As Grandpa Mao said: "We must see to it that all our cadres and all our people constantly bear in mind that ours is a big socialist country but an economically backward and poor one, and that this is a very great contradiction. To make China rich and strong needs several decades of intense effort, which will include, among other things, the effort to practise strict economy and combat waste, i.e., the policy of building up our country through diligence and frugality." On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., p. 71.