Digital Capitalism from the Perspective of Marxism

Digital capitalism, as the manifestation of the historical development of capital relations, is the latest form of capitalist development. On the basis of our critical understanding of it, how can we accurately grasp its developmental characteristics, and how should we understand and respond to the opportunities and challenges brought by digital capital? Faced with the transformations in the mode of production, the mode of life, and the consequent changes in the form of labor brought about by digital capitalism, how should we achieve a transcendence of digital capitalism, thereby realizing the true, human-nature-conforming restoration of the essence of humanity? These are the important issues that urgently require our answers.

数字资本主义作为资本关系历史性发展的显现，是资本主义发展的最新形态。我们在对其批判性的理解基础上，如何准确捕捉它的发展特质，又如何理解和应对数字资本带给的机遇与挑战？面对数字资本主义所带来的生产方式、生活方式以及随之发生的劳动形态的变革，我们应该如何实现对数字资本主义的超越，从而实现真正的、合乎人性的人的本质的复归呢？这些就是迫切需要我们解答的重要问题。

The characteristic of digital capital is based on "the vast system of correlation formed by data and cloud computing." [1]1 The 20th National Congress of the CPC: The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in October 2022, at which Xi Jinping delivered a report outlining the Party’s policies and goals for the next five years. We explain it from the combined perspective of historical materialism and the critique of political economy. Specifically, digital capitalism, as a historical product of capitalist development, reflects the contemporary development of capital relations; in its essence, digital capitalism still embodies exploitation and the drive for profit, only its form is more concealed; finally, with the development of digital capitalism, alienation moves toward the total alienation of the subject's life.

数字资本的特性是基于“数据和云计算形成的庞大的关联体系”。我们从唯物史观和政治经济学批判的双重视域相结合的角度，对其进行阐释。具体说来，数字资本主义作为资本主义发展的历史性产物，反映了资本关系在当代的发展；数字资本主义在其本质上仍然体现着剥削与逐利性，只是形式上更具隐匿性；最后，随着数字资本主义的发展，异化走向了主体生命的全面异化。

The Turn of Digital Capital

数字资本的转向

According to the Marxist understanding, the developmental process of capitalism is the process of capital pursuing its own production and reproduction, with the goal of maximizing surplus value; this is also the process of capital's self-valorization. We must deeply recognize that it is precisely the universalization of capitalist commodity production that makes labor power a commodity, and thereby money transforms into capital. The movement of capital is manifested in the capitalist process of production and circulation. In the era of industrial capitalism, the maximization of surplus value was mainly achieved within the capitalist production process; one must produce much but also be able to sell. To alleviate the crisis of capitalist overproduction, capitalists needed more capital to accelerate the turnover of funds and the circulation of capital. Thus, with the intervention of financial capital, the function of banks changed. Although it accelerated the circulation of capital in the sphere of circulation, with the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, the maladies brought by the capitalist mode of production once again became prominent. Whether it is industrial capitalism, financial capitalism, or digital capitalism, they all possess the general characteristics of capital, that is, they operate under the dominance of the logic of capital, with the aim of maximizing capital valorization. In this context, to solve the problems of capital over-accumulation and economic crisis, capital attempts to construct a new space for exploitation in the virtual world, and digital capitalism emerges from this. The emergence of digital capitalism can be described as a transformation of the mode of production, a result of the expansion of capital valorization from the real world to the virtual world.

按照马克思主义的理解，资本主义的发展过程就是资本追求自身生产与再生产的过程，目的是要实现剩余价值的最大化，这也是资本实现自身增殖的过程。我们必须深刻认识到，正是资本主义商品生产的普遍化使得劳动力成为商品，进而货币转化为资本。而资本的运动表现为资本主义生产与流通过程。在产业资本主义时代，主要是在资本主义生产过程中来实现剩余价值的最大化，生产得多也要卖得出去。为了缓解资本主义生产过剩的危机，资本家就需要更多的资金来加速资金的周转和资本的流通。于是，随着金融资本的介入，银行的职能发生了改变，虽然加速了资本在流通领域的运转，但是，随着2008年全球金融危机的爆发，资本主义生产方式所带来的弊病再次凸显。无论是产业资本主义、金融资本主义还是数字资本主义都具有资本的一般性特征，即在资本逻辑的主导下进行的，以实现资本增殖最大化为目的的特性。在这种背景下，为了解决资本过度积累的问题和经济危机，资本试图在虚拟世界中构建新的剥削空间，数字资本主义由此产生。数字资本主义的产生可谓是一场生产方式的变革，是资本增殖从现实世界扩展到虚拟世界的结果。

The emergence of digital capitalism does not mean that industrial capitalism and financial capitalism will disappear; rather, through big data and cloud computing, it overcomes the blindness of industrial capital production, adjusts the direction of production according to market demand, and promotes the upgrading of industrial capital. Similarly, in the field of financial investment, cloud computing is used to guide the direction of financial investment.

数字资本主义的出现，并不是说产业资本主义和金融资本主义就要消失，而是通过大数据与云计算，摆脱产业资本生产的盲目性，根据市场需求调整生产方向，促进产业资本的升级。同样，在金融投资领域通过云计算来引导金融投资方向。

The Critique of Political Economy of Digital Capitalism

数字资本主义的政治经济学批判

The era we live in is an era of the interconnection of all things constructed by general data. Just as Marx discussed in *Capital*, money, as the universal equivalent, constructed the capitalist commodity economy system, which represents the progress of human society, not a regression of the era. Similarly, the digital age is the same; it is a historical stage we must go through with the development of science and technology. Criticizing digital capitalism does not mean deleting intelligent apps from our phones and reducing the phone to a tool only for making calls. We need to understand how these general data, processed and refined by cloud computing, establish unequal social relations.

我们所处的时代是由一般数据构建的万物互联的时代，正如马克思在《资本论》中所讨论的，货币作为一般等价物构建了资本主义商品经济体系，这代表了人类社会的进步，并非时代的倒退。同理，数字时代依旧如此，它是随着科学技术的发展，我们所必须经历的一个历史阶段。对数字资本主义的批判，也不意味着要删除手机里的智能化APP，将手机还原到只是接听电话的工具。我们要弄清楚这些经过云计算加工处理后的一般数据，是如何建立不平等的社会关系的。

Marx emphasized that what he discussed was not human labor in a general sense; what he criticized was abstract labor from the perspective of the capitalist mode of production. In the digital age, the so-called data of digital capitalism is not data traffic in a general sense; only data that is incorporated by the platform and utilized by algorithms is considered valuable data. That is to say, only data that can be incorporated into the platform's algorithm for production is useful data. Data, as a commodity, has its use value embodied in the specific use activities of internet users, while its value includes the synthesis of physical and mental labor expended in developing and collecting application data, and of course, also includes the synthesis of physical and mental activities expended by internet users. Some domestic scholars have pointed out that general data, as digital capital, is produced by all users on digital platforms but is appropriated by a few digital capitalists. The critique of political economy of digital capitalism is precisely to break this monopoly state and truly realize the sharing of general data on platforms.

马克思强调，他所讲的不是一般意义上的人类劳动，他所要批判的是资本主义生产方式视域下的抽象劳动。在数字时代，数字资本主义所谓的数据并非一般意义上的数据流量，只有那些被平台纳入并被算法利用的数据才被视为有价值的数据。也就是说，只有可以被纳入平台算法进行生产的数据才是有用的数据。数据作为一种商品，它的使用价值体现在互联网用户的具体使用活动当中，而价值包括开发与收集应用数据时所耗费的体力劳动与脑力劳动的综合，当然，也包括使用互联网的用户所耗费的体力与脑力活动的综合。国内有学者指出，作为数字资本的一般数据，是所有在数字化平台上的用户生产出来的，而被少数数字资本家占有。数字资本主义的政治经济学批判正是要打破这种垄断的状态，使平台的一般数据真正实现共享。

Adorno and Fuchs have both pointed out that contemporary society, from the perspective of relations of production, is still a capitalist society, a production aimed at maximizing profit as emphasized by Marx. It is just that science and information technology are widely applied in the production process.

阿多尔诺和福克斯都曾指出，当代社会从生产关系的视角看依然是资本主义社会，是马克思所强调的以追求利润最大化为目的的生产。只是在生产的过程中，科学和信息技术被广泛地应用。

In the digital age, the state of digital existence of the subject in digital capitalism manifests as the alienation of life. This alienation is embodied in the datafication of human labor and the capital valorization activities of platform monopolies realized through data processing. In fact, it is still necessary to critique the structuration of the logic of capital.

在数字时代，数字资本主义中主体的数字化生存状况表现为生命的异化。这种异化体现为人类劳动的数据化，以及平台垄断通过数据处理实现的资本增殖活动。事实上，还是要对资本逻辑的结构化进行批判。

With the widespread development of internet data, network users produce personal data and other information content on network platforms and electronic devices by uploading materials and browsing web pages. Fuchs believes that, compared with traditional cultural communication, the uniqueness of the internet lies in the dual identity of users as both consumers and producers. In terms of the mode of communication, it exhibits the structural characteristic of decentralization. Here, the production of internet users differs from the productive labor Marx discussed. According to the employment relationship Marx elaborated, workers earn wages by selling their labor power commodity to obtain the means of subsistence. In the era of big data, there is no direct employment relationship between internet users and platforms. Platforms grant permissions, enabling internet users to upload and download data and realize specific forms of interaction, while users do not receive wages. The particularity of this digital labor power commodity makes "exploitation as a social relation hidden within the structure of 'play'." [2]2 The original Chinese text uses quotation marks around this phrase, likely citing a specific scholar or work, but the source is not identified in the provided text. Since the internet does not directly produce surplus value, where does profit come from? On the one hand, big data platforms collect data on internet users' usage, sell it as a commodity, expand the field of capital accumulation, and break spatial limitations. In this way, platforms can capture surplus value from the production sphere. On the other hand, by collecting data on internet users' online behavior, platforms can push data to users based on their browsing behavior, interests, etc., promote link advertisements, increase purchase intentions, and thereby obtain profit. This promotion is achieved precisely through big data and cloud computing. The informational productive labor performed by users actually does not belong to the production sphere but to the circulation sphere; however, it belongs to the production of surplus value. The productive nature of the circulation sphere is manifested on two levels. First, it is reflected in accelerating the circulation of commodities, extending the field of commodities, and promoting capital accumulation and the generation of surplus value. Second, through the control of information and technology, such as pushing advertisements to guide consumer purchases. To purchase desired commodities, consumers must obtain labor remuneration through work, which also indirectly promotes the reproduction of the wage relation. In fact, this control over consumers' purchasing consciousness is unconscious, but it actually directly affects people's daily lifestyle, mode of thinking, and mode of consumption. To a certain extent, this expands the power of capital.

随着互联网数据的普遍化发展，网络用户通过上传资料、浏览网页在网络平台和电子设备上生产了个人数据等信息内容。福克斯认为，与传统文化传播相比，互联网的独特之处在于用户同时具有消费者和生产者的双重身份。在传播方式上，表现为去中心化的结构特性。这里互联网用户的生产与马克思所讲的生产性劳动不同，按照马克思所阐述的雇佣关系来理解，那么工人通过出卖劳动力商品挣得工资，来获取生存资料。而在大数据时代，互联网用户和平台并非直接意义上的雇佣关系。平台通过开放权限，使互联网用户可以上传和下载数据，实现特定的交往形式，而用户并没有获得工资，这种数字劳动力商品的特殊性，使得“剥削作为一种社会关系隐藏在‘玩’的结构之中”。既然互联网不直接生产剩余价值，那么利润从何而来呢？一方面，大数据平台对互联网用户使用数据进行收集，并将其作为商品进行买卖，扩大了资本积累的领域，打破空间的限制，这样一来，平台就可以获取生产领域的剩余价值。另一方面，平台通过对互联网用户上网数据进行收集，可以根据用户的浏览行为、兴趣爱好等向其推广数据，推广链接广告，提高购买意愿，从而获得利润。这种推广正是通过大数据与云计算实现的。用户所进行的信息型生产劳动其实并不属于生产领域而是归于流通领域，但是却属于剩余价值的生产。流通领域的生产性体现在两个层面，其一，体现在加速了商品的流通，延伸了商品的领域，促进了资本的积累与剩余价值的产生。其二，通过信息与技术的控制，如通过推送广告，引导消费者购买。消费者为了购买心仪的商品，就必须在工作中获得劳动报酬，这也在间接意义上推动了工资关系的再生产。事实上，这种对消费者购买意识的控制行为是无意识的，但实际直接影响人的日常生活方式、思维方式和消费方式。在一定程度上，这是扩大了资本的权力。

In digital capitalism, people are unconsciously mediated by platforms and naturally accept this mediation. On the one hand, people cannot control their own products; the data uploaded to the internet are appropriated by platforms, which monetize them through monopolization. At the same time, people continuously engage in their own reproduction within this process, thereby serving capital unnaturally, providing nourishment for plunder and exploitation, and accumulating energy for capital and technology. Immaterial labor causes the valorization of capital to unconsciously intrude into people’s daily lives, breaking the fixed limits of working hours and enabling capital to dominate laborers by controlling their life time. This is biopower: it unfolds immaterial labor by penetrating and controlling life time, extending exploitation into life time, and transforming labor time. The production of data, as a product of human activity, participates in the value movement process of contemporary capitalism in the form of a commodity, forming a digital mode of production centered on data-traffic and using platform-algorithm as its technological carrier. This digital mode of production still takes the maximization of surplus value production as its goal. Therefore, whether it is the platform or the algorithm, what it follows is still based on human productive labor, ultimately realizing valorization.

在数字资本主义中，人们在无意识中被平台中介化，并自然而然地接受了这种中介化。一方面，人无法控制自己的产品，这些在互联网上上传的数据被平台占有，通过垄断将其货币化。同时，人在其中不断进行自身的再生产，从而不自然地服务于资本，为掠夺和剥削提供养料，为资本和技术积蓄能量。非物质劳动使资本的增殖不自觉地侵入了人们的日常生活，打破了工作时间的固定限制，使得资本可以通过控制生活时间来对劳动者进行支配。这也就是生命权力，它通过渗透和控制生活时间展开非物质劳动，把剥削扩展到生活时间当中，使劳动时间发生了变革。数据的生产作为人活动的产物，以商品的形式参与到当代资本主义价值运动过程当中，形成以数据—流量为核心、以平台—算法为技术载体的数字生产方式。这种数字生产方式仍然是以生产剩余价值的最大化为目标。因此，无论是平台还是算法，其遵循的还是以人的生产劳动为基础，最终实现价值增殖。

In summary, along with the flourishing development of digital capitalism, correspondingly there is the depression of the real economy, the growth of the unemployment rate, and the widening gap between the rich and the poor. So, how can digital technology escape the enslavement of capital and truly move toward being people-centered? Modernization does not equal Westernization, nor does it equal capitalization. Therefore, what the development of digital capitalism brings is not people’s free and comprehensive development, but rather, under the dominance of capital logic, people unconsciously become subject to the domination of digital technology, submit to the control of capital power, and thus lose their human subjectivity. Facing the strange cycle of the one-sided prosperity of the digital economy, the proposal of Chinese-path modernization has important significance. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that for the development of the digital economy, it is necessary to “promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy” on the basis of the development of the real economy, thereby realizing the development of the digital economy, which also points out the direction for China to build a digital economy.

综上所述，随着数字资本主义的繁荣发展，与之相应的是实体经济的萧条、失业率的增长以及贫富差距的增大。那么，数字技术如何摆脱资本的奴役，真正走向以人为本？现代化不等于西方化，不等于资本主义化。因此，数字资本主义发展所带来的不是人的自由全面发展，而是人在资本逻辑的主导下，不自觉地受制于数字技术的支配，屈从于资本权力的控制，从而丧失了人的主体性。面对数字经济片面繁荣的怪圈，中国式现代化的提出具有重要的意义。党的二十大报告指出，对于数字经济的发展，要在实体经济发展的基础上，“促进数字经济和实体经济深度融合”，从而实现数字经济的发展，这也为中国建设数字经济指明了方向。

(The author is a lecturer at the School of Marxism, Heilongjiang University)

（作者系黑龙江大学马克思主义学院讲师）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧