Today is the 118th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s birth!
44 years ago, at the working conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on December 13, 1978, Deng Xiaoping, after his comeback, delivered a speech entitled "Emancipate the Mind, Seek Truth from Facts, and Unite as One to Look Forward." These fifteen words, which seem to be the most ordinary nowadays, contain the basic force behind China’s earth-shaking changes. This speech provided guidance for the convening of at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC.
Re-reading this famous speech that brought about earth-shaking changes in China is not only to commemorate the 118th anniversary of Deng Gong’s birth, but more importantly, today, standing at the forefront of great changes unseen in a century, re-read this speech that once changed the course of Chinese history. Speak and you will gain something new!
Emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts, unite and look forward
Text/Deng Xiaoping
Speech Date/December 13, 1978
Comrades:
This meeting has been going on for more than a month and it is about to end. The Central Committee has put forward the fundamental guiding principle of shifting the focus of the work of the whole party to the realization of the four modernizations, and has solved a series of major problems left over from the past. This will surely enhance the morale and confidence of the whole party, the whole army and the people of all ethnic groups in the country. , strengthen unity. Now, we can say with confidence that under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee, the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all ethnic groups in the country will continue to achieve new victories in the new Long March.
This meeting was well held and very successful. It is of great significance in the history of the party. Our party has not held such a meeting for many years. This time it restored and carried forward the party's democratic tradition and held it lively. We must expand this trend to the entire party, the entire army, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country.
This meeting discussed and resolved many major issues related to the fate of the party and the country. Let’s open our minds, speak freely, dare to speak our minds and tell the truth. Everyone can actively carry out criticism, including criticism of the work of the central government, and put their opinions on the table. Some comrades also engaged in self-criticism to varying degrees. These are great advances in intra-party life and will play a huge role in promoting the cause of the party and the people.
Today, I mainly talk about one issue, is to emancipate the mind, use your brains, seek truth from facts, and unite to look forward.
1. Emancipating the mind is a major political issue at present.
Emancipate the mind, use your brains, seek truth from facts, unite as one and look forward. The first thing is to emancipate the mind. Only when our minds are emancipated can we correctly follow the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, solve the problems left over from the past, solve a series of new problems, and correctly reform the production relations and production relations that are incompatible with the rapid development of productive forces. The superstructure determines the specific paths, principles, methods and measures to realize the four modernizations based on the actual situation of our country.
Among our cadres, especially leading cadres, the problem of emancipating the minds has not been completely solved. Many comrades are still not liberated in their thinking, and their brains have not yet been activated. It can also be said that they are still in a rigid or semi-rigid state. This is not because they are not good comrades. This state was formed under certain historical conditions.
Firstly, for more than ten years, Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" have promoted forbidden areas and prohibitions, created superstition, and closed people's minds within the confinement circle of their fake Marxism, and they were not allowed to go beyond the limits. Otherwise, they will be investigated, labeled and beaten with sticks. In this case, some people have no choice but not to use their brains or think about the problem.
The second reason is that democratic centralism has been destroyed and there is indeed a bureaucracy with excessive concentration of power within the party. This kind of bureaucracy often appears in the form of "party leadership", "party instructions", "party interests" and "party discipline". This is real management, obstruction and pressure. On many major issues, one or two people often have the final say, and others can only act according to orders. In this way, everyone doesn’t have to think about anything.
The third reason is that the merits and demerits of right and wrong are unclear, and rewards and punishments are unclear. Doing and not doing the same thing are the same, and even those who do well will be punished. Those who do nothing and are stable become "roly-poly". Under this unwritten law of and , people are not willing to use their brains.
The fourth reason is that the habit of small production is still affecting people. One of the distinctive characteristics of this kind of habitual force is that it is conservative, content with the status quo, does not seek development or progress, and is unwilling to accept new things.
If the mind is not emancipated and the mind is rigid, many strange phenomena will occur.
Once the thinking becomes rigid, there will be more rules and regulations. For example, strengthening the party's leadership has become the party's responsibility to do everything and intervening in everything; implementing unified leadership has become a matter of not distinguishing between the party and the government, and using the party to replace government; upholding the unified leadership of the central government has become "a unified approach to everything" . We must oppose "local policies" that violate the fundamental principles of the central government's policies, but there are also "local policies" that are based on reality and are supported by the masses. These correct policies are often criticized now because they are "not consistent with the same caliber."
Once the thinking becomes rigid, the phenomenon of being swayed by the wind becomes more common. They don't care about party spirit or principles, and they just follow the trend and the direction of the wind when they say and do things, thinking that they won't make mistakes. In fact, going with the wind is a big mistake that violates the party spirit of Communist Party members. Think independently, dare to think, speak, and do. Of course, you will inevitably make mistakes, but those mistakes are obvious and can be easily corrected.
Once the thinking becomes rigid, bookism that does not proceed from reality becomes serious. If there is nothing in the book, there is nothing in the documents, and there is nothing that the leaders have said, we dare not say one more word or do one more thing, and copy everything. Oppose responsibility to superiors and responsibility to the people.
If we do not break ideological rigidity and greatly liberate the minds of cadres and the masses, there will be no hope for the four modernizations.
The current discussion on practice is the only criterion for testing truth and is actually a debate on whether to emancipate the mind. Everyone thinks that this debate is necessary and of great significance. Judging from the situation of the debate, the more you look at it, the more important it becomes.
If a party, a country, and a nation proceed from the book, have rigid ideas, and prevail superstition, then it will not be able to move forward, its vitality will cease, and the party and country will be destroyed. This is what Comrade Mao Zedong said repeatedly during the rectification movement. Only by emancipating the mind, insisting on seeking truth from facts, proceeding from reality in everything, and integrating theory with practice can our socialist modernization drive proceed smoothly, and the theories of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought of our party can also develop smoothly. In this sense, the debate on the standard of truth is indeed an ideological line issue, a political issue, and an issue related to the future and destiny of the party and the country.
Seeking truth from facts is the basis of the proletarian worldview and the ideological basis of Marxism. In the past, all the victories we achieved in the revolution were based on seeking truth from facts; now that we want to realize the four modernizations, we must also rely on seeking truth from facts. Not only the central committee, provincial committees, prefectural committees, county committees, and commune party committees, but also a factory, an agency, a school, a shop, and a production team must seek truth from facts, emancipate their minds, and use their brains to think about problems and do things.
The more people within the party and among the people who are willing to use their brains and think about problems, the more beneficial it will be to our cause. To carry out revolution and construction, we need a group of pioneers who dare to think, explore and innovate. Without such a large number of pioneers, we would not be able to get rid of poverty and backwardness, and we would not be able to catch up, let alone surpass, the international advanced level. We hope that party committees at all levels and every party branch will encourage and support party members and the masses to have the courage to think, explore, and innovate, and to do work that promotes the masses to emancipate their minds and use their brains.
2. Democracy is an important condition for emancipating the mind
To emancipate the mind and use your brains, a very important condition is to truly implement proletarian democratic centralism. We need centralized and unified leadership, but there must be sufficient democracy to achieve correct centralization.
In this period, it is particularly necessary to emphasize democracy. Because for a long period of time in the past, democratic centralism has not been truly implemented. If we focus on centralism without democracy, there will be too little democracy. Nowadays, only a few advanced elements dare to speak out. We have more progressive elements at this meeting, but looking at the whole party and the country, many people are not so bold to speak out. We don’t dare to speak out good opinions, and we don’t dare to oppose bad people and bad things. If this situation doesn’t change, how can we get everyone to emancipate their minds and use their brains? How to implement the Four Modernizations?
We must create conditions for democracy and reaffirm the "Three Nos": no bragging, no labeling, and no sticks. In the political life within the party and among the people, we can only adopt democratic means, not suppression or attack. The rights of citizens, party members, and party committee members stipulated in the Constitution and the Party Constitution must be resolutely protected and shall not be infringed upon by anyone.
A revolutionary political party is afraid that it cannot hear the voices of the people. The most terrifying thing is that there is silence. There are a lot of gossips inside and outside the party, true and false. This is a punishment for the long-term lack of political democracy. With a political situation that combines centralism and democracy, discipline and freedom, unified will, and personal comfort and liveliness, there will be less gossip and anarchism will be easier to overcome. We believe that our people take the overall situation into consideration, understand the general situation and observe discipline. Our leading cadres at all levels, especially senior cadres, must also pay attention to strictly abide by the party's disciplines, the secrets of the conservative party, and not engage in gossip and manuscripts.
Of course, some of the opinions put forward by the people are right and some are wrong, and they need to be analyzed.
The leadership of the party must be good at gathering the correct opinions of the people and giving appropriate explanations to incorrect opinions. Regarding ideological issues, we must not use persuasive methods in any case, and we must truly implement the "double hundred" policy. As soon as we hear some opinions from the masses, especially sharp ones, we should investigate the so-called "political background" and so-called "political rumors", file a case, and carry out crackdowns and suppression. This bad style must be resolutely stopped.
Comrade Mao Zedong has always said that this situation is actually a sign of weakness and a sign of neurasthenia. Our leaders at all levels must not create a situation of confrontation with the masses under any circumstances. This is a principle that must be adhered to.
I would like to focus on the issue of promoting economic democracy. At present, my country's economic management system power is too concentrated and should be decentralized boldly in a planned manner. Otherwise, it will not be conducive to giving full play to the enthusiasm of the country, local governments, enterprises and individual workers, and it will also be conducive to the implementation of modern economic management and improvement of labor productivity. Local governments, enterprises, and production teams should be given more autonomy in management. There are so many provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in our country. A medium-sized province is equivalent to a large country in Europe. It is necessary to implement unified understanding, unified policies, unified planning, unified command, and unified actions in terms of economic planning, finance, foreign trade, etc. Give more autonomy.
The most urgent thing at present is to expand the autonomy of factories, mines, enterprises and production teams, so that every factory and production team can do everything possible to exert their initiative and creativity. When a production team has operational autonomy, but a small piece of land is not planted with anything, and a small piece of water is not used for breeding, the members and cadres will have trouble sleeping and will have to use their brains to find solutions. If hundreds of thousands of enterprises and millions of production teams across the country use their brains, how much wealth can be increased!
If you create more wealth for the country, your personal income should be higher and collective welfare should be better. If we don’t talk about getting more for more work and don’t pay attention to material interests, it will work for a few advanced elements but not for the broad masses. It will work for a while but not for a long time. The revolutionary spirit is very precious. Without the revolutionary spirit, there will be no revolutionary action. However, revolution is based on material interests. If we only talk about the spirit of sacrifice and not material interests, it is idealism .
Similarly, we must effectively protect the individual democratic rights of workers and farmers, including democratic elections, democratic management and democratic supervision. Not only should every workshop director and production team leader be responsible for production and think of ways to do it, but every worker and farmer must be made to be responsible for production and think of ways to do it.
In order to protect people's democracy, the legal system must be strengthened. Democracy must be institutionalized and legalized so that the system and laws will not change due to changes in leaders, or changes in leaders' views and attention.
The current problem is that the laws are very incomplete and many laws have not yet been formulated. Often, what the leader says is regarded as "law", and disapproving of what the leader says is called "illegal". When the leader's words change, the "law" will also change. Therefore, efforts should be concentrated on formulating criminal law , civil law, litigation law and various other necessary laws, such as factory law, people's commune law, forest law, grassland law , environmental protection law , labor law , Foreign Investment Law, etc., have been discussed and passed through certain democratic procedures, and the procuratorial and judicial organs have been strengthened to ensure that there are laws to follow, laws must be followed, law enforcement must be strict, and violations must be investigated. The relationship between the state and enterprises, enterprises and enterprises, enterprises and individuals, etc., must also be determined in the form of law; many conflicts between them must be resolved through law.
Nowadays, the workload of legislation is huge and the manpower is very insufficient. Therefore, the legal provisions can be rougher at first and gradually improved. Some local laws and regulations can be tried out first, and then they can be summarized and improved to formulate laws that are common across the country. Amend and supplement laws, amend and add one when it is mature, and do not wait for "complete sets of equipment." In short, something is better than nothing, and doing it quickly is better than doing it slowly. In addition, we must vigorously strengthen the study of international law.
The country must have national laws, and the party must have party regulations and party laws. The Party Constitution is the most fundamental Party regulations and laws. does not have party regulations and party laws, so it is difficult for national laws to protect . The tasks of the disciplinary inspection committees and organizational departments at all levels are not only to handle cases, but more importantly, to uphold the party's rules and regulations and to improve our party's style. For those who violate party discipline, no matter who they are, they must enforce discipline to make their merits and rewards and punishments clear, uphold righteousness and combat evil.
3. Dealing with legacy issues in order to look forward
This meeting resolved some issues left over from the past, distinguished the merits and demerits of some people, and corrected a number of major unjust, wrong, and false cases. This is the need for emancipating the mind and also the need for stability and unity. The purpose is precisely to look forward and to successfully realize the shift in the focus of the entire party's work.
Our principle is "Any mistakes must be corrected." Everything that was done wrong in the past should be corrected. Some problems cannot be solved at once and must be continued after the meeting. But we need to resolve it as soon as possible, realistically and neatly, and don't drag our feet. Issues left over from the past should be resolved. It is not good if we do not solve the problem, it is not good if the comrades who have made mistakes do not criticize themselves, and it is not good if we do not deal with them appropriately. However, it is impossible and should not require a perfect solution. should focus on the big picture, and it can be a bit rough. It is impossible and unnecessary to figure out every detail.
Stability and unity are very important. To strengthen the unity of the people of all ethnic groups in the country, we must first strengthen the unity of the entire party, especially the unity of the party's leadership core. The unity of our party is unity based on Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. The party must distinguish between right and wrong in theory and line, carry out criticism and self-criticism, help and supervise each other, and overcome various erroneous ideas.
Comrades who have made mistakes should be encouraged to sum up their experiences and lessons, recognize and correct their mistakes. Give them time to think. Once you understand and reflect on major issues of right and wrong, you should express your welcome. Be very careful when handling people. Mistakes in the past can be dealt with leniently or harshly, and you can be lenient; problems that may arise in the future should be dealt with more harshly. The treatment of ordinary party members should be more lenient, while the treatment of leading cadres should be stricter, especially senior cadres.
The selection of cadres must be strict in the future.Those who engage in vandalism, looting, serious gang-mindedness, those who sell their souls to frame comrades, and those who do not even care about the most important interests of the party must not be reused. We should not easily trust those who follow the trend, look for backers, and do not adhere to the party's principles. We must be vigilant, educate, and encourage them to transform their worldview.
Recently, people both at home and abroad are concerned about our evaluation of Comrade Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. Comrade Mao Zedong's great achievements in the long-term revolutionary struggle will never be forgotten. Looking back after the failure of the revolution in 1927, without the outstanding leadership of Comrade Mao Zedong, there is a great possibility that the Chinese revolution would not have won until now. In that case, the people of all ethnic groups in China would still be in the turmoil of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucracy. Under the reactionary rule of capitalist , our party is still struggling in the dark. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that without Chairman Mao there would be no New China. Mao Zedong Thought has cultivated our entire generation.
We comrades here can be said to have been taught by Mao Zedong Thought. Without Mao Zedong Thought, there would be no Communist Party of China today. This is no exaggeration. Mao Zedong Thought will always be the most precious spiritual wealth of our entire Party, the entire army, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country. We must completely and accurately understand and master the scientific principles of Mao Zedong Thought and develop it under new historical conditions. Of course, Comrade Mao Zedong is not without shortcomings and mistakes. It is not Marxism to require a revolutionary leader to be without shortcomings and mistakes. We must lead and educate all party members, military officers and men, and people of all ethnic groups in the country to scientifically and historically understand the great achievements of Comrade Mao Zedong.
Regarding the Cultural Revolution, we should also look at it scientifically and historically. Comrade Mao Zedong launched such a great revolution mainly from the requirement of opposing and preventing revisionism. As for the shortcomings and mistakes that occurred in the actual process, they should be summarized as experience and lessons at an appropriate time. This is necessary to unify the understanding of the whole party. The Cultural Revolution has become a stage in the historical development of my country's socialism. It must be summed up, but there is no need to rush into it. To make a scientific evaluation of such a historical stage requires serious research work. Some things will take a longer time to fully understand and evaluate. If we explain this period of history at that time, it may be better than what we can explain today. better.
4. Study new situations and solve new problems
To look forward, we must study new situations and solve new problems in a timely manner, otherwise we will not be able to move forward smoothly. New situations in all aspects must be studied and new problems in all aspects must be solved. Particular attention must be paid to studying and solving problems in management methods, management systems, and economic policies.
In terms of management methods, special attention must be paid to overcoming bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy is the product of small production and is fundamentally incompatible with socialized large-scale production. In order to carry out the four modernizations and fully transfer the socialist economic structure to the technical basis of large-scale production, we must overcome the scourge of bureaucracy. Now, our economic management work has bloated institutions, overlapping levels, complicated procedures, and extremely low efficiency. Political talk tends to overwhelm everything else. This is not the responsibility of any comrades, the responsibility lies in our failure to propose reforms in a timely manner in the past. But if we do not implement reforms now, our modernization and socialist cause will be ruined.
We must learn to use economic methods to manage the economy. If you don’t understand something yourself, you should learn from those who know it and learn from foreign advanced management methods. Not only do newly introduced enterprises have to follow other people's advanced methods, but the transformation of existing enterprises must also adopt advanced methods. Before a unified nationwide plan is put forward, we can start from a local perspective, starting from one region or one industry, and then gradually expand. Central departments should allow and encourage them to conduct such experiments. Various contradictions will arise during the experiment, and we must discover and overcome these contradictions in time. In this way we can progress faster.
From now on, the political line has been resolved. To see whether the party committee of an economic department is good at leadership and whether the leadership is good or not, it should mainly depend on whether the economic department has implemented advanced management methods, how technological innovation is progressing, and whether labor productivity has improved. How much, how much profits have increased, how much workers' personal income and collective welfare have increased. The leaders of party committees at all levels on all fronts of must also be measured by standards similar to this. This is the main politics going forward. Without this main content, politics will become empty politics and deviate from the best interests of the party and the people.
In terms of management systems, special attention must be paid to strengthening the responsibility system.
Nowadays, a big problem in enterprises and institutions everywhere, as well as in the party and state agencies at all levels, is that no one is responsible. It is called collective responsibility, but in fact it means that no one is responsible. After a task is assigned, no one cares whether it is implemented or not, and no one cares whether the result is good or bad. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish a strict accountability system.
Lenin once said: "The most dangerous evil is to use collective leadership without anyone taking responsibility." "This kind of harm must be eradicated as quickly as possible at all costs." Any task or construction project must implement several systems such as task setting, personnel setting, quantity setting, quality setting, and time setting. For example, when introducing technology and equipment, what projects will be introduced, where they will be introduced, where they will be introduced, and who will be involved in the work, must be determined in detail.
There are certain requirements for imported projects, and there are certain requirements for existing enterprises. Nowadays, spanking can only be done on planning committees and party committees. This does not solve the problem, and the spanking must be done on specific people. Likewise, rewards must be awarded to specific groups and individuals. When we implement the factory director responsibility system under the leadership of the party committee, we must ensure clear responsibilities.
For the accountability system to truly work, the following measures must be taken:
First, the authority of managers must be expanded. When responsibility is given to people, power must be given to people. Those who are factory directors, engineers, technicians, and accountants all have their own responsibilities and rights, which cannot be infringed upon by others. If only responsibility is handed over but power is not handed over, the responsibility system will inevitably fail.
Second, we must be good at selecting personnel and assigning responsibilities according to their talents. It is necessary to discover experts, train experts, reuse experts, and improve the political status and material treatment of various experts. What are the political standards for employment? Benefiting the people, developing productive forces, and making positive contributions to the cause of socialism are the main political criteria.
Third, strict assessment and clear rewards and punishments are required. All enterprises, schools, research units, and institutions must conduct evaluations and assessments of their work, and must have academic titles, technical titles, and honorary titles. According to the size and quality of work achievements, there should be rewards and punishments, promotions and declines. Moreover, this kind of rewards, punishments, promotions and reductions must be linked to material interests.
In short, through strengthening the responsibility system and strict rewards and punishments, we must form a culture of chasing each other, striving to be the advanced, and working hard on all fronts.
In terms of economic policy, I believe that some regions, some enterprises, and some workers and farmers should be allowed to earn more and improve their lives first because of their hard work and great achievements. When the lives of some people get better first, they will inevitably have a great role model, influence their neighbors, and drive people in other regions and other units to learn from them. In this way, the entire national economy will continue to develop in waves and people of all ethnic groups in the country will become rich relatively quickly.
Of course, in the northwest, southwest and other regions, where production and people's lives are still very difficult, the state should provide help in all aspects, especially strong material support.
This is a big policy, a policy that can affect and drive the entire national economy. I recommend that comrades seriously consider and study it.
In the process of realizing the four modernizations, many new situations and problems that we are unfamiliar with and unexpected will inevitably appear.In particular, the reform of production relations and superstructure will not be smooth sailing. It involves a wide range of areas and involves the vital interests of a large number of people. Various complex situations and problems will inevitably arise, and many obstacles will inevitably be encountered. .
For example, when an enterprise is reorganized, there will be issues of personnel retention; when state agencies are reformed, a considerable number of staff will have to transfer to other jobs, and some people will have opinions, etc. These problems will arise soon, and we must be mentally prepared for them. Party members and the masses must be educated to focus on the overall situation and the overall interests of the party and the country. We should be confident. As long as we trust the masses, follow the mass line, and explain the situation and problems clearly to the masses, any problem can be solved and any obstacle can be removed. As the economy develops, roads will become wider and wider, and people will find their place. There is no doubt about it.
The realization of the four modernizations is a profound and great revolution. In this great revolution, we are moving forward while constantly resolving new contradictions. Therefore, all comrades in the Party must be good at learning and re-learning.
On the eve of the national victory, Comrade Mao Zedong called on the whole party to re-learn. We learned well that time. After entering the city, we quickly restored the economy and successfully completed socialist transformation. It should be admitted that has not been learned well over the years. The main energy was put into the political movement. The skills of construction were not learned well, construction was not advanced, and serious political twists and turns occurred. Now that we are engaged in modernization, we even don’t understand. Therefore, the whole party must study again.
What to learn? The fundamental thing is to study Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, and to strive to combine the universal principles of Marxism with the specific practices of our country's realization of the four modernizations.
At present, most cadres still need to focus on three aspects of study: one is to study economics, the other is to study science and technology, and the third is to study management. Only by studying well can we lead the high-speed and high-level socialist modernization drive well. Learn from practice, learn from books, and learn from your own and other people’s experiences and lessons. To overcome conservatism and bookism. Hundreds of Central Committee members and thousands of senior central and local cadres must take the lead in studying modern economic construction.
As long as we all unite, work with one heart and one mind, emancipate our minds, use our brains, and learn what we didn't understand before, we will definitely be able to speed up the pace of the new Long March. Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, let us forge ahead bravely to change our country's backwardness and build our country into a modern and powerful socialist country!
(Full text completed)
I am the son of the Chinese people, and I deeply love my motherland and people.
——Deng Xiaoping
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