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.
党的十一届三中全会
1978年12月18日至22日，中国共产党第十一届中央委员会第三次全体会议在北京举行。中心议题是讨论把全党的工作重点转移到社会主义现代化建设上来。这次会议前，从11月10日至12月15日，召开了中央工作会议，对党的工作重点转移、党的优良传统的恢复和发扬等，提出了积极建议。邓小平在中央工作会议闭幕式上做了题为《解放思想，实事求是，团结一致向前看》的重要讲话，这个讲话实际上成为随后召开的十一届三中全会的主题报告。十一届三中全会围绕经济调整、经济管理改革、抓农业、改善人民生活等做出了重要决策，确立了党的马克思主义思想路线、政治路线、组织路线。
这次会议是中华人民共和国成立以来中国共产党历史上具有深远意义的伟大转折，它从根本上冲破了长期“左”倾错误和“两个凡是”的束缚，确定了“解放思想，开动脑筋，实事求是，团结一致向前看”的指导方针，将中共中央的指导思想由阶级斗争转移到经济建设上，提出了改革开放的任务。从此，中国开始了从“以阶级斗争为纲”到以经济建设为中心、从僵化半僵化到全面改革、从封闭半封闭到对外开放的历史性转变。在解放思想、实事求是思想路线的指引下，围绕着怎样建设社会主义的问题进行了全面的政策创新，即从中国社会主义初级阶段的国情出发，创造性地提出了“一个中心、两个基本点”的基本路线，形成了党的总政策，构建了全新的政策体系，走上了建设有中国特色的社会主义的改革开放道路。