The Eighth National Congress of the CPC
The CPC held its Eighth National Congress from September 15 to 27, 1956, in Beijing. This was the first national congress after the CPC came to power. Attending the meeting were 1,026 delegates, representing 10.73 million Party members nationwide. The number of CPC members by that time was nearly nine times that in 1945 when the Seventh National Congress was held.
More than 50 delegations of foreign communist, workers' and people's parties, representatives of non-communist democratic parties in China, and prestigious democrats without party affiliation attended the congress on invitation.
Mao Zedong made an opening speech, Liu Shaoqi gave a political report, Deng Xiaoping delivered a report on the revision of the Party's Constitution, and Zhou Enlai reported on proposals concerning the Second Five-year Plan.
The basic task of this congress was to summarize all the experience gained since the Seventh National Congress, and unite the whole Party and all other forces at home and abroad to build a great socialist China.
The congress had the following goals and guidelines: (1) identifying changes in the main problems facing China, and deciding to shift the focus of the Party and the state to socialist development; (2) ensuring an economic strategy of opposing both undue caution and excessive haste, that is, seeking steady progress while ensuring all-round balance in economic development; (3) placing importance on ideological and cultural education; and (4) strengthening the Party now that it was in power, and reiterating the Central Committee's opposition to eulogy on individuals.
At its first plenary session, the Eighth Central Committee elected a new Political Bureau and Standing Committee, and elected Mao Zedong as chairman of the Central Committee, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Chen Yun as vice chairmen, and Deng Xiaoping as general secretary. They also elected a new Central Supervisory Committee.
中国共产党第八次全国代表大会
1956年9月15日至27日，中国共产党第八次全国代表大会在北京举行。这是中国共产党在全国执政后召开的第一次全国代表大会。出席大会的正式代表1026人，代表全国1073万党员，党员人数比中共七大时增加了8倍。应邀列席大会的有50多个外国共产党、工人党、劳动党和人民革命党等代表团以及国内各民主党派和无党派民主人士代表。毛泽东致开幕词，刘少奇作政治报告，邓小平作《关于修改党的章程的报告》，周恩来作《关于发展国民经济第二个五年计划的建议的报告》。
这次大会的基本任务是：总结党第七次全国代表大会以来的经验，团结全党、团结国内外一切可能团结的力量，为建设一个伟大的社会主义中国而奋斗。
会议主要确定了以下几方面内容：第一，提出了国内主要矛盾的新结论，作出了党和国家的工作重点必须转移到社会主义建设上来的重大战略决策；第二，坚持了既反保守又反冒进，即在综合平衡中稳步前进的经济建设方针；第三，强调加强思想文化建设的重要性；第四，着重提出了执政党的建设问题，重申了中共中央反对个人突出、反对对个人歌功颂德的方针。
随后召开的中共八届一中全会选举了中央政治局及其常务委员会，选举毛泽东为中央委员会主席，刘少奇、周恩来、朱德、陈云为副主席，邓小平为总书记；选举了中央监察委员会。
中共八大总结了中国共产党探索中国走社会主义建设道路的初步成果，制定了正确的路线方针，对于此后的社会主义建设具有久远的历史意义。
