Upholding and Developing the Contradiction Theory of Socialist Society

The law of contradiction in things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the essence and core of materialist dialectics. Correctly understanding and handling the various types of contradictions and the basic contradictions of socialist society is not only a core element of the theory of scientific socialism but also an important prerequisite for carrying out socialist construction. The Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as the main representative, integrated the Marxist theoretical views on the contradictions of human society with the concrete practice of China’s socialist revolution and construction, thereby founding the contradiction theory of socialist society and enriching and developing Marxism-Leninism. Under the new historical conditions, upholding and developing Mao Zedong’s contradiction theory of socialist society, correctly understanding and handling two types of contradictions of different natures and the basic contradictions of socialist society, is a contemporary issue that concerns the overall situation of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, and affects whether the great Chinese Dream of national prosperity, national rejuvenation, and the people’s happiness can be realized.

事物的矛盾法则，即对立统一规律，是唯物辩证法的本质和核心。正确认识和处理社会主义社会的各类矛盾和基本矛盾，不仅是科学社会主义理论的核心内容，而且是开展社会主义建设的重要前提。以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人将马克思主义关于人类社会矛盾的理论观点与中国社会主义革命和建设的具体实践相结合，创立了社会主义社会矛盾学说，丰富和发展了马克思列宁主义。在新的历史条件下，坚持和发展毛泽东关于社会主义社会矛盾学说，正确认识和处理两类不同性质的矛盾和社会主义社会的基本矛盾，是关系改革开放和社会主义现代化建设全局，影响国家富强、民族振兴和人民幸福的伟大中国梦能否实现的时代课题。

I. The Significance and Historical Process of Exploring the Contradictions of Socialist Society

一、探索社会主义社会矛盾的重要意义和历史进程

In the history of human thought, there have always been two mutually opposing worldviews or outlooks on the universe: one is the metaphysical or vulgar evolutionist worldview, and the other is the materialist dialectical worldview. The former views the world with an isolated, static, and one-sided perspective, simply seeking the causes of development from outside things, acknowledging only quantitative increases and decreases and changes in location, and being unable to explain the qualitative diversity and qualitative changes of things. The latter views the world with a connected, developmental, and comprehensive perspective, advocating the study of the development of things from their internal aspects and from their relations with other things, holding that the internal contradiction of a thing is the fundamental cause of its development, while the interconnection and interaction between one thing and other things are the secondary cause of development, thereby explaining why things differ in quality and undergo quantitative and qualitative changes. Marx, Engels, and Lenin discovered the materialist dialectical worldview, teaching people to be adept at analyzing the contradictory movement of things and finding methods to resolve contradictions. A concrete understanding of this law of contradiction is a sharp ideological weapon guiding the Communist Party and the masses to understand and transform the world. To fail to understand it is to abandon materialist dialectics, making it easy to fall into idealist and metaphysical erroneous tendencies.

在人类思想史上，一直存在着两种互相对立的宇宙观或世界观：一种是形而上学的或庸俗进化论的宇宙观，一种是唯物辩证法的宇宙观。前者用孤立的、静止的、片面的观点看世界，简单地从事物外部去寻找事物发展的原因，只承认事物数量的增减和场所的变更，不能解释事物的质的多样性和质的变化。后者用联系的、发展的、全面的观点看世界，主张从事物的内部、从一事物与他事物的关系去研究事物的发展，认为事物内部的矛盾性是事物发展的根本原因，一事物与他事物的相互联系和相互作用是事物发展的第二位的原因，从而说明事物为何有性质上的差别和质量互变。马克思、恩格斯、列宁发现了唯物辩证的宇宙观，教导人们要善于分析事物的矛盾运动，找到解决矛盾的办法。具体地了解事物矛盾的这一法则，是指导共产党和人民群众认识世界和改造世界的锐利思想武器。不懂得它，就等于抛弃了唯物辩证法，容易出现唯心主义和形而上学的错误倾向。

The founders of Marxism not only elucidated that the contradictions between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, are the fundamental driving forces of human social development, but also deeply studied the basic contradiction of capitalist society between socialized production and the private appropriation of the means of production, along with its laws of motion, thereby revealing the historical inevitability of socialism replacing capitalism and realizing the development of socialism from utopia to science. Marx and Engels wrote in the *Communist Manifesto*: “The bourgeois relations of production and exchange, the bourgeois property relations, modern bourgeois society, which has conjured up such gigantic means of production and exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells.” Periodic “commercial crises,” that is, “the epidemic of over-production,” are precisely the main manifestation of the productive forces of capitalist society rebelling against the relations of production. In *Socialism: Utopian and Scientific*, Engels further summarized the contradiction between capitalist productive forces and relations of production as “the contradiction between socialized production and capitalist appropriation,” pointing out that this contradiction manifests as the opposition between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and the opposition between the organization of production in individual factories and the anarchy of production in society as a whole. He also emphasized that this contradiction “is the basic contradiction which gives rise to all the contradictions of modern society” and “already contains the seeds of all modern conflicts”; in economic crises, the contradiction between socialized production and capitalist private appropriation erupts violently; this already shows that the bourgeoisie is incapable of continuing to manage the socialized productive forces, requiring the social nature of the productive forces to be recognized in fact and the means of production to be directly appropriated by society.

马克思主义创始人不仅阐明了生产力和生产关系、经济基础和上层建筑之间的矛盾，是人类社会发展的根本动力，而且深入研究资本主义社会的生产社会化与生产资料私人占有之间的基本矛盾及其运动规律，进而揭示社会主义替代资本主义的历史必然性，实现了社会主义由空想到科学的发展。马克思、恩格斯在《共产党宣言》中写道：“资产阶级的生产关系和交换关系，资产阶级的所有制关系，这个曾经用法术创造了如此庞大的生产资料和交换手段的现代资产阶级社会，现在像一个魔法师一样不能再支配自己用法术呼唤出来的魔鬼了。”周期性的“商业危机”，即“生产过剩的瘟疫”，正是资本主义社会的生产力反抗生产关系的主要表现。恩格斯在《社会主义从空想到科学的发展》中进一步把资本主义生产力和生产关系的矛盾概括为“社会化生产和资本主义占有之间的矛盾”，指明这种矛盾表现为无产阶级和资产阶级的对立、个别工厂中生产的组织性和整个社会中生产的无政府状态之间的对立。他还强调，这一矛盾“是产生现代社会的一切矛盾的基本矛盾”，“已经包含着现代的一切冲突的萌芽”；在经济危机中，社会化生产和资本主义私人占有之间的矛盾剧烈地爆发出来；这已表明资产阶级没有能力继续驾驭社会化的生产力，要求在事实上承认生产力的社会性，由社会直接占有生产资料。

The contradictions of socialist society are the driving force of socialist development, determining the essential attributes and developmental direction of socialism. Regarding the contradictions of the new socialist society, Marx and Engels made certain principled analyses and predictions, but limited by historical conditions, they did not provide concrete answers. They believed: once society appropriates the means of production, commodity production will be eliminated, and the domination of the product over the producer will also disappear accordingly; the anarchy within social production will be replaced by planned, conscious organization; for the first time, people will become the conscious and true masters of nature and of their own social organization; this is humanity’s leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom. As for what new contradictions socialist society would generate, and what new changes would occur in its productive forces and relations of production, and its economic base and superstructure, the founders of Marxism did not make concrete analyses, but they emphasized: socialist society is not a fixed and unchanging thing; it should, like any other social system, be regarded as a society that is constantly changing and reforming. The decisive difference between it and the capitalist system lies in organizing production on the basis of the public ownership of all means of production (first by the state).

社会主义社会的矛盾是社会主义发展的动力，决定着社会主义的本质属性和发展方向。对于社会主义新社会的矛盾，马克思和恩格斯作过某些原则性的分析和预见，但限于历史条件，他们没有作出具体的解答。他们认为：一旦社会占有了生产资料，商品生产就将被消除，产品对生产者的统治也将随之消除；社会生产内部的无政府状态将为有计划的自觉的组织所代替；人们第一次成为自然界的自觉的和真正的主人，成为自身的社会结合的主人；这是人类从必然王国进入自由王国的飞跃。至于社会主义社会产生什么新的矛盾，其生产力和生产关系、经济基础和上层建筑会发生什么新的变化，马克思主义创始人没有作出具体的分析，但他们强调：社会主义社会不是一种一成不变的东西，而应当和任何其他社会制度一样，把它看成是经常变化和改革的社会。它同资本主义制度具有决定意义的差别在于，在实行全部生产资料公有制（先是国家的）的基础上组织生产。

Lenin led the Russian Bolshevik Party to victory in the October Revolution, established the world’s first socialist state, and, based on the practical experience of establishing and consolidating Soviet power, analyzed and resolved the economic and social contradictions facing Soviet Russia at that time. In his *Marginal Notes and Comments on N. Bukharin’s ‘The Economics of the Transition Period’*, he wrote: “Antagonism and contradiction are not at all the same thing. Under socialism, antagonism will disappear, but contradictions will remain.” He also profoundly expounded the characteristics of the transition period from capitalism to communism, which combines two types of economic structures; analyzed the existence and characteristics of class struggle under the dictatorship of the proletariat; and proposed the contradictions within the working class under socialist society and methods for handling them, and so on. Because Lenin passed away prematurely, he did not experience a longer period of socialist construction practice and did not comprehensively understand and resolve the problem of contradictions in socialist society.

列宁领导俄国布尔什维克党取得了十月革命的胜利，建立了世界上第一个社会主义国家，并根据建立和巩固苏维埃政权的实践经验，分析和解决当时苏俄所面临的经济社会矛盾。他《在尼•布哈林〈过渡时期经济学〉一书上作的批注和评论》中写道：“对抗和矛盾完全不是一回事。在社会主义下，对抗将会消失，矛盾仍将存在。”他还深刻阐述了从资本主义到共产主义过渡时期兼有两种经济结构的特点；分析了无产阶级专政条件下阶级斗争的存在及其特点；提出了社会主义社会中工人阶级内部的矛盾及其处理办法，等等。由于列宁辞世过早，没有经历较长的社会主义建设实践，没有全面地认识和解答社会主义社会的矛盾问题。

From the late 1930s to the early 1950s, Stalin and Soviet theoretical circles once denied that socialist society still had contradictions, emphasizing that the political and moral unity of workers, peasants, and intellectuals was the main driving force of socialist social development. Stalin believed that under the socialist system, public ownership of the means of production was the foundation of the relations of production; the relations of production were in complete conformity with the state of the productive forces, because the social character of the production process was consolidated by public ownership of the means of production. In his view, the Soviet national economy was an example of the relations of production being in complete conformity with the character of the productive forces, and its public ownership of the means of production was in complete conformity with the social character of the production process, so there were no economic crises in the Soviet Union, nor any destruction of the productive forces. In 1940, Soviet theoretical circles held a discussion on whether contradictions existed between the productive forces and the relations of production in socialist society. Apart from a few individuals who argued that "the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production was, is, and will remain the basic contradiction driving the development of socialist society," the overwhelming majority believed that "under socialist conditions, contradiction loses its universality." In 1952, Stalin, in his *Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR*, only then acknowledged that the claim that the relations of production are in "complete conformity" with the character of the productive forces under the socialist system could not be understood in an absolute sense; it should be understood as meaning that "under the socialist system, there will also be backward, inert forces that do not understand the necessity of changing the relations of production," but such forces are not difficult to overcome and will not lead to a situation where the relations of production come into conflict with the productive forces; society has the possibility of timely adapting the backward relations of production to the character of the productive forces. Stalin first did not acknowledge, and only later hesitantly stated, that contradictions still existed between the productive forces and the relations of production in socialist society, and he did not yet recognize that the contradictions between the productive forces and the relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, in socialist society are the fundamental driving force propelling socialist society forward.

在20世纪30年代末至50年代初这段时间里，斯大林和苏联理论界一度否认社会主义社会还有矛盾，强调工人、农民和知识分子之间在政治上和道义上的一致，是社会主义社会发展的主要动力。斯大林认为：在社会主义制度下，生产资料的公有制是生产关系的基础；生产关系同生产力状况完全适合，因为生产过程的社会性是由生产资料的公有制所巩固的。在他看来，苏联的国民经济是生产关系完全适合生产力性质的例子，其生产资料的公有制同生产过程的社会性完全适合，因而在苏联没有经济危机，也没有生产力破坏的情形。1940年，苏联理论界就社会主义社会生产力与生产关系之间是否存在矛盾的问题进行过一次讨论。除个别人主张“生产力和生产关系之间的矛盾过去是、将来仍然是推动社会主义社会发展的基本矛盾”以外，绝大多数人认为“在社会主义条件下，矛盾失去了它的普遍性”。1952年，斯大林在《苏联社会主义经济问题》中，才承认在社会主义制度下生产关系同生产力性质“完全适合”这种说法不能从绝对的意义上来理解，应该理解为“在社会主义制度下，也会有落后的惰性的力量，它们不了解生产关系有改变的必要”，但这种力量不难克服，不会弄到生产关系和生产力发生冲突的地步，社会有可能及时使落后了的生产关系去适合生产力的性质。斯大林先是不承认、后来才吞吞吐吐地说社会主义社会生产力和生产关系之间还存在矛盾，还没有认识到社会主义社会生产力和生产关系之间的矛盾、经济基础和上层建筑之间的矛盾是推动社会主义社会向前发展的根本动力。

II. Mao Zedong’s Explorations, Innovations, and Theoretical Achievements on the Problem of Contradictions in Socialist Society

二、毛泽东对社会主义社会矛盾问题的探索创新及理论成果

During the period of the democratic revolution, our Party, based on the principal contradictions facing China at the time — the contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation, and the contradiction between feudalism and the broad masses of the people — formulated and implemented the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal program of the New Democratic Revolution, relied closely on the people to complete the New Democratic Revolution, and achieved national independence and the liberation of the people. After the founding of New China, our Party, based on the contradiction between large-scale industrial construction and the reality of a backward agricultural country, and the contradiction between the state-owned economy and private capitalist economy, determined the general line and general tasks of the transition period: gradually realizing the country’s socialist industrialization, and gradually realizing the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce. It relied closely on the people to complete the socialist revolution and establish the basic system of socialism. In 1956, the Eighth National Congress of the CPC proposed: "The principal contradiction in our country is already the contradiction between the people’s demand for the establishment of an advanced industrial country and the reality of a backward agricultural country, and already the contradiction between the people’s need for rapid economic and cultural development and the current inability of the economy and culture to meet the people’s needs." "The current main task of the Party and the people of the whole country is to concentrate all forces on resolving this contradiction." In 1957, Mao Zedong delivered the speech *On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People* at the Supreme State Conference, creatively putting forward the theoretical viewpoints of two types of contradictions of different natures in socialist society (contradictions between ourselves and the enemy and contradictions among the people) and the basic contradiction, making a great contribution to upholding and developing Marxism-Leninism and providing a scientific guide for China’s socialist construction.

在民主革命时期，我们党根据当时中国面临的主要矛盾——帝国主义和中华民族的矛盾，封建主义和人民大众的矛盾，制定和执行反帝反封建的新民主主义革命纲领，紧紧依靠人民完成了新民主主义革命，实现了民族独立、人民解放。新中国成立后，我们党根据大规模工业建设与落后的农业国现状之间的矛盾，国营经济同私人资本主义经济之间的矛盾，确定了过渡时期逐步实现国家的社会主义工业化，逐步实现国家对农业、手工业和资本主义工商业的社会主义改造的总路线和总任务，紧紧依靠人民完成了社会主义革命，建立了社会主义基本制度。1956年党的八大提出：“我们国内的主要矛盾，已经是人民对于建立先进的工业国的要求同落后的农业国的现实之间的矛盾，已经是人民对于经济文化迅速发展的需要同当前经济文化不能满足人民需要的状况之间的矛盾。”“党和全国人民的当前的主要任务，就是要集中力量来解决这个矛盾”。1957年，毛泽东在最高国务会议上发表《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》的讲话，创造性地提出了社会主义社会两类不同性质矛盾（敌我矛盾和人民内部矛盾）和基本矛盾的理论观点，为坚持和发展马克思列宁主义作出了巨大贡献，为中国社会主义建设事业提供了科学指南。

First, in the development of Marxism, Mao Zedong for the first time put forward the theory of two types of contradictions in socialist society, establishing the correct handling of contradictions among the people as the theme of our country’s political life. He believed that after the establishment of the socialist system, our country was unprecedentedly unified, "but this does not mean that there are no longer any contradictions in our society. The idea that there are no contradictions is a naive idea that does not conform to objective reality. Before us there are two types of social contradictions: contradictions between ourselves and the enemy and contradictions among the people. These are two types of contradictions of completely different natures." Contradictions between ourselves and the enemy are antagonistic contradictions and must be resolved by dictatorial methods. Contradictions among the people, among the working people, are non-antagonistic; between the exploited and exploiting classes, besides the antagonistic aspect, there is also a non-antagonistic aspect. Contradictions among the people are mainly resolved by democratic methods, the method of "unity — criticism — unity," and the method of self-education. After the large-scale, stormy mass class struggles of the revolutionary period had basically ended, Mao Zedong proposed drawing the line between the two types of contradictions — those between ourselves and the enemy and those among the people — and proposed the problem of correctly handling contradictions among the people, in order to mobilize all positive factors inside and outside the Party, at home and abroad, and unite the people of all ethnic groups across the country in socialist construction. This was a very important strategic thought and an unprecedented great creation. It continues to play a broad and far-reaching guiding role in resolving various complex social contradictions in the new period of reform and opening up and modernization.

首先，毛泽东在马克思主义发展上第一次提出了关于社会主义社会两类矛盾学说，把正确处理人民内部矛盾确定为我国政治生活的主题。他认为：社会主义制度建立后，我们国家是空前统一的，“但并不是说在我们的社会里已经没有任何的矛盾了。没有矛盾的想法是不符合客观实际的天真的想法。在我们的面前有两类社会矛盾，这就是敌我之间的矛盾和人民内部的矛盾。这是性质完全不同的两类矛盾。”敌我矛盾是对抗性的矛盾，要用专政的办法来解决。人民内部矛盾，在劳动人民之间说来，是非对抗性的；在被剥削阶级和剥削阶级之间说来，除了对抗性的一面外，还有非对抗性的一面。对人民内部矛盾，主要靠民主的办法、“团结——批评——团结”的办法和自我教育的方法来解决。在革命时期的大规模的急风暴雨式的群众阶级斗争基本结束后，毛泽东提出划分敌我和人民内部两类矛盾的界限，提出正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题，以便调动党内外、国内外的一切积极因素，团结全国各族人民进行社会主义建设，是一个非常重要的战略思想，也是一个史无前例的伟大创造。这对于改革开放和现代化建设新时期，解决各种错综复杂的社会矛盾仍然起着广泛深远的指导作用。

Second, Mao Zedong comprehensively expounded the general attributes and important functions of the basic contradiction in socialist society. He observed the contradictions of socialist society from the height that the law of the unity of opposites is a universal law of the universe existing in nature, human society, and thought. In response to the phenomenon at the time that many people dared not openly admit that socialist society still had contradictions, and were hesitant and passive in the face of social contradictions, he demanded that people, especially cadres, be guided to recognize the contradictions in socialist society and adopt correct methods to handle them. He clearly pointed out: "In socialist society, the basic contradictions are still the contradiction between the relations of production and the productive forces, and the contradiction between the superstructure and the economic base." These contradictions are important factors "driving our society forward." Even in socialist society, when old contradictions are resolved, new contradictions will arise. "Contradictions constantly appear and are constantly resolved; this is the dialectical law of the development of things." One of the historic contributions of Mao Zedong’s theory of the basic contradiction in socialist society lies in dispelling the metaphysical fog that denied contradictions, carrying through Marxist materialist dialectics to the end, and extending it to the entire human society, including socialist society.

其次，毛泽东全面阐述了社会主义社会基本矛盾的一般属性和重要作用。他从对立统一规律是普遍存在于自然界、人类社会和思维中的宇宙的根本规律的高度，去观察社会主义社会的矛盾。他针对当时许多人不敢公开社会主义社会还有矛盾，在社会矛盾面前缩手缩脚，处于被动地位的现象，要求引导人们，首先是干部，认识社会主义社会中的矛盾，并且采取正确的方法处理这些矛盾。他明确指出：“在社会主义社会中，基本的矛盾仍然是生产关系和生产力之间的矛盾，上层建筑和经济基础之间的矛盾。” 这些这矛盾是“推动着我们的社会向前发展”的重要因素。即使在社会主义社会中，旧的矛盾解决了，新的矛盾又会发生。“矛盾不断出现，又不断解决，就是事物发展的辩证规律。”毛泽东关于社会主义社会基本矛盾理论的一个历史性贡献，就在于驱散了否认矛盾的形而上学迷雾，把马克思主义的唯物辩证法贯彻到底，将它拓展到包括社会主义社会在内的整个人类社会。

Third, Mao Zedong analyzed the new characteristics of contradictions in socialist society. In his view, the socialist relations of production had already been established; they were compatible with the development of the productive forces, but they were still far from perfect and were also in contradiction with the development of the productive forces. Furthermore, there was also a situation where the superstructure was both compatible and in contradiction with the economic base. For example, the state system and laws of the people’s democratic dictatorship, and the socialist ideology guided by Marxism-Leninism — these superstructures had played a positive driving role in the victory of our country’s socialist transformation and the establishment of socialist labor organizations, and were compatible with the socialist economic base; but the existence of bourgeois ideology, the existence of bureaucratic practices in state organs, and the existence of defects in certain links of the state system were also in contradiction with the socialist economic base. This describes the general situation of contradictions in socialist society. However, "the contradictions of socialist society are fundamentally different from the contradictions of old societies, such as capitalist society." The contradictions of capitalist society manifest themselves as violent antagonisms and conflicts, as violent class struggles; such contradictions cannot be resolved by the capitalist system itself, but can only be resolved through socialist revolution. Because the contradictions of socialist society "are not antagonistic contradictions, they can be continuously resolved through the socialist system itself." This elucidated the new characteristics that distinguish the basic contradiction of socialist society from the basic contradictions of other societies.

第三，毛泽东分析了社会主义社会矛盾的新特点。在他看来，社会主义生产关系已经建立起来，它和生产力的发展是相适应的，但它还很不完善，和生产力的发展又是相矛盾的。此外，还有上层建筑和经济基础又相适应又相矛盾的情况。例如，人民民主专政的国家制度和法律，以马列主义为指导的社会主义意识形态，这些上层建筑对于我国社会主义改造的胜利和社会主义劳动组织的建立起了积极的推动作用，和社会主义的经济基础是相适应的；但资产阶级意识形态的存在、国家机构中官僚主义作风的存在，国家制度中某些环节上缺陷的存在，又和社会主义经济基础是相矛盾的。这里讲的是社会主义社会矛盾大致的情况。然而，“社会主义社会的矛盾同旧社会的矛盾，例如同资本主义社会的矛盾，是根本不相同的。”资本主义社会的矛盾表现为剧烈的对抗和冲突，表现为剧烈的阶级斗争，那种矛盾不可能由资本主义制度本身来解决，而只有通过社会主义革命才能加以解决。由于社会主义社会的矛盾“不是对抗性的矛盾，它可以经过社会主义制度本身，不断地得到解决。”这就阐明了社会主义社会基本矛盾区别于其他社会基本矛盾的新特点。

Fourth, Mao Zedong also put forward the principles and methods for resolving contradictions in socialist society. In view of the fact that China’s socialist system had only just been established and was not yet fully consolidated, Mao Zedong stressed the need to reform and improve the socialist system in a timely manner. As early as November 1956, at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the CPC [6]6 Deng Xiaoping, "Emancipate the Mind, Seek Truth from Facts, and Unite as One in Looking to the Future" (December 13, 1978), and other speeches from the reform period., he held that even if imperialism were overthrown and classes eliminated throughout the world, there would still be contradictions between the relations of production and the productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base. If the relations of production were mishandled, they would have to be overthrown; if the superstructure (including ideology and public opinion) protected a type of relations of production that the people disliked, the people would “reform” it. In his February 1957 speech “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People,” although he did not provide a comprehensive exposition of how to resolve contradictions in socialist society, he argued that resolving contradictions in socialist society “must proceed according to the concrete circumstances” and focused specifically on researching and exploring the main manifestation of contradictions in socialist society—contradictions among the people—so as to unite the people of all ethnic groups across the country. In March 1957, at the National Conference on Propaganda Work, he further pointed out: “In the past, in old China, talking about reform was a crime, punishable by death or imprisonment. But now, our country needs many people who sincerely serve the people, sincerely serve the cause of socialism, and are determined to reform. All of us Communists should be such people.” “Our country also needs a number of non-Party people of lofty ideals who, following the direction of socialism and communism, will struggle fearlessly together with us to reform and build our society.” He also stressed that “China’s reform and construction” rely on our Communist Party to lead. “If we rectify our work style well, we will be more proactive in our work, our capabilities will be greater, and our work will be done better.” Here, he in fact raised the important task of socialist reform and construction from the height of the needs of the development of the socialist cause. In this sense, the contradiction theory of socialist society founded by Mao Zedong laid a scientific theoretical foundation for socialist construction in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as for reform and opening up and modernization after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee [7]7 Deng Xiaoping, "Speech at the National Conference on Science and Technology" (March 7, 1985), and other statements on the fundamental principles of socialism..

第四，毛泽东还提出了解决社会主义社会矛盾的原则和方法。鉴于我国的社会主义制度刚刚建立，还不完全巩固的状况，毛泽东强调要及时改革和完善社会主义制度。早在1956年11月召开的中共八届二中全会上，他认为即使全世界的帝国主义被打倒、阶级被消灭，还有生产关系和生产力的矛盾，上层建筑和经济基础的矛盾，生产关系搞得不对头，就要把它推翻，上层建筑（其中包括思想、舆论）要是保护人民不喜欢的那种生产关系，人民就要“改革”它。他在1957年2月发表的《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》中，虽然没有对如何解决社会主义社会的矛盾作全面的论述，但他主张：解决社会主义社会的矛盾，“必须按照具体的情况”进行，并着力对社会主义社会矛盾的主要表现——人民内部矛盾问题进行了专门的研究和探讨，以便团结全国各族人民。在1957年3月召开的全国宣传工作会议上，他进一步指出：在从前，在旧中国，讲改革是要犯罪的，要杀头、坐班房的。但现在，我们国家要有很多诚心为人民服务、诚心为社会主义事业服务、立志改革的人。我们共产党员都应该是这样的人。”我国还需要有一批党外的志士仁人，他们能按照社会主义、共产主义的方向，同我们一起来为改革和建设我们的社会而无所畏惧地奋斗。他还强调：“中国的改革和建设”靠我们共产党来领导。如果我们把作风整顿好了，我们在工作中间就会更加主动，我们的本事就会更大，工作就会做得更好。他在这里实际上已经从社会主义事业发展需要的高度，提出了社会主义改革和建设的重要任务。从这种意义上说，毛泽东创立的社会主义社会矛盾学说，为20世纪五六十年代的社会主义建设以及十一届三中全会以后的改革开放和现代化建设，奠定了一个科学的理论基础。

III. Deepening the Understanding of the Basic Contradictions of Socialist Society

三、深化对社会主义社会基本矛盾问题的认识

Since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, our Party has inherited and developed the correct line of the Eighth National Congress of the CPC and Mao Zedong’s theory on the basic contradictions of socialist society and the two types of contradictions differing in nature, corrected the “Left” errors of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution [8], identified the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people versus backward social production as the principal contradiction at the current stage, shifted the focus of the Party and state work to economic construction, and, while upholding the Four Cardinal Principles [9], carried out a leadership-led, planned, and step-by-step reform of the relations of production and the superstructure that were unsuited to the development of the productive forces, relying closely on the people to carry out the new great revolution of reform and opening up, thereby initiating and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. At the beginning of reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping emphasized in his speech “Uphold the Four Cardinal Principles”: regarding the basic contradictions of socialist society, it is better to follow the formulation in Mao Zedong’s article “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People.” “Of course, pointing out these basic contradictions does not completely solve the problem; further in-depth and concrete research is still needed on this.” In the new century and new stage, China has entered a period of difficult reform, a critical stage of development, and a period of prominent contradictions. There is an urgent need to combine the new circumstances of reform and opening up and socialist modernization to conduct further research and exploration on the issue of the basic contradictions of socialist society.

十一届三中全会以来，我们党继承和发展了党的八大的正确路线和毛泽东关于社会主义社会基本矛盾和两类不同性质矛盾的学说，纠正了“大跃进”和“文化大革命”等“左”倾错误，将人民群众日益增长的物质文化需要同落后的社会生产之间的矛盾确定为现阶段的主要矛盾，将党和国家的工作中心转移到经济建设上来，并在坚持四项基本原则的前提下，对不适应生产力发展的生产关系和上层建筑进行有领导、有计划、分步骤的改革，紧紧依靠人民进行改革开放新的伟大革命，开创和发展了中国特色社会主义。在改革开放之初，邓小平同志就在《坚持四项基本原则》的讲话中强调：关于社会主义社会基本矛盾，还是按照毛泽东在《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》一文中的提法比较好。“当然，指出这些基本矛盾，并不就完全解决了问题，还需要就此作深入的具体的研究。”在新世纪新阶段，我国已加入改革的攻坚期、发展的关键期和矛盾的凸显期，迫切需要结合改革开放和社会主义现代化建设的新情况，对社会主义社会的基本矛盾问题作进一步的研究和探讨。

First, deepening the understanding of the basic contradictions of socialist society should reflect the essential attributes of the socialist mode of production and reveal its scientific connotation and essential characteristics that distinguish it from the basic contradictions of capitalist society. Theoretically, Mao Zedong’s important thesis that the basic contradictions of socialist society “are still those between the relations of production and the productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base” expounds the universal attributes of the basic contradictions of socialist society that exist in all domains and are consistent with the basic contradictions of other societies. This can be said to be an “extensional” definition of the basic contradictions of socialist society. The historical development and logical evolution of scientific socialism require us to further reveal the key domains in which the basic contradictions of socialist society exist and their special nature that distinguishes them from the basic contradictions of other societies, so as to achieve an “intensional” answer to the basic contradictions of socialist society. The founders of Marxism profoundly pointed out in *The German Ideology*: “The relation of productive forces to the form of intercourse is the relation of the form of intercourse to the actions or activity of individuals”; “The whole historical development consists in the sequence of the various forms of intercourse, whose connection lies in the fact

首先，深化对社会主义社会基本矛盾问题的认识，应反映社会主义生产方式的本质属性，揭示其不同于资本主义社会基本矛盾的科学内涵和本质特征。从理论上说，毛泽东关于社会主义社会基本矛盾“仍然是生产关系和生产力之间的矛盾，上层建筑和经济基础之间的矛盾”的重要论断，阐述的是社会主义社会基本矛盾存在的所有领域和与其他社会的基本矛盾相一致的普遍属性，可以说是对社会主义社会基本矛盾的一种“外延式”的界定。科学社会主义的历史发展和逻辑演进，要求我们进一步揭示社会主义社会基本矛盾存在的重点领域和与其他社会的基本矛盾相区别的特殊性质，以达到对社会主义社会基本矛盾的“内涵式”的解答。马克思主义创始人在《德意志意识形态》中深刻指出：“生产力与交往形式的关系就是交往形式与个人的行动或活动的关系”；“在整个历史发展过程中构成各种交往形式的相互联系的序列，各种交往形式的联系就在于：已成为桎梏的旧交往形式被适应于比较发达的生产力，因而也适应于进步的个人自主活动方式的新交往形式所代替”。社会主义革命取得胜利之后，建立了生产资料的公有制，以雇佣的联合劳动以主要特点的资本主义生产方式，逐渐被以自主的联合劳动为主要特点的社会主义生产方式所取代；生产的社会化与生产资料的私有占有这一主要存在于资本主义生产方式中的资本主义社会基本矛盾也逐渐被消除，取而代之的是生产的自主性与生产资料的社会占有这一主要存在于社会主义生产方式中的社会主义社会的基本矛盾。如何认识和解决生产的自主性与生产资料社会占有这一社会主义社会的基本矛盾，是摆在全世界的共产党和劳动人民面前的历史性课题。

Second, deepening the understanding of the basic contradictions of socialist society should reflect the essential requirements of socialist society and reveal the historical trend of socialist development. Marx and Engels made it clear to people: the old bourgeois society in which classes and class antagonisms exist will be replaced by an association of free individuals, where workers voluntarily unite as free persons to engage in autonomous social production. Correspondingly, the purpose of production is no longer to create surplus value for the capitalists, but to better satisfy the living needs of all workers themselves; the relations among people in production are no longer the wage-labor relations in which capitalists exploit workers, but equal, cooperative, united and mutual-aid associated labor relations. It is precisely because the socialist mode of production must overcome the evils of the separation of workers from the means of production and the exploitation and oppression of the working class by the bourgeoisie in the old capitalist society that it can fundamentally realize the free liberation and equal rights of the working class and all humanity. However, under the conditions of social ownership of the means of production, each individual worker cannot, like the individual petty producer negated by capitalist private ownership, possess the means of production in an isolated and scattered manner, but can only, as a member of society or a member of the association, jointly possess the means of production on the basis of the socialization of production. The founders of Marxism believed: "the realization of their full, no longer restricted self-activity" consists in "the appropriation of a totality of productive forces and the consequent development of a totality of capacities. All previous revolutionary appropriations were limited; the self-activity of individuals was restricted by a limited instrument of production and a limited intercourse." "Their instrument of production became their property, but they themselves remained subordinate to the division of labor and to their own instrument of production." Under "the appropriation by the proletarians, a large number of instruments of production must be made subject to each individual, and property to all. Modern universal intercourse cannot be made subject to the individual, but only to all." Thus, within the socialist mode of production, between the productive forces and the relations of production of socialist society, there arises a contradiction between the autonomy of production and the social character of the possession of the means of production. This new contradiction manifests itself not only as a contradiction between the autonomy of individual workers and each production organization and the orderliness of the entire social production, but also as a contradiction between the growing living needs of all members of society and the relatively insufficient supply of production. Only by correctly understanding and resolving these basic contradictions of socialist society can the antagonisms and conflicts between people and between people and society be fundamentally eliminated, providing the "absolutely necessary" prerequisite conditions for the free and comprehensive development of each individual.

第二，深化对社会主义社会基本矛盾问题的认识，应反映社会主义社会的本质要求，揭示社会主义发展的历史趋势。马克思和恩格斯昭示人们：代替那存在着阶级和阶级对立的资产阶级旧社会的，将是一个自由人的联合体，劳动者以自由人的身份，自愿地联合起来，进行自主性的社会生产。与此相适应，生产的目的不再是为资本家创造剩余价值，而是更好地满足全体劳动者自己的生活需要；人们在生产中的关系，也不再是资本家剥削工人的雇佣劳动关系，而是平等协作、团结互助的联合劳动关系。正因为社会主义生产方式要克服资本主义旧社会里劳动者与生产资料相分离、资产阶级剥削和压迫工人阶级的罪恶，才能从根本上实现工人阶级和全人类的自由解放和平等权利。但是，在生产资料社会占有的条件下，每个劳动者不能像被资本主义私有制所否定的个体劳动者那样，孤立地、分散地占有生产资料，而只能作为社会的一分子或联合体的一成员，在生产社会化的基础上，共同占有生产资料。马克思主义创始人认为：“实现自己的充分的、不再受限制的自主活动”，是对“生产力总和的占有以及由此而来的才能总和的发挥。过去的一切革命的占有都是有限制的；各个人的自主活动受到有局限性的生产工具和有局限性的交往的束缚”，“他们的生产工具成了他们的财产，但是他们本身始终屈从于分工和自己的生产工具”。而在“无产者的占有制下，许多生产工具必定归属于每一个个人，而财产则归属于全体个人。现代的普遍交往，除了归属于全体个人，不可能归属于各个人。”这样，在社会主义生产方式内部，在社会主义社会生产力和生产关系之间，产生了生产的自主性与生产资料的社会占有之间的矛盾。这种新的矛盾不仅表现为劳动者个人和每个生产组织的自主性与整个社会生产的有序性之间的矛盾，而且表现为全体社会成员日益增长的生活需要和相对不足的生产供给之间的矛盾。只有正确认识和解决社会主义社会的这些基本矛盾，才能从根本上消除人与人、人与社会之间的对抗和冲突，为每个人的自由全面发展提供“绝对必需”的前提条件。

Third, deepening the understanding of the basic contradictions of socialist society should summarize the historical experience of socialist construction and reveal the fundamental direction and principles of socialist development. As a brand-new social system in human history, socialism seeks survival and development in the process of coping with various difficulties. From the October Revolution onward, the socialist system bravely met the challenge of the electrical technological revolution, withstood the test of the fascist war of aggression, and achieved the victory of socialism from one country to many countries. After the war, with the rapid recovery of the national economy, the technical level of production and the quality of workers greatly improved, the people's demands for democracy and freedom grew stronger, the social division of labor and cooperation and the economic and social structure became increasingly complex, and the basic contradiction inherent in socialist society between the autonomy of production and the social possession of the means of production increasingly came to light, inevitably requiring a comprehensive reform of the highly centralized socialist system. Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China's reform and opening up and modernization drive, pointed out: the old set of practices "hindered the development of the productive forces, led to ideological rigidity, and dampened the initiative of the people and the grassroots." The fundamental purpose of China's reform is to "invigorate the Party and government institutions and the entire state system" and "fully mobilize the initiative of the people and the grassroots in all walks of life." The rural reform "proved effective precisely because it gave farmers more decision-making power and mobilized their initiative." "We have applied this experience to all walks of life, mobilizing the initiative of all sides." [6]6 Deng Xiaoping, "Emancipate the Mind, Seek Truth from Facts, and Unite as One in Looking to the Future" (December 13, 1978), and other speeches from the reform period. At the same time, Deng Xiaoping emphasized that our reform, while adhering to the basic system of socialism, reforms the specific institutions and systems of socialism to promote the self-improvement and development of socialism, and must not copy the Western capitalist model and take the capitalist road. He repeatedly admonished us: "A dominant public ownership and common prosperity — these are the fundamental principles of socialism that we must uphold." [7]7 Deng Xiaoping, "Speech at the National Conference on Science and Technology" (March 7, 1985), and other statements on the fundamental principles of socialism. Only by correctly understanding and handling the basic contradiction between the autonomy of production and the social possession of the means of production in socialist society can we adhere to the correct direction and principles of reform, opening up, and modernization, mobilize the initiative of the broad masses of the people, give full play to the superiority of the socialist system, create a harmonious situation that combines centralism with democracy, discipline with freedom, unified will with personal ease of mind and liveliness, and open up an increasingly broad path and prospects for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

第三，深化对社会主义社会基本矛盾的认识，应总结社会主义建设的历史经验，揭示社会主义发展的根本方向和原则。社会主义作为人类历史上崭新的社会制度，是在应对各种各样困难的过程中，求得生存和发展的。从十月革命以后，社会主义制度勇敢地迎接电气技术革命的挑战，经受了法西斯侵略战争的考验，取得了社会主义从一国到多国的胜利。战后，随着国民经济的迅速恢复，生产的技术水平和劳动者的素质大幅提高，人民群众的民主自由的要求愈益增强，社会的分工协作和经济社会结构日趋复杂，社会主义社会固有的生产的自主性和生产资料的社会占有的基本矛盾日益暴露出来，必然要求对高度集中的社会主义体制进行全面的改革。我国改革开放和现代化建设的总设计师邓小平指出：旧的那一套“阻碍了生产力的发展，在思想上导致僵化，妨碍人民和基层积极性的发挥”。我国改革的根本目的，就是“党和行政机构以及整个国家体制要增强活力”，“充分调动人民和各行各业基层的积极性”。农村改革“之所以见效，就是因为给农民更多的自主权，调动了农民的积极性。”“我们把这个经验应用到各行各业，调动各方面的积极性” 。与此同时，邓小平强调，我们的改革是在坚持社会主义基本制度的前提下，改革社会主义具体制度和体制，以推动社会主义的自我完善和发展，而不能照搬西方资本主义的那一套，走资本主义道路。他反复告诫我们：“一个公有制占主体，一个共同富裕，这是我们所必须坚持的社会主义的根本原则。” 只有正确认识和处理社会主义社会生产的自主性和生产资料的社会占有之间的基本矛盾，才能坚持改革开放和现代化建设的正确方向和原则，调动广大人民群众的积极性，发挥社会主义制度的优越性，创造又有集中又有民主,又有纪律又有自由,又有统一意志又有个人心情舒畅、生动活泼的和谐局面，开拓中国特色社会主义愈益广阔的发展道路和发展前景。

(This article is the author's keynote speech at the First "Scientific Socialism and Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, November 1, 2013)

（此文为作者2013年11月1日在中国社会科学院首届“科学社会主义与中国特色社会主义”论坛上的主题发言）

Online editor: Lan River Water

网络编辑：岚河水