The Foundations: Looking to the Soviet Union as a Lesson and Forging One’s Own Path

History is a mirror and the best kind of textbook to learn from. In the case of modern China, key events can be traced through the scrolls of Chinese history, outlining a series of changes that have shaped the country today. One of the key factors for China’s modern development is its ability to take part in global affairs. While international exchanges between countries should be done willingly and on an equal footing, when China first opened its doors to the world, it was done by force and to its humiliation.

In 1840, the British waged the First Opium War, which marked the beginning of Western invasions of China and a period in which the Chinese nation would suffer defeat and devastation. The country’s mountains and rivers were ravaged, and the "Divine Land", as the country is known, was overrun by foreigners. Countless people with lofty ideals faced hardships and sought for a path to securing national independence. Bearing their grievances, they fought on and looked for a way to freedom. Finally, under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese revolution achieved a victory, and the "sleeping lion of the East", in Napoleon’s words, would open its eyes, so beginning a new chapter of national rejuvenation.

The date of October 1, 1949 was a watershed moment in Asian history when the Chinese nation finally stopped being the“sick man of Asia”. The country went through an awakening and saw the beginning of a new era. However, China still continued to face obstacles, dangers, and challenges that were no less difficult than those it had experienced in the previous century. Looking at the past, the victory achieved by the New Democratic Revolution was a cause for joy and celebration. In terms of the future, the prospect of socialist construction gave much cause for hope. At that time, however, there was frustration resulting from the chaos left behind by the old China.

In the early 1950s, Mao Zedong would ask that evocative question, "What can we make at present? We can make tables and chairs, we can make teacups and teapots, we can grow grain and grind it into flour, and we can make paper. But we can’t make a single car, airplane, tank, or tractor."

The noble aim begins with the weak and downtrodden, and indicates that a bright future starts with a painstaking search. Mao also believed that the country was "poor and blank" and added, "This seems to be something bad, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to a desire for change, for action, for revolution. On a blank piece of paper that has no prior marks, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written, and the freshest and most beautiful paintings can be painted." Mao expounded the "poor and blank" idea with confidence and optimism, the objective being that "poverty gives rise to a desire for change" and that people should do their utmost and aim high to open up a new path for the modernization of a country that was lagging behind.

By 1956, the Three Great Transformations had essentially been completed, and China had established a socialist system. However, without experience, building socialism was a question of hard work, exploration, and trial and error.

In the early days of the PRC, the country looked to the Soviet Union as a model to study and imitate and would refer to it in affectionate terms as an "elder brother". China would use the Soviet Union’s path and model as its own. This was a necessary measure under the circumstances at that time, and it produced some achievements. However, it would eventually become important for China to walk its own path. It is only through one’s own capabilities that it is possible to take responsibility for one’s choices and future. No one could do this for her – it had to be done by the country alone.

The path to China’s modernization was a road consciously taken. This kind of conscious choice is found in the idea of looking to the "Soviet Union as a lesson" and moving from“another’s path" to "one’s own path".

In 1956, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union exposed some of the serious shortcomings and setbacks the country had encountered in developing socialism. The publicizing of the Party’s inner contradictions further revealed the Soviet Union’s errors in managing the relationship between heavy industry on the one hand and light industry and agriculture on the other.

On April 25, 1956, Mao gave a speech known as "On the Ten Major Relationships" at an enlarged session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. His main argument was to use the Soviet experience as a lesson and then explore China’s own path forged from its own conditions. This speech was an important milestone for the Central Committee with Mao Zedong at its core and its efforts to build a socialist path.

In the opening part of his speech "On the Ten Major Relationships", Mao stated, "What is especially important to note is that recently the shortcomings and mistakes committed by the Soviet Union in developing socialism have come to light. The path they took was a detour. Do you still want to follow it? In the past, we learned lessons from their experiences and so avoided taking the wrong path. Now, of course, there are even more reasons to take warning." The essential point of the speech was to bring an end to a blind faith in the Soviet Union, to review China’s experiences and lessons, to maintain the perception of the Soviet Union as a lesson, and to explore a path to socialism that would be suited to our own conditions.

During this period, Mao considered the situation in China in light of the problems with the Soviet model. He proposed to "break with convention", institute a "second combination"of Marxism with China’s real conditions, and bring about an“economic revolution". Mao would emphasize the point, saying, "Avoid slavishly copying everything the Soviet Union is doing. We should use our own minds to think. The basic principles of Marxism-Leninism should be wedded to the reality of China’s socialist revolution and construction in exploring our nation’s socialist path." Mao’s words showed he had concluded that socialism could not be constructed according to one single design and that every country needed its own model. Later, in his "Ten Years’ Summary", he recalled that it was with the introduction of the "Ten Major Relationships" in 1956 that we began to embark on our own path that was more suited to China.

The basic principle behind the "Ten Major Relationships"was to bring every positive factor into play to serve the cause of socialism. In his speech, Mao emphasized the fact, saying,“We must work hard to bring every favorable element into service, within the Party and beyond it, in China and abroad, directly and indirectly; every positive element should be mobilized so that our country can be built into a strong socialist nation." In Mao’s view, there were both positive and negative aspects of constructing socialism. These elements were a set of contradictions, which was made apparent by the simultaneous polarity and unity between them. In reality, what was needed for the cause of socialism to advance was, as much as possible, to bring every positive factor into play, overcome negative aspects, and moreover turn the negative elements into positive ones.

The most important task was to develop the economy. However, should heavy industry be developed first? Or agriculture and light industry? Mao addressed how the Soviet Union and eastern European countries had only focused on heavy industry while neglecting the economic imbalance that arose in agriculture and light industry. It was by beginning with China’s essential conditions as an agrarian state that the path to the country’s industrialization could be paved. This path had its basis in agriculture and was led by industry. The national economy was organized into a structure whereby agriculture was first, light industry second, and heavy industry third. This was then used as a general principle to construct a system for transforming an agricultural country into an industrialized one.

Mao emphasized that in order to develop the economy, it was necessary to begin with agriculture. Abandoning agriculture and light industry while focusing on heavy industry would slow development down. Mao also put forward a creative proposition regarding strategic measures for completing the overall task of taking "Two Steps" toward the "Four Modernizations" of socialism. He stressed that all factors should be taken into consideration in this, and that attention was to be paid to striking a balance. These original ideas were the essential principles that had emerged from the CPC’s exploratory efforts to construct a path to Chinese socialism.

It has been shown that during the phase in which socialism was being constructed, Mao ultimately failed to move completely away from the influence of the Soviet Union model. The conditions of that time did not allow it, and there was not enough practical experience to achieve this. Nor did Mao succeed in finding a more suitable path for Chinese socialism. However, Mao did make the courageous and wise step of taking the lead in the international arena by proposing to break away from the Soviet model. He communicated the importance of taking the Soviet Union’s experiences as a lesson and of following one’s own path, "seeking truth from facts",breaking away from convention, and engaging in exploration and innovation. This was the true picture of the CPC’s reasoning and choices.

Now there was light at the end of the tunnel. It was after a long course of exploration and in spite of the wrong turns, mistakes, doubts, confusion, differences, and disagreements that the Party’s original theories were conceived and momentous achievements were made in socialist revolution and construction. The period provided valuable experience, theoretical preparation, and a practical foundation for building socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.