Liu Jianjun: On the Historical Time Span of the Primary Stage of Socialism in China

Author: Liu Jianjun, Professor, School of Marxism, Renmin University of China

Source: Journal of Socialism Studies, Vol. 4, 2019

Translated by Deniz Kizilcec

2019-09-20

In-depth understanding of the major political judgments and theoretical views of the 19th National Congress on the entry of socialism with Chinese characteristics into a new era and the change of the main contradiction in China’s society, it is necessary to think deeply about the theory of the primary stage of socialism, in particular to give a principled answer to the question of “how long will the primary stage last”.

The length of the primary stage of socialism depends mainly on its historical mission, i.e. the historical tasks it undertakes. Since the historical task undertaken by the “primary stage of socialism” has changed from one historical task to two tasks, the primary stage has not been shortened, but rather lengthened, despite the acceleration of the process of socialism with Chinese characteristics. For this reason, a specific historical staging is needed within the primary stage of socialism, which can be divided into a preparatory stage, an exploratory stage, an unfolding stage, and an extension stage to better reflect the stage changes within the primary stage.

The 19th CPC National Congress declared that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, defined a new historical orientation for China’s development, and proposed that the main contradiction in China’s society has undergone a historic change that affects the overall situation, and then planned a new strategic step for the next two steps; (2017-2035) and (2035-2049). These are all very important major theoretical views that need to be explained in depth, and in order to understand and explain these major theoretical views and judgments in depth, it is necessary to explore the theory of the primary stage of socialism that is used to support these theoretical views and political judgments, and in particular to study the question of the historical span of the primary stage of socialism.

Chapter 1 – The importance of clarifying the historical span of the primary stage of socialism

The question of the primary stage of socialism is a major issue relating to the legitimate foundation, historical process and future destiny of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the theory of the primary stage of socialism is an important element that occupies a fundamental position and plays a guiding role in the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The theory of the primary stage of socialism is very rich in content and involves many issues.

The question of historical span, i.e., length of time, is a prominent one. In fact, this issue was originally the title of the primary stage of socialism, and it was initially only a relatively abstract and not urgent issue at that time, but when socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the reform and opening up and pushed reform deeper and deeper, and when socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era, especially when the 19th National Congress of the CPC began to carry out a new historical positioning of our country’s development, it became a more urgent theoretical issue and has attracted attention. It is now necessary to concentrate on the question of the duration of the primary stage of socialism, i.e., the span of history.

First of all, the primary stage of socialism is the general basis of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and clarifying the historical span of the primary stage of socialism is an inevitable requirement for grasping the historical process of socialism with Chinese characteristics as a whole.

The theory of the primary stage of socialism is a great creation of our Party, which does not exist in the classic Marxist writings and in traditional theories of socialism. This theory is based on the actual national conditions of our country, since we won the revolution in a large eastern country with a relatively backward economy and culture, and entered a socialist society from a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society through a transitional period of a new democratic nature. This is not the same as the traditional historical orientation, which needs to be determined according to one’s own national circumstances. The proposal of the theory of the primary stage of socialism clearly defined China’s national conditions, laid down the theoretical foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and became the general basis of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The primary stage of socialism is the greatest national condition in contemporary China, and it is the fundamental foothold and basic starting point for the Party in formulating its routes and policies.

There has been a lot of research on the primary stage in the academic and theoretical circles, but in the past, the main concern has been the nature, role and requirements of the primary stage, and not enough attention has been paid to the question of how long its time span is, how long its duration will be, and whether it is possible and necessary to carry out a specific staging within the primary stage. But these are questions that the theory of the primary stage must answer, otherwise there will be limitations in our overall grasp of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Secondly, clarifying the historical span of the primary stage of socialism is an urgent need at present to accurately grasp the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the new changes in the main contradictions in our society.

The 19th CPC National Congress pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the main contradiction in our society has changed from “the contradiction between the people’s growing material and cultural needs and backward social production” to “the contradiction between the people’s growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development in the country”.  This is a major political judgment and theoretical innovation that needs to be grasped comprehensively and correctly. For this reason, the report of the 19th National Congress (2017), after expressing the change in the main contradiction in society, explicitly put forward two “must recognize”: on the one hand, it must be recognized that the change in the main contradiction in our society is a historic change that affects the overall situation, and that it puts forward a lot of new requirements for the work of the Party and the State. On the other hand, it is important to recognize that the change in the main contradictions in our society has not changed our judgement of the historical stage of socialism in our country, that the basic national situation of our country, which is still at the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time, and our international status as the world’s largest developing country have not changed.

In this way, it leads us from the question of the main social contradictions to the question of the primary stage of socialism. This suggests that in order to clarify the historical orientation of the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics and accurately grasp the new changes in the main contradictions of our society, it is necessary to deepen the understanding of the historical span of the primary stage of socialism. And, furthermore, this issue is not only related to the learning and understanding of the spirit of the 19th Congress, but also to the policies and steps that will be developed and taken in the future.

Finally, clarifying the historical span of the primary stage of socialism will help enrich and develop the theory of scientific socialism on the stages of development of socialist society.

The question of the stages of development of socialist society, especially concerning the beginning/initial stage of socialist society, is an important element in the theoretical system of scientific socialism. Although there is no view and discussion of the primary stage of socialism in the classic Marxist writers, there is corresponding methodological guidance. In his Critique of the Gotha Program, Marx mentioned the “first stage” and “advanced stage” of the future communist society, and the “first stage” is actually the primary stage. Lenin called the first stage “socialist society” and the advanced stage communist society, based on this division made by Marx.

Within socialist societies, Mao Zedong had proposed underdeveloped socialism and more developed socialism, and the so-called underdeveloped socialism was in fact equivalent to socialism at the primary stage. Deng Xiaoping clearly stated that “socialism itself is the primary stage of communism, and we are in the primary stage of socialism.”[1] This was in fact the use of the term “primary stage” to characterize the beginning of the development of communism and socialism, making it an important theoretical concept.

In particular, the theory of the primary stage of socialism was put forward in response to the historical fact that China started socialism from a point of relative economical and cultural backwardness, reflecting the theoretical thinking of the Chinese Communists on the construction of socialism in those countries with relative economic and cultural backwardness, and that if we make theoretical breakthroughs and innovations on this issue, then we will be able to make a contribution to scientific socialism. Because building socialism in economically and culturally relatively backward countries is a major problem encountered in the development of the theory of scientific socialism and urgently needed to be explored and answered. After decades of exploration, we have accumulated quite a lot of new experience and understanding of the primary stage of socialism, and if we can, on this basis, make the historical span of the primary stage of socialism clear in general or in principle, then we will be making a new contribution to the question of the stages of development of socialist society.

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