Chapter 33 Section 2 Several Talks of Deng Xiaoping on the Drafting of the Closing Speech

The meeting has been going on for more than 20 days, and many issues have been raised.Many people have spoken on these issues.In the end, even the central personnel and organizational issues were raised, and some groups even wrote written suggestions.It's time for the Central Working Conference to close.At the closing meeting, the central leaders will of course have to speak.The meeting has held three general meetings.Except for Ji Dengkui who gave an explanation at the second meeting, Hua Guofeng was the only one who spoke.Before and after the Central Work Conference started, Ye Jianying and Deng Xiaoping began to prepare their speeches at the conference and found someone to draft them.I didn't know this until a long time later, and I didn't know it during the Central Work Conference.

At the closing meeting, of course Hua Guofeng was going to speak.Except for his speech, everyone believed that Deng Xiaoping and Ye Jianying would definitely speak, and it was impossible not to. Once, when the Standing Committee was listening to the convener's report, Hua Guofeng invited Ye Jianying and Deng Xiaoping to speak at the closing meeting.This word spread to the Northwest Group, and the comrades in the group thought that "it should be so."As for whether Li Xiannian, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, will speak or not, no one said; as for Wang Dongxing, everyone criticized him a lot. At the closing ceremony, they didn't know what he was going to say, and everyone was guessing.Later, at the closing meeting on December 13, 1978, there were three speakers: Hua Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping, and Ye Jianying. Li Xiannian did not speak, and Wang Dongxing wrote a written speech of a review nature.

Regarding the drafting of Deng Xiaoping's speech at the closing meeting, there are many things I have experienced and can write.Because Deng Xiaoping asked me to organize the drafting of the manuscript, he explained to me very clearly what he wanted to say and what he wanted to say.After the draft was written, when Deng Xiaoping finalized it himself, I was also present, and it can be said that I participated in the finalization of the draft. In 1997, Han Gang, the editor of "Hundred Years Tide", came to my home to ask for a manuscript. I said that Deng Xiaoping gave me a three-page outline written by himself when Deng Xiaoping asked me to organize forces to write his ideas into a manuscript, and gave the original to Han Gang. read.He said that neither he nor party history researchers knew of the outline, so it was a "new discovery" for them.

I have treasured these few pages of the outline for more than 20 years. It was originally just for remembrance, and I didn't want to use it to illustrate anything.Of course, Deng Xiaoping knew the drafting of Deng Xiaoping's speech at the closing meeting the most clearly, and Hu Yaobang knew more comprehensively than I did.For example, Deng Xiaoping had arranged for Hu Qiaomu to draft this speech but it was not used. I only found out very late.When Deng Xiaoping and Hu Yaobang were alive, I don't need to recall the drafting of this speech.The situation is different now. Among the living people, I have become the person who has the most direct contact and the most knowledge about this matter.

More than halfway through the meeting agenda, Hu Yaobang asked me to talk about drafting a speech for Deng Xiaoping at the closing meeting. On December 2, Deng Xiaoping invited Hu Yaobang and I to his home to discuss the drafting of the speech.Deng Xiaoping himself wrote an outline for his speech, which consisted of seven issues: 1. Emancipate the mind and start the machine; 2. Promote democracy and strengthen the legal system; 3. Looking backward is to look forward; Five, allow some people to get better first; six, strengthen the responsibility system, fix a few; seven, new problems.At the very beginning of the outline, Deng Xiaoping added the question of "evaluation of the meeting".So that adds up to eight questions.

It was based on this outline that Deng Xiaoping discussed with us the drafting of the speech.I always thought that apart from this outline and the official text of Deng Xiaoping's speech, I no longer had other relevant materials at hand.Recently, when I was digging through my own "old papers", I accidentally found several transcripts of Deng Xiaoping's conversation with us when he talked with us about drafting and revising the speech, which enabled me to recall more about the situation at that time .From this, I thought not to underestimate the "old paper pile", which can sometimes solve big problems.

Deng Xiaoping first said: After thinking about it, I don't want to prepare a long draft. The first question is the evaluation of the meeting.He said: This meeting was great, it didn't happen after 1957, it happened before 1957, and it happened in Yan'an (period).This atmosphere should be passed on, (this is) a good party life, the party's style of work is not only conducive to stability and unity, (but also conducive to) preventing rigid thinking, it is really gratifying. The second problem is to emancipate the mind and start the machine.He told us to "speak the importance of theory" when writing this question.He said that this debate (referring to the discussion on the standard of truth—the author's note) is very good, and the more you look at it, the better. The more you look at it, the more it is a political issue, and it is a matter of the country's future and destiny.He proposed that to solve new problems, the whole party and the people must use their brains.

The third issue is to promote democracy and strengthen the legal system.He pointed out that it is even more important to strengthen democracy in this period.After so many years of centralization, democracy is not enough now.Now everyone is afraid to speak out, with lingering fears in their hearts.To develop the economy, (to implement) democratic elections, democratic management, and democratic supervision.Supervision by factory workers and supervision by rural commune members.He also said: At present, we mainly oppose empty talk and empty words.It is a correct opinion now, but it has not been implemented, and there are no specific measures, and it will be delayed for a year.We must talk about decentralization of power, talk about doing everything possible, and talk about mobilizing enthusiasm.To use every inch of land, there is a little land to plant a tree, a piece of water for farming, and a piece of grassland for grass.When he talked about the contradiction between autonomy and national planning, he said that this contradiction can only be adjusted by the law of value and the relationship between supply and demand.Otherwise, you cannot be autonomous.Depend on quality, good quality will be sold all over the country.Don't be afraid of chaos, the market will not be chaotic, and admit that the market must be adjusted.He said: The focus of economic democracy is not just politics, but economic democracy.Some laws must be applied, such as civil law, criminal law, and various separate laws. There should be laws for planting trees.Local governments can also legislate.

The fourth question is looking ahead.He said: This meeting looks backward to solve some problems, and the purpose is to look forward.Don't make a one-size-fits-all solution, solve the remaining problems quickly, cleanly, and don't take too long.Complete satisfaction is impossible.He also said that stability and unity are very important.Don't dwell on the issue of Chairman Mao's "Cultural Revolution". Don't get involved in the "Cultural Revolution", let time tell the truth, and talk about this issue after a while, there is no disadvantage at all. The fifth issue is overcoming bureaucracy.He criticized the phenomenon of overstaffing and procrastination, and also criticized the number of meetings such as too many meetings.Deng Xiaoping proposed: Learn to manage, train and select talents, use talents, and reform rules and regulations.A good enterprise must be managed with advanced methods.Whether the leadership of the party committee is good or not depends on whether the company is well managed, profits, and workers' income.This is true in cities, in rural areas, and in all walks of life.

The sixth problem is to allow some enterprises, regions, and members to get better first.He said it was a big policy.Some people are allowed to get rich first, 5% to 10% in rural areas and then to 20%, and 20% in urban areas.Deng Xiaoping said that there will be a market in this way, which in itself will promote the development of new industries.Against egalitarianism.If you do a good job, you will affect your neighbors. The seventh issue is to strengthen the accountability system.After criticizing the phenomenon that no one is in charge, Deng Xiaoping said that a few decisions should be made: 1. What project, 2. Where to import it, 3. Where it will be settled, 4. Who will be appointed from negotiation to management.It may be six or seven, open a list.Do it in parallel without wasting time.What's the use of spanking the planning committee now?If you want to fight, hit someone.Domestic enterprises also need to have a special person in charge, and a few specialized agencies are required to hire some experts. For example, Rong Yiren can be an expert.

The eighth problem is new measures and new problems.Deng Xiaoping proposed to implement personnel accounting standards. Deng Xiaoping had such a detailed outline and made such specific talks, it was easy for us drafters.After returning from Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang and I asked Lin Jianqing and others from our State Council Research Office to quickly draft the manuscript, which was completed in about two or three days. After the first draft was drafted, it was sent to Deng Xiaoping for review.In the process of revising the manuscript, Deng Xiaoping talked to us several times and proposed revisions word by word.I still have two transcripts of Deng Xiaoping's discussion on revision.One of the records is incomplete, and the transcript of the previous part was not found. In this talk, Deng Xiaoping talked about creating conditions for daring to think and dare to do.How can we dare to think and dare to do?The solution from the system is fundamentally a democratic system.You can't hit comrades casually, and adopt a supportive and encouraging attitude towards new things!In particular, academic research and ideological fields need more democratic discussions!Arbitrary is not enough, we must truly implement the "double hundred" policy.What should I do if I deviate?This is a matter of trusting the masses and trusting cadres. He talked again about starting the machine.He said: When the machine was turned on, a production team saw an open space where no trees were planted, and a small pond where no cultivation was carried out, so they couldn't sleep.How much wealth can be increased by using your brain?Where is the brain used?Four modernizations! Deng Xiaoping also proposed to establish and improve party rules and laws. He said: The party must have a good style of work. The party's style of work is nothing more than the three styles.Now it seems that party regulations and party laws are more important than national laws.In terms of economic democracy, it should be emphasized that there are issues of decentralization and democratic supervision.Talking about economic democracy, elections are not good, there is no decentralization, and the party committee interferes casually, there is no democracy, and talents cannot be cultivated.Conscientiously implement the party constitution, and all rights and obligations are mentioned.There is no rule of law without democracy.Now there are no different methods, so we have to do it step by step. It doesn’t matter if it’s rough at the beginning, and what’s not perfect can be perfected gradually.There are no special decrees or economic laws and regulations for afforestation, and ordinary laws and regulations are adopted. It is not required to be complete at once (amending the law), and it is carried out individually and in various regions.In short, there is no way to do it. When it comes to looking forward, Deng Xiaoping said that the past (of those who made mistakes) is not required to be complete, and self-criticism is not enough, let him think for himself and make corrections in actual work.Because the problems in the past were too complicated, but (for) the new mistakes in the future should be stricter. Regarding new problems, Deng Xiaoping said: New problems and new contradictions have emerged in large numbers, especially on the superstructure side, there are rules and regulations, personnel issues, and selection criteria.Developing productive forces for socialism and for the people is the main criterion, otherwise, what does it mean to be politically strong?The use of economic methods to manage the economy still needs to be developed. Don’t wait for the superstructure. It starts with a factory, a professional company, and a commune in the countryside.There are obstacles to reform, including veteran cadres, who are generally in favor of specific opposition.We must focus on the overall situation, subordinating personal interests to collective interests, and reasoning.In short, the policy is clear and the method is appropriate. Without a good method, it will not work. Deng Xiaoping talked about the decentralization of power and the assignment of responsibilities to individuals.He said: There is a problem of responsibility to people.Talking about collective responsibility and party committee responsibility means no one is responsible.Spanking cannot be done indiscriminately.Since people are responsible, they should have power, and if there is no power, there can be no responsibility.Whether the leadership is good or not depends fundamentally on the improvement of labor productivity and whether the technology has been continuously updated. Manual labor cannot do it. Talking about the idea of ​​getting rich first, Deng Xiaoping said: 80 yuan is less, add it to 100 yuan.The city leads to the countryside, and the big city leads to the small city.There is a lot to do to improve the city's service industry.He also talked about urban planning, citing the example of Singapore, saying that Singapore has satellite cities on an island, why don't we do it?Both Beijing Xishan and Shijingshan should be planned.In Singapore, you have the right to buy a house with 1,500 Singapore dollars, 5 houses of 70 square meters, equivalent to half a year's salary, and pay in installments.A good bonus in Japan is equivalent to half a year's salary, equivalent to a car.The rent in Singapore is equivalent to 50% of the salary, and it is equivalent to 1/3 in Europe and Japan.He also said that there are problems in countries with a large number of small producers, and the forces of habit of small producers (in the manuscript) can talk about it. In the end, Deng Xiaoping said that the shorter the manuscript, the better it is, not the long speeches, the less language, and the clearer the more clear.He also hoped that the revision would be done quickly, in two days, and in a proper manner. Another conversation was after the manuscript was revised again.Deng Xiaoping affirmed that the manuscript changed from the original eight questions to four questions, which is basically acceptable.At the same time, it is required to talk about the issue of focus shifting at the beginning or in the middle. He said that this is a major policy and does not require much language, but this is a major premise and a general thing.I also recorded words such as "evaluation of shifting focus, new era, real reflection" on my transcript. During the talk, Deng Xiaoping criticized the new superstition that puts the individual above the central government. He said that this is a very important issue, more important than the "two whatevers".Really speaking, there is a problem with the superstructure, and bureaucracy is a content.Excessive concentration of power, concentration away from democratic centralism (system), separation from organizations, and concentration away from democracy are the essence.This problem exists in organizations at all levels. Each organization down to the party secretary has too much power, which is disadvantageous.Our system is not to encourage and support people to dare to think and dare to do.Not enough spiritual encouragement, not enough material encouragement.The reason for the rigidity is that if you do a good job, you can't do the same thing, and you have to vote unanimously, so you don't offend others, but everyone thinks it's okay.The government system is like this, and the party system is also like this, (so) strange phenomena happen.Deng Xiaoping specifically proposed to add a paragraph on the so-called investigation of rumors.It was actually weakness, he said, a sign of nervous breakdown.He also said that retaliation is a very bad atmosphere, which must be stopped and fought. Deng Xiaoping also proposed that the content of distribution according to work should be added to the manuscript.He said: Those who do well, including leading cadres, should get more and get rich first.Enthusiasm cannot be mobilized without economic means, and style alone is not enough. It is okay for a small number of advanced elements, but not for the masses. It is okay for a period of time, but not for a long time.The economy must be managed economically.He said: In short, both rewards and punishments are related to economic interests to talk about this issue.Rewards and material rewards are also awarded to specific people and specific workshops.Through the responsibility system, through rewards and punishments, those who should be promoted will be promoted, those who should be demoted will be demoted, and those who fail to pass will be demoted.Experts should be cultivated, and experts should be used as soon as they are used. For the cause of socialism, in fact, for the benefit of mankind is the political standard. Deng Xiaoping also proposed the establishment of necessary laws. He listed six legal terms and said that international law should be studied. If one does not understand foreign law, the more international exchanges there are, the more serious troubles will happen in the future. In his talk, Deng Xiaoping once again talked about the issue of looking forward.He said that there are too many problems and can only be solved roughly.Dealing with the past (people who made mistakes), especially when it comes to political conclusions, those who can be lenient or strict would rather be lenient.There is still a long section to write about stability and unity.For the past, it is enough to solve it head-on, not to pursue the details, but to focus on the overall situation. You can be more lenient with the people in the past, but you should clarify the problem so that you can wait and think.Summing up experience (takes) time, don't be forced to review immediately, this is also the party's style.We only need to clarify the major right and wrong, and it is impossible and unnecessary to clarify some small right and wrong one by one, and some things should not be discussed.He also said that some people cannot be reused, those who smash and loot, those who have serious gang thoughts, those who are windy, slippery (flirtatious) factions, those who follow the wind and look for backers, cannot be reused.For those who engage in gangs, vandals and looters, they must be vigilant and educated, and they should not be trusted easily. Regarding the new problems brought about by the reform, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: Reforming the superstructure and reforming the relations of production can bring about many problems, involving a large number of people, reducing people, relocating people, who learns, who changes jobs, which can be troublesome .Waiting for the arrangement, the salary will be paid as usual, and you will still be dissatisfied.This reform will involve the immediate problems of a large number of people.We must trust the masses, rely on them, and create conditions for them to get what they want. If they believe in the masses, they will gain their understanding and forgiveness.He said the vibration was relatively large.The new contradiction is not simpler than the current problem, but will be more complicated.Take the mass line, trust the masses, educate the masses to put the overall situation first, and it can be resolved.With the development of production, there are many social needs. Even if they do not appear in large numbers next year, they will definitely appear in large numbers in the year after. In short, they can be well resolved with the development of productivity. During this conversation, Deng Xiaoping read the manuscript more carefully and discussed his opinions more specifically.The drafting comrades made revisions based on his opinions.I can’t remember exactly which day it was, but when Deng Xiaoping listened to the comrade who wrote the draft read through the revised manuscript, he said, “Okay, let’s take it out like this”, and our drafting work was completed. Regarding the drafting of this speech, I would like to say the following points: The content of the speech can be said to be entirely Deng Xiaoping’s own ideas, not only the ideas are his own, but also the language that impresses people is mostly his own He read the manuscript written by the author very carefully, and constantly deepened and enriched his thoughts in the process of reviewing the draft, and finally he made the final decision; the topic used for the speech was also his, although it was published In the documents for the participants, there are no questions because they follow the uniform system.In addition, what I want to talk about is that Hu Yaobang and I were always present at Deng Xiaoping’s home when the speech draft was drafted, revised, and finalized, and no one else was present except the author. He also expressed some opinions.The second is that I only did one thing, that is, following the wishes of Deng Xiaoping and Hu Yaobang, I found the person who wrote and drafted it, communicated it to them, discussed the framework of the article, limited the time and took it out for submission.I made no comments worth mentioning, and I didn't start a draft. It is my responsibility for a person like me who writes to help busy leaders do some writing work, even if I do a little more work, it is not my "credit".What's more, Xiaoping already had a very clear idea, so I didn't need to spend a lot of effort.