The Convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing from December 18 to 22, 1978. The central topic was to discuss shifting the focus of the whole Party’s work to socialist modernization. A strategic decision was made to shift the focus of the whole Party’s work to socialist modernization and implement Reform and Opening-up from 1979. Attending the session were 169 Central Committee members and 112 alternate members. Persons responsible for relevant central and local departments attended the session as nonvoting delegates. The session turned out to be fruitful. In terms of economic construction, a series of new major measures were proposed to adjust the imbalanced national economy and reform the excessively centralized economic management system. The correct ideological line of the Communist Party of China was re-established. The wrong policy of “two whatevers” was criticized, the need to master and apply the scientific system of Mao Zedong Thought completely and accurately was fully affirmed, the debate on the standard of truth won high praise, and the guiding principle of emancipating the mind, setting the wits to work, seeking truth from facts, and looking forward with unity was determined.

The correct political line of the Communist Party of China was re-established. The slogan “taking class struggle as the key link” which is not applicable to socialist society would no longer be used, and the so-called “continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat” in the “Cultural Revolution” followed by the Eleventh CPC National Congress and the left-deviation idea that “Cultural Revolution” would be carried out many more times in the future were denied. The correct organizational line of the Communist Party of China was re-established. It was decided in the session to improve the Party’s organizational discipline and democratic centralism, to oppose accepting and manufacturing personality cult, and to strengthen collective leadership.

A number of major unjust, false and wrong cases and the merits and demerits of some important leaders in CPC history were examined and settled, including the wrong criticism and conclusions about Peng Dehuai and others at the Lushan Conference in 1959, the erroneous documents about the case of the 61 traitors group including Bo Yibo, Criticizing Deng Xiaoping and Countering the Trend toward Reversing Right-wing Verdicts and the Tian’anmen Incident, and the evaluation of Deng Xiaoping’s work in 1975. It was agreed in the session that setting up the ad hoc agency to examine cadres, which was divorced from the supervision of the Party and the masses, had great disadvantages and must be abolished forever. It was decided that the serious imbalance of the major proportions of the national economy should be settled, agricultural development should be accelerated, and “The Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Accelerating Agricultural Development (Draft)” and “Regulations on the Work of Rural People’s Communes (Trial Draft)” should be sent to provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions for discussion and trial implementation. In order to promote agriculture, we must first carry out reforms in rural areas and implement the responsibility system of paying remuneration according to output.

The task of perfecting socialist democracy and strengthening the socialist legal system was determined. We should resolutely safeguard the civil rights stipulated in the Constitution from being infringed by anyone, institutionalize and legalize democracy, and ensure that there are laws to abide by, the law is obeyed and strictly enforced, and violators are investigated and dealt with. Chen Yun was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, and a vice chairman of the Central Committee; Deng Yingchao, Hu Yaobang and Wang Zhen were elected as members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee; Huang Kecheng, Song Renqiong, Hu Qiaomu, Xi Zhongxun, Wang Renzhong, Huang Huoqing, Chen Zaidao, Han Guang and Zhou Hui were added as members of the Central Committee. The supplementary procedure of these members will be submitted to the 12th CPC National Congress for ratification. It was decided to set up the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and elect Chen Yun as its first secretary, Deng Yingchao as the second secretary, Hu Yaobang as the third secretary, Huang Kecheng as the standing secretary and Wang Heshou as the deputy secretary.

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee was a great turning point in the Party’s history since the founding of New China. It ended the wandering progress of the Party’s work in the two years after the smashing of “The Gang of Four”, marked the re-establishment of CPC’s Marxist ideological line, political line and organizational line, formed the collective leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Deng Xiaoping as the core, and opened up a new period of Reform and Opening-up and socialist modernization with concentrated efforts.