A Political Economy Analysis of Chinese-Path Modernization

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC: “Chinese-path modernization is socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China. It contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.” “From this day forward, the central task of the Communist Party of China will be to lead the people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese-path modernization.” It can thus be seen that there are actually two stages of Chinese-path modernization: one is the Chinese-path modernization of today, or up to today, which is a reality that contains elements common to the modernization processes of all countries but is more characterized by features unique to the Chinese context; the other is the future Chinese-path modernization, with which we will comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Here, only the political economy analysis of the former stage of Chinese-path modernization is conducted, in order to provide lessons that other countries can draw on and to highlight the world significance of the Chinese path and the Chinese approach.

习近平总书记在党的二十大报告中指出：“中国式现代化，是中国共产党领导的社会主义现代化，既有各国现代化的共同特征，更有基于自己国情的中国特色”，“从现在起，中国共产党的中心任务就是团结带领全国各族人民全面建成社会主义现代化强国、实现第二个百年奋斗目标，以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴。”由此可见，实际上存在两个阶段的中国式现代化：一个是今天的或者说到今天为止的中国式现代化，它是一个现实的存在，既有各国现代化的共同特征，更有基于自身国情的中国特色；另一个是未来的中国式现代化，我们要以这个未来的中国式现代化来全面推进中华民族伟大复兴。这里只对前一个阶段的中国式现代化进行政治经济学分析，以期提供其他国家可以借鉴的启示，彰显中国道路和中国方案的世界意义。

I. The Origin of Modernization

一、现代化的由来

The *Communist Manifesto* points out: “The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilization. The cheap prices of commodities are the heavy artillery with which it batters down all Chinese walls, with which it forces the barbarians’ intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners to capitulate. It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image.” Here, the transition from pre-capitalist society to capitalist society, i.e., “adopting the bourgeois mode of production,” is the earliest modernization, that is, capitalization. This is also the origin of modernization, and the reason for modernization is what Marx and Engels point out here: “on pain of extinction.” This is because the bourgeoisie cruelly exploits its own country’s laborers, and because, having shed feudal obligations, only a temporary employment relationship exists between capitalists and workers; the bourgeoisie cares even less about whether workers live or die than feudal lords cared about the lives of serfs. Workers not only work long hours but also earn meager wages. As Marx exposed in *Capital*, in Belgium, this “paradise of capitalists,” because wages had fallen to the minimum, “the slightest change in the price of the most necessary means of subsistence brings with it a change in the number of deaths and crimes!” Under these circumstances, capitalist countries, for the sake of their own bourgeoisie’s interests, are even more willing to exploit and even destroy other countries and nations. For other countries and nations, if they cannot use pre-capitalist modes of production to resist the capitalist mode of production, they can only, like China in the late Qing Dynasty, “learn the superior technologies of the barbarians to control the barbarians” and take the so-called path of modernization.

《共产党宣言》指出：“资产阶级，由于一切生产工具的迅速改进，由于交通的极其便利，把一切民族甚至最野蛮的民族都卷到文明中来了。它的商品的低廉价格，是它用来摧毁一切万里长城、征服野蛮人最顽强的仇外心理的重炮。它迫使一切民族——如果它们不想灭亡的话——采用资产阶级的生产方式；它迫使它们在自己那里推行所谓的文明，即变成资产者。一句话，它按照自己的面貌为自己创造出一个世界。”在这里，前资本主义社会转向资本主义社会即“采用资产阶级的生产方式”就是最早的现代化，也就是资本主义化。这也是现代化的由来，而现代化的原因就是马克思和恩格斯在这里指出的“不想灭亡”。这是因为资产阶级对本国的劳动者进行残酷压榨，而且由于摆脱了封建义务，资本家与工人之间只存在暂时的雇佣关系，资产阶级对于工人的死活，比封建主对农奴的死活更不关心。工人不仅工作时间长，而且收入微薄，正如马克思在《资本论》中所揭露的，在比利时这个“资本家的乐园”里，由于工资已经低到了最低限度，“只要最必要的生活资料的价格发生最微小的变动，就会引起死亡和犯罪数字的变动！”在这种情况下，资本主义国家为了本国的资产阶级的利益，更加不惜压榨甚至毁灭其他国家和民族。而对其他国家和民族来说，如果不能用前资本主义的生产方式对抗资本主义的生产方式，就只能像清朝末年的中国一样，“师夷长技以制夷”，走所谓现代化的道路。

If “on pain of extinction” is the subjective factor of modernization, then the availability of material conditions is the objective factor. Engels once pointed out: “The conditions of modern industry—steam power and machinery—can be established wherever there is fuel, especially coal. And coal is found not only in England, but also in other countries: France, Belgium, Germany, America, even Russia. The people of these countries did not see why they should become starving Irish tenants merely to increase the wealth and glory of English capitalists. So they set to work to manufacture, not only for themselves, but also for the rest of the world; and the result is that the industrial monopoly of England, which lasted for nearly a century, is now irretrievably broken.” What Engels elaborates here is that after England, France, Belgium, Germany, America, and even Russia, relying on their own material conditions, developed the steam power and machinery of modern industry and realized their own capitalist modernization.

如果说“不想灭亡”是现代化的主观因素，那么物质条件的具备则是现代化的客观因素。恩格斯曾经指出：“现代工业存在的条件——蒸汽力和机器，凡是有燃料、特别是有煤的地方都能制造出来，而煤不仅英国有，其他国家，如法国、比利时、德国、美国、甚至俄国也都有。这些国家的人并不认为，仅仅为了让英国资本家获得更多的财富和光荣而使自己沦为饥饿的爱尔兰佃农有什么好处。于是他们就动手来进行制造，不仅是为了自己，而且也是为了世界的其他部分；结果，英国保持了将近一个世纪的工业垄断，现在无可挽回地被打破了。”恩格斯在这里阐述的就是继英国之后，法国、比利时、德国、美国甚至俄国凭借本国拥有的物质条件，发展现代工业的蒸汽力和机器，实现了自己的资本主义现代化。

However, with the development of capitalism, the internal contradictions of capitalism intensified, capitalism repeatedly fell into economic crises, and it urgently needed to develop to a higher stage. Marx, with his established historical materialism, scientifically analyzed the laws of motion of capitalism’s internal contradictions. By “criticizing the old world and discovering the new world,” he put forward the theory of scientific socialism, pointed out the path of transition from capitalism to communism, and modernization henceforth acquired a tendency toward socialization. Advanced intellectuals in Russia keenly grasped Marx’s theory. They posed to Marx the question of a more advanced modernization: whether Russia, based on the cultural legacy of its traditional agricultural commune, could “bypass the Caudine Forks of the capitalist system and directly apply all the positive achievements created by the capitalist system to the commune.” [1]1 Karl Marx, "The Future Results of British Rule in India," New-York Daily Tribune, August 8, 1853. The Russians raised a very significant question: that of distinguishing modernization from capitalization, i.e., the question of loosening the connection between productive forces and relations of production, so that the productive forces created by the capitalist system could be separated from capitalist relations of production and directly combined with more advanced socialist relations of production. Marx and Engels both gave theoretically affirmative answers to this question under certain conditions, while Lenin and Stalin gave affirmative answers in the practice of the Russian Revolution and Soviet socialist construction. Although problems later emerged in the practice of the Soviet Union, this cannot negate the historical contributions of Lenin and Stalin, just as the fact that the Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties in ancient China were all overthrown cannot negate the rationality of their initial establishment.

但是，随着资本主义的发展，资本主义的内在矛盾日益激化，资本主义不断陷入经济危机，急需向更高阶段发展。马克思以其创立的唯物史观，科学地分析了资本主义内在矛盾的运动规律，通过“批判旧世界，发现新世界”，提出了科学社会主义理论，指明了从资本主义过渡到共产主义的道路，现代化从此有了社会主义化的倾向。俄国先进的知识分子敏锐地抓住了马克思的理论，他们向马克思提出了更高级现代化的问题，即俄国能否根据传统的农业公社留下的文化遗产，“可以不通过资本主义制度的卡夫丁峡谷，而把资本主义制度所创造的一切积极的成果用到公社中来。”俄国人提出了一个很有意义的问题，那就是把现代化与资本主义化加以区分的问题，也就是松绑生产力与生产关系之间的联系，使资本主义制度创造的生产力脱离资本主义生产关系，直接与更先进的社会主义生产关系结合起来。对于这个问题，马克思和恩格斯都从理论上给出了在一定条件下肯定的回答，而列宁和斯大林则在俄国革命和苏联社会主义建设实践中给出了肯定的回答。尽管苏联后来的实践出了问题，但是不能因此否定列宁和斯大林的历史功绩，正如中国古代汉、唐、明等朝代虽然都被颠覆了，但是不能否定它们最初建立时的合理性。

From then on, modernization had two different and mutually opposing models: the Western European capitalist model and the Soviet socialist model, although the Western European capitalist model also varied from country to country.

从此，现代化有了西欧资本主义模式和苏联社会主义模式两种不同且相互对立的模式，尽管西欧资本主义模式在不同的国家里也有所不同。

II. Old China’s Modernization: “Losing at the Starting Line”

二、“输在起跑线上”的旧中国现代化

Modernization in modern China was forced, a modernization undertaken to “avoid perishing.” Britain’s Opium War against China opened the door for invasion by Western powers. The Western powers repeatedly invaded China, using not the “heavy artillery” of “the cheap prices of commodities,” but real heavy artillery of gunpowder and iron shot. To avoid repeating the fate of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, China was forced to “learn the superior techniques of the barbarians to control the barbarians,” embarking on an exploration of capitalist modernization. Moreover, China possessed resources such as coal and iron, providing the material conditions for developing the steam power and machinery of modern industry. Thus, through the Westernization Movement, China began to establish modern industry. However, the modernization of old China was destined to “lose at the starting line.”

近代中国的现代化是被迫的，是“不想灭亡”而进行的现代化。英国对华的鸦片战争打开了西方列强入侵中国的大门。西方列强屡屡对华入侵，他们使用的不是“商品的低廉价格”这样的“重炮”，而是真正的火药铁丸的重炮。为了避免重蹈印第安人的覆辙，中国被迫“师夷长技以制夷”，开启了资本主义现代化的探索，而且中国也有煤和铁等资源，具备发展现代工业的蒸汽力和机器的物质条件，于是中国通过洋务运动，开始建立现代工业。然而，旧中国的现代化注定要“输在起跑线上”。

First, this was because the Qing government of China at that time attempted to combine the productive forces created by the capitalist system with the relations of production of feudal society, that is, the so-called “Chinese learning as the substance, Western learning for practical use.” Although such a combination had also appeared or been realized in the early stages of modernization in countries like Germany and Russia, the contradiction between advanced productive forces and backward relations of production, and its movement, compelled the relations of production in Germany and Russia to increasingly develop toward capitalist relations of production. The political manifestation of this was that Germany, under a monarchy, had a parliament and party activities, and Russia, under a monarchy, also had a Duma and party activities. Lenin once pointed out: “Bismarck was the representative of the counter-revolutionary Junkers of Germany. He understood that only by forming a firm alliance with the counter-revolutionary liberal bourgeoisie could they (the Junkers) be saved (for decades).” [1]1 Karl Marx, "The Future Results of British Rule in India," New-York Daily Tribune, August 8, 1853. However, the Qing government of China could not tolerate such changes in relations of production and politics. They chose to throw themselves into the arms of the Western powers to save themselves, “exhausting China’s resources to curry favor with the friendly nations.” [2]2 Xi Jinping made this remark during an inspection tour, criticizing the passive approach of relying on imports rather than independent innovation. The Hundred Days’ Reform therefore failed, the Qing government essentially abandoned the choice of modernization, and this brought about the prevalence of a comprador economy dependent on foreign capital.

首先，这是因为当时中国的清朝政府企图把资本主义制度所创造的生产力与封建社会的生产关系结合起来，即所谓的“中学为体、西学为用”。虽然这种结合在像德国、俄国这些国家的现代化早期也曾出现或实现过，但是先进的生产力与落后的生产关系的矛盾及其运动迫使德国和俄国的生产关系日益向资本主义生产关系发展，其在政治上的表现就是德国在君主制下有国会和政党活动，俄国在君主制下也有杜马和政党活动。列宁就曾指出：“俾斯麦是德国反革命地主的代表。他懂得只有同反革命自由派资产阶级建立巩固的联盟，才能挽救他们（数十年）。”但是，中国的清朝政府却无法容忍生产关系和政治上的这种变化，他们选择投靠西方列强来挽救自己，“量中华之物力，结与国之欢心”。戊戌变法因此失败，清朝政府实质上放弃了现代化的选择，并带来依附外国资本的买办经济的盛行。

Secondly, after the Western powers completed their own modernization, they began to exclude the modernization of other countries, especially after they gradually developed from free-competitive capitalism to monopoly-competitive capitalism, i.e., imperialism. Out of imperialist interests, the Western powers hoped that China would become their source of raw materials and a market for their industrial goods, that is, their colony. Naturally, they sought to restrict the development of China’s modern industry and hinder China’s modernization. At the same time, in addition to plundering China through trade, the Western powers never gave up military plunder of China. Every time the Western powers launched a military aggression against China, besides directly looting wealth during the war, they also extorted war reparations from China. From the Treaty of Nanking to the Boxer Protocol, there were as many as eight major indemnities, amounting to one billion taels of silver. [3]3 Quoted from the Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC (2022). The loss of vast amounts of wealth also deprived China of sufficient start-up financial resources for modernization, making the modernization process arduous and halting.

其次，西方列强完成自身的现代化之后，开始排斥其他国家的现代化，特别是它们从自由竞争资本主义逐渐发展到垄断竞争资本主义即帝国主义之后。从帝国主义的利益出发，西方列强希望中国成为他们的原料产地和工业品的销售地，也就是成为他们的殖民地。自然地，他们要限制中国现代工业的发展，妨碍中国的现代化。同时，西方列强除了对中国进行贸易掠夺外，一直没有放弃对中国进行军事掠夺。每次西方列强对中国发起军事侵略之后，除了在战争中直接抢劫财富之外，还对中国勒索战争赔款。从《南京条约》到《辛丑条约》的主要赔款就有8次之多，数额高达10亿两白银。大量财富的丧失也使中国的现代化缺乏足够的启动财力，现代化进程步履维艰。

To promote China’s capitalist modernization process, Sun Yat-sen and other people with lofty ideals launched the Revolution of 1911, overthrowing the Qing dynasty, the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history. [4]4 Karl Marx, Capital, Volume 1, Chapter 15, Section 2. However, Japan, using the “Twenty-One Demands” treaty to plunder China as a condition, supported Yuan Shikai’s restoration of the feudal dynasty. [5] Sun Yat-sen and others had to launch a second revolution, carrying out the struggle against Yuan, ultimately thwarting Yuan Shikai’s restoration. Nevertheless, the Western powers were not reconciled to China’s peaceful rise and soon began to support civil wars among Chinese warlords, draining China’s human, material, and financial resources—that is, its modernization potential—in the warlord conflicts. Even so, they were far from satisfied and continued to tacitly permit Japan to conquer China within three months. It was not until China persisted in the War of Resistance, coupled with conflicts between them and Japan over interests in China and Southeast Asia, that they turned to support China’s War of Resistance. [6] But by then, China’s modern industries in the Northeast, Shanghai, Wuhan, Shanxi, and elsewhere had either been seized by Japan or forced to relocate inland; production conditions continued to weaken, production scales declined sharply, and inland cities suffered heavy losses under Japanese air raids, severely depleting China’s national strength. After the victory of the War of Resistance, the United States supported the Chiang Kai-shek government in continuing the civil war in China, coerced and cajoled the Kuomintang government into signing traitorous treaties with the U.S. government, plundered the Chinese people alongside the “Four Big Families,” [7] and forced the Kuomintang government to abandon war reparations claims against Japan, continuing to obstruct China’s rise and modernization. It was not until the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, defeated the Chiang Kai-shek regime, won the victory of the New Democratic Revolution, and established the People’s Republic of China, that China’s modernization truly “stood at the starting line.” Since then, “on the basis of long-term exploration and practice since the founding of New China, especially since reform and opening up, and through theoretical and practical innovations since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party has successfully advanced and expanded Chinese-path modernization.” [8]

为了推动中国的资本主义现代化进程，孙中山等仁人志士发起了辛亥革命，推翻了清朝这一中国历史上最后一个封建王朝。但是，日本以掠夺中国的“二十一条”条约作为条件，支持袁世凯复辟封建王朝，孙中山等人不得不发起二次革命，开展反袁斗争，最终破灭了袁世凯的复辟。然而，西方列强并不甘心中国的和平崛起，很快就开始扶持中国国内军阀混战，使中国的人力、物力、财力也就是现代化的潜力消耗在军阀混战之中。即便如此，他们也毫不满足，继续默许日本三个月内灭亡中国。直到中国在抗战中坚持下来，加上他们与日本在华利益和在东南亚的利益上发生冲突，才转向支持中国的抗日战争。但这时，中国在东北、上海、武汉、山西等地的现代工业不是被日本夺取，就是被迫迁往内地，生产条件持续走弱，生产规模大大下降，内地城市在日军飞机的轰炸下也损失惨重，中国国力大损。抗日战争胜利后，美国支持蒋介石政府继续在中国打内战，并威逼利诱国民党政府与美国政府签署卖国条约，与“四大家族”一起掠夺中国人民，还迫使国民党政府放弃对日本的战争索赔，继续阻止中国崛起和实现现代化。直到中国人民在中国共产党的领导下战胜了蒋介石政权，取得了新民主主义革命的胜利，建立了中华人民共和国，中国的现代化才真正“站在了起跑线上”。自那时以来，“在新中国成立特别是改革开放以来长期探索和实践基础上，经过十八大以来在理论和实践上的创新突破，我们党成功推进和拓展了中国式现代化。”

III. The Start of Chinese-Path Modernization

三、中国式现代化的起跑

The fact that old China’s modernization “lost at the starting line” shows that the path of capitalist modernization was unworkable for China. Therefore, the modernization of New China embarked on a socialist modernization path led by the Communist Party of China, that is, the path of Chinese-path modernization, and Chinese-path modernization began its start. However, having a foundation for the start does not mean a fast start is possible. Stalin once mentioned four ways of starting modernization: “History knows various methods of industrialization. England’s industrialization was achieved by plundering colonies for decades and centuries, collecting ‘additional’ capital there, investing it in its own industry, and accelerating the pace of its industrialization. That is one method of industrialization. Germany accelerated its industrialization through its victory in the war against France in the 1870s. At that time, Germany exacted five billion francs in reparations from France and poured this indemnity into its own industry. That is the second method of industrialization. Russia, old Russia, granted concessions under conditions of subjugation and obtained loans under conditions of subjugation, striving to climb the path of industrialization in this way. That is the third method. … There is a fourth path of industrialization, the path of developing industry through domestic savings, the path of socialist accumulation. Comrade Lenin repeatedly pointed out that this path is the only path for our country’s industrialization.” [9] In fact, the fourth path is mainly the path of acceleration after the start of socialist modernization; taking it as the path for starting modernization would make the start very slow. After the October Revolution, Lenin, on the one hand, abolished the debts incurred by old Russia, shedding the heavy burden at the start of modernization; on the other hand, Lenin strove to implement a policy of concessions externally without conditions of subjugation, thereby obtaining primitive capital for the start of modernization. However, this was opposed by the “White Guards” in exile and met with hostility from Western imperialist countries, and, coupled with capital shortages in Western countries themselves after World War I, the results were poor. [10]

“输在起跑线上”的旧中国现代化表明，中国走资本主义现代化的道路是走不通的。因此，新中国的现代化走上了中国共产党领导的社会主义现代化，也就是中国式现代化道路，中国式现代化开始起跑。但是，有了起跑的基础，不等于能够快速起跑。斯大林曾经提到四种现代化的起跑方式：“历史上有过各种不同的工业化方法。英国的工业化是靠数十年数百年掠夺殖民地，在那里收集‘追加的’资本，把它们投入本国的工业并加快自己工业化的速度来实现的。这是一种工业化方法。德国由于十九世纪七十年代对法战争的胜利而加速了自己的工业化。当时德国向法国人索取了五十亿法郎的赔款，把这笔赔款投入自己的工业。这是第二种工业化方法。俄国，旧的俄国，在受奴役的条件下出让经营权，在受奴役的条件下获得借款，它竭力用这种方法逐步爬上工业化的道路。这是第三种方法。……还有第四条工业化的道路，靠本国节约来发展工业的道路，即社会主义积累的道路。列宁同志屡次指出这条道路是我国工业化唯一的道路。”其实，第四条道路主要是在社会主义现代化起跑后加速的道路，把它作为现代化起跑的道路，会使起跑速度很慢。十月革命后，列宁一方面废除了旧俄国所借的债务，摆脱了现代化起跑时的沉重负担；另一方面，列宁竭力在不受奴役的条件下对外实行租让政策，以此获得原始资本进行现代化起跑，但受到流亡国外的“白卫分子”的反对和西方帝国主义国家的敌视，加上一战后西方国家本身存在资本短缺而效果不佳。

The reason why old China’s modernization “lost at the starting line” is precisely that old China did not adopt, or could not adopt, the four starting methods mentioned above. In the face of the first and second starting methods, old China was the party being plundered, only

旧中国的现代化之所以“输在起跑线上”，正是因为旧中国没有采取或者说无法采取上述四种起跑方式。旧中国在第一种和第二种起跑方式面前属于被掠夺的一方，只是被“放血”而不能“补血”。旧中国也曾采取第三种起跑方式，甚至不惜承接而不是废除清朝政府所欠外债，但由此获得的财力在内战和外来入侵的战争中消耗殆尽。而第四种起跑方式只有新中国才有可能采取。同时，由爱好和平且不甘屈辱的中国人民在中国共产党领导下建立的新中国也完全放弃了前三种道路。正如习近平总书记指出的：“中国式现代化是走和平发展道路的现代化。我国不走一些国家通过战争、殖民、掠夺等方式实现现代化的老路，那种损人利己、充满血腥罪恶的老路给广大发展中国家人民带来深重苦难。我们坚定站在历史正确的一边、站在人类文明进步的一边，高举和平、发展、合作、共赢旗帜，在坚定维护世界和平与发展中谋求自身发展，又以自身发展更好维护世界和平与发展。”

Due to historical reasons, Chinese-path modernization obtained a new starting method, namely that New China received internationalist aid from the socialist state of the Soviet Union, which had a relatively high level of modernization. The Soviet Union assisted China in constructing 156 key projects, the largest-scale aid program one country has ever implemented for another in human history, enabling Chinese-path modernization to take off rapidly. In 1954, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "What can we make now? We can make tables and chairs, we can make tea cups and teapots, we can grow grain, we can grind it into flour, and we can make paper. But we cannot make a single car, a single airplane, a single tank, or a single tractor." [3]3 Quoted from the Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC (2022). It was precisely with the Soviet Union's assistance that China quickly acquired the ability to manufacture cars, airplanes, tanks, and tractors. In addition to acquiring production capacity, China, being vast in territory and abundant in resources, also possessed a large quantity of industrial mineral resources, and in particular shed the label of a country poor in oil, thereby enabling China to henceforth possess the capacity to independently and self-reliantly pursue the fourth type of socialist accumulation path, and to accelerate its pace even after the start of Chinese-path modernization. It is worth mentioning that the New Democratic Revolution led by the Communist Party of China, like the Russian October Revolution, was the most thorough democratic revolution; it eliminated the landlord class, abolished the private ownership of land that hindered the free flow of capital or factors of production, and cleared the greatest economic obstacle for Chinese-path modernization.

由于历史原因，中国式现代化获得了新的起跑方式，那就是新中国从现代化水平较高的苏联那里得到了来自社会主义国家的国际主义援助。苏联援建了中国156项重点工程，这是人类历史上一个国家对另一个国家实施的最大规模的援助计划，使中国式现代化得以飞速起跑。1954年，毛泽东同志指出：“现在我们能造什么？能造桌子椅子，能造茶碗茶壶，能种粮食，还能磨成面粉，还能造纸，但是，一辆汽车、一架飞机、一辆坦克、一辆拖拉机都不能造。”正是在苏联的援助下，中国才很快地获得了制造汽车、飞机、坦克和拖拉机的能力。除了获得生产能力之外，中国由于地大物博，还拥有大量的工业矿产资源，特别是甩掉了贫油国的帽子，使中国从此具有了独立自主、自力更生走第四种社会主义积累道路的能力，且在中国式现代化起跑之后还能加速跑。值得一提的是，中国共产党领导的新民主主义革命和俄国十月革命一样都是最彻底的民主主义革命，它消灭了地主阶级，废除了妨碍资本或生产要素自由流动的土地私有权，为中国式现代化扫清了最大的经济障碍。

IV. The Acceleration of Chinese-path Modernization

四、中国式现代化的加速

After completing the starting run of modernization through socialist primitive accumulation with Soviet assistance, Chinese-path modernization began to follow the fourth path pointed out by Stalin, carrying out socialist accumulation and striving to realize the modernization goals set by the Eighth National Congress of the CPC, namely, “to equip China with a powerful modernized industry, modernized agriculture, modernized transportation, and modernized national defense.” To this end, New China practiced extreme frugality. On the one hand, because there were no landlords or capitalists, the portion of surplus labor beyond necessary labor could all be used for accumulation; on the other hand, the Chinese people, being hardworking, thrifty, and frugal, kept necessary labor—what Western countries call labor costs—relatively low, enabling them to endure hardship and struggle over a long period. Consequently, New China’s accumulation rate was very high, the means of production grew more rapidly, and heavy industry developed quickly.

在苏联的援助下完成社会主义原始积累的现代化起跑之后，中国式现代化开始依照斯大林所指出的第四条道路，进行社会主义积累，努力实现党的八大提出的现代化目标，即“使中国具有强大的现代化的工业、现代化的农业、现代化的交通运输业和现代化的国防”。为此，新中国实行了极大的节约。一方面，由于没有地主和资本家，因此，必要劳动之外的剩余劳动部分都可以用于积累；另一方面，中国人民吃苦耐劳、勤俭节约，必要劳动即西方国家所谓的人工成本偏低，也使中国人民能在较长的时间里艰苦奋斗。因此，新中国的积累率很高，生产资料更加优先增长，重工业发展得很快。

Although the production of means of subsistence was also growing at this time, New China’s population grew very rapidly as well, so the improvement in each person’s standard of living remained very limited. In terms of daily consumption, it was only somewhat higher than the general level in old China and had not yet reached the general level of the petty bourgeoisie under the old society; the superiority of socialism was not clearly evident. In particular, during this period, in order to accelerate development, the “Great Leap Forward” was launched divorced from reality, plunging the national economy into severe difficulties and necessitating comprehensive readjustment, which to some extent dampened the masses’ enthusiasm for building socialism. At that time, compared with capitalist countries, the domestic production of new consumer goods such as household appliances was clearly insufficient, leading some people during reform and opening up to question the superiority of socialism and to lean toward worshiping foreign things. In fact, this was a kind of petty-bourgeois questioning. On the one hand, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of a huge population, developed on the basis of “poverty and blankness”; even with Soviet assistance, its arduousness and complexity were unprecedented, requiring much foundational work that could not yield immediate results. On the other hand, at that time China had achieved public ownership of the means of production, and people with a petty-bourgeois ideology saw only what individuals held in their hands, not what was held in common, nor non-material wealth such as the elevation of cultural level. In contrast, General Secretary Xi Jinping

虽然这时消费资料的生产也在增长，但是新中国的人口增长得也很快，所以每个人的生活水平的改善还十分有限。在生活消费方面，仅仅比旧中国的一般水平有所提高，还没有达到旧社会小资产阶级的一般水平，社会主义的优越性表现得不够明显。特别是这个时期为了加快发展，曾脱离实际发动“大跃进”，使国民经济陷入严重的困难局面，不得不全面加以调整，在一定程度上挫伤了人民群众建设社会主义的积极性。当时，与资本主义国家相比，国内新型消费品如家用电器的生产明显不足，也使得改革开放之时一些人质疑社会主义优越性而倒向崇洋媚外。其实，这是一种小资产阶级性质的质疑。一方面，中国式现代化是人口规模巨大的现代化，是在“一穷二白”的基础上发展起来的，即使得到苏联的援助，其艰巨性和复杂性也是前所未有的，需要从事很多不能立竿见影的基础性工作来打下基础。另一方面，当时中国实现的是生产资料公有制，具有小资产阶级意识形态的人只看到个人手里持有的东西，看不到共同持有的东西，也看不到文化水平提升这种非物质财富。相反地，习近平总书记看到了更为深刻的东西，提出“不能用改革开放后的历史时期否定改革开放前的历史时期”。

After more than 20 years of construction in New China, although the national economic landscape had greatly improved, at this time, on the one hand, there was an excess capacity in China’s basic industrial production; on the other hand, the production of consumer goods was relatively insufficient, the ratio between the production of means of production and means of consumption was imbalanced, and economic development once fell into difficulty. Moreover, although New China had made substantial investments in agricultural facilities such as reservoirs and terraced fields, agricultural production efficiency was not high, and the agricultural population still constituted the majority of the population. Therefore, despite New China having a complete range of industrial sectors, it remained a predominantly agricultural country. To address this, New China introduced foreign technology, increased the production of agricultural inputs such as chemical fertilizers, and focused on developing high-yield grain varieties. It was not until breakthroughs in technologies such as high-yield hybrid rice were achieved that agricultural products became abundant and the people’s problem of food and clothing was thoroughly resolved. The improvement in agricultural production efficiency led to the emergence in the countryside of a large surplus labor force that could shift to industrial sectors. At the same time, with the return to cities of educated youth who had been sent to the countryside [4]4 Karl Marx, Capital, Volume 1, Chapter 15, Section 2., a large surplus labor force also appeared in urban areas. At this juncture, with the improvement in Sino-US relations, the world market began to open up to China. Chinese-path modernization encountered an opportunity for takeoff, and China firmly seized this opportunity through reform and opening up.

经过新中国20多年的建设，虽然国家经济面貌有了很大改进，但这时，一方面，中国的基础工业产能存在过剩现象；另一方面，生活消费品生产相对不足，生产品与消费品的生产比例失调，经济发展一度陷入困境。而且新中国虽在农业设施如水库、梯田等方面进行了很大投入，但农业的生产效率不高，农业人口仍占人口的大多数。因此，尽管新中国工业门类齐全，但仍是一个以农业为主的国家。为此，新中国通过引进国外技术，加大化肥等农用物资的生产，着力研发高产粮食品种，直到取得高产杂交稻等技术的突破，农产品才丰富起来，人民的温饱问题才彻底解决。农业生产效率的提高使农村出现大量可以转向工业部门的富余劳动力。同时，上山下乡的知识青年回城，城市也出现了大量的剩余劳动力。当此之时，随着中美关系的改善，世界市场开始向中国开放。中国式现代化迎来了起飞的契机，而中国通过改革开放紧紧抓住了这个契机。

The period of China’s reform and opening up coincided precisely with the development of world capitalism from the imperialist stage to the neo-imperialist stage. Capital, especially big capital, began to detach itself from the production process, turning instead to seizing profits through financial means and political-legal means such as intellectual property rights. Coupled with the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, as revealed by Marx, which caused stagflation in Western capitalist economies, the productive capital of capitalist countries began a large-scale industrial transfer to developing countries. The industrial base, transportation and communication conditions developed by New China, along with the large number of high-quality surplus laborers cultivated through New China’s literacy campaigns and universal cultural education, and especially the low cost of land acquisition and house demolition for use in industry and road construction, made China the most suitable region for undertaking this industrial transfer and the region with the highest profit margins. Moreover, China’s relatively high tariff levels at the time made direct production in China more profitable than exporting to China. Consequently, China was able to attract a large amount of foreign capital, giving rise to a new situation different both from the four paths described by Stalin and from the period when China received Soviet aid. At this time, the United States, through neo-imperialist means, forced Japan to sign the Plaza Accord [5], causing a substantial appreciation of the yen, which made it more advantageous for Japanese enterprises to invest and produce overseas, especially in China, thereby promoting China’s work of attracting foreign investment. The introduction of a large amount of foreign capital enabled China to rapidly complete, or rather to add to, a new round of capital accumulation, adjust its industrial structure, and accelerate Chinese-path modernization.

中国改革开放之时，正是世界资本主义从帝国主义阶段向新帝国主义阶段发展之时，资本特别是大资本开始脱离生产过程，转向凭借金融手段和政治法律手段如知识产权等攫取利益，加上马克思所揭示的平均利润率趋向下降规律引起西方资本主义经济发生滞胀，资本主义国家的生产资本开始大规模向发展中国家进行产业转移。而新中国发展起来的工业基础、交通运输条件，以及大量通过新中国扫盲教育和普及文化教育培养出来的高素质的剩余劳动力，尤其是土地征收和房屋拆迁并用于工业和道路建设的成本很低，使中国成为承接这种产业转移最为合适、利润率最高的地区，而且当时中国较高的关税水平也使得在中国直接生产比向中国出口利润更高。因此，中国得以吸引大量外资，出现了既不同于斯大林描述的四条道路，也不同于中国获得苏联援助的新情况。这时，美国通过新帝国主义手段迫使日本签订广场协议，造成日元大幅升值，使日本企业到海外特别是中国投资生产更为有利，促进了中国引进外资的工作。大量外资的引进使中国快速完成了或者说追加了新的资本积累，调整了产业结构，中国式现代化开始加速。

Although the Chinese government implemented policies of attracting foreign capital and supporting domestic capital, it still adhered to the principle of maintaining the dominant position of public ownership, thereby retaining a strong capacity to regulate and control domestic economic development. Therefore, when neo-imperialism provoked economic crises in developing countries such as those in Southeast and East Asia to seize financial gains, China’s economy was still able to maintain stability, and Chinese-path modernization was able to accelerate its development.

中国政府虽然实行了引进外资、扶持内资的政策，但仍然坚持公有制为主体的原则，从而对国内经济发展具有很强的调控能力。因此，当新帝国主义挑起发展中国家如东南亚和东亚经济危机以攫取金融利益时，中国经济仍能维持稳定，中国式现代化更是得以加快发展。

V. The Soaring Flight of Chinese-Path Modernization

五、中国式现代化的奋飞

With the entry of socialism with Chinese characteristics into the New Era, Chinese-path modernization entered a stage of soaring flight. Although the growth rate of China’s economy shifted from high-speed growth to medium-high-speed growth, this is merely a sign that the scale of China’s economy has undergone a qualitative change and ascended to a new level. As General Secretary Xi Jinping described it: “Just like a person who grows rapidly in height between

随着中国特色社会主义进入新时代，中国式现代化进入了奋飞阶段。虽然中国经济的增长速度从高速增长转为中高速增长，但这只是中国经济规模发生质变而跃上新台阶的标志。正如习近平总书记所形容的：“如同一个人，10岁至18岁期间个子猛长，18岁之后长个子的速度就慢下来了。”事实上，进入新时代以来，“全国八百三十二个贫困县全部摘帽，近一亿农村贫困人口实现脱贫，九百六十多万贫困人口实现易地搬迁，历史性地解决了绝对贫困问题”，“国内生产总值从五十四万亿元增长到一百一十四万亿元，我国经济总量占世界经济的比重达百分之十八点五，提高七点二个百分点，稳居世界第二位；人均国内生产总值从三万九千八百元增加到八万一千元。谷物总产量稳居世界首位，十四亿多人的粮食安全、能源安全得到有效保障。城镇化率提高十一点六个百分点，达到百分之六十四点七。”

After reform and opening up, we primarily participated in the global division of labor based on comparative advantage, achieving rapid economic development and becoming the country with the most complete range of industrial sectors in the world. However, problems of "bottlenecks" also emerged in some key core areas. Yet, developing productive forces means achieving self-reliance and controllability, and modernization means breaking monopolies. Marx clearly pointed out, "Just as everything has become a monopoly, there are at present some industrial branches which dominate all others and ensure that the nations chiefly engaged in them rule the world market." [1]1 Karl Marx, "The Future Results of British Rule in India," New-York Daily Tribune, August 8, 1853. Currently, the United States uses the dominant position of the chip manufacturing sector over other industrial sectors to suppress and restrict China's economy, and strives to intervene in China's development from its position of monopoly power. Clearly, for China to approach the center of the world stage and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, it must, through modernization, enter those industrial branches that dominate all others, break the monopoly position of the United States on the world market, and complete the task of building a modern socialist country in all respects. In response, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed taking innovation as the primary driving force for development, and, regarding the past notion of "building is better than buying, buying is better than renting," pointed out that "this logic must be reversed." [2]2 Xi Jinping made this remark during an inspection tour, criticizing the passive approach of relying on imports rather than independent innovation. This means that Chinese-path modernization must shift from the previous factor-driven and investment-driven approaches to innovation-driven development. As "we have introduced and implemented the new development philosophy, striven to promote high-quality development, worked to create a new pattern of development, implemented supply-side structural reform, and formulated a series of major regional strategies of overall significance, China's economic strength has achieved a historic leap." [3]3 Quoted from the Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC (2022). At the same time, basic research and original innovation have been continuously strengthened, breakthroughs have been made in some key core technologies, and China has entered the ranks of innovative countries.

改革开放后，我们主要基于比较优势参与全球化分工，经济实现飞速发展，成为全世界工业部门最齐全的国家，但在一些关键核心领域也出现了“卡脖子”问题。然而，发展生产力就是要实现自主可控，现代化就是要打破垄断。马克思明确指出，“正如一切都已成为垄断的，在现时，也有一些工业部门支配所有其他部门，并且保证那些主要从事这些行业的民族统治世界市场。”当前，美国利用芯片制造部门对其他工业部门的支配地位来打压和限制中国经济，并力图从其垄断的实力地位出发干预中国发展。显然，中国要走近世界舞台中央、实现中华民族伟大复兴，就必须通过现代化进入支配所有其他部门的工业部门，打破美国的世界市场垄断地位，完成全面建设社会主义现代化国家的任务。对此，习近平总书记提出把创新作为引领发展的第一动力，针对过去“造不如买，买不如租”的观念指出“这个逻辑要倒过来”。这意味着中国式现代化必须从曾经的要素驱动、投资驱动转向创新驱动。随着“我们提出并贯彻新发展理念，着力推进高质量发展，推动构建新发展格局，实施供给侧结构性改革，制定一系列具有全局性意义的区域重大战略，我国经济实力实现历史性跃升”。同时，基础研究和原始创新不断加强，一些关键核心技术实现突破，中国已经进入创新型国家行列。

Marx pointed out, "Labor of a higher productivity counts as intensified labor; in other words, it creates greater value in the same period of time than average social labor of the same kind." [4]4 Karl Marx, Capital, Volume 1, Chapter 15, Section 2. And innovation is the main pathway to achieving labor of a higher productivity. At the same time, the level of productive forces is also determined by the quantity of use-values produced in the same value creation. Therefore, the labor of a higher productivity brought about by innovation can not only create more value in the same amount of time, but can also create a greater quantity or better quality of use-values. It can accelerate the accumulation of factors of production faster, better, and more cheaply, while at the same time meeting the people's needs for a better life more fully or with higher quality at lower cost. Precisely because China has entered the ranks of innovative countries, Chinese-path modernization can take flight to achieve socialist modernization better and faster. We are more confident in completing, on schedule, with quality and quantity guaranteed, the strategic task of "building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and achieving the Second Centenary Goal" by the middle of this century, welcoming the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and realizing common prosperity for all the people.

马克思指出，“生产力特别高的劳动起了自乘的劳动的作用，或者说，在同样的时间内，它所创造的价值比同种社会平均劳动要多。”而创新正是实现生产力特别高的劳动的主要途径。同时，生产力的高低也是以在相同的价值创造中生产使用价值量的多寡来确定的。因此，创新带来的生产力特别高的劳动不仅在同样的时间内可以创造更多的价值，而且可以创造数量更多或质量更好的使用价值，能在更快更好更便宜地加速生产要素积累的同时，以更低廉的成本更充分或更优质地满足人民对美好生活的需要。正是因为中国进入创新型国家行列，中国式现代化才迎来更好更快地实现社会主义现代化的奋飞，我们才更有信心保时保质保量地在本世纪中叶完成“全面建成社会主义现代化强国、实现第二个百年奋斗目标”的战略任务，迎接中华民族伟大复兴和实现全体人民共同富裕。

VI. The Implications of Chinese-Path Modernization

六、中国式现代化的启示

Although the problems of each country must be solved by its own people based on its own basic national conditions, and although Chinese-path modernization is closely related to China's national conditions and specific historical opportunities, Chinese-path modernization provides a new choice for humanity to achieve modernization and still has a certain world-historical significance. It can offer some implications for other countries that have not yet achieved modernization or have a low degree of modernization in completing the task of modernization. The course of Chinese-path modernization shows that to achieve modernization, the first and foremost condition is the need for a strong leading core like the Communist Party of China, which fears no difficulties or obstacles, dares to break monopolies, and leads the people in modernization construction. Second, one must not lose at the starting line. This requires achieving national and ethnic independence, abolishing all unequal treaties, and avoiding becoming a vassal of Western imperialist countries, so as to carry out modernization autonomously. It also requires possessing a strong and united national defense force to avoid or resist foreign armed intervention. Third, it is necessary to thoroughly complete the democratic revolution, eliminate the landlord class, remove the obstacles that land private ownership poses to the flow of capital or factors of production, eradicate feudal personal dependency relations, and enable labor power to freely enter modern industrial sectors. Generally speaking, to achieve the second and third conditions, the first condition must be met, i.e., possessing a strong leading core. Fourth, it is necessary to let the masses of the people share in the fruits of modernization construction. In this way, the masses will support modernization construction and be willing to strive for its realization, unlike the trade unions and workers in some Western countries who, fearing unemployment due to technological progress, resist technological progress and hinder the country's modernization development. Fifth, it is necessary to raise the funds for primitive accumulation needed for the start of modernization. In this regard, the implication from the experience of Chinese-path modernization construction is to absorb foreign investment on equal and non-enslaving terms. At the same time, it is necessary to practice strict economy and prioritize the use of limited funds for developing production. Currently, the Belt and Road Initiative has become a popular international public good and international cooperation platform. All countries can make full use of this platform to integrate into the world market and expand foreign exchanges on the premise of equality and mutual benefit. Sixth, insist on focusing the main effort of economic development on the real economy. After the start of modernization, priority should be given to developing the production of means of production, and possessing the capability to independently manufacture industrial equipment. Seventh, prioritize the development of education. On the one hand, it is necessary to provide high-quality laborers for modernization construction; on the other hand, it is necessary to provide innovative R&D personnel for modernization construction, thereby breaking the technological monopoly of individual countries. Eighth, improve the efficiency of agricultural production, or be able to exchange efficiently produced other products for large quantities of cheap agricultural products, thereby reducing necessary labor and increasing accumulation. Ninth, vigorously develop infrastructure construction, especially improving transportation conditions, thereby shortening circulation time. "If you want to get rich, build roads first" is also a successful experience of Chinese-path modernization construction. Tenth, make good use of both domestic and international resources to provide the necessary raw materials for modernization construction. Finally, the historical experience of Chinese-path modernization also shows that in the early stages of economic development, appropriate high tariffs on industrial goods are necessary. However, it must be clear that such high tariffs are not intended to protect weak domestic modern industries, nor are they a form of import substitution as some developing countries have attempted. Rather, they are intended to attract advanced foreign industries to invest and produce in the country and to facilitate industrial transfer. In this case, domestic and foreign enterprises within a country's tariff barrier are in a relationship of equal competition. This can better stimulate domestic enterprises to accelerate their modernization development, so that even if tariffs are lowered in the future, domestic enterprises can still possess international competitiveness.

虽然各国的问题必须从各国本身的基本国情出发，由各国人民自己来解答，虽然中国式现代化与中国国情和特殊的历史机遇有着密切关系，但中国式现代化为人类实现现代化提供了新的选择，仍然具有一定的世界历史意义，能给其他还没有实现现代化或现代化程度较低的国家，在完成现代化任务方面提供一些启示。中国式现代化的历程表明，要实现现代化，第一也是首要的一条在于，需要有一个像中国共产党那样的坚强的领导核心，不怕一切艰难险阻，敢于打破垄断，带领人民进行现代化建设。第二是不能输在起跑线上。这就要求获得国家和民族的独立，废除一切不平等条约，避免沦为西方帝国主义国家的附庸，以便自主地进行现代化。这也要求拥有强大的和众志成城的国防力量，避免或能够抵抗外国的武装干涉。第三是要彻底完成民主主义革命，消灭地主，消除土地私有权对资本或生产要素流动形成的障碍，消灭封建的人身依附关系，使劳动力能够自由进入现代化的产业部门。一般来说，要做到第二条和第三条，必须要具备第一个条件，即拥有一个坚强的领导核心。第四是要让人民群众共享现代化建设成果。这样，人民群众才会支持现代化建设，才愿意为实现现代化而奋斗，而不会像西方一些国家的工会和工人那样，由于害怕技术进步导致失业而抵制技术进步，妨碍国家的现代化发展。第五是要筹措现代化起跑所需要的原始积累的资金。在这方面，中国式现代化建设经验的启示是以平等的、不受奴役的条件吸收外来投资。同时，要厉行节约，将有限的资金优先用于发展生产上。当前，“一带一路”已成为深受欢迎的国际公共产品和国际合作平台。各国均可充分利用这一平台，实现在平等互利的前提下融入世界市场并扩大对外交往。第六是坚持把发展经济的着力点放在实体经济上。在现代化起跑之后，要优先发展生产资料的生产，拥有自主制造工业设备的能力。第七是优先发展教育事业。一方面，要为现代化建设提供高素质的劳动者；另一方面，要为现代化建设提供具有创新能力的研发者，从而打破个别国家在技术上的垄断。第八是提高农业的生产效率，或者能用高效生产的其他产品换回大量廉价的农产品，以此降低必要劳动、增加积累。第九是大力发展基础设施建设，尤其是改善交通运输条件，从而缩短流通时间。“要想富，先修路”也是中国式现代化建设的一条成功经验。第十是利用好国内国外两种资源，为现代化建设提供必需的生产原料。最后，中国式现代化的历史经验还表明，在经济发展初期，适当的工业品高关税是必要的。但要明确，这种高关税不是为了保护国内弱小的现代工业，不是像一些发展中国家曾经试图采取的那种进口替代，而是为了吸引国外的先进工业到本国来投资生产、进行产业转移。在这种情况下，国内外企业在一国关税内是平等竞争的关系。这就可以更好地刺激本国企业加速现代化发展，进而即便今后降低了关税，本国企业也能具备国际竞争力。

(Author's bio: Yu Bin, Researcher at the Academy of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者简介：余斌，中国社会科学院马克思主义研究院研究员）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心