There can be no communism with pauperism, or socialism with pauperism. So to get rich is no sin. However, what we mean by getting rich is different from what you mean. Wealth in a socialist society belongs to the people. To get rich in a socialist society means prosperity for the entire people. The principles of socialism are: first, development of production and second, common prosperity. We permit some people and some regions to become prosperous first, for the purpose of achieving common prosperity faster. That is why our policy will not lead to polarization, to a situation where the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. To be frank, we shall not permit the emergence of a new bourgeoisie.

Though it can be argued that in China there is no bourgeoisie because the bourgeois elements are not organized as a class, there is no doubt about the polarization and inequality. The rich have indeed gotten richer, while the poor have not gotten much poorer, but compared to the rich, they are still very poor. The consequences of this inequality can be seen in the increasing number of “mass incidents” from 2010s forward. Class struggle still exists in China, and it’s getting increasingly intense.

The latest Congress in China, establishing full employment as a goal, will definitely be an improvement in the direction of socialism. China will finally overcome the Deng Xiaoping era, and enter into a new era of socialism.