What is socialism? This question is very common today. Let’s take a look at the principles of socialism worked out by Stalin. He points on the danger of nationalism in the CPC. This warning proved to be correct, as the modern China has nothing similar with socialism.
“You are talking about some kind of chinified socialism; this does not exist in nature. There is no Russian, English, French, German, Italian socialism, just as there is no Chinese socialism. There is one Marxist-Leninist socialism. Another thing is that when building socialism, it is imperative to take into account the specific features of a particular country. But socialism is a science that, like any science, necessarily has general laws, and one has only to move away from them, as the construction of socialism is doomed to inevitable failure.
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These are, in short, the basic laws of socialism as a science, requiring that it be treated as a science. If you understand this – everything will be fine with the construction of socialism in China. If you don’t understand, you will bring a lot of harm to the world communist movement. As I know, there is a thin layer of the proletariat and very strong nationalist sentiments in the Communist Party of China, and if you do not pursue a scientific, truly Marxist-Leninist class policy, do not fight bourgeois nationalism, the nationalists will crush you. Then not only will socialist construction be thwarted, China may turn into a dangerous toy in the hands of the American imperialists. I strongly recommend that you make fuller use of Lenin’s remarkable work “The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government” in building socialism in China. This is the key to success.”
Joseph Stalin, “From a Conversation With a Delegation of the CPC Central Committee in Moscow. July 11, 1949″