Zhang Yu: Mao Zedong's Exploration of Socialist Political Economy and Its Contemporary Significance
In the study of Mao Zedong Thought, research into economic thought has long been a relatively weak link. For a period of time, a certain view even gained currency: that Mao Zedong possessed little economic thought, had not read Capital, and was a "layman" regarding economic construction. There are perhaps two main reasons for this perception. First, in his later years, Mao proposed the idea of "taking class struggle as the key link" [1] and committed major errors such as the "Great Leap Forward" and the "Cultural Revolution," which undermined healthy economic development. Second, Mao did not write systematic, highly influential economic treatises on par with On Contradiction or On Practice. This perception does not accord with the facts and must be corrected.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) takes Marxism as its guiding ideology and theoretical foundation, and has always attached great importance to the study, research, propaganda, and popularization of Marxist theory. As one of the three essential components of Marxism—viewed by Lenin as the "deepest, most comprehensive and most detailed confirmation and application of Marxist theory"—political economy has naturally received a high degree of attention. As early as the years of the revolutionary war, Mao Zedong emphasized: "Anyone who does not pay attention to studying production cannot be considered a good leader." He earnestly read whatever Marxist economic works were available at the time, such as Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Programme and Capital. Notably, he read many times the Basic Theory of Marxist Economics and the Outline of Economics by the famous Japanese Marxist economist Hajime Kawakami. He personally organized the collection and collation of materials on the history and current state of economy and finance, writing important economic reports such as the "Theory on Economic and Financial Problems During the Anti-Japanese War." The theory of economic construction in revolutionary base areas and the economic program of the New Democratic Revolution [2] that he proposed served as vital guides for the New Democratic Revolution. However, generally speaking, during the revolutionary war years, the focus of Mao’s reading and research lay in philosophy and military affairs; his attention to economics was relatively limited. This situation changed after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Following the founding of the PRC, economic work became the focus of the entire Party's efforts, and political economy subsequently became the focus of Mao’s reading and research. During the period of transition to socialism, Mao led the Party and the people in creatively proposing the transformation of capitalist industry and commerce through the form of state capitalism and the policy of "peaceful redemption" [3], and the transformation of individual agriculture and handicrafts through gradual transition. He charted a path for socialist transformation suited to China's national conditions, solving—both in theory and practice—the arduous task of establishing a socialist economic system in a large, economically and culturally backward country comprising nearly a quarter of the world's population. This enriched and developed the Marxist theory of transitional economics.
After the establishment of the socialist system, the Chinese communists, with Mao Zedong as their chief representative, integrated the basic theories of Marxism with Chinese reality. They strove to find a path for socialist construction suited to their own national conditions, establishing an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system. They achieved great successes in socialist economic construction while accumulating both positive and negative experiences. During this time, Mao proposed many valuable ideas regarding socialist economic construction, such as: taking agriculture as the foundation and industry as the leading factor, while ensuring the coordinated development of agriculture, light industry, and heavy industry; taking all factors into consideration and making overall plans to properly handle the relationship between accumulation and consumption and ensure general balance; implementing the simultaneous development of central and local initiatives to give full play to "two enthusiasms" [4]; properly handling the relationship between coastal and inland industries to promote common development; properly handling the relationship between the state, the collective, and the individual so that all parties find their proper place; building an independent and relatively complete industrial and national economic system to fully realize the modernization of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology, placing our national economy in the world's front ranks; and relying primarily on self-reliance while seeking foreign aid as a supplement, breaking down superstitions [5], and independently engaging in industry, agriculture, technical revolution, and cultural revolution—earnestly learning from the good experiences of foreign countries while studying their bad experiences as a warning. These views inherited the theories of the Marxist classics regarding the socialist economy while innovating and developing them in light of China's reality.
Following the founding of the PRC, and particularly after the establishment of the socialist system, the task of large-scale economic construction stood before the people, urgently requiring the guidance of economic theory. At that time, however, the political economy textbook prevalent in China was the famous Manual of Political Economy edited by the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the supervision of Stalin. Theoretical deficiencies naturally manifested in practice, causing Mao Zedong concern. He remarked, "After liberation, during the three-year recovery period, we were 'muddling through' [6] regarding construction. Then we did the First Five-Year Plan, and we were still muddling through. We could only basically copy the Soviet methods, but I always felt dissatisfied and uneasy." In response to this situation, Mao proposed that China should take the Soviet experiences and lessons as a warning, promote the "second integration" of Marxism-Leninism with Chinese reality, and create new theories and write new works. To this end, he wrote "On the Ten Major Relationships" and other brilliant documents of great theoretical innovation and guiding significance.
During this period, Mao Zedong gave unprecedentedly great attention to socialist political economy. He emphasized: "Currently, the study of political economy carries great theoretical and practical significance." "Economic construction is a science; we must study it honestly." Between 1958 and 1960, Mao repeatedly suggested that Party cadres read Stalin's Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR and the "Socialist Part" of the third edition of the Manual of Political Economy edited by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He led by example, expressing his determination to master the discipline of economics. Mao read Stalin's Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR many times, leaving four annotated copies. Particularly noteworthy is that from December 1959 to February 1960, Mao, along with Deng Liqun and other comrades, conducted a meticulous, chapter-by-chapter study of the second volume (the socialist part) of the Soviet Manual of Political Economy and offered his own views. these conversations were later compiled into Reading Notes and Talks on Soviet Political Economy.
Reading Notes and Talks on Soviet Political Economy is an extremely important document for Marxist political economy, and especially for socialist political economy. It is a treasury of thought awaiting our in-depth excavation and vigorous promotion. It comprehensively and centrally reflects Mao’s economic thought, particularly his socialist economic thought, and reflects the theoretical and historical logic of the Sinicization of Marxist economics, possessing high theoretical and historical value. In this document, Mao affirmed the correct aspects of the Soviet textbook while pointing out that it possessed "serious defects and errors of principle." Using basic Marxist theory in combination with China’s reality, he explored a series of major issues in socialist political economy and offered many penetrating insights, including: the socialist economy is an economy that serves the people; socialism must attach importance to social collective welfare; it must oppose both egalitarianism and excessive disparity; the developmental relationships between heavy industry, light industry, and agriculture must be handled correctly; the development of the socialist economy proceeds in waves; socialist economic development must pass through two stages: the underdeveloped and the developed; the highly centralized system of economic management must be improved by expanding the powers of local authorities and enterprises; socialist commodity production and commodity exchange still play a positive role, and the law of value is a "great school"; socialist construction must trust and rely on the masses, guaranteeing the rights of laborers to manage the state, the military, various enterprises, and culture and education; and the persistence of Party leadership must be combined with the vigorous conduct of mass movements. These insights contain many important and original theoretical achievements, making a significant contribution to the development of socialist political economy.
The explorations and struggles conducted by the Chinese communists, represented by Mao Zedong, in the thirty years prior to reform and opening up laid not only an important institutional and material foundation for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the post-reform era, but also an important theoretical foundation. Mao’s exploration of socialist political economy still holds important guiding and enlightening significance for our current development of the economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics, as illustrated by several examples.
First, regarding the "Great Leap Forward" in science and technology and the technical revolution. Mao Zedong attached great importance to the extreme significance of science and technology in socialist construction and took the modernization of science and technology as an essential component of socialist modernization. He was the first to propose the ideas of "leapfrog development" and "independent innovation," noting: "We cannot take the old path of technical development followed by other countries in the world and crawl step by step behind others. We must break with convention and adopt advanced technology as much as possible to build our country into a modern socialist power within a relatively short historical period. This is what we mean by the 'Great Leap Forward'."
Second, regarding interest relations in socialist society. Mao emphasized that material interest is an important principle, but not the only one. Socialist construction must unify material factors with spiritual factors; neither can be neglected. At the same time, material interests should not be discussed solely in terms of individual, temporary, or local interests; one must also discuss collective, long-term, and holistic interests. Individual interests must be subordinated to collective interests, temporary interests to long-term interests, and local interests to the interests of the whole. The interests of all parties must be coordinated so that everyone finds their proper place.
Third, regarding the reform of the economic management system. Mao stated that after the question of ownership is basically resolved, the most important issue is management—that is, how enterprises owned by the whole people and enterprises under collective ownership are managed. This is essentially a question of the relationship between people. Mao believed that for leading personnel, they "must appear in the posture of ordinary laborers and treat others with an attitude of equality." For enterprise management, he advocated "combining centralized leadership with mass movements, the 'triple combination' [7] of the masses of workers, leading cadres, and technical personnel, the participation of cadres in labor and workers in management, and the continuous reform of irrational rules and regulations."
Fourth, regarding the role of commodity production. In the late 1950s, Mao Zedong gave serious thought to the question of commodity production under the socialist system, concluding: "Now we must utilize commodity production, commodity exchange, and the law of value as useful tools to serve socialism." Addressing the erroneous view that conflated the commodity economy with capitalism, he pointed out: "Commodity production depends on which economic system it is connected to. Linked to the capitalist system, it is capitalist commodity production; linked to the socialist system, it is socialist commodity production."
Mao Zedong was a great Marxist; this fact was fully reflected not only in his philosophical, political, and military thought, but also in the field of political economy. His exploration of and contribution to socialist political economy constitute a precious spiritual legacy. The error of Mao’s later years lay in his departure from these correct theories and propositions that he himself had put forward, turning instead to a line of "taking class struggle as the key link," which caused socialist economic construction to suffer a massive setback. This is a lesson we must profoundly take to heart.