Chapter 66 Both revolution and construction depend on ourselves[1]

(September 3, 1963) Our difficult time was only two and a half years, that is, in 1960, 1961 and the first half of 1962. In the second half of 1962 the situation got better.Grain production last year increased by more than 10 million tons over the previous year.Things are a little bit better this year.Although there are floods in North China this year, especially in Hebei and Henan, the country may increase grain production by about 10 million tons compared to last year.Now we are concentrating on cotton, oilseeds, tobacco and sugar crops.We have found a way.We have two kinds of experience, the wrong experience and the right experience.The right experience encourages us, and the wrong experience teaches us.It was to our advantage that the USSR removed specialists and tore up contracts.We have no choice but to rely on ourselves and our own two hands.Later, the Soviet Union regretted it and wanted to send experts again. They wanted to do business with us, but we refused.They send experts again, and one day they will withdraw the experts and tear up the contract.They have lost our trust.It was at this time in 1960 that the Soviet Union withdrew its experts. It has been three years now, and we have gained a lot of our own experience in industrial construction.Without the teacher, the students will learn by themselves.There are pros and cons to having a husband.Don’t be a gentleman, read, write, and think by yourself.This is a truth.In the past, we were taught to write by our husband. From the establishment of the party in 1921 to 1934, we suffered from him. The program was drafted by him, and the resolutions of the Central Plenary Session were also drafted by him. In 1934, we suffered great losses.Since then, we have learned to think for ourselves.It took us decades to know China.The Chinese don’t understand the situation in China, how can this work? The real understanding of independence started from the Zunyi Conference[2], which criticized dogmatism.Dogmatists say that everything in the Soviet Union is right, and do not combine Soviet experience with China's reality.The slogan of combining the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with China's concrete practice was put forward during the Yan'an Rectification Movement[3].This slogan was written into the 1957 Moscow Declaration[4], which stated that the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism should be combined with the specific practices of various countries.Foreign experience, no matter which country it is, is for reference only.

Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This was part of a conversation Mao Zedong had with a delegation of the Communist Party of Indonesia led by Central Committee Chairman Di Nu Aidi. [2] Zunyi Conference, see note [18] on page 267 of this volume. [3] Yan'an Rectification Movement, see note [15] on page 278 of this volume. [4] Moscow Declaration, see note [5] on page 98 of this volume.