Chapter 85 Assisting Deng Xiaoping in approving "Selected Works"

On May 10, 1985, when Hu Yaobang received Lu Keng, the president of the Hong Kong "People" magazine, he talked about Hu Qiaomu: Comrade Hu Qiaomu has read many books and written many papers, and the application of concepts is relatively accurate.When some of the things I wrote are finally published, I also ask him to read them. Within the CCP, this has almost become a "customary practice": Zhou Enlai's government work report, Zhu De's article, Chen Yun's manuscript... all please Hu Qiaomu to read. He also assisted Deng Xiaoping in approving "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping".

Editing and publishing "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping" was originally proposed by Hu Yaobang. On September 26, 1981, Hu Yaobang made a comment in a letter from the people suggesting the publication of Deng Xiaoping's anthology: "Please ask Comrade Li Qun to designate someone to start editing and processing. When you have a clue, ask Comrade Xiaoping to call the Central Standing Committee to make a decision." Hu Yaobang quoted a famous quote from Engels: "If a nation wants to stand at the highest peak of science, it must not be without theoretical thinking for a moment."

Prior to Hu Yaobang's instructions, the Documentation Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had also started editing "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping" according to the task of editing and publishing works of party and state leaders approved by the Central Committee. Hu Qiaomu, who was in charge of editing "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", also contributed to the editing work of "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping". "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (1975-1982)" was published on July 1, 1983. More than ten days later—on July 13, Hu Qiaomu gave a long speech at the National Propaganda Work Conference, discussing his views on "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping".

He first answered the question that some foreign newspapers said that "studying "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping" is to restore the cult of personality". Hu Qiaomu said: "On the one hand, "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping" shows his personal initiative on major issues; There is an important report in the enlarged meeting of the Politburo in August 1980. One of its main contents is to oppose the excessive concentration of power on individuals. This is probably the first time in the history of our party that this issue has been formally raised. Comrade Deng Xiaoping once said at a meeting that some impromptu speeches were not prepared in advance, so it is impossible to be right in every sentence. How can there be golden words? He opposed the "two whatevers", and of course he also opposed the implementation of the "two whatevers" to him ".

After Hu Qiaomu made this discussion, he discussed it from another angle.He said that as a political party, it needs authority and authoritative figures.He cites the exposition of the classic Marxist-Leninist writers: "On this issue, Engels explained a lot of truths in his article "On Authority", and cited many facts as arguments. One example he gave was the captain. The captain is the 'public servant' of the passengers on board, but the master of the ship —— Passengers must obey the personal command of this public servant when necessary. Engels said that public servants of the people should be prevented from becoming masters of the people. The master is not free from the necessary constraints."

Then, he talked about "Deng Xiaoping Thought".He believed that "Deng Xiaoping Thought" was the development of Mao Zedong Thought.He said: ""Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping" is the result of the persistence and development of Mao Zedong Thought. Persistence requires development, and development is the only way to persevere. Some comrades asked whether the future leaders of the Chinese Communist Party will have this idea and that idea. I I don’t think such a problem will happen. For example, now we don’t talk about Deng Xiaoping’s thought, but only talk about the development of Mao Zedong’s thought. This is like the Soviet Union, where Lenin has been dead for a long time, and we always talk about Leninism and its development instead of talking about another same doctrine."

Hu Qiaomu systematically discussed Deng Xiaoping’s series of contributions: upholding Mao Zedong Thought; criticizing the "two whatevers"; proposing to uphold the four basic principles; strengthening the socialist legal system; emphasizing that science is productive force; proposing the construction of socialist spiritual civilization... In it, Hu Qiaomu talked in detail about Deng Xiaoping's criticism of the "two whatevers": "Comrade Xiaoping raised his opposition to the 'Two Whatevers' before he came to work. This was the beginning of a major turning point in the history of the party. It was much more difficult to oppose the 'Two Whatevers' than to arrest the leaders of the 'Gang of Four'. Let's think back to the political atmosphere at that time. Comrade Chen Yun wanted to publish an article, probably to commemorate the first anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong's death. At that time, a comrade in the Propaganda Department was also a good comrade. The references in the central documents or the references that are not included in the central documents are all changed to the same, which means that they must be completely consistent with the references in the documents and speeches at that time. Even if the two words are synonyms, they are only different in letter. Later, Comrade Chen Yun said, if you want to do this, my article will not be published. (Deng Liqun: Comrade Chen Yun said at the time that there is no need for him to write articles, they just copy those documents every day.) Let’s think about it, at that time the party The situation in the country is such an atmosphere. This is still the central government, and the local government is even more conceivable. When Comrade Xiaoping raised his objection to the "two whatevers", he pointed out that the "two whatevers" did not make sense. Comrade Mao Zedong never did this I have said it before, and Mann-Lie never said it like that. If I said it like this, then I would not be able to come out to work, because Comrade Mao Zedong had already declared it? I have committed some heinous crime, how can I come out to work?"

Hu Qiaomu commented on the significance of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in response to Hua Guofeng's arguments: "Comrade Hua Guofeng once held such an argument for a long time, saying why the Third Plenary Session is called a 'line' and the 'Eleventh National Congress' is not called a 'line'? The decisions made by the Third Plenary Session are comprehensive, because it is necessary to reverse the 'cultural The left-leaning mistakes of the Great Revolution cannot be limited to solving economic problems in isolation. Without making up our minds to clean up the left-leaning mistakes in an all-round way, economic construction cannot proceed. The Third Plenary Session fundamentally reversed the wrong direction of the "Cultural Revolution", which is the same as the "Ten One big' can be said to be the exact opposite, how can the two be compared? On the theory?"

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