Mutual Aid and Exchange
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22. Mutual Aid and Exchange
The External Economic Relations of the Socialist State 1
Our time is one of imperialism and proletarian revolution. When the proletariat has seized political power and established socialism in one or several countries, certain economic interrelations inevitably arise among socialist countries, between socialist states and other states that have gained their national independence, and between the socialist states and the imperialist and capitalist countries. The external economic relations of the socialist state are closely related to socialist economic construction at home and to international situations. We must know something about the socialist state’s external economic relations.
External Economic Relations Are a Component of the Socialist State’s Foreign Relations
External Economic Relations Must Obey the Proletarian Revolutionary Diplomatic Line
After the October Revolution, Lenin pointed out repeatedly that the socialist state under proletarian dictatorship was the base from which to advance the proletarian world revolution. The state which first achieved a socialist victory must raise high the combat banners “The proletariat of the world, unite!” and “The proletariat and the oppressed nations of the world, unite!” It must strengthen its solidarity with the proletariat, the oppressed peoples, and the oppressed nations of the whole world and strengthen its solidarity with all countries which are victims of imperialist aggression, sabotage, interference, control, and bullying in order to form an extensive united front to oppose imperialism and new and old colonialism.
The fundamental principle of the foreign relations of the socialist state is firm adherence to proletarian internationalism. China’s revolutionary diplomatic line is: To develop a relationship of mutual cooperation with socialist countries under the principle of proletarian internationalism; to support the revolutionary struggles of all oppressed peoples and nations; to work for peaceful coexistence with countries under different social systems on the basis of mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, nonaggression, noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence; to oppose imperialist policies of aggression and wars; and to oppose the power politics and hegemony of the superpowers. This is a Marxist line. It is consistent with the basic interests of our people and also with those of the world’s people.
The external economic relations of the socialist state are components of the external relations of the socialist state. These relations must be conducted under the guidance of the revolutionary diplomatic line. Therefore, in its handling of external economic relations, the first thing the socialist state always does is actively develop relations of friendship and cooperation among the socialist countries and between the socialist countries and the nationalist countries. It handles international economic relations on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence. Whatever the form of economic aid, the sovereignty of the recipient countries must be strictly respected. No strings should be attached; no privileges should be requested. It must be genuine assistance to the recipient countries for their development of independent national economies. International trade should be developed on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Economic development should be promoted on a mutual basis, according to mutual needs and possibilities and with mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and aspirations.
In Handling External Economic Relations, We Must Treat Each Case Distinctively according to the Particular Situation
In handling external economic relations, the socialist state must treat each case distinctively according to the social system of each country.
The relations among the socialist countries are the newest international relations in human history. The socialist countries use Marxism and internationalism as their common ideological basis. They adopt proletarian dictatorship as their common economic basis and regard the building of socialism and the realization of the great ideal of communism as their common goal of struggle. Chairman Mao pointed out:
“Since the beginning of history, no relations between countries have resembled those between the socialist states, which share their ups and downs, trust and respect each other, and assist and support each other. This is because the socialist state is a new form of state. It is a state which has overthrown the exploitative class and in which the laboring people are in power. In the interrelations among these states, the principle of unifying internationalism and nationalism is realized. Common interests and common ideals have bound us closely together.” 2
The firm adherence to the principle of proletarian internationalism and the mutual economic assistance and support among the socialist states have immense significance in accelerating the building of socialism and in increasing the strength to oppose imperialism and social imperialism in various countries.
Although the social systems of the socialist states and the nationalist states may differ, they have both suffered imperialist aggression. They have a common desire to protect national independence and to oppose the imperialist policy of aggression and wars and the hegemony of the superpowers. Therefore, the socialist states and the nationalist states can establish and develop relations of friendship and cooperation under the banner of opposition 340 to imperialism and to new and old colonialism and on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence. The aid provided by the socialist states to assist the nationalist states of Asia, Africa, and Latin America in developing their national economies is instrumental in opposing the two superpowers and their lackeys, protecting the national independence and sovereignty of various countries, and promoting the progressive enterprise of mankind.
“As for the imperialist countries, we should unite with their peoples and strive to coexist peacefully with those countries, do business with them and prevent any possible war, but under no circumstances should we harbor any unrealistic notions about them.” 3
Only by firmly adhering to independence and self-reliance and unfolding an acute struggle with them can these countries be forced to agree within a certain time period to the establishment of some degree of peaceful coexistence and the development of trade and the organization of associations and exchanges among the people.
The Essence of Soviet Revisionist External Economic Relations Is Overseas Aggression and Expansion
Lenin pointed out: “World hegemony is the content of imperialist policy.” 4 To conceal its criminal intention of fighting for world hegemony, Soviet revisionist social imperialism always hides under the cloak of “socialism” in its external economic relations. It is, therefore, even more deceitful and dangerous than standard imperialism. Stripped of its cloak, what stands before the people is a ferocious devil.
The main external economic activity of Soviet revisionism is the sale of armaments. These are the most profitable transactions. From its entrance into the world arms market in 1955 until 1972, its accumulated sales of arms amounted to $28.5 billion. In the beginning of the 1970s, arms sales by Soviet revisionism represented 37.5 percent of the world arms sales. It had surpassed the United States and had become one of the world’s biggest arms dealers. Especially in recent years, Soviet revisionism has stepped up its expansion of arms transactions to obtain windfall profits. They are a bunch of old hands at fishing in troubled waters and making war profits. During the Middle East War, the arms sold by Soviet revisionism to the Arab countries were priced very high. They had to be paid for in liquid foreign exchanges. In order to buy some arms to protect themselves against Israeli aggression, some countries had to borrow dollars in the Western money market to pay these Soviet revisionist arms dealers. Call, a periodical published by Asian and African writers, put it nicely: “Through their own prolonged and painful experience, the Arab people finally realize this fact: Soviet social imperialism is an enemy disguised as a ‘friend.’ This type of enemy is even more dangerous than an open enemy.”
The foreign trade and so-called economic aid of Soviet revisionism are also tools for aggression and expansion used by the new czars. They not only resort to such shameful practices as buying cheap and selling dear, substituting inferior goods for regular goods, pushing unsalable goods, and all sorts of manipulation and speculation, but also adopt coercive measures to force other countries to trade only with them. When some “fraternal countries” want to free themselves from the control of Soviet revisionism and trade with the Western countries, Soviet revisionism resorts to threats. In September 1972, an attaché in the Soviet revisionist embassy in Czechoslovakia was ordered to publish a public speech in the Freedom Daily [Tzuyu pao]. He assailed “some (Czech) plants and enterprises” for “often buying some products from the West” and for “only exploring possibilities for the import of machines and equipment from the capitalist countries.” He said threateningly, “We hope our partners in the socialist states understand that if their domestic markets are not open to the machines and equipment of the Soviet Union, then the Soviet Union will not be able to develop further our economic relations because our supply capacity of fuels and raw materials is limited.” This is the countenance of a rascal. However, from 1964 to 1971, Soviet revisionism’s imports from eleven Western countries increased by more than 61 percent, of which the majority were machines and equipment. This is simply a case of “only the state governor can set fires while the people are not allowed even to light their lamps.” This is the “partnership” that Soviet revisionism wants to establish.
In its external economic relations, Soviet revisionism says all the nice things and does all the bad things. No matter how smooth their talk is and how attractive their outer garments look, the results of their external aggression and expansion can only meet ever greater resistance from the people of the various countries subject to their control, enslavement, and exploitation. The external aggression and plunder of Soviet revisionist social imperialism are like taking up a rock to hit one’s own feet. They will only hasten its end.
External Economic Aid Given by the Socialist State Is an Internationalist Obligation
The Revolutionary Struggle of the People of the World Is Mutually Supporting and Mutually Assisting
The proletarian revolutionary enterprise has always been an international enterprise. The revolutionary struggles of the proletariat in various countries are components of the proletarian world revolution.
A country’s victory in its socialist revolution and socialist construction cannot be separated from the support provided by the proletariat and the revolutionary peoples of the whole world. In our revolutionary struggle and in our socialist revolution and socialist construction, our people have been consistently supported and assisted by the proletariat and revolutionary people of the world. Chairman Mao pointed out, “Without the various forms of aid from the international revolutionary forces, it would not be possible to achieve victory; nor would it be possible to consolidate after the victory.”
The proletariat must liberate not only itself, but also the whole of mankind. If the whole of mankind cannot be liberated, the proletariat itself cannot be ultimately liberated either. Therefore, those countries in which the proletariat has already seized power should not only support the just struggles of the proletariat, the oppressed peoples, and the oppressed nations of the whole world politically and morally, but should also assist them with material aid. This is an internationalist obligation that should be fulfilled by every socialist country.
Whether or not the proletarian internationalist principle is firmly upheld and whether or not the proletarian internationalist obligation is fulfilled have always been a focal point in the struggles between Marxism and revisionism. All revisionists oppose proletarian internationalism. What they worship are bourgeois chauvinism and national self-interest. In the resolute struggles with the renegades of the Second International, Lenin defended and developed the proletarian internationalist principle. He pointed out, “Proletarian internationalism requires that: first, the interests of the proletarian struggle of one country must be subordinate to the interests of the proletarian struggle of the world, and second, the nation which has defeated the bourgeoisie must make the greatest national sacrifice with power and determination for the overthrow of international capitalists.” 5 In his struggle with modern revisionism and with the revisionist line of “making peace with isms and reducing aid to international revolutionary struggles” 6 advocated by the Liu Shaoch’i and Lin Piao clique, Chairman Mao repeatedly educated the whole Party and the people of the whole country with the proletarian internationalist spirit. Chairman Mao said: “People who have attained victory in their revolution should assist the people who are struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist obligation.” 7 We must follow Chairman Mao’s teaching, resolutely support the just struggles of the peoples of the world, and honestly fulfill our internationalist obligation. Only the Socialist State Provides Genuine Foreign Economic Aid
Under the guidance of the principle of proletarian internationalism, the economic relations among the socialist states are relations of mutual aid. They provide aid to one another, strictly respect the sovereignty of the recipient countries, attach no strings, and do not ask for privileges. They genuinely help the recipient country to rely on the strength of its own people, exploit its national resources and potential, gradually establish and develop an independent socialist economic system according to its own characteristics, and advance hand in hand on the socialist road.
At the same time, the socialist state also tries to develop economic relations with the nationalist states according to the principle of proletarian internationalism. As a result of a prolonged period of colonial rule, a lopsided “monocultural economy” has been established in the nationalist countries. Based on the concrete conditions of these countries, the socialist country first of all does its best to help them develop a diversified agriculture which aims at satisfying domestic needs, gradually altering their dependence on imports of major agricultural products and making their national economies develop healthily on the basis of gradually strengthening agriculture.
The socialist state also helps the nationalist countries establish the light industry necessary to free them from dependence on imports of the necessities for people’s livelihood.
The socialist state also helps the nationalist countries use their own resources to establish integrated industrial branches for everything from raw materials to finished goods (including heavy industrial branches) and actively helps these countries to advance on the road of independence and self-reliance by gradually sweeping away the economic aggression of imperialism and new or old colonialism.
In sum, foreign economic aid by the socialist state is an important factor in coordinating the international political struggle. It stands up against the strong and assists the weak, strengthens the world revolutionary forces, and opposes the policy of aggression and war adopted by the imperialists and social imperialists.
Based on the doctrine of proletarian internationalism, the Chinese government announced in 1964 and later repeatedly affirmed eight principles for China’s foreign economic aid:
- Provide foreign aid according to the principle of equality and mutual benefit. Do not regard aid as a one-way gift. Regard aid as mutual assistance.
- In providing foreign aid, strictly respect the sovereignty of the recipient country. Attach no strings and ask for no privileges.
- Provide economic aid without interest or at low interests. When necessary, lengthen the period of loan repayment to lessen the burden on the recipient country.
- The purpose of aid is not to create the recipient country’s dependence on China but to help it to advance on the road of self-reliance and independent economic development.
- Projects chosen for aid in the recipient country should require low investment and short gestation so that the aid recipient country can increase its income and accumulation.
- Provide the best possible equipment and raw materials we produce and negotiate prices according to the international market conditions. If the equipment and raw materials provided do not meet the agreed specifications and quality, their return is guaranteed.
- In providing any form of technical aid, guarantee that the personnel of the recipient country will fully master this technical know-how.
- Experts sent to the recipient country to help with construction should receive the same material treatment as the experts of the recipient country. No special requirements or treatment are allowed.
The above eight principles for foreign aid announced by our government are the concrete embodiment of Chairman Mao’s proletarian revolutionary diplomatic line in foreign aid work. They are also a summary of the practical experience of China’s foreign aid work.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic, China has been pursuing the above eight principles for foreign economic aid. According to the needs of friendly countries, entire construction projects and general material resources have been provided and have been well received by the peoples of recipient countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Take the example of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway currently under construction. It starts from Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, and heads west across the wide plains of Tanzania and Zambia to Kapiri M’poshi in Zambia, connecting with Lusaka, the capital. The total length is about 2,000 kilometers. Along this railway are high mountains, deep gorges, rivers, and swamps. The terrain is treacherous, the project huge, the investment high, and the difficulty immense. But it plays a vital role in developing the national economies of Tanzania and Zambia. In its construction, the workers and technicians of Tanzania, Zambia, and China share their joys and tribulations, fight together, and are establishing a deep and sincere friendship. The peoples of Tanzania and Zambia fondly call this railway under construction “the road of friendship.”
Soon after the People’s Republic was founded, the Chinese people began to discharge their obligation with regard to foreign economic aid. With the development of China’s economic construction and the increase in our economic strength, the size and scope of our foreign aid have gradually expanded. But China is still a developing socialist state. The support provided to the peoples of various countries by China is mainly political and moral. The economic aid that can be provided by us is extremely limited. With the vigorous development of China’s socialist revolution and socialist construction, it is certain that we will be able to reduce this inadequacy and contribute more to the progressive enterprise of mankind.
Actively Develop the Socialist State’s Foreign Trade
There Are New Characteristics in the Foreign Trade of the Socialist State
Foreign trade belongs to the category of commodity circulation. It is commodity exchange between two countries. Differences in social systems also lead to differences in the nature of foreign trade. Under the capitalist system, foreign trade has always served as a means to augment capital. In the imperialist period, commodity export was closely related to capital export. Foreign trade became an important means by which the monopoly capitalist clique launched economic aggression, seizing high monopoly profits and competing for world hegemony.
The Chinese people are deeply familiar with imperialist economic aggression and plunder. In the more than one hundred years between the Opium War of 1840 and the founding of a new China in 1949, the imperialist countries, by forcing the unequal treaties on the Chinese people, seized a series of privileges such as dumping commodities and export capital in China. They colluded with Chinese bureaucratic capital, represented by the four clans of Chiang, Sung, Kung, and Ch’en, to engage in cruel exploitation and plundering, buying cheap agricultural and subsidiary products and mineral ores and selling expensive industrial products. Consequently, the foreign trade of old China was an important channel through which the blood and sweat of the Chinese people were sucked by imperialism and its lackeys.
The foreign trade of the socialist state is completely different from the foreign trade of imperialist and social-imperialist countries. It is a new form of foreign trade. The foreign trade of the socialist country is built on the basis of socialist public ownership of the means of production. The development of foreign trade in countries under proletarian dictatorship is favorable to accelerating socialist revolution and socialist construction and to supporting world revolution.
The foreign trade of the socialist state has the following characteristics:
First, the foreign trade of the socialist state is an independent foreign trade controlled by a state under proletarian dictatorship.
The state under proletarian dictatorship, in order to facilitate the building of socialism and defend national independence, must exercise state control over foreign trade. Chairman Mao pointed out on the eve of national liberation that “the recovery and development of the national economy of the People’s Republic will not be possible without a policy of control over foreign trade.” 8 After liberation, the Chinese government implemented Chairman Mao’s revolutionary policy, expelled imperialist economic aggression, annulled the privileges enjoyed by imperialism in China, got back control over the customs administration, and terminated the control of foreign merchants over China’s foreign trade. At the same time, the Chinese government confiscated the foreign trade business of bureaucratic capital, gradually transformed the import and export business of medium and petty capitalists, and fundamentally transformed the semi-colonial nature of the foreign trade of old China. The foreign trade of China has become an independent foreign trade controlled by a state under proletarian dictatorship.
State control over foreign trade plays an important role in guaranteeing the political and economic independence of China, defending China from imperialist economic aggression, minimizing the effects of economic crises from the capitalist world, and accelerating the pace of China’s socialist construction through normal commercial exchanges with many countries of the world on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
Second, the foreign trade of the socialist state is a foreign trade of equality and mutual benefit under the guidance of Marxism.
The foreign trade of the socialist state is an important aspect of the foreign activities of the socialist state. In its foreign trade relations, the socialist state thoroughly implements the principle of equality and mutual benefit and the principle of exchanging what one has for what one does not have, requires mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and aspirations, matches each other’s needs and possibilities, and makes all efforts to maintain fair and reasonable prices.
Chairman Mao pointed out: “We must endeavor to do business first with the socialist countries and the people’s democratic countries as well as with the capitalist countries.” 9 We must carry on planned commercial exchanges among the socialist countries under the guidance of the principle of proletarian internationalism and according to the spirit of active cooperation and no nonsense. We must also continuously expand trade and mutual exchanges with the countries of the Third World whenever necessary and possible in order to promote the common development of our national economies on the basis of self-reliance. We support the developing countries in improving the terms of trade for their raw materials, primary products, and finished products and in setting fair and profitable prices. We support them in establishing organizations among raw materials-exporting countries and in carrying on a united struggle against colonialism, imperialism, and hegemony. We must also develop commercial exchanges with the capitalist countries according to needs, possibilities, and conditions. Chairman Mao pointed out:
“The people who prevent us from trading with foreign countries and establishing diplomatic relations with foreign countries are none other than the imperialists and their lackeys, the Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries. Once we invite all domestic and international forces to smash the internal and external reactionary clique, we can then do business, and we can establish diplomatic relations with all countries on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and respect for each other’s territorial integrity.” 10
Therefore, we must soberly realize that commercial exchanges with the imperialist and social imperialist countries are fraught with struggles.
In the world market and in commercial exchanges with the capitalist countries, the socialist state must fight for fair and reasonable prices for imports and exports. This is a class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in the international economic arena. The domestic market of the socialist state is different from the foreign capitalist market. Prices of export commodities should be flexibly determined according to the needs of diplomatic policy and changes in the international market. Only in this way can the export commodities of the socialist state be sold at suitable prices. On the issue of prices, we oppose confusing the two types of markets which are different in nature, by transferring price oscillations from foreign to domestic market and thereby affecting price stability in the domestic market; or by applying stable price policy of domestic market to foreign market, thereby inflicting unnecessary losses on the wealth created by our working people.
Third, the foreign trade of the socialist state is planned, centralized foreign trade under state management.
Centralized leadership and a unified external policy are the basic principles of the socialist state’s foreign trade. Firm adherence to the principles of centralized leadership and unified external policy means that, according to the varieties of commodity, we must make rational division of labor and management, and bring into play both central and local activism on the basis of “unified understanding, unified policy, centralized planning, centralized command, and unified action.”
A planned and centralized foreign trade is a manifestation of the superiority of the socialist system over the capitalist system. The private ownership system and the chaotic production conditions of capitalism determine the blind and competitive nature of capitalist foreign trade. The planned and proportional development of the socialist national economy objectively requires that foreign trade must be planned and must be conducted according to the state’s import and export needs and capabilities and according to the national economic plan formulated by the state. The foreign trade of the socialist state grows with the development of the national economy. It also actively promotes the development of the whole national economy. Develop Foreign Trade on the Basis of Independence and Self-reliance
The foreign trade of the socialist state plays an active role in the development of the socialist economy. However, a rapid, planned, and proportional development of the socialist economy does not depend on the foreign market, but on the superiority of the socialist system and the planned economy and on the diligent struggle of the laboring people in the country. Independence and self-reliance constitute a basic policy of the socialist state in conducting economic construction. It is also a policy that must be strictly followed in foreign trade.
To develop foreign trade on the basis of independence and self-reliance requires a correct understanding and handling of the relationship between production and foreign trade. The relationship between foreign trade and production is one between circulation and production. The development of 348 socialist production is the material basis of the expansion of foreign trade. Since the relationship between foreign trade and production is one between circulation and production, only by greatly promoting the development of industrial and agricultural production can there be adequate supplies of exports and can there be more imports of needed materials. The internal linkage between circulation and production requires the foreign trade branches to go deep down to the forefront of industrial and agricultural production, be concerned with production, and promote production. They must strengthen investigation and research on foreign markets, actively introduce new foreign technology, new samples, new equipment and superior varieties to the production units, and raise new production problems in order to establish a mutually supporting and promoting relation.
To develop foreign trade on the basis of independence and self-reliance also requires a correct understanding and handling of the relationship between domestic trade and foreign trade. Foreign trade and domestic trade both belong to the circulation sphere. Their basic goals are identical, namely, to satisfy the needs of the socialist state and the people. Of course, there are also some contradictions based on the identical goals. For example, although there has been substantial development in China’s industry, there are often contradictions in the allocation of goods between domestic trade and foreign trade because of the excess of demand over supply due to the weakness of the original foundation. To increase exports requires a corresponding reduction in the supply to domestic trade. However, the needed means of production that can be purchased as a result of exports help increase accumulation and expand reproduction. Therefore, this is really a contradiction between accumulation and consumption and between long-term interests and short-term interests. The correct handling of the relationship between domestic and foreign trade must start from the needs of national construction and the people’s livelihood and must be based on the domestic market. At the same time, the importance of foreign markets should not be overlooked and must be taken into account through suitable arrangements. All commodities that vitally affect the national economy and the people’s livelihood must first be used to satisfy domestic needs, and their exports should be controlled according to the state plan. The domestic trade in commodities which are only marginally related to the people’s livelihood should be suitably reduced, and their exports increased. Some commodities are quite dispensable for the people’s livelihood, and they should be exported as much as possible. There are other commodities which are valueless if discarded but valuable if collected. Their supplies should be expanded for exports.
The traitor clique of Liu Shaoch’i and Lin Piao strongly advocated putting “foreign exchange in command” on the foreign trade battlefront in a vain attempt to basically transform the political orientation of the foreign trade of the socialist state and to convert China into an economic satellite of imperialism. This is the road that the socialist state will never follow. Fully Exercise the Active Role of the Socialist State’s Foreign Trade
The foreign trade of the socialist state is a component of the socialist economy. It is also a tool for foreign contacts. To develop foreign trade in a planned manner and to exercise fully its active role helps strengthen our own country’s capacity for self-reliance, thereby accelerating socialist construction, and helps strengthen the friendship among the people of various countries, thereby promoting the world revolution.
As a matter of fact, there is no single country in the world that can produce all it desires. On the basis of a firm adherence to the policy of independence and self-reliance in developing the socialist economy, the socialist state can and should use foreign trade as a means to regulate the proportional relations in socialist expanded reproduction. Through foreign trade, certain badly needed materials can be imported to make up for temporary shortages of certain products and materials resulting from production conditions and natural conditions. Through foreign trade, some advanced technology can be introduced to serve as a model for catching up, thereby facilitating technical innovation in industrial and agricultural production.
To develop foreign trade in a planned way helps accelerate socialist construction. However, we cannot therefore give up the policy of independence and self-reliance. A handful of traitors, from Tseng Kuo-fan and Li Hung-chang in the Ch’ing dynasty to Liu Shaoch’i and Lin Piao in the contemporary period, were all advocates of a slavish attitude toward foreign things. They always criticized the inadequacies of China’s proletariat and laboring people. Only the Western bourgeoisie made the grade. In foreign trade, they always advocated a total dependence on imports. “Even the moon is rounder overseas.” China’s laboring people are diligent, courageous, and intelligent. Since liberation, China’s laboring people have become masters of the socialist state, and their intelligence and talent have exploded forth all the more. Whatever the Western bourgeoisie can do, the Chinese proletariat, too, can do. Even what the Western bourgeoisie cannot do, the Chinese proletariat can do. The vain attempt of the anti-Party clique of Lin Piao to depend on Soviet revisionist social imperialism by way of surrender and betrayal merely reflected the degenerate spiritual state of the exploitative class in China. In the sphere of foreign trade, China’s proletariat consistently adheres to Chairman Mao’s policy of independence and self-reliance, continuously criticizes the counterrevolutionary revisionist line of Liu Shaoch’i and Lin Piao which worships things foreign and adopts a slavish attitude toward foreign things. “We should never tie the fate of socialist construction to the waist of another person!” This is the answer from the broad masses of workers.
The development of trade relations among the socialist countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit can promote a rapid development of each other’s economy and continuously strengthen the antiimperialist and antirevisionist forces. The trade contacts between the socialist states and the nationalist states help develop independent national economies and oppose the policy of aggressive expansion of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The trade contacts between the socialist states and the capitalist states help expand the international antiimperialist united front and oppose the struggle for hegemony between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Therefore, the foreign trade of the socialist state is also a means of thoroughly implementing the proletarian diplomatic line.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic, under the guidance of Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line, China’s foreign trade has promoted the development of industrial and agricultural production, expanded China’s external influence, and supported the world revolution. Great achievements have been made. From now on, any further development of foreign trade will help us better implement proletarian internationalism, accelerate domestic socialist construction, and better support the world revolution.
Major Study References
Marx, “A Speech on Free Trade,” Selected Works of Marx and Engels. Vol. 1.
Lenin, “A Draft Outline on the Issue of Nations and Colonies.”
Lenin, “On the Monopoly System of Foreign Trade,” Complete Works of Lenin. Vol. 33.
Chairman Mao, “Report to the Second Plenum of the Seventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Review Problems
- Why must the external economic relations of the socialist state be subordinate to the proletarian revolutionary diplomatic line? What is the reactionary nature of Soviet revisionist external economic relations?
- Why do we say that the foreign economic aid of the socialist state must fulfill the internationalist obligation?
- What are the characteristics of the socialist state’s foreign trade?
10 Footnotes
