Zhou Weimin: Ten historical experiences in reform

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-22

To prevent getting lost, the elevator goes directly to the safety islandNewspaper man Liu YaEast A

The parallel world of owls

Author:Zhou Weimin

Zhou Weimin**, former director of the Marxist Theory Department of the Party School, commemorated the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee and reviewed the course of reform and opening up.

First, it is necessary to promote the emancipation and freedom of human beings in terms of their basic rights.

This is the fundamental significance of China's reform and opening up, and it is also its fundamental experience.

Whether the peasants have the right to contract land or the right to move to the cities, whether they have redressed a large number of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, or whether they have filled in the social gap artificially drawn by the so-called elements of their origins, they have all brought about the emancipation of people, the enhancement of people's rights, and the expansion of people's freedom.

After the reform and opening up, I was very pleased to say that China has become truly active.

Why is China really active?

It is because the emancipation of man has greatly stimulated the vitality of the whole society. And this is the fundamental reason for the unprecedented liberation of the productive forces.

Second, it is necessary to establish and adhere to the ideological line of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts.

In terms of ideology and theory, we should set things right, get to the root of the problem, re-understand and re-explain what socialism is and what Marxism is, establish that practice is the only criterion for testing the truth, completely negate the Cultural Revolution, correct the two whatevers, and strictly stipulate that the party prohibits any form of unprecedented ideological emancipation and awakening, which has opened the road to reform and opening up, and created socialism with Chinese characteristics with first-class theory as the beginning, as the symbol, and as the basic content, and continues to enrich and develop in practice.

The core essence of socialism with Chinese characteristics lies in getting rid of the rigid Soviet model. Emancipating the mind, socialism, and productive forces from the shackles of the Soviet model is, in the final analysis, the liberation of people, and this is the essence of China's reform and opening up and socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Third, we must unswervingly persist in taking economic construction as the central task.

Taking economic construction as the central task is the "one center" established by the party's basic line, that is, the political line, and determines the direction of China's development and the overall situation.

Without this center, there will be no way to talk about China's modernization, no way to talk about the continuous improvement of the people's living standards, and the foundation of the party's ruling position will be greatly weakened.

Therefore, in contemporary China, whether or not to persist in taking economic construction as the central task is not an issue involving only the economy, but the biggest and most fundamental political issue.

If any expert and scholar at all levels and all types of experts and scholars do not understand, even doubt, or deny the need to persist in taking economic construction as the central task, they not only do not understand the economy, but also fundamentally do not understand politics, and they deviate from the party's basic line.

Unswervingly persist in taking economic construction as the central task, that is to say, we must use this center to dominate and promote the overall situation, and all work must be subordinated to and serve this center, and we must not impact or replace this center.

It is necessary not only to correct words and deeds that openly shake this center, but also to guard against unwitting vacillation. It is a mistake to think that the conditions are in place to change this center when development is going well and achievements are outstanding. It is also very wrong to think that it is necessary to change this center when there are many problems and contradictions are prominent.

Fourth, we must unswervingly adhere to the goal of enriching the people.

Beginning with the peasants risking their lives to divide the land, reform was the tragic struggle of the people to seek food and clothing and to get rid of poverty, and then converged into a historical tide of more than one billion Chinese rising up against poverty. At the beginning of the reform, an important idea put forward is the idea of enriching the people, a series of policies formulated by the party are the policy of enriching the people, and the concept of being well-off is completely focused on the people's life to reposition the primary goal of China's modernization, all of which show that China's reform is a reform with the goal of enriching the people, and China's modernization is a modernization that takes enriching the people first and people's livelihood as the priority, and is people-oriented, people-oriented and the fundamental purpose and highest goal.

The goal of enriching the people has endowed reform with tremendous moral appeal and strong impetus.

In the course of reform, we have seen that when the goal of enriching the people is conscientiously implemented, the reform will be widely recognized by the society, and it will be smoothly promoted, and once some specific measures and practices are detached from the goal of enriching the people, such as only focusing on the financial purpose and competing with the people for profits or throwing the burden on the society, the reform will not go smoothly, and those practices will backfire and cause public resentment.

In the same way, only modernization that puts the prosperity of the people first and puts the people's livelihood first is the modernization worthy of our struggle, and it is also the modernization that is likely to be truly successful.

I have always said that when the people are rich then the country is rich, and when the society is strong, then the country is strong; this is a law in the process of modernization, and it is a fundamental order, which cannot be violated.

Fifth, it is necessary to provide good conditions for the development of the private economy.

One of the most substantial achievements of reform and opening up is the growth and development of the private economy.

The so-called private economy is the activity of the people to create wealth independently, and the so-called private enterprises are the economic organizations that the people, as independent interest subjects and owners of different elements, independently establish and participate in through contracts.

This is the fundamental nature of the private economy and private enterprises.

Therefore, the private economy is the deepest source and foundation of the vitality, creativity and competitiveness of the entire national economy, and private enterprises are the most common and general form of enterprise.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide good conditions for the full development of the private economy. This includes two important tasks.

On the one hand, it is necessary to explain the legitimacy and rationality of the private economy from the perspective of basic theory, not just from the utilitarian purpose, and conscientiously remove all kinds of ideological and conceptual obstacles that hinder its development.

On the other hand, it is necessary to establish complete legal and institutional conditions for the development of the private economy and provide complete legal guarantees with the full protection of property rights as the core.

Sixth, adhere to the logic of the market economy and promote market-oriented reform.

In the course of reform, some specific measures and practices deviate from the goal of enriching the people, and anything that deviates from the goal of enriching the people must also deviate from the logic of the market economy and actually become anti-market behavior, which objectively interferes with and hinders the process of market-oriented reform. Therefore, as important as always adhering to the goal of enriching the people, it is necessary to always adhere to the logic of the market.

In reality, there are three issues that need to be dealt with.

First, the key area of market-oriented reform is the factor market. If the market mechanism is not effective enough in the factor market, and the power that dominates the market is still to a large extent the leading departments and administrative powers, then it will certainly cause distortion of the entire market activity and a large amount of misallocation of resources.

Second, since the market determines the allocation of resources is the goal of the reform of the economic system, it is also an important criterion for measuring and evaluating the role of the market, that is to say, on the issue of resource allocation, only the role of the market in determining the allocation of resources is a good role, and it is in line with the goal of the reform of the economic system, and those that are not conducive to the market allocation of resources are not good and should be corrected.

Third, it is necessary to further clarify and dispel misunderstandings about the role of the market economy, including the belief that market competition will inevitably lead to monopoly, that the intensification of corruption is brought about by the market economy, that the market economy will inevitably lead to polarization, and that the chaos in some fields is due to excessive marketization.

Seventh, it is necessary to fully absorb the achievements of modern civilization in the world.

The essence of moving from closed to open lies in actively participating in and integrating into the mainstream of modern civilization in the world and fully absorbing the achievements of modern civilization.

Reform and opening up have made remarkable achievements, but after all, China is still halfway through its struggle for modernization, so we must not be arrogant and blindly inflated, we must not think that there is no need to continue to learn from the developed countries, and we must not narrowly and mistakenly regard the emphasis on Chinese characteristics as something that can be rejected or rejected to continue to study, learn from, and absorb the achievements of modern civilization in the world.

Otherwise, in the words of the ancients, it is called small and easy to win, which is not the image of a big country, and in fact, it is precisely a very important Chinese characteristic.

You must know that one of the great characteristics and advantages of Chinese culture, or Chinese civilization, lies in its ability to fully emblement, absorb, and integrate external and foreign cultural elements and civilization achievements, thus creating a strong self-renewal ability and even tenacious and lasting vitality of Chinese culture.

In contemporary China, it is certain that as long as arrogance is inflated, reform and modernization will inevitably be ruined, so that they will give up halfway and all the achievements they have made will be wasted.

Eighth, what is directly related to this is that in actively participating in the process of economic globalization, we should create and always maintain a peaceful, friendly, and cooperative Sino-foreign relations and an international environment, and in particular, properly handle relations with the United States and the developed countries in the West, so as not to be an enemy of the United States and not to be an enemy of China.

Why is this important?

This is because this is an indispensable external condition for China's reform and modernization.

On this issue, it is necessary to correct the erroneous understanding of Taoguang's policy of cultivating obscurity.

Many people at home and abroad interpret this policy as a kind of ploy to temporarily hibernate and secretly accumulate strength when its strength is insufficient, so much so that they consider it outdated, on the grounds that China's strength is too strong to conceal.

Such an understanding is shallow and erroneous, and is very harmful to the overall situation.

It should be noted that Taoguang is not an expedient measure, but a major policy for handling relations with the outside world, which has the significance of a national policy.

Its true meaning is precisely a fine traditional quality that is valued by Chinese culture, that is, calm and heavy, humble and introverted, not rash, not ostentatious, not to make enemies on all sides, to attack everywhere, but to work hard wholeheartedly, and go all out to do their own things.

In contemporary China, the establishment of a new system and the realization of modernization are the biggest things.

Therefore, in the overall international situation, the most important thing is to provide a long-term, stable, and good international environment for this purpose.

Ninth, keep in mind that "China should be wary of the right, but mainly to guard against the left."

This is a warning to future generations about the overall situation and long-term development of China.

As in history, the Right certainly brings harm, but the Left has always been, and remains, the greatest threat and danger facing the Communist Party and its cause.

Being vigilant against the right, but mainly guarding against the left, is actually an important law governing party building and party development, and it is an important law governing the Communist Party under the conditions of being in power.

Why? Because, generally speaking, the right-wing party is prone to overtake the right, and the left-wing party is prone to overtake the left, so the right-wing party should mainly defend against the right, and the left-wing party must mainly defend against the left.

The Communist Party is a left-wing party, and the problem that is prone to occur and not easy to correct after occurrence is too much left, so being vigilant against the right, but mainly preventing the left, is not only a profound historical experience, but also a law of development and ruling of the Communist Party.

Tenth, the key to gradual reform lies in progress, and if we do not advance, we must retreat.

Gradual reform is the correct way and way of China's reform, and the key to the so-called gradual reform is not gradual, but progressive, not to take it slowly, but to persist in advancing it in a timely manner.

Important reforms cannot be shelved or postponed on the grounds of gradual progress or that the timing and conditions are not yet ripe. It must be understood that the more the reform is delayed, the more favorable conditions and opportunities for reform will be lost.

The history of ancient and modern times, both Chinese and foreign, has provided serious lessons for this.

More importantly, due to the characteristics of the gradual approach, the delay and stagnation of reform will inevitably lead to a retrogression of reform, even a large and large regression.

This is because the factors of the new system that have been introduced and grown gradually and in a scattered manner in the process of gradual progress are inconsistent with the overall logic of the old system and contradict the foundation and core parts of the old system that have not yet been fundamentally broken through; because of this situation, the stagnation of reform means that the frictions and conflicts caused by such contradictions will inevitably accumulate and intensify, and the factors of the new system will also be distorted and deformed under the constraints and erosion of the old system.

As a result, some prominent and even serious economic, political, and social problems will arise.

In such a situation, people tend to blame the problems on those factors of the new system, which are still subjectively unfamiliar and objectively incomplete, and most commonly refer to their detachment from reality, incompatibility with national conditions, or even political incorrectness.

At this time, the easiest and most convenient way to deal with the contradictions and problems in reality is to negate and reject the elements of the new system and return to the old system, which is very familiar.

Therefore, reform should be gradual, and gradual progress must be carried out quickly, and it is necessary to break through the foundation and core part of the old system as soon as possible in the process of constantly growing the elements of the new system, and it must not be slowed down, still less stagnant. Gradual reform, if not advancing, will retreat, this is a law of gradual reform.

As for the historical experience of China's reform, of course, we can also study it from many other aspects, and I would like to put forward the above 10 points here. These ten articles are not isolated and scattered, but are logically linked together as a whole.

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