The Establishment of the Socialist System in China

The Establishment of the Socialist System in China

The Most Extensive and Profound Social Transformation

From the establishment of the People's Republic of China to the completion of the socialist transformation, this was a transitional period. The general line and general task of the Party during this transitional period were to gradually achieve the socialist industrialization of the country over a considerable period of time and to gradually achieve the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce. In summary, this was referred to as "one industrialization and three transformations."

The transition from New Democracy to socialism had its historical inevitability: First, the rapid development of the socialist state-owned economy gradually became the dominant factor in the social economy; second, the state accumulated experience in utilizing, restricting, and managing private industry and commerce, and began the preliminary socialist transformation of them to varying degrees; third, the individual agricultural economy was increasingly unable to adapt to the new situation of national industrialization and urgently needed to be organized; and fourth, the international situation was favorable for China to accelerate its transition to the socialist camp.

In 1956, the decisive victory in the socialist transformation of the private ownership of the means of production marked the completion of the transition from New Democracy to socialism, and China entered a socialist society. China's path to socialism was the inevitable result of historical development and the decisive choice of hundreds of millions of Chinese people after a long period of struggle.

Under the guidance of the general line of the transitional period, the CPC creatively pioneered a socialist transformation path suited to China's characteristics in an economically and culturally backward eastern country, successfully achieved the socialist transformation of the private ownership of the means of production, and established a socialist system in China, realizing the most extensive and profound social transformation in the history of the Chinese nation.

Advancing Through Arduous Exploration

After the establishment of the basic socialist system, how to build socialism in China and how to consolidate and develop socialism became a new historical task with no ready-made answers to follow. Under the guidance of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism, the CPC took the lessons learned from the Soviet Union as a warning and, in combination with China's specific realities, arduously explored a socialist construction path suitable for China's national conditions.

The Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was the first national congress held by the Party after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The most important contribution of this congress was to specify the main contradictions and fundamental tasks of Chinese society after the basic completion of the socialist transformation, pointing the way for the development of the socialist cause. The Eighth National Congress of the Party pointed out that after the completion of the socialist transformation, the main contradiction in Chinese society was no longer the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, but rather the contradiction between the people's demand for the establishment of an advanced industrial country and the reality of a backward agricultural country, as well as the contradiction between the people's need for rapid economic and cultural development and the current state of economic and cultural development that could not meet the people's needs. Therefore, the main task of the Party and the entire nation was to concentrate efforts on developing social productive forces and to transform China from a backward agricultural country into an advanced industrial country as quickly as possible.

After the establishment of the socialist system, China built a relatively complete industrial system and national economic system, met the basic living needs of a quarter of the world's population in agriculture, made rapid progress in the construction of infrastructure such as buildings and transportation, achieved significant progress in education and medical care, greatly changed people's mental outlook, and made important breakthroughs in science and technology, making China a country of significant influence in the world. The tremendous changes in Chinese society eloquently proved that only socialism can save China.

The victory of the New Democratic Revolution, the birth of the People's Republic of China, the establishment of the basic socialist system, and the comprehensive launch of socialist construction realized the great leap of the Chinese nation from the "sick man of East Asia" to standing tall.

During the period of socialist construction, Mao Zedong proposed the "second integration" of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with China's specific realities. The Chinese Communists, represented mainly by Comrade Mao Zedong, enriched and developed Mao Zedong Thought in light of new realities, and put forward a series of important ideas on socialist construction.

Mao Zedong Thought is the creative application and development of Marxism-Leninism in China. It is a correct theoretical principle and summary of experience regarding China's revolution and construction, as proven by practice, and it marks the first historic leap in the sinicization of Marxism.

Although China experienced severe setbacks, including the ten-year turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, during the exploration of socialist construction, the Party's original theoretical achievements and great successes in socialist revolution and construction provided valuable experience, theoretical preparation, and a material foundation for creating socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new historical period.