January 18-February 21
During the inspection tour of Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai and other places, Deng Xiaoping delivered speeches and answered major questions that confused and constrained people for a long time. He pointed Out that in upholding the line, principles and policies formulated since the 3td Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, it was essential to adhere to the principle of “one central task and two basic points.” The basic line should be adhered to for a hundred years with no vacillation: As for judging whether the road was capitalist or socialist, he said that the chief criterion should be whether it was favorable to developing the productive forces in a socialist society, to increasing the overall national strength of the socialist state and to raising the living standards of the people. Opportunities to accelerate development should be seized since development was the absolute principle. He specially emphasized that the proportion of planning to market forces was not the essential difference between socialism and capitalism. The essence of socialism was liberation and development of the productive forces, elimination of exploitation and polarization, and the ultimate achievement of prosperity for all. This talk was another declaration of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts that pushed forward the reform, opening up and modernization to a new Stage.