The Three Socialist Transformations
These refer to the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicraft industry, and capitalist industry and commerce in the 1950s. In June 1953, the CPC Central Committee defined the Party's general line for the transition period as accomplishing basic socialist industrialization and socialist transformation of agriculture, handicraft industry, and capitalist industry and commerce.
The socialist transformation of agriculture was widely known as the agricultural cooperative movement. Starting from December 1951, the Central Committee had issued documents on the guidelines, principles and policies regarding this movement. By the end of 1956, the movement concluded, after passing through three stages – mutual-aid teams, elementary producers' cooperatives, and advanced producers' cooperatives. By this point, 96.3 percent of peasant households had joined agricultural cooperatives.
The socialist transformation of handicraft industry continued from November 1953 to the end of 1956, resulting in more than 90 percent of the handicraftsmen joining the cooperatives.
The socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce was conducted from 1954 to the end of 1956. The CPC adopted a policy of peaceful redemption toward the capitalist class, through the form of state capitalism, to transform their enterprises into publicly-owned socialist businesses. The industrial transformation ran in parallel with a program to convert former exploiters into self-supporting workers.
China had largely completed the three transformations by the end of 1956, although in the late stage of the process errors were made such as over-ambitious goals and crude, rash or simplistic methods. Given China's economic and social conditions and the international situation in the 1950s, socialism was an essential and correct choice for the country.
These transformations enriched and developed Marxist-Leninist theory on scientific socialism and promoted enormous changes in industry, agriculture and commerce, and the development of the entire national economy. Completing the transformations signified that socialism was established as the fundamental system in China and that China had transformed from a new-democratic to a socialist society.
三大改造
三大改造是指中华人民共和国成立后，由中国共产党领导的对个体农业、手工业和资本主义工商业进行的社会主义改造。1953年6月，中共中央正式提出以“一化三改”（“一化”即社会主义工业化。“三改”即对农业、手工业、资本主义工商业的社会主义改造）为主要内容的过渡时期总路线，拉开三大改造的序幕。
农业的社会主义改造又称农业合作化运动。从1951年12月开始，中共中央颁发了一系列的决议，规定了中国农业社会主义改造的路线、方针和政策。到1956年年底，农业社会主义改造在经历了互助组、初级社、高级社三阶段后基本完成，全国加入合作社的农户达96.3%。手工业的社会主义改造从1953年11月开始至1956年年底结束，全国90%以上的手工业者加入了合作社。1954年至1956年年底，全面进行资本主义工商业的社会主义改造。中国共产党对之采取了“和平赎买”的政策，通过国家资本主义形式，逐步将其改造成社会主义公有制企业，而且将所有制改造与人的改造相结合，努力使剥削者成为自食其力的劳动者。
1956年年底，中国基本上完成了三大改造。虽然三大改造在后期出现了要求过急、工作过粗、改变过快、形式简单划一等缺点，遗留了一些问题，但就20世纪50年代中国经济社会发展的全局以及中国所面临的国际局势而论，当时对社会主义的选择是不可避免的，也是完全正确的。
对个体农业、手工业和资本主义工商业生产资料私有制的社会主义改造，在理论上和实践上丰富和发展了马克思列宁主义的科学社会主义理论，极大地促进了工业、农业、商业的社会变革和整个国民经济的发展。随着三大改造的完成，中国建立了社会主义的基本制度，从而使中国从新民主主义社会跨入了社会主义社会。