structure and level of development of a country’s or region’s social productive forces, with economic modernization as its core content; the latter involves specific indicators such as a country’s or region’s level of economic development, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national power. Economic modernization is inseparable from marketization mediated by capital. The practice of socialist construction shows that a social formation that blindly rejects the positive role of capital will become disconnected from the “modern.” Whether it was the early Soviet attempt to transition directly to communism through the policy of war communism, or the highly centralized planned economic systems subsequently established in the Soviet Union, Eastern European socialist states, and others, all resulted in the stagnation of economic and social development due to their detachment from the actual level of development of the productive forces, thereby delaying the process of socialist modernization. After drawing lessons from the experience of socialist construction worldwide, Chinese Communists returned to the criterion of the productive forces, put forward that “poverty is not socialism; socialism must eliminate poverty,” and emphasized that “to uphold socialism, we must first shake off poverty and backwardness, greatly develop the productive forces, and demonstrate that socialism is superior to capitalism.” In promoting the great development of material civilization and comprehensive social progress, they have created a new form of human civilization, demonstrating the unique advantages of the socialist system in advancing human modernization, and also embodying the common characteristics of socialist modernization.

物的现代化是现代社会物质文明进步与人们生活水平普遍提升的发展过程，是社会主义国家摆脱经济文化相对落后境况，实现工业化、生产的商品化和社会化的历史进程。作为表征人类文明发展程度的现代化，物的现代化既是一个目标系统，也是一个发展过程，涉及经济、技术、政治、法律、文化、作为社会主体的人等多个维度。在早期现代化研究中，现代化被认为是以工业化、城市化为主要表现的经济社会发展现象。物的现代化侧重一国或地区社会生产力结构及其发展水平，经济现代化是物的现代化的核心内容，前者涉及一国或地区经济发展水平、科技实力、综合国力等具体指标。经济现代化离不开以资本为中介的市场化。社会主义建设实践表明，盲目拒斥资本积极作用的社会形态会同“现代”脱节，无论是苏俄早期意图通过战时共产主义政策直接过渡到共产主义的尝试，还是此后苏联、东欧社会主义国家等建立的高度集中的计划经济体制，均因脱离生产力实际发展水平导致经济社会发展的停滞，由此延误了社会主义现代化进程。中国共产党人在汲取世界社会主义建设经验教训后，回归生产力判定标准，提出“贫穷不是社会主义，社会主义要消灭贫穷”,强调“坚持社会主义，首先要摆脱贫穷落后状态，大大发展生产力，体现社会主义优于资本主义的特点”,在推动物质文明大发展及社会全面进步中开创了人类文明新形态，展现了社会主义制度对促进人类现代化的独特优势，也体现了社会主义现代化的共同特征。

(4) Institutional modernization is an important guarantee for socialist modernization.

(四)制度现代化是社会主义现代化的重要保障

Institutions are the standardized generalization of social relations and social order. Institutional modernization involves the transformation of social relations and the adjustment of interest relations among people in the process of modernization. The reform and optimization of institutions are important content and important guarantees of social development, and also a significant indicator of the level of social development. The national institutional system, composed of fundamental institutions, basic institutions, important institutions, and the series of systems and mechanisms derived from them, provides a fundamental guarantee for the effective exercise of the state’s various functions. It “is not only the rule and order foundation for the operation and development of a modern state, but also an important carrier for the construction and development of national modernization.” In a certain sense, “modernization is the modernization of social institutions.” Institutional modernization is both a result and an important measure of the modernization of human society, and a fundamental guarantee for the stable operation of modern society.

制度是对社会关系与社会秩序的规范化概括，制度现代化涉及现代化进程中社会关系的变革以及人与人之间利益关系的调整。制度的改革与优化是社会发展的重要内容、重要保障，也是社会发展水平的显著标志。由根本制度、基本制度、重要制度以及由此衍生的一系列体制机制构成的国家制度体系，为国家各项职能的有效发挥提供根本保障，“既是现代国家运行和发展的规则和秩序基础，也是国家现代化建设和发展的重要载体”,就一定意义而言，“现代化是社会制度的现代化”。制度现代化既是人类社会现代化的结果与重要衡量指标，也是确保现代社会平稳运行的根本保障。

The inherent contradiction between capitalist private ownership of the means of production and socialized large-scale production is a developmental shackle that capitalism cannot break through. Marx and Engels pointed out: “The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society.” This thesis profoundly reveals the historical transience of capitalist modernization. As a product of the institutional transformation driven by the internal contradictory movement of capitalism, socialism, within the logic of historical materialism, achieves a revolutionary transcendence of the paradox of capitalist modernity. By restructuring the relations of ownership of the means of production and the system of social governance, it constructs a modern civilizational institutional form and ideological system oriented towards the free and comprehensive development of the individual and compatible with socialized large-scale production. The core essence of advancing socialist modernization lies in strengthening the construction of the socialist state system, promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, and achieving a comprehensive enhancement of national governance effectiveness. The establishment of the socialist system fundamentally eliminates the irreconcilable antagonistic contradictions inherent in the process of capitalist modernization. Constrained by the historical conditions of relative economic and cultural weakness, the principal contradiction in socialist society still exists over the long term. Therefore, advancing the construction of socialist modernization must firmly uphold fundamental and basic institutions without wavering, while simultaneously, in accordance with the law of the contradictory movement between productive forces and relations of production, making adaptive adjustments to important institutions. Through the continuous improvement and innovation of institutions, it provides solid institutional support and guarantees for socialist modernization, ensuring that the socialist cause always advances steadily in the correct direction.

资本主义生产资料私有制与社会化大生产的内在矛盾，是资本主义无法突破的发展桎梏。马克思、恩格斯指出：“资产阶级除非对生产工具，从而对生产关系，从而对全部社会关系不断地进行革命，否则就不能生存下去。”这一论断深刻揭示了资本主义现代化的历史暂时性。作为资本主义内在矛盾运动的制度性变革产物，社会主义在历史唯物主义逻辑中实现了对资本主义现代性悖论的革命性超越——通过重构生产资料所有制关系与社会治理体系，构建起以人的自由全面发展为价值导向、与社会化大生产相契合的现代文明制度形态与思想体系。推进社会主义现代化，核心要义在于通过强化社会主义国家制度建设，推动国家治理体系和治理能力现代化，实现国家治理效能的全面提升。社会主义制度的确立，从根源上消解了资本主义现代化进程中不可调和的对抗性矛盾。受经济文化相对薄弱的历史条件制约，社会主义社会的主要矛盾依然长期存在。因此，推进社会主义现代化建设必须坚持根本制度与基本制度不动摇，同时依据生产力与生产关系的矛盾运动规律，对重要制度进行适应性调整，通过制度的持续完善与创新，为社会主义现代化提供坚实的制度支撑与保障，确保社会主义事业始终沿着正确方向稳步前进。

III. The Future Orientation of the Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization

三、社会主义现代化共同特征的未来指向

The unity of advanced productive forces and advanced relations of production, the unity of the abundant flow of material goods and the comprehensive development of the individual, the unity of the objectivity of historical development and human subjective initiative, the unity of the wholeness of civilizational forms and the synergy of civilizational processes, and the unity of the critique of modern civilization and the construction of an ideal society—these respectively manifest the essential differences between socialist modernization and capitalist modernization in terms of essential content, value goals, evolutionary characteristics, civilizational patterns, and practical pathways. They are the basic requirements that must be followed to enrich and expand socialist modernization.

先进生产力与先进生产关系相统一、物的充分涌流与人的全面发展相统一、历史发展客观性与人的主体能动性相统一、文明形态整体性与文明进程协同性相统一、现代文明批判性与理想社会建构性相统一等内容，分别在本质内容、价值目标、演进特点、文明样态、实践进路等方面彰显了社会主义现代化与资本主义现代化的本质区别，是丰富和拓展社会主义现代化必须遵循的基本要求。

(1) Uphold the unity of advanced productive forces and advanced relations of production.

(一)坚持先进生产力与先进生产关系相统一

Modernization is primarily “a great transformation driven by modern industry, science and technology, from a traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial society, allowing industrialism to permeate the economic, political, cultural, and ideological fields and causing profound changes in social organization and social behavior.” In essence, it is a historical process in which the contradictory movement of productive forces and relations of production undergoes a breakthrough transformation. The contradiction between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, runs through the entire course of human social development, determines the basic nature of human social formations and social systems, and, by conditioning the existence and development of other social contradictions, decides the general process of human social history, constituting the fundamental driving force for the development of modern human civilization and the evolution of civilizational forms.

现代化主要“是以现代工业、科学和技术革命的推动力，实现传统的农业社会向现代工业社会的大转变，使工业主义渗透到经济、政治、文化、思想各个领域并引起社会组织与社会行为深刻变革的过程”,本质是生产力与生产关系矛盾运动发生突破性变革的历史进程。生产力与生产关系、经济基础与上层建筑的矛盾贯穿人类社会发展始终，规定着人类社会形态与社会制度的基本性质，并通过制约社会其他矛盾的存在与发展而决定着人类社会历史的一般过程，构成人类现代文明发展及文明形态演进的根本动力。

The socialist relations of production envisioned by Marx evolved from the highly developed capitalist relations of production. The unity of advanced productive forces and advanced relations of production constitutes Marxism’s overall stipulation of socialist modern civilization. The practice of socialist modernization highlights the relentless pursuit of advanced productive forces and the exertion of the positive and active role of advanced relations of production in promoting productive forces, endowing socialist modernization with the characteristic of a benign interaction between advanced productive forces and advanced relations of production. To uphold the unity of advanced productive forces and advanced relations of production, it is necessary both to seize the opportunities presented by the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, to use new quality productive forces embodying the latest scientific and technological achievements to promote independent innovation and breakthroughs in high technology, to promote high-quality development in accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system, and to lay a solid material foundation for accelerating the evolution of human civilizational forms; and also to fully leverage the unique advantages of the socialist system in liberating and developing productive forces, to dismantle the institutional and mechanistic obstacles in the process of socialist modernization that are incompatible with the development of advanced productive forces, and to effectively exert the guaranteeing role of institutional construction for socialist modernization.

马克思设想的社会主义生产关系是从生产力发达的资本主义生产关系演变而来，先进生产力与先进生产关系相统一构成马克思主义对社会主义现代文明的总体性规定。社会主义现代化实践凸显了对先进生产力的不懈追求以及发挥先进生产关系对促进生产力的积极能动作用，使社会主义现代化呈现出先进生产力与先进生产关系良性互动的特征。坚持先进生产力与先进生产关系相统一，既要把握新一轮科技革命和产业变革的机遇，以体现最新科技成就的新质生产力促进自主创新与高新技术突破，在加快现代化产业体系建设中推动高质量发展，为加速人类文明形态演进奠定坚实物质基础，又要充分发挥社会主义制度在解放和发展生产力方面的独特优势，破解社会主义现代化建设过程中与先进生产力发展不相适应的体制机制障碍，有效发挥制度建设对于社会主义现代化的保障作用。

(2) Uphold the unity of the abundant flow of material goods and the comprehensive development of the individual.

(二)坚持物的充分涌流与人的全面发展相统一

As an alternative to capitalist modernization, socialist modernization is essentially a historical process in which humanity breaks free from the constraints of nature, social differentiation, and the reification of the human being, ultimately moving towards harmony and unity. In this process, “it is necessary not only to solve the problem of how to greatly enrich human material life, but also to solve the problem of how to achieve fairness and justice in human social life; not only to solve the problem of how to greatly develop social productive forces and rapidly advance science and technology, but also to solve the contradictions between relations of production and productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base, promoting the comprehensive development and progress of social life, political life, and spiritual life as a whole.” That is to say, the unity of the abundant flow of material goods and the comprehensive development of the individual is the inherent requirement and value goal of socialist modernization.

作为资本主义现代化的替代方案，社会主义现代化实质上是人类摆脱自然的制约、社会的分化、人的物化并最终走向和谐统一的历史进程。在此进程中，“不仅要解决如何使人类物质生活极大丰富的问题，而且要解决人类社会生活如何达到公平正义的问题；不仅要解决如何使社会生产力极大发展、科学技术快速进步的问题，而且要解决生产关系与生产力、上层建筑与经济基础的矛盾问题，推动整个社会生活、政治生活、精神生活全面发展进步”,也就是说，物的充分涌流与人的全面发展相统一是社会主义现代化的内在要求与价值目标。

The all-round development of the human person is the value goal Marx established for the future ideal society, the rational inheritance and sublimation of the ultimate value concepts concerning the human person since the Axial Age, and a principled norm that the practice of socialist modernization must follow. The full abundance of things is the realistic foundation for the all-round development of the human person, embodies the basic principles of historical materialism, and is the logical starting point for the emergence and development of socialist modernization. The fundamental reason why economically and culturally relatively backward countries take the socialist road is that socialist modernization can not only resolve the inherent contradictions of capitalism and achieve a leapfrog development of productive forces, but also, more importantly, socialist modernization ensures the comprehensive sharing of the fruits of modern civilization in the form of fundamental institutions, anchoring the historical goal of the all-round development of the human person. To realize the unity of the full abundance of things and the all-round development of the human person, it is necessary both to adhere to economic construction as the central task, fully absorb and draw upon all beneficial achievements in capitalist modernization that reflect the laws of development of human civilization, achieve the great enrichment of material wealth, and consolidate the material civilization foundation for the all-round development of the human person, and also to continuously strengthen the construction of socialist cultural-ethical progress, constantly elevate people’s ideological and moral realm and their subjective consciousness of self-realization, and promote the transformation of people from traditional persons bound by the dependence on things to modern persons who develop freely and comprehensively.

人的全面发展是马克思为未来理想社会确立的价值目标，是马克思对轴心时代以来有关人的终极价值观念的合理继承与升华，是社会主义现代化实践必须遵循的原则规定。物的充分涌流是人的全面发展的现实基础，体现着历史唯物主义基本原理，是社会主义现代化产生与发展的逻辑起点。经济文化相对落后国家走社会主义道路的根本原因在于社会主义现代化不仅能够解决资本主义的内在矛盾，实现生产力的跨越式发展，更在于社会主义现代化以根本制度形式确保现代文明成果的全面共享性，锚定人的全面发展的历史目标。实现物的充分涌流与人的全面发展相统一既要坚持以经济建设为中心，充分吸收和借鉴资本主义现代化中一切反映人类文明发展规律的有益成果，实现物质财富的极大丰富，为人的全面发展夯实物质文明基础，也要不断强化社会主义精神文明建设，不断提升人的思想道德境界与自我实现的主体意识，推动人由被物的依赖关系束缚的传统人向自由全面发展的现代人转变。

(III) Upholding the Unity of the Objectivity of Historical Development and the Exercise of Human Subjective Initiative

(三)坚持历史发展客观性与发挥人的主体能动性相统一

The process of modernization involves two kinds of relations: between humans and nature, and between humans and society. That is to say, modernization includes both the relations between humans and nature and their changes, as well as the relatively stable elements related to this, such as a country’s natural geographical endowments, the level of development of social productive forces, and the comprehensive quality of its citizens, and also the social nature determined by fundamental institutions and the various types of institutional and mechanistic elements derived therefrom. This determines that the process of modernization has both an objective aspect constrained by the level of development of productive forces and a subjective initiative aspect shaped by social relations. Socialist modernization resolves the developmental predicament of capitalism by transforming the relations of production, and in the process of creating a new form of human civilization, it manifests the organic unity of the objectivity of historical development and human subjective initiative.

现代化进程涉及人与自然、人与社会两种关系，也就是说，现代化既包括人与自然的关系及其变化，以及与此相关的一国地理自然禀赋、社会生产力发展水平、国民综合素质等相对稳定要素，也包括由根本制度决定的社会性质和由此衍生的各类体制机制要素。这决定了现代化进程既有受生产力发展水平限制所体现的客观性一面，也有受社会关系型塑而呈现出的主体能动性特点。社会主义现代化通过变革生产关系破解了资本主义发展困境，在开创人类文明新形态过程中彰显了历史发展客观性与人的主观能动性的有机统一。

From a theoretical dimension, compared with capitalist modernization, which adheres to the logic of capital, socialist modernization must effectively exert the subjective initiative role of humans, thoroughly change the attributes of capitalist relations of production and the attributes of the factors of production determined thereby, change the situation where capital dominates labor, suppress the negative factors of capitalist modernization that cause human alienation, and reshape the overall logic of the development of modern human civilization. Real existing socialist countries all emerged from traditional agricultural societies with relatively backward levels of productive forces. Therefore, socialist modernization is not a process of traditional society spontaneously transitioning to modern society, but rather an innovation in the development model under the logic of “revolution–modernization.” “This process of transformation is top-down, that is, changes (reforms or revolutions) first occur in the upper political sphere, using political revolution to drive economic revolution, transferring the distribution of national wealth and resources into the hands of state power that promotes modernization, thereby forming the political and economic foundation for independent and autonomous development.” [25]25 Yin Xiao’en, Qin Xuan: “On the Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization,” citing an internal source; the quoted passage describes the top-down political revolution characteristic of late-developing socialist modernization. From a practical dimension, the construction of socialist modernization cannot be separated from objective historical conditions. “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.” [26]26 Karl Marx, *The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte* (1852), on the constraints of inherited conditions on human agency. The realistic national condition of relative economic and cultural backwardness determines that the construction of socialist modernization must follow the objective laws of the development of modern civilization, establish institutional mechanisms adapted to the primary stage of socialism, and complete the material production tasks necessary for modernization.

从理论维度看，同秉持资本逻辑的资本主义现代化相比，社会主义现代化必须有效发挥人的主体能动作用，彻底改变资本主义生产关系属性以及由此决定的生产要素属性，改变资本支配劳动的境况，抑制资本主义引发人的异化的消极因素，重塑人类现代文明发展的整体逻辑。现实社会主义国家均脱胎于生产力水平相对落后的传统农业社会，因而社会主义现代化不是传统社会自发向现代社会过渡的过程，而是在“革命—现代化”的逻辑下的发展模式创新，“这一变革进程是自上而下的，即首先在上层政治领域内发生变革(改革或革命),用政治革命带动经济革命，把国民财富和资源的分配转移到推行现代化的国家权力手中，形成独立自主性发展的政治和经济基础”。从实践维度看，社会主义现代化建设无法脱离客观历史条件，“人们自己创造自己的历史，但是他们并不是随心所欲地创造，并不是在他们自己选定的条件下创造，而是在直接碰到的、既定的、从过去承继下来的条件下创造”。经济文化相对落后的现实国情决定社会主义现代化建设必须遵循现代文明发展客观规律，建立同社会主义初级阶段相适应的体制机制，完成现代化所必需的物质生产任务。

(IV) Upholding the Unity of the Wholeness of Civilizational Forms and the Synergy of Civilizational Processes

(四)坚持文明形态整体性与文明进程协同性相统一

“Modernization is the process of transformation from traditional society to modern society,” and it can be “regarded as the interactive process of industrialization in the economic sphere, democratization in the political sphere, urbanization in the social sphere, and rationalization in the sphere of values.” [27]27 Yin Xiao’en, Qin Xuan: “On the Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization,” citing a definition of modernization as an interactive process across economic, political, social, and value spheres. Marx pointed out: “The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life.” [28]28 Karl Marx, *A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy* (1859), Preface, on the base-superstructure relation. Material civilization, political civilization, cultural-ethical progress, social civilization, and ecological civilization together constitute the foundational dimensions of the Marxist theory of civilizational structure. Socialist modernization should follow the theoretical basis of upholding the unity of the wholeness of civilizational forms and the synergy of civilizational processes.

“现代化是传统社会向现代社会的转变过程”,可以将其“看作是经济领域的工业化，政治领域的民主化，社会领域的城市化以及价值观念领域的理性化的互动过程”。马克思指出：“物质生活的生产方式制约着整个社会生活、政治生活和精神生活的过程。”物质文明、政治文明、精神文明、社会文明、生态文明共同构成马克思主义文明结构论的基础性维度。社会主义现代化应遵循文明形态整体性与文明进程协同性相统一的理论基础。

Human civilization is a process of evolution from the lower to the higher, from the one-sided to the comprehensive. Socialist modernization is not a simple negation of traditional civilization, but an innovation and development based on the dialectical sublation of traditional agricultural civilization and modern industrial civilization. In the construction of socialist modernization, material civilization creates material conditions, political civilization provides institutional guarantees, cultural-ethical progress contributes ideological resources, social civilization creates a favorable atmosphere, and ecological civilization creates the ecological foundation for sustainable development. The overall development of the five major civilizations promotes comprehensive social progress and creates the historical prerequisites for the realization of the free and all-round development of the human person. The construction of civilizational wholeness involves not only the pluralistic unity of civilizational elements but also the regional balance of civilizational development and the universal sharing of civilizational fruits. The practice of socialist modernization shows that only by promoting the organic integration of civilizational elements, driving the regional linkage of civilizational development, and practicing the universal sharing of civilizational fruits can we achieve an overall transcendence of capitalist modernization in the process of advancing the comprehensive progress of socialist civilization. From the perspective of the synergy of civilizational development, the inherent structural contradictions of capitalism make it difficult for capitalist modernization to manage the breakthrough changes in productive forces and large-scale socialized production. In the context of the coexistence of capitalism and socialism, socialist modernization has the disadvantage of being a latecomer. Only by relying on the institutional advantages of socialism to achieve the systematic reconstruction of civilizational elements, the strategic coordination of the civilizational development process, and the pluralistic participation of subjects can we avoid the risk of dependency in the exchange and collision with capitalist civilization and avoid the modernization predicament of “breakthroughs in individual points” but “overall lag.”

人类文明是一个从低级到高级、从片面到全面的演进过程。社会主义现代化不是对传统文明的简单否定，而是在对传统农业文明与现代工业文明作辩证扬弃基础上的创新与发展。在社会主义现代化建设中，物质文明创造物质条件，政治文明提供制度保障，精神文明贡献思想资源，社会文明营造良好氛围，生态文明则创造永续发展的生态基础，五大文明整体发展推动社会全面进步，为实现人的自由全面发展创造历史前提。文明整体性建设不仅涉及文明要素的多元统一，还涉及文明发展的区域平衡及文明成果的普惠共享。社会主义现代化实践表明，唯有促进文明要素的有机结合、推动文明发展的区域联动、践行文明成果的全民共享，才能在推进社会主义文明的全面进步中实现对资本主义现代化的整体性超越。从文明发展协同性来看，资本主义内在的结构性矛盾使资本主义现代化难以驾驭生产力突破性变革和社会化大生产。在资本主义与社会主义并存背景下，社会主义现代化拥有后发劣势。只有依靠社会主义制度优势实现文明要素的系统性重构、文明发展进程的战略性统筹、主体的多元性参与，才能在同资本主义文明的交流碰撞中规避依附性风险，避免出现“单点突破”却“整体滞后”的现代化困局。

(V) Upholding the Unity of the Critique of Modern Civilization and the Construction of an Ideal Society

(五)坚持现代文明批判性与理想社会建构性相统一

“The common direction of modernization is to move, through a process of creative destruction, toward innovation and unceasing change, the increasing differentiation of social structures (the separation of economic production and distribution from the family and community, the separation of politics and religion), and the formation of sovereign nation-states.” [29]29 Yin Xiao’en, Qin Xuan: “On the Common Characteristics of Socialist Modernization,” citing a characterization of modernization as creative destruction, structural differentiation, and nation-state formation. This indicates that modern civilization is a developmental process of deconstruction and construction. Unlike utopian socialists, who made moral and emotional critiques of capitalism, Marx, from his investigation of the capitalist mode of production, demonstrated the transitional nature of capitalist modernization and proposed “to discover the new world through the critique of the old world.” [30]30 Karl Marx, letter to Arnold Ruge (September 1843), on the critical method of discovering the new world. Therefore, thoroughly criticizing the anti-civilizational essence of capitalist modernization while, on the basis of dialectically absorbing the positive achievements of capitalist modernization, creating an ideal society that conforms to the free and all-round development of the human person constitutes the evolutionary logic of socialist civilization.

“现代化的共同方向是通过创造性破坏的过程走向创新和无休止的变迁、社会结构的日益分化(经济生产和分配从家庭与社区中分离出来，政治和宗教分离开来)和拥有主权的民族国家的形成”,这表明现代文明是解构与建构相统一的发展进程。与空想社会主义者对资本主义作道德情感批判不同，马克思从对资本主义生产方式的考察中论证资本主义现代化的过渡性，提出要“通过批判旧世界发现新世界”。所以，彻底批判资本主义现代化的反文明本质，同时在辩证吸收资本主义现代化积极成果基础上开创符合人的自由全面发展的理想社会，构成社会主义文明演进逻辑。

The critique of capitalist modern civilization is the logical main line of socialist modernization from theoretical construction to practical expansion. As a historical process in which late-developing countries shake off the state of underdeveloped productive forces and move toward communism, socialist modernization is essentially a process in which people extricate themselves from the predicament of capitalist modernity and explore and construct an ideal society. To advance socialist modernization, it is necessary to continuously explore a new path of modernization that regulates and harnesses capital, upholds the principal position of the people, and cultivates new socialist persons. [31]31 Lenin, “The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government” (1918), in *Collected Works*, vol. 27, p. 237. The translation here follows the standard English edition. At the same time, socialist modernization must construct an ideal society by absorbing and drawing on the achievements of capitalist modern civilization. In the early period of the Soviet Russian exploration of the path of socialist modernization, Lenin proposed that “all the most abundant culture, knowledge, and technology accumulated by capitalism, which from a historical perspective are inevitably necessary for us, must be transformed from instruments of capitalism into instruments of socialism.” [32]32 Deng Xiaoping, “Excerpts from Talks in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shanghai” (January 18–February 21, 1992), in *Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping*, vol. 3, p. 373. Deng Xiaoping emphasized: “For socialism to gain an advantage over capitalism, it must boldly absorb and draw on all the achievements of civilization created by human society, and absorb and draw on the advanced modes of operation and management methods of all countries in the world today, including the developed capitalist countries, that reflect the laws of modern socialized production.” [33]33 “New socialist persons” (*shehui zhuyi xinren*) is a term from Chinese Marxist discourse referring to individuals cultivated under socialism who possess both advanced ideological consciousness and modern scientific and cultural knowledge, a concept rooted in Mao-era discussions of socialist education and human development. The practice of socialist modernization shows that the market economy and the planned economy are not entirely sequential and mutually exclusive; the high degree of overlap between capitalism and socialism in terms of economic development methods, as well as the underdeveloped state of real socialism, determine that socialism and capitalism will coexist in a state of both struggle and mutual learning and drawing on each other for a long time. Socialist modernization must fully absorb and draw on the achievements of civilization initiated by capitalism that reflect the general laws of modernization development, promote the organic combination of the general principles of scientific socialism with the scientific elements of modernization, and complete the historical task of developing the productive forces during the primary stage of socialism.

对资本主义现代文明的批判，是社会主义现代化从理论建构到实践拓展的逻辑主线。作为后发国家摆脱生产力不发达状态并迈向共产主义的历史进程，社会主义现代化实质上是人们摆脱资本主义现代性困境，并探索与构建理想社会的过程。推进社会主义现代化建设，必须不断探索规制和驾驭资本、维护人民主体地位、培育社会主义新人的现代化新路。同时，社会主义现代化必须在吸收和借鉴资本主义现代文明成果中构建理想社会。在苏俄探索社会主义现代化建设道路初期，列宁曾提出，要“把资本主义所积累的一切最丰富的、从历史的角度讲对我们是必然需要的全部文化、知识和技术由资本主义的工具变成社会主义的工具”。邓小平则强调：“社会主义要赢得与资本主义相比较的优势，就必须大胆吸收和借鉴人类社会创造的一切文明成果，吸收和借鉴当今世界各国包括资本主义发达国家的一切反映现代社会化生产规律的先进经营方式、管理方法。”社会主义现代化实践表明，市场经济与计划经济并非完全意义上的继起与互斥关系，资本主义与社会主义在经济发展方式上的高度重叠性，以及现实社会主义的不发达状态，决定了社会主义同资本主义将长期处于既斗争又互相学习借鉴的状态。社会主义现代化必须充分吸收借鉴由资本主义所开创并反映现代化发展一般规律的文明成果，推动科学社会主义一般原则与现代化科学要素的有机结合，完成社会主义初级阶段生产力发展的历史任务。