ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the theory of the socialist transition as it applies to China. It examines the views of Xue Muqiao, as they apply to the first phase of the reform period, and analyses the theoretical arguments which support the period of accelerated change. The chapter describes the criticisms made of the theory underlying the whole economic reform period. It argues that the most appropriate method of analysis for understanding the socialist transition is that provided by Karl Marx which utilizes the theoretical construct-mode of production. For Xue, the relations of production were determined by ownership which, he argued, corresponded to the level of the productive forces. In agriculture, Xue argued, the productive forces were at a very low level and were unevenly developed. The form of ownership was not that of the state, but of the collective exercised through communes, brigades and teams.
