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 free 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, reform of economic governance, 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 history of the CPC after the founding of the People's Republic, an end to the lengthy dominance of "leftist" mistakes that had trapped China in blind obedience 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 truth 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 launched.

Guided by new thinking, innovative policies were later 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 conditions in the primary stage of socialism. The framework identified economic development as the "central task," with the "two basic points" being a commitment to the Four Cardinal Principles (socialism, the people's democratic dictatorship, leadership by the CPC, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought) 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.

中共十一屆三中全會

1978年12月18日至22日，中國共產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轉移到社會主義現代化建設上來。這次會議前，從11月10日至12月15日，召開了中央工作會議，對黨的工作重點轉移、黨的優良傳統的恢復和發揚等，提出了積極建議。鄧小平在中央工作會議閉幕式上作題為《解放思想，實事求是，團結一致向前看》的重要講話，成為隨后召開的中共十一屆三中全會的主題報告。中共十一屆三中全會圍繞經濟調整、經濟管理改革、抓農業、改善人民生活等作出重要決策，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黨歷史上具有深遠意義的偉大轉折，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，實事求是，團結一致向前看”的指導方針，將中共中央的指導思想由階級斗爭轉移到經濟建設上，提出了改革開放的任務。從此，中國開始了從“以階級斗爭為綱”到以經濟建設為中心、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變。在解放思想、實事求是思想路線的指引下，中國共產黨圍繞怎樣建設社會主義的問題進行了全面的政策創新，即從中國社會主義初級階段的國情出發，創造性地提出了以經濟建設為中心，堅持四項基本原則，堅持改革開放，即“一個中心、兩個基本點”的基本路線，構建了全新的政策體系，走上了建設有中國特色的社會主義的改革開放道路。