Chapter 88 Letter to Huang Yanpei[1]

(September 5, 1952) Mr. Ren Zhi: The letter from Beidaihe, the letter of September 4th and the speech[2] have all been received, and I am very grateful. The intention of the speech is very good, but I feel that it is a little too radical, and the majority of the bourgeoisie may not be able to bear it, so I made some revisions according to the instructions[3], and I hope that it is appropriate to consider and decide. The bourgeoisie is required to accept the basic ideas of the working class, such as the elimination of exploitation, the elimination of classes, the elimination of individualism, and the acceptance of the Marxist world outlook, or as Mr. said, "No labor, no life, no living outside of labor, no living outside of self-reliance." To live", this is to ask the bourgeoisie to accept socialism.These are possible for a small number of progressive elements, but as a class, it is not appropriate to require such, at least it is not appropriate to promote it during the period of the first five-year plan.

As a class, at this stage, we should only obligate them to accept the leadership of the working class, that is, to accept the "Common Programme", but not beyond this limit. At the present stage, the bourgeoisie is allowed to exist, but it must operate a cause that benefits the people of the country and does not violate the "five poisons" [4]. This is the leadership of the working class over the bourgeoisie, which is stipulated in the "Common Program". Beyond this limit, the bourgeoisie is required to accept the ideology of the working class, or in other words, the bourgeoisie is not allowed to think about exploiting and making money, but only allowed to think about "no labor, no life" like the workers. They only want socialism and do not want capital. doctrine, that is impossible and should not be.

Some comrades who wrote articles in Beijing's "Study" magazine in the first half of this year put forward such opinions, and we have asked them to make corrections. For the few people in the bourgeoisie, those far-sighted people, I agree with Mr. Wang, you can promote socialism to them and make them interested in the cause of socialism. I think this is feasible and beneficial.Under China's conditions, such people may appear, especially after a few years, when the socialist economic sector grows stronger and shows its great contribution to the country and the people, such people may gradually increase.

Mr. Wang has made rapid progress in his thinking recently. For example, the idea of ​​national sovereignty mentioned in the Beidaihe letter, and the idea of ​​socialism mentioned this time, all express this point, but it is too early to say it now, and it is okay for a few people to think about it , it is impossible to see it and put it into practice.Because of the high degree of trust my husband has in me, I would like to ask the reviewer to enlighten me on whether it is right or not. If I have free time, I would like to have an interview with Mr.Kind regards Mao Zedong September 5, 1952

According to the "Selected Letters of Mao Zedong" published by People's Publishing House in 1983. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Huang Yanpei, courtesy name Renzhi, was a member of the Central People's Government Committee, Vice Premier of the Government Administration Council, and chairman of the China Democratic Construction Association. [2] Refers to Huang Yanpei’s speech at the meeting of the Beijing branch of the China Democratic National Construction Association in September 1952, titled “How to Make Chairman Mao’s Policy on Democratic Construction Work After the End of the “Three Antis” and “Five Antis” Movements The Spirit of Direction.The speech reproduced Mao Zedong's three opinions on the work of the Democratic National Construction Association that Mao Zedong talked to him in March of the same year: 1. Private capital can contribute to the construction of new China; just don't let it develop in a bad way.Second, capitalists cannot be allowed to seek only their own interests, but must take into account the interests of the country and workers.3. Unite them well, educate them, reform them, first study and implement the "Common Program".

[3] Mao Zedong’s revisions to Huang Yanpei’s speech mainly include the following points: (1) In the speech, “capitalists should fully accept the ideology of the working class” was changed to “capitalists should fully accept the leadership of the working class and the state-owned economy.” (2) Change the words in the speech to educate and reform capitalists with "working-class thinking" to "educate and reform capitalists with the idea of ​​patriotism and the idea of ​​a common program"; change the words to help capitalists to "reform their minds" in the speech to Help capitalists "reform those bad ideas, those ideas that do not conform to patriotism and the common program, the so-called five poisonous ideas". (3) After the sentence "There are bad and good bourgeois elements" in the speech, add "As far as most people in the bourgeoisie are concerned, there are bad aspects and good aspects in a person's thinking. .We should help them get rid of the bad aspects and develop the good aspects.” (4) In the last paragraph of the speech, a paragraph was added: “This is what we require of the majority of the bourgeoisie at this stage. But in China Under certain conditions, a small number of people in the bourgeoisie, those far-sighted people, may go beyond the above requirements and accept the basic ideology of the working class, that is, socialist ideology, and become interested in the cause of socialism. While opening factories, they do not I want to change my status and career immediately; on the one hand, I see the great contribution of the socialist cause to mankind, and I want to be a socialist in the future. There may be such people, and we should welcome them.”

[4] "Five Poisons" refers to the five illegal acts of capitalists: bribery, tax evasion, defrauding state property, cutting corners and stealing economic information.