Depend on ourselves in revolution and construction[1]
(September 3, 1963)
We had difficulties for only two and a half years, in 1960,
1961 and the first half of 1962, and things got better in the second half of
1962. Last year we produced more than 10 million tons of grain more than the
year before. This year the situation is a little better. Although there have
been floods in northern China this year, particularly in Hebei and Henan, the
country is likely to produce around 10 million tonnes more grain than last
year. Now we are concentrating on cotton, oilseeds, tobacco and sugar. We have
found a way. We have had two kinds of experience, the wrong experience and the
right experience. The right experience encouraged us, the wrong experience
taught us. The Soviet Union withdrew its experts and broke the contracts, which
was good for us. We had no choice but to rely on ourselves, on our own two
hands. Then the Soviet Union regretted it and wanted to send experts again, to
do business with us, but we refused. If they send us more experts, one day they
will withdraw them and break the contract. They had lost our trust. It was at
this time in 1960 that the Soviets withdrew their experts and now, three years
on, we have developed a lot of our own experience in industrial construction.
When you leave the master, the student learns on his own. There are advantages
and disadvantages to having a teacher. You don't need a teacher. Read, write
and think for yourself. This is a truth. From the founding of the Party in 1921
to 1934, we suffered the consequences of having a teacher, who drafted the
programme and the resolutions of the Central Committee plenum, especially in
1934, which caused us great losses. Since then, we have learned to think for
ourselves. It took us a few years to get to know China. How can Chinese people
not understand the situation in China? The real understanding of independence
began at the Zunyi Conference, which criticised dogmatism. The dogmatists said
that everything was right in the Soviet Union and did not combine the Soviet
experience with the Chinese reality. The slogan of combining the universal
truth of Marxism-Leninism with Chinese practice was put forward during the
Yan'an Rectification. This slogan was included in the Moscow Declaration of
1957, which said that the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism should be
combined with the concrete practice of each country. Foreign experience, no
matter which country it is, can only be used for reference.
[1] This
was part of a conversation between Mao Zedong and a delegation from the
Indonesian Communist Party, led by N.D.Adit.
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