Ecological Significance in Marx’s Theory of Metabolic Rift and Targeted Poverty Alleviation in Rural Areas

College of Marxism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710100, China

Abstract In expounding the historical conditions of "two necessities", Marx profoundly criticized the consequence of capitalist mode of production to society and ecology. Through the analysis of the capitalist relations of production, Marx systematically completed the viewpoint system about the material circulation of nature and human society, and foresaw the ecological consequences of capitalism to the world scientifically, taking ecology and mode of production as an organic whole. Since the socialism with Chinese characteristics entered into the new era, facing the serious ecological problems in the countryside in the process of modernization, the Party and the state, through the latest interpretation of the basic principles of Marxism, have creatively replaced the unsustainable poverty-alleviation policy with the targeted poverty-alleviation policy, thus making it have an important ecological orientation in the practice of poverty-alleviation in the countryside.

Key words Marx’s theory of metabolic rift, Mode of production, Rural construction, Ecological issues, Targeted poverty alleviation

1 Introduction

The classical Marxism worksDialecticsofNature,DasKapital,etc. have widely used Marx’s theory of metabolic rift and its related concepts to explain the objective law of the circulation of material exchange between nature and human society, which is not transformed by the will of human beings. In Marx’s view, mankind and nature are inseparable, and under the prerequisite of capitalist mode of production, the integrity of mankind and nature has to be realized by means of capital as an intermediary. In this way, the relationship between man and nature has been alienated, and the "metabolic rift" of the capitalist mode of production has been formed. Since the reform and opening up, there have been a series of problems of imbalance between urban and rural development in the long-term economic development, and it has formed the ecological and rural development problem of "metabolic rift" in China. The study of Marx’s thoughts is of great significance to the construction of ecological civilization and targeted poverty alleviation in China.

2 Metabolic rift and agricultural crisis

Marx’s theory of metabolic rift is based on materialist view of nature and history. Although he believed that in the process of capitalist mode conquering nature, capitalism has created a much greater productivity than the previous centuries, but he also pointed out that this objectification of nature is the practical reaction of bourgeois philosophers to the view that nature is the external being of human beings. The practice of this metaphysical view of nature has caused the destruction of nature and ultimately affected human beings themselves. In this way, Marx organically combined the materialistic view of nature with the view of history, and thought that the attitude towards nature should abandon the way of objectification before, and look for it from the relationship between man and nature, especially from the relations of production in the history of nature and reality. In fact, the human activity represented by the mode of production is itself a link of the natural cycle, and it also has an ontological status to the natural ecology[1]. The practice of reforming the relations of production is the basic way to solve the problem of material circulation between man and nature, which forms the philosophical basis of Marx’s treatment of nature. InDasKapital, Marx stated that labor is the process between man and nature, the process of material transformation between man and nature caused, adjusted and controlled by man’s own activities"[2]. After inheriting the thoughts of modern agriculture and economics, Marx did not define the capitalist relations of production as the transformation of social relations within a society, but rather as the transformation of social and material relations between nature and human society, which refutes the criticism of Marx’s view of the lack of natural ecological liberation and the alienation of the capitalist mode of production to the mode of existence of human beings. In Marx’s view, the conquest of nature brings about the human society’s liberation of mode of production with one-sided dependence on the nature, but this liberation ignores the realistic background of the unified material circulation between human society and nature, and the self-isolation in the natural circulation of capitalist society in the sense of ontology. Marx once explained the establishment of the relationship between employed labor and capital, which made the inorganic conditions alienated from organic nature and formed the metabolic rift between nature and society. This constitutes the political economy foundation of Marx’s treatment of nature.

The metabolic rift of nature and human society under the condition of capitalist mode of production has a great influence on the rural and agricultural development since modern times. Capitalist industrialization has produced a large number of rural unemployed people, but also prompted the restructuring of the rural industrial structure. The concept of "metabolism" itself has the natural validity of indicating the circulation and rationality of traditional agricultural production mode and the natural material. The alienation of the relationship between human society and nature by industrialization destroys the natural forces of human beings and the natural forces of the land. Alienation with capital as the intermediary causes the blind destruction of nature, forming "predatory agriculture"[3], and strengthening the means of land exploitation"[4], which is the specific structure of the relationship between man and nature under the capitalist conditions. The increasing social wealth corresponds to the destroyed natural environment and the gradual unsustainable agricultural production, which is reflected in the views of many critical theorists in the later Frankfurt School.

3 Ecological problems in China’s rural construction at the present stage

The rural construction in China is closely related to agricultural construction, which is rooted in the structural factors such as Chinese historical and cultural traditions and institutional frameworks. Since the reform and opening up, China’s economy has developed rapidly. Behind the rapid development of urbanization, there are some problems in the construction of rural areas and agriculture. There is a long-term primitive accumulation process characterized by self-development, the problem is pluralistic under the unbalanced development structure of our country, which is the main restriction factor of urban-rural coordination and rural sustainable development[5]. But in essence, it is still a structural problem under the market economic system, and it is still within the framework of Marx’s analysis of the dual relationship between nature and industrial social development.

3.1RiftbetweenproductionchainandecologicalchainfacingtheruralconstructionFor a long time, the rural secondary industry, which mainly includes resource exploitation, extensive processing and polluting manufacturing, has adopted the unsustainable growth mode. Its essence is also dependent on the urban construction, which has caused a series of land, soil and water conservation and forest coverage problems, and then caused a relatively serious ecological damage. From the perspective of agricultural production, problems such as excessive use of chemical fertilizers, lack of fallow and constant encroachment of arable land are also very serious. The rural economy is basically in a weak position in the urban-rural economic relations. Production itself has created a large amount of ecological destruction while ecological destruction in turn has adverse influence on the production efficiency so as to further pose a greater challenge to the environment of our country. In the process of rural economic development, there are many examples that bring great ecological cost for pursuing higher economic benefits. According to the historical data ofChinaStatisticalYearbook, the average intensity of fertilizer use in the main grain-producing areas increased from 92.9 kg/ha in the first five years of reform and opening up to 350 kg/ha after 2007. In some provinces, such as Jiangsu and Hubei, it even reached more than 430 kg/ha. In addition, the pollution caused by large-scale aquaculture, the use of agricultural film and the use of pesticides is also increasing year by year, which fully shows the status of agricultural production in meeting the needs of the market at the cost of the ecology.

3.2Difficultyinsustainingthepromotionofeco-constructionSince the beginning of the new century, China has vigorously promoted ecological construction, converted farmland to forests and grasslands, created shelter forests and appealed for local conservation of water and soil, closed down high-pollution enterprises and vigorously built pollution treatment facilities, but there is still no fundamental solution to the problem. Since the socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the new era, this problem has become the main obstacle to the further development of the rural economy and the healthy and sustainable development of the national economy. The root of the unsustainable ecological construction lies in the failure to deal with the relationship between rural economic development and ecological restoration in the process of promoting the ecological construction, which makes many ecological construction measures still exist in the countryside as the institutional obstacle to increasing income and increasing wealth. If the ecological protection equipments and methods are chosen, it is likely to result in increased costs and reduced income. The deep reason lies in the fact that the economy of the rural poverty-stricken areas has not really realized the transition to the sustainable and green economy, and has not implemented the concept that "the green mountains are the mountains of gold and and silver".

3.3FuzzypositioningofproductionandecologicalpoliciesinruralconstructionIn the previous period of history, under the background of vigorously advocating economic construction, the work in rural areas took the development of the local economy as the core, but many rural areas over-relied on the development of resources and ignored the environmental protection. Against the background of economic transformation and industrial upgrading, poverty crisis has reemerged. In some rural areas, due to the relatively poor ecological environment conditions, it leads to the loss of labor force and lack of subsequent development momentum, it has always been difficult to get rid of poverty. This is rooted in the fact that production and ecology are not actually treated as a whole under the existing institutional framework. In the aspect of economic development, it is difficult to achieve sustainable development according to local conditions, and there are no efficient policy provisions and quantitative evaluation indicators in ecological maintenance. The ambiguity and imperfection of this policy orientation makes it difficult to synchronize the development of ecological protection and production, and it is also difficult to produce utility in practice.

4 Rural ecology within the practice framework of targeted poverty alleviation

The construction of rural ecology and the construction of rural poverty alleviation in the framework of targeted poverty alleviation practice are both the most important aspects of rural construction in the new era. Both of them are rooted in the macroeconomic trend of the industrialization process of our country, and at the same time, they seek the way of harmonious and unified development in this process. Marx’s theory of metabolic rift is not only the theoretical prerequisite for dealing with the contradictions within the relations of production, but also the theoretical basis for dealing with the contradictions between man and nature. The problem of rural ecological civilization construction is complex and strategic, and it must be discussed in the framework of rural economic development and getting rid of poverty to have operational practical significance. Taking targeted measures to help people lift themselves out of poverty is a scientific decision made by the Party and the state according to the imbalanced development of China since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It is very targeted to rural construction and provides natural space support for rural ecological construction. Ecological poverty, as an important aspect of Marxist concept of poverty, should also be solved in the practice of taking targeted measures to help people lift themselves out of poverty.

4.1Thedevelopmentofecologicalindustryisthebasisofindustry"Ecological industry" has three meanings under the framework of targeted poverty alleviation. First of all, ecological industry should be based on the unique ecological resources in rural areas, rather than one-sided construction of factories and development. Whether it is based on natural tourism or local ecological products, it can be integrated into a framework of ecological industry, so as to make full use of a variety of ecological resources to promote local economic development. Secondly, ecological industry develops ecologically in a way that sustainably protects the environment, so that the economic interests and ecological interests in local development are combined together, and it is reconnected with the cycle chain of ecology and production. At the same time, it makes use of the fruits of economic development to carry out ecological protection and ecological construction, and organically combines the desire to create benefits with the desire to protect the environment. Thirdly, this combination promotes the formation of local norms for ecological protection. The main body of ecological industry is eco-enterprise. The economic standard of eco-enterprise requires that the reproduction and sustainable utilization of ecological resources should be standardized in accordance with the local ecological reality. Enterprise, as a modern form of organization, has the restraint and guidance function to the joining villagers.

4.2TechnologicalsupportisthedevelopmentalpowerofecologicalprotectionThe root cause of unsustainable poverty alleviation lies in the lack of an effective metabolic cycle between the targets of poverty alleviation and the local objective natural conditions. In order to pay more attention to "targeting"[6], it is necessary to establish "identification mechanism"[7], and to strengthen the monitoring of the poverty-stricken objects through modern technology. This way can also be used in the development of ecological industry. The corresponding targeted programs should be adjusted in accordance with the changing situation of the target group of poverty alleviation and the ecological situation. In addition, according to the specific situation of poor rural areas, the basic technology support should be strengthened and green technology and ecological technology should be built as part of the infrastructure, including solar power, hydropower, pollution treatment equipment and biodegradable agricultural products. The local government in the countryside can carry out the cooperation agreement with the scientific research institute to strive for the industrial technology which is simple to operate, conforms to the local conditions, and is reasonable to the poor households. This requires in-depth individual-level survey and study. At the same time, it also plays a key role in improving the scientific and cultural quality of the poor and enhancing their ability to become rich.

4.3StrengtheninginfrastructureconstructionandinstitutionalintegrationistheeffectiveguaranteeofecologicalprotectionWithin the framework of taking targeted measures to help people lift themselves out of poverty, improving the living environment of poor villages and poor households and formulating the plan of rural reconstruction and education in accordance with the local characteristics is an important link of local ecological protection. Ecological protection should be placed in an important part of the overall planning of the new countryside. Strengthening the infrastructure construction can also improve the living standard of the villagers and reduce the pollution and damage to the environment caused by the needs of life. At the same time, we should establish an effective rural supervisory system, advocate the one-vote-down system on ecology, regard ecological poverty alleviation as one of the measuring indexes of the effect of targeted poverty alleviation, and pay close attention to the phenomenon of returning to poverty because of ecological protection, and take into account the improvement of the ecological protection quality of the object of assistance. Xi Jinping’s rural construction theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era is an organic whole. Ecological construction and poverty alleviation are penetrated into it, and both of them are indispensable to the construction of a well-off society in an all-round way. Exploring the ecological significance of targeted poverty alleviation is a long-term historical subject of practical importance.