Page 238 - SELECTED WORKS OF DENG XIAOPING Volume II

236 DENG XIAOPING
calculated in terms of years, not even in terms of months, but in terms of
days. For a fairly long period of time since the founding of the People’s
Republic, we have been isolated from the rest of the world. For many years
this isolation was not attributable to us; on the contrary, the international
anti-Chinese and anti-socialist forces confined us to a state of isolation.
However, in the 1960s when opportunities to increase contact and coopera-
tion with other countries presented themselves to us, we isolated ourselves.
At last, we have learned to make use of favourable international conditions.
We must realize the four modernizations. To attain this objective, we
must rely on our own efforts, on correct principles and policies, and on
specific effective measures. Some people doubt whether we can accomplish
the modernization drive and ask us on what basis we can achieve the four
modernizations. We enjoy four favourable conditions for attaining the goal
of modernization as follows.
First, we have abundant natural resources. China is a country with vast
territory and abundant energy and mineral resources, including almost all the
ferrous, nonferrous and rare metals. If these resources are exploited, they will
produce great economic power.
Second, over the past 30 years, regardless of the follies that we have
committed, we have laid a preliminary material foundation for industry,
agriculture, science and technology, thus creating a basis for achieving the
four modernizations. We now have over 2 million machine tools, and
produce more than 100 million tons of oil, over 600 million tons of coal,
and more than 30 million tons of steel annually. In short, we have laid the
material foundation for realizing the four modernizations.
Third, we believe that the Chinese people are apt. For about ten years,
the mental shackles imposed by Lin Biao and the Gang of Four fettered
people’s thinking and restrained them from bringing their wisdom and
creativity into full play. But now we are encouraging people to emancipate
their minds and reiterating the policy of “letting a hundred flowers blossom
and a hundred schools of thought contend”, as was proposed by Chairman
Mao Zedong, so as to create the necessary conditions for arousing the
Chinese people’s initiative and bringing their intelligence and wisdom into
full play. We are strengthening and promoting democracy for the same
purpose. But some people mistake our expanding democracy for advocating
anarchy. In fact, anarchy was practised in the days of Lin Biao and the Gang
of Four. Development is out of the question under anarchy. If you had come
to China in the 1950s or in the early 1960s, you would have found that our
social conduct was good. During those hard times, people observed discipline,
took the overall situation into consideration, combined personal interest with