The Structural Transformation of the Qualitative State of Productive Forces and Its Practical Implications
丁晓钦、侯婉月:生产力质态的结构性变革及其现实启示
On the 140th anniversary of the publication of the second volume of *Capital*, examining Marx’s theory of productive forces based on *Capital* and its manuscripts holds significant theoretical and practical importance for understanding the qualitative state of productive forces. Productive forces are one of the core categories of historical materialism and serve as the starting point for Marxism to elucidate the laws of the historical development of human society. Grounded in fostering new quality productive forces to promote high-quality development, this fundamentally determines the success or failure of Chinese-path modernization and is related to the improvement of the well-being of all people and the gradual realization of the goal of common prosperity. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important remarks during the 11th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee profoundly clarified the scientific connotation of new quality productive forces, comprehensively expounded the development trends and inherent laws of contemporary productive forces from both qualitative and quantitative dimensions, and constituted a terminological revolution and methodological revolution in Marx’s theory of productive forces. The “Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Path Modernization” [1]1 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *The German Ideology*, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 50., adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC, emphasizes “accelerating the formation of relations of production that are more compatible with new quality productive forces, promoting the concentration of all types of advanced production factors toward the development of new quality productive forces, and substantially raising total factor productivity.” To promote the concentration of advanced production factors toward the development of new quality productive forces, we should base ourselves on the Marxist scientific elucidation of the qualitative state of productive forces and explore effective pathways to stimulate new development momentum.
《资本论》第二卷出版140周年之际,基于《资本论》及其手稿的阐释考察马克思生产力理论,对于理解生产力质态具有重要的理论与现实意义。生产力是唯物史观的核心范畴之一,是马克思主义用以阐明人类社会历史发展规律的出发点。立足催生新质生产力推动经济高质量发展,从根本上决定着中国式现代化的成败,关系到全体人民生活福祉的提高和共同富裕目标的逐步实现。习近平总书记在中共中央政治局第十一次集体学习时的重要论述,深刻阐明了新质生产力的科学内涵,从质与量两个维度全面阐述了当代生产力的发展趋势及其内在规律,是对马克思主义生产力理论的术语革命与方法论革命。党的二十届三中全会通过的《中共中央关于进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的决定》强调,“加快形成同新质生产力更适应的生产关系,促进各类先进生产要素向发展新质生产力集聚,大幅提升全要素生产率”。促进先进生产要素向发展新质生产力集聚,应立足马克思主义关于生产力质态的科学阐释,探寻激发发展新动力的有效路径。
I. The Essential Definition and Connotation of the Structure of the Qualitative State of Productive Forces
一、生产力质态结构的本质界定及其内涵
In *Capital* and its manuscripts, the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces constitutes the precondition for the formation and development of capitalism. In a genetic sense, the qualitative state of productive forces is a presentation of the logical structure that embodies the material transformation relationship between humans and nature. This material transformation exists not only in the direct production process but also forms, through the metamorphosis of the forms of capital, the total process of capital movement that unifies the production process and the circulation process. The material transformation relationship between humans and nature, at the most primitive level, is manifested as the transformation of three types of natural forces into social productive forces. This transformation process is of great significance for understanding the structure of the qualitative state of productive forces.
在《资本论》及其手稿中,生产力质态变革构成资本主义形成与发展的前提条件。在发生学的意义上,生产力质态是体现人与自然之间物质变换关系的逻辑结构呈现。这种物质变换不仅存在于直接生产过程,更通过资本的形态变化形成生产过程和流通过程相统一的资本运动总过程。而人和自然之间的物质变换关系,在最原始层面上体现为三类自然力向社会生产力的转化,这种转化过程对于理解生产力质态结构具有重要意义。
1. The Definition of Three Different Qualitative States of Productive Forces
1.生产力三种不同质态的界定
When exploring the starting point of the generation of productive forces, early scholars and bourgeois classical economists often focused on the human production process itself, forgetting the intrinsic nature and origin of this production process. For example, William Petty proposed the concept of productive forces based on the output capacity of land; Quesnay, as the founder of the Physiocratic school, focused on the net product of agricultural labor; and Adam Smith regarded the division of labor in production as an important source of the development of productive forces, and so on. Differently, Marx paid more attention to the changes arising from different application scenarios of human labor. In other words, Marx placed greater emphasis on the productive forces transformed from natural forces through the labor process. The material transformation process is the core content of productive forces, and the definition of productive forces involves the relationship between humans and nature. This material transformation exists not only in the direct production sphere but also forms, through the turnover of capital, “mutually intersecting circulation processes,” giving the transformation of natural forces a dimension of the reproduction of total social capital. In Volume II of *Capital*, Marx particularly emphasizes that the reproduction of total social capital must maintain the unity of the production process and the circulation process. This unity makes the transformation of natural forces encompass both the change in the material form of concrete labor and the continuous movement of the value form. Marx points out: “Labor is, first of all, a process between man and nature, a process by which man, through his own actions, mediates, regulates and controls the material transformation between himself and nature.” [2]2 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, trans. Ben Fowkes (London: Penguin, 1990), p. 287. The natural connections between the laborer, labor, and the object of labor (i.e., nature) at different levels cause productive forces to manifest as natural forces. In *Capital*, Marx distinguishes three different types of natural forces and the corresponding productive forces.
在探讨生产力的生成起点时,早期学者和资产阶级古典经济学家往往关注于人类生产过程本身,而忘记这种生产过程的内在性质及其起源。如,威廉·配第从土地的产出能力出发提出了生产力的概念;作为重农学派创始人的魁奈,则将农业劳动的纯产品作为关注的重点;而亚当·斯密则将生产分工作为生产力发展的重要来源,等等。与其不同,马克思更加关注人类劳动的不同应用场景所产生的变化。换言之,马克思更重视自然力通过劳动过程转化而来的生产力。物质变换过程是生产力的核心内容,生产力的界定涉及人与自然的关系。这种物质变换不仅存在于直接生产领域,更通过资本周转形成“相互交叉的流通过程”,使自然力的转化具有了社会总资本再生产的维度。在《资本论》第二卷中,马克思特别强调社会总资本的再生产必须保持生产过程和流通过程的统一,这种统一性使得自然力的转化既包含具体劳动的物质形态变化,也包含价值形态的持续运动。马克思指出:“劳动首先是人和自然之间的过程,是人以自身的活动来中介、调整和控制人和自然之间的物质变换的过程。”劳动者、劳动与劳动对象(即自然)之间在不同层面上的自然联系,使生产力体现为自然力。在《资本论》中,马克思区分了三类不同的自然力以及与之相应的生产力。
First, the natural forces of the laboring subject. Humans, as the subjects of labor, possess innate capacities, including intelligence and physical strength. “In order to appropriate natural material in a form useful to his own life, man sets in motion the natural forces belonging to his own body—his arms, legs, head and hands. By thus acting on the external world and changing it, he at the same time changes his own nature.” [3]3 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 2, trans. David Fernbach (London: Penguin, 1992), pp. 206–207. In the subject-object relationship of social production, humans not only change the external world but also change themselves. The natural forces of humans are unified with the external objective nature. The natural forces of the subject constitute a kind of individual productive force, directly manifested as labor capacity. Marx understands labor capacity as “the aggregate of those mental and physical capabilities existing in a human being, which he exercises whenever he produces a use-value of any description.” [4]4 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, pp. 439–454. Therefore, individual productive force is manifested as mental labor capacity and physical labor capacity, constrained by the individual quality, technical level, and degree of proficiency of the laborer. In Marx’s view, individual productive force is both the “true wealth” of the laborer and the foundation constituting social productive forces.
其一,劳动主体的自然力。人作为劳动的主体,具有天然的能力,包括智力和体力等。“为了在对自身生活有用的形式上占有自然物质,人就使他身上的自然力——臂和腿、头和手运动起来。当他通过这种运动作用于他身外的自然并改变自然时,也就同时改变他自身的自然。”在社会生产的主体和客体关系中,人不仅改变外部世界,更改变着自己。人的自然力与外部的客观自然是统一的。主体自然力是一种个人生产力,它直接体现为劳动能力。马克思把劳动能力理解为“一个人的身体即活的人体中存在的、每当他生产某种使用价值时就运用的体力和智力的总和”。因此,个人生产力表现为脑力劳动能力和体力劳动能力,受劳动者个人素质、技术水平和熟练程度的制约。在马克思看来,个人生产力既是劳动者“真正的财富”,也是构成社会生产力的基础。
Second, the natural forces of the labor object and the object of labor, i.e., the natural forces of nature. These natural forces are forces generated by the objective physical laws of nature, such as wind energy, water energy, electrical energy, etc. After the invention of labor tools, especially machinery, the utilization of natural forces greatly promoted a qualitative leap in productive forces. “All fully developed machinery consists of three essentially different parts: the motor mechanism, the transmitting mechanism, and the tool or working machine. The motor mechanism is the driving force of the whole mechanism. It either generates its own motive power, like the steam engine, the heat engine, the electromagnetic machine, etc., or it receives its motive power from some already existing natural force outside itself, like the water-wheel from the head of water, the windmill from the wind, etc.” [5]5 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 443. In contemporary society, new natural forces, such as gravity, electromagnetic force, strong and weak nuclear forces, and even quantum forces, are increasingly being applied in social production.
其二,劳动客体与对象的自然力,即自然界的自然力。这种自然力是自然界的客观物理规律所产生的力量,如风能、水能、电子能等。在劳动工具特别是机器发明后,对自然力的利用极大推动了生产力质的飞跃。“所有发达的机器都由三个本质上不同的部分组成:发动机,传动机构,工具机或工作机。发动机是整个机构的动力。它或者产生自己的动力,如蒸汽机、热力机、电磁机等;或者接受外部某种现成的自然力的推动,如水车受落差水推动,风磨受风推动等。”在当代社会,新的自然力,如引力、电磁力、强弱相互作用力甚至量子力等,更是日益被运用于社会生产中。
In the analysis of *Capital*, the direct utilization of natural forces in the objective world is a kind of social natural productive force. “The means of labor, when they take the form of machinery, require the substitution of natural forces for human force, and the conscious application of natural science, instead of rules derived from experience.” [6]6 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 464. Social natural productive force is the transformative capacity to apply the objective laws of nature to production through human labor or the products of labor. During the agricultural revolution, it was mainly manifested in land fertility, improvements in farm tools, irrigation techniques, and crop cultivation methods; during the industrial revolution, it was mainly manifested in the establishment of the machine system, the mechanization and automation of production methods; during the scientific and technological revolution, it is mainly manifested in the invention and popularization of computers and the internet, the digitalization and intellectualization of production methods, and the invention and transformation of disruptive and cutting-edge technologies. When explaining the productivity of capital, Marx mentions two preconditions: first, capital becomes the means to compel workers to perform surplus labor; second, capital absorbs and appropriates “social labor productivity and general social productivity (such as science).” [7]7 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 458. Among these, general social productivity is social natural productive force, including the natural conditions of labor, means of production, and science and technology used in production. Under general conditions, social natural productive force is only a potential productive force; it is transformed into actual productive force only through labor or the products of labor.
在《资本论》的分析中,对客观世界中自然力的直接利用是一种社会自然生产力。“劳动资料取得机器这种物质存在方式,要求以自然力来代替人力,以自觉应用自然科学来代替从经验中得出的成规。”社会自然生产力是通过人的劳动或劳动产物,将自然界的客观规律用于生产的转化能力。在农业革命期间,主要表现为土地肥力,农具、灌溉技术和农作物种植方法的改进等;在工业革命期间,主要表现为机器体系的建立,生产方式的机械化自动化等;在科技革命期间,主要表现为计算机和互联网的发明与普及、生产方式的数字化智能化,以及颠覆性技术和前沿技术的发明与转化等。马克思在阐释资本的生产性时,谈到了两个前提:一是资本成为迫使工人进行剩余劳动的手段,二是资本吸收和占有“社会劳动生产力和一般社会生产力(如科学)”。其中,一般社会生产力也就是社会自然生产力,包括劳动的自然条件、生产资料和用于生产的科学技术等。一般条件下,社会自然生产力只是一种可能的生产力,只有通过劳动或劳动产物才得以转化为现实生产力。
Third, the natural forces of social labor. The social attribute of humans determines the natural attributes among labor subjects, thereby giving rise to what Marx calls the “natural forces of social labor.” These natural forces, relying on the social relations between people through organizational forms such as division of labor and cooperation, and based on the first two types of natural forces, constitute the force of social labor that organizes society. The natural forces of social labor constitute social labor productivity. The latter refers to the productive forces generated by labor through organizational forms such as cooperation and division of labor in the production process, i.e., socialized labor. The formation of social labor productivity involves many factors, such as: the improvement of individual and collective skills of laborers, the accumulation of production experience, the improvement of labor conditions, the expansion of the scale of exchange, and the improvement of the organizational forms of social labor. Under the capitalist system, due to capital’s appropriation and domination of labor conditions and the labor process, “all the social powers of labor present themselves as powers of capital.” [8]8 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume I, Chapter 14, Section 5.
其三,社会劳动的自然力。人的社会属性,决定着劳动主体之间的自然属性,从而会产生出马克思所说的“社会劳动的自然力”。这种自然力,是通过分工协作等组织方式,以人与人的社会关系为依托,以前两种自然力为基础,把社会组织起来形成的社会劳动的力量。社会劳动的自然力构成社会劳动生产力。后者指的是劳动在生产过程中通过协作、分工等组织方式,进行社会化劳动而产生的生产力。社会劳动生产力的形成涉及诸多因素,如:劳动者个体和集体技艺的提高,生产经验的积累,劳动条件的改进,交换规模的扩大,社会劳动组织方式的改进等。在资本主义制度下,由于资本对劳动条件、劳动过程的占有和统治,“社会劳动的一切生产力都表现为资本的生产力”。
2. The Triple Connotation of Changes in the Qualitative State of Productive Forces
2.生产力质态变化的三重内涵
The qualitative state of productive forces possesses relative stability, yet it evolves with historical development. Marx and Engels pointed out in *The German Ideology*: “History is nothing but the succession of the separate generations, each of which exploits the materials, the forms of capital, the productive forces handed down to it by all preceding generations.” [1]1 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *The German Ideology*, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 50. Through labor, humanity creates a material production environment suited to its own developmental needs, a path of actively altering the natural environment to conform to natural laws. The development of productive forces is the unity of humanity’s cognitive ability, labor capacity, and changes in the external environment—that is, the unity of subject and object. The adjustment and transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces contain multiple different contents.
生产力的质态具有相对稳定性,但也随着历史发展而演变。马克思恩格斯在《德意志意识形态》中曾指出:“历史不外是各个世代的依次交替。每一代都利用以前各代遗留下来的材料、资金和生产力。”人类通过劳动,创造适合自己发展需要的物质生产环境,是一条主动改变自然环境以适应自然规律的道路。生产力的发展是人的认识能力、劳动能力与外部环境变化的统一,即主体和客体的统一。生产力的质态调整与变化蕴含着多种不同的内容。
First, the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces is manifested as changes in labor behavior. Theoretically, the interaction between the natural forces of the labor subject and the natural forces of the labor object constitutes the first level of the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces, which inevitably brings about changes in labor behavior. Changes in labor behavior involve the expansion of the objects and scope of production labor. In discussing the labor process, Marx defined the labor of a person who “by means of the instruments of labor effects a predetermined change in the object of labor” as productive labor. [2]2 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, trans. Ben Fowkes (London: Penguin, 1990), p. 287. With the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces, the definition of productive labor has also been expanded. On the one hand, as the cooperative and divisional nature of the labor process itself develops, the concepts of productive labor and its bearer, the productive worker, are both enlarged. The product is transformed from the direct product of the individual producer into a social product, into the common product of the collective worker, i.e., the combined working personnel. The various members of the collective worker act more directly or more indirectly on the object of labor. On the other hand, with regard to valorization, the concepts of productive labor and the productive worker are narrowed. Under the capitalist mode of production, the labor process appears only as a means for the valorization process; only workers who can produce surplus value for the capitalist are productive workers.
首先,生产力质态变化体现为劳动行为的变化。在理论上,劳动主体自然力和劳动客体自然力间的互动,构成生产力质态转化的第一个层次,它必然带来劳动行为的变化。劳动行为的变化涉及生产劳动对象与范围的扩大。在探讨劳动过程时,马克思在把“借助劳动资料使劳动对象发生预定的变化”的人的劳动定义为生产劳动。随着生产力的质态变革,关于生产劳动的定义也得到了拓展。一方面,随着劳动过程的协作与分工性质本身的发展,生产劳动和它的承担者即生产工人的概念都扩大了。产品从个体生产者的直接产品转化为社会产品,转化为总体工人即结合劳动人员的共同产品。总体工人的各个成员较直接地或者较间接地作用于劳动对象。另一方面,就价值增殖而言,生产劳动和生产工人的概念又缩小了。在资本主义生产方式下,劳动过程仅表现为价值增殖过程的一种手段,只有能够为资本家生产剩余价值服务的工人,才是生产工人。
Second, the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces is manifested as changes in the mode of labor organization. The interaction between the natural forces of the labor object and the natural forces of social labor constitutes the second level of the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces. Structural changes in the means of production, which determine the level of productive forces, are often the starting point for a leap in productive forces. Marx pointed out in Volume II that the velocity of capital turnover is an accelerator of the development of productive forces, achieving a virtuous cycle of capital valorization and the progress of productive forces through time compression and spatial reorganization. [3]3 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 2, trans. David Fernbach (London: Penguin, 1992), pp. 206–207. The restructuring of the means of production drives the embedding of technology into the production process. From Marx’s analysis of fixed capital turnover in Volume II of *Capital*, it can be seen that fixed capital, as the material carrier of the machine system, is not only a qualitative change in the form of the instruments of labor but also the core driving force for shortening the capital turnover cycle. Due to structural changes in the material carrier of the means of production, new technologies and new means are incorporated into the production process, greatly promoting the optimal combination of various factors of production and giving rise to new relations of production. Therefore, the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces not only changes the labor conditions of workers but also alters the interrelationships among people and between people and things in the production process. The generation of new relations of production, in turn, provides favorable conditions for the development of the new qualitative state of productive forces, thereby reacting upon the productive forces.
其次,生产力质态变化体现为劳动组织方式的变革。劳动客体自然力和社会劳动的自然力间的互动,构成生产力质态转化的第二个层次。决定生产力水平的生产资料结构变革,往往是生产力跃升的起点。马克思在第二卷中指出,资本周转速度是生产力发展的加速器,通过时间压缩和空间重组实现资本增殖与生产力进步的良性循环。生产资料结构的革新推动技术嵌入生产过程。从马克思在《资本论》第二卷对固定资本周转分析可以看出,固定资本作为机器体系的物质载体,不仅是劳动资料形态的质变,更是资本周转周期缩短的核心动力。由于生产资料物质载体的结构变化,新技术、新手段被合并融入生产过程,大大推动了生产各要素的优化组合,并催生出新的生产关系。因此,生产力质态的变革不仅改变着劳动者的劳动条件,同时也改变了生产过程中人与人、人与物的相互关系。而新的生产关系的生成又成为生产力新质态提供了有利的发展条件,从而反作用于生产力。
Finally, the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces is manifested as adjustments to the overall structure of social production, forming the basis for the succession of social formations. The overall change in the natural forces of the labor subject, the natural forces of the labor object, and the natural forces of social labor constitutes the third level of the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces. Changes in the qualitative state of productive forces are always linked to the mode of allocation of production resources and the mode of production and distribution of surplus labor, which determines adjustments to the relations of interest distribution, thereby affecting social structure and class differentiation. In short, discussing economic and social development based on the stage-specific characteristics of the development of productive forces is an important methodological principle of historical materialism. Regarding the historical stages of the development of productive forces, the fundamental driving force behind changes in the qualitative state of productive forces is the increase in production efficiency, which directly becomes the key to dissolving old relations of production. The new technologies and new organizational forms on which increased production efficiency depends also, in the process of their diffusion, change the relationship between humanity and nature, continuously reshaping humanity’s material production, spiritual production, and institutional civilization system. Marx’s analysis in Volume II of *Capital* indicates that the reproduction of total social capital requires a proportional coordination between production and consumption; the disruption and reconstruction of this balance constitute the material basis for the succession of social formations.
最后,生产力质态变化体现为社会生产整体结构的调整,构成社会形态更替的基础。劳动主体自然力、劳动客体自然力与社会劳动自然力的总体改变,构成生产力质态转化的第三个层次。生产力质态变化总是与生产资源配置方式、剩余劳动的生产和分配方式联系在一起,这决定了利益分配关系的调整,从而影响到社会结构和阶级的分化。总之,基于生产力发展的阶段性特征讨论经济社会的发展,是唯物史观的重要方法论原则。就生产力历史发展阶段而言,生产力质态变化的根本动因是提高生产效率,后者直接成为消解旧的生产关系的关键。而提高生产效率所依赖的新技术和新组织形式,也在推广过程中改变人类与自然界的关系,使人类的物质生产、精神生产与制度文明体系不断被重塑。马克思在《资本论》第二卷分析指出,社会总资本的再生产要求生产与消费的比例协调,这种平衡的打破与重建构成社会形态更替的物质基础。
II. The Generation of a New Qualitative State of Productive Forces under the Conditions of Large-Scale Machine Industry
二、机器大工业条件下新生产力质态的生成
In elucidating the general laws of the evolution and development of productive forces, Marx not only discussed the qualitative state of productive forces in a general sense but also grasped this qualitative state through quantitative relations. In *Capital* and its manuscripts, this analysis is mainly manifested in the explanation of changes in social productive forces under the conditions of large-scale machine industry and in the theoretical analysis of the production of relative surplus value.
在阐释生产力演变发展一般规律时,马克思不仅在一般性意义上讨论生产力质态,还通过量的关系来把握这种质态。在《资本论》及其手稿中,这一分析主要体现在对机器大工业条件下社会生产力变化的解释,以及关于相对剩余价值生产的理论分析。
1. Changes in Subjective Productive Forces in the Transition from Simple Cooperation to Manufacture
1.简单协作向工场手工业转变中的主体生产力变化
The formation and development of capitalist society are not accidental; they are closely related to productive forces, originating from the transformation of the various elements of productive forces from quantity to quality. Among these, the development of the machine system becomes a key force. To analyze the productive forces of capitalism, it is necessary to provide a historical and scientific explanation of large-scale machine industry. Marx pointed out that simple cooperation, manufacture based on the division of labor, and large-scale machine industry are the three stages capitalism undergoes from lower to higher levels. [4]4 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, pp. 439–454. In this historical process, productive forces not only undergo quantitative accumulation but also produce qualitative changes through quantitative accumulation, especially achieving a qualitative leap in productive forces at the stage of large-scale machine industry.
资本主义社会的形成与发展不是偶然的,与生产力紧密相关,源于生产力各要素由量向质的转化。其中,机器体系的发展成为关键性力量。分析资本主义的生产力,必须对机器大工业做出历史的、科学的说明。马克思指出,简单协作、以分工为基础的工厂手工业、机器大工业是资本主义从低级到高级经历的三个阶段。在这一历史进程中,生产力不仅有量的方面积累,还通过量的积累产生质的变化,特别是在机器大工业阶段实现了生产力质的飞跃。
Large-scale machine industry arises from manufacture, and the prerequisite for the development of manufacture lies in simple cooperation. In simple cooperation, the subjective condition of labor lies mainly in the workers themselves, while the objective condition is mainly manifested in hand tools. Regarding the objective conditions of labor, from the perspective of the power system, it is mainly human power, animal power, and water power; from the perspective of material spatial exchange, i.e., transportation, it is mainly through horse-drawn carts, handcarts, wind-powered sailing ships, and human-powered boats. Under simple cooperative production, common production conditions are of great significance for increasing productive forces. Marx pointed out that, disregarding the division of labor, “the saving achieved here is mainly due to the common use of those common conditions of labor, such as buildings, heating equipment, etc., and the factory owner’s supreme supervision (i.e., the element peculiar to capitalist production itself).” [5]5 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 443. In other words, under simple cooperation, the mere increase in the number of workers engaged in the same type of labor and their hand tools, as long as they are “concentrated in the same place,” can also bring about a great increase in productive forces.
机器大工业产生于工场手工业,而工场手工业发展的前提在于简单协作。在简单协作中,劳动的主观条件主要在于劳动者自身,而客观条件主要体现为手持工具。劳动客观条件方面,从动力系统看主要是人力、畜力和水力,从物质空间交换即交通运输看,主要通过马车、手推车、风力帆船和人力船等。在简单协作生产下,共同的生产条件对于生产力的提高具有重要意义。马克思指出,不考虑分工的情况下,“在这里达到的节约,主要是由于共同使用那些共同的劳动条件,如建筑物、取暖设备等,工厂主的最高监督(即资本主义生产本身所特有的要素)”。换言之,简单协作下从事同类工作的劳动者人数及其手工工具的单纯增加,只要“集中在同一个场所”,也会带来生产力的极大提升。
The transcendence of simple cooperation by manufacture initially appears as merely a quantitative increase. On the surface, manufacture does not change the form of cooperation; it only expands the scale of production and the configuration of relations among different types of labor. “In manufacture, simple cooperation is manifested only in the application of the simple principle of multiples, that is, not only are the various different operations assigned to different workers, but there is also a numerical proportion, i.e., a certain number of group workers are assigned to each operation, and each such group of workers is subordinate to a particular operation.” [6]6 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 464. However, it is precisely this purely quantitative change that brings about a fundamental revolution in labor behavior. Marx pointed out: “Simple cooperation does not essentially change the individual’s mode of labor, whereas manufacture revolutionizes it thoroughly and fundamentally attacks the individual’s labor power.” [7]7 Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 458. In manufacture, because the worker is forced to become a crippled monstrosity, his manifold productive inclinations and productive talents are suppressed, and his one-sided skill is artificially cultivated. Consequently, the latter directly promotes an increase in productive forces, marking the beginning of a partial qualitative change in productive forces.
工场手工业对简单协作的超越,最初只是量的增加。表面看来,工场手工业没有改变协作形式,只是扩大了生产规模和不同种劳动间的配置关系。“在工场手工业中,简单协作只表现在实行简单的倍数原则,也就是说,不仅把各种不同的操作分配给各种不同的工人,而且也有人数比例,即把一定数量的小组工人分配到各种操作上,而每一个这样的小组工人都从属于某一种操作。”然而,恰恰是这一单纯数量层面的改变,却使劳动行为产生了根本变革。马克思指出:“简单协作大体上没有改变个人的劳动方式,而工场手工业却使它彻底地发生了革命,从根本上侵袭了个人的劳动力。”在工场手工业中,由于工人被迫变成畸形物,其多种多样的生产志趣和生产才能被压抑,工人片面的技巧被人为地培植起来。从而,后者直接推动了生产力提高,这标志着生产力局部质变的开始。
Under simple cooperation, the more individual productive forces of the laborers develop, the faster social productive forces increase, and the two are positively correlated in quantitative terms. But under the conditions of manufacture, the situation is completely the opposite: the more individual productive forces are suppressed, the faster social productive forces develop. In other words, the leap in productive forces promoted by manufacture is the productive force of the collective worker, not of the individual. “In manufacture, the enrichment of the collective worker, and hence of capital, in social productive power is conditioned on the impoverishment of the worker in individual productive power.” [9]9 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, Chapter 14, Section 5. The quote is from the English translation of the relevant passage. The transformation from simple cooperation to manufacture basically did not involve society’s appropriation and use of natural forces; it involved more the transformation of labor relations, i.e., the productive forces of the labor subject.
在简单协作下,劳动者的个体生产力越是发展,社会生产力提高越快,两者在量的规定性上呈正相关。但工场手工业条件下,情况却完全相反,个体生产力越是被压抑,社会生产力发展越快。换言之,工场手工业所推动的生产力跃升,是总体工人的生产力,而非个体生产力。“在工场手工业中,总体工人从而资本在社会生产力上的富有,是以工人在个人生产力上的贫乏为条件的。”简单协作向工场手工业的转变,基本没有涉及社会对自然力的占有与运用,更多涉及劳动关系即劳动主体生产力的改变。
2. Machine-Based Large-Scale Industry’s Appropriation of Object and Natural Productive Forces
2.机器大工业对客体与自然生产力的占有
Unlike the transformation from simple cooperation to manufacture, the productive forces engendered by machine-based large-scale industry possess a new quality. The former was caused by a simple quantitative increase in labor and means of labor without qualitative change, while the latter depends on a qualitative change in the means of labor and a fundamental change in the labor process itself. In Volume 1 of *Capital*, Marx points out: “If it is evident that large-scale industry incorporates huge natural forces and natural science into the production process, thereby necessarily greatly raising labor productivity, it is by no means equally evident that this increase in productivity is not achieved at the cost of increasing the expenditure of labor on the other side.”
与简单协作向工场手工业的转变不同,机器大工业催生的生产力具有新的性质。前者是劳动和劳动资料投入没有质变基础上的简单数量增加所引起,而后者则依赖于劳动资料的质变及其劳动过程的根本性变化。在《资本论》第一卷中,马克思指出:“如果说大工业把巨大的自然力和自然科学并入生产过程,必然大大提高劳动生产率,这一点是一目了然的,那么生产力的这种提高并不是靠增加另一方面的劳动消耗换来的,这一点却决不是同样一目了然的。”
An obvious fact is that manufacture surpassed simple cooperation, but it still arose on a material basis adapted to simple labor itself. Admittedly, under the conditions of manufacture, machines were also used and improved, but they were more often used to replace tools. However, in the era of machine-based large-scale industry, machines were more often used to replace human labor power. The key to the machine system acquiring this capability lies in the profound transformation of the means of labor, thereby enabling it to break through the limitations of all previous forms of labor, “limitations that even the combined workers in manufacture could only overcome to a certain extent, but not fundamentally.”
一个显然的事实是,工场手工业超越了简单协作,但仍是在与简单劳动本身相适应的物质基础上兴起的。固然,在工场手工业条件下机器也会被使用并改进,但它更多地被用来代替工具。但在机器大工业时代,机器被更多地用以代替人力。机器体系之所以取得这样的能力,关键在于劳动资料发生了深刻的变革,从而可以突破以往一切劳动形式的限制,“这些限制甚至工场手工业中的结合工人也只能在一定程度上突破,而不能从根本上突破”。
The qualitative change in the state of productive forces engendered by machine-based large-scale industry is manifested in several aspects. First, the means of labor in machine production are different. The means of labor develop into the form of an “automatic system of machinery,” laying the technical foundation for breaking free from the physical limitations of humans. The structure of the automatic system of machinery—“the motor mechanism, the transmitting mechanism, and the tool or working machine”—determines that the machine system itself acquires a form independent of and alienated from living labor, completely shedding the narrow production base previously bound by human limitations, and achieving a technical unity of production based on machine cooperation and division of labor. Second, the material basis of machine production is different. The application of scientific knowledge, the invention of new technologies and new materials, and the emergence of new products endow machine production with the capacity to command more natural forces and a wider range of material elements. “Machine production arose spontaneously on a material basis that was incompatible with it. When machine production reached a certain stage of development, it was bound to overthrow this basis, which it initially encountered ready-made and which was later further developed in its old form, and to establish a new basis corresponding to its own mode of production.” Third, the requirements for laborers under the machine system are different. In manufacture, laborers needed to be fixed in a single post or operation. Under machine production, with the application of science, technology, and new production processes, human labor capacity must be constantly adjusted and adapted; education and training become an inherent prerequisite of machine-based large-scale industry. “The nature of large-scale industry determines the change of labor, the mobility of functions, and the comprehensive mobility of the worker.” Finally, because “capitalist production for the first time develops on a large scale the objective and subjective conditions of the labor process,” the machine system, as “a creation of the human hand,” becomes both a means of the labor process and the material content of social production. In its development, it also crosses national boundaries, subordinating all social elements to itself as a source of dynamism for the development of productive forces.
机器大工业催生的生产力,其质态变化体现在多个方面。首先,机器生产的劳动手段不同。劳动资料发展为“自动的机器体系”形态,为摆脱人的体力限制奠定了技术基础。自动机器体系“发动机、传动机构和工具机”的结构,决定了机器体系本身取得了一种和活劳动相独立相异化的形态,完全摆脱了过去束缚在人力限制之下的狭隘生产基础,实现了基于机器协作与分工的生产技术上的统一。其次,机器生产的物质基础不同。科学知识的运用、新技术和新材料的发明和新产品的出现,赋予机器生产对更多自然力和更广泛物质要素的支配能力。“机器生产是在与它不相适应的物质基础上自然兴起的。机器生产发展到一定程度,就必定推翻这个最初是现成地遇到的、后来又在其旧形式中进一步发展了的基础本身,建立起与它自身的生产方式相适应的新基础。”再次,机器体系下对劳动者的要求不同。工场手工业中,劳动者需要被固定在一个岗位或工序上。而机器生产下,随着科技及新生产工艺的运用,人的劳动能力必须不断调整和适应,教育和培训成为机器大工业的内在前提。“大工业的本性决定了劳动的变换、职能的更动和工人的全面流动性。”最后,由于“资本主义生产第一次大规模地发展了劳动过程的物的条件和主观条件”,机器体系作为“人的手的创造物”既成为劳动过程的手段,又成为社会生产的物质内容。在其发展过程中它还会越过国界,使一切社会要素从属于自己,作为生产力发展的动力来源。
In summary, in machine production, the general conditions of social production are reorganized at the spatial level due to the expansion of raw materials, the broadening of the scope of cooperation, and changes in transportation and communication. At the same time, social production also undergoes a thorough transformation at the organizational level due to the centralization of machines, the organization of workers, the dependence of workers on machines, and the colonial international division of labor, causing the capitalist mode of production to “acquire an elasticity, a capacity for sudden, leaping expansion,” bringing about a huge increase in productive forces. (See Figure 1).
总之,在机器生产中,社会生产的一般条件,因原材料拓展、协作范围的扩大、交通运输变革而在空间层面得以重组。同时,社会生产也因机器中心化、劳动者组织、工人对机器依赖、殖民化国际分工等原因,在组织层面发生彻底变革,使得资本主义生产方式“获得一种弹性,一种突然地跳跃式地扩展的能力”,带来了生产力的巨大提升。(见图1)。
Figure 1 Changes in the Conditions of Machine-Based Large-Scale Industrial Production and the Formation of Its Qualitative State of Productive Forces
图1 机器大工业生产条件的变化及其生产力质态的形成
The qualitative state of productive forces under the conditions of machine-based large-scale industry is elevated because it becomes more efficient, intensive, and complex. It is the inevitable result of the transformation of social production from a relatively simple labor process to a society-wide labor process and a larger-scale cooperative labor process. Moreover, because scientific and technological forces, like the means of production, are dominated by capital, the large-scale industrial form of capitalism also creates conditions for the accumulation of capital through the production of relative surplus value, further strengthening the central position of the machine system in production.
机器大工业条件下的生产力质态,其高级化源于其高效化、集约化和复杂化,它是社会生产由相对简单的劳动过程向社会整体劳动过程和更大协作劳动过程转变的必然结果。不仅如此,由于科技力量与生产资料一样被资本支配,资本主义的大工业形态还会通过相对剩余价值生产为资本的积累创造条件,进一步强化机器体系的生产中心地位。
3. The Structural Transformation of the Qualitative State of Productive Forces under the Machine System
3.机器体系下生产力质态的结构性变革
The new productive forces engendered by machine-based large-scale industry presuppose the incorporation of new elements into the machine system. In analyzing this issue, Marx pointed out that the expansion of the elements of productive forces, especially the incorporation of science and technology into the social production process, played a decisive role in the generation of new productive forces. This process of incorporation involves not only the direct sphere of production but also, through the circulation of capital, the total process of capital movement that unifies the production process and the circulation process, creating a profound connection between the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces and the change in the form of capital.
机器大工业催生的新生产力,是以机器体系下合并进入的新要素为前提的。马克思在分析这一问题时指出,生产力要素的拓展,特别是科学技术被合并进入社会生产过程,在新的生产力生成中发挥了决定性作用。这种合并过程不仅涉及直接生产领域,更通过资本流通实现生产过程和流通过程相统一的资本运动总过程,使生产力质态变革与资本形态变化形成深刻关联。
First, the application of science and technology based on mental labor is the hallmark of the change in the qualitative state of productive forces. The separation of intelligence and physical labor already existed in the period of manufacture, but it only underwent a qualitative change in machine-based large-scale industry. In Volume 1 of *Capital*, Marx points out: “The separation of the intellectual faculties of the production process from physical labor, and the transformation of those faculties into the power of capital over labor, is completed in large-scale industry founded on machinery.” Intelligence and physical power originally belonged to the natural forces of the laborer’s own subject and were unified in the individual laborer. Due to the continuous development of cooperation and division of labor, the production process is constantly decomposed, and the overall labor of the workers expands in scope. However, the development of the individual worker is confined within a narrow range: “Through the extension of machinery and the division of labor, the labor of the proletarians has lost all independent character... The worker becomes a mere appendage of the machine, and only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily learned operations are required of him.” In this way, a differentiation between mental and physical labor emerges at the level of the overall social division of labor. However, as a condition of production in machine-based large-scale industry, science and technology can only originate from mental labor, which directly gives rise to a stronger independence of mental labor within the division of labor.
首先,以脑力劳动为基础的科技运用是生产力质态变化的标志。智力和体力的分离,在工场手工业时期就已经存在,但只有在机器大工业中才形成了质变。在《资本论》第一卷中马克思指出:“生产过程的智力同体力劳动相分离,智力转化为资本支配劳动的权力,是在以机器为基础的大工业中完成的。”智力与体力原本属于劳动者的主体自然力,是统一于劳动者个人的。由于协作和分工的不断发展,生产过程被不断分解,工人整体劳动在范围上会不断扩大。但工人个体的发展却被局限在一个狭窄的发展范围内:“由于推广机器和分工,无产者的劳动已经失去了任何独立的性质……工人变成了机器的单纯的附属品,要求他做的只是极其简单、极其单调和极容易学会的操作。”这样,就在社会整个分工层面产生了脑力劳动和体力劳动的分化。然而,作为机器大工业生产条件的科学技术,其最初来源只能是脑力劳动,后者直接催生了脑力劳动在分工中更强的独立性。
Second, the machine system becomes the material carrier of scientific knowledge, transforming into the dominator of living labor in the production process. Improvements in machine structure and technology can greatly increase the speed of machine operation and reduce operational difficulty, qualitatively elevating the labor capacity on which productive forces depend as a whole. However, the establishment of large-scale industry presupposes the centralized application of the means of production, and the precision experimental equipment and high trial-and-error costs on which technological application depends are dominated by capitalists. Machine improvement and optimization of production methods can only be incorporated by capital, becoming means of appropriating the fruits of production: “Science, the immense natural forces, and the mass of social labor are all embodied in the machine system and, together with the machine system, constitute the power of the ‘master.’”
其次,机器体系成为科学知识的物质载体,在生产过程中转化成为活劳动的支配者。机器结构和技术的改进,能够大大提升机器运转速度并降低操作难度,使生产力赖以存在的劳动能力在整体上得到了质的提升。不过,大工业的确立是以生产资料的集中性应用为前提,且技术运用所赖以形成的精密实验设备和高昂试错成本由资本家主导,机器改良和生产方式优化只能被资本所合并,成为占有生产成果的手段:“科学、巨大的自然力、社会的群众性劳动都体现在机器体系中,并同机器体系一道构成‘主人’的权力。”
Finally, the accumulation of the means of labor proceeds in tandem with the accumulation of social intelligence, becoming a means for the development of the productive forces. Marx pointed out that “it is only in large-scale industry that man learns to make his past, already objectified labour product serve on a large scale, gratuitously, like a force of nature.” This gratuitous accumulation and development of the productive forces is realized through capital turnover, circulation, and expanded reproduction. Volume II of *Capital* particularly emphasizes that the expanded reproduction of total social capital must satisfy the value compensation and material replacement between Department I (means of production) and Department II (means of consumption). This structural requirement makes the accumulation of the system of machinery both a condition for the qualitative leap of the productive forces and a growth point for the inherent contradictions of capitalism.
最后,劳动资料的积累与社会智力的积累同步进行,成为生产力发展的手段。马克思指出,“只是在大工业中,人才学会让自己过去的、已经对象化的劳动的产品大规模地、像自然力那样无偿地发生作用”,这种无偿性的累积和生产力发展,则是通过资本周转、流通和扩大再生产来实现。《资本论》第二卷特别强调,社会总资本的扩大再生产必须满足第Ⅰ部类(生产资料)与第Ⅱ部类(消费资料)之间的价值补偿与实物替换,这种结构性要求使得机器体系的积累既是生产力质态跃升的条件,也是资本主义内在矛盾的生长点。
This also points to the transcendence of the mode of production in the era of machine-based large-scale industry over all previous forms. As all sciences are placed in the service of capital, the means of labor continuously accumulate and transform into a system of machinery. In addition to taking the form of products, objectified labor also assumes “the form of the productive forces themselves.” Because machinery is resistant to wear and tear and is used scientifically, the value it transfers to each product is far smaller than that of hand tools. From a static perspective, the marginal cost to capital of the effect of this durability of machinery is far lower than that of production with high-wear tools, while the scope of machinery’s productive effect is far greater than that of tool production. From a dynamic perspective, the system of machinery, as a product of labor, itself contains extremely high value. Its wear-resistant nature manifests in the valorization process as a partial transfer of its own value to the product, thereby providing a realistic possibility for the social productive forces, which take the system of machinery as their material carrier, to be elevated along with the accumulation of social intelligence.
这也点明了机器大工业时代的生产方式对过去所有形式的超越。随着一切科学都被用来为资本服务,劳动资料不断积累并转变为机器体系,物化劳动在产品形式之余,还取得了“生产力本身的形式”。机器因其耐磨损以及科学使用,每次转移到产品上的价值远小于手工工具。机器的这种耐用性特征从静态角度来看,其发生作用对资本来说边际成本远小于高损耗的工具生产,同时机器的生产作用范围远大于工具生产;从动态角度来看,作为劳动产物的机器体系自身包含极高的价值,其耐磨性质在价值增值过程中表现为自身价值向产品的部分转移,进而为以机器体系为物质载体的社会生产力,随社会智力的积累而提升提供了现实可能性。
4. A Holistic Analysis of the Changes in the Qualitative State of Productive Forces under the Conditions of Machine-Based Large-Scale Industry
4.机器大工业条件下生产力质态变化的整体性分析
The qualitative state of productive forces under the system of machinery has its particularities, but it also possesses the general determinations of productive forces. On the surface, there appears to be a contradiction: capital, as the product of past labor, should itself be the result of the development of productive forces, yet in the era of large-scale industry it becomes the decisive factor in the level of productive forces. However, from the perspective of the overall structure of productive forces and their evolutionary mechanism, there is a logical unity here. Corresponding to the transformation of the three forces of nature into three types of productive forces, the qualitative structure of productive forces comprises three levels: substantive elements, science and technology, and organizational methods. Among these, the most fundamental level (substantive elements) includes the human and material elements of the production process, specifically divided into laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor. The means of labor are the material bearers for the existence and functioning of other factors, while the element of science and technology becomes the indicator of the level of development of the means of labor.
机器体系下的生产力质态具有特殊性,但又具有生产力的一般规定性。表面看来似乎存在着一种矛盾,即资本作为过去劳动的产物,其本身应当是生产力发展的结果,但在大工业时代却成了生产力水平的决定性因素。不过,从生产力整体结构及其演化机制分析,这里存在着逻辑上的统一。与将三种自然力转化为三种生产力相对应,生产力的质态结构包含了实体性要素、科学技术和组织方式三个层次。其中,最基础的层次(实体性要素)包含了生产过程的人的要素和物质要素,具体分为劳动者、劳动资料和劳动对象。劳动资料是其他因素存在和发挥作用的物质承担者,而科技要素则成为劳动资料发展水平的指示器。
In discussing the relationship between capital and productive forces, Marx emphasized: “On the one hand, capital presupposes a certain given historical development of the productive forces—and among these productive forces science is also included—; on the other hand, capital drives and promotes the forward development of productive forces.” On the basis of the substantive elements of the productive forces system, science and technology extensively permeate all links of social production, becoming the decisive factor driving the development of productive forces. The highest level of the productive forces system manifests as the organizational method for the basic elements that form productive forces—human beings, material elements, and science and technology. In new quality productive forces, this manifests as a leap in the optimal combination of various elements.
在探讨资本和生产力的关系时,马克思强调:“一方面,资本是以生产力的一定的现有的历史发展为前提的——在这些生产力中也包括科学——,另一方面,资本又推动和促进生产力向前发展。”在生产力系统的实体性要素基础之上,科学技术广泛渗透到社会生产各个环节中,成为推动生产力发展的决定性因素。生产力体系的最高层次表现为对形成生产力的人、物质要素和科学技术各基本要素的组织方式,在新质生产力中表现为各要素优化组合的跃升。
The development of the elements of production and the adjustment of their interrelationships are important bases for Marx’s analysis of the old and new qualitative states of productive forces. When describing the impact of scientific development on the capitalist labor process, Marx stated: “The tendency of capital is to give production a scientific character, while direct labor is reduced to merely one element of the production process.” The transformation from manufacture to the system of machine-based large-scale industry is a process of expanding the production process, whose prominent feature is the change in the relationship between the means of labor and the laborers. This transformation of relations manifests in the reproduction of social capital as the value compensation and material replacement between Department I (means of production) and Department II (means of consumption). It is precisely through this transformation that capitalist production realizes the valorization of value and the accumulation of capital. The accumulation of capital (including the accumulation of the system of machinery) both drives the expansion of the means of production department and forces technological innovation through the demand for consumer goods. Marx summarized this change as the inverted relationship of “living labor being appropriated by objectified labor,” which is the precondition for the productive forces of social labor to manifest as the productive forces of capital.
生产要素的发展及其相互间关系的调整,是马克思在分析生产力新旧质态时的重要依据。马克思在描述科学发展对资本主义劳动过程影响时谈到,“资本的趋势是赋予生产以科学的性质,而直接劳动则被贬低为只是生产过程的一个要素”。从工厂手工业向机器大工业体系的转变过程是生产过程的拓展过程,其突出特征是劳动资料和劳动者的关系改变。这种关系变换在社会资本再生产中则表现为第Ⅰ部类(生产资料)与第Ⅱ部类(消费资料)之间的价值补偿与实物替换,资本主义生产正是在这种变换中实现了价值的增值和资本的积累。资本的积累(包括机器体系的积累)既推动生产资料部类扩张,又通过消费品需求倒逼技术革新,马克思将这种改变概括为“活劳动被对象化劳动所占有”的颠倒关系,是社会劳动的生产力表现为资本的生产力的前提。
The reduction of living labor to an element of the production process subordinate to machinery is based on the separability and accumulability of surplus labor. Machinery, as a more advanced material mode of existence of the means of labor, is in essence surplus labor appropriated by capital. As surplus labor is objectified into the form of the means of labor—machinery—and continuously concentrated and accumulated in the hands of capitalists, it becomes a new force dominating and ruling over laborers. On the material level, the transformation of science and technology through the construction of the system of machinery realizes the systematization of the motive mechanism—transmission mechanism—tool mechanism, ensures the operation of the automatic machine, and ultimately enables the rapid transformation of natural forces into productive forces. Ultimately, because machinery replaces laborers in possessing skill and strength, the activity of laborers is entirely determined and regulated by the operation of machinery, and the mode of combination among people undergoes a profound transformation correspondingly with the mode of combination between people and things. After the rise of machine-based large-scale industry, science and technology permeated all links and fields of the production process on an unprecedented scale and speed, driving a leap in the qualitative structure of productive forces. Under the capitalist system, the adjustment of the qualitative structure of productive forces by science and technology is mainly manifested in four aspects: First, the partial optimization of substantive elements. The integration of science and technology into the production process promotes the specialization of production tools and the progress of production techniques, bringing about an overall improvement in the production quality of laborers, the perfection of the system of machinery, and the expansion of the scope of objects of labor. However, these are all achieved at the cost of the loss of the space for the all-round development of individual laborers. Second, by adjusting the relationships among the various substantive elements in the production process, a production organization method based on the system of machinery is formed. In Marx’s view, what all capitalist production has in common is that “the conditions of labor use the worker.” The capitalist mode of production gives the conditions of labor and the products of labor a form independent of and alienated from the worker, and through the form of wage labor, transforms the three types of productive forces into “the productive forces of capital.” Third, capital’s pursuit of the production of surplus value makes it possible to monopolize the system of machinery and science and technology. Competition among capitalists gradually shifts from the possession of raw materials, the possession of markets, and the reduction of commodity prices to competition centered on scientific and technological factors, and the development of social productive forces faces new hindering factors. Fourth, the capitalist productive forces based on the system of machinery can, under certain conditions, transform into “destructive forces” that lead to ecological imbalance.
活劳动贬低为生产过程要素而从属于机器,是基于剩余劳动的可分离性和可积累性。机器作为劳动资料更加先进的物质存在方式,其本质是被资本占有的剩余劳动。随着剩余劳动物化为机器这种劳动资料的形式,并不断集中和积累到资本家手中,它成为支配和统治劳动者的新的力量。从物质层面看,科学技术改变通过机器体系的构建,实现了动力机—传动机—工具机的体系化,保证了自动机的运转,最终使自然力快速转变为生产力。最终,由于机器代替劳动者具有了技能和力量,劳动者的活动完全由机器的运转来决定和调节,人与人结合的方式随着人与物相结合的方式也相应地发生深刻转变。机器大工业兴起后,科学技术以空前的规模和速度渗透进生产过程的各环节各领域,推动生产力质态结构的跃升。资本主义制度下,科学技术对生产力质态结构的调整,主要体现在四个方面:一是对实体性要素的局部优化。科学技术融入生产过程,促进生产工具的专业化和生产工艺的进步,带来了劳动者整体上生产素质的提高、机器体系的完善以及劳动对象范围的扩大,然而这些都是以劳动者个体全面发展空间的丢失为代价实现的。二是通过调整各实体性要素在生产过程中的关系,形成了基于机器体系的生产组织方式。在马克思看来,一切资本主义生产的共同点在于“劳动条件使用工人”资本主义生产方式使劳动条件和劳动产品具有与工人相独立和相异化的形态,并通过雇佣劳动形式,将三类生产力转化为“资本的生产力”。三是资本追求剩余价值的生产,使垄断机器体系和科学技术成为可能,资本家之间的竞争从占有原材料、占有市场、降低商品价格逐步转向围绕科技因素的竞争,社会生产力发展面临着新的阻碍因素。四是基于机器体系的资本主义生产力,在一定条件下会转化为导致生态失衡的“破坏力”。
III. Marx’s Analysis of the Development Trend of the Qualitative State of Productive Forces in Future Society
三、马克思关于未来社会中生产力质态发展趋势的分析
The development of productive forces is eternal, and the adjustment of the qualitative state of productive forces has broad space. Although the transformation of the qualitative state of productive forces based on machine-based large-scale production has, compared to the past, broken free from geographical, human, and institutional limitations and possesses the progressiveness of promoting the all-round development of society, the enormous productive forces extracted by large-scale industry from social labor come into contradiction with the narrow relations of ownership of capitalism, and also drive the dissolution of the capitalist mode of production. In *Capital* and its manuscripts, Marx not only analyzed the transitional characteristics of the development of productive forces in capitalist society, but also, starting from the dialectical unity of the development of productive capacity and the development of social relations, revealed the general laws and development trends of the evolution of the qualitative state of productive forces in future society.
生产力的发展是永恒的,生产力质态调整有着广阔的空间。尽管基于机器大生产的生产力质态变革相较于过去摆脱了地域限制、人力限制、制度限制,有着推动社会全面发展的进步性,但大工业从社会劳动中挖掘出的巨大生产力与资本主义狭隘的所有制关系相矛盾,也推动着资本主义生产方式的解体。在《资本论》及其手稿中,马克思不仅分析了资本主义社会生产力发展的过渡性特征,还从生产能力发展与社会关系发展的辩证统一出发,揭示了未来社会中生产力质态演变的一般规律与发展趋势。
1. The General Laws of the Evolution of the Qualitative State of Productive Forces in Future Society
1.未来社会中生产力质态演变的一般规律
In a future society, the scope of use of the means of labor will be far greater than under the capitalist system. Raising labor productivity, cheapening commodities, and through cheapening commodities causing the devaluation of labor power are the inherent impulse and general tendency of capital, inevitably accompanied by technological upgrading and innovation. In a general sense, the upgrading and innovation of science and technology will continuously reduce the labor required to produce machinery, making it “less than the labor that the machine replaces,” thereby increasing the efficiency of machine production and raising labor productivity, allowing the capitalist who masters advanced technology to accumulate wealth more easily. However, because capital expenditure is only linked to the value of the labor power employed, the limit of machine use under capitalist conditions is narrowed to the range within which “there is a difference between the value of the machine and the value of the labor power it replaces.” In pursuit of higher profits, reducing the paid labor contained in producing a single commodity, rather than reducing the labor time contained in the commodity, becomes the primary goal of capital in promoting technological innovation. But in a future society, the use of machinery will no longer be confined to serving as a means of cheapening commodities and increasing surplus value. Marx points out: “In communist society, the scope of use of machinery will be completely different from that in bourgeois society.”
在未来社会中,对劳动资料的使用范围将远大于资本主义制度下对劳动资料的使用。提高劳动生产力,使商品便宜,并通过商品便宜来使劳动力贬值,是资本的内在冲动和一般趋势,必然伴随着技术的提升与创新。一般意义上,科学技术的提升和创新会不断降低生产机器需要的劳动,使其“少于使用机器所代替的劳动”,从而提高机器生产的效率、提高劳动生产率,让掌握先进技术的资本家更容易积累财富。然而,由于资本支出只与所用劳动力的价值挂钩,资本主义条件下机器的使用界限就缩小为“机器的价值和它所代替的劳动力的价值之间存在差额”范围内。为了追求更高利润,以降低生产一个产品中包含的有酬劳动,代替降低产品中包含的劳动时间,成为资本推进科技创新的首要目标。但在未来社会中,机器的使用将不再被局限为作为促使产品便宜的手段和增加剩余价值的手段。马克思指出:“在共产主义社会,机器的使用范围将和在资产阶级社会完全不同。”
Through an analysis of Marx’s *Capital* and its manuscripts, it can be seen that the development of productive forces in a future society will also undergo changes at both the qualitative and quantitative levels. At the quantitative level, “the material conditions of labor, i.e., objectified labor, must necessarily grow in relation to living labor”; the labor objectified in the system of machinery, as its scale increases, gradually manifests its independence from living labor. At the qualitative level, on the one hand, because the conditions of production no longer belong to capital, direct labor is no longer the basis of production, and individual labor, as “the direct character of living labor is superseded,” acquires a social form independent of the individual; on the other hand, with the transformation of the ownership of the means of production and the establishment of the form of social activity, this “objectified power” will shed its past alienated form, transforming from a force dominating labor into a condition for developing the individual productive forces within the social community. The evolution of the qualitative state of productive forces in a future society will cause the surplus labor appropriated by the exploited class, along with the state power institutions formed by the accumulation and concentration of surplus labor, to return to the people as the subject, ultimately achieving the unity of the subject’s alienation and the subject’s essence.
通过对马克思《资本论》及其手稿的分析可以看出,未来社会中生产力的发展同样会在质与量两个层面发生变化。在量的层面,“劳动的物的条件即对象化劳动,同活劳动相比必然增长”对象化在机器体系中的劳动随着规模的不断增大,逐渐表现出对活劳动的独立性。在质的层面,一方面由于劳动的生产条件不再归资本所有,直接劳动不再是生产基础,单个劳动作为“活劳动的直接性质被扬弃”,劳动获得了不以个人为转移的社会形式;另一方面,随着生产资料所有制的变革以及社会活动形式的确立,这种“对象化的权力”将摆脱过去的异化形式,由统治劳动的力量转化为发展社会公共体中个人生产力的条件。未来社会中生产力质态演变,将使被剥削阶级占有的剩余劳动,与由剩余劳动积累和集中而形成的国家权力机构回归到人民主体,最终要实现人的主体异化与人的主体的统一。
2. The Development Trend of the Evolution of the Qualitative State of Productive Forces in a Future Society
2.未来社会中生产力质态演变的发展趋势
The evolution of the qualitative state of productive forces in a future society will break free from the form of things and manifest as the full development of the application of three types of natural forces.
未来社会中生产力的质态演变将摆脱物的形态,表现为对三类自然力运用的充分发展。
First, subjective productive forces will break through the limitations of forced labor, fully unleash human subjective initiative, and achieve the free and comprehensive development of individuals through free labor. In stages where productive forces are not yet highly developed, wealth manifests as material products with use value and as the power to dispose of the surplus labor of others. The system of machinery, as the overarching, critical, and foundational means of production determining industrial production, has its ownership determine people’s positions in production and the corresponding relations of exchange and distribution. Under capitalist conditions, capital, through its control over means of production such as machinery, acquires the power to dominate living labor. In a future society, machinery will shed its narrow capitalist form, becoming the common property of associated workers, retaining its role in social production and becoming a means for humans to control natural forces. On this basis, labor will shed the external compulsion of past “slave labor, corvée labor, wage labor,” manifesting as an activity that creates “subjective and objective conditions” for the worker rather than for the capitalist, thereby becoming free labor that reproduces the individual’s all-round development and self-realization, and “appears in the production process as an activity that dominates all natural forces,” thus achieving human liberation.
首先,主体生产力将突破强制劳动局限,充分发挥人的主观能动性,在自由劳动中实现个体自由而全面的发展。在生产力尚未高度发达的阶段,财富表现为具有使用价值的物质产品,以及对他人剩余劳动的支配权。机器体系作为决定工业生产的全局性、关键性和基础性的生产资料,其所有权决定了人们在生产中的地位及相应的交换和分配关系。资本主义条件下,资本通过对机器等生产要素的控制权获取了支配活劳动的力量。在未来社会中,机器将摆脱狭隘的资本主义形式,成为联合工人的共同财产,保留了其社会生产的作用,成为人控制自然力的手段。基于此,劳动将摆脱过去“奴隶劳动、徭役劳动、雇佣劳动”的外在强制性,表现为给劳动者而不是资本家创造“主观的和客观的条件”的活动,从而成为再生产个人的全面性和自我实现的自由劳动,并“作为支配一切自然力的活动出现在生产过程中”,进而实现人的自由解放。
Second, objective productive forces will, through the continuous development of science and technology, achieve a rational and sustainable full transformation, and through science and technology further promote the development of both subjective and objective productive forces. In a future society, the application of science and the development of technology will benefit the entire social body by promoting the comprehensive development of social individuals. Marx points out in the *Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863*: “The existence of capital itself … is based on relative labor productivity,” meaning that what determines the existence of capital is the labor productivity of the worker relative to the reproduction of his own labor power. Under capitalist conditions, based on the relationship of capital employing labor, the worker’s labor is productive only when, within the working day, he produces value exceeding his own labor power, i.e., creates surplus value. Therefore, the development and application of science and technology, on the one hand, help people better understand and apply objective laws, creating vast wealth for the capitalist; on the other hand, to raise the profit rate, they drive down workers’ wages relative to commodity prices, thereby causing workers’ impoverishment. The application of science and technology in production determines that only a small amount of direct labor time for producing machinery is needed to obtain the enormous efficiency of machine production, while the continuous development of the system of machinery in turn promotes the further development of science and technology. In a future society, the material production process will, under the regulation of science and technology, be transformed into the most efficient process of material transformation, thereby reducing the direct labor time for producing machinery and alleviating labor intensity. Since machinery belongs to the associated workers, laborers in production activities will no longer be enslaved by natural forces but, as beings of the social body, will achieve powerful control and application of natural forces. At this point, laborers truly become the owners of their individual productive forces; social labor sheds the form of wage labor; the surplus labor of workers will belong to themselves; and the improvement of the level of science and technology will provide all members of society with free time for development and means for skill training. Science, as “the most reliable form of wealth,” is both a product of the development of social productive forces and a driver of that development, becoming a manifestation of the development of human productive forces.
其次,客体生产力将在科学技术的不断发展中实现合理可持续的充分转化,并通过科学技术进一步推动主体生产力与客体生产力的发展。未来社会中科学应用与技术发展,将通过推动社会个人的全面发展造福整个社会体。马克思在《政治经济学批判(1861—1863年手稿)》中指出,“资本的存在本身,……是以相对的劳动生产率为基础”,即决定资本存在的是劳动者相对于其自身劳动能力再生产的劳动生产率。在资本主义条件下,基于资本雇佣劳动的关系,劳动者只有在工作日内生产出超过自身劳动能力的价值,即创造出剩余价值的时候,他的劳动才是生产性的。因此,科学技术的发展与应用,一边帮助人们更好地认识和运用客观规律,为资本家创造大量财富;另一边为了提升利润率,促使工人工资相对于商品价格下降,从而导致了工人的贫困。科学技术在生产上的应用,决定了只需花费少量生产机器的直接劳动时间,就能获得机器生产的巨大效率,而机器体系的不断发展又推动了科学技术的进一步发展。未来社会中物质生产过程将在科学技术的调节下,转变为最有效率的物质变换过程,从而降低生产机器的直接劳动时间,减轻劳动强度。由于机器归联合工人所有,劳动者在生产活动中将不再受自然力的奴役,而是作为社会体的存在实现对自然力的有力控制与运用。此时,劳动者真正成为个人生产力的所有者,社会劳动摆脱了雇佣劳动形式,工人的剩余劳动将归自己所有,科技水平的提高将为社会全员提供自由发展的时间以及技能训练的手段。而科学作为“财富的最可靠的形式”,既是社会生产力发展的产物,同时又推动社会生产力的发展,成为人的生产力的发展的一种表现形式。
Finally, social productive forces will, based on a de-alienated organizational form, achieve full development at both the qualitative and quantitative levels. The evolution of the qualitative state of productive forces in a future society is also a process of the continuous reproduction of social labor, manifesting as the dialectical unity of the development of productive capacity and the development of social relations. Marx points out that the contradiction of capital lies in its “striving to reduce labor time to a minimum, while on the other hand making labor time the sole measure and source of wealth,” creating free disposable time for society while simultaneously turning that free disposable time into surplus labor and appropriating it without compensation, confining social labor productivity within the limits required for the reproduction of capital, causing relative overpopulation and massive waste of labor productivity, as well as the overdrawing of workers’ productive capacity due to the increased labor intensity from technological improvements. In a future society, the growth of social productive forces will shed the artificial limits required by the reproduction of capital; the surplus labor created by workers will belong to the masses of workers themselves. Therefore, social production will no longer pursue the non-labor of a minority but will “aim at the enrichment of all,” and the increase in free disposable time will create conditions for the development of all individual productive forces. At the same time, with the formation of a higher mode of production, the organizational form of the working people will also achieve a new qualitative state. Since the essence of the human being is “the ensemble of all social relations,” the social connections between people will become more extensive as the level of labor organization rises, thereby further developing the richness of human nature within the individual, which arises from social relations.
最后,社会生产力将基于去异化的组织形式,实现质与量两个层面的充分发展。未来社会中生产力的质态演变过程,也是社会劳动不断丰富的再生产过程,表现为生产能力发展与社会关系发展的辩证统一。马克思指出资本的矛盾性在于“竭力把劳动时间缩减到最低限度,另一方面又使劳动时间成为财富的唯一尺度和源泉”,为社会创造自由支配时间的同时,又将自由支配时间转变为剩余劳动并无偿占有,把社会劳动生产力限制在资本再生产所需要的限度内,造成了人口的相对过剩和劳动生产力的大量浪费,以及基于技术改良的劳动强度提升带来的劳动者生产力的过度透支。未来社会中社会生产力的增长将摆脱资本再生产需要的人为限制,工人创造的剩余劳动将归工人群众自己所有,因此社会生产将不再以少数人的非劳动为追求,而是“以所有的人富裕为目的”,自由支配时间的增加为所有个人生产力的发展创造条件。与此同时,伴随着更高级的生产方式的形成,劳动人民的组织形态也将实现新质化。由于人的本质是“一切社会关系的总和”,人与人之间的社会联系随着劳动组织水平的提高而更加广泛,从而个人内心即由社会关系而产生的人性丰富性得到进一步发展。
IV. The Implications of Marx’s View on the Qualitative State of Productive Forces for Developing New Quality Productive Forces
四、马克思生产力质态观对发展新质生产力的启示
On the 140th anniversary of the publication of Volume II of *Capital*, it is of great significance for us to re-examine Marx’s profound exposition on the qualitative state of productive forces and the laws of their evolution. Marx’s view on the qualitative state of productive forces, together with the exposition in Volume II of *Capital* on the reproduction and circulation of total social capital, especially the detailed analysis of the diverse forms of capital circulation and their internal mechanisms, provides a solid theoretical foundation for China’s high-quality development in the New Era [1]1 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *The German Ideology*, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 50. and points the direction for China to explore new paths of productive forces based on actual social needs. The proposal of the concept of “new quality productive forces” precisely defines the transitional stage between the qualitative leap of capitalist productive forces and the formation of the qualitative state of productive forces in a future society. It is the latest theoretical achievement of China’s integration of Marxist theory with the practice of productive forces and its in-depth exploration of the laws of the evolution of productive forces.
在《资本论》第二卷出版140周年之际,我们重新审视马克思关于生产力质态及其演变规律的深刻阐述有重要意义。马克思生产力质态观,以及《资本论》第二卷中关于社会总资本再生产和流通的阐释,特别是对资本循环的多样形态及其内在机制详尽分析,为我国新时代高质量发展提供了坚实的理论基础,并为我国基于社会实际需求探索生产力新路径指明了方向。“新质生产力”概念的提出,精确界定了资本主义生产力质态跃升与未来社会生产力质态形成之间的过渡阶段,它是我国将马克思主义理论与生产力实践相结合,对生产力演变规律进行深入探索的最新理论成果。
Based on the Marxist view of the qualitative state of productive forces and the thought of its transformation, the current acceleration of the formation of new quality productive forces in China should be grounded in the deepening development of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on “new quality productive forces,” we should deeply understand the complex exchange relations in the process of social reproduction as revealed in Volume II of *Capital*, fully leverage the advantages of the super-large-scale market and the institutional advantage of concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks, accelerate scientific and technological innovation, organizational transformation, and industrial transformation, promote the optimization and upgrading of the combination mode of production factors, and realize the transformation from a follower to a leader. Combining the foregoing discussion and fully examining the three levels of the structural composition of the qualitative state of productive forces—substantive elements, science and technology, and organizational modes—the acceleration of the formation and development of new quality productive forces in China should focus on achieving upgrades in the following three aspects.
基于马克思主义生产力质态观及其变革的思想,当前我国加快形成新质生产力,应立足新一轮科技革命和产业变革的深入发展,以习近平总书记关于“新质生产力”的重要论述为引领,深刻理解《资本论》第二卷关于社会再生产过程的复杂交换关系,充分发挥超大规模市场优势和集中力量办大事的制度优势,加快科技创新、组织变革和产业变革,促进生产要素组合方式的优化升级,实现由追赶者到领跑者的转变。结合前文论述,充分考察生产力质态结构所包含的实体性要素、科学技术和组织方式三个层次,就我国加快形成和发展新质生产力而言,重点应实现以下三个方面的升级。
First, the comprehensive optimization of substantive elements. Substantive elements are the material carriers and objective foundation of new quality productive forces. The comprehensive optimization of substantive elements requires following the laws of value transfer and transformation of different elements of productive capital as revealed in Volume II of *Capital*, and highlighting the leading role of scientific and technological innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must promote industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation, especially by using disruptive technologies and cutting-edge technologies to foster new industries, new models, and new drivers of growth, and develop new quality productive forces.” [2]2 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, trans. Ben Fowkes (London: Penguin, 1990), p. 287. While optimizing substantive elements, great attention must also be paid to the role of social elements, especially factors such as cooperation, institutions, and a culture of innovation. The development of new quality productive forces is not only a technological and economic transformation but also a social and cultural progress. It should be combined with the people-centered [3]3 Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 2, trans. David Fernbach (London: Penguin, 1992), pp. 206–207. concept to ensure that the fruits of development can benefit all the people. Under socialist conditions, the social division of labor system will no longer be a shackle on human development but will combine individual differences with solidarity and cooperation, balance the relationship between individual development and collective development, and, on the basis of the transformation of means of labor and the expansion of objects of labor, realize the development and return of individual power, thereby promoting the comprehensive development of the individual. Second, the harmonious reconstruction of the relationship between production and ecology. The development of productive forces is also a process of exploring the relationship between humans and nature, promoting humanity’s continuous understanding and reflection on its own role and responsibility in nature. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during the 11th collective study session of the
一是实体性要素的全面优化。实体性要素是新质生产力的物质载体与客观基础。实体性要素的全面优化,需要遵循《资本论》第二卷揭示的生产资本不同要素的价值转移方式和变革规律,突出科技创新的引领地位。习近平总书记指出:“要以科技创新推动产业创新,特别是以颠覆性技术和前沿技术催生新产业、新模式、新动能,发展新质生产力。”优化实体性要素的同时,也要高度重视社会性要素特别是协作、制度、创新文化等因素的作用。新质生产力的发展不仅是技术和经济的变革,更是社会和文化的进步,应当与以人民为中心的理念相结合,确保发展成果能够普惠于民。社会主义条件下,社会分工体系将不再是人的发展的桎梏,而是将个体差异与团结合作相结合,平衡好个人发展与集体发展的关系,在劳动资料变革和劳动对象扩大的基础上,实现个体力量的发展与回归,从而促进人的全面发展。二是生产与生态关系的和谐重构。生产力的发展,也是探索人与自然关系的过程,推动了人类对自身在自然界中角色和责任的不断认识和反思。习近平总书记在中共中央政治局第十一次集体学习时强调,绿色发展是高质量发展的底色,新质生产力本身就是绿色生产力。这反映了技术创新与可持续发展理念的结合,与《资本论》第二卷强调的自然物质代谢的循环规律具有内在理论关联。新时代以来,高质量发展成为主旋律。我国新质生产力的发展以绿色发展为底色,在技术创新和产业发展中融入可持续发展的理念,着力实现发展方式的绿色转型,成为推动高质量发展的内在要求和重要着力点。
Third, there is a qualitative leap in the combination of factors of production. The development of new quality productive forces under socialist conditions, based on public ownership of the means of production, will promote the organic integration of the material and human elements in the production process. With the extensive integration of modern science and technology with economic development, the mode of combining factors of production is increasingly scientific and intelligent, becoming the key to transforming potential productive forces into actual productive forces. The development of new quality productive forces in the New Era should restore the dominant role of living labor in the production process; humans will gradually shift from being direct participants in production to "supervisors and regulators of the production process," while the industrial process based on technological application becomes the medium through which humans interact with nature. Under socialist conditions, China's overall key resources, such as land and minerals, are owned by the state and the entire people. China's development of new quality productive forces is based on the socialist development purpose rather than profit-seeking, ensuring that the use of economic power conforms to the people-centered social conditions. The development of new quality productive forces in the New Era should transcend the past development path of technological monopoly and exploitation, vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation, achieve self-reliance and self-strengthening in key core technology fields, use scientific and technological innovation to lead high-quality development and ensure high-level security, strengthen international cooperation and open exchanges in the field of science and technology, and promote the common development of all mankind with Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength.
三是生产要素组合的质态跃升。社会主义条件下的新质生产力发展,基于生产资料公有制,将推动生产过程中物的要素与人的要素有机结合。随着现代科学技术与经济发展的广泛结合,生产要素的组合方式日趋科学化、智能化,成为使潜在生产力变为现实生产力的关键。新时代新质生产力的发展,应回归活劳动在生产过程中的主导作用,人将逐渐从直接生产参与者转变为“生产过程的监督者和调节者”,基于科技应用的工业过程则成为人与自然发生关系的媒介。社会主义条件下,我国全局性的关键资源如土地、矿产等归国家和全民所有,我国发展新质生产力是基于社会主义发展目的而非逐利,确保了经济权力的使用符合以人民为中心的社会条件。新时代新质生产力的发展,应超越过去技术垄断与剥削的发展路径,大力推进科技创新,在关键核心技术领域实现自立自强,以科技创新引领高质量发展、保障高水平安全,加强科技领域的国际合作与开放交流,以中国智慧和中国力量推动全人类的共同发展。
Online editor: Paul
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Notes
- The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC, held in July 2024, adopted a major resolution on further deepening reform to advance Chinese-path modernization. ↩
- Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume I, Chapter 7, Section 1. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Ibid., Chapter 6. ↩
- Ibid., Chapter 15, Section 1. ↩
- Ibid., Chapter 15, Section 1. ↩
- Karl Marx, *Grundrisse* (Notebook VII). ↩
- Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume I, Chapter 14, Section 5. ↩
- Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *The German Ideology*, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 50. ↩
- Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, trans. Ben Fowkes (London: Penguin, 1990), p. 287. ↩
- Karl Marx, *Capital*, vol. 2, trans. David Fernbach (London: Penguin, 1992), pp. 206–207. ↩
- Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, pp. 439–454. ↩
- Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 443. ↩
- Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 464. ↩
- Marx, *Capital*, vol. 1, p. 458. ↩
- Karl Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, Chapter 14, Section 5. The quote is from the English translation of the relevant passage. ↩
- The phrase “three forces of nature” refers to Marx’s distinction in *Capital* between the forces of nature that are transformed into productive forces: the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of natural materials; the forces of nature harnessed through machinery (e.g., steam, water); and the social forces of combined labor (cooperation and division of labor). This is a standard Marxian concept, not a numbered slogan.
- The phrase “the qualitative state of productive forces” (生产力质态) is a technical term in Chinese Marxist discourse, referring to the qualitative configuration or structural condition of productive forces, as distinct from their quantitative scale.
- “Three types of natural forces” (三类自然力) refers to Marx’s distinction in the *Grundrisse* among (1) forces of nature external to humans (e.g., water, wind), (2) the social forces of cooperation and division of labor, and (3) the productive forces inherent in science and technology.
- “New quality productive forces” (新质生产力) is a term introduced by Xi Jinping in 2023, denoting productive forces driven by technological revolution and factor innovation, characterized by high quality, efficiency, and sustainability, as part of the broader strategy of high-quality development.
- "Supervisors and regulators of the production process" — a reference to Karl Marx's *Capital*, Volume 3, where he describes the transformation of the worker's role under advanced automation, as the direct producer becomes an overseer of the production process mediated by technology.