Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Since Stalin's death, the Soviet Union's influence within the socialist camp and the international communist movement has been declining. The 20th Congress of the CPSU and Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" further fueled dissatisfaction with Khrushchev and the Soviet Union within the socialist camp and among the world's proletarian parties.

This directly affected Khrushchev and the Soviet Union's position in the socialist camp and among the proletarian parties.

Not only did the proletarian parties believe that Khrushchev was incapable of leading the international communist movement, but many countries in the socialist camp also believed that Khrushchev was incapable of leading the socialist camp.

Just like many countries in Eastern Europe.

This view was expressed directly by the Polish Party, which held Khrushchev in the highest contempt. After Khrushchev's disgraceful departure from Poland, the Polish Party came to regard Khrushchev and the Soviet Union as nothing more than what they thought they were.

So after this visit to the Soviet Union, he directly stated that Khrushchev and the Soviet Union were not suitable to continue leading the international communist movement and the socialist camp, which made Khrushchev very embarrassed.

As for Yugoslavia, the "traitor" of the socialist camp, there's no need to mention it. After the Yugoslav delegation arrived in the Soviet Union, Tito stayed in his own accommodation. Not only did he refuse to communicate with delegations from other socialist countries, he also directly rejected Khrushchev's invitation to speak with the Yugoslav delegation.

After Tito came to Moscow, he never met Khrushchev.

Both the attitude of the Polish delegation and the attitude of Yugoslav Tito made Khrushchev very angry.

The 40th anniversary of the October Revolution was the best opportunity for the Soviet Union and Khrushchev to prove themselves once again. Khrushchev wanted to show other socialist countries and other proletarian parties the strength of the Soviet Union.

Since it was theoretically impossible to suppress these socialist countries and proletarian parties, Khrushchev resorted to the method of forcing them by force.

Khrushchev's methods were so crude.

Their theoretical foundation and political level are too poor, so their working methods become rough.

First, on November 11rd, they launched Sputnik. To meet this deadline, the technical requirements were repeatedly reduced. The first satellite launched by the Soviet Union deviated significantly from the original plan in many technical aspects.

However, politically speaking, the Soviet Union's first satellite launch was still a great success.

Greatly increased the influence of the Soviet Union.

The socialist camp, which had suffered severe blows due to the "Secret Report" and the "Polish-Hungarian Incident", was able to gain pride.

But simply launching satellites is not enough.

On November 1957, 11, the Soviet Union held a military parade on Red Square to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the October Revolution. During this Red Square parade, the Soviet Union took out its ballistic missiles, namely the R-5M missiles.

This was the Soviet Union's first nuclear-armed ballistic missile, equipped with a nuclear warhead with a yield of one million tons and a range of about 1200 kilometers, capable of covering almost the entire Western European region.

Khrushchev showed everyone the strength of the Soviet Union.

The Chinese military delegation looked at the missile with great envy. After all, it was a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead. If China had such a big one, it would be really impressive.

Many people, looking at this missile, have realized that the future mode of warfare will change.

Then Khrushchev opened up those powerful Soviet factories to delegations from other countries and other proletarian parties, letting them understand the strength of Soviet industry and the power of the Soviet Union.

So this time the Soviet Union was very open-minded.

Everyone was free to look around and ask questions. This was a very valuable opportunity for the Chinese delegation. Although they had visited Soviet factories before, they were always under strict regulations.

What to see, what to ask.

Now that they have such a great opportunity, the Chinese delegation certainly wants to see everything and ask everything.

But after the Chinese delegation toured these factories, in addition to envying the large factories in the Soviet Union, the Chairman was also worried.

A few days later, the chairman invited a few people to a small meeting.

"Chairman, this is the situation we are investigating."

Wei Hongjun pulled out a pamphlet he had compiled and said, "We've already investigated the general wages at the several ferrous metallurgical plants we visited earlier. After Comrade Khrushchev implemented the wage reform, the lowest-level salaries for managers in these plants were around 2000 to 2500 rubles per month, and the highest-level salaries were 3500 to 4000 rubles per month."

"The factory's chief engineer earns less than the manager, but the difference is about 300 rubles per month. Below that are the deputy manager, deputy chief engineer, production section chief, and technical section chief. Their salaries are about 500 rubles less per month than the manager and more than 200 rubles less than the chief engineer."

"But this is just the salary. These cadres also receive other subsidies in addition to their salary. With these subsidies, these factory cadres, including those at the workshop director level, generally earn over 3000 rubles a month. It's quite common for managers to earn 5000 rubles a month."

"In addition to these monthly salaries, factory officials also receive subsidies for housing, cars, and even daily expenses. The higher the cadre's rank, the higher the subsidies. These hidden subsidies are quite substantial every month. For workshop directors, these subsidies range from 500 to 1000 rubles per month. For managers, these subsidies are no less than 2000 rubles."

When people heard the salary data, they didn't say much.

During the Stalin era, including the years after his death, wages in the Soviet Union were already very high. Trainees in some factories doing heavy manual labor earned 500 rubles, while those in ordinary factories earned around 200 or 300 rubles. It was common for university professors and senior technicians to earn over 10000 rubles per month.

It is not surprising that the monthly income of managers at these ferrous metallurgical factories exceeds 5000 rubles.

Wei Hongjun continued, "Comrade Khrushchev's slogan for wage reform was to increase wages for everyone, including workers. This reform raised the minimum wage for workers by nearly 100 rubles."

“但经过我们的调查发现，黑色冶金行业正式工人最低工资只有270卢布到350卢布，实习工人的工资就更低。有些只有150卢布到200卢布。普通工人当中大约10%左右的工人工资在1000卢布以上，20%左右的工人工资在800卢布左右，一半的工人工资在500卢布左右，还有20%左右的工人工资不到500卢布。”

Li Fuchun added: "This is just the salary of factory managers. Above these factories, there are higher-level cadres. Their salaries easily reach 10000 rubles. And this is just the salary situation in the ferrous metallurgical industry. The specific data for factories in other industrial sectors varies, but the general trend is the same. Salaries appear to be rising, but cadres' salaries have increased more, and the benefits involved are higher."

"In Soviet factories, wage disparities between different levels were significant. But after Khrushchev's wage reforms, not only are wages now significantly different between different levels in Soviet factories, but the disparities in various hidden benefits are even greater. Previously, the differences in these hidden subsidies between each level were only a few dozen or a hundred or two hundred rubles, but after this reform, the gaps have increased to several hundred rubles. And the higher you get, the gaps can reach thousands or even tens of thousands of rubles."

Only then did everyone take a deep breath.

Wasn’t Khrushchev’s wage reform going in the wrong direction?

It seems that both cadre and worker wages have increased. However, the cadre salary and benefits have increased dramatically, while the worker salary increase has been limited, and the benefits even less. The two are not even on the same level.

The gap between cadres and workers is becoming increasingly obvious.

China has also undergone two wage reforms. The first saw salary cuts for officials, particularly senior officials, with significant reductions. Even the chairman's salary was significantly reduced. The second saw salary increases, but senior officials' salaries remained unchanged. The main focus was on raising the salaries of ordinary staff and mid- and lower-level officials.

However, Khrushchev's wage reform was obviously different from China's.

Khrushchev criticized the bureaucracy and centralization during Comrade Stalin's time.

But his wage reform was even more extreme than Stalin's.

After this wage reform, a huge gap has emerged between the treatment of cadres and workers. Not only is the gap in wages obvious, but more importantly, the hidden welfare benefits are completely on the same level.

In today's Soviet factories, cadres are cadres and workers are workers. The welfare benefits of workers and cadres are completely different.

Liu Xiao interrupted, "Leaders, this isn't just happening in factories. During this wage reform, government officials' salaries have also increased dramatically. There's a huge disparity between salaries and benefits at each level. Furthermore, the Soviet Union's wage reform has only just begun, and their reform is still ongoing."

"During our inspection of Soviet factories this time, we discovered that some factory leaders built buildings in the name of the factory, but then the factory cadres took them for themselves. At the same time, the factory's transportation vehicles became the factory cadres' private cars."

Wei Hongjun spoke out about the current problem of factory privileges in the Soviet Union.

Very serious.

Of course, the current problem of privilege for Soviet factory officials is still in its infancy, a primitive stage. But in Wei Hongjun's view, it is already extremely serious. One can imagine how serious the privilege problem was in the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev era.

Deng Zhihui also spoke up, "We went to visit farm construction in the Soviet Union. The mechanized farms there are quite impressive. Plowing, planting, and harvesting are all mechanized, and this is the future development trend for many of our farms. However, the problem of cadres appropriating collective assets is also very serious. In the place we visited, the chairman of the farm's Party committee built a small Western-style building in the name of the farm, claiming it was the farm's office building. In fact, it looks to me like the Party Secretary's private villa."

"One farm had several cars, and they all became the private cars of farm officials. And no one was surprised by this. It's clear this has been going on for a long time. No one thinks there's anything wrong with it, and that's the biggest problem."

Deng Zhihui is the one who can't stand this the most.

In China, he repeatedly emphasized that state farms were prohibited from building office buildings that exceeded regulatory standards. If an office was found to exceed these standards, the officials who employed it would be dealt with first, followed by an investigation. Deng Zhihui's strict approach led to some state farms even refusing to work in their already constructed offices, fearing they would be unable to explain themselves once they did.

Deng Zhihui even set the specifications of his office clearly.

Deng Zhihui was shocked to see the Party Secretary of a Soviet farm in the Soviet Union actually building a small Western-style house on the farm and using it as his home. After the CCP entered the cities, there was also a rush to buy Western-style houses.

But that was mainly to grab what was already there, and they were all high-level cadres.

Later, the central government took action to deal with a group of people.

But Deng Zhihui never expected that a small farm party committee secretary would dare to build a small Western-style building as his own house.

"Famous."

Peng Dehuai cursed, "In the Soviet army, there's not a single shred of equality between Red Army officers and soldiers. A platoon leader's monthly salary is 1800 rubles, a company commander's 2400, and a battalion commander's 3000. Soviet generals earn at least 10000 rubles a month, and Soviet marshals and generals earn over 20000 rubles a month. And besides their salaries, they also receive seniority allowances, degree allowances, and all sorts of other subsidies. A Soviet marshal earns over 30 rubles a year. Some marshals also hold government positions or serve as Soviet deputies, and each position comes with a salary and allowances; some even earn 40 rubles a year. Are these marshals in a socialist army? Damn it, they're just like those officers of the Kuomintang reactionaries."

Mr. Peng has a bad temper and sometimes doesn't care about anything.

But he really couldn't stand this.

The Chinese Communist Party has always pursued equality between officers and soldiers since the time of the Jinggang Mountains. Although it is impossible to truly achieve equality between officers and soldiers, this has been what the Communist Party has always pursued since the Red Army period.

But look at the Soviet Army.

This is nothing.

An annual income of 30 or 40 rubles—that's enough money to buy a whole street in China. General Peng even considered the salary disparity between officers and soldiers in the current Chinese military excessive, let alone the situation in the Soviet army. So General Peng was truly enraged, spewing out all sorts of Chinese curse words.

No one said anything.

Because that was Peng's personality. And many people were indeed quite shocked this time. Khrushchev began implementing wage reforms after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Who could have imagined that this would be the kind of wage reforms that would happen?

The chairman was smoking and did not interrupt.

One after another.

Not only the chairman, but most of the people here are heavy smokers. They smoke together, and the whole room is filled with smoke.

The Chairman's face was grave. Everyone had their own mission during this visit to the Soviet Union. They had already accomplished their tasks well. Deng Xixian, Li Fuchun, and Li Xiannian had reached several more cooperation agreements with the Soviets.

Economically, the relationship between China and the Soviet Union was further bound together.

Regarding intra-Party cooperation, Chairman Mao and Wei Hongjun had several conversations with the Soviet Communist Party, which went quite well. Khrushchev also had several exchanges with the Polish delegation, but neither yielded a satisfactory result.

Therefore, Khrushchev hoped that China would intervene to persuade Poland and mediate the situation between the Soviet Union and Poland. The Chinese delegation's visit to Moscow was warmly welcomed. Whether it was the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries, or other proletarian political parties, they all expressed great respect for China.

But the Chairman knew the purpose of his visit to the Soviet Union.

He didn't become complacent because of these flatteries. The Chairman knew that socialism at this stage truly couldn't do without the Soviet Union. Therefore, one of the key priorities of his visit to Moscow was to maintain the Soviet Union's prestige.

Therefore, the Chairman took Wei Hongjun with him to communicate with the Polish Party in person.

During the exchange, Chairman Mao clearly stated that the socialist camp and the international communist movement needed the Soviet Union. He actively sought to bridge the gap between the Soviet Union and Poland. Although relations between the two countries did not completely improve, they were developing in a positive direction.

So Khrushchev was very grateful to the Chairman for coming forward.

But the issue of Khrushchev's wage reform still made the Chairman think deeply. The Soviet Union was everyone's model, the big brother of socialist countries. In the early years of the revolution, the communist ideal in everyone's mind was a country like the Soviet Union.

But what is happening now.

After Khrushchev’s wage reform, was the Soviet Union still a socialist country?

Is this what a socialist country is like?

The chairman fell into deep thought.

After a long pause, the Chairman said, "Comrade Yang Shangkun, Comrade Hu Qiaomu, don't record what everyone said today. We can just talk about it ourselves. Don't discuss this topic with the Soviet comrades outside."

The Chairman asked Yang Shangkun and Hu Qiaomu not to take notes.

Then, with a grim expression, he continued, "Comrade Stalin once said that revisionism, or Right opportunism, is a bourgeois trend of thought more dangerous than dogmatism. Revisionists and Right opportunists pay lip service to Marxism and attack 'dogmatism,' but what they attack is precisely the very essence of Marxism. They oppose or distort materialism and dialectics, oppose or attempt to weaken the people's democratic dictatorship and the leadership of the Communist Party, and oppose or attempt to weaken socialist transformation and socialist construction."

"What is emerging in the Soviet Union now is revisionism. Comrade Khrushchev's wage reform has a very clear flavor of the privileged bourgeois class. By implementing a system of widely varying wages between leaders at all levels and the masses of workers and peasants, they are using their power in every possible way to gain economic benefits. They are using high incomes to cultivate new bourgeois forces within the Party."

"Once everyone becomes familiar with this situation, the CPSU will gradually degenerate into a privileged class, and Soviet socialism will come to an end. Using Marxism-Leninism as a smokescreen and political cover, they will impose a reactionary dictatorship on the Soviet people; under the pretext of 'building communism' and 'developed socialism', they will restore capitalism. The Soviet Union has already fallen into the full danger of revisionism."

No one spoke, and the whole room was silent.

Revisionism is not a new term.