The Four Cardinal Principles
In the early days of reform and opening up, some ideological trends were apparent in China, both among CPC members and in wider society. There was still a tendency toward rigid thinking, and some people could not understand the guidelines, principles and policies adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, and even harbored resentment toward them, while a handful of people expressed opposition to socialism, the CPC's leadership, and the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought – preaching anarchy and bourgeois liberalization as an alternative. This caused ideological confusion and had a direct impact on social stability and the orientation of reform and opening up.
Against this backdrop, a forum on the principles for the Party's theoretical work was held, and Deng Xiaoping was entrusted by the Central Committee to deliver a speech entitled "Upholding the Four Cardinal Principles" in March 1979.
The Four Cardinal Principles are:
•keeping to the path of socialism;
•upholding the dictatorship of the proletariat (people's democratic dictatorship);
•upholding the leadership of the CPC; and
•upholding Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.
These four constitute an integrated whole, with the CPC's leadership being the core of the four principles.
The Four Cardinal Principles are the very foundation for building China, and a major component of the Party's guidelines for building socialism with Chinese characteristics in the primary stage of socialism. This makes them the political anchor that unites the Chinese people in their concerted endeavors.
四项基本原则
改革开放之初，中国社会上和中国共产党党内出现了一些思想动向。一方面，在一部分人中，仍然存在思想僵化或半僵化状态，对中共十一届三中全会制定的路线、方针、政策表现出不理解甚至抵触情绪；另一方面，社会上极少数人宣扬无政府主义和资产阶级自由化的主张，反对社会主义制度，反对中国共产党的领导，反对毛泽东思想的指导地位，在社会上造成思想混乱，直接影响到中国社会稳定和改革开放的方向。
在这种情况下，1979年3月，邓小平在中共中央召开的理论工作务虚会上，作了题为《坚持四项基本原则》的讲话。四项基本原则的核心内容是：坚持社会主义道路，坚持无产阶级专政即人民民主专政，坚持中国共产党的领导，坚持马列主义和毛泽东思想。四项基本原则是一个相互联系的整体，其核心是坚持中国共产党的领导。
四项基本原则是立国之本，是中国共产党在社会主义初级阶段基本路线的重要内容之一，是全国各族人民团结奋进的政治基础。
