Liu Shibai: A Marxist Economist in Resonance with the Times

Liu Shibai, born in 1925 in Wan County, Sichuan Province (today’s Wanzhou District, Chongqing Municipality), is a renowned theoretical economist in China, a professor and doctoral supervisor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, honorary president of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, and editor-in-chief of the journal *Economist*. He served as a deputy to the Seventh National People’s Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, vice-chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (1993–1997), and chairman of the Sichuan Federation of Social Sciences. His research focuses primarily on Marxist economic theory, especially the theoretical and practical issues of China’s economic system reform. His representative works include *Studies on Several Issues of Socialist Commodity Production*, *Studies on Socialist Ownership*, *Principles of Socialist Economics*, *A New Theory of Property Rights*, *A Theory of Modern Wealth*, *On Institutional Innovation*, and *A Theory of Subject Property Rights*. He has also edited *A Course on Capital*, *Explanations of Difficult Sentences in Capital*, *Political Economy* (5 editions), and *Principles of Marxist Political Economy* (5 editions).

刘诗白，1925年出生于四川省万县（今重庆市万州区），我国著名的理论经济学家，西南财经大学教授、博士生导师，西南财经大学名誉校长，《经济学家》杂志主编。曾任第七届全国人民代表大会代表，第八届全国政协常委，四川省政协副主席(1993—1997)，四川省社会科学界联合会主席等。主要从事马克思主义经济学理论研究，特别是中国经济体制改革的理论与实践问题，代表作有《社会主义商品生产若干问题研究》《社会主义所有制研究》《社会主义经济学原论》《产权新论》《现代财富论》《论体制创新》《主体产权论》等，主编《〈资本论〉教程》《〈资本论〉难句解》《政治经济学》（5版）和《马克思主义政治经济学原理》（5版）等。

In 1925, Mr. Liu Shibai was born into a family of educators. Nurtured by a scholarly lineage, he developed a love for literature and social science from an early age. Since his student years coincided with the period when old China was plundered externally by imperialist powers and internally subjected to exorbitant taxes and levies by old and new warlords and autocratic governments, with the Chinese people living in dire straits, the surging movement for resistance against Japan and national salvation, along with the spread of proletarian revolutionary culture, had a profound impact on Liu Shibai. He began reading works on Marxist philosophy and political economy; in particular, the edition of *Capital* published by the Joint Publishing Company became his guide into the halls of economics. In 1942, Liu Shibai was admitted to the Department of Economics at Wuhan University, where he systematically read a large number of original Western economics works, including Marx’s economic writings, Adam Smith’s *The Wealth of Nations*, David Ricardo’s *On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation*, and Alfred Marshall’s *Principles of Economics*. After graduating from Wuhan University in 1946, Liu Shibai was appointed to the Department of Economics at Sichuan University, where he began conducting research in economic theory, primarily teaching political economy, foreign economic history, and contemporary bourgeois economic doctrines. After 1958, his research focus shifted from contemporary capitalist economics to issues of socialist economic theory, and he actively participated in academic discussions on topics such as the object of study of political economy and the economic effects of socialism, laying the foundation for his later research on socialist economic theory and system reform. Since reform and opening up, Liu Shibai has conducted a large body of highly innovative research on major economic theoretical issues, including the object of study of political economy, ownership and the socialist commodity economy, the law of value and the market mechanism, the household contract responsibility system, the transition to a market system, and reform of the property rights system of state-owned enterprises, playing an active academic role in promoting China’s exploration of building a socialist market economy.

1925年，刘诗白先生出生于一个教育世家，在书香门第的文化熏陶下，他从小就热爱文学和社会科学。由于学生时代正值旧中国外受帝国主义列强掠夺，内遭新旧军阀和专制政府横征暴敛，中国人民处于水深火热之时，风起云涌的抗日救亡运动和无产阶级革命文化的传播，对刘诗白影响极大。他开始阅读马克思主义哲学、政治经济学方面的著作，特别是三联书店出版的《资本论》成为他步入经济学殿堂的向导。1942年，刘诗白考入武汉大学经济系，并得以系统阅读包括马克思的经济学著作、亚当·斯密的《国富论》、大卫·李嘉图的《政治经济学及赋税原理》以及马歇尔的《经济学原理》在内的大批西方经济学原著。1946年，刘诗白从武汉大学毕业后受聘于四川大学经济系，开始从事经济理论研究，主要讲授政治经济学、外国经济史和当代资产阶级经济学说等课程。1958年以后，他的研究重心由当代资本主义经济转向社会主义经济理论问题，并积极参与国内学界有关政治经济学研究对象、社会主义经济效果等问题的讨论，为他日后研究社会主义经济理论和体制改革奠定了基础。改革开放以来，刘诗白围绕政治经济学的研究对象、所有制及社会主义商品经济、价值规律与市场机制、家庭联产承包责任制、向市场体制转轨、国有企业产权制度改革等重大经济理论问题，进行了大量富有创新精神的研究，对我国探索构建社会主义市场经济体制发挥了积极的学术推动作用。

Liu Shibai’s academic exploration exhibits three distinctive features. First, a comprehensive investigation of China’s economic system reform. His research on reform is not confined to a single field but takes an overall perspective, conducting independent research from multiple angles and directions. Second, a grounding in Chinese practice and Chinese national conditions. Guided by the basic principles and methodology of Marxist political economy, he has put forward his own academic insights on many “new things” that have emerged since China’s reform and opening up. Third, adherence to the integration of theory and practice. He is deeply convinced that only by taking root in vivid practice can the vitality of theory be stimulated, theoretical innovation be realized, and theoretical development be promoted. Precisely because he has stood at the forefront of China’s reform and opening-up practice, many of his theoretical viewpoints possess strong insight and persuasiveness. This fine academic style and scholarly character make him a model for later generations to emulate.

刘诗白的学术探索体现出三个鲜明特点。第一，对于中国经济体制改革的全方位探讨。他对改革的研究并不局限于某一领域，而是着眼于全局，多方位、多角度地展开独立研究。第二，立足中国实践和中国国情。他以马克思主义政治经济学基本原理和方法论为指导，对我国改革开放以来的诸多“新生事物”提出了自己的学术见解。第三，坚持理论与实际相结合。他深信只有根植于生动实践，才能激发理论的活力、实现理论的创新，进而推动理论的发展。正因为坚守在我国改革开放实践的前沿，他的许多理论观点具有很强的洞察力和说服力，这种优良学风和治学品性使其成为后辈学习的楷模。

A Dialectical Understanding of the Socialist Market Economy

对社会主义市场经济的辩证认识

In February 1979, in his article “On Developing the Socialist Commodity Economy and Utilizing the Market,” Liu Shibai explicitly defined the nature of the socialist economy as a socialist commodity economy, challenging the traditional perception that the planned economy was an essential feature of socialism. Liu Shibai pointed out that in developing and perfecting the socialist commodity economy, the most crucial thing was to fully develop and utilize the positive role of the socialist market. This required, guided by Marxism, in-depth research and exploration of the nature, scope, structure, mechanisms, laws, and functions of the socialist market. He also noted that Marxist political economy was basically a theory of production plus a theory of distribution, lacking a theory of the market. Due to the constraints of traditional theoretical concepts, advancing this theoretical understanding at the time required great courage. In April of the same year, through his article “On Socialist Planned Management and the Utilization of Market Mechanisms,” Liu Shibai further proposed and elaborated on the concept of a socialist market economy. He argued that the market economy possesses the character of a general economic category, referring to a commodity economy that produces for the market. The traditional perception that “the market economy is capitalism” lacked scientific basis, because the market economy, as a commodity economy producing for the market, is neither an independent mode of production nor an economic category unique to capitalist society, but rather a general economic category that began to emerge with the dissolution of primitive communes and has existed in almost all economic formations of human society. This viewpoint was subsequently incorporated in 1984 into the *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Reform of the Economic System* adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 12th Central Committee of the CPC [1]1 The Sunan model (苏南模式) refers to the pattern of rural industrialization and economic development in southern Jiangsu Province during the 1980s and 1990s, characterized by township and village collective enterprises operating within a market-oriented framework.. From then on, “developing the socialist commodity economy” became an important breakthrough in the practice of China’s economic system reform since reform and opening up.

1979年2月，刘诗白在《论发展社会主义商品经济与利用市场》一文中，明确把社会主义经济的属性界定为社会主义商品经济，挑战了计划经济是社会主义本质特征的传统认知。刘诗白指出，在发展和完善社会主义商品经济中，最关键的是要充分发挥和利用社会主义市场的积极作用。这就要求以马克思主义为指导，对社会主义市场的性质、范围、结构、机制、规律和作用等问题进行深入研究与探索。他还指出，马克思主义政治经济学基本是生产理论加上分配理论，而缺少市场理论。由于传统理论观念的束缚，这一理论认识的提出在当时需要极大的勇气。同年4月，刘诗白通过《试论社会主义计划管理与利用市场机制》一文，进一步提出了社会主义市场经济的概念并加以论述。他认为，市场经济具有一般经济范畴性质，是指这种为市场而生产的商品经济。而“市场经济就是资本主义”的传统认知缺乏科学根据，因为市场经济是为市场而生产的商品经济，既不是一种独立的生产方式，也不是资本主义社会特有的经济范畴，而是自原始公社解体时就开始萌芽、几乎存在于人类社会各个经济形态中的一般性的经济范畴。这一观点随后在1984年被写入党的十二届三中全会通过的《中共中央关于经济体制改革的决定》之中。从此，“发展社会主义商品经济”成为改革开放以来中国经济体制改革实践的重要突破。

In July 1992, in his article “My Views on the Socialist Market Economy,” Liu Shibai proposed: In the 1990s of the 20th century, the drawbacks of the traditional planned economic system had long been starkly exposed, and carrying out a fundamental reform of it had become a very urgent task. Therefore, this required us at present to once again calmly summarize historical experience, deepen our understanding of the socialist economy, and provide a more precise generalization of China’s new economic system. This gave rise to the proposal of the concept of a “socialist market economy,” which is the logical development of China’s timely summarization of experience and deepening of theoretical understanding in the great practice of reform. What is a market economy? Liu Shibai believed that, broadly speaking, a market economy is a commodity economy, as Lenin had long discussed. Narrowly speaking, a true market economy is a commodity economy under conditions of large-scale socialized production, a commodity economy in which the market is fully developed, manifested as a complete market system, and in which the regulatory role of the market is fully exerted; it is a developed commodity economy. Further, the connotation of a socialist market economy is embodied in five basic characteristics. First, a market economy does not exclude planning but must more fully utilize and exert the function of planning, regulate and control the macroeconomy well, and guide the microeconomy. Second, a market economy does not exclude the economic functions of the government, nor does it exclude the state from organizing and establishing enterprises in certain fields. A socialist market economy even more requires the effective exertion of the government’s functions of economic regulation, planning, supervision, and service. Third, the socialist nature of the market economy insists on taking public ownership as the main body. Fourth, the market economy takes the market mechanism as the basic regulator; regarding the spontaneity and blindness of economic activities, the function of planning can be used to limit and guide them, thereby achieving orderly overall operation of the national economy. Fifth, the market economy has drawbacks such as blind production, economic fluctuations, and widening income disparities. Under socialist conditions, with the help of the planning function and government regulation, these drawbacks can be reduced as much as possible.

1992年7月，刘诗白在《社会主义市场经济之我见》一文中提出：在20世纪90年代的今天，传统计划经济体制的弊端早已暴露得十分鲜明，对它进行根本性的改革已经是十分紧迫的任务，因而这就要求我们在当前，再一次冷静总结历史经验，加深对社会主义经济的认识，对我国新经济体制予以更精确的概括。这就有“社会主义市场经济”概念的提出，这是我国在改革的伟大实践中及时总结经验，深化理论认识的合乎逻辑的发展。什么是市场经济？刘诗白认为，广义地说，市场经济就是商品经济，列宁对此早有论述。狭义地说，真正的市场经济，就是社会化大生产条件下的商品经济，是市场充分发育，表现为完备的市场体系，市场调节作用得到充分发挥的商品经济，是发达的商品经济。进一步地说，社会主义市场经济的内涵体现为五个方面的基本特征。一是市场经济不排斥计划，而要更充分利用和发挥计划的功能，调控好宏观经济，并引导微观经济。二是市场经济不排斥政府经济功能，也不排斥国家在某些领域组织兴办企业。社会主义市场经济更需要有效发挥政府的经济调节、规划、监督、服务的功能。三是市场经济的社会主义性质，坚持以公有制为主体。四是市场经济以市场机制为基本调节器，对于经济活动的自发性与盲目性，可借助计划功能进行限制和引导，进而实现国民经济总体的运行有序。五是市场经济存在盲目生产、经济波动、扩大收入差别等弊端。在社会主义条件下，借助于计划功能和政府调控能够尽可能减少上述弊端。

Because China’s theoretical circles at the time mechanically and dogmatically understood Marx and Engels’s expositions on communist society, and slavishly copied the Soviet Union’s highly centralized planned economic system, they therefore opposed the market economy to public ownership in economic theory, regarding the two as irreconcilable. Liu Shibai believed that the question of the “compatibility” of the market economy with socialist public ownership could only be resolved in practice, not adjudicated in the study. Represented by the “Sunan model,”[n1] the market economy transformed China’s traditional rural and urban collective economies, enabling the latter to acquire mechanisms and organizational forms compatible with the market. Subsequent rural land shareholding cooperatives, with clearer principal property rights, further enhanced compatibility with the market mechanism. These explorations and innovations, grounded in China’s practical problems, became a perfect answer to the endlessly debated question in economics circles of “whether the market can be compatible with socialism.” Thereafter, achieving the organic integration of the market mechanism with the basic socialist economic system was no longer a question of whether it could be done, but rather of how to achieve a better integration and maximize the “degree of compatibility.”

由于我国当时的理论界机械地、教条主义地理解马克思和恩格斯关于公有制社会的论述，并照搬苏联高度集权的计划经济体制，因而在经济理论上把市场经济与公有制对立起来，认为两者是水火不相容的关系。刘诗白认为，市场经济与社会主义公有制的“兼容”问题只能解决于实践之中，而不是裁定于书斋之中。以“苏南模式”为代表，市场经济改造了中国传统农村及城市集体经济，使后者获得了与市场相兼容的机制和组织形式。此后的农村土地股份合作制则以更加清晰的主体产权，进一步增强了与市场机制的兼容性。这些基于中国现实问题的探索与创新，成为对经济学界争论不休的“市场能否与社会主义兼容”论题的完美解答。此后，实现市场机制与社会主义基本经济制度的有机结合，不再是一个能不能的问题，而是如何使二者更好结合、实现最大“兼容度”的问题。

Profoundly Revealing the Plurality of Socialist Ownership

深刻揭示社会主义所有制多元性

In addition to his research on the socialist market economy, Liu Shibai also made major theoretical contributions around adjusting and perfecting the structure of socialist ownership, especially exploring new forms of public ownership. He published an article titled “On Economic Reform and the Perfection of Socialist Ownership by the Whole People” in the second issue of *Economic Research Journal* in 1979, in which he put forward the novel view that socialist “ownership by the whole people” should be “incomplete,” and expounded from a theoretical level the inevitability and rationality of transforming state-owned enterprises that practiced unified revenue and expenditure and “eating from the big pot”[n2] into business entities responsible for their own profits and losses. In 1981, at the first national symposium on the theory of ownership, in response to the long-popular views of “pure public ownership theory,” “single public ownership,” and “ownership by the whole people equals state-owned enterprises,” Liu Shibai put forward the “three natures” view: the plurality of the ownership structure in socialist society, the diversity of ownership forms, and the multi-layered nature of the concrete forms of public ownership, which immediately aroused strong repercussions from all sectors of society. He believed that socialist public ownership, as the main body, would coexist for a long time with various other forms of socialist ownership; besides the whole-people and collective forms, concrete forms also included multiple joint ownership forms such as “whole-people + collective,” “whole-people + collective + individual,” and “collective + collective.” In terms of operational forms, ownership by the whole people would manifest as state-owned and state-operated, state-owned enterprise-operated, state-owned collective lease, and state-owned individual lease; in terms of capital structure and distribution structure, there would be forms absorbing part of the workers’ funds and implementing dividend distribution according to shares, as well as absorbing collective funds, social individual funds, and investing in other enterprises with dividend distribution according to shares. In 1985, based on the classical Marxist writers’ theory of socialist ownership and combined with China’s reform practice, Liu Shibai profoundly demonstrated the basic connotation and laws of motion of socialist ownership, thereby publishing his monograph *A Study of Socialist Ownership*.

除了对社会主义市场经济的研究，刘诗白还围绕调整和完善社会主义所有制结构，特别是探寻新的公有制实现形式，作出了重大理论贡献。他在《经济研究》1979年第2期上发表了《试论经济改革与社会主义全民所有制的完善》一文，提出了社会主义“全民所有制”应是“不完全的”的崭新观点，并从理论层面阐明了把统收统支、吃“大锅饭”的国营企业改造为实行自负盈亏的经营主体的必然性和合理性。1981年，在首次全国所有制理论讨论会上，针对长期以来流行的社会主义“纯公有制论”“单一公有制”，以及“全民所有制等于国营企业”等观点，刘诗白提出了社会主义社会所有制结构的多元性、所有制形式的多样性、公有制具体形式的多层次性的“三性”观点，随即引起社会各界的强烈反响。他认为，作为主体的社会主义公有制将与其他各种社会主义所有制形式长期并存，具体形式除了全民和集体，还有“全民+集体”“全民+集体+个体”“集体+集体”等多种联合所有制形式。全民所有制在经营形式上会出现国有国营、国有企业经营、国有集体租赁、国有个体租赁等；在资金结构与分配结构上会出现吸收部分职工资金和实行按股分红，还可以吸收集体资金、社会个人资金以及向其他企业投资等按股分红形式。1985年，刘诗白根据马克思主义经典作家关于社会主义所有制的理论，结合我国改革实际，对社会主义所有制的基本内涵和运动规律进行了深刻论证，由此出版专著《社会主义所有制研究》。

Since 1986, Liu Shibai has published a series of papers on the reform of the property rights system of state-owned enterprises, making unremitting explorations of socialist property rights theory. He believed that the various reform measures since reform and opening up had failed to truly invigorate China’s enterprises, and the reason lay in the relatively lagging reform of the property rights system. For an enterprise to become a business entity, it must first be a property rights entity, possessing ownership or control over property, and enjoying “property benefits” and bearing “property responsibilities.” Because China lacked a legal person property mechanism, enterprises were not endowed with the responsibilities, rights, and interests necessary to face the market, and therefore could not truly achieve self-financing and possess the behavioral characteristics of a business entity. Therefore, in constructing a market mechanism in China, the focus was on carrying out the reform of the property rights system of state-owned enterprises, that is, following the principle of separating ownership and management rights, exploring and constructing a legal person property system that ensures state ownership and strengthens enterprise management rights, and thereby establishing a modern enterprise system. This required deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises, transforming the single state-owned property rights system into a plural property rights system; transforming the highly centralized state-owned and state-operated property rights system into a property rights system with separated ownership and management rights; and transforming the vague and unclear property rights relations into clear property rights relations. In 1993, Liu Shibai participated in the drafting work of documents such as the pilot project for the modern enterprise system in Sichuan Province and the “33 Articles” for state-owned enterprise reform. He clearly pointed out that it was necessary to strategically adjust the layout of the state-owned economy, insisting on advancing in some areas while retreating in others, doing something in some areas and refraining in others. In the strategic adjustment of the layout of the state-owned economy, this should be accomplished through asset restructuring. To improve and invigorate large and small state-owned enterprises, there must be a good mechanism, a good product, and a good leader. Among these, the system is the prerequisite; the system determines the mechanism, and the mechanism determines vitality.

1986年以来，刘诗白就国有企业产权制度改革发表了一系列论文，对社会主义产权理论进行了不懈探索。他认为，改革开放以来的种种改革措施未能使我国企业真正活起来，原因就在于相对滞后的产权制度改革。企业要成为经营主体，首先必须是产权主体，拥有财产所有权或支配权，并享有“产益”和承担“产责”。由于我国缺乏法人财产机制，企业未被赋予面向市场所必需的责、权、利，也就不可能真正实现自负盈亏和拥有经营主体的行为特征。因此，在我国构建市场机制，重点是进行国有企业产权制度改革，即按照所有权和经营权分离的原则，探索和构建确保国家所有权、强化企业经营权的法人财产制度，并由此建立现代企业制度。这就要求深化国有企业改革，把单一国有产权制度改造为多元产权制度；把高度集中的国有国营产权制度，改造为两权分离的产权制度，把模糊不清的产权关系改造为明晰化的产权关系。1993年，刘诗白参加了四川省现代企业制度试点和国有企业改革“33条”等文件的起草工作。他明确指出，必须从战略上调整国有经济布局，坚持有进有退，有所为有所不为。在国有经济布局的战略调整中，应通过资产重组的方式完成。搞好搞活国有大小型企业，必须有一个好机制、一个好产品和一个好领导。其中，体制是先决条件，体制决定机制，机制决定活力。

Systematically Expounding the Theory of the Primary Stage of Socialism

系统阐述社会主义初级阶段理论

Liu Shibai believed that, according to the developmental view of materialist dialectics, everything is in a process of motion from quantitative change to qualitative change, and these different qualitative states make the motion of things appear in stages. Marx and Engels, using the developmental view of materialist dialectics to analyze the motion of human society, founded the scientific theory that human society must undergo five social formations — primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society, and socialist and communist society. But Marxist historical materialism not only divides the ascending movement of human society into five major stages, that is, five social formations, but also further divides the same social formation into several smaller stages. The essence of these smaller stages is the same, but there are still some partial qualitative differences. For the communist social formation, Marx further divided it into the two stages of socialism and communism. It can be seen that dividing the same social formation into several stages of different degrees of development and maturity has always been the scientific method used by the classical Marxist writers in studying history.

刘诗白认为，根据唯物辩证法的发展观，任何事物都处在从量变到质变的运动过程之中，而这些不同的质态使事物的运动呈现出阶段性。马克思和恩格斯运用唯物辩证法的发展观来分析人类社会的运动，创立了关于人类社会要经历五种社会形态——原始社会、奴隶社会、封建社会、资本主义社会、社会主义与共产主义社会——的科学理论。但马克思主义的历史唯物论，不仅把人类社会的上升运动划分为五大阶段，即五种社会形态，还把同一社会形态进一步划分为几个小阶段。这些小阶段的本质相同，但还存在着某些局部的质的差别。对于共产主义社会形态，马克思进一步划分为社会主义和共产主义两个阶段。可见，把同一社会形态划分为发展成熟程度不同的若干阶段，从来就是马克思主义经典作家研究历史所使用的科学方法。

According to the historical materialism founded by Marx, any social formation is a three-dimensional structure based on the economic base, and the economic base in turn closely depends on and is determined by the material base. Therefore, the division of the development stages of socialist society must take the relations of production and the productive forces as the standard. Specifically, to correctly answer the question of what stage of development socialism is in after the end of the transition period from capitalism to socialism, people must simultaneously consider the nature and condition of the relations of production, as well as the nature and condition of the productive forces. Broadly speaking, the development of socialism may have the following three types. First, socialism born from highly developed capitalism. On the one hand, because the socialist relations of production — mainly public ownership and distribution according to work — are relatively mature and perfect, and on the other hand, because the development of highly modernized production socialization means the maturity of the socialist material and technological base, such socialism will relatively quickly manifest as a mature form. Such a country will not pass through a primary stage but will relatively quickly enter the advanced stage of socialism. Second, socialism born from capitalism with a medium level of development. Because the socialist relations of production bear certain immature characteristics, and the socialist material and technological base also bears certain underdeveloped characteristics — such as the development of productive forces not yet reaching the level of developed capitalist countries — such socialism will have certain immature characteristics. Such a country will have to go through a brief primary stage or intermediate stage of socialism before advancing to the advanced stage of socialism. Third, socialism born from an underdeveloped capitalist semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Because the socialist relations of production still bear quite distinct immaturity — such as the low-level nature of the public ownership structure, the incompleteness of public ownership being very distinct, and at the same time the multi-layered and unbalanced nature of the productive forces being very significant — there exists a lag in the formation of the socialist material and technological base. Such a country will inevitably go through a fairly long, stable primary stage of socialism, and then gradually transition to the advanced stage of socialism, and may even have to go through an intermediate stage of socialism.

按照马克思创立的历史唯物主义，任何一个社会形态都是立足于经济基础之上的三维结构，而经济基础又密切地依存和决定于物质基础。因此，对于社会主义社会的发展阶段划分，必须以生产关系和生产力为标准。具体地说，为了正确回答从资本主义到社会主义的过渡时期结束后社会主义处于何种发展阶段这一问题，人们必须同时考虑生产关系的性质和状况，以及生产力的性质和状况。大体说来，社会主义的发展可能具有以下三种类型。第一，诞生于高度发达的资本主义的社会主义。一方面由于社会主义生产关系——主要是公有制和按劳分配——较为成熟和完善，另一方面发展到高度的现代生产社会化意味着社会主义物质技术基础的成熟，此时的社会主义将较为迅速地表现为成熟形态。这样的国家将不经过一个初级阶段而较快步入社会主义的高级阶段。第二，诞生于资本主义具有中等发展水平的社会主义。由于社会主义生产关系带有某些不成熟的特征，而社会主义物质技术基础也带有某些未发育成熟的性质——如生产力发展尚未达到发达资本主义国家的水平，此时的社会主义将具有某些不成熟的特征。这样的国家将要经历一个短暂的初级阶段或中级阶段的社会主义，再进至高级阶段的社会主义。第三，诞生于资本主义不发达的半殖民地半封建社会的社会主义。由于社会主义生产关系还带有相当鲜明的不成熟性——如公有制结构的低层次性，公有制不完全性都十分鲜明，同时生产力多层次性和不平衡性十分显著，从而存在社会主义物质技术基础形成的滞后。这样的国家将不可避免地经历一个相当长的、带有稳定性的社会主义初级阶段，再逐步过渡到社会主义的高级阶段，甚至还要经历一个社会主义的中级阶段。

According to the above classification, China clearly belongs to the third type of country. Owing to the nature of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, the level of productive forces in modern China was extremely low. Even after the transition period had basically ended and socialist relations of production had been established, the social productive forces were still to bear the character of traditional productive forces for a long time to come, and the modernization of production and of society itself would require a period measured in centuries. Consequently, China was to remain in the primary stage of socialism for a considerable length of time — a fact determined by China’s special national conditions and the special history of socialism’s development in China. It is thus evident that in judging and dividing the stages of socialist development, it is necessary both to adhere to relations of production as the direct criterion and to introduce the criterion of productive forces. In assessing the stage of socialist development in our country, applying this dual criterion to examine the nature and characteristics of both the socialist economic base and the socialist material foundation yields the scientific conclusion that, after the basic completion of the socialist transformation of the means of production, our country is still in the primary stage of socialism. At the same time, this approach helps in making a scientific projection of the future stages of socialist development in our country.

按照上述划分，中国明显属于第三种类型的国家。由于半殖民地半封建社会性质，近代中国的生产力水平十分低下，即使在过渡期基本结束且社会主义生产关系确立后，社会生产力还将长期带有传统生产力的性质，实现生产现代化和社会现代化还需要以百年计的漫长年月。因而，中国将在一个相当长的时期内处于社会主义初级阶段，这是中国的特殊国情和社会主义在中国发展的特殊历史所决定的。可见，在评判和划分社会主义的发展阶段上，有必要既坚持以生产关系为直接标准，又需要引入生产力标准。在评判我国社会主义发展阶段时，通过运用这一双重标准考察社会主义经济基础和社会主义物质基础两方面的性质与特征，就能得出在生产资料所有制的社会主义改造基本完成后，我国还处于社会主义初级阶段的科学论断，同时有助于对我国社会主义的未来发展阶段进行科学展望。

Advancing theoretical innovation while adhering to the principle of studying the classics to serve the times [3]3 The phrase “经世致用” (jīng shì zhì yòng) is a classical Chinese scholarly ideal meaning “to study the classics and apply them to the governance of the world,” emphasizing practical, state-serving scholarship over empty theorizing.

在坚持经世致用中推进理论创新

Liu Shibai holds that economics is a practical science; theoretical research should, on the basis of grounding itself in reality, achieve innovation and development, and always serve socialist economic construction and reform. To this end, he advocates that socialist political economy must be devoted to enriching the people and strengthening the state, and explicitly proposes that the basic content of socialist political economy should be “the science of the people’s wealth.” In 1992, the book *An Original Theory of Socialist Economics*, edited by Liu Shibai, took “the people’s wealth” as a red thread running through the entire work, and emphasized that achieving the maximum appreciation, rational distribution, and optimal use of the people’s wealth should be the basic content of socialist political economy, thereby elevating the people’s wealth to a theoretical form. On this basis of understanding, the fundamental task of socialism lies in developing the productive forces and achieving common prosperity for all working people. In his 2005 book *On Modern Wealth*, Liu Shibai put forward the important academic proposition of the diversification of the structure of wealth. He argues that the structure of wealth is jointly determined by the productive forces, the state of social production, and the industrial structure. Driven by high and new technologies represented by information technology, the world today is in an era of comprehensive development of production; in particular, the rapid growth of cultural consumption demand has spurred the rise of the cultural industry. Consequently, a three-dimensional industrial structure composed of material production, service production, and knowledge and spiritual production has become the basic feature of the modern industrial structure, with material products, service products, and knowledge and spiritual products forming the three major constituent elements of modern social wealth. Among these, cultural elements are being extensively integrated with material production and service production, and this mutual promotion and interaction between culture and the economy has become an important driving force for economic growth and social development.

刘诗白认为，经济学是致用之学，理论研究应在立足实际的基础上有所创新、有所发展，始终为社会主义经济建设和改革服务。为此，他主张社会主义政治经济学必须致力于民富国强，明确提出社会主义政治经济学的基本内容应是“人民财富学”。1992年，刘诗白主编的《社会主义经济学原论》一书把“人民财富”作为贯穿全书的一条红线，并强调把实现人民财富的最大增值、合理分配与优化使用，作为社会主义政治经济学的基本内容，进而把人民财富上升为一种理论形态。在这一认识基础上，社会主义的根本任务在于发展生产力，实现全体劳动者共同富裕。在2005年出版的《现代财富论》一书中，刘诗白提出了财富结构多样化的重要学术命题。他认为，财富的结构由生产力、社会生产的状况和产业结构共同决定。在以信息技术为代表的高新技术推动下，当今世界正处于一个生产全面发展的时代，尤其是文化消费需求的快速增长推动了文化产业的兴起。于是，由物质生产、服务生产和知识与精神生产组成的三维产业结构成为现代产业结构的基本特征，物质产品、服务产品、知识与精神产品成为现代社会财富的三大类组成要素。其中，文化要素正与物质生产、服务生产实现广泛结合，而这种文化与经济的互促互动成为推动经济增长和社会发展的重要动因。

Furthermore, Liu Shibai’s 2000 monograph *A Study on the Overhang Operation of the Economy in China’s Transition Period* provides a comprehensive analysis of the macroeconomic issues in the operation of the economy during China’s transition period. For example, he proposes that there were two different types of insufficient demand in the operation of the market economy at that time. One is operational insufficient demand. A market economy is an economy in which subjects make their own decisions and operate spontaneously; the purchasing behavior of the subjects forming demand is spontaneous. From the supply side, the production of the subjects forming supply under market economy conditions is spontaneous and unstable. Therefore, the spontaneous forces of the market determine that insufficient demand or excessive demand frequently occurs in the operation of a market economy; this is a temporary, operational aggregate imbalance, which will revert to equilibrium under the action of the market. The other is institutional insufficient demand. The income of the subjects forming market purchasing power in a market economy is constrained by the basic property system of society. The private monopoly of property and unfair distribution under the capitalist system cause the income growth of the masses to lag behind the growth of production capacity, thereby leading to insufficient demand with purchasing power. In a socialist market economy, a distribution structure oriented toward common prosperity and a comprehensive social security system can ensure that the income of the masses grows in line with the growth of the aggregate supply level. The socialist market economy also experiences phenomena of operational insufficient demand (or excessive demand), but with the help of effective government macroeconomic regulation and control, aggregate equilibrium and a stable economic operation can be achieved. For another example, since the mid-1990s, the operational state of China’s economy has undergone a fundamental change, shifting from previous shortage operation to supply surplus. Liu Shibai summarizes the characteristics of this surplus as: broad scope, sustained low-level decline in prices, prominent overcapacity, persistence of the surplus operation, and slowing GDP growth. The causes of the surplus include the sharp decline in export demand since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the slowdown in the growth of investment demand and consumption demand, the imperfect distribution mechanism during the transition process, the aggregate negative effect of suppressing current consumption due to the comprehensive advancement of reforms, defects in the circulation system and purchasing and marketing methods, the lagging transformation of consumption concepts and behavior, and insufficient growth of effective supply. He also proposes countermeasures focusing on expanding domestic demand, adjusting the structure, deepening reforms, and leveraging the role of the government. Regarding the cyclical nature of the socialist economic operation, Liu Shibai believes that under the socialist market economy system, since economic activities are subordinate to the spontaneous market mechanism, fluctuations and cyclicality in economic operation are inevitable. During the cyclical changes in the deepening stage of economic reform, it is necessary to vigorously stimulate investment demand and pay attention to combining this with expanding consumption demand. It is evident that the above theoretical analyses and policy recommendations still have significant reference value today.

此外，刘诗白于2000年出版的专著《我国转轨期经济过剩运行研究》，对我国转轨期经济运行的宏观问题进行了全面剖析。比如，他提出，当时市场经济运行存在着两种不同性质的需求不足。一种是运行性的需求不足。市场经济是主体自主决策、自发运行的经济，形成需求的主体购买行为具有自发性。从供给方面来看，市场经济条件下形成供给主体的生产具有自发性和不稳定性。因此，市场的自发力量决定了市场经济运行中经常出现需求不足或需求过度现象，这是暂时的运行性的总量失衡，在市场的作用下又会向均衡回归。另一种是制度性的需求不足。市场经济中形成市场购买力的主体收入受社会基本财产制度的制约。资本主义制度下的财产私人垄断和分配不公，导致人民群众的收入增长落后于生产能力的增长，进而引起有支付能力的需求不足。在社会主义市场经济中，面向共同富裕的分配结构以及完善的社会保障体系能够保证人民群众的收入是适应总供给水平的增长而增长。社会主义市场经济也存在运行性需求不足（或需求过旺）的现象，但借助政府有效的宏观调控可以实现总量均衡和经济的稳定运行态势。再比如，20世纪90年代中期以来，我国经济运行态势发生了根本变化，由之前的短缺运行转向供给过剩。刘诗白将这种过剩的特点归纳为范围的广泛性、物价在低位持续下滑、生产能力过剩突出、过剩运行的持续性以及GDP增长放慢。而过剩产生的原因包括1997年亚洲金融危机以来出口需求剧减、投资需求和消费需求增长放慢、转轨过程中分配机制不完善、改革全面推进产生抑制即期消费的聚合负效应、流通体制和购销方式缺陷、消费观念和行为转变滞后、有效供给增长不足等，并围绕扩大内需、调整结构、深化改革、发挥政府作用等方面提出治理对策。关于社会主义经济运行的周期性，刘诗白认为，在社会主义市场经济体制下，由于经济活动从属于自发性的市场机制，经济运行的波动性和周期性不可避免。经济改革深化阶段的周期性变化，必须大力启动投资需求，并注重与扩大消费需求相结合。可见，上述理论分析与政策建议至今仍具有重要参考价值。

General Secretary Xi Jinping points out that the times are the mother of thought, and practice is the source of theory. Practice has no end, and theoretical innovation has no end either. We must keep pace with the times in theory, constantly understand the laws, and continuously advance theoretical innovation. Looking at the trajectory of Mr. Liu Shibai’s academic research — from the object of study of political economy to its research methods, from the primary stage of socialism to the theory of pluralistic socialist ownership, from the socialist market economy to subject property rights, from institutional transformation to the reform of state-owned enterprises, from technological innovation to modern wealth, and so on — a clear logical main line of theoretical innovation and practical development of the socialist economy with Chinese characteristics is delineated. In his over seventy years of teaching, educating, and academic research career, he has consistently adhered to the guidance of Marxism, truly understanding, truly believing in, and truly applying Marxism; he has consistently insisted on combining Marxist theory with contemporary Chinese practice, personally promoting the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times; he has consistently insisted on rooting scholarship in the soil of China, writing theories and establishing doctrines for the Party and the people. He consciously acts as a firm believer and faithful practitioner of the lofty ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, vividly displaying the intellectual trajectory of a Marxist economist who resonates with the times, with reality, and with the masses.

习近平总书记指出，时代是思想之母，实践是理论之源。实践没有止境，理论创新也没有止境。我们必须在理论上跟上时代，不断认识规律，不断推进理论创新。纵观刘诗白先生的学术研究轨迹——从政治经济学的研究对象到研究方法、从社会主义初级阶段到社会主义所有制多元论、从社会主义市场经济到主体产权、从体制转型到国企改革、从科技创新到现代财富，等等——清晰地刻画出一条中国特色社会主义经济理论创新与实践发展的逻辑主线。他在70余年的教书育人和学术研究生涯中，始终坚持以马克思主义为指导，真懂真信真用马克思主义；始终坚持将马克思主义理论与当代中国实践相结合，切身推动马克思主义中国化时代化；始终坚持扎根中国大地做学问，为党和人民述学立论。他自觉做共产主义远大理想和中国特色社会主义共同理想的坚定信仰者与忠实实践者，生动展现了一个马克思主义经济学家与时代、与现实、与大众相生相应的思想轨迹。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗