The 7,000-People Conference

From January 11 to February 7, 1962, an enlarged work conference of the CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing. It was attended by top leaders from the Central Committee and Party committees from various provinces, prefectures and counties, as well as from major factories, mines and army units – altogether 7,118 attendees. This was called the 7,000-people Conference.

This large conference was held when China had undergone a year's readjustment and was beginning to emerge from the economic difficulties caused by the three years of the Great Leap Forward. The purpose of the conference was to sum up previous experience, reach a consensus on some issues, enhance unity, and mobilize the Party to continue the readjustment and overcome the difficulties.

Liu Shaoqi delivered a written report on behalf of the Central Committee, which summarized the Party's work since 1949, particularly the experience and lessons gained during the Great Leap Forward, and analyzed the mistakes and shortcomings and the reasons behind them.

Mao Zedong talked mainly about democratic centralism and the importance of democracy both inside and outside the Party. He urged the people to study the laws governing the socialist economy and gain a deeper understanding of them through practice.

The conference produced an initial summary of the experience in the Party's economic work since the Great Leap Forward; strengthened intra-Party democracy by introducing criticism and self-criticism, reiterated the great tradition of seeking truth from facts and adhering to the Party's mass line, and mobilized Party members to carry out the policy to "readjust, consolidate, strengthen and upgrade" the economy.

The conference was successful in unifying thinking among Party members, correcting some of the "leftist" mistakes that had damaged the economy, and overcoming some of the country's existing difficulties. But it failed to gain a full understanding of all the "leftist" mistakes, and did not rectify erroneous views on the importance of extending class struggle, and those that were out of tune with economic reality.

七千人大會

1962年1月11日至2月7日，中共中央在北京召開了擴大的工作會議。參加會議的有中央和省、地、縣委四級主要負責人以及重要廠礦和軍隊的負責干部，共7118人，史稱七千人大會。

這次空前規模的大會，是在三年“大躍進”造成嚴重經濟困難，經過一年國民經濟調整，形勢開始有所好轉的情況下召開的。會議目的是進一步總結經驗，統一認識，增強團結，動員全黨更堅決地執行調整方針，為戰勝困難而奮斗。劉少奇代表中央作書面報告，對中華人民共和國成立以來12年的工作，特別是“大躍進”以來的工作經驗和教訓進行了總結，著重指出了工作中的缺點和錯誤，并對產生缺點和錯誤的原因作了分析。毛澤東在大會上作重要講話，強調并闡述了實行民主集中制和在黨內、黨外發揚民主的問題。他還指出，要下功夫研究社會主義經濟規律，在實踐中逐步加深對它的認識。

大會主要解決了三方面的問題：初步總結了“大躍進”以來黨在經濟工作中的經驗教訓；發揚了黨內民主，開展了批評和自我批評，強調了要恢復實事求是、群眾路線的優良作風；動員全黨貫徹“調整、鞏固、充實、提高”的八字方針，切實抓好國民經濟的調整工作。

這次大會是中共八大之后召開的一次重要會議，它對統一全黨認識，糾正經濟工作中的“左”傾錯誤，克服經濟困難起了積極的作用。但是這次大會沒有從根本上認識“左”的指導思想的錯誤，對階級斗爭擴大化和違背經濟規律的一些錯誤觀點也沒有認真清理。