The Sixth Plenum of the 12th CPC Central Committee

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 12th Party Central Committee ended on September 28 with a resolution on the guiding principles for building a socialist society with an advanced culture and ideology.

The session, preceded by a five-day preparatory meeting, was attended by 199 Central Committee members and 126 alternate members. Present were also members of the CPC Central Advisory Commission and Central Discipline Inspection Commission. Standing Committee Members Hu Yaobang, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Ziyang, Li Xiannian and Chen Yun presided over the session.

The session was convinced that the resolution would produce a tremendous and far-reaching influence on China's efforts to speed up material and ideological development, promote the all-round reform, implement the open policy, and build socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Taking economic development as the key link, the resolution says, China is to continue its economic and political reform and at the same time speed up cultural and ideological progress, making sure that these are co-ordinated and mutually complementary. "Cultural and ideological progress provides a powerful guarantee for the correct orientation of material progress," it says.

The development of the socialist commodity economy and the improvements of socialist democracy have led to profound changes in people's ideology and outlook, the resolution says. At the same time they have placed higher demands on efforts to foster socialist culture and ideology.

The eight-chapter document describes the basic tasks of building a socialist society with an advanced culture and ideology as raising the whole nation's ideological and ethical standards as well as its educational and scientific levels, in the interests of socialist modernization.

The resolution points out that the development of education, science and culture is a prerequisite not only for material development but also for ideological and ethical progress.

It stresses that it is imperative to foster socialist humanism, respect for people and concern for their welfare. In particular, one should protect childern, respect women, honour the old, disabled servicemen, the families of soldiers on active service and family members of revolutionary martyrs, help the handicapped and others who cannot support themselves and have no close relatives.

With regard to the reform of the political structure, the resolution says, the Central Committee aims to reform and perfect the Party and state leadership systems and to take a step further in extending socialist democracy and improving the socialist legal system. "It is wrong to regard Marxism as a rigid dogma. It is also wrong to negate its basic tenets, view it as an outmoded theory and blindly worship bourgeois philosophies and social doctrines."

The session also passed a resolution on convening the 13th national Party congress in October next year.

(NO. 40 OCTOBER 6, 1986, title:  "CPC Session Passes Ideology Resolution")