between Deng and Mao during the early years of the PRC largely
stemmed from their different methodologies for strengthening China.
Deng emphasized the pragmatic end of economic development, for the
purpose of which flexible and expedient means could be employed.
Mao, on the other hand, focused on ideological purity and revolution-
ary spirit as the foundation for meaningful national development.
Deng’s pragmatism was easily discernible in the early socialist
construction period after the establishment of the PRC. In his speech,
‘‘Our chief task ahead is building up the country’’ (Deng, 1992 : 242–
249), he criticized an economy of waste and central planning that
ignored unique local conditions, and admonished against state com-
pensation for unaccounted losses. In terms of projects for urban
development, he chose practicality and frugality over grandiose pre-
tense. He said that the daily needs of the general people must be met
first and the matter of esthetic grandeur should be considered later
when the nation became rich enough. He admonished, ‘‘Some com-
rades stress the need of attractiveness, which is good... However, it
should not be over-emphasized at the expense of economy and practi-
cality, or without regard to what is actually possible. It is all right if
something is not very attractive. We can take care of that in future,
when we are rich enough, but for now we should concentrate on
economy and practicality... Our country is poor, but people are
trying to make it appear very rich’’ (Deng, 1992 : 248).
In his speech, ‘‘Restore agricultural production’’ (Deng, 1992 :
292–296), he reminded people of the efficacy of pragmatism in the
CCP’s defeat of Chiang Kai-shek during China’s civil war. The form of
the method, he said, is not as important as whether the method will
work with the given conditions of different rural areas. ‘‘We should
not stick to a fixed mode of relations of production but adopt whatever
mode...canhelpmobilizethemasses’initiative,’’heaffirmed(Deng,
1992 : 293). Incidentally, it was in this speech that Deng used for the
first time his famous remark advocating pragmatism by quoting his
long-time comrade Liu Bocheng, ‘‘It does not matter if it is a yellow
cat or a black cat, as long as it catches mice’’ (Deng, 1992 : 293).^8
Barnett believes that Deng, along with important leaders such as
Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun, made three attempts (1956–57,
1961–62, 1974–75) ‘‘to move China in a more pragmatic direction’’
(Barnett, 1986 : 39). These leaders were concerned that Mao’s large-scale
mass movements were the single-minded method to achieve national
Leadership theories and practices of Mao and Deng 225