What Is Economic Democracy?

Economic democracy is one of the basic principles of economic law. Economic democracy is the primary goal of state intervention in the economy, and it is also the basis for building a market economy. Without economic democracy, there is no competition.

Economic democracy

Economic democracy is one of the basic principles of economic law. Economic democracy is

Economic democracy means such a

Economic democracy includes two levels of meaning, one is macro, and the other is micro.

At a macro level, the "economic democracy" theory aims to implement the theoretical principles of modern democratic countries-"people's democratic rights"-into the economic field, so that all

What is the basis of economic democracy? I believe that the foundation of economic democracy is market economy and public ownership. Market and democracy "like two couples bound by a discordant marriage. Although the marriage is full of contradictions, it is unbreakable because no one wants to leave the other." In fact, the market economy fosters and conceives the principles of economic democracy. ^[1] .

(1) The principle of freedom. The market economy has promoted the transformation of human society from "identity to contract". In a contract society, everyone can achieve free flow in the process of observing and performing contracts through their own efforts. The change from status to contract is actually the liberation of human beings, replacing identity restrictions with free movement, and replacing prequalified qualifications with acquired efforts. The market economy has motivated people to obtain the social resources they need on the basis of contracts, and has made the interaction between various interest subjects tend to be free. Freedom is a prerequisite for democracy. Democracy must be internal. The relationship between freedom and democracy in the economic field, that is, the relationship between economic freedom and economic democracy. The freedom brought by the market economy is economic freedom. Generally speaking, the relationship between economic freedom and economic democracy is not economically free. Excess; on the other hand, the lack of economic freedom is not an excess of economic democracy. The two are always mutually reinforcing and restricting each other.

(2) The principle of equality. Equality means "everyone has the ability to freely choose and decide their own actions, and they are equal as people. People should respect each other. This mutual respect reflects a kind of equality." Exchanges follow the principle of equivalent exchanges and require equal amounts of labor to receive equal pay. This process of commodity exchange puts the exchange subjects in an equal position and excludes any privileged intervention and coercion of violence. It is in this sense that Marx once said that commodities are born equal. The principle of equality required by economic democracy is not only manifested in the equality of rights, but also in economic opportunities (equality in economic conditions and equality in wealth distribution).

(3) The principle of autonomy. The market economy stimulates everyone's impulse to profit, and individuals have a clear understanding of their own interests and rights, and realize their own interests through ordinary material exchange under the role of the law of value, which greatly promotes the individual's sense of independence Germination. The market economy is constantly washing away people's psychology, and shaping people's internal character and subjective consciousness. Its fierce degree of competition is constantly pulling people's spiritual strings, prompting them to be aggressive and innovative. In short, in the entire operation process of the market economy, people's personality is enriched, enthusiasm and creativity are unprecedentedly mobilized and exerted, and autonomy will continue to increase. In traditional society, people's personalities cannot be publicized, and their autonomy is ruthlessly obliterated, which has formed people's economic dependence, cultural conservatism, and political obedience. In a market economy, in order to protect their own interests, people actively express their wishes, participate in economic activities, and distribute economic results. This autonomy is one of the necessary principles that constitute economic democracy.

(4) The rule of law. The market economy is a rule of law economy. It is not only the realistic basis for the emergence and development of the rule of law, but also expands the role of law. At the same time, the rule of law is an inherent requirement for the development of a market economy and has gained momentum for its own development in a market economy. The development of a market economy will inevitably lead to the differentiation of interests and the formation of multiple interests, and the economic activities of such multiple interests must be carried out within the scope of the law to ensure fair competition in the market economy. The rule of law can legalize the relationship between multiple interests and become legal rights and obligations, so that people have the law to regulate their own economic behavior, and further ensure the stability of social order and promote the development of the market. In addition, the macro-control of the market can only get rid of contingency and arbitrariness by relying on various legal means, legalize the market's operation procedures and correction procedures, and thus ensure the healthy operation of the market economy. The rule of law principle is not only the basic principle of a market economy, but also the principle of economic democracy.

It can be seen that the development of the market economy has nurtured the principles of freedom, equality, autonomy, and the rule of law. These basic principles not only constitute the prerequisites for the formation of economic democracy, set up the basic framework for the growth and development of economic democracy, and also constitute the basic principles of economic democracy. Is the logical embodiment of the inherent requirements of economic democracy. Therefore, it is these principles implied by the market economy that gave birth to economic democracy. It is also in this sense that we say that the market economy is the foundation of economic democracy.

Since the principle of economic democracy has been formed in the development of the market economy, and the market economy is the foundation of economic democracy, what does this have to do with public ownership? Here we may wish to use contradiction to prove that public ownership is the foundation of economic democracy. We first discuss that under the private ownership, these principles of freedom, equality, autonomy, and the rule of law that economic democracy inherently requires cannot be truly realized, and then we logically conclude that we want to prove that Conclusion. In the foregoing, we mentioned that some scholars believe that economic democracy is the main way to resolve labor-management conflicts, but is economic democracy really a cure for the social ills of labor-management conflicts? In a capitalist private society, due to the private nature of the means of production, Therefore, it first puts laborers and capitalists in an unequal position. Laborers are only regarded as tools and means for capital preservation and appreciation of foreign capital. They cannot escape the fate of being enslaved by capital. The principle of equality required by economic democracy is lost here. Secondly, due to the capitalist private ownership, there is a strong personal dependency between the laborer and the capitalist, and the laborer's independent arrangement and free will to the production process are completely deprived. In this process of production without autonomy and freedom, economic democracy is nothing more than a wish. Capitalists recruit laborers to participate in management in order to alleviate labor-capital contradictions and meet the needs of modern business operations and management. It is not a true reflection of democracy. Finally, capitalist private ownership makes it impossible for workers to share labor surplus or asset returns equally. Marx called this situation alienated labor, and he once said: "First of all, it must be pointed out that all activities that are manifested as alienation and alienation by workers are manifested by alienation and alienation among non-workers.

Second, the worker's realistic and practical attitude in production, and his attitude to the product (as a state of mind), appear as a theoretical attitude to non-workers who are opposed to him. Third, the non-worker does everything to the worker that is bad for himself, but the non-worker does something to the worker that he does not do to himself. In addition, capitalist law is only the class will of the bourgeoisie in order to safeguard the existing benefit distribution mechanism and social system. From this point of view, the conditions of freedom, equality, autonomy and rule of law inherent in economic democracy in a capitalist private society cannot be Realized. This is because ('labour' in bourgeois politics is a distorted, non-human labor, and behind this labor lies the fact of private ownership. "So we logically conclude that Conclusion: On the one hand, the highly developed market economy of capitalism continues to shape the basic principles of freedom, equality, autonomy, and rule of law in economic democracy, laying a good foundation for the development of economic democracy, and on the other hand, capitalist private institutions The alienated labor caused by it always impacts and destroys the inner meaning and spiritual connotation of economic democracy such as freedom, equality, autonomy and the rule of law, so that the seedling of economic democracy rooted in the market economy cannot grow into a towering tree. It can be seen that the market economy , Private ownership, and economic democracy stack up distortedly under the capitalist system, trying to The establishment of economic democracy to alleviate labor-capital contradictions is nothing more than an illusion. To achieve economic democracy, public ownership must be used to replace capitalist private ownership, radically change alienated labor under the capitalist system, and liberate workers from labor. To make it truly the master of economic activities and processes.

To realize public ownership, first of all, ensure that the means of production are combined with workers, and change the inequality between labor and capital under the condition of private ownership. People become the masters of economic activities and economic processes on the basis of joint possession of the means of production. People are an independent, free and equal relationship, and any social individual and its association is no longer the purpose or means of survival and development of any other individual and its association. Individuals or their associations form independent, free and equal relations on the basis of public ownership. This is the desirable state of economic democracy under the conditions of a socialist market economy. It can be seen that the objective existence of public ownership is the truly reliable material foundation and strong guarantee of economic democracy. China's famous economist Jiang Yiwei believes that the original meaning of public ownership is to replace economic dictatorship with economic democracy and replace exploitation with fair distribution. He focused on the relationship between socialist public ownership and economic democracy. He said: "The main purpose of replacing socialist public ownership with private ownership is nothing more than two aspects: first, in terms of macroeconomics, establishing a social economy based on public ownership; It is possible to overcome the contradiction between the socialization of production and the private nature of the means of production, to allocate and use resources in a planned way, so that the socio-economic development can be coordinated. The anomalous phenomenon of 'ruling' people 'things, so that the most active factor in productivity-human enthusiasm is exerted. "These two purposes, from the perspective of economic organization, its essence is to achieve economic democracy. Economic democracy transforms the subject of economic behavior from individuals to groups. The macro economy depends on the people's democratic decision-making to make it consistent with the overall interests of the workers; the micro economy depends on the free association and independent operation of the workers to fully mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of the workers. "All this is a stronger proof that the market economy under the capitalist system promotes the growth of economic democracy, while private ownership curbs its contradictory situation.

Under socialist conditions, the obstacles to the growth of economic democracy have been removed and a good institutional environment has been provided. Therefore, market economy and public ownership together form the basis of economic democracy.