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First attributed to Deng by McKenzie Wark,McKenzie Wark, Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse?, Verso, 2019, ISBN 978-1-78873-530-8, p. 101 who was actually paraphrasing a similar sentence by him from a talk with Alfonso Guerra in 1987: "Our basic goal — to build socialism — is correct, but we are still trying to figure out what socialism is and how to build it".Deng Xiaoping, "We Shall Draw On Historical Experience and Guard Against Wrong Tendencies" Retrieved April 25, 2023.
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We no longer know what socialism is, or how to get there, and yet it remains the goal.

— Deng Xiaoping

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "We no longer know what socialism is, or how to get there, and yet it remains the goal." in the context of "First attributed to Deng by McKenzie Wark,McKenzie Wark, Capital is Dead: Is This Something Worse?, Verso, 2019, ISBN 978-1-78873-530-8, p. 101 who was actually paraphrasing a similar sentence by him from a talk with Alfonso Guerra in 1987: "Our basic goal — to build socialism — is correct, but we are still trying to figure out what socialism is and how to build it".Deng Xiaoping, "We Shall Draw On Historical Experience and Guard Against Wrong Tendencies" Retrieved April 25, 2023." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Deng Xiaoping" (Misattributed or apocryphal) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Deng Xiaoping#socialism#remains#longer#what#goal#yet
Deng Xiaoping

About Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping ( ; August 22, 1904 – February 19, 1997) was a Chinese politician and reformer, and the paramount leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Deng never held office as the head of state or the head of government, but was the de facto leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to the early 1990s. He developed "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and Chinese economic reform, also known as the "socialist market economy", and opened China to the global market. During his paramount leadership, his official state positions were Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1978–1983 and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China from 1983–1990, while his official party positions were Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1977–1982 and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China from 1981–1989.