The 11th National Congress -- Beijing Review

This congress took place after the passing away of our great leader and teacher Chairman Mao Tsetung and after our Party's great victory in smashing the anti-Party "gang of four" of Wang Hung-wen, Chang Chun-chiao, Chiang Ching and Yao Wen-?yuan. It was a congress that held high the great banner of Chairman Mao and adhered to his proletarian revolutionary line, a congress that upheld Marxism and unity and the principle of being open and aboveboard. It was a congress of unity, a congress of victory.

A preparatory meeting was held on August 11. It elected a congress presidium composed of 223 delegates. Comrade Hua Kuo-feng was elected Chairman of the presidium and Comrades Yeh Chien-ying, Teng Hsiao-ping, Li Hsien-nien and Wang Tung-hsing were elected Vice-Chairmen. Comrade Wang Tung-hsing was concurrently the Secretary-General of the presidium. The preparatory meeting unanimously adopted a three-item agenda for the congress as proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the Tenth Central Committee, namely, 1) the political report of the Central Committee; 2) the revision of the Constitution of the Communist Party of China and the report on the revision of the Constitution; and 3) the election of the Central Committee. The meeting unanimously approved the report of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee delivered by Comrade Wang Tung-hsing on the examination of the credentials of the delegates to the Eleventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The report confirmed the validity of the credentials of all the delegates.

A total of 1,510 delegates attended the congress, representing the more than 35 million Party members. They were formally elected to the congress by the Party organizations in different areas and units which, strictly implementing the Party's principle of democratic centralism and earnestly following the mass line, had held repeated deliberations and consultations and sought opinions extensively from Party members and the masses outside the Party. Among the delegates were outstanding Party members, old, middle-aged and young, tested in different periods from the founding of our Party through the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Many of the delegates were model workers and advanced workers from different fronts, combat heroes and pacesetters in learning from Taching in industry or from Tachai in agriculture. Delegates from among the workers, peasants, soldiers and other working people accounted for 72.4 per cent, revolutionary intellectuals for 6.7 per cent and revolutionary cadres for 20.9 per cent of the total number of delegates. Women Party members made up 19 per cent, minority nationality Party members 9.3 per cent and middle-aged and young Party members 73.8 per cent. Party members who hail from Taiwan Province also elected delegates to the congress.

At 3:30 on the afternoon of August 12, the congress formally opened in the Great Hall of the People. When our wise leader Chairman Hua Kuo-feng and Vice-Chairmen Yeh Chien-ying, Teng Hsiao-ping, Li Hsien-nien and Wang Tung-hsing mounted the rostrum all the delegates rose to their feet and gave them a prolonged and thunderous ovation.

Chairman Hua Kuo-feng declared the congress open. The band played The East Is Red.

Chairman Hua delivered the political report to the congress on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He first proposed that all the comrades present rise in silent tribute to the memory of Chairman Mao Tsetung, the founder of our Party, our army and our People's Republic and the great leader and teacher of the proletariat and the people of all nationalities in our country, to the memory of our esteemed and beloved Premier Chou En-lai and Chairman Chu Teh of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, great proletarian revolutionary sons of the Chinese people and Chairman Mao's long-tested, close comrades-in-arms who passed away last year, to the memory of Comrade Kang Sheng, Comrade Tung Pi-wu, Comrade Li Fu-chun, Comrade Chen Yi and Comrade Ho Lung, proletarian revolutionaries who rendered outstanding service to the revolutionary cause of the Chinese people and who passed away in the years preceding and following the Tenth Congress, and to the memory of Members of the Central Committee and all other comrades who made important contributions to the Party and the revolution and who passed away during the same period.

In his report Chairman Hua says that our present congress is charged with a historic task. It is to hold high the great banner of Chairman Mao and carry out his behests, sum up the experience of our struggle against the Wang-Chang-Chiang-Yao "gang of four," adhere to the Party's basic line, persevere in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, bring into play all positive factors inside and outside the Party and at home and abroad, unite with all the forces that can be united, strive to implement the strategic decision, "grasp the key link of class struggle and bring about great order across the land," and make China a great, powerful and modern socialist country by the end of this century.

Chairman Hua points out that all the victories won in the Chinese revolution over more than half a century have been due to the leadership of Chairman Mao and the guidance of his revolutionary line. The banner of Chairman Mao is the banner of victory of the Chinese people's revolution. Chairman Mao inherited, defended and developed Marxism-Leninism. He was the greatest Marxist of our time. Mao Tsetung Thought is a new acquisition enriching the treasure house of Marxist-Leninist theory and is Chairman Mao's most precious legacy to our era. The banner of Mao Tsetung Thought is likewise the banner of victory of the revolution of the people of the world. Chairman Mao's monumental contributions to the theory and practice of revolution, made for the benefit of the Chinese people and the proletariat and revolutionary people of the world, are immortal. We must hold high the great banner of Chairman Mao and resolutely defend it, and we must cherish it as our precious heritage and hand it on from generation to generation. This is the sacred duty of the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all nationalities in our country, the political basis on which we fight in unity and continue the revolution, and the guarantee for the triumphant advance of our socialist cause and the revolutionary cause of the international proletariat.

In summing up the eleventh struggle between the two lines in our Party, Chairman Hua points out that our wise and great Chairman Mao became aware of the anti-Party activities of the "gang of four" long ago and that he sternly criticized and admonished them on many occasions and took it upon himself to lead the Party in repeated struggles against them. He says that the important directives and wise decisions by Chairman Mao laid the groundwork for our subsequent settlement of the question of the "gang of four." The tremendous victory won in the eleventh struggle between the two lines in our Party should be ascribed to our great leader Chairman Mao, to the great Mao Tsetung Thought and his revolutionary line and to our great Party, army and people.

In his report Chairman Hua accurately expounds Chairman Mao's great theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. He says that Chairman Mao inherited, defended and developed Marx's and Lenin's concept and that he established the great systematic theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. He says that this great theory has clearly charted the true road to consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, preventing capitalist restoration and building socialism for the countries in which the proletarian revolution has triumphed. It is Chairman Mao's greatest contribution to the theory of the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, and it occupies an especially prominent place in the history of the development of Marxism.

Chairman Hua points out that as far as ideology and theory are concerned, the eleventh struggle between the two lines in our Party has unfolded around the question of whether to uphold or to vitiate the theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is the salient feature of this struggle. The "gang of four" completely perverted Chairman Mao's great theory and the Party's basic line for the entire historical period of socialism and Chairman Mao's comprehensive thesis on the question of capitalist-roaders inside the Party. They dished up a counter-revolutionary political programme which equated veteran cadres with "democrats" and "democrats" with "capitalist-roaders." They slanderously alleged that there was "a bourgeois class" inside the Party and the army and altogether reversed the relationship of the people to the enemy in the historical period of socialism. They vainly attempted to overthrow a large number of revolutionary leading cadres in the Party, the government and the army, hoping to destroy our Party and our army, overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism. Armed with the weapon of Mao Tsetung Thought, Chairman Hua makes a penetrating criticism of the counter-revolutionary political programme of the "gang of four." He states that so long as supreme Party and state power rests with a leading core that adheres to the Marxist-Leninist line, the capitalist-roaders cannot possibly grow into a bourgeois class inside the Party because they are a mere handful and, what is more, they are being constantly exposed and weeded out. The overwhelming majority of the veteran cadres in the Party are certainly not bourgeois democrats, they are proletarian revolutionaries. The basic principles of the "three do's and three don'ts" put forward by Chairman Mao point out the essential criteria for identifying capitalist-roaders in the Party. Adhering to these criteria, we will be able to guide the cadres and the masses in accurately identifying and completely isolating absolutely unrepentant capitalist-roaders like Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and the "gang of four," and concentrate our attack on them.

Chairman Hua says that smashing the anti-Party "gang of four" is yet another signal victory achieved in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. He stresses the tremendous achievements and historic significance of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. He points out that the Cultural Revolution will go down in the history of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a momentous innovation. Now that the gang has been overthrown, we are able to achieve stability and unity and attain great order across the land in compliance with Chairman Mao's instructions. Thus, the smashing of the "gang of four" marks the triumphant conclusion of our first Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which lasted eleven years. But this certainly does not mean the end of class struggle or the end of the continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. He calls on us to follow Chairman Mao's teachings and carry the continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat through to the end.

Chairman Hua analyses the present excellent international situation in his report and points out that while the factors for revolution are growing, so obviously are the factors for war. The two powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, are the source of a new world war, and Soviet social-imperialism in particular presents the greater danger. The people of all countries must heighten their vigilance, close their ranks and wage unrelenting struggles. He says that we should hold high the great banner of Chairman Mao, adhere to proletarian internationalism and continue to carry out Chairman Mao's revolutionary line in foreign affairs. We should enhance our unity with the socialist countries, with the proletariat and the oppressed people and nations throughout the world, enhance our unity with the countries of the third world, unite with all countries subjected to aggression, subversion, interference, control and bullying by imperialism and social-imperialism and form the broadest united front against the hegemonism of the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. We should establish and develop our relations with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. We should strengthen our unity with all genuine Marxist-Leninist Parties and organizations the world over and carry through to the end the struggle against modern revisionism with the Soviet revisionist renegade clique as its centre.

Chairman Hua makes an incisive exposition of Chairman Mao's thesis differentiating the three worlds. He says that this thesis sets forth the correct orientation for the present struggle in the international arena and clearly defines the main revolutionary forces, the chief enemies, and the middle forces that can be won over and united, thus enabling the international proletariat to unite with all the forces that can be united to form the broadest united front in class struggles against the chief enemies in the world arena. It is the correct strategic and tactical formulation for the international proletariat in the present era and constitutes the class line in its international struggles.

Chairman Hua points out that the successful conclusion of the first Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution has ushered in a new period of development in China's socialist revolution and socialist construction. The situation is excellent and popular feeling favours order. A new leap forward is shaping up in the national economy, spurred on by the great class struggle to expose and criticize the "gang of four." The revolution on the scientific and technological front and in education, literature and art, and health work is forging ahead.

Chairman Hua points out: The gist of the Central Committee's strategic decision to grasp the key link of class struggle and bring about great order across the land is to hold high and defend the great banner of Chairman Mao, carry the tremendous struggle to expose and criticize the "gang of four" through to the end by fully mobilizing the masses and uniting with all the forces that can be united, eliminate the pernicious influence of the gang's counter-revolutionary revisionist line, consolidate and expand our successes in the eleventh struggle between the two lines, and comprehensively and correctly implement Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line in political, economic, military, cultural and foreign affairs.

In the report, Chairman Hua further explains the Party's eight main fighting tasks for the present and for some time to come as dictated by the decision to grasp the key link of class struggle and bring about great order across the land. These eight points are: We must carry the great struggle to expose and criticize the "gang of four" through to the end; we must do a good job of Party consolidation and rectification and strengthen Party building; we must do a good job of consolidating and building up our Party's leading bodies at all levels; we must grasp revolution, promote production and push the national economy forward; we must make a success of the revolution in cultural and educational spheres and strive to develop socialist culture and education; we must strengthen the people's state apparatus; we must promote democracy and strengthen democratic centralism; and we must implement the policy of overall consideration and all-round arrangement so as to mobilize all positive forces to build socialism. Chairman Hua says that we must further arouse the masses and vigorously wage a people's war to thoroughly expose and criticize the ultra-Right essence of the gang's counter-revolutionary revisionist line and all its manifestations. Investigation into the individuals involved in and the incidents connected with the conspiracy of the "gang of four" to usurp Party and state power is an important part of the struggle and must be done by fully mobilizing the masses. At the same time, as the movement develops in depth, we must pay greater attention to the Party's policies, unite more than 95 per cent of the cadres and the masses, isolate to the maximum the "gang of four" and the handful of their sworn followers who are guilty of serious crimes and are unwilling to repent, and concentrate our blows on them.

Chairman Hua declares that the Central Committee has decided that the Fifth National People's Congress will be convened at an appropriate time, and the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will go into session with the National People's Congress simultaneously. We must earnestly exert ourselves to mobilize all positive factors inside and outside the Party, strengthen the great unity of the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all our nationalities in the common struggle to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and build up our great socialist motherland.

Chairman Hua's political report which lasted four hours was punctuated by thunderous applause.

At 3:30 on the afternoon of August 13 the congress held its second plenary session. Amid warm applause Vice-Chairman Yeh Chien-ying made the report on the revision of the Constitution of the Party on behalf of the Central Committee.

Vice-Chairman Yeh first points out that Comrade Hua Kuo-feng was chosen by Chairman Mao himself as his successor. As has been proved in practice, the line of the Central Committee headed by Chairman Hua is entirely correct politically and organizationally. Chairman Hua is worthy of being called Chairman Mao's good student and successor, the wise leader of our Party and people and the brilliant supreme commander of our army. Chairman Hua can certainly continue to carry forward our proletarian revolutionary cause pioneered by Chairman Mao and lead our Party, our army and the people of all nationalities triumphantly into the 21st century.

Vice-Chairman Yeh points out that the "gang of four" sabotaged Party building in their vain attempt to transform our Party in the image of the bourgeoisie. In accordance with Chairman Mao's teachings on Party building and with the fresh experience of the eleventh struggle between the two lines, we should make necessary revisions in the Party Constitution adopted at the Tenth Congress.

Vice-Chairman Yeh gives valuable explanations on the following eight points concerning the draft of the revised Party Constitution: holding high and defending the great banner of Chairman Mao; the character and the guiding ideology of the Party; the basic programme of the Party in the entire historical period of socialism and its basic tasks; the basic principles of the "three do's and three don'ts"; democratic centralism in the Party; the line of the Party on cadres; keeping to and carrying forward the Party's fine tradition and fine style of work; and requirements for Party members and primary Party organizations.

As Vice-Chairman Yeh points out, the new Party Constitution stresses that the whole Party must always hold high and resolutely defend the great banner of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and ensure that our Party's cause will continue to advance triumphantly along the Marxist line. The Constitution emphasizes that the Party persists in combating revisionism, and dogmatism and empiricism, and that it upholds dialectical materialism and historical materialism as its world outlook and opposes the idealist and metaphysical world outlook. The Constitution gives prominence to the question of adhering to the basic principles of the "three do's and three don'ts" and stresses the need for revolutionary boldness in daring to go against any tide that runs counter to these three basic principles. It points to the extreme importance of democratic centralism, stipulating that democracy should be given full scope, that it is absolutely impermissible for anyone to suppress criticism or to retaliate, and that those guilty of doing so should be investigated and punished. It emphasizes that the Party must have not only democracy, but also and still more so, centralism, and that it is imperative to strengthen Party discipline. To safeguard the principle and discipline of democratic centralism, the new Party Constitution stipulates that commissions for inspecting discipline are to be set up. It also stipulates that the Party must train and bring up in mass struggles millions of successors in the revolutionary cause of the proletariat in accordance with the five requirements put forward by Chairman Mao and form leading bodies at all levels according to the principle of combining the old, the middle-aged and the young. The Constitution stresses the need to keep to and carry forward the fine traditions of following the mass line and seeking truth from facts. It provides that all probationary members without exception may become full members only after a probationary period of one year, so as to ensure their political quality.

Vice-Chairman Yeh points out that the draft of the revised Party Constitution, holding high the great banner of Chairman Mao, fully embodies his teachings on Party building and the theory and line of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and reflects the fruits of victory in the great struggle to smash the "gang of four." The new Party Constitution to be adopted at this congress, he says, will be an important weapon for strengthening our Party building ideologically and organizationally. Party organizations at all levels and all Party members must conscientiously study the Party Constitution, abide by it strictly, implement it resolutely, and fight against any words and deeds running counter to it.

The reports delivered by Chairman Hua and Vice-Chairman Yeh and the draft of the revised Party Constitution were conscientiously and warmly discussed by the congress. The minds of the delegates were at ease and they spoke freely. The congress proceeded in an atmosphere of liveliness and vigour. It gave full expression to our Party's fine tradition and fine style of work and to its unity and vitality.

In the course of the discussions the delegates warmly praised the monumental contributions of our great leader and teacher Chairman Mao and praised our wise leader Chairman Hua for his great service in leading our Party in smashing the "gang of four," thus saving our Party and country. The congress considers that in his political report Chairman Hua, holding high the great banner of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, comprehensively summed up the basic experience in the eleventh struggle between the two lines in the Party, accurately expounded Chairman Mao's great theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, profoundly analysed the international and domestic situation and explicitly set forth the tasks for the present and for some time to come. It is a programme which guides our Party, army and people in their struggle to win new victories in the socialist revolution and construction.

Speaking of what had happened on various fronts, the delegates indignantly laid bare and criticized the heinous crimes of the "gang of four" against the Communist Party, the people and the revolution. The congress warmly hailed the great victory our Party scored in the eleventh struggle between the two lines by smashing the Wang-Chang-Chiang-Yao anti-Party clique. The congress fully approved the measures taken by the Party Central Committee headed by Comrade Hua Kuo-feng to smash the "gang of four" and the Resolution on the Anti-Party Clique of Wang Hung-wen, Chang Chun-chiao, Chiang Ching and Yao Wen-yuan, adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the Tenth Central Committee. It pledged to carry the struggle to expose and criticize the "gang of four" through to the end.

The delegates discussed the international and domestic situation and pointed out that the Party's great victory in the eleventh struggle between the two lines is the basic indicator of the excellent situation in our country. The mass movements to learn from Taching in industry and from Tachai in agriculture are surging ahead vigorously on an unprecedented scale. A socialist revolutionary campaign to emulate, learn from, catch up with, help and in turn surpass each other is unfolding everywhere. Good news keeps pouring in that new records have been set on the industrial and agricultural fronts. The congress expressed the determination that under the leadership of the Central Committee headed by Chairman Hua, we must advance from victory to victory, grasp revolution and promote production and other work and preparedness against war, and achieve outstanding successes to offset the losses caused by the interference and sabotage of the "gang of four," so as to render a bigger contribution to making China a powerful modern socialist country.

At 3:00 on the afternoon of August 18, the congress held its third plenary session. After full consultation and discussion, the delegates elected the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China by secret ballot. The congress unanimously adopted a resolution on the political report and the new Constitution of the Communist Party of China and the report on the revision of the Party Constitution. When Comrade Teng Hsiao-ping, the Executive Chairman of the congress, announced the election of our wise leader Comrade Hua Kuo-feng to the Central Committee, the hall resounded with a prolonged and stormy ovation. Altogether 201 Members and 132 Alternate Members of the Central Committee were elected.

Vice-Chairman Teng Hsiao-ping gave the closing address amid warm applause. He says that the congress will go down in the glorious history of our Party as a congress that has carried out Chairman Mao's revolutionary line correctly and comprehensively, revived and carried forward our Party's fine tradition and fine style of work and ushered in a new period of development in our socialist revolution and socialist construction.

Vice-Chairman Teng says that we must revive and carry forward the fine traditions and style of work which Chairman Mao fostered in our Party - following the mass line, seeking truth from facts, conducting criticism and self-criticism, being modest and prudent and free from arrogance and impetuosity, keeping to plain living and hard struggle and practising democratic centralism. We must strive to bring about a political situation in the whole Party, the whole army and the whole country in which there are both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind and liveliness.

Vice-Chairman Teng points out that the smashing of the "gang of four" has changed the face of the whole Party and the whole nation. We have scored tremendous victories. But there are many problems to be tackled and many difficulties to be surmounted. We are full of confidence that so long as we really have faith in the masses and rely on them we can surmount these difficulties one by one and go on to one new victory after another.

Vice-Chairman Teng calls on the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all our nationalities to hold high and defend the great banner of Chairman Mao, carry out his behests, rally all the more closely round the Party Central Committee headed by Comrade Hua Kuo-feng, persist in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, mobilize all positive factors inside and outside the Party, and at home and abroad, and strive to implement the strategic decision, "grasp the key link of class struggle and bring about great order across the land," consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and make China a great, powerful, modern socialist country by the end of the century, so as to make a greater contribution to humanity.

To the stirring strains of The Internationale, the Eleventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China drew to a triumphant close.

(NO. 35 AUGUST 26, 1977)

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