Chapter 53 Speech at the Chengdu Conference[1]

(March 1958) one Comrade Shaoqi talked about the issue of rules and regulations at the Nanning Conference[2].A large number of rules and regulations have been imported from the Soviet Union, such as the security system of the Soviet Union, which killed people, restricted the activities of responsible comrades, shouted at each other, and was not allowed to visit, go to restaurants, or buy shoes on the street.Comrade Chen Yun [3] asked his relatives to cook, and the security department thought it was a big deal.This is about the Ministry of Public Security.There are rules and regulations in other ministries, and many of them moved to the Soviet Union, which is very harmful.Those rules and regulations restrict productivity, create waste, and create bureaucracy.This is also money to buy experience.At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was no way to move the Soviet Union. This is part of the truth, but it is not the whole truth. It cannot be considered that it must be moved and there is no other way.Political and military dogmatism has been committed in history, but as far as the whole party is concerned, only a small number of people have committed this mistake, and most people have no intention of imitating it.During the founding of the party and the Northern Expedition, the party was more lively, and it was only later moved.Rules and regulations are red tape and are all "rituals".The central government does not know about the large number of "rituals", the State Council does not know, and the ministers do not necessarily know.The two sectors of industry and education have moved sharply.There are also relocations in the agricultural sector, but the central government pays close attention to it. Several regulations and rules have passed through the central government, and some local experience is also wholesaled. Proceeding from reality, fewer relocations are made.In agriculture, people can be seen when they see things, but in industry, people can only see things but not people.It seems that business has moved less, and planning, statistics, finance, infrastructure procedures, and management systems have moved a lot.The basic idea is to manage people with rules and regulations.

When you move, you must analyze it, and don’t move it mechanically. To move it hard means not thinking independently and forgetting the lessons of dogmatism in history.The lesson is that theory and practice are separated.Theory comes from practice and then goes to practice. This principle has not been applied to economic construction.The combination of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism and the concrete reality of the Chinese revolution is materialism; the two are the unity of opposites, which is dialectics.Why force it? It just doesn't talk about dialectics.The Soviet Union has its own set of methods.The experience of the Soviet Union is one aspect, and the Chinese practice is another aspect. This is the unity of opposites.The experience of the Soviet Union can only follow the good ones, and not follow the bad ones.Isolating the experience of the Soviet Union and ignoring China's reality is not to choose the best and follow it.For example, if you run a newspaper, you will follow the rules of Pravda. If you don’t think independently, you will be like a three-year-old child who needs to be supported everywhere, otherwise you will lose your soul.To put forward two methods for comparison in everything, this is dialectics, otherwise it is metaphysics.There are several plans for the selection of railway lines, the selection of factory sites, and the selection of the Three Gorges dam site. Why can’t there be several plans for the rules and regulations? The rules and regulations of the army are also not analyzed, and they are copied mechanically and imported "complete sets of equipment."

two The rules and regulations are a problem. Let me take this as an example to talk about the problem of thinking methods-adherence to principles and original spirit. On the international front, it is a principle to be friendly with the Soviet Union, all people's democracies, the Communist Parties of various countries, and the working class, talk about internationalism, and learn from the strengths of the Soviet Union and other foreign countries.But there are two ways to learn: one is to imitate exclusively; the other is to have an original spirit, combining learning and originality.Copying the rules and regulations of the Soviet Union is a lack of originality.

During the period from the founding of our Party to the Northern Expedition, that is, from 1921 to 1927, although there were Chen Duxiu's right opportunist mistakes[4], the Party's style of work at that time was relatively lively.Three years after the victory of the October Revolution, we established the party, and the people who joined the party were young people who participated in the May 4th Movement and were affected by it.After the October Revolution, when Lenin was alive, the class struggle in the Soviet Union was very sharp, and when Stalin was still in danger, they were also lively.In this period, generally speaking, there was no dogmatism.

During the period from the beginning of the civil war to the Zunyi Conference[5], that is, from 1927 to 1935, our Party had three "Left" leanings[6], and from 1931 to 1999 The Wang Ming line[7] in 1934 was the most powerful.At that time, the antitrust faction in the Soviet Union won, Stalin's position began to consolidate, and he defeated the Deborin School[8] in theory. In fact, the Far East of the Communist International[9] was in charge of Mif[10]. The effect is too great.These conditions allow dogmatism to take shape.Almost all Chinese "left" opportunists were influenced by the Soviet Union, and of course not all those who went to Moscow were dogmatists.Among the many people who went to the Soviet Union at that time, some were dogmatists, some were not;At that time, Wang Ming[11] and others organized the so-called "twenty-eight and a half Bolsheviks". Hundreds of people were studying in the Soviet Union, but why were there only twenty-eight and a half? It was because they were so "leftist" that they punished themselves and made themselves isolated.

Chinese dogmatism has Chinese characteristics, and conclusions have been made in the past.China's dogmatism is manifested in wars and issues such as rich peasants.Because the number of rich peasants in China is very small, it was decided not to touch them in principle and to make some concessions to the rich peasants.But the "leftists" disagreed. They advocated that "landlords do not divide their land, and rich peasants divide bad land." As a result, the landlords and rich peasants had no food to eat, and some of them were forced to go to the mountains to form white guerrillas.On the issue of the bourgeoisie, they advocate the complete overthrow, not only politically but also economically, confusing the democratic revolution with the socialist revolution.They don't analyze imperialism either, thinking that it is a solid block with no contradictions, and they all support the Kuomintang.

After the liberation of the whole country, from 1950 to 1957, dogmatism arose in economic work, cultural and educational work, and some dogmas were transferred in military work, but the basic principles were adhered to, so it cannot be called dogmatism.Dogmatism in economic work is mainly manifested in heavy industry work, planning work, banking work and statistical work, especially in heavy industry and planning. Because we do not understand and have no experience at all, we do not know anyway, so we have to move.Almost all statistics are copied from the Soviet Union.The education aspect has also been greatly changed, such as the five-point system, the five-year primary school system, etc., without even considering the educational experience in the liberated areas.The sanitation work was also moved, so I couldn’t eat eggs or drink chicken soup for three years, because an article in the Soviet Union said that I couldn’t eat eggs and drink chicken soup, and later said I could eat it.Regardless of whether other people's articles are correct or not, the Chinese listen to them and follow them. The Soviet Union is always number one.There are fewer commercial moves, because there are more contacts with the central government and more documents are forwarded.There is also less dogmatism in light industrial work.The socialist revolution and agricultural co-operatives were not affected by dogmatism, because the central government directly grasped it. In recent years, the central government has mainly grasped revolution and agriculture, and also grasped a little bit of commerce.

The situation of dogmatism in various departments is different, and it is necessary to analyze and compare to find out the reasons. 1. The design, construction, and installation of heavy industry cannot be done by oneself. There is no experience, no experts, and the minister is a layman, so he has to copy foreign ones.Most of this is correct, and some of it is incorrect and is a hard move. Second, we don't know anything about the situation in the Soviet Union or China.I don't know much about the experience, situation, and historical development of the Soviet Union. Since I don't understand, I have to learn from them blindly.Now the situation has changed. Generally speaking, the design and construction of large enterprises can be done by themselves; the equipment can be manufactured by ourselves in five years; and we have a better understanding of the situation in the Soviet Union and China.

3. Mental stress.Bodhisattvas are many times bigger than humans, in order to scare people.When the heroes on the stage come out, they are different.Stalin was that kind of person.The Chinese are used to being slaves, and it seems that they will continue to be slaves.Chinese artists painted a portrait of me with Stalin, I was always shorter than Stalin, this is blindly surrendering to the pressure of the Soviet Union.Marxism-Leninism advocates that everyone is equal and should be treated equally.Khrushchev's [12] beating Stalin to death with a stick was also a kind of pressure. Most people in the Chinese party disagreed, but some people succumbed to this pressure and wanted to learn to overthrow the cult of personality.Some people are interested in an anti-personality cult.There are two types of personality worship. One is correct worship. For example, we must worship the correct things of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, and we will always worship them.The truth is in their hands, why not worship? We believe in the truth, which is the reflection of objective existence.The other is incorrect worship, blind obedience without analysis, which is wrong.There are also two purposes of anti-personality cult, one is to oppose incorrect worship, and the other is to oppose the worship of others and demand worship of oneself.

Fourth, forgetting the lessons of history, not understanding the method of comparison, and not knowing how to set up opposites.As I said yesterday, for many rules and regulations, many of our comrades don't think about whether there is another solution, choose the one that suits China's conditions and apply it, and draft another one if it doesn't meet it. They don't analyze it, use their brains, and don't make comparisons.The dogmatists and sectarians of the time in the Central Soviet Area, their "Bolshevik" [13] publication claimed to be 100% correct and boasted of itself. "Fact" [14] reported that there were five major mistakes in attacking the Central Soviet Area, and did not mention one of the advantages.

In April 1956, "On the Ten Major Relationships", we began to put forward our own construction line. The principles were the same as those of the Soviet Union, but the methods were different, and we had our own set of contents.Among the ten major relationships, industry and agriculture, coastal and inland, central and local, state, collective and individual, national defense construction and economic construction, these five are the main ones.The expense of defense is less in peacetime, and the expense of administration is less at all times. In 1956, when Stalin was criticized, we were happy on the one hand and worried on the other.It is absolutely necessary to take off the lid, break the superstition, get rid of the pressure, and emancipate the mind.But we are not in favor of killing it with a stick.They don't hang a picture of Stalin, we do.In 1950, Stalin and I quarreled in Moscow for two months and concluded the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance[15].My attitude towards China's long-distance road, joint-stock companies, and border issues is: first, if you propose, I will argue if I disagree; second, if you must insist, I can accept it, but I have reservations.This is because the interests of socialism as a whole must be taken into account.There are still two spheres of influence, the Northeast and Xinjiang, where people from third countries are not allowed to live, and now they are cancelled.Criticizing Stalin has made those who believe in him sober.We must make our comrades realize that our ancestors also had shortcomings, and we must analyze them and stop being so superstitious.With regard to Soviet experience, everything good should be accepted, and everything bad should be rejected.Now we have learned some skills, we have a little understanding of the Soviet Union, and we have a better understanding of ourselves. In 1957, in his report "Concerning the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People", he talked about the simultaneous development of industry and agriculture, the path of China's industrialization, and agricultural co-operatives.A major event happened this year, namely the whole-people rectification movement and the anti-rightists[16], the criticism of us by the masses has greatly inspired people's thinking. In 1958, three meetings were held in Hangzhou[17], Nanning, and Chengdu.At the meeting, everyone put forward a lot of opinions, used their brains, and summed up the experience of eight years, which greatly inspired the thinking.A question was raised at the Nanning meeting, that is, the rules and regulations of various departments of the State Council can and should be changed.How to change it? One way is to meet with the masses, and the other way is to put up big-character posters.Another issue is decentralization, which has already begun.Centralization and decentralization exist at the same time, and what can be centralized is centralized, and what can be divided is divided. This was decided after the Third Plenary Session of last year.[18]Bourgeois democracy was progressive before socialism, and reactionary when it reached socialism.In the total population of the Soviet Union, Russians accounted for more than 50 percent, and ethnic minorities accounted for nearly 50 percent, while in China's total population, the Han nationality accounted for 94 percent, and ethnic minorities accounted for 10 percent. Sixth, so China cannot be a republic like the Soviet Union. The Chinese revolution was won against Stalin's will, and the "true foreign devils" forbade the revolution.The Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China [19] proposed to mobilize the masses freely, strengthen the power of the people, and establish a new China.During the anti-Japanese period, our debate with Wang Ming began in 1937 and ended in August 1938. We proposed ten major programs[20] and Wang Ming proposed six major programs[21].According to Wang Ming's approach, that is, Stalin's approach, the Chinese revolution cannot succeed.Our revolution was victorious, but Stalin suspected that we were not a real revolution, and we did not defend ourselves.After the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea[22], this suspicion was eliminated.But when we brought up the issue of correctly handling contradictions among the people, we talked about this issue, but they didn't talk about it, and even said that we were practicing liberalism, which seemed to be no real revolution.After the speech was published, the New York Times published the full text, and Dulles[23] said he wanted to read it.The speech was published in the "People's Daily" on June 19, and he read it from June 21 to 23, and made a conclusion on the 23rd, saying that "China needs to be liberalized."At that time, the Soviet Union gave us a "memorandum", fearing that we would turn to the right.The bourgeoisie is about to perish, and they saw the reed as a ferry.Half a month later, Dulles said: China is terrible, but the Soviet Union is better.Together with the anti-rightists, of course "liberalization" is gone. In short, the basic line is a universal truth, but each has different branches and leaves.This is the case in all countries, as well as in the provinces of China. three Every province, city, and autonomous region should hold a meeting every two months, hold a small meeting with a few or a dozen people, and check and summarize the work once.The collaboration zone [24] also holds a meeting every two to three months.This year we must hurry up, because it is a mass movement, and there have been great changes in two months, so we need to exchange information.The purpose of the meeting is to adjust the production rhythm.Industry must have a production rhythm, agriculture must have a rhythm, and commerce, culture, education, and politics must have a certain rhythm.One wave of ups and downs, another wave of rising, this is the unity of opposites of fast and slow.Under the general line of “how fast, save money, go all out, and strive for the top”, advance in waves, which is the unity of the opposites of ease and haste, and the unity of opposites between work and rest.Only haste and labor are one-sidedness.If you focus on labor intensity and don't rest, how can you do it? There is a county party secretary in Hubei who doesn't care about farmers' emotions. On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, he ordered the construction of a reservoir. As a result, half of the migrant workers ran away.There is always a slow and urgent way to do things, which is the unity of hard work and rest.Fighting is also rhythmic.In previous wars, there must be a period of rest, replenishment, and training between two battles, and it was impossible to fight one after the other.But in the Central Soviet Area, those "100% Bolsheviks" opposed rest and reorganization, and advocated "brave and courageous, taking advantage of the victory and going straight to Nanchang." Transformed into each other.There is no one thing that does not transform into each other.Haste turns into slowness, slowness turns into haste, labor turns into leisure, and leisure turns into labor.The same is true for hard work and rest.Work and rest, urgency and easing have the same identity, and so do hard battles and rest.Sleeping and waking up are also the unity of opposites.Let me ask, who can guarantee that you will not fall asleep after getting up? On the contrary, "the one who has been lying down for a long time thinks about it".Sleeping turns into waking up, and getting up turns into sleep.The meeting went to the opposite side and turned into a dismissal.As long as a meeting is held, there is an element of dismissal. We cannot hold a meeting in Chengdu for 10,000 years.Li said: "A long tent is built for thousands of miles, and there is no banquet that lasts." This is the truth.After the meeting adjourned, problems piled up and turned into a meeting again.Unity includes disunity, and differences of opinion turn into struggles. It is impossible to be united every day or year after year.We talk about unity because there is disunity.People are always uneven, and the imbalance is absolute, permanent, and unconditional.Disunity is also unconditional. When talking about unity, there is still disunity, so work must be done.Only talking about unity, not struggle, is not Marxism-Leninism.Starting from the desire for unity and through struggle, a new unity can be achieved.Unity turns into struggle, and struggle turns into unity.We cannot only talk about unity and agreement, but not talk about contradictions and struggles.The Soviet Union only emphasized unity, not contradictions, especially the contradiction between the leader and the led.Without contradictions and struggles, there would be no world, no development, no life, and no everything.The old talk about unity is like "a pool of stagnant water", and it will be deserted.Is it better to have a pool of stagnant water? Or is it better to "roll the endless Yangtze River" and let the waves catch up with the waves before? We must break down the old foundation of unity and achieve a new unity on a new basis through struggle.The party is like this, the class is like this, and so are people.Unity, struggle, unity, there is work to be done.Production turns into consumption, and consumption turns into production.Production is for consumption, production is not only for other laborers, producers themselves are also consumers.If you don't eat, you will have no energy and can't produce. If you have calories after eating, you can do more work.According to Marx, production involves consumption, and the production of new products is the consumption of raw materials, machinery, and labor. [25] Production and consumption, construction and destruction, are the unity of opposites and transform each other.Anshan Iron and Steel's production includes consumption, and equipment needs to be replaced in decades.Sowing becomes reaping, and reaping becomes sowing.Sowing is the consumption of seeds. After the seeds are sown, they are transformed into the opposite side, from seeds to seedlings. After harvesting, new seeds are obtained. It is necessary to cite a wealth of examples, dozens or hundreds of examples, to illustrate the concept of the unity of opposites and mutual transformation, in order to clarify thinking and improve understanding. Spring, summer, autumn and winter are also mutually transformed, and the factors of spring and summer are included in autumn and winter.Life and death are also transformed into each other, living things are transformed into dead things, and dead things are transformed into living things.I advocate that people over the age of 50 have a celebration party after death, because people must die, and there is no life without death. This is the law of nature. In the "Concise Dictionary of Philosophy" published by the Soviet Union, there is an article that specifically opposes me. It says that life and death, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and war and peace are mutually transformed. [26] Then who is right? Excuse me, living things are not transformed from dead things. How did they come here? Originally, there were only inorganic substances on the earth, and later there were organic substances.Living matter is formed from twelve elements such as nitrogen and hydrogen, and living things are always transformed from dead matter. The oppressor and the oppressed are also transformed into each other, such is the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the working class, the landlord and the peasant.Of course, our oppressors speak to the old ruling class, not to the common people.This is about a class dictatorship, not about an individual oppressor. War turns into peace and peace turns into war.Peace is the opposite of war. There is no word "peace" without war.On the 38th parallel[27] a war is war, and a truce is peace.War is a special form of politics, a continuation of politics, and politics is also a kind of war. All in all, quantitative change is transformed into qualitative change, and qualitative change is transformed into quantitative change.European dogmatism is strong, and the Soviet Union has some shortcomings because of its great achievements, which must always be transformed.When we talk about dialectics now, dogmatism may arise in the future, and thinking may become rigid.If our industry becomes the number one in the world, then we may raise our tails as high as the tail of Sun Xingzhe, and then we may become backward. The finite becomes infinite, and the infinite becomes finite.Ancient dialectics transformed into medieval metaphysics, and medieval metaphysics transformed into modern dialectics.The universe is also transforming, not permanent.Capitalism will transform into socialism, and socialism will transform into communism.The communist society still needs to be transformed, and it also has a beginning and an end. It will definitely be divided into stages, and it will not be fixed. It may have to be called another name in the future.Only quantitative change without qualitative change violates dialectics.There is nothing in the world that has not been produced, developed and destroyed.Monkeys turned into humans, and humans were produced, but the entire human race will eventually be eliminated, and it will become another thing, and the earth will disappear at that time.The earth will always be destroyed, and the sun will also be cooled, and the temperature of the sun is much lower now than in ancient times.For two million years, we have been in the Quaternary Ice Age. When the glaciers came, living things died in large numbers.Now there is a lot of coal under the Antarctic continent, which shows that it was very hot in ancient times. Things always have a beginning and an end, there are only two infinities, time and space.Infinity is made up of finiteness, and all things develop and change step by step. The purpose of talking about this is to emancipate the mind and enliven the mind.Once the mind is fixed, it is very dangerous.To educate cadres, cadres at the central, provincial, prefectural, and county levels are very important. There are hundreds of thousands of cadres in various departments.Think more, don't memorize classics, but use your brains to enliven your thoughts. In the past, we paid too little attention to construction issues, and our main energy was to make revolution.Mistakes still have to be made, and it is impossible not to make them. Mistakes are a necessary condition for the formation of a correct line.The correct line is the opposite of the wrong line, and the two are the unity of opposites.The correct line is formed in the struggle against the wrong line.It is anti-Marxist to say that mistakes can be avoided and that there is only correctness and no mistakes.The problem is to commit less crimes, and to commit minor crimes.Right and wrong are the unity of opposites, the theory of inevitability is correct, and the theory of inevitability is incorrect.There is only correctness and no error, and there is no such fact in history. This is denying the law of the unity of opposites, and it is metaphysics.It is possible to strive to make the fewest mistakes.The number of mistakes made is the relationship between tall and short people.It is possible to make fewer mistakes, and it should be done. Marx and Lenin did it. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] From March 8 to 26, 1958, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a meeting in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, attended by some central leaders, some local leaders, and heads of relevant central ministries and commissions.Mao Zedong made a total of six speeches on the 9th, 10th, 20th, 22nd, 25th, and 26th.Part One is part of the speech on the 9th; Part 2 is the speech on the 10th; Part 3 is the main part of the speech on the 20th. [2] Nanning Conference, see note [4] on page 362 of this volume. [3] Chen Yun, then member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee, and Vice Premier of the State Council. [4] Chen Duxiu’s right opportunism mistakes, see note [3] on page 56 of this volume. [5] Zunyi Conference, see note [7] on page 109 of this volume. [6] Three "left" leaning lines, see note [4] on page 109 of this volume. [7] Wang Ming’s line from 1931 to 1934, see note [18] on page 47 of this volume. [8] Deborin (1881-1963), Soviet philosopher.In 1929, he was elected as a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.In the early 1930s, the Soviet philosophical circles launched a critique of the Deborin School, arguing that they had made idealist mistakes such as separating theory from practice and philosophy from politics. [9] The Communist International, the Third International, see note [7] on page 57 of this volume. [10] Miff (1901-1938), Soviet.In 1928, he served as Deputy Minister of the Eastern Department of the Communist International and President of Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow.In the winter of 1930, he went to Shanghai to serve as the representative of the Communist International in China.At the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with his support, Wang Ming took the supreme leadership of the party. [11] Wang Ming, see note [16] on page 47 of this volume. [12] Khrushchev, then the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. [13] "Bolshevik", a publication of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.It was first published on October 24, 1927, and the last issue in existence is the first issue of the fifth volume published in July 1932. [14] "The Truth", published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was first published on October 30, 1930. The last existing issue is the thirteenth issue published on March 5, 1931. [15] Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, see note [5] on page 320 of this volume. [16] See note [4] on page 320 of this volume. [17] Hangzhou Conference, see note [3] on page 362 of this volume. [18] From September 20 to October 9, 1957, the Third Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing.The meeting passed three draft regulations on improving the industrial management system, improving the business management system, and improving the financial management system, and appropriate decentralization of management power to local governments and enterprises.On November 14 of the same year, the 84th meeting of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress approved in principle these three regulations and decided to implement them from 1958. [19] The Seventh National Congress, the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China.See note [3] on page 98 of this volume. [20] See note [12] on page 129 of this volume. [21] See note [11] on page 129 of this volume. [22] War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, see note [2] on page 45 of this volume. [23] Dulles, then US Secretary of State. [24] Collaboration area, see note [9] on page 363 of this volume. [25] See Marx's "Introduction to Critique of Political Economy" (Volume 2 of Selected Works of Marx and Engels, People's Publishing House, 1995 edition, pages 8-12). [26] See page 156 of "A Concise Dictionary of Philosophy" edited by Rosenthal and Eugene (People's Publishing House, 1955 edition). [27] 38th line, see note [3] on page 66 of this volume.