Delivered: At the First Plenum
of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, on 13 September
1982.
Source: "Hu Yaobang's Speech at First Plenum of Party
Central Committee (September 13, 1982)," in
Beijing Review, 1 November 1982 (Vol. 25, No. 44), pages 15-17.
Online Version: marxists.org, January 2024
SINCE we are not prepared to hold any plenary sessions or work conferences of the Central Committee this winter and next spring, I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to give some opinions on future work on behalf of the Secretariat, mainly on work for 1983. You are requested to take this into consideration.
First, conscientiously organize the whole Party to study the documents of the l2th Party Congress. It is imperative in this study, first of all, to grasp the essence of the documents and then to unify our thinking by integrating this study with some relevant basic theories of Marx, Lenin and Comrade Mao Zedong.
On this basis, we should try our best to integrate the study with the realities of the localities, departments and units and to solve some problems that can now be solved.
If the study is really grasped well in the coming half a year or so, between now and next June. it will surely play an important role in helping Party members, Party cadres in particular, to raise their understanding of the Party's fighting programme, their ideological consciousness and their confidence in our cause. At the same time, though study, certain mistaken ideas and malpractices inconsistent with the spirit of the documents of the 12th Party Congress will be overcome to some extent. Therefore, the study of the documents of the 12th Party Congress must be grasped as a matter of prime importance after the conclusion of the congress. Efforts must be made to do this work well and proceed to establish a good style of study.
Second, competently and thoroughly restructure the administration. The result of the elections for the leading central Party organs conducted by the 12th Party Congress and this plenary session is, in a broad sense, also a restructuring and a most important one.
With regard to the streamlining of departments under the Party Central Committee and the State Council, readjustment of leading bodies of the ministries and their subordinated bureaus and organizational structures has been basically completed.
This work seems to have progressed rather smoothly and successfully. Of course, further efforts are still needed for the training of cadres in rotation, the defining of the functions and powers for every ministry or department, the resolutions of some problems existing in relations between various departments and the fulfillment of other tasks related to restructuring. We have exchanged views with comrades from various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions and reached a consensus that, in light of the experience of the central departments, reform of all institutions in the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions can be achieved.
The Sixth National People's Congress is scheduled for May or June next year and deputies to the congress should be elected in various areas in March, April or May of 1983.
Therefore, reform of institutions at the provincial, municipal and autonomous regional levels and prefectural and city levels ought to be done sooner rather than later, because we have gained some experience and don't expect any big trouble; it will be no good if this work is delayed. If this work is started this winter and completed in the first half of 1983, the Party committees at the provincial, municipal, autonomous regional, prefectural and city levels will be able to rely on their own efforts to complete the reform of institutions at the county and commune levels in the winter of 1983 or the spring of 1984.
Thus, the reform of institutions throughout the country, as the first component in the reform of the entire administrative system, will be completed in the spring of 1984. With this done, we will be able to have greater initiative in work.
Comrade Deng Xiaoping once said that this work is also a revolution. If this work is done well, we can reach the goal of readjusting and strengthening leading cores at various levels, simplify unwieldy and overstaffed organizations, promote a large number of outstanding and young cadres, train functionaries on the job in rotation, raise work efficiency greatly and make progress in overcoming bureaucracy. It is necessary to rely mainly on leading comrades of the various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to personally grasp this work and do it w-ell. We have suggested to comrades in many provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions that we send people to help in the work and they expressed their full agreement. The Secretariat had the idea to transfer some comrades from among members of the Central Committee, the Central Advisory Commission and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, as well as from among retired cadres at the vice-ministerial level. This will help these comrades to broaden their horizons and acquire fresh experiences.
Third, we should earnestly consider how to best consolidate the Party. The 12th Party Congress called for such consolidation. This has had strong repercussions at home and abroad and accords with the wishes of the people.
This is a major event and since we haveannounced it, we must put it into practice and do it well. It will give a great impetus to changing the Party's style if we firmly grasp the study of the documents of the 12th Party Congress, especially a conscientious study of the new Party Constitution article by article, successfully carry out the reform of institutions and the replacement of cadres, continue administering blows to economic crimes and handle in good time a number of major and important cases which are already under investigations. But all these cannot replace the consolidation of the Party.
Since our Party is so large. has such a broad scope of work and so many accumulated problems, and since we have both positive and negative historical experience in consolidating the Party, the Secretariat believes there should be meticulous preparation, guidance and organization of the new Party consolidation scheduled to start next year.
Some pilot projects should be taken at the central level as well as in the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions this winter or next spring.
On this basis, an improved document on consolidating the Party will be drafted. It is expected that the document will probably be worked out after the conclusion of the National People's Congress held in May or June of next year or, at the latest, next autumn.
It will be one of the central items on the agenda of the Second Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee. After the plenum, the work will be done in stages and groups. We plan to finish Party consolidation throughout the country over a period of three years beginning from the autumn of 1983.
Fourth, never slacken our efforts in economic work. Measurable improvements have been achieved in China's economic work since the Third Plenum of the 11th Party Central Committee and many reforms have been undertaken which have boosted the growth of the national economy. The economic situation this year is rather good. It is estimated that both the economic results and the rate of development will be better than anticipated. However, our comrades working in the economic sectors and from the various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions are keenly aware that we still face many problems and difficult tasks. For instance, the industrial and transport and communications fields have great potential, but the situation in which some departments pass the buck to each other and dare not undertake responsibilities has not been fundamentally changed. The reason for this, in the final analysis, is that they haven't come to grips with many problems and, above all, that they don't have a clear picture of conditions at the grassroots level nor are they resolute enough to solve these problems in a down-to-earth way. It is high time that we made up our mind to completely change this situation. Industrial and transport and communications enterprises should continue their efforts to consolidate themselves and conscientiously popularize the economic responsibility system so as to improve the economic results.
Commercial enterprises should strive to popularize all forms of economic responsibility system, open up more channels to facilitate the economic interflow between the urban and rural areas and expand the unified socialist market.
Enormous progress has been made in agriculture in the last few years. Many formerly backward areas, communes and production brigades have doubled their output value in a matter of one or two years; and not a few better-off places have also doubled their output value in three or four years. Most heartening is that many counties, communes and production brigades have achieved a faster rate of development over the last couple of years. This is mainly attributable to their vigorous efforts in implementing the economic responsibility system and in developing a diversified economy, while paying due attention to grain production. But there are still problems. The leadership in many other places should further emancipate their minds and widen their horizons. The Secretariat holds that Party organizations in the agricultural field should boldly mobilize and guide the peasants to expand production in all possible ways while ensuring the fulfillment of grain targets so that they can become better-off more quickly. This should be regarded as a central point by leading comrades at all levels, particularly those doing rural work. When the 800 million peasants become better-off through their own labour, agriculture will supply more raw materials to industry, industrial products will enjoy a bigger market, and the construction funds and state revenues will increase more rapidly. This is bound to be one of the most powerful motive forces promoting industrial development. Whether in industry or agriculture, the leading cadres should convince the masses of the importance of technical transformation.
All in all, our economic growth will undoubtedly be better each year than the one before provided that we are good at making investigations and studying and earnestly solving the problems in our economic work. If we can get these things into order the next two years, then beginning in 1984, the central authorities and the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions can devote their major efforts to searching for ways and means to gradually revamp, in an all-round way, our systems of education, labour, wages and prices. This, plus the nationwide Party consolidation and the overall improvement of the public standard of conduct and social order, will enable us to approach the target set forth by the 12th Party Congress for a fundamental turn for the better in the financial and economic situation, in social morality and in the Party's style by 1986, the year marking the 10th anniversary of the overthrow of the gang of four.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that the future of our Party and state in the next five years hinges on us who collectively form the new central leadership and the new combat headquarters. It is my belief that all members of this collective are aware of the heavy responsibility history has entrusted to us.
Can we shoulder this important responsibility without failing? Our answer is, "Yes." We have many favourable conditions. First, we are now more experienced in leading our work, drawing in particular on the successful experience gained since the Third Plenum of the 1lth Central Committee which was marked by the close and harmonious relations in the central leading collective and its adherence to the principle of democratic centralism. Our Party organizations at various levels have become more militant as a result of the readjustment of the leading bodies and the restructuring of institutions. Second. we have some veteran revolutionaries at the helm. Third, a Central Advisory Commission has been set up recently, which will provide very helpful political assistance and advice to the Central Committee; and the newly strengthened Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is also expected to play an even bigger role in safeguarding Party discipline and rectifying Party style. With these favourable conditions, the present central. leading collective not only can assume its heavy historical responsibility, but should do even better than its predecessor.
(A slightly abridged translation of the speech which appeared in "Renmin Ribao," October, 22.)