The Four Cardinal Principles

In the early days of reform and opening up, some ideological trends were apparent in China, both among CPC members and in wider society. There was still a tendency toward rigid thinking, and some people could not understand the guidelines, principles and policies adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, and even harbored resentment toward them, while a handful of people expressed opposition to socialism, the CPC's leadership, and the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought – preaching anarchy and bourgeois liberalization as an alternative. This caused ideological confusion and had a direct impact on social stability and the orientation of reform and opening up. 

Against this backdrop, a forum on the principles for the Party's theoretical work was held, and Deng Xiaoping was entrusted by the Central Committee to deliver a speech entitled "Upholding the Four Cardinal Principles" in March 1979.

The Four Cardinal Principles are:

?keeping to the path of socialism; 

?upholding the dictatorship of the proletariat (people's democratic dictatorship); 

?upholding the leadership of the CPC; and

?upholding Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.

These four constitute an integrated whole, with the CPC's leadership being the core of the four principles.

The Four Cardinal Principles are the very foundation for building China, and a major component of the Party's guidelines for building socialism with Chinese characteristics in the primary stage of socialism. This makes them the political anchor that unites the Chinese people in their concerted endeavors.

四項(xiàng)基本原則

改革開(kāi)放之初，中國(guó)社會(huì)上和中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨黨內(nèi)出現(xiàn)了一些思想動(dòng)向。一方面，在一部分人中，仍然存在思想僵化或半僵化狀態(tài)，對(duì)中共十一屆三中全會(huì)制定的路線(xiàn)、方針、政策表現(xiàn)出不理解甚至抵觸情緒；另一方面，社會(huì)上極少數(shù)人宣揚(yáng)無(wú)政府主義和資產(chǎn)階級(jí)自由化的主張，反對(duì)社會(huì)主義制度，反對(duì)中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，反對(duì)毛澤東思想的指導(dǎo)地位，在社會(huì)上造成思想混亂，直接影響到中國(guó)社會(huì)穩(wěn)定和改革開(kāi)放的方向。

在這種情況下，1979年3月，鄧小平在中共中央召開(kāi)的理論工作務(wù)虛會(huì)上，作了題為《堅(jiān)持四項(xiàng)基本原則》的講話(huà)。四項(xiàng)基本原則的核心內(nèi)容是：堅(jiān)持社會(huì)主義道路，堅(jiān)持無(wú)產(chǎn)階級(jí)專(zhuān)政即人民民主專(zhuān)政，堅(jiān)持中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，堅(jiān)持馬列主義和毛澤東思想。四項(xiàng)基本原則是一個(gè)相互聯(lián)系的整體，其核心是堅(jiān)持中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。

四項(xiàng)基本原則是立國(guó)之本，是中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨在社會(huì)主義初級(jí)階段基本路線(xiàn)的重要內(nèi)容之一，是全國(guó)各族人民團(tuán)結(jié)奮進(jìn)的政治基礎(chǔ)。