Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1654-W1196

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1654-W1196

Release Date: March 22, 2024

发布日：2024年3月22日

Topic: What Kind of Democracy Is More Suitable for China (Part 4) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：什么样的民主更适合中国（之四） -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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What Kind of Democracy Is More Suitable for China (Part 4)

-- Wei Jingsheng

Economists criticize the planned economy of the Communist Party, but they do not criticize it to the point. Doesn’t a planned economy have a market? Things produced by factories still have to be sold in the market, and people still have to go to the market to buy things for consumption. The planned economy is also inseparable from the market as an intermediary. The planned economy does not mean that there is no market.

So what is a planned economy? Why is it a rigid system? This starts with what is the economy and what is the market.

Economy is the general term for people's production activities, and the market is the intermediary through which economic entities exchange products. What do people produce and exchange for? For their living. Therefore, whether it is the economy or the market, they are all human activities carried out for the survival of mankind.

Human beings are scattered and complex, and production is also a flexible and random activity. Each subject has its own work plan that is different from others and cannot be replaced by each other. The market measures, connects and exchanges the goods produced by different plans to meet the needs of people's lives. Therefore, the first element of the economy is activities for human life, and the second element is complex activities and products, which must be measured and exchanged by relative standards through the market.

It is not that there is no market in a planned economy, but rather that production is carried out in accordance with the targets set by a superior rather than by people's lives. The second characteristic is that production is based on targets rather than complex actual arrangements: there are no signals of market reaction, only rigid targets from superiors. This is what leads to rigidity and detachment from reality.

Are plans and targets wrong? In the production of a factory or farm, plans and targets play an irreplaceable role. Without a plan, factories cannot produce, and without a plan, farmers will starve to death. Targets are tools for people to measure and compare the benefits of production activities. Without this ruler, people do not know whether what they do is correct and what will cause losses. This is all basic common sense.

The so-called planned economy does not produce for the sake of people's lives. It produces for the completion of plans made by certain offices that are divorced from reality. In layman's terms, it is produced for targets. The second is that its plans cannot include complicated economic phenomena, but are only plans based on some imagined standards. It cannot be a realistic plan, and there will be a big gap between it and the actual economic needs.

The so-called semi-market economy of the Chinese model is not a market economy, but still is a planned economy with targets. Governments at all levels control private and public enterprises and guide production according to targets set by superiors rather than market feedback. Although the blood transfusions received from the Western governments in order to help Western capital earn extra profits seem to be developing well, China's own domestic market is not developing normally. Once the blood transfusions are stopped, it inevitably will return to slow development.

Democratic politics is based on a market economy. In turn, it requires and protects a real market economy, rather than a so-called semi-market economy, which is actually still a planned economy with targeted goals. Democratic politics must regard economic indicators as a standard of measurement rather than as a goal to guide production. The purpose of economic activities can always only be to meet the needs of people's lives, rather than to meet the targets set by certain institutions.

The market economy guaranteed by democratic politics must be a free market economy under legal premises, and cannot be to meet the targets set by superiors or to play a game of numbers. Democratic countries limit government intervention in economic activities, implement the principle of small government and big society, and give all economic entities the maximum space for development. Only such a true market economy can ensure normal development and ensure that people obtain the maximum benefits from economic development.

The economy can only ensure the best benefits through the independent and flexible reflection of all economic entities. Only by completely eliminating the planned economy can China's development be on the right track, instead of enriching domestic and foreign capitalists and impoverishing the Chinese people.

(This English version is translated by Ciping HUANG, without any compensation. Wei Jingsheng and the Wei Jingsheng Foundation appreciate her decades of contribution, especially for allowing the use and distribution of her translations of these commentaries.)

Original link of this commentary:

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-03222024105434.html

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2024/WeiJS240317onChineseEconomy4.mp3

Related screenshot of Wei Jingsheng’s commentary on RFA website:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2024/newsletters2024-1/WeiJSonChineseEconomyD240322RFApage.jpg

(Written on March 12, 2024 and recorded on March 17, 2024. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia on March 22, 2024.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1654-W1196

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1654-W1196

Release Date: March 22, 2024

发布日：2024年3月22日

Topic: What Kind of Democracy Is More Suitable for China (Part 4) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：什么样的民主更适合中国（之四） -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2024/report2024-3/WeiJS240322onChineseEconomy4A1654-W1196.htm

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什么样的民主更适合中国（之四）

-- 魏京生

经济学家们评论共产党的计划经济，但都没有批评到点子上。计划经济就没有市场吗？工厂生产出东西还是要到市场上去卖，老百姓消费还是要到市场上去买。计划经济也离不开市场这个中介，计划经济不是没有市场。

那么计划经济是个什么东西呢？它为什么是个僵化的体系呢？这就要从什么是经济，什么是市场说起。

经济是人们生产活动的总称，市场是经济主体交换产品的中介。人们生产和交换是为了什么？为了生活。所以，经济也好，市场也好，都是为了人类的生存而进行的人类活动。

人类是分散复杂的，生产也是灵活随机的生产活动。每一个主体都有它自己的不同于其它的工作计划，不可互相代替。市场则是把这各不相同的计划产生的商品，衡量并连接和交换，以满足人们生活的需要。因此经济的第一要素就是为了人的生活进行的活动，第二要素就是复杂的活动和产品，要经过市场用相对的标准衡量和交换。

计划经济不是没有市场，而是不按照为人们的生活为目标，却按照某个上级制定的指标为目标进行生产。第二个特点就是按照指标而不是按照复杂的实际安排生产：没有市场反聩的信号，只有上级硬性的指标。这就是造成脱离实际，僵化的原因。

计划和指标错了吗？在一个工厂或者农民的生产中，计划和指标起着不可替代的作用。没有计划，工厂没法生产，没有计划，农民会饿死。指标则是人们衡量和比较生产活动效益的工具。没有这把尺子，人们不知道怎么做是正确的，怎么做会造成损失。这都是起码的常识。

所谓的计划经济首先不是为了人们的生活而生产，它是为了完成某些办公室制定的脱离实际的计划而生产。通俗地说是为了指标而生产。第二就是它的计划不可能包括纷繁复杂的经济现象，只是按照某种想象的标准做出的计划。它不可能是符合实际的计划，和现实中的经济需要必然存在很大的差距。

而所谓中国模式的半市场经济，并不是市场经济，仍然还是指标性的计划经济。各级政府控制着私营和公营的企业，不是按照市场反馈，而是按照上级定下的指标指导生产。虽然为帮助西方资本赚取额外的利润，受到西方政府的输血看上去发展不错，但中国本身的国内市场没有正常的发展，一旦停止输血，被打回到缓慢发展那就是必然现象。

民主政治是建立在市场经济基础上的。它反过来要求和保护真实的市场经济，而不是所谓的半市场经济，实际仍然是指标性的计划经济。民主政治必须把经济指标当作衡量的标准，而不是当作指导生产的目标。经济活动的目的永远只能是为了满足人们生活的需要，而不是满足某些机构制定的指标。

民主政治所保障的市场经济，必须是在合法前提下的自由的市场经济，而不能是为了满足上级制定的指标，或者数字游戏。民主国家限制政府对经济活动的干预，实行小政府大社会的原则，给所有的经济实体以最大限度的发展空间。这样的真正的市场经济，才能保证正常的发展，才能保证人们从经济发展中获得最大的利益。

经济只能由所有经济实体自主的，灵活的反映来保证最好的效益。彻底排除指标性的计划经济，中国的发展才能走上正轨，而不是富了国内外的资本家，穷了中国的老百姓。

(本评论的英文版本由黄慈萍翻译。魏京生和魏京生基金会感谢她数十年来相关的无偿贡献，特别是使用和发布此译文的许可。)

评论的原始链接：

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-03222024105434.html