The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of 2021 stressed the need for high-quality development and the need to “take economic development as the central task” as required by the CPC’s basic line. The whole CPC should concentrate on its implementation to promote economic development in both qualitative and quantitative ways. It is of great significance to grasp the historical logic, theoretical logic and practice logic of “unswervingly taking economic development as the central task” for high-quality development in the new stage of development.

The historical logic of “unswervingly taking economic development as the central task” in the new stage of development

At the opening ceremony of a special seminar for major leading officials at provincial and ministerial levels to study and implement the guiding principles of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the Party’s century-long struggle tells us that whether the cause of the Party and the people can move forward in the right direction depends on our ability to accurately understand and grasp the principal contradiction in society and to determine the central task. The cause of the Party and the people will develop smoothly when we correctly identify the principal contradiction in society and define the central task; otherwise, the cause will suffer setbacks. “Taking economic development as the central task” is the basic experience from over 70 years of development since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially the 40-plus years of reform and opening-up. It is vital to rejuvenating the country.

Since the founding of the new China after 1949, starting from scratch, the CPC led the Chinese people in completing socialist transformation and establishing a relatively complete system of industry, national defense and national economy. The 8th National Congress of the CPC stated that the main task of the Chinese people was to concentrate on developing the productive forces, realizing the country’s industrialization and gradually meeting the people’s ever-growing material and cultural needs. This requirement already contains the thought of “taking economic development as the central task”. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee resolutely abandoned the wrong policy of “taking class struggle as the guiding principle” and made the historic decision that requires shifting the focus of the work of the Party and the country to economic development and carrying out reform and opening up, which led China onto the fast track of development. In 1987, the 13th National Congress of the CPC made a clear summary of the basic line for the primary stage of socialism: To lead and unite the people of all ethnic groups in making economic development the central task, adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles, persisting in reform and opening up, and striving to build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic and culturally advanced modern socialist country through self-reliance and hard work. “One central task, two basic points” is a succinct summary of this line.

The historical experience in the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics shows that the basic line of “one central task, two basic points” must be unswervingly adhered to for a long time to come. In his speech at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that “Over the past 40 years, we have always taken economic development as the central task and constantly unleashed and developed the productive forces”, and that “China has made decisive strides on the journey of growing rich and becoming strong”. In the new stage of development, we must continue to focus on “taking economic development as the central task” to promote high-quality development.

The theoretical logic of “unswervingly taking economic development as the central task” in the new stage of development

“Taking economic development as the central task” is an inevitable requirement for solving the principal contradiction in Chinese society in the new era. The transformation of the principal contradiction in Chinese society in the new era is an inevitable result of the action of two pairs of basic social contradictions in Marxist theory, i.e. contradiction between productive forces and relations of production, and that between economic foundation and superstructure. According to dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the historical course of the development of human society is the result of the movement of various complex contradictions in society, each of which is different in its position and its role in social development, and should be prioritized. The first step is to accurately determine the principal contradiction in society from various contradictions, and the second is to determine the central task of solving the principal contradiction; both are indispensable. It is the specific application of the epistemology and methodology of Marxist contradiction theory in the new stage of development, and also the theoretical basis for the CPC to formulate the route, guidelines, policies and strategic and tactical principles in the new stage of development to focus on the theme of “How to solve the principal contradiction in Chinese society in the new era?”, and concentrate our efforts on solving major problems.

The transformation of the principal contradiction in Chinese society in the new era has not changed the reality that China is still in the primary stage of socialism, nor has it changed China’s international status as the world’s largest developing country. Although the connotation of the principal contradiction has changed, the main means and strategy to solve the principal contradiction should still focus on economic development. According to the basic principles of Marxism, the success of socialism, in the final analysis, depends on the continuous unleashing and development of productive forces and the creation of higher labor productivity than capitalism. “Focusing on economic development” is the central task of vigorously developing the productive forces and constantly solving the principal contradiction in Chinese society in the new era. It is the only way to continuously succeed in advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. From the perspective of the main aspects of changes in the principal contradiction in Chinese society in the new era, the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life, including better education, more stable job, more decent income, more reliable social security, better medical and health services, more comfortable housing conditions, more beautiful environment, and more colorful intellectual and cultural activities, cannot be achieved without a rich material foundation, which requires a higher level of productivity and economic development. This determines that in the new stage of development, China must continue to take economic development as the central task and vigorously develop the productive forces, in order to continuously meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. The current unbalanced and inadequate development shows that the existing problem of insufficient aggregate has been transformed into a structural contradiction, manifested by the structural imbalance of excess capacity in some sectors and insufficient supply in others. Based on this, we should continue to take economic development as the central task, address the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development, advance supply-side structural reform, and vigorously improve the quality and efficiency of economic development. Only in this way can we better meet the needs of the people for a better life and promote all-round human development and social progress.

“Taking economic development as the central task” is the fundamental requirement for adhering to materialist dialectics and advancing the overall layout of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, a plan to promote coordinated economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological advancement. To adhere to materialist dialectics, we must pursue the unity of the theory that we should address both major and minor problems, both major and minor aspects of a problem and that we should focus on major problems and major aspects of a problem, and we must be good at grasping the principle contradiction, and at coordination, to prevent attending to major and minor issues at one and the same time. “Unswervingly taking economic development as the central task” is to adhere to the theory that we should focus on major problems and major aspects of a problem. According to historical materialism, the productive forces determine the relations of production, the economic base determines the superstructure, and the superstructure reacts on the economic base. In the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, the results of economic development directly affect the results of development of the other four fields, and economic development provides the impetus and material foundation for the development of the other fields. Emphasizing the central role of economic development does not conflict with coordinating political, cultural, social and ecological advancement. In advancing the various undertakings of the CPC and the country, we should not only pay attention to promoting coordinated economic, political, cultural, social and ecological advancement, but also focus on the central task of economic development to vigorously develop productive forces, and adapt the relations of production to the productive forces and the superstructure to the economic base, thereby driving the coordinated development in political, cultural, social and ecological fields through economic development.

The practice logic of “unswervingly taking economic development as the central task” in the new stage of development

“Taking economic development as the central task” is the key to achieving high-quality development. It is vital to national rejuvenation, and development remains the key to solving all of China’s problems. Only by promoting sustained and sound economic development can we lay a solid material foundation for China’s prosperity, people’s happiness, and social harmony and stability. In the great practice of promoting high-quality development in the new stage of development, we must continue to take economic development as the central task, apply the new development philosophy in all fields of endeavor, move faster to create a new pattern of development, advance supply-side structural reform, attach importance to demand-side management, and accelerate the realization of the three key issues of changing the pattern of economic development, adjusting the economic structure, and improving the quality and effectiveness of the economy. Efforts should be made to ensure that the fruits of economic development benefit more people and promote all-round human development, all-round social progress and high-quality development in all aspects.

“Taking economic development as the central task” is the only way to make solid progress in achieving common prosperity. Realizing common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism, and the greatest endeavor in human history that the Chinese people are undertaking under the leadership of the CPC. It will be a long historical process that is arduous, complex and challenging. “Unswervingly taking economic development as the central task” is the basis and prerequisite for steadily promoting common prosperity. The great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics is not just about “taking economic development as the central task”, but without it, it is impossible to achieve common prosperity.

“Unswervingly taking economic development as the central task” is to concentrate on economic development, unleash and develop the productive forces, and create and accumulate social wealth through the efforts of everyone. To make the “pie” bigger and better, we need to continue to encourage hard work, innovation and business ventures, and mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the whole society as widely and effectively as possible, in order to improve the systems and mechanisms for creating social wealth and lend a strong impetus to economic development. To achieve this, we must uphold the basic socialist economic system, combine distribution according to performance with distribution according to factors of production, work unswervingly to both consolidate and develop the public sector and encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector, and promote prosperity for all through the efforts of everyone.

Source: Guangming Daily, February 24, 2022