Firmly Grasp Party’s General Line

The general line of the Party refers to the basic policy of the Party which guides the overall situation in a certain historical period, and it is the general policy which leads the Party formulating specific working lines and policies covering all aspects. It is also called "The Party's Basic Line".

The general line of the New Democratic Revolution was formulated in Mao Zedong's speech at the Shanxi-Suiyuan Cadre Conference in April 1948: “The New-Democratic Revolution must be a revolution against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism waged by the broad masses of the people under the leadership of the proletariat.”

In 1952, Mao Zedong put forward, and during the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC officially formulated the general line of the Party in the transitional period in 1953: realize the country’s socialist industrialization and socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts and capitalist industry and commerce step by step over a fairly long period of time.

In 1958, at the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress of the CPC, the general line of socialist construction was adopted: “Going out, aiming high and achieving greater, faster, better and more economical results in building socialism.” But, although this general and its fundamental aspects were correct in that it reflected the masses’ pressing demand for a change in the economic and cultural backwardness of our country. Its shortcoming was that it overlooked objective economic laws.

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC, held in 1978, began to form the concept of "one center, two basic points".

In 1987, the 13th National Congress of the Party put forward the basic line of the Party in the primary stage of socialism: leading and uniting the people of all nationalities throughout the country, focusing on economic construction, adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles, adhering to Reform and Opening-up, self-reliance and hard work, and striving to build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic and civilized socialist modern country.

The Constitution of the Communist Party of China revised at the 18th National Party Congress stipulated: basic line of the Party through this primary stage, namely, leading and uniting peoples of all ethnic groups, taking economic development as the central task, adhering to the two basic points of the Four Cardinal Principles and Reform and Opening-up, and striving through self-reliance and hard work to build China into a prosperous, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern socialist country.

It is of great importance to firmly grasp this general line of the Party. In 1948, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Our Party has laid down the general line and general policy of the Chinese revolution as well as various specific lines for work and specific policies. However, while many comrades remember our Party's specific lines for work and specific policies, they often forget its general line and general policy. If we actually forget the Party's general line and general policy, then we shall be blind, half-baked, muddle-headed revolutionaries, and when we carry out a specific line for work and a specific policy, we shall lose our bearings and vacillate now to the left and now to the right, and the work will suffer.”