The leaders of the CPGB-ML sent the following letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on 26 September 2009:
On behalf of the Central Committee and all members of our party, we extend heartfelt, sincere, comradely and militant greetings to you, and through you to Comrade General Secretary Hu Jintao, to all members of the Communist Party of China, and to the Chinese working class and people, on the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The founding of the People’s Republic of China represented a culmination of the struggle of all Chinese patriots and people for the national liberation and rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation, a cause in which the Chinese people had been engaged since your country fell victim to aggression by British and other imperialists at the start of the 1840s.
Your liberation was also, after the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, the most outstanding event in the history of the world proletarian movement and its socialist cause. It was, and remains, therefore a common victory and source of joy not only to the Chinese communists and working people, but to the international proletariat, the oppressed nations and peoples, and to the entire international communist movement, including to the British working class and to our party, Britain’s communist party.
Although the proclamation of the People’s Republic on 1 October 1949 represented a decisive turning point, the moment when, in the immortal words of Comrade Mao Zedong, the great leader of the Chinese people and the great teacher of the international communist movement, the Chinese people stood up, it also, again, as Comrade Mao pointed out, was but the first step in another long march. As Comrade Mao observed, victory in the revolution opens the door to the ideal society of the future but to translate that ideal into reality requires hard work.
When, after tremendous struggle and sacrifice, your party created New China, you faced what must have seemed insuperable obstacles – of grinding poverty, illiteracy, superstition and disease; of economic devastation; of continued sabotage by the defeated reactionaries with their base in Taiwan; of imperialist embargo, blockade and actual war; and so on.
However, as Comrade Mao Zedong wrote in one of his poems:
“ Nothing is hard in this world if you dare to scale the heights. ”
Over the last six decades, the Chinese communists and people have taken this as a motto and have scaled one height after another, so that what was, at the time of liberation, one of the poorest and most wretched societies on earth, is now the world’s third largest economy, a country whose rising status is reflected in numerous and diverse ways, from the Beijing Olympics to the spacewalk by your taikonauts, from your response to the international financial crisis to the forthcoming Shanghai Expo.
Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, and, especially with the recent moves, which we heartily support, to rebuild and develop education, health and other social services in the vast rural areas, significant progress is being made in the direction of building a moderately well-off society in an all-round way.
Much remains to be done, and we are very mindful of the problems and challenges that exist, but at this anniversary we can unequivocally say that there is much to celebrate.
Since a modern working-class movement emerged in Britain, its advanced representatives have always given their support to the revolutionary struggles of the Chinese people. The leaders of the Chartist movement declared their opposition to the Opium Wars and expressed confidence in China’s ultimate victory. When British imperialism engaged in armed suppression of the Chinese people’s struggles in the 1920s, the working-class movement responded with the campaign for “Hands off China!” When China was invaded by Japan in the 1930s, the China Campaign Committee responded with a vast movement to “Boycott Japanese Goods!”
Throughout the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, this solidarity of the British working class with the Chinese revolution was inspired, guided and led by the then revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain. In the subsequent period, that task fell to those who remained loyal to Marxism Leninism and who opposed the treacherous attacks and slanders levelled at the Communist Party of China by the modern revisionists.
Our party, which emerged from that historic struggle, is the only party in Britain, without exception, whose political tradition is one of consistent, unbroken and unsullied solidarity with the People’s Republic of China in all weathers. We are deeply proud of this.
It is from this internationalist tradition and perspective that last year our party took the initiative to launch a new “Hands off China” campaign. We saw, once again, in the build-up to the Beijing Olympics, and in the response to the counter-revolutionary riots in Tibet, that hegemonist and imperialist forces are by no means reconciled to the development of a powerful liberated China.
Although our abilities are presently extremely modest, we are determined to do what we can to support the ongoing efforts and struggle of the Chinese people to defend and build their socialist country and to contribute to the common cause of building a world free of war, oppression, subjugation and poverty.
Availing ourselves of this opportunity, we once again extend our comradely congratulations and renew to you the assurances of our unwavering support to the Chinese communists and people and their socialist cause.
May the fraternal friendship and solidarity between the communists of Britain and China grow stronger with each passing day!
Long live the People’s Republic of China!
On 24 September, the Chinese Embassy organised a magnificent reception in central London to celebrate the 60th anniversary, featuring speeches and cultural performances. The CPGB-ML was honoured to be invited to attend this reception and the party was represented by our Chairman, Comrade Harpal Brar, and two other members of the Central Committee.
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