Communists Should Be Determined to Carry Out Reforms

Mao Zedong's theory of basic contradictions in socialist society provided a theoretical basis for the reforms in socialism. Shortly after putting forward this theory, he clearly put forward the task of reform. In March 1957, he said, “the transformation and construction of China depend on us for leadership.” “Our country has need of many people who whole-heartedly serve the masses and the cause of socialism and who are determined to bring about changes. We Communists should all be people of this kind.” He also said, “We need a good number of non-Party people with high ideals who will keep to the socialist and communist orientation and fight dauntlessly with us to transform and construct our society.”

In January 1958, he further put forward the idea of "the CPC is ready for the great reform", which he repeated many times afterwards. For example, when he reviewed the report on the national economy in 1960 pointed out that: "In accordance with the requirements of the rapid development of productive forces, continuous reform of production relations and superstructure has opened up a broad road for the continuous development of productive forces. The continuous development of productive forces also compels continuous reform of production relations and superstructure.”

It was not only Mao Zedong's idea, but also the common understanding of the collective leadership of the Central Committee of the CPC at that time to observe the socialist society with the law of unity of opposites of materialist dialectics and with the viewpoint of reform and development.

In his article "Victory of Marxism-Leninism in China" published in 1959, Liu Shaoqi pointed out that "the socialist system is not something petrified and fixed for all time. By changing the old order of things and introducing new ones under guidance, the advantages of the socialist system are developed and brought into full play. But to do this, we must rely on the masses; we must struggle against the force of habits which hinders the growth of the production forces, and we must make continuous readjustments in the relations of production and the superstructure so that they can fit in with the needs of growing social productive forces.”

In the same year, Zhou Enlai also pointed out in his article "A Great Decade": “After the socialist relations of production and the superstructure which conforms to them, that is, suits the economic base, are established, they are still in the process of being continuously developed and perfected, therefore they cannot be immutable. The various aspects of the relations of production require adjustment from time to time to meet the requirements of the continued development of the productive forces, and along with this, the various aspects of the superstructure built on this economic base also need to be reformed from time to time.” Only in this way can we “ensure a constant growth of the productive forces.”

The idea that all Communists should be “people who sincerely serve the people, the cause of socialism and are determined to reform” still has practical guiding significance for us to strengthen the construction of the Party.