Overseas Network Review: Why the Chinese Communist Party Led the Chinese people to "stand up"

Source: Overseas Network

Visitors watch "The Great Journey – A Special Exhibition Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" at the Capital Museum.

【Editor's Note】

In 2021, the Communist Party of China celebrates its centennial anniversary. In the past 100 years, the Communist Party of China has grown from only a few dozen party members in the country to the world's largest Marxist political party with more than 91 million party members, uniting and leading the Chinese people to create one miracle after another in the annals of history. From now on, overseas networks will launch a series of commentaries on "The Centennial Great Party Came This Way" to explain the important topic of "why the Chinese Communist Party can" in the trajectory of history. This is a review.

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From the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it was 28 years of the United Chinese people of the Communist Party of China. This great history has completely put an end to the history of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society of old China, completely put an end to the scattered situation in old China, completely abolished the unequal treaties imposed on China by the great powers and all the privileges of imperialism in China, and realized China's great leap from thousands of years of feudal autocracy to people's democracy.

Looking back at this magnificent history, the key to the CPC's ability to lead the Chinese people to overthrow the three mountains and achieve the great leap of "standing up" lies in taking Marxism as its guiding ideology, integrating it with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution, exploring the road of the new-democratic revolution, and winning the trust and support of the people in the process of practicing the purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly.

Marxist truth ignites dreams

In China in 1921, the disaster was deep and the wind and rain were shaky. Since 1840, when it was invaded by foreign enemies, modern China has gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. For China to get rid of poverty and backwardness, win national independence, and make the nation rich and strong, China's benevolent people have sought from top to bottom. However, from the foreign affairs movement of taking the line of industrial salvation to "mastering the art of mastering the art of mastering the art of making the country" to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement that took the lower line, from the change of law to the bourgeois revolution that took the line at the lower level, there was no fundamental escape from the danger of China's subjugation and extinction in the "great changes that have not occurred in three thousand years." Regardless of the technical, economic, and political attempts, China's benevolent people have not realized the national dream of saving the people and realizing national rejuvenation.

A new cultural movement on a cultural level followed. At that time, the leading figures Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Hu Shi, Lu Xun and others hoped to introduce "science and democracy" to carry out new cultural enlightenment to China and achieve the goal of revolutionizing the old and transforming China. At that time, the complete translation of Marx's "Communist Manifesto" Chinese had not yet appeared, and Marxism was only one of theories mixed with anarchism, pragmatism, mutual aid and other ideological trends, and did not attract special attention from Chinese intellectual circles. The sound of the cannon of the October Revolution brought Marxism to China, and also caused China's advanced intellectuals to pay attention to the enlightening significance of the Russian revolutionary road to China. The diplomatic failure of the "Paris Peace Conference" in 1919 made people of insight in China realize once again that in the face of "salvation", only relying on the new cultural enlightenment of "Mr. De and Mr. Sai" could not solve China's problems. In order to save the world, China must find a truth and find a new way.

Under the impact of the tide of the "May Fourth Movement" and the reality under the rule of warlords, China's advanced intellectuals began to think about new and fundamental plans for transforming society. After taking Marxism as the truth of national salvation and socialism as the road to strengthening, china's early communist intellectuals finally founded China's communist organization, the Communist Party of China, in July 1921. Since then, the face of the Chinese revolution has taken on a new look.

The new democratic road is oriented

The heavy historical task of realizing national independence, national rejuvenation, and people's happiness fell on the Chinese Communists. The Communist Party of China has also made the mistake of dogmatizing Marxism, taking the experience of russian urban insurrection and the instructions of the Comintern as the guidelines, and has taken some detours. It was not until the Zunyi Conference in 1935 that the rule of "Left" dogmatism in the Party Central Committee was ended, Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Party and the Red Army was established, and the Party, the Red Army and the Chinese Revolution were saved at the most critical juncture of the Chinese revolution. Since then, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as the main representative, have begun to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution and have embarked on a revolutionary road of new democracy.

In April 1948, Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Jinsui Cadre Conference" completely stated the "general line of the new-democratic revolution" of the Communist Party of China. The new-democratic revolution "is not any other revolution, it can only be and must be a revolution led by the proletariat, of the masses of the people, against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism." The general line of the new-democratic revolution reflects the basic laws of the Chinese revolution, points out the object, motive force and leading force of the Chinese revolution, and is the basic line in the period of the new-democratic revolution. It is precisely under the guidance of this general revolutionary line that the Communist Party of China led the people of the whole country to victory in the new-democratic revolution, established New China, established the basic socialist system, successfully realized the most profound and greatest social changes in China's history, and laid the fundamental political premise and institutional foundation for all development and progress in contemporary China.

Gather strength for the purpose of serving the people

Since the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of China has adhered to the emphasis of Marx and Engels, the founders of Marxism, in the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" that communists "do not have any interests that are different from those of the proletariat as a whole", only take the interests of the broadest masses of the people as the fundamental starting point, do everything for the people, serve the people, and have no selfish interests of their own except for the common interests of the people, so that they can achieve a thorough revolution and completely abandon everything that is not in the interests of the people. This is fundamentally different from the approach of the exploiting class parties in taking the interests of one party and one group as their starting point. It is precisely because the Communists have no special interests of their own except for the fundamental interests of the broad masses of the people, they are not afraid of sacrifice and dedication, they are not afraid of hardships and obstacles, they are not afraid of pioneering and innovating, and they are only fighting for China's independence, freedom, prosperity, and strength, that the people will reciprocate with trust and support, thus forming an "iron wall" against all reactionary forces in the old society.

The realization of the revolutionary goal cannot be achieved by moving one's lips and inviting guests to eat and drink, and changing the old system and building a new China can be achieved by shedding blood and sacrificing oneself and struggling hard. In the past 100 years, the Communist Party of China has developed from more than 50 people at the beginning of the founding of the party to more than 91 million party members today; from the groundbreaking ground at the beginning of the founding of the party, to the change of heaven and earth in the founding of New China, and then to the earth-shaking launch of reform and opening up, the people of the world marvel that behind the earth-shaking earth-shaking nature of China's "standing up, getting rich, and becoming strong" 100 years later are millions of benevolent people who have sacrificed their lives for China's independence, freedom, prosperity, and strength. According to incomplete statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, in modern times, there have been about 20 million martyrs in China who have heroically sacrificed for national independence, people's liberation, national prosperity and strength, and people's happiness. Due to the limited conditions during the war years, many martyrs did not leave their names. When people see the red flag full of China, they should be able to recall the praise of "Hero's Hymn": "Why is the battle flag so picturesque, the hero's blood stained her red!" ”

In short, under the guidance of the scientific theory of Marxism, the Chinese Communists combined this theory with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution to find the correct revolutionary road, and always insisted on serving the people wholeheartedly and not forgetting their original mission, so as to unite and lead the Chinese people to win the victory of the new-democratic revolution, build a new China, and realize the great leap of "standing up" Chinese the people.

(Sun Yingshuai, Research Fellow, Institute of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

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