The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee

The 11th CPC Central Committee convened its third plenary session in Beijing from December 18 to 22, 1978. Discussions centered on the issue of shifting the Party’s focus to socialist modernization. At the earlier Central Work Conference from November 10 to December 15, suggestions were made regarding the Party’s shift of focus and the restoration and promotion of the Party’s best traditions. In his speech at the closing session of this conference, Deng Xiaoping called on Party members to emancipate themselves from ideological straitjackets, seek truth from facts, and forge ahead in unity. Deng’s speech later also served as his keynote report to the third plenary session that followed. During the session, important decisions were made on such issues as economic adjustment, economic governance reform, promoting agricultural development and improving the people’s wellbeing. The session also reaffirmed the Party’s commitment to Marxist ideological, political and organizational guidelines.

This event had far-reaching significance. It marked a major turning point in the CPC’s history since the establishment of the People’s Republic, an end to the lengthy dominance of leftist dogmatism that placed China in shackles of blind adherence to the instructions of Mao. It also set guidelines for moving forward in unity, emphasizing the need to break free from rigid ideological constraints and seek truths from facts. Reform and opening up was now placed high on the agenda of the CPC Central Committee. An obsession with class struggle gave way to a focus on economic development. Rigidity and isolation were replaced by change and openness. A historic transformation was thus underway. Guided by new thinking, innovative policies were developed on socialist development, especially the Party’s new guiding framework (“one central task and two basic points”), which was formulated by taking into consideration China’s existing realities in the primary stage of socialism. The framework identified economic development as the central task, the two basic points being a commitment to the Four Cardinal Principles (socialism, the people’s democratic dictatorship, leadership by the CPC, and Mao Zedong Thought and Marxism-Leninism) and a commitment to reform and opening up. It put China on track to build socialism with Chinese characteristics through the process of reform and opening up.

黨的十一屆三中全會(huì)

1978年12月18日至22日，中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨第十一屆中央委員會(huì)第三次全體會(huì)議在北京舉行。中心議題是討論把全黨的工作重點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移到社會(huì)主義現(xiàn)代化建設(shè)上來(lái)。這次會(huì)議前，從11月10日至12月15日，召開(kāi)了中央工作會(huì)議，對(duì)黨的工作重點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移、黨的優(yōu)良傳統(tǒng)的恢復(fù)和發(fā)揚(yáng)等，提出了積極建議。鄧小平在中央工作會(huì)議閉幕式上做了題為《解放思想，實(shí)事求是，團(tuán)結(jié)一致向前看》的重要講話，這個(gè)講話實(shí)際上成為隨后召開(kāi)的十一屆三中全會(huì)的主題報(bào)告。十一屆三中全會(huì)圍繞經(jīng)濟(jì)調(diào)整、經(jīng)濟(jì)管理改革、抓農(nóng)業(yè)、改善人民生活等做出了重要決策，確立了黨的馬克思主義思想路線、政治路線、組織路線。

這次會(huì)議是中華人民共和國(guó)成立以來(lái)中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨歷史上具有深遠(yuǎn)意義的偉大轉(zhuǎn)折，它從根本上沖破了長(zhǎng)期“左”傾錯(cuò)誤和“兩個(gè)凡是”的束縛，確定了“解放思想，開(kāi)動(dòng)腦筋，實(shí)事求是，團(tuán)結(jié)一致向前看”的指導(dǎo)方針，將中共中央的指導(dǎo)思想由階級(jí)斗爭(zhēng)轉(zhuǎn)移到經(jīng)濟(jì)建設(shè)上，提出了改革開(kāi)放的任務(wù)。從此，中國(guó)開(kāi)始了從“以階級(jí)斗爭(zhēng)為綱”到以經(jīng)濟(jì)建設(shè)為中心、從僵化半僵化到全面改革、從封閉半封閉到對(duì)外開(kāi)放的歷史性轉(zhuǎn)變。在解放思想、實(shí)事求是思想路線的指引下，圍繞著怎樣建設(shè)社會(huì)主義的問(wèn)題進(jìn)行了全面的政策創(chuàng)新，即從中國(guó)社會(huì)主義初級(jí)階段的國(guó)情出發(fā)，創(chuàng)造性地提出了“一個(gè)中心、兩個(gè)基本點(diǎn)”的基本路線，形成了黨的總政策，構(gòu)建了全新的政策體系，走上了建設(shè)有中國(guó)特色的社會(huì)主義的改革開(kāi)放道路。