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
1978年12月18日至22日，中國共產(chǎn)黨第十一屆中央委員會第三次全體會議在北京舉行。中心議題是討論把全黨的工作重點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移到社會主義現(xiàn)代化建設(shè)上來。這次會議前，從11月10日至12月15日，召開了中央工作會議，對黨的工作重點(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，這個講話實(shí)際上成為隨后召開的十一屆三中全會的主題報告。十一屆三中全會圍繞經(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。
這次會議是中華人民共和國成立以來中國共產(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期“左”傾錯誤和“兩個凡是”的束縛，確定了“解放思想，開動腦筋，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)思想由階級斗爭轉(zhuǎn)移到經(jīng)濟(jì)建設(shè)上，提出了改革開放的任務(wù)。從此，中國開始了從“以階級斗爭為綱”到以經(jīng)濟(jì)建設(shè)為中心、從僵化半僵化到全面改革、從封閉半封閉到對外開放的歷史性轉(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)社會主義的問題進(jìn)行了全面的政策創(chuàng)新，即從中國社會主義初級階段的國情出發(fā)，創(chuàng)造性地提出了“一個中心、兩個基本點(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)有中國特色的社會主義的改革開放道路。
