社會主義初級階段

社會主義初級階段不是泛指任何國家進入社會主義都會經歷的起始階段，而是特指中國生産力落後、商品經濟不發達條件下建設社會主義必然要經歷的特定階段。社會主義初級階段的論斷包括兩層涵義：一是中國已經進入社會主義社會，必須堅持而不能離開社會主義；二是中國的社會主義社會正處於並將長期處於初級階段，必須正視而不能超越這個初級階段。

中國正處於並將長期處於社會主義初級階段。這是在經濟文化落後的中國建設社會主義現代化不可逾越的歷史階段，需要上百年的時間。在現階段，中國社會的主要矛盾是人民日益增長的物質文化需要同落後的社會生産之間的矛盾。當前中國社會主義建設的根本任務，是進一步解放生産力，發展生産力，逐步實現社會主義現代化，並且為此而改革生産關係和上層建築中不適應生産力發展的方面和環節。

Primary stage of socialism

This is not a general reference to the initial stage any country will go through when practicing socialism, but a term for the special stage that China has to undergo with backward productive forces and an underdeveloped commodity economy.

The theory of the primary stage of socialism has two connotations: one, China already has a socialist society, which it must continue to develop and never abandon; two, China's socialist society is still in the primary stage and will remain so for a long time to come, and it is a stage that must be recognized and cannot be skipped.

China is in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come. This is a historical stage that cannot be skipped in the socialist modernization of China, which is backward economically and culturally. The process will take over a hundred years. During the present stage, the principal contradiction in Chinese society is one between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the low level of production. In building socialism, the basic task is to further release and develop the productive forces and achieve socialist modernization step by step by carrying out reform in those aspects and links of production relations and the superstructure that do not conform to the development of the productive forces.