Speeches and Writings by Deng Xiaoping Lyrics
MAOISM’S FLAWS
After the founding of the People’s Republic, in the rural areas we initiated agrarian reform and launched a movement for the co-operative transformation of agriculture, while in the cities we conducted the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce. We were successful in both. However, from 1957 on, China was plagued by “Left” ideology, which gradually became more dominant. During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, people rushed headlong into mass action to establish people’s communes. They placed lopsided emphasis on making the commune large in size and collective in nature, urging everyone to “eat from the same big pot,” and by so doing brought disaster upon the nation. We won’t even mention the “cultural revolution.” … During the 20 years from 1958 to 1978 the income of peasants and workers rose only a little, and consequently their standard of living remained very low …
Comrade Mao Zedong was a great leader, and it was under his leadership that the Chinese revolution triumphed. But he made the grave mistake of neglecting the development of the productive forces …
The fundamental principle of Marxism is that the productive forces must be developed. The goal for Marxists is to realize communism, which must be built on the basis of highly developed productive forces. What is a communist society? It is a society in which there is vast material wealth and in which the principle of ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his need’ is applied …
Our experience in the 20 years from 1958 to 1979 teaches us that poverty is not socialism, that socialism means eliminating poverty. Unless you are developing the productive forces and raising people’s living standards, you cannot say that you are building socialism.
TRUE SOCIALISM
Our modernization program is a socialist program, not anything else. All our policies for carrying out reform, opening to the outside world and invigorating the domestic economy are designed to develop the socialist economy … The aim of socialism is to make all our people prosperous, not to create polarization. If our policies led to polarization, it would mean that we had failed; if a new bourgeoisie emerged, it would mean that we had strayed from the right path. In encouraging some people to become prosperous first, we intend that they should help the economically backward ones to develop. Similarly, in encouraging some people to become prosperous first, we intend that they should help others who are still in poverty to become better off, so that there will be common prosperity rather than polarization. A limit should be placed on the wealth of people who become prosperous first, through the income tax, for example. In addition, we should encourage them to contribute money to run schools and build roads, although we definitely shouldn’t set quotas for them …
In short, predominance of public ownership and common prosperity are the two fundamental socialist principles that we must adhere to …
CHINA’S POLITICAL FUTURE
The recent student unrest is not going to lead to any major disturbances. But because of its nature it must be taken very seriously. Firm measures must be taken against any student who creates trouble in Tiananmen Square …
In the beginning, we mainly used persuasion, which is as it should be in dealing with student demonstrators. But if any of them disturb public order or violate the law, they must be dealt with unhesitatingly. Persuasion includes application of the law … It is essential to adhere firmly to the Four Cardinal Principles; otherwise bourgeois liberalization will spread unchecked – and that has been the root cause of the problem …
Without leadership by the Communist Party and without socialism, there is no future for China. This truth has been demonstrated in the past, and it will be demonstrated again in the future. When we succeed in raising China’s per capital GNP to $4,000 and everyone is prosperous, that will better demonstrate the superiority of socialism over capitalism, it will point the way for three quarters of the world’s population and it will provide further proof of the correctness of Marxism. Therefore, we must confidently keep to the socialist road and uphold the Four Cardinal Principles.
We cannot do without dictatorship. We must not only affirm the need for it but exercise it when necessary. Of course, we must be cautious about resorting to dictatorial means and make as few arrests as possible. But if some people attempt to provoke bloodshed, what are we going to do about it? We should first expose their plot and then do our best to avoid shedding blood, even if that means some of our own people get hurt. However, ringleaders who have violated the law must be sentenced according to the law … If we take no action and back down, we shall only have more trouble down the road.
After the founding of the People’s Republic, in the rural areas we initiated agrarian reform and launched a movement for the co-operative transformation of agriculture, while in the cities we conducted the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce. We were successful in both. However, from 1957 on, China was plagued by “Left” ideology, which gradually became more dominant. During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, people rushed headlong into mass action to establish people’s communes. They placed lopsided emphasis on making the commune large in size and collective in nature, urging everyone to “eat from the same big pot,” and by so doing brought disaster upon the nation. We won’t even mention the “cultural revolution.” … During the 20 years from 1958 to 1978 the income of peasants and workers rose only a little, and consequently their standard of living remained very low …
Comrade Mao Zedong was a great leader, and it was under his leadership that the Chinese revolution triumphed. But he made the grave mistake of neglecting the development of the productive forces …
The fundamental principle of Marxism is that the productive forces must be developed. The goal for Marxists is to realize communism, which must be built on the basis of highly developed productive forces. What is a communist society? It is a society in which there is vast material wealth and in which the principle of ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his need’ is applied …
Our experience in the 20 years from 1958 to 1979 teaches us that poverty is not socialism, that socialism means eliminating poverty. Unless you are developing the productive forces and raising people’s living standards, you cannot say that you are building socialism.
TRUE SOCIALISM
Our modernization program is a socialist program, not anything else. All our policies for carrying out reform, opening to the outside world and invigorating the domestic economy are designed to develop the socialist economy … The aim of socialism is to make all our people prosperous, not to create polarization. If our policies led to polarization, it would mean that we had failed; if a new bourgeoisie emerged, it would mean that we had strayed from the right path. In encouraging some people to become prosperous first, we intend that they should help the economically backward ones to develop. Similarly, in encouraging some people to become prosperous first, we intend that they should help others who are still in poverty to become better off, so that there will be common prosperity rather than polarization. A limit should be placed on the wealth of people who become prosperous first, through the income tax, for example. In addition, we should encourage them to contribute money to run schools and build roads, although we definitely shouldn’t set quotas for them …
In short, predominance of public ownership and common prosperity are the two fundamental socialist principles that we must adhere to …
CHINA’S POLITICAL FUTURE
The recent student unrest is not going to lead to any major disturbances. But because of its nature it must be taken very seriously. Firm measures must be taken against any student who creates trouble in Tiananmen Square …
In the beginning, we mainly used persuasion, which is as it should be in dealing with student demonstrators. But if any of them disturb public order or violate the law, they must be dealt with unhesitatingly. Persuasion includes application of the law … It is essential to adhere firmly to the Four Cardinal Principles; otherwise bourgeois liberalization will spread unchecked – and that has been the root cause of the problem …
Without leadership by the Communist Party and without socialism, there is no future for China. This truth has been demonstrated in the past, and it will be demonstrated again in the future. When we succeed in raising China’s per capital GNP to $4,000 and everyone is prosperous, that will better demonstrate the superiority of socialism over capitalism, it will point the way for three quarters of the world’s population and it will provide further proof of the correctness of Marxism. Therefore, we must confidently keep to the socialist road and uphold the Four Cardinal Principles.
We cannot do without dictatorship. We must not only affirm the need for it but exercise it when necessary. Of course, we must be cautious about resorting to dictatorial means and make as few arrests as possible. But if some people attempt to provoke bloodshed, what are we going to do about it? We should first expose their plot and then do our best to avoid shedding blood, even if that means some of our own people get hurt. However, ringleaders who have violated the law must be sentenced according to the law … If we take no action and back down, we shall only have more trouble down the road.