Deng's elevation as China's new central figure meant that the historical and ideological questions around Mao Zedong had to be addressed properly. Deng’s reforms were incompatible with Mao's hard-line "class struggle" policies and mass public campaigns. In 1982 the Central Committee of the Communist Party released a document entitled On the Various Historical Issues since the Founding of the People's Republic of China. Mao retained his status as a "great Marxist, proletarian revolutionary, militarist, and general," and the undisputed founder and pioneer of the country and the People's Liberation Army. "His accomplishments must be considered before his mistakes," the document declared. Deng personally commented that Mao was "seven parts good, three parts bad." The …show more content…
The strategy for developing China into a modern, industrial nation was the development of the socialist market economy. Deng argued that China was in the primary stage of Socialism and that the duty of the party was to perfect so-called "socialism with Chinese characteristics." This interpretation of Chinese Marxism reduced the role of ideology in economic decision-making, and gave priority to policies of proven effectiveness. Downgrading communitarian values but not necessarily the ideology of Marxism-Leninism himself, Deng emphasized that "socialism does not mean shared poverty."
'Planning and market forces are not the essential difference between socialism and capitalism. A planned economy is not the definition of socialism, because there is planning under capitalism; the market economy happens under socialism, too. Planning and market forces are both ways of controlling economic