Abstract: The types of dispute and censure against the spirit of model workers since China's reform and opening up can be summed up as the so-called “Out of Date Theory”， “Political Theory”， “Special Case Theory”， “Materialization Theory” and “Hero Theory”. In essence， all the misinterpretations are due to the fundamental abandonment of dialectical materialism and historical materialism of the scientific worldview. To argue for the scientificity， contemporaneity and value of the spirit of model workers， its theoretical system should be investigated comprehensively and systematically—the spirit of model workers is based on real labor， answering the questions of times as the historical orientation， meeting the needs of the masses as the value orientation and taking the Chinese excellent traditional culture as the spiritual resources. All these fully manifest the practical， developing， people-based and national characteristics. Vigorously carrying forward the spirit of model workers and fostering the social custom of glorious labor are of great significance of times to the great practices of the new socialist era with Chinese characteristics.

Key words: spirit of model workers, Marxist's view of labor, scientificity, value of times