An Analysis of Marx’s Thought on Economic Justice – Taking *Capital* as the Object of Study

Marx’s thought on economic justice, from a broad perspective, should be regarded as a holistic thought encompassing multiple aspects of human social life, including economic systems, economic activities, and ideological concepts; from a narrow perspective, it includes the justice of economic links in the processes of production, exchange, distribution, and consumption. For a long time, the debate between Marx and the issue of justice has never ceased. How to understand Marx’s thought on economic justice has become a topic of diverse opinions, and many ambiguous and one-sided understandings have even emerged.

马克思经济正义思想, 从广义角度而言, 应当被视为是包含了人类社会生活的经济制度、 经济活动和思想观念等多方面的整体思想; 从狭义角度而言, 包括生产、 交换、 分配、 消费过程中经济环节的正义。 长期以来, 马克思与正义问题的论争始终未曾停止, 如何理解马克思经济正义思想成为了一个众说纷纭的议题, 甚至出现了很多歧义和片面理解。

1 The Triple Implications of Marx’s Thought on Economic Justice

1 马克思经济正义思想的三重意蕴

Although Marx did not directly study or systematically expound on the issue of economic justice, the word “justice” is scattered throughout many of his works and is mentioned by him on numerous occasions. In the three volumes of *Capital*, he not only saw the same possibility for everyone to achieve predetermined goals under the capitalist mode of production, but also keenly examined the state of human existence and development under different economic links and historical stages of economic relations.

虽然马克思并未直接研究和系统地论述经济正义问题, 但“正义”一词散落在它的诸多著作中, 被他多次提及。 在《资本论》这三卷书中, 他不仅看到了每个人在资本主义生产方式下达到既定目的的相同可能性, 而且还敏锐地考察到了在不同经济环节和历史阶段经济关系下的人的存在发展状况。

1.1 Justice of Economic Theory: Justice Based on Equal Rights

1.1 经济理论的正义: 平等权利基础上的正义

Marxist thought on economic justice is based on the critique of the justice of actual capital logic and the construction of equal rights relations. Since the dawn of human thought, “justice” has always been an important topic in human social life, and its context has always been linked to “equal rights.” But what kind of “equal rights” is this?

马克思主义经济正义思想是基于对现实资本逻辑正义性的批判和对平等权利关系的构建。 从有人类思想以来, “正义”始终是人类社会生活的重要话题, 其语境也始终与“平等权利”相联系, 但这究竟是何种“平等权利”?

The reason why people pursue justice lies in the human quest for an ideal existence and the search for transcendence over the current state. As early as ancient Greece, Plato vividly depicted his ideal state in *The Republic*. Through the mouth of Socrates, he thoroughly refuted Thrasymachus’s views with very rigorous logic from an ethical standpoint, proving that justice exists objectively while also elucidating the view that this ideal state is composed of three classes: rulers, soldiers, and laborers. Clearly, under this ideal state, a hierarchical structure still exists, holding that “justice is doing one’s own work and not meddling with what is not one’s own.” [1]1 Plato, *The Republic*, 433a. The ruler assigns different arrangements according to people’s class, and the three classes of society should abide by class concepts, stay content with their lot, and each perform their own duties—this is the “equal rights” required by fairness and justice. Aristotle, who always emphasized that there is no clear boundary between the political publicness of the state and the private virtue of individual citizens, also said, “Some men are by nature free, and others are by nature slaves.” [2]2 Aristotle, *Politics*, 1254b. This series of fairness and justice, which contains value claims of equal rights, is still premised on human inequality. Clearly, “to derive the conclusion of equal rights in the state and society from such relatively equal primitive notions” [3]3 Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, Penguin, 1976, p. 280. and make it a universal understanding in society is not easy.

人之所以追求正义, 其根源在于人对理想性存在的追寻, 寻求对现存状态的超越。 早在古希腊时期, 柏拉图就曾在《理想国》中精致描绘他所理想的国家。 他借苏格拉底之口, 以非常严谨的逻辑从伦理上彻底驳斥色拉叙马霍斯观点, 证明正义是客观存在的同时, 也阐明这种理想国家由政治家、 军人和劳动者三个等级构成的观点。 显然, 在这种理想国度下依旧存在着等级结构, 认为“正义就是只做自己的事而不兼做别人的事”。 统治者依据人们的阶层不同, 给予不同的安排, 社会三个等级者理应恪守等级观念、 安守本分地各司其职便是公平正义所要求的“平等权利”。 始终强调国家的政治公共性和公民个体的美德私人性间没有明确分界的亚里士多德, 也说“有些人天生即是自由的, 有些人天生就是奴隶”。 这一系列内涵着平等权利价值主张的公平正义, 仍是以人的不平等为前提。 显然, “要从这种相对平等的原始观念中得出国家和社会中的平等权利的结论”, 并使之成为社会的普遍认识是不易的。

In *Capital*, through his analysis of value, Marx elucidates the concept of equal rights formed on the basis of the modern commodity economy, namely, the formal legal equality between workers and capitalists formed by a contract. As is well known, the buying and selling of labor power takes place within the sphere of circulation in the form of commodity exchange, “this sphere is indeed a very Eden of the innate rights of man.” [4]4 Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, p. 280. Under the rapid development of productive forces marked by machine-based large-scale production, laborers, by virtue of their own free will, obtained the result that the law expressed as being able to control themselves. This manifestation of breaking free from the former patriarchal and hierarchical bonds made equal rights seem to have changed compared to before. However, once we leave this simple sphere of circulation and exchange, the thing between the capitalist and the worker that was once called an “exchange relation” becomes an illusory appearance, “a form which is alien to the content and merely makes it mysterious.” [5]5 Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, p. 280. Under capitalist conditions, in the eyes of the capitalist, all products of labor can become commodities, and even labor power itself is no exception. Clearly, the “fair transaction” born between the laborer and the capitalist is an unfair transaction based on the transaction of labor power as a commodity.

在《资本论》中, 马克思通过对价值的分析, 阐释了在现代商品经济基础上所形成的平等权利观念, 即工人和资本家之间因一纸契约, 形成了在形式上法律面前的平等关系。 众所周知, 劳动力的买卖在流通领域界限内以商品交换的形式进行, “这个领域确实是天赋人权的真正伊甸园”。 以机器大生产为标志的生产力迅速发展下, 劳动者凭借自己的自由意志, 得到了法律所表现出的可以自己支配自己的结果, 这种摆脱曾经宗法等级束缚的表现, 使平等权利看起来似乎较之前发生了变化。 但是, 一旦离开这一简单流通交换领域, 资本家和工人间那个曾被称为“交换关系”的东西便变成虚幻的表象, “成为一种与内容本身无关的并只能使它神秘化的形式”。 资本主义条件下, 在资本家的眼中, 一切劳动产品可以成为商品, 甚至劳动力本身也不例外。 显然, 劳动者与资本家之间诞生的“公平交易”是劳动力商品交易基础上的不公平的交易。

1.2 Justice of Economic Activities: Justice in the Links of Production, Exchange, Distribution, and Consumption

1.2 经济活动的正义: 生产、 交换、 分配、 消费环节的正义

In the *Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy*, Marx clearly pointed out that production, exchange, distribution, and consumption constitute the whole of economic activity. In fact, while Marx fiercely criticized the injustice in production and distribution under the capitalist mode of production, he also affirmed the justice in exchange under the capitalist mode of production.

马克思在《〈政治经济学批判〉导言》中曾明确指出, 生产、 交换、 分配、 消费构成了经济活动的整体。 事实上, 马克思在对资本主义生产方式的生产非正义和分配非正义进行激烈批判的同时, 也肯定了资本主义生产方式的交易正义。

First, from the perspective of production, Marx’s judgment on the justice of capitalist production is based on a value evaluation and philosophical examination of the conformity of production effects with laws. Marx emphasized: “As long as it corresponds to and is consistent with the mode of production, it is just. As long as it contradicts the mode of production, it is unjust.” [6]6 Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 3, Penguin, 1981, p. 379. In other words, Marx placed capitalist relations of production in the process of historical development, holding that every economic activity has a corresponding standard for judging justice, that is, the level at which productive forces and relations of production achieve organic unity and development. Idyllic descriptions are merely a manifestation of illusion; behind the phenomenon of the black-box operation of capitalist production lies the substantive injustice in the links of transaction, distribution, and consumption once we leave the sphere of circulation.

首先, 从生产角度看, 马克思对资本主义生产正义性的判断是基于生产效果合乎规律性的价值评价和哲学审视。 马克思强调:“只要与生产方式相适应, 相一致, 就是正义的。 只要与生产方式相矛盾, 就是非正义的。”[5]379 换言之, 马克思将资本主义生产关系放在历史的发展过程中, 认为每一种经济活动都有与之相适应的正义判断标准, 即生产力与生产关系达到有机统一发展的水平。 田园诗式的描述只是一种虚幻性的体现, 在资本主义生产的暗箱操作现象背后, 则是离开了流通领域在交易、 分配和消费环节实质的不正义。

Second, all exchange activities aim to satisfy some need as a basic purpose, but this should be premised on the equal status of the two parties to the exchange. In fact, “the depth, breadth, and mode of exchange are all determined by the development and structure of production.” [7]7 Marx, *A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy*, Progress Publishers, 1970, p. 205. The capitalist, by virtue of his advantage in possessing the means of production, exchanges wages with laborers who have been stripped of their labor conditions, forcing laborers to sell their labor power as a commodity to earn their means of subsistence. On the surface, the capitalist follows the principle of equivalent exchange, enabling the laborer to obtain the necessary social value in the production process. But after the exchange is completed, “the capitalist constantly appropriates, without equivalent, a portion of the already materialized labor of others which he has already appropriated, and exchanges it for a still greater quantity of living labor.” [8]8 Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, p. 729. Thus, a situation is formed where the laborer is forced to sell his labor power as a commodity to the capitalist, and the capitalist appropriates the worker’s labor without compensation, thereby creating a superficial exchange.

其次, 一切交换活动都以达成某种需要为基本目的, 但是, 这应当以交换主体双方处于平等地位作为前提。 事实上, “交换的深度、 广度和方式都是由生产的发展和结构决定的”。 资本家凭借占有生产资料的优势, 用工资与被剥夺劳动条件的劳动者进行交换, 迫使劳动者出卖劳动力作为商品来赚取自己的生活资料。 从表面上看, 资本家遵循了等价交换原则, 使劳动者在生产过程获得了所需要的社会必要价值。 但是交换完成后, 则是“资本家用他总是不付等价物而占有的别人的已经物化的劳动的一部分, 来不断再换取更大量的别人的活劳动”。 由此, 形成了劳动者被迫出卖自己的劳动力商品给资本家, 资本家无偿占有工人劳动的局面, 一种表面上的交换由此形成。

Third, from the perspective of distribution, Marx regarded distribution as a link incorporated into economic activity. Achieving the goal of distributing the products of labor to all members of society according to the principle of equality would realize justice. However, according to the capitalist economic system, all factors of production are bought by the capitalist, and the results of production naturally all belong to the capitalist. This kind of distribution is considered reasonable and just. In his *Marx on Distributive Justice*, Husami first states that his task is only “to clarify Marx’s position on this issue, not to evaluate its correctness.” [9]9 Ziyad I. Husami, “Marx on Distributive Justice,” *Philosophy & Public Affairs*, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1978, p. 27. However, in the final exposition, he still overestimates the role of morality in distribution. In contrast, Marx, in *Capital*, clears away the obscured mist of reality and points out that owners of capital and landowners, by virtue of profit and rent—these “things that have not created value can nevertheless participate in the distribution of social wealth in the process of distribution” [10]10 Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 3, p. 996..

再次, 就分配角度而言, 马克思认为分配作为被纳入经济活动的环节, 实现劳动产品按照平等的原则分给社会中所有人这一目的, 则是实现了正义性。 但是, 按照资本主义经济制度, 全部的生产要素都是资本家买来的, 生产出的成果自然全部都归资本家所得, 这种分配才是合理的和正义的。 胡萨米在《马克思论分配正义》中, 首先表明自己的任务只是“弄清马克思在这个问题上的立场, 而不是去评价它的正确性”。 但是, 在最终的阐述过程中却仍然过高地分析了道德在分配中所起的作用。 与之不同的是, 马克思在《资本论》中拨开被遮蔽的现实迷雾, 指明资本所有者和土地所有者凭借利润、 地租这些“没有进行价值创造的物却能够在分配过程中参与社会财富的分配”。

Finally, Marx analyzes in *Capital* that, because workers’ own consumption is part of social reproduction, there exists a huge disparity in consumption levels between workers and capitalists. On the one hand, capitalists sell commodities to consumers at a price increased on the basis of the commodity’s actual value; workers must spend their wages to obtain means of consumption, and this is part of commodity-capital under the capitalist economy. On the other hand, workers have almost no capacity to consume other commodities; even the wages used solely to purchase necessities of life, passing through the sphere of consumption, will ultimately become variable capital and return once again to the hands of the capitalists. In other words, the use-value that was valued by the possessor of money in the exchange process is, after all, “only manifested in the actual use, i.e., the consumption process, of labor-power.”

最后, 马克思在《资本论》中分析指出, 劳动者因自身消费属于社会再生产的一部分, 而与资本家之间在消费水平方面存在着巨大差异。 一方面, 资本家在商品实有价值的基础上加价出售给消费者, 劳动者为了获得消费资料必须通过花费工资, 而这是资本主义经济下商品资本的一部分; 另一方面, 劳动者几乎没有能力消费其他商品, 仅用于购买生活必需品的工资也通过消费领域, 将会最终成为可变资本而又重新回到资本家的手中。 换言之, 在交换过程中曾被货币占有者所看重的使用价值, 终究还是“在劳动力的实际使用即消费过程中才表现出来”。

1.3 The Justice of the Economic System: Justice in Communist Society

1.3 经济制度的正义: 共产主义社会的正义

When discussing the difference between Marx and Ricardo in the application of economics, Engels points out: “Marx never bases his communist demands on such a foundation, but rather on the necessity of the capitalist mode of production.” [9]9 Ziyad I. Husami, “Marx on Distributive Justice,” *Philosophy & Public Affairs*, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1978, p. 27.203-204 Marx never sought to construct an ideal state of justice; rather, he devoted himself to finding the real path to realize this goal of justice. Therefore, Marx’s thought on economic justice is neither frivolous nor merely destructive without being constructive. He saw the formal and hypocritical nature of equality and justice under capitalist society, and also indicated that communist society, which eliminates exploitation and examines human freedom and all-round development behind economic activities, is the truly equal relationship. “What we call communism is the real movement which abolishes the present state of things.” At this point, the goal of economic activity is no longer the continuous accumulation of material wealth under the dominance of the logic of capital, but the realization of human freedom and the all-round development of human capacities.

恩格斯在谈论马克思与李嘉图对于经济学应用的区别时指出:“马克思从来不把他的共产主义要求建立在这样的基础上, 而是建立在资本主义生产方式的必然。”[9]203-204 马克思始终并未寻求构建一种正义的理想状态, 而是致力于寻找出实现这种正义目标的现实路径。 因此, 马克思的经济正义思想并非是虚浮的和只破不立的。 他看到了资本主义社会下平等正义的形式性和虚伪性, 也指明通过消除剥削, 在经济活动背后对人的自由和全面发展进行审视的共产主义社会才是真正的平等的关系。 “我们所称之为共产主义是那种消灭现存状况的现实运动。” 此时, 经济活动的目标指向不再是资本逻辑主导下物质财富的不断积累, 而是实现人的自由和能力的全面发展。

In the first phase of communist society, the principle of “distribution according to labor” is followed. Under capitalist economic relations, workers labor under the supervision of the capitalist; labor and the product of labor both become the private property of the capitalist. Workers are imprisoned in the cruelty of oppression. This economic activity dominated by the logic of capital severely constrains the free nature of human beings. However, the principle of “distribution according to labor” will replace private ownership with public ownership of the means of production. Labor is no longer production by individuals for private desires, and workers are also reunited with the means of production. Since this is not yet fully developed communism, while the means of production are made socially public, the inequality of “bourgeois right” has not yet been completely eliminated. However, as a transitional form for the realization of justice, this elimination will ultimately become a reality in the higher phase of communism.

在共产主义社会第一阶段遵循“按劳分配”的原则。 在资本主义经济关系下, 劳动者在资本家监督下进行劳动, 劳动和劳动产品都成为了资本家的私有物, 劳动者禁锢在被压迫的残酷中, 这种资本逻辑主导的经济活动严重束缚人的自由本性。 但是, “按劳分配”的原则将以生产资料公有制代替私有制, 劳动不再是个人为私欲生产, 劳动者也和生产资料实现了相结合。 由于这还不是完全的共产主义, 在把生产资料归为社会公有的同时, 还未完全消除“资产阶级法权”的不平等, 但是, 作为一种正义实现的过渡形式, 这种消除将在共产主义的的高级阶段最终成为现实。

In the higher phase of communist society, economic activity completely sheds the attribute of capital. On the one hand, the division of labor is broken; workers, on the basis of each contributing according to their ability, jointly own the means of production. They are no longer constrained by the division of labor, and all can participate in labor and distribute labor equally; labor also becomes the primary need of life. On the other hand, after the thorough sublation of capitalist exploitation and the capitalist economy, in the higher phase of communist society, which transcends capitalist justice, the different needs of each individual are given equal attention. “The measure of wealth is no longer labor time, but disposable time.” Workers thus possess disposable time and achieve genuine liberation and free, all-round development.

在共产主义社会的高级阶段, 经济活动彻底摆脱了资本的属性。 一方面, 劳动分工的局面被打破, 劳动者在各尽所能的基础上共同占有生产资料, 不仅可以不再受分工的约束, 而且都可以参加劳动并平均分配劳动, 劳动也成为人的第一需要。 另一方面, 在彻底地扬弃资本主义剥削和资本主义经济后, 作为超越了资本主义正义的共产主义社会高级阶段, 每个人的不同需要被给予了同等的关注。 “财富的尺度决不再是劳动时间, 而是可以自由支配的时间”, 劳动者得以拥有自由支配的时间而获得真正的解放和自由全面的发展。

2 Characteristics of Marx’s Thought on Economic Justice

2 马克思经济正义思想的特点

Before Marx, the utopian socialists had doubts about private property and saw the reality that the existence of the private property system made it difficult for society to have justice, yet they found no path for change. From the perspective of historical materialism, Marx conducted a profound analysis of human beings within economic relations. This analytical process further embodies the ethical characteristic of humanistic concern in Marx’s thought on economic justice.

在马克思以前, 空想社会主义者们对财产私有制有过怀疑, 也看到了私有制度的存在使社会难以有正义这一现实, 却并未找到改变的路径。 马克思以历史唯物主义视角, 对经济关系中的人进行了深刻剖析, 这种分析过程也进一步体现了马克思经济正义思想人文关怀的伦理特质。

2.1 Possessing the Theoretical Character of Historical Materialism

2.1 具有唯物史观的理论品格

In his profound analysis and critique of actual capitalist economic activities, Marx always maintained his own distinct stance and viewpoint on the issue of capitalism and justice. Before this, whether it was the “justice of giving each his due” formed on the basis of the “theological just life in the City of God” in Christian philosophy, or the justice embodied in jurisprudence by the bourgeoisie, both were merely justice at the level of values. To truly change the unjust social reality, one must seek a way out from the foundation of social life.

在对现实的资本主义经济活动进行深刻剖析和批判时, 马克思始终有着自己对于资本主义与正义问题的鲜明立场和观点。 在此之前, 无论是基督教哲学认为在“上帝之城的神学正义生活” 基础上而形成的“各得其所的正义”, 还是资产阶级体现在法理上的正义, 都只是价值层面的正义, 而要真正改变非正义的社会现实就必须从社会生活基础中寻找出路。

On the one hand, Marx believed that the judgment of justice cannot be separated from the development and change of productive forces. As Wood says: “Marx views the concept of justice in terms of its function within a specific mode of production.” The economic base determines the superstructure. In terms of the laws of development of human society, in the early stage of capitalism—that is, when the enslavement of workers by capitalists had not yet reached a devastating level—capitalist economic activities were compatible with the level of development of the productive forces. Therefore, one must judge the fairness of a system based on concrete, historical economic relations. Each mode of production has its own specific judgment of justice, following the law of the dialectical unity of productive forces and relations of production. This does not mean that Marx considered the capitalist exploitative system under the capitalist mode of production to be just.

一方面, 马克思认为正义的判断不能脱离生产力的发展变化。 正如伍德所说:“马克思是根据正义在特定生产方式中的功能来看待正义概念。” 经济基础决定上层建筑, 就人类社会发展规律而言, 在资本主义发展初期即资本家对劳动者的奴役尚未达到摧残情境下, 资本主义经济活动与生产力的发展水平是相适应的。 因此, 必须从具体的、 历史的经济关系出发来评定制度公正与否。 每一种生产方式都有其特有的正义判断, 遵循生产力和生产关系辩证统一运动规律, 并不能表明马克思认为资本主义生产方式下的资本主义剥削制度就是正义的。

On the other hand, Marx believed that the injustice of capitalism is a historical existence for the ideal construction of a just society. The construction of communism is based on highly developed social productive forces. The historical conditions of that time necessarily gave rise to the capitalist mode of production; likewise, it is precisely this necessity that destined its ultimate demise in history.

另一方面, 马克思认为资本主义的非正义性对于正义社会的理想建构而言是一种历史性的存在。 构建共产主义建立在发达的社会生产力基础之上, 当时的历史条件必然产生资本主义生产方式, 同样, 正是这种必然注定了其最终消亡的历史。

2.2 Possessing the Ethical Characteristic of Humanistic Concern

2.2 具有人文关怀的伦理特质

*Capital* contains rich thought on fairness and justice, and this thought is precisely rooted in the historical investigation of human beings. In *Capital*, Marx makes many evaluative judgments about the capitalist mode of production, and these evaluations carry a tone of moral condemnation. Regardless of whether academia views these evaluations as “morally criticizing capital” or “capital rejecting morality,” and whether there is a binary opposition between the two remains controversial. However, it is undeniable that Marx always combines the investigation of capital with the fate of workers. This essentially reflects Marx’s full attention to concrete human beings situated within real social relations of production.

《资本论》中蕴含着丰富的公平正义思想, 而这一思想正是植根于对人的历史考察。 在《资本论》中, 马克思对资本主义生产方式做出了诸多评价性的论断, 这些评价也带着道德谴责的意味。 不管学术界对于这些评价是“以道德批判资本”还是“资本拒斥道德”, 二者间是否存在二元对立始终存在着争议。但是, 马克思总是将对资本的考察同劳动者的命运相结合起来这是无法否认的, 这也在实质上体现了马克思对于身处在现实社会生产关系中的具体的人的充分关注。

From the two perspectives of critique and construction. On the one hand, Marx saw that class and the exploitative system had become obstacles to the realization of justice in human society, and the reality of workers being brutally oppressed and exploited. Capitalists, relying on land and capital that cannot increase in value by themselves, constantly force workers to sell the only commodity they can sell, namely the “product of labor-power,” and watch as workers become dependent on them in order to realize the combination of themselves with the means of production. On the other hand, Marx sought to construct an ideal society and explore the path to its realization, and this society pays high attention to concrete human beings. The existence of private property makes capitalism completely disregard economic justice. To truly liberate human beings, the problem of the ownership of the means of production must first be resolved. Therefore, Marx advocates for a communist society based on public ownership of the means of production, thereby eliminating the class rule that once separated justice from human beings, and enabling workers to engage normally in productive labor to satisfy labor as the primary need of life.

从批判与构建两个角度来看。 一方面, 马克思看到了阶级和剥削制度成为人类社会正义实现的阻碍, 劳动者被残酷压榨和被剥削的现实。 资本家们依赖于自身本不会增值的土地和资本, 不断迫使劳动者出卖唯一能够卖出的商品即“劳动力产品”, 旁观着劳动者为了实现自身与生产资料的结合而依附于自己。 另一方面, 马克思寻求构建一种理想的社会并且探究其实现路径, 而这个社会对具体的人给予了高度关注。 私有制的存在使得资本主义对经济正义全然不顾, 而要实现真正的解放人就必须先解决生产资料所有制的问题。 因此, 马克思主张建立在生产资料公有制基础上的共产主义社会, 以此使得曾经让正义和人相隔离的阶级统治消失, 实现劳动者为满足劳动这个生活的第一需要而正常地从事生产劳动。

3 The Contemporary Value of Marx’s Thought on Economic Justice

3 马克思经济正义思想的当代价值

With the development of the socialist market economy, economic justice has also become a practical issue in China’s current economic development. How to form and perfect a scientific theory of the socialist market economy, how to solve the problems arising from the improper use and management of capital in the primary stage of socialism, and how to reduce inequality and truly achieve the unity of social development and human development – these are all important issues that China’s market economy development faces and urgently needs to resolve.

随着社会主义市场经济的发展, 经济正义也成为当前中国经济发展的现实课题。 如何形成和完善科学的社会主义市场经济理论, 如何在社会主义初级阶段解决资本运用和管理不当出现的问题, 以及如何减少不平等现象, 真正实现社会发展与人的发展相统一, 这些都是我国市场经济发展所面临并亟待解决的重要问题。

3.1 Theoretical Value: Clarifying the Theoretical Design of the Construction of Justice in the Socialist Market Economy

3.1 理论价值: 明晰社会主义市场经济正义建设的理论设计

3.1.1 Economic Justice under the Guidance of Historical Materialism

3.1.1 唯物史观指导下的经济正义

Economic activity is carried out within a certain social, political, ethical, and cultural context; therefore, the relationship between economy and justice is concrete and historical. In *Capital*, Marx links the essence of justice to a specific mode of social production, and the judgment of economic justice should be subordinate to the progress and development of the mode of production. Through an analysis of the two opposites of private property, Marx puts forward the principle of overcoming the capitalist alienated economy through communism based on the sublation of private property. This not only demonstrates the inevitability of the realization of economic justice in a communist society but also points the direction for the movement to actualize economic justice.

经济活动是在一定的社会政治伦理文化下进行的, 因此, 经济与正义的关系是具体的、 历史的。 在《资本论》中, 马克思把正义的实质与一定社会生产方式相联系, 经济正义的判断应当从属于生产方式的进步和发展。 马克思通过私有制的两个对立面的分析, 提出了以扬弃私有制为基础的共产主义去克服资本主义异化经济的原则。 这不仅论证了共产主义社会经济正义实现的必然性, 而且为经济正义的现实化运动指明了方向。

After reform and opening up, with the gradual establishment and development of China’s market economy system, on the whole, China’s economic operation has tended toward rational development. However, due to the imperfect system, many problems have arisen in the use of capital. In the field of socio-economic activity, on the one hand, the allocation of public service resources between urban and rural areas is unbalanced. Although livelihood capital involving education, medical care, and other social security aspects has gradually increased, the gap in resource allocation between urban and rural areas remains obvious. This gap further affects the flow of production factors between urban and rural areas, leading to further inequality and injustice. On the other hand, corrupt phenomena of power-for-money deals have emerged. Under the temptation of money and power, power and capital collude, and wealth accumulates through improper means that violate the principles of commodity exchange and competition. Therefore, under the basic national condition that the development of productive forces is still insufficient, we should proceed from the current socio-economic relations, base ourselves on the perspective of historical materialism, form a just socio-economic system on the premise of developing the economy, and prepare the economic base premise for the realization of substantive justice.

改革开放后, 随着我国市场经济体制的逐步建立和发展, 在总体上, 我国的经济运行趋向合理化发展, 但也因为体制的不健全导致资本运用出现诸多问题。 就社会经济活动领域而言, 一方面, 城乡公共服务资源配置不均衡。 尽管在涉及教育、 医疗等社会保障方面的民生资本逐步加大, 但是城乡间的资源配置差距依旧明显。 这种差距也进一步影响了生产要素在城乡间的流动, 造成更进一步的不平等和非正义现象的产生。 另一方面, 出现权钱交易的腐败现象。 在金钱和权利的诱惑下, 权力和资本相勾结, 并且以违背商品交换和竞争原则的非正当手段而财富积聚。 因此, 在生产力发展还不充分的基本国情下, 应从当下的社会经济关系出发, 立足历史唯物主义视角, 在发展经济的前提下形成正义的社会经济制度, 为实现实质正义做好经济基础的前提准备。

3.1.2 Economic Justice of the Shared Development Concept

3.1.2 共享发展理念的经济正义

At present, China has put forward the concept of shared development in the process of realizing socialist modernization. While drawing on and absorbing the experience that capitalist large-scale socialized production can promote the development of productive forces, this concept also sublates the capitalist mode of development. The future society is a society of sharing for all and common prosperity. Its main characteristics are not only highly developed productive forces but, more importantly, the realization of substantive justice such as the distribution of labor products according to need and the free and comprehensive development of each individual. Therefore, in the process of economic development, while sublating the capitalist mode of development, it is necessary to realize participation by all and distribution to all, in order to avoid the phenomenon of polarization in capitalist society. Today, whether it is using institutions as a guarantee to effectively control and guide capital, or taking people’s livelihood as the foundation to form a multi-level social security system so that urban and rural residents can truly all enjoy the fruits of reform and development, these are all efforts to take common prosperity as the guide, realize sharing through joint construction, and realize economic justice in the process of shared development.

当前, 我国在实现社会主义现代化过程中提出了共享发展的理念。 这一理念在借鉴和吸收资本主义社会化大生产能推动生产力发展这一经验的同时, 又对资本主义发展方式进行了扬弃。 未来的社会是人人共享、 共同富裕的社会, 其主要特征不仅是生产力高度发达, 而且更为重要的是, 实现劳动产品按需分配和每个人自由而全面发展这种实质上的正义。 因此, 在经济发展过程中, 在对资本主义发展方式扬弃的同时, 必须实现人人参与和人人分配, 以避免出现资本主义社会的两极分化现象。 在今天, 无论是以制度为保障来有效驾驭和引导资本, 还是以民生为本位, 形成多层次的社会保障体系, 使城乡居民能够真正全体享受改革发展的成果, 都是力图以共富为引领, 在共建中实现共享, 在共享发展过程中实现经济正义。

3.2 Practical Value: Constructing the Justice of the Socialist Market Economy through People’s Rational Control and Scientific Guidance of Capital

3.2 实践价值: 建构人对资本合理驾驭和科学引导的社会主义市场经济正义

More than 40 years of practice have proven that the market economy is an important way to achieve the effective allocation of resources. However, while capital promotes the development of social productive forces, a series of related problems arising from capital’s tendency toward unreasonable dominance cannot be ignored. In *Capital*, Marx reveals various social injustices under the laws of capitalist production and emphasizes the need to strive for a transformation from the logic of capital to the logic of people. In contemporary China, with the development of social material production, to effectively solve the related problems caused by the drawbacks of the market economy, it is inseparable from constructing people’s rational control and scientific guidance of the logic of capital.

历经40多年的实践证明, 市场经济是实现资源有效配置的重要方式, 但是, 在资本推动社会生产力发展的同时, 资本朝着不合理趋向主导而产生的一系列相关问题也不容忽视。 在《资本论》中, 马克思揭示了资本主义生产规律下种种社会不公正现象, 并强调要努力实现从资本的逻辑到人的逻辑的转变。 在当代中国, 随着社会物质生产的发展, 要想有效解决市场经济弊端所引发的相关问题, 离不开建构人对资本逻辑的合理驾驭和科学引导。

3.2.1 Regulating the Moral Behavior of the Socialist Market Economy

3.2.1 规范社会主义市场经济道德行为

Under the conditions of the socialist market economy, the realization of economic justice is the constant pursuit of every participant in economic activities. However, while people make demands on the external environment, they neglect the normativity of their own moral behavior in the market economy. Phenomena such as the lack of economic credit and the prevalence of moral nihilism endanger the healthy development of the socialist market economy and, moreover, hinder the realization of economic justice.

社会主义市场经济条件下, 经济正义的实现是每一位经济活动参与者的始终追求, 但是, 人们在对外界环境提出要求的同时, 却忽视自身道德行为在市场经济中的规范性。 经济信用缺失、 道德虚无主义盛行等现象危及着社会主义市场经济的健康发展, 更阻碍了经济正义的实现。

On the one hand, promote a complete system of laws and establish a system of punishment for breach of trust, using good laws to promote the regulation of socio-economic behavior. “No matter what level of development, institutions are an important guarantee for social fairness and justice.” [14]553 The institutional environment created under the leadership of the government will set a baseline for the behavior of the socialist market economy, will also effectively form an evaluation and constraint on economic behavior, and thereby achieve the goal of regulating economic behavior. On the other hand, participants in economic activities must strengthen their own ideological and cultural construction. In the capitalist era after the Industrial Revolution, the rapid accumulation of wealth caused the expansion of human material desires. The once hypocritical mask was also lifted under the commodity economy, revealing its true face, which today is undoubtedly a cause for reflection.

一方面, 推动系统完备的法律体系和建立失信惩戒制度, 以良法促进社会经济行为的规范。 “不论处在什么发展水平上, 制度都是社会公平正义的重要保证。”[14]553 政府主导所营造的制度环境, 将为社会主义市场经济行为设定底线, 也将有效形成对经济行为的评价和约束, 进而实现调节经济行为的目的。 另一方面, 经济活动参与者要加强自身的思想文化建设。 在工业革命后的资本主义时代, 财富的极速积聚造成了人性物欲的膨胀, 曾经伪善的面具也在商品经济下被揭开并露出真实的模样, 这在今天看来无疑是一种反思。

3.2.2 Paying Attention to Vulnerable Groups and Narrowing the Gap in Social Wealth Polarization

3.2.2 关注弱势群体, 缩小社会财富两极差距

Any country or region may experience unbalanced development at different stages of development; this is universality. However, the currently presented “unbalanced and inadequate development in relation to the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life” is the particularity unique to China’s actual situation. Therefore, to change this situation, it is necessary to “promote social fairness and justice, and continuously enhance the people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security.”

任何一个国家或地区在不同的发展阶段都有可能出现发展不平衡的状况, 这是普遍性。 但是, 现下呈现的“人民美好生活的需要和不平衡不充分发展”, 是中国现实境况所特有的特殊性。 因此, 要想改变这种现状, 就必须“促进社会公平正义, 不断增强人民获得感、 幸福感、 安全感”。

First, at the critical juncture of decisively winning the battle against poverty [12]12 The battle against poverty: The campaign to eradicate absolute poverty in China, declared completed in 2021. and securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects [13]13 Building a moderately prosperous society in all respects: The "Xiaokang" goal, achieved as scheduled in 2021., attention must be paid to socially vulnerable groups. To prevent the marketization of basic public services, it is necessary to base policies on the actual conditions of education, medical care, etc., and use policy inclination and support to optimize the allocation of resources, making the allocation of social resources conform to justice. Second, narrow the gap between the rich and the poor in society and improve the phenomenon of polarization. Under the free competition rules of the market economy, China long placed efficiency in a priority position. However, due to neglecting the differences given by external conditions and the differences in individual abilities, the justice in the economic field became biased, leading to the phenomenon of social polarization between rich and poor. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the gap between rich and poor through the improvement of the tax system and social security mechanism, ensure fairness and justice in the primary distribution mainly based on labor payment and the secondary distribution mainly based on payment guarantees, and expand the coverage of the fruits of economic development by regulating social distribution.

首先, 在决战脱贫攻坚和决胜全面建成小康社会的紧要关头, 必须对社会弱势群体予以关注。 为防止基本公共服务市场化, 就必须以现实的教育、 医疗等现状实际为依据, 以政策的倾斜与扶持来优化配置资源, 使社会资源配置合乎正义。 其次, 缩小社会贫富差距, 改善两极分化的现象。 在市场经济的自由竞争规则下, 我国曾长期将效率摆在优先地位。 但是, 由于忽视外在条件给予的差异以及个体能力的差异, 使得经济领域的正义性发生偏颇, 产生社会贫富两极分化现象。 因此, 必须以税制和社会保障机制的完善来平衡贫富差距, 保证在以劳动支付为主要方式的初次分配和以支付保障为主的再次分配中的公平正义性, 以调节社会分配来扩大经济发展成果的惠及面。

In summary, people’s pursuit of justice is itself a process of realizing the development of human society from the reasonable to the unreasonable. Therefore, while Marx’s thought on economic justice deepens our understanding of justice, it also prompts us to re-examine contemporary Chinese social relations from a theoretical starting point. Today, not only has “effectively safeguarding social fairness and justice and the rights of the people” [16]3 become an institutional advantage of our country, but fairness and justice, as a branch of the social dimension within the core socialist values, have also become the value pursuit of our country’s current development. Clearly, what China’s development pursues is not only economic justice but the fairness and justice of the entire society.

综述, 人们对正义的追寻本身就是实现人类社会从合理到不合理的发展过程。 因此, 马克思经济正义思想在深化我们对正义认知的同时, 也促使我们重新从理论出发来考察当代中国的社会关系。 在今天, 不仅“切实保障社会公平正义和人民权利”[16]3已成为我国的制度优势, 而且公平正义作为核心价值体系中社会角度的一个分支, 也已成为当前我国发展的价值追求。 显然, 中国发展所追求的不仅仅是经济正义, 更是整个社会的公平正义。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗