The New Form of Human Civilization Sublates the Paradox of Capitalist Civilization

The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that building a high-standard socialist market economy requires regulating and guiding the healthy development of capital in accordance with the law. The reason is that although capital plays a great role in shaping civilization, allowing it to grow wildly and expand in an unregulated manner will inevitably bring disastrous consequences to the development of human civilization. The new form of human civilization, as a socialist-oriented new type of civilization, dialectically distinguishes the dual attributes of capital as a relation of production and as a factor of production. It effectively utilizes its positive role while reasonably avoiding its negative limitations, thereby exhibiting rich civilizational implications in the process of sublating the paradox of capitalist civilization.

党的二十大报告指出，构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制需依法规范和引导资本健康发展。原因在于，资本虽然具有塑造文明的伟大作用，但任由其野蛮生长和无序扩张定会给人类文明发展带来灾难性后果。人类文明新形态作为社会主义定向的新文明类型，辩证区分了资本作为生产关系和生产要素的二重属性，既有效发挥其积极作用，又合理规避其消极局限，在扬弃资本文明悖论的过程中展现出丰富的文明意涵。

The Genesis of the Capitalist Form of Civilization

资本主义文明形态的生成

Marx highly affirmed the civilizing role of capital, holding that “it is only capital which creates the bourgeois society and the universal appropriation of nature as well as of the social bond itself by the members of society.” The civilizing role of capital mainly concerns the material content of the development of human civilization. It makes nature and the social bond themselves objects for human beings, subject to human needs, and manifests itself through the rapid development of social productive forces and the universalization of social intercourse.

马克思曾高度肯定资本的文明作用，认为“只有资本才创造出资产阶级社会，并创造出社会成员对自然界和社会联系本身的普遍占有”。资本的文明作用主要关涉人类文明发展的物质内容方面，其使自然界和社会联系本身成为人的对象，服从于人的需要，并通过社会生产力的迅速发展与社会交往的普遍化展现出来。

On the one hand, the civilizing role of capital is expressed in the rapid development of social productive forces. In traditional forms of civilization, the human capacity to utilize and transform nature was very limited, and social productive forces were at a relatively low level of development. In the capitalist form of civilization, the relative position between humans and nature undergoes a structural inversion: from humans being largely subject to the domination and control of nature to nature being largely subject to the domination and control of humans. The process by which humans dominate and control nature is the process of destroying all fetters that hinder the development of social productive forces. Marx and Engels pointed out: “The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together.” With the transition of capitalist production from manufacture to large-scale machine industry, capital, in the process of exercising its civilizing role, created abundant and enormous material wealth, laying the material foundation of modern civilization.

一方面，资本的文明作用表现为社会生产力的迅速发展。在传统文明形态中，人类利用和改造自然的能力十分有限，社会生产力处于较低发展水平。而在资本主义文明形态中，人类与自然所处的相对位置发生了结构性颠倒，即从人类更多地受自然的支配与控制反转为自然更多地受人类的支配与控制。人类支配与控制自然的过程，即是摧毁一切阻碍发展社会生产力的桎梏的过程。马克思、恩格斯指出：“资产阶级在它不到一百年的阶级统治中所创造的生产力，比过去一切世代创造的全部生产力还要多，还要大。”随着资本主义生产从工厂手工业向机器大工业的过渡，资本在发挥文明作用的过程中创造了丰沛巨额的物质财富，奠定了现代文明的物质基础。

On the other hand, the civilizing role of capital is also expressed in the universalization of social intercourse. In traditional forms of civilization, human activity was generally confined to narrow blood-based or geographical spheres. Under the impetus of the power of capital, the former state of self-sufficiency and seclusion was “replaced by universal intercourse and the mutual interdependence of nations.” In the capitalist form of civilization, “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.” Actively, the bourgeoisie settles everywhere, establishes connections everywhere, and actively opens up the world market; passively, the process of economic globalization and world integration under the dominance of capital is irresistible, forcing all nations to adopt the bourgeois mode of production and to introduce so-called civilization. In the process of exercising its civilizing role, capital ended the history of isolated development of individual nations and states, increasingly linking the whole world into a unified whole with a clear division of labor and organic connections, thereby initiating the process of world history.

另一方面，资本的文明作用还表现为社会交往的普遍化。在传统文明形态中，人类活动普遍局限于血缘的或地缘的狭小范围内。而在资本力量的助推下，过往自给自足和闭关自守的状态，“被各民族的各方面的互相往来和各方面的互相依赖所代替了”。在资本主义文明形态中，“资产阶级，由于开拓了世界市场，使一切国家的生产和消费都成为世界性的了”。从主动方面来看，资产阶级到处落户、到处开发、到处建立联系，积极主动地开拓世界市场；从被动方面来看，资本主导下的经济全球化与世界一体化进程势不可挡，它迫使一切民族采用资产阶级的生产方式，并推行所谓的文明进程。资本在发挥文明作用的过程中终结了各个民族和国家孤立发展的历史，使整个世界日益联结为一个分工明确、有机联系的统一整体，从而开启了世界历史的进程。

The Paradox of the Capitalist Form of Civilization

资本主义文明形态的悖论

The purpose of capital is the valorization of value; the rapid development of social productive forces and the universalization of social intercourse are merely subsidiary manifestations of capital, not its dominant link. The civilizing role of capital constitutes the internal dynamic mechanism of the capitalist form of civilization, promoting the establishment of order and cultural flourishing in the modern world, while also constituting an internal negating force within the capitalist form of civilization that tends towards its own overcoming and sublation. The deep contradiction inherent in capital lies in the fact that, in the process of exercising its civilizing role and shaping the capitalist form of civilization, driven by the purpose of valorization, it constantly transgresses the external limits of nature and society, triggering systemic natural and social crises, and dissipating the potential for the development of human civilization.

资本的目的在于价值增殖，社会生产力的迅速发展和社会交往的普遍化只是资本的附属表现而非主导环节。资本的文明作用构成了资本主义文明形态的内在动力机制，推动了现代世界的秩序确立与文化繁荣，同时也构成了资本主义文明形态趋于克服扬弃的内在否定力量。内含于资本的深层矛盾在于，资本在发挥文明作用、塑造资本主义文明形态的过程中，因价值增殖目的驱使不断触及自然与社会的外部界限，触发系统性的自然危机与社会危机，耗散人类文明发展的潜能。

On the one hand, driven by the purpose of valorization, capital uncontrollably triggers natural crises. In traditional forms of civilization, humans revered and depended on nature; the conflict between humans and nature was not yet acute. In the capitalist form of civilization, social productive forces develop rapidly under the drive of capital’s unlimited purpose of valorization, gradually releasing a powerful force that changes the world and shapes civilization according to its own will. Changes in the natural environment, such as the cultivation of land and the navigation of rivers, all stem from human conquest of nature, and the large-scale extraction and production are accompanied by large-scale pollution and waste at the expense of the natural environment. Capital’s valorization involves an unlimited plunder and destruction of natural resources, yet the natural environment has its fixed carrying capacity and natural external limits. Therefore, from the perspective of the community of life for humans and nature, capital’s constant assault on this external limit to achieve its valorization purpose inevitably leads to an extreme deterioration of the relationship between humans and nature, triggering natural crises and imposing constraints on the further development of human civilization.

一方面，资本在增殖目的驱使下会难以抑制地触发自然危机。在传统文明形态中，人类敬畏自然、依赖自然，人类与自然之间的矛盾冲突尚不尖锐。而在资本主义文明形态中，社会生产力在资本无限增殖目的驱使下迅速发展，其按照自身意志改变世界、塑造文明的强大力量逐渐释放出来。土地的开垦、河川的通航等自然环境的改变统统源于人类对自然的征服，而与大量开采和大量生产相伴的则是以牺牲自然环境为代价的大量污染和大量废弃。资本的价值增殖对自然资源的攫取和破坏是无限度的，但自然环境却有其固定的承载能力和天然的外部界限。因此，从人与自然生命共同体的高度来看，资本为实现增殖目的不断冲击这一外部界限必然致使人类与自然之间的关系极度恶化，触发自然危机，对人类文明的进一步发展造成限制。

On the other hand, driven by the purpose of valorization, capital inevitably triggers social crises. In the capitalist form of civilization, the private ownership of the means of production and the socialization of production constitute an irreconcilable contradiction within the capitalist form of civilization. The process of capital’s valorization dominates the labor process, continuously reproducing the internal contradictions of capital, presenting the face of capitalist society in the tension between essence and appearance: the deep exploitation of the proletariat concealed beneath the surface of the bourgeois ideology of freedom and equality. Hence, Marx branded this form of civilization “a civilization of evil founded on the slavery of labor.” As the “universal light” and “specific ether” [n] within the capitalist form of civilization, capital’s wild growth and unregulated expansion, constantly breaking through external limits, make various social crises inevitable and increasingly acute, manifesting at the level of the modern world system. Based on the capitalist civilization as the center, the plunder of peripheral regions by the “world empire,” and the power structure of “making the East subordinate to the West,” the exploitation, enslavement, and valorization purpose of capital have unprecedentedly intensified the separation and opposition between capitalist civilization and traditional civilizations, causing irreparable damage to the latter.

另一方面，资本在增殖目的驱使下会不可避免地触发社会危机。在资本主义文明形态中，生产资料的私人占有与生产的社会化构成了资本主义文明形态内部难以调和的矛盾。资本价值增殖过程支配劳动过程，不断将资本的内在矛盾再生产出来，在本质与现象的张力中呈现出资本主义社会的面貌，即资产阶级自由平等的意识形态表象下掩藏着对无产阶级的深层剥削。因而，这一文明形态被马克思冠以“建立在劳动奴役制上的罪恶的文明”称号。作为资本主义文明形态中“普照的光”和“特殊的以太”，资本不断冲破外部界限的野蛮生长和无序扩张使诸种社会危机不可避免、愈演愈烈，并在现代世界体系层面呈现出来。以资本主义文明为中心、以“世界性帝国”对边缘地区的掠夺以及“使东方从属于西方”的权力支配结构为基础，资本主义的剥削、奴役与增殖目的空前激化了资本文明与传统文明之间的分隔与对立，对后者造成不可挽回的创伤。

The Historical Position of the New Form of Human Civilization

人类文明新形态的历史方位

Marx’s lifelong research theme was the critique of the capitalist form of civilization and the exploration of future forms of civilization. In the *Grundrisse* (1857–1858), Marx examined three social forms in the development of human civilization: “relations of personal dependence,” “personal independence founded on objective dependence,” and “free individuality, based on the universal development of individuals and on the subordination of their communal, social productivity as their social wealth.” Using this as a thread, Marx predicted the historical exit of the capitalist form of civilization and the historical entry of the communist form of civilization, pointing the way and direction for the development of human civilization.

马克思毕生的研究主题是批判资本主义文明形态和探索未来文明形态。在《1857—1858年经济学手稿》中，马克思分别考察了人类文明发展历程中的三种社会形式：“人的依赖关系”“以物的依赖性为基础的人的独立性”“建立在个人全面发展和他们共同的、社会的生产能力成为从属于他们的社会财富这一基础上的自由个性”。以此为线索，马克思预示了资本主义文明形态的历史性退场和共产主义文明形态的历史性出场，为人类文明发展指明了前进的道路与方向。

The capitalist form of civilization always contains within itself internal contradictions, civilizational paradoxes, and the tendency towards their historical sublation. On the one hand, the civilizing role of capital constitutes the internal constructive force and the tendency towards self-negation within the capitalist form of civilization; on the other hand, the capitalist form of civilization also constitutes the “form of development” and the “fetter of development” for the civilizing role of capital. In Marx’s view, the communist form of civilization is not an abstract negation of the entire civilized world, but rather inherits and develops its civilizational achievements and emancipatory potential while overcoming and sublating the alienated forms of capitalism. The civilizing role of capital is not only “advantageous for the development of productive forces, for the development of social relations,” but also “advantageous for the creation of the elements of a higher new form.” Therefore, the process of sublating the paradox of capitalist civilization is precisely the process of continuously creating conditions for communism. In the future prospect of the communist form of civilization, not only will individuals be liberated from “personal dependence” and “objective dependence,” becoming fully developed individuals with “free individuality,” but human civilization will also fundamentally overcome the antagonistic form of the capitalist form of civilization.

资本主义文明形态内部始终蕴含着内在矛盾、文明悖论及其历史扬弃趋势。一方面，资本的文明作用构成了资本主义文明形态的内在建构力量和自身否定趋势，另一方面，资本主义文明形态也构成了资本的文明作用的“发展形式”和“发展桎梏”。在马克思看来，共产主义文明形态并非对整个文明世界的抽象否定，而是在克服扬弃资本主义异化形式的同时继承发展其文明成果和解放潜能。资本的文明作用不仅“有利于生产力的发展，有利于社会关系的发展”，还“有利于更高级的新形态的各种要素的创造”。所以，扬弃资本文明悖论的过程，就是不断为共产主义创造条件的过程。而在共产主义文明形态的未来图景中，不仅个人从“人的依赖性”和“物的依赖性”中解放出来，成为具有“自由个性”的全面发展的个人，人类文明也从根本上克服了资本主义文明形态的对抗性形式。

The Communist Party of China, leading the Chinese people through a century-long exploration of modernization, has successfully forged a path of Chinese-path modernization that rationally utilizes capital for self-development, creating a new form of human civilization. On the one hand, this new form of human civilization is not a “perfect tense” but a “progressive tense”; it lies between the capitalist form of civilization and the communist form of civilization, having absorbed the material content of capitalist civilization while containing the developmental requirements of communist civilization. It is a transitional socialist form of civilization under the coexistence of two types of relations of production. On the other hand, the new form of human civilization is a great creation born of the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the fine traditional Chinese culture. The organic fusion of socialist civilization, Chinese civilization, and modern civilization has set a wholly new civilizational orientation for China’s practical development, giving rise in China’s concrete practice to a new form of civilization with genuinely universal content. The new form of human civilization is highly consistent with the Marxist value pursuit of the free and all-round development of the individual, and under the conditions of the socialist system it has inaugurated an unprecedented great transformation in the history of human civilization.

中国共产党带领中国人民在现代化的百年探索中，成功走出了一条合理利用资本发展自身的中国式现代化道路，创造了人类文明新形态。一方面，人类文明新形态不是“完成时”而是“进行时”，其介于资本主义文明形态与共产主义文明形态之间，既吸收了资本主义文明的物质内容，又蕴含着共产主义文明的发展要求，是两种生产关系并存条件下的过渡性社会主义文明形态。另一方面，人类文明新形态是马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合、同中华优秀传统文化相结合的伟大创造。社会主义文明、中华文明、现代文明三者的有机融合为中国实践发展奠定了全新的文明指向，在中国具体的实践中生发成具有真实普遍性内涵的文明新形态。人类文明新形态高度符合马克思主义追求人的自由而全面发展的价值诉求，在社会主义制度条件下开创了人类文明发展史上前所未有的伟大变革。

Enriching and Developing the New Form of Human Civilization

丰富和发展人类文明新形态

“Continuously enriching and developing the new form of human civilization” is an important strategic deployment for the cause of the Party and the state in the New Era. In the process of sublating the paradox of capital civilization and exploring the historical transcendence of civilization, the enrichment and development of the new form of human civilization constantly bring forth its significance for the development of human civilization.

“不断丰富和发展人类文明新形态”是新时代党和国家事业发展的重要战略部署。在扬弃资本文明悖论、探索文明历史超越的过程中，丰富和发展人类文明新形态对人类文明发展的意义不断涌现。

First, the new form of human civilization separates the civilizational achievements of capital from its alienated forms, providing a methodological guide for how to “steer capital” under a new and higher dominant mode of production. Under the capitalist form of civilization, the civilizational attribute of capital as a factor of production is subordinate to its valorization attribute as a relation of production; under the new form of human civilization, the socialist relations of production replace the dominant position of capitalist relations of production, and capital’s attribute as a factor of production is allowed to play a role in shaping civilization. Accordingly, “setting up traffic lights for capital” means turning on the “green light” when capital’s attribute as a factor of production promotes civilizational development, and turning on the “red light” when capital’s valorization attribute as a relation of production falls into the civilizational paradox, thereby achieving the “steering of capital” through institutional advantages. The ultimate goal of “steering capital” within socialist relations of production is to “abolish capital” under new and higher relations of production. In the process of sublating the paradox of capitalist civilization, Chinese Communists continuously generate the new form of human civilization, guiding human civilization toward the bright future of communism.

首先，人类文明新形态剥离了资本的文明成就和异化形式，为如何在新的更高的支配性生产方式中“驾驭资本”提供了方法遵循。在资本主义文明形态下，资本作为生产要素的文明属性从属于其作为生产关系的增殖属性；在人类文明新形态下，社会主义生产关系取代了资本主义生产关系的主导性地位，并发挥资本的生产要素属性参与文明塑造的作用。据此，为资本设置“红绿灯”，即在发挥资本作为生产要素的文明属性助推文明发展时开“绿灯”，在遏制资本作为生产关系的增殖属性陷入文明悖论时开“红灯”，从而依凭制度优势实现对资本的“驾驭”。在社会主义生产关系中“驾驭资本”的最终目标是在新的更高的生产关系中“消灭资本”，中国共产党人在扬弃资本主义文明悖论的过程中不断生成人类文明新形态，指引人类文明走向共产主义的美好未来。

Second, the new form of human civilization achieves the organic coordination and overall integration of the five civilizational dimensions: material, political, cultural-ethical, social, and ecological. The capitalist form of civilization’s extreme extraction of material civilization inevitably triggers natural and social crises; with the valorization of capital as its purpose and end, it is a single-dimensional form of civilization concentrated on the development of material civilization. In contrast, starting from a systematic perspective, Chinese Communists directly confront the problem of the estrangement between humanity and nature and between humanity and society under the capitalist form of civilization. They successively added the two important civilizational dimensions of “social” and “ecological” to the overall layout of the socialist cause in the reports of the 16th National Congress of the CPC and the 18th National Congress of the CPC [2]2 The 16th National Congress of the CPC was held in 2002; the 18th National Congress in 2012. The reports of these congresses formally incorporated “social construction” and “ecological civilization construction,” respectively, into the overall layout of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics., committing themselves to the coordination and integration of the five civilizational dimensions of material, political, cultural-ethical, social, and ecological, and preventing, at multiple levels and from all sides, the rise and spread of capitalist tendencies in socialist construction. The new form of human civilization is a holistic consideration of civilizational development; it inherently transcends the one-dimensional civilization of capitalism and promotes the free and all-round development of the individual within a multi-dimensional and coordinated form of civilization.

其次，人类文明新形态实现了物质、政治、精神、社会和生态五大文明维度的有机协调和整体共通。资本主义文明形态对物质文明的极端索取使其不可避免地触发自然危机与社会危机，其以资本价值增殖为目的和旨归，是集中围绕物质文明进行发展的单一向度的文明形态。相反，中国共产党人从系统观念出发，直面资本主义文明形态下人与自然、社会之间的背离问题，先后在党的十六大和十八大报告中为社会主义事业总体布局加入“社会”与“生态”两个重要的文明维度，致力于实现物质、政治、精神、社会和生态五大文明维度的协调与共通，多层次全方位地防止社会主义建设中资本主义化现象的抬头与蔓延。人类文明新形态是对文明发展的整体观照，其内在超越了资本主义的单向度文明，并在多维度、协调性的文明形态中促进人的自由而全面发展。

Finally, the new form of human civilization stands at the historical height of human civilization and demonstrates world-historical significance that transcends the capitalist form of civilization. Creating the new form of human civilization is both a historical reflection on the paradox of capital civilization and a vivid practice of the concepts of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit on a global scale. Unlike the capitalist logic of expansion, which is based on the law of the jungle and the idea that a strong country is bound to seek hegemony, the new form of human civilization fully respects the diversity of world civilizations and continuously promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. It is a positive response, amid the changes unseen in a century, to the historical question of “where is human civilization heading?” The new form of human civilization confirms that the capitalist path of modernization is not the only path to modernization, and that the capitalist form of civilization is not the highest or final form of human civilization. The world-historical significance of the Chinese-path modernization path in creating the new form of human civilization lies in using “the common values of all humanity—peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom” to continuously promote and lead the further development of human civilization, providing reference and inspiration for countries around the world in constructing their own civilizations.

最后，人类文明新形态站在了人类文明的历史高度展现出超越资本主义文明形态的世界历史意义。创造人类文明新形态既是对资本文明悖论的历史反思，又是对世界范围内和平、发展、合作、共赢理念的生动实践。不同于弱肉强食、国强必霸的资本主义扩张逻辑，人类文明新形态充分尊重世界文明多样性，不断推动构建人类命运共同体，是世界百年未有之大变局下对“人类文明向何处去”这一历史命题的积极回应。人类文明新形态确证了资本主义现代化道路并非通往现代化的唯一道路，资本主义文明形态并非人类文明的最高和最终形态。中国式现代化道路创造人类文明新形态的世界历史意义在于，以“和平、发展、公平、正义、民主、自由的全人类共同价值”不断促进和引领人类文明的进一步发展，为世界各国实现自身文明的建构提供借鉴与启示。

Web Editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗