according to historical materialism, how should we treat exploitation? First of all, it should be clear that exploitation is a historical phenomenon when the productive forces develop to a certain stage. There was no exploitation in primitive society, because the extremely backward productivity at that time made the products obtained by people's labor only meet the minimum needs of maintaining their lives and reproducing the labor force, and it was impossible to provide any surplus products. In this case, occupying the fruits of others' labor without compensation was equivalent to forcing the workers to die. The basic condition for exploitation is that the productivity develops to such a level that people's labor can produce more products than are necessary to maintain the labor force, that is to say, the improvement of labor productivity makes it possible for people to produce surplus products. There can be no exploitation without surplus products. But it can't be said that as long as there are surplus products, there must be exploitation. If the development of productive forces reaches the level that "not only everyone's needs can be met, but also there are surplus products to increase social capital and further develop productive forces" (Selected Works of Marx and Engels, 2nd edition, Volume 1, page 238), that is to say, all members' living needs and production needs can be fully met, it is possible to eradicate exploitation. It can be seen that the productive forces have developed to a certain extent (surplus products appear) but have not reached a high level of development, which is the condition for exploitation to appear.
exploitation is a special economic relationship between people under a certain level of productivity. On the surface, exploitation seems to be a phenomenon of difference between the rich and the poor. Some people get more income, others get less income, and those with more income exploit those with less income. Actually, it is not. Undoubtedly, exploitation will inevitably lead to polarization between the rich and the poor, but the gap between the rich and the poor does not necessarily mean that there is an exploitative relationship. The key depends on how wealth is obtained. Individual workers rely on their own labor to make their lives rich, which means they are industrious and rich, and can't be said to have exploited low-income people; Implementing the principle of distribution according to work, people with a large amount of labor and good quality get more income, which will also lead to income gap, even a big difference, which can not be said to be exploitation.
according to Marxist viewpoint, exploitation is an economic relationship between the owner of the means of production and the laborer: the owner of the means of production takes possession of the products produced by the surplus labor of the laborer for free by virtue of the means of production he has mastered. The premise of this economic relationship is the indirect way of combining the means of production with the labor force. It is known that the production of material materials is a process in which workers use the means of production, and therefore it is also a process in which the means of production are combined with the labor force. This combination can be in two ways. One way is direct combination, that is, the laborer himself is the owner of the means of production, and he uses his own means of production for production, such as individual farmers and craftsmen, who are both laborers and owners of the means of production. Under the condition of socialist public ownership of the means of production, the means of production belong to all workers. "All citizens are in the same position in the relationship with the means of production of the whole society, that is to say, all citizens have the same right to use the means of production, land and factories of the public." (The Complete Works of Lenin, Volume 2, the first Here, the means of production and the labor force are directly combined at a higher level. The means of production are directly combined with the labor force, and no one can use the ownership of the means of production to occupy the fruits of others' labor, which rules out the possibility of exploitation. The other way is indirect combination, that is, the means of production and the labor force are in a state of separation, and the society is divided into two poles, one is the owner of the means of production, and the other is the laborer who has lost the means of production. In this case, the combination of the means of production and the labor force can only be realized by the owner of the means of production in different ways, and production can be carried out. This combination mode, which must take the owner of the means of production as the intermediary, makes the owner of the means of production in an advantageous position in economic activities, and he may rely on the ownership of the means of production to force workers to provide him with surplus products; Workers are at a disadvantage because they have lost the means of production. In order to make a living, they have to provide surplus products. It can be seen that under the condition of indirect combination caused by the separation of the means of production and labor, the means of production is not only a factor of production, but also a means to absorb the labor of others, so it is no longer the workers who use the means of production, but the workers who use the means of production. This forms an exploitative relationship.
the indirect way of combining the means of production with the labor force is based on private ownership, because only private ownership of the means of production can cause the separation of the means of production and the labor force. From the perspective of social development, exploitation of this economic relationship is related to the survival of private ownership (it should be pointed out that individual economies, such as small-scale peasant economy and small-scale industries, are also private ownership, but there is no exploitative relationship. However, in any society, the individual economy does not exist independently, but is always subordinate to the dominant economic component, so it can be ignored when studying the socio-economic form. Human history shows that after the disintegration of primitive communes, wealth accumulated and concentrated in the hands of a small class, private ownership appeared, and human society was exploited. Unequal possession of means of production is the root of exploitation, so it can be said that as long as there is private ownership, exploitation is inevitable. The forms of exploitation are various. Engels once highly summarized several exploitative relations in history. He pointed out: "Slavery was the first form of exploitation inherent in the world in ancient Greece and Rome; Followed by the medieval serfdom and modern wage labor system. These are the three unique forms of slavery in the three major periods of civilization; Open and recent is hidden slavery, which has always been accompanied by civilization. " (Selected Works of Marx and Engels, 2nd Edition, Volume 4, p. 176) These exploitative relations are all based on private ownership, and the differences between them are determined by different forms of private ownership. Only when private ownership is eliminated, will the phenomenon of exploitation by people finally disappear in a * * * capitalist society.
it can be seen that exploitation, as an economic phenomenon in which the owner of the means of production occupies the surplus labor products of the laborers for free, reflects the economic relationship between people based on a certain level of productivity and private ownership of the means of production, which is determined by the indirect combination of the means of production and labor. It must be clearly pointed out in teaching that exploitation is an economic relationship, not a "political arrangement". It has been suggested that as long as the owners and workers of the means of production compromise and cooperate with each other on the basis of the rule of law and respect each other's rights through mutual agreement, they will eliminate oppression and exploitation at the same time. It is believed that in capitalist society, as long as the equivalent exchange is realized in the market, exploitation will be fundamentally eliminated. In fact, people with a little knowledge of Marxism know that, unlike slave society and feudal society, in the capitalist market, capitalists and workers are "free and equal" under the following conditions. Capitalists buy workers' labor according to the value of labor, and workers also "voluntarily" sell their own labor. Both sides compromise and cooperate with each other on the basis of the rule of law, and also "respect each other's rights". Then once this business is completed and enters the production field, the situation has changed. After the capitalist bought the labor force, the labor force was dominated by him. He forced the workers to work in the production process, which not only created the value of the labor force, but also created the surplus value and took it as his own. The "freedom and equality", "compromise and cooperation" and "respect for rights" in the market can't hide the essence of the exploitation that capitalists occupy surplus value for free. As long as there is capitalist private ownership, no matter what kind of "political arrangement", there will be an exploitative relationship in which capitalists occupy the surplus value created by workers. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain where the capitalist's wealth comes from.
since exploitation is the economic relationship between people, we should use the principle of Marxist historical materialism on the relationship between production relations and productivity to evaluate the historical position and role of exploitation. As mentioned above, there have been different forms of exploitation in the history of human society, including the relationship between slave owners and slaves, landlords and farmers, capitalists and workers. Different forms of exploitation reflect the different economic relations between the owners of the means of production and the workers on the basis of different forms of private ownership, and each of them has its own process of formation, development and extinction, which depends on their adaptability to the nature, level and development requirements of productive forces. When a form of exploitation is suitable for the nature of productive forces and its development requirements, it can promote the development of productive forces and promote social progress, it is in the rising stage; On the contrary, with the development of productive forces, when it is no longer suitable for the nature of productive forces, it hinders or even fetters the development of productive forces and becomes the fetter of social development, it will inevitably perish. Marxism always analyzes exploitation in connection with specific historical conditions, rather than affirming or denying it in the abstract. Therefore, we must judge the merits and demerits of a certain form of exploitation from the perspective of whether it promotes or restricts the development of productive forces, rather than just taking moral concepts as the criterion with the color of thoughts and feelings.
after the disintegration of the primitive commune, human society entered a slave society. Slave owners regard slaves as talking tools and inhumanely oppress and exploit them. Naturally, they should whip and condemn such behavior. However, it is obviously not enough to evaluate slavery like this. It should be noted that under the historical condition that slavery replaced the primitive commune, although this form of exploitation is very cruel, it is inevitable and a historical progress. Due to extremely low productivity and scarce surplus products, it is only by brutally exploiting slaves that it is possible for a few slave owners to get rid of heavy physical labor and specialize in mental work. At that time, this was a necessary condition for the further development of productive forces and the prosperity of science and culture. Therefore, Engels fully affirmed the historical position and role of slavery, pointing out that only slavery "made the ancient world prosperous and made Greek culture possible." Without slavery, there would be no Greek state, no Greek art and science; Without slavery, there would be no Roman empire Without the foundation laid by Greek culture and Roman Empire, there would be no modern Europe "(Selected Works of Marx and Engels, 2nd edition, Volume 3, p. 524). He even thinks that in a certain sense, "without ancient slavery, there would be no modern socialism" (ibid., p. 524). Of course, the historical role of slavery is limited and short-lived. The system of cruel exploitation of slaves makes slaves have no enthusiasm. They resist by deliberately destroying production tools, fleeing in large numbers and large-scale slave uprising. With the development of productive forces, this exploitation system has gradually become the shackles of the development of productive forces, and it is inevitable that feudal system will replace slavery.
Now, our country is in the primary stage of socialism. Under such historical conditions, how should we treat exploitation? We should adhere to historical materialism, proceed from the principle of the relationship between production relations and productivity, and evaluate according to the standard of "three benefits". The exploitation relationship between landlords and peasants under the feudal system should be completely denied, because it is completely unsuitable for the nature of productive forces and stifles their development, and we have eradicated this form of exploitation through land reform. The exploitation of capitalism, that is, on the basis of capitalist private ownership, the capitalist occupies the surplus value created by workers for free, which requires a concrete analysis. On the one hand, with the development of productive forces, production is becoming more and more social, which objectively requires the society to occupy the means of production and adjust the whole national economy. The capitalist private ownership of the means of production does not meet the requirements of the social nature of productive forces, and there is an inevitable contradiction between the social nature of production and the capitalist private ownership. On the whole, it is inevitable and necessary for socialist public ownership to replace capitalist private ownership. Based on this situation, we carried out socialist transformation of private industry and commerce, and established the dominant position of socialist public ownership in the whole national economy. Since the reform and opening up, we have always adhered to public ownership as the main body and opposed privatization, and this is also the reason. On the other hand, China's current socialism is still in the primary stage, that is, the underdeveloped stage. We are building socialism in a backward country with underdeveloped productive forces, so it takes a long time to realize industrialization and modernization under socialist conditions. This is an insurmountable historical stage. Since the founding of New China, after more than 5 years of socialist construction, China's productive forces have been greatly improved, but on the whole, the situation of underdeveloped productive forces has not been fundamentally changed, and the development of productive forces in various departments and regions is extremely unbalanced, ranging from highly socialized mass production with advanced technology to decentralized economy with original tools. Multi-level productivity level also requires multi-level ownership structure to adapt to it. This situation determines that in addition to public ownership as the main body, there are also non-public economies such as individual economy, private economy and foreign-funded enterprises, which have a positive effect on developing the national economy and meeting people's various needs. To meet the objective productivity level and the requirements of its development, China has established a basic economic system in the primary stage of socialism with public ownership as the main body and multiple ownership economies developing together. As long as there are private economy and "foreign-funded" enterprises that employ workers for production and operation based on private ownership, the capitalist exploitation relationship is inevitable. However, within the scope of national policies, this form of exploitation is beneficial and necessary to economic development and should be protected. In the primary stage of socialism, as long as it is conducive to the development of productive forces and the improvement of people's living standards, our policy is not only allowed, but also encouraged and supported.
When talking about how to treat exploitation in teaching, we must pay attention to the following three issues in theory.
first, we must distinguish exploitation itself from its historical role. As mentioned above, exploitation is an objective economic relationship. As long as there is private ownership, on this basis, the owners of the means of production use the means of production they have mastered to occupy the products of the surplus labor of workers for free, and exploitation objectively exists. The difference of external environment can only affect the performance and degree of exploitation, but it cannot change the fact of exploitation itself. It cannot be said that in capitalist countries