Wake up（342）

 

Chapter 59 Political Reform

 

342

 

Liu Xiaosheng talked about the relationship between Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping, Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to Lao Pantou and those young people. And compare Deng Xiaoping's and Chen Yun's reform thoughts.

Liu Xiaosheng said:

Looking at the relationship between Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping in the early days of reform and opening up, it can be said that the cooperation and mutual complementarity between each other is the mainstream and is the first, and the differences and differences are the tributary and the second; Not reform and opening up, but how to reform and open up. Chen Yun has repeatedly pointed out since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee: "Institutional reform is imperative"; economic system reform "breaks the 'big pot of rice' and 'iron rice bowl', and its significance is no less than the transformation of private industry and commerce"; "Institutional reform, Agriculture has taken a step ahead, and I think industry, financial and trade systems are also imperative.” However, in terms of the steps and methods of reform, Chen Yun emphasized that the reform should be "stable", "starting with pilot projects", and "crossing the river by feeling the stones"; Deng Xiaoping emphasized that "the mind should be more emancipated, The pace of reform and opening up should be faster", "Reform and opening up should be more courageous, dare to experiment, and not be like a woman with small feet. If you see it correctly, try boldly and break through boldly."

In the past, there was a public opinion that Deng Xiaoping was a reformer and Chen Yun was a conservative. Deng Xiaoping indirectly refuted this in 1987 when he talked with the then US Secretary of State Schultz. He said: "Some people disapprove of certain aspects and methods of reform, but they are not completely disapproving. There is no faction in China that completely opposes reform. Some people abroad used to regard me as a reformer and others as reformers. I am a conservative. I am a reformer, yes; if you want to say that you are a conservative who adheres to the four cardinal principles, then I am a conservative.”

What he said was objective and accurate.

After the reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping respected Chen Yun very much and attached great importance to his opinions; Chen Yun also always regarded Deng Xiaoping as the leadership core of the Party Central Committee, and whenever the Central Committee encountered political difficulties, he would firmly stand by his side. In 1980, Chen Yun supported Deng Xiaoping's opinion that Hua Guofeng should no longer serve as the chairman of the Party Central Committee, and Hu Yaobang should succeed him. He said: "Comrade Xiaoping is expected to be the chairman of the party. However, I believe that Comrade Xiaoping is unwilling to do it, and he strongly pushes Comrade Yaobang to do it."

In 1987, Zhao Ziyang succeeded Hu Yaobang as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. Chen Yun invited him to have a talk, and at the beginning he said: "Our country's current leader is Comrade Xiaoping."

The reason why Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping were able to support and cooperate with each other in the early stage of reform and opening up was by no means accidental, but had a profound historical background and ideological foundation. They had roughly similar experiences in their teenage years: one was an apprentice in Shanghai, where the influence of capitalism was deep, and the other was a work-study student in capitalist France, and both of them devoted themselves to the cause of revolution at a very young age. They have a common belief: they all firmly believe in communism. They have basically the same style: they all insist on seeking truth from facts, doing things fairly, and not engaging in small circles. Because of this, they all disapproved of the "Left" approach in the Yan'an rectification movement. In the early days of the founding of New China, they exposed Gao Gang's conspiracy to split the party, and suffered the same fate during the "Cultural Revolution". All these have created a high level of political trust between them.

In 1956, when the Seventh Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was planning the election of the Eighth National Congress, Mao Zedong introduced and spoke highly of Chen Yun as the vice chairman and Deng Xiaoping as the general secretary to the plenary session. He said that Chen Yun was "a good man", "more reasonable, capable, and more stable", "has a good eye for seeing problems", "sharp, and able to grasp the main points"; More fair, he is a kind person", "more considerate of the overall situation", "handling problems more justly".

Fifty years later, in the article "My Thoughts on Comrade Chen Yun", Bo Yibo mentioned another passage that Mao Zedong introduced Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping to everyone: "Comrade Chen Yun and Comrade Deng Xiaoping, they are young men. ", from now on they will "play the leading roles on stage". He then wrote: "In the new period of reform and opening up, Comrade Xiaoping is the core of the party's second-generation central leadership group, and Comrade Chen Yun is an important member of this leadership group. Successfully opened up the correct path of building socialism with Chinese characteristics."

Both Mao Zedong's evaluation and Bo Yibo's explanation have been proved by history. In the early days of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun were at the helm of national cooperation. This is the luck of China, the luck of the Communist Party of China, and the luck of the Chinese people. The results of their cooperation not only laid a good foundation for the cause of reform and opening up, but also have a profound impact on China's political life until today, and have become a precious political legacy left to future generations.

Liu Xiaosheng said:

Deng Xiaoping is the core of the second-generation central leadership of the Communist Party of China, the founder and "chief architect" of China's reform and opening up, and Chen Yun is a core member of the second-generation central leadership of the Communist Party of China and an active promoter of China's reform and opening-up and important decision makers. In the practical exploration of China's reform and opening up, they have clear views and systematic discussions on important issues such as why reform is needed, how to reform, the task and purpose of reform, the nature of reform, and the criteria for judging the success or failure of reform. These viewpoints and expositions have commonalities, but also differences, differences, and connections, all of which have had a positive and far-reaching impact on China's reform and opening up.

Does China want to reform? Why reform? This is the question that reform must first answer. In the new historical period of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun mainly expounded and answered this question mainly from the aspects of developing productive forces, consolidating the socialist system, and revitalizing the Chinese nation.

The development of productive forces is the ultimate decisive force for the development of human society. The prosperity of the country and the prosperity of the people are, in the final analysis, a matter of economic strength. International competition, in the final analysis, is also a competition of economic strength. Only when the economy develops, the economic strength and comprehensive national strength are strengthened, can the people's lives be continuously improved, the promotion of all-round social progress and the all-round development of people can have a solid material foundation, the country can have long-term stability, and can it occupy a more favorable position in the international pattern . At the beginning of reform and opening up, facing the unprecedented development of the world economy and science and technology, and the unprecedented fierce international competition, based on the basic national conditions in the primary stage of socialism in our country and the deep desire of the people to live a better life, both Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun clearly understood that We believe that development is the key to solving all problems in China.

Deng Xiaoping said:

"The results of correct political leadership, in the final analysis, should be manifested in the development of social productive forces and the improvement of people's material and cultural life."

"To develop productive forces, we must implement policies of reform and opening up. Without reform, we cannot do without opening up."

"Reform is the only way for China to develop its productivity."

"All our reforms are for one purpose, which is to remove obstacles to the development of social productivity."

Chen Yun emphasized from the perspective of improving people's lives: It has been almost 30 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and there are still beggars, how can we do it? Only by making up our minds to solve the long-standing living debts can we mobilize people's enthusiasm for modernization. He particularly emphasized: "The reform of the economic system is to develop productive forces and gradually improve people's lives."

In the great practice of leading reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun put forward a series of important ideas such as the fundamental task of socialism is to liberate and develop productive forces. They firmly grasped the key issue of development, fundamentally grasped the wishes of the people, grasped It captures the essence of socialist modernization.

After decades of hard work, the Communist Party of China has established a socialist system in China and carried out fruitful socialist construction. However, mistakes and setbacks have also occurred in the practice of exploring the road to socialism. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun affirmed and emphasized that the basic system of socialism is good and must be upheld by summing up the positive and negative experiences of the development of socialism at home and abroad, and emphasized the traditional system of socialism on the other hand. Serious flaws exist and must be reformed.

Deng Xiaoping said:

"To uphold the socialist system, the most fundamental thing is to develop social productive forces. We have not solved this problem for a long time. The superiority of socialism must ultimately be reflected in the better development of productive forces. Years of experience have shown that to develop productive forces, Relying on the past economic system cannot solve the problem."

“We are a socialist country, and the fundamental manifestation of the superiority of the socialist system is that it can allow social productive forces to develop rapidly at a speed that the old society did not have, so that the people’s ever-increasing material and cultural needs can be gradually met... If in a very In the long historical period, the productivity of socialist countries has developed slower than that of capitalist countries, so what are the advantages?” [7] “The superiority of the socialist system is ultimately reflected in the faster development of its productivity than capitalist countries. Some, some higher, and on the basis of developing production, constantly improve the material and cultural life of the people."

"Poverty is not socialism. Socialism must eliminate poverty. Failure to develop productive forces and improve people's living standards cannot be said to meet the requirements of socialism."

If there is no serious reform of the old system that "seriously hinders the display of the superiority of socialism", "it will be difficult to adapt to the urgent needs of modernization." ", "Our modernization and socialist cause will be ruined."

"If you don't adhere to socialism, don't reform and open up, don't develop the economy, and don't improve people's lives, you can only be a dead end."

Chen Yun clearly pointed out:

"The current reform of the socialist economic system is the self-improvement and development of the socialist system."

"The reforms we carry out are socialist reforms, and the economy we implement is a market economy, a socialist market economy."

Both Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun believed that the problem in China in the past was that it did not find the corresponding specific form of production relations according to the development level and different levels of productive forces, so it must be reformed. But China's reform is by no means abolishing the basic socialist system, but the self-improvement and development of the socialist system. Deng Xiaoping said that reform is China's second revolution, which means that the reform stifles the inherent vigor and vitality of socialism and seriously hinders the old system from giving full play to the superiority of socialism. system to engage in capitalism.

For this reason, Deng Xiaoping once clearly pointed out that our "reform is the self-improvement of the socialist system" and "some people's so-called reform should be called liberalization, that is, capitalization." The center of their 'reform' is capitalism. The reform we talk about is different from theirs, and this issue will continue to be debated."

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun calmly analyzed the main contradictions China is facing and the historical stage it is in. They believed that if socialist China wants to get rid of backwardness and catch up with the times, it must shift the focus of its work to economic development. In the construction-centered socialist modernization drive, it is necessary to get rid of the shackles of the highly centralized planned economic system and the closed state of self-defense, and to liberate and develop productive forces through various reforms. At the same time, it is also believed that only reform can liberate and develop social productive forces, realize national modernization, make the Chinese people rich, and rejuvenate the Chinese nation; can promote the self-improvement and development of China's socialist system, and endow socialism with new vigor and vitality; Only by strengthening and improving its own construction and ensuring that the party is always at the forefront of the times can it develop China, develop socialism, and develop Marxism.

Liu Xiaosheng said that on this point, Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping have the same cognition.