Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Talks

From January 18 to February 21, 1992, Deng Xiaoping made a series of important talks during his inspection visits to Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai cities. On February 28, 1992, the Party Central Committee published and distributed the important excerpts selected from Deng Xiaoping's these talks as a central document, and on March 9 to 10, Jiang Zemin presided over the Plenary Session of thePolitical Bureau of the CC and fully affirmed the views in Deng Xiaoping's Southern Talks.

Deng Xiaoping's Southern Talks profoundly addressed many of the important questions of understanding that has long fettered people's thinking as well as put forward a series of new ideas, new views and new propositions. In response to the question of, if China’s reform was "capitalist" or "socialist", DengXiaoping proposed that the criteria for judging the rights and wrongs of various aspects of in our work should mainly based on whether they are conducive to developing the productive forces of socialist society, enhancing the comprehensive national power of the socialist country, whether or not it improves the living standards of the people: i.e., the “three favorables” criteria.

Deng Xiaoping carefully summed up the lessons of building socialism at home and abroad, especially the practical experience of Reform and Opening-up, and creatively pointed out that "The essence of socialism is liberation and development of the productive forces, elimination of exploitation and polarization, and the ultimate achievement of prosperity for all”. Heargued that the key to solving China's development problems in the Reform and Opening-up was to adhere to the Party's basic line without wavering, and that failure to adhere to socialism, Reform and Opening-up, and ignoring to develop the economy and improve people's lives would only lead to a dead end. Deng Xiaoping emphasized that we should adhere to the basic line for a hundred years to come, with no vacillation. On the issue of planning and market, he pointed out that the proportion of planning compared to utilizing—market forces is not the essential difference between socialism and capitalism; that we should be bolder than before in conducting Reform and Opening-up, seize opportunities to promote China's all-round development, and it is crucial to expand and modernize the economy; thus development should be the overriding a principle. When discussing the realistic practical questions of the Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that China should maintain vigilance against the Right but primarily vigilant against the “Left'' tendencies which have the deepest roots. We must insist on using our both hands. Only by building both material and spiritual civilizations can we achieve building socialism with Chinese characteristics. He stressed that the correct political line must be ensured by a correct organizational line. The imperialists are pushing for peaceful evolution of China towards capitalism, they are placing their hopes on the next generations, and if any problem arises in China, it will arise from inside the Communist Party.

Throughout the process of reform and opening, we must also adhere to the Four Cardinal Principles, opposing bourgeois liberalization and corruption,and hinder imperialist penetration for peaceful evolution. He emphasized that the socialist system must be defended by the dictatorship of the proletariat, which is the basic view of Marxism. It is right to consolidate the people's power by employing the force of the people's democratic dictatorship, and there is nothing wrong in that. Faced with the weakening of socialism in the world, Deng Xiaoping firmly argued that socialism will necessarily supersede capitalism after a long time of development, which is the irreversible general trend of social-historical development. He was concinced that more and more people will come to believe in Marxism, because it is a science. Marxism is a science, there will be more people in favor of Marxism in the world, and we should not think that Marxism has disappeared, not think that it's not useful and it is defeated.

Deng Xiaoping's Southern Talks fully acknowledged the theoretical lines and policies established since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party,and profoundly answered many major questions of understanding that had long fettered people's thinking, consequently produced a great and profound impact at home and abroad. The Southern Talks greatly advanced the practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and elevated the brilliant achievements of Deng Xiaoping's life to a new height.