《关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议》党的十一届三中全会前后，中国共产党进行了指导思想和各条战线的拨乱反正工作。在这一过程中，党内外一些人士对社会主义和党自身产生了一些疑惑，对毛泽东的一生功绩和思想的正确性也有一些不正确的想法。《关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议》就是在这样的历史背景下起草的。其起草工作从1979 年11月开始，经长时间讨论和修改，于1981年6月中国共产党第十一届六中全会一致通过。
决议对建国以来党的重大历史问题特别是“文化大革命”、毛泽东的功过是非和毛泽东思想的基本内容与指导意义做了总结和评价。《关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议》从根本上否定了“文化大革命”和“无产阶级专政下继续革命”的错误理论，对一些重大历史事件和重要历史人物做出了实事求是的评价，科学总结了中华人民共和国成立以来社会主义革命和社会主义建设的历史经验，肯定了十一届三中全会以来逐步确立的适合中国国情的建设社会主义现代化强国的正确道路，进一步指明了中国社会主义事业和党的工作继续前进的方向，统一了全党的思想。决议实事求是地评价了毛泽东的历史地位，充分肯定毛泽东思想作为中国共产党的指导思想的伟大意义。
Resolution on Certain Historical Issues of the Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic
Around the time of the third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee, the CPC was struggling to extricate itself from political and ideological chaos. Doubts surfaced both inside and outside the Party about socialism and the viability of the Party, and about Mao Zedong's lifelong contributions and the validity of his ideas. Against this backdrop a resolution on some key related issues was developed. Commencing in November 1979, the drafting process underwent multiple rounds of discussions and revisions before the final document was adopted by consensus at the sixth plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in June 1981.
The resolution evaluated major initiatives the Party had launched since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and in particular the Cultural Revolution. It also assessed Mao's accomplishments and missteps as well as the basic tenets of his philosophy and its value in guiding the nation forward. The misguided thinking behind the Cultural Revolution and the so-called "continuous revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" was unequivocally repudiated. Evidence-based conclusions were reached on important events and people in history, and on our experience with the socialist revolution and economic development under socialism. The resolution reaffirmed the step-by-step approach to building a strong, modern socialist country, in response to China's existing realities, pursued since the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee. It set the future direction of Chinese socialism and of the Party, and helped build cohesion within the Party. It made a fact-based assessment of Mao’s place in history, and fully reconfirmed Mao Zedong Thought as the CPC's guiding philosophy.