Great — here is a comparison table that organizes the perspectives of Chinese, Japanese, and other foreign scholars on the idea that developing the productive forces is the necessary means for the disappearance of classes.
Comparative Table: Scholars on Productive Forces and Class Disappearance
| Scholar / School | Country / Tradition | Main View | Representative Works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gao Fang, Guan Feng, Sun Qiheng | China | Productive forces are the decisive condition for class disappearance; without their development, socialism cannot be consolidated. | Essays in Chinese Marxist philosophy (1980s–90s) |
| Wang Huning, Hu Angang, Sun Guanhong | China | Link Marxist productive force determinism with modernization, technological revolution, and digital economy; “development is the hard truth.” | America Against America (Wang Huning, 1991); works on modernization strategy (Hu Angang) |
| Jian Bozan, Hou Wailu | China | Stress the “historical progressiveness” of exploitative systems in advancing productive forces; used in historical research on slavery and feudalism. | General History of Chinese Thought (Hou Wailu) |
| Hani Gorō, Inoue Kiyoshi | Japan | Stressed relationship between classes and productive forces; saw the “productive forces first” principle as key in Asian history. | World History of Cities (Hani Gorō); History of Japanese Thought (Inoue Kiyoshi) |
| Ōuchi Tsutomu, Uno Kōzō | Japan | Accepted productive forces’ importance but emphasized relative autonomy of markets, finance, and institutions in shaping class structure. | Uno School economic writings; Principles of Political Economy (Uno Kōzō) |
| Milyutinov, Pokrovsky | Soviet Union | Dictatorship of the proletariat’s task is developing productive forces (Lenin’s “Soviets + electrification”); later simplified into “heavy industry first.” | Soviet economic and historical works, 1920s–30s |
| György Lukács | Western Marxism | Warned against economic determinism; class disappearance also depends on ideology and social consciousness. | History and Class Consciousness (1923) |
| Antonio Gramsci | Western Marxism | Cultural hegemony and ideological struggle are essential for overcoming class divisions; productive forces alone are insufficient. | Prison Notebooks |
| Eric Hobsbawm | Neo-Marxism (UK) | World-systems development shows productive forces advance globally but new inequalities persist; class disappearance not achieved. | The Age of Extremes (1994) |
| Immanuel Wallerstein | World-systems theory | Class disappearance cannot be explained within a single nation; must be seen in global capitalist development. | The Modern World-System (1974–) |
| David Harvey | Contemporary Marxist geography | Even with advanced productive forces, globalization and financial capital intensify inequalities; classes transform rather than vanish. | The Limits to Capital (1982); A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005) |