Category: History

Xi Jinping commemorates revolutionary forerunner Chen Yun

At a meeting held on June 13 in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for learning from veteran leader Chen Yun and carrying forward his legacy.

Xi, who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, acclaimed Chen Yun as a great proletarian revolutionary and statesman, and as one of the founding figures of the country’s socialist economy. He was a key member of both the Party’s first generation of central collective leadership with Mao Zedong at the core and the second generation of central collective leadership with Deng Xiaoping at the core.

Chen was born in 1905 and joined the Party in 1925. He died in 1995 at the age of 90.

Among the key points made by Xi Jinping in his address were:

  • Comrade Chen Yun was a great proletarian revolutionary, statesman, and outstanding Marxist, one of the founders and builders of China’s socialist economic construction, an outstanding leader of the party and the country who had been tested for a long time, and an important member of the party’s first-generation central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at the core and the party’s second-generation central leadership collective with Comrade Deng Xiaoping at the core, who had made major contributions to the development of the cause of the party and the people.
  • Comrade Chen Yun joined the Communist Party of China in 1925, and in his 70-year revolutionary career, he experienced many major events in which our party led the people in revolution, construction, and reform, participated in the formulation and organization of a series of major policy decisions made by the party Central Committee in different historical periods, and devoted his whole life to the development and victory of the new democratic revolution, the establishment and consolidation of China’s socialist system, and the pioneering and development of China’s reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.
  • During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Comrade Chen Yun threw himself into the workers’ movement in the torrent of the Great Revolution and grew up to become a leader of the workers’ movement in the course of practical struggles. He took part in the Red Army’s Long March, firmly supported Comrade Mao Zedong’s correct propositions at the Zunyi Conference and supported the conference in establishing the correct leadership represented by Comrade Mao Zedong.
  • He participated in the leadership of the liberation of Northeast China and led the Northeast Base Area to take the lead in restoring the economy and supporting the national liberation war. He instructed cadres to “always pay attention to the new situation, new tasks, and new work methods in the new areas” and not to “mechanically apply the old experience of the old liberated areas to the new areas,” thus exploring useful experiences for our party to shift from war to peaceful construction.
  • During the period of socialist revolution and construction, Comrade Chen Yun was appointed to preside over and lead the nation’s financial and economic work at the beginning of the founding of New China, and under the leadership of the party Central Committee, he coordinated the forces from all quarters to win the “economic war” in the fields of grain, cotton, cotton cloth, and coal, and achieved national financial and economic unification in less than a year, stabilized financial prices, and economically consolidated the nascent people’s political power.
  • He opposed impatient and reckless progress in disregard of the actual conditions and the rush to achieve results, discovered the problems brought about by the “Great Leap Forward” at an early stage, participated in the deployment and leadership of the readjustment of the national economy, and paid special attention to solving the problems of agricultural difficulties and food shortages, thus playing an important role in extricating the national economy and the people’s livelihood from their predicament.
  • At a major historical juncture, he resolutely supported the reform and opening up advocated by Comrade Deng Xiaoping and resolutely upheld Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s position as the core of the central leadership collective and the authority of the party Central Committee. He actively promoted the peaceful reversal of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, put forward important opinions on the drafting of the “Resolution on Several Historical Issues of the Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China,” and supported Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s correct proposition on scientifically establishing Comrade Mao Zedong’s historical status and upholding and developing Mao Zedong Thought.
  • We should learn from Comrade Chen Yun’s lofty spiritual demeanour. He said: “The most pleasant thing for a person is to participate in the revolution and fight for the interests of the people. Anyone who leaves the people and the party cannot accomplish anything.” At critical moments, he always adhered to the correct political position and clearly showed his attitude. When the development of the party’s cause encountered difficulties, he was always able to keep a clear head, put forward unique views on the basis of careful consideration, and came up with effective ways to solve problems.
  • In the new era and new journey, we must strengthen our ideals and beliefs, establish confidence in victory, maintain political determination in the face of chaos and complexity, and not be afraid of clouds to cover our eyes. It is necessary to consciously practice the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, stand firmly on the people’s position, cultivate the feelings of the people, take the mass line of the party in the new era, investigate the people’s feelings, listen to the people’s voices, obey the people’s will, solve the people’s worries, and closely rely on the people to create historical achievements.
  • In the area of being in charge of economic work, Comrade Chen Yun put forward many important viewpoints and major measures and explored effective ways to creatively solve problems and open up the work situation. In the process of presiding over the formulation and implementation of the first five-year plan, he not only paid attention to learning from the experience of the Soviet Union, but also insisted on proceeding from China’s national conditions, making scientific arrangements, and steadily promoting socialist industrialization.
  • After the socialist transformation was basically completed, he actively explored the socialist economic system and economic system that suited the development of China’s productive forces and put forward the idea of “three main bodies and three supplements,” which provided important enlightenment for overcoming the shortcomings of the Soviet model.
  • After the reform and opening up, he profoundly summed up the positive and negative experiences of socialist economic construction and proposed that “the economic construction that our country is carrying out now is socialist economic construction, and the reform of the economic system is also the reform of the socialist economic system”
  • He stressed that vigorously cultivating and selecting tens of thousands of middle-aged and young cadres with both ability and political integrity is a strategic task that determines the future of the party and the country, and it is necessary to persist in combining the old, middle-aged and young cadres, maintain the continuity and stability of the contingent of cadres, and ensure that the party’s leadership is always in the hands of Marxists.
  • He stressed the need to vigorously promote those cadres who have strong party spirit, upright work style, and the courage to uphold principles, and actively support and implement the policy of making the contingent of cadres more revolutionary, younger, more knowledgeable, and more professional.
  • He pointed out: “The Communist Party must uphold party discipline at all times, whether it is working underground or in power.”
  • He put forward the important thesis that “the issue of the party style of the ruling party is an issue related to the life and death of the party,” stressing that “the issue of party style must be tackled with great attention and forever.” In order to maintain the flesh-and-blood ties between the party and the masses of the people, it is necessary to properly resolve the two key issues of earnestly safeguarding the people’s vital interests and resolutely opposing unhealthy tendencies within the party.
  • We should study Comrade Chen Yun’s scientific thinking and work methods. Persisting in seeking truth from facts is a distinctive characteristic of Comrade Chen Yun.
  • He regarded investigation and study as an important prerequisite for policy decision-making, stressing: “Leading organs should devote more than 90 percent of their time to investigation and study in formulating policies.”
  • In the new era and new journey, it is necessary to improve the quality of investigation and study, and through various channels and methods, accurately grasp the new situation, new problems, and new trends in economic and social development, accurately grasp the needs of the grassroots and the expectations of the masses and make policy decisions more in line with reality and the wishes of the masses.

A number of other speakers also addressed the meeting.

Continue reading Xi Jinping commemorates revolutionary forerunner Chen Yun

Tiananmen Square, 1989: The truth comes out, eventually

In the following article for the Morning Star, Dan Ross challenges the mainstream Western narrative of the 1989 Tiananmen Square events. Rather than being a “massacre of thousands of unarmed students”, as is typically presented, Dan argues that what occurred was a complex confrontation between the Chinese military and radicalised protesters, many of whom were armed.

Dan draws on contemporaneous coverage from The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and other eyewitness sources to show that China’s authorities, after two months of Beijing being brought practically to a standstill, and with lengthy negotiations not bearing fruit, decided to peacefully disperse the protests. “Unarmed soldiers entered the square to begin the dispersal”, whereupon “they were set upon by groups of co-ordinated and armed protesters that remained, as was openly reported on at the time. Many dozens of soldiers are known to have been killed, as grisly images of lynched and burned soldiers from the events attest”.

The violence can accurately be described as clashes between armed protesters and soldiers, not a massacre of unarmed civilians on the Square.

The Western propaganda machine lost no time in spinning the story as a vicious attack by an authoritarian state on freedom-loving unarmed protestors. Dan writes:

It should come as no surprise that this co-ordinated propaganda campaign took place concurrently with the fall of socialism across central and eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The US, then as now, remains committed to undermining and destroying Chinese socialism, and has relied heavily upon thinly veiled, CIA-sponsored bodies like Radio Free Asia, National Endowment for Democracy, and the fanatical anti-communist and fantasist Adrian Zenz, with the sole objective of bringing about the fall and disintegration of China, much as happened to the former USSR and Yugoslavia.

Ultimately, the article calls on readers to question the mainstream narrative of the “Tiananmen Massacre”, pointing out that it is just another piece of crass anti-China and anti-communist propaganda.

“As columns of tanks and tens of thousands of soldiers approached Tiananmen, many troops were set on by angry mobs… dozens of soldiers were pulled from trucks, severely beaten and left for dead.

“At an intersection west of the square, the body of a young soldier, who had been beaten to death, was stripped naked and hung from the side of a bus.  Another soldier’s corpse was strung at an intersection east of the square.”

“Radicalised protesters, some now armed with guns, and vehicles commandeered in clashes with the military.”

“Other scenes show soldiers’ corpses and demonstrators stripping automatic rifles off unresisting soldiers.”

These accounts are taken, not from the official version of the Chinese government, but from the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal in the immediate aftermath of the events of June 4 1989.

As the US, its allies, and cheerleaders in the media step up their campaign of anti-communist and Sinophobic rhetoric in the growing cold war against China, we can expect to hear an altogether different — if more familiar — narrative about the “massacre” of thousands of innocent students in a “brutal authoritarian crackdown” this week.

The “events” in fact began two months earlier in April, when students gathered — somewhat ironically — to mourn and commemorate the passing of a senior Communist Party leader, Hu Yaobang, later joined by workers — again ironically — concerned by the inflationary effects of market-liberalising economic reforms.

Beijing’s iconic central square, and much of the city, was all but paralysed for weeks. Following lengthy but failed attempts at a negotiated settlement between the government and student leaders (presenting disparate and undefined demands) and no end in sight to the paralysis of the capital, the authorities eventually ordered the peaceful dispersal of the crowds from the square, that was largely was achieved by June 3.

Individual accounts of army snipers and soldiers gunning down fleeing students have been discredited both by a far greater number of eyewitnesses contradicting it, including US journalists (such as the Washington Post’s Jay Matthews), and television footage of an orderly dispersal. Spanish television network TVE had a camera crew on the square covering events, and reported no evidence of a massacre.

No doubt the image of the infamous “tank man” has sprung to your mind; it is well worth watching the footage to the end: the outcome might surprise you!

When soldiers — unarmed — originally entered the square to begin the dispersal, they were set upon by groups of co-ordinated and armed protesters that remained, as was openly reported on at the time. Many dozens of soldiers are known to have been killed, as grisly images of lynched and burned soldiers from the events attest.

Much of the subsequent violence occurred following the dispersal, between June 4-5, and took place elsewhere across the city, rather than on the square itself. The violence can accurately be described as clashes between armed protesters and soldiers, not a massacre of unarmed civilians on the Square.

Continue reading Tiananmen Square, 1989: The truth comes out, eventually

Remarks marking the 26th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia

Several hundred people packed the Bishop Nikolaj Community Centre in West London on the evening of Saturday May 24 for a remembrance and discussion event marking 26 years since NATO’s war of aggression against Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, organised by the Round Table of Serbian organisations and community groups in the United Kingdom. Among those present were Serbian Ambassador Goran Aleksić, diplomats from the Belarus Embassy and journalists from the Xinhua News Agency and China Daily.

The meeting was preceded by a memorial service in the adjacent Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Sava, where prayers offered included those for the three Chinese journalists killed when US-led NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

A panel discussion, chaired by retired academic Michael Stenton, featured Misha Gavrilović and Marko Gasić, co-chairs of the British-Serbian Alliance for Peace; Dr. Kate Hudson, Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and author of ‘Breaking the South Slav Dream’; and Laurie Mayer, former BBC and Sky News presenter and broadcast journalist. And, following a break for refreshments and networking, there were contributions from veteran peace activist Carol Turner, who co-founded and led the Committee for Peace in the Balkans with the late Alice Mahon MP in 1994; and Keith Bennett, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China.

The evening was closed with a brief recital from Zorka Maksimovic.

Speakers pointed out that, contrary to the propaganda advanced in Britain, there had been no threat of a Greater Serbia but rather of a Greater NATO. The real meaning of NATO expansion was exposed, namely military aggression beyond its borders. The war against Yugoslavia was neither humanitarian nor legal. Rather, it was what the Nuremburg trials established as the supreme international crime – a war of aggression. The war was characterised by numerous atrocities – the bombing of passenger trains, refugee convoys, factories, hospitals, the TV station and the Chinese Embassy. Depleted Uranium was used, condemning future generations and the environment to its lethal effects.

The wounds of the conflict have not healed. Serbian sovereignty is still being transgressed, for example on the question of Kosovo. Moreover, the war had opened Pandora’s Box – that the Western powers could attack whomever they wanted. This was soon seen in Iraq and is still ongoing – in NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and Israel’s war against the Palestinian people. In Laurie Mayer’s words, the war against Yugoslavia represented raw imperialism run amuck.

The following is Keith’s message delivered at the meeting on behalf of Friends of Socialist China.

Your Excellency

Ladies and Gentlemen

Dear Friends

On behalf of Friends of Socialist China, I’d like to express our thanks to the organisers of this eventfor inviting us to join them in marking the solemn occasion of the 26th Anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

With war raging in Europe and the Middle East, it is appropriate that we remember and mark this anniversary of the first time that full-scale war returned to our continent since the defeat of fascism in 1945.

This is also the 80th anniversary year of that victory. The peoples of both Serbia and China played heroic and indispensable parts in the defeat of fascism. They pinned down hundreds of thousands, indeed millions, of axis troops and liberated their countries, principally on the basis of self-reliance.

The enduring friendship between China and Serbia has its root in this common struggle on the eastern and western fronts. The 1969 Yugoslav film, The Bridge, vividly depicted those days. It was one of the first foreign films to be shown in China at the start of reform and opening up. Both the film, and through it the song Bella Ciao, became favourites of a generation of Chinese people, including President Xi Jinping.

Dear Friends

As you know, on May 7, 1999, in one of the gross violations of international law that characterised this war of aggression, US-led NATO brazenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Three journalists, including a newly married couple, from the Xinhua News Agency and the Guangming Daily, were killed and many more people were injured. The husband of the third journalist was blinded.

The indestructible friendship between China and Serbia, which we might call China’s best friend in Europe, is the most fitting tribute to their memory, demonstrating as it does that their sacrifice was not in vain.

As President Xi said during his June 2016 state visit to Serbia, having paid tribute to the martyrs, “The Serbian people, with an indomitable spirit, have revived time and again in history… which the Chinese people admire very much.”

In today’s complicated and tense international situation, the friendship between China and Serbia is an important factor for peace and stability. As friends of China, it is completely natural and appropriate that we think of Serbia, too, as a brotherly and friendly country. And the Serbian diaspora and community here as our brothers and sisters.

This evening, we make new friends and renew old friendships with people with whom we campaigned and marched shoulder to shoulder back in 1999.

Let’s continue to work together for peace and justice.

Thank you once again.

Tongogara Memorial Talk: African liberation and China

On Saturday May 17, 2025, the Free Mumia Abu Jamal Campaign UK, which campaigns in solidarity with the African-American freedom fighter and revolutionary who has been imprisoned since 1981, the majority of that time on ‘death row’, held a meeting and social event in memory of Comrade Tongogara (born Danny Morrell), who passed away on May 11, 2023, after a lifetime of work in the anti-racist, anti-imperialist and Marxist-Leninist movements. The UK campaign in support of Mumia was launched on Tongogara’s initiative.

The meeting was held in Vida’s ‘My Social’, a community space in Brixton, south London, especially but not exclusively for seniors. It is named after Vida Walsh, a pioneering African-Caribbean community and social activist in the Brixton area in particular. In the 1970s, Vida set up and ran an informal ‘tea and chat club’ for pensioners in Brixton. Despite the support of Age Concern Lambeth and the local residents’ association, resources were limited. Because of this, members congregated in each other’s homes, enabling pensioners to meet on a regular basis to chat and to maintain contacts within the community. This was particularly important for those older residents who, for whatever reason, were unable to rely on familial support structures for advice or assistance. To have a dedicated community space for this work was Vida’s dream and mission.

The campaign invited Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett, who was a friend and comrade of Tongogara since the 1970s, to give a talk on the theme of African liberation and China, combining as it does two key aspects of Tongogara’s life and work.

Keith’s talk sought to weave together Tongogara’s own world outlook and political path with China’s historical support to the African revolution in the 1960s and 1970s in particular, citing examples especially from Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Niger and South Africa.

The talk was followed by a lively ‘Q&A’ and discussion, focused especially on events around Angola’s independence in November 1975 and on present-day relations between China and Africa.

The meeting also heard a heartfelt tribute to Tongogara from Cecil Gutzmore, veteran Pan-African community activist and historian, and a stalwart of the campaign, which was read on his behalf by Wilf Dixon, as well as a brief report from that day’s Palestine solidarity demonstration in central London, which was attended by an estimated 600,000 people.

The formal proceedings were followed by a social with music and delicious home-prepared food.

The following is the main body of Keith’s speech.

It is an honour for me to be invited by the Free Mumia Abu Jamal Campaign UK to give this first Tongogara Memorial Talk, just over two years since he joined the ancestors. I hope it will be the first of many and that this will in some small way help to keep his memory alive in the way he would surely have wanted – enabling others to be inspired by his life and work, to learn from his example and to carry on the cause to which he devoted the great majority of his years.

Let me take this opportunity, on behalf of Friends of Socialist China, to congratulate the Free Mumia Campaign for all the steadfast and unflinching work you have done over years, work in which Tongogara was at the heart, to ensure that this unyielding revolutionary and internationalist is not forgotten in the hell hole of the US prison system.

As Mumia himself has said: “Know this: throughout it all. I have never felt alone. To the eye, I was alone in solitary confinement, on death row, but the eye cannot really see all that is, for behind brick and steel, I felt our love, sometimes like a wave, sometimes like a whisper, but always there, ever present.”

Why should I be giving this talk today? Perhaps it’s for the organisers rather than me to say. But I’m the co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, a platform established four years ago to support the People’s Republic of China and promote understanding of Chinese socialism and the Chinese revolution.

The Chinese revolution and its impact on the world has fascinated me since my early teens. And that’s essentially how I came to know Tongogara. Anyone who knew him, would appreciate that for Tongogara, the Chinese revolution and the teachings of Mao Zedong were central to his outlook on life – a veritable political compass, alongside his unshakeable commitment to the liberation of African people worldwide. At home and abroad, to borrow Marcus Garvey’s expression.

I can’t remember exactly when I first met him, but we certainly knew each other by the summer of 1976, just before my 18th birthday. Danny Morrell, as he was then known, was at that time a member of a small communist organisation, which was going to start producing a factory newspaper for the engineering factory in north London where he and a couple of other comrades had taken jobs.

Obviously, it would have marked the end of their employment, and hence of the political project in which they were engaged, had they openly distributed the paper themselves. That was my job and the night before I stayed at Danny’s bedsit to be there for the early morning shift.

That night we talked – obviously – and that’s when I started to really get to know him. I was touched by the loving photos of family back in Jamaica, which held pride of place alongside the posters produced by the Youth Forces for National Liberation (YFNL), a vibrant Marxist-Leninist organisation in Jamaica at that time.  One of them commemorated the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865.

Continue reading Tongogara Memorial Talk: African liberation and China

Ho Chi Minh’s vital contributions to the global socialist and anti-imperialist struggle

Marking the 135th anniversary of the birth of the country’s revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, May 19, 2025, the Vietnamese press has carried numerous articles reflecting the worldwide respect felt by progressive people for their national hero.

In one such article, a Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondent in Beijing, interviewed Professor Pan Jin’e, a senior fellow at the Academy of Marxism under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Pan described Ho Chi Minh as the founder of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, a great revolutionary, a brilliant strategist, and a moral exemplar. She also highlighted his role as a leader of anti-colonial movements across Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the 20th century, as well as his significant place in the history of the international communist movement.

She noted that President Ho Chi Minh remained steadfast in his internationalist ideals. He joined the French Communist Party, actively collaborated with leaders of other socialist countries, and maintained close ties with the Chinese revolution. Alongside leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, he helped build the traditional friendship between Vietnam and China – a relationship that remains cherished by both parties and peoples.

As a representative of the Communist International, Ho Chi Minh supported revolutionary movements worldwide, particularly in China, Laos, and Cambodia, playing an active role in anti-colonial struggles and proletarian revolutions.

Another article carried by Nhân Dân noted that: “With the friendship of ‘the proletariat in all four directions are brothers’, Ho Chi Minh harshly criticised some comrades in the Communist International for incorrectly assessing the colonial issue and confidently affirmed that the proletarian revolution was completely capable of breaking out first in the colonial countries, thereby creating conditions for workers and labourers in the mother countries to carry out the revolution to liberate the class and liberate society.”

The following article was originally published by Nhân Dân.

President Ho Chi Minh made significant contributions to Viet Nam and the international community, according to Professor Pan Jin’e, a senior fellow at the Academy of Marxism under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In an interview with a Viet Nam News Agency (VNA) correspondent in Beijing on the occasion of the 135th birth anniversary of the late Vietnamese leader (May 19, 1890–2025), Pan described Ho Chi Minh as the founder of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, a great revolutionary, a brilliant strategist, and a moral exemplar. She also highlighted his role as a leader of anti-colonial movements across Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the 20th century, including his significance in the history of the international communist movement.

She emphasised that his contributions were reflected not only in Viet Nam’s national liberation and national building efforts but also in their profound impact on global struggles against colonialism and the international socialist movement.

Ho Chi Minh led the independence movement, founded the Communist Party of Viet Nam, and waged resistance wars against colonial and imperial forces, devoting his entire life to national reunification. He also guided the country’s socialist development in politics, economy and culture, spearheaded land reform, poverty alleviation, and national unity policies.

President Ho Chi Minh remained steadfast in his internationalist ideals. He joined the French Communist Party, actively collaborated with leaders of other socialist countries, and maintained close ties with the Chinese revolution. Alongside leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, he helped build the traditional friendship between Viet Nam and China—a relationship that remains cherished by both Parties and peoples.

As a representative of the Communist International, Ho Chi Minh supported revolutionary movements worldwide, particularly in China, Laos, and Cambodia, playing an active role in anti-colonial struggles and proletarian revolutions.

According to the Chinese scholar, whether during Viet Nam’s socialist revolutionary era or its ongoing doi moi (renewal) cause, Ho Chi Minh’s status as a national hero and spiritual leader has never diminished. In 2019, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) honoured him as a “Hero of National Liberation and a Great Man of Culture,” acknowledging his historic contributions to humanity.

Reflecting on the spirit of unity embodied in Ho Chi Minh’s Thought, Pan underscored that under his leadership and that of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the country achieved the historic victory of national reunification on April 30, 1975. This triumph is a powerful testament to his famous teachings: “Unity, unity, great unity. Success, success, great success!” National unity, she noted, remains the most vital force behind Viet Nam’s revolutionary success.

The Chinese scholar expressed her belief that the Vietnamese people will always remember President Ho Chi Minh’s final wishes, continue to uphold national solidarity, and write new chapters in the nation’s proud history. They will strive to build an independent, free, happy, prosperous, and civilised Viet Nam by 2050, fulfilling the late leader’s long-cherished dream of seeing Viet Nam stand shoulder to shoulder with the great powers of the five continents, she continued.

Keith Bennett: WW2 victory is inseparable from the heroic struggle of the Soviet and Chinese peoples

The Workers Party of Britain (WPB) packed London’s Bolivar Hall, the cultural premises of the Venezuelan Embassy, on Saturday May 10 for its celebration of the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism in the European theatre of World War II.

The meeting was attended by Dzmitry Kozlovsky, Chargé d’ Affaires, and Andrei Miskevich , Counsellor, of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus; Alexander Gusarov, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission, and Timofey Kunitskiy, First Secretary, of the Embassy of the Russian Federation; Minister Zhao Fei and Zhen Sitong from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; and Wilfredo Hernández Maya, Counsellor of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. 

The meeting heard a message of greetings from Workers Party leader George Galloway, filmed in Moscow’s Red Square, where he was attending the celebrations.

Chaired and introduced by WPB General Secretary Paul Cannon, the meeting was addressed by the diplomatic representatives of Belarus, Russia and Venezuela; Mick Stott from the WPB’s Veterans Group and the No 2 NATO Campaign; Louise Scrivens from the No Conscription League; Jesse Williams from the British Preparatory Committee for the World Festival of Youth; Shanaz Saddique, WPB National Organiser; and Keith Bennett of Friends of Socialist China, who spoke on the war in Asia.

Keith began by congratulating the WPB on organising the meeting and thanking them for the invitation. Extending our greetings to the diplomats present, Keith recalled that FOSC had held its own celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in this same hall in September last year. Expressing his thanks once again, he noted that both events showed how the comrades of the revolutionary government of Venezuela, despite the outrageous pressures, aggression, sanctions and threats to which their country has been and is still subjected, can always be relied on for their support, collaboration and friendship in the best traditions of internationalism.

The following is the text of the main body of Keith’s speech.

Today’s meeting is a timely initiative – 80 years on, the struggle against fascism, against imperialist war and genocide, for the rights of nations, and for a people’s peace and a better life for working people have lost none of their poignancy or urgency.

It is right that we remember this anniversary. And that we remember it from the standpoint of the working class rather than just that of the ruling circles. The war touched the lives of every family in this country just as it did those of every family in all the countries that were swept into its maelstrom. And the victory was the result of the broadest possible unity of democratic forces worldwide.

But whilst the people of every country, including the progressive and democratic forces in the axis powers themselves, played their part, above all, this victory was inseparable from the heroic exploits, struggle and sacrifice of the great Soviet people of all nationalities and the great Chinese people.

Today, we celebrate the victorious end of the war in Europe, but the war in East Asia and the Pacific still had more than three months to run and whilst it was clear that Japanese militarism would be defeated, nobody could be sure how long that would take and how many lives it would still claim. That was the sobering reality to which people awoke after the greatly deserved revelry of the first VE Day.

So, in being asked to speak about the war in the east on this occasion, I’ll try to draw out the essential relationship between what were the two key fronts of a single united struggle. Fronts that were mutually reinforcing and inseparable. And at the heart of this single struggle was the combat alliance, the friendship forged in blood, between the peoples of China, Russia and the other constituent republics of the USSR.

The anti-fascist war in China started earliest and lasted the longest. Japanese imperialism, which had first embarked on the road of aggression against China in the nineteenth century, occupied China’s three northeastern provinces in 1931, creating the puppet state of Manchukuo. In 1937, Japan began an all-out war of aggression against China. In the course of 14 years, China suffered over 35 million casualties.  As Xi Jinping put it in his speech marking the 70th anniversary of victory:

“The victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is the first complete victory won by China in its resistance against foreign aggression in modern times. This great triumph crushed the plot of the Japanese militarists to colonise and enslave China and put an end to China’s national humiliation of suffering successive defeats at the hands of foreign aggressors in modern times.”

He added: “During the war, with huge national sacrifice, the Chinese people held their ground in the main theatre in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War, thus making a major contribution to its victory.”

And as then Chinese leader Hu Jintao put it 10 years previously:

“The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression constitutes a glorious page in the history of the World Anti-Fascist War, for it broke out much earlier and lasted the longest. For a long time, we Chinese contained and pinned down the main forces of Japanese militarism in the China theatre and annihilated more than 1.5 million Japanese troops. This played a decisive role in the total defeat of the Japanese aggressors. The war of resistance lent a strategic support to battles of China’s allies, assisted the strategic operations in the Europe and Pacific theatres, and restrained and disrupted the attempt of Japanese, German and Italian fascists to coordinate their strategic operations… The victory of the war in China sets a shining example of the weak vanquishing the strong for the people all over the world and boosted the confidence and morale of the oppressed and victimised nations to carry on their liberation wars.”

In a word, by their heroic struggle the Chinese people not only rose up to save their nation and civilisation. By pinning down huge numbers of aggressor troops, they prevented Japan from attacking the Soviet Union, thereby ensuring that the Red Army never had to fight on two fronts simultaneously, something that was absolutely crucial to expediting both a victorious conclusion to the war in Europe but also to an overall and decisive victory over the axis powers as a whole.

In 1931, Soviet leader JV Stalin uttered these prophetic words: ““We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We have to close that gap in 10 years. Either we do it or we will be wiped out.”

In putting matters in this way, Stalin was mindful of threats to both the USSR’s East and West.

Since the emergence of Japan as a capitalist nation after the bourgeois revolution of the late 1860s known as the Meiji Restoration, the ruling class of Japan, a country lacking in most raw materials, had cast covetous eyes at the Far East of Russia and at Siberia, with its vast area, small population, but almost limitless mineral and natural wealth.

In 1904, Japan launched a war against Russia, winning a stunning victory the next year. This served notice to the whole world of the emergence of Japan as a major imperialist power, whilst the shock of Russia’s defeat was a major contributory factor to the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Following the October Revolution, Japan joined all the imperialist powers in the war of intervention against the infant Soviet state. In 1918, Japan occupied Russia’s far eastern provinces, including the port of Vladivostok, and parts of Siberia. The Red Army forced their withdrawal in 1922.

Continue reading Keith Bennett: WW2 victory is inseparable from the heroic struggle of the Soviet and Chinese peoples

Xi attends Russia’s Victory Day celebrations

Following an intensive program of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 8, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the grand parade marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany on May 9 in Red Square as the chief guest of honour.

Joining the Chinese and Russian presidents were the national leaders of 26 other countries, as follows:

  • Abkhazia
  • Armenia
  • Belarus
  • Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Brazil
  • Burkina Faso
  • Republic of Congo
  • Cuba
  • Egypt
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Ethiopia
  • Guinea Bissau
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • Palestine
  • Serbia
  • Slovakia
  • South Ossetia
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uzbekistan
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
  • Zimbabwe

Additionally, high level representatives came from a number of other countries, including India, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and South Africa, as well as from international organisations.

The leader of Laos had to cancel his planned visit after succumbing to a serious COVID infection.

Military units from a number of countries also took part in the parade namely:

Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States who participated in the Great Patriotic War as constituent republics of the Soviet Union:

  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uzbekistan

Friendly Countries:

  • China
  • Vietnam
  • Laos
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • Egypt

The largest contingent of troops was sent by China.

Additionally, following the parade, Vladimir Putin met with a group of military officers from the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) who had taken part in the recent battles to liberate Kursk from Ukrainian aggression.

In his speech at the parade, President Putin said:

“Today, we are all united by the feelings of joy and grief, pride and gratitude, and admiration for the generation that crushed Nazism and won freedom and peace for all humanity at the cost of millions of lives.

“We remember the lessons of World War II and will never agree with the distortion of those events or attempts to justify the murderers and slander the true victors.

“Our duty is to defend the honour of the Red Army soldiers and commanders, and the heroism of fighters of different ethnic backgrounds who will forever remain Russian soldiers in world history.

Continue reading Xi attends Russia’s Victory Day celebrations

An unexpected friendly encounter: Ambassador Wang Yajun pays tribute to veteran artists from the DPRK

The following article, which was originally published on the website of the Chinese Embassy in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), relates how Ambassador Wang Yajun and his staff members visited the fine arts exhibition in the capital Pyongyang held in honour of April 15’s 113th birth anniversary of the DPRK’s founding leader Kim Il Sung.

To his surprise, he met there with two old artists in their 90s from the Korean People’s Army. They fought side by side with the Chinese People’s Volunteers more than 70 years ago and have a special bond with the Chinese people.

92-year-old Korean People’s Artist Li Lushan said that he had participated in many major battles, such as blocking the US Army’s Incheon Landing. In 1951, he was seriously injured, and it was the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army that sent him to Changchun, Jilin for treatment. During that time, the Chinese people selflessly donated blood for him and took great care of him. It was China and the Chinese people who gave him a second life.

Cui Shigen, a 90-year-old painter from the Songhua Academy of Fine Arts in the DPRK, said that the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army soldiers had visited his home and encouraged him by patting his shoulders when they heard that he was going to join the army. Later, he fought with the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army on the Eastern Front and participated in post-war reconstruction. At a celebration party, he also created portraits of Chairman Kim Il Sung and Chairman Mao Zedong, which were highly praised by the army leaders and soldiers.

The article noted that the two artists are not only household names in the DPRK. Their work is also very popular in China.

Ambassador Wang paid tribute to the two veteran artists for their contributions to national independence, development and China-DPRK friendship, wished them good health and longevity, and said that through their works, he felt the great love of the Korean people for their national leaders. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea. “I believe that under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea headed by General Secretary Kim Jong Un, the Korean people will surely achieve greater success in the journey of creating a new era of national comprehensive rejuvenation. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers’ participation in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. I believe that under the strategic guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping and General Secretary Kim Jog Un, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, which was forged with blood, will surely be inherited and developed, and will continue to move to a higher level, benefiting the people of the two countries.”

The article was published in Chinese and has been machine translated.

In early spring of April, the “Exhibition of Fine Arts by Veteran Artists in Memory of the 113th Anniversary of the Birth of Chairman Kim Il Sung” was grandly held at the Pyongyang International Cultural Center. On the 20th, Ambassador Wang Yajun of the Chinese Embassy in North Korea and his delegation visited the exhibition.

In the exhibition hall, oil paintings such as “Mangyongdae Residence” and “Spring in Mt. Paektu” vividly show Chairman Kim Il Sung’s revolutionary career and glorious achievements in his dedication to the independence and prosperity of North Korea and the happiness of the people. Korean paintings such as “Golden Autumn” and “In a Greenhouse Benefiting the People’s Livelihood” reflect from multiple angles the fruitful results achieved by General Secretary Kim Jong Un in leading the North Korean people to create a new era of national comprehensive rejuvenation. In addition, there are many exquisite works that vividly present the unique and beautiful natural scenery of North Korea.

What Ambassador Wang and his delegation did not expect was that there were many famous old North Korean artists participating in the exhibition. Among them, two old painters in their 90s were from the People’s Army. They fought side by side with the Chinese People’s Volunteers more than 70 years ago and have a special bond with the Chinese people.

92-year-old Korean People’s Artist Li Lushan said that he had participated in many major battles, such as blocking the US Army’s Incheon Landing. In 1951, he was seriously injured and it was the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army that sent him to Changchun, Jilin for treatment. During that time, the Chinese people selflessly donated blood for him and took great care of him. It was China and the Chinese people who gave him a second life.

Cui Shigen, a 90-year-old painter from the Songhua Academy of Fine Arts in North Korea, said that the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army soldiers had visited his home and encouraged him by patting his shoulders when they heard that he was going to join the army. Later, he fought with the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army on the Eastern Front and participated in post-war reconstruction. At a celebration party, he also created portraits of Chairman Kim Il-sung and Chairman Mao Zedong, which were highly praised by the army leaders and soldiers. When he was moved, Cui Shigen sang the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army Song in Chinese with Ambassador Wang and his entourage. The sincere and friendly atmosphere deeply touched everyone at the scene.

Today, the two old artists are not only household names in North Korea, but their Korean paintings and oil paintings are also very popular in China.

Ambassador Wang paid tribute to the two veteran artists for their contributions to national independence, development and China-DPRK friendship, wished them good health and longevity, and said that through the affectionate works, he felt the great love of the Korean people for their national leaders. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea. I believe that under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea headed by General Secretary Kim Jong-un, the Korean people will surely achieve greater success in the journey of creating a new era of national comprehensive rejuvenation. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers’ participation in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. I believe that under the strategic guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping and General Secretary Kim Jong-un, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, which was forged with blood, will surely be inherited and developed, and will continue to move to a higher level, benefiting the people of the two countries and making greater contributions to maintaining regional peace.

Second International Anti-Fascist Forum in Moscow

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) held the second International Anti-Fascist Forum in Moscow, from April 22–24 as the Russian capital prepared for a massive international celebration on May 9 of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Hitler fascism.

The conference was attended by 164 delegations from 91 countries, representing communist and left-wing parties and progressive mass organisations.

Addressing the opening session on behalf of the Communist Party of China, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui noted that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War. The Chinese and Russian peoples, unafraid of threats and violence, fought in bloody battles, made enormous national sacrifices to contain the onslaught and destroy the aggressors, protect the state sovereignty and dignity of the country, and thus made an important historical contribution to the Victory in the World Anti-Fascist War.

He stressed that China and the Communist Party of China are willing to work with all progressive forces, including the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, to uphold the post-war world order, take the 80th anniversary of the UN as an opportunity to implement genuine multilateralism, firmly safeguard the authority and role of the UN, ensure real implementation of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world, as well as an accessible and inclusive economic globalisation, effectively promote the democratisation of international relations, and promote the formation of a more just and reasonable new model of global governance.

The following article was originally published on the website of the Chinese Embassy in Moscow. It was published in Russian and has been machine translated.

Further information and commentary on the forum were published by People’s Democracy, People’s World, the New Worker and Peoples Dispatch.

On April 23, Ambassador Zhang Hanhui took part in the International Anti-Fascist Conference organized by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The meeting was chaired by the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society I.I. Melnikov. The Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G.A. Zyuganov delivered a keynote speech at the conference. More than 400 representatives of communist parties, workers and left-wing forces from 91 countries took part in the event.

In his speech, Ambassador Zhang Hanhui noted that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War. The Chinese and Russian peoples, unafraid of threats and violence, fought in bloody battles, made enormous national sacrifices to contain the onslaught and destroy the aggressors, protect the state sovereignty and dignity of the country, and thus made an important historical contribution to the Victory in the World Anti-Fascist War.

Zhang Hanhui stressed that China and the Communist Party of China are willing to work with all progressive forces, including the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, to uphold the post-war world order, take the 80th anniversary of the UN as an opportunity to implement genuine multilateralism, firmly safeguard the authority and role of the UN, ensure real implementation of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world, as well as an accessible and inclusive economic globalization, effectively promote the democratization of international relations, and promote the formation of a more just and reasonable new model of global governance.

The forum participants called on all progressive forces to unite in a joint fight against any manifestations of colonialism and Nazism, to defend the results of victory in World War II, as well as the principles of international justice and impartiality.

After the forum, Ambassador Zhang Hanhui held a warm and friendly meeting with the Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G.A. Zyuganov, during which issues of developing relations between the parties of the two countries were discussed.

Xi Jinping: Learning from history to build together a brighter future

On May 7, Chinese President Xi Jinping began a state visit to Russia where he will also attend the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Ahead of his arrival, the Chinese leader published an article in the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russian Gazette).

In his article President Xi recalled that: “Ten years ago around this time, I came to Russia to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory. During that visit, I made a special arrangement to meet with 18 representatives of Russian veterans who endured the blood and fire of battlefields during the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War and the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Their unyielding resolve and indomitable bearing left an indelible impression on me. In the past few years, General M. Gareyev, Major General T. Shchudlo and other veterans passed away. I pay my deepest tribute to them and to all veterans – from generals to the rank and file-for their extraordinary service and heroic feats in securing the victory over fascists around the world. We will never forget them.”

Xi noted that: “During the World Anti-Fascist War, the Chinese and Russian peoples fought shoulder to shoulder and supported each other. In the darkest hours of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Volunteer Group, which was part of the Soviet Air Force, came to Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing to fight alongside the Chinese people, bravely engaging Japanese invaders in aerial combat – many sacrificing their precious lives.”

He added that: “At the critical juncture of the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, Yan Baohang, a legendary intelligence agent of the Communist Party of China (CPC) who was hailed as the ‘Richard Sorge of the East,’ provided the Soviet Union with primary-source intelligence.”

[Yan Baohang (1895-1968) was an intelligence agent of the CPC and the Communist International, entrusted by later Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Based behind enemy lines in Chongqing, in May 1941 the one-time student at Edinburgh University was able to discover the exact date – June 22 – of the planned German attack on the Soviet Union. He managed to get the information to the communist base area in Yan’an by June 6, where Mao Zedong ordered it to be conveyed to Moscow and where it reached Stalin, enabling important preparations to be made in time. On June 30, eight days after the German attack, Stalin telegraphed Yan’an, to thank Yan “for his accurate information that prompted us to prepare for what’s to come.”

[Richard Sorge (1895-1944) was one of the most brilliant intelligence officers of the Communist International and the Soviet Red Army’s Fourth Department, later known as the GRU or military intelligence. Known particularly for his work in Shanghai and then in Tokyo, he was eventually arrested by the Japanese authorities in October 1941 and hanged in Tokyo on November 7, 1944, the fascists having deliberately chosen to execute this outstanding and courageous internationalist fighter for communism on the anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.]

Drawing attention to the contemporary significance of the 80th anniversary, Xi wrote: “Eighty years ago, the forces of justice around the world, including China and the Soviet Union, united in courageous battles against their common foes and defeated the overbearing fascist powers. Eighty years later today, however, unilateralism, hegemonism, bullying, and coercive practices are severely undermining our world. Again, humankind has come to a crossroads of unity or division, dialogue or confrontation, win-win cooperation or zero-sum games… We must learn from history, especially the hard lessons of the Second World War. We must draw wisdom and strength from the great victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and resolutely resist all forms of hegemonism and power politics. We must work together to build a brighter future for humanity.”

Continue reading Xi Jinping: Learning from history to build together a brighter future

Book review: Torkil Lauesen – The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism

The following text by Carlos Martinez, written for the May-June 2025 issue of Communist Review, reviews The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism, by Danish revolutionary intellectual Torkil Lauesen.

The review highlights and explores a number of key themes from the book, including the assessment of the history of the global working class movement within a framework of historical materialism; the possibility that humanity has reached a turning point and that capitalism has run out of ways to sustain itself; and the indispensability of constructing a global united front composed of the socialist countries, the national liberation movements, the anti-imperialist forces of the Global South, and the progressive forces in the advanced capitalist countries.

The review notes: “One of the most significant aspects of The Long Transition is its serious attempt to understand and explain contemporary China, and in particular to assess the results – and perhaps necessity – of the Reform and Opening Up process introduced in 1978, gradually introducing market mechanisms to the economy, allowing private ownership of capital, encouraging investment from abroad, and integrating China into the global economy.”

Lauesen’s investigations of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics lead him to the conclusion that “the importance of socialist-oriented development in China can hardly be overestimated. It can tip the global balance of power decisively in favour of a socialist world order.”

As Carlos states in his review, The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism is a richly rewarding and important read. It can be purchased or downloaded from Iskra Books.

Long transition

The latest book from Danish revolutionary intellectual Torkil Lauesen, The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism, is highly ambitious in its scope, providing an assessment of the first two centuries of humanity’s attempts to build socialism, and outlining some of the necessary or possible next steps on that journey.

Lauesen describes in some detail the history thus far of the “long transition” from capitalism to socialism – starting with the first rumblings of proletarian revolt in mid-19th century Europe, then moving on to the Paris Commune, the rise and fall of the German workers’ movement, the October Revolution, the early attempts at socialist construction in the Soviet Union, the eastward shift of the revolutionary centre of gravity in the post-WW2 era, and the ongoing socialist project in the People’s Republic of China.

These milestones are contextualised within a long-running, dialectical struggle between two social systems. While all except the last are by now studied as history rather than as contemporary politics, and while many failed to achieve their stated aims, they all form links in an ongoing chain: the long transition to socialism. Lauesen writes that “the struggle and suffering of millions of communists and socialists for the past two hundred years have not been in vain, but are contributions to this long process of creating a better world.” (p2)

Such a sentiment – heartening to those of us that have lived through a low ebb of the communist tide – echoes the powerful words of Korean revolutionary Kim San in Helen Foster Snow’s remarkable Song of Ariran:

Nearly all the friends and comrades of my youth are dead, hundreds of them… Their warm revolutionary blood flowed proudly into the soil of Korea, Manchuria, Siberia, Japan, China. They failed in the immediate thing, but history keeps a fine accounting. A man’s name and his brief dream may be buried with his bones, but nothing that he has ever done or failed to do is lost in the final balance of forces.[1]

In such a framework, the retreats suffered by our movement should be considered as part of an inevitable ebb and flow of a complex trajectory that could take hundreds of years but which nonetheless has an inexorable historical materialist tide. As Deng Xiaoping observed in 1992, commenting on the collapse of the Soviet Union: “Feudal society replaced slave society, capitalism supplanted feudalism, and, after a long time, socialism will necessarily supersede capitalism. This is an irreversible general trend of historical development, but the road has many twists and turns… Some countries have suffered major setbacks, and socialism appears to have been weakened. But the people have been tempered by the setbacks and have drawn lessons from them, and that will make socialism develop in a healthier direction.”[2]

The transition process is complicated by the fact that capitalism and socialism do not exist independently of one another, but rather constitute a unity of opposites, one constantly acting on and transforming the other. Lauesen writes for example that “the way capitalism works today is a product of the Russian Revolution and Soviet industrialisation, the anti-colonial uprisings in the Third World, the 1968 uprising, and the current Chinese development of socialism.” This view is shared with the late Egyptian Marxist Samir Amin, who wrote that “the long transition of world capitalism to world socialism is defined by the internal conflict of all the societies in the system between the trends and forces of the reproduction of capitalist relations and the (anti-systemic) trends and forces, whose logic has other aspirations – those, precisely, that can be defined as socialism”.[3]

Capitalism is running out of road

Marx and Engels thought that capitalism’s contradictions and its tendency towards crisis would condemn it to a relatively brief existence. Lauesen cites Engels in 1847, writing that the bourgeoisie “will at most win a few years of troubled enjoyment, only to then be immediately overthrown… You shall be allowed to rule for a short time… but do not forget that ‘the hangman stands at the door’”. (p54)

A hundred and seventy-eight years hence, it has to be admitted that capitalism has shown itself to be remarkably adaptive, “finding new escape routes from its problems” (p22) in the form of new technologies, colonial and imperial expansion, war, repression, cultural hegemony, and the provision of “bread and circuses” to a privileged layer of the working class.

However, while problems can be swept under the carpet, they can’t remain there permanently. Neoliberal globalisation gave the US an additional four decades of hegemony starting in the 1970s, but Lauesen considers that capitalism is running out of options for mitigating its contradictions.

I do not believe that capitalism will survive this century. Capitalism reached its zenith around 2000. It is still dominant, but is in decline, reflected in the turn from neoliberal economic globalisation towards military defence of a US hegemony that is no longer economically based. The decline of US hegemony and the rise of China as a driver for a more multipolar world system can lead to a geopolitical balance, in which social movements and nations in the global South can move in the direction of socialism. (p10)

China’s emergence is central to Lauesen’s analysis. While the US-led capitalist world system is in decline, China – led by a Communist Party and following a hybrid economic model with public ownership and planning at its core – is increasing in strength, prosperity and influence. China is “the leading industrial producer and the biggest actor in the world market”, as well as being “the driving force behind the effort to establish a multipolar world-system.” (p10)

Furthermore, China’s rise is not reliant on hegemonism. As President Xi Jinping has pointedly remarked: China will “neither tread the old path of colonisation and plunder, nor the crooked path taken by some countries to seek hegemony once they grow strong.”[4] Because the capitalist class in China is not the ruling class, it is not able to define the country’s foreign policy. Li Zhongjin and David Kotz have pointed out, any drive towards hegemonism by China’s capitalists is restrained by a CPC government which “has no need to aim for imperial domination to achieve its economic aims”, and “the Chinese capitalist class lacks the power to compel the CPC to seek imperial domination.”[5]

Lauesen considers that the failure of the forces of global socialism to win a final victory over capitalism is rooted primarily in the fact that capitalism has still found ways to expand; it has still until very recently retained the edge in terms of driving human progress forward. This is changing. As Deng Xiaoping commented in 1984, “the superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of those forces than under the capitalist system”.[6] The extraordinary success of DeepSeek’s R1 model; China’s leading role in renewable energy and green transport; its charting of new territory in telecommunications, advanced industry, space exploration, medical science and more all indicate that humanity is reaching a turning point.

Understanding China

One of the most significant aspects of The Long Transition is its serious attempt to understand and explain contemporary China, and in particular to assess the results – and perhaps necessity – of the Reform and Opening Up process introduced in 1978, gradually introducing market mechanisms to the economy, allowing private ownership of capital, encouraging investment from abroad, and integrating China into the global economy.

Lauesen’s writing betrays a certain ambivalence on this topic, and it’s not difficult to imagine that, given his long adherence to a variant of Cultural Revolution-era Maoism, it has been no easy task coming to terms with Deng Xiaoping Theory. And yet, Lauesen’s methodology adheres to Mao Zedong’s observation that “the only yardstick of truth is the revolutionary practice of millions of people”.[7] As such, he recognises that China’s extraordinary rise constitutes “an epochal change in the world-system. China was able, for the first time in two hundred years, to break the polarising dynamic of capitalism between the West and the rest of the world.” (p256)

Lauesen also recognises that this success would likely not have been possible without the introduction of market reforms and integration into the global economy from the late 1970s onwards. Marx writes that “the development of the productive forces of social labour is capital’s historic mission and justification”.[8] China’s leadership recognised that capital could still perform that historic mission in a socialist country, under the leadership and guidance of the Communist Party. Lauesen views this as necessary, in a context where “actually existing socialism” in both Soviet and Chinese flavours had been as yet unable “to break the power of the global capitalist market, which blocked the road to the development of socialism”. (p221)

In a capitalist-dominated world, without a sufficiently developed economic base, China had to become part of the world economy. It had to build up its productive forces under conditions which would almost certainly be a threat to the hard-won political preconditions, since capitalist norms and values would penetrate society… It could not continue the development of its productive forces without investments and trading with capitalist countries. It needed to begin the transfer of technology from the imperial countries. (p226)

Interestingly, Lauesen considers that the concept of ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’ is not a post-Mao development; that China’s economic reform was not a manifestation of Mao Zedong and his supporters losing the two-line struggle with so-called capitalist roaders. Rather, Mao himself “was part of this new strategy, shifting the course from port to starboard to avoid sailing too close to the wind of the looming storm of global capitalism”. (p221)

In this analysis, the Third Industrial Revolution – the rise of electronics, telecommunications, automation and computers, combined with the massive expansion of globalised production chains enabled by containerisation – gave a new lease of life to capitalism and affected the balance of power in the global class struggle. “Revolutions erupted in Cuba, Algeria, Vietnam, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, and so on, but despite their socialist aspirations, they hardly left the ground concerning the construction of socialism. Therefore, it was not only the Cultural Revolution that lost its steam through the 1970s, it was revolutionary movements all over the world. This indicates that there was a deeper transformation occurring in world capitalism, which was reflected in global class struggles.” (p218)

China needed to rapidly develop its productive forces – “not only to eradicate poverty in China itself, but also because it is necessary to possess the most developed technology to break the dominance of capitalism, and thus promote a global transformation towards socialism” (p272). And this dynamic is first detected not in Deng’s speech at the third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in December 1978, but in Richard Nixon’s meeting with Mao in Beijing in February 1972, and China’s acquisition of various industrial facilities from the West in the following years.

Bringing the story up to the present, Lauesen states that “a socialist-oriented China will be of great importance for a transition towards global socialism”, in particular because it “will create possibilities for anti-capitalist struggles within the remaining capitalist world system”. As such, “the importance of socialist-oriented development in China can hardly be overestimated. It can tip the global balance of power decisively in favour of a socialist world order” (p276). This is consistent with the great Italian Marxist philosopher Domenico Losurdo: “Thanks to the prodigious economic and technological development of China, defined as the most important event of the last five hundred years, the Columbian era has come to an end”.[9]

Global united front

The capitalist system is increasingly becoming a hindrance to human progress, and a threat to human survival, but a socialist future is not, of course, guaranteed. It was 110 years ago that the heroic Polish-German revolutionary and theoretician Rosa Luxemburg popularised the idea that humanity faced a stark choice: between socialism and barbarism. But now as then, barbarism is still on the table, and in this era of existential threats to humanity – climate change, pandemics, antimicrobial resistance, nuclear warfare, the dangers posed by unrestrained and unscrupulous use of artificial intelligence – its possible dimensions are all too visible.

Objective factors increasingly favour the global movement for socialism, but the subjective factors have to be mobilised as well. Lauesen writes: “Capitalism can collapse in a brutal, chaotic endgame of wars and natural disasters. To avoid this is our task; and to accomplish that task, we must fulfil the transition to socialism. To do this, we need to learn from the past and mobilise, organise, and develop a strategy for future struggles.” (p2)

In Lauesen’s view, the left in the Global North will not be the driving force in the transition toward global socialism. But this doesn’t mean that the left should simply maintain a humdrum existence fighting for better pay and conditions. “It is not enough to wait for the proletariat of the Global South to create a revolutionary situation in our part of the world”. (p359)

Rather, Marxists in the West must urgently adopt an internationalist perspective and help construct a global united front composed of the socialist countries, the national liberation movements, the anti-imperialist forces of the Global South, and the progressive forces in the advanced capitalist countries. After all, “if reforms in the Global North are not accompanied by the deconstruction of imperialism, then they are not a step forward — they are parasitic”. (p353)

Lauesen urges his readers to make a permanent break with social chauvinism; to make a permanent break with the arrogant Western Marxism described by Losurdo, which rejects the leadership and the lessons of actually existing socialism; to support the Global South’s struggle against imperialism; to support those countries and movements developing socialism; to oppose wars; and to “make sure that the North is no safe ‘hinterland’ for imperialism, which means struggle against right-wing national chauvinism, racism, and imperialist political and military intervention”. (p359)

The appeal from the Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East, held 125 years ago, urges the Western working classes: “You cannot free yourselves without helping us in our struggle for liberation. The wealth of our countries is, in the hands of the capitalists, a means of enslaving you.”[10] Lauesen calls on us to take up this challenge anew.

In a relatively long book, dealing with difficult and controversial topics, there is inevitably no lack of things to disagree with. Nonetheless, The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism is a richly rewarding and important read.

[1]                  Chang Chi-rak and Nym Wales. Song of Ariran: A Korean Communist in the Chinese Revolution. San Francisco: Ramparts Press, 1972, p216

[2]                 Deng Xiaoping 1992, Excerpts From Talks Given In Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai, Marxist Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/deng-xiaoping/1992/179.htm

[3]                 Samir Amin. Global History: A View from the South. Cape Town, South Africa : Dakar, Senegal : Bangalore, India: Pambazuka Press, 2011, p185

[4]                 Xi Jinping 2023, Full text of Xi Jinping’s keynote address at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting, Xinhua. https://english.news.cn/20230316/46287ba021164317ab578b18b447a0af/c.html

[5]                 Li Zhongjin and David Kotz 2020, Is China Imperialist? Economy, State, and Insertion in the Global System, American Economic Association. https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2021/preliminary/paper/e4D3fNd3

[6]                 Deng Xiaoping 1984, Building a Socialism With a Specifically Chinese Character, Marxist Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/deng-xiaoping/1984/36.htm

[7]                 Mao Zedong 1940 On New Democracy, Marxist Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_26.htm

[8]                 Karl Marx. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. V. 3: Penguin Classics. London, 1981, p368

[9]                 Domenico Losurdo. Western Marxism: How It Was Born, How It Died, How It Can Be Reborn (ed. Gabriel Rockhill). Monthly Review Press, 2024, p227

[10]               Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East: Appeal from the Congress (1920), Marxist Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/baku/to-workers.htm

Tu Youyou, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and the struggle against malaria

April 25 is marked each year as World Malaria Day. Marking this occasion, the US publication Struggle/La Lucha carried a brief article by Stephen Millies revisiting the inspiring story of Chinese woman scientist Tu Youyou, who, starting in 1967, led more than 500 researchers to develop a malaria treatment. The project was begun to assist Vietnam in its war against US aggression, but it has gone on to save millions of lives all over the world, especially in the Global South.

Mosquitoes were infecting Vietnamese soldiers marching down what the corporate media called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Older remedies like chloroquine were not as effective as they once were. The Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh asked the People’s Republic of China for help. Ho’s comrade, Mao Zedong, responded by setting up Project 523 to find a new and better cure. A plant called sweet wormwood, mentioned in a 1,600-year-old Chinese medical text, became the focus of attention. Tu Youyou helped develop an extraction method that led to the discovery of the anti-malaria drug Artemisinin in 1972. Tu Youyou was finally awarded a Nobel Prize for her work in 2015.

Millies comments: “Helping Vietnam was the solidarity given by the other socialist countries, including the then-existing Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Part of that solidarity was the work of Tu Youyou and her fellow scientists in finding new cures for malaria.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, a Ugandan health official said China is a key partner in helping the East African country eliminate the deadly disease by 2030.

Jimmy Opigo, head of the National Malaria Control Division at the Ministry of Health, told Xinhua in a recent interview that Uganda is eager to learn from a country whose relentless efforts have reduced annual malaria infections from about 30 million in the 1940s to zero in 2017. In 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared China malaria-free, making it the 40th country in the world to have eliminated malaria.

Opigo said that over the years, China has supported Uganda in fighting the disease, which kills between 70,000 and 100,000 people in the East African country annually, with pregnant women and children most affected. He added that, drawing from China’s experience, quick case detection, investigation and a surveillance system are critical in fighting the disease

“We appreciate the long-standing bilateral relationship between Uganda and China, which has been in several fields, including trade, technology, manufacturing, agriculture, and medicine, and we are now developing one in malaria elimination,” Opigo said. “Uganda is working with China for the elimination of malaria.”

The following articles were originally published by Struggle/La Lucha and the Xinhua News Agency.

Tu Youyou, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and the struggle against malaria

Caused by a parasite which is spread by infected mosquitoes, malaria has killed billions during thousands of years of human history. Just in the last century, an estimated 150 to 300 million people died from the disease.

While smallpox, cholera, polio and the plague have been beaten back, malaria and tuberculosis continue to kill hundreds of thousands of people annually. In 2023, an estimated 597,000 people died from malaria. Ninety-five percent were Africans.

Continue reading Tu Youyou, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and the struggle against malaria

From Bandung to BRICS: the inexorable rise of the Global South

The following is the text of the speech given by our co-editor Keith Bennett to the webinar jointly organised by Friends of Socialist China and the International Manifesto Group on Sunday 27 April, 2025, marking the 70th anniversary of the historic Africa Asia Conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung.

In his speech, Keith outlined the historic significance of the Bandung Conference, linking it both to its antecedents as well as to the later institutions of the Global South that it inspired, such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the BRICS cooperation mechanism.

He pays particular attention to the key role played by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai at the conference and cites Malcolm X, who highlighted the broad unity that Bandung embodied.

We called this meeting to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference and to affirm its continued relevance.

What do I mean by that?

It was a key moment in the evolution and development of the international situation post-World War 2.

It came at the cusp of the anti-imperialist national liberation movement:

  • Just after the liberation of China, itself preceded by the independence of India, Pakistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Burma (now Myanmar).
  • When Korea and Indochina were at the forefront of the global diplomatic agenda – this being the year after the 1954 Geneva Conference.
  • Just prior to the great wave of decolonisation in Africa, to begin with the independence of Ghana from British colonial rule, under the leadership of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in March 1957, followed by the independence of Guinea from French colonial rule, under the leadership of Ahmed Sekou Toure, in October 1958.
  • And with the world waking up to the full iniquity of the apartheid regime being progressively consolidated – with newly independent India having been the first country to raise the question at the United Nations.

It was against this backdrop that Bandung established a distinct and common Africa Asia identity as a political concept and geopolitical reality.

Of course, there were antecedents, to a great extent related to the international communist movement and to actually existing socialism:

  • The Communist International had convened the Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East in September 1920.
  • In 1927, again at the instigation of the Communist International, delegates including Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Song Qingling (Mme. Sun Yat-Sen) from China, and indeed Fenner Brockway from Britain’s Independent Labour Party, had gathered in Brussels to found the League Against Imperialism.
  • And in 1945, Manchester hosted the fifth Pan African Congress, attended by three future African heads of state – Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Hastings Banda of Malawi – along with the African-American scholar and revolutionary Dr. WEB Du Bois, who had attended the first congress in Paris in 1919, and Amy Ashwood Garvey, the widow of Marcus Garvey.

But Bandung occurred at a qualitatively different historical moment in that it was an initiative of independent sovereign states – and in the main of newly independent sovereign states that had just set out on the road of building a new society. They therefore represented what both Indonesian President Sukarno, the host of the conference, and Korean leader Kim Il Sung referred to as the new emerging forces.

Continue reading From Bandung to BRICS: the inexorable rise of the Global South

Webinar marks 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference

Seventy years ago, the Bandung Conference brought together 29 Asian and African countries to discuss the common challenges facing the Third World. The conference was a milestone in the global struggle against colonialism and imperialism, and laid the foundations for the Non-Aligned Movement.

Friends of Socialist China and the International Manifesto Group co-organised a webinar on Sunday 27 April 2025 to address the legacy of Bandung and its relevance to the contemporary world. Speakers at the event were:

  • Radhika Desai (Convenor, International Manifesto Group)
  • Ben Norton (Founder and editor, Geopolitical Economy Report)
  • Tings Chak (Asia Coordinator, Tricontinental Institute)
  • Jenny Clegg (Author, China’s Global Strategy: Towards a Multipolar World)
  • Isaac Saney (Cuba and Black studies specialist, Dalhousie University)
  • Keith Bennett (Co-editor, Friends of Socialist China)
  • Mushahid Hussain (Pakistani senator, Chairman of the China-Pakistan Institute)

The presentations were followed by a lively and interesting discussion. The video of the webinar is embedded below.

Film review: Sinking of the Lisbon Maru

The Chinese-made documentary film, The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, had its UK premiere on Monday, March 17, 2025, at the Regent Street Cinema in London’s West End. The film recreates a true, but until now largely forgotten, piece of World War II history, where, on October 1, 1942, a Japanese cargo ship carrying over 1,800 British PoWs from Hong Kong to Japan was torpedoed by a US submarine off the coast of China. Left to drown by their captors, over 380 were to be rescued by Chinese fishermen.

In a review written for this website, Fiona Sim, a member of the FoSC Britain Committee, writes, with an eye to contemporary events, that “the documentary serves as an apt warning for how quickly history can be buried when it is not preserved…  [it] highlights the importance of uncovering hidden histories and fighting against the censorship of world events as they happen.”

In a short review for the Morning Star, Jenny Clegg writes: “This is a people-centred film which does not allow the shocking brutality to overpower its human message. Why has this episode remained hidden for so long, and why is China’s role as ally absent from our history books? As historian Rana Mitter puts it, it all disappeared ‘down a hole created by the cold war.’”

The documentary includes testimonies from the last two surviving PoWs and the last surviving Chinese rescuer, all of whom have since died. More than 100 relatives of the PoWs attended the March 17 premiere.

Earlier, on February 22, many of them had gathered at a reception held by the Chinese Embassy in London to commemorate the tragic incident and heroic rescue.

The embassy has organised the commemorative event every year since 2023, and this year holds special significance, not only on account of the release of the film, but particularly as it marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Speaking at the reception, Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang said: “The heroic rescue bears important witness to China and Britain fighting side-by-side as allies against fascist aggression and has left tales of the profound friendship between our two peoples. Such friendship forged during the Second World War will never fade and has become a valuable asset in our bilateral relations.”

China Daily reported that: “In Zhoushan [where the events occurred], local people have also been passing on this history, by holding commemorative services every year, and curating a dedicated section in the local museum about the incident. Last December, a memorial in remembrance of the fishermen’s rescue of British PoWs was completed, and an official unveiling ceremony is being planned for the summer.

“For Denise Wynne, daughter of Dennis Morley, who was saved from the water and who was the last survivor still alive before his passing in 2021 [at the age of 101], the construction of a memorial in Zhoushan was her father’s final wish. ‘He said they were heroes and there should be a memorial built for the fishermen.’”

Previously, on August 26, 2022, Ambassador Zheng hand-delivered to Denise Wynne a personal letter from Xi Jinping, in reply to the letter she had sent to the Chinese President. The website of the Chinese Embassy reported at the time:

“In his letter, President Xi pointed out that the touching story of heroic fishermen from Zhoushan, Zhejiang coming to the rescue of British prisoners of war on board the Lisbon Maru in 1942 is an important testimony to China and the UK fighting shoulder to shoulder as allies against fascist aggression during World War II. It is also a historical episode epitomising the profound friendship forged between the people of our two countries. The President wrote that he knew the episode well and made a point of bringing up the story during his visit to the UK in 2015.

“Mrs. Wynne was deeply touched when she received President Xi’s letter from Ambassador Zheng. She said she was really honoured and very pleased to receive the letter which President Xi Jinping, despite his busy schedule, wrote personally after reading her letter. She recalled her late father telling the family how the Chinese fishermen, with self-sacrifice and outstanding courage, rescued British prisoners of war from the Lisbon Maru, and saying that this part of history, the kindness of the Chinese fishermen and the profound friendship between the peoples of the two countries should not be forgotten. Mrs. Wynne wrote the letter to President Xi Jinping to thank him for mentioning this part of history during his visit to Britain in 2015 and to express the firm support of the families of the survivors of the Lisbon Maru for the friendship between the Chinese and British peoples from generation to generation.

“Major Brian Finch, who has been committed to collecting the historical documents on the Lisbon Maru and a friend of Mrs. Wynne said that the story… contained the very worst and the very best of humanity: the kindness of the Chinese fishermen was absolutely outstanding and unbelievable as was the cruelty of the fascists. The defeat of Japanese militarism in the Second World War was the success of justice. This touching history is worth remembering and the friendship between the Chinese and British people in the fight against fascism should be passed down from generation to generation.”

Continue reading Film review: Sinking of the Lisbon Maru

Ken Hammond: In China the interests of the working class are at the heart of everything

In the latest episode of The China Report, embedded below, hosts Amanda Yee and KJ Noh interview Professor Ken Hammond about his new book, China and the World. The three have a wide-ranging discussion about the trajectory of China’s foreign policy over the last half-century, as well as interrogating the dominant narratives about China in the West and exploring the nature of China’s economic development.

Ken details how the rapprochement between the US and China in the early 1970s, starting with the visits by Henry Kissinger in 1971 and Richard Nixon in 1972, opened a path for “China being able to open up to a broader range of outside engagements”, and in many ways enabled the Reform and Opening Up process that began in 1978. While improved relations with the US came at a not-insignificant cost to China’s role in promoting socialist and national liberation revolutions – contributing to some confusion in the West and elsewhere as to China’s political trajectory – “China was pursuing what could be described as a deep game, taking a long-term perspective that required making certain compromises or accommodations in the short term to achieve fundamental objectives in the long term”.

The three talk about China’s economic reforms and how, while they introduced serious contradictions and imbalances into Chinese society, they ultimately enabled China to overcome poverty and underdevelopment. Ken points out that the country achieved an average of 10 percent GDP growth for several decades and that “this growth didn’t just benefit the wealthy; it flowed directly to the people”. On this topic, KJ recounts discussions with Chinese officials in the late 1990s and early 2000s, who described market reforms as “like getting onto a wild horse – but we believe we can contain this horse”. The record shows that they have indeed been able to do so.

Talking about China’s whole-process socialist democracy and its extremely high levels of public consciousness and engagement, Ken describes China as “a state in which the interests of the working class are at the heart of everything that goes on”, and contrasts this with the money-driven politics of the US in which the interests of the capitalist class are at the heart of everything.

China and the World is available to pre-order from 1804 Books.

Death anniversary of Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune commemorated in China

The following article, which we reprint from the Xinhua News Agency, reports on a commemorative event held in Shijiazhuang, the capital of China’s Hebei Province, on December 21, 2024, to honour the memory of Canadian internationalist surgeon and member of the Communist Party of Canada, Norman Bethune.

November 12, 2024, was the 85th anniversary of Bethune’s death at the age of 49 from blood poisoning, while assisting the Chinese people in their war of resistance against Japanese aggression. Earlier he had served in the International Brigades supporting the Spanish Republic in the fight against fascism.

December 21, 2024, marked the 85th anniversary of the publication of Mao Zedong’s article, ‘In Memory of Norman Bethune’, one of the most famous writings of the late Chinese leader.

The Xinhua article highlighted the participation in the commemoration of Michael Crook. The son of internationalist communist fighters David and Isabel Crook, Michael is the Chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (known as ‘Gung Ho’) and a member of the Friends of Socialist China advisory group.

“My father met Norman Bethune in Spain during his recovery from battle injuries. Influenced by him, my father aspired to come to China, where he met my mother and later had me,” the article quotes Michael as saying.

We also reproduce – from the Marxist Internet Archive – Chairman Mao’s article, in which he writes:

“What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people’s liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the spirit of communism, from which every Chinese Communist must learn. Leninism teaches that the world revolution can only succeed if the proletariat of the capitalist countries supports the struggle for liberation of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples and if the proletariat of the colonies and semi-colonies supports that of the proletariat of the capitalist countries. Comrade Bethune put this Leninist line into practice. We Chinese Communists must also follow this line in our practice. We must unite with the proletariat of all the capitalist countries, with the proletariat of Japan, Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and all other capitalist countries, for this is the only way to overthrow imperialism, to liberate our nation and people and to liberate the other nations and peoples of the world… Comrade Bethune’s spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people.”

Death anniversary of Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune commemorated in China

A commemoration event was held in north China’s Hebei Province on Saturday to honor Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune for his selflessness and spirit of internationalism.

Titled “Memories Through Time and Space,” the event was hosted by the North China Military Martyrs Cemetery in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang.

Around 100 people, including soldiers, students and individuals from various walks of life, attended the event.

This year marks the 85th death anniversary of Bethune, who died of blood poisoning at the age of 49 on Nov. 12, 1939 in China while aiding the Chinese people in their fight against Japanese aggression. His remains were relocated to the cemetery in 1953.

The commemoration began at 10 a.m., with participants bowing before the surgeon’s tomb and presenting flower baskets.

“My father met Norman Bethune in Spain during his recovery from battle injuries. Influenced by him, my father aspired to come to China, where he met my mother and later had me,” said Michael Crook, chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives.

His parents, David and Isabel Crook, played an important role in training a large number of foreign-language professionals for China.

“The spirit of Bethune has not faded with time; instead, it has been widely inherited and carried forward in both China and Canada,” said Hu Jinqiang, director of the North China Military Martyrs Cemetery.

Hu noted that today Bethune is not just a name but a symbol of internationalism, humanism and selfless dedication. “We commemorate him to inspire more people to remember history and carry forward his spirit.”

In memory of Norman Bethune

Comrade Norman Bethune,[1] a member of the Communist Party of Canada, was around fifty when he was sent by the Communist Parties of Canada and the United States to China; he made light of travelling thousands of miles to help us in our War of Resistance Against Japan. He arrived in Yenan in the spring of last year, went to work in the Wutai Mountains, and to our great sorrow died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people’s liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the spirit of communism, from which every Chinese Communist must learn. Leninism teaches that the world revolution can only succeed if the proletariat of the capitalist countries supports the struggle for liberation of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples and if the proletariat of the colonies and semi-colonies supports that of the proletariat of the capitalist countries.[2] Comrade Bethune put this Leninist line into practice. We Chinese Communists must also follow this line in our practice. We must unite with the proletariat of all the capitalist countries, with the proletariat of Japan, Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and all other capitalist countries, for this is the only way to overthrow imperialism, to liberate our nation and people and to liberate the other nations and peoples of the world. This is our internationalism, the internationalism with which we oppose both narrow nationalism and narrow patriotism.

Comrade Bethune’s spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people. Every Communist must learn from him. There are not a few people who are irresponsible in their work, preferring the light and shirking the heavy, passing the burdensome tasks on to others and choosing the easy ones for themselves. At every turn they think of themselves before others. When they make some small contribution, they swell with pride and brag about it for fear that others will not know. They feel no warmth towards comrades and the people but are cold, indifferent and apathetic. In truth such people are not Communists, or at least cannot be counted as devoted Communists. No one who returned from the front failed to express admiration for Bethune whenever his name was mentioned, and none remained unmoved by his spirit. In the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei border area, no soldier or civilian was unmoved who had been treated by Dr. Bethune or had seen how he worked. Every Communist must learn this true communist spirit from Comrade Bethune.

Comrade Bethune was a doctor, the art of healing was his profession and he was constantly perfecting his skill, which stood very high in the Eighth Route Army’s medical service. His example is an excellent lesson for those people who wish to change their work the moment they see something different and for those who despise technical work as of no consequence or as promising no future.

Comrade Bethune and I met only once. Afterwards he wrote me many letters. But I was busy, and I wrote him only one letter and do not even know if he ever received it. I am deeply grieved over his death. Now we are all commemorating him, which shows how profoundly his spirit inspires everyone. We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man’s ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people.

NOTES

1. The distinguished surgeon Norman Bethune was a member of the Canadian Communist Party. In 1936 when the German and Italian fascist bandits invaded Spain, he went to the front and worked for the anti-fascist Spanish people. In order to help the Chinese people in their War of Resistance Against Japan, he came to China at the head of a medical team and arrived in Yenan in the spring of 1938. Soon after he went to the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei border area. Imbued with ardent internationalism and the great communist spirit, he served the army and the people of the Liberated Areas for nearly two years. He contracted blood poisoning while operating on wounded soldiers and died in Tanghsien, Hopei, on November 12, 1939

2. See J. V. Stalin, “The Foundations of Leninism”, Problems of Leninism, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1954, pp. 70-79.

Remains of 43 Chinese Korean War martyrs returned to China

On November 28, the remains of 43 Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) soldiers who died during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953) were returned to China from the Republic of Korea (ROK).  A Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force plane carried the remains of the fallen soldiers and 495 of their personal effects from Incheon International Airport in the ROK to Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

After the ROK handed over the martyrs’ remains and belongings to the Chinese side, China held a memorial ceremony at Incheon International Airport, during which the Chinese national anthem was played, and each casket was draped with the national flag. Attendees bowed three times to the martyrs before their remains were placed onto the plane.

From 2014-2023, China and the ROK, in accordance with international laws and humanitarian principles, successfully completed 10 consecutive handovers involving the remains of 938 CPV martyrs, along with related artifacts.

The Korean War broke out in June 1950, eight months after the People’s Republic of China was founded. At the request of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Chinese ground forces under the CPV banner entered the Korean peninsula on October 19, 1950. A total of 2.9 million CPV soldiers joined the war that lasted almost three years and more than 360,000 were killed or injured.

Describing the atmosphere surrounding the martyrs’ return, the Xinhua News Agency reported:

“The flight from Incheon to Shenyang lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, but for many of the martyrs, this journey home spanned almost seven decades. In the past few days the city of Shenyang has been decorated with slogans that read ‘welcome back, our heroes’.

“As the Y-20 military transport aircraft prepared to land at Shenyang airport, the air traffic control tower transmitted a heartfelt message: ‘The mountains and rivers remain intact, our country is prosperous, and our military is strong. With the utmost respect, we welcome the loyal martyrs back home.’”

The Xinhua report further noted: “The ceremony was also livestreamed online. Among the viewers were faculty and students of a primary school in Shenyang, which was named after CPV martyr Mao Anying, the son of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong. In memory of the martyrs, the students had selected personal gifts to take to the martyr’s cemetery at a later date.”

The remains of the 43 martyrs were laid to rest in a solemn ceremony the following day.

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

China Focus: Remains of 43 Chinese martyrs in Korean War returned to homeland from ROK

SHENYANG, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — The remains of 43 Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) soldiers who died during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953) were returned to China on Thursday from the Republic of Korea (ROK).

At 12:07 p.m., a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Y-20 transport aircraft, carrying the remains of the fallen soldiers and 495 of their personal effects, landed at Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

The plane’s touch down was met with a water cannon salute, as soldiers carried the caskets off the plane before a remembrance ceremony was held at the airport.

Nearly 1,000 people, including representatives from central and local authorities, the military, war veterans, and relatives of CPV martyrs, attended the ceremony.

Following the placement of the caskets, which were covered with the Five-star Red Flag, the participants bowed three times in dignified silence to the soldiers’ remains.

The remains will be laid to rest in a martyrs’ cemetery in Shenyang.

After the ROK handed over the martyrs’ remains and belongings to the Chinese side in Incheon on Thursday morning, China held a memorial ceremony at Incheon International Airport. During the ceremony, the Chinese national anthem was played, and each casket was draped with the national flag. Attendees bowed three times to the martyrs before their remains were placed onto the plane.

From 2014 to 2023, China and the ROK, in accordance with international laws and humanitarian principles, successfully completed 10 consecutive handovers involving the remains of 938 CPV martyrs in the ROK, along with related artifacts.

Continue reading Remains of 43 Chinese Korean War martyrs returned to China

Podcast: Keith Bennett on the past, present and future of the People’s Republic of China

We embed below an interview with our co-editor Keith Bennett produced by Spectre – a Scottish-based communist podcast.

In conversation with Nathan Hennebry, recorded on November 20, 2024, Keith outlines the origins of his own interest in China and how Friends of Socialist China has developed over the last three years.  They go on to discuss a range of topics, including the history of the Chinese revolution, how socialist democracy is practiced in China and the relationship of ‘yellow peril’ Sinophobia to the new Cold War.

Keith’s interview, and Spectre’s other podcasts, can also be listened to across a variety of media.

Paweł Wargan: China’s peaceful rise points to the promise of a socialist future

The following text and video are from a pre-recorded contribution by Paweł Wargan at the London conference organised by Friends of Socialist China to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Paweł’s contribution was very moving, coming from a Polish organiser who is well versed in the history of that country. Being able to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the PRC “feels miraculous to me, because I come from a country that abandoned its socialist path. Knowing what was lost in Poland — in Eastern Europe as a whole — sharpens the appreciation for what has persisted in China.”

Paweł observes that when Poland abandoned the socialist path, “we sold off our public institutions, we joined NATO, and we helped destroy Iraq”. Socialist Poland had built a foreign policy based on solidarity and internationalism, but after 1989, “we lost our solidarity, and we lost a sizeable chunk of our humanity”.

Addressing the standard critique of China as having turned its back on socialism, Paweł poses the question of what China would really look like today if it truly had abandoned the socialist project:

Without socialism, would China build the world’s largest network of high-speed rail? Would China lift 850 million people out of poverty? Would China achieve its climate targets six years ahead of schedule? Without socialism, would China come to lead the global green transition, dramatically cutting the costs of renewable energy for everyone? Would China export its development expertise to countries that for centuries had been denied the right to modernise on their own terms? Would China remain peaceful? 

The speech concludes by urging listeners to take inspiration from China’s continuing successes:

China’s peaceful rise points to the promise of a socialist future on our horizon… In a period in history dominated by the merciless violence we see committed daily against the Palestinian and now Lebanese people by what is a relic of the past — a European colonial project that had no right to survive the era of decolonisation — we can take great hope from the knowledge that there exists somewhere a project of the future.

Paweł Wargan is an activist, researcher and organiser. He serves as Political Coordinator at the Progressive International, an international coalition of over 100 popular movements, political parties, and unions.

In some ways, it feels miraculous to be celebrating the continuation of a socialist project in 2024. And I think that we have to insist on these words: celebration, socialism. Even in the ranks of the left, too many dismiss the seriousness of China’s socialist process, and the idea that there is anything left to celebrate.

This celebration feels miraculous to me, because I come from a country that abandoned its socialist path. Knowing what was lost in Poland — in Eastern Europe as a whole — sharpens the appreciation for what has persisted in China. 

Just last week, on 24 September, an anniversary passed by that is scarcely remembered in my country. 65 years ago, before the rubble from the Second World War had been fully cleared, Władyslaw Gomułka, the leader of the socialist Polish People’s Republic, announced that Poland would build 1,000 schools — one for every year of our country’s existence. 

The war had devastated Poland’s social infrastructure. In 1961, there were 74 children for every classroom, and 700,000 children were born every year between 1949 and 1959. By the end of the 1000 Schools for the Millennium program, the state had built over 1,400 schools and 6,349 homes for Polish teachers — an achievement that it would never repeat in its history. We still go to these schools today.

The experiences gained in our post-war reconstruction were not confined to Poland. Polish architects and builders travelled around the world, helping countries emerging from the ravages of colonialism build their own schools, houses, concert halls, universities, and other public buildings. One of the companies involved in this process, Budimex, helped design a master plan for the city of Baghdad in Iraq, which charted a path for its development until the year 2000.

Then our socialist project collapsed, we sold off our public institutions, we joined NATO, we helped destroy Iraq, and just a couple of years ago Budimex finished work a border wall to stop the victims of US wars in West Asia from crossing into the European Union through Belarus. This is what the collapse of socialism has meant for Poland’s role in the world. We lost our ambition, we lost our solidarity, and we lost a sizeable chunk of our humanity. 

When some on the left expect China to conjure up — as if out of thin air — the socialism imagined in the bedrooms or university halls of Britain or the United States, they ignore not only the continuing achievements of Chinese socialism, won through the arduous effort and tremendous creativity of the Chinese people and the leadership of the Communist Party of China. They also ignore the counterfactual. What would have been lost had China abandoned the path of socialist construction? 

Without socialism, would China build the world’s largest network of high-speed rail? Would China lift 850 million people out of poverty? Would China achieve its climate targets six years ahead of schedule? Without socialism, would China come to lead the global green transition, dramatically cutting the costs of renewable energy for everyone? Would China export its development expertise to countries that for centuries had been denied the right to modernize on their own terms? Would China remain peaceful? 

We find the answers to these questions in the many tragedies that have gripped the former socialist bloc in Eastern Europe. Fraternal nations have been torn apart by the scourge of ethno-nationism — carefully cultivated by the Atlanticist bloc — and entire regions were consumed by war. The social safety net was pulled from under people’s feet, and seven million died early deaths as a result. The very horizon of the future has disappeared.  

That is why we now celebrate the People’s Republic. 

In China, we have proof that the socialist era is not behind us — that we have not, as too many of us insist, been defeated. To the contrary, China’s peaceful rise points to the promise of a socialist future on our horizon. China built on the legacies of the October Revolution, found ways to navigate the contradictions of a global economy captured by imperialism, and has set itself the goal of building an advanced socialist society within our lifetimes. 

In a period in history dominated by the merciless violence we see committed daily against the Palestinian and now Lebanese people by what is a relic of the past — a European colonial project that had no right to survive the era of decolonization — we can take great hope from the knowledge that there exists somewhere a project of the future.