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Article: The political "participation" of entrepreneurs: challenge or opportunity for the Chinese communist party?(III. Social Groups)
- Article from:
- Social Research
- Article date:
- March 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 New School for Social Research. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN 1978, DURING THE THIRD PLENUM OP THE ELEVENTH NATIONAL party congress, Deng Xiaoping initiated a new economic policy that was to have dramatic economic and social effects. Turning his back on Mao Zedong egalitarianism (pingjun zhuyi), Deng claimed "poverty is not socialism. Socialism means eliminating poverty." From then on, people would be allowed to pursue material wealth and endeavor to improve their well-being, even if that meant that some might become richer than others. The new slogan was "Let certain regions, certain enterprises, certain people become rich first" (yibufen diqu, yibufen qiye, yibufen ten xianfuyu qilai). More than a quarter of a century later, ...