Recognize the truth of the problem of ＂state capitalism＂

　　One of the so-called rhetoric that the United States launched its economic and trade war with China is to label China’s economic system with a brand that is not new — — "State capitalism". This view holds that China’s socialist market economy is not a real market economy, and China is a state-led economy that practices protectionism and mercantilism. Its main basis is that China implements state-owned economy, government intervention, industrial policies, and so on. In fact, this is not the first time that the West has labeled China’s economic model as "state capitalism". Behind the theory of "state capitalism" mentioned by some people, the deep-seated reasons for their economic and trade war against China are actually hidden, that is, the road dispute and the system dispute.

　　First, who is the real "state capitalism"

　　What exactly is "state capitalism"? If we understand its connotation and essence, we can see the truth of some people’s hype about this topic.

　　State capitalism, a concept put forward by Lenin, is used to describe the stage characteristics of capitalist development, which shows that the role of the state is constantly increasing in the process of capitalist development, and it mainly includes two meanings: first, it refers to the control of state power over enterprises, and "state capitalism is a kind of capitalism in which state power directly controls these or those capitalist enterprises under the capitalist system". Second, it refers to the state’s supervision and regulation of capitalist economic development. "Monopoly capitalism is changing to state monopoly capitalism. Due to the situation, many countries implement social regulation of production and distribution." According to the current "state capitalism" theorists, state capitalism and liberal capitalism are two diametrically opposed forms of capitalism. However, by examining historical facts, we can find that the emergence and development of capitalism has never been separated from the role of the state. In the story of the so-called "rise of the western world", the state plays an extremely important role. When Marx talked about primitive accumulation of capital in Das Kapital, he clearly pointed out that the factors of British capital accumulation "were systematically integrated into colonial system, national debt system, modern tax system and protective tariff system at the end of 17th century. Some of these methods are based on the most brutal violence, such as the colonial system. But all these methods use state power, that is, centralized and organized social violence,To vigorously promote the transformation process from feudal mode of production to capitalist mode of production and shorten the transition time. " After the establishment of the capitalist system, the principles of free competition and free trade have gradually gained a dominant position, but the intervention of capitalist countries in the economy has not subsided. In fact, free trade and protectionism, free competition and state intervention are intertwined, which is a main line in the evolution of the capitalist system. Some western capitalist countries that have risen in history, including Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, etc., have played an extremely important role in economic development during their economic take-off stage. At the end of the 19th century, driven by the second industrial revolution, the concentration of production and capital accompanied by the socialization of production developed rapidly, capitalism entered the monopoly stage from free competition, and production and economic activities were increasingly concentrated in a few large capitals, resulting in an obvious monopoly trend. In particular, the position of financial capital in economic life was constantly improved, which not only controlled the economic lifeline of the country, but also began to grasp the political power of the country and penetrated its influence into all aspects of social life. During the two world wars, monopoly capitalism was further transformed into state monopoly capitalism. After the Second World War, capitalist countries have fully intervened in economic life from the aspects of production, distribution, exchange, consumption, etc., through various means such as fiscal policy, monetary policy, income policy, industrial policy, science and technology policy, environmental policy and nationalization, and their intervention in the economy has been unprecedentedly strengthened, and their integration with monopoly capital has become increasingly close.The development of capitalism has officially entered the stage of state monopoly capitalism. After the 1980s, neo-liberalism became the administrative philosophy of the British and American governments, and the state’s intervention in the economy was challenged to some extent, but it never withdrew from the historical stage.

　　Although the United States is known as the representative of free market economy and free capitalism, in fact, the role of the state in economic development is also very obvious and important. Historically, the United States is the birthplace and base camp of modern trade protectionism. From the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the end of World War II, it has been implementing trade protectionism policies. The once famous "American School" in the history of economic theory is famous for its distinctive protectionism and other state intervention propositions. After the Second World War, the United States began to promote trade liberalization for its own interests, but the state’s intervention in the economy increased. Keynesian economics became the mainstream of American economics and once dominated the formulation of national economic policies. For example, the proportion of total US government expenditure in GDP rose from 26.8% in 1960 to 41.3% in 2010; The number of American government employees increased from more than 4 million in 1940 to more than 22 million in 2010. Some experts who study innovation point out that as an advocate of small government and free market theory, the United States has been implementing large-scale public investment plans in technology and innovation for decades, thus laying the foundation for its past and present economic success. From the Internet to biotechnology and even shale gas development, the US government has always been the core driver of innovation-led growth. Therefore, the United States is a typical representative of an "entrepreneurial country", and any other country in the world wants to imitate the American model.They should act according to the actual behavior of the United States, not according to the American statement. After the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008, the United States once again offered the magic weapon of state intervention and launched a large-scale financial rescue plan and fiscal stimulus plan to stabilize the economy and promote growth. After the Trump administration came to power, it vigorously implemented national interventionist policies such as trade protection, immigration restrictions, and industrial return. In order to achieve the goal of "US priority", it did not hesitate to sacrifice the interests of people all over the world.

　　It can be seen that the so-called pure free market economy and free capitalism have never really existed, and the existing capitalism is inseparable from state capitalism. Samuelson, an American economist, clearly pointed out in his book Economics that in all developed industrialized societies, we all see a mixed economy, that is, the market determines the price and output of most private sector products, while the government uses tax, expenditure and monetary management plans to regulate the operation of the overall economy. Niall ferguson, a famous economic historian, pointed out in his article We Are All State Capitalists that it is too simplistic and wrong to attribute the competition between China and the United States to the global institutional competition between state capitalism and the free market. Obviously, to label socialist China and Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s market economy as "state capitalism" is really arrogant, and this "laurel" China can’t afford it.

　　Second, what is the intention of the "state capitalism" theorists?

　　After the international financial crisis in 2008, developed capitalist countries such as Europe and the United States fell into economic difficulties, while countries such as China remained strong, especially the rise and fall of the relative strength between China and the United States, which made the internal contradictions of developed countries and the structural contradictions with emerging economies such as China in the world economic system more and more prominent. On the one hand, it is impossible for some countries to turn a blind eye to the rapid development of China; on the other hand, they are even more reluctant to attribute China’s success to the socialist system led by communist party. Thus, a category originally proposed by Lenin belongs to socialist political economy rather than western economics — — "State capitalism" has become an exclusive concept used by some people to explain and attack emerging market economies such as China. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once claimed that the rise of "state capitalism" constituted an economic and strategic challenge to the United States. Ian Bremer, an American scholar, put forward in the book The End of Free Market: Who Won the War between Countries and Companies published in 2010 that the conflict between "state capitalism" and "free capitalism" in emerging economies such as China is essentially a war between emerging economies and private companies in developed countries. In January 2012, The Economist published a series of articles entitled "The Rise of State Capitalism"."State capitalism" subsequently became the theme of the debate in the Davos Forum. "State capitalism", a category of political economy, seems to have been transformed into a major challenge related to system, politics and ideology in the West. At present, the intensity of the economic and trade war launched by the United States is unprecedented, and its theoretical and public opinion bases have not deviated from the track of so-called "anti-state capitalism". The topic of "state capitalism" once again thrown by some American politicians is just the same old tune. The difference is that "anti-state capitalism" seems to have become a paranoid idea among some American politicians, and it is trying to turn it into a series of trade hegemonic policies against China.

　　The purpose of "state capitalism" theorists is very clear, that is, to use the opposition between so-called "state capitalism" and "liberal capitalism" to defend capitalism and create public opinion to curb the development of developing countries, especially China. On the one hand, it tries to shift and cover up people’s doubts about the profound drawbacks of the capitalist system, and attribute the crisis of the capitalist system caused by the basic contradictions of capitalism to the threat of "state capitalism". On the other hand, he directed his finger at Socialism with Chinese characteristics, tried his best to distort, discredit and slander China’s socialist market economic system, tried to shake people’s confidence in Socialism with Chinese characteristics system and socialist market economic system, forced China to give up the successful road and system proved by practice, and finally curbed China’s development.

　　Historical experience is worth noting. On the issue of "state capitalism", some countries have always implemented double standards: when they need state support for capital accumulation, they will resort to protectionism and state intervention; When it has obvious competitive advantages, it requires other countries to unconditionally open their markets and forcibly promote free trade to profit from it; When its competitive advantage slowly disappeared due to the catch-up of the late-developing countries, it once again raised the banner of trade protectionism. On the one hand, make use of free trade in the world market to give full play to the advantages of domestic monopoly capital over backward countries, and strive to maintain the monopoly position of domestic capital in the market and technology; On the other hand, take various protectionist measures to curb the capital of other countries — — Whether it is state-owned capital or private capital — — Competition, impact and catch-up. This kind of economic logic pretends to be ideological "orthodoxy" and interprets the advantages of competitors as ideological "heresy". Liszt, the representative of the German historical school, used the saying of "drawing a ladder" to make a wonderful metaphor for this trick: when a person has climbed to the peak, he will kick off the ladder he used when climbing gradually, so as not to let others follow him.

　　There are always people who try to bring China into the capitalist pedigree, or take it for granted that China’s market economy will automatically enter the capitalist pedigree. At that time, when China decided to implement the socialist market economy system, some people always asked such questions, saying that it was good for China to develop a market economy, but why did you put the word "socialism" in front of it? They always felt uncomfortable and uncomfortable with these words. When Socialism with Chinese characteristics is on a par with western capitalism in a better and better development state, some of them would rather stick to their old discourse system and interpret China as "state capitalism" than admit that the Socialism with Chinese characteristics system and the socialist market economy have great vitality and achieved success that they do not want to see. This is the essence and logic of their argument of "state capitalism".

　　Third, distorting the socialist market economic system with economic hegemonism

　　Western capitalist countries have always regarded the market economy as their own exclusive and patent, which seems to be a "truth" in western economic theory. But market economy and capitalism are two different things. Market economy is a way of resource allocation, which can be combined with both the capitalist system and the socialist system. The capitalist market economy and the socialist market economy have something in common in the way of resource allocation and the relationship between commodity economy. For example, they all require market players to maintain equal competition, have clear property rights relations, and give play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation. The trade and investment activities between China and capitalist countries, including the United States, are essentially based on the commonness of market economy. At present, the macro-control policies implemented in China are also in line with the laws of the market economy and the provisions of the WTO.

　　At the same time, we must see that market economy is a social and historical concept, which has different characteristics in different social systems and historical development stages. Developing countries are different from developed countries, socialism is different from capitalism, and they are also developed capitalist countries. There are also so-called "Anglo-— The difference between Saxon model and Rhine model. Socialist market economy is a new type of market economy, which not only has the general characteristics of market economy, but also is fundamentally different from capitalist market economy in ownership structure, distribution system and institutional mechanism. Confusing the social system with the market economy, the generality of the market economy with the particularity of the market economy, denying that China is practicing the market economy by the role of the government and the existence of state-owned enterprises, and then recognizing that China is practicing "state capitalism" is an outdated understanding of the market economy mistakes.

　　It is also untenable to equate state-owned enterprises with "state capitalism". State-owned enterprises are an institutional form adapted to modern mass production, which exists in both capitalist and socialist societies. In fact, state-owned enterprises first appeared in western capitalist countries. After the Second World War, some developed capitalist countries set off a large wave of nationalization and established a large number of state-owned enterprises, which spread all over the national economy. Even at the peak of privatization, western countries still retained a considerable scale of state-owned enterprises. During the outbreak and deepening of the international financial crisis in 2008, western countries nationalized a large number of enterprises to cope with the economic depression caused by the financial crisis. It can be seen that the state-owned enterprises in western countries also have the function of regulating the basic contradictions of capitalism to a certain extent. However, we should also see that the nature and role of state-owned enterprises are different with different social systems. State-owned enterprises in western countries are essentially controlled by a few big capitalists behind the government, and ultimately serve them to make profits. In the socialist market economy, state-owned enterprises are owned by the whole people, and they are an important force to promote national modernization and safeguard the common interests of the people. They shoulder many important tasks such as providing public services, developing important forward-looking strategic industries, protecting the ecological environment, supporting scientific and technological progress, ensuring national security, promoting fair distribution, and achieving common prosperity. They are of a socialist nature. Many kiss the baby for the nurse’s sake. The fundamental reason why some western politicians attacked China’s state-owned enterprises,It is China’s state-owned enterprises that keep improving, becoming stronger and bigger, which can better provide a reliable guarantee for China’s development, for China to build itself into a socialist modern power in an all-round way and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which they are extremely unwilling to see.

　　It is even more incredible to equate the role of the government with "state capitalism". The relationship between the government and the market is the theme of the evolution of the modern market economy system. They complement each other and are inseparable, which is the objective law of the development of the market economy under the conditions of socialized mass production. Whether it is a capitalist market economy or a socialist market economy, it is inseparable from the effective regulation of the government, including formulating market rules, providing public goods, maintaining macroeconomic stability, improving the social security system, and safeguarding national economic security. The difference is that the capitalist market economy is based on private ownership, and the government is the spokesman of capital and serves the interests of monopoly capital. Therefore, it is difficult to make effective adjustments to economic and social development from the interests of the whole society, so as to overcome the basic contradiction between socialization of production and capitalist private ownership of means of production and solve the problems of market failure and market defects. The socialist market economy is dominated by public ownership, and the government is the representative of all the people and serves the interests of the people. Therefore, it is possible to effectively regulate and control economic and social development from the overall social situation and long-term interests, so as to promote sustained and healthy economic development, meet the growing needs of the people for a better life, and achieve common prosperity for all the people.

　　In a word, the difference between the socialist market economy and the capitalist market economy is not whether the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation, nor whether the government plays a role or not, but whether the state-owned enterprises exist or not, but whether it takes capital as the center and serves monopoly capital or people as the center and serves the people.

　　The logic of the theory of "state capitalism" advocated by some people is: in a capitalist market economy, as long as the state intervenes in the economy to serve private ownership and capital interests, then no matter how much government intervention, it belongs to the "free market system", while in a socialist market economy, as long as communist party’s leadership and socialist system are adhered to, no matter how much government intervention, it belongs to the "state capitalism"; If western countries support their own enterprises to enter the international market, it belongs to the "free market system", and if emerging market countries support their own enterprises, it belongs to "state capitalism". This is a typical economic hegemonic logic.

　　Four, the socialist revolution and construction of "state capitalism" problem

　　From the historical development process, socialism and "state capitalism" are not unrelated. From the perspective of Marxism, "state capitalism" is a historical category with historical conditions for its emergence, development and decline. Marxism not only profoundly reveals the nature of state capitalism under the capitalist system, but also creatively explores the nature and development prospects of state capitalism under the socialist conditions and how to treat and utilize capitalism scientifically.

　　Lenin first put forward the important idea of using state capitalism to move towards socialism, and the category of state capitalism began to enter the vision of socialist economic theory. He believes that under the condition that small farmers account for the majority of the population, it is impossible to implement a direct transition from small-scale production to socialism, but state capitalism should be used as an intermediate link between small-scale production and socialism to promote the development of socialism. State capitalism under socialist conditions is capitalism that can be restricted and its scope can be specified. It is a positive and beneficial economic component of socialism, which is conducive to enhancing the interests of the broad masses of people, including concession system, cooperative system, purchasing agency system and lease system.

　　In the early days of the founding of New China, the Communist Party of China (CPC) also put forward the idea of completing socialist transformation through state capitalism. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "Most of China’s present capitalist economy is managed by the people’s government, linked with the state-owned socialist economy in various forms, and supervised by workers. This capitalist economy is no longer an ordinary capitalist economy, but a special capitalist economy, that is, a new state capitalist economy. It mainly exists not for the profits of capitalists, but for the needs of the people and the country. " Because of this, this new state capitalist economy has a strong socialist nature and is beneficial to the people and the country. It can be seen that the state capitalism produced under this specific historical condition is only a way of transition from capitalism to socialism and a special form of socialist transformation of national capitalism. China’s practice shows that once the socialist transformation is completed, the basic socialist system with public ownership as the main body is established, and the socialist society is entered, state capitalism, as a transitional economic form, has completed its historical mission and withdrawn from the historical stage.

　　Since the reform and opening up, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has set out from reality, based on China’s basic national conditions, persisted in liberating and developing the productive forces, successfully initiated and developed Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s roads, theories, systems and culture, established and constantly improved the basic economic system in the primary stage of socialism with public ownership as the mainstay and diversified ownership economies developing together, and successfully realized the historic transformation from a highly centralized planned economic system to a dynamic socialist market economic system. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core and under the scientific guidance of the Supreme Leader’s Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought in the new era, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has adhered to the people-centered development thought, thoroughly implemented the new development concept, made the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, better played the role of the government as the direction, focused on improving the property rights system and the market-oriented allocation of factors, comprehensively deepened the economic system reform, constantly improved the Socialism with Chinese characteristics economic system and the Socialism with Chinese characteristics market economic system, and promoted high-quality development. China insists on building a community of human destiny, building an open world economy, actively participating in and promoting the process of economic globalization, and has taken a series of major measures to open up to the outside world, such as greatly relaxing market access, creating a more attractive investment environment, strengthening intellectual property protection and actively expanding imports, so as to promote the formation of a new pattern of all-round opening up. Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s economic system and Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s market economic system have not only brought into play the advantages of the market economy, but also the superiority of the socialist system.It has achieved the organic combination of government and market, fairness and efficiency, development and stability, autonomy and openness, promoted sustained and healthy economic and social development, and achieved great achievements that have attracted worldwide attention, which not only benefited all China people, but also made important contributions to the development and progress of mankind. This is Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s great achievement, which has nothing to do with the so-called "state capitalism". Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s economic system and Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s market economic system are China’s wisdom and China’s plan created by the people of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China to explore a more reasonable social system, and they are great pioneering works in the history of human social system development. The Communist Party of China (CPC) led the people of China out of the bright road of Socialism with Chinese characteristics and will never take the wrong road of "state capitalism"; The people of China will firmly unite and forge ahead along this road that has achieved great success, and move from victory to greater victory.