ABSTRACT
The transition to socialism refers to the assumption of control by working people over their own lives and of social activity at every level, and to the emergence of their class interest as the predominant one in society. This chapter focuses on the dynamics through an examination of the principal contradictions confronted by Chinese society in the postrevolutionary era. The transition to socialism depends on satisfactory resolutions to each of the contradictions, resolutions which give expression to the opposite poles of each contradiction. The essence of the contradiction between the immediate producers and society lies in the potential for conflict between the interests of individuals or of people at particular workplaces and the class interests of working people taken collectively. Socialist development requires a resolution to the contradiction that gives expression to both its poles. Alec Nove, in an important essay, highlights the paradoxical contradiction between central planning and socialist economic relations.
