Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 7, No. 1, 2023 42 The Logical Thread of the Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics Qinggang Yong School of Economics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China Abstract: The theoretical system of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics is composed of multiple parts, and the logical thread runs through it as a crucial element, but the determination of the logical thread has been controversial. This article lists the relevant scholars about the main points of view of logic, and points out the shortcomings of some of the representative views, on this basis, according to the previous research and establish logic general principle, combined with the practice of China's economic construction and the work report of President Xi Jinping at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, summarized "based on practice, problem oriented, change production relations make it better combined with productivity to promote the" people-centered " socialist economic development, and finally achieve common prosperity”, which is a more reasonable logical thread. Keywords: Socialism with Chinese characteristics, Logical thread, Plutonomy, Rationality. 1. Introduction The theme of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics is to summarize China's experience and combine it with practice to provide guidance for China's economic construction and development. Practical experience tells us that China's economic reform and development need a strong theoretical foundation for guidance. Otherwise, it will be difficult to ensure scientific decision-making, systematic judgment and prediction of the development of the situation in practice. At present, we urgently need to complete the task of strengthening the construction of political economy discipline and promoting the construction and development of the political economy of Socialism with Chinese characteristics. The theoretical guidance of Marx's political economy and the practice of China's economic construction have produced the theoretical system of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, Unique to China, It inherits from Marx, originated in China, grows up in China, and will make its due contribution to the world in the future, President Xi Jinping has pointed out :“Establish and uphold the fundamental system of the guiding position of Marxism in the field of ideology". To continuously promote the further development of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics will help to show China's ideas to the world, to tell China's stories, to show the internal logic of China's economic development in an all-round and objective way to the world, and provide an idea of economic development for countries and regions in need. In recent years, relevant Chinese scholars have exchanged ideas and opinions on how to build a theoretical system of the political economy of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, and have also unified some views in the contention of a hundred schools of thought. However, in the determination of the thread of logic, there are great disputes and differences, and different opinions have certain truth, but there are also certain limitations and improvements. The author will sort out and analyze the conclusions of relevant research, and then put forward my own views and give the basis. 2. The Representative Scholars' Views On the Logical Thread Through the inductive analysis of the previous studies, 14 representative views can be summarized from the existing studies. Gu Hailiang (2017) believes that "liberating and developing the productive forces" should be taken as the logical thread[1]; Zhang Yu (2016) believes that "Socialist market economy" is the logical thread [2]; Rong Zhaozi (2018) believes that "public capital and equal labor" should be the logical thread [3]; Pang Jinju (2016) believes that the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics take " economic development, Meet the needs of " as a logical thread is more reasonable[4]; Yang Chengxun[5] and Zhang Raytheon [6] believe that "the essence of socialism" should be the logical thread; Li Jianping (2018) believes that "material interests" should be taken as the logical thread[7]; Li Jiguang (2019) believes that "public power and public ownership" should be the logical thread[8]; Hu Jun (2017) believes that the "people-centered" approach should be taken as the logical thread [9]; Shen Peixiang (2019) believes that "shared development" can be used as the logical main line [10]; Sun Yinglian (2019) believes that the "value for need" should be taken as the logical thread[11]; There are also scholars on the basis of predecessors to improve and put forward the corresponding views, For example, Tian Chaowei (2019) believes that we should take “liberate and develop the productive forces, Promoting and realizing common prosperity " as the logical thread[12]; Wang Baozhu (2021) believes that the " people-centered "economic development" should be the logical main line [13]; Some other scholars have put forward the logical thread from the perspective of the path, For example, Zhang Yu (2018) believes that "system- operation-development-operation" can be used as the logical main line[14]; Xiao Lin (2018) believes that "system- structure-government-growth" should be taken as the logical thread[15]. 43 3. Analyze the Point of View and Point Out the Existing Shortcomings For the above 14 views on the logical thread of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics, We should see that, All have their own reasonable reasons, But there are also deficiencies, To some extent, there is a one- sidedness, Some scholars do not synthesize the Chinese characteristics and the characteristics of socialist plutonomy, Some scholars have also failed to fully demonstrate the nature of socialism and the practice of China's economic development, like a simple emphasis on productivity, and ignoring the closely related relations of production; On the contrary, they only focus on the study of production relations, and ignoring the importance of productivity; There are also the views of some scholars who have been, Focus on the characteristics of The Times, Closely integrated with the current practice, However, the theoretical basis of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics is omitted. Several representative views are analyzed below to point out the shortcomings. 3.1. To liberate and develop the productive forces Considering the realistic background of China's economic construction is low productivity level, has not built a solid material basis of economic conditions began the socialist construction in advance, obviously, this will directly lead to the actual productivity level and required productivity level is far, the best way to this problem naturally become the liberation and development of productive forces, to meet the needs, consolidate and promote socialist production relations. However, the author believes that this logical thread is too one-sided[9], it is not specific enough, because economic construction is liberating and developing the productive forces. There is no problem with this statement, but it is too general. Because it does not explain how the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics promotes the development of productive forces. In the field of economics, all disciplines regard the liberation and development of the productive forces as their unified task. What we are looking for is the logical thread of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics, so we should understand it from what perspective and in what way to promote the development of productive forces. In addition, the "liberation and development of productivity" as the logical thread is not comprehensive is it only emphasizes the productivity, but ignored the relations of production closely related to productivity. Therefore, this main line cannot solve the problems of who for whom, who will rely on whom to develop productivity, and who will share the achievements of development after productivity development, nor can it highlight the theme of common prosperity. Further, development is the trend of The Times, and all countries in the world are seeking development. The difference lies in what kind of development we seek and how to develop it. Therefore, we should not simply take development directly as the main line. In this way, it can neither reflect the essence of socialism, nor show "Chinese characteristics"[12]. 3.2. socialist market economy This view is also some one-sided[9]"Das Kapital" takes the surplus value as the main line, the author disagrees that the guidance of the socialist market economy as the thread to construct the socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics. Because it is wrong to understand the relationship between the market economy and socialism, the market economy is only a means, it is not equal to socialism, socialism takes people-centered as its tenet, the production and exchange activities are also to meet the needs of people, but the market economy is the exchange of goods and their values. 3.3. Develop the economy and meet the needs “Economic development[4]" focus on the liberation and development of the productive forces, "Meeting the needs" answer the question of for whom to develop. In the process of studying capitalist political economy, we take surplus value as its thread, but socialism is different from capitalism and cannot take the “people needs” as its thread. The biggest problem is that "surplus value" is an objective category, its definition and standards are completely determined, while the "people needs" is a subjective category whose criteria are not entirely certain [8]. At the same time, the purpose of socialist economic development is not only to meet the needs of the people, so "developing the economy and satisfying needs" cannot or cannot be used as a logical main line alone. In addition, it expounds the relationship between production and need, which cannot reflect the essence of the social form, and it cannot essentially distinguish the differences between socialism and capitalist production relations[12]. 3.4. Shared development "Shared development"[11] from the subject, content, road, process respectively answered "for who to develop", "by who to develop", "by who to enjoy" and other questions. However, sharing is only one of the five aspects of the new development concept, ignoring the other four aspects is too limited; at the same time, shared development does not answer the question of "how to develop", nor reflect the interaction between productive forces and production relations, and how the latter can adapt to the development of the former. 3.5. People-centered "people-centered" is more of a value orientation and an idea. President Xi Jinping stressed: adhere to the thought of people- centered development. Constantly realize development for the people, rely on the people, development achievements Shared by the people, make modernization achievements more and more fair benefit all the people, but it cannot answer the interaction of productivity and production relations, also cannot reflect the ultimate goal and means of socialist economic development, so is not suitable for it as the logical thread. 4. Identidetermine The General Principles of Logical Threads We can think about how to establish the logical thread of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics from the "two paths" of political economy methods in ＂ the Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy＂: The first road, "start from reality and concrete, start from the premise of reality"; The second path, "the scientifically correct method". 44 Knowing how to establish the main logical line, we should also know that the main line of logic should follow the following general principles: 1.The economic facts on which the logical main line is established should be typical; 2.The method to establish the main logic line is "concrete — abstract — concrete"; 3.The main logic line is the core category in the category system; 5. Summarize the Logical Thread Combined with Chinese Practice and Principles Above According to the above principles, we can establish "based on practice, problem-oriented, combined with historical experience to change the broad relations of production to better combine it with the constantly optimized productive forces to promote the" people-centered "socialist economic development, and finally achieve common prosperity" as a more reasonable logical main line. First of all, based on the reality, to the problem- oriented[21], The logical thread needs to keep pace with The Times, not unchanged, President Xi Jinping also pointed out in the report: "we should enhance the problem awareness, focus on the new problems encountered in practice and the deep problems of reform, development and stability, constantly put forward new ideas, new ways to solve the problem"; second, to promote economic development, should first systematically adjust the production relations to adapt to the development of productive forces. In the relations of production, the ownership of the means of production is its core problem. Continuously optimized productivity includes[18]: First, the liberation of the productive forces, including adjusting the relations of production to promote the development of the productive forces and economic system reform; Second, the development of the productive forces, including the coordination of the productive forces and other factors, to play a role in economic development; Third, the protection of the productive forces, including the protection and improvement of the ecological environment. In addition, in the process of promoting "people-centered" economic development, product or the distribution of material wealth is the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics need to consider, otherwise, just universal sharing is difficult to achieve fairness based on public ownership, seriously affect people's production enthusiasm, hinder the realization of common prosperity. According to the general principle of establishing the logical thread, most of the previous studies are based on the step from concrete to abstract, which is a high degree of condensation of China's economic construction experience and Marx's political economy, but either it cannot reflect the difference between political economy and other economics, or it cannot be based on the economy practice of socialist with Chinese characteristics, lead to it is too theoretical and vague, so we need to take the second step well, from abstract to concrete, highlighting the role of political economy in economic construction and development that distinguishes it from other economics. 6. The Logical Main Line Runs Through the Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics 6.1. It reflects the objective requirements of the economic development purpose of socialism with Chinese characteristics No matter what nature of society, it has a certain purpose to develop its economy[11]This purpose can reflect the nature of the social relations of production. "Seek happiness for the people" is the fundamental purpose of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics, so it manifested on the purpose of economic development as "meet the people's needs for a better life", more specifically, adjust the production relations to adapt to continuously optimized productivity, produce more and better labor products, let people can enjoy the use value of product, meet people's needs for a better life. To the adjustment of production relations, we know, the socialist economy with Chinese characteristics pursues the interests of the masses rather than its own, which represents the fairness based on public ownership, the fair is reflected in the production process and the distribution of labor products, to a certain extent, this takes both the people's production enthusiasm and fairness into account. 6.2. It runs through the whole process and in all aspects of the socialist economic operation with Chinese characteristics In the socialist economy with Chinese characteristics, the public ownership of the means of production occupies the dominant position. Because of this, all economic activities form a whole because they have the same fundamental interests[11]. The above logical thread is based on public ownership, which inevitably runs through the all-round and whole process of socialist economic operation, and constitutes the core of production, circulation and distribution. In terms of production, adjust the relations of production to better adapt to the development of productive forces; In terms of circulation, follow the law of value and supply and demand, establish a reasonable organization system of commodity circulation, accelerate commodity circulation, pay attention to market information feedback and make timely adjustment; In terms of distribution, show the whole society distribution relationship on the basis of consistent fundamental interests. 6.3. It meets the needs of the tasks and objects of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics 6.3.1. Task The basic task of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics should be under the guidance of marxist political economy, to provide the theoretical basis for further building the socialist cause, to explore the development law of the socialist public ownership economy, improve the efficiency of resource allocation, promote the development of productive forces， to meet the people's needs for a better life.[8, 11, 16, 19] 6.3.2. Research object For any subject, the first research subject should be determined[20]Whether the scope of research subjects is too 45 narrow or too wide is not conducive to the development of the discipline. If the definition scope is too narrow, too little research content is prone to too abstract problems; if too wide, the subject will appear redundant and have unclear boundaries from other disciplines. However, it is obviously not enough for political economy to only take the ownership of the means of production as the research object. Therefore, in recent years, the academic circle has expanded the traditional relations of production to "broad relations of production" and introduced it into the socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics[20]To analyze it from three dimensions: micro, medium and macro. The micro dimension is mainly the production relationship between enterprises and individuals; the middle dimension is the production relationship between industries and regions; and the macro dimension is the production relationship between market and government. As tasks and research objects, the logical thread reflects the socialist attribute of "broad relations of production" and can adapt to the optimized productivity; on the other hand, it also shows that the more efficient and fair economy can produce more and better labor products to meet people's needs for a better life. In the whole process, the "use value" contained in the labor products produced by the people is the direct purpose of the production process, which will transform to the ultimate goal of economic development, the ultimate goal of meeting the people's needs for a better life. 7. Conclusions and Prospects The logical thread throughout this theoretical system should not only highlight the essential characteristics of socialism, but also reflect the core context of the economic practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and should also be in line with the main content of the theoretical system of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics. Theoretical system of political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics is along with the development of China's economy in continuous improvement and expand, so its logical thread in addition to conform to the fundamental purpose, serve the fundamental purpose, based on the past experience and practice, but also advancing with The Times, in line with the current economic facts, rather than blindly only long-term goals, make the whole system hollowing out, theoretical, not close to the reality. The author take "based on practice, problem-oriented, combined with historical experience change generalized production relations better combined with continuous optimization of productivity to promote the" people-centered "socialist economic development, finally achieve common prosperity" as the logical thread is to summary predecessors work and further thinking, which must be shortcomings, only hope to be able to make some contributions to the main logic research, promote further follow-up research. References [1] H.L. Gu: Governance and "Systematic Economic Theory" with Chinese Characteristics: An exploration based on the main line, theme and leading of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics[J]. Social Sciences in Chinese Universities, 2017 (01): 31-40 + 156.( In Chinese) [2] Y. Zhang: Constantly improve the theoretical system of political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics [N]. People's Daily, 2016-08-29. ( In Chinese) [3] Z.Z. Rong: Public Capital and Equal Labor: The main line of the Political Economy of socialism with Chinese Characteristics [J]. Shanghai Economic Research, 2018(12):5- 15.DOI:10.19626/j.cnki.cn31-1163/f.20181112.001.( In Chinese) [4] J.J. Pang: Outline of Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics [J]. Political Economy Review, 2016,7 (05): 89-110. ( In Chinese) [5] C.X. Yang: The essence of political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and the four complementary theoretical "equations" [J]. MAO Zedong Deng Xiaoping Theory research, 2016 (03): 14-20 + 92. ( In Chinese) [6] L.S. Zhang: On the Development and Innovation of the Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics [J]. Marxist Research, 2017 (05): 59-67 + 159-160. ( In Chinese) [7] J.P. Li: On the Logical Main Line and Architecture of the Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics [J]. Theory and Review, 2018(04):36- 43.DOI:10.19771/j.cnki.35-1334/d.2018.04.004. ( In Chinese) [8] J.G. Li: Public power and public ownership: the starting point and main line of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics [J]. Marxist Research, 2019 (08): 112-120. ( In Chinese) [9] J.Hu: On the Main Line of Building Socialist Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics [J]. Political Economy Review, 2017,8 (03): 7-11. ( In Chinese) [10] P.X. Shen, J.H. Jiang: Shared development: the Logical Main Line of the Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era [J]. Journal of Xi'an University of Finance and Economics, 2019,32(03):5- 10.DOI:10.19331/j.cnki.jxufe.20190530.003. ( In Chinese) [11] Y.L. Sun, B.Y. Li: On the logical Thread of Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics [J]. Contemporary Economic Research, 2020 (01): 45-53. ( In Chinese) [12] C.W.Tian: Explore the logical thread of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics[J]. Mao Zedong Deng Xiaoping Theory Research, 2019 (10): 78-83 + 109. ( In Chinese) [13] B.Z. Wang, Y.Ma: Research on the Logic Thread of Xi Jinping's Economic Thought [J]. Humanities Magazine, 2021 (12): 1-7. ( In Chinese) [14] Y. Zhang, D. Xie, B.P. Ren et al: The Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (Higher Education Press, China 2017). ( In Chinese) [15] L. Xiao et al: The Outline of Chinese Economics: An Analysis of the Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (Shanghai People's Publishing House, China 2018). ( In Chinese) [16] B.G. Chen, C.M. Chen, K.Y. Shen: The Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (Higher Education Press, China 2016) . ( In Chinese) [17] J. Chen: The path of the main line of "people-centered" practice of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialist economic with Chinese characteristics in the new era[J]. Economic Research Reference, 2018(18):10-12.DOI:10.16110/j.cnki.issn2095- 3151.2018.18.003. (In Chinese) [18] Information on: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1714089045870133509&wfr =spider&for=pc [19] Z.L. He: People-centered is the logical thread of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics[J]. Contemporary Economic Research, 2021 (02): 5-7. ( In Chinese) 46 [20] S.D. Zhou: Progress, contention and Consensus on the Political Economy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics [J]. Jiangxi Social Science, 2020,40 (06): 51-59 + 254. ( In Chinese) [21] Y.X. Hong: Problem-oriented to innovate socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics[J]. Shanghai Economic Research, 2020(10):15-16.DOI:10.19626/j.cnki.cn31- 1163/f.2020.10.006. ( In Chinese)