The Shattering of the Neoliberal Myth and the Direction of Evolution of Western Capitalism

After the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008, neoliberalism, which advocates market fundamentalism and extreme individualism, became a target of public criticism, and exploring new capitalist models became a focus of attention in Western academia, especially among left-wing scholars. More than a decade later, not only has neoliberalism not come to an end, but it has intensified, displaying even more dangerous characteristics in certain respects. Faced with the severe COVID-19 pandemic, the United States and European countries found themselves stretched thin in their response, once again exposing the inherent defects of neoliberal theory and the problems accumulated over years of implementing neoliberal policies, further shattering various neoliberal myths and highlighting the urgency of transforming Western capitalism. As Canadian scholar Henry Giroux stated: “The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a medical crisis but also a political and ideological crisis. This crisis is deeply rooted in years of neoliberal governments neglecting the importance of public health and the public interest and dismantling a large number of relevant institutions. At the same time, this crisis is inseparable from the huge crisis of inequality in wealth, income, and power, and from the crisis triggered by the destruction of democratic values, education, and the environment.” The performance of Western countries during the pandemic provides a new perspective for us to understand neoliberalism and observe the direction of evolution of Western capitalism.

2008年国际金融危机爆发后，主张市场原教旨主义和极端个人主义的新自由主义成为众矢之的，探索新的资本主义模式成为西方学界尤其是左翼学者的关注焦点。十余年后，新自由主义不仅没有走向终结，反而变本加厉，在某些方面出现了更加危险的特征。面对形势严峻的新冠肺炎疫情，美欧国家在应对方面捉襟见肘，再次暴露了新自由主义理论的内在缺陷和多年实施新自由主义政策所积累的问题，进一步打破了新自由主义的各种迷思，凸显了西方资本主义转型的紧迫性。正如加拿大学者亨利·吉鲁所言：“新冠肺炎疫情不仅是一场医疗危机，更是一场政治和意识形态危机。这场危机深深植根于新自由主义政府多年来对公共卫生和公共利益重要性的忽视以及解散大量相关机构的行为。同时，这场危机离不开财富、收入和权力的巨大不平等危机，离不开民主价值观、教育和环境遭受破坏所引发的危机。”疫情下西方国家的表现，为我们认清新自由主义、观察西方资本主义演变方向提供了一个新的视角。

I. Market Fundamentalism Dealt Another Heavy Blow

一、市场原教旨主义再遭重击

After the end of World War II, Western countries, under the dominance of Keynesianism, formed a “regulated capitalist mechanism,” and the growth rate of developed economies surpassed any period in the history of capitalism. However, after the mid-1960s, accompanied by a sustained decline in profit rates, rising inflation, a significantly heavier burden of social welfare, and sharp fluctuations in global resource prices, the policy tools of Keynesianism became ineffective.

第二次世界大战结束后，西方国家在凯恩斯主义主导下，形成了“管制资本主义机制”，发达经济体的增长速度超过资本主义历史上的任一时期。但是，20世纪60年代中期以后，伴随着利润率的持续走低、通货膨胀的不断加剧、社会福利负担的明显加重与全球资源价格的剧烈波动，凯恩斯主义的政策工具失效了。

Large enterprises in the United States and Europe took the opportunity to restructure the capitalist political and economic system, pushing neoliberal ideas to the forefront of history. Neoliberalism firmly believes that human well-being can be enhanced through market competition and that profit and competition are the best drivers of development. Therefore, it vigorously advocates marketization, liberalization, and privatization, rejecting government intervention, labor coordination, border controls, and all other forces that might constrain capital. Its purpose is to increase the profit rate of capital, enabling capital to gain an advantageous position in the game between capital, the state, and society, and to obtain an unchecked “bargaining power” in the political landscape and the pattern of interests. Neoliberal policies have greatly relaxed government regulatory systems in Western countries, significantly reduced corporate taxes, severely weakened social security systems, destroyed labor organizations, and turned the market into a template for constructing all relations of production and social relations. At the global level, they have significantly lowered national borders, turning the world into a globalized market system, facilitating capital forces in expanding their operational space and creating opportunities for valorization on a broader scale.

美欧大企业借机重构资本主义政治经济体系，将新自由主义理念推上了历史的前台。新自由主义坚信人类福祉能够通过市场竞争得以提升，坚信利润与竞争是最好的发展动力，因此极力倡导市场化、自由化、私有化，排斥政府干预、劳工协调、边界管控等一切可能束缚资本的力量，目的就是提高资本的利润率，使资本在与国家、社会的博弈中占据优势地位，在政治格局和利益格局中获得不受制衡的“议价能力”。新自由主义政策使西方国家政府监管体系大为放松，企业税收大量减少，社会保障体系严重削弱，劳动者组织遭到摧毁，市场成为构建所有生产关系和社会关系的模板；在全球层面使国境门槛大大降低，世界变为一个全球化市场体系，方便资本力量在更大的范围拓展运营空间、创造增殖机会。

In the process of neoliberal reform, medical and educational institutions that improved workers’ welfare were pushed to the market, public health funds that helped workers guard against risks were squeezed out of budgets, and the medical supplies industry, an important part of the real economy, was relocated overseas. At the same time, the “big government” concept that had long dominated Western countries after World War II lost support, and “small government” became a trend. As U.S. President Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 inaugural address: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Former social democratic parties also underwent transformation. Even the British Labour Party and the German Social Democratic Party, which still had opportunities to govern, bid farewell to traditional democratic socialist ideas, turning rightward to form the theoretical systems and governing models of the “Third Way” and the “New Middle Way.” The labor movement and labor organizations also fell into a low tide. Even though the 2008 international financial crisis had proven that neoliberalism has serious structural problems, Western governments still poured generous assistance into private banks and financial tycoons, while welfare expenditures and public spending were drastically cut. The medical and preventive systems in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal were further weakened. As British scholar Jeremy Gilbert stated: “Under this ideological system, anything that hinders profit growth will be abandoned. Even if the affected object is as fragile as the natural environment, it is still irrelevant in the face of the profits created by the ‘sacred’ market. This is the only rule of the (neoliberal) ideological system.”

在新自由主义改革的过程中，改善劳动者福祉的医疗和教育机构被推向市场，帮助劳动者防范风险的公共卫生经费被排挤出预算表，作为实体经济重要组成部分的医用物资产业被投向海外。同时，第二次世界大战后长期主导西方国家的“大政府”理念失去支持，“小政府”成为一种潮流。正如美国总统里根1981年在就职演说中那句话：政府不是我们问题的解决手段，政府就是问题本身。曾经的社会民主主义政党也纷纷转型，即便是仍有机会执政的英国工党和德国社会民主党，也纷纷告别传统的民主社会主义理念，通过右转形成了“第三条道路”和“新中间道路”的理论体系与执政模式。工人运动与劳工组织同样陷入低潮。即便2008年国际金融危机已证明新自由主义具有严重的结构性问题，西方国家政府仍对私人银行、金融大鳄倾囊相助，相反福利支出和公共开支被大幅削减。西班牙、意大利、希腊和葡萄牙等国的医疗和预防体系进一步被削弱。正如英国学者杰里米·吉尔伯特所说：“在这一思想体系下，任何妨碍利润增长之举都会被抛弃，纵然受影响的对象如自然环境般脆弱，在‘神圣’市场所创造的利润面前仍是无关紧要的，这就是（新自由主义）思想体系的唯一规则。”

The evil consequences of neoliberal policies were fully exposed in the process of Western countries responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some Western countries, still waving the banner of “the least government is the best,” ignored responsibility and lacked accountability. Despite receiving sufficient information and serious warnings, they remained blindly optimistic and negligent in prevention and control. What is worse, out of narrow capital interests or geopolitical considerations, they made irresponsible remarks about and even kicked other countries facing pandemic challenges and international organizations supporting cooperative pandemic prevention and control when they were down. The lie that “privatization and austerity are more efficient than state institutions” was shattered, manifested not only in the fact that the public health and medical treatment systems, severely weakened over the past four decades, were vulnerable in the face of the pandemic, but also in the severe shortage of medical supplies due to insufficient production capacity of protective materials, making it difficult for the general public to obtain timely testing and effective treatment, and forcing a large number of medical workers to be exposed to dangerous environments. No wonder American scholar Noam Chomsky attributed the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to a huge market failure. In his view, the passive situation faced by Western countries stemmed from “the deep socio-economic problems brought about by neoliberalism, where savage neoliberalism has worsened the market.” “We have entrusted our fate to private tyrants—pharmaceutical companies, which are companies irresponsible to the public.” Linking public services with private profits not only failed to improve Western countries’ technological and organizational capabilities but also became the reason for their helplessness in the face of the pandemic. The pandemic has shown in a cruel way that relying entirely on private capital to ensure the public interest is merely an illusion, which provides greater necessity and possibility for the state to reclaim lost ground as the main economic actor.

新自由主义政策造成的恶果，在西方国家应对新冠肺炎疫情的过程中暴露无遗。一些西方国家面对疫情依然打着“管得最少就是最好”的旗号，无视责任、缺乏担当，在得到充足信息和严肃提醒的情况下依然盲目乐观、疏于防控，更有甚者出于狭隘的资本利益抑或地缘政治考虑，对遭遇疫情挑战的其他国家和支持合作防控疫情的国际组织说三道四、落井下石。“私有化和紧缩比国家机构更有效率”的谎言破灭，既表现在过去四十年被严重削弱的公共卫生体系和医疗救治体系在疫情面前不堪一击，也表现在防护物资生产能力不足导致医疗物资严重匮乏，广大民众难以得到及时的检测与有效的治疗，大量医护人员不得不暴露在危险环境之中。无怪乎美国学者诺姆·乔姆斯基将新冠肺炎疫情的暴发归咎于巨大的市场失败。在他看来，西方国家面临的被动局面源自于“新自由主义带来的深层的社会经济问题，野蛮的新自由主义使市场加剧恶化”。“我们将命运交托给了私人暴君——制药公司，而他们是对公众不负责任的公司。”将公共服务与私人利润挂钩，不仅没有提高西方国家在技术和组织方面的能力，反而成为他们面对疫情手足无措的原因。疫情以一种残酷的方式表明，完全依仗私人资本来确保公共利益只是一种幻想，这就为国家重新夺回作为主要经济行为体的失地提供了更大的必要性和可能性。

In the process of pandemic prevention and control, the efficiency and humanity demonstrated by countries with more complete public service institutions and stronger governance capabilities formed a sharp contrast with the hypocritical nature of neoliberal ideas. An article titled “COVID-19: The End of Neoliberalism?” pointed out: “Socialist regimes are better able to handle emergencies. Their ability to mobilize large amounts of resources to fight epidemics is not easily matched by capitalist regimes.” No wonder an Indian historian lamented that after the COVID-19 pandemic, Western countries may not be able to return to the past, because the past was full of problems.

在防控疫情的过程中，那些公共服务机构完整、执政能力更强的国家所展示的高效与人道，与新自由主义理念的虚伪本性形成了鲜明对比。一篇名为《新冠肺炎：新自由主义走向终结？》的文章指出：“社会主义政权能够更好地应对紧急情况。他们输送大量资源以抗击流行病的能力是资本主义政权无法轻易比拟的。”无怪乎一位印度历史学家感慨，新冠肺炎疫情过后，西方国家恐将无法回到过去，因为过去充满问题。

II. Extreme Individualism Questioned Again

二、极端个人主义再遭质疑

Behind the promotion of the market and suspicion of government lies the mainstream value that neoliberalism strives to shape—extreme individualism. From the perspective of neoliberalism, human beings are “rational” actors who are selfish by nature and should advocate unrestrained individualism, pursuing personal happiness and the satisfaction of needs. Is neoliberalism truly for the happiness of all? This is probably just a lie.

推崇市场、怀疑政府的背后，是新自由主义着力塑造的主流价值观——极端个人主义。在新自由主义视野中，人类是本性自私的“理性”行为体，理应崇尚不受约束的个人主义，追求个人幸福与需求的满足。新自由主义着实是为了所有人的幸福吗？这恐怕只是个谎言。

Neoliberalism is an ideology that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, advanced by the Western bourgeoisie to resolve the Western stagflation dilemma, shed the welfare burden, and meet the demands of capital for cross-border free movement. The capitalist system transformed under its guidance, by placing finance in a dominant position, strengthened rather than eliminated the exploitative elements within relations of production. In the hierarchical order shaped by neoliberalism, people are not equal; society strictly stratifies according to the amount of capital one holds. Those who benefit most are the capital owners at the apex of the pyramid and their senior managers, while the vast majority of ordinary people remain in an exploited position, unable to achieve success. To prevent the "discontented" majority from attributing responsibility to the system and ideology, neoliberalism "creates a powerful narrative" — that individual success or failure depends solely on personal effort and personal ability. Correspondingly, all responsibility for failure can only be attributed to insufficient personal effort and inadequate ability, thereby excluding the fundamental influence and responsibility of the system and ideology from people's field of vision.

新自由主义是20世纪七八十年代西方资产阶级为了解决西方滞涨难题、摆脱福利包袱、满足资本跨国自由流动的要求而提出的一种意识形态。由它引领转型的资本主义制度以金融居于高位的方式强化而非消除了生产关系中的剥削因素。在新自由主义所塑造的等级秩序中，人与人并不是平等的，社会严格按照资本多少来划分等级，受益最多的是那些处于金字塔顶端的资本所有者及其高级管理者，而大多数普通人处于被剥削的地位，无法获得成功。为了防止“失意”的大多数将责任归咎于制度和意识形态，新自由主义“创造出一种强有力的叙事”，即个人成败只取决于个人努力和个人能力，与之相应，所有失败的责任也只能归属于个人努力不够和能力不足，从而将制度和意识形态的根本影响和责任排除出人们的视野。

At the same time, neoliberalism vigorously promotes individualist ideology, dissolving concepts such as collective action, social solidarity, and community responsibility, in order to prevent exploited workers from uniting and thoroughly dismantling the forces of resistance to capitalism. From the neoliberal perspective, a politics based on collective solidarity and equality poses a threat to the market. Society's increasingly severe egoism shrinks the space for collective action, causing the broad mass of workers to neglect the power of cooperation within collective relations in market competition, hindering left-wing forces from uniting to counter the capitalist order, and providing convenience for maintaining the dominant ideological status of neoliberalism. On the basis of changing the industrial structure and socio-economic form, neoliberalism has dealt a devastating blow to the ideas of social solidarity and public consciousness in the West. Concepts of public welfare, social obligation, and democratic solidarity have come under systematic attack, and the notions of shared responsibility and moral obligation have been devastatingly weakened.

同时，新自由主义极力宣扬个人主义意识形态，消解集体行动、社会团结、社区责任等观念，避免受剥削的劳动者联合起来，彻底瓦解资本主义的反抗力量。在新自由主义者看来，一种基于集体团结和平等的政治是对市场的威胁。社会日益严重的自我主义缩小了集体行动的空间，使广大劳动者在市场竞争中忽视集体关系中合作的力量，阻碍了左翼力量团结起来抗衡资本主义秩序，为维护新自由主义的主流意识形态地位提供了便利。在改变产业结构和社会经济形态的基础上，新自由主义使社会团结理念和公众意识在西方遭到毁灭性打击，公益、社会义务和民主团结的观念受到系统性攻击，分担责任和道德义务的观念遭到毁灭性削弱。

The severe inadequacy in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has made Western societies, especially the United States, deeply aware of the serious defects in extreme individualist values. Reducing gatherings and social activities, and wearing masks in public places, are scientifically sound approaches to dealing with the pandemic. Yet some Western citizens who champion extreme individualist values still cling to their prejudices and go their own way, sneering at those who wear masks and dismissing stay-at-home advisories. Western governments should have adopted a scientific and responsible attitude, taking timely measures to actively prevent and control the pandemic, but some politicians instead promoted extreme individualism, and their actions and decisions led the entire society in the wrong direction. US President Trump's insistence on not wearing a mask drew widespread criticism; correspondingly, in his decision-making, he first ignored scientists' advice, missing the crucial window for prevention and control, and later urged states to reopen the economy to make economic data "look good." The result was that the United States became the country most severely affected by the pandemic, with the highest numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the world. For Western societies to make new political and economic choices, they must undergo a revolution in values, correcting the powerful destructive forces brought by neoliberalism, and reshaping a fairer economy, a more united society, and more compassionate communities. It is precisely for this reason that some Western scholars believe neoliberalism has pushed the process of Western civilization to the edge of a cliff. To "change course from a failed track," it is necessary to "treat people with compassion, humanity, and dignity," to take common interests and common ideas as the goal, and to launch a mass movement striving for liberation, economic justice, and a political community based on human equality. This would extend the core human values of fairness, mutual aid, and compassion from the community to the national and global levels, so that the foundation of global civilization "shifts from valuing wealth to valuing life."

应对新冠肺炎疫情防控的严重不足，使西方社会尤其是美国深刻体会到极端个人主义价值观的严重缺陷。减少聚集与社交活动、在公共场所戴上口罩，本是应对疫情的科学之道。但推崇极端个人主义价值观的部分西方民众依然秉持成见、我行我素，对戴口罩者嗤之以鼻，对居家提醒不屑一顾。西方国家政府本应秉持科学和负责任态度，及时采取措施，积极防控疫情，但一些政客反而鼓吹极端个人主义，其举动和决策将整个社会引向了错误的方向。美国总统特朗普坚持不戴口罩的行为引起广泛批评，与之相应，他在决策中先是忽视科学家建议而耽误了重要的防控窗口期，后又为经济数据“好看”而鼓动各州重启经济，结果使美国成为疫情最严重的国家，新冠肺炎感染人数和死亡病例均居世界首位。西方社会要作出新的政治经济选择，必须进行价值观革命，纠正新自由主义带来的强大的破坏力量，重塑更加公平的经济、更加团结的社会、更富有同情心的社区。正因如此，一些西方学者认为，新自由主义把西方文明进程推向了悬崖，要“从失败的轨道上改弦易辙”，就必须“以同情、人道和尊严对待人民”，以共同利益和共同观念为目标，发起一场为实现解放、经济正义和建立在人类平等基础上的政治共同体而团结奋斗的群众运动，使公平、互助和同情的人类核心价值观从社区出发，延伸到国家和全球层面，使全球文明的基础“从看重财富转变为看重生命”。

III. The Illusion of Shared Prosperity Shattered

三、共同繁荣的幻象破灭

The ability of Western elites to mold neoliberalism into a Western social consensus and mainstream ideology was inseparable from the illusion of "shared prosperity" they fabricated. Cambridge professor David Lane has said: "The elite stratum believes that neoliberalism has raised the living standards of people in all regions of the world, including developed and developing countries, reduced absolute poverty, created political, economic, and social conditions for people to achieve income, and promoted democratic development and world peace." However, the facts are likely far from this.

西方精英之所以能够把新自由主义塑造成西方社会共识和主流意识形态，离不开他们所编制的“共同繁荣”幻象。剑桥大学教授大卫·莱恩说过：“精英阶层认为新自由主义提升了包括发达国家和发展中国家在内的全球各地区人民的生活水平，降低了绝对贫困，为人们实现所得创造了政治、经济和社会条件，促进了民主发展与世界和平。”但是，事实恐怕远非如此。

After the 2008 international financial crisis, marshaling the nation's full strength to rescue financial giants and the banking industry became the top priority for Western governments, while reforms in related fields were mostly superficial. The facts of the subsequent decade and more show that financialization remains the most prominent feature of Western capitalism. The problem of "too big to fail" banks has become more serious, and the global operations of institutional investor conglomerates still lack regulation. The large banks that received US government bailouts in 2008 have become even larger: the total assets of America's six largest banks increased by 84% compared to before the 2008 financial crisis, their total cash holdings tripled, and the risks that had destroyed the banking system in 2008 doubled. At the same time, the senior executives of financial companies still occupy high positions, draw high salaries, and command greater social wealth and political advantages. Yet it was the entire Western society, especially the working class within it, that paid the bill for the capitalist financial crisis and saved the capitalist system, only to face a predicament of even more severe wealth polarization. From 2009 to 2018, real wages in the US private sector grew at an annual rate of 0.5%, while GDP growth over the same period reached 2.2%. Ordinary workers' share of income and wealth holdings is extremely low, and their ability to withstand risks is extremely poor. A 2018 Federal Reserve study found that nearly 40% of adult respondents could not cover an unexpected expense of about $400. A survey by the European Union's statistical office the same year also showed that 32.5% of households could not afford unexpected expenses. The 2008 international financial crisis did not change the capital logic of neoliberalism in exacerbating wealth polarization. On the contrary, the polarization of wealth possession and income distribution has intensified, the fundamental contradiction between capital and labor in the capitalist world has grown ever more acute, and the greatest inequality in history has become the greatest "achievement" of the neoliberalism that survived the crisis.

2008年国际金融危机后，集全国之力拯救金融巨鳄和银行业成为西方政府的第一要务，与之相比，相关领域的改革大多浮于表面。之后十余年的事实表明，经济金融化依然是西方资本主义最显著的特点，大银行“尾大不掉”的问题更加严重，机构投资者财团的全球运营依然缺乏管控。2008年受到美国政府救助的大银行变得更加庞大，美国六大银行的资产总额比2008年金融危机前增加了84%，现金总额增长两倍，曾在2008年摧毁银行系统的风险增长了一倍。同时，金融公司的高管们仍然身居高位、手持高薪，掌握更多的社会财富与政治优势。而当年为资本主义金融危机买单、拯救资本主义制度的是整个西方社会，尤其是身处其中的劳动阶层，面对的却是贫富分化更加严重的困局。2009年至2018年，美国私营部门的实际工资以每年0.5%的速度增长，而同期GDP的增速却达到了2.2%。普通劳动者的收入份额和财富占有量极低，抗风险能力极差。美联储2018年一项研究发现，调查对象中近40%的成年人没有能力应付约400美元的意外开支。欧盟统计局同年所作调查亦表明，32.5%的家庭无法承担意外开支。2008年国际金融危机未能改变新自由主义加剧贫富分化的资本逻辑。相反，财富占有和收入分配的两极分化变本加厉，资本主义世界存在的资本与劳动的基本矛盾愈演愈烈，历史上最大的不平等成为从危机中幸存下来的新自由主义最大的“成就”。

The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the economic inequality caused by decades of neoliberal institutions. The novel coronavirus does not discriminate by class, but its impact on the rich and the poor differs vastly. For some wealthy individuals, the pandemic means only maintaining safe distance from other members of society and making more frequent use of various household services and private medical services. As Henry Giroux put it, celebrities and the rich boarded the first “lifeboats” for coronavirus testing, while media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his family “profited from a news empire that downplayed and openly questioned the threat of the coronavirus while protecting their own health.” [2]2 Henry Giroux (born 1943) is an American cultural critic and public intellectual known for his work on critical pedagogy and the politics of neoliberalism. Conversely, for the majority of ordinary workers, the pandemic means a series of sharply escalating hardships. To make a living, they must continue working in unstable and potentially unprotected jobs, while lacking sufficient space to maintain safe distance, or even adequate disinfectant supplies and water to maintain hygiene. Once infected, a considerable number find it difficult to obtain timely testing and necessary treatment, nor can they enjoy medical benefits. According to a 2019 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 31% of workers in the private sector lack medical benefits; among private-sector workers in the service industry, this figure soars to 57%. Survey data released in early May by institutions including the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health showed that African Americans accounted for 52% of confirmed cases and 58% of deaths nationwide. Yet according to the U.S. Census Bureau, African Americans constitute only 13.4% of the U.S. population. Due to long-standing racial discrimination in the United States, people of color face worse living conditions, residential environments, and physical health compared to whites, making them more susceptible to COVID-19 infection. Former U.S. President Barack Obama noted: “A disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country.”

新冠肺炎疫情进一步揭开了数十年来新自由主义制度造成的经济不平等问题。新冠病毒不分阶级，但它带给富人和穷人的影响却存在天壤之别。疫情对一些富人而言只意味着与其他社会成员保持安全距离、更频繁地利用各种家庭服务和私人医疗服务。正如亨利·吉鲁所言，名人和富人坐上了第一批接受冠状病毒测试的“救生艇”，新闻巨头默多克和他的家人“在保护自己的健康的同时，从一个轻描淡写、公然质疑冠状病毒威胁的新闻帝国中获利”。相反，疫情对大多数普通劳动者而言，意味着一系列急剧增长的困境。他们为了营生不得不继续从事不稳定且可能缺少防护的工作，同时他们没有足够的空间保持安全距离，甚至没有足够的消毒物资和水资源保持清洁。一旦感染病毒，相当一部分人难以得到及时的检测与必要的治疗，也享受不到医疗福利。根据美国劳工统计局2019年报告，私营部门31%的工人得不到医疗福利，在服务业工作的私营部门工人中，这一数字飙升至57%。美国约翰斯·霍普金斯大学彭博公共卫生学院和埃默里大学罗林斯公共卫生学院等高校和科研机构5月初发布的一项调查数据显示，非洲裔美国人占到了全美确诊病例的52%和死亡病例的58%。而根据美国人口统计局统计，非洲裔人口仅占美国人口的13.4%。由于美国长期存在种族歧视现象，相较于白人，有色人种的生活条件、居住环境和身体条件更差，因此更易受新冠病毒感染。美国前总统奥巴马指出：“这样一种疾病凸显这个国家的黑人社区长期以来不得不应对的潜在不平等和额外重负。”

Similarly, ethnic minorities and the poor have become the most visibly affected groups amid the surging unemployment rate in the United States. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that in April 2020, nonfarm payroll employment fell by 20.537 million, and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7%, the highest since the Great Depression. Among these, the unemployment rate for African Americans was 16.7%, and for Latino Americans, 18.9%. Market dominance, government dereliction of duty, and the wealth gap together produced this humanitarian crisis that low- and middle-income earners must confront. In late May, the death of an African American man due to improper law enforcement by a white police officer triggered riots in multiple locations, further deepening reflection on the intertwining of racial contradictions and wealth polarization in the United States.

同样，少数族裔和贫困人口也成为美国飙升的失业率中受伤最明显的群体。美国劳工部数据显示，2020年4月份美国非农就业人数减少2 053.7万个，失业率升至14.7%，创下大萧条以来最高纪录。其中，非洲裔美国人失业率为16.7%，拉丁裔美国人失业率为18.9%。市场主导、政府失责、贫富差距共同促成了这样中低收入者不得不面对的人道主义危机。5月下旬美国白人警察执法不当致非裔男子死亡引发多地骚乱，进一步加深了人们对美国种族矛盾和贫富分化相互交织的反思。

This contrast profoundly shows that the extreme economic inequality masked by the 2008 economic collapse is far from resolved. On the contrary, inequality worldwide, including in Western countries, continues to intensify. Fewer and fewer people accumulate and reproduce their wealth, while millions are left behind, lacking high-paying jobs and public services, and unable to enjoy the fruits of social progress for themselves or their descendants. The circle of the richest people and the operators who serve them grows ever more distant from everyone else. After the test of this pandemic, some observers have become more certain: public problems require public solutions; neoliberalism simply cannot provide the answer. The future must ensure “a world order in which resources are distributed more equally and controlled by the public.”

这种对比深刻地表明，2008年经济崩溃所掩盖的极端经济不平等问题远未解决。相反，包括西方国家在内的世界范围内的不平等现象继续加剧。越来越少的人积累和再生产他们的财富，而数以百万计的人却被落在后面，没有高薪工作和公共服务，他们自己及其后代也难以享受社会进步的成果。最富有的人和为最富有的人服务的经营者的圈子离其他人越来越远。经过此次疫情的考验，一些观察家更加明确：公共问题需要公共解决方案，新自由主义根本无法提供答案，未来必须确保一个“以更加平等的方式分配资源并由公众控制资源的世界秩序”。

IV. The Direction of Western Capitalism’s Evolution

四、西方资本主义的演变方向

If the 2008 international financial crisis sounded the alarm for neoliberalism, then the multiple difficulties caused by Western countries’ inadequate pandemic response can be said to have sounded its death knell. Against this backdrop, the future evolution of Western capitalism will exhibit three directional characteristics.

如果说2008年国际金融危机敲响了新自由主义的警钟，那么此次西方国家疫情应对不足导致多重困境，可以说敲响了新自由主义的丧钟。在此背景下，未来西方资本主义的演变进程将呈现三个方向性特征。

1. The Profound Lessons of the Inadequate COVID-19 Response Will Accelerate the Evolution of Western Capitalism

1．新冠肺炎疫情应对不足的深刻教训将推动西方资本主义加速演变

The failure of Western countries in prevention and control has caused the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver a massive shock to Western societies. Although some politicians downplay, quibble, or even frame others to shirk responsibility, facts speak louder than words. The rising numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths, the continuous deterioration of national economies, and the complex intertwining of social contradictions have collectively exposed the enormous defects of Western capitalism in theory, institutions, and culture, once again confirming the developmental trend that capitalism is doomed and socialism is bound to triumph. As early as 1848, Marx and Engels declared to the world in the *Communist Manifesto* that “the fall of the bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.” The task of the *Communist Manifesto* was “to proclaim the inevitable impending dissolution of modern bourgeois property.” [3]3 The “two inevitables” (两个必然) is a standard Chinese Marxist formulation referring to the inevitable victory of socialism and the inevitable demise of capitalism, derived from Marx and Engels’ *Communist Manifesto*. The “two inevitables” derived from this are scientific conclusions reached by analyzing the inherent contradictions of capitalism using historical materialism and the theory of surplus value. Over the past century and more, although Western countries have created opportunities for capitalist renovation within the framework of the capitalist system through economic growth, social welfare, and technological innovation, the fundamental contradiction inherent in the capitalist mode of production—between socialized production and private appropriation of the means of production—has never been resolved. The wars, crises, and upheavals resulting from this have come and gone, while inequality and imbalance have persisted. The COVID-19 pandemic has merely placed before the world, in an unpredictable manner, the chronic ills of Western capitalism and the evil consequences of neoliberalism. The questioning by Western societies of their governments’ responsibility for inadequate pandemic prevention and control has made neoliberal theory a target of public criticism, and capitalism stamped with the brand of neoliberalism has also faced strong skepticism. Faced with the two difficult problems of how to respond to the pandemic crisis and how to reconstruct the theoretical foundation of Western capitalism, many Western countries will have to make major transformations.

西方国家的防控不力，使新冠肺炎疫情对西方社会造成巨大冲击。虽然一些政客为推脱责任而轻描淡写、强词夺理甚至栽赃陷害，但事实胜于雄辩。新冠肺炎感染者和死亡数量的不断攀升、国家经济状况的不断恶化、社会矛盾的复杂交织，集中暴露了西方资本主义在理论、制度和文化上的巨大缺陷，再次印证了资本主义必然灭亡、社会主义必然胜利的发展大趋势。早在1848年，马克思和恩格斯就在《共产党宣言》中向世界宣告，“资产阶级的灭亡和无产阶级的胜利是同样不可避免的”。《共产党宣言》的任务，就是“宣告现代资产阶级所有制必然灭亡”。由此引申出的“两个必然”是运用历史唯物主义和剩余价值理论分析资本主义内在矛盾得出的科学结论。一百多年来，虽然西方国家在资本主义制度框架下通过经济增长、社会福利、科技创新为资本主义革新创造了机会，但资本主义生产方式内在的根本矛盾——生产社会化和生产资料私人占有之间的矛盾始终没有得到解决。由此导致的战争、危机、动荡去了又来，不平等、不均衡问题始终存在。新冠肺炎疫情只是以一种难以预料的方式，将西方资本主义的沉疴和新自由主义的恶果摆在了世人面前。西方社会对政府疫情防控不力责任的追问，使新自由主义理论成为众矢之的，打着新自由主义烙印的资本主义也遭到强烈质疑。面对如何应对疫情危机、如何重构西方资本主义理论基础这两道难题，许多西方国家将不得不做出重大转型。

An important direction for the accelerated evolution of Western capitalism is to promote a rebalancing among government, capital, and society. The key role of government in COVID-19 prevention and control has directly shattered the neoliberal notion that “the government that governs least governs best.” The serious inadequacies of Western governments in pandemic response have made people increasingly realize that government is no longer the “problem” as people of the Thatcher-Reagan era claimed, but rather the “solution” to the problem. “This solution means not only an active government, but also a good government.” [4]4 This is a paraphrase of the well-known neoliberal slogan popularized by Ronald Reagan in his 1981 inaugural address: “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” The real crisis and the bloody lessons force Western countries to readjust the relationship among government, capital, and society at the institutional level, especially to strengthen the government’s responsibility and power in the field of public health. Whether Western countries can follow this direction to reconstruct the theoretical foundation and governance system of the capitalist system, and enhance government effectiveness and governance efficiency, concerns not only their economic development and social stability but also whether the entire capitalist system can adapt to new circumstances, meet new challenges, satisfy the needs of productive forces development, and thereby prolong its vitality.

西方资本主义加速演变的一个重要方向是推动政府、资本和社会的再平衡。政府在新冠肺炎疫情防控中的关键作用，直接摧毁了“管得最少就是最好”的新自由主义理念。西方国家政府在疫情应对中的严重不足，使人们越来越清晰地认识到政府不再是撒切尔—里根时代的人所说的“问题”，而是解决问题的“方案”。“这解决方案不只意味着积极的政府，还意味着良善的政府。”现实危机和血的教训，迫使西方国家在制度层面重新调整政府、资本和社会的关系，尤其是强化政府在公共卫生领域的责任和权力。西方国家能否沿着这一方向，重构资本主义制度的理论基础和治理体系，提升政府效能和治理效率，不仅关系其经济发展和社会稳定，而且关系整个资本主义制度能否适应新形势、应对新挑战、满足生产力发展需要进而延续其生命力。

2. Left-Wing Thought and Practical Exploration Will Play a Greater Role in the Evolution of Western Capitalism

2．左翼思想和实践探索将在西方资本主义演变进程中发挥更大作用

Since modern times, capitalism has always been accompanied by various crises, especially economic crises stemming from the basic contradictions of capitalist society, which have made the capitalist system totter in the complex interweaving of overproduction and social contradictions. To resolve the social inequality centered on the contradiction between labor and capital, social resistance forces, guided by left-wing thought, have continuously struggled, forcing the bourgeoisie to optimize and adjust the capitalist system. Objectively, this has tapped the "total productive forces that capitalism can accommodate," gradually eliminating the irrational and barbaric elements of capitalism, and pushing the economic base and superstructure of Western countries to evolve step by step in a rational, civilized, and even socialist direction. This is the significant value of left-wing forces and their great contribution to the development of Western society. After World War II, social democracy led the West to create a thirty-year "golden period of development." After the 2008 international financial crisis, Western countries have been searching for a new direction of development, attempting to transcend neoliberalism and rebuild the economic system and social order. For this reason, some have hoped that social democracy could once again "save" capitalism. Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has further trapped the consumerism and capital accumulation mechanisms that underpin capitalism in a deadlock, forcing Western capitalism to confront multiple crises. Against this backdrop, more and more people are turning their attention to the left, hoping to draw wisdom for institutional transformation from left-wing ideas and practical experiences, and to find forces for promoting change from left-wing political organizations and social movements. Some scholars call on global left-wing forces to unite and build a production system that is more equal and more in line with natural conditions. Some scholars have even proposed specific alternatives, such as planned, non-market organized actions by the state and civic groups to support public systems like healthcare, social security, and infrastructure, in order to achieve universal public interests. It can be foreseen that in the future, left-wing ideas, political organizations, and practical explorations will influence the evolutionary process of Western capitalism to a greater extent. The degree of this influence will ultimately depend on whether left-wing ideas are attractive, and whether left-wing political parties can lead the workers' movement to break through the multiple squeezes of the existing capitalist system and its supporters, and whether they can win the competition with extreme populist ideas and their political forces.

近代以来，资本主义始终与各种危机如影随形，尤其是导源于资本主义社会基本矛盾的经济危机，使资本主义制度在生产过剩与社会矛盾的复杂交织中摇摇欲坠。为了解决以劳资矛盾为核心的社会不平等问题，社会反抗力量在左翼思想的指引下不断抗争，迫使资产阶级优化与调整资本主义制度，在客观上发掘了资本主义“所能容纳的全部生产力”，逐渐消除了资本主义不合理的、野蛮的成分，推动西方国家的经济基础和上层建筑逐步向着合理的、文明的乃至社会主义的方向演进。这是左翼力量所具有的重大价值，也是他们对西方社会发展所作出的巨大贡献。第二次世界大战后，社会民主主义引领西方创造了三十年的“黄金发展期”。2008年国际金融危机后，西方国家一直在寻找新的发展方向，试图超越新自由主义，重建经济体制和社会秩序，为此有人期待社会民主主义能够再次“拯救”资本主义。如今，新冠肺炎疫情进一步使支撑资本主义的消费主义和资本积累机制陷入困局，使西方资本主义不得不面对多重危机。在此背景下，越来越多的人将注意力转向左翼，期待从左翼思想观点和实践经验中汲取制度转型的智慧，从左翼政治组织和社会运动中发掘推动变革的力量。一些学者呼吁全球左翼力量联合起来，构建一个更平等、更符合自然条件的生产系统。有学者甚至提出了具体替代方案，比如由国家和公民团体有计划地采取非市场的组织化行动，支持医疗保健、社会保障和基础设施等公共系统，以实现普遍的公众利益。可以预见，未来左翼的思想观点、政治组织和实践探索将在更大程度上影响西方资本主义演变进程。其影响程度最终将取决于左翼理念是否具有吸引力，以及左翼政党能否引领工人运动打破既有资本主义制度及其支持者的多重挤压，能否赢得与极端民粹主义思想及其政治力量的竞争。

3. The practical experiences and ideological theories of the non-Western world will become important reference points for the evolution of Western capitalism

3．非西方世界的实践经验和思想理论将成为西方资本主义演进的重要参照物

As early as 2008, American scholar Fareed Zakaria put forward the proposition of "the rise of the rest." But over the past decade or more, Western capitalist countries have either ignored this reality or treated it as a challenge, trying to eliminate or assimilate it by any means, in order to maintain the exclusive status of neoliberalism in ideology and development models. Today, the systemic failure of Western countries in epidemic prevention and control stands in stark contrast to the effective prevention and control in many non-Western countries, forcing Western countries to confront the institutional advantages and value concepts of other countries. In particular, China's major achievements in fighting the epidemic not only highlight a well-established national governance system and strong national governance capacity, but also demonstrate how a socialist system and government can be people-centered, starting from the safety of people's lives and their vital interests, meeting the needs of the ordinary, the vast majority, rather than starting from profit to satisfy the pockets of a minority. From a longer-term perspective, since reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China has made theoretical and practical explorations that are clearly different from neoliberalism, becoming an important exception to the global spread of the neoliberal model. Unlike some developing countries that have been deeply harmed by neoliberalism and have fallen into the middle-income trap or even into turmoil, China, on the basis of practical exploration, has continuously improved the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This has not only promoted its own comprehensive progress, but has also "expanded the path for developing countries to achieve modernization, provided a new choice for those countries and nations that want to accelerate development while maintaining their independence, and contributed Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving human problems." The benchmark effect formed by the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics objectively serves as an external impetus for the benign transformation of Western capitalism.

早在2008年，美国学者法里德·扎卡里亚就提出了“他者崛起”这样一个命题。但过去十多年，西方资本主义国家要么漠视这一现实，要么将其作为一种挑战，想方设法进行消灭或者同化，以维护新自由主义在意识形态和发展模式中的独尊地位。如今，西方国家在疫情防控中的系统性失败，与诸多非西方国家的有效防控形成了鲜明对比，使西方国家不得不正视其他国家的制度优势和价值理念。尤其是中国抗击疫情的重大成果，不仅凸显了完善的国家治理体系和强大的国家治理能力，而且表明社会主义制度和政府如何以人民为中心，从人民的生命安危和切身利益出发，满足普通的、最大多数人的需求，而不是从利润出发满足少数人的钱袋子。从更长时段来看，改革开放特别是党的十八大以来，中国做出的明显有别于新自由主义的理论和实践探索，成为新自由主义模式全球扩散的一个重要例外。与一些深受新自由主义危害而深陷中等收入陷阱甚至陷入动荡的发展中国家不同，中国在实践探索的基础上，不断完善中国特色社会主义道路、理论、制度和文化，不仅推动了自身的全面进步，而且“拓展了发展中国家走向现代化的途径，给世界上那些既希望加快发展又希望保持自身独立性的国家和民族提供了全新选择，为解决人类问题贡献了中国智慧和中国方案”。中国特色社会主义事业发展形成的标杆效应，客观上成为西方资本主义良性变革的外在助力。

To sum up, on the one hand, we must more deeply understand the laws of human social development revealed by Marxism using the "two inevitables," further build confidence in the inevitable demise of capitalism and the inevitable victory of socialism, and strengthen the "Four Confidences." [5]5 The "Four Confidences" (四个自信) refers to confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, a slogan promoted by the CPC to bolster ideological unity. On the other hand, we must closely monitor the goals, driving forces, processes, directions, and impacts of the evolution of the Western capitalist system, fully utilize its positive factors, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind; promptly guard against its risks and challenges, and strive to avoid the evolution of the Western capitalist system damaging the international system and China's development environment. (Notes omitted)

综上所述，我们一方面要更加深刻地认识到马克思主义运用“两个必然”所揭示的人类社会发展规律，进一步树立资本主义必然灭亡、社会主义必然胜利的信心，坚定“四个自信”。另一方面要密切关注西方资本主义制度演进的目标、动力、进程、方向及其影响，充分运用其中的积极因素，推动构建人类命运共同体；及时防范其中的风险和挑战，着力避免西方资本主义制度演变损害国际体系与我国的发展环境。（注释略）

Online editor: Zhang Jian

网络编辑：张剑