Chapter 30 9.1 Ups and downs before the Third Plenary Session

The "foreign leap forward" contains the real danger of imbalance in the proportion of the national economy.At the Central Work Conference before the Third Plenary Session, Chen Yun talked about economic issues and first talked about how to find out the "practical facts". In October 1976, marked by the crushing of the "Gang of Four" by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people finally woke up from the nightmare of the 10-year "Cultural Revolution".The long-term "Left" mistakes have caused extremely great confusion and losses to China's political and economic life, and there are piles of problems.

In terms of economic work, because they did not sum up and correct the "Left" errors in time, they continued to aggressively advance the policy, regardless of national conditions and national strength, and forced to "work hard" and "revolution plus desperate", as a result, "foreign leap forward" appeared again. On April 19, 1977, "People's Daily" published an editorial titled "Governing the Country and Promoting a New Leap Forward in the National Economy", announcing that a new "leap forward" situation was taking shape.Originally, the economic scale was already huge at that time. There were 65,000 projects under construction nationwide, including more than 1,700 large and medium-sized projects. To complete these projects, more than 165 billion yuan would be invested, which would take more than three years. But in February 1978 The "Ten-Year Plan Outline" adopted by the First Session of the Fifth National People's Congress held from March 26th to March 5th also proposed that from 1978 to 1985, 120 large projects should be newly built or continued, including 10 large iron and steel bases, 9 Large non-ferrous metal bases, 8 large coal bases, 10 large oil and gas fields, 30 large power stations, 6 new railway lines, 5 key ports, and national infrastructure investment equal to the sum of the past 28 years.In this "leap forward", in addition to pursuing unrealistically high speeds, it also sought foreign countries in construction, trying to buy a modernization from the international market. In 1978, 22 large import projects were signed with foreign countries, with an amount as high as 7.8 billion US dollars. This is only a part, and 5 billion US dollars are needed to complete the signing.As a result, the national economy, which had been severely damaged by the "Cultural Revolution" turmoil, was in a more difficult situation, and the economic front was in an all-round emergency, full of crises.

It has been two years since the "Gang of Four" was smashed, should we continue to engage in the "two whatevers"; or should we restore the true ideological line of seeking truth from facts?Is it sticking to the stereotypes and wandering forward, or stepping up to set things right and create a new situation in socialist construction?Such issues were sharply placed in front of the CPC Central Committee Work Conference and the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee held at the end of 1978. The work conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in preparation for the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee was held in Beijing from November 10 to December 13, 1978.A total of 212 people attended the meeting, including principals from provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and major military regions, as well as principals from various departments of the central party, government, military, and mass organizations.Chen Yun also attended the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Hua Guofeng announced that he would first spend two or three days discussing the issue of shifting the focus of the party's work to socialist modernization from next year, and then discuss three issues: (1) How to further implement the policy based on agriculture and promote agricultural production as soon as possible, discuss two documents: one is the "Decision on Accelerating the Speed ​​of Agricultural Development" and the other is "Regulations on the Work of Rural People's Commune (Trial Draft)". (2) Agree on the arrangements for the national economic planning in 1979 and 1980. (3) Discuss Li Xiannian's speech at the State Council retreat.The topics are all limited to the economic field, and the core is to discuss how to take some measures to achieve "fast progress".

Judging from these issues, what Hua Guofeng considered at the time was to turn this meeting into a meeting solely to discuss economic work. The meeting was originally scheduled to last only half a month.It should be said that these issues also need to be discussed.However, if major political issues are not resolved, it will be difficult to mobilize the enthusiasm of the cadres and the masses for production, and economic work will also be affected.Under the circumstances at that time, if the problem of stability and unity was not resolved, it would be impossible to successfully shift the focus of work and effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of the entire party and people to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the construction of the "four modernizations".Therefore, some veteran cadres proposed to discuss some major issues of right and wrong in history.

On the third day of the meeting, on November 12, something unexpected happened to many people.On this day, during the discussion of the Northeast Group of the meeting, Chen Yun, who had a high reputation in the party, made a speech that seemed to be a bit "off topic". Chen Yun said: The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee unanimously advocate that the focus of work should be shifted to socialist construction from next year.Realizing the four modernizations is the urgent desire of the whole party and the people of the whole country.I completely agree with the Central Committee's opinion.

Then, Chen Yun changed the subject and brought up an important matter other than the original topic of the meeting.He said: Stability and unity are also the concern of the whole party and the people of the whole country.Cadres and the masses have concerns about whether the party can be stable and united. The originally announced topic was to discuss economic issues, but Chen Yun talked about redressing unjust, false and wrong cases in politics, solving the problem of stability and unity, and asked the central government to solve the problem of rehabilitating Bo Yibo, Tao Zhu, Wang Heshou, Peng Dehuai and other cadres, as well as the Tiananmen incident.Compared with the wishes of the meeting chairperson, Chen Yun's speech is indeed "off topic".Such "digressions" were of course carefully considered by him, proceeded from the overall situation of the party's cause, and reflected the wishes of the cadres and the masses.

Chen Yun's speech is actually a major issue involving the mistakes of the "Cultural Revolution" and the "Left" before that.If this series of influential and wide-ranging political issues can be resolved, it will greatly advance the work of setting things right, and lay the foundation for the thorough correction of the "Cultural Revolution" and its previous "Left" errors. enthusiastic support and response.Therefore, although Hua Guofeng asked everyone to turn to the discussion of agricultural issues at the plenary meeting on November 13, and Ji Dengkui explained the two agricultural documents, everyone's speeches broke Hua Guofeng's The prescribed frame comes alive in an atmosphere of speaking freely.

It can be seen from the enthusiasm of these speeches that Chen Yun's speech not only promoted the redress of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, but more importantly, it aroused a spirit of emancipating the mind and speaking freely that had not been seen in the central meeting for a long time.Driven by Chen Yun and a group of veteran cadres, this spirit quickly formed an increasingly strong atmosphere in the meeting.This atmosphere not only infected every participant, but also pushed the central leadership core to take a series of measures to set things right. The democratic atmosphere of emancipating the mind and speaking freely at the meeting was affirmed and supported by the central leadership.The participants were greatly encouraged and the atmosphere became more enthusiastic.Although Hua Guofeng still asked everyone to turn to the discussion of economic work from the 26th, the meeting process has deviated from his subjective desire and turned to rehabilitating unjust, false and wrong cases, correcting "Left" errors in guiding ideology, and returning to the line of seeking truth from facts Waiting for a more thorough rectification of chaos, anyway, the problem will come.

If discussing the issue of the political line deviates from the planned direction of the meeting, then it can also be said that the discussion on economic work at the meeting is also far from the planned tone, especially the two documents on agriculture and the 1979 and 1980 plans. arrangement, has received a lot of sharp criticism. When it comes to economic work, Chen Yun has a very high prestige within the party, so everyone pays great attention to his attitude.And Chen Yun has also been paying attention to the discussion of economic issues, and has carried out careful and careful thinking.

On December 10, Chen Yun spoke again at the Northeast Group meeting, this time talking about economic issues. Although what we want to talk about is economic issues, Chen Yun first pointed out a principle in his speech, that is how to seek truth from facts.He said: "We must insist on seeking truth from facts, that is, we must find solutions to problems based on the current situation. First of all, clarify the facts, which is the key issue." When Chen Yun talked about this issue, he aimed at "Left" mistakes in economic work.Although the original topic of the meeting did not involve correcting the "Left" guiding ideology in economic work, if the mistakes of the "Left" are not summed up and corrected in time, and the ideological line of seeking truth from facts and the guiding principles for economic work are established, economic work may not be able to get out of wandering. Repeat the mistakes of the past. Chen Yun called finding out the "practical facts" a "key" issue, which has profound meaning.On the surface, no one disagrees with "seeking truth from facts", but this is not the case in actual work. The influence of "Left" is deeply rooted, and it is still fettering the thinking of many people, and it cannot be resolved overnight.The main leaders of the party still adhere to the "left" erroneous thinking. Starting from dogma and subjective wishes, they only see favorable conditions and turn a blind eye to some problems of national conditions and national strength. They are impetuous and eager for success.There were dissenting opinions at the time, but they were suppressed. In 1977, Zhang Jinfu, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Finance, reflected the discussion opinions of the Party Leadership Group and believed that the financial difficulties were not small. He advocated that we should fully understand the difficulties brought about by the destruction of the "Gang of Four" and that adjustments should be made, but he was criticized. 1978 was the year when the front line of infrastructure construction was stretched. In that year, an additional investment of 10 billion yuan was added, of which an additional 4.8 billion yuan was added in the fourth quarter. The Ministry of Finance stated that the central government was going to run a deficit. agree. The State Council retreat held in July 1978 discussed the issue of accelerating the pace of modernization, and there was a tendency to be eager for success. However, because some cadres were very difficult to speak, few people raised objections at the meeting.In this way, seeking truth from facts only stays on the surface and slogans.Therefore, Chen Yun emphasized that finding out the "practical facts" is the key, which means that this principle should be truly implemented in practice. In the 1950s, Chen Yun once said: "The key to proceeding from reality is whether to proceed from a one-sided reality or from a comprehensive reality", "The important thing is to look at the reality completely and clarify the situation".However, since then, the economic work has repeatedly ignored the "practical facts" and blindly "worked hard" and "positive balance". An important reason for the blind and aggressive progress of the "Great Leap Forward" was the mistaken belief that not only had the food passed the customs, but also that there was so much more. The anti-"dark wind" in 1962 was also due to serious differences in the estimation of the difficult situation. One of the reasons for launching the "Cultural Revolution" was also a complete miscalculation of the situation, and this miscalculation permeated the overall political and economic work. After the "Cultural Revolution", the "Foreign Leap Forward" also failed to clarify the "practical facts". What is the way to get to the truth?Chen Yun pointed out in his speech that it is necessary to "exchange, compare, and repeat". "The so-called exchange is to make a more comprehensive understanding through the exchange of opinions. To exchange opinions, we must not only listen to positive opinions, but also to listen to negative opinions. The so-called comparison, one is the comparison of left and right, and the other is the comparison of before and after... The so-called repetition, That is, after the matter is preliminarily decided, it is still necessary to put it on the table, think about it, and listen to different opinions. Even if there are no different opinions, you have to imagine possible objections yourself.” After so many years, Chen Yun once again proposed that finding out "practical facts" is the key to seeking truth from facts, and the method is "exchange, comparison, and repetition".After decades of interference from "Left" mistakes, the majority of cadres and the masses have felt the pain of "Left" mistakes, and the economic work is facing a critical juncture to create a new situation. Chen Yun once again emphasized this principle and method, It is of great significance for summarizing and correcting the long-standing "Left" mistakes. What was the situation of the "facts" that Chen Yun emphasized so much?In his speech, Chen Yun talked about some contradictions in economic work that have been kept secret in the past, such as: the food issue puts too much pressure on the countryside, farmers can’t breathe, and it’s almost 30 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, there are still beggars, and the production of other cash crops is also tense ;Industrial introduction projects are not carried out step by step, and they rush forward, resulting in idle work; the provinces and cities have insufficient mobile financial resources; the scale of production and capital construction arrangements is too large, resulting in tight supply of materials, and so on. Since the contradiction pointed out by Chen Yun is in line with reality, according to these circumstances, the conditions for a "new leap forward" did not exist at that time, and the most urgent task should be adjustment. In his speech, Chen Yun pointed out that the realization of the four modernizations is a great march unprecedented in the history of our country, and it must be both active and prudent.To this end, Chen Yun put forward five opinions on economic work: First, import 20 million tons of grain every year within three to five years, and stabilize the farmers first.The time for importing grain is not just three to five years, it may be longer and the quantity may be less. Second, industrial introduction projects must be carried out sequentially, and work should not be delayed. Third, a certain amount of real mobile financial resources should be given to each province and city. Fourth, there must be no shortage of materials for both production and capital construction. Fifth, we must pay attention to the development of tourism. In the past, Chen Yun was repeatedly criticized for assessing the situation realistically and pursuing a reliable development speed, and was regarded as "right-leaning and conservative."However, in line with the attitude of being responsible to the party and the people, he did not easily label the economic work at that time, but pointed out problems in a realistic manner, and put forward practical guidelines and specific policy opinions.He pointed out that the construction of socialist modernization should be both active and safe, while the "foreign leap forward" at that time obviously only wanted to be active without "safety". Although Chen Yun talked about the reforms to be carried out in the financial system at that time and the plan to accelerate the development of the tourism sector in his speech.But in general, what he emphasized is to correct the mistakes of the "Left" who are rushing forward in economic work.Chen Yun's views of seeking truth from facts and clarifying "practical facts" made some leading cadres wake up from the overheated atmosphere and realize the problem of aggressive economic work.These opinions, together with the opinions of other veteran cadres who opposed the "Left" in economic work, became the harbinger of summarizing and correcting the "Left" mistakes in economic work. On December 18, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China officially opened.The plenary session resolutely criticized the erroneous policy of "two whatevers", resolutely stopped using the slogan "taking class struggle as the key link" which is not applicable to a socialist society, negated the erroneous theory of "continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat", and made It is a strategic decision to shift the focus of the work of the whole party and the attention of the people of the whole country to the construction of socialist modernization.This is the most fundamental way for the party to bring order out of chaos on the political line.On the issue of economic construction, starting from correcting the erroneous tendency of rushing for quick results and the whole party must pay attention to solving the problems of serious imbalances in the national economy's major proportions, a series of new major measures must be taken to adjust the imbalanced national economic proportions , and started serious reform of the over-centralized economic management system, actively developed economic cooperation with other countries on the basis of self-reliance, equality and mutual benefit, tried to adopt the world's advanced technology and equipment, and vigorously strengthened the science and education necessary for modernization Work.These thoughts are the beginning of the party's important policy of opening up to the outside world and invigorating the economy at home.The meeting rehabilitated the Tiananmen incident, the so-called counter-rightist overthrow, and the cases of Peng Dehuai, Tao Zhu, Bo Yibo, and Yang Shangkun. It was determined that the grain purchase index would remain stable on the basis of a certain five years from 1971 to 1975, and that excessive purchases were absolutely not allowed. grain. At the Third Central Committee of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chen Yun was co-elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Standing Committee, vice chairman of the Central Committee, and first secretary of the Central Disciplinary Committee, re-entering the party's highest leadership core.