CONFIDENTIAL
Proceedings of the Congress
7.
It lay with Hua Guofeng as Prime Minister to present the report on the work of his government. This was by Chinese standards a strikingly frank and down-to-earth account of the problems facing the nation. It was dominated not by ideology but by economics, an analysis of the measures needed to shake up a country characterised, as Hua himself admitted, by sluggish agricultural growth, inefficient industry, ill-trained and doctrinaire management. Earlier analysis of the problems had not been sufficiently realistic and, as he put it in a delicate reference to his own over-ambitious targets of the year before, "some of the measures we adopted were not sufficiently prudent". The remedies now proposed were to the point. The balance of the economy would be shifted to favour agriculture, light industrial goods, the industrial infrastructure and personal consumption; economic and enterprise management would be improved, with loss-making enterprises closed after a year's probation;
Efforts would be made to technological levels would be raised. improve the living conditions of the people, especially in rural areas, to put more money in their pockets and better goods in the shop windows. There were few surprises here. The major themes have been repeatedly canvassed in the press over the last few months and reported to the Department. But it was refreshing to hear it said so frankly and authoritatively.
8.
In a narrow sense
An important subsidiary theme was the strengthening of "socialist democracy" and the rule of law. socialist democracy will mean an extension of the system of direct, secret balloting for elections in work places and localities, the raising of the level at which elections are direct to that of the county, and the establishment of stronger representative bodies at all levels, which will theoretically supervise the work of government. This adds up to little so long as the control of
/the Party
CONFIDENTIAL
4.
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