Chinese Communism Subject Archive
(Adopted on June 29, 1981)
The Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held its Sixth Plenary Session in Beijing from June 27 to 29, 1981. It was attended by 195 members and 114 alternate members of the Central Committee and 53 non-voting participants. Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Comrades Hu Yaobang, Ye Jianying, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Ziyang, Li Xiannian, Chen Yun and Hua Guofeng, presided at the session.
Items on the agenda of the plenary session were: 1) Discussion and approval of the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China; 2) Re-election of principal leading members of the Central Committee and election of new ones. The above-mentioned agenda was thoroughly deliberated and conscientiously discussed at a preparatory meeting held before the plenary session. This session is another meeting of great significance in the history of our Party following the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, a meeting for summing up experience and closing the ranks to press forward. This session will go down in history for fulfilling the historic mission of setting to rights things which have been thrown into disorder in the guiding ideology of the Party.
Applying Marxist dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China unanimously adopted by the plenary session correctly sums up the major historical events of the Party in the 32 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, particularly the “cultural revolution”. The resolution scientifically analyses the rights and wrongs in the Party’s guiding ideology during these events, analyses the subjective factors and social causes that gave rise to mistakes, realistically evaluates the historical role played by Comrade Mao Zedong, the great leader and teacher, in the Chinese revolution and fully elaborates the great significance of Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding ideology of our Party. The resolution affirms the correct path for building a modern and powerful socialist country, a path which has been gradually established since the Third Plenary Session and which conforms to the realities in China, and further points out the orientation for the continued advance of our country’s socialist cause and the work of our Party. The plenary session believes that the adoption and publication of the resolution will exert great and far-reaching influence on unifying the thinking and understanding of the Party, the army and the people of all nationalities throughout the country so that they will strive with one heart and one mind to carry out our new, historical task.
The plenary session unanimously approved Comrade Hua Guofeng’s request to resign his posts as Chairman of the Central Committee and Chairman of its Military Commission. The plenary session re-elected the principal leading members of the Central Committee and elected new ones by secret ballot. The results of the elections are:
1) Comrade Hu Yaobang—Chairman of the Central Committee;
2) Comrade Zhao Ziyang—Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee;
3) Comrade Hua Guofeng—Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee;
4) Comrade Dong Xiaoping—Chairman of the Military Commission of the Central Committee;
5) A Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee made up of the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Central Committee. They are Hu Yaobang, Ye Jianying, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Ziyang, Li Xiannian, Chen Yun and Hua Guofeng;
6) Comrade Xi Zhongxun—Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.
The plenary session holds that the election and re-election of the principal leading members of the Central Committee will play an important part in strengthening the Central Committee’s collective leadership and unity on the basis of Marxism and ensuring the full implementation of the Party’s correct line and policies formulated since the Third Plenary Session.
The plenary session gave full play to democracy. All comrades present spoke out freely, adopted the scientific approach of seeking truth from facts and displayed the spirit of criticism and self-criticism in summing up historical experience and discussing and deciding the choice of persons as leading members of the Central Committee. This restored and carried forward the fine tradition formed by our Party during the Yan’an rectification period. The session vividly demonstrates our Party’s strong unity and fully reflects the growth and flourishing of our cause.
The plenary session believes that, just as the Party’s correct summing up of historical experience in the period of the democratic revolution brought great revolutionary victories, the correct summing up of the Party’s historical experience since the founding of the People’s Republic of China will help bring about new great victories in our future socialist construction. The plenary session calls on the Party, the army and the people of all nationalities throughout the country to hold high the banner of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, rally more closely around the Party Central Committee, carry forward the spirit of the legendary Foolish Old Man who removed mountains, be resolute, surmount all difficulties and work hard to turn China step by step into a modern and powerful socialist country with a high degree of democracy and civilization.