Chapter 28 The essence of socialism is not productivity, but a kind of harmony

Many years ago, when many Chinese scholars fell under the feet of the West, Fang Ning used three colors to explain his inevitability of becoming a Marxist nationalist. Among these three colors, one is red, which represents the systematic education he received in socialism and Marxism, which is his background; the other is blue, which represents depression, which is what he has seen and heard about the United States. The latter kind of ideological accumulation.He insisted that American civilization is not universal, because the essence of American culture is a "disposable culture" with unlimited expansion. The social relations of the nation are manifested.The third color is green, which is to transcend modern consciousness and the modern social system itself, and seek a future path of harmonious development between people and between people and nature.

The three colors of Fang Ning are actually a metaphor for the synthesis of various thoughts in him.The "underground of nationalism" he talks about has a deep socialist color.He once said that contemporary nationalism under the conditions of globalization is actually a kind of functional socialism. Its structure is different from socialism, but its functions are the same.So in this sense, he is essentially a socialist. A very close friend of Fang Ning said that he was a melancholy socialist at heart.And when one of his students talked about her teacher, she even said that she felt that there was a kind of Marxist fanaticism hidden under the teacher's modest and elegant appearance.Some people even classified Fang Ning as "Stalinism" when describing the spectrum of left-wing thought in contemporary China.The outstanding performance of Fang Ning's socialist thought is not his defense of socialism, but on the contrary, his deep reflection and criticism of modern socialism as a Marxist.Such reflection and exploration have been running through Fang Ning's academic thought.As early as 1995, he made an exploratory comparison and analysis of capitalism and socialism in "Introduction to the Development of Modern Capitalism", pointing out that the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the great changes in Eastern Europe have profound enlightenment to mankind that "socialism and capitalism are Two general contests".

In 1997, Fang Ning's paper "Socialism is a Harmony", which had a strong impact on the Chinese left-wing ideological circle, was published in full for the first time on the "China and the World" website, which also made him one of the new generation of socialist scholars in China. army head. In this article, Fang Ning expounds what he considers to be the essential characteristics of socialism from the painful lessons of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the great changes in Eastern Europe. It is considered by many left-wing thinkers at home and abroad to be a realistic way to realize socialism worth exploring.This is the first time that Fang Ning expounds his views on contemporary socialist theory and practice in a very concentrated manner, revealing his painful reflection everywhere.His concept of harmonious socialism has made a different new comment on the relationship between human needs and social development.

Fang Ning pointed out that the "Stalin model" caused the socialist practice of the Soviet Union and former Eastern European countries to fall into the trap of "catching up" from the very beginning.According to the understanding at the time, as long as there is a socialist system, a country can surpass capitalism economically, especially the developed capitalist countries.He thought it was a sign of dogmatism.Because logically speaking, socialism, public ownership, and a planned economy should be more efficient than capitalism, private ownership, and a market economy.However, logic does not equal reality.The actual factors affecting economic development go far beyond institutions.In Fang Ning's view, under the specific contemporary historical conditions, the capitalist West has monopolized most of the world's resources and markets.Without fundamental changes in the existing world economic structure, it is impossible for socialist countries to fully catch up with and surpass the developed capitalist countries in the West economically.Therefore, he proposed that some advantages of socialism in promoting the development of productive forces should not be regarded as the essential characteristics of the socialist system.His vision and courage to challenge stereotypes have been appreciated by many people, especially young people.

The "alienation" of people caused by the market economy is a problem that Fang Ning focuses on.In this regard, he obviously borrowed the ideological resources of the Western New Left and Neo-Marxism.He pointed out that socialism needs to be established on a certain material basis, and it must consolidate and develop itself by continuously satisfying the material and cultural needs of the people.But human needs are divided into two attributes: natural and social.Its natural attributes are human animal needs, and the social attributes of needs reflect human sociality.He believes that the social nature of needs includes "the social relationship in which people exist to create human needs" and "social needs must be realized and satisfied in social relationships."Because the social nature of needs is spiritual in nature, it means the realization of individual self-worth, and the possession and use of material wealth is only its form.In modern Western society, the alienation of human needs is pushed to the extreme, "man is not the master of consumption, but the slave of consumption."From this, he concluded that socialism not only needs to meet people's needs, but its deeper essence lies in changing people's needs.Satisfying needs and changing needs cannot be separated from each other. They are two aspects of a process, which are mutually conditional, causal and complementary.While transforming the objective world, people's subjective world must also be transformed, otherwise it cannot be regarded as socialism.

It can now be seen that the more essential meaning of socialism that Fang Ning endorses is "the harmony between man and nature."Because this "will be the core concept of the new value system in the future" "Developing production and expanding wealth is not equal to the ultimate concern for people and human destiny, and it is not always consistent with the direction of human progress."In his view, achieving social harmony is the first step towards achieving harmony between man and nature.Only by eliminating the survival competition between human beings and eliminating the materialization of human beings can we make independent and conscious regulation of the entire social life and economic activities, realize human self-restraint, self-transcendence, return to the basics, and lead to a harmonious relationship between man and nature .

Fang Ning's "revision" of Marxism, which obviously bears the ideological characteristics of "utopianism" and "left" font size, has aroused controversy in the academic circles. Some people think that the essence of Fang Ning's "prescription" is different from various Religion is similar and does not contain much scientific content, so it cannot save socialism. The most controversial aspect of Fang Ning's theory is his negative economic view revealed in "Harmonious Socialism".Dissidents ask: Since socialism cannot surpass capitalism economically under the existing conditions, what is the use of socialism?If so, there is only one thing left to do: change people's needs!It is enough to distribute 30 catties of food stamps per person per month, and wearing gray cloth clothes can also meet the "natural needs" of covering the body and keeping warm.

In the face of various controversies, Fang Ning expressed his confidence in the future of socialism in a conversation with netizens. He said: "I think that some kind of social movement dominated by the socialist ideology will continue to emerge in the future." A moment is widespread, and I have no doubts about that. But my thinking about 'socialism is a harmony' is precisely what the socialist movement will look like in the future." Arguments are normal, and Fang Ning seems to like all kinds of well-intentioned criticism and discussions.This is his consistent position and demeanor in life and scholarship.Looking back over the past 20 years, which major article by Fang Ning has not caused controversy?But who has dealt with criticism and misunderstanding with such equanimity?His sincerity and humility made many of his enemies later his friends.

As the "harmony theory" caused repercussions on the Internet, many media found Fang Ning and asked for it to be published in print media. In 1998, some excerpts of this article under the title "Contemporary World and Socialism" were published in the magazine "Time Change and Socialism", and were immediately reprinted by "Xinhua Digest", "Oriental" and other magazines. "Harmony Theory" has attracted widespread attention.Many ideological departments in China regard this article as a key research material, and almost everyone is familiar with this article among Chinese ideology experts.

Another commentator said: Fang Ning's idea of ​​"harmonious socialism" has effectively eliminated the influence of Western hegemonic languages, and once again demonstrated another way and way for human beings to promote the development of productive forces.From such a perspective, although the "harmony theory" does not mention "catch-up", its role in promoting the liberation of socialist productivity and social progress cannot be underestimated in any way.