At present, the fourth industrial revolution represented by artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things and other information technology applications has already begun, which brings new opportunities and challenges to the development of socialism in the 21st century in terms of the development of productive forces, class structure, class alliance and universal communication. The digital economy greatly liberates the productive forces and provides a strong material foundation for the development of socialism, but it has also created a serious “ digital gap”; digital capitalism creates a precariat(precarious proletariat) in the place of the proletariat, but the change in the structure of the working class does not mean the decline of its subjectivity; digital technology provides convenient technical support for class alliance, but also in the meantime brings new difficulties to it; while liberating human “brains” and creating conditions for the free and comprehensive development of human beings, AI technologies has caused the “new alienation”. Socialism is an alternative to the capitalist mode of production, and its pursuit of fairness and sharing is highly consistent with the inherent requirements of the new industrial revolution. As long as we take full advantage of the socialist system, the new industrial revolution will surely become a new driving force for the development of socialism in the 21st century.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:World Socialism Studies.2023.No.6.