§*这是毛泽东同志在中国共产党第八次全国代表大会预备会议第一次会议上的讲话。
#§Speech at the first session of the preparatory meeting for the Eighth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
§今天开第八次全国代表大会的预备会议。
#§Today we begin the preparatory meeting for the Eighth National Congress.
预备会议要开十几天，要作的主要事情，一是准备大会文件，二是进行中央委员会的预选，三是准备大会发言稿。
# The meeting will last about a fortnight and its main business is: (1) drafting documents for the congress; (2) conducting a preliminary election of the Central Committee; and (3) preparing speeches for the congress.
§第一点，关于大会的目的和宗旨。
#§First, about the objectives and purposes of the congress.
这次大会要解决什么问题，达到什么目的?总的说来，就是总结七大以来的经验，团结全党，团结国内外一切可以团结的力量，为建设伟大的社会主义中国而奋斗。
# What problems is this congress to solve and what are its objectives? # In a word, it is to sum up the experience gained since the Seventh Congress, unite the whole Party and unite with all the forces at home and abroad that can be united in the struggle to build a great socialist China.
§关于总结经验，我们的经验是很丰富的，但是不能够罗列很多事情，而是要抓住重点，从实际出发，根据马克思主义的观点，加以总结。
#§About the summing-up of experience. # Although we have a rich store of experience, we should not merely juxtapose a host of facts but should sum up by grasping the essentials, proceeding from reality and adopting a Marxist standpoint.
§我们党是一个伟大的、光荣的、正确的党，这是全世界公认的。
#§Our Party is a great, glorious and correct Party, a fact which is acknowledged by the whole world.
过去有些外国同志怀疑:究竟你们搞些什么事情?有许多人不了解我们对待民族资产阶级的政策，也不太了解我们的整风运动。
# In the past, some foreign comrades had doubts about what we were actually doing. # Many didn't understand our policy towards the national bourgeoisie, nor were they very clear about our rectification movement.
现在，我看了解的人更多了，可以说一般是了解了。
# Today I would say more have come to understand them and most can be said to have such an understanding.
当然，还会有些人不了解。
# Of course, there are still some who don't.
在国内，甚至在党内，也还会有些人不了解，认为七大以来的路线不见得那么正确。
# Within the country and even inside the Party, there are some who don't understand and who maintain that the line we have followed since the Seventh Congress is not necessarily so correct.
但是，事实摆在面前，我们进行了两个革命:一个是资产阶级民主革命，夺取全国政权；一个是无产阶级社会主义革命，实行社会主义改造，建设社会主义国家。
# But the facts are there for all to see, we have carried out two revolutions -- the bourgeois-democratic revolution to seize state power and the proletarian socialist revolution to carry out socialist transformation and build a socialist country.
七大以来的十一年，我们的成绩是很大的，全国承认，全世界承认，甚至连外国资产阶级也不得不承认。
# In the eleven years since the Seventh Congress we have scored great successes, and this is acknowledged by the whole nation and the whole world. # Even the bourgeoisie abroad has to acknowledge it.
两个革命证明，从七大到现在，党中央的路线是正确的。
# The two revolutions prove that the line of the Central Committee since the Seventh Congress has been correct.
§十月革命推翻了资产阶级，这在世界上是个新鲜事情。
#§The October Revolution overthrew the bourgeoisie, an event without precedent in world history.
对这个革命，国际资产阶级不管三七二十一，骂的多，总是说不好。
# In all countries the bourgeoisie was sweeping in its denunciation of this revolution and had never a good word for it.
俄国资产阶级是个反革命阶级，那个时候，国家资本主义这一套他不干，他怠工，破坏，拿起枪来打。
# The bourgeoisie in Russia was a counter-revolutionary class, it rejected state capitalism at that time, organized slow-downs and sabotage and resorted to the gun.
俄国无产阶级没有别的办法，只好干掉他。
# The Russian proletariat had no choice but to finish it off.
这就惹火了各国资产阶级，他们就骂人。
# This infuriated the bourgeoisie in other countries, and they became abusive.
我们这里对待民族资产阶级比较缓和一点，他就舒服一点，觉得还有些好处。
# Here in China we have been relatively moderate with our national bourgeoisie, who feel a little more comfortable and believe there are some good points in our policy.
如果我们这里是一塌糊涂，他们就会放那些人来，横直是写骂人文章。
# If things were in an awful mess here, they would have let their journalists come, knowing that the result could only be vicious articles.
他们就是怕写出来的文章不专门骂人，还讲一点好话，那个事情就不好办。
# What they dread most is that the articles might include not only invective but a good word here and there, and that would be awkward for them.
§过去说中国是“老大帝国”，“东亚病夫”，经济落后，文化也落后，又不讲卫生，打球也不行，游水也不行，女人是小脚，男人留辫子，还有太监，中国的月亮也不那么很好，外国的月亮总是比较清爽一点，总而言之，坏事不少。
#§China used to be stigmatized as a "decrepit empire", "the sick man of East Asia", a country with a backward economy and a backward culture, with no hygiene, poor at ball games and swimming, where the women had bound feet, the men wore pigtails and eunuchs could still be found, and where the moon was inferior and did not shine as brightly as in foreign lands. # In short, there was much that was bad in China.
但是，经过这六年的改革，我们把中国的面貌改变了。
# But after six years' work of transformation we have changed the face of China.