Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

"The Soviet Union had a population of less than 200 million, but my country has a population of 650 million. The Soviet Union's industrial population was concentrated in heavy industry, and they placed particular emphasis on a strategy that prioritized heavy industry. While my country was developing heavy industry, it also had sufficient population to develop light industry and agriculture."

"Although Belarus was economically backward before the October Revolution, it already had a certain industrial base. Therefore, the October Revolution in the Soviet Union took place in large cities, with the working class as the main force of the revolution. However, in modern times, my country was a backward agricultural country, semi-feudal and semi-colonial, and therefore took the revolutionary path of 'surrounding the cities with the countryside.'"

"It can be seen that my country and the Soviet Union had very different political and economic foundations before the success of the revolution. Therefore, the 'political economics textbook' compiled by the Soviet Union, which combined their history, revolution, and socialist construction, is quite different from my country's history, revolution, and socialist economic development."

This year marks the 13th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of my country. Over the past decade or so, we have gained a wealth of experience in socialist economic development. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao proposed the concepts of underdeveloped and developed socialism, which were formally developed into the 'Theory of Socialist Stages' at the Ninth National Congress. my country has also clearly stated that it is currently in the primary stage of socialism.

“Different stages of socialist development will be guided by different socialist economic theories.”

"So the Chairman asked us to write our own 'political economics textbook.' Before the meeting, I have already sent you my 'outline.' You are all theoretical experts and economists, and you should all participate in the compilation of our own 'political economics textbook.' My outline is just my personal opinion and will have many shortcomings, so please feel free to put forward any ideas you have. Only in this way can we write a 'political economics textbook' that can guide our socialist economy."

During this period, Wei Hongjun has been developing China's own outline of "Political Economics" based on the research content of "Political Economics" between China and the Soviet Union.

But Wei Hongjun is not a complete theorist after all, and he is very busy. It is impossible for him to write every book himself.

Therefore, it is necessary to organize writers and participate in the specific writing. What Wei Hongjun needs to do is to formulate the overall context and then conduct the final review and rectification.

The early sections of Wei Hongjun's "Outline" are actually not much different from the Soviet "Political Economy Textbook." Because they both share a common Marxist-Leninist heritage, the overall layout shouldn't differ significantly.

Just like the important book "A Course in Political Economy in Sixteen Volumes" that you absolutely cannot miss in the study of Soviet political economy, it is considered to be the most typical writing style of political economics in socialist countries.

The first part introduces the objects and research methods of political economics, the modes of production of various social forms before capitalism, and the preliminary preparation process for capitalist production.

The second section, drawing its primary theoretical inspiration from Capital, critically analyzes the capitalist mode of production. This section follows the narrative logic of Capital, analyzing the production and circulation processes of capital, as well as the overall process of capitalist production. Drawing on extensive historical materials and data, it demonstrates the inherent contradictions of the capitalist mode of production.

The third part is based on Lenin's theory of imperialism, which examines the relationship between monopoly capitalism (imperialism) and

This section examines the development of capitalism over the past half century, criticizes the monopolistic nature of imperialism from a theoretical and historical perspective, and reveals the economic characteristics and historical destiny of imperialism.

The book comprehensively summarizes and deeply examines the main issues involved in the study of capitalist political economy in the early Soviet period. It not only clarifies the object and method of political economy, but also uses the perspective of historical materialism to comprehensively and systematically examine capitalist production relations during the periods of free competition and monopolistic competition.

The following "political economics textbook" is

The content of "Course in Political Economy, Volume 16" has been refined. It expands from an analysis of commodities and their attributes to the nature and functions of money, and then to theories of capitalist reproduction and economic crises. From a logical perspective, the main content revolves around a critical analysis of the capitalist mode of production.

The "Political Economy Textbook" contains more than the "Political Economy Course, Volume 16" because it incorporates a large number of Comrade Stalin's views due to the publication of Comrade Stalin's "Problems of Soviet Socialist Economy".

The study of this part, that is, the socialist economic process, in the "Political Economy Textbook" can be divided into three parts.

The first part introduces the economic characteristics of the transition period from capitalism to socialism. In the context of China, it analyzes the economic characteristics of the new democracy.

The second part examines the socialist national economic system. Starting from the ownership of the means of production, this part studies the basic economic laws under the socialist system, the law of planned and proportional development of the national economy, commodity production, the law of value, and distribution according to work, and finally analyzes the trend of socialist economic development.

The third part introduces the socialist construction of the people's democratic countries in the socialist camp. The introduction to China mainly involves land reform, the socialist industrialization path, and the socialist transformation of agriculture and handicrafts, but does not mention China's transformation policy towards capitalist industry and commerce.

Wei Hongjun also learned this. There were no major changes from the previous work; it was still necessary to quote important Marxist-Leninist texts, analyze the internal and external problems of capitalism, analyze capitalist economic contradictions and crises, and prove that socialism would inevitably replace capitalism.

At the same time, Wei Hongjun hopes to incorporate the new development model of imperialism into China's own "political economy," because some aspects of Lenin's analysis of imperialism are no longer applicable to current imperialist countries.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun hopes to include in the book some analysis of the current adjustments in imperialist economic policies and their impact on the imperialist economy. He also anticipates the development of issues in the areas of "capital and the state" and "financial capital and industrial capital."

Wei Hongjun further supported the Chairman's view that the Soviet Union believed that socialist countries would not experience the periodic economic crises that capitalist countries experience because they had mastered the law of value and implemented a planned economy.

But the Chairman believed that the deeper root cause of the periodic economic crises in capitalist countries was the private ownership of the means of production. Wei Hongjun also supported the Chairman's view.

Because of the different ownership of the means of production, overproduction is what capitalist countries fear the most, but it is not what socialist countries fear the most.

Then there is the economic situation during the transition from capitalism to socialism. The Soviet Union was written based on its conditions, while China, of course, was written based on its own conditions.

But Wei Hongjun expanded on this. One is what the economic situation is like in economically backward countries at this stage.

One is what the economic situation of economically developed countries should be like at this stage.

Many countries, especially those in Southeast Asia, will enter socialism in the future. This section will provide the answer to how their socialist economies will develop.

There will be more to come later, as it relates to the theory of socialist economic development. This discussion focuses on production, exchange, and distribution within the socialist economic system. Expanding this discussion will include discussions on the ownership of the means of production, interpersonal relationships within socialism, the law of value within the socialist economic system, socialist democracy, socialist efficiency, and so on.

The political and economic theories of China and the Soviet Union began to develop in completely different directions after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and China formally established the "Theory of Socialist Stages" at the 9th Congress.

This was not obvious at first, but it became apparent immediately when China officially began compiling its own "political economics textbook."

Gu Zhun, Deputy Director of the State Administration of Taxation of the Ministry of Finance, said:

"Secretary Wei, I've read your article 'Macroeconomic Regulation and the Autonomy of Local Governments and Enterprises.' The planned economy and macroeconomic regulation have similarities as well as differences.

This aspect should be studied in detail and distinguished. Only by more clearly distinguishing between a strictly planned economy and macroeconomic regulation can we define the economic policies of the primary stage of socialism from a higher level.

During the Liberation War, Gu Zhun was the Minister of Finance of Shandong Province. After taking over Shanghai, he served as the Director of the Shanghai Finance Bureau and the Director of the Taxation Bureau, and the Deputy Minister of Finance of the East China Bureau.

Gu Zhun was a renowned Chinese economist and a renowned expert in the field of taxation in New China. He made remarkable achievements in rectifying the tax situation in East China.

Gu Zhun is also a heavyweight in China's accounting industry. He has written numerous articles on accounting over the years and has formulated many groundbreaking regulations for economic accounting in China's various ownership structures.

Wei Hongjun said: "Macroeconomic regulation is part of my country's current planned economy, but it is not entirely a planned economy. How to more clearly distinguish the relationship between the two requires everyone to discuss."

Xue Muqiao said: "When the economic foundation of our country's industry, agriculture and commerce was weak, in order to speed up construction, the planned economy would be more strict. This is because we need to concentrate all resources to develop our industry. However, as our economy develops, the variety of products produced increases, and the division of labor becomes more and more detailed, the strict planned economy is increasingly unsuitable for development. At this time, the national planned economy must adopt the approach of 'grasping the large and letting go of the small'.

Because the country's economic activities are too complex to be fully planned. This is what Secretary Wei calls "macroeconomic regulation."

Xue Muqiao was the economist who most supported the socialist planned economy in his early years. He believed that the socialist planned economy could effectively avoid the periodic economic crises of capitalism.

Therefore, in the early days of New China, he was most active in learning planned economy from the Soviet Union.

However, after serving as deputy director of the State Planning Commission for many years and personally participating in the formulation of the First Five-Year Plan and the Second Five-Year Plan, he gradually changed his ideas.

A planned economy is necessary, but it shouldn't be too rigid or strict. In fact, the Second Five-Year Plan has been adjusted countless times, simply because there are too many variables in social development to allow for strict planning.

Especially as China's economic development speeds up, plans can no longer keep up with the changes. So Xue Muqiao also began to change his views.

Xue Muqiao continued, "Comrade Gu Zhun's proposal is very good. I believe we must understand the planned economy more accurately, rather than in a metaphysical, old-fashioned, and rigid sense. We must develop the planned economy in practice, rather than simply believing that the planned economy is unchanging and that all economic activities must follow the plan."

"'Li Desheng Thought' inherits and develops Marxism-Leninism. Similarly, our country's planned economy should inherit the Soviet planned economy while developing our own. This requires us to continuously study and develop the planned economy, making it more suitable for the development of socialism in our country."

Wei Hongjun nodded slightly.

Xue Muqiao's words resonated deeply with Wei Hongjun. The planned economy should not be arbitrarily rejected, nor should it be mechanically and rigidly adhered to. Instead, it should be continuously developed and adjusted to adapt to the development of China's economy.

Wei Hongjun said, "Well said. The planned economy is not a panacea, but it's not completely useless, as some Western economists criticize. We must continue to develop the advantages of the planned economy and overcome its problems. Comrade Xue Muqiao, you need to give more consideration to the planned economy, including the free market under the socialist planned economy."

"it is good."

Wei Hongjun looked at Gu Zhun and said, "I have read the book 'On Commodity Production and the Law of Value under the Socialist System' written by Comrade Gu Zhun. Many of the ideas in it have greatly inspired me.

"Secretary Wei, I later reconsidered it and found that the book also had many problems."

"Comrade Gu Zhun, you're being modest. Your book's discussion of the law of value is very enlightening. This time we're writing our own 'Political Economy,' and the law of value will be a very important topic. Comrade Stalin's 'Problems of Soviet Socialist Economy' and the Soviet 'Political Economy Textbook' also discussed the law of value, but they didn't delve into it further."

"But we cannot help but delve deeper into this research. Because as long as we haven't entered a communist society, products will have to be exchanged and circulated, the commodity economy will exist, and the law of value will come into play. Therefore, we have to continue studying the commodity economy and the law of value.

Gu Zhun is a cadre with a rather stubborn temper.

On the issue of taxation, he disagreed with the Ministry of Finance and even with some central government leaders. He publicly criticized some of the financial leaders at the State Council for their preference for campaign-style tax collection rather than following regulations.

This incident caused a great deal of controversy, and Gu Zhun was heavily criticized. Fortunately, the central government was implementing an economic accounting system at the time, which required a large number of accounting talents. Therefore, although Gu Zhun was dismissed from his positions as Deputy Minister of Finance of the East China Bureau and Director of the Shanghai Finance Bureau, he was transferred to Beijing to oversee the establishment of the Central Institute of Finance and Economics, which later became the Central University of Finance and Economics.

Later, as central government policies began to stabilize, more stable fiscal and tax policies were needed. Therefore, Gu Zhun was transferred to the Ministry of Finance as Deputy Director of the State Administration of Taxation, responsible for formulating China's tax policies.

"Secretary Wei, when I wrote 'On Commodity Production and the Law of Value under the Socialist System,' my country's socialist transformation was underway. So, at the time, I mainly analyzed socialist commodity production and the law of value based on public ownership and collective ownership."

"But in recent years, in addition to these two types of ownership, my country has also seen the emergence of Sino-foreign joint ventures and various mixed-ownership economic entities. Furthermore, with the development of free markets for agricultural and sideline products and county and township-level rural industry and commerce, commodity production and exchange in my country have become more complex than originally anticipated, and the law of value has become even more important."

"But once you delve deeper into the law of value, you inevitably end up studying free market prices and the law of value. Western capitalist countries have conducted more in-depth research in this area."

Gu Zhun is a stubborn cadre, but he is not a fool.

Why didn't the Soviet Union delve deeper into the socialist law of value? One reason was that the Soviet Union analyzed it based on ownership of the means of production, believing that socialist countries would gradually phase out the commodity economy and the law of value.

Another thing is that if we continue to study commodity economy and the law of value, we will have to study capitalist market economy.

That is why Soviet economists did not continue to study this aspect.

Now China has to write its own "political economy". If it wants to conduct more in-depth discussions and research on the socialist commodity economy and the law of value, it cannot avoid studying the development laws of the commodity economy in the free market.

Wei Hongjun nodded and said, "Economics is also a science that studies the laws of economic development. We don't need to be shy about this. We can also introduce theories of Western capitalist economics. If they are beneficial to the improvement of our socialist economic theory, we can use them critically."

Sun Yefang, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics and Director of the Institute of Economics, said, "Secretary Wei, there is a very important issue in political economics. That is how to ensure the trade-off between fairness and efficiency. The main measures taken by the Soviet Union, including the Soviet 'Political Economics Textbook', all believe that the most important way to improve efficiency is 'material incentives'."

As Director of the State Council Statistics Bureau, Sun Yefang had frequent contact with the Chairman. The Chairman was most opposed to this type of materialistic rewards approach.

Therefore, when writing about China's own "political economy," we certainly cannot do so in the same way as the Soviet Union. Wei Hongjun said:

"I discussed this issue with Comrade Bo Shuchun and others at my Scientific Work Committee. The Chairman also said that relying solely on 'material incentives' is not the right approach. We must take the path of 'honoring meritocracy,' which means walking on two legs: one leg is material rewards, the other is spiritual rewards. The Soviet Union focused only on material rewards, although there were also spiritual rewards, but ignored overall political education.

"We need to walk on two legs, and both legs must be strong. Material rewards are necessary, but more importantly, we must combine individual interests with collective interests and national interests."

"Currently, in some factories, factory leaders direct workers in production. Some workers don't feel they own the factory, believing it belongs to the factory leaders. As a result, their productivity remains low. This is a sign of problems with our political education and factory management. Anshan Iron and Steel recently proposed a new factory management plan aimed at changing the Soviet-style one-man management system known as the 'Magang Management System.'"

"We need to go to Angang and other factories to investigate more."

There were many topics for discussion afterwards, including socialist monetary policy, savings, insurance, loans, and other issues.

Wei Hongjun explained some things to them and elaborated on his own ideas. In some aspects, Wei Hongjun accepted their opinions and changed his outline.

1099 presided over the Politburo meeting for the first time

Discuss

On January 1961, 1, the Central Committee held an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau.

The Secretariat, and primarily the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, was responsible for the preparations before the meeting. The Politburo members and alternates attending the meeting were informed of the agenda and topics to be discussed, ensuring that everyone was prepared.

There are times when the Politburo convenes to discuss a specific topic, but this is rare. Usually, an emergency situation arises, necessitating an urgent Politburo meeting.

Aside from this situation, it's rare for a topic to be suddenly added to a daily Politburo meeting. This is because the Chairman has always disliked surprise attacks during meetings. Party leaders also don't want anyone making a surprise attack during an important meeting and embarrassing them.

The preparations for the entire meeting were normal, but when the meeting started, everyone realized that there were some differences.

Because the person who presided over this meeting was Wei Hongjun. There are also leaders in the Central Committee who presided over Politburo meetings.

Comrade Xiuyang and the Premier have presided over Politburo meetings, but they usually preside over Politburo meetings when the Chairman is unable to attend due to other matters.

Or there are some national meetings where the chairman attends, but because it is the work of a central leader, the chairman will ask the central leader to preside over the meeting.

For example, at the Central Rural Work Conference in 1947, although the Chairman attended, the meeting was chaired by Comrade Xiu Yang, because it was Comrade Xiu Yang who was in charge of land reform work nationwide at the time.

However, in cases like the enlarged Politburo meeting, when the Chairman was present, another central leader presided over the meeting, and Wei Hongjun was the first one to do so.

The Chairman treated himself as an ordinary member of the Politburo, sat aside smoking, and let Wei Hongjun preside over the meeting throughout.

We're all smart people and understand what this means. Wei Hongjun's momentum has been very clear in recent years, and the Chairman has increasingly valued his opinions, so everyone was prepared for this. But now, everyone is feeling the Chairman's thoughts more directly.

In this situation, some people are happy and some are sad.

Many people began to think about the future. Of course, many also began to wonder: the Fifth Session of the Ninth Central Committee was just over a month away. Before the Fifth Session, the Chairman suddenly asked Wei Hongjun to preside over the Politburo meeting on his behalf. What did this mean?

The Chairman asked Wei Hongjun to represent him in presiding over this Politburo meeting, which was actually sending a signal to everyone.

After everyone is mentally prepared, the chairman will talk to everyone individually and hope that everyone will support his decision.