The influence and guiding significance of ten relations on the construction of China

(1April 25, 956)

Let me ask ten questions.

The relationship between heavy industry, light industry and agriculture Heavy industry is the focus of China's construction. It has been decided that priority must be given to developing the means of production. But we can't ignore the means of subsistence, especially the production of grain. If we don't have enough food and other necessities, we can't support workers, let alone develop heavy industry. Therefore, we must deal with the relationship between heavy industry, light industry and agriculture.

We now have two roads to develop heavy industry. One is to develop agriculture and light industry less, and the other is to develop agriculture and light industry more. In the long run, the former method will make the development of heavy industry less and less, slower and slower, at least the foundation is not so solid, and it is not cost-effective to calculate the general ledger decades later. The latter method will make heavy industry develop more and faster, and because it ensures the needs of people's lives, it will make its development foundation more stable.

Second, the relationship between coastal industries and inland industries.

Our country's industries used to be concentrated in coastal areas. The so-called coastal areas refer to Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, eastern Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi. About 70% of all light and heavy industries in China are located along the coast, and only 30% are located in the mainland. This is an unreasonable situation formed in history. We must make full use of coastal industrial bases, but in order to balance the layout of industrial development, we must vigorously develop inland industries. We have not made any big mistakes in the relationship between the two, but in recent years we have underestimated the coastal industries and paid little attention to their development. This needs to change.

Third, the relationship between economic construction and national defense construction.

National defense is indispensable. Now, we have a certain national defense force. After the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and several years of training and consolidation, our army has been strengthened, stronger than the Soviet Red Army before the Second World War, and its equipment has been improved. Our national defense industry is being established. From the beginning of Pangu, we didn't know how to build airplanes and cars. Now we can build them.

We don't have an atomic bomb yet. However, in the past, we didn't have planes and cannons. We defeated Japanese imperialism and Chiang Kai-shek with millet and rifles. We are stronger now than in the past and will be stronger in the future, not only with more planes and cannons, but also with atomic bombs. In today's world, we can't live without this thing unless we are bullied by others. What should we do? The reliable way is to reduce the military and political expenses to an appropriate proportion and increase the economic construction expenses. Only when economic construction develops faster can national defense construction make greater progress.

The relationship between the state, production units and individual producers

We should properly handle the relationship between the state and factories and cooperatives, as well as the relationship between factories, cooperatives and individual producers. Because of this, we can't just focus on one end, we must give consideration to the country, the collective and the individual, that is, we used to say "giving consideration to the military and the people" and "giving consideration to the public and private". In view of the experience of the Soviet Union and ourselves, we must solve this problem better in the future.

Take the workers as an example. With the improvement of their labor productivity, their working conditions and collective welfare also need to be gradually improved. We have always advocated hard work and opposed personal material interests above all else. At the same time, we have always advocated caring for people's lives and opposed bureaucracy that does not care about people's suffering. With the development of the whole national economy, wages also need to be adjusted appropriately. With regard to wages, it has recently been decided to increase some, mainly among the lower classes and workers, in order to narrow the gap between the upper and lower classes. Our wages are generally not high, but the lives of workers have been greatly improved because of the large number of employed people, low and stable prices and other conditions. Under the proletarian regime, workers' political consciousness and labor enthusiasm have always been high. At the end of last year, the Central Committee called for opposing right-wing conservatism, and the workers enthusiastically supported it. They fought for three months, making an exception and exceeding the plan for the first quarter of this year. We should vigorously carry forward their spirit of hard struggle and pay more attention to solving urgent problems in their work and life.

In short, countries and factories, countries and workers, factories and workers, countries and cooperatives, countries and farmers, cooperatives and farmers should all be considered, not just one. No matter which side you only care about, it is not conducive to socialism and proletarian dictatorship. This is a major issue that concerns 600 million people and must be repeatedly educated among the whole party and the people of the whole country.

The relationship between the central and local governments

The relationship between the central and local governments is also a pair of contradictions. To solve this contradiction, what we should pay attention to at present is to expand the power of local governments, give them more autonomy and let them do more things on the premise of consolidating the unified leadership of the central government. This is more beneficial for us to build a strong socialist country. Our country is so big, the population is so large and the situation is so complicated. It is much better for the central and local governments to have two initiatives than to have only one initiative. We can't concentrate everything on the central government like the Soviet Union. We have no right to maneuver at all.

The relationship between Han nationality and ethnic minorities

With regard to the relationship between the Han nationality and ethnic minorities, our policy is relatively stable and recognized by ethnic minorities. We focus on opposing Han chauvinism. Local nationalism should also be opposed, but this is generally not the point.

China has a small number of ethnic minorities and a large area. In terms of population, the Han nationality accounts for 94%, which is an overwhelming advantage. If the Han people practise chauvinism and discriminate against ethnic minorities, it will be very bad. Who has more land? There are many ethnic minorities in China, accounting for 50% to 60%. When we say that China has a vast territory and a large population, it is actually a "large population" of the Han nationality and a "vast territory and abundant resources" of the ethnic minorities. At least underground resources are likely to be "rich resources" of ethnic minorities.

All ethnic minorities have contributed to the history of China. The Han nationality has a large population, and it was also formed by multi-ethnic mixed blood in a long period of time. The reactionary rulers in history, mainly Han rulers, once created all kinds of estrangements between our ethnic groups and bullied ethnic minorities. The influence of this situation is not easy to eliminate quickly even among the working people. Therefore, we should carry out extensive and lasting education on proletarian ethnic policies for cadres and the masses, and always pay attention to the relationship between the Han nationality and ethnic minorities. I had a check-up two years ago, and now I should do it again. If the relationship is not normal, we must deal with it seriously, not just talk about it.

In minority areas, it is necessary to study how the economic management system and the financial system adapt to each other.

7. Relations between political parties and non-political parties

Which is better, one party or several parties? Now, I'm afraid several parties. Not only in the past, but also in the future, that is, long-term existence and mutual supervision.

The relationship between revolution and counter-revolution

What are the counter-revolutionary factors? It is a negative factor, a destructive factor and an opposing force of positive factors. Can counter-revolutionaries be remoulded? Of course, some die-hard counter-revolutionaries will not change. However, under the conditions of our country, most of the future will change to varying degrees. Thanks to our correct policy, many counter-revolutionaries have now turned into non-counter-revolutionaries, and some have done some useful things.

There are several points that should be affirmed:

First, it should be affirmed that it is necessary to suppress counter-revolutionaries in 1951 and 1952. There is a view that counter-revolutionaries could not be suppressed at that time. This view is wrong.

The way to deal with counter-revolutionaries is to kill, shut down, control and release them. Kill, everyone knows what it is. Close, that is, lock up and reform through labor. Management is to put it into society and accept the supervision and transformation of the masses. Letting go means that you don't catch what you can and can't catch, or you can let him go if you behave well after you catch him. Counter-revolutionaries should be treated differently according to different situations.

Now just say kill. Suppressing counter-revolutionaries killed a group of people. Who are those people? It is a counter-revolutionary with heavy debts that the people hate very much. In the great revolution of 600 million people, the people could not get up without killing those "tyrants in the east" and "tyrants in the west". If it were not for repression, we would adopt a lenient policy today, and it is impossible for the people to agree. Now some people have heard that Stalin killed some wrong people, and they say that the counter-revolutionaries we killed were also wrong, which is wrong. It is of practical significance to affirm that the past was fundamentally correct.

Second, there should definitely be counter-revolutionaries, but they have been greatly reduced. After the problem of Hu Feng [13] comes out, we should investigate counter-revolutionaries. Some have not been found out yet, and we will continue to look into them. We must affirm that there are still a few counter-revolutionaries engaged in various counter-revolutionary sabotage activities, such as killing cattle, burning grain, destroying factories, stealing information, posting reactionary slogans and so on. Therefore, it is wrong to say that the counter-revolution has been eliminated and we can rest easy. As long as there is class struggle between China and the world, we can never let our guard down. However, it is also wrong to say that there are still many counter-revolutionaries.

Third, in order to suppress social rebellion in the future, we should catch less and kill less. Because the counter-revolution in society is the direct injustice of the people and the people hate it, a few people still want to kill it. Most of them should be handed over to agricultural cooperatives to control production and reform through labor. However, we cannot declare "no killing" or abolish the death penalty.

Fourth, the investigation of counter-revolutionaries in government organs, schools and armed forces should adhere to the principle of starting from Yan 'an, that is, not killing one and not arresting most of them.

Fourth, killing them will not increase production and improve scientific level, but will help to eliminate the four pests, strengthen national defense and recover Taiwan Province Province. Kill them, and you gain a reputation for killing prisoners. Killing criminals has always had a bad reputation. Another point is that the counter-revolution of government agencies is different from that of society. The counter-revolution in society climbs to the people's head, and the counter-revolution in the system is far away from the people. They have common grievances, but there are not many direct ones. What's the harm in not killing these people? Those who can reform through labor should be reformed through labor, and those who can't should be raised. Counter-revolutionaries are waste and pests, but after they are caught, they can be made to do something for others.

However, do you want to make a law saying that counter-revolutionaries in the organs will not be killed? This is our internal policy. We don't need to announce. In fact, we should try our best to do it. If someone dropped a bomb and killed all the people in this room, or half, or a third, would you like to kill them? Then you must kill it.

The principle of "not killing" by the authorities to eliminate counter-revolutionaries does not prevent us from taking a serious attitude towards counter-revolutionaries. However, you can guarantee that you will not make irreparable mistakes, and there is still a chance to correct them if you make mistakes. All counter-revolutionaries should be given a chance to live and a chance to make a new start. Doing so will benefit the people's cause and international influence.

There is still hard work to be done to suppress counter-revolutionaries, and no one can relax. In the future, we will continue to suppress counter-revolutionaries in society. We must distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. Everyone knows how serious the danger will be to the socialist cause and the dictatorship of the proletariat if the enemy is allowed to infiltrate our ranks and even our leading bodies.

Nine kinds of right and wrong relations

Both inside and outside the party should distinguish between right and wrong. How to treat people who have made mistakes is an important issue. The correct attitude should be to adopt the policy of "learning from mistakes and saving lives" to help them correct their mistakes and allow them to continue the revolution.

The True Story of Ah Q is a good novel. Please read it again for those who have seen it, and have a good look for those who have not. In this novel, Lu Xun mainly wrote about a backward and unconscious farmer. He wrote a chapter "No Revolution", and it's impossible to say that the fake foreign devil revolutionized Ah Q. In fact, Ah Q's so-called revolution at that time was just to get something like others. However, such revolutionary fake foreign devils are still not allowed. I think some people are a bit like fake foreign devils at this point. They do not allow people who make mistakes to engage in revolution, nor do they distinguish between making mistakes and counter-revolution. They even killed some people who made mistakes. We should remember this lesson. It is not good to prohibit others from making revolution in society and comrades who have made mistakes from correcting their mistakes within the party.

Some people say that comrades who have made mistakes should be corrected by themselves. I said it's not enough just to look at it, but also to help them change it. In other words, one wants to see and the other wants to help. People need help, people who have not made mistakes need help, and people who have made mistakes need help more. The policy of "learning lessons and saving lives" is the policy of uniting the whole party, and we must adhere to this policy.

X. Chinese-foreign relations

We put forward the slogan of learning from foreign countries, which I think is correct. Now the leaders of some countries are unwilling to mention this slogan, or even afraid to mention it. It takes a little courage to put down your airs on the stage.

They didn't expect the Soviet Union to set up the Ministry of Culture soon, just like us. Some people don't analyze anything, just follow the wind. The north wind blows today, he is a north wind school, and the west wind will blow tomorrow. He is a westerly school, and then blows the north wind. He is also a North Wind School. I have no opinion of myself and often go from one extreme to the other.