Mao Zedong’s Exploration of Socialist Political Economy and Its Contemporary Significance

In the study of Mao Zedong Thought, research on economic thought has always been relatively weak. For a period of time, a view even circulated that Mao Zedong had no economic thought, had not read *Capital*, and was an outsider in economic construction. There are probably two main reasons for this perception: first, because Mao later put forward the idea of taking class struggle as the key link, and there were major errors such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution that undermined healthy economic development. Second, Mao did not produce systematic and influential economic works like *On Contradiction* and *On Practice*. This understanding does not conform to the facts and should be corrected.

在毛泽东思想的研究中，经济思想的研究一直比较薄弱。一个时期以来甚至流行过这样一种看法，认为毛泽东没什么经济思想，没读过《资本论》，在经济建设上是一个外行。之所以产生这种认识，主要原因大概有两个：一是因为毛泽东后期提出了阶级斗争为纲的思想，又出现过“大跃进”和“文化大革命”这种破坏经济健康发展的大错误。二是毛泽东没有写出像《矛盾论》《实践论》那样系统的、具有重大影响的经济学论著。这种认识不符合事实，应当加以纠正。

The Communist Party of China, taking Marxism as its guiding ideology and theoretical foundation, has always attached great importance to the study, research, dissemination, and popularization of Marxist theory. As one of the three major components of Marxism, political economy—which Lenin regarded as “the most profound, comprehensive, and detailed proof and application of Marxist theory”—naturally received great attention. As early as the revolutionary war years, Mao Zedong emphasized: “Anyone who does not pay attention to the study of production is not a good leader.” He carefully read whatever Marxist economic works were available at the time, such as Marx’s *Critique of the Gotha Programme* and *Capital*. Among them, he read many times *The Fundamental Theory of Marxist Economics* and *An Outline of Economics* by the famous Japanese Marxist economist Hajime Kawakami. He personally organized the collection and collation of historical and current materials on economic and financial matters and wrote important economic reports such as “On the Theory of Economic and Financial Problems during the War of Resistance Against Japan.” The theory of economic construction in the revolutionary base areas and the economic program of the new-democratic revolution that he put forward were important guides for the new-democratic revolution. However, overall, during the revolutionary war years, Mao’s focus in reading and research was on philosophy and military affairs, and his attention to economics was relatively limited. This situation changed after the founding of New China.

中国共产党是以马克思主义为指导思想和理论基础的，历来重视对马克思主义理论的学习、研究、宣传和普及。作为马克思主义三个重要组成部分之一，被列宁视为“马克思主义理论最深刻、最全面、最详尽的证明和运用”的政治经济学，自然也受到了高度重视。早在革命战争年代，毛泽东就强调：“凡不注重研究生产的人，不算好的领导者。”在当时所能找到的马克思主义经济学著作，他都认真加以阅读，如马克思的《哥达纲领批判》和《资本论》等。其中，日本著名的马克思主义经济学家河上肇著的《马克思主义经济学基础理论》和《经济学大纲》，他读了许多遍。他亲自组织收集和整理经济和财政方面历史和现状的材料，撰写了“关于抗日战争时期的经济问题和财政问题的理论”等重要的经济报告。他提出的革命根据地经济建设的理论和新民主主义革命的经济纲领，是指导新民主主义革命的重要指南。不过，总的来说，在革命战争年代，毛泽东读书和研究的重点在哲学和军事等方面，对经济学的关注相对来说比较少。这种情况，新中国成立后有了变化。

After the founding of New China, economic work became the focus of the entire Party, and political economy subsequently became the focus of Mao Zedong’s reading and research. During the socialist transition period, Mao led the Party and the people to creatively propose using the form of state capitalism and the policy of peaceful redemption to transform capitalist industry and commerce, and using the form of gradual transition to transform individual agriculture and individual handicrafts. This opened up a path of socialist transformation suited to China’s national conditions, theoretically and practically solving the difficult task of establishing a socialist economic system in a large, economically and culturally backward country that accounted for nearly one-quarter of the world’s population, thereby enriching and developing Marxist theory of transition. After the establishment of the socialist system, the Chinese Communists represented by Mao Zedong combined the basic theory of Marxism with China’s actual conditions, strove to find a path of socialist construction suited to their own national conditions, established an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system, achieved great successes in socialist economic construction, and at the same time accumulated both positive and negative experience in socialist economic construction. They also put forward many valuable ideas on socialist economic construction, such as: taking agriculture as the foundation and industry as the leading factor, with coordinated development of agriculture, light industry, and heavy industry; making overall plans and taking all factors into consideration, properly arranging the relationship between accumulation and consumption, and paying attention to comprehensive balance; implementing simultaneous development by the central and local authorities, giving full play to the initiative of both; properly handling the relationship between coastal industry and inland industry to promote common development; properly handling the relationship between the state, the collective, and the individual so that each gets its due; building an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system, comprehensively realizing the modernization of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology, so that China’s national economy ranks among the forefront of the world; taking self-reliance as the mainstay and seeking foreign assistance as a supplement, breaking down superstitions, independently developing industry, agriculture, technological revolution, and cultural revolution, earnestly learning from the good experience of foreign countries, and also studying their bad experience as a warning, and so on. These views inherited the theories of classical Marxist writers on the socialist economy while innovating and developing them in light of China’s actual conditions.

新中国成立后，经济工作成为全党的工作重点，政治经济学也随之成为毛泽东读书和研究的重点。在社会主义过渡时期，毛泽东领导党和人民，创造性地提出用国家资本主义的形式与和平赎买政策改造资本主义工商业，用逐步过渡的形式改造个体农业和个体手工业，开辟了一条适合中国国情的社会主义改造道路，从理论和实践上解决了在中国这样一个占世界人口近四分之一的、经济文化落后的大国建立社会主义经济制度的艰难任务，丰富和发展了马克思主义的过渡经济理论。社会主义制度建立以后，以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人把马克思主义基本理论与中国实际相结合，努力寻找适合自己国情的社会主义建设道路，建立起了独立的比较完整的工业体系及国民经济体系，取得了社会主义经济建设的伟大成就，同时积累了社会主义经济建设的正反两方面的经验，并提出了关于社会主义经济建设的许多宝贵思想，如：以农业为基础，工业为主导，农、轻、重工业协调发展；统筹兼顾、适当安排，处理好积累和消费的关系，注意综合平衡；要实行中央与地方并举，充分发挥两个积极性；要处理好沿海工业和内地工业的关系，促进共同发展；要处理好国家、集体和个人的关系，使各方各得其所；建设独立的比较完整的工业体系和国民经济体系，全面实现农业、工业、国防和科学技术的现代化，使我国国民经济走在世界的前列；自力更生为主，争取外援为辅，破除迷信，独立自主地干工业、干农业、干技术革命和文化革命，认真学习外国的好经验，也一定研究外国的坏经验——引以为戒，等等。这些观点，继承了马克思主义经典作家关于社会主义经济的理论，同时结合中国的实际对其作了创新和发展。

After the founding of New China, especially after the establishment of the socialist system, the task of large-scale economic construction confronted the people, urgently requiring the guidance of economic theory. However, the political economy textbook popular in China at that time was the famous *Political Economy Textbook* compiled by the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the direction and guidance of Stalin. Theoretical deficiencies naturally manifested themselves in practice, which caused Mao Zedong concern. He said, “After liberation, during the three-year recovery period, we were muddle-headed about construction. Then we carried out the First Five-Year Plan, and we were still muddle-headed about construction. We could only basically copy the Soviet methods, but we always felt dissatisfied and uneasy.” In response to this situation, Mao proposed taking the Soviet Union’s experience and lessons as a mirror, promoting a “second integration” of Marxism-Leninism with China’s actual conditions, and proposed creating new theories and writing new works. To this end, he wrote brilliant documents of great theoretical innovation and guiding significance, such as *On the Ten Major Relationships*.

新中国成立特别是社会主义制度建立以后，大规模经济建设的任务摆在了人们的面前，迫切需要经济理论的指导。但是，当时在中国流行的政治经济学教材是由斯大林主持和指导、苏联科学院经济研究所编写的著名的《政治经济学教科书》。理论上的不足自然会在实践上反映出来，这引起了毛泽东的忧虑，他说，“解放后，三年恢复时期，对搞建设，我们是懵懵懂懂的。接着搞第一个五年计划，对建设还是懵懵懂懂的，只能基本上照抄苏联的办法，但总觉得不满意，心情不舒畅”。针对这种情况，毛泽东提出，要以苏联的经验教训为鉴戒，推动马列主义同中国实际“进行第二次结合”，提出要创造新的理论、写出新的著作。为此，他写下了《论十大关系》等具有重大理论创新和指导意义的光辉文献。

During this period, Mao Zedong paid unprecedented and great attention to socialist political economy. He emphasized, “At present, studying political economy issues has great theoretical and practical significance.” “Economic construction is a science; we must learn it honestly.” In 1958 and 1960, Mao repeatedly suggested to Party cadres at all levels that they read Stalin’s *Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR* and the “Socialist Part” of the third edition of the *Political Economy Textbook* compiled by the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He himself led by example, proposing to make up his mind to thoroughly master the science of economics. Mao read Stalin’s *Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR* many times, and there were four copies with his annotations. Particularly worth mentioning is that over the three months from December 1959 to February 1960, Mao Zedong, together with comrades such as Deng Liqun, carefully studied the second volume of the Soviet *Political Economy Textbook*, that is, the socialist part, chapter by chapter and section by section, expressing his own views. These conversations were later compiled into *Mao Zedong’s Annotations and Talks on Reading the Soviet Political Economy Textbook*.

这一时期，毛泽东对社会主义政治经济学给予了前所未有的极大关注。他强调，“目前研究政治经济学问题，有很大的理论意义和现实意义”。“经济建设是科学，要老老实实地学”。1958年和1960年期间，毛泽东多次向全党干部建议，读斯大林写的《苏联社会主义经济问题》和苏联科学院经济研究所编写的《政治经济学教科书》第三版“社会主义部分”，他自己则身体力行，提出要下决心搞通经济学这门学问。斯大林的《苏联社会主义经济问题》，毛泽东读了许多遍，经他批注的就有四个本子。特别值得一提的是，从1959年12月至1960年2月的三个月的时间里，毛泽东与邓力群等同志一起对苏联《政治经济学教科书》下册即社会主义部分进行了逐章逐节的认真研读，发表自己的意见。这些谈话后来被汇编成为《毛泽东读社会主义政治经济学批注和谈话》。

*Mao Zedong’s Annotations and Talks on Reading the Soviet Political Economy Textbook* is an extremely important document of Marxist political economy, especially socialist political economy. It is a treasure trove of thought that awaits our in-depth excavation and vigorous promotion. It comprehensively and centrally reflects Mao Zedong’s economic thought, especially his thought on the socialist economy, 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 also pointing out that it “has serious shortcomings and principled errors.” Applying basic Marxist theory and combining it with China’s actual conditions, he explored a series of major issues in socialist political economy and put forward many insightful views, including: the socialist economy is an economy serving the people; socialism must attach importance to social collective welfare undertakings; oppose both egalitarianism and excessive disparity; correctly handle the development relationships among heavy industry, light industry, and agriculture; the development of the socialist economy is wave-like; socialist economic development must pass through two stages—underdeveloped and developed; improve the highly centralized economic management system, expanding the powers of localities 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, ensure the right of laborers to manage the state, manage the military, manage various enterprises, and manage cultural and educational affairs, and combine adherence to Party leadership with vigorous mass movements, and so on. These insights contain many important and original theoretical achievements and have made significant contributions to the development of socialist political economy.

《毛泽东读社会主义政治经济学批注和谈话》是马克思主义政治经济学特别是社会主义政治经济学一篇极为重要的文献，是有待我们深入挖掘和大力宣传的一座思想宝库，它全面集中地反映了毛泽东的经济思想特别是社会主义经济的思想，反映了马克思主义经济学中国化的理论和历史逻辑，具有很高的理论价值和历史价值。在这篇文献中，毛泽东既肯定了苏联教科书的正确方面，同时指出这本教科书“有严重缺点，有原则错误”。他运用马克思主义基本理论并结合中国的实际，对社会主义政治经济学的一系列重大问题进行了探索，提出了许多真知灼见，包括：社会主义经济是为人民服务的经济；社会主义必须重视社会集体福利事业；既反对平均主义，也反对过分悬殊；正确处理重工业、轻工业、农业的发展关系；社会主义经济的发展是波浪式的；社会主义经济发展要经过不发达和发达两个阶段；要改善高度集中的经济管理体制，扩大地方和企业的权力；社会主义的商品生产和商品交换还有积极作用，价值法则是一个伟大的学校；社会主义建设要相信群众，依靠群众，要保障劳动者管理国家、管理军队、管理各种企业、管理文化教育的权利，要把坚持党的领导与大搞群众运动相结合等。这些见解，包含了许多重要的、独创性的理论成果，对社会主义政治经济学的发展作出了重要贡献。

The exploration and struggle carried out by the Chinese Communists represented by Mao Zedong in the 30 years before reform and opening up not only laid an important institutional and material foundation for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics after reform and opening up, but also laid an important theoretical foundation. Mao Zedong’s exploration of socialist political economy still has important guiding and enlightening significance for our current development of the socialist economy with Chinese characteristics. A few examples can be cited to illustrate this.

以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人在改革开放前的30年中进行的探索奋斗，不仅为改革开放后中国特色社会主义的发展奠定了重要的制度基础和物质基础，也奠定了重要的理论基础。毛泽东对社会主义政治经济学的探索，对于我们当前发展中国特色社会主义经济，仍然有着重要的指导和启迪意义，可以举几个例子加以说明。

First, concerning the great leap forward in science and technology and the technological revolution. Mao Zedong attached great importance to the extreme importance of science and technology in socialist construction and made the modernization of science and technology an important component of socialist modernization. He was the first to put forward the ideas of leapfrog development and independent innovation, stating: “We cannot follow the old path of technological development taken by the countries of the world, crawling along step by step behind others. We must break with conventions and adopt advanced technology as much as possible, building China into a powerful modern socialist country within a not-too-long historical period. The great leap forward we speak of means precisely this.” [7]7 This quotation is from Mao Zedong’s 1964 instruction “On the Question of the Great Leap Forward in Science and Technology,” in which he advocated for rapid technological advancement to build a strong socialist country.

其一，关于科学技术的大跃进和技术革命。毛泽东高度重视科学技术在社会主义建设中的极端重要性，并把科学技术现代化作为社会主义现代化的重要组成部分。他最早提出了跨越式发展和自主创新的思想，指出：“我们不能走世界各国技术发展的老路，跟在别人后面一步一步地爬行。我们必须打破常规，尽量采用先进技术，在一个不太长的历史时期内，把我国建设成为一个社会主义的现代化的强国。我们所说的大跃进，就是这个意思。”

Second, concerning the relations of interests in socialist society. Mao Zedong emphasized that material interest is an important principle, but not the only principle. Socialist construction must also unify the role of material factors with the role of spiritual factors; neither can be neglected. At the same time, material interest cannot be spoken of solely in terms of individual interest, immediate interest, or partial interest; collective interest, long-term interest, and overall interest must also be discussed. It must be said that individual interest is subordinate to collective interest, immediate interest is subordinate to long-term interest, and partial interest is subordinate to overall interest. The interests of all aspects must be taken into overall consideration, each finding its proper place.

其二，关于社会主义社会的利益关系。毛泽东强调，物质利益是一个重要原则，但不是唯一的原则。社会主义建设还必须把物质作用与精神作用统一起来，两者不可偏废。同时，物质利益也不能单讲个人利益、暂时利益、局部利益，还应当讲集体利益、长远利益、全局利益，应当讲个人利益服从集体利益，暂时利益服从长远利益，局部利益服从全局利益。各方面利益要统筹兼顾，各得其所。

Third, concerning the reform of the economic management system. Mao Zedong said that after the problem of ownership is basically resolved, the most important problem is the problem of management, that is, how to manage enterprises owned by the whole people and how to manage enterprises owned by collectives. This is precisely the problem of relations between people. Mao Zedong believed that for leading personnel, “they must appear in the posture of ordinary laborers and treat people with an equal attitude”; for enterprise management, “adopt a combination of centralized leadership and mass movements, a three-in-one combination of workers, leading cadres, and technical personnel, with cadres participating in labor and workers participating in management, and continuously reform unreasonable rules and regulations.”

其三，关于经济管理体制的改革。毛泽东说，所有制问题基本解决以后，最重要的问题是管理问题，即全民所有的企业如何管理的问题，集体所有的企业如何管理的问题，这也就是人与人的关系问题。毛泽东认为：对领导人员来说，“要以普通劳动者的姿态出现，以平等态度待人”；对企业管理“采取集中领导和群众运动相结合，工人群众、领导干部和技术人员三结合，干部参加劳动，工人参加管理，不断改革不合理的规章制度”。

Fourth, concerning the role of commodity production. In the late 1950s, Mao Zedong seriously pondered the problem of commodity production under the socialist system and concluded: “Now we must use commodity production, commodity exchange, and the law of value as useful tools to serve socialism.” In response to the erroneous view that equated commodity economy with capitalism, he pointed out: “Commodity production depends on which economic system it is linked to. Linked to the capitalist system, it is capitalist commodity production; linked to the socialist system, it is socialist commodity production.”

其四，关于商品生产的作用。20世纪50年代后期，毛泽东对社会主义制度下商品生产问题进行了认真思考，得出结论：“现在要利用商品生产、商品交换和价值法则，作为有用的工具，为社会主义服务。”针对那种将商品经济与资本主义混为一谈的错误观点，他指出：“商品生产，要看它是同什么经济制度相联系，同资本主义制度相联系就是资本主义的商品生产，同社会主义制度相联系就是社会主义的商品生产。”

Mao Zedong was a great Marxist. This is fully reflected not only in philosophy, politics, and military thought, but also in the field of political economy. His exploration and contributions to socialist political economy are a precious spiritual legacy. Mao Zedong’s errors in his later years lay in his deviation from these correct theories and propositions he himself had put forward, turning instead to the line of taking class struggle as the key link, thereby causing tremendous setbacks to socialist economic construction. This lesson we must deeply learn.

毛泽东是一个伟大的马克思主义者，这一点不仅在哲学、政治和军事思想等方面得到了充分体现，在政治经济学领域也是如此。他对社会主义政治经济学的探索和贡献，是一份宝贵的精神遗产。毛泽东晚年的错误，就在于他背离了自己提出的这些正确的理论和主张，转向了以阶级斗争为纲的路线，从而使社会主义经济建设遭受了巨大的挫折，这个教训我们必须深刻记取。

Online editor: Zhang Fujun

网络编辑：张福军