Theoretical Work Conference 1978-1979

Important work conference on theoretical work which was held in Beijing from January 18 to April 3 1979. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, great historical turning point has been achieved and gratifying achievements have been made. However, there were also a number of some phenomena worthy of attention and vigilance.

On the one hand, some people were still bound by the "Left" ideology, showing some degree of incomprehension or even resistance to the Party's line and policy established since the Third Plenary Session; on the other hand, a very small number of people wanted to misuse the situation of the Party's endeavor to rectify the chaos, these few people acting under the guise of "social reform", misinterpreted the slogan of "emancipating the mind" was misinterpreted and the mistakes of the Party were exaggerated to the extreme, thus denying the leadership of the Party and the road to socialism. Under these circumstances, at the suggestion of Ye Jianying, the Central Committee decided to hold a work conference on theoretical work.

The purpose of this conference was to sum up the basic experience and lessons of the theoretical propaganda front and to study the fundamental task of the theoretical propaganda work after the shift of the focus of the Party's work to economic issues. The theoretical work conference lasted for more than 70 days and was held in two stages: from January 18 to March 16, the meeting was jointly convened by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, with the participation of more than 100 theoretical propaganda units from the Central Government and Beijing, as well as liaison officers from all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The conference sharply criticised the erroneous slogan of the "Two Whatevers" and the rigidity of in thinking and held in-depth discussions on some major theoretical issues that had been distorted during the past years, such as handling the issue of class struggle during the period of socialism and the slogan of “continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat”.

The second stage of the meeting, was held from March 28 to April 3, chaired in the name of the Central Committee of the CPC. The number of participants had increased to nearly 500. In the afternoon of March 30, Deng Xiaoping, entrusted by the Central Committee, made an important speech on "Uphold the Four Basic Principles". Deng Xiaoping pointed out that our main task at present and for a considerable period of history in the future should be to engage in modernisation.

Whether or not we can achieve the four modernisations will determine the fate of our country and the fate of our nation. Socialist modernisation is our biggest politics at present. Given our present conditions, it will be precisely by succeeding in the four modernizations that we will be adhering to Marxism and holding high the true banner of Mao Zedong Thought. And if we fail to proceed from this reality and to concentrate on the four modernizations, it will mean that we are departing from Marxism while indulging in empty talk about it. The ideological and theoretical work cannot be separated from the current political tasks. At the present time, socialist modernization is of supreme task of political importance for us, because it represents the most fundamental interest of our people.

Evaluating the erroneous trend of thinking that emerged in the process of setting things right, Deng Xiaoping brilliantly stressed that in order to realize the four modernizations in China, it is necessary to adhere to uphold Four Basic Principles in ideology and politics, which were the fundamental prerequisites for realizing four modernizations.

He said: “Adhering to the socialist road, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Communist Party and Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, as we all know, far from being new, these Four Cardinal Principles have long been upheld by our Party for a long time. If any one of these Four Basic Principles is shaken, then the entire socialist cause, the entire cause of modernization, will be shaken. Therefore, we must, on the one hand, continue to resolutely eliminate the pernicious influence of the ultra-left ideology spread by the Gang of Four (which opposes the Four Basic Principles from the "Left") and, on the other hand we must also struggle unremittingly against other currents of thought which throw doubt on the Four Cardinal Principles. Both the ultra-Left and right currents of thought run counter to Marxism. But what I want to emphasize now is criticism of a trend of thought which is skeptical of, or opposes our Four Cardinal Principles, which comes from the Right.” He added: under such circumstances to make a new and convincing publicity for the Four Basic Principles based on a new wealth of facts is not only a major political task, but also a major theoretical task.

The conference on theoretical work further unified the ideological understanding of the Party as a whole and examined and defined the fundamental tasks of theoretical publicity work after the shift of the Party's work priorities, and especially Deng Xiaoping's speech, in this conference had vigorously promoted the correct the ideological and political lines established at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party.