In the following editorial, the US communist newspaper Workers World salutes socialist China on the 77th anniversary of its foundation (October 1, 1949 – October 1, 2026).
Surveying New China’s achievements, it notes: “Today, in 2026, China’s achievements have astounded the world. Before the Revolution less than 20% of the population could read and write. Now literacy stands at 95%. Before 1949 extreme poverty was widespread, and famines occurred regularly. But socialist China has eliminated extreme poverty for 800 million people.”
Citing leading Workers World Party member Sara Flounders, writing in the book China Changes Everything, the editorial continues: “A significant portion of China’s free higher education starts with an emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, graduating some 3.5 million STEM graduates each year. This is approximately 10 times as many as those from U.S. educational institutions… Women, who were brutally oppressed in the old, patriarchal China, now comprise a large number of these graduates.”
China, it adds, has extended solidarity to Iran and Cuba in the midst of US imperialism’s hostility towards both countries. It has also provided vital technology to Global South countries, especially in Africa.
The article references a 1949 speech by Mao Zedong in which the Chinese leader warned that the country’s former imperialist rulers “are sure to engage in sabotage and create disturbances by one means or another, and every day and every minute they will try to stage a come-back,” and adds: “This remains true 77 years later.”
Concluding, it states that what makes China’s achievements possible “is that China is a socialist country, where the betterment of the masses comes before the profits of a handful of billionaires.”
October 1 marks the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Ten days earlier, on Sept. 21, 1949, China’s leader Mao Zedong gave the opening address to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He declared that “the great majority of the Chinese people have won liberation” and that “the Chinese people, comprising one quarter of humanity, have now stood up.” (marxists.org)
Today, in 2026, China’s achievements have astounded the world. Before the Revolution less than 20% of the population could read and write. Now literacy stands at 95%. Before 1949 extreme poverty was widespread, and famines occurred regularly. But socialist China has eliminated extreme poverty for 800 million people.
In the book “China Changes Everything,” Sara Flounders points out: “China’s workers have laid down tens of thousands of miles of high-speed rail that connect 500 Chinese cities and are still expanding to connect to neighboring countries. Meanwhile in the U.S., both freight and passenger railroads are in decline.” U.S. railroad jobs are threatened as rail companies merge and cut corners. (iacenter.org)
Flounders also notes: “A significant portion of China’s free higher education starts with an emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, graduating some 3.5 million STEM graduates each year. This is approximately 10 times as many as those from U.S. educational institutions. High levels of skill and advanced education are essential for intervention in today’s world.”
Women, who were brutally oppressed in the old, patriarchal China, now comprise a large number of these graduates.
China’s “green” credentials are unmatched. Global Energy Monitor reported in 2024 that “China is home to almost two-thirds of [the] world’s utility-scale solar and wind power in construction.” GEM reported that “China added almost twice as much utility-scale solar and wind power capacity in 2023 than in any other year. By the first quarter of 2024, China’s total utility-scale solar and wind capacity reached 758 GW [gigawatts], though data from China Electricity Council put the total capacity, including distributed solar, at 1,120 GW. Wind and solar now account for 37% of the total power capacity in the country, an 8% increase from 2022, and widely expected to surpass coal capacity, which is 39% of the total right now, in 2024.” (globalenergymonitor.org, July 2024)
While the capitalist artificial intelligence companies are selling the new technology as a means to eliminate workers, China is offering their AI to the world as a means to improve the quality of life.
China has extended solidarity to Iran and Cuba in the midst of U.S. imperialism’s hostility towards both countries. It has also provided vital technology to underdeveloped countries, especially in Africa.
In Mao’s same 1949 speech he said that China’s former imperialist rulers “are sure to engage in sabotage and create disturbances by one means or another, and every day and every minute they will try to stage a come-back.” This remains true 77 years later. China has accomplished so much in spite of decades of military hostility and economic warfare — the U.S. did not even recognize the People’s Republic of China until 1979.
There is much more we could say. What makes China’s achievements, above and beyond those of the most developed capitalist countries, possible? It is that China is a socialist country, where the betterment of the masses comes before the profits of a handful of billionaires.
Workers World salutes 77 years of socialist construction in China!
