A Critique of Soviet Economics 0853454124, 9780853454120

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A Critique of Soviet Economics

A Critique of Soviet Econom ics by Mao Tsetung Translated by Moss Roberts Annotated by Richard Levy With an Introduction by James Pech

M o n th ly R e v ie w P r e s s N e w Y ork a n d L o n d o n

Copyright © 1977 by Moss Roberts A ll rights reserved

Library o f Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Mao, Tsetung, 1893-1976. A critique o f Soviet economics. C O N T E N T S : Reading notes on the Soviet text Political Economy.— Concerning Economic Problems o f Socialism in the Soviet U nion .— C ritique o f Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism in the Soviet Union. 1. Econom ics— Russia 2. Akadem iia nauk SSSR. Institut ékonomiki. Politicheskaia ékonom iia 3. Stalin, Iosif, 1879-1953. Ékonom icheskie problem y sotsializm a v SSSR. 4. Russia— Econom ic policy— 1917- 5. China— Econom ic policy. I. Title. HB113.A2M34213 330\0947 77-70971 ISB N 0-85345-412-4 M onthly R eview Press 62 W est 14th Street, N ew York, N .Y. 10011 47 Red Lion Street, London W C 1R 4PF Manufactured in the U nited States o f Am erica 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents Introduction

7

Notes on the Texts

30

Reading Notes on the Soviet T ext Political Economy 33 Concerning Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR 129 Critique o f Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR 135

Notes

149

Introduction Th ese w ritings o f M ao Tsetung, brought together here under the tide A Critique o f Soviet Economics, date from the period during and im m ediately after the Great Leap Forward, a tim e when the C hinese Revolution began to break decisively w ith the Soviet U nion and its m odel o f developm ent. W ith the Great Leap, a distinctive C hinese road to socialism em erged. But it was a road paved with a decade o f controversy over the course o f China’s socialist developm ent. At the heart o f many o f those disputes w ithin the Chinese Com m unist Party was the question o f the applicability o f the Russian experience to building socialism in China. In analyzing their own society, the C hinese Com m unists have long studied the Russian Revolution for inspiration and practical suggestions, as w ell as for a general perspective on the course o f their ow n revolution. T o them, the Soviet U nion is a m odel from w hich both negative and positive lessons can be drawn. Thus it is not surprising to fin d Mao, at such a pivotal stage in the Chinese Revolution as the Great Leap, once again turning to a study o f Soviet experience. Th is tim e he did so through a critique o f tw o Soviet books, Political Economy: A Textbook and Joseph Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR. By the tim e M ao w rote his critique, how ever, he had m oved away from trying to adapt Soviet methods, as he and other party leaders had sought to do in the early 1950s, and instead began to advocate strongly a w ide range o f alternatives.

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8

Introduction

A Critique o f Soviet Economics can usefully be read from several, closely interw oven perspectives: (1 ) as a crucial in i­ tial sum m ing up by Mao o f what the Soviet m odel was and what it im plied for China; (2 ) as a strong defense o f the Great Leap Forward from the perspective o f uninterrupted revolu­ tion; (3 ) as a pathbreaking exam ination o f the principles o f Soviet political econom y and o f several key aspects o f the Russian revolutionary experience, particularly the years under Stalin’s leadership. T h e texts translated in this volum e include a critique o f the Soviet work, Political Economy: A Textbook, along with a supplement Mao wrote to his own critique, a talk on Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR, and a critique o f the Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR. M ao’s consideration o f Stalin’s Economic Problems together with the Russian political econom y text is quite appropriate, as Stalin’s work was itself written as a series o f comm ents for the draft textbook on political econom y, w hich was finished and released only after his death. This Russian text in its various Russian/Chinese editions circulated in China from the mid-1950s on. A fter the Lushan Conference in 1959, M ao called upon party m em bers to critically study the third edition. This was the edition upon which his critique is based.

THE SOVIET MODEL______________________ Throughout most o f the history o f the Chinese Communist Party, controversy over how to deal with the experience o f the Russian Revolution has been at the heart o f what the Chinese call the “ two-line struggle.” From its founding in 1921, conflicts within the party have in one way or another been linked to individuals who favored the orthodox Russian conception o f revolution. T h e defeat o f Li Li-san in the 1930s, W ang M ing in the 1940s, Kao Kang (Gau G ang) and P ’en g Teh-huai (P en g Deh-huai) in the 1950s, and Liu Shao-ch’i (L iu Shau-qi) in the 1960s have all entailed con­

Introduction

9

troversies over the nature and applicability o f the Soviet model. U ntil 1949, these disputes in China focused on the appro­ priate strategy and tactics o f the revolutionary struggle for power, the nature o f the mass line, and the correct way to apply M arxism -Leninism to the concrete conditions o f China. Stalin only reluctantly tolerated the methods and innovations associated with M ao and his follow ers, especially as they w ere worked out during the years in Yenan (1937-1945). In the 1940s, he even opposed the successful struggle for libera­ tion. “T h e Chinese revolution won victory,” M ao later said, “by acting contrary to Stalin’s w ill. . . . I f w e had follow ed W ang M in g’s, or in other words, Stalin’s, m ethod the Chinese revolution couldn’t have succeeded.” 1 W ith Liberation, how ever, the C hinese saw the Soviet U nion as the m odel for socialist developm ent. M ao had warned his colleagues in 1949 that “ our past work is only the first step in a lon g march o f 10,000 li”— “a b rief prologue to a long drama.” 2 Y et in these early days, there was no m odel o f socialist developm ent other than the Russian, w ith its reli­ ance on elite-planned and bureaucratically adm inistered pro­ gram s o f econom ic developm ent w hich unduly subordinate the needs o f the countryside to the dem ands o f heavy indus­ try. T h e Soviet Union, despite all, was a society w hich had achieved industrialization and collectivization, key goals o f all the leaders o f the Chinese Com m unist Party. T h e Soviet vic­ tory over fascism in the Second W orld W ar was to m any Chinese leaders proof o f the success o f that society. And at a tim e o f intense Am erican governm ent hostility, a U .S.backed blockade and bom bings o f its coast, and later a world­ w ide econom ic em bargo, it was quite natural that China leaned toward the Soviet U nion in its defense and econom ic policies. “ In the early stages o f Liberation,” M ao w rites in this vol­ ume, “w e had no experience o f m anaging the econom y o f the entire nation. So in the period o f the first five-year plan w e could do no m ore than copy the Soviet U nion’s methods, al­ though w e never felt altogether satisfied about it.” 3 Th is

10

Introduction

grow ing dissatisfaction focused around three main aspects o f the Soviet m odel: (1 ) “prim itive socialist accum ulation” 4 at the expense o f the peasantry; (2 ) a theory o f productive forces and the dictatorship o f the proletariat; (3 ) a conception o f the Com m unist Party in China.

Prim itive Socialist Accumulation at the Expense o f the Peasantry A Chinese slogan o f the early 1950s, “ the Soviet U nion today is our tom orrow,” captures the spirit with w hich many Chi­ nese undertook to copy Soviet methods. China’s first five-year plan was notable for its almost exclusive reliance on heavy industry; highly centralized, bureaucratic methods o f planning; and little emphasis on ligh t industry and the production o f consum er goods. Th e peasantry was considered largely as a source o f savings. Pow erful, centralized econom ic m inistries w ere established in Peking. Th ey introduced rigid hierarchi­ cal systems o f control and “ one-man m anagem ent” in the factories, and relied on highly paid specialists alone to direct them. T o stimulate productive activity and m onitor enteiprise perform ance, m aterial incentives w ere w idely promoted. T h e Soviet U nion actively encouraged such develop­ ments. And China’s relations with the socialist world after 1949 quite naturally entailed givin g a priority to those areas w here cooperation was easiest and most m eaningful: heavy industry, an educational system designed to train profession­ als and technicians to adm inister the Soviet-style five-year plan; the spread o f professionalization in the armed forces. Indeed, what was happening in the People’s Liberation Arm y sym bolizes what was happening throughout the urban areas o f China. W ith the adoption in February 1955 o f the “ Regulations on the Service o f O fficers,” the Chinese officer corps acquired the trappings o f a regular army. And in in ­ troducing a system o f ranks, tides, and w idely divergent pay scales fo r officers and enlisted personnel, the P L A was turn­ in g its back on the inform al, egalitarian, and dem ocratic character which had been m olded in years o f revolutionary warfare.

Introduction

11

Opposition to this rapid “ Sovietization” was not far below the surface even in these early years after Liberation. M any cadres w ere uneasy about the party’s turning its back on the egalitarian traditions o f Yenan. Others, including such lead­ in g members as Liu Shao-ch’i, cam e to oppose the concentra­ tion o f econom ic power in the m inistries in Peking and the highly centralized planning apparatus which they saw as threatening their conception o f the role and authority o f the Chinese Com m unist Party. In subsequent years, as some o f the m inistries w ere m ade less bureaucratic and planning less centralized after the mid-1950s, the party did expand its role. One-man m anagem ent systems w ere to give way to greater party involvem ent in the running o f the factories. W ith the Great Leap Forward, the party also greatly increased its role in the rural areas. M any party leaders, therefore, w ere not opposed to some o f the criticism s which Mao began to raise about the dangers o f copying the Soviet model. Yet for Mao, their criticism s did not go to the heart o f the problem. In evaluating the applica­ tion o f the Soviet m odel in the early 1950s, M ao began to warn o f the dangers it posed to the revolutionary transforma­ tion o f the countryside. T h e grow ing gap betw een town and country, he argued, was reinforcing ingrained habits o f look­ in g down on those engaged in manual labor, especially peas­ ants, an attitude that in turn nurtured bureaucratic and elitist methods o f leadership. And M ao feared that the grow ing reli­ ance on industrial and technical developm ent concentrated in the cities at the expense o f pushing the social revolution in the countryside would exacerbate the very contradictions that had to be overcom e to transform China into an indus­ trialized, socialist society. In July 1955, M ao insisted that developm ents in the cities and rural areas w ere intricately interrelated: “W e must on no account regard industry and agriculture, socialist indus­ trialization and the socialist transformation o f agriculture as two separate and isolated things, and on no account must w e em phasize the one and play down the other.’’ 5 But not until April o f 1956, in his speech “ On the Ten M ajor Rela­ tionships,’’ did Mao directly challenge the Soviet m odel’s reli-

12

Introduction

ance on prim itive accum ulation at the expense o f the peas­ antry. M ao sharply criticized the Soviet’s ‘lopsided stress on heavy industry to the neglect o f agriculture and light indus­ try."6 C alling for a reduction in the absolute priority given to heavy industry, he argued that increased investm ent in light industry and agriculture serves the daily needs o f the people w hile actually speeding up the accum ulation o f "capital” for heavy industry. T o im plem ent this proposal, M ao urged local authorities to take greater initiative, criticizin g the Soviet U nion for "concentrating everything in the hands o f central authorities, shackling the local authorities and denying them the right o f independent action ."7 Adm inistrative costs had to be cut, the staff o f the national bureaucracies slashed by twothirds. U nified planning and discipline under a strong center w ere still essential, he insisted, but this was not the same as the domination o f m inistries adm inistering a Soviet-style cen­ tralization. In this way, M ao went on to challenge the very basis o f the Soviet method o f accumulation from the peasantry. T h e Russians had made “ grave m istakes" in handling the peas­ ants and taken measures which “squeeze the peasants very hard.” Th eir methods o f accum ulation “ had seriously damp­ ened the peasants’ enthusiasm for production. You want the hen to lay m ore eggs and yet you don’t feed it, you want the horse to run fast and yet you don’t let it graze. W hat kind o f logic is this?” 8 On no account, M ao was saying, would the Chinese fo l­ low a developm ent strategy for which the peasants had to pay the cost. N or could China simply drain the surplus from the rural areas, as Stalin had done in the 1930s. U nlike what both Soviet orthodoxy and bourgeois econom ists then claim ed, the “ capital” could not com e from any preexisting source o f surplus in the rural areas. For precious little “ capi­ tal” existed. Instead o f taking the surplus from the rural areas, therefore, M ao argued that the Chinese labor force, ag­ ricultural and industrial alike, had to significandy increase its productivity. In this way, a truly industrialized socialist sod-

Introduction

13

ety could develop. T h e worker-peasant alliance would be strengthened rather than tom apart by a sharp clash betw een rural and urban interests. And by avoiding the im position o f a special burden on the peasants, a pow erful, repressive state apparatus would not be needed to extract surplus production. W ith his speech “ On the T en M ajor Relationships,” as M ao later said, w e “m ade a start in proposing our own lin e for construction.” 9 M ao for the first tim e clearly rejected the idea o f developm ent through a privileged sector (heavy industry, and only later the other sectors) and distinct phases (first in m aterial progress, only later in social relations and ideology). T h e entire nation, he insisted, must undertake a m assive com m itm ent to social, political, and econom ic unification that, like the m ethods used in the years in Yenan, would leave none behind and not benefit a few at the expense o f the many. In this pathbreaking analysis o f the contradictions in China, M ao firm ly opposed any plans that would create new divisions in a nation already severely tom by im balances be­ tween the various regions, betw een various social classes and groups, betw een the center and the regions, betw een the political and social spheres.

A Theory o f Productive Forces and the Dictatorship o f the Proletariat W hile pointing out the dangers o f blindly copying the Soviet m odel o f accum ulation, M ao was also criticizin g another, closely associated aspect o f that m odel, its theory o f produc­ tive forces. Essentially, this theory, as it was form ulated in the Soviet U nion during the years o f Stalin’s leadership, m aintained that state ow nership o f the m eans o f production, together w ith a rapid growth o f the forces o f production, opens up the socialist road to comm unism . T h e dictatorship o f the proletariat guides the developm ent o f the forces o f pro­ duction, w hile repressing the old ruling classes and defeating their inevitable counter-revolutionary attacks on the new order. For the peasants and the workers, the dictatorship o f the

14

Introduction

proletariat is held to be a genuine dem ocracy. T h e abolition o f private property and other form s o f class society is argued to have ended all exploitation. Since exploitation is argued to be im possible under such new conditions, the hierarchy, subordination, and disciplining o f the workforce, even when it appears to resem ble sophisticated capitalist methods, is seen as m erely the adaptation o f rational patterns o f work. W ith the dying out o f the old bourgeoisie and feudal rul­ in g classes, the developm ent o f the forces o f production and the continuous elevation o f the standard o f livin g o f the masses, class struggle w ill dim inish in intensity and eventu­ ally disappear. W ere it not for the international struggle with capitalism , the state itself would “ w ither away.” Even though the state does rem ain as an apparatus to figh t external ene­ m ies, the transition to comm unism can be worked out inter­ nally, dependent only on the developm ent o f the forces o f production. In essence, the Stalinist theory o f productive forces re­ duced the concept o f the capitalist m ode o f production to lit­ tle m ore than the system o f private ownership o f the means o f production. And consequently, once political pow er is seized and a system o f public ownership o f the m eans o f pro­ duction instituted, no thought need be given to a thorough­ going socialist revolution on the political and ideological fronts. T h e creative role o f the masses and mass cam paigns are view ed as anachronistic; the struggle to refashion one’s w orldview is ignored. M ao’s attack on this theory o f productive forces grew out o f the lessons he had learned about revolutionary transforma­ tion during the years o f guerrilla w arfare.10 T h e distinctive features o f the Yenan m odel are w ell known: self-reliance, decentralization, antagonism to bureaucratism and elitism , collective aims and discipline, nonm aterial incentives, and the participation o f the masses in all aspects o f social and econom ic activity. Developm ent was com prehensive, de­ signed to bring up all sectors, not just a chosen part. Out o f the struggles for revolutionary land reform , M ao argued, the peasants’ political consciousness had been raised

Introduction

15

through the mass line and the developm ent o f new coopera­ tive work relationships. By changing the relations o f produc­ tion and encouraging the growth o f new attitudes and ideas, rural productivity was increased. T h e party itself was only a part o f this process, not its master. For like the peasants, its members w ere m olded through a process o f continuous, stepby-step transformation. M ao’s strong advocacy o f rapid collectivization in the years after Liberation was predicated upon this experience o f developing the productive forces through a step-by-step transformation o f every aspect o f rural life. Thus he criticized the idea o f “m echanization first, cooperation later on,’’ argu­ in g instead that collectivization could and should precede m echanization o f agriculture. Social transformation, follow ed and increasingly supported by technological changes, would release the productive forces w hile decreasing polarization in the countryside. M any leading party officials, influenced by the Soviet m odel’s reliance on the theory o f prim itive accum ulation, op­ posed M ao’s call for deepening the rural revolution in the early 1950s. U u Shao-ch’i reportedly criticized as “ utopian agrarian socialism ” the attempt to prom ote cooperativization before there was an adequate supply o f agricultural tools and sufficient m echanization. N or was Liu alone in his doubts. Rem em bering what had happened in the Soviet Union, m any party leaders feared that accelerating collectivization in China would lose them peasant support and disrupt their econom ic plans. As M ao com m ented in July 1955: some comrades have found in the history o f the Communist Party o f the Soviet Union grounds for criticizing what they call impetuosity and rashness in our present work of agricultural co­ operation . . . but on no account should w e allow these comrades to use the Soviet experience as a cover for their idea o f m oving at a snail’s pace.11

Th is debate was not just over the pace o f collectivization, however. M ao perceived that behind the opposition to his policies was a m ore fundam ental opposition to continuing

16

Introduction

class struggle and revolutionary methods o f social transfor­ mation. In June 1953 he warned party leaders that the transi­ tion period to socialism was “filled with contradiction and struggle. Our present revolutionary struggle is even m ore severe than past armed revolutionary struggle. This is a revo­ lution to bury once and for all capitalism and all exploitative systems.” 12 Y et rather than dem onstrating an ability to lead such rev­ olutionary struggle, M ao saw numerous party leaders laggin g behind the mass upsurge in the countryside. Some o f our comrades are tottering along like a wom an with bound feet and constandy complaining, “You’re going too fast." Excessive criticism, inappropriate complaints, endless anxiety, and the erection o f countless taboos— they believe this is the proper way to guide the socialist movement in the rural areas.13

I f Mao saw the cam paign for accelerating collectivization as a testament to the mass line and the need for revolutionary struggle, many party officials argued that successful collec­ tivization set the stage for a new era in which such methods w ere no longer necessary. Thus even as they began to sup­ port M ao’s position on prim itive accumulation as expressed in “ On the Ten M ajor Relationships,” Liu Shao-ch’i and other party leaders concluded that China’s collectivization had progressed to a point w here the developm ent o f the productive forces required that “ the principal m ethod o f struggle” could no longer be “to lead the masses in direct ac­ tion.” 14 As Liu Shao-ch’i said at the Eighth Party Congress in Septem ber 1956: N ow , however, the period of revolutionary storm and stress is past, new relations of production have been set up, and the aim of our struggle is changed into one of safeguarding the success­ ful development of the productive forces of society, [and thus] a corresponding change in the methods of struggle will conse­ quently have to follow . . .1S

W ith the collectivization o f agriculture and the public ownership o f the means o f production basically accom plished by 1956, Liu and others stressed the need to focus all en-

Introduction

17

ergies on prom oting the productive forces. Th is they did in a way deeply marked by the Soviet m odel o f developm ent. For by m aintaining, as the Eighth Party Congress resolution stated, that “ the essence o f this contradiction [in socialist soci­ ety] is a contradiction between the advanced social system and the backward social productive forces,“ 16 they turned their backs on the need for a simultaneous and interrelated social­ ist revolution on the political and ideological fronts. Revolu­ tionary struggle, they believed, would not unleash the pro­ ductive forces, but would only underm ine the needed stability for their rapid growth. Periods o f acute class struggle w ere no longer essential to create the new cooperative organ­ izations and attitudes favorable to econom ic growth. T h e “advanced social system “ already existed and needed only to be consolidated. In 1956 and 1957, M ao had h im self argued that the tur­ bulent class struggles characteristic o f previous revolutionary periods had in the m ain com e to an end. But unlike other party leaders, he insisted that “ the class struggle betw een the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the class struggle be­ tween the different political forces, and the class struggle in the ideological held betw een the proletariat and the bourgeoi­ sie w ill continue to be lon g and tortuous and at tim es w ill even becom e very acute.” 17 Thus he soon cam e to reject the Eighth Party Congress resolution that the contradiction in socialist society was betw een the “ advanced social system “ and the “ backward social productive forces.“ R adiar he ar­ gued that the basic contradictions in socialist society are still those be­ tween the relations of production and the productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base . . . survi­ vals of bourgeois ideology, bureaucratic ways o f doing things in our state organs, and flaw s in certain links of our state institu­ tions stand in contrast to the economic base of socialism .18

Th ere w ere thus serious weaknesses in the “ advanced social system ” w hich had to be struggled against. In essence, M ao insisted that only continued mass struggle could combat the

18

Introduction

powerful hold o f bourgeois ideology and bureaucratic ways o f doing things. Th e seizure o f state pow er and the public own­ ership o f the means o f production, therefore, w ere insuf­ ficient for the building o f socialism. By them selves, they could not consolidate the gains made. T h e m ere growth o f the econom ic base could not automatically engender the very attitudes and organizational form s necessary both to drive the revolution forward and unleash the productive forces o f the masses. In his critique, M ao spells out for his party colleagues what he saw as the long-term consequences o f such an ex­ clusive emphasis on building up the econom ic base. As Mao notes, “in many ways (m ainly production) the Soviets con­ tinue to progress, but with respect to the production relations fundam entally they have ceased to progress.” 19 By resisting revolutionary social changes and not w orking to transform the basic relations am ong people in production and society as speedily as possible, the Soviets ensured that no qualitative changes occurred at all. Th e relations o f production w ere all but frozen. By excluding the creativity and initiative o f the masses, the Soviets could not develop the new attitudes and organizational form s necessary for a socialist society and the transition to communism. Indeed, at the heart o f the Soviet theory o f productive forces, Mao argued, was a profound fear and distrust o f the masses and mass struggle. This was what the Soviet political econom y text and Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism revealed in their preoccupation with the base at d ie expense o f the superstructure. For Mao, a host o f closely related So­ viet positions flow ed from this preoccupation: disregard for the masses as the creators o f history and a reliance on plan­ ners; preoccupation with technology and expertise; con­ fidence in hierarchy and one-man m anagem ent; reliance on material incentives; and a total lack o f interest in the trans­ form ation o f an individual’s worldview. T h e end result was the growth o f a pow erful bureaucratic apparatus com pletely alienated from the masses.

Introduction

19

A Conception o f the Communist Party M ao’s denunciation o f such bureaucratic ways ran through­ out his entire revolutionary career. But with the seizure o f state power Mao faced questions for which he found no an­ swers in Soviet revolutionary experience. H ow , for exam ple, was the party to retain its intim ate ties with the masses when the tendency toward bureaucratic methods and elite privilege was so powerful? H ow was the revolution to be continued after state pow er was seized and the means o f production brought under public ownership? Khrushchev’s attack on Stalin in February 1956 point­ edly raised such questions fo r Mao and other party leaders. Although the Chinese Communist Party sharply criticized Khrushchev’s lack o f a cogent theoretical perspective for eval­ uating Stalin, at the same tim e the dangers o f Stalinism w ere not dismissed. In the first official Chinese Communist Party response in April 1956, the party strongly reaffirm ed the mass line and warned o f the dangers o f its neglect when a communist party was in power: the personnel of the Party and the state, beset by bureaucratism from many sides, face the great danger of using the machinery of state to take arbitrary action, alienating themselves from the masses and collective leadership, resorting to commandism, and violating Party and state democracy.20

As M ao argued in “ On the Correct H andling o f Contra­ dictions Am ong the People,” there are “contradictions be­ tween the governm ent and the people in socialist coun­ tries.” 21 By always talking about unity and consolidation, the Soviet Union was actually blocking the correct resolution o f the various contradictions in society, im peding the develop­ m ent o f socialism. T h e real problem s facin g society rem ained hidden. And a convenient ideological cover for bureaucratic domination was created. But w hile various party leaders warned o f the dangers o f bureaucracy and spoke o f the mass line, there w ere very pro­

20

Introduction

nounced differences in how they understood them and the role o f the Communist Party. Liu Shao-ch’i was often labeled in the Chinese press during the Cultural Revolution as the main ideological critic o f M ao’s view s on the mass Une. I f so, he assuredly had significant support for his views; his posi­ tion in many ways followed the conception o f the Com m unist Party as it was enshrined in official Soviet doctrine. For Liu, the party, and only the party, could see what was necessary and could see to these necessary changes. T o the masses, it would appear as a united, selflessly dedicated organization. Purity o f devotion and ideological orthodoxy w ere the ultim ate safeguards for the abiUty o f the party to act correctly on behalf o f the masses. Only after its mem bers had been taught “how to be good communists” could the party effectively help the masses to solve their problems. A selfless party elite should thus be above external supervision; its mistakes could be satisfactorily rectified through intraparty channels. As Mao said in the fall o f 1957, “ Some seem to think that once in the Com m unist Party, people all becom e saints w ith no d if­ ferences or misunderstandings, and that the Party is not subject to analysis, that is to say, it is monoUthic and uniform. . . .” ** At the heart o f Mao’s disagreem ent with Liu ’s orthodox conception o f the Communist Party was his insistence that the party itself is only an instrument involved in, but not dom i­ nating, the dialectical process o f continuous revolution. Knowledge, he points out in the critique, is not first the ex­ clusive domain o f the party elite. Th e party does not stand outside the revolutionary process with foreknow ledge o f its laws. “ For people to know the laws they must go through a process. Th e vanguard is no exception.” 23 Only through practice can know ledge develop; only by im m ersing itself am ong the masses can the party lead the revolution. Throughout the history o f d ie Chinese Revolution, M ao criticized those who believed they knew exacdy what had to be done and relied on M arxism -Leninism as an abstract doc­ trine filled with ready-made answers. Revolution, M ao in ­ sisted, is an extraordinarily painful and difficu lt process.

Introduction

21

Th ere are no easy answers, no laws which can be sim ply ap­ plied. As he argues in the critique, years o f arduous struggle had been necessary before the correct m ethods em erged to enable the Chinese revolutionaries to w in the bourgeoisdem ocratic phase o f the revolution. T h e building o f socialism and communism would require an equally arduous struggle. M ao saw the masses as the real creators o f history, those from whom the Com m unist Party had to learn. M istakes and setbacks would em erge in any mass struggle; revolution is sometim es brutal and violent. But the creative breakthroughs which lead to new cooperative methods and attitudes only com e out o f revolutionary struggle. This was how the soviets had em erged in the Russian Revolution, M ao maintained, and how the communes developed in China. N or should one fear failures. “ People must go through practice to gain re­ sults, m eet with failures as problems arise; only through such a process can knowledge gradually advance.” 24 Fail­ ures, correctly analyzed, are often as illum inating as suc­ cesses. By studying those which occurred in the Great Leap Forward, for exam ple, M ao sought to uncover the guidelines w ithin which consolidation o f the comm unes could be ac­ complished. N o leadership, in short, can create the new social form s and political and econom ic innovations out o f its own heads, then apply them through adm inistrative decree. N ew form s and methods w ill em erge, M ao insisted, if cadres and the masses are allowed to experim ent, i f they are m obilized and encouraged by a party leadership w illin g to leam from their potential breakthroughs and capable o f both shaping and being shaped in the process. As M ao said during the period o f accelerating collectivization in 1955: “Both cadres and peas­ ants w ill rem old them selves in the course o f the struggles they them selves experience. L et them go into action and leam w hile doing, and they w ill becom e m ore capable.” 25 U nlike U u Shao-ch’i, therefore, M ao never saw ideologi­ cal devotion and intraparty rectification m ovem ents as suf­ ficient to maintain the revolutionary role o f the party. Only by being im m ersed in the masses, subject to their criticism , and

22

Introduction

sensitive to their needs could the party truly combat bureau­ cracy, privilege, and elitism. And since for him the party did not stand above society, M ao cam e to see the contradictions within the party as intricately interwoven with those in the society at large. In his editing o f Socialist Upsurge in China’s Countryside in 1955, Mao first m entioned the them e which he was to raise in the critique and elaborate further in later years. Th ere is a practice, he then warned, “prevalent almost to the point o f being universal: right opportunists in the party, working hand in glove with the forces o f capitalism in society, are preventing the broad masses o f poor and m iddle peasants from taking the road to the form ation o f coopera­ tives.” ®8 This emphasis on rightists in the party linked to so­ cial forces was to undercut further the orthodox Soviet con­ ception o f the party and was used in the com ing years as another reason for deepening the mass-line conception o f politics.

THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD_____________ Mao’s writings in this volum e can also be read as an analysis o f the Great Leap Forward. H ere for the first tim e in his known writings, Mao is extensively exploring the process o f uninterrupted revolution and the nature o f the transition to socialist and communist society.27 In so doing, he defends the Great Leap against unfounded attacks both from w ithin and outside the party. At the same tim e, he is seeking to elaborate the context w ithin which the Great Leap’s negative features can be corrected and its positive aspects preserved. Th ese writings can be read for the fin e insight they give into the way Mao understood his own methods o f study. H e does not start from rules, principles, M arxist laws, or as­ sumed definitions, “a m ethodology M arxism -Leninism has always opposed.” 28 Only through concrete investigation can new principles be discovered. Indeed, one o f his strongest criticism s o f Stalin and the Soviet political econom y text is that “ it does not proceed from concrete analysis o f the con-

Introduction

23

tradìctìons betw een the econom ic base and the superstruc­ ture. It always proceeds from general definitions and general conceptions. It gives definitions without givin g reasoned explanations.” *9 Thus, M ao studies Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Social­ ism in order to think through specific practical and theoreti­ cal problems facing China, in this case the creation o f the communes. W ith their creation as a new unit in society, anal­ ysis o f how production and exchange should be carried out within and betw een comm unes and other units was a press­ ing necessity. Therefore, M ao’s comm ents are largely focused on the first three sections o f Economic Problems o f Socialism, those concerned with the character o f econom ic laws, com ­ m odity production, and the law o f value under socialism. W hat M ao finds useful in Stalin’s w ritings is carefully sepa­ rated from what he concludes is unclear or inaccurate. Mao argues that one o f the most useful reasons for having the cadres read Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism is to enable them to understand the ultra-left current (th e “ com ­ munist w ind”) which had quickly spread over China with the beginning o f the com m une m ovem ent. As M ao later said at the Lushan C onference in July 1959, the cadres had not studied political economy. They had not clearly under­ stood the law s of value, exchange of equal values, and rem u­ neration according to work done. . . . I f they have not under­ stood the textbooks, let them study them some more. I f the top cadres in the communes do not understand a little political economy, this w on’t do.30

T o Mao, a better understanding o f the econom ics o f so­ cialism and the nature o f the transition period would allow the cadres to cope with the problem s arising in the Great Leap. In some areas, both cadres and peasants had been swept away by a desire to leap directly to the stage o f com ­ munism rather than going through the many stages that Mao argued w ere necessary to get there. T h e “ strong tendency to do away w ith com m odity production” had to be countered and its role in socialist society correctly understood. “ People

24

Introduction

get upset the m inute they see comm odity production,” Mao writes in his critique, “ taking it for capitalism. But it looks as i f commodity production w ill have to be gready developed and the money supply increased.” And explaining this “poses a problem for the ideology o f several hundred thousand cadres as w ell as for the solidarity o f several hundred m illion peasants.” 81 In some areas o f China, the cadres, in their impassioned desire to leap to communism, had simply seized the prop­ erty o f the production brigades and the teams. W ere such practices to go unchecked, Mao warned, the peasants would rise up and turn their wrath on the Communist Party itself. Study o f Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism, because it defends the survival o f the commodity form into the socialist period and discusses the principle o f exchange o f equal value, could help provide theoretical guidance against this dangerous ultra-left current. In his critique o f the Soviet political econom y text, Mao further exam ined the lessons to be drawn from the Great Leap. H e studied the relationships that exist between the two kinds o f ownership o f the means o f production (socialist own­ ership by the whole people and collective ownership, largely by the peasants) and compared them with those which ex­ isted in the Soviet Union. T h e abortive attempt to im ­ m ediately make the comm une rather than the production team the basic accounting unit is exam ined. Questions o f distribution o f consum er goods are probed in terms o f why the principle o f “ from each according to his ability, to each according to his work” is still necessary during the stages o f socialism. Mao, in brief, is working out the consequences o f the use o f the comm odity system, exchange through m oney, and bourgeois right, particularly as they are reflected in the three m ajor differences: betw een workers and peasants, be­ tween town and country, and betw een m ental and manual labor. Running through all his comm ents is the argum ent that Soviet experience is in the final analysis utterly inadequate as a positive m odel for China’ s drive to build socialism. T h e

Introduction

25

political econom y text, Mao concludes, does not satisfactorily cope with the “ whole new series o f problem s" that have ap­ peared with the period o f socialism. It does not suggest how to m ove from one stage o f the revolution to another, or the special characteristics o f each stage. For exam ple, he argues, it fails to consider how to advance the process o f the trans­ form ation o f the small producers, what kinds o f contradic­ tions may be found in each stage o f the trahsformation, and how they can be resolved. Indeed, the text speaks o f “ con­ solidating fu lly" each and every stage. Rather than becom ing a transient goal which is to be surpassed once it is partially achieved (and thus truly consolidated), the stage becom es an end in itself. In this way, Mao concludes, the Russians sim­ ply repressed all consideration o f a continuing revolutionary process on the econom ic, political, and ideological fronts. Mao’s w ritings in this critique are transitional documents: they stand m idway on the path to the Great Proletarian Cul­ tural Revolution. As M ao’s criticism o f the Soviet m odel o f socialism deepened during the Great Leap, so did his con­ viction that the transition to socialism was an arduous, protracted struggle that m ight take an entire historical epoch. Like Lenin, M ao becam e increasingly concerned with the ob­ stacles and difficulties in this transition. T h e drive toward so­ cialism requires that every aspect o f society undergo trem en­ dous change. In this critique, M ao writes o f those forces figh tin g tenaciously to resist such change, calling them “ con­ servative forces” and ’’rightists.’’ But M ao is still w orking out the nature o f such opposition and its relationship to the Com ­ munist Party; he is not stating it precisely. N or is he saying precisely what is m eant by class struggle during the period o f socialist transition. Old bourgeois and feudal elem ents re­ main in Chinese society, but it is the hold o f old values, ideas, and habits o f thought which increasingly concerns him. These w ritings also dem onstrate his efforts to challenge those in the party in positions o f authority, the m anagers, technicians, administrators, and other assorted experts who, compared to the workers and peasants, occupy positions o f

26

Introduction

financial reward and power. H e finds the children o f the cadres disappointing, too protected and with too many politi­ cal airs. But the dangers to the revolution are still seen in terms o f spreading bureaucratism rather than a question o f class. This is particularly evident in M ao’s cautious explana­ tion o f the bureaucratic nature o f the Soviet U nion and in his lack o f a com plete study o f the m aterial base o f the bureaucracy’s privileged role. N ot until July 1964, in “ On Khrushchev’s Phoney Communism and Its Historical Les­ sons for the W orld,” did M ao state that “ the contradiction between the Soviet people and this privileged stratum is now the principal contradiction inside the Soviet Union and it is an irreconcilable and antagonistic class contradiction.” 32 Th e struggles with those in China who opposed the Great Leap Forward forced M ao to deepen the analysis o f his critics. Out o f this attack on the Great Leap Forward, led first by P ’eng Teh-huai and continued by others in the com ing years, M ao was to elaborate his conception o f “ continuing the revolution under the dictatorship o f the proletariat.” N ot until 1962, however, would rightists within the party be la­ beled revisionists. And not until the Cultural Revolution would the conception o f the “capitalist roader” be developed.

STALIN AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION___________________ A Critique o f Soviet Economics is quite suggestive for reevaluating die Russian Revolution and the role o f Stalin. Although these pieces can usefully be read from this perspec­ tive, they w ere not written by Mao as a historical study or even as a critical evaluation o f the historic contribution o f Stalin. Mao’s real purpose was to think through problems fac­ in g the Chinese Revolution in terms o f the perspective of­ fered by a careful exam ination o f aspects o f the Soviet ex­ perience. Although these w ritings w ere circulated for inner party discussion in China during the Cultural Revolution, they have never been m ade officially available. T h e Chinese pref­

Introduction

27

ace to these m aterials warns that they m ay not be fu lly accu­ rate and com plete. Yet even so, they are on the w hole quite accurate and provide a rem arkably valuable and detailed analysis o f Stalin and the Soviet experience, the likes o f which have never been publicly available in China. O fficially, the Chinese have for the most part defended Stalin since Khrushchev’s attack on him. “ W hen Stalin was criticized in 1956,” M ao said, “ w e w ere on the one hand happy, but on the other hand apprehensive. It was com ­ pletely necessary to rem ove the lid, to break down blind faith, to release the pressure, and to em ancipate thought. But w e did not agree with dem olishing him at one blow .” 33 Publicly, Stalin is seen as a “ great M arxist-Leninist” w ho inherited the cause o f Lenin, led the Soviet people in achiev­ in g socialist industrialization, agricultural collectivization, and victory in the struggle against fascism . But he is ac­ knowledged to have m ade serious mistakes. O ver the last two decades these have been said to include the follow ing: de­ parting from M arxist-Leninist dialectics in his understanding o f the law s o f class struggle in socialist society; failin g to rec­ ogn ize that after the collectivization o f agriculture antagonis­ tic class struggle and the contradiction betw een the socialist and capitalist roads would continue; failin g to rely upon the w orking class and the masses in the struggle against the forces o f capitalism and reducing the threat o f capitalist restoration to one o f armed attack from international im ­ perialism ; seriously n eglectin g agriculture and peasant livin g standards and lopsidedly stressing heavy industry; lacking vigilance before the German attack on the Soviet Union; ex­ cessively w idening the scope o f suppression o f counter­ revolutionaries in the purges o f the 1930s. M ao’s criticism s o f Stalin in this book go to the very heart o f the methods used to industrialize the Soviet Union. Because o f this, they provide an im portant M arxist analysis o f the Soviet U nion w hich in the future may w ell be integrated into official Chinese views, even as they should now contrib­ ute to a M arxist understanding o f the Soviet U nion w hich is developing outside China. — James Peck

Introduction

28 Notes

1. M ao Tsetung, ‘T alk s at the Chengtu Conference, Talk o f M arch 10, 1958," in Chairman Mao Talks to the People: Talks and Letters, 1956-1971, ed. Stuart Schram (N e w York: Panth­ eon, 1974), p. 102. 2. M ao Tsetung, Selected Works o f Mao Tsetung, vol. IV (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1965), pp. 422 and 374. 3. M ao Tsetung, A Critique o f Soviet Economics, p. 122. 4. “Primitive socialist accum ulation” was a phrase used by Evgeny Preobrazhensky but it appropriately describes Stalin’s policies. See Paul Sweezy’s use of the phrase and his analysis in “Theory and Practice in the M ao Period,” Monthly Review 28, no. 9 (February 1977): 1-12. Sweezy’s explanation o f the theory of productive forces in the Soviet Union has been draw n upon ex­ tensively in this introduction. 5. M ao Tsetung, “O n the Question of Agricultural Co-operation,” in Selected Readings from the Works o f Mao Tsetung (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1971), p. 406. 6. M ao Tsetung, “O n the Ten M ajor Relationships,” Peking Re­ view 20, no. 1 (January 1, 1977): 11. Although various unof­ ficial versions o f this speech have long been available, this ver­ sion is the first officially released one. 7. Ibid., p. 16. 8. Ibid., p. 15. 9. Mao Tsetung, ‘T alk s at the Chengtu Conference,” p. 101. 10. John G. Gurley, China’s Economy and the Maoist Strategy (N e w York: Monthly Review Press, 1976) provides a valuable analysis o f the formation of M ao’s economic strategy from 1927 to 1949. 11. M ao Tsetung, “O n the Question of Agricultural Co-operation,” p. 407. 12. M ao Tsetung, “Refute Right Deviationist View s that Depart from the General Line,” Selected Works o f Mao Tsetung, vol. V (Peking: Chinese Language Press, 1977). Translated from the Chinese. 13. M ao Tsetung, “O n the Question o f Agricultural Co-operation,” p. 389. 14. Liu Shao-chi, “The Political Report of the Central Committee o f the Communist Party o f China to the Eighth National Congress of the Party,” in Eighth National Congress o f the Communist Party o f China, voi. 1, Docum ents (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1956), p. 82.

Introduction

29

15. Ibid. 16. “Resolution of the Eighth National Congress o f the Communist Party of China,” in Eighth National Congress o f the Communist Party, p. 116. 17. M ao Tsetung, “O n the Correct H andling o f Contradictions Am ong the People,” in Selected Readings from the Works o f

Mao Tsetung, p. 463. 18. Ibid., pp. 443-44. 19. M ao Tsetung, A Critique o f Soviet Economics, p. 101. 20. Chinese Communist Party, The Historical Experience o f the

Dictatorship o f the Proletariat (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1959). 21. M ao Tsetung, “O n the Correct H andling of Contradictions Am ong the People,” p. 434. 22. M ao Tsetung, “A Dialectical Approach to Inner-Party Unity,” in Selected Works o f Mao Tsetung, vol. V (Peking: Foreign Lan­ guages Press, 1977), p. 515. 23. M ao Tsetung, A Critique o f Soviet Economics, p. 73. 24. Ibid., p. 72. 25. M ao Tsetung, “On the Question of Agricultural Co-operation,” p. 390. 26. Mao Tsetung, Socialist Upsurge in China’s Countryside (P e ­ king: Foreign Languages Press, 1957), p. 159. 27. For a development of the theme of uninterrupted revolution see Victor N ee and James Peck, China’s Uninterrupted Revolution (N e w York: Pantheon, 1975). 28. M ao Tsetung, A Critique o f Soviet Economics, pp. 73-74. 29. Ibid., p. 108. 30. M ao Tsetung, “Speech at the Lushan Conference,” in Schram, Chairman Mao Talks, pp. 135-36. 31. M ao Tsetung, A Critique o f Soviet Economics, p. 140. 32. “O n Khrushchev’s Phoney Com m unism and Its Historical Les­ sons for the W orld: Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee o f the C PSU (# 9 )” in Peking Review 7, no. 29 (July 17, 1964). 33. M ao Tsetung, ‘T alk s at Chengtu: O n the Problem of Stalin,” in Schram, Chairman Mao Talks, p. 101.

Notes on the Texts Th ese writings by Mao Tsetung are part o f a larger body o f materials, entided Long Live the Thought o f Mao Tsetung, which appeared first in 1967 and again in an enlarged form in 1969. A ll three o f the works translated here are in the 1969 edition, and the first two are also in the 1967 edition. This means that there are two editions o f the Reading Notes on the Soviet Text Political Economy and the talk on Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR. Th e two versions agree almost entirely, but there are a few differences— some typographical, some substantive. T h e substantive ones are indicated in footnotes to the translation.1 Unless otherwise noted, the 1969 version is used when there are m inor stylistic differences between the two versions. M ao’s talk on Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR was probably given at the Ch’engchou Conference in N ovem ber 1958, w hile his written critique was done in 1959. T h e 1967 version o f Long Live the Thought o f Mao Tsetung gives the date o f the Reading Notes as 1960; the 1969 edition gives 1961-1962. W e believe that the date o f the Reading Notes is almost certainly 1960. T h e prefaces to these two collections warn that the m ate­ rials are not for form al publication. N othing m ore than specu­ lation exists as to who released the materials and with what intention. W e believe the Chinese text w e have used is a copy o f the original version which probably left China through Taiwan or H ong Kong conduits.

30

Notes on the Texts

31

Certain possible lim itations to the translation o f the Read­ ing Notes should be m entioned. Th e page references M ao cites in m aking his critique are to the third Chinese edition o f the Soviet textbook, and no reference to the original Russian text was made. W e had no access to this Chinese edition so that Mao's quotations from the original could not be checked against their source and compared with the Russian. Although a phonetic transliteration system, Pin-yin, is in­ creasingly w idely used in China as the m ethod o f rom anizing Chinese characters, w e have used the m odified W ade-Giles system in the text because it is still the one recognized by most W esterners. In both the Introduction and the Notes, however, w e have included the new form s in parentheses for interested readers. For those names that appear in the text, for which this procedure was too cum bersom e, a representa­ tive table o f equivalents is provided below.

Wade-Giles Honan H opei Ch’engchou Ch’engtu Kuangtung Sinkiang Ch’inghai Fukien Ninghsia Chihlo Shaokuan Chekiang Hsiuwu

Pin-yin Henan H ebei Chengzhou Chengdu Guangdong X in jiang Qinghai Fujian N in gxia Zhilo Shaoguan Z h ejian g Xiuwu

Finally, a com m ent on the m aking o f A Critique o f Soviet Economics. Moss Roberts translated the texts, w hile Richard Levy checked the translation and m ade many corrections. James Peck and Paul Sw eezy read the translation and offered additional suggestions. Th e introduction was w ritten by James Peck, but it owes much to the criticism s and sugges-

32

Notes on the Texts

tìons o f Richard Levy and Moss Roberts. T h e annotations were written by Richard Levy and edited by James Peck and Moss Roberts. Finally, those o f us involved in this project wish to give a special thanks to Karen Judd for her editorial assistance, patience, and good cheer.

Notes 1. For an analysis of the substantive differences between the two editions of Long Live the Thought o f Mao Tsetung, the dating o f the writings translated here, and a study of the writings them­ selves, see Richard Levy, “N ew Light on Mao,” The China

Quarterly 61 (1975).

R e ad in g Notes on the Soviet Text Political E con om y (1961- 1962) PART I: CHAPTERS 20-23 1. From Capitalism to Socialism T h e text says on pages 327-28 that socialism w ill ‘In ev i­ tably” supersede capitalism and m oreover w ill do so by “revo­ lutionary means.” In the im perialist period clashes between the productive forces and the production relations have be­ com e sharper than ever. Th e proletarian socialist revolution is an “objective necessity.” Such statements are quite satis­ factory and should be made this way. “O bjective necessity” is quite all right and is agreeable to people. T o call the revolu­ tion an objective necessity simply means that the direction it takes does not hinge on die intentions o f individuals. Like it or not, com e it wilL Th e proletariat w ill “ organize all w orking people around itself for the purpose o f elim inating capitalism.” (p. 327) Cor­ re c t But at this point one should go on to raise the question o f the seizure o f power. “ Th e proletarian revolution cannot hope to come upon ready-made socialist econom ic form s.” “ Components o f a socialist econom y cannot mature inside o f a capitalist econom y based on private ownership.” (p. 328) Indeed, not only can they not “mature” ; they cannot be bom. In capitalist societies a cooperative or state-run econom y can­ not even be brought into being, to say nothing o f maturing. This is our main difference w ith the revisionists, who claim 33

34

Mao Tsetung

that in capitalist societies such things as m unicipal public enterprises are actually socialist elem ents, and argue that capitalism m ay peacefully grow over to socialism. Th is is a serious distortion o f Marxism .

2. The Transition Period T h e book says, “T h e transition period begins w ith the es­ tablishm ent o f proletarian political pow er and ends w ith the fu lfillm en t o f the responsibility o f the socialist revolu­ tion— the founding o f socialism, com m unism ’s first stage.” (p. 328) O ne must study very carefully w hat stages, in the final analysis, are included in the transition period. Is only the transition finom capitalism to socialism included, or the transition from socialism to com m unism as w ell? H ere M arx is cited: from capitalism to com m unism there is a “ period o f revolutionary transform ation.” W e are presently in such a period. W ithin a certain num ber o f years ou r people’s com m unes w ill have to carry through the transfor­ m ation from ow nership by the basic team to ow nership by the basic com m une,1 and then into ow nership by the w hole people.2 T h e transform ation to basic com m une ow nership al­ ready carried out by the people’s com m unes rem ains collec­ tive ownership [and is not yet ownership by the w hole peo­ ple].* In the transition period “ all social relations must be fu n­ dam entally transform ed.” Th is proposition is correct in prin­ ciple. A ll social relations includes in its m eaning the produc­ tion relations and the superstructure— econom ics, politics, ideology and culture, etc. In the transition period w e m ust “ enable the productive forces to gain the developm ent they need to guarantee the victory o f socialism .” For China, broadly speaking, I would say w e need 100-200 m illion tons o f steel per year at the least. U p to this year our main accom plishm ent has been to clear the w ay for the developm ent o f the productive forces. T h e deBracketed material has been inserted for clarity by the translator.

Reading Notes on the Soviet Text

35

velopm ent o f the productive forces o f China's socialism has barely begun. H aving gone through the Great Leap Forward o f 1958-1959, w e can look to 1960 as a year prom ising great developm ent o f production.

3 . Universal and Particular Characteristics o f the Proletarian Revolution in Various Countries T h e book says, the O ctober Revolution “ planted the stan­ dard," and that every country “ has its ow n particular form s and concrete m ethods for constructing socialism ." Th is prop­ osition is sound. In 1848 there was a Com m unist M anifesto. O ne hundred and ten years later there was another Com m u­ nist M anifesto, nam ely the M oscow Declaration m ade in 1957 by various com m unist parties. Th is declaration ad­ dressed its e lf to the integration o f universal laws and con­ crete particulars. T o acknow ledge the standard o f the O ctober Revolution is to acknow ledge that the “ basic content” o f the proletarian revolution o f any country is the same. Precisely here w e stand opposed to the revisionists. W hy was it that the revolution succeeded first not in the nations o f the W est w ith a high level o f capitalist productivity and a num erous proletariat, but rather in the nations o f the East, Russia and C hina for exam ple, w here the level o f capi­ talist productivity was com paratively low and the proletariat com paratively small? Th is question awaits study. W h y did the proletariat w in its first victory in Russia? T h e text says because “ all the contradictions o f im perialism cam e together in Russia.” T h e history o f revolution suggests that the focal point o f the revolution has been shifting from W est to E a st At the end o f the eighteenth century the focal point w as in France, w hich becam e the cen ter o f the political life o f the world. In the m id-nineteenth century the focal point shifted to Germ any, w here the proletariat stepped onto the political stage, givin g birth to Marxism . In the early years o f the tw entieth century the focal point shifted to Russia, givin g

Mao Tsetung

36

birth to Leninism . W ithout this developm ent o f M arxism there would have been no victory for the Russian Revolution. By the m id-twentieth century the focal point o f world revolu­ tion had shifted to China. N eedless to say, the focal point is bound to shift again in the future. Another reason for the victory o f the Russian Revolution was that broad masses o f the peasantry served as an allied force o f the revolution. T h e text says, “ Th e Russian proletar­ iat form ed an alliance w ith the poor* peasants.” (p. 328-29, 1967 edition ) Am ong the peasants there are several strata, and the poor peasant is the one the proletariat relied on. W hen a revolution begins the m iddle peasants always w aver; they want to look things over and see w hether the revolution has any strength, w hether it can m aintain itself, w hether it w ill have advantages to offer. But the m iddle peasant w ill not shift over to the side o f the proletariat until he has a compara­ tively clear picture. That is how the O ctober Revolution was. And that is how it was for our own land reform , cooperatives, and people’s com m unes.3 Ideologically, politically, and organizationally the Bolshevik-M enshevik split prepared the way for the victory o f the October Revolution. And without the Bolsheviks’ struggle against the M ensheviks and the revisionism o f the Second International, the O ctober Revolution could never have triumphed. Leninism was bom and developed in the struggle against all form s o f revisionism and opportunism. And w ith­ out Leninism there would have been no victory for the Rus­ sian Revolution. T h e book says, “ Proletarian revolution first succeeded in Russia, and prerevolutionary Russia had a level o f capitalist developm ent sufficient to enable the revolution to succeed.” T h e victory o f the proletarian revolution may not have to com e in a country with a high level o f capitalist develop­ m en t T h e book is quite correct to quote Lenin. Down to the present time, o f the countries w here socialist revolution has succeeded only East Germ any and Czechoslovakia had a * Only in the 1969 text.

Reading Notes on the Soviet Text

37

com paratively high level o f capitalism ; elsew here the level was com paratively low. And revolution has not broken out in any o f the W estern nations with a com paratively high level o f developm ent. Lenin had said, “ T h e revolution first breaks out in the weak link o f the im perialist w orld.” At the tim e o f the O ctober Revolution Russia was such a weak link. Th e same was true for China after the O ctober Revolution. Both Russia and China had a relatively numerous proletariat and a vast peasantry, oppressed and suffering. And both w ere large states.. . .* But in these respects India was much the same. T h e question is, w hy could not India consum mate a revolu­ tion by breaking im perialism 's weak link as Lenin and Stalin had described? Because India was an English colony, a col­ ony belonging to a single im perialist state. H erein lies the dif­ ference betw een India and China. China was a sem icolony under several im perialist governm ents. T h e Indian Com m u­ nist Party did not take an active part in its country's bourgeois dem ocratic revolution and did not make it possible fo r the Indian proletariat to assume the leadership o f the dem ocratic revolution. Nor, after independence, did the In ­ dian Com m unist Party persevere in the cause o f the indepen­ dence o f the Indian proletariat. Th e historical experience o f China and Russia proves that to w in the revolution having a mature party is a most im por­ tant condition. In Russia the Bolsheviks took an active part in the dem ocratic revolution and proposed a program for the 1905 revolution distinct from that o f the bourgeoisie. It was a program that aimed to solve not only the question o f overthrow ing the tsar, but also the question o f how to w rest leadership from the Constitutional Dem ocratic Party in the struggle to overthrow the tsar. At the tim e o f the 1911 revolution China still had no com ­ m unist party. A fter it was founded in 1921, the Chinese Com m unist Party im m ediately and energetically join ed the dem ocratic revolution and stood at its forefront. T h e golden age o f China’s bourgeoisie, when their revolution had great * Ellipsis in original.

38

Mao Tsetung

vitality, was during the years 1905-1917. A fter the 1911 rev­ olution the Nationalist Party was already declining. And by 1924 they had no alternative but to turn to the Com m unist Party before they could m ake further headway. T h e proletar­ iat had superseded the bourgeoisie. T h e proletarian political party superseded the bourgeois political party as the leader o f the dem ocratic revolution. W e have often said that in 1927 the Chinese Com m unist Party had not yet reached its matu­ rity. Prim arily this m eans that our party, during its years o f alliance with the bourgeoisie, failed to see the possibility o f the bourgeoisie betraying the revolution and, indeed, was ut­ terly unprepared for it. H ere (p. 331) the text goes on to express the view that the reason w hy countries dominated by precapitalist eco­ nom ic form s could carry through a socialist revolution was because o f assistance from advanced socialist countries. Th is is an incom plete way o f putting the matter. A fter the dem o­ cratic revolution succeeded in China w e w ere able to take the path o f socialism m ainly because w e overthrew the rule o f im perialism , feudalism , and bureaucratic capitalism. Th e in­ ternal factors w ere the main ones. W hile the assistance w e received from successful socialist countries was an im portant condition, it was not one w hich could settle the question o f w hether or not w e could take the road o f socialism, but only one w hich could influence our rate o f advance after w e had taken the road. W ith aid w e could advance m ore quickly, without it less so. W hat w e mean by assistance includes, in addition to econom ic aid, our studious application o f the posi­ tive and negative experiences o f both the successes and the failures o f the assisting country.

4. The Question o f “Peaceful Transition ” Th e book says on page 330, “ In certain capitalist countries and form er colonial countries, for the w orking class to take political pow er through peaceful parliam entary m eans is a practical possibility.” T e ll me, w hich are these “ certain coun-

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39

tries” ? Th e main capitalist countries o f Europe and N orth Am erica are armed to the teeth. Do you expect them to allow you to take power peacefully? T h e com m unist party and the revolutionary forces o f every country must ready both hands, one for w inning vic­ tory peacefully, one for taking power w ith violence. N eith er may be dispensed with. It is essential to realize that, con­ sidering the general trend o f things, the bourgeoisie has no intention o f relinquishing its political power. Th ey w ill put up a figh t for it, and i f their very life should be at stake, w hy should they not resort to force? In the October Revolution as in our own, both hands w ere ready. Before July 1917 Lenin did consider using peaceful methods to w in the victory, but the July incident demonstrated that it would no longer be possible to transfer pow er to the proletariat peacefully. And not until he had reversed h im self and carried out three months’ m ilitary preparation did he w in the victory o f the O c­ tober Revolution. A fter the proletariat had seized political pow er in the course o f the October Revolution Lenin re­ m ained inclined toward peaceful methods, using “ redem p­ tion” to elim inate capitalism and put the socialist transforma­ tion into effect. But the bourgeoisie in collusion with fourteen im perialist powers launched counter-revolutionary armed up­ risings and interventions. And so before the victory o f the O c­ tober Revolution could be consolidated, three years o f armed struggle had to be w aged under the leadership o f the Russian party.

5 . From the Democratic Revolution to the Socialist Revolution—Several Problems A t the end o f page 330 the text takes up the transformation o f the dem ocratic revolution into the socialist revolution but does not clearly explain how the transformation is effected. T h e O ctober Revolution was a socialist revolution w hich concom itantly fu lfilled tasks left over from the bourgeois dem o­ cratic revolution. Im m ediately after the victory o f the O ctober

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Revolution the nationalization o f land was proclaimed. But bringing the dem ocratic revolution to a conclusion on the land question was yet to take a period o f time. During the W ar o f Liberation China solved the tasks o f the dem ocratic revolution. Th e founding o f the People’s Re­ public o f China in 1949 marked the basic conclusion o f the dem ocratic revolution and the beginning o f the transition to socialism. It took another three years to conclude the land reform, but at the tim e the Republic was founded w e im m e­ diately expropriated the bureaucratic capitalist enterprises— 80 percent o f the fixed assets o f our industry and trans­ port— and converted them to ownership by the whole people. During the W ar o f Liberation w e raised antibureaucratic capitalist slogans as w ell as anti-im perialist and antifeudal ones. Th e struggle against bureaucratic capitalism had a twosided character: it had a dem ocratic revolutionary character insofar as it amounted to opposition to compradore capital­ ism ,4 but it had a socialist character insofar as it amounted to opposition to the big bourgeoisie. A fter the war o f resistance was won, the Nationalist Party [K M T] took over a very large portion o f bureaucratic capital from Japan and Germany and Italy. T h e ratio o f bureaucratic to national [i.e., Chinese] capital was 8 to 2. A fter liberation w e expropriated all bureaucratic capital, thus elim inating the m ajor components o f Chinese capitalism.5 But it would be w rong to think that after the liberation o f the whole country “ the revolution in its earliest stages had only in the main the character o f a bourgeois dem ocratic rev­ olution and not until later would it gradually develop into a socialist revolution.” [N o page reference]

6 . Violence and the Proletarian Dictatorship On page 333 the text could be more precise in its use o f the concept o f violence. M arx and Engels always said that “ the state is by definition an instrument o f violence em ployed to suppress the opposing class.” And so it can never be said that

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“ the proletarian dictatorship does not use violence purely and simply in dealing w ith the exploiter and may even not use it prim arily.” W hen its life is at stake the exploiting class always resorts to force. Indeed, no sooner do they see the revolution start up than they suppress it w ith force. T h e text says, “ Historical experience proves that the exploiting class is utterly unwill­ in g to cede political power to the people and uses armed force to oppose the people’s political power.” This is not a com plete way o f stating the matter. It is not only afta: the people have organized revolutionary political pow er that the exploiting class w ill oppose it with force, but even at the very m om ent when the people rise up to seize political power, the ex­ ploiters promptly use violence to suppress the revolutionary people. Th e purpose o f our revolution is to develop the society’s forces o f production. Toward this end w e must first over­ throw the enemy. Second w e must suppress its resistance. How could w e do this without the revolutionary violence o f the people? H ere the book turns to the “ substance” o f the proletarian dictatorship and the prim ary responsibilities o f the w orking class and laboring people in general in the socialist revolu­ tion. But the discussion is incom plete as it leaves out the suppression o f the enem y as w ell as the rem olding o f classes. Landlords, bureaucrats, counter-revolutionaries, and un­ desirable elem ents have to be rem olded; the same holds true for the capitalist class, the upper stratum o f the petit bourgeoisie, and the m iddle * peasants. Our experience shows that rem olding is difficult. Those who do not undergo persis­ tent repeated struggle can not be properly remolded. T o elim ­ inate thoroughly any rem aining strength o f the bourgeoisie and any influence they may have w ill take one or two de­ cades at the least and may even require h a lf a century. In the rural areas, w here basic com m une ownership has been put into effect, private ownership has been transformed into state Onlyin the 1969text.

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ownership. Th e entire country abounds w ith new cities and new m ajor industry. Transportation and communications for the entire country have been m odernized. Truly, the eco­ nom ic situation has been com pletely changed, and for the first tim e the peasants’ w orldview is bound to be turned around com pletely step by step. (H ere in speaking o f “ pri­ mary responsibilities’’ the book uses Lenin’s words differently from his original intention.) T o w rite or speak in an effort to suit the tastes o f the enemy, the imperialists, is to defraud the masses and as a result to com fort the enem y w hile keeping one’s own class in ignorance.

7 . The Form o f the Proletarian State On page 334 the book says, “ the proletarian state can take various form s.” True enough, but there is not much dif­ ference essentially between the proletarian dictatorship in the people’s dem ocracies and the one established in Russia after the O ctober Revolution. Also, the soviets o f the Soviet Union and our own people’s congresses w ere both represen­ tative assemblies, different in name only. In China the peo­ ple’s congresses included those participating as represen­ tatives o f the bourgeoisie, representatives who had split o ff from the Nationalist Party, and representatives who w ere prom inent dem ocratic figures. A ll o f them accepted the leadership o f the Chinese Com m unist Party. O ne group among these tried to stir up trouble, but failed.6 Such an inclusive form may appear different from the soviet, but it should be rem em bered that after the October Revolution the soviets included representatives o f the M enshevik rightist Social Revolutionary Party, a Trotskyite faction, a Bukharin faction, a Zinoviev faction, and so forth. N om inally represen­ tatives o f the workers and peasants, they w ere virtual repre­ sentatives o f the bourgeoisie. Th e period after the October Revolution was a tim e when the proletariat accepted a large num ber o f personnel from the Kerensky governm ent— all o f whom w ere bourgeois elem ents. Our ow n central people’s

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governm ent was set up on the foundation o f the N orth China People’s Governm ent. A ll m em bers o f the various depart­ ments w ere from the base areas, and the m ajority o f the mainstay cadres w ere Com m unist Party members.

8. Transforming Capitalist Industry and Commerce On page 335 there is an incorrect explanation o f the process by w hich capitalist ownership changed into state ownership in China. T h e book only explains our policy toward national capital but not our policy toward bureaucratic capital (expro­ priation). In order to convert the property o f the bureaucratic capitalist to public ownership w e chose the m ethod o f expro­ priation. In paragraph 2 o f page 335 the experience o f passing through the state capitalist form in order to transform capital­ ism is treated as a singular and special experience; its univer­ sal significance is denied. Th e countries o f W estern Europe and the U nited States have a very high level o f capitalist de­ velopm ent, and the controlling positions are held by a m inor­ ity o f monopoly capitalists. But there are a great num ber o f small and m iddle capitalists as well. Thus it is said that Am erican capital is concentrated but also w idely distributed. A fter a successful revolution in these countries monopoly capital w ill undoubtedly have to be expropriated, but w ill the sm all and m iddle capitalists likew ise be uniform ly expropri­ ated? It may w ell be the case that some form o f state capital­ ism w ill have to be adopted to transform them. Our northeast provinces m ay be thought o f as a region w ith a high level o f capitalist developm ent. T h e same is true for Kiangsu (w ith centers in Shanghai and the southern part o f the province). I f state capitalism could work in these areas, tell m e w hy the same policy could not work in other coun­ tries w hich resem ble these provincial sectors? Th e m ethod the Japanese used w hen they held our north­ east provinces was to elim inate the m ajor local capitalists and turn their enterprises into Japanese state-managed, or in

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some cases monopoly capitalist enterprises. For the small and m iddle capitalists they established subsidiary companies as a means o f im posing control. Our transformation o f national capital passed through three stages: private m anufacture on state order, unified gov­ ernm ent purchase and sale o f private output, join t stateprivate operation (o f individual units and o f w hole com ­ plexes). Each phase was carried out in a m ethodical way. This prevented any dam age to production, w hich actually de­ veloped as the transformation progressed. W e have gained much new experience with state capitalism ; for one exam ple, the providing o f capitalists w ith fixed interest after the join t state-private operation phase.7

9 . Middle Peasants A fter land reform , land was not worth m oney and the peas­ ants w ere afraid to “ show them selves.” There w ere comrades who at one time considered this situation unsatisfactory, but what happened was that in the course o f class struggles w hich disgraced landlords and rich peasants, the peasantry cam e to view poverty as dignified and wealth as shameful. This was a w elcom e sign, one which showed that the poor peasants had politically overturned the rich peasants and es­ tablished their dom inance in the villages. On page 339 it says that the land taken from the rich peasants and given to the poor and m iddle peasants was land the governm ent had expropriated and then parceled out. This looks at the m atter as a grant by royal favor, forgetting that class struggles and mass m obilizations had been set in mo­ tion, a right deviationist point o f view. Our approach was to rely on the poor peasants, to unite with the m ajority o f m id­ dle peasants (low er m iddle peasants) and seize the land from the landlord class. W hile the party did play a leading role, it was against doing everything itself and thus substituting for the masses. Indeed, its concrete practice was to “ pay call on the poor to learn o f their grievances,” to identify activist ele­ ments, to strike roots and pull things together, to consolidate

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nuclei, to promote the voicing o f grievances, and to organize the class ranks— all for the purpose o f unfolding the class struggle. Th e text says “ the m iddle peasants becam e the principal figures in the villages.“ This is an unsatisfactory assertion. T o proclaim the m iddle peasants as the principals, com m ending them to the gods, never daring to offend them, is bound to make form er poor peasants feel as i f they had been put in the shade. Inevitably this opens the way for m iddle peasants o f means to assume rural leadership. Th e book makes no analysis o f the m iddle peasant. W e distinguish between upper and low er m iddle peasants and further between old and new w ithin those categories, regard­ in g the new as slightly preferable. Experience in cam paign after cam paign has shown that the poor peasant, the new low er m iddle peasant, and the old low er m iddle peasant have a comparatively good political attitude. Th ey are the ones who em brace the people’s communes. Am ong the upper m id­ dle peasants and the prosperous m iddle peasants there is a group that supports the communes as w ell as one that op­ poses them. According to materials from H opei province the total num ber o f production teams there com es to m ore than forty thousand, 50 percent o f w hich em brace the communes without reservation, 35 percent o f w hich basically accept them but with objections or doubts on particular questions, 15 percent o f w hich oppose or have serious reservations about the communes. T h e opposition o f this last group is due to the fact that the leadership o f the teams fe ll to prosperous m iddle peasants or even undesirable elem ents. D uring this process o f education in the struggle between the two roads, if the debate is to develop am ong these teams, their leadership w ill have to change. Clearly, then, the analysis o f the m iddle peasant must be pursued. For the m atter o f whose hands hold rural leadership has tremendous bearing on the direc­ tion o f developm ents there. On page 340 the book says, “ Essentially the m iddle peas­ ant has a twofold character.’’ $ question also requires con­ crete analysis. T h e poor, low er middle, upper m iddle, and

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prosperous middle peasants in one sense are all workers, but in another they are private owners. As private owners their points o f view are respectively dissimilar. Poor and low er m id­ dle peasants may be described as semiprivate owners whose point o f view is comparatively easily altered. By contrast, the private owner’s point o f view held by the upper m iddle and the prosperous peasants has greater substance, and they have consistently resisted cooperativization.

10. The Worker-Peasant Alliance Th e third and fourth paragraphs on page 340 are concerned with the importance o f the worker-peasant alliance but fail to go into what must be done before the alliance can be devel­ oped and consolidated. Th e text, again, deals with the need o f the peasants to press forward with the transformation o f the small producers but fails to consider how to advance the process, what kinds o f contradictions may be found at each stage o f the transformation, and how they may be resolved. And, the text does not discuss the measures and tactics for the entire process. Our worker-peasant alliance has already passed through two stages. Th e first was based on the land revolution, the second on the cooperative movement. I f cooperativization had not been set in motion the peasantry inevitably would have been polarized, and the worker-peasant alliance could not have been consolidated. In consequence, the policy o f “ unified governm ent purchase and sale o f private output’’ 8 could not have been persevered in. Th e reason is that that policy could be maintained and made to work thoroughly only on the basis o f cooperativization. At the present tim e our worker-peasant alliance has to take the next step and es­ tablish itself on the basis o f mechanization. For to have sim­ ply the cooperative and comm une movements without m ech­ anization would once again mean that the alliance could not be consolidated. W e still have to develop the cooperatives into people’s communes. W e still have to develop basic ownership by die commune team into basic ownership by the comm une

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and that further into state ownership. W hen state ownership and mechanization are integrated we w ill be able to begin truly to consolidate the worker-peasant alliance, and the dif­ ferences between workers and peasants w ill surely be elim in­ ated step by step.

11. The Transformation o f Intellectuals Page 341 is devoted exclusively to the problem o f fostering the developm ent o f intellectuals who are the workers’ and peasants’ own, as w ell as the problem o f involving bourgeois intellectuals in socialist construction. However, the text fails to deal with the transformation o f intellectuals. N ot only the bourgeois intellectuals but even those o f worker or peasant origin need to engage in transformation because they have come under the manifold influence o f the bourgeoisie. Liu Shao-t’ang, o f artistic and literary circles, who, after becom­ ing an author, became a m ajor opponent o f socialism, ex­ em plifies this. Intellectuals usually express their general out­ look through their way o f looking at knowledge. Is it privately owned or publicly owned? Some regard it as their own prop­ erty, for sale when the price is right and not otherwise. Such are mere “ experts” and not “ reds” 8 who say the party is an “outsider” and “cannot lead the insiders.” Those involved in the cinem a claim that the party cannot lead the cinema. Those involved in musicals or ballet claim that the party can­ not offer leadership there. Those in atomic science say the same. In sum, what they are all saying is that the party can­ not lead anywhere. Rem olding o f the intellectuals is an ex­ tremely important question for the entire period o f socialist revolution and construction. O f course it would be wrong to m inim ize this question or to adopt a concessive attitude to­ ward things bourgeois. Again on page 341 it says that the fundamental contra­ diction in the transition economy is the one between capital­ ism and socialism. Correct. But this passage speaks only o f setting struggles in motion to see who w ill em erge the victor in all realms o f econom ic life. None o f this is complete. W e

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would put it as follow s: a thoroughgoing socialist revolution must advance along the three fronts o f politics, econom ics, and ideology. T h e text says that w e absorb bourgeois elem ents so that they m ay participate in the m anagem ent o f enterprises and the state. This is repeated on page 357.* But w e insist on the responsibility for rem olding the bourgeois elem ents. W e help them change their lifestyle, their general outlook, and also their view point on particular issues. T h e text, how ever, m akes no m ention o f rem olding.

12. The Relationship Between Industrialization and Agricultural Collectivization Th e book sees socialist industrialization as the precondition for agricultural collectivization. Th is view in no way corre­ sponds to the situation in the Soviet U nion itself, w here col­ lectivization was basically realized betw een 1930 and 1932. Though they had then m ore tractors than w e do now, still and all the amount o f arable land under m echanized cultiva­ tion was under 20.3 percent. C ollectivization is not altogether determ ined by m echanization, and so industrialization is not the precondition for it. Agricultural collectivization in the socialist countries o f Eastern Europe was com pleted very slowly, m ainly because after land reform , they did not strike w hile the iron was hot but delayed for a time. In some o f our own old base areas, too, a section o f the peasantry was satisfied w ith the reform and unw illing to proceed further. T h is situation did not de­ pend at all on w hether or not there was industrialization.

13. W ar and Revolution On pages 352-54 it is argued that the various people’s dem ocracies o f Eastern Europe “w ere able to build socialism Page 341, according to the 1967 text

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even though there was neither civil w ar nor armed interven­ tion from abroad.” It is also argued that “ socialist transforma­ tion in these countries was realized without the ordeal o f civil war.” It would have been better to say that what happened in these countries is that a civil w ar was w aged in the form o f international war, that civil and international w ar w ere w aged together. T h e reactionaries o f these countries w ere ploughed under by the Soviet Red Army. T o say that there was no civil w ar in these countries would be m ere form alism that disregards substance. T h e text says that in the countries o f Eastern Europe after the revolution “parliaments becam e the organs for broadly representing the people’s interests.” In fact, these parliaments w ere com pletely different from the bourgeois parliaments o f old, bearing resem blance in name only. Th e Political Consultative C onference w e had during the early phase o f Liberation was no different in nam e from the Politi­ cal Consultative C onference o f the Nationalist period. During our negotiations w ith the Nationalists w e w ere indifferent to the conference but Chiang Kai-shek was very interested in it. A fter Liberation w e took over their singboard and called into session a nationwide Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, w hich served as a provisional people’s con­ gress.10 T h e text says that China “ in the process o f revolutionary struggle organized a people’s dem ocratic united front.” (p. 357) W hy only “ revolutionary struggle” and not “revolu­ tionary war?” From 1927 down to the nationwide victory w e w aged twenty-two years o f long-term uninterrupted war. And even before that, starting w ith the bourgeois revolution o f 1911, there was another fifteen years’ warfare. T h e chaotic wars o f the warlords under the direction o f im perialists should also be counted. Thus, from 1911 down to the W ar to Resist Am erica and Aid Korea, it may be said that continual wars w ere w aged in China fo r forty years— revolutionary war­ fare and counter-revolutionary warfare. And, since its found­ ing, our party has join ed or led wars for thirty years. A great revolution must go through a civil war. Th is is a

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rule. And to see the ills o f w ar but not its benefits is a one­ sided view. It is o f no use to the people’s revolution to speak onesidedly o f the destructiveness o f war.

14. Is Revolution Harder in Backward Countries ? In the various nations o f the W est there is a great obstacle to carrying through any revolution and construction m ovem ent; i.e., the poisons o f the bourgeoisie are so powerful that they have penetrated each and every com er. W hile our bourgeoisie has had, after all, only three generations, those o f England and France have had a 250-300 year history o f developm ent, and their ideology and modus operandi have influenced all aspects and strata o f their societies. Thus the English work­ in g class follow s the Labour Party, not the Com m unist Party. Lenin says, “T h e transition from capitalism to socialism w ill be more difficu lt for a country the more backward it is.” This would seem incorrect today. Actually, the transition is less difficu lt the m ore backward an econom y is, for the poorer they are the m ore the people want revolution. In the capitalist countries o f the W est the num ber o f people em ­ ployed is com paratively high, and so is the w age level. W ork­ ers there have been deeply influenced by the bourgeoisie, and it would not appear to be all that easy to carry through a so­ cialist transformation. And since the degree o f m echanization is high, the m ajor problem after a successful revolution would not be advancing m echanization but transform ing the people. Countries o f the East, such as China and Russia, had been backward and poor, but now not only have their social systems m oved w ell ahead o f those o f the W est, but even the rate o f developm ent o f their productive forces far outstrips that o f the W est. Again, as in the history o f the developm ent o f the capitalist countries, the backward overtake the ad­ vanced as Am erica overtook England, and as Germany later overtook England early in the twentieth century.

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15 . Is Large-Scale Industry the Foundation o f Socialist Transformation ? On page 364 * the text says, “Countries that have taken the road o f socialist construction face the task o f elim inating as quickly as possible the aftereffects o f capitalist rule in order to accelerate the developm ent o f large industry (th e basis for the socialist transformation o f the econom y).” It is not enough to assert that the developm ent o f large industry is the foundation for the socialist transformation o f the economy. A ll revolutionary history shows that the full developm ent o f new productive forces is not the prerequisite for the transfor­ mation o f backward production relations. Our revolution began with M arxist-Leninist propaganda, which served to create new public opinion in favor o f the revolution. M ore­ over, it was possible to destroy the old production relations only after w e had overthrown a backward superstructure in the course o f revolution. A fter the old production relations had been destroyed new ones w ere created, and these cleared the way for the developm ent o f new social productive forces. W ith that behind us w e w ere able to set in motion the tech­ nological revolution to develop social productive forces on a large scale. At the same time, w e still had to continue trans­ form ing the production relations and ideology. This textbook addresses itself only to material precondi­ tions and seldom engages the question o f the superstructure, i.e., the class nature o f the state, philosophy, and science. In econom ics the main object o f study is the production rela­ tions. A ll the same, political econom y and the m aterialist his­ torical oudook are close cousins. It is difficu lt to deal clearly with problems o f the econom ic base and the production rela­ tions i f the question o f the superstructure is neglected.

* Page 349, according to the 1967 text.

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16. Lenin’s Discussion o f the Unique Features o f Taking the Socialist Road On page 375 a passage from Lenin is cited. It is w ell ex­ pressed and quite helpful for defending our work methods. “T h e level o f consciousness o f the residents, together w ith the efforts they have made to realize this or that plan, are bound to be reflected in the unique features o f the road they take toward socialism.” Our own “politics in command” is precisely for raising the consciousness in our neighborhoods. Our own Great Leap Forward is precisely an “effort to realize this or that plan.”

17 . The Rate o f Industrialization Is a Critical Problem T h e text says, “ As far as the Soviet Union is concerned, the rate o f industrialization is a critical problem .” At present this is a critical problem for China, too. As a m atter o f fact, the problem becom es more acute the m ore backward industry is. Th is is true not only from country to country but also from one area to another in the same country. For exam ple, our northeastern provinces and Shanghai have a com paratively strong base, and so state investm ent increased somewhat less rapidly there. In other areas, w here the original industrial base was slight, and developm ent was urgendy needed, state investm ent increased quite rapidly. In the ten years that Shanghai has been liberated 2.2 billion Chinese dollars11 have been invested, over 500 m illion by capitalists. Shanghai used to have over h alf a m illion workers, now the city has over 1 m illion, i f w e do not count the hundreds o f thousands transferred out. This is only double the earlier w orker popula­ tion. W hen w e compare this with certain new cities w here the work force has increased enormously w e can see plainly that in areas with a deficient industrial base the problem o f rate is all the m ore critical. H ere the text only says that politi­ cal circumstances demand the high rate and does not explain

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whether or not the socialist system itself can attain the high rate. This is onesided. I f there is only the need and not the capability, tell me, how is the high rate to be achieved?12

18. Achieve a High Rate o f Industrialization by Concurrent Promotion o f Small, Medium, and Large Enterprise On page 381 the text touches on our broad developm ent o f small- and medium-scale enterprise but fails to reflect ac­ curately our philosophy o f concurrent promotion o f native and foreign, small, medium, and large enterprise. Th e text says we “determined upon extensive developm ent o f smalland medium-scale enterprises because o f the utter backward­ ness o f our technological economy, the size o f our popula­ tions and very serious employment problem s." But the prob­ lem by no means lies in technological age, population size, or the need to increase employment. Under the guidance o f the larger enterprises w e are developing the small and the m e­ dium; under the guidance o f the foreign w e are adopting na­ tive methods w herever w e can— mainly for the sake o f achieving the high rate o f industrialization.

19. Is Long-Term Coexistence Between Two Types o f Socialist Ownership Possible? On page 386 it says, “A socialist state and socialist construc­ tion can not be established on two different bases for any length o f time. That is to say, they can not be established on the base o f socialist industry, the largest and most unified base, and on the base o f the peasant petty commodity econ­ omy, which is scattered and backward." This point is w ell taken, o f course, and w e therefore extend the logic to reach the follow ing conclusion: The socialist state and socialist con­ struction cannot be established for any great length o f time on the basis o f ownership by the whole people and ownership by the collective as two different bases o f ownership. In the Soviet Union the period o f coexistence between the

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two types o f ownership has lasted too long. Th e contra­ dictions between ownership o f the w hole people and collec­ tive ownership are in reality contradictions between workers and peasants. Th e text fails to recognize such contradictions. In the same way prolonged coexistence o f ownership by the whole people w ith ownership by the collectives is bound to becom e less and less adaptable to the developm ent o f the productive forces and w ill fail to satisfy the ever increasing needs o f peasant consumption and agricultural production or o f industry for raw materials. T o satisfy such needs w e must resolve the contradiction between these two forms o f ow ner­ ship, transform ownership by the collectives into ownership by the whole people, and make a unified plan for production and distribution in industry and agriculture on the basis o f ownership by the whole people for an indivisible nation. Th e contradictions between the productive forces and the production relations unfold without interruption. Relations that once w ere adapted to the productive forces w ill no longer be so after a period o f time. In China, after w e finished organizing the advanced cooperatives, the question o f having both large and small units cam e up in every special district and in every county. In socialist society the form al categories o f distribution ac­ cording to labor, com m odity production, the law o f value, and so forth are presently adapted to the demands o f the produc­ tive forces. But as this developm ent proceeds, the day is sure to com e w hen these form al categories w ill no longer be adapted. At that tim e these categories w ill be destroyed by the developm ent o f the productive forces; their life w ill be over. A re w e to believe that in a socialist society there are econom ic categories that are eternal and unchanging? Are w e to believe that such categories as distribution according to labor and collective ownership are eternal— unlike all other categories, w hich are historical [hence relative]?

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20 . The Socialist Transformation o f Agriculture Cannot Depend Only on Mechanization Page 392 states, ‘T h e m achine and tractor stations are im por­ tant tools for carrying through the socialist transformation in agriculture.” Again and again the text em phasizes how im ­ portant m achinery is for the transformation. But i f the con­ sciousness o f the peasantry is not raised, i f ideology is not transformed, and you are depending on nothing but ma­ chinery— what good w ill it be? T h e question o f the struggle between the two roads, socialism and capitalism, the trans­ form ation and re-education o f people— these are the m ajor questions for C h in a T h e text on page 395 says that in carrying through the tasks o f the early stages o f general collectivization the ques­ tion o f the struggle against hostile rich peasants com es up. This o f course is correct. But in the account the text gives o f rural conditions after the form ation o f cooperatives the ques­ tion o f a prosperous stratum is dropped, nor is there any m ention o f such contradictions as those between the state, the collectives, and individuals, betw een accumulation and consum ption,13 and so forth. Page 402 says, “ U nder conditions o f high tide in the agri­ cultural cooperative m ovem ent the broad masses o f the m id­ dle peasantry w ill not w aver again.” This is too gen eral Th ere is a section o f rich m iddle peasants that is now waver­ in g and w ill do so in the future.

21. So-Called Full Consolidation “ . . . fully consolidated the collective farm system,” it says on page 407. “ Full consolidation"— a phrase to make one un­ easy. T h e consolidation o f anything is relative. H ow can it be “fu ll” ? W hat i f no one died since the beginning o f mankind, and everyone got “ fully consolidated” ? W hat kind o f a world would that be! In the universe, on our globe, all things com e

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into being, develop, and pass away ceaselessly. N one o f them is ever “fu lly consolidated.” Take the life o f a silkworm. N ot only must it pass away in the end, it must pass through four stages o f developm ent during its lifetim e: egg, silkworm, pupa, moth. It must m ove on from one stage to the next and can never fully consolidate itself in any one stage. In the end, the moth dies, and its old essence becom es a new essence (as it leaves behind many eggs). Th is is a qualitative leap. O f course, from eg g to worm, from worm to pupa, from pupa to moth clearly are m ore than quantitative changes. Th ere is qualitative transformation too, but it is partial qualitative transformation. A person, too, in the process o f m oving through life toward death, experiences different stages: childhood, adolescence, youth, adulthood and old age. From life to death is a quantitative process for people, but at the same tim e they are pushing forward the process o f partial qualitative change. It would be absurd to think that from youth to old age is but a quantitative increase without quali­ tative change. Inside the human organism cells are cease­ lessly dividing, old ones dying and vanishing, new ones em erging and growing. At death there is a com plete qualita­ tive change, one that has com e about through the preceding quantitative changes as w ell as the partial qualitative changes that occur during the quantitative changes. Quanti­ tative change and qualitative change are a unity o f opposites. W ithin the quantitative changes there are partial qualitative changes. One cannot say that there are no qualitative changes w ithin quantitative changes. And w ithin qualitative changes there are quantitative changes. One cannot say that there are no quantitative changes w ithin qualitative changes. In any lengthy process o f change, before entering the final qualitative change, the subject must pass through unin­ terrupted quantitative changes and a good many partial qual­ itative changes. But the final qualitative change cannot com e about unless there are partial qualitative changes and consid­ erable quantitative change. For exam ple, a factory o f a given plant and size changes qualitatively as the m achinery and other installations are renovated a section at a time. T h e inte­

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rior changes even though the exterior and the size do n o t A company o f soldiers is no d ifferen t A fter it has fought a bat­ tle and lost dozens o f men, a hundred-soldier company w ill have to replace its casualties. Fighting and replenishing con­ tinuously— this is how the company goes through uninter­ rupted partial qualitative change. As a result the company continues to develop and harden itself. Th e crushing o f Chiang Kai-shek was a qualitative change w hich cam e about through quantitative change. For example, there had to be a three-and-a-half-year period dur­ in g which his army and political power w ere destroyed a sec­ tion at a time. And, w ithin this quantitative change qualita­ tive change is to be found. Th e W ar o f Liberation w ent through several different stages, and each new stage differed qualitatively from the preceding stages. Th e transformation from individual to collective econom y was a process o f quali­ tative transformation. In our country this process consisted o f mutual aid teams, early-stage cooperatives, advanced cooper­ atives, and people’s comm unes.14 Such different stages o f partial qualitative change brought a collective econom y out o f an individual economy. Th e present socialist econom y in our country is organized through two different form s o f public ownership, ownership by the w hole people and collective ownership. Th is socialist econom y has had its own birth and developm ent W ho would believe that this process o f change has com e to an end, and that w e w ill say, “These two forms o f ownership w ill continue to be fully consolidated for all tim e?” W ho would believe that such formulas o f a socialist society as “distribution according to labor,” “ comm odity production,” and “ the law o f value” are going to live forever? W ho would believe that there is only birth and developm ent but no dying away and transformation and that these form ulas unlike all others are ahistorical? Socialism must make the transition to communism. A t that tim e there w ill be things o f the socialist stage that w ill have to die out. And, too, in the period o f communism there w ill still be uninterrupted developm ent It is quite possible that communism w ill have to pass through a num ber o f dif-

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ferent stages. H ow can w e say that once comm unism has been reached nothing w ill change, that everything w ill con­ tinue “fully consolidated,” that there w ill be quantitative change only, and no partial qualitative change going on all the time. T h e way things develop, one stage leads on to another, ad­ vancing without interruption. But each and every stage has a “ boundary.” Every day w e read from, say, four o’clock and end at seven or e ig h t That is the boundary. As far as socialist ideological rem olding goes, it is a long-term task. But each ideological cam paign reaches its conclusion, that is to say, has a boundary. On the ideological front, w hen w e w ill have com e through uninterrupted quantitative changes and partial qualitative changes, the day w ill arrive when w e w ill be com ­ pletely free o f the influence o f capitalist ideology. At that tim e the qualitative changes o f ideological rem olding w ill have ended, but only to be follow ed by the quantitative changes o f a new quality. Th e construction o f socialism also has its boundary. W e have to keep tabs: for exam ple, what is to be the ratio o f in­ dustrial goods to total production, how much steel is to be produced, how high can the people’s livin g standard be raised, etc.? But to say that socialist construction has a boundary hardly m eans that w e do not want to take the next step, to make the transition to communism. It is possible to divide the transition from capitalism to com m unism into two stages: one from capitalism to socialism, w hich could be called underdeveloped socialism; and one from socialism to communism, that is, from com paratively underdeveloped so­ cialism to com paratively developed socialism, namely, com ­ munism. Th is latter stage may take even longer than the first. But once it has been passed through, m aterial produc­ tion and spiritual prosperity w ill be most ample. People’s communist consciousness w ill be greatly raised, and they w ill be ready to enter the highest stage o f communism. On page 409 it says that after the form s o f socialist pro­ duction have been firm ly established, production w ill steadily and rapidly expand. Th e rate o f productivity w ill clim b stead­

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ily. Th e text uses the term steadily or without interruption a good many times, but only to speak o f quantitative transfor­ mation. There is little m ention o f partial qualitative change.

22 . War and Peace On page 408 it says that in capitalist societies “ a crisis o f surplus production w ill inevitably be created, causing unem­ ployment to increase.” This is the gestation o f war. It is dif­ ficult to believe that the basic principles o f Marxist eco­ nomics are suddenly without effect, that in a world where capitalist institutions still exist war can be fully eliminated. Can it be said that the possibility o f elim inating war for good has now arisen? Can it be said that the possibility o f plying all the world’s wealth and resources to the service o f mankind has arisen? This view is not Marxism, it has no class analysis, and it has not distinguished clearly between conditions under bourgeois and proletarian rule. I f you do not elim inate classes, how can you elim inate war? W e w ill not be the ones to determ ine w hether a world war w ill be waged or not. Even i f a nonbelligerency agreem ent is signed, the possibility o f w ar w ill still exist. W hen imperial­ ism wants to figh t no agreem ent is going to be taken into ac­ count. And, i f it comes, w hether atomic or hydrogen weapons w ill be used is yet another question. Even though chem ical weapons exist, they have not been used in time o f war; con­ ventional weapons w ere used after all. Even if there is no war between the two camps, there is no guarantee war w ill not be waged within the capitalist world. Im perialism may make war on imperialism. Th e bourgeoisie o f one im perialist country may make war on its proletariat. Im perialism is even now w aging war against colony and semicolony. W ar is one form o f class conflict. But classes w ill not be elim inated ex­ cept through war. And w ar cannot be elim inated for good ex­ cept through the elim ination o f classes. I f revolutionary war is not carried on, classes cannot be eliminated. W e do not believe that the weapons o f war can be elim inated without destroying classes. It is not possible. In the history o f class

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societies any class or state is concerned w ith its “position o f strength.” G aining such positions has been history’s inevita­ ble tendency. Arm ed force is the concrete m anifestation o f the real strength o f a class. And as long as there is class an­ tagonism there w ill be armed forces. Naturally, w e are not w ishing for war. W e wish for peace. W e favor m aking the ut­ most effort to stop nuclear w ar and to strive for a m utual nonaggression pact betw een the two camps. T o strive to gain even ten or tw enty years’ peace was what w e advocated lon g ago. I f w e can realize this wish, it would be most beneficial fo r the entire socialist cam p and for China’s socialist con­ struction as well. On page 409 it says that at this tim e the Soviet U nion is no longer encircled by capitalism. Th is m anner o f speaking runs the risk o f lu llin g people to sleep. O f course the present situation has changed greatly from w hen there was only one socialist country. W est o f the Soviet Union there are now the various socialist countries o f Eastern Europe. East o f the So­ viet Union are the socialist countries o f China, Korea, M ongolia, and Vietnam . But the guided m issiles have no eyes and can strike targets thousands or tens o f thousands o f kilo­ m eters away. A ll around the socialist cam p Am erican m ilitary bases are deployed, pointed toward the Soviet U nion and the other socialist countries. Can it be said that the Soviet U nion is no longer inside the ring o f m issiles?

2 3 . Is Unanimity the Motive Force o f Social Development? On page 413 and 417 it says that socialism m akes for the “ solidarity o f unanim ity” and is “ hard as a rock.” It says that unanimity is the “ m otive force o f social developm ent.” Th is recognizes only the unanim ity o f solidarity but not the contradictions w ithin a socialist society, nor that contra­ diction is the m otive force o f social developm ent. O nce it is put this way, the law o f the universality o f contradiction is denied, the laws o f dialectics are suspended. W ithout contra­ dictions there is no m ovem ent, and society always develops

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through movement. In the era o f socialism, contradictions rem ain the m otive force o f social development. Precisely be­ cause there is no unanimity there is d ie responsibility for unity, the necessity to figh t for it. I f there w ere 100 percent unanimity always, then what explains the necessity for per­ severing in w orking for unity?

24. Rights o f Labor Under Socialism On page 414 w e find a discussion o f the rights labor enjoys but no discussion o f labor’s right to run the state, the various enterprises, education, and culture. Actually, this is labor’s greatest right under socialism, the most fundamental right, without which there is no right to work, to an education, to vacation, etc. Th e paramount issue for socialist dem ocracy is: Does labor have the right to subdue the various antagonistic forces and their influences? For exam ple, who controls things like the newspapers, journals, broadcast stations, the cinema? W ho criticizes? These are a part o f the question o f rights. I f these things are in the hands o f right opportunists (w h o are a m inority) then the vast nationwide m ajority that urgently needs a great leap forward w ill find itself deprived o f these rights. I f the cinem a is in the hands o f people like Chung Tien-p’ei,15 how are the people supposed to realize their own rights in that sector? There is a variety o f factions among the people. W ho is in control o f the organs and enterprises bears tremendously on the issue o f guaranteeing the people's rights. I f M arxist-Leninists are in control, the rights o f the vast m ajority w ill be guaranteed. I f rightists or right oppor­ tunists are in control, these organs and enterprises may change qualitatively, and the people’s rights with respect to them cannot be guaranteed. In sum, the people must have the right to manage the superstructure. W e must not take the rights o f the people to mean that the state is to be man­ aged by only a section o f the people, that the people can enjoy labor rights, education rights, social insurance, etc., only under the m anagem ent o f certain people.

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25. Is the Transition to Communism a Revolution ? On page 417 it says, “ U nder socialism there w ill be no class or social group whose interests conflict w ith com m unism and therefore the transition to com m unism w ill com e about w ith­ out social revolution.” Th e transition to com m unism certainly is not a m atter o f one class overthrow ing another. But that does not mean there w ill be no social revolution, because the superseding o f one kind o f production relations by another is a qualitative leap, i.e., a revolution. T h e tw o transform ations— o f individual econom y to collective, and collective econom y to public— in China are both revolutions in the production relations. So to go from socialism ’s “ distribution according to labor” to com ­ m unism ’s “ distribution according to need” has to be called a revolution in the production relations. O f course, “ distribu­ tion according to need” has to be brought about gradually. Perhaps w hen the principal m aterial goods can be adequately supplied w e can begin to carry out such distribution w ith those goods, extending the practice to other goods on the basis o f further developm ent o f the productive forces. Consider the developm ent o f our people’s comm unes. W hen w e changed from basic ownership by the team to basic ownership by the comm une, was a section o f the people likely to raise objections or not? This is a question w ell worth our study. A determ inative condition for realizin g this changeover was that the com m une-owned econom y’s incom e was m ore than h a lf o f the w hole com m une’s total incom e. T o realize the basic com m une-ownership system is generally o f benefit to the m em bers o f the commune. Thus w e estim ate that there should be no objection on the part o f the vast ma­ jority. But at the tim e o f changeover the original team cadres could no longer be relatively reduced under the circum ­ stances. W ould they object to the changeover? Although classes m ay be elim inated in a socialist society, in the course o f its developm ent there are bound to be certain

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problems w ith “ vested interest groups" w hich have grown content with existing institutions and unw illing to change them. For exam ple, i f the rule o f distribution according to labor is in effect they benefit from higher pay for m ore work, and when it cam e tim e to change over to “distribution ac­ cording to need" they could very w ell be uncomfortable with the new situation. Building any new system always necessi­ tates some destruction o f old ones. Creation never comes without destruction. I f destruction is necessary it is bound to arouse some opposition. T h e human animal is queer indeed. N o sooner do people gain some superiority than they assume airs . . . it would be dangerous to ignore this.

26. The Claim That “fo r China There Is No Necessity to Adopt Acute Forms o f Class Struggle” There is an error on page 419. A fter the October Revolution Russia’s bourgeoisie saw that the country’s econom y had suf­ fered severe damage, and so they decided that the proletariat could not change the situation and lacked the strength to maintain its political power. Th ey ju dged that they only had to make the m ove and proletarian political power could be overthrown. At this point they carried out armed resistance, thus com pelling the Russian proletariat to take drastic steps to expropriate their property. At that tim e neither class had much experience. To say that China’s class struggle is not acute is unrealis­ tic. It was fierce enough! W e fought for twenty-two years straight By w aging w ar w e overthrew the rule o f the bourgeoisie’s Nationalist Party, and expropriated bureau­ cratic capital, which amounted to 80 percent o f our entire capitalist economy. Only thus was it possible for us to use peaceful methods to rem old the rem aining 20 percent o f national capital. In the rem olding process w e still had to go through such fierce struggles as the “ three-antis" and the “ five-antis” cam paigns.16 Page 420 incorrectly describes the rem olding o f bourgeois

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industrial and com m ercial enterprises. A fter Liberation the national bourgeoisie was forced to take the road o f social­ ist rem olding. W e brought down Chiang Kai-shek, ex­ propriated bureaucratic capital, concluded the land reform , carried out the “ three-antis” and “ five-antis” cam paigns, and made the cooperatives a w orking reality. W e controlled the markets from the beginning. Th is series o f transform ations forced the national bourgeoisie to accept rem olding step by step. From yet another point o f view , the Com m on Program stipulated that various kinds o f econom ic interests w ere to be given scope. Th is enabled the capitalists to try fo r w hat profits they could. In addition, the constitution gave them the right to a ballot and a living. Th ese things helped the bourgeoisie to realize that by accepting rem olding they could hold onto a social position and also play a certain role in the culture and in the econom y. In jo in t state-private enterprises the capitalists have no real m anagerial rights over the enterprise. Production is cer­ tainly not join tly m anaged by the capitalists and represen­ tatives o f the public. N or can it be said that “ Capital’s exploi­ tation o f labor has been lim ited.” It has been virtually curtailed. T h e text seem s to have m issed the idea that the join tly operated enterprises w e are speaking o f w ere 75 per­ cent socialist. O f course, at present they are 90 percent social­ ist or more. T h e rem olding o f capitalist industry and com m erce has been basically concluded. But i f the capitalists had the chance they would attack us without restraint In 1957 w e pushed back the onslaught o f the r ig h t17 In 1959, through their representatives in the party, they again set in m otion an attack against us.18 Our policy toward the national capitalists is to take them along with us and then to encom pass them. T h e text uses Len in ’s statem ent that state capitalism “ continues the class struggle in another form .” Th is is cor­ rect. (p. 421)

Reading Notes on the Soviet Text 27.

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The Time Period fo r Building Socialism

On page 423 it says that w e “ concluded” the socialist revolu­ tion on the political and ideological fronts in 1957.19 W e w ould rather say that w e w on a decisive victory. On the same page it says that w e w ant to turn China into a strong socialist country w ithin ten to fifteen years. N ow this is som ething w e agree on! Th is m eans that after the second five-year plan w e w ill have to go through another tw o fiveyear plans until 1972 (o r 1969 i f w e strive to beat the sched­ ule by two or three years). In addition to m odernizing in­ dustry and agriculture, science and culture, w e have to m od­ ern ize national defense. In a country such as ours bringing the building o f socialism to its conclusion is a trem endously difficu lt task. In socialist construction w e m ust not speak o f “ early.”

Further Discussion o f the Relationship Between Industrialization and Socialist Transformation 28.

O n page 423 it says that reform o f the system o f ow nership lon g before the realization o f industrialization was a circum ­ stance created by special conditions in C h in a Th is is an error. Eastern Europe, like C h in a “ benefited from the exis­ tence o f the m ighty socialist cam p and the help o f an indus­ trialized country as developed as the Soviet U nion.” T h e question is, w hat was the reason Eastern European countries could not com plete the socialist transform ation in the ow ner­ ship system (in clu d in g agriculture) before industrialization becam e a reality?* Tu rning to the relationship betw een in*Cf. Chapter 28, paragraph 1, of the 1967 edition: Page 423 says, “Given the special conditions in China, before socialist in­ dustrialization became a reality, it was thanks to the existence of the mighty socialist camp and the help of a powerful, highly developed industrial nation like the Soviet Union that the reform of the ownership system (including ag­ riculture) achieved victory.” This is an error. The countries of Eastern

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dustrializadon and socialist transformation, the truth is that in the Soviet Union itself the problem o f ownership was set­ tled before industrialization became a reality. Similarly, from the standpoint o f world history, the bourgeois revolutions and the establishment o f the bourgeois nations cam e before, not after, the Industrial Revolution. T h e bourgeoisie first changed the superstructure and took posses­ sion o f the m achinery o f state before carrying on propaganda to gather real strength. Only then did they push forward great changes in the production relations. W hen the produc­ tion relations had been taken care o f and they w ere on the right track they then opened the way for the developm ent o f the productive forces. T o be sure, the revolution in the pro­ duction relations is brought on by a certain degree o f devel­ opment o f the productive forces, but the m ajor developm ent o f the productive forces always com es after changes in the production relations. Consider the history o f the developm ent o f capitalism. First cam e sim ple coordination, w hich sub­ sequently developed into workshop handicrafts. At this tim e capitalist production relations w ere already taking shape, but the workshops produced without machines. This type o f capi­ talist production relations gave rise to the need for technolog­ ical advance, creating the conditions for the use o f ma­ chinery. In England the Industrial Revolution (late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries) was carried through only after the bourgeois revolution, that is, after the seven­ teenth century. A ll in their respective ways, Germany, France, America, and Japan underwent change in super­ structure and production relations before the vast develop­ m ent o f capitalist industry. It is a general rule that you cannot solve the problem o f ownership and go on to expand developm ent o f the produc­ tive forces until you have first prepared public opinion for the seizure o f political power. Although between the bourgeois

Europe no less than China “had the existence of the powerful socialist camp and the help of as highly developed an industrial nation as the Soviet Union.” Why could they not complete socialist transformation in the owner­ ship system (including agriculture) before industrialization became a reality?

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revolution and the proletarian revolution there are certain d if­ ferences (before the proletarian revolution socialist produc­ tion relations did not exist, w hile capitalist production rela­ tions w ere already beginning to grow in feudal society), basically they are alike.

PART II: CHAPTERS 24-29_________________ 29. Contradictions Between Socialist Production Relations and Productive Forces Page 433 discusses only the “ mutual function” o f the produc­ tion relations and the productive forces under socialism but not the contradictions between them. T h e production rela­ tions include ownership o f the means o f production, the rela­ tions am ong people in the course o f production, and the dis­ tribution system. T h e revolution in the system o f ownership is the base, so to speak. For exam ple, after the entire national econom y has becom e indivisibly ow ned by the w hole people through the transition from collective to people’s ownership, although people’s ownership w ill certainly be in effect for a relatively lon g time, for all enterprises so ow ned im portant problem s w ill remain. Should a central-local division o f au­ thority be in effect? W hich enterprises should be m anaged by whom ? In 1958 in some basic construction units a system o f fixed responsibility for capital investm ent was put into effect. T h e result was a trem endous release o f enthusiasm in these units. W hen the center cannot depend on its own initiative it m ust release the enthusiasm o f the enterprise or the locality. I f such enthusiasm is frustrated it hurts production. W e see then that contradictions to be resolved rem ain in the production relations under people’s ownership. As far as relations am ong people in the course o f labor and the dis­ tribution relations go, it is all the m ore necessary to im prove them unrem ittingly. For these areas it is rather difficu lt to say what the base is. M uch rem ains to be w ritten about human relations in the course o f labor, e.g., concerning the leadership’s adopting egalitarian attitudes, the changing o f

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certain regulations and established practices, “ the two partic­ ipations” [w orker participation in m anagem ent and m anage­ m ent participation in productive labor], “ the three com bina­ tions” [com bining efforts o f cadres, workers, and techni­ cians], etc. Public ownership o f prim itive communes lasted a long tim e, but during that tim e people’s relations to each other underwent a good many changes, all the same, in the course o f labor.

The Transition from Collective to People’s Ownership Is Inevitable

30.

On page 435 the text says only that the existence o f tw o form s o f public ownership is objectively inevitable, but not that the transition from collective to people’s ownership is also objectively inevitable. Th is is an inescapable objective process, one presently in evidence in certain areas o f our country. According to data from C heng An county in H opei province, comm unes grow ing industrial crops are thriving, accumulation levels have been raised to 45 percent,20 and the peasants’ livin g standard is high. Should this situation con­ tinue to develop, i f w e do not let collective ownership becom e people’s ownership and resolve the contradiction, peasant liv­ ing standards w ill surpass those o f the workers to the detri­ m ent o f both industrial and agricultural developm ent On page 438 it says that “ state-managed enterprises are not fundam entally different from cooperatives. . . . there exist two form s o f public ownership. . . . sacred and in ­ violable.” Th ere is no difference between collective and peo­ ple’s ownership w ith reference to capitalism, but the dif­ ference becom es fundam ental within the socialist economy. Th e text speaks o f the two form s o f ownership as “ sacred and inviolable.” Th is is allowable when speaking o f hostile forces, but when speaking o f the process o f developm ent o f public ownership it becom es wrong. N othing can be regarded as unchanging. Ownership by the w hole people itself also has a process o f change. A fter a good many years, after ownership by the people’s

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com m unes has changed into ownership by the w hole people, the w hole nation w ill becom e an indivisible system o f ow ner­ ship by the w hole people. Th is w ill gready spur the develop­ m ent o f the productive forces. For a period o f tim e this w ill rem ain a socialist system o f ownership by the w hole people, and only after another period w ill it be a communist system o f ownership by the w hole people. Thus, people’s ownership itself w ill have to progress from distribution according to labor to distribution according to need.

31. Individual Property On page 439 it says, “ Another part is consum er goods. . . . w hich m ake up the personal property o f the workers.” Th is m anner o f expression tends to m ake people think that goods classified as “ consum er” are to be distributed to the workers as their individual property. Th is is incorrect. O ne part o f consum er goods is individual property, another is public property, e.g., cultural and educational facilities, hospitals, athletic facilities, parks, etc. M oreover, this part is increasing. O f course they are for each w orker to enjoy, but they are not individual property. O n page 440 w e find lum ped together work incom e and savings, housing, household goods, goods fo r individual con­ sumption, and other ordinary equipm ent. Th is is unsatisfac­ tory because savings, housing, etc. are all derived from work­ in g people’s incomes. In too many places this book speaks only o f individual consum ption and not o f social consumption, such as public w elfare, culture, health, etc. Th is is onesided. Housing in our rural areas is far from what it should be. W e must im prove rural dw elling conditions in an orderly fashion.* Residential construction, particularly in cities, should in the m ain use collective sodai forces, not individual ones. I f a socialist sodety does not undertake collective efforts w hat kind o f social­ ism is there in the end? Some say that socialism is m ore con*Only in the 1969 text.

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cem ed w ith m aterial incentives than capitalism. Such talk is sim ply outrageous. H ere the text says that the wealth produced by collective farm s includes individual property as w ell as subsidiary oc­ cupations. I f w e fail to propose transform ing these subsidiary occupations into public ownership, the peasants w ill be peas­ ants forever. A given social system must be consolidated in a given period o f time. But consolidation must have a lim it. I f it goes on and on, the ideology reflectin g the system is bound to becom e rigidified, causing the people to be unable to adjust their thinking to new developm ents. On the same page there is m ention o f integrating individ­ ual and collective interests. It says, "Integration is realized by the follow ing method: a m em ber o f society is com pensated according to the quantity and quality o f his labor so as to sat­ isfy the principle o f individual m aterial interest.” H ere, w ith­ out discussion o f the necessary reservations, the text places individual interest first. Th is is onesided treatm ent o f the principle o f individual m aterial interest. According to page 441, "Pu blic and individual interests are not at odds and can be gradually resolved." Th is is spoken in vain and solves nothing. In a country like ours, i f the con­ tradictions am ong the people are not put to rights every few years, they w ill never get resolved.

Contradiction Is the Motive Force o f Development in a Socialist Society 32.

Page 443, paragraph 5, admits that in a socialist society con­ tradictions betw een the productive forces and the production relations exist and speaks o f overcom ing such contradictions. But by no m eans does the text recognize that contradictions are the m otive force. T h e succeeding paragraph is acceptable; however, under socialism it is not only certain aspects o f human relations and certain form s o f leading the econom y, but also problem s o f the ownership system itself (e.g., the two types o f ow nership) that m ay hinder the developm ent o f the productive forces.

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M ost dubious is the view point in the next paragraph. It says, “ Th e contradictions under socialism are not irrecon­ cilable.” This does not agree w ith the laws o f dialectics, w hich hold that all contradictions are irreconcilable. W here has there ever been a reconcilable contradiction? Some are antagonistic, some are nonantagonistic, but it must not be thought that there are irreconcilable and reconcilable contra­ dictions. U nder socialism * there m ay be no w ar but there is still struggle, struggle am ong sections o f the people; there may be no revolution o f one class overthrow ing another, but there is still revolution. T h e transition horn socialism to comm unism is revolutionary. T h e transition from one stage o f com m u­ nism to another is also. Th en there is technological revolu­ tion and cultural revolution. Com m unism w ill surely have to pass through m any stages and many revolutions. H ere the text speaks o f relying on the “ positive action” o f the masses to overcom e contradictions at the proper time. “ Positive action” should include com plicated struggles. “ U nder socialism there is no class energetically plotting to preserve outm oded econom ic relations.” Correct, but in a so­ cialist society there are still conservative strata and some­ thing like “ vested interest groups.” Th ere still rem ain d if­ ferences betw een m ental and manual labor, city and countryside, w orker and peasant. Although these are not an­ tagonistic contradictions they cannot be resolved without struggle. T h e children o f our cadres are a cause o f discouragem ent Th ey lack experience o f life and o f society, yet their airs are considerable and they have a great sense o f superiority. T h ey have to be educated not to rely on their parents or martyrs o f the past but entirely on them selves. In a socialist society there are always advanced and back­ ward persons, those w ho are steadfastly loyal to the collective effort, diligent and sincere, fresh o f spirit and lively, and *The transcriber of the 1967 text comments that Mao may have meant “under communism.”

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those who are acting for fam e and fortune, for the personal end, for the self, or who are apathetic and dejected. In the course o f socialist developm ent each and every period is bound to have a group that is m ore than w illin g to preserve backward production relations and social institutions. O n many many questions the prosperous m iddle peasants have their own point o f view. They cannot adapt to new develop­ ments, and some o f them resist such developm ents, as proved by the debate over the Eight-W ord Constitution21 with the prosperous peasants o f the Kuangtung rural areas. Page 453, the last paragraph, says, “Criticism and selfcriticism are powerful m otive forces for the developm ent o f socialist society.” This is not the poin t Contradictions are the m otive forces, criticism and self-criticism are the methods for resolving contradictions. 33.

The Dialectical Process o f Knowledge

Page 446, paragraph 2, says that as ownership becom es pub­ lic “people becom e the masters o f the econom ic relations o f their own society,” and are “ able to take hold o f and apply these laws fully and consciously." It should be observed that this requires going through a process. Th e understanding o f laws always begins with the understanding o f a m inority be­ fore it becom es the knowledge o f the majority. It is necessary to go through a process o f practice and study to go horn igno­ rance to knowledge. At the beginning no one has knowledge. Foreknowledge has never existed. People must go through practice to gain results, m eet with failure as problems arise; only through such a process can knowledge gradually ad­ vance. I f you want to know the objective laws o f the develop­ m ent o f things and events you must go through the process o f practice, adopt a M arxist-Leninist attitude, compare suc­ cesses and failures, continually practicing and studying, going through m ultiple successes and failures; m oreover, m e­ ticulous research must be performed. Th ere is no other way to make one’s ow n knowledge gradually conform to the laws. For those who see only victory but not defeat it w ill not be possible to know these laws.

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It is not easy “ to possess and apply these laws fu lly and consciously.” O n page 446 the text quotes Engels. “ O nly at this tim e does the fu lly conscious s e lf begin to create history. For the first tim e to a great extent and to an ever greater ex­ tent people can create the effects they aspire after.” “ Begin to” and “ to an ever greater extent” are relatively accurate. Th e text does not recognize the contradictions betw een appearances and essences. Essences always lie behind ap­ pearances and cannot be disclosed except through appear­ ances. T h e text does not express the idea that for a person to know the laws it is necessary to go through a process. T h e vanguard is no exception.

34. Unions and the Single Leadership System On page 452 w hen speaking o f the m ission o f trade unions, the text does not say that the prim ary task o f the unions is to develop production; it does not discuss ways to strengthen political education; it m erely overem phasizes welfare. Throughout, the text speaks o f “ m anaging production ac­ cording to the principle o f the single-leader system.” AU en­ terprises in capitalist countries put this principle into e ffe c t Th ere should be a basic distinction betw een the principles governing m anagem ent o f socialist and capitalist enterprises. W e in C hina have been able to distinguish our m ethods strictly from capitalist m anagem ent by putting into effect fac­ tory leader responsibility under the guidance o f the party.

from Fundamental Principles and Rules Is N ot the Marxist Method

35. S t a r t in g

From the second chapter on a great many rules are set up. T h e analysis o f capitalist econom y in Das Kapital com ­ m ences w ith appearances, searches out essences, and only then uses the essence to explain the appearance, m aking through this m ethod effective summaries and outlines. But the text does not pursue an analysis. Its com position lacks order. It always proceeds from rules, principles, laws, defin i­ tions, a m ethodology M arxism -Leninism has always opposed.

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T h e effects o f principles and laws must be subjected to analy­ sis and thorough study; only then can principles and laws be derived. Human knowledge always encounters appearances first. Proceeding from there, one searches out principles and laws. Th e text does the opposite. Its m ethodology is deduc­ tive, not analytical According to form al logic, “ People all w ill die. Mr. Chang is a person. Therefore Mr. Chang w ill d ie." This is a conclusion derived from the prem ise that all human beings die. This is the deductive method. For every question the text first gives definitions, w hich it then takes as a m ajor prem ise and reasons from there, failin g to understand that the m ajor prem ise should be the result o f researching a ques­ tion. N ot until one has gone through the concrete research can principles and laws be discovered and proved.

Can Advanced Experience Be Popularized Effortlessly ? 36.

Page 461, paragraph 2, says, “ In a socialist national econom y science’s latest achievem ents, technical inventions, and ad­ vanced experience can be popularized in all enterprises w ith­ out the slightest difficu lty.’’ This is far from necessarily so. In a socialist society there are still “academ ic overlords’’ w ho control the organs o f scientific research and repress new for­ ces. This is why science’s latest achievem ents are not sim ply popularized without the slightest difficulty. Such a m anner o f speaking essentially fails to recognize that there are contra­ dictions within a socialist society. W henever som ething new appears it is bound to m eet with obstacles, perhaps because people are unaccustomed to it or do not understand it, or because it conflicts with the interests o f a particular group. For exam ple, our practices o f close planting and deep furrow ­ in g have no class nature in and o f them selves, yet they have been opposed and resisted by a particular group. O f course, in a socialist society such inhibiting conditions are fun­ damentally different from those in a capitalist society.

Reading Notes on the Soviet Text 37.

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Planning

Page 465 quotes Engels as saying, “ Under socialism it w ill becom e possible to carry out social production according to a predeterm ined plan.” This is correct. In capitalist society equilibrium o f the national econom y is achieved through eco­ nomic crises. In socialist society there is the possibility o f making equilibrium a reality through planning. But let us not deny, because o f this possibility, that knowledge o f the required proportions must com e through a process. H ere the text says, “ Spontaneity and laissez faire are incom patible with public ownership o f the means o f production.” It should not be thought, however, that spontaneity and laissez faire do not exist in a socialist society. Our knowledge o f the laws is not perfect all at once. Actual work tells us that in a given period o f tim e there is such and such a plan by such and such people, or by a different group. N o one can say that one particular group’s plan conform s to the laws. Surely, some plans w ill accord or basically accord, w hile others w ill not or basically w ill not. T o think that knowledge o f the proportions does not require a process— comparison between successes and fail­ ures, a tortuous course o f developm ent— is a metaphysical point o f view. Freedom is the recognition o f necessity, but necessity is not perceived in a glance. Th e world has no natu­ ral sages, nor upon attaining a socialist society does everyone becom e prescient. W hy was not this text on political econ­ om y published at some earlier time? W hy has it been revised tim e and again after its publication? And after all, is not the reason for this that knowledge was im perfect in the past and even now remains so? Take our own experiences— at the beginning w e did not understand how to make socialism work; gradually, through practice, w e cam e to understand a little, but not enough. I f w e think it is enough then nothing w ill be left to do! On page 466 it says that an outstanding feature o f social­ ism is “ the conscious regular m aintaining o f due proportion.”

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This is both a responsibility and a demand, and a difficu lt one to fu lfill. Even Stalin said that the plans o f the Soviet Union could not be regarded as already fu lly reflectin g what the laws demanded. Th e “ regular m aintaining o f due proportion” is at the same tim e the regular appearance o f imbalances. For w hen due proportion is not achieved then the task o f keeping things in proportion arises. In the course o f the developm ent o f a socialist econom y the regular appearance o f im balances requires us to balance things by holding to proportionality and comprehensiveness. For exam ple, as the econom y de­ velops, shortages o f technical personnel and cadres are felt all over, and a contradiction between needs and supply ap­ pears. This in turn spurs us to operate m ore schools and train m ore cadres to resolve this contradiction. It is after the ap­ pearance o f im balances and disproportion that people further understand the objective laws. In planning, i f no accounting is made, i f w e let things run their course, or are overly cautious insisting on everything being foolproof, then our methods w ill not succeed, and as a result proportionality w ill be destroyed. A plan is an ideological form. Ideology is a reflection o f realities, but it also acts upon realities. Our past plans stipu­ lated that no new industry would be built on our coasts, and up to 1957 there was no construction there. W e wasted seven years. Only after 1958 did m ajor construction begin. Th ese past two years have seen great developm ents. Thus, ideologi­ cal form s such as plans have a great effect on econom ic de­ velopm ent and its rate.

Priority Growth in Producing the Means o f Production; Concurrent Promotion o f Industry and Agriculture 38.

On page 466 the problem o f priority growth in producing the means o f production is addressed. Priority growth in producing the m eans o f production is an econom ic rule for expanded reproduction com m on to all

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societies. I f there are no priorities in producing the means o f production in capitalist society there can be no expanded reproduction. In Stalin’s time, due to special emphasis on pri­ ority developm ent o f heavy industry, agriculture was ne­ glected in the plans. Eastern Europe has had similar prob­ lem s in the past few years. Our approach has been to make priority developm ent o f heavy industry the condition for put­ ting into effect concurrent promotion o f industry and agricul­ ture, as w ell as some other concurrent programs, each o f which again has within it a leading aspect. I f agriculture does not make gains few problems can be resolved. It has been four years now since w e proposed concurrent promotion o f industry and agriculture, though it was truly put into e f­ fect in 1960. H ow highly w e regard agriculture is expressed by the quantity o f steel materials w e are allocating to agricul­ ture. In 1959 w e allocated only 590,000 tons but this year (including w ater conservancy construction) w e allocated 1.3 m illion tons. This is truly concurrent promotion o f industry and agriculture. Here the text m entions that between 1925 and 1958 pro­ duction o f the means o f production in the Soviet Union in­ creased 103 times, w hile consum er goods increased 15.6 times. Th e question is, does a ratio o f 103:15.6 benefit the developm ent o f heavy* industry or not? I f w e want heavy in­ dustry to develop quickly everyone has to show initiative and maintain high spirits. And i f w e want that then w e must en­ able industry and agriculture to be concurrently promoted, and the same for ligh t and heavy industry. Provided that w e enable agriculture, light industry, and heavy industry to develop at the same tim e and at a high rate, w e may guarantee that the people’s livelihood can be suitably improved together with the developm ent o f heavy industry. Th e experience o f the Soviet Union, no less than our own, proves that i f agriculture does not develop, i f light industry does not develop, it hurts the developm ent o f heavy industry.

•Only in 1967 text

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39. “Distribution Is Determinative”—An Erroneous View In chapter 20 it says, “ T h e precondition fo r the high tide in state-managed industry was utilizing the workers’ concern for their individual material interest in the developm ent o f so­ cialist production.” In chapter 21 it says, “ Fully carry out eco­ nom ic accounting using the econom ic law o f distribution ac­ cording to labor (a law w hich com bines workers’ individual m aterial interest w ith the interests o f socialist production) to serve an important function in the struggle for national in ­ dustrialization.” In chapter 25 it says, “T lie goals o f socialist production cause workers to be keenly concerned to m ake vigorous efforts to raise production and project personnel to be concerned w ith the fruits o f their own labor, out o f m ate­ rial in terest Th is is a powerful m otive force for the develop­ m ent o f socialist production.” T o make an absolute out o f “concern for individual m aterial interest” in this fashion is bound to entail the danger o f increasing individualism. Page 452 says that the law o f distribution according to labor “ is one o f the determ ining m otive forces for socialist production in that it causes all workers out o f m aterial inter­ est to be concerned for the carrying out o f plans to raise pro­ ductivity.” One cannot help asking, “ I f the fundam ental eco­ nom ic laws o f socialism determ ine the direction o f developm ent o f socialist production, then how does it follow that individual m aterial interest is alleged to be a determ ining m otive force o f production?” T o treat distribution o f con­ sum er goods as a determ ining m otive force is the erroneous view o f distribution as determ inative. M arx said, in his C ri­ tique o f the Gotha Programme, “ Distribution in the first place should be distribution o f the means o f production: in whose hands are the means o f production? Th is is the determ inative question. Distribution o f the means o f production is what de­ term ines distribution o f consum er goods.” To regard distribu­ tion o f consum er goods as the determ ining m otive force is a distortion o f M arx’s correct view and a serious theoretical error.

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40. Politics in Command and Material Incentive Page 452, paragraph 2, places party organization after local econom ic organs; these latter becom e the heads under the direct administration o f the central governm ent Local party organizations cannot take the political lead in those areas, making it virtually impossible for them to m obilize all positive forces sufficiently. T h e text on page 457, although conceding the creative activities o f the masses, nonetheless says, “ One o f the most important conditions for accelerating communist construction is the participation o f the masses in the struggle to fu lfill and overfu lfill plans for national econom ic develop­ m en t” Page 447 also says, “ Initiative o f farm personnel is one decisive factor in developing agriculture.” To regard the mass struggle as “ one important factor” flies in the face o f the principle that the masses are the creators o f history. Under no circum stances can history be regarded as some­ thing the planners rather than the masses create. Im m ediately afterward the text raises this point: “T o begin with, w e must utilize m aterial incentives.” This makes it seem as i f the masses’ creative activity has to be inspired by material interest. At every opportunity the text discusses indi­ vidual m aterial interest as i f it w ere an attractive means for luring people into pleasant prospects. This is a reflection o f the spiritual state o f a good num ber o f econom ic workers and leading personnel and o f the failure to em phasize politicalideological work. U nder such circum stances there is no alter­ native to relying on m aterial incentives. “ From each accord­ in g to his ability, to each according to his labor.” Th e first h a lf o f the slogan means that the very greatest effort must be expended in production. W hy separate the two halves o f the slogan and always speak onesidedly o f material incentive? This kind o f propoganda for m aterial interest w ill make capi­ talism unbeatable!

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41. Balance and Imbalance Page 432, paragraph 1, is mistaken. T h e developm ent o f cap­ italist technology is balanced in certain respects, unbalanced in others. Th e point is that balance and im balance in techno­ logical developm ent is essentially different under capitalism and under socialism. U nder socialism there is balance and im balance; fo r exam ple, in the first period o f Liberation w e had barely over 200 geological project workers, and prospect­ in g was altogether out o f phase w ith the needs o f the devel­ opm ent o f the national economy. A fter several years’ intense efforts the situation was practically rectified w hen fresh im ­ balances arose. At present there is in China an overw helm ing preponderance o f manual labor, a situation quite out o f phase w ith our needs for developing production and raising labor productivity. Th is is w hy w e have to launch a broad techno­ logical revolution and resolve this imbalance. W ith the ap­ pearance o f every new technical departm ent im balance o f technological developm ent is bound to becom e noticeable again. For exam ple, w e are now tackling higher technology so w e are conscious o f the incom patibility o f many things. But this Soviet text not only denies a degree o f balance under capitalism but also a degree o f im balance under socialism. Technology and the econom y both develop in this way. Th e text seem s to be unacquainted w ith the w avelike ad­ vances o f the developm ent o f socialist production and speaks o f the developm ent o f socialist econom y as perfectly linear, free o f dips. This is unthinkable. N o line o f developm ent is straight; it is w ave or spiral shaped. Even our studying has this pattern. Before studying w e do som ething else. A f­ terward w e have to rest for a few hours. W e cannot continue studying as i f there w ere neither day nor night. W e study m ore one day, less the next. M oreover in our daily study sometimes w e find m ore to com m ent upon, sometim es less. Th ese are all w avelike patterns, rising and falling. Balance is relative to imbalance. W ithout im balance there is no balance. Th e developm ent o f all things is characterized by imbalance.

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That is w hy there is a demand for balance. Contradiction be­ tween balance and im balance exists in all parts o f the various areas and departments, forever arising, forever being re­ solved. W hen there is a plan for the first year there has to be one for the next year as w e ll An annual plan requires a quar­ terly plan, w hich in turn requires a m onthly plan. In every one o f the tw elve months contradictions between balance and im balance have to be resolved. Plans constantly have to be revised precisely because new imbalances recur. But the text has not adequately applied the dialectical method to research the various problems. Th e chapter de­ voted to the laws o f planned proportional developm ent o f the national econom y is quite long, yet no m ention is made o f the contradiction between balance and imbalance. Th e national econom y o f a socialist society can have planned proportional developm ent w hich enables imbalances to be regulated. However, im balance does not go away. “ Uneveness is in the nature o f things.” Because private owner­ ship was elim inated it was possible to have planned organiza­ tion o f the economy. Therefore, it was possible to control and utilize consciously the objective laws o f im balance to create many relative tem porary* balances. I f the productive forces run ahead, the production rela­ tions w ill not accord w ith the productive forces; the super­ structure w ill not accord w ith the production relations. At that point the superstructure and d ie production relations w ill have to be changed to accord w ith the productive forces. Between superstructure and production relations, between production relations and productive forces— some say bal­ ance is only relatively attainable, for the productive forces are always advancing, therefore there is always imbalance. Bal­ ance and im balance are two sides o f a contradiction w ithin which im balance is absolute and balance relative. I f this w ere not so, neither the superstructure nor the production rela­ tions, nor the productive forces, could further develop; they ’ Only In the 1969 text.

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would becom e petrified. Balance is relative, im balance abso­ lute. Th is is a universal law w hich I am convinced applies to socialist society. Contradiction and struggle are absolutes; unity, unanimity, and solidarity are transitional, hence rela­ tive. T h e various balances attained in planning are tem po­ rary, transitional, and conditional, hence relative. W ho can im agine a state o f equilibrium that is unconditional, eternal? W e need to use balance and im balance am ong the pro­ ductive forces, the production relations, and the superstruc­ ture as a guideline for researching the econom ic problem s o f socialism. T h e main object o f study in political econom y is the pro­ duction relations. But to study clearly the production rela­ tions it is necessary to study concom itantly the productive forces and also the positive and negative effects o f the super­ structure on the production relations. T h e text refers to the state but never studies it in depth. Th is is one omission. O f course, in the process o f studying political econom y, the study o f the productive forces and the superstructure should not becom e overdeveloped. I f the study o f the productive forces goes too far it becom es technology and natural science. I f the study o f the superstructure goes too far it becom es nation-state theory, class struggle theory. U nder the heading o f socialism (on e o f M arxism ’s three com ponent parts) what w e study are: theories o f class struggle, theories o f the state, theories o f revolution and the party, as w ell as m ilitary strategies and tactics, etc. Th ere is nothing in the world that cannot be analyzed. But circum stances d iffer and so do essences. Many fun­ damental categories and laws— e.g., unity o f contra­ diction— are applicable. I f w e study problems in this way, i f w e observe problems in this way, w e w ill then have a solid, integral w orldview and methodology.

42. “Material Incentives” Page 486 says, “ In the socialist stage labor has not yet be­ com e the primary necessity in the lives o f all m em bers o f so­

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ciety, and therefore m aterial incentives to labor have the greatest significance.” H ere “ all m em bers” is too general. Lenin was a m em ber o f the society. Had his labor not be­ com e a “primary necessity” o f his life? Page 486 raises this point: there are two kinds o f individ­ uals in socialist society, the great m ajority who faithfully dis­ charge their duties and the few who are dishonest about their duties. This is correctly analyzed. But i f w e want to bring around this latter group w e can not rely exclusively on m ate­ rial incentives. W e still have to criticize and educate them to raise their consciousness. This section o f the text speaks o f workers who are com ­ paratively diligent and positive. Conditions being equal, these are the ones who w ill produce more. Plainly, w hether a worker is diligent and enthusiastic or not is determ ined by political consciousness, not by the level o f technical or cul­ tural expertise. Some whose technical and cultural level is high are nonetheless neither diligent nor enthusiastic; others whose level is low er are quite diligent and enthusiastic. T h e reason lies in the low er political consciousness o f the form er, the higher political consciousness o f the latter. Th e book says that m aterial incentive to labor “ spurs in­ creases in production” and “ is one o f the decisive factors in stim ulating the developm ent o f production.” But m aterial in­ centive does not necessarily change every year. People may not require such incentive daily, monthly, or yearly. In times o f difficulty w hen incentives are reduced people must still carry on, and that satisfactorily. By m aking m aterial incentive a onesided absolute the text fails to give due im portance to raising consciousness, and cannot explain why there are dif­ ferences am ong the labor o f people in the same pay scale. For exam ple, in scale no. 5,22 one group may carry on very w ell, another rather poorly, and a third tolerably w ell on the whole. W hy, w ith sim ilar m aterial incentive, such differences occur is inexplicable according to their way o f reasoning. Even i f the im portance o f m aterial incentive is recog­ nized, it is never the sole principle. Th ere is always another principle, nam ely, spiritual inspiration from political ideology.

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And, w hile w e are on the subject, m aterial incentive can not simply be discussed as individual in terest Th ere is also the collective interest to w hich individual interest should be sub­ ordinated, long-term interests to w hich tem porary interests should be subordinated, and the interests o f the w hole to w hich partial interests should be subordinated. In the section ‘‘ M aterial Incentives to Labor, Socialist Em ulation,” there are some fairly w ell w ritten passages con­ cerning emulation. W hat is m issing is the discussion o f poli­ tics! First, don’t work people to death. Second, don’t ruin their health, but even bring about gradual strengthening. Th ese two points are basic. As for other things, i f w e can have them, fine, i f not, w ell and good! W e want the people to have some consciousness. T h e text seem s to lay almost no em pha­ sis on the future, the generations to com e, only em phasizing m aterial interest, constandy taking the road o f m aterial inter­ est and rashly turning it into the principle o f individual inter­ est, as i f it were a m agic wand. W hat they do not say is that individual interest w ill be sat­ isfied w hen the interests o f the w hole people are satisfied. T h e individual m aterial interest they em phasize is in reality m yopic individualism , an econom ists tendency from the period o f proletarian class struggle against capitalism m ani­ festing itself in the period o f socialist construction. During the era o f bourgeois revolutions a num ber o f bourgeois revo­ lutionaries made heroic sacrifices for the interests o f their class and future generations o f their class, but certainly not for im m ediate individual interest. W hen w e w ere in the base areas w e had a free [nonmarket] supply system.23 People w ere tougher then, and there was no w rangling at all on account o f seeking preferen­ tial treatm ent A fter liberation w e had a w age system, and agreed upon scales, but our problems only m ultiplied. M any people w rangled frequently in a struggle for status, and w e had to do a lot o f persuading. Our party has w aged w ar for over twenty years without

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letup. For a long time w e made a nonmarket supply system work. O f course at that tim e the entire society o f the base areas was not practicing the system. But those who made the system work in the civil w ar period reached a high o f several hundred thousand, and at the lowest still numbered in the tens o f thousands. In the W ar o f Resistance Against Japan the num ber shot up again from over a m illion to several m il­ lions. Right up to the first stage o f Liberation our people lived an egalitarian life, w orking hard and fighting bravely, w ith­ out the least dependence on material incentives, only the in­ spiration o f revolutionary spirit. At the end o f the second period o f the civil war w e suffered a defeat, although w e had victories before and after. This course o f events had nothing at all to do w ith w hether w e had material incentives or n o t It had to do with w hether or not our political line and our m ili­ tary line w ere correct. These historical experiences have the greatest significance for solving our problems o f socialist con­ struction. Chapter 26 says, “ W orkers in socialist enterprises who, out o f m aterial interest, are concerned w ith the results o f their ow n work are the m otive forces developing socialist production.” (p. 482) Chapter 27 says, “ Compensation for skilled labor is com ­ paratively high. . . . And this stimulates workers to raise their cultural and technical level, causing the essential dif­ ference between manual and m ental labor to dim inish.” (pp. 501-03) Th e point here is that higher compensation for skilled labor has spurred unskilled workers to upgrade them selves continuously so they can enter the ranks o f skilled work­ ers. This means that they studied culture and technology in order to earn m ore money. In a socialist society every person entering school to study culture and technology should rec­ ognize before anything else that they are studying for social­ ist construction, for industrialization, to serve the people, for the collective interest, and not above all for a higher wage. Chapter 28 says, “ Distribution according to labor is the

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greatest force propelling the developm ent o f production." (p. 526) And at the end o f this page, after explaining that w ages rise steadily under socialism, the unrevised third edition o f this textbook even goes so far as to say, “ Socialism is fun­ damentally superior to capitalism precisely in this." N ow to say that socialism is fundam entally superior to capitalism because wages steadily rise is very wrong. W ages are dis­ tribution o f consumer goods. I f there is no distribution o f the means o f production, there can be no distribution o f the goods produced, o f consumer goods. Th e latter is predicated on the former.

43. Interpersonal Relations in Socialist Enterprises Page 500 says, “ Under socialism the prestige o f econom ic leaders is contingent upon the trust the masses have in them .” This is w ell said indeed. But to reach this goal it w ill take work. In our experience, i f cadres do not set aside their pretensions and identify with the workers, the workers w ill never look on the factory as their own but as the cadres’. “ Master-of-the-house” attitudes make the workers reluctant to observe labor discipline in a self-conscious way. Do not think that under socialism creative cooperation between the workers and the leadership o f the enterprises w ill em erge all by itself without the need to work at it. I f manual workers and enterprise leaders are both members o f a unified production collective then “ why do so­ cialist enterprises have to put ‘single leadership’ into effect rather than leadership under collective guidance” i.e., the system o f factory head responsibility under party com m ittee guidance? It is when politics is weakened that there is no choice but to talk about material incentive. That is why the text follow s right up w ith “ fully putting into effect the principle o f having workers deeply concerned with the results o f their own labor out o f individual material interest is the m ainspring for pro­ gressively grasping and raising socialist production.”

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44. Crash Programs, Accelerated Work Page 505 says, “ Do away with the phenomenon o f acceler­ ated work. Carry on production in a well-balanced way ac­ cording to the blueprints.” In the unrevised third edition this sentence reads, “ W e must fight against ‘crash programs’ and work in a well-balanced way according to predeterm ined schedules.” This utter repudiation o f crash programs and accelerated work is too absolute. W e can not com pletely repudiate crash programs. Th eir use or nonuse constitutes a unity o f opposites. In nature there are gende breezes and light rains, and there are high winds and violent rains. Use o f crash programs appears and disappears, wavelike. In the technological revolution in pro­ duction the need for them continually arises. In agriculture w e must grapple with the seasons. Th e drama must have its climax. T o gainsay crash programs is in reality to deny the climax. Th e Soviet Union wants to overtake the United States. W e expect to reach the Soviet’s level in less time than it took the Soviets. That is a kind o f crash program. Socialist emulation means that the backward overtakes the advanced. This is possible only through crash programs. Relations between individuals, between units, between en­ terprises, as w ell as between nations, are all competitive. I f one wants to overtake the advanced, one cannot help having crash programs. I f construction or revolution is attacked with executive orders (e.g., carrying out land reform or organizing cooperatives by administrative order) there is bound to be a reduction in production because the masses w ill not have been mobilized, and not because o f crash programs.

45. The Law o f Value and Planning On page 521 there is a small print passage that is correct; it is critical, it joins the issues. The law o f value serves as an instrument o f planning. Good. But the law o f value should not be made the main

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basis o f planning. W e did not carry through the Great Leap on the basis o f the demands o f the law o f value but on the basis o f the fundamental econom ic laws o f socialism and the need to expand production. I f things are narrowly regarded from the point o f view o f the law o f value the Great Leap would have to be ju dged not worth the losses and last year’s all-out effort to produce steel and iron as wasted labor. T h e local steel produced was low in quantity and quality, and the state had to make good many losses. T h e econom ic results w ere not significant, etc. T h e partial short-term view is that the campaign was a loss, but the overall long-term view is that there was great value to the cam paign because it opened wide a whole econom ic construction phase. Throughout the country many new starts in steel and iron w ere made, and many industrial centers w ere built. This enabled us to step up our pace greatly. In the w inter o f 1959 over 75 m illion people were working on water conservancy nationwide. T h e method o f organizing two large-scale campaigns could be used to solve our basic water conservancy problems. From the standpoint o f one, two, or three years the value o f the grain to pay for so much labor was naturally quite high. But in the longer view the campaign could considerably increase grain production and accelerate it too, and stabilize agricultural production, and so the value o f com m odities per unit gains. A ll this then goes toward satisfying the people’s need for grain. Th e continuing developm ent o f agriculture and ligh t in­ dustry creates further accumulation for heavy industry. This too benefits people in the long run. So long as the peasants and the people o f the entire country understand what the state is doing, w hether m oney is gained or lost, they are bound to approve and not oppose. From among the peasants them selves the slogan o f supporting industry has been put forward. There is the proof! Stalin as w ell as Lenin said, “ In the period o f socialist construction the peasantry must pay tribute to the state.” Th e vast m ajority o f China’s peasants is “ sending tribute” with a positive attitude. It is only among the prosperous peasants and the m iddle peasants, some 15

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percent o f the peasantry, that there is any discontent They oppose the w hole concept o f the Great Leap and the people’s communes. In sum, w e put plans ahead o f prices. O f course w e can­ not ignore prices. A few years ago w e raised the purchase price for live pigs, and this had a positive effect on pigbreed­ ing. But for the kind o f large-scale, nationwide breeding w e have today, planning remains the main thing w e rely on. Page 521 refers to the problem o f pricing in the markets o f collective farms. T h eir collective farm markets have too much freedom. It is not enough to use only state econom ic power to adjust prices in such markets. Leadership and con­ trol are also necessary. In our markets, during the first stage, prices w ere kept within certain bounds by the governm ent Thus small liberties w ere kept from becom ing big ones. Page 522 says, “ Thanks to our command o f the law o f value, the kind o f anarchy in production or waste o f social labor power the law entails under capitalism is not found in a socialist econom y.” This makes too much o f the effects o f the law o f value. In socialist society crises do not occur, m ainly because o f the ownership system: the basic laws o f socialism, national planning o f production and distribution, the lack o f free com petition or anarchy, etc., and not because w e com­ mand the law o f value. Th e econom ic crises o f capitalism, it goes without saying, are determ ined by the ownership sys­ tem too.

46. Forms o f Wages Page 530, in its discussion o f w age forms, advocates taking piecework w ages as primary and the time-rate as supplemen­ tary. W e do the reverse. Onesided emphasis on piece rates is bound to create contradictions between older and younger, stronger and w eaker laborers, and w ill foster am ong the workers a psychology o f “ going for the big ones.” This makes the primary concern not the collective cause but the individ­ ual income. Th ere is even evidence that the piece-rate w age system im pedes technological innovation and m echanization.

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T h e book concedes that with automation, piece-rate w ages are unsuitable. On the one hand they say they want automation w idely developed; on the other they say they want piece-rate w ages used widely. This involves a contra­ diction. W e have put into effect the time-rate system, plus re­ wards. Th e year-end “ leap forward” bonuses o f the last two years are an example. W ith the exception o f governm ental and educational workers, all staff and workers have had yearend leap forward bonuses in varying amounts determ ined by the staff and workers them selves in the particular units.

47. Two Questions About Prices Th ere are two questions that deserve study. Th e first is the pricing o f consum er goods. T h e text says, “ Socialism has all along been putting into practice a policy o f low ering the prices o f consum er goods for the people.” Our approach is to stabilize prices, generally neither lettin g them rise nor low ering them. Although our w age levels are com ­ paratively low, universal em ploym ent and low prices and rents have kept the livin g standard o f staff and workers de­ cent enough. In the last analysis w hether it is preferable to keep low ering prices or neither to raise nor low er them is a problem deserving study. Th e other question concerns pricing o f products o f heavy and ligh t industry. Relatively speaking, they have low prices for the form er, and higher ones for the latter. W e do the re­ verse. W hy? W hich is the better way in the last analysis is another problem deserving study.

PART III: CHAPTERS 30-34________________ 48. Concurrent Promotion o f the Foreign and the Native, the Large, Medium, and Small Page 547 expresses opposition to dispersing construction funds. I f they mean that not too many m ajor projects should

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be undertaken at one tim e lest none can be com pleted on schedule, then o f course w e agree. But i f the conclusion is to be that during m ajor construction small- and medium-scale projects should be opposed, then w e disagree. Th e principal new industrial centers in China w ere established on the basis o f medium- and small-scale enterprises developed in large numbers in 1958. According to initial arrangements in the steel and iron industry, construction o f twenty-nine large, nearly a hundred medium, and several hundred small-scale centers w ill be com pleted over the next eight years. Th e m e­ dium- and small-scale ones have already had a m ajor effect on the steel and iron industry. Speaking from the standpoint o f 1959, raw iron production nationwide has exceeded 20 m illion tons, h a lf o f w hich was produced by medium- and small-scale enterprises. In the future the medium- and the small-scale enterprise w ill continue to have m ajor importance for the developm ent o f the steel and iron industry. Many small ones w ill becom e medium, many medium, large; back­ ward ones w ill becom e advanced, local models w ill becom e like foreign ones— this is the objective law o f developm ent W e w ill adopt advanced technology, but this cannot gain­ say the necessity and the inevitability o f backward technol­ ogy for a period o f time. Since history began, revolutionary wars have always been won by those whose weapons w ere d eficien t lost by those with the advantage in weapons. Dur­ in g our civil war, our W ar o f Resistance Against Japan, and our W ar o f Liberation, w e lacked nationwide political power and m odernized arsenals. I f one cannot figh t unless one has the most m odem weapons, that is the same as disarm ing one’s self. Our desire to make all-around m echanization such as the text describes a reality (p. 420) in our second decade appears still short o f fulfillm ent; probably it w ill be in our third de­ cade. In a future time, because o f inadequate machinery, w e w ill be calling for partial m echanization and im provem ent o f our tools. For now w e are holding o ff on general automation. M echanization has to be discussed, but with a sense o f pro­ portion. I f m echanization and automation are made too much o f it is bound to make people despise partial m echanization

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and production by native methods. In the past w e had such diversions, when everybody was dem anding new technology, new machinery, the large scale, high standards; the native, the medium, or small in scale w ere held in contempt. W e did not overcom e this tendency until w e promoted concurrently native and foreign, large and medium and small. At the present tim e w e have not proposed chem icalization o f agriculture. O ne reason is that w e do not expect to be able to produce much fertilizer in the next how ever many years. (And the little w e have is concentrated on our industrial crops.) Another reason is that i f the turn to chem icals is proposed everybody w ill focus on that and neglect pigbreed­ ing. Inorganic fertilizers are also needed but they have to be combined with organic; alone they harden the soil. Th e text speaks o f adopting new techniques in every de­ partm ent But this is not so easy to do. There must always be a process o f gradual development. M oreover, even as some new m achine is being adopted many old ones remain. T h e text is correct when it says that as you build new enterprises and renew equipm ent in existing factories, you should put existing m achinery and m echanical equipm ent to use ra­ tionally and to the fullest extent, (p. 427) Things w ill be no different in the future. As to the “large” and the “foreign,” w e must work on these in a spirit o f “ self reliance for new growth.” In 1958 w e proposed slogans on ridding ourselves o f superstition and working with our own hands. Th e facts show that w orking on our own is quite feasible. In the past backward capitalist countries relied on the application o f new techniques to catch up with advanced capitalist countries in production. Th e So­ viet Union likewise relies on the application o f advanced technology to catch up with the capitalist countries. W e too must do the same, and w e can.

49. Which First, Tractors or Cooperatives? Page 563 says, “ In 1928 on the even o f overall collectivization, spring crop areas w ere tilled 99 percent with wood or horsedrawn ploughs.” This fact refutes the text's repeated asser­

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tion that "tractors must precede cooperatives." On the same page w e find, "Socialist production relations cleared a w ide field for the developm ent o f agricultural productive forces and progress in agricultural technology." That is true. First the production relations have to be changed, then and only then the productive forces can be broadly devel­ oped. This rule is universal. In some countries o f Eastern Europe the cooperatives w ere not organized very energeti­ cally, and even today they rem ain uncompleted. T h e main reason is not that they lacked tractors (th ey had many m ore than we, comparatively speaking) but that their land reform was a top-down royal favor. Land was expropriated by quota (in some countries no expropriation was carried out on farm s under 100 hectares); the work o f expropriation was carried out by executive order; and after the land reform instead o f striking w hile the iron was hot they let a fu ll five or six years go by without doing much. W e did quite the reverse. W e put a mass lin e24 into effect, roused the poor and lower-m iddle peasants to launch class struggle and seize all the land o f the landlord class and distribute the surplus land o f rich peas­ ants, apportioning land on a per-capita basis. (T h is was a tremendous revolution in the rural areas.) Im m ediately af­ terward, w e follow ed up w ith the mutual aid and cooperative movements. And from that point, steadily advancing step by step, w e led the peasants on to the road to socialism. W e had a massive party and army. W hen our forces w ent south a fu ll com plem ent o f cadre squads had been set in place in every province to do local work at provincial, regional, county, and district levels. As soon as our forces would arrive they would penetrate deeply into the agricultural villages, “ paying call on the poor to learn o f their grievances," "striking roots and pulling things together,” and getting the active elem ents o f the poor and low er m iddle peasants organized. 50.

Two Goals: Large and Public

Th e collective farm s o f the Soviet Union have undergone m erger twice. O ver 250,000 farms w ere m erged into over 93,000, then these w ere again m erged into about 70,000. In

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the future they w ill surely expand again. Th e text says (p. 568), “W e must strengthen and develop the produc­ tion relations o f the various collective farms and organize publicly used production enterprises among the collective farm s.” Here, actually, there are many sim ilarities to our own methods, they simply express things differently. In the fu ­ ture, even if their approach is like ours, it appears doubtful they w ill use the term commune. D ifferences in expression and term inology do include a substantive issue, namely, w hether or not a mass line is being put into e ffe c t T o be sure, the large scale o f the Soviet Union’s collective farms may never approach ours in terms o f households and population because their rural population is sparse and their land area great. But who can say that for this reason their collective farms now need no further expansion? In places like Sinkiang and Ch’inghai the communes still need to en­ large even though there are few people for much land. Some counties in our southern provinces (e.g., northern Fukien) got large communes together under like conditions. Enlarging the comm unes is a m ajor issue. Changes in quantity are bound to bring on changes in quality, to stimu­ late such changes. Our people’s communes are a good ex­ ample— “ Large! and Public!” First com es “ Large!”— it w ill raise the level o f “ Public.” This means that quantitative changes bring on partial qualitative changes.

What Is the Fundamental Reason fo r the Special Emphasis on Material Interest 51.

In the chapter on the collective farm system there is contin­ ual discussion o f individual m aterial interest, (pp. 565, 571, etc.) Th e present special emphasis on material interest is for a reason. In the tim e o f Stalin there was excessive emphasis on collective interest; individual gain was neglected. T h e public was overem phasized, the private underemphasized. N ow they have gone to the opposite extrem e, overem pha­ sizing material incentive, neglecting collective in terest And i f they persist in this course it w ill surely go to the opposite side again.

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“ Public” is in relation to “ private,” and vice-versa, a unity o f opposites. O ne without the other is impossible. W e have always spoken o f join t consideration o f public and private and long ago m ade the point that there is no such thing as all the one or the other, but that the public takes precedence over the private. T h e individual is a part o f the collective. I f the collective interest advances, the individual’s lot w ill im prove in consequence. Duality is an attribute o f all things, and for all time. O f course, duality is m anifested through different concrete forms, and so the character o f things varies. H eredity and mutation are a duality o f opposites in unity. I f there w ere only the latter without the form er the succeeding generation would be utterly unlike the prior. R ice would no longer be that w hich makes it rice, nor dogs, nor people. T h e conserva­ tive side can have a good, a positive function. It can give liv­ in g things in the midst o f uninterrupted change a provisional constancy or stability. So, im proved rice is still rice. But he­ redity without mutation would m ean no advance, and devel­ opm ent would com e to a halt. 52.

It Is fo r the People to Act

Page 577 says, “ C ollective farm s offer the natural and eco­ nom ic conditions for allow ing differential rent to be arranged.” D ifferential rent is not altogether determ ined by objective conditions. Actually the m atter rests w ith the peo­ ple’s doing. For exam ple, in H opei province there are many m echanized w ells along the Peking-Hankow Railway, but very few along the Tientsin-Pukow. T h e natural conditions are similar, the com m unications equally convenient, but land im provem ents are never the same from place to place. Th ere may have been reasons w hy the one locale was receptive (o r unreceptive) to im provem ent, or there m ight have been vary­ in g historical reasons. But after all, the main thing is that it is for people to act. W hile w e are on the subject, some o f the outlying dis­ tricts o f Shanghai are able to breed pigs properly, others not. In Ch’ung M in g county it was originally thought that certain

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natural conditions, e.g., the large num ber o f lakes, would not be favorable for pigbreeding. But after getting rid o f people's fears o f difficulties, and after people adopted a positive atti­ tude toward the business o f breeding, it was realized that far from presenting an obstacle, these very natural conditions of­ fered advantages. Actually, w hether it is a m atter o f deep ploughing, fine horticulture, m echanization, or collectiviza­ tion, it is for people to act. C h’ang P ’in g county, Peking, has always been plagued by flood and drought. But things changed after the construction o f the reservoir at the M in g Tombs. Does not this again illus­ trate that it is for people to act? In Honan they are planning after 1959 and 1960 to spend another three years to tam e the Yellow R iver by com pleting construction o f several large-scale conduits. A ll this shows again that it is for people to act. 53.

Transport and Commerce

Transport and packaging do not increase use value, but they do increase value. T h e labor they use is a part o f socially nec­ essary labor. For without transportation and packaging the process o f production would rem ain incom plete, would not enter the stage o f consumption, and the use value produced could not be said to have been realized. Take coal. A fter the ore is mined, i f it is left around the site and not delivered to the consum er by rail, steamer, or truck, its use value is com ­ pletely unrealizable. Page 585 says that they have two systems o f com m erce, state-operated and cooperative. In addition, they have “ un­ organized m arkets," Le., the collective farm markets. W e have only one system. W e m erged the cooperative trade into the state-operated trade, and the system now seem s easy enough to run. T h ere are lots o f econom ies on all sides. Page 587 refers to public supervision o f com m erce. For this w e rely on party guidance in the m ain; w ith politics in command there is supervision by the masses. T h e labor o f com m ercial workers is socially necessary and without it pro-

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duction cannot culm inate in consum ption (in clu d in g pro­ ductive consum ption and individual consum ption).

54. Concurrent Promotion o f Industry and Agriculture Page 623 discusses the rule o f givin g priority to increasing the m eans o f production. T h e unrevised third edition m en­ tions particularly here, “ givin g priority to increasing the m eans o f production m eans that industry w ill develop at a faster rate than agriculture.” “ Industry developing faster than agriculture” has to be posed in an appropriate way. O ne cannot em phasize in ­ dustry to an inappropriate degree or trouble is sure to occur. Take our Liaoning: w ith its m any industries, this province has an urban population that is one-third the total. In the past they had always put industry in first place, w ithout at­ tending at the sam e tim e to the vigorous developm ent o f agri­ culture. T h e result was that the province's agriculture could not guarantee supplies o f grain, meats, and vegetables for the urban markets, and they always had to ship these item s in from other provinces. T h e key issue is that agricultural labor is under great strain and is short o f needed m achinery. Th is lim its the developm ent o f production; growth is compara­ tively slow. W h at w e had failed to understand was that it was precisely in such places as the Northeast, particularly Liao­ ning, w here w e should have taken firm hold o f agriculture. So one cannot em phasize only taking firm hold o f industry. O ur position is that industry and agriculture should be developed together w ith priority given to developing heavy in ­ dustry. T h e phrase “ concurrent prom otion” in no way denies priority in growth or faster developm ent o f industry than agri­ culture. A t the same tim e, “ concurrent prom otion” is not equal utilization o f our strength. F or exam ple, this year w e estim ate w e can produce about 14 m illion tons o f steel m ate­ rials, o f w hich 10 percent is to be applied to agricultural tech­ nological transform ation and w ater conservancy construc­ tion. T h e rem aining 90 percent is to be used m ainly in heavy

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industry and com m unications and transportation construc­ tion. U nder this year’s conditions this is concurrent prom o­ tion o f industry and agriculture. Th is should not be detrim en­ tal to priority growth o f heavy industry or accelerating developm ent o f industry.* Poland has 30 m illion people, but only 450,000 pigs. N ow m eat supplies are badly strained. Even today it would seem that Poland has not placed agricultural developm ent on its agenda Page 624 says, “ A t differen t tim es it is necessary to accel­ erate the developm ent o f backward agriculture, ligh t indus­ try, and the food industry.” W ell and good, but im balances and m aladjustm ents created by backwardness in agriculture and ligh t industry cannot be alleged to be m erely “ partial im balances and m aladjustm ents.” Th ese are questions o f the totality. Page 625 says, “ Rational allocation o f capital is necessary to maintain, at w hatever tim e, correct proportions betw een heavy and ligh t industry.” Th is paragraph speaks only o f heavy and ligh t industry, not o f industry and agriculture. 55.

Standards fo r Accumulation

Th is has becom e a m ajor issue in Poland. At the start Gomulka em phasized m aterial incentive. H e raised w orkers’ w ages but neglected to raise their consciousness, w ith the result that workers thought only o f m aking m ore m oney but did not take the right spirit to their tasks. Increases o f w ages outstripped increases in productivity, and w ages w ere eating up capital. T h e pressure has now forced them to com e out in opposition to m aterial incentive and to cham pion spiritual in­ spiration. Gom ulka has even said, “ M oney cannot buy peo­ ple’s m inds.” Overem phasis on m aterial incentive always seem s to lead to the opposite. W ritin g lots o f checks naturally keeps the high-salary strata happy, but w hen the broad masses o f work­ * Agriculture in the 1967 text.

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ers and peasants w ant to cash in and find they cannot, the pressure to go to the “ spiritual” is no surprise. According to what is described on page 631, in the Soviet U nion accum ulated capital amounts to one-fourth o f the na­ tional incom e. In China the figures w ere as follows: 27 per­ cent in 1957, 36 percent in 1958, 42 percent in 1959, and it appears that in the future it w ill be possible to m aintain regu ­ larly a figu re o f over thirty percent. T h e m ain problem lies in the vast developm ent o f production. O nly i f production in­ creases and the percentages o f accum ulation go up a bit can people’s livelihoods be finally improved. It is our regular responsibility to practice econom ies and to accum ulate large amounts o f m aterials and wealth. It would be w rong to think that this should be done only in ad­ verse conditions. It is difficu lt to believe that w hen hardships ease econom ies and accum ulation are not needed.

P A R T IV : C H A P T E R 3 5 T O T H E C O N C L U S I O N ________________________ 56.

The Communist State

Page 639 says, “ In the higher stages o f comm unism the state w ill becom e unnecessary and gradually dim inish.” Nonetheless this w ill require certain international conditions. I f som eone else has state m achinery and you do not, it is dan­ gerous. Page 640 says that even after com m unism is es­ tablished, as long as im perialist countries exist, the state w ill continue to be necessary. Th is position is correct. Im m edi­ ately after, the book says, “ But the nature and the form o f such a state w ill be determ ined by the particular features o f the com m unist system .” Th is sentence is hard to understand. Th e nature o f the state is that it is a m achinery for suppres­ sing the opposed forces. Even i f such a function is no longer needed internally, the coercive nature o f the state w ill not have changed w ith respect to external opposing forces. T h e so-called form o f the state m eans nothing m ore than armed

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forces, prisons, arrests, executions, etc. As lon g as im perial­ ism still exists, w hat differences in form w ill there be w hen com m unism is reached? 57.

Transition to Communism

Page 641 says, “ In a socialist society there are no antagonis­ tic classes,” but “ there are still vestiges o f antagonistic classes.” T h e transition from socialism to com m unism need not be m ade a reality through social revolution. A ll that can be said is that there is no need for a social revolution in w hich one class overthrows another, but there w ill be a social revolution in w hich new production relations and social insti­ tutions supersede old ones. H ere the text goes on to declare, “ Th is certainly does not mean that society, as it develops along the road to com m u­ nism, w ill not need to conquer internal contradictions.” T h is declaration is m erely incidental. Thou gh there are places w here this text recognizes contradictions, it does so only in ­ cidentally. O ne thing m issing from this text is that it does not proceed from the analysis o f contradictions in explaining is­ sues. As a branch o f science, political econom y should begin its analysis w ith contradictions. W hen a com m unist society is attained, labor discipline is bound to be even m ore strict than it is presently because the high level o f automation w ill require ever higher exactitude o f people’s labor and conduct. For now w e are speaking o f com m unist society as divided into two stages, a low er and a higher. Th is is w hat M arx and his circle foresaw based on conditions o f social developm ent at that time. A fter en terin g the high er stage com m unist soci­ ety w ill develop into a new stage, and new goals and tasks w ill assuredly present them selves.

The Future Development o f Collective Ownership 58.

Page 650 says, “ T h e production relations o f the collective farm s and the cooperatives have form s w hich accord fu lly

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w ith the present level and the present needs o f the produc­ tive forces in the rural areas.” I wonder i f this is indeed true. Introducing the Red O ctober collective farm, a Soviet ar­ ticle says, “ Before m erger, some farm s w ere difficu lt to man­ age in a good many respects. Afterward the problems cleared up.” Th e article says that the farm has a population o f ten thousand and that a housing project for three thousand resi­ dents is planned. Th is suggests that the present form o f the farm is no longer fully com patible w ith the developm ent o f the productive forces. T h e same passage says, “ W e must bend every effort to strengthening and further developing the cooperatives and the collective farm ownership system.” I f developm ent is needed, a process has to be gone through, so w hy “ bend every effort to strengthen?” Socialist production relations, social systems— o f course one must speak in terms o f consoli­ dating them, but not to the point o f ruining them. Th e text speaks vaguely o f the road ahead, but the m om ent it com es to concrete measures it loses all clarity. In many ways (m ainly production) the Soviets continue to progress, but w ith respect to the production relations fundam entally they have ceased to progress. Th e text says that it is necessary to make a transition from collective ownership to indivisible ownership by the w hole people. But from our point o f view it is first necessary to turn collective ownership into socialist ownership by the w hole people, i.e., to make the agricultural means o f produc­ tion entirely state owned, and to turn the peasants entirely into workers under uniform contract to the state for wages. A t present, nationwide, each Chinese peasant has an average annual incom e o f 85* yuan. In the future, w hen this amount w ill reach 150 yuan and the m ajority o f workers are paid by the comm une, it w ill be possible to m ake a com m une ow ner­ ship system basically work. In this way taking the next step to state ownership should be easy.

*65 in the 1967 text

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Eliminating the Difference Between Urban and Rural

59.

T h e last paragraph on page 651 has a good position on rural construction. Since they want to elim inate the difference (th e book says “ basic difference”) between urban and rural, why does the text make a point o f saying that it is not “ to reduce the func­ tions o f the big cities?” Th e cities o f the future need not be so large. Residents o f large cities should be dispersed into the rural areas. Building many smaller cities is a relative advan­ tage in case o f nuclear war.

The Problem o f the Various Socialist Countries Setting Up an Economic System 60.

Page 659 says, “ Each country could concentrate its own m anpower and m aterial resources to develop its own most ad­ vantageous natural and econom ic conditions and depart­ ments w ith production experience and cadre. Th e respective countries would not need to produce goods which other countries could supply.” This is not a good id ea W e do not suggest this even with respect to our own provinces. W e advocate all-round develop­ m ent and do not think that each province need not produce goods which other provinces could supply. W e want the various provinces to develop a variety o f production to the fullest extent, provided there is no adverse effect on the whole. One o f the advantages Europe enjoys is the indepen­ dence o f the various countries. Each is devoted to a set o f ac­ tivities, causing the European econom y to develop compara­ tively quickly. Since the tim e o f the Chin, China has taken shape as a m ajor power, preserving its unity on the w hole over a long period o f time. One o f the defects was bureau­ cratism, under the stifling control o f which local regions could not develop independently, and with everyone tem ­ porizing, econom ic developm ent was very slow. N ow the sit-

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uation is completely different. W ithin the unity w e want to work toward, the various provinces w ill also have indepen­ dence. This is relative unity and it is relative independence. Th e provinces resolve their own problems independently while submitting to the resolutions o f the central authorities and accepting their control. On the other hand, the center's resolutions on m ajor issues are all made in common, through consultation between the center and the provinces. Th e reso­ lutions o f the Lushan Conference w ere like this, for ex­ ample.25 N ot only did they accord with the needs o f the whole country, they accorded with the needs o f the various provinces. W ho could take the position that only the center, not the localities, needs to oppose right opportunism? W e champion having the provinces devote them selves fully to a set o f activities under a unified plan for the whole country. Provided there are raw materials and markets, provided mate­ rials can be obtained and sales made locally, whatever can be done should be done to the fullest possible extent. Previously, our concern was that after the provinces had developed, a va­ riety o f industry, industrial goods (e.g., from a place like Shanghai) would in all likelihood not be wanted. N ow it ap­ pears this is not the case. Shanghai has already proposed de­ veloping toward higher, larger scale, finer, and more ex­ cellent production. They still have things to do! I wonder why the text fails to advocate each country’s doing the utmost for itself rather than not producing goods which other countries could supply? Th e correct method is each doing the utmost for itself as a means toward selfreliance for new growth, working independently to the great­ est possible extent, m aking a principle out o f not relying on others, and not doing something only when it really and truly cannot be done. Above all, agriculture must be done w ell as far as possible. Reliance on other countries or provinces for food is most dangerous. Some countries are so small that, exacdy as the text says, “To develop all industrial departments would be econom ically irrational, a task to which their strength is unequal.” In that case o f course a country should not force it through. It would

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be very difficu lt for some o f our own provinces w ith low pop­ ulation— Ch’inghai or N inghsia— to have com prehensive de­ velopment.

61. Can the Development o f the Various Socialist Countries Be Evened Up? Paragraph 3 on page 660 says, " . . . to have the overall level o f econom ic and cultural developm ent o f the various socialist countries gradually draw parallel.” T h e populations, resource bases, and historic conditions o f these countries are not the same. Some o f their revolutions w ere m ore backward, others more advanced. H ow can they be evened up? I f a father has some dozen children, some tall, some short, some big some small, some bright, some slow, how can they be evened up? This is Bukharin’s theory o f balance. Th e econom ic develop­ m ent o f the various socialist countries is not in balance, nor is that o f the provinces within a country, or the counties within a province. Take public health in Kuangtung prov­ ince. Fo Shan city and Chihlo commune have done a good job. Consequendy Fo Shan is not in balance with the w hole province. Chihlo is not in balance with Shaokuan. T o op­ pose imbalances is wrong.

62. The Ultimate Question Is One o f System Page 668 says that socialist loans are different from im perial­ ist loans. This tallies w ith the facts. Socialist countries are always preferable to capitalist ones. W e understand this prin­ ciple. Th e ultimate question is systemic, institutional. Sys­ tems determ ine the direction a country w ill take. Socialist systems determ ine that socialist countries w ill always stand opposed to im perialist countries and that their compromises are always provisional.

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63. Relations Between the Two Economic Systems in the World Page 658 speaks o f "com petition between the two world systems.” In Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR, Stalin offered arguments about the two world markets. Th e text here em phasizes peaceful competition between the two systems and building up "peacefully developing” eco­ nomic relations. This turns the actually existing two world markets into two econom ic systems w ithin a unified world market— a step back from Stalin’s view. Between d ie two econom ic systems there is in fact not only com petition but also fierce, broad-ranging struggle, a struggle the text has kept its distance from.

64. Criticism o f Stalin Stalin’s Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR, like his other works, contains erroneous arguments. But the two ac­ cusations referred to on page 681 are not convincing. One accusation is that Stalin held that "circulation o f commodities seems to have already becom e an obstacle to the developm ent o f the productive forces. Th e necessity for grad­ ually m aking the transition to direct exchanges o f production between industry and agriculture is fully form ed.” In this book Stalin said that when there are two kinds o f ownership system then there is comm odity production. H e said that in the enterprises o f the collective farms, although the means o f production (land, tools, etc.) belong to the state, the goods produced are all the property o f the separate collec­ tives. Th e reason is that the labor on the collectives (lik e the seeds) is owned by the collectives, w hile the land that the state has given them for permanent use is in fact controlled by the collectives as i f it w ere their own property. Under such conditions "th e collective farms are w illin g to release into circulation what they produce only in the commodity form, in expectation o f obtaining the com m odities they need in

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exchange. At the present tim e the collective farms w ill not enter into any econom ic relations other than exchange through purchase and sales.” Stalin criticized the current view in the Soviet Union that advocated doing away with comm odity production, holding that com m odity production was no less necessary than it was thirty years earlier when Lenin declared the need for bending every effort to develop com m odity circulation. T h e text says that Stalin seemed to be advocating instant elim ination o f commodities. This accusation is difficu lt to make good. As to the question o f com m odity exchange, for Stalin it was only a hypothesis. For he had even said, “ There is no need to promote this system w ith urgency; it must be decided according to the degree o f accumulation o f goods manufactured in the cities.” Another accusation is that Stalin underestimated the workings o f the law o f value in the sphere o f production and especially with reference to the means o f production. “ In the sphere o f socialist production the law o f value plays no regu­ lating role. This role is played by the law o f planned propor­ tional developm ent and state planned econom y.” This argu­ m ent offered by the text is in reality Stalin’s own argument. Even though the text says that the means o f production are commodities, nonetheless, in the first place, it must say that they are in the category o f ownership by the whole people. Purchase and sale o f the means o f production in no way changes ownership. In the second place, the text ought to concede that the law o f value functions differently in the sphere o f production and in the process o f circulation. AU these arguments are consistent with Stalin’s. One real dif­ ference between Stalin and Khrushchev is that Stalin op­ posed selling such means o f production as tractors, etc. to the coUective farms w hile Khrushchev sold them.

65. The Text's General Point o f View Do not think there is no M arxism -Leninism in this text, for it contains a good many view s that are M arxist-Leninist On

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the other hand, do not think it is entirely Marxist-Leninist, for it contains a good many view s that deviate. W e are not, however, ready to conclude that this text is basically nega­ tive. Th e text em phasizes that a socialist econom y serves the whole people, not the profit calculations o f a m inority o f ex­ ploiters. Th e basic econom ic laws o f socialism discussed in the text cannot be regarded as wholly in error. And these laws are the fundam ental subject o f the book. Also, the text explains planning, proportionality, high rate o f developm ent, etc., and in these respects is still socialist and Marxist. But once planning and proportionality are acknowledged, how these things are done is quite another matter. Each o f us has his own approach. Notwithstanding, this text has certain fundamental argu­ ments that are in error. “ Politics in command” and the “ mass lin e” are not stressed. Th ere is no discussion o f “ w alking on two legs,” and individual material interest is onesidedly em ­ phasized. M aterial incentives are proclaimed and individ­ ualism is far too prominent. In studying socialist econom y the text does not proceed finom contradictions. In truth, it does not acknowledge the universality o f contradiction nor that social contradictions are the m otive force o f social developm ent. Th e truth is that in their own society* there is still class struggle, that is, strug­ gle between socialism and capitalist remnants. But this they do not concede. Th eir society* has three types o f ownership: by the w hole people, by the collective, and by the individual. O f course, such individual ownership is unlike individual ownership before collectivization, when the peasants’ liveli­ hood was entirely based on individual ownership. N ow they have one foot on the boat and one still on shore, m ainly rely­ in g on the collective but on the individual at the same time. I f there are three types o f ownership, there w ill be contra­ diction and struggle. But the text has no discussion o f this. There is no encouraging o f the mass m ovem ent There is no * Socialist society in the 1967 text.

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acknowledgm ent o f having collective ownership under social­ ism make the transition to public ownership under socialism, o f turning the w hole society into the indivisible possession o f the whole people as a precondition for the transition to com­ munism. Th e text uses such vague terms as “ rapprochem ent” and “ concord” to take the place o f the conception that one ow ner­ ship system becom es another, one kind o f production rela­ tions becom es another. In these respects the book has serious faults and serious errors and has partially deviated horn Marxism -Leninism . Th e text is very poorly written, neither persuasive nor in­ teresting to read. It does not proceed from concrete analysis o f the contradictions between the productive forces and the production relations nor the contradiction between the eco­ nom ic base and the superstructure. In posing questions, in researching problems, it always proceeds from general con­ cepts or definitions. It gives definitions without m aking rea­ soned explanations. In fact, a definition should be the result, not the starting point, o f an analysis. Q uite without founda­ tion the book offers a series o f laws, laws which are not dis­ covered and verified through analysis o f concrete historical developm ent. Law s cannot be self-explanatory. I f one does not work from the concrete processes, the concrete historical developm ent, laws w ill not be clearly explained. Th e book does not deal with problems m asterfully, with overall control o f its subject. Issues do not stand forth clearly. Th e composition is not persuasive but is dull and illogical, lacking even form al logic. It appears as i f w ritten by different authors, each taking a chapter— a division o f labor without unity. It lacks the systemic order a textbook should have. On top o f this, its method is to proceed from definitions, and it reads like an econom ics dictionary. Th e authors are passive, contradicting one another in many places, later chapters at odds with earlier ones. Cooperative division o f labor and col­ lective authorship is one method. But the best m ethod is to have one leader w riting alongside o f several assistants. This is the way M arx and his circle wrote, and their works w ere integral, and strictly, systematically scientific.

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W hen w riting the result w ill be exciting only i f there is a target o f criticism. Although this text has some correct things to say, it does not unfold a critique o f view s considered wrong. This makes the reading tedious. In many places one feels as i f a scholastic is speaking, not a revolutionary. T h e econom ist who does not understand eco­ nomic practice is not a true expert. Th e book seems to reflect the follow ing kind o f situation: there are those who do prac­ tical work but lack the ability to generalize, as they lack con­ cepts and laws; on the other hand, those who do theoretical work lack practical experience. These two types have not been integrated; that is, theory and practice have not been integrated. The book shows that its authors do not have a dialectical method. One has to think philosophically to w rite an eco­ nomics te x t Philosophers should participate in the writing, otherwise it w ill not be possible to produce a satisfactory te x t Th e first edition o f this text appeared in early 1955. But the basic fram ework seems to have been set even before then. And it looks as i f the m odel Stalin set at that time was not very enlightening. In the Soviet Union there are presently those who dis­ agree w ith how the book was done. G. Kozlov wrote an article called “ A Scientific Course o f Study o f Socialist Political Economy” which criticized this book. His views go to the root o f the matter. H e points out m ethodological faults o f the book and calls for explanations o f laws that proceed from an analy­ sis o f the process o f socialist production. H e also makes suggestions as to structure. In view o f the criticism o f Kozlov and others it is possible that another textbook with an opposite approach w ill be pro­ duced in the Soviet Union. Opposition is always to the good. From a first reading o f this text one comes to realize its method and viewpoint. But that is not yet thorough study. W hat would be best in the future is to take the issues and arguments as the core, do some m eticulous research, bring together some materials, and look over other available ar­ ticles, books, reports, etc., with view s that d iffer from those in

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this tex t One should get an idea o f the different opinions on controversial issues. T o clarify issues the views o f at least two sides have to be understood. W e must criticize and oppose w rong opinions, but w e must also protect all correct things. Both courage and caution are needed. N o m atter what, for them to have written a socialist politi­ cal economy is a great task on the whole. Regardless how many problems it contains, this book at the least furnishes us with material for debate, and thanks to this has led to further study.

66. How to Write a Text on Political Economy In principle it is permissible for the text to proceed from the ownership system. But there is an even better way. In re­ searching the capitalist economy Marx, too, studied mainly ownership o f the means o f production under capitalism, ex­ am ining how distribution o f the means o f production deter­ mined the distribution, ó f commodities. In capitalist society the social nature o f production and the private nature o f ow n­ ership is a fundamental contradiction. M arx began with the commodity and went on to reveal the relations among people hidden behind commodities (th e relations among things). Com m odities in socialist society still have duality; nonethe­ less, thanks to the establishment o f public ownership o f the means o f production and the fact that labor power is no longer a commodity, duality o f commodities under socialism is not the same as their duality under capitalism. Th e rela­ tions among people are no longer hidden behind commodity relations. Thus, i f socialist econom y is studied beginning with the duality o f commodities, copying M arx’s method, it may w ell have the opposite effect o f confusing the issues, m aking things harder for people to understand. Political econom y aims to study the production relations. As Stalin saw it, the production relations include three things: ownership, relations among people during labor, and

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the distribution o f commodities. In w riting a political econ­ omy o f our own w e could also begin with the ownership sys­ tem. First, w e describe the conversion o f ownership o f the means o f production from private to public: how w e con­ verted private ownership o f bureaucratic capital and the capi­ talist ownership system into socialist ownership by the whole people; how private ownership o f the land by the landlords was turned first into private ownership by individual peasants and then into collective ownership under socialism; only then could w e describe the contradiction between the two forms o f public ownership under socialism and how collective owner­ ship under socialism could make the transition to people’s ownership under communism. At the same time, w e must describe how people’s ownership itself changes: the system o f transferring cadres to low er levels, administration by dif­ ferent levels, right o f autonomy o f enterprises, etc. Although alike in being owned by the whole people, our enterprises are variously administered, some by departments o f the center, others through provinces, municipalities, or autonomous regions, yet others through local special districts or counties. Some commune-run enterprises are semiowned by the whole people, sem iowned by the collective. But whether centrally or locally administered, the enterprises are all under unified leadership and possess specific autonomous rights. Turning to the problem o f the relations among people during productive labor, the text, aside from such comments as “relations o f comradely cooperation and mutual assis­ tance,” has com pletely failed to com e to grips with the sub­ stantive issues, having conducted no research or analysis into this area. A fter the question o f the ownership system is solved, the most important question is administration— how enterprises owned either by the whole people or the collective are administered. This is the same as the question o f the rela­ tions among people under a given ownership system, a sub­ je c t that could use many articles. Changes in the ownership system in a given period o f tim e always have their limits, but the relations among people in productive labor may well, on the contrary, be in ceaseless change. W ith respect to ad-

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ministration o f enterprises owned by the whole people, we have adopted a set o f approaches: a combination o f concentrated leadership and mass m ovem ent; combinations o f party leaders, working masses, and technical personnel; cadres participating in production; workers participating in adminis­ tration; steadily changing unreasonable regulations and insti­ tutional practices. As to the distribution o f commodities, the text has to be rewritten, changing its present approach altogether. Hard, bitter struggle, expanding reproduction, the future prospects o f communism— these are what have to be emphasized, not individual material interest. Th e goal to lead people toward is not “one spouse, one country house, one automobile, one piano, one television.” This is the road o f serving the self, not the society. A “ ten-thousand-league journey begins w here you are standing.” But if one looks only at the feet without giving thought to the future, then the question is: W hat is left o f revolutionary excitem ent and ardor? *

67. How to Study Appearances to Reach Essences In studying a problem one must begin w ith the appearances that people can see and feel, in order to research the es­ sences that lie behind them, and then go on from there to reveal the substance and contradiction o f objective things and events. At the tim e o f the civil war and the W ar o f Resistance Against Japan our study o f the problems o f w ar proceeded horn appearances. T h e enem y was big and strong, w e w ere small and weak. This was the most obvious appearance at that time, one w hich all could see. W e w ere the ones who studied and resolved problems, proceeding from appearances to study how the side which was small and weak m ight de­ feat an enem y w hich was big and strong. W e pointed out that although w e w ere small and weak w e had mass support, and that the enem y, though big and strong, was vulnerable to * “W hat energy is left for traveling?“ in the 1967 text.

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thrusts in certain areas. Take the civil w ar period, when the enem y had several hundred thousand men, w e had several tens o f thousands. Strategically, the enem y was strong and on the offensive, w e w ere weak and on the defensive. But to attack us they had to divide their forces into columns, and the columns again into detachments. Typically, one company would attack a strong point w hile the others w ere still man­ euvering. W e would then concentrate several tens o f thou­ sands to attack one column, even concentrating the m ajority o f our forces to take a single point o f the enem y column, as another group would divert those enem y troops still maneu­ vering. In this way w e achieved superiority at the particular point. Th e enem y had becom e small and weak, and w e large and strong. Another thing is that when they would arrive at a place conditions would be unfam iliar to them, the masses would not support them, and so w e would be able to w ipe out an enem y group completely. Ideology becomes systematic, generally speaking, in the wake o f the m ovem ents o f phenomena. Th e reason is that thought and understanding are reflections o f material m ove­ ments. Laws are things w hich appear over and over, not ac­ cidentally, in the m ovem ents o f phenomena. It is only after the repeated appearance o f something that it becomes a law and thus an object to be understood. For exam ple, crises o f capitalism occurred about every ten years. W hen this had happened over and over it then becam e possible for us to un­ derstand the laws o f econom ic crisis in capitalist society. In land reform w e had to distribute land according to population rather than labor power. But w e did not understand this clearly until w e had done it many times. In the late period o f the second civil war 'le ft ” adventurist comrades called for distribution o f land according to labor power and disapproved o f distribution o f land per capita. In their view even distribu­ tion o f land according to population was not rigorous as to class outlook and not sufficiently from the oudook o f the masses. Th eir slogan was: no land to the landlord, poor land to the rich peasant; to all others land according to labor power. Facts proved this approach to be wrong. H ow land

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should be distributed was made clear only after w e had gone through experiences repeated over and over again Marxism requires that logic be consistent w ith history. Thought is the reflex o f objective existence. Logic comes from history. Though this textbook has an abundance o f ma­ terials, there is no analysis, there is no logic, the laws are not discernible, and it is not satisfactory. But a lack o f materials is also unsatisfactory. Then people w ill see only logic and not history. Moreover, it w ill be only subjective logic. Here ex­ actly are the faults o f this text. It is vital to produce a history o f the developm ent o f Chinese capitalism. I f those who study history do not study the different societies, the different historical eras, they w ill surely be unable to produce good com prehensive histories. Studying the different societies means having to find the par­ ticular laws governing those societies. Once the particular laws have been studied and made clear, it w ill be easy to know the general laws o f society. It is necessary to discern the general from the study o f many particularities. I f the par­ ticular laws are not understood clearly, the general Cannot be either. For exam ple, in studying the general laws governing animals it is necessary to study separately those governing vertebrates, invertebrates, etc.

68. Philosophy Must Serve the Political Tasks Facing Us Any philosophy is in the service o f its contemporary tasks. Capitalist philosophy has this function. And every nation, every era has new theoreticians producing new theory for the political tasks o f the day. In England such bourgeois m ateri­ alists as Bacon and Hobbes appeared; materialists like the Encyclopedists then appeared in eighteenth-century France; the German and Russian bourgeoisie also had their material­ ists. A ll o f these w ere bourgeois materialists, all o f whom served the political tasks o f the bourgeois class. Thus the existence o f English or bourgeois materialism certainly did

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not make French bourgeois materialism unnecessary, nor did the existence o f English and French bourgeois materialism make the German or the Russian unnecessary. Th e Marxist philosophy o f the proletarian class is even more vitally concerned to s^rve contemporary political tasks. For China, Marx, Lenin, and Stalin* are necessary reading. That comes first. But communists o f any country and the proletarian philosophical circles o f any country must create new theory, w rite new works, produce their own theoreti­ cians to serve the political tasks facing them. N o nation can at any tim e rely only on what is old. H av­ in g M arx and Engels without Len in’s Two Tactics and other works could not have solved the new problems o f 1S05 and afterward. H aving only Materialism and Em pirico-Criticism o f 1S07 would not have sufficed to cope with the new issues that arose before and after the October Revolution. T o m eet the needs o f this tim e Lenin wrote Imperialism, State and Revolution and other works. A fter Lenin, Stalin was needed to w rite Foundations o f Leninism and Problems o f Leninism to deal with reactionaries and preserve Leninism . At the end o f our second civil war and the beginning o f the W ar o f R e­ sistance Against Japan w e wrote On Practice and On Contradiction. They had to be written to m eet the needs o f the times. N ow that w e have entered the period o f socialism a whole new series o f problems has appeared. I f w e do not m eet the new needs, write the new works, give form to new theory, it w ill not do!

S U P P L E M E N T ____________________________

1. China’s Industrialization Problems A fter the Soviet U nion’s first five-year plan had been com­ pleted, w hen the value o f all large industrial production was 70 percent o f the value o f all industrial and agricultural pro* Omitted in the 1967 text.

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duction, they promptly declared that industrialization had been made a reality. W e too could quickly reach such a stan­ dard, but even i f w e did, w e still would not claim that indus­ trialization had becom e a reality, because w e have over 500 m illion peasants devoting them selves to agriculture. I f indus­ trialization is claim ed when industrial production is 70 per­ cent, not only would w e be unable to reflect accurately the actual conditions o f our national economy, but w e could even create a mood o f laxity. At the first plenary session o f the Eighth National Peo­ ple’s Congress w e spoke o f the necessity to establish a firm foundation for socialist industrialization in the second fiveyear plan. W e also said that within fifteen years or so w e would build an integrated industrial system. These two state­ ments are somewhat contradictory, for without a fully equipped industrial system how can w e speak o f having a “firm foundation” for socialist industrialization? As things now stand, in another three years w e may surpass England in output o f primary industrial products. In another five years w e can fu lfill our task o f establishing the industrial system as a practical reality. In the long term, w e expect to be known as an industrialagricultural nation.* Even i f w e make over 100 m illion tons o f steel it w ill still be so. I f our per capita output w ere to surpass Great Britain’s w e would need to be producing 350 m illion tons o f steel at least! There is a special significance to picking out a country and com peting with it. W e are always talking about catching up with England. Our first step is to catch up in terms o f primary product output, next in terms o f per capita output. In shipbuilding and motor vehicle m anufacture w e are still far behind that country. W e must strive to overtake it in all re­ spects. Even so small a country as Japan has 4 m illion tons’ capacity o f com m ercial shipping. It is inexcusable for a country as large as ours to lack the shipping to m ove our own goods. . . w e will not be known as an industrial nation” in the 1967 text.

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In 1949 w e had 90,000 or m ore sets o f machine tools. By 1959 the num ber had increased to 490,000. In 1957 Japan had 600,000. Th e num ber o f m achine tools is an important index o f the level o f industrial developm ent Our level o f m echanization still is quite low, as one can tell simply from Shanghai, whore, according to the most re­ cent survey m echanized labor, sem im echanized labor, and manual labor each constituted one-third. Labor productivity in Soviet industry has not as yet sur­ passed that o f the United States. W e are even further behind. Though our population is very large our labor productivity is a long way from com paring w ith that o f others. From 1960 on w e w ill still have to work intensively for thirteen years.

2. Social Position and Individual Capacity On page 488 it says that in a socialist society a person’s posi­ tion is determ ined only by labor and individual capacity. Th is is not necessarily so. Keen-m inded people are always com ing from am ong those in a low er position. Th ey are looked down on by others, they have suffered indignities, and they are young. Socialist society is no exception. In the old society it was always the case that the oppressed had scant culture but w ere a bit keener; the oppressors had higher culture but w ere a little on the slow side. There is some danger o f this today. T h e higher salaried strata o f a socialist society have a bit more cultural knowledge but tend to be a trifle slow when compared to the low er strata Thus our cadres’ sons and daughters do not quite compare w ith the children o f non­ cadres. From small plants have com e many creations and discov­ eries. Larger factories may have superior facilities, new er technology, and for that very reason the staff all too often assume airs o f self-im portance, are satisfied with things as they are and do not seek to advance and reach out ambiti­ ously. A ll too often their creativity does not compare at all with that o f the staff o f the sm aller factory. Recently in Ch’angchou there was a textile m ill in which the workers

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created devices that raised the efficiency o f the looms. This w ill help cotton spinning, textile weaving, and printing and dyeing achieve a balanced capability. Th e new technique did not come from Shanghai or Tientsin but from a small place called Ch’angchou. Knowledge is gained by com ing through adversity. I f Ch’u Yuan had remained in office his writings would not e x is t1 Only because he lost his position and was “ transferred down­ ward to perform labor” was it possible for him to get close to the life o f society and produce so fine a work o f literature as the L i Sao. And it was not until he had been rebuffed in many states that Confucius also turned around and devoted him self to his studies. H e rallied a group o f the unemployed who expected to go from place to place to sell their labor power. But no one would have them. Frustrated at every turn, he had no alternative but to collect the folk songs now known as the Book o f Odes and put in order the historical materials known as the Spring and Autumn. Historically, many advanced things cam e not from ad­ vanced countries but from comparatively backward ones. Marxism did not com e from the comparatively developed cap­ italist countries o f the tim e— England, France— but from Ger­ many, whose level o f capitalist developm ent was in between. There is a reason for this. Scientific inventions likewise do not necessarily com e from those with a high level o f culture and education. At present there are many university professors who have not invented anything. O f course, this is not to deny the dif­ ference between an engineer and a worker. It is not that w e do not want engineers. But there is a real question here. His­ torically it is usually a case o f the culturally inferior defeating the culturally superior. In our civil war our commanders at various levels w ere culturally inferior to the Kuomintang of­ ficers, who cam e from m ilitary academies at home or abroad. But w e defeated them. Th e human animal has this flaw: looking down on others. Those who have accomplished some small thing look down on those who have yet to. Great powers, rich nations look

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down on the smaller, poorer ones. Th e W estern nations looked down on Russia, historically. China is still in a sim ilar position. There is reason for this, for w e are still nothing much; such a large country, so litde steel. So much illiteracy. It can do us good to have people look down on us! It w ill drive us to exert ourselves, to push forward. 3.

Relying on the Masses

Lenin put it w ell when he said, “ Socialism is vigorous, spir­ ited, creative— the creation o f the masses o f the people them ­ selves." Our mass line is like this. Does it not agree w ith Leninism ? A fter quoting this statement the text says, “ Th e broad laboring masses increasingly participate in a direct ac­ tive way in the m anagem ent o f production, in the work o f state bodies, in the leadership o f all departments in the coun­ try’s social life.” (p. 332) This is also w ell p u t But saying is one thing and doing another. And to do this is by no means easy. In 1928 the Central Com m ittee o f the C PSU passed a res­ olution w hich said: “ W e w ill be able to solve the task o f over­ taking and surpassing the capitalist countries technically and econom ically only when the party and the worker and peas­ ant masses get m obilized to the lim it." (p. 337) This is very w ell put. And this is exacdy what w e are now doing. At that tim e Stalin had nothing else to rely on except the masses, so he demanded all-out m obilization o f the party and the masses. Afterward, when they had realized some gains this way, they became less reliant on the masses. Lenin said, “Truly democratic centralism requires that the m anifold paths, forms, and methods by w hich local crea­ tivity and spirit o f initiative attain general goals have a sufficiendy unhindered developm ent.” (p. 454). W ell said. Th e masses can create the paths. T h e masses created Russia’s so­ viets. And they created our people’s communes.

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4. The Soviet Union and China: A Few Points to Compare in the Development Process On page 422 the text quotes Lenin: MI f state power is in the hands o f the working class it is possible to make the transi­ tion to communism through state capitalism ." And so forth. This is w ell put. Lenin was a solid worker. Because he real­ ized that the proletariat after the October Revolution had no experience in m anaging the economy, he attempted to de­ velop the proletariat’s com petence in this area by using the ways and means o f state capitalism. Th e Russian bourgeoisie underestimated the strength o f the proletariat at that time. Refusing Lenin’s conditions, they carried out slowdowns and destructive activities, forcing the workers to confiscate their properties. That is why state capitalism could not develop. During the civil war period Russia’s problems w ere truly enormous. Agriculture was in ruins. Com m ercial links w ere disrupted. Communications and transport w ere hardly func­ tioning. Raw materials could not be obtained, and many fac­ tories that had been expropriated could not com m ence opera­ tions. Because they really had no answer to this they had no choice but to turn to a system o f requisitioning the peasants’ surplus grain. Actually, this was a means o f taking the fruits o f die peasants’ labor without compensation, a method that meant ransacking the jars and boxes o f the peasants— not a sound practice. Only when the civil war ended was this sys­ tem replaced with a grain tax. Our civil war lasted much longer than theirs. For twentytwo years it was our practice in the base areas to collect public grain and to purchase surplus grain. W e had a correct strategy toward the peasanty and during the w ar w e relied heavily on them. For twenty-two years w e developed our political power in the base areas, and w e accumulated experience in m anaging the economy o f the base areas. W e trained cadres to m anage the economy and built an alliance with the peasantry, so that

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after the whole country was liberated w e speedily carried to its com pletion the work o f econom ic recovery. Im m ediately after that w e raised the general line o f the transition period, namely, putting our primary effort into socialist revolution w hile beginning construction under the first five-year plan. As w e carried out socialist transformation w e worked together with the peasantry to deal w ith the capitalists. There was, however, a tim e w hen Lenin said that he could bear to negotiate even with the capitalists in hopes o f turning capi­ talism into state capitalism as a means o f coping w ith the spontaneity o f the petty bourgeoisie. D ifferent policies arise in different historical conditions. In the N ew Econom ic Policy (N E P ) period the Soviet Union had a restrained policy toward the rich peasants be­ cause they needed the grain. W e had a sim ilar policy toward the national bourgeoisie in the early stages after liberation. N ot until the collective farm s and the state farms had pro­ duced in all 400 m illion pood o f grain did they m ove against the rich peasants, putting forward the slogan o f elim inating the rich peasants and m aking overall collectivization a reality.* W hat about us? W e did things differently, act­ ually elim inating the rich peasant econom y as early as land reform. In the Soviet Union cooperative m ovem ent “ agriculture paid a heavy price at the beginning.” (p. 397) Th is is what caused many o f the East European countries to have plenty o f anxiety over the question o f cooperativization and to be

*In "Several Questions Concerning Soviet Land Policy" (December 1929) Stalin said, “In 1927 the rich peasants produced over 600 million pood of grain, of which 130 million were sold through rural exchange. This is a substantial force which we can not slight Tell me, how much had our col­ lective and state farms produced at that time? About 80 million pood, of which 30 million were commodity grains.” So Stalin decided, “Under these circumstances we can not resolutely attack the rich peasants.” And Stalin continued, “Now we have a sufficient material basis to attack them.” That was because in 1929 the collective and state farms produced no less than 400 million pood, of which over 130 million were commodity grains. (Josef Stalin, Complete Works, voi 12, p. 142)

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fearful o f organizing big. W hen they did get started they moved slowly. Our production was not reduced by the coop­ eratives. On the contrary, it increased enormously. At the beginning many w ere dubious. N ow the number o f converts is slowly increasing.

The Process o f Forming and Consolidating a General Line 5.

These past two years w e have been conducting a great exper­ im en t In the early stages o f Liberation w e had no experience o f m anaging the econom y o f the entire nation. So in the period o f the first five-year plan w e could do no more than copy the Soviet Union’s methods, although w e never felt altogether satisfied about it. In 1955, when w e had basically completed the “ three transformations” 2 (at the end o f the year and in the spring o f the follow ing year), w e sought out over thirty cadres for consultation. As a result o f those discus­ sions w e proposed the “ten great relationships" and “M ore! Faster! Better! M ore econom ically!” At that tim e w e had read Stalin’s 1949 election speech, which stated that tsarist Russia was producing 4 m illion tons o f steel annually. Th e figure increases to 18 m illion by 1940. I f one reckons from 1921, there is an increase o f only 14 m illion tons in twenty years. And to think they were socialist the whole tim e! Could we not do a little better, faster? After that w e put forward the question o f “two methods” and at the same time we worked out a forty-article program for agricultural developm ent.3 N o other measures were proposed at the time. After the forward leap o f 1956, opposition to* adventurous advances appeared. Bourgeois rightists took us by our pigtails and attacked savagely in an attempt to negate the accomp­ lishment o f socialist construction. In June 1957, at the N a­ tional People’s Congress, Prem ier Chou En-lai’s report struck back at the rightists. In September the same year the party’s Only in the 1967 text.

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third plenary session o f the Central Com m ittee revived such slogans as “ M ore! Faster! Better! M ore econom ically!” the general program in forty articles, the society for the promot­ in g o f progress/ etc. In Novem ber in M oscow w e revised a People’s Daily editorial on “ M ore! Faster! Better! M ore econom ically!” Thus, in the w inter w e launched a nationwide mass m ovem ent for large-scale water conservancy. In 1958 there w ere m eetings, first in Nanning, then in Ch’engtu. W e tore into our problems, criticizing those op­ posed to daring advances. W e decided not to allow further op­ position to daring advances. W e proposed a general line for socialist construction. I f there had been no Nanning m eeting w e could not have com e up with a general line. In M ay a representative t o f the Central Com m ittee reported to the Eighth National People’s Congress, second session. And the assembly officially passed the general line. But the line was not consolidated, so w e follow ed w ith concrete measures, m ainly concerning division o f authority between the center and the local areas. In Peitaiho w e proposed doubling steel output and got a mass m ovem ent in steel and iron un­ derway— what the W estern papers called backyard steel. At the same time w e launched the people’s communes. Right after cam e the shelling o f Quemoy. These things perturbed some and offended others. Errors appeared in our work. By not paying for food w e ate ourselves into a crisis in grains and nonstaple foods. T h e ultracommunist wind was blowing. A certain percent J o f daily necessities could not be supplied. Steel output for 1959 was set at 30 m illion tons at Peitaiho. Th e W uchang m eeting low ered this to 20 million. Th e Shanghai m eeting lowered it to 16.5 m illion tons. Som etim e in June 1959 it was cut again to 13 million. All this was seized upon by those who disagreed w ith us. But when the Central Com m ittee was opposing the “ left” they did not raise their objections, nor did they do so at the two Ch’engchou * *“Great Leap Forward" in the 1967 text. tLiu Shao-Ch’i in the 1967 text. Î 12 percent in the 1967 text.

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conferences, the W uchang Conference, the Peking Confer­ ence, or the Shanghai Conference. Th ey waited until the “le ft" had been opposed out o f existence and goals had been confirmed. Further opposition to the “le ft" made opposition to the right necessary. At the Lushan Conference, when w e needed opposition to the right, they came out against the “le ft."4 AU this goes to show that things were far from peaceful in our world, and the general line was certainly not consolidated. N ow that w e have com e through a period o f difficult zigzags and the Lushan Conference, the general line is com­ paratively consolidated. But “ things com e in threes,” so per­ haps w e have to prepare for a third period o f zigzags. I f so, w e can expect that the line wiU be consolidated even further. According to Chekiang Provincial Com m ittee information “equalization" and “ indiscriminate transfers o f property" have reappeared very recendy in certain communes. T h e ultracommunist wind may yet appear again! Th e incidents in Poland and Hungary occured in 1956, the time o f the zigzags o f the campaign against “ daring ad­ vances.” Then the world turned against the Soviet Union. During the zigzags o f 1959 the world turned against us. Th e two rectification and antirightist campaigns, one in 1957, one at Lushan, subjected the effects o f bourgeois ide­ ology and rem aining bourgeois influences to comparatively throughgoing criticism , enabling the masses to be liberated from the danger. At that time w e also struck down many superstitions, including the so-caUed Ma Anshan Iron and Steel Constitution.*5 In the past w e did not know how to get a socialist revolu­ tion going. W e thought that after the cooperatives, after join t public-private management, the problem would be solved. Th e savage attacks o f the bourgeois rightists caused us to put forward socialist revolution as a political and an ideological line. Actually, the Lushan Conference carried forward this revolution, and it was a sharp revolution. It would have been *“An authoritarian refining method at a major Soviet mill”—note in the 1967 text.

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very bad i f w e had not beaten down the right opportunist line at Lushan.

6. Contradictions Among the Imperialist Nations and Other Matters Struggles among the respective im perialism s should be seen as a m ajor thing. That is how Lenin saw them and Stalin too, som ething they called the indirect reserve force o f the revolu­ tion. In getting the revolutionary base areas going China en­ joyed this advantageous circumstance. In the past w e had contradictions among various factions o f the landlord and compradore classes. Behind these dom estic contradictions lay contradictions am ong the imperialists. It was because o f these contradictions am ong the im perialists that only a part o f the enem y rather than all o f them would do battle w ith us directly in a particular time, so long as w e utilized the contra­ dictions properly. In addition, w e usually had tim e to rest and reorganize. Contradictions among the im perialists was one important reason w hy the October Revolution could be consolidated. Fourteen nations sent intervention forces at the time. But none alone sent much. Moreover, their purposes w ere not co­ ordinated. Th ey w ere engaged in intrigues. During the Korean war Am erican purposes w ere not coordinated with those o f their allies. T h e w ar was not fought on the largest scale. N ot only could Am erica not determ ine its own course, France and England w ere not so eager. Internationally the bourgeoisie are now extrem ely uneasy, afraid o f any wind that m ight stir the grass. T h eir level o f alertness is high, but they are in disarray. Since the Second W orld W ar the econom ic crises in capi­ talist society are different from those o f M arx’s day. Generally speaking, they used to com e every seven, eight or ten years. During the fourteen years between the end o f the Second W orld W ar and 1959 there w ere three. At present the international scene is far m ore tense than after the First W orld War, when capitalism still had a period o f relative stability, the revolution having failed everyw here

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except Russia. England and France w ere fu ll o f high spirits and the various national bourgeoisies w ere not all that afraid o f the Soviet Union. Aside from the taking away o f Ger­ many’s colonies the entire im perialist colonial system was still in tact. A fter the Second W orld W ar three o f the defeated imperialisms collapsed. England and France w ere weakened and in decline. Socialist revolution had triumped in over ten countries. Th e colonial system was breaking apart. Th e capi­ talist world would never again enjoy the relative stability it had after the First W orld War.

Why China’s Industrial Revolution Can Be Very Rapid 7.

In W estern bourgeois public opinion there are now those who acknowledge that “ China is one o f the countries having the most rapid industrial developm ent.” (T h e U.S. Conlon report on United States diplomatic policy mentions this.) There are many countries that have carried through an industrial revolution. Compared to all previous national in­ dustrial revolutions China promises to have one o f the most rapid. Th e question is, why? One o f the main reasons is that our socialist revolution was carried through fairly thoroughly. W e carried through the revolution against the bourgeoisie thoroughly, doing our utmost to eradicate all bourgeois influ­ ences. W e struck down superstitions and energetically sought to enable the masses to win thoroughgoing liberation in all areas. 8.

Population*

In elim inating the problem o f excess population, rural popu­ lation is the m ajor problem, the solution o f w hich calls for vast developm ent o f production. In China over 500 m illion people are devoting themselves to agriculture. But they do This section is found in the 1969 text only.

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not eat their fill, although they toil year in year ou t Th is is most unreasonable. In Am erica the agricultural population is only 13 percent and on the average each person has 2,000 catties6 o f grain. W e do not have so much. W hat shall w e do to reduce the rural population? I f w e do not want them crow ding into the cities w e w ill have to have a great deal o f industry in the countryside so that the peasants can becom e workers right w here they are. This brings us to a m ajor pol­ icy issue: do w e want to keep rural livin g conditions from falling below that in the cities, keep the two roughly the same, or keep the rural slightly higher than the urban? Every com m une has to have its own econom ic center, its ow n upper-level schools to train its own intellectuals. Th ere is no other way to solve the problem o f excess rural population really and truly.

C oncerning E con om ic P roblem s of Socialism in the U SSR

(Novem ber 1958)' Provincial and regional com m ittees must study this book. In the past everyone read it without gaining a deep impression. It should be studied in conjunction w ith China’s actual cir­ cumstances. Th e first three chapters contain much that is worth paying attention to, much that is correct, although there are places w here perhaps Stalin him self did not make things clear enough. For exam ple, in chapter 1 he says only a few things about objective laws and how to go about plan­ ning the economy, without unfolding his ideas; or, it may be that to his mind Soviet planning o f the econom y already re­ flected objective governing principles. On the question o f heavy industry, light industry, and agriculture, the Soviet Union did not lay enough emphasis on the latter two and had losses as a result. In addition, they did not do a good job o f com bining the im m ediate and the long-term interests o f the people. In the main they walked on one leg. Com paring the planning, w hich o f us after all had the better adapted “ planned proportionate developm ent?” Another point: Stalin em phasized only technology, technical cadre. H e wanted nothing but technology, nothing but cadre; no politics, no masses. This too is walking on one leg ! And in industry they walk on one leg when they pay attention to heavy industry but not to light industry. Furthermore, they did not point out the main aspects o f the contradictions in the relationships among departments o f heavy industry. Th ey exaggerated the importance o f heavy industry, claim ing that steel was the 129

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foundation, m achinery the heart and soul. Our position is that grain is the mainstay o f agriculture, steel o f industry, and that i f steel is taken as the mainstay, then once w e have the raw material the machine industry w ill follow along. Sta­ lin raised questions in chapter 1: he suggested the objective governing principles, but he failed to provide satisfactory answers. In chapter 2 he discusses commodities, in chapter 3 the law o f value. Relatively speaking, I favor many o f the views expressed. To divide production into two m ajor departments and to say that the means o f production are not commodi­ ties— these points deserve study. In Chinese agriculture there are still many means o f production that should be com ­ modities. M y view is that the last o f the three appended let­ ters* is entirely wrong. It expresses a deep uneasiness, a b elief that the peasantry cannot be trusted to release agricul­ tural machinery but would hang on to it. On the one hand Stalin says that the means o f production belong to state own­ ership. On the other, he says that the peasants cannot afford them. Th e fact is that he is deceiving himself. The state con­ trolled the peasantry very, very tightly, inflexibly. For the two transitions Stalin failed to find the proper ways and means, a vexing matter for him. Capitalism leaves behind it the commodity form, which w e must still retain for the time being. Commodity exchange laws governing value play no regulating role in our produc­ tion. This role is played by planning, by the great leap for­ ward under planning, by politics-in-command. Stalin speaks only o f the production relations, not o f the superstructure, nor o f the relationship between superstructure and econom ic base. Chinese cadres participate in production; workers par­ ticipate in m anagem ent Sending cadres down to low er levels to be tempered, discarding old rules and regulations— all these pertain to the superstructure, to ideology. Stalin m en­ tions econom ics only, not politics. H e may speak o f selfless * Reply to Comrades A. V. Sartina and V. G. Venzher, included in Eco­ nomic Problems.

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labor, but in reality even an extra hour’s labor is begrudged. T h ere is no selflessness at all. T h e role o f people, the role o f the laborer— these are not m entioned. I f there w ere no com ­ m unist m ovem ent it is hard to im agine m aking the transition to comm unism . “ A ll people are for me, I for all people.” Th is does not belong. It ends up w ith everyth ing being connected to the self. Som e say M arx said it. I f he did let’s not m ake propaganda out o f it. “ A ll people fo r m e,” m eans everybody for me, the individual. “ I am for all.” W ell, how m any can you be for? Bourgeois righ t is m anifested as bourgeois law and educa­ tion. W e w ant to destroy a part o f the ideology o f bourgeois right, the lordly pose, the three styles [the bureaucratic, the sectarian, and the subjective] and the five airs[the officious, the arrogant, the apathetic, the extravagant, and the pre­ cious]. But com m odity circulation, the com m odity form , the law o f value, these, on the other hand, cannot be destroyed summarily, despite the fact that they are bourgeois cate­ gories. I f w e now carry on propaganda for the total elim ina­ tion o f the ideology o f bourgeois righ t it would not be a rea­ sonable position, bear in mind. T h ere are a few in socialist society— landlords, rich peas­ ants, right-w ingers— w ho are partial to capitalism and ad­ vocate it. But the vast m ajority are thinking o f crossing over to comm unism . This, how ever, has to be done by steps. You cannot get to heaven in one step. Take the people’s com ­ m unes: on the one hand, they have to develop self-sufficient production, on the other, com m odity exchange. W e use com ­ m odity exchange and the law o f value as tools for the benefit o f developing production and facilitatin g the transition. W e are a nation w hose com m odity production is very underde­ veloped. Last year w e produced 3.7 trillion catties o f foodgrains. O f that num ber, com m odity grains am ounted to about 800 or 900 billion catties. Apart from grain, industrial crops like cotton and hem p are also underdeveloped. T h erefore w e have to have this [com m odity] stage o f developm en t A t present there are still a good m any counties w here there is no charge for food but they cannot pay wages. In H opei there

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are three such counties, and another that can pay wages, but not m uch: three or five yuan. So w e still have to develop pro­ duction, to develop things that can be sold other than foodgrains. At the Sian Agricultural C onference this point was insufficiently considered. In sum, w e are a nation w hose com m erce is underdeveloped, and yet in m any respects w e have entered socialism. W e must elim inate a part o f bourgeois right, but com m odity production and exchange must still be kept. N ow there is a tendency to fe el that the sooner com m unism com es the better. Som e suggest that in only three or fiv e years w e w ill be m aking the transition. In Fan county, Shantung, it was suggested that four years m ight be a little slow ! At present there are some econom ists w ho do not en joy econom ics— Yaroshenko* for one. For now and until some tim e in the future w e w ill have to expand allocation and delivery to the communes. And w e w ill have to ex­ pand com m odity production. O therw ise w e w ill not be able to pay wages or im prove life. Som e o f our comrades are guilty o f a m isapprehension when, com ing upon com m odities and com m odity production, they want to destroy bourgeois rule every single day, e.g., they say w ages, grades, etc., are detrim ental to the free supply system. In 1953 w e changed the free supply system into a w age system .2 Th is approach was basically correct. W e had to take one step backward. But there was a problem : w e also took a step backward in the m atter o f grades. As a result there was a furor over this m at­ ter. A fter a period o f rectification grades w ere scaled down. T h e grade system is a father-son relation, a cat-and-m ouse relation. It has to be attacked day after day. Sending down the cadres to low er levels, running the experim ental field s3— these are ways o f ch anging the grade system ; otherwise, no great leaps! In urban people’s com m unes capitalists can en ter and serve as personn el But the capitalist label should stay on them. W ith respect to socialism and com m unism , w hat is m eant by constructing socialism ? W e raise two points: * Recipient of Stalin’s second letter, included in Econom ic

Problems.

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(1 ) T h e concentrated m anifestation o f constructing socialism is m aking socialist, all-em bracing public ow nership* a reality. (2 ) Constructing socialism m eans turning com m une collec­ tive ownership into public ownership. Som e com rades disap­ prove o f drawing the lin e betw een these tw o types o f ow ner­ ship system, as i f the com m unes w ere com pletely publicly owned. In reality there are two systems. O ne type is public ownership, as in the Anshan Iron and Steel W orks, the other is com m une-large collective ownership. I f w e do not raise this, what is the use o f socialist construction? Stalin drew the line w hen he spoke o f three conditions. Th ese three basic conditions m ake sense and may be sum m arized as follow s: increase social output; raise collective ow nership to public ownership; go from exchange o f com m odities to exchange o f products, from exchange value to use value. On these tw o abovem entioned points w e C hinese are (1 ) expanding and striving to increase output, concurrently pro­ m oting industry and agriculture w ith preference given to de­ veloping heavy industry; and (2 ) raising sm all collective ow n­ ership to public ownership, and then further to all-em bracing public ownership. Those w ho would not draw these distinc­ tions [am ong types o f ownership] would seem to hold the view that w e have already arrived at public ownership. Th is is wrong. Stalin was speaking o f culture w hen he proposed the three conditions, the physical developm ent and education o f the w hole people. For this he proposed four conditions: (a ) six hours’ w ork per day; (b ) com bining technical education w ith work; (c ) im proving residential conditions; (d ) raising wages. Raising w ages and low erin g prices are particularly helpful here, but the political conditions are missing. A ll these conditions are basically to increase production. O nce output is plentiful it w ill be easier to solve the problem o f raising collective to public ownership. T o increase produc­ tion w e need “ M ore! Faster! Better! M ore econom ically!” And for this w e need politics-in-com m and, the four concurrent promotions, the rectification cam paigns, the sm ashing o f the ideology o f bourgeois rig h t Add to this the people’s com*This is identical, in Chinese, to ownership by the whole people.

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m im es and it becom es all the easier to achieve “ M ore! Faster! Better! M ore econom ically!” W hat are the im plications o f all-em bracing public ow ner­ ship? Th ere are two: (1 ) the society’s means o f production are owned by the w hole people; and (2 ) the society’s output is owned by the w hole people. T h e characteristic o f the people’s com m une is that it is the basic level at w hich industry, agriculture, the m ilitary, education, and com m erce are to be integrated in our social structure. At the present tim e it is the basic-level administra­ tive organization. T h e m ilitia deals w ith foreign threats, espe­ cially from the imperialists. T h e com m une is the best organizational form for carrying out the two transitions, from socialist (th e present) to all-em bracing public, and from all-em bracing public to com m unist ownership. In future, when the transitions have been com pleted, d ie com m une w ill be the basic m echanism o f com m unist society.

Critique of Stalin’s E con om ic Problem s of Socialism in the USSR Stalin’s book from first to last says nothing about the super­ structure. It is not concerned w ith people; it considers things, not people. Does the kind o f supply system for con­ sum er goods help spur econom ic developm ent or not? H e should have touched on this at the least. Is it better to have com m odity production or is it better not to? Everyone has to study this. Stalin’s point o f view in his last letter* is almost altogether wrong. T h e basic error is m istrust o f the peasants. Parts o f the first, second, and third chapters are correct; other parts could have been clearer. For exam ple, the discus­ sion on planned econom y is not com plete. T h e rate o f devel­ opm ent o f the Soviet econom y is not high enough, although it is faster than the capitalists’ rate. Relations betw een agri­ culture and industry, as w ell as betw een ligh t and heavy in­ dustry, are not clearly explained. It looks as i f they have had serious losses. T h e rela­ tionship betw een long- and short-term interests has not seen any spectacular developm ents. T h ey w alk on one leg, w e walk on two. T h ey believe that technology decides every­ thing, that cadres decide everything, speaking only o f “ ex­ pert,” never o f “red,” only o f the cadres, never o f the masses. Th is is w alking on one leg. As far as heavy industry goes, they have failed to find the prim ary contradiction, callin g steel the foundation, m achinery the heart and innards, coal * Reply to comrades A. V. Sartina and V. G. Venzher. 135

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the food. . . . For us steel is the mainstay, the prim ary con­ tradiction in industry, w hile food grains are the m ainstay in agriculture. O ther things develop proportionally. In the first chapter he discusses grasping the laws, but without proposing a method. On com m odity production and the law o f value he has a num ber o f view s that w e approve o f ourselves, but there are problem s as well. Lim itin g com m od­ ity production to the m eans o f subsistence is really rather doubtful. M istrust o f the peasants is the basic view point o f the third letter. Essentially, Stalin did not discover a way to m ake the transition from collective to public ownership. Com m odity production and exchange are form s w e have kept, w hile in connection w ith the law o f value w e m ust speak o f planning and at the same tim e politics-in-com m and. Th ey speak only o f the production relations, not o f the super­ structure nor politics, nor the role o f the people. Com m unism cannot be reached unless there is a com m unist m ovem ent.* 1. These com rades . . . it is evident . . . confuse law s o f science, which reflect objective processes in nature or society, processes which take place independently o f the w ill o f man, with the law s w hich are issued by governments, which are made by the w ill o f man, and which have only juridical validity. But they m ust not be confused.

1. Th is principle is basically correct, but two things are w rong: first, the conscious activity o f the party and the masses is not su fficiently brought out; second, it is not com ­ prehensive enough in that it fails to explain that what makes governm ent decrees correct is not only that they em erge from the w ill o f the w orking class but also the fact that they faithfu lly reflect the im peratives o f objective econom ic laws. 2. Leaving aside astronomical, geological, and other sim ilar processes, which m an really is powerless to influence, even if he has come to know the law s o f their development. . . .

* These first four paragraphs comment critically on the entire text. There follows a series of comments criticizing specific sections. Before each com­ ment Stalin’s original text is given, as translated for Jen m in ch’u pan she, 3rd ed., January 1S38. (We use the English edition of Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1972).

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2. Th is argum ent is wrong. Human know ledge and the capability to transform nature have no lim it Stalin did not consider these matters developm entally. W hat cannot now be done, may be done in the future. 3. The same must be said o f the law s o f economic develop­ m ent the law s o f political economy— whether in the period o f capitalism or in the period o f socialism. Here, too, the law s o f economic development, as in the case o f natural science, are objective laws, reflecting processes o f economic development which take place independently o f the w ill o f man.

3. H ow do w e go about planning the econom y? Th ere is not enough attention given to ligh t industry, to agriculture. 4. That is why Engels says in the same book: “The law s o f his own social action, hitherto standing face to face with m an as laws o f nature foreign to, and dominating, him, w ill then be used with fu ll understanding, and so mastered by him.” ( A nti -

D ilhring)

4. Freedom is necessary objective law understood by peo­ ple. Such law confronts people, is independent o f them. But once people understand it, they can control i t 5. The specific role o f Soviet government w as due to two cir­ cumstances: first that what Soviet government had to do w as not to replace one form o f exploitation by another, as w as the case in earlier revolutions, but to abolish exploitation altogether; second, that in view o f the absence in the country o f any ready­ made rudim ents o f a socialist economy, it had to create new, so­ cialist forms o f economy, “starting from scratch,” so to speak.

5. T h e inevitability o f socialist econom ic laws— that is som ething that needs to be studied. A t the Ch’engtu C onfer­ ence I said that w e would have to see w hether or not our general program ( “ M ore! Faster! Better! M ore econom ically !” the three concurrent promotions, and the mass lin e ) would flo p ;1 or i f it could succeed. Th is can not be dem onstrated for several or even as many as ten years. T h e laws o f the revolu­ tion, w hich used to be doubted by some, have now been proved correct because the enem y has been overthrown. Can socialist construction work? People still have doubts. Does

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our Chinese practice conform to the econom ic laws o f China? Th is has to be studied. M y view is that i f the practice con­ form s generally, things w ill be all right. 6. This [creating new, socialist forms of economy “from scratch“] was undoubtedly a difficult, complex, and unprece­ dented task.

6. W ith respect to the creating o f socialist econom ic form s w e have the precedent o f the Soviet Union and for this reason should do a bit better than they. I f w e ruin things it w ill show that Chinese M arxism does not work. As to the dif­ ficulty and com plexity o f the tasks, things are no differen t from what the Soviet Union faced. 7. It is said that the necessity for balanced (proportionate) de­ velopment o f the national economy in our country enables the Soviet government to abolish existing economic laws and to create new ones. That is absolutely untrue. O u r yearly and fiveyearly plans must not be confused with the objective economic law o f balanced, proportionate development o f the national economy.

7. This is the crux o f the matter. 8. That m eans that the law o f balanced development o f the na­ tional economy makes it possible for our planning bodies to plan social production correctly. But possibility must not be con­ fused with actuality. They are two different things. In order to turn the possibility into actuality, it is necessary to study this economic law, to master it, to learn to apply it with full under­ standing, and to compile such plans as fully reflect the require­ ments o f this law. It cannot be said that the requirements o f this economic law are fully reflected by our yearly and fiveyearly plans.

8. T h e central point o f this passage is that w e must not confuse the objective law o f planned proportionate develop­ m ent with planning. In the past w e too devised plans, but they frequently caused a storm. Too m uch! Too little! Blindly w e bumped into things, never sure o f the best way. O nly after suffering tortuous lessons, m oving in U-shaped pat­

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terns, everyone racking their brains to think o f answers, did w e hit upon the forty-article agricultural program w hich w e are now putting into effect. And w e are in the m idst o f devis­ in g a new forty articles. A fter another three years’ bitter struggle w e w ill develop further; after fu ll and su fficient dis­ cussions w e w ill again proceed. Can w e m ake it a reality? It rem ains to be proved in objective practice. W e worked on in­ dustry for eigh t years but did not realize that w e had to take steel as the mainstay. Th is was the principal aspect o f the contradiction in industry. It was monism. Am ong the large, the medium, and the small, w e take the large as the m ain­ stay; betw een the center and the regions, the center. O f the two sides o f any contradiction one is the principal side. As im portant as eigh t years’ achievem ents are, w e w ere feelin g our way along, nonetheless. It cannot be said that our plan­ ning o f production was entirely correct, that it entirely re­ flected the objective laws. Planning is done by the w hole party, not sim ply the planning com m ittee or the econom ics com m ittee, but by all levels; everyone is involved. In this pas­ sage Stalin is theoretically correct. But there is not yet a finely detailed analysis, nor even the beginnings o f a clear ex ­ planation. Th e Soviets did not distinguish am ong the large, the m edium , and the small, the region and the center; nor did they prom ote concurrently industry and agriculture. Th ey have not walked on two legs at all. T h eir rules and regula­ tions ham strung people. But w e have not adequately studied and grasped our situation, and as a result our plans have not fully reflected objective laws either. 9.

Let us exam ine E ngels’ form ula E ngels’ form ula cannot be

considered folly clear and precise, because it does not indicate whether it is referring to the seizure by society o f all or only part o f the m eans o f production; that is, whether all or only part o f the m eans o f production are converted into public property. Hence, this form ula o f E ngels’ may be understood either way.

9. Th is analysis touches the essentials! T h e problem is dividing the m eans o f production into two parts. T o say the means o f production are not com m odities deserves study.

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10. In this section, Com m odity Production U nder Social­ ism, Stalin has not com prehensively set forth the conditions for the existence o f commodities. T h e existence o f two kinds o f ownership is the main prem ise for com m odity production. But ultim ately com m odity production is also related to the productive forces. For this reason, even under com pletely so­ cialized public ownership, com m odity exchange w ill still have to be operative in some areas. 11. It follows from this that Engels has in mind countries where capitalism and the concentration o f production have ad­ vanced far enough both in industry and agriculture to permit the expropriation o f all the m eans o f production in the country and their conversion into public property. Engels, consequently, considers that in such countries, parallel with the socialization o f all the m eans o f production, commodity production should be put an end to. And that, o f course, is correct.

11. Stalin’s analysis o f Engels’ form ula is correct. A t present there is a strong tendency to do away w ith com m od­ ity production. People get upset the m inute they see com ­ modity production, taking it for capitalism itself. But it looks as i f com m odity production w ill have to be greatly developed and the m oney supply increased for the sake o f the solidarity o f several hundred m illion peasants. Th is poses a problem for the ideology o f several hundred thousand cadres as w ell as for the solidarity o f several hundred m illion peasants. W e now possess only a part o f the m eans o f production. But it ap­ pears that there are those w ho wish to declare at once ow ner­ ship by the w hole people, divesting the small and m edium producers. But they fail to declare the category o f ow nership! Is it to be com m une-owned or county-owned? T o abolish com m odities and com m odity production in this way, m erely by declaring public ownership, is to strip the peasantry. A t the end o f 1955, procurem ent and purchase got us almost 90 billion catties o f grain, causing us no little trouble. Everyone was talking about food, and household after household was talking about unified purchase. But it was purchase, after all, not allocation. O nly later did the crisis ease w hen w e made

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the decision to m ake this 83 billion catties o f grain. I cannot understand w hy people have forgotten these things so prompdy. 12. I leave aside in this instance the question o f the importance o f foreign trade to Britain and the vast part it plays in her na­ tional economy. I think that only after an investigation o f this question can it be finally decided what would be the future [fate] of commodity production in Britain after the proletariat had assumed power and all the m eans of production had been nationalized.

12. Fate depends on w hether or not com m odity produc­ tion is abolished. 13. But here is a question: W hat are the proletariat and its party to do in countries, ours being a case in point, w here the conditions are favorable for the assumption o f power by the pro­ letariat and the overthrow o f capitalism [where capitalism has so concentrated the means o f production in industry that they may be expropriated and made the property o f society, but where agriculture, notwithstanding the growth o f capitalism, is divided up among num erous small and medium ownerproducers to such an extent as to make it impossible to consider the expropriation o f these producers?] * . . . [This] would throw the peasantry into the cam p o f the enemies o f the proletariat for a long time.

13. In sum, the principle governing com m odity production was not grasped. Chinese econom ists are M arxist-Leninist as far as book learning goes. But when they encounter econom ic practice M arxism -Leninism gets shortchanged. T h eir thinking is confused. I f w e m ake m is­ takes w e w ill lead the peasantry to the enem y side. 14. Lenin’s answer may be briefly summed up as follows: (a ). Favorable conditions for the assumption of power should not be missed— the proletariat should assum e power without waiting until capitalism has succeeded in ruining the millions o f small and medium individual producers;

* Material in brackets added from Stalin’s text to clarify the point

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15(b). The m eans o f production in industry should be expro­ priated and converted into public property; 16(c). As to the sm all and m edium individual producers, they should be gradually united in producers’ cooperatives, Le., in large agricultural enterprises, collective farm s; 17(d). Industry should be developed to the utmost and the col­ lective farm s should be placed on the m odem technical basis o f large-scale production, not expropriating them, but on the con­ trary generously supplying them with first-class tractors and other m achines; 18(e). In order to ensure an economic bond between town and country, between industry and agriculture, commodity produc­ tion (exchange through purchase and sale) should be preserved for a certain period, it being the form o f economic tie with the town which is alone acceptable to the peasants, and Soviet trade— state, cooperative, and collective-farm— should be devel­ oped to the full and the capitalists o f all types and descriptions ousted from trading activity. The history o f socialist construction in our country has shown that this path o f development, mapped out by Lenin, has fully justified itself. 19. There can be no doubt that in the case of all capitalist countries with a more or less num erous class o f sm all and me­ dium producers, this path o f development is the only possible and expedient one for the victory o f socialism.

14. Th is passage has a correct analysis. Take conditions in China. Th ere is developm ent. Th ese five points are all cor­ rect. 15. Our policy toward the national bourgeoisie has been to redeem their property. 16. W e are developing the people’s com m unes on an ever larger scale. 17. Th is is precisely what w e are doing now. 18. Th ere are those w ho w ant no com m odity production, but they are wrong. On com m odity production w e still have to take it from Stalin, who, in turn, got it from Lenin. Len in had said to devote the fullest energies to developing com -

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m erce. W e would rather say, devote the fullest energies to developing industry, agriculture, and com m erce. T h e es­ sence o f the problem is the peasant question. There are those who regard the peasant as even m ore conscious than the workers. W e have carried through or are in the process o f carrying through on these five items. Some areas still have to be developed, such as com m une-run industry or concurrent promotion o f industry and agriculture. 19. Lenin said the same thing. 20. Commodity production m ust not be regarded as something sufficient unto itself, something independent o f the surround­ ing economic conditions. Commodity production is older than capitalist production. It existed in slave-owning society, and served it, but did not lead to capitalism. It existed in feudal soci­ ety and served it, yet, although it prepared some o f the condi­ tions for capitalist production, it did not lead to capitalism. 21. Bearing in m ind that in our country commodity production is not so boundless and all-em bracing as it is under capitalist 22. conditions, being confined within strict bounds thanks to such decisive economic conditions as social owner­ ship o f the m eans o f production, the abolition o f the system o f w age labor, and the elimination o f the 23. system o f exploitation, why then, one asks, cannot com­ modity production similarly serve our socialist society for a cer­ tain period without leading to capitalism?

20. Th is statement is a little exaggerated. But it is true that com m odity production was not a capitalist institution ex­ clusively. 21. T h e second plenary session o f the Central Com m ittee suggested policies o f utilizing, restricting, and transform ing (com m odity production.) 22. Th is condition is fully operative in China. 23. Th is point is entirely correct. W e no longer have such circum stances and conditions. Th ere are those who fear com ­ modities. W ithout exception they fear capitalism, not realiz­ in g that w ith the elim ination o f capitalists it is allowable to expand com m odity production vastly. W e are still backward

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in commodity production, behind Brazil and In d ia Commod­ ity production is not an isolated thing. Look at the context: capitalism or socialism. In a capitalist context it is capitalist commodity production. In a socialist context it is socialist commodity production. Commodity production has existed since ancient times. Buying and selling began in what his­ tory calls the Shang (“com m erce” ] dynasty. Th e last king o f the Shang dynasty, Chou, was com petent in civil and m ilitary matters, but he was turned into a villain along with the first emperor o f the Ch’in 2 and T s’ao T s’ao.3 This is wrong. “Better to have no books than com plete faith in them .” * In capitalist society there are no socialist institutions considered as social institutions, but the w orking class and socialist ideology do exist in capitalist society. T h e thing that determ ines com ­ modity production is the surrounding econom ic conditions. Th e question is, can comm odity production be regarded as a useful instrument for furthering socialist production? I think commodity production w ill serve socialism quite tamely. This can be discussed among the cadres. 24. It is said that, since the domination of social ownership o f the means o f production has been established in our country, and the system of wage labor and exploitation has been abol­ ished, commodity production has lost all m eaning and should therefore be done away with.

24. Change “our country” to “ China” and it becom es most intriguing. 25. Today there are two basic forms o f socialist production in our country: state, or publicly owned production, and collectivefarm production, which cannot be said to be publicly owned.

25. “Today” refers to 1952, thirty-five years after their revolution. W e stand but nine years from ours. H e refers to two basic forms. In the communes not only land and m achinery but labor, seeds, and other means o f production as w ell are commune-owned. Thus the output is * Mencius. Mao seems to mean “Let’s not make a stock villain out of commodity production pedantically.”

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so owned. But don’t think the Chinese peasants are so won­ derfully advanced. In Hsiuwu county, Honan, the party secre­ tary was concerned w hether or not, in the event o f flood or fam ine, the state would pay w ages after public ownership was declared and the free supply system instituted. H e was also concerned that in times o f bum per harvest the state would transfer away public grain but not pay w ages either, leaving the peasants to suffer w hether the harvest succeeds or fails. This represents the concerns o f the peasants. M arx­ ists should be concerned w ith these problems. Our comm od­ ity production should be developed to the fullest, but it is going to take fifteen years or m ore and patience as well. W e have waged w ar for decades. N ow w e still have to have pa­ tience, to wait for Taiw an’s liberation, to w ait for socialist construction to be going w eE Don’t hope for early victories! 26. [H ow the two basic forms o f ownership w ill ultimately be­ come one] is a special question which requires separate discus­ sion.

26. Stalin is avoiding the issue, having failed to find a method or suitable form ulation [on the transition from collec­ tive to public ownership.] 27. Consequently, our commodity production is not o f the ordi­ nary type, but is a special kind o f commodity production, com­ modity production without capitalists, which is concerned mainly with the goods o f associated socialist producers (the state, the collective farms, the cooperatives), the sphere o f ac­ tion o f which is confined to items o f personal consumption, which obviously cannot possibly develop into capitalist produc­ tion, and which, together with its “money economy,” is de­ signed to serve the development and consolidation o f socialist production.

27. Th e “ sphere o f action” is not lim ited to item s o f indi­ vidual consumption. Some means o f production have to be classed as commodities. I f agricultural output consists o f com m odities but industrial output does not, then how is ex­ change going to be carried out? I f “our country” is changed to “China,” the paragraph becom es all the more interesting to

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read, ln China not only consum er goods but agricultural means o f production have to be supplied. Stalin never sold means o f production to the peasants. Khrushchev changed that. 28. (Chairm an Mao comm ented on page 13 o f the origi­ nal text): Let us not confuse the problem o f the dividing Une between sociaUsm and communism with the problem o f the dividing line between collective and pubUc ownership. T h e collective ownership system leaves us with the problem o f commodity production, the goal o f w hich is consolidating the worker-peasant alliance and developing production. Today there are those who say that the communism o f the peasants is glorious. A fter one trip to the rural areas they think the peasantry is simply wonderful, that they are about to enter paradise, that they are better than the workers. This is the surface phenomenon. W e shall have to see i f the peasants re­ ally have a communist spirit, and more than that, w e shall have to exam ine the comm une ownership system, including the extent to w hich the means o f production and subsistence belong to communal collective ownership. As the county party comm ittee secretary o f Hsiuwu, Honan, said, w e still have to develop comm odity production, and not charge blindly ahead. 29. Further, I think that we must also discard certain other concepts taken from M arx’s Capital— where M arx was con­ cerned with an analysis of capitalism— and artificially appUed to our socialist relations. . . . It is natural that M arx used con­ cepts (categories) which fuUy corresponded to capitaUst rela­ tions. But it is strange, to say the 30. least, to use these concepts now, when the working class is not only not bereft o f power and means o f production, but, on the contrary, is in possession o f the power 31. and controls the means o f production. Talk o f labor power being a commodity, and o f “hiring” o f workers sounds rather absurd now, under our system, as though the working class, which possesses means of production, hires itself and sells its labor power to itself.

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29. In particular, the m eans o f production in the indus­ trial sector. 30. Com m odity production has to be vastly developed, not for profits but for the peasantry, the agricultural-indus­ trial alliance, and the developm ent o f production. 31. Especially after rectification. A fter the rectification and anti-rightist cam paigns labor pow er was no longer a commodity. It was in the service o f the people, not the dollar. T h e labor power question is not resolved until labor pow er is no longer a commodity. 32. It is sometimes asked whether the law o f value exists and operates in our country, under the socialist system.

32. T h e law o f value does not have a regulative function. Planning and politics-in-com m and play that role. 33. True, the law o f value has no regulating function in our so­ cialist production.

33. In our society the law o f value has no regulative fu nc­ tion, that is, has no determ inative function. Planning deter­ m ines production, e.g., for hogs or steel w e do not use the law o f value; w e rely on planning.

Notes Reading Notes 1. There are three levels o f collective ownership in the Chinese countryside. The smallest unit, the production team, usually consists o f between fifteen and thirty-five families. The team is the basic ownership and production unit, owning the land it works, a num ber o f draught animals, and small agricultural tools such as threshers and crushers. The next unit, the pro­ duction brigade, is made up o f from five to fifteen teams. The brigade ow ns larger means o f production too expensive for the team to buy and too large for them to use effectively, such as tractors and irrigation equipment. The brigade also takes care o f tasks, such as hill terracing, for which the team is too sm all The commune, with a population from several thousand to some fifty thousand, is composed o f ten to thirty brigades. In addition to providing overall coordination am ong the brigades, the communes ow n and run large industrial enterprises and projects too large for the brigade to handle, such as large water conservancy projects. 2. The various forms o f collective ownership, taken as a whole, are distinct from ownership by the whole people. Collective ow ner­ ship signifies that the m eans o f production are owned by a sec­ tor o f the total population. This sector, be it a team, brigade, or commune, basically organizes and runs production. The prod­ uct o f a collectively owned unit, aside from taxes, belongs to the units which produced it The unit uses part o f the product for reproduction and investment and the rem ainder for worker in­ come. O w nership by the whole people, on the other hand, signifies

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Notes ownership by the whole society, not a sector o f it Such en­ terprises are subject to direct central planning and organization. Their products are owned by the whole society and can be dis­ tributed according to need within the whole system o f units under ownership by the whole people. Since these various pro­ duction units are treated as a unified accounting unit, the

profits or losses of an individual production unit do not affect either investment in the unit or the income of its workers. In 1973, industry under the ownership o f the whole people accounted for 97 percent o f total fixed assets, 63 percent o f the people engaged in industry, and 86 percent o f total industrial output. Industry under collective ownership covered 3 percent o f fixed assets, 36.2 percent o f the industrial workforce, and 14 percent o f total output. Individual handicrafts made up the other 8 percent. In commerce, 92.5 percent o f retail sales were under ownership o f the whole people with collectively owned units accounting for 7.3 percent o f total retail sales. In agricul­ ture, on the other hand, 80 to 90 percent o f the means o f pro­ duction were still under collective ownership. 3. The land reform movement refers specifically to the postLiberation land reform cam paign o f 1949-1952. The agricul­ tural producers’ cooperatives were established for the most part during the high tide o f collectivization in 1955 and early 1956. The people’s communes were organized throughout China in the fall o f 1958 during the initial stages o f the Great Leap For­ ward. 4. Compradore capitalism refers to foreign commercial establish­ ments in China staffed by Chinese who served these foreign in­ terests. 5. For M ao’s discussions o f the importance o f bureaucratic capital and policy toward it at that time, see “The Present Situation and O u r Tasks,” Decem ber 25, 1947, and “Report to the Second Session o f the Seventh Central Committee,” M arch 5, 1949, in Selected Works o f Mao Tsetung, voL 4 (Peking: Foreign Lan­ guages Press, 1961), pp. 167-68 and 362-75. 6. H ere Mao is referring to the activities o f Chang Po-chiin (Z h an g Po-ju n) and Lo Lung-chi (L u o Long-ji). In the sum m er o f 1957 C hang suggested giving more power to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which consisted largely o f m embers o f the various democratic parties. This unit would serve as an “upper house” with veto power over the C C P -

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dominated National People’s Congress. Lo proposed a set of “rehabilitation committees” to examine the treatment of dem o­ cratic persons who he argued were unfairly treated in the anticounter-revolutionary cam paigns of the early 1950s. 7. Fixed interest was a specific part o f the C C P ’s strategy o f “buy­ ing out” the national bourgeoisie. After Liberation, policy to­ ward them went through several stages. The first stage was the placing o f orders by the state with private enterprises for m anu­ facturing and processing and the unified purchase and distribu­ tion o f products produced by these enterprises. After the rec­ tification cam paign in private industry in 1952, a second phase o f “dividing the profits into four shares” w as implemented. The four relatively equal shares were: (1 ) taxes paid to the state; (2 ) contributions to the worker welfare fund; (3 ) enterprise devel­ opment funds; and (4 ) profits for the capitalists. The third stage w as the implementation o f joint state-private ownership, first of individual enterprises and then of entire trades. In this “highest phase of state capitalism,” the income of the capitalists would come from the income they received for the work they did within the units and from “fixed interest.” Fixed interest was to be paid for twenty years at the annual rate o f 5 percent o f the value o f the assets o f the enterprises regard­ less o f the annual profits or losses o f the individual firms. Fixed interest payments were terminated during the Cultural Revolu­ tion. 8. The policy o f unified purchase and supply meant that the gov­ ernment would buy certain products at fixed prices, thus elim ­ inating the private market and conditions for speculation in these goods. Unified purchase and supply o f grain, edible oils, and oilseeds was instituted in M arch 1954, and in Septem ber 1954 the policy was instituted for cotton and cotton cloth. U nder the system o f unified purchase and supply, there are three categories o f goods. Goods in the first category (w hich, as o f April 1959, included 38 products) are sold to state companies at fixed prices. Second category goods (293 products as o f April 1959) are sold to the state according to quotas reached on a con­ tractual basis. Above-quota production can, but need not, be sold to the state. Third category goods (those not included in the first or second categories) may still be sold on the market. 9. “Red and expert” describes a unity of opposites in building a socialist society. Redness suggests political and ideological

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Notes aspects o f work; expertness the technical aspects. Both are nec­

essary aspects of all work. But in line with his reasoning that every contradiction must have a primary aspect, Mao has long held that “ideological and political work is the guarantee . . . the ‘soul’ ” o f economic and technical work. O n the other hand, if redness is emphasized to the exclusion o f expertness, then the unity o f opposites will be destroyed and the task o f building socialism w ill become impossible. 10. In M arch 1949 the C C P began to organize a People’s Political Consultative Conference representing twenty-three parties and groups. In Septem ber 1949 the Preparatory Committee o f the People’s Political Consultative Conference met and passed the Common Program, a general statement o f the aims o f the new government, and the Organic Law of the Central People’s Re­ public which made the working class the leaders of the Repub­ lic. Subsequently, the National People’s Congress, first con­ vened in 1954, was established as the dominant long-term na­ tional legislative body in China. 11. One Chinese dollar (y u an ) has a value o f U.S. $.53 (A pril 1977). The value o f the yuan has been stable at approximately U.S. $.50 for over twenty years, the variations coming mainly as a result of devaluations of the U.S. dollar. 12. Here Mao is probably referring to his own experiences during the Great Leap Forward. At W uchang (W u zh a n g ) in Novem ber 1958, M ao admitted that at the Peitaiho (Beitaihe) Conference in August 1958, during the height o f enthusiasm for the Great Leap, he had made a similar error o f considering only need and not capacity. 13. This formulation of these crucial contradictions is contained in M ao’s April 1956 speech, “O n the Ten M ajor Relationships.’’ 14. M utual aid teams were an early form o f collective agricultural organization. Based on traditional peasant seasonal labor­ sharing practices in parts of China, they were extensively im­ plemented in the early 1950s. In 1955, nearly 60 percent o f China’s peasant households were in mutual aid teams. These teams were supplanted in 1955 by elementary agri­ cultural producers’ cooperatives (A P C s). Each APC contained several m utual aid teams; land and other capital goods con­ tinued to be privately owned, but other resources were pooled and used according to annual plans prepared by cooperative decision-making.

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By June 1956, however, 63 percent o f the peasant house­ holds had progressed to larger, advanced APCs in which land, labor, and the means o f production were pooled. 15. Chang Tien-p’ei (Z h u n g D ian-pei) was a film critic in the m id1950s who later took part in the antiparty, antisocialist current o f 1957. 16. The “three-antis" (S an fan ) campaign, begun in the northeast in August 1951 and nationally in January 1952, w as directed against corruption, waste, and bureaucratism among govern­ ment employees, many o f whom were still carryovers from the Nationalist regime. The “five-antis” (W u fa n ) cam paign w as directed at the national bourgeoisie. Its specific foci w ere the elimination of bribery, theft o f state property, tax evasion, theft o f state economic secrets, and em bezzlem ent in carrying out government contracts. 17. Here Mao is referring to the rightist criticisms o f the C C P dur­ ing the “blooming and contending" period in the spring o f 1957, shortly after he had delivered his talk, “O n the Correct H an­ dling o f Contradictions Am ong the People," in February 1957. 18. In July 1959, at the Lushan Conference, a group o f party leaders headed by then Defense Minister F e n g Teh-huai (P en g D e-huai) criticized the Great Leap Forward and its leadership as “petty bourgeois fanaticism.” They argued that it had created far more dam age than good. After a m ajor struggle at the ple­ num conference, P’eng and other rightists were removed from their positions o f responsibility in the party and the government. 19. The argum ent presented by the textbook that the socialist revo­ lution in the ideological and political fronts was concluded in 1957 is similar to the argument in the Resolution o f the Eighth Party Congress in 1956. That is to say, the main contradiction in China w as no longer that between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, but between the advanced relations o f production (the ideological and political fronts on which the revolution w as “concluded”) and the backward forces o f production. 20. The 45 percent rate o f accumulation noted here by Mao is an exceptionally high one used to demonstrate an exemplary ad­ vanced situation. D uring the Great Leap Forward, Mao had consistently argued against excessive rates o f accumulation which would reduce the peasants’ incentives to produce. As a general rule, he prescribed the following breakdown for agricul­ tural production: taxes (7 percent); production expenses (20

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percent); accumulation (18 percent); distribution to the masses (55 percent). 21. The Eight-Character Charter for Agriculture, propagated during the Great Leap Forward, called for paying attention to water, fertilizer, soil (conservation), seeds (selection), closeness (in planting), protection (o f plants), implements, and (fie ld ) man­ agement. 22. Here Mao is referring to the fifth grade in China’s present eightgrade w age system. 23. During the W ar o f Liberation, cadres received goods according to need, not according to work done. These goods were distributed directly for use, not through any market mechanism based on exchange value. Under these circumstances, however, needs were defined quite spartanly. 24. The mass line is the method o f leadership which the C C P strives to achieve. Its classic formulation by Mao is as follows: In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily ‘from the masses, to the masses.” This means: take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsys­ tematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study tum them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them, and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action. Then once again concentrate ideas from the masses and once again go to the masses so that the ideas are persevered in and carried through. And so on, over and over again in an endless spiral, with the ideas be­ coming more correct, more vital, and richer each time. From: “Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership,” June 1, 1943, Selected Works, voi. 3, p. 119. 25. Mao is referring again to the July-August 1959 Lushan Confer­ ence at which the conflict with P’eng Teh-huai came to the fore.

Supplement 1. C h’u Yuan (Q u Y uan) was an aristocrat o f the Chou period who lived during the beginning o f the third century b.c . After being dismissed from the royal court, he wrote the L i Sao, an allegori­

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cal, fanciful search for an understanding ruler. H e subsequendy drowned him self out o f despair. 2. The “three transformations” refers to the transformation o f agri­ culture, private industry, and handicrafts production. 3. The forty-articles program represented a plan for agricultural de­ velopment supported by Mao. The forty articles advocated relying on agricultural production and the domestic agricultural market, rather than foreign markets, to provide the primary accumulation needed to finance China’s industrialization. The articles also ad­ vocated changing the relations o f production as a condition for further developing the forces o f production and increasing coop­ erativization. The vast majority o f the peasants were to increase their income through this process. Although the forty articles were shelved during 1956 and most o f 1957, they became an in­ tegral part o f the Great Leap Forward. 4. As Mao here indicates, a series o f meetings were held from N o ­ vem ber 1958 through early 1959. At these meetings the errors o f the Great Leap were criticized and efforts made to correct them. However, it was only after these errors had been criticized and corrections made that, in July 1959, the rightists launched what Mao saw as an opportunist attack on the Great Leap and the leadership who had supported it. This perception o f the rightist criticisms is reflected in the titles o f the two talks Mao gave at the Lushan Conference “W hy Do the Right Opportunists N ow Launch an Offensive?” and “M achine Guns, Mortars, and Other Things” (reflecting the antagonistic nature o f the attack.) 5. The M a Anshan Iron and Steel Constitution refers to the authori­ tarian constitution of the Soviet Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, which the Anshan Works, China’s most advanced iron and steel works, had adopted in the 1950s. This constitution remained unchallenged until 1958. During the Great Leap For­ ward, the “M a-An” principles of one person in command and technology in command were challenged in a report to the cen­ tral leadership. By M arch 1960, with Mao’s participation, a new Anshan Con­ stitution had been written. It combined the five principles o f (1 ) politics in command; (2 ) strengthening party leadership; (3 ) launching vigorous mass movements; (4 ) instituting the “two participations, one reform, and three combinations” (cadre par­ ticipation in productive labor and worker participation in m an­ agement; reform o f irrational and outdated rules; cooperation be­

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tween workers, cadres, and technicians); and (5 ) go full speed ahead with technical innovations and the technical revolution. Although Mao authorized the issue, publication, and implemen­ tation o f the new Anshan Constitution in M arch 1960, it w as not until the Cultural Revolution that it was publicized in a big way. 6. A catty is 1.1 pounds.

Concerning Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR 1. The date for this document in the 1967 edition is 1959. The 1969 edition dates it in 1958. There was no C h ’engchou (C h en gzh ou) Conference in Novem ber 1959, but there was one in Novem ber 1958. The document almost certainly dates from this earlier time. 2. The w age system established in 1953 emphasized predominately short-term individual material incentives. It established an eightgrade w age point system ranging from 139 to 390 w age points per month. Sim ilar work in different regions would receive an equal num ber o f work points, but the value o f work points varied according to regional costs of living. By 1956, the w age point sys­ tem had been replaced by a w age system, but the eight-grade structure w as retained. 3. Experimental fields sought to develop new and advanced tech­ niques, such as close planting, early planting, deep ploughing, etc. If successful in increasing output, the techniques would be popularized throughout C h in a By increasing production and thus the total w age fund, the experimental field concept could help undermine the ideological base o f the graded w age system by demonstrating that specialists could learn from the peasants.

Critique o f Stalin's Economic Problems o f Socialism in the USSR 1. Mao is here talking about the excessive purchase o f grain at the end o f 1954 and the consequent rural grain shortages in the spring o f 1955. Subsequendy, the quota for state purchases was reduced by 7 billion catties and tension in the countryside eased. These occurrences, however, took place in the spring of 1955, not at the end o f that year, which w as characterized by the continu­ ing high tide of collectivization in China’s countryside. 2. C h ’in Shih H uang Ti (Q in Shi H uangdi), the first emperor, was a king of the state o f C h ’in who, between 230 and 221 B.c., con-

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quered the neighboring states and unified China. U nder his rule, a feudal system was established, weights and m easures and coin­ age were standardized. The legalist philosophy w as the philo­ sophical basis o f the C h ’in. The first em peror is rem em bered for his burning o f all nonutilitarian, “subversive” literature in 213 B.C.

3. Ts’ao T s’ao (C ao C ao) was a fam ous general and chancellor o f the latter H an dynasty (25 -22 0 a .d . ) who played a significant role in the wars which finally toppled the H an and led to the epoch o f divided empire called the three kingdoms.