总的说，那个时候“左”得要命。
At that time the ``Left'' ideology was predominant in our society.
建国后，我们在农村进行了土地改革和合作化，在城市进行了对资本主义工商业的社会主义改造，都干得很好。
After the founding of the People's Republic, in the rural areas we initiated agrarian reform and launched a movement for the cooperative transformation of agriculture, while in the cities we conducted the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce.
We were successful in both.
一九五八年“大跃进”,一哄而起搞人民公社化片面强调“一大二公,吃大锅饭，带来大灾难。
During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, people rushed headlong into mass action to establish people's communes.
They placed lopsided emphasis on making the communes large and collective, urging everyone to ``eat from the same big pot'', and by so doing they brought disaster upon the nation.
“文化大革命”就更不用说了。
We won't even mention the ``cultural revolution''.
一九七六年粉碎“四人帮”后，还徘徊了两年，基本上还是因循“左”的错误，一直延续到一九七八年。
For most of the period from 1976, when the Gang of Four was smashed, to 1978, nobody knew what to do, and ``Left'' mistakes kept being repeated.
从一九五八年到一九七八年整整二十年里，农民和工人的收入增加很少，生活水平很低，生产力没有多大发展。
During the 20 years from 1958 to 1978 the income of peasants and workers rose only a little, and consequently their standard of living remained very low.
The development of the productive forces was sluggish during those years.
这年年底召开了党的十一届三中全会。
In December of that year, when the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party convened its Third Plenary Session,
我们冷静地分析了中国的现实，总结了经验，肯定了建国到一九七八年三十年的成绩很大，但做的事情不能说都是成功的。
We made a sober analysis of conditions in China and summed up our experience.
We reaffirmed the great achievements scored in the 30 years from the founding of new China in 1949 through 1978, but that didn't mean that everything we had done was successful.
我们建立的社会主义制度是个好制度坚持。
The socialist system we have established is a good one, and we must adhere to it.
我们马克思主义者过去闹革命，就是，必须为社会主义、共产主义崇高理想而奋斗。
The realization of socialism and communism was the lofty ideal we Marxists set for ourselves during the revolutionary years.
现在我们搞经济改革，仍然要坚持社会主义道路，坚持共产主义的远大理想，年轻一代尤其要懂得这一点。
Now that we are trying to reform the economy, we shall continue to keep to the socialist road and to uphold the ideal of communism.
This is something our younger generation in particular must understand.
但问题是什么是社会主义，如何建设社会主义。
But the problem is: what is socialism and how is it to be built?
我们的经验教训有许多条，最重要的一条，就是要搞清楚这个问题。
The most important lesson we have learned, among a great many others, is that we must be clear about those questions.
毛泽东同志是伟大的领袖，中国革命是在他的领导下取得成功的。
Comrade Mao Zedong was a great leader, and it was under his leadership that the Chinese revolution triumphed.
然而他有一个重大的缺点，就是忽视发展社会生产力。
Unfortunately, however, he made the grave mistake of neglecting the development of the productive forces.
不是说他不想发展生产力，但方法不都是对头的，例如搞“大跃进”、人民公社，就没有按照社会经济发展的规律办事。
I do not mean he didn't want to develop them.
The point is, not all of the methods he used were correct.
For instance, neither the initiation of the Great Leap Forward nor the establishment of the people's communes conformed to the laws governing socio-economic development.
马克思主义的基本原则就是要发展生产力。
The fundamental principle of Marxism is that the productive forces must be developed.
马克思主义的最高目的就是要实现共产主义，而共产主义是建立在生产力高度发展的基础上的。
The ultimate goal for Marxists is to realize communism, which must be built on the basis of highly developed productive forces.
社会主义是共产主义的第一阶段，是一个很长的历史阶段。
Socialism constitutes the first stage of communism and will last for a long historical period.
社会主义的首要任务是发展生产力，逐步提高人民的物质和文化生活水平。
The primary task in the socialist period is to develop the productive forces and gradually improve people's material and cultural life.
从一九五八年到一九七八年这二十年的经验告诉我们：贫穷不是社会主义，社会主义要消灭贫穷。
Our experience in the 20 years from 1958 to 1978 teaches us that poverty is not socialism, that socialism means eliminating poverty.
不发展生产力，不提高人民的生活水平，不能说是符合社会主义要求的。
Unless you are developing the productive forces and raising people's living standards, you cannot say that you are building socialism.
在总结经验的基础上，党的十一届三中全会提出一系列新的政策。
At the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee our Party, having reviewed our experience, laid down a series of new policies.
就国内政策而言，最重大的有两条，一条是政治上发展民主，一条是经济上进行改革，同时相应地进行社会其他领域的改革。
There were two major domestic ones: to expand political democracy and to carry out economic reform and corresponding social reforms.