Building a New World

In July 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly stated during a discussion with county and village cadres and the masses in the revolutionary holy land of Xibaipo: "When the Party Central Committee left Xibaipo, Comrade Mao Zedong said it was 'coming to Beijing to rush the exam'. More than 60 years have passed, we have made great progress, and the Chinese people have stood up and become rich, but the challenges and problems we face are still serious and complex, and it should be said that the 'rush exams' are far from over."
 

Since the founding of New China, our party has led the people of the whole country to overcome difficulties and win victories one by one on the road of "rushing for the examination," entering a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics and opening a new journey for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China requires that a large socialist country with more than 1.3 billion people must be politically strong and capable. On the way to the exam, how to rely on continuous learning to improve the ability to govern? This edition is specially planned for this purpose, "" Rush for the exam ", far from over," a total of three issues of the manuscript, showing the Communist Party of China since its ruling by strengthening learning, enhance skills, to deal with complex situations of the practice and experience, for party members and cadres to improve the ability to govern to provide reference.
 

After the victory of the national revolution, what changes will take place in the situation and tasks facing our Party? As early as the beginning of 1949, the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong had a long-term vision and made a scientific analysis and accurate judgment on this issue. The Party Central Committee believes that with the victory of the national revolution, the focus of the party's work should be shifted from the countryside to the cities, and the party's main task should be changed from leading the armed struggle and seizing the national power to comprehensively managing and leading the construction of a new country. Regarding this main task, Mao Zedong put forward a famous thesis: "We are not only good at destroying an old world, we will also be good at building a new world." In short, after the victory of the national revolution, the main task facing the party is to lead the people of the whole country to build a new China. Of course, this is only a general summary, specific to different stages, with the progress of practice, the specific tasks and priorities faced by the party are different.
 

And what was the Party's own situation at that time? According to statistics, at the beginning of the founding of New China, more than half of the cadres were educated below junior high school, and many cadres were "not afraid of guns, not afraid of cannons, and afraid of writing reports"; and as the Party became the ruling party in the country, feelings of complacency, merit, and pleasure-seeking grew, and phenomena such as bureaucracy, empiricism, and transacialism existed to varying degrees. These circumstances clearly do not match the Party's arduous task of leading the people to build a new China.
 

What should we do? We can only study honestly and diligently, so as to improve the theoretical and knowledge level of Party members and cadres as soon as possible, and enhance their ability to govern the country. As Mao Zedong said: "The situation is constantly changing. If you want to adapt your thinking to the new situation, you have to learn." To sum up, from before and after the founding of New China to the early 1960 s, the whole party carried out three large-scale learning activities.
 

Through large-scale theoretical and knowledge learning, to provide a guarantee for the recovery and development of the national economy
 

at the beginning of the founding of new china, the party was faced with an exceptionally complicated situation and arduous tasks. What the Kuomintang government left behind was a mess: the national economy was in serious recession, factories closed down, agricultural production was reduced, and prices soared, which led to social unrest in some places. For a time, the difficult economic situation was in sharp contrast to the great military and political victories of the Communist Party of China. Some people doubt and deny the Communist Party's ability to manage the economy, and some even assert that "the Communist Party has got full marks in the military, 80 points in politics, and zero points in the economy". At the same time, the Western countries led by the United States adopted a policy of non-recognition and blockade and embargo against New China. After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the war spread to the Yalu River. Under such a severe situation, how to continue to complete the remaining tasks of the new democratic revolution, restore and develop the national economy as soon as possible, and maintain and consolidate the new regime has become the party's primary task.
 

The Party Central Committee sees things early and acts quickly. The Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee held in March 1949 issued a call to the whole party to learn from the construction of a new China and immediately start various construction undertakings. To this end, the meeting also specifically listed the "History of Social Development", "Political Economy", "Communist Manifesto", "The Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science", "State and Revolution", "On the Foundation of Leninism", "Lenin and Stalin on Socialism" Construction "," Lenin and Stalin on China "," The "Left" Infantile Disease in the Communist Movement "," Imperialism is the Highest Stage of Capitalism "(Bu) Party History" and other 12 Marxist-Leninist works. Mao Zedong particularly emphasized at the meeting: Facing new tasks and tests, the whole party must work hard and be good at learning. "If we are ignorant in production work, we cannot learn production work quickly, and we cannot restore and develop production as quickly as possible., To achieve tangible results", "Then we cannot maintain political power, we will be untenable, and we will fail". On June 30, Mao Zedong once again emphasized in "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship": "The serious task of economic construction is in front of us" and "We must learn what we don't understand".
 

After the founding of New China, the Party placed cadre learning in a prominent position as a basic policy and policy program for governing the country, and established and formed a network of cadre learning institutions, including specialized cadre schools, ordinary colleges and universities, military academies, minority cadre colleges and universities, and party schools at all levels, promulgated and implemented a series of documents to strengthen the study of cadres, such as the directive on improving propaganda institutions at all levels and strengthening the party's propaganda and education work, the decision on strengthening theoretical education (draft), the directive on setting up fast-track secondary schools for workers and peasants and cultural tutorial schools for workers and peasants, and the directive on implementing cultural education in the army, requiring the whole party and the whole army to systematically study theoretical and cultural knowledge, we should constantly improve the theoretical accomplishment and educational level of Marxism, so as to overcome the empiricist tendency of directly copying the experience of armed struggle into economic work, as well as the "bureaucratic and command-oriented transactional tendency and even the ideological degeneration of meritorious officials". In this upsurge of study, Mao Zedong revised and supplemented his lecture outline at Yan'an Anti-Japanese Military and Political University in 1937 into a Marxist philosophical work "On Practice", which was published in the People's Daily on December 19, 1950. It caused great repercussions throughout the country and promoted the deepening of learning activities.
 

Through large-scale theoretical and knowledge learning, the theoretical level and educational level of party members and cadres have been significantly improved, and their economic management and leadership capabilities have been enhanced, providing a guarantee for the recovery and development of the national economy. By the end of 1952, the output of major industrial and agricultural products throughout the country had exceeded the highest level in history, the goal of restoring the national economy was successfully achieved, the people's living standards were improved, and the people's political power was consolidated. With practical actions and iron facts, the Communist Party of China has effectively responded to the mockery that "the Communist Party may score zero points economically. Deng Xiaoping later spoke highly of it: "On the eve of the national victory, Comrade Mao Zedong called on the whole party to study again. We did not learn badly that time. After entering the city, we quickly recovered the economy."
 

Learning from the advanced experience of the Soviet Union and carrying out large-scale economic construction
 

After the task of restoring the national economy was completed, the party's main task was changed to carry out large-scale economic construction, and at the same time promote the transition from a new democratic society to a socialist society and complete the socialist revolution. China began its socialist revolution and construction under the conditions of economic and cultural backwardness and poverty. Mao Zedong once summed it up: "What can we build now? We can make tables and chairs, tea bowls and teapots, grow grain, grind into flour, and make paper, but we can't build a car, an airplane, a tank, or a tractor"; "We have to build a great nation, the work ahead of us is hard, and our experience is not enough."
 

In order to change this situation as soon as possible, we should learn from the advanced experience of foreign countries with an open mind. Under the objective conditions at that time, we can only learn from the socialist construction experience of the Soviet Union in combination with China's actual needs. In August 1952, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun led a Chinese government delegation to the Soviet Union to learn from the draft outline of my country's "First Five-Year Plan. Mao Zedong later said, "The Soviet Government, based on its rich experience of more than 30 years of great socialist construction, has put forward principled and concrete proposals for the tasks of our five-year plan. These proposals will help us to avoid as many mistakes and detours as possible in the process of China's economic construction." At the end of 1952, the Party Central Committee put forward the party's general line in the transitional period with "one transformation and three reforms" as the core content.
 

In February 1953, Mao Zedong focused on learning from the Soviet Union at the fourth session of the first CPPCC National Committee: "We should set off a climax of learning from the Soviet Union throughout the country to build our country." we should conscientiously study the advanced experience of the Soviet Union. "learn all their strengths, not only the theory of Marxism-Leninism, but also their advanced science and technology, we should learn everything we need with an open mind." At the same time, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Instructions on Studying Stalin's Works (Soviet Socialist Economic Issues)" and "Instructions on the Theoretical Education of Cadres from 1953 to 1954", requiring the senior and intermediate groups of all party cadres to study the theory in one year. Within a half time, study the "History of the United Communist Party (Brazzi)" and some works of Lenin and Stalin on socialist economic construction.
 

The purpose of learning from the experience of the Soviet Union is to improve our own skills, train a large number of construction talents, and build a new China. In 1953, when Zhou Enlai talked about the basic tasks of the "First Five-Year Plan" at a meeting, he emphatically pointed out: "Now, what our country needs most is construction talents." "Cultivating a large number of construction talents is our most central issue now." In December of the same year, the Central Propaganda Department issued the "Outline for the Study and Propaganda of the Party's General Line in the Transitional Period", calling on the whole party to study the theories and policies of economic construction and improve its business and cultural level. In March 1955, at the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong once again emphasized the importance of studying theory and science and technology. He pointed out that we have entered such a period, that is, what we are now engaged in, thinking about, and studying is to drill into socialist industrialization, socialist transformation, modern national defense, and to begin to drill into a new historical period such as atomic energy. It is our task to fit this new situation and become an expert. He particularly emphasized two aspects of study: one is to study Marxist philosophy and get the thinking and working methods right. Philosophy "if we don't learn this thing well, we won't have a common language or a common method. We have pulled a lot of skin, but we still can't pull it out clearly". The second is to truly learn the professional knowledge of economic construction and become an expert in industrialization and economic construction.
 

With regard to this large-scale study, Mao Zedong later concluded that we "gradually established our own strong heavy industry under the efforts of learning from the advanced experience and the latest technological achievements of the Soviet Union." this has played an important role in China's industrialization and the gradual transition of China to socialism.
 

Learning, relearning and exploring the road of socialist construction in line with China's national conditions
 

With the basic completion of the socialist transformation in 1956, China entered a period of building socialism in an all-round way. Although after several previous major learning activities, the theoretical and knowledge level of party members and cadres has been improved at this time, and remarkable achievements have been made in party and national construction, but it is necessary to answer the brand-new issue of building socialism in an all-round way under the leadership of a large agricultural country with backward economy and culture. The existing theoretical and knowledge level of party members and cadres is far from enough. At the same time, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held in early 1956 exposed serious shortcomings in the process of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's governance and leadership of the country. How to "take the Soviet Union as a warning" and explore the path of socialist construction in line with China's national conditions has become a must for the party to answer. Major questions. For this reason, the party's first generation of central leadership still insisted on strengthening learning and improving skills to solve problems.
 

The first is to systematically explain the necessity and urgency of strengthening learning after the Communist Party of China has become the ruling party in the country. This is embodied in a series of expositions by central leaders during the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. For example, Mao Zedong pointed out that "we are now facing roughly the same tasks as those in the early days of the founding of the Soviet Union" and must learn and relearn. Liu Shaoqi said: The new conditions and tasks "require our cadres and party members to study hard to learn what they do not understand in their own work. The more we study, the better we will lead". Deng Xiaoping believed that the status of the ruling party has made our party face new tests. To deal with these tests, we must strengthen learning. It can be seen that the leadership of the Party Central Committee has a profound consensus on the issue of learning: construction is a relatively new thing for us. To avoid stumble, we need to strengthen learning, sum up experience from practice, and understand the objective law of socialist economic construction., Overcome blindness.
 

The second is to be good at learning from foreign countries and to oppose blind xenophobia and copying. In view of the tendency of simply learning from the Soviet Union and dogmatizing the experience of the Soviet Union in the early days of the founding of the people's Republic of China, Mao Zedong solemnly proposed to be good at learning from foreign countries in his works such as "on the ten major relations", "talks with music workers" and "on correctly handling contradictions among the people. He pointed out: "The Soviet side exposed some of their shortcomings and mistakes in the process of building socialism, the detours they have taken, do you still want to take?" "Of course, it is more important to take a warning." Learning from foreign countries is not just learning from socialist countries such as the Soviet Union, but learning from the strengths of all countries; learning from foreign countries does not mean that Chinese people must follow foreign methods. They should focus on me and learn from foreign strengths. Create China's own things with unique national styles.
 

The third is to issue a call to "march towards modern science", requiring the whole party to work hard to learn modern advanced science and technology. In January 1956, at the conference on intellectuals, Mao Zedong called on the whole party to study scientific knowledge and strive to catch up with the advanced level of world science. In the spring of 1957, he further pointed out: "We are now in a period of transition: from class struggle to struggle against nature, from revolution to construction, from past revolution to technological revolution and cultural revolution." At the beginning of 1958, when drafting the 60 articles on working methods (Draft), Mao Zedong proposed that there should be a technological revolution. "In the past, we had the ability to fight wars and carry out land reform. Now, it is not enough to have these skills. We should learn new skills, truly understand business, science and technology, otherwise it is impossible to lead well". On June 3 of the same year, the "People's Daily" published an editorial entitled "March to the Technological Revolution", proposing that the main attention of the whole party and the whole people must be shifted to the technological revolution and the cultural revolution.
 

Fourth, we should promptly correct the "left" bias, conscientiously sum up experiences and lessons, deeply understand and master the objective laws of socialist construction, and act in accordance with the objective laws. Due to various subjective and objective reasons, the "Great Leap Forward" and the twists and turns of the people's commune movement occurred shortly after the comprehensive construction of socialism began. The Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong discovered the "Left" bias in time and made many efforts to correct the "Left. In the face of mistakes and difficulties, Mao Zedong repeatedly called for learning to understand problems, correct mistakes and solve difficulties. He said many times: the cause of revolution is not easy, it is a science, and economic construction is also a science. Therefore, "we must study honestly. If we are careless, naughty, and good-hearted, we will definitely fall down". In the late 1950 s and early 1960 s, Mao Zedong advocated leading cadres to study political economy six times, especially to study and summarize the laws of socialist construction in combination with the achievements and problems in the Soviet Union and China's socialist construction. To this end, from December 10, 1959 to February 9, 1960, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and others also personally organized the Soviet "Political Economy (Textbook)" reading group. After that, in September 1961, the central government made the "Decision on Rotation Training of Cadres" and decided to conduct a general rotation training and study for leading cadres at all levels to further understand and master the objective laws of socialist construction.
 

Fifth, pay attention to learning from the masses and practice, and vigorously promote the trend of investigation and research in the whole party. With regard to the importance of learning from the masses and practice, Mao Zedong pointed out that the real knowledge is not in the organs, but in factories, rural areas, and schools, where there is no vivid raw materials at the grass-roots level, and it is impossible to "make" correct policies; to study political economy in the light of our career and current work is "much better than to leave reality and specialize in reading books". For this reason, in the year from February 1958 to February 1959, the central government issued documents three times, requiring that cadres should be organized to participate in manual labor in rural areas and factories every year to understand the actual situation of the production line and the grassroots. From the end of 1960 to the beginning of 1961, Mao Zedong called on the whole party three times to vigorously carry out investigation and research. At Mao Zedong's suggestion, the central government designated 1961 as the year of seeking truth from facts and the year of investigation and research. Subsequently, Mao Zedong organized an investigation team to conduct investigations in Zhejiang, Hunan, Guangdong and other provinces, and found that there were many problems in the rural people's communes. For this reason, he presided over the drafting of the "Regulations on the Work of Rural People's Communes (Draft)" to correct the "in rural work." Left "errors provide a basis. Leaders such as Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and Chen Yun also put it into practice and conducted actual investigations and studies in various places, and prepared for the 7,000-person meeting to correct the "Left.
 

In the ten years of building socialism in an all-round way, although we have encountered serious setbacks and economic difficulties, we have still made great achievements in construction. A large part of the material and technological foundation on which we now rely for modernization was developed during this period; most of the backbone of the country's economic and cultural construction and their work experience were also cultivated and accumulated during this period. These achievements can not be achieved without the continuous and unremitting exploration and study of the whole party.

January 30, 2018 Source: China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News