III. Strive to Build a High Level Of Socialist Spiritual Civilization

From the time that the Party shifted the focus of its work to the modernization of China's economy, the Central Committee has proclaimed on many occasions that while working for a high level of material civilization, we must strive to build a high level of socialist spiritual civilization. This is a strategic principle for building socialism. The history of socialism and the present situation in China both tell us that the success or failure of socialism depends on whether or not we adhere to this principle.

Spiritual civilization is closely inter-related with material civilization in socialist construction. As Marx put it, in their productive activity to transform the world, "the producers themselves change, they evolve new qualities, by producing they develop and transform themselves, acquire new powers and new conceptions, new modes of intercourse, new needs, and new speech. [3] Comrade Mao Zedong, too, pointed out that the proletariat and other revolutionary people face a twofold task in their struggle for the transformation of the world: "to change the objective world and, at the same time, their own subjective world." [4] The objective world comprises nature and society. The transformation of society results in the establishment and development of new relations of production as well as a new socio-political system. The transformation of nature results in material civilization, as manifested in improved conditions for material production and in a better material life for the people. In the process of transforming the objective world, people also transform their subjective world, and the production of spiritual values and the spiritual life of society also develop. The latter achievement is what we call the spiritual civilization, as manifested in a higher educational, scientific and cultural level and in higher ideological, political and moral standards. The transformation of society or the progress of a social system will ultimately find expression in both material and spiritual civilization. As our socialist society is still in its initial stage, it is not yet highly developed materially. However, the establishment of the socialist system makes it possible for us to build a high level of socialist spiritual civilization while striving for a high level of material civilization, just as the development of a modern economy to a certain level and the appearance of the most advanced class of our time, the working class, and its vanguard, the Communist Party, make it possible to succeed in socialist revolution. Material civilization provides an indispensable foundation for socialist spiritual civilization which, in its turn, gives a tremendous impetus to the former and ensures its correct orientation. Each is the condition and objective of the other.

Socialist spiritual civilization constitutes an important characteristic of the socialist system and a major aspect of its superiority. In the past, when referring to the characteristics of socialism, people laid stress on the elimination of the system of exploitation, public ownership of the means of production, distribution according to work, planned and proportionate development of the national economy, and political power of the working class and other working people. They also laid stress on another characteristic of socialism, the high development of the productive forces and a labour productivity higher than that under capitalism as both a necessity and the end result of the development of socialism. All this is undoubtedly true, but it does not cover all the characteristics. Socialism must possess one more characteristic, that is, socialist spiritual civilization with communist ideology at its core. Without this, the building of socialism would be out of the question.

Communism as a social system can be completely realized in our country only through the protracted, arduous struggle of several generations. However, communism is above all a movement. Marx and Engels said, "We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. [5] The final objective of this movement is the realization of communism as a social system. In our country, the spread of communist ideas and the movement for the ultimate realization of the ideal of communism began long ago when the Communist Party of China was founded, and continued during the new-democratic revolution which it led. This movement has now brought about a socialist society, which is the first phase of communism. As far back as the democratic revolution, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out that the programme of the Chinese Communist Party in regard to China's social system comprised two stages, the present and the future. "For the present period, New Democracy, and for the future, socialism; these are two parts of an organic whole guided by one and the same communist ideology." He added, "Communism is at once a complete system of proletarian ideology and a new social system. . . . Without communism to guide it, China's democratic revolution cannot possibly succeed, let alone move on to the next stage." [6] Therefore, communist ideas and actions have long been part of our actual life. The view that communism is but a "dim illusion" and that it "has not been tested in practice" is utterly wrong. There is communism everywhere in our daily life, of which it forms an inseparable part. Inside and outside our Party, there are so many heroic and exemplary people, so many who are ready to give their all, including their very lives, for the realization of revolutionary ideals. Do they do all this for material rewards? Does not a lofty communist spirit guide them? Socialism is advancing steadily towards the goal of its higher phase - communism. This advance depends not only on the increase of material wealth but also on the steady growth of people's communist consciousness and revolutionary spirit. True, at the present stage, we must in our economic and social life persist in the system of "to each according to his work" and other socialist systems, and we cannot of course expect every member of our society to be a communist, but we must demand that the Party members, the Communist Youth League members and all other advanced elements acquire communist ideology, and we must, through their instrumentality, educate and influence the broad masses. If the great task of building a socialist spiritual civilization guided by communist ideology is overlooked, people will fall into a one-sided understanding of socialism and direct their attention exclusively to the building of material civilization or even only to the pursuit of material gains. In that case, we will not be able to safeguard the socialist orientation of China's modernization, and our socialist society will lose its ideals and objectives, its spiritual motivation and fighting will, lose the ability to resist the inroad of corrupt influences and even develop distortedly and degenerate. Comrades, this is not just alarmist talk but a conclusion drawn from present realities at home and abroad. It is from this high theoretical and political vantage point that we must recognize the significance and role of socialist spiritual civilization and make up our minds to do our utmost to ensure the building of both a material and a spiritual civilization so that our socialist cause will for ever retain its revolutionary youth and vigour.