The great rejuvenation of China

Section 4: Continuously promote development of the human person the all-round

The idea of comprehensive human development is the fundamental value and highest proposition of Marxism, an important part of Marxist theory, and an important content of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Comprehensive human development is not only the basic principle of communism, but also the value goal of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

From all-round human development to people-centered, this is a huge leap from general theory to concrete reality, and implements the theoretical red line of Marxism.

In the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is necessary to earnestly practice the people-centered development thinking, better meet the growing diversified, multi-level and multi- faceted needs of the broadest masses of the people in economic, political, cultural, social, ecological and other aspects, and continuously promote all-round human development.

1. the basic connotation of all-round human development

Marxism holds that the all-round development of man is the development of the most fundamental and essential thing of man, and that “man occupies his own comprehensive essence in a comprehensive way, that is, as a complete person"1 That is, the comprehensive development of the essential power of man as an end in itself. In connection with the essential provisions of human beings, the all-round development of human beings has very rich connotations, which is specifically manifested in the comprehensive development of human capabilities, the full development of human social relations and the free development of human personality.

Comrade Xi Jinping once explained human development from the essential characteristics of human beings, pointing out: “Man is essentially a cultural person, not a materialized person; an active and comprehensive person, not a rigid, one-dimensional’ person.” Human beings not only pursue material conditions and economic indicators, but also pursue happiness index; not only pursue the harmony of natural ecology but also pursue the harmony of spiritual ecology; not only pursue efficiency and fairness, but also pursue the harmony of interpersonal relationships and the fulfillment of spiritual life, and pursue the meaning of life. “2 This idea explains the essence of man from the relationship between the individual and society, and reveals the all-round development of man from the relationship between man and the community of social life. Comrade Xi Jinping clearly stated in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China: “Ensure that all the people have a greater sense of gain in joint construction and shared development, and continuously promote the all-round development of people.“3 These ideas have further inherited and enriched the Marxist thinking on the all-round development of man.

First, comprehensive human development means the comprehensive development of human capacities. The comprehensive development of human ability means that people are no longer limited to the division of occupations, and can freely choose occupations according to their own specialties, hobbies, etc.;

In this way, they can give full play to their talents and abilities in social practice, and can flexibly change their roles and functions to meet different labor needs. When talking about the all-round development of man, Marx often used such expressions as “the all-round development of all one’s own abilities” and “the all-round development of all human forces.” When talking about well- rounded people, Engels believed that this is a person who is capable in all aspects, “exerting all his talents and strength.” According to Lenin, this is “a well-trained person, that is, a person who can do everything.“1 The comprehensive enrichment of human social relations and the free development of human personality require that the development of human abilities must reach a certain level. Marx believed that the all-round development of man is, in the final analysis, the development of human capacity as an end in itself, and the development of human capacity “presupposes production based on exchange value, which produces the universality of individual alienation from himself and others, as well as the universality and comprehensiveness of personal relations and personal ability.”2

Second, the comprehensive development of the human person means the full development of human social relations. Social relations include the communication relationship between people, the economic relations and production relations produced by people in social interactions, the relationship between people and nature, and various relationships in ideology and culture, etc., and the richness of social relations reflects the essence of human beings. In his Theses on Feuerbach, Marx pointed out: “The essence of man is not an abstraction inherent in a single person, but in its reality it is the sum of all social relations.” “People are not only the product of social relations, but also survive and develop in certain social relations all the time, in the sense that “social relations actually determine how far a person can develop.”3 Of course, the development of human ability is the most important content of human development, but Marx never simply reduced human development to the development of ability, because the formation, development and expression of human ability are inseparable from human social relations. The productive forces must be expressed in certain relations of production, political forces must be expressed in certain political relations, and spiritual forces must be expressed in certain spiritual relations. It is from the perspective of the development of human social relations that Mark Tian explains the three stages of human development from “human dependence” to “human independence based on material dependence” and then to “free individuality.”

Therefore, if human development means the enrichment of human social relations, then the realization of comprehensive human development means the full development of all human social relations. Only by broadening the space and scope of people’s activities and exchanges, broadening people’s vision and mind, and improving people’s political, economic, legal and cultural relations can we enhance people’s autonomy in the process of enriching people’s social relations. Third, the all-round development of the human person means the free development of the human personality. On the one hand, the full development of human personality mainly includes people’s interests, beliefs and the full development of human physical and intellectual strength, so that people’s character and temperament are more perfect and their psychology is healthier. On the other hand, the full development of human personality is mainly manifested in the comprehensive development of human subjectivity and the enrichment and increase of human uniqueness, that is, the self-discipline of people who can restrain themselves, the free initiative to engage in social practice activities according to their own will, the independence and autonomy of being able to control their own behavior, and the originality of being able to create themselves. There is no doubt that the all-round development of human abilities and the full development of human social relations are inseparable from the free development of human personality. In a sense, the development of abilities and relationships serves the formation and development of a person’s “free personality.” The free development of human personality means that everyone in real social life can engage in this or that labor at will, as he wants without exceeding the boundary. Marxism holds that the true formation of man’s free personality means the realization of man’s all-round development, because “this personality is comprehensive in both production and consumption, and therefore the labor of individuality is no longer expressed as labor, but in the full development of activity itself.“1