Imagined new energy vehicles for the future Photo: TUCHONG

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General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping’s important exposition on new quality productive forces not only stresses the great significance of accelerating the development of these forces to advancing and extending Chinese modernization in the new historical stage, but also establishes a relatively sound theoretical system on productive forces, representing original contributions to Marxist productive force theory. 

First, General Secretary Xi Jinping has creatively defined the category of new quality productive forces. While Marx attached high importance to science and technology within productive forces, Deng Xiaoping further asserted that science and technology are the primary productive forces. This assertion effectively guided China’s social and economic development, driven primarily by science and technology, since the reform and opening up. 

The novelty of new quality productive forces lies first in the perception of productive force development as a process of abandoning the old and embracing the new. Just as outdated modes of production are continuously replaced by new ones, new quality productive forces will also supersede the old. The core aspect of developing these new productive forces resides in the continual exploration of new economic growth opportunities by nurturing emerging sectors and future-oriented industries.

The innovativeness of new quality productive forces is also reflected in the emphasis on the continuous development of productive forces in new directions. This accentuates the importance of fostering high-tech emerging industries to driving high-quality economic development, surpassing the mere acknowledgment of science and technology as the primary productive forces. 

Second, both the connotation and form of production relations have been innovatively reinterpreted. Although Marx elaborated on the relations of production in Das Kapital several times, he didn’t offer a complete, explicit definition to the concept. Traditional political economy puts ownership at the core of production relations. Both related research and production relations’ compatibility with productive forces center around ownership. 

In comparison, General Secretary Xi Jinping incorporated economic management and operation mechanisms into the scope of production relations, underscoring the imperative of comprehensively deepening reform to establish new types of production relations while developing new quality productive forces. 

Third, General Secretary Xi Jinping has creatively reflected on the principles of the forces and relations of production, thus substantively innovating and developing theories concerning productive forces. In particular, reflections on new quality productive forces in the category of productive forces, economic management and operation mechanisms in the relations of production, as well as state governance, the CPC’s centralized, unified leadership over economic work, and the role of thought and culture in the superstructure have all laid the theoretical groundwork for the innovative development of productive force theories. 

Moreover, the relatively abstract relationship among productive forces, production relations, and the superstructure has become more concrete. Closely related to China’s actual conditions in the new era, the idea of developing new quality productive forces not only scales new theoretical heights, but will also specifically guide and advance great practices of socialism with Chinese characteristics. 

In addition, General Secretary Xi Jinping has comprehensively elucidated the dialectical relationship among productive forces, production relations, and the superstructure with meticulous logic. Innovatively, he juxtaposed the interplay and reciprocal influence between the forces and relations of production, as well as between the economic base and the superstructure. This approach transcends the limitations of linear logic of one determining the other or being determined by it, thereby radically overcoming the shortcomings of mechanical materialism.

Furthermore, the pathway to dynamically and adaptively aligning productive forces, the relations of production, and the superstructure has been creatively clarified. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made strategic arrangements on concrete economic systems for developing new quality productive forces, outlining clear work requirements and plans. The interplay between the forces and relations of production thus becomes more specific and operable, practically facilitating their mutual promotion. The role of the superstructure is likewise materialized as the guidance of Xi Jinping’s economic thought, including the Party’s overall leadership over economic work and modernizing the system and capacity for national governance. Focus is placed on reforming economic and sci-tech systems to accelerate the formation and development of new types of production relations that dynamically and adaptively match new quality productive forces. 

Guo Guanqing is a research fellow from the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

Edited by CHEN MIRONG