Page 6 - Communiqué of the Sixth Plenary Session of the

Thought represents a creative application and advancement of Marxism-Leninism
in China. It is a summation of theories, principles, and experience on China’s

revolution and construction that has been proven correct through practice, and its
establishment marked the first historic step in adapting Marxism to the Chinese
context.

Under the Party’s leadership, the people worked diligently for a stronger
China with a spirit of self-reliance, achieving great success in socialist revolution

and construction. This brought about the most extensive and profound social
change in the history of the Chinese nation and a great transformation from a poor
and backward Eastern country with a large population to a socialist country.
Moreover, an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national

economic framework were established, the conditions of agricultural production
were markedly improved, and impressive progress was made in social programs
such as education, science, culture, health, and sports. The People’s Liberation
Army continued to grow in strength, and the humiliating diplomacy of the old

China was put to an end. Through tenacious struggle, the Party and the people
showed the world that the Chinese people were not only capable of dismantling
the old world, but also of building a new one, that only socialism could save China,
and that only socialism could develop China.

It was stated at the session that the major tasks of the Party during the new

period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization were to continue
exploring the right path for building socialism in China, unleash and develop the
productive forces, lift the people out of poverty and help them become prosperous
in the shortest time possible, and fuel the push toward national rejuvenation by

providing new, dynamic institutional guarantees as well as the material conditions
for rapid development.

After the third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee, Chinese
communists, with Comrade Deng Xiaoping as their chief representative, united
and led the whole Party and the entire nation in conducting a thorough review of

the experience gained and the lessons learnt since the founding of the People’s
Republic. On this basis, and by focusing on the fundamental questions of what
socialism is and how to build it and drawing lessons from the history of world

socialism, they established Deng Xiaoping Theory, and devoted their efforts to
freeing minds and seeking truth from facts. The historic decision was made to shift

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