Understanding the dual nature of capital and giving full play to its positive role.

□ Zhao Jufang, Shanxi Coal Transportation and Marketing Company

To develop the socialist market economy, we must deepen our understanding of the law of capital operation, not only deeply understand the profit-seeking and greed of capital, but also give full play to the positive role of capital in promoting social progress.

First, the dual characteristics of capital

Marx elaborated on the essence of capital. It is pointed out that capital has two characteristics: one is the profit-seeking and greed of capital, and the other is the enthusiasm and promotion of social progress.

When revealing the profit-seeking and greed of capital, Marx pointed out that capital is the value that brings surplus value. "Producing surplus value or making money is the absolute law of this mode of production." Capital will never give up the pursuit of surplus value, and its basic nature is profit-seeking. Marx had such an incisive exposition on capital, "once there is a proper profit, capital will be bold." If there is a 10% profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; With a profit of 20%, it will become active; With a profit of 50%, it will take risks; For 100% profit, it dares to trample on all human laws; With a profit of 300%, it dares to commit any crime, even risking its head. " The profit-seeking and greedy nature of capital runs through the whole development history of capitalism. In the early days of primitive accumulation of capital and capitalist development, profit-seeking and greed depended on squeezing the surplus labor of workers, even at the expense of colonial plunder by means of war. "When capital came into this world, blood and dirty things flowed from every pore.". As far as today’s world is concerned, almost no developed country has prospered purely by the development of the so-called democratic system, but has completed the primitive accumulation of capital by early colonial plunder, and built the "maturity" of a few capitalist countries with the blood and sweat of others. What is capitalism? In short, regarding capital as doctrine and superstitious about the profit-seeking instinct of capital, the core is self-interest. The recent Wall Street financial crisis has fully revealed that the extreme capital will inevitably lead to a crisis with great destructive power.

While discussing the greed of capital, Marx also pointed out the positive side of capital in promoting social progress: the emergence of capital is a great historical progress relative to the hierarchical society, because it has a powerful driving force to promote social expansion and reproduction. The pursuit of profit by capital promotes the development of production, stimulates people’s enthusiasm for obtaining benefits and stimulates people’s consumption; The free flow of capital has changed personal attachment, increased social vitality and developed productive forces. "The productive forces created by the bourgeoisie in its less than 100-year class rule are more than all the productive forces created by all generations in the past.". To develop market economy, we should make full use of the positive side of capital in promoting social progress, which is also proved by the great achievements of China’s socialist market economy.

Second, correctly understand and grasp the dual nature of capital and promote the healthy development of economy and society.

To develop the socialist market economy, we can neither engage in capital superstition nor fall into capital fear; It is necessary to recognize and respect the value of capital, make full use of the function of capital that is conducive to the development of productive forces, and give full play to the positive role of capital, and also deeply understand the profit-seeking and greed of capital. Don’t just follow capital, don’t be a vassal of capital, and prevent the disorder of capital.

In his speech at Cambridge University, Premier Wen Jiabao highlighted the importance of reflection on the global financial crisis. He pointed out that the once-in-a-century financial crisis left the world with heavy thoughts, and the current economic system and economic theory should be deeply reflected. For example, "an unregulated market economy is doomed to fail", "a real market-oriented reform will never put the market mechanism in opposition to the national macro-control", "the relationship between financial innovation and financial supervision, the relationship between virtual economy and real economy, and the relationship between savings and consumption must be handled well" and so on. Wen Jiabao emphasized that real economic theory will never conflict with the highest ethical standards. Economic theory should represent justice and honesty, and promote the well-being of all people equally, including the most vulnerable people.

The market does have high efficiency in optimizing the allocation of resources, but while optimizing the allocation of resources, it has its own insurmountable problems of "market defects" or "market failure", which objectively needs to be compensated or corrected by the "tangible hand" of the government. At the same time, the theory of modern market economy also tells us that when the "invisible hand" of the market can’t make the economic operation automatically reach the equilibrium state, the government must use the "tangible hand" to make it restore the equilibrium state as much as possible. In other words, the role of the market is limited, and the government plays an important role in the operation of the market economy. Macro-control of the economy by the government is also the inherent requirement of the market economy. The "invisible hand" of the market and the "visible hand" of the government are internally unified, complementary and mutually promoting, which together constitute the essential characteristics of the socialist market economy. From this point of view, in the process of building a socialist market economy, we can neither blindly worship the "market omnipotence theory" nor exclude the role of the government in the development of the market economy; We should not be overly superstitious about "government omnipotence" and belittle the role and efficiency of market mechanism in resource allocation. On the basis of fully respecting the market rules and giving full play to the market mechanism, China has retained the macro-control function of the government on the economy, thus organically combining the superiority of the market economy with the superiority of the socialist system, and finally finding a market economy development model in Socialism with Chinese characteristics that is superior to the capitalist market economy development model.

The successful practice of China’s economic development shows that the market economy is an effective way to allocate resources. Based on the market mechanism to allocate resources, the state uses necessary macro-control means, which is more conducive to promoting stable and healthy economic development and can effectively avoid economic ups and downs. For example, in the Asian financial crisis in 1997, China successfully applied macro-control measures to effectively resist the impact of the Asian financial crisis on China’s economy, thus maintaining the situation that China’s economy is "outstanding" in Asia and even the world. However, we must admit that under the condition of market economy, due to the profit-seeking and exclusive competition of market players, sometimes the micro-interests of the market will damage the macro-interests of the country and the public. For example, in recent years, some real estate developers and investors have conspired to drive up the house prices to seek excess profits, and many brands and batches of milk powder such as Sanlu milk powder have been found out, which shocked the Chinese people. In recent years, food safety and quality crises have appeared many times, which not only endangered public safety, caused injuries and deaths, but also disrupted social order, affected people’s lives and shaken public trust. In this case, the government should do a good job in macro-control and strengthen supervision to protect the fundamental interests of investors and the people and safeguard the healthy development of the socialist market economy.

To develop Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s market economy, we must fully understand and grasp the dual nature of capital, and organically combine the government’s macro-control of the market with the market’s micro-allocation of resources, that is, the organic combination of the "visible hand of the government" and the "invisible hand of the market". Only by fully realizing that both the market and the government have their own advantages and disadvantages in leading economic development, and dialectically "sublating", discarding the false and retaining the true, can the healthy development of the socialist market economy be promoted by absorbing the advantages of the market mechanism in improving the efficiency of resource allocation, and absorbing the advantages of the government in allocating public resources and saving market transaction costs and maintaining fair and orderly market development.