From September 13 to 20, 1978, Deng Xiaoping led the Chinese party and government delegation to participate in the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. This visit abroad deeply touched Deng Xiaoping's heart.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, China's economic development encountered various obstacles. North Korea was just the opposite. Their economy began to take off in the 1960s. By the 1980s, the country was prosperous, even on par with Japan at the time.
Northern Talk
North Korea and China are both socialist countries. At that time, North Korea was able to develop its economy, but China had not yet found an exact route. Deng Gong lamented to Kim Il Sung at the time: "The more I look at it, the more we feel that we are falling behind!"
Deng Gong's inspection was called "Northern Talk" by later generations.
Deng Gong later told Kim Il-sung: "I have said everywhere in the three northeastern provinces that we must focus on construction. The country is so big and so poor. How can we live if we don't work hard to develop production? Therefore, I emphasized that we must quickly and resolutely focus on the work." The focus has shifted to economic construction. "
Developing the economy and engaging in construction may sound easy to say, but in actual practice, there are many obstacles. There are wolves in the front and tigers in the back. The people do not trust the concept of "reform and opening up" at all. What can we rely on to complete this great idea?
Regarding this matter, Deng Gong went through repeated preparations before he dared to issue the final order.
After returning from North Korea, Deng Gong had made up his mind, so he quickly went to the three northeastern provinces for inspection.
The three northeastern provinces are the most important industrial bases in our country. However, due to the sluggish economic development, the three northeastern provinces are inevitably affected, and their economic growth has retreated instead of advancing.
html On September 16, Mr. Deng came to Jilin and talked very frankly that there are problems with our current development. After all, North Korea, which I just visited, is a living example.At that time, everyone’s thinking had not yet changed. Many comrades felt that we are a socialist country. If we develop the economy, do business and open up, wouldn’t we become a capitalist country?
Deng Xiaoping was very clear about this doubt in the hearts of our comrades. But he knew that building socialism did not conflict with economic development. On the contrary, a good and healthy economy was the foundation for the development of the entire society.
Deng Gong answered everyone's confusion in one sentence. He said:
"If the productivity of socialist countries develops slower than that of capitalist countries in a long historical period, how can we talk about superiority? This is the biggest politics. This is the question of who wins between socialism and capitalism."
These words made everyone suddenly realize. After the conversation, many people began to think about how to achieve rapid economic development under the socialist system?
html On September 17, Mr. Deng came to Liaoning again and met with the local leadership.
During the interview, Deng Xiaoping proposed:
"Our thoughts have become active. Now we can only say that it is the beginning, and we are still afraid. We must use our brains. If we don't use our brains, there will be no seeking truth from facts; no If you use your brain, you cannot analyze your own situation, and you cannot ask and solve problems based on reality. Now we must educate all cadres to use their brains, seek truth from facts, ask questions, and solve problems."
Mr. Deng had great enthusiasm and confidence in reform and opening up.
At the same time, Deng Gong did feel the urgency of this matter.
In the 1970s, although my country's economic situation recovered somewhat, analysis showed that its development was still not reliable enough. The development of
import and export, industry, financial trade and various tertiary industries are all lower than the world average, and people's lives have been slow to achieve a moderately prosperous life.
If the people are always worried about food and clothing, how can they still have the energy to build the country?Therefore, reform and opening up is already on the string and must be launched.
Poverty is the main reason for promoting reform and opening up. Deng Gong's several speeches received positive responses from local cadres, because everyone hopes that the people can have enough food and clothing.
As the concept of reform and opening up gradually took shape, a new question emerged: What is socialism?
Social Change
Logically speaking, what China is developing is socialism.
However, in the 1970s, many people had low confidence in socialism.
Because at that time, China had internal and external troubles, weak domestic economic development, and external conflicts with the Soviet Union. Our country was still too weak at the time and had to squeeze in to survive.
Therefore, many people feel that China’s attempt at socialism will eventually fail and it will eventually move towards the revival of capitalism.
This is unacceptable to people. For many years, the Western capitalist world has suppressed China in every possible way, and its ugly face is disgusting. Therefore, people will have the idea that "economic development is tantamount to betrayal."
However, this was obviously a boring idea, and Deng Xiaoping quickly proposed a new concept in the conversation: "Poverty is not socialism, and too slow development is not socialism. The fundamental task of socialism is to develop productive forces."
This concept can be said to be groundbreaking, and it quickly aroused heated discussions in society. In addition, Deng Xiaoping also proposed several measures that are still very advanced of the times today.
First, we must emancipate our minds and seek truth from facts.
In fact, Chairman Mao proposed a similar idea back then. However, many comrades have completely forgotten this sentence, or have problems with their understanding, which ultimately leads to rigid thinking.
Rigid thinking can be described as a spiritual contagion. The rigid thinking of one person or one department may spread to the whole society.
Moreover, many people are blindly arrogant and think they are implementing Chairman Mao's thoughts. In fact, they are lazy, unwilling to adapt, and afraid of taking responsibility.
Therefore, Deng Gong pointed out that if we want to reform now, we must not be lazy. Chairman Mao once proposed seeking truth from facts. We must grasp these four words in reform.
The second is to shift the focus of work.
In the past, people have always avoided talking about economic development, or even talked about it with disdain. Now Mr. Deng wants to make economic development the focus of his next work.
Among them, Deng Gong also proposed that we can no longer pursue egalitarianism . In the past, many places practiced egalitarianism, but in the end, everyone's enthusiasm was destroyed, and everyone was hungry together.
Egalitarianism is a very beautiful idea, but it is divorced from social reality.
Therefore, the new method that Deng Gong came up with was to distribute according to work. Only when everyone has motivation can the economy develop. The concept of
is the so-called "get rich first to drive wealth later" and "let some people get rich first". Only when the concept of "wealth" is implemented can everyone see hope and be motivated.
Mr. Deng also focused on the issue of agricultural development. China is a large agricultural country, and this has not changed until now. We have a large population, a large labor force, and a greater demand for food. Therefore, agriculture is the foundation, and the development of agriculture cannot be delayed in any case.
However, in the 1970s, my country's agricultural production was obviously unsatisfactory. Natural and man-made disasters continued, and the market was slightly turbulent. Agriculture was the first to be affected, and farmers' lives were not easy.
Under this situation, Deng Gong boldly proposed an idea, which was to realize the "industrialization" of agriculture.
In fact, in layman's terms, it is the modernization of agriculture.
Traditional agriculture is faced with the loess and turned to the sky. Farmers are very hardworking, but the efficiency is also very low. In addition, our country's cultivated land area is very limited, so there is never enough food to eat.
Therefore, Deng Gong’s idea is that we introduce more agricultural equipment, study more high-yielding grain varieties, and at the same time designate some key agricultural development areas, unified management of large areas of cultivated land, and maximize the advantages of modern industry.
Deng Gong had already tried these methods during the war years. I think back then, Mr. Deng was an expert in production and construction in the rear areas of the base areas. Whenever he arrived at a new base area, the first thing he did was to lead the local people to open up wasteland and cultivate land.
Because Mr. Deng had forward thinking and extraordinary courage, his production and construction work achieved good results every time.
Today, although it is no longer a war era, food production is still the lifeblood of the country. Therefore, good experiences from the past can still be used.
Third, we must firmly implement reform and opening up. This is the top priority of our work. Reform and opening up means not only opening up the economy, but also opening up our system and ideology.
Breaking the deadlock
The trip to North Korea actually made Deng Gong further think about the current shortcomings of our country. He realized that we seemed to have inadvertently walked into the trap that the Soviet Union had walked into, which was the excessive rigidity and floating of the superstructure.
Although the Soviet Union was still the world's leading power at that time, the shortcomings of the superstructure had been seriously exposed.
Although no one could predict the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the time, people also knew that once these problems broke out, the Soviet Union would pay a heavy price.
Therefore, when Deng Gong carried out reform and opening up, he hoped to nip problems in the bud. We must not take the detour of the Soviet Union again. Therefore, we must have the courage to break the deadlock.
During his inspection, Mr. Deng put forward such requirements for many companies: unnecessary institutions should be abolished, work efficiency should be improved, and staff should be avoided to avoid overstaffing. Production management should keep science in mind, and be bold and innovative.
He also said: "Enterprises should have the initiative and flexibility to deal with the number of employees, whether to add or reduce. Enterprises should have some foreign exchange , they can order by themselves, and they can exchange technology with foreign countries."
This was another person's groundbreaking speech. At that time, most companies had never thought about doing business with foreign countries, let alone completely independent management.
But now, Deng Gong gave them such power and opened the chains that restricted the enterprise.
This was to change the lifeless pattern of major enterprises at that time.
Many enterprises in our country, especially state-owned enterprises, experienced glorious moments in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. However, in the 1970s, almost without exception, they fell into a development cycle. It was difficult to improve economic efficiency. Workers' skills were stagnant, they had no creativity, and they were stuck in the old ways. They became old antiques in people's eyes.
This phenomenon brings about a decline in product quality and overdrafts the vitality of the enterprise.
From an overall perspective, it affects the overall development of the country.
It was the emergence of this strange circle that convinced Mr. Deng that it was necessary to give enterprises relative freedom.
On the one hand, since we want to develop the economy, we cannot rest on our laurels. We have broken many deadlocks in diplomacy. Now we must keep up with economic development. The world is moving toward diversification. There is no future for doing business behind closed doors.
After World War II , all countries that achieved economic take-off relied on the background of world economic development. Regardless of big or small countries, they must eventually integrate into the world market.
On the other hand, competition and progress will only occur if we integrate. Our enterprises have too little communication with the outside world and lose many learning opportunities. No conclusion can be reached by working behind closed doors.
The world is developing too fast, so in order to keep up with the pace of the world, companies must go out and participate in competition. Without anyone to catch up, without a sense of crisis, they cannot make progress anyway.
We don’t have many advanced industry chains and yet, and many products cannot be produced in China for the time being. Therefore, to break the deadlock and achieve something from scratch, we need cooperation.
For these enterprises, openness is a double-edged sword. Whether they can bravely rise to the forefront and seize opportunities will determine their destiny.
going global is not only a requirement for enterprises, but also for local governments. Deng Gong also requires this.
When inspecting Benxi , Deng Gong said:
"You have to go to developed countries to see... and see how they do it. They have locked themselves in their own hometown for a long time, not understanding the outside world, and not communicating with the outside world. Diplomacy and isolation can only make our country poor, backward, and ignorant."
In Deng Xiaoping's own words, this northern talk was "igniting fire everywhere." Although the eight days were short, it caused a storm in the whole society.
News of the Northern Talk spread throughout China from the three northeastern provinces. Everyone knew that reform was coming, but how to achieve the goal was still unclear, and there was always a lot of resistance.
Great Turning
It is a difficult task to change the overall thinking of society. Deng Gong had already anticipated the upcoming difficulties, but he also made up his mind that no matter how many disputes there were, the major event of reform and opening up must be completed.
In this way, reform and opening up officially entered the stage of history.
Many companies have followed the policy proposed by Deng Gong and carried out "scraping the bones to cure the poison". Some have succeeded, while others have failed.
Everyone is trying to cross the river by feeling the stones, and no one can guarantee that the reform will be 100% successful.
In fact, until the 1990s, there were still voices in society that stopped reform and opening up.
Because reform is dangerous, and the changes in the economic model brought about by reform will inevitably have a certain impact on the socialist system , among the socialist countries in the world, only China has tried such a new path of reform and opening up.
People cannot predict the direction of historical development, they can only wait for the test of time.
What is worth celebrating is that this was a very successful attempt. After reform and opening up, China's economy has achieved a comprehensive take-off, and the Chinese people have finally embarked on the road to a well-off society and no longer have to endure hunger.
Economic development has promoted social progress. China's current international status is inseparable from the initiative of reform and opening up.
Many socialist countries have carried out economic reforms, but most of these reforms have failed. Even superpowers like the Soviet Union have not been able to escape the curse.
to After the disintegration of the Soviet Union , many people believed that socialism and economic development were incompatible.
But China has used vivid examples to tell the world that socialist countries can not only develop their economies, but also that the superiority of socialism will bring healthier economic growth, which cannot be achieved by capitalism.
China's success in reform is certainly not due to good luck, but to the country's strategic planning.
We are determined to develop the economy and at the same time firmly adhere to the socialist line. Every step we take is carefully considered and absolutely responsible for the country and the people. This is the reason for our ultimate success.
The historical significance of the Northern Talk is undoubted. In the history of New China, such changes have occurred many times. Behind the seemingly calm, there are actually many risks, but we have finally withstood the test.
To this day, the success of Northern Talk still has a strong reference significance. Whenever social changes come, the success of Northern Talk will give people unlimited confidence.
Reference:
Cai Yongfei "From Northern Talk to Southern Talk: Deng Xiaoping promoted the historical process of negating class struggle as the key link"
Study Times "1978. Deng Xiaoping's "Northern Talk""
