The Third Plenum of 1978: economic priorities and the beginning of reform

The Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee met in Beijing on December 18–22, 1978. Hua Guofeng chaired it, with participants including Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun. A preceding Central Work Conference discussed intellectual, economic and historical questions. The communiqué adopted on December 22 called for shifting the emphasis of work to socialist modernization from 1979 and adjusting policies and organization accordingly.

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The meeting addressed excessive concentration of economic authority and proposed greater operating autonomy for local governments and industrial and agricultural enterprises within the unified plan. It called for reducing economic administrative offices, giving attention to value and economic incentives, distinguishing party, government and enterprise responsibilities, and clarifying managers’ authority, accountability and assessment. Production, management and incentives became concrete subjects of reform.

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Agriculture received substantial attention. The meeting called for protecting production teams’ labor, funds and products, linking payment to the amount and quality of work, and protecting private plots, household sidelines and market trade. It also proposed better regional agricultural planning, scientific education, rural side industries and higher procurement prices for some farm products.

These measures connected production, income and operating conditions. Organization remained within the contemporary people’s commune framework, while subsequent rural reforms developed through local practice and later decisions.

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The communiqué proposed economic cooperation with other countries on equal and mutually beneficial terms, adoption of advanced technology and equipment, and stronger science and education. It also discussed reviewing historical cases and called for democracy and a more stable legal system. Economic construction, trained people and institutional changes became connected directions of work.

Publication in the People’s Daily on December 24 publicly circulated the shift and its measures. Subsequent reform and opening policies developed across several fields, with the December 1978 meeting serving as a major starting point.

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