Building A Socialism With A Specifically Chinese Character

Contained in Vol. 3 of Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping. Part of the conversation at the meeting on 30 June 1984 with the delegation of the Japanese Committee at the Second Sino-Japanese Civil Persons Meeting. This speech made a penetrating exposition on how to understand socialism and Marxism; expounded that “We should adhere to the socialist path with Chinese characteristics.”; elaborated the Party’s political line and the construction goal; expounded that “the present World is an open World” and “Opening-up policy should be carried out” and puts forward the basic conception of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The conversation pointed out what is socialism and what is Marxism? We were not quite clear about this in the past. Marxism attaches utmost importance to developing the productive forces. We have said that socialism is the primary stage of communism and that at the advanced stage the principle of from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs will be applied. This calls for highly developed productive forces and an overwhelming abundance of material wealth. Therefore, the fundamental task for the socialist stage is to develop the productive forces. The superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of those forces than under the capitalist system. As they develop, the people’s material and cultural life will constantly improve.

One of our shortcomings after the founding of the People’s Republic was that we didn’t pay enough attention to developing the productive forces. Socialism means eliminating poverty. Pauperism is not socialism, still less communism. The conversation explained why China must adhere to Marxism and adhere to the socialist road. Given that China is still backward, what path can we take to develop the productive forces and raise the people’s standard of living? This brings us back to the question of whether to continue on the socialist path or to stop and turn onto the capitalist road. If we take the path of capitalism, China's chaotic state can not be ended, and the state of poverty and backwardness can not be changed. Capitalism can only enrich less than 10% of the Chinese population; it can never enrich the remaining more than 90%. But if we adhere to socialism and apply the principle of distribution to each according to his work, there will not be excessive disparities in wealth. Consequently, no polarization will occur as our productive forces become developed over the next 20 to 30 years. Deng Xiaoping also emphasized: "However, Marxism must be a combination of Marxism with China's reality, and socialism must be a socialism with Chinese characteristics in line with China's reality."

Our political line is to focus on the modernization programme and on continued development of the productive forces. The minimum target of our modernization programme is to achieve a comparatively comfortable standard of living by the end of the century. I first mentioned this to former Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira during his visit here in December 1979. By a comparatively comfortable standard we mean a per capita GNP of US$800. The present world is open. One important reason for China’s backwardness after the industrial revolution in Western countries was its closed-door policy. After the founding of the People’s Republic we were blockaded by others, so the country remained virtually closed, which created difficulties for us. The experience of the past thirty or so years has demonstrated that a closed-door policy would hinder construction and inhibit development. There could be two kinds of exclusion: one would be directed against other countries; the other would be directed against China itself, with one region or department closing its doors to the others. Both kinds of exclusion would be harmful. We are suggesting that we should develop rapidly, but not too rapidly because that would be unrealistic. To do this, we have to invigorate the domestic economy and open to the outside world. Proceeding from the realities in China, we must first of all solve the problem of the countryside. Eighty per cent of the population lives in rural areas, and China’s stability depends on the stability of those areas. No matter how successful our work is in the cities, it won’t mean much without a stable base in the countryside. We therefore began by invigorating the economy and adopting an open policy there, so as to bring the initiative of 80% of the population into full play.

The urban reform will include not only industry and commerce but science and technology, education and all other fields of endeavour as well. We have opened 14 large and medium-sized coastal cities. We welcome foreign investment and advanced techniques. Management is also a technique. Will they undermine our socialism? Not likely, because the socialist sector is the mainstay of our economy. Our socialist economic base is so huge that it can absorb tens and hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of foreign funds without being shaken. Well, those are our plans. We shall accumulate new experience and try new solutions as new problems arise. In general, we believe that the course we have chosen, which we call building socialism with Chinese characteristics, is the right one. We have followed this path for five and a half years and have achieved satisfactory results; indeed, the pace of development has so far exceeded our projections. If we go on this way, we shall be able to reach the goal of quadrupling China’s GNP by the end of the century. And so I can tell our friends that we are even more confident now. According to Deng Xiaoping's relevant expositions, the 14th Party Congress in 1992 systematically expounded the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, which laid an important theoretical foundation for the Reform and Opening-up path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.