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The Moral Orientation of Solidly Promoting Common Prosperity for All People in the New Era

The Moral Orientation of Solidly Promoting Common Prosperity for All People in the New Era
 
ZHANG Zhenqing*
 
Abstract: The moral connotation of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era has been formed in the interaction between history and practice. It features the full coverage of the subjects of common prosperity, the richness of the content, the gradualness of the process, and the authenticity of the practice. As the core structural elements, the three units of consciousness, namely, the moral logic of putting people first, the moral model of coordinated development, and the moral ideal of coexistence, form the organic whole of the moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era. The moral practice of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era refers to the maximum realization of the value and dignity of human survival and development. The pursuit of high-quality development is also the striving for common prosperity, the pioneering spirit and collective consciousness highlighted in the construction of the demonstration zones for realizing common prosperity, and the role of the third distribution and the upholding of fairness and justice have vividly demonstrated the moral practice of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era.
 
Keywords: common prosperity · high-quality development · moral orientation · new era
 
The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pointed out that “The Chinese-style modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and it is also a long-term historical process. We take the realization of the people’s aspirations for a better life as the starting point and ultimate goal of our modernization drive, strive to safeguard and promote social equity and justice, promote common prosperity for all people, and resolutely prevent polarization.”1 As the term implies, common prosperity means prosperity for all people, not the prosperity of several local areas in terms of regional distribution, not the prosperity for a few people in terms of people distribution, but also, not prosperity in the form of egalitarianism. From the social ideal of “great harmony of the world” to the proposal of common prosperity, the Chinese people have been making the goals of survival and development with continuous improvement. By taking the historical initiative, China is moving towards national prosperity and strength. The CPC’s successful pursuit of common prosperity is marked by the creation of a new path of Chinese-style modernization. Its original aspiration and mission of seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation have been embodied in the whole process of revolution, construction and reform, and in the whole process of the Party’s century-long fight.
 
The new era is an era of solid efforts to promote common prosperity for all people. To grasp this value orientation, we must start with “real people”. In the context of Marxism, “people” refers to the people who play a decisive role in the progress of social history in a particular historical situation, and they are the firm and important main force driving the revolution forward.2 It can be seen that people are at least a historical concept, a political concept and a group concept, which is different from those with the legal rights and obligations defined by the concept of citizenship. The concept of people integrates multiple dimensions such as history, value, interests and power subjects. Although the Western concept of citizenship covers the general provisions of the people, “it is only an abstract expression at the level of the political state in the capitalist political discourse... It is not relevant to civil society or relations of material life... A declaration to the people may be reduced to a lie to the people... Using the people as an ideological tool to rule without actually trying to achieve the interests of the people.”3The CPC has developed and enriched the concept of the people, making it a socialist concept with Chinese characteristics. In practice, it has realized the unity of the form and essence of the concept of the people in terms of history, value, interests, and subject of power, which transcends the separation of the form and essence of the subject of the people in the Western political framework and the resulting limitations of inequality. The CPC’s pursuit of the substantive equality of the people and their subject status is consistent. In modern China, national dignity and individual spirit were rebuilt first. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially the 18th National Congress of the CPC, policies to improve people’s livelihood, such as targeted poverty alleviation, in-depth medical reform and educational reform, have been implemented, and the substantive equality of the people as subjects, especially as subjects of interests, has made a strong comeback.4 It is in the multidimensional context of Marxism, socialism with Chinese characteristics and the CPC’s century-long fight that we make solid efforts to promote common prosperity for all in the new era. Only in this context can we understand why common prosperity in the new era is a solid goal, why it is for all people, why it is both material and spiritual, and why it is gradual. We will make solid efforts to promote common prosperity for all people, so as to realize that the “goodness” of the process of common prosperity is in line with the “goodness” of the goal and achieve the unity of common prosperity for all people in both form and substance. Therefore, there is a significant moral orientation here.
 
I. The Moral Connotation of Promoting Common Prosperity for All People in the New Era
 
A. The historical development of the moral connotation of common prosperity
 
The century-long fight of the CPC embodies the intrinsic value pursuit of common prosperity. The pursuit has evolved different practice patterns and theoretical expressions in the Party’s program and actions in different historical periods. The historical logic of the thought on common prosperity of the CPC conforms to the classic Marxist theory on the liberation of the proletariat and mankind, echoes the original aspiration and mission of the CPC to seek happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation, and reflects the CPC values and ethical standing of “from the people, for the people and by the people.”
 
The founding of the CPC “profoundly changed the future and destiny of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.”5 The history of the humiliation of the country, the hardship of the people and harm done to Chinese civilization began to turn to the history of rejuvenation. Meanwhile, the thought on common prosperity of the CPC took shape and was explored during a time of revolution and war. Since the Opium War, China was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society by internal troubles and foreign aggression. The people suffered from the oppression of the “three big mountains” and led a miserable and poor life. In his article entitled The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong put forward the proposition that “The contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation, and that between feudalism and the people are the main contradictions in modern Chinese society.”6 During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, the fundamental reason that hindered the Chinese people from becoming rich was the collusion of imperialism, feudalism and the bureaucrat capitalist forces that depended on the former two. They constantly extracted the wealth of the people. The First CPC National Congress proposed the abolition of capitalist private ownership and the elimination of classes, clarifying its political stance and tasks. After that, the CPC mainly focused on land and peasant issues and carried out ideological mobilization and revolutionary movements to improve the living conditions of the working people. During the Great Revolution, the CPC was compassionate to the people in the countryside and factories, calling on the suffering masses to join the revolution and overthrow the warlords. During the Agrarian Revolution, peasants’ enthusiasm was aroused by overthrowing the local despots and distributing land, thus providing a revolutionary guarantee for them to get rid of poverty. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the CPC implemented rent and interest reduction in land policy, which enhanced peasants’ enthusiasm for revolution and reduced their burden. During the War of Liberation, land reform was carried out in the liberated areas, and policies such as “land for the tiller” were implemented. During that period, the CPC took national independence and people’s liberation as its mission, combining national salvation and the improvement of people’s lives as the objectives. The CPC then formulated and implemented a revolutionary line and a land policy appropriate to the times in order to solve the problems of farmers and land problems, and made simultaneous progress in developing and exploring the thought on common prosperity.
 
Upon the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the material foundation for common prosperity was weak, and the people’s liberation from poverty became a clear illustration of the realization of common prosperity. In China, a big agricultural country, it is crucial to lift farmers out of poverty. Mao Zedong once pointed out that “The situation of farmers has a great impact on the development of our economy and the consolidation of our government.”7 In 1953, the term “common prosperity (Mandarin)” first appeared in a Party document entitled The Resolution on the Development of Agricultural Production Cooperatives, which stated that “Small-scale agricultural production has increasingly been unable to meet the needs of farmers to improve their lives... In order to further improve agricultural productivity... we need to gradually implement the socialist transformation of agriculture... to enable farmers to gradually and completely rise out of the conditions of poverty and achieve a life of common and general prosperity.”8 Based on the reality that China is a big agricultural country, it was an important task of the Party and the state for the agricultural population, which accounts for a large proportion of China’s population, to obtain a better livelihood from agriculture as soon as possible. However, how to achieve better livelihoods for more than 500 million farmers was an arduous social development problem. With the completion of the socialist transformation and the basic establishment of the socialist system, the principal contradictions in society at that time “were already the contradiction between the people’s demand for the establishment of an advanced industrial country and the reality of a backward agricultural country, and that between the people’s need for rapid economic and cultural development and the current situation where the economy and culture could not meet the people’s needs.”9 Unfortunately, the economy and society developed toward egalitarianism due to poverty, the simple relations of production and slow development of productive forces under the planned economy system, and being content with a small amount of possessions resulting from the unity of labor. Besides, due to the lack of experience in socialist construction, detachment from reality, the rush to success and other setbacks in social productivity, “general poverty” still existed to a certain extent.
 
After the introduction of reform and opening-up, the theory that “common prosperity is the essence of socialism” was put forward. In practice, common prosperity meant solving the problems of food and clothing and achieving a moderately well-off society. After 1978, with the implementation of the two strategies of domestic reform and opening to the outside world, the “collective prosperity” theory of “allowing some people to get rich first” and “enabling people of all ethnic groups in the country to get rich more quickly” was widely carried out throughout China as a means and goal.10 The negative impact of egalitarianism was effectively eliminated, and the practice of common prosperity featuring “people who get rich earlier help those who are still poor” began to take effect. In the Southern Talks in 1992, Deng Xiaoping first mentioned the “essence of socialism”. He said, “The essence of socialism is to liberate and develop the productive forces, eliminate exploitation, eliminate polarization and ultimately achieve common prosperity.”11 In this way, the socialist economic system with Chinese characteristics based on public ownership of the means of production was gradually established and improved, and the socialist market economic system was gradually perfected. Under the principle of distribution according to work, the initiative and creativity of all social subjects were greatly stimulated, and social wealth was created in large amounts. In view of this, the 1981 Resolution on Some Historical Problems of the Party since the Founding of the PRC pointed out that “The principal contradiction to be solved by the country is the contradiction between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the backward social production.”12 Later, this expression was written in the report to the 13th National Congress of the CPC and was established as the main contradiction of Chinese society in the primary stage of socialism. The re-understanding and new expression of the major social contradictions provided a direction for China to enter the new century, established new goals to achieve further development, and pointed out the way for the practice of common prosperity in the new century. Over the decades of reform and opening up, starting with the problem of food and clothing, China completed two important tasks in realizing a moderately prosperous life for the people and building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The goal of “allowing some people to get rich first” was achieved in some areas and among some people. To some extent, the policy of “people who get rich earlier help those who are still poor” avoided the risk of polarization. The “quantitative accumulation” of common prosperity continued to advance, with a more solid material foundation.
 
As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era, the common prosperity for all people and the development of Chinese-style modernization advance together, and a better life has become a new expression of common prosperity. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China’s economic and social development has shifted from a focus on high speed to high quality. China’s productivity has greatly increased. Its GDP ranks second in the world. In some fields, it ranks among the top in the world. Meanwhile, people’s demands for survival and development are no longer limited to the simple “material culture.” Multi-level, diversified and individualized demands in terms of democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and the environment are growing day by day. A better life has become a new symbol of common prosperity. To be specific, today, China has stepped into the “structural surplus” era from the “comprehensive shortage” era.13 Unbalanced and inadequate development has replaced “backward social production,” and the need for a better life has replaced the traditional saying of “material and cultural needs.” As the report to the 19th National Congress stated, “The principal contradiction facing Chinese society has become that between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.”14 This is a new and scientific judgment of the major social contradictions based on the phased characteristics of China’s social development, accurately positioning the new historical position of China’s development. Based on the new era, the good lifestyle of common prosperity and the development of Chinese-style modernization complement and support each other. In this process, the people-centered philosophy of development serves as a value guide for promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era, and it has become a key task to comprehensively deepen reform and modernize national governance to address the imbalance and inadequacy faced by social development. Meanwhile, China is making efforts to implement the vision of a better life of common prosperity for all people through the practice mechanism of high-quality development to promote common prosperity, so as to continuously enhance people’s sense of happiness and gain in life and inject a steady stream of moral and practical momentum into common prosperity in the new era.
 
B. Studies on the moral connotation of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era
 
General Secretary Xi Jinping stresses that “Common prosperity means the prosperity for all people, the material and cultural prosperity for the people, not the prosperity for a few people, nor uniform egalitarianism.”15 This statement defines common prosperity around the core word “people,” which provides an important reference for us to comprehensively and accurately understand the moral connotation of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era.
 
From the subject of the concept, the founding mission of the CPC is based on the happiness of the people. Based on the people, relying on the people and for the people, it has realized the organic unity of the value purport, value measure and value driving force of common prosperity. As a political, economic and cultural concept, common prosperity closely follows the ultimate goal of the all-round development of people, which is also a goal of communism. The task of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era is connected with the original mission of the Party and the expectations of the people, which represents the moral implications of “who are to benefit from common prosperity in the new era,” and reflects the people-centered nature of common prosperity. In a capitalist society, private ownership, alienated labor and unfair distribution veil the beneficiaries of prosperity. The people-centered nature of common prosperity is absent. Thus, the essence is common prosperity for the bourgeoisie. In terms of content, to make solid efforts to promote common prosperity for all people in the new era, first, we will ensure that all people live a prosperous life, have a confident and strong spirit, have a suitable living and working environment, enjoy social harmony, and enjoy universal access to public services. Second, we will realize the all-round development of people and the all-round progress of society. Third, we will share the fruits of reform and development and enjoy a happy life.16 To be brief, common prosperity in the new era attaches more importance to the richness of content, covering common prosperity for both material and spiritual life. This is a practical requirement of poverty alleviation in both material and spiritual terms in order to build a well-off society in an all-round way, and also a higher-level requirement for national rejuvenation, which reflects that the practice of common prosperity in the new era has transformed from material development to coordinated material and spiritual development. In terms of process, to solidly achieve common prosperity for all people in the new era is a process of gradual development. Common prosperity has established the principle of justice for the benefit of all. That is, based on the social reality of dynamic development, the moral expression and practice of common prosperity should be constantly adjusted, and the theme of meeting the people’s needs for a better life should be closely followed. This is fundamentally different from the capitalist approach that social relations and social phenomena are regarded as established and eternal content, and from the belief that the capitalist concept of justice can, by means of a super historical form, shape itself into a universally effective “measure” that is fully applicable to various objects with which it has only a casual connection.17 It can be seen that solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era is based on reality, while common prosperity of capitalism is based on the established logical framework of capital and its ideology. In terms of practice, to make solid efforts to achieve common prosperity for all in the new era, we should rely on the hard work of all Chinese people and reject opportunistic, illegal and non-peaceful means. According to the timetable, by 2035, we will have achieved more tangible progress in achieving common prosperity for all. The practice of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era provides examples for the moral connotations of common prosperity, which is different from the capitalist conception of a rich society and the reality of “a rich few.” Its justice and rationality are open and objective. The moral connotations of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era infuse the value, development momentum and ideal prospect of living for good in order to realize people’s yearning for a better life. The moral rules and values of common prosperity run through the political declaration of the Party, penetrate into the practice in the new era to achieve common prosperity, and are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, it is a true combination of “process goodness” and “result goodness.”
 
After the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China entered a new stage of modernization that would solidly promote common prosperity for all people. The first centenary goal is to achieve the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, so that the problem of absolute poverty can be solved historically. This is the only way to achieve the “three-step” strategy of socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Meanwhile, the problems of unbalanced and insufficient development, income inequality, and urban-rural and regional disparities are prominent.18 The goal of promoting common prosperity for all people is to solve these problems, deepen the practice of letting those who get rich first help those still in need, and gradually achieve the goal of “getting rich together.” Building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way is one of the goals of the Chinese path to modernization. Continuing along this path to realize that objective will lead to the goal of common prosperity. To solidly promote common prosperity for all people in the new era is an extension of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, a development goal of modernization at a higher level, and a realistic reflection of the second centenary goal. These two are integrated into the practice of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way, which is a dynamic link in the modernization drive.
 
II. The Moral Pattern of Solidly Promoting Common Prosperity for All People in the New Era
 
The moral pattern is generated in moral practice, and as a preexisting mental state, it guides and regulates the behavior and moral activities of moral subjects. We can understand the moral pattern as “an organic combination of several moral consciousness units with a value orientation. Each moral consciousness unit exists in people’s consciousness as a unified whole. The moral pattern has filtering, interpretation and orientation functions.”19 The moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era has three units of consciousness as main structural elements, namely, the moral logic of putting people first, the moral model of coordinated development, and the moral ideal of coexistence. The filter function,interpretation function and orientation function of the three units are respectively and mainly developed to promote the organic whole of the moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era.
 
A. Putting people first: People-centered philosophy of development
 
Among the elements of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era, the people-centered logic, or the people-centered philosophy of development, is at the center of the moral pattern, which determines the basic nature of the moral pattern, and dominates the coordination, stability and operation of other elements and the overall structure of the moral pattern. In the practice of common prosperity, it plays the core and key role of moral adjustment. The people-centered logic is embodied in a people-centered philosophy of development. This vision focuses on the values of people and their development. It is a reflection of the foundation that the CPC has been practicing for more than 100 years and an objective reflection of the people’s aspiration for a better life. It is also a solid foundation for advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As a moral pattern, the people-centered logic of people-centered philosophy of development has a filtering function. It is based on the requirements of meeting or not meeting the moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era, screening external moral information, so as to achieve the orderly inflow and outflow of moral information and ensure the stability, adaptability and innovation of the moral pattern itself. For example, the moral pattern will reject the “commodity fetishism,” consumerism and money worship that violate the requirements of people-centered logic, in order to highlight the moral authority and moral orientation of people-centered logic. To implement the people-centered philosophy of development means that we must always maintain the view of relying on the people to make great achievements in history, adhere to the correct view of history, the outlook on development and the outlook on modernization, and promote common prosperity in harmony with the all-round development of the people.20 Finally, it will provide a strong moral impetus for achieving the two major phased goals of “achieving more tangible progress on common prosperity for all people” and “basically achieving common prosperity for all people.” The people-centered logic of the people-centered philosophy of development responds to and dissolves the “material-based value” of the profit-seeking logic of capital, and internally provides the socialist moral basis and value guidance for common prosperity. Based on the people-centered logic, the moral pattern is represented as a powerful “core structure”, in which the human element is at the center and plays a decisive role. As the core structural element of the moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era, the people-centered philosophy of development regulates the historical and contemporary development of the moral connotations of common prosperity. On the basis of the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it avoids risks such as the spontaneity of the market economy, strives to build a people-centered logic of the socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics, and takes ensuring, protecting and developing the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people as the goal. Only by being based on the people-centered logic can the ideal of common prosperity in the new era come to reality, can we “integrate the Chinese civilization’s tradition, modern Chinese thought and Chinese revolutionary experience, and can we, while reviewing the ‘market principle’ and the ‘capitalist logic’ behind it, create an alternative that is better than the principles of ‘capitalist logic’.”21 Thus, the moral practice of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era can truly face the reality of China and continue to stimulate its moral effectiveness in the process of solving the major social contradictions in the new era.
 
B. Coordinated development: The organic unity of “common” and “prosperity”
 
The moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era has shaped a moral pattern of coordinated development. It provides a thinking pattern and space-time field for the realization of the goal of common prosperity on the basis of the people-centered logic. The moral pattern depends on real moral activities and has a distinct practical character. Therefore, the moral pattern is an internal moral framework composed of moral consciousness and moral ideas and an external moral behavior model. Based on the new era, the moral pattern of coordinated development realizes the scientific combination of “common” and “prosperity” in the theoretical construction of common prosperity and logically illustrates the coexistence and symbiotic relationship between socialism and common prosperity. In other words, the organic combination of “common” and “prosperity,” the realization of “one body, two dimensions” and coordinated development can only be achieved in the context of the theory and practice of socialism and communism. In history, in the pre-socialist social forms, “common” and “prosperity” were separated from each other. “The primitive society with a low level of productivity had only ‘common’ but no ‘prosperity.’ In capitalist societies, especially in developed capitalist countries, there is ‘prosperity’ but no ‘common’.”22 The reason cannot be attributed only to the different social natures, social development goals and people’s subjective status of primitive society and capitalist society. It is also due to the fundamental difference in the concept and logic of social development, and the period of social and historical development. Therefore, in the pre-socialist social forms, “common” and “prosperity” cannot be well combined. Coordinated development, as a structural element of the moral pattern, has an interpretation function, which is realized through a “three new” discourse, namely, the new development concept of “innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing,” the new development stage of “starting a new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way and marching towards the second centenary goal,” and the new development pattern of “taking domestic circulation as the main task and promoting domestic and international double circulation.” It builds three major discourse systems, namely, concept interpretation system, time interpretation system and space interpretation system, centered on a coordinated development pattern, so as to realize the function of the moral pattern to interpret moral behavior, moral activity and moral phenomena. For example, the moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era requires “shared development.” It includes sharing by all people, all-round sharing, joint efforts and sharing, and gradual sharing.23 To achieve this goal, we must abandon the traditional concept of extensive development and replace it with sustainable development. Our work must resonate with the pulse of the new era and the development trend of the world today, so as to avoid backward epistemology and methodology in solidly promoting common prosperity for all people. The “three new” discourse and its interpretation system have explained the concept of development, the time of development and the space of development on how to achieve shared development. It also provides a solid foundation of ideological consensus and value consensus for realizing the organic unity of “common” and “prosperity” from the perspective of concept guidance and the construction of the space-time field. In the process of value shaping, it highlights the implications of “true, good and beautiful” in the “capacity-building” to achieve shared development in the new era.
 
C. Vision of coexistence: A new form of human civilization facing the future
 
In the moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era, the people-centered logic is moral compliance, and coordinated development is a moral model. The moral ideal of the two is characterized as a whole by “coexistence,” the new form of human civilization, so it has the worldwide implication of entering the history of world civilization and rewriting the history of traditional civilization. The moral pattern is isomorphic to the moral consciousness units. The values and value system of the moral subject provide the moral pattern with directionality, which then makes the moral pattern become a value vector, with dual provisions of value motivation and value direction. At the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping first mentioned the new form of human civilization. “We adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, promote the coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization and ecological progress, create a new path of Chinese-style modernization, and create a new form of human civilization.”24 The 20th CPC National Congress further pointed out that creating a new form of human civilization is the essential requirement of Chinese-style modernization.25 The new form of human civilization created by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC has implanted the coexistence of moral values and moral motivation in the sense of existentialism. Domestically, the CPC is devoted to “common beneficiaries” and “commwealth” in common prosperity. Internationally, it mainly emphasizes and promotes the realization of the world subject and the world outlook of common prosperity. From the macro perspective, the economic and social significance of morality has two main aspects. “First, as an internal element of human capital, it directly generates value-added economic benefits and promotes the improvement of production efficiency; second, as a transcendental cultural element, it promotes the benign development of economy and the realization of the goal of socialist common prosperity through the value guidance of economic life.”26 In the second aspect, morality acts as the superstructure of ideas and plays a leading role in counteracting the economic foundation. As a structural element of the moral pattern, the “coexistence prospect” of the new form of human civilization has a guiding function. It will lead the future development of human civilization to a path towards goodness, so it has exemplary and guiding values. Different from the historical fate that capitalism is bound to die out, the new form of human civilization, which belongs to the category of socialism and communism, is releasing strong vitality and attraction. Capitalism has created problems and contradictions such as capital and exploitation, vicious competition, social injustice, class antagonism, etc., which has hurt the stability of the social structure, hindered the benign development of productive forces, and caused potential risks of tension, breakdown and separation within society. The moral pattern of capitalism, in essence, is the moral logic and moral discourse of the bourgeoisie to protect its own interests. It does not meet the requirements of the development of human civilization for symbiosis, coexistence and common prosperity, and is inherently unstable. The frequent occurrence of cyclical economic crises, the wasting of resouces, social unrest, and “government stepping down” is the embodiment of its “uncivilized” moral pattern. The new form of human civilization facing the future is the kind of development featured by coexistence, which emphasizes reshaping the world pattern with a cooperative and peaceful development model characterized by win-win results and dialogue. The values of harmony without uniformity and shared beauty run through it, reflecting the meaning of global values and making a vivid and appropriate interpretation of the moral pattern of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era.
 
III. The Moral Practice of Solidly Promoting Common Prosperity for All People in the New Era
 
Achieving common prosperity is “a dynamic and constantly adjusting process, a process from poverty to prosperity and then to high-level prosperity.”27 The moral practice of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era is multidimensional, involving the planning of productive forces, the adjustment of production relations, and the design of superstructure. In this process, the moral practice of common prosperity is based on and presupposed by the moral pattern, which refers to the realization of the value and dignity of human survival and development to the maximum extent.
 
A. High-quality development is a good way to achieve common prosperity
 
The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC points out that high-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.28 As the “way” of realizing common prosperity in the new era, high-quality development is, in essence, a kind of good development. In 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the 10th meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission that “common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism and an important feature of Chinese-style modernization. We should adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development and promote common prosperity in high-quality development.29 High-quality development, different from “low-quality development” featuring the imbalance between investment and output, aims at improving quality and efficiency. This is a strategic plan based on the imbalance and inadequacy of development. It is a development principle and model aimed at the goal of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era. The high-quality development is more in line with good development. On the one hand, high-quality development contains the concept “development is of overriding importance.” On the other hand, high-quality development is not blind development without deep thought. It adheres to the methodology of scientific development, and does not engage in “development at the cost of future resources, and useless development by moving bricks around.”30 At present, the feature of China’s economic and social development has shifted from high speed to high quality, which requires high-quality development for “co-building” involving the development mode and growth momentum, as well as the high-quality implementation of “sharing” involving the distribution system and model. In other words, in the process of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people, China has shifted its focus from quantity growth to quality improvement, from “have or not” to “good or not.” This is conducive to meeting the people’s needs in material, ecological, spiritual, social, political and other fields. It is also conducive to solving urban-rural, regional, and income gaps as well as other problems, which is conducive to long-term economic and social development.31
 
High-quality development is a kind of connotative development, which is different from capitalism’s exploitation and colonial nature. The high-quality development is mainly driven by scientific and technological development and innovation. By giving full play to the advantages of the new national system, we can focus our efforts on major issues, thus making breakthroughs in the frontier technology fields of economic and social development and changing the dilemma of being limited by others. Over the past decades of reform and opening up, China has become the “world factory” by virtue of its advantages in human resources. Relying on the advantage of the “demographic dividend,” we achieved economic growth. In recent years, the “demographic dividend” has gradually faded, and the “human capital dividend” has quietly arrived. The high-quality development realizes high-quality employment and promotes high-quality output by optimizing the allocation of human capital. In the new era, respecting knowledge, talents and creativity has become a new trend, and the spirit of scientists, craftsmen and entrepreneurs is transforming into a powerful innovation force and material force.32 High-quality development has freed people from the two development dilemmas of “human dependence” and “material dependence” as Marx said, and has better achieved the universal compression of “working time” and the continuous increase of “free time,” thus creating real conditions for the people to pursue and enjoy a better life and achieve all-round development.33 Being industrious, brave, self-reliant, and hard-working, virtues highly praised by the Chinese nation, reflects the cultural gene of the Chinese people who are brave to create and innovate and dare to struggle. Traditional culture usually regards diligence,positivity and creativity as positive virtues, and advocates them, while laziness, passivity, decay are regarded as negative virtues to be depreciated. The positive virtues are directly related to the creation of wealth. The realization of common prosperity in the new era takes this endogenous moral and cultural spirit as an important driving force for high-quality development, and will be promoted through the joint efforts and hard work of all people. It can be said that high-quality development has endowed common prosperity with strong moral justice and practical power. It has denied the lazy man approach and affirmed the virtue of diligence; denied waiting, depending and demanding, and affirmed the enterprising spirit; denied impatience and confusion and affirmed the courage to overcome difficulties.34 Following the path of high-quality development, the realization of common prosperity has got rid of the “other” context. It is just around the corner to realize prosperity for all people through the fight of all people. The confidence in “taking our own path” is stronger than ever.
 
It is long-term work to solidly promote common prosperity for all people step by step. The new era has not changed China’s basic national conditions. We are still in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come. This means that we must continue to rely on our own efforts and work hard to give full play to the advantages of the socialist system and culture with Chinese characteristics in the journey toward substantial common prosperity. The happiness of the people should guide the practice of common prosperity. Based on the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development, we should properly handle how to make a bigger cake and how to distribute the cake well. Focusing on the issues of efficiency and equity in the new era, we should strive to resolve outstanding contradictions in the area of people’s livelihood and narrow the gap between the rich and poor. In view of the pains, difficulties and hot issues in the process of achieving common prosperity for all people, we should establish dialectical thinking and the idea of hard work. On the one hand, we should not turn a blind eye to unbalanced resource problems in income distribution, urban-rural gap, medical care and education. We should use issue-oriented awareness and realistic pressure to create ideas and methods to solve problems. On the other hand, we should be good at summarizing “solid” practices and experience from the practice of common prosperity in the new era, stimulate the enthusiasm and motivation of the people who “promote” the development, and achieve the sustainable promotion of common prosperity through the “co-building and sharing” integration model. From a moral perspective, we should affirm the pragmatic approach of promoting common prosperity for all people and understand the prominent socialist morality and progressiveness behind it. It is also necessary to examine these issues from an objective and inclusive moral perspective. We should not view the practice of common prosperity in the new era at the primary stage of socialism with the highest standards of the communist society. Only in this way can we understand the dialectical way between the grand goal of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era and the gradual progress of the process.
 
B. The construction of the demonstration area of common prosperity highlights the exploration spirit and collective consciousness
 
The construction of the Demonstration Area of Common Prosperity is a move of a new era to solidly promote common prosperity for all people. It demonstrates the exploration spirit of advancing with the times and the collective consciousness of helping each other. After the launch of reform and opening up, the shackles of equalitarianism were broken, and the socialist market economy began to be established. First, China started the exploration of allowing some people and regions to get rich first and then promoting them to help the poor. A large number of “pioneers”, such as the city of Shenzhen, developed rapidly, accumulated valuable experience in implementing the socialist market economy, and established a good image as a “window” of reform and opening up. The rural development represented by Huaxi Village, the “No.1 Village in China”, has also achieved success. The “common prosperity for all villagers and surrounding villagers” has been solidly promoted.35 Objectively speaking, in the process of reform and opening up, problems such as the widening income gap and urban-rural gap do exist, but this does not mean that the measure of “encouraging some people to get rich first and then help the poor” is a mistake. It is a realistic topic to be handled in the process of reform and opening up. Entering a new era, the Party and state are making every effort to promote common prosperity for all people, and the transition from “getting rich first” to “getting rich together” is advancing rapidly. The CPC closely relies on and unites the people, takes the people’s aspiration for a better life as the goal, strengthens the flesh and blood ties with the people, and demonstrates the people-first nature of the CPC as a Marxist party in the process of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people.
 
At present, there are differences in the basis and conditions for promoting common prosperity for all people in different regions. It is complex and arduous to achieve common prosperity for all people. It is beneficial to explore the best way of policy implementation through a pilot (pilot area), consolidate, adjust, and promote successful experience from points to larger areas, and realize the development featuring “exploration — trial and error — correction — promotion”. From the establishment of special economic zones to supporting Zhejiang’s high-quality development and construction of a demonstration area of common prosperity, the working methods of carrying out pilot projects and “from point to area” have been applied consistently. First, it makes the reform rapid yet steady. Second, it is conducive to the integration of the local innovation spirit into the policy-making process of the central government. As a result, there is positive interaction between the central and local governments, and the innovation and adaptability of policies have been improved.36 In Zhejiang’s high-quality development and construction of a demonstration area for common prosperity, a comprehensive demonstration effect will be generated by consolidating material foundation, increasing residents’ income, optimizing shared public service, enriching spiritual and cultural life, creating a beautiful and livable ecological environment, and building a comfortable and reassuring living environment. It helps to summarize the ideological connotation of common prosperity on the basis of practice, seeks ways to solve the major social contradictions in the new era, provides provincial-level examples for other provinces and cities, and creates a window reflecting the advantages of our system in the new era.37 According to the schedule of promoting common prosperity, under the overall pattern of regional coordinated development featuring “guidance by one bay, improvement by two wings, radiation by four metropolises, and overall beauty,” by 2025, Zhejiang province will make substantial progress in promoting high-quality development and in building a demonstration area for common prosperity. Relevant institutional mechanisms and policy frameworks will be basically established, and successful experiences that can be replicated and promoted will emerge.38 By 2035, Zhejiang province will make greater achievements in high-quality development and basically achieve common prosperity. The construction of the Demonstration Area for Common Prosperity in Zhejiang province is a task of national demonstration reform. To achieve common prosperity for all people, we need to carry out nationwide coordination, achieve urban-rural coordination, regional coordination and national coordination for common prosperity. As one of the 18 typical areas of reform and opening up in China and the leader of county-level economic development in Hunan province, Changsha county took the lead in proposing to build a county model of building a model area of common prosperity based on the central and western regions of China. The Second Session of the 18th County People’s Congress of Changsha county deliberated and adopted the Action Plan for Building a Demonstration Area of Common Prosperity in Changsha County, which mapped out the specific roadmap and timetable for building a demonstration area for common prosperity in the county, and sounded the clarion call for building a demonstration area of common prosperity at the county-level in the new era. Changsha county, which has benefited a lot from reform, opening up, and innovation, has always taken the responsibility of a pioneer to promote the construction of the county-level demonstration area of common prosperity, which is aimed at exploring the way for the whole province with the efforts of one county and creating demonstration effects with its practice.39 Promoting the construction of the Demonstration Area for Common Prosperity demonstrates the courageous and pragmatic exploration spirit of the Chinese people, and also reflects the collective consciousness based on the community vision, with significant ethical implications.
 
Different from the social security system and welfare policies of capitalist countries, especially developed capitalist countries, the construction of the Demonstration Area for Common Prosperity reflects the superiority and justice of the socialist system and culture. Specifically, first, there is national justice in terms of the subjects of such construction. The debate in the welfare society is mixed with the argument that “the poor are not worthy of help.” However, common prosperity transcends the dispute over individual interests and demands “justice of universal subjects” rather than “justice of special subjects.” Second, there is the substantial justice of content. Distribution under the justice of legal rights is not a good substantive product, but the right and qualification to own, obtain and maintain something. Common prosperity refers to the distribution of the means of production and social wealth based on high-quality development, which has broader connotations and more realistic results than legal rights and justice. Third, the procedural justice of the approach. The national welfare of capitalism may give birth to “welfare-dependence ghosts.” Common prosperity is different from“welfarism”. Instead, it emphasizes the unity of co-building and sharing of the path to prosperity.40 Solidly promoting common prosperity for all people does not pursue a panacea to reach the final goal. Rather, on the basis of policy adjustment, we should promote common prosperity for all people both in form and in substance. The construction of the Demonstration Area for Common Prosperity considers the integrated development of urban and rural areas and changes the previous practice that policy and resource advantages were given to cities, so that the coordinated development of regions can be truly implemented. In terms of the concept and practice of the construction of the Demonstration Area of Common Prosperity, it echoes the national top-level design of common prosperity for all people and leaves space and time for independent local exploration. It needs to be clear that there must be differences in the degree, time and process of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people among regions. The practice of common prosperity and the construction of demonstration areas in different provinces and regions are not uniform, nor are they egalitarian.
 
C. The role of the third distribution and the delivery of fairness and justice
 
The third distribution focuses on the implementation of distribution justice by social subjects and “wealth for good,” which directly reflects the ethical goal of promoting common prosperity for all people and has a strong moral foundation. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Vision 2035 Plan all emphasize that the income distribution pattern should be improved through the role of the third distribution. In August 2021, the 10th meeting of the Central Finance and Economic Commission emphasized the construction of a basic institutional arrangement for the coordination of initial distribution, redistribution and third distribution. The third distribution’s role in solidly promoting common prosperity for all people embodies the moral spirit of collectivism and the overall survival vision of mutual help and demonstrates socialist characteristics. “The third distribution is a voluntary act of social forces to help the weak and needy through private donations, philanthropy, voluntary action and other ways under the influence of morality, culture, habits, etc., which is a beneficial supplement to redistribution.”41 The solid progress and gradual realization of common prosperity for all people in the new era must attach importance to the third distribution, and optimize and improve the initial distribution and redistribution by virtue of moral power, so as to steadily promote common prosperity. From the initial distribution, redistribution to the third distribution, wealth has gradually completed the transformation from a low-level form to a high-level form. In addition to the market nature of the “invisible hand” and the public nature of the “visible hand”, wealth itself has also added social attributes, inheritance attributes, and spiritual attributes. By virtue of the social system of “wealth for good” and the upgrading of corresponding social mechanisms, the essence is to achieve the upgrading of people in the process of promoting wealth upgrading and pursue the simultaneous progress of wealth liberation and human liberation.42
 
The third distribution contributes to common prosperity mainly through public welfare means, such as private donations, philanthropy, and voluntary services. Taking the development of philanthropy as an example, the China Charity Federation was established in 1994. In 2005, the Guidelines for the Development of Charities in China (2006-2010) were issued, marking the stage of institutionalized development of philanthropy. After the promulgation of the Charity Law in 2016, relevant ministries and commissions issued a number of policy documents related to public welfare and philanthropy, and public welfare and philanthropy have continued to become more standardized and normalized. In recent years, the Party and the state have made great efforts to explore the collaboration between third distribution and public welfare and philanthropy as one of the means to achieve common prosperity. The China Charity Donation Report 2020 shows that in 2020, China received a total of RMB 225.313 billion from domestic and foreign charitable donations, of which RMB 208.613 billion was received by the mainland, exceeding RMB 200 billion for the first time, a year-on-year increase of 38.21 percent.43 On the whole, the donation of money and goods has increased year by year. Enterprises are still important donors. A large number of donations were made to fight the pandemic and poverty. Donations to education increased steadily. The social atmosphere for philanthropy is good. Of course, the meaning of philanthropy and the third distribution lies in not only the expansion of funds, but also the realization of moral functions. Under the condition of a market economy, in the face of negative social moral phenomena such as moral decline, philanthropy and the third distribution reflect morality.44 The essence of charity is ethical. It reduces poverty, narrows the gap between the rich and poor, and supports common prosperity through “flexible adjustment.” For example, charitable donations in the fight against COVID-19 can effectively make up for the shortfall in government financial allocations and material reserves. Another example is raising money through online platforms to help severely ill patients financial difficulties.45 Capitalist countries, especially the developed ones, also have foundations, but they are not as beautiful as the philanthropists who claim to spread knowledge, promote civilization and benefit the people. In fact, the foundations of the capitalist countries are one of the new ways to realize contemporary private ownership, and another appearance of the capitalist enterprise system. After big capitalists have occupied huge wealth, “the love for charity” is not really “selfless.” Establishing a foundation means they can enjoy the benefits of tax relief, wealth transfer and other policies. Besides, with the fund operation of the foundation, additional capital gains can be obtained. The interest connection between the government and the foundations can enhance the influence of big capitalists, strengthen profitability, and promote politics, diplomacy and the global expansion and spread of cultural values.46 In contrast, in the practice of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era, the third distribution reflects the moral interaction and value infiltration with fairness and justice at the core. On the one hand, the donors show their kindness through their donations. By enriching the ways of achieving the “common” of common prosperity, they play a demonstration and leading role in terms of morality. On the other hand, the recipient receives both material and spiritual gifts, which can stimulate the social justice of “gratitude and retribution.” As a result, the social righteousness of doing good deeds and accumulating virtues can be spread around, which can create a good atmosphere of “wealth for good” for the promotion of common prosperity in the new era.
 
The moral force of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era is a driving force, a leading force, and a force of regulation and reflection. The subject of common prosperity in the new era is the whole people. Solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era is not only about material prosperity, but also about spiritual common prosperity, the proposal of which is dispelling the mentality that puts the material over the spirit in social development. To sum up, morality, as the vision to examine common prosperity and the content of spiritual common prosperity in the new era, provides us with a humanistic paradigm and emotional support to understand, recognize, evaluate, and improve the practice of solidly promoting common prosperity for all people in the new era.
 
(Translated by CHEN Feng)
 
 
* ZHANG Zhenqing ( 张振卿 ), PhD candidate at the School of Marxism, South China University of Technology. This paper is the phased research result of the major research project “A study on the century-long history of the CPC seeking happiness for the Chinese people” on the guiding principles of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2022 of Guangdong Province’s Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning (Approval No. GD22ZDZ01-05).
 
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