Roughly speaking, socialist spiritual civilization consists of two aspects, the cultural and the ideological, permeating and promoting each other.

The cultural aspect refers to the development of undertakings such as education, science, art and literature, the press and publication, broadcasting and television, public health and physical culture, and libraries and museums, as well as the raising of the level of general knowledge of the people. It is an important requisite both for the building of a material civilization and for the raising of people's political consciousness and moral standards. Cultural development also includes mass recreational activities which are healthy, pleasant, lively and varied so that, after a spell of hard work, people may refresh themselves with entertainments that are in good taste. All our cultural construction must, of course, be guided by communist ideology. In the past, owing to the influence of "Left" ideas and the small-producer mentality, erroneous views such as underestimation of the importance of education, science and culture and discrimination against intellectuals were rife in our Party over a fairly long time. They seriously hindered the building of material and spiritual civilization in our country. In recent years, we have made great efforts to eliminate these wrong views. We are determined gradually to step up cultural development so that it will no longer lag behind economic growth. We have worked hard to carry out the Party's policy concerning intellectuals and to enable the whole Party and all society to realize that, like workers and peasants, intellectuals are a force we must rely on in building socialism. We are determined to do everything possible to create favourable conditions in which the mass of intellectuals can work with ease of mind and in high spirits in the interest of the people. In this regard, there is still a good deal of painstaking ideological and organizational work to do.

Universal education is an important precondition for building material and spiritual civilization. In 1980, the Party's Central Committee and the State Council took the decision that universal primary education in various forms must in the main be achieved by 1990 and, in areas where the economy and education are more developed, this should be done earlier. In China's vast rural areas, this is an arduous task, but it can be done through unremitting efforts, and must be done, for the sake of the development of agriculture and of the rural areas. Teachers in schools of all levels, and especially rural primary school teachers, are engaged in extremely arduous but truly noble work. On their efforts depends the moral, intellectual and physical development of the next generation of our citizens. We must make sure that the whole society respects and energetically supports them in their noble endeavours. Development plans and goals for other cultural undertakings covering the next five to ten years should also be worked out.

The socialist character of our spiritual civilization is determined by ideological education. This consists mainly of the following: the working-class world outlook and scientific theory of Marxism; communist ideals, beliefs and moral values; the outlook of being masters of the country and collectivism which correspond with the system of socialist public ownership; a concept of rights and duties and a sense of organization and discipline which correspond with the socialist political system; devoted service to the people and a communist attitude towards work; and socialist patriotism and internationalism. In essence, it consists of, above all, revolutionary ideals, morality and discipline. All Party members and other advanced persons in our society must continuously propagate advanced ideas and set an example by their own deeds so as to inspire more and more members of our society to become working people with lofty ideals, moral integrity, education and a sense of discipline.

We must try not only to help every member of our society to acquire a broader mental outlook but also to establish and develop throughout its ranks the new type of social relations which embody socialist spiritual civilization. These relations find expression in solidarity, friendship and mutual assistance in common struggle and common progress among all our nationalities, between the workers, peasants and intellectuals, the cadres and the masses, the army and the people, the army and the government, and among the people in general. Lenin has pointed out that it will take many decades to create new forms of social ties between people and that this is a most noble work. [7] We can say with full confidence that, relying on our long revolutionary tradition and proceeding from the foundation already laid for this work, we shall certainly be able to foster and develop such new social ties.