农民政治认同问题是思想政治教育理论和实践中的一个重要问题。从2004年起，中央一号文件连续12年聚焦“三农”问题，将解决好“三农”问题作为全党工作重中之重，其政治要义就在于提高农民对党和国家的政治认同，维护政治稳定，促进社会和谐。因为农民占中国人口的绝大多数，在中国民众中极具代表性；农民在中国革命、建设和改革过程中扮演着十分重要的角色，其政治态度和政治行为关系党的执政合法性基础的巩固和提高。而影响农民政治认同的核心要素是利益，因为农民是“实际主义者和现实主义者”，他们的政治态度和政治行为选择更多是基于对维护和实现自身利益的考量。新中国初期，即1949年至1956年，从整体上看农民的政治认同达到了一次高峰，但其间也出现了一些波折和变化，个中缘由都与农民利益需求的满足与否紧密相关。农民的利益需求包括经济利益、政治利益、文化利益、社会利益，它们从不同方面对政治认同产生影响。经济利益为农民政治认同提供物质前提，影响政治认同的状态，即“认同”与“不认同”。新中国初期，中国共产党通过解决土地问题、改造小农经济、发展农业生产、改善农民生活，满足了农民摆脱生存危机的经济利益需求，获得了农民的政治认同。但不容忽视的是，伴随这个过程，国家为实现工业化的战略目标而对农民进行了某种程度的经济“剥夺”，损害了农民的经济利益，引发了农民特别是富裕中农政治认同的弱化甚至是不认同。总之，新中国初期，农民的政治认同呈现随经济利益增损而曲折变化的复杂态势。政治利益为农民政治认同提供民主基础，影响政治认同的形成方式，即“积极认同”还是“消极认同”。新中国初期，中国共产党通过提高农民政治地位、赋予农民民主权利、培养农民成为政治骨干、给予农民政治荣誉，使农民身份成为一种政治优势，满足了农民当家作主的政治利益需求，拉近了农民与新政权的距离，让农民产生了强烈的归属感并以更加积极的态度介入政治系统和政治生活，形成了积极的政治认同。但由于过度强调政治意识形态及基层干部工作方式简单等原因，在具体工作中对农民形成了一定的政治压力，“侵犯”了农民的政治利益，使农民形成了基于外力作用下的消极认同。文化利益为农民政治认同提供精神动力，影响政治认同的内容，即“理性认同”还是“盲目认同”。新中国初期，中国共产党通过普及科学文化教育、丰富农民文化生活、开展思想政治教育，满足了农民精神解放的文化利益需求，促进了农民理性认同的萌生。当然，由于社会历史条件的制约，对农民文化利益需求的满足是有限度的，文化水平所带来的认知局限使农民的政治认同仍带有一定的盲目性，比如农民的政治认同集中表现为对领袖的情感认同。社会利益为农民政治认同提供社会保障，影响政治认同的广度，即“普遍认同”还是“局部认同”。新中国初期，中国共产党在灾荒救助、贫困救济、医疗卫生等方面满足了农民的社会利益需求，为农民中遭遇困境的特殊群体提供帮助，从而在整个乡村社会中建立了普遍而广泛的政治认同。总之，新中国初期，中国共产党通过满足农民利益需求取得农民政治认同的成功经验说明：农民利益需求的满足是建立政治认同的基础；农民各方面利益需求的满足形成了增强政治认同的合力；坚持利益原则做好思想政治教育对增强农民政治认同至关重要。但与此同时，当时农民利益需求实现的层次较低和缺乏主体性表达都对政治认同产生了负面影响。因此，要维持恒久的政治认同，就要在充分尊重农民主体性的前提下不断引导农民的利益向更高的层次和更广的范围发展，也即是要关注农民的根本利益和整体利益。当前中国正处在从传统社会向现代社会的转型期，伴随着农民现代身份的转换和权利意识的发展，农民各种利益需求和利益矛盾的并存和交织使农民的政治认同呈现出更加复杂多变的态势，增加了提高农民政治认同度的难度。因此，在现代化的乡村治理中应构建合理的利益机制，推动农民各方面利益的协调统一发展，从而实现农民政治认同从消极认同向积极认同转变，从盲目认同向理性认同转变，从制度认同向价值认同转变。

The issue of farmer’s political identity is an important one in the theory and practice of ideological and political education. Since 2004, the first document issued by the Central Committee of the Party has focused on three issues of agriculture, farmers and rural areas for 12 consecutive years, and put them on the top priority of the CPC’s work. In political sense, this practice is to improve farmers’ political identity to our Party and country, to maintain political stability and promote social harmony. Because farmers, the representative of Chinese people, account for the vast majority of our people, and play an essential role in revolution, development, and reform of China, their political attitude and behavior will influence the consolidation and improvement of our Party’s foundation in political legitimacy. While farmers’ interest is the core element affecting this issue.And interest is especially important for farmers, because they are pragmatic and realistic; their political attitude and behavior are mostly based on the consideration of maintenance and realization of their personal interests. In the early years after building People's Republic of China, from 1949 to 1956, farmers’ political identity has experienced twists and turns, but finally has reached to a peak from an overall view. Reasons therein are closely related to whether farmers’ interests are satisfied or not. Farmers' interests include economic interests, political interests, cultural interests and social interests, which affect the condition, ways of forming, content and range of political identity from different aspects. Economic interest provides material precondition for farmers’ political identity and influences its conditions, which are identifying and not identifying. In the early years after building PRC, CPC has met the economic interests of farmers to help them get rid of their survival crisis and gained their political identity by solving the land problem, reforming small-scale economy, increasing agricultural production, and improving farmer’s life. However, what can not be ignored is that within this process, some certain economic “deprivation” that the government has taken to realize the strategic object of industrialization has damaged farmers’ economic interests, thus this practice has triggered the weakness or even negation of farmer’s political identity, especially among well-to-do middle farmers. In short, farmer’s political identity has presented a complicated situation since it varied with the increase and decrease of economic interests in the early years after building PRC.Political interest provides democratic foundation for farmer’s political identity, and influences its ways of formation, which are “positive identity” or “negative recognition”. During the initial stage after building PRC, CPC has endowed the identification of farmer with a political privilege by improving their political status, endowing them with democratic rights, educating them to be political backbone and giving them political honors, met their political interests to be the owner of the country, brought them closer to the new regime, and made them feel a strong sense of belonging as well as a more active attitude to join the political system and political life, to develop a positive political identity. However, due to excessively emphasizing political ideology and simple work methods used by the grass-roots cadres, it created certain political pressure to farmers in the specific work, and “infringed” their political interests, which made them form a negative identity on account of the outside power.Culture interest provides farmer’s political identity with mental strength, and influences its contents, which are “rational identity” or “blind identity”. During the initial stage after building PRC, CPC met farmers’ cultural interest of spiritual liberation, promoted the birth of their rational identity by popularizing scientific and cultural education, enriching farmers’ cultural life and carrying out ideological and political education. Of course, owing to the restriction of social and historical conditions, there has been limitation to satisfy their needs of cultural interests. And the cognitive limitation because of their educational level has made certain blindness to their political recognition. For instance, farmers’ political identity focuses on the emotional identity to the leaders of the country.Social interest offers social insurance to farmer’s political identity and affects its ranges, which are “universal identity” or “partial identity”. In the early years after building PRC, CPC has satisfied their needs of social interests in the areas of famine relief, poverty salvation and medical care. CPC has also provided help for the special group encountering difficulties among farmers, thus it has built universal and widespread political identity within the whole country communities.In a word, the successful experience that CPC attained farmers’ political identity by satisfying their interests in the initial stage after building PRC, has made clear to us: meeting their interest is the foundation to establish political identity; satisfaction to their interest in all aspects creates the join force to strengthen political identity; and it is extremely essential to do ideological and political education well by insisting on interest principles for increasing their political recognition. But in the meantime, the low level of realizing their interest needs and the lack of subjectivity in realizing the farmer’s interest had a negative impact on the political identity. Therefore, to maintain long-lasting political identity, it is necessary to guide farmer’s interest to a higher level and a wider range, that is, paying attention to farmers’ foundational and overall interest.At present, China is in the transition period from a traditional society to a modern one. With the transition of farmer’s modern identity and the development of the consciousness of right, the coexistence and interweaving of all sorts of farmers’ interest needs and interest contradiction have made their political identity more complicated and changeful, which increases the difficulty of enhancing farmers’ political identity. Therefore, we should establish a reasonable in interest mechanism to promote the overall development of farmers’ interests, thus we can realize the goal that farmers’ political identity transforms from negative to active, from blind to rational, from identity of system to identity of value.