Category: Socialism

Chinese scholar says Vietnamese socialism is a new theoretical model for global socialism and a reference for developing countries

As the Socialist Republic of Vietnam gears up for massive celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and the September 2nd proclamation of the then Democratic Republic of Vietnam by President Ho Chi Minh, a Chinese Marxist scholar has said that the country exemplifies the successful fusion of socialism and a market economy.

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondents in Beijing, Professor Dr. Pan Jin’e from the Research Institute of Marxism under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that since embarking on reforms in 1986, Vietnam has gradually built a “socialist-oriented market economy,” shifting from a planned to an open economy. As a result:

  • In 2024, GDP reached 476.3 billion USD and per capita GDP exceeded 4,700 USD.
  • The World Bank recognises Vietnam as a “model for poverty reduction among developing countries.”
  • With renewable energy accounting for 8% of the energy mix by 2024, the country’s target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 is drawing global attention.

The country has established the theory of a socialist rule-of-law state “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” blending Marxism with local realities to balance political stability and social vitality, a breakthrough in Marxist theory on proletarian state power.

Additionally, Vietnam pursues “development for the people,” making strides in education, healthcare, employment, and social security. Education is free from preschool to public high school; primary school enrolment reached 99.7% in 2024, with a target of 35% university enrolment by 2030. Healthcare insurance coverage reached 93.35% in 2024, nearing universal health coverage, with life expectancy rising from 40 years in 1945 to 75.8 years today.

The interview notes: “These successes stem from decades of struggle against colonialism and invasion. Vietnam’s history is a heroic example for developing countries overcoming backwardness through socialist leadership, the regime’s strengths, and the unity and resilience of its people, supported by international solidarity and proletarian internationalism.”

Regarding Vietnam’s development of and contributions to global socialism, the Chinese scholar described the country’s accomplishments as offering a “Vietnamese solution” to the world socialist movement. Vietnam presents a new theoretical model and developmental path for socialism globally, serving as a reference for developing countries.

Pan concluded that Vietnam’s achievements in building socialism confirm Marx’s view on diverse development paths. She emphasised that Vietnam’s experience revitalises the global socialist movement and opens “another possibility” for developing countries to explore the path of modernisation. “Socialism is not an abstract doctrine, but a creative practice rooted in the country and responsive to the era’s needs,” making this Vietnam’s most valuable contribution to the global socialist movement.

The following article was originally published by Nhân Dân.

Viet Nam, a country that has steadfastly pursued socialism, has gained remarkable achievements in a wide scope of sectors that includes the economy, politics, society, and culture, according to a Chinese expert on Vietnamese affairs.

Economically, Viet Nam exemplifies the successful fusion of socialism and a market economy, Prof., Dr. Pan Jin’e from the Research Institute of Marxism under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with Viet Nam News Agency correspondents in Beijing.

Continue reading Chinese scholar says Vietnamese socialism is a new theoretical model for global socialism and a reference for developing countries

Inside China: Why they’re opening 1,000 new Schools of Marxism

In this wide-ranging conversation on The Socialist Program, historian and China scholar Professor Ken Hammond discusses recent developments in China following a visit in July 2025. He emphasises both the remarkable economic progress as well as the challenges China faces as it pursues further socialist development and modernisation.

Ken notes the absence of extreme poverty and homelessness in urban China, contrasting it with Western cities. Yet he also highlights discussions that are taking place in China as to how best to restrict the influence of big capital and to maintain the core role of the state in directing the economy.

One significant development mentioned is the establishment of over a thousand Schools of Marxism across Chinese universities, reflecting a reassertion of the importance of Marxist ideology and a renewed public discourse around socialism under Xi Jinping’s leadership.

Ken and host Brian Becker discuss the historical rationale behind China’s use of markets, viewing it as a pragmatic strategy to gain technology, expertise and capital from the advanced capitalist countries. Contrary to US expectations, this has not led to a capitalist counterrevolution. Instead, with a remarkable improvement in their living conditions, Chinese people have considerable confidence in their social system.

Ken and Brian also analyse China’s approach to international relations, based not on exporting its model but promoting multipolarity and cultural respect through initiatives like the Global Civilisation Initiative. As Ken puts it, socialism with Chinese characteristics is still very much a work in progress.

China’s five-year plans democratic, people-centred and grounded in material reality

In a wide-ranging interview with Global Times, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez describes China’s Five-Year Plans (FYPs) as democratic, people-centred, and grounded in material reality. He emphasises that China’s success in planning stems from its ability to align governance with popular needs and long-term strategy. “China is known globally for its effective governance and for its record of keeping its promises”, he notes, citing the 13th FYP’s targeted poverty alleviation campaign as a key example of practical planning based on extensive grassroots research.

Carlos stresses that these plans are not top-down decrees but involve widespread consultation, making them highly democratic and responsive to the needs of the people.

China’s five-year plans are well-received by the people because they are based on extensive consultation with the people, and are responsive to the needs, wishes and aspirations of the people. Every plan is based on discussions with, and feedback from, the people. In that sense, the plans are highly democratic, and accord with Chinese emphasis that “the people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.” The basic methodology of the mass line – from the masses, to the masses – has been well employed by the government and the Party in devising goals and plans.

China’s evolving development strategy, he argues, is responsive to shifting realities. Early plans focused on light industry and technological catch-up; today, priorities include green energy, advanced manufacturing, and digitisation. “Quality, rather than quantity, has become a more important feature of the country’s growth”, he observes.

Carlos credites President Xi Jinping with combining short-, medium-, and long-term planning rooted in the principles of common prosperity and ecological sustainability. Furthermore, Xi’s strategic thinking increasingly has global applicability, as seen in initiatives like the Belt and Road and the Global Development Initiative.

Contrasting China’s approach with the short-termism of Western governments, Carlos points out that, unlike the West’s shareholder-driven model, China’s system prioritises the long-term interests of the people. “Ultimately, the ‘institutional advantage’ is the political power of the working people, and the fact that, in China, people come before profit.”

GT: In China, the scientific formulation and consistent implementation of five-year plans stand as an important piece of experience in the CPC’s approach to governing the country. Why do you think China places significant emphasis on scientific formulation and consistent implementation of five-year plans? 

Martinez: China is known globally for its effective governance and for its record of keeping its promises. Its objectives and plans are developed over a long period of time, and are firmly grounded in material reality and the needs and aspirations of the people. 

For example, China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) codified the central leadership’s poverty-reduction decision into the state will that is operable in practice. The targeted poverty alleviation campaign included sending officials to the countryside to identify the communities, families and individuals living in extreme poverty. Once the “facts on the ground” were established, a comprehensive plan was developed – at national, provincial, county and village levels – to sustainably lift everyone out of extreme poverty, so that they had a steady income, along with guaranteed housing, food, clothing, education, healthcare, modern energy and running water.

China keeps its promises, and it does so by mobilizing enormous resources toward key projects. In 2020, President Xi announced the country’s commitment to peaking its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030. This goal informed the current (14th) five-year plan, and appropriate targets were set at every level, throughout the country. 

In summary, China develops plans that are realistic and flexible, that meet both the short-term and long-term needs of the people and that contribute to the country’s overall strategy. Once the blueprint is agreed and established, different parts and levels of the government work closely with the central government, with state-owned enterprises, private businesses, educational institutions, as well as community organizations and NGOs to implement the plan. The whole country works together to realize an agenda that aligns with the collective interest. This embodies the spirit of socialism.

Continue reading China’s five-year plans democratic, people-centred and grounded in material reality

Jiayuguan – the socialist future today

In the following article, which was originally published in the Morning Star under the title ‘China’s socialism succeeds where Eastern European failed’, Pawel Wargan, Political Coordinator at the Progressive International, writes movingly about his recent visit to Jiayuguan, a ‘steel city’ in western China’s Gansu province, contrasting this prosperous and civilised socialist community to the dystopian fate of similarly conceived projects in his native Poland and other formerly socialist countries.

Pawel writes that, “those of us who were born on the ruins of the socialist Eastern Bloc know how purpose-built, industrial ‘monotowns’ are meant to look. Rusting steel mills, cracked and potholed roads, weathered sheets of corrugated metal strewn about. Thick smog and poisoned soil. Drunks passed out on the train platform. Emaciated stray dogs. A lone child skipping down the muddy path of a panel-block neighbourhood silenced by demographic blight.”

All this, he notes, serves to “beat down the idea that socialism can produce anything but misery. And they have become so firmly embedded in the popular imagination that, for many, it is difficult to believe otherwise.”

Yet Poland’s Nowa Huta, the sprawling Krakow neighbourhood built around the Vladimir Lenin Steelworks; Russia’s Magnitogorsk, built around its eponymous Iron and Steel Works; or Germany’s Eisenhuttenstadt, established by the socialist German Democratic Republic around a major steel mill, also served as a template for the dignified life that communism envisioned for all working people. However, capitalist restoration shattered their ambitions.

Pawel continues: “How might these cities look today had the process of socialist construction continued uninterrupted? I found one possible answer in Jiayuguan, a remote desert city in China’s Gansu Province built from the ground up around a steel plant.”

The Jiuquan Iron and Steel Corporation (JISCO) was founded in 1958 as part of revolutionary China’s ambitious drive to establish the basis of a modern, industrialised economy. “It was a gruelling effort… Workers who came to the region dug the earth with their hands, trudged through waist-high mud, and carried heavy equipment on their backs. They faced the desert’s biting cold and punishing heat.”

But now, where once there was desert stands China’s fourteenth-largest steel producer. It has an annual capacity of over 11 million tons of crude steel – double the total steel-making capacity of Britain. And the state-owned enterprise has expanded its activities far beyond metals, to agricultural products and industrial manufacturing equipment, packaging and logistics, housing and healthcare, education and even wine, boasting the largest wine cellar in Asia. JISCO also manages the city’s power grid. Its Smart Grid and Localised New Energy Consumption Demonstration Project, powered almost entirely by artificial intelligence, automatically distributes energy, optimising for consumption patterns in real-time, thereby decoupling growth from energy use.

Therefore, he concludes: “Jiayuguan offered proof that the images of decay and despair that many have come to associate with industrial cities in Eastern Europe were not products of their socialist past, but symptoms of their capitalist present.”

Pawel visited Jiayuguan as part of an international delegation organised by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) and Friends of Socialist China that visited China between 25 May and 5 June 2025.

Those of us who were born on the ruins of the socialist Eastern Bloc know how purpose-built, industrial “monotowns” are meant to look.

Rusting steel mills, cracked and potholed roads, weathered sheets of corrugated metal strewn about. Thick smog and poisoned soil. Drunks passed out on the train platform. Emaciated stray dogs. A lone child skipping down the muddy path of a panel-block neighbourhood silenced by demographic blight.

Continue reading Jiayuguan – the socialist future today

Witnessing China’s socialist transformation

In the following report for Workers World, Ché Marino reflects on the recent delegation to China, organised by Friends of Socialist China and hosted by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges. Travelling through Shaanxi, Gansu, and Shanghai, the delegation explored China’s development, cultural heritage, and political system.

Ché contrasts the remarkable improvements in living standards and development level in China since his first visit in 2009 – from Shanghai’s modern infrastructure to expansive public amenities and smart technologies. Indeed, China’s development “stands in stark contrast to the crumbling infrastructure and growing inequality I see in New York City”.

Ché emphasises that these changes stem not from a capitalist approach but from China’s socialist model, where policies are shaped by the Communist Party to serve the public good. He cites the lifting of 800 million people from poverty, leadership in renewable energy, and peaceful diplomacy as evidence of socialism’s success. Detailed discussions with scholars such as Professor Zhang Weiwei reinforced the idea that Chinese socialism has global relevance, offering an alternative to imperialism and neoliberalism.

The article also highlights China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Global Civilisation Initiative as examples of international cooperation rooted in mutual benefit and respect, especially in China’s relations with Africa. Ché notes the Western media’s distortions about China, contrasting them with what he witnessed firsthand: a people-centred society focused on ecological sustainability and global solidarity.

Ché concludes that China’s socialist path offers vital lessons for the global left, particularly for youth disillusioned by Western capitalism.

In a world facing multiple crises, from climate change to growing inequality, China’s socialist path illuminates a way forward — not as a template to be mechanically copied but as a source of inspiration for all who seek a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

In May 2025, I had the privilege of joining a delegation organized by Friends of Socialist China, a collective dedicated to fostering international solidarity and understanding of China’s socialist model. Our journey, hosted by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), took us across several regions, including Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanghai. 

The purpose of our trip was to engage in dialogues on civilizational exchange, witness China’s remarkable socio-economic transformations and deepen our understanding of the principles underpinning its development. Through visits to historic revolutionary sites, discussions with local leaders and participation in cultural events, we aimed to explore the realities of Chinese socialism and its implications for global solidarity.

As I stepped off the plane in Shanghai in 2025, memories of my first visit in 2009 came flooding back. Sixteen years ago, I arrived as a college student seeking the cheapest study abroad option available. What I found then was unmistakably a developing nation: streets that flooded when it rained, large swaths of underdeveloped public infrastructure and transportation that consisted of hitching rides on motorcycles to reach the nearest train station.

The transformation I witnessed upon my return is nothing short of remarkable. Where once stood only the Oriental Pearl Tower on the Bund now rises a skyline of architectural marvels. The face-scanning technology that allows commuters to enter subway stations with just a glance would have seemed like science fiction during my first visit, when my university ID was merely a laminated photo. 

This dramatic metamorphosis represents more than just economic growth; it embodies the success of China’s socialist project with Chinese characteristics. As I traveled through residential areas of Shanghai, I was struck by the quality of life afforded to ordinary citizens: beautiful parks, running tracks with specialized materials that protect joints and extensive bicycle paths. “We don’t have this in New York City,” I found myself repeatedly saying.

Continue reading Witnessing China’s socialist transformation

China provides a powerful counterexample to the moral rot and immiseration of the capitalist imperial core

The recent Friends of Socialist China delegation to China contributed to a parallel session of the Dialogue on Exchanges and Mutual Learning Among Civilisations, organised by Schwarzman Scholars of Tsinghua University, on the theme of Youth power in dialogue among civilisations.

Creighton Ward, a member of Qiao Collective and of Friends of Socialist China’s US committee, gave the following brief presentation focused on the deteriorating economic, social and political conditions faced by young people in the US, and highlighting all that oppressed and working class communities in the West can learn from Socialist China.

Thank you to the hosts and organizers of this event, I am honored to join you as a representative of Friends of Socialist China and the Qiao Collective. Thank you for your interest in a youth perspective and for convening this dialogue.

The majority of youth in the US, including myself, face a variety of challenges even in the rich imperial core: crumbling infrastructure, the gutting of the administrative state, austerity, the evaporation of pandemic welfare programs and regressive health policies that openly embrace eugenics, skyrocketing rent and food prices, the deregulation of agencies tasked with monitoring food safety and infectious disease.

We are dealing with a social atmosphere of climate nihilism, social atomization to the highest degree, depoliticization, and counterinsurgency.

The imperialist reorganization underway in the second Trump administration has been accompanied by the rapid degradation in quality of life for workers, brazenly genocidal moves domestically and abroad, and a pivot away from the US’ proxy wars in Palestine and Ukraine in preparation for war with China. We should not underestimate the degree of ideological defeat instilled in the western left, or its problems of racial chauvinism and anticommunism.

Yet despite the bleak conditions that youth are confronted with, it is obvious that there have been significant shifts in the global balance of power against US hegemony. We are fortunate to live in a time when the second-largest political party in the world is an experienced and highly capable communist party, and I find myself thinking frequently about how much worse off we would all be if China had not taken the socialist path.

China provides a powerful counterexample to the moral rot and immiseration of the capitalist imperial core. We have much to learn from its antipoverty measures, commitment to building ecological civilization, and autonomous development. Its successes reflect the historical agency of labor in the world’s largest socialist state and the necessity of socialism to restore ecologically harmonious social and economic relations. The Chinese experience demystifies the fact that mass communist politics are the only thing capable of responding to the contradictions of our time.

In the introduction to The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism, Danish communist Torkil Lauesen said,

“To see the struggle for socialism as a long process of global transformation since the mid-nineteenth century is also somehow comforting on a psychological level for an old man. The struggle and suffering of millions of communists and socialists for the past two hundred years have not been in vain…to be part of this process–a tiny cogwheel in the machinery of transformation–and give it a little push in the right direction seems to be ‘the meaning of life.’”

I hope that my generation and those to come find the necessary courage to accept our place in an intergenerational struggle for peace and ecological society.

Dialogue with Fudan University’s China Institute: Is China really socialist?

The second Friends of Socialist China delegation to China took place from 26 May to 5 June 2025. The delegation, composed of 15 comrades from Britain and the US, visited Xi’an and Yan’an (Shaanxi), Dunhuang and Jiayuguan (Gansu) and Shanghai, visiting important historical sites, learning about China’s development, attending the 4th Dialogue on Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilisations, and engaging meeting with a range of organisations.

On Monday 3 June, the delegation participated in a dialogue with the China Institute of Shanghai’s Fudan University, consisting of a panel discussion featuring Professor Zhang Weiwei, Professor Wu Xinwen, and Friends of Socialist China co-editors Carlos Martinez and Keith Bennett, followed by a wide-ranging discussion with the audience.

We reproduce below a report of the event from the China Institute WeChat channel, which has been machine-translated. The full video can be found on the China Academy website, and is embedded below. We will also be publishing a delegation report in due course.

On the afternoon of June 3, Carlos Martinez, co-editor of the Friends of Socialist China website, and Keith Bennett, vice chairman of the British 48 Group Club, led a delegation of Friends of Socialist China to visit the China Institute of Fudan University. Professor Zhang Weiwei, director of the National High-end Think Tank Council and dean of the China Institute of Fudan University, and Professor Wu Xinwen, vice dean, had in-depth dialogues and interactive exchanges with Mr. Martinez, Mr. Bennett and other members of the delegation on Chinese socialism and its global significance.

In his speech, Professor Zhang Weiwei welcomed the Friends of Socialist China delegation and briefly introduced China’s exploration of socialism along the way and its impact on the outside world.

Continue reading Dialogue with Fudan University’s China Institute: Is China really socialist?

Socialist China’s role in combating imperialist domination

The following article, written by Betsey Piette for Workers World, highlights socialist China’s growing role in challenging US-led imperialist domination and argues that defending China is essential to the global struggle against capitalism.

Betsey stresses the need to foster internationalist consciousness among workers and young activists, linking domestic struggles with global anti-imperialist movements. She critiques the propaganda that falsely equates China and the US as being equivalent capitalist ‘superpowers’, arguing that this narrative obscures the exploitative and chaotic nature of US capitalism while ignoring China’s remarkable achievements under socialism.

Betsey observes that, despite the US’s escalating campaign of military encirclement and economic warfare, China’s economy continues to expand, living standards continue to improve, and its international cooperation continues to deepen, including with the US’s “traditional allies”.

Betsey asserts that China’s planned economy and state-led development – which have resulted not only in vastly increased living standards for the Chinese people but also in China becoming a science and technology powerhouse – offer an inspiring alternative model to capitalist neoliberalism.

The article concludes by calling for systematic defence of China’s socialist system against US threats of war, warning that economic aggression may escalate into military conflict. China’s is a revolution in motion that must be defended by the global working class.

Despite decades of wars and occupations of countries abroad, the U.S. faces a global challenge it is unable to contain. This challenge is multifaceted, but three things stand out:

One is the relentless resistance of the people of Palestine and West Asia in elevating their struggle for a free Palestine. 

A second is the challenge from socialist China’s resistance to U.S. capitalist domination of the global economy.

The third is a growing awareness among young people that they have no future under capitalism, with its unchecked environmental catastrophes and its ready acceptance of fascist politicians. 

A key challenge for the party and the movements we are part of is how to encourage young activists and workers to develop a more global outlook when it comes to capitalism and imperialism and to see why socialism offers the solution.

Demands are important

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is the most popular demand for Palestine and one that gets the most pushback from the Zionists. This demand doesn’t just raise opposition to the ongoing genocide in Gaza — it supports the future goal for Palestinians. Demands are important.

As we oppose the threat of imperialist war against China, we need to raise awareness about transformation and resulting gains made by socialism in China.

Imperialist propaganda puts an equal sign between the U.S. and China as “superpowers” — as if they are both capitalist countries. Corporate media pundits and politicians promote the lies that “China is repressive, that their economy is failing, that there is widespread unemployment, no opportunities for young people, etc.” It’s like they are looking in a mirror where what is reflected back are the conditions in the U.S., not China.

Continue reading Socialist China’s role in combating imperialist domination

There is growing need in the West to learn from successes of China’s Five-Year Plans

This article by Keith Lamb, originally published in Global Times, explains the role of Five-Year Plans in China’s economic development. These plans “function as comprehensive blueprints for national social and economic development. They outline goals, strategies, and priorities to address evolving historical challenges. In doing so, they align society toward the common good, chart a course for a better future and function as instruments for strengthening China’s democracy.”

Westerners are primed to think of socialist planning as being a highly bureaucratic and top-down affair. In reality, however, “Chinese citizens are invited to share their suggestions, concerns, and aspirations”, and “experts from a wide range of fields are consulted to ensure the plan’s feasibility”.

Keith explains how, for large-scale and long-term projects, directed toward meeting the needs of the population, state-led planning works far better than laissez-faire neoliberal economics. “Recognising China’s long-term planning as a key instrument in building a democratic reality and a sustainable future, it comes as no surprise that China now leads the world in green technology, electric vehicles, high-speed rail, and desert reclamation. Such achievements would not have been possible if capital, driven by short-term profit cycles, dominated the state at the cost of democracy and environmental well-being.”

The article notes that the current (14th) Five-Year Plan, which draws to a close this year, “has propelled China to the forefront of numerous technologies, particularly in green innovation. Consumer choice has expanded dramatically, and the countryside now boasts modern infrastructure, a thriving tourism sector, and advanced agricultural practices.”

As more Westerners begin to see beyond the corporate media narratives that demonize China, there is a growing need to learn from its successes – or risk continued decline. By prioritizing the common good, China’s Five-Year Plans are democratic, delivering material, social, and increasingly cultural improvements for the majority, not just a select elite.

As China’s 14th Five-Year Plan nears completion, the country is already setting its sights on the next plan, which Chinese President Xi Jinping has stated “must focus on the goal of basically realizing socialist modernization, with a view to building a great country and advancing national rejuvenation” at a Wednesday symposium on China’s economic and social development in the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

China’s Five-Year Plans function as comprehensive blueprints for national social and economic development. They outline goals, strategies, and priorities to address evolving historical challenges. In doing so, they align society toward the common good, chart a course for a better future and function as instruments for strengthening China’s democracy.

Continue reading There is growing need in the West to learn from successes of China’s Five-Year Plans

General Secretary Tô Lâm: Xi Jinping is a sincere comrade and a close friend of Vietnam

We previously republished the article by Chinese President Xi Jinping published in the Vietnamese newspaper Nhân Dân on April 14, coinciding with his arrival in the country for a state visit. The same day, China’s People’s Daily published an article by To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, welcoming Xi’s visit.

In his article, To Lam noted: “This is Comrade Xi Jinping’s fourth visit to Vietnam since he assumed the responsibility of Party General Secretary and President of China, and also his second visit to Vietnam in the 13th-term National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the 20th-term National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). As the Supreme Leader of the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic of China who has visited Vietnam the most in history, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping is a sincere comrade and a close friend of Vietnam. The Party, State and people of Vietnam warmly welcome and believe that the visit will definitely be a great success, making a great and important contribution to strongly promoting the tradition of friendship and opening a new era of development in Vietnam-China relations.”

The article continues to note that, in the revolutionary journey that was closely linked from the beginning with countless difficulties, generations of leaders of the two Parties and two countries, directly President Ho Chi Minh and Chairman Mao Zedong, constantly worked hard to cultivate “the close relationship between Vietnam and China, both comrades and brothers”. During many years of revolutionary activities in China, President Ho Chi Minh always received precious sentiments and enthusiastic help from the Chinese communists and people. Under the leadership of President Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese communists also actively participated in the revolutionary movement in China. The history of standing shoulder to shoulder and sharing joys and sorrows between the revolutionary predecessors of the two countries was a shining example in the revolutionary struggle movement of the world proletariat, laying a solid foundation for the future friendship between Vietnam and China.

On the basis of the reliable relationship between the two Communist Parties, on January 18, 1950, shortly after its establishment, the People’s Republic of China became the first country in the world to officially establish diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam). Vietnam was also the first Southeast Asian country to officially establish diplomatic relations with China. This was a brilliant historical milestone, opening a new era for the Vietnam-China friendship. Under the guidance of the two Communist Parties, the people of the two countries gave each other sincere and wholehearted help and support, contributing to the victory and success of the national liberation revolution and the cause of national construction and development in the direction of socialism in each country.

In the overall foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralisation and diversification of foreign relations, the Party and State of Vietnam have always persistently and consistently given top priority to and determined to work with the Party and State of China to develop the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, the Vietnam-China Community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, for the happiness of the people of the two countries, for the cause of peace and progress of all mankind. The Vietnamese people will never forget the great and effective assistance of the Chinese people in historical periods. Vietnam always considers China’s prosperous development as an opportunity for itself and is pleased and appreciates China’s affirmation of prioritising the development of relations with Vietnam in its neighbourhood diplomacy and considers this a strategic choice of both countries.

The two sides have satisfactorily resolved many issues left over from history and agreed to persistently and properly handle and actively resolve disagreements through peaceful measures on the basis of mutual understanding and respect, in accordance with international law. For the relations between the two Parties and two countries to develop well and comprehensively as they are today, the most important lesson is the sincerity, trust and mutual understanding between the two socialist neighbouring countries under the leadership of the Communist Parties, deeply rooted in the tradition of humanity and respect for human relations of the two peoples; the intellectual vision, determination and action of generations of leaders of the two Parties and two countries; and the joint efforts and participation of the political systems and people of the two countries. The Party, State and People of Vietnam respect and appreciate the sentiments, enthusiasm and especially important great contributions of General Secretary and President Xi Jinping to the Vietnam-China relationship over the past many years.

The world is undergoing profound, fundamental changes of an epochal nature, with deep transformations in every aspect under the impact of major shifts in politics, economy, culture, society, and science and technology. The period from now until 2030, with a longer-term vision toward 2045 and even 2050, the mid-point of the 21st century – key milestones tied to the revolutionary causes of the two Parties and the two countries – will be the most crucial period for shaping a new world order. It will open up great opportunities, while also posing significant challenges for nations. For Vietnam, this is a period of important strategic opportunity, a decisive sprint stage to usher in a new era of national development and to fulfill President Ho Chi Minh’s aspiration of “building a peaceful, unified, independent, democratic, and prosperous Vietnam, making a worthy contribution to the revolutionary cause of the world.” For China, this is a pivotal period and a stepping stone in realising its second centenary goal, building the People’s Republic of China into a modern socialist power that is prosperous, strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious, and beautiful.

The following English translation of Comrade To Lam’s article was originally published by Nhân Dân.

JOINING HANDS TO OPEN A NEW ERA OF DEVELOPMENT OF VIETNAM-CHINA FRIENDSHIP

To Lam, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam

At the invitation of mine and President Luong Cuong of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, comrade Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and President of the People’s Republic of China, will pay a state visit to Vietnam from April 14-15, 2025, in the year when the people of the two countries joyfully celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and China (January 18, 1950 – 2025) and the Year of Vietnam-China Humanistic Exchange.

This is comrade Xi Jinping’s fourth visit to Vietnam since he assumed the responsibility of Party General Secretary and President of China, and also his second visit to Vietnam in the 13th-term National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the 20th-term National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). As the Supreme Leader of the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic of China who has visited Vietnam the most in history, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping is a sincere comrade and a close friend of Vietnam. The Party, State and people of Vietnam warmly welcome and believe that the visit will definitely be a great success, making a great and important contribution to strongly promoting the tradition of friendship and opening a new era of development in Vietnam – China relations.

I. Vietnam – China relations: History of close friendship, comprehensive cooperation achievements

Vietnam and China are two close neighbours, connected by mountains and rivers, the people of the two countries have shared many similarities in culture and customs, and together cultivated a long-standing traditional friendship that has lasted for thousands of years.

Continue reading General Secretary Tô Lâm: Xi Jinping is a sincere comrade and a close friend of Vietnam

China and Vietnam reaffirm their will to jointly strengthen the cause of socialism in the world

Chinese leader Xi Jinping began his first overseas visit of 2025 with a visit to Vietnam as the first leg of a regional tour that also took him to Malaysia and Cambodia.

Xi landed in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi at noon on April 14, for a state visit at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam and President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Luong Cuong. He was greeted on arrival by President Luong Cuong and other senior Vietnamese leaders.

Xi Jinping delivered a written statement on arrival and, on behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese government, and the Chinese people, extended sincere greetings and best wishes to the brotherly CPV, the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese people.

The Chinese leader noted that this year marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPV, the 80th anniversary of the founding of Viet Nam, and the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South. China and Viet Nam are socialist neighbours connected by mountains and rivers, and a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance. During the arduous years of striving for state independence and national liberation, the two countries fought side by side and supported each other, forging a profound friendship. In exploring a socialist path suitable to their respective national conditions, the two countries have learned from each other and advanced hand-in-hand, demonstrating to the world the bright prospects of the socialist system. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Viet Nam and is the China-Viet Nam Year of People-to-People Exchanges. The building of a China-Viet Nam community with a shared future is ushering in new development opportunities. Xi Jinping said he looks forward to taking this visit as an opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views with Vietnamese leaders and comrades on the overall, strategic, and directional issues concerning the relations between the two parties and countries, as well as on international and regional issues of common interest and concern, and to jointly drawing up a new blueprint for the building of a China-Viet Nam community with a shared future.

Shortly after his arrival, General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee To Lam held a grand welcome ceremony for Xi Jinping. This was followed by talks between the two communist party leaders.

Xi Jinping said that this year marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPV, the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (which is now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam), and the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and he extended warm congratulations to the Vietnamese side on behalf of the CPC and the Chinese government. China will support Viet Nam as always in advancing along the socialist path suited to its national conditions, successfully holding the 14th CPV National Congress in 2026, and marching toward the Two Centenary Goals of the CPV and the country.

President Xi noted that this year marks the 75th anniversary of China-Viet Nam diplomatic ties and the China-Viet Nam Year of People-to-People Exchanges. Over the past 75 years, no matter how the international landscape evolved, the two sides had supported each other in the struggle for national independence and liberation, advanced the cause of socialism hand in hand, and forged ahead with modernisation of the two countries, serving as a model of unity and cooperation between socialist countries. Facing a changing and turbulent world, China and Viet Nam staying committed to peaceful development and deepening friendship and cooperation has brought much-needed stability and certainty to the world. Standing on a new historical starting point, the two sides should build on past achievements and join hands to renew their long-standing friendship featuring “camaraderie plus brotherhood.” In line with the overarching goals characterised by “six mores”, namely, stronger political mutual trust, more substantive security cooperation, deeper practical cooperation, more solid popular foundation, closer coordination and collaboration on multilateral affairs, and better management and resolution of differences, the two countries should advance their comprehensive strategic cooperation with high-quality efforts, ensure steady and sustained progress in building the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future, and make new and greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

He said that building the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future carries important global significance. The two countries, both following the path of peaceful development and with their over 1.5 billion people marching toward modernisation together will provide an effective safeguard for peace and stability of the region and even the world, and give a strong boost to common development. A single small boat may not survive a ferocious storm; only by working together can we sail steadily and far.


President Xi proposed six measures to deepen the building of the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future:

  • First, elevating strategic mutual trust to a higher level. Leaders of the two Parties and two countries should visit and communicate with each other frequently like family do.
  • Second, building more robust security safeguards. The two sides should designate their “3+3” strategic dialogue on diplomacy, defence and public security as a ministerial-level mechanism to strengthen strategic coordination.
  • Third, expanding higher-quality mutually beneficial cooperation. The two sides should seize the great opportunity of faster formation of new quality productive forces in China and new types of productive forces in Viet Nam to upgrade bilateral practical cooperation. They should work to fully connect their standard-gauge railways, expressways, and smart ports as early as possible, and advance cooperation on AI, IoT and other high technologies.
  • Fourth, making the people-to-people bond more broad-based. The two sides should seize the opportunity of the China-Viet Nam Year of People-to-People Exchanges this year to hold more friendship activities that reach the communities and resonate with the public, and strengthen cooperation in tourism, culture, media, health, etc. The two countries should further tap into revolutionary resources and tell stories of friendship, and China will invite Vietnamese youths to China in the next three years on red study tours. This will help the people of the two countries, especially the younger generation, understand the great sacrifice that led to the founding of the two socialist countries and the great value of their good-neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation.
  • Fifth, carrying out closer multilateral coordination. The two sides should jointly safeguard the outcomes of the victory of the Second World War, firmly defend the UN-centreed international system and the international order based on international law, promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, and strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.
  • Sixth, engaging in more constructive maritime interactions. The two sides should implement the common understandings reached by the leaders of the two countries, properly handle maritime issues, expand maritime cooperation, make the decision to launch joint development, and work for the early conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

General Secretary To Lam stated that General Secretary Xi is an outstanding leader of the Chinese people and a great friend of the Vietnamese people. That General Secretary Xi chose Viet Nam as the destination of his first overseas visit this year fully reflects the importance he attaches to Viet Nam-China relations and his support for Viet Nam. This visit will surely become a new milestone in the history of friendly exchanges between the two Parties and two countries and will further advance the building of the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

Continue reading China and Vietnam reaffirm their will to jointly strengthen the cause of socialism in the world

CODEPINK China Is Not Our Enemy book club discussion with Carlos Martinez

On 10 March 2025, the CODEPINK China Is Not Our Enemy book club hosted Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez for a discussion about The East is Still Red, which was the first book the group read together. The video of the session is embedded below.

The video starts with a 10 minute introduction by Carlos, explaining the key motivations for writing the book: to challenge the New Cold War propaganda against China; and to build understanding of Chinese socialism and counter the notion that China has “gone capitalist”.

The presentation is followed by a wide-ranging discussion about common prosperity, China’s foreign relations, China’s democratic processes, its management of the Covid-19 pandemic, and its actions around preventing climate breakdown.

The video was first posted on the CODEPINK YouTube channel.

The East is Still Red can be purchased in paperback and electronic formats from the Praxis Press website.

China’s flag stays red

The meeting room of London’s Marx Memorial Library was packed on the evening of Thursday March 20, with others joining online, for the launch of People’s China at 75 – The Flag Stays Red, edited by Keith Bennett and Carlos Martinez, the editors of this website.

The meeting was chaired by Carlos Martinez, with speakers, Keith Bennett, Professor Radhika Desai and Dr. Jenny Clegg. They were followed by a lively round of discussion and questions and answers. Andrew Murray was also due to speak but unfortunately was not able to make it.

We publish below the text of Keith’s opening speech. The meeting can be viewed on YouTube (and the video is also embedded below).

The book is available from the publishers in paperback and digital formats. Note that, for the month of March 2025, to celebrate the launch meeting, Praxis Press are running a 25 percent discount on their full catalogue – the discount code is 25FOR25.

Thank you for coming this evening and thank you also to those who have joined us online and those who will watch online in the days to come.

We’re fortunate to have a number of the authors who contributed chapters to this book with us this evening and doubtless they’ll introduce their work and the themes they sought to address.

As co-editor, along with Carlos, I want to say a bit about why and how we came to produce it.

There are two well-known sayings in English that I’d like to mention here.

The first is: Never judge a book by its cover.

And the second is: There’s an exception to every rule.

So, please take a look at the beautiful cover of our book.

I’m sure many of you have already seen it. I submit that it represents one of the exceptions to the rule. In words, as well as graphically, it sets out what we want to say and where we stand.

As Friends of Socialist China, we conceived of this book as part of our celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which fell on October 1st last year. And thanks to the stupendous efforts of our publisher, comrade and friend, Kenny Coyle, who also contributed a highly thoughtful and enlightening chapter on the antecedents of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Lenin’s explorations on the ways of building socialism, we got it out in time for our celebration and conference, held in London’s historic  Bolivar Hall on the last Saturday of September.

With a day-long conference attended by well over 100 people, a book, and a special supplement in the Morning Star, it was a landmark in the development of our work.

Some comrades have kindly said that we must have worked very hard to produce the book. I’ll let others be the judge of that. But I’ll just say that we did so in about three months – if I recall correctly – from start to finish; from conceiving the idea to the published product.

We could do so thanks to the amazing cooperation we had from all our authors and, as I’ve just mentioned, the sterling efforts of our publisher.

Continue reading China’s flag stays red

China and Vietnam marching together on the journey of socialist modernisation

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) recently celebrated its 95th founding anniversary. Founded as the Communist Party of Indochina (CPI) on February 3, 1930 in Hong Kong, the CPI may also be considered as the root of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

Greeting the anniversary, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) wrote to its Vietnamese counterpart that: “In the past 95 years, the CPV has united and led the Vietnamese people in successfully realising national unification and liberation with remarkable achievements in the cause of the country’s socialist construction and transformation.

“The CPC and the CPV share a long-standing revolutionary friendship and amicable partnership. Under the personal guidance and careful nurturing of the leaders of previous generations including Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh, the two peoples have supported each other in revolutionary struggles, marching together in socialist construction, in the drive of reform and opening up and on the journey of socialist modernisation.

“The CPC is willing to work with the CPV to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties, uphold the 16-word guideline of ‘long-term stability, future orientation, good-neighbourly friendship and comprehensive cooperation’ and the spirit of ‘good neighbours, good friends, good comrades and good partners,’… and push for more progress in building a China-Vietnam community with a shared future to bring greater benefits to both peoples and contribute further to the cause of peace and progress for humanity.”

At time of writing, the CPV newspaper Nhân Dân is continuing to publish a series of articles highlighting the greetings received from fraternal and friendly parties on the anniversary. The first such article was devoted to those parties with which the CPV maintains historic special relations and, besides that from the CPC, reported greetings from the Central Committee of the LPRP, President of the CPP Hun Sen, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Leader of the Cuban Revolution General Raúl Castro Ruz, and General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea Kim Jong Un.

The message from the LPRP Central Committee underlined that over the past 95 years, the CPV, founded and led by President Ho Chi Minh, with its sound, skilful and creative policies has led the Vietnamese people to many glorious victories in the struggle for national liberation and reunification.

“We firmly believe that by upholding its glorious revolutionary tradition and building upon these great and comprehensive achievements, the Party, State, and people of Vietnam will continue to reap new and even greater successes in implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the CPV and preparing for the upcoming Party congresses at all levels, leading to the successful organisation of the 14th National Congress of the CPV, ” the message read.

On this occasion, the LPRP would like to express its profound gratitude for the Party, State, and people of Vietnam for their invaluable, effective, and timely support for the revolutionary cause of Laos over the years. The Party, State, and people of Laos will continue to stand side by side with the Party, State, and people of Vietnam to do their utmost to preserve and promote the rare and cherished relationship for the common interests of both nations, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

The message from the Cuban leaders reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to deepening the friendship, solidarity and cooperation between the two nations, based on the legacy of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, and beloved President Ho Chi Minh.

Kim Jong Un wrote that he was delighted to see that under the leadership of the CPV, the Vietnamese people have made remarkable progress in developing a prosperous and strong nation. He expressed his belief that the traditional friendship between the two Parties will continue to grow in the common struggle to safeguard and preserve the socialist cause.

Nhân Dân also reported that Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko wrote that the CPV members are always examples of true patriots who have pioneered in the political and socio-economic development of the fatherland to build a strong sovereign country. Today, the CPV is continuing the cause of socialism building and promoting Vietnam’s role and prestige in the region and the world. He added that Belarus and Vietnam have been faithful friends and responsible partners whose relationship is based on the principle of mutual respect and assistance.

At a meeting of Sri Lankan political parties in the capital Colombo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Arun Hemachandra, on behalf of the People’s Liberation Front (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna – JVP), highlighted Vietnam’s development achievements under the CPV’s leadership in recent years. He emphasised that the CPV’s steadfast and sound leadership is a crucial factor in the struggle for national liberation and reunification of Vietnam, as well as in its current economic development and poverty reduction efforts.

Continue reading China and Vietnam marching together on the journey of socialist modernisation

China’s bridges to a socialist future

The article below, written by Paweł Wargan for the Morning Star, reflects on China’s extraordinary advances in infrastructure construction, and how these contribute to – and are a product of – China’s unique socialist development model.

Paweł notes of the vast city of Chongqing: “Until the 1980s, boats ferried people across the rivers that snaked through the city; no bridges had yet been built across them. Today, Chongqing has some 14,000 bridges.” The city’s skyline is “so dazzling that it sometimes felt imagined”.

Such comparisons with a few decades ago can be made throughout the country, albeit Chongqing is a particularly striking example. China’s program of modernisation has included the construction of hundreds of thousands of bridges, tunnels, roads, railways, airports and ports, as well as the world’s largest high-speed rail network, transforming the physical contours of the country.

In China, bridges have accelerated the pace at which the burdens of the past could be overcome: underdevelopment, poverty, hunger, dependency, and disparities between the rural and the urban, the coastal and the inland. They reflect the stability, confidence and strength with which the project of socialist construction advances.

Paweł concludes:

At each stage, China has worked to bridge its past with its future, carrying forward the traditions inherited by one of the world’s oldest civilisations, while building a socialism fit for the present day. This is the essence of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

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. He contributed to our conference marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

In 1993, Deng Xiaoping walked across the newly opened 8,354-metre bridge connecting the Yangpu District to the Pudong New Area over Shanghai’s Huangpu River. On each pylon, a handwritten inscription from the elder statesman bore the bridge’s name: Yangpu Daqiao, or Yangpu Bridge.

Deng had navigated the People’s Republic of China through a remarkable process of transformation. He declared that socialism could not be built from poverty and set out to build the foundations for what he called the “moderate prosperity” of the Chinese people — then among the world’s poorest.

Now, at the age of 89, he surveyed the results of his efforts. “How wonderful that the road we have walked outperformed all the books we have read,” he said.

I recalled this story on a trip to the sprawling city of Chongqing. From its Qiansimen Bridge — one of the Twin River Bridges across the Yuzhong peninsula — I looked out at the meeting point of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers.

The water reflected a skyline so dazzling that it sometimes felt imagined. To the right, the opera house — a mute olive by day — glowed bright red. To the left, a strip of light dashed across the next bridge over the river, its reflection carried through the water like a bolt of lightning in slow motion. The skyline danced with light.

It was here that, decades earlier, peddlers working in the riverbanks invented the Chongqing hot pot, a hearty dish of spiced stock in which they dipped vegetables and meats — tripe, liver, stomach, lotus, needle mushrooms and leafy greens — to stay warm in the frigid winters.

Until the 1980s, boats ferried people across the rivers that snaked through the city; no bridges had yet been built across them. Today, Chongqing has some 14,000 bridges, and the hot pot is served by restaurants high above the wharves to people who have long forgotten that biting cold. What would Deng make of this sight?

There is a metaphor often used to describe the non-linear road towards socialism in China: “Crossing the river by feeling the stones.” It speaks to the uncertainties inherent in navigating a path with no precedent.

Continue reading China’s bridges to a socialist future

Podcast: Celebrating the achievements of Chinese socialism and opposing the New Cold War

We embed below the latest episode of CommieCast, the podcast of the Communist Party of Britain, in which Roger McKenzie (International Editor of the Morning Star), Georgina Andrews (General Secretary of the Young Communist League of Britain) and Carlos Martinez (co-editor of Friends of Socialist China) discuss a range of topics related to China, including their recent visits to the People’s Republic, the achievements of Chinese socialism, the nature of the US-led New Cold War, and the crucial importance of building solidarity with China in the face of imperialist aggression.

The next episode, to be recorded in the coming weeks, will take a deeper dive into the escalating campaign of containment and encirclement of China.

China takes forward the legacy of the October Revolution

On Saturday October 26, the Newport and Gwent Valleys [South Wales] branch of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) organized a very successful fund-raising social to celebrate the anniversary of the 1917 October Socialist Revolution. It was attended by members and supporters of the CPB, the Young Communist League and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), along with other friends from the labour, trade union and progressive movements. The more formal part of the afternoon was chaired and introduced by CPB General Secretary Robert Griffiths. Short videos were shown of the 1945 victory parade in Moscow marking the triumph over Nazi fascism and of the famed African-American artist and revolutionary Paul Robeson singing the Soviet national anthem. Following this, Robert introduced the guest speaker, Keith Bennett from Friends of Socialist China.

We publish below the main body of Keith’s talk.

The October Revolution was a truly great event in world history – one that remains worthy of celebration. The account given by the US communist journalist John Reed has a highly apposite title – ‘Ten Days that Shook the World’.

Indeed, this was a revolution that not only shook but changed the world forever. Even though the Soviet Union itself tragically no longer exists, after the October Revolution nothing was ever the same again or could ever be the same again.

The Soviet Union represented the first sustained attempt by working people to hold and maintain power. Throughout its lifetime there were both great achievements as well as some significant mistakes.

But whatever the mistakes or shortcomings, the Soviet Union was the first country to legislate for the equality of women and men. The first to guarantee universal and free education and health care. The first to ensure full employment and the right to paid annual holidays for all workers and farmers.

Entire nationalities were provided with a written script for the first time. Visiting Soviet Uzbekistan in the 1980s, I learned how that vast republic went from some two percent literacy to universal literacy in barely a couple of decades.

Above all, the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the World Anti-Fascist War in Europe, sacrificing the lives of 27 million of its citizens to defeat Nazism.

Support from the Soviet Union played a vital role in the dismantling of the old colonial empires and the victory of the national liberation movements.

And the threat of the Soviet example played a significant role in forcing the ruling class in this and other major capitalist countries to make concessions to the working class in the form of the ‘welfare state’.

Some years ago, when Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, the Tories, who, of course had bitterly opposed the creation of the NHS, took to deriding it as “Stalinist”. On first consideration, this might seem to be a risible and ridiculous claim. Nevertheless, it expresses a certain truth that such gains for working people did indeed flow in no small measure from the fear of the ruling class that their populations might follow the Soviet road.

That mistakes were made, and even crimes committed, in the course of building socialism in the USSR is undeniable. But, whilst detailed assessment of these is not possible today, what we really must do is place them in a context where the imperialist ruling class was never reconciled to the existence of the Soviet Union and the threat it posed. Not the military threat claimed by the cold warriors, but the threat of a good example. In that sense, it is reasonable to conclude that, throughout its entire history, the Soviet Union never enjoyed even a single day of true peace.

We were, however, told that, with the collapse of the Soviet Union there would at last be a ‘peace dividend’. No more wars.

Instead, we got the exact opposite. No peace dividend but rather austerity and the rolling back of the welfare state. And above all, we entered a period of constant and endless wars. In former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere. Through to today’s appalling genocide in Palestine, and the spiraling conflict throughout the region, as well as NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine.

And this brings me to the question of China.

The October Revolution was by no means a simple national phenomenon. Rather it inaugurated an entirely new period of world history – that of the long transition (with all its victories and setbacks) from capitalism to socialism on a worldwide scale.

In his last published article, ‘Better Fewer But Better’, Lenin turned to consideration as to whether the Soviet state could survive – a matter about which he was never sanguine. But he concluded on a note of revolutionary optimism that:

“In the last analysis, the outcome of the struggle will be determined by the fact that Russia, India, China, etc., account for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe. And during the past few years it is this majority that has been drawn into the struggle for emancipation with extraordinary rapidity, so that in this respect there cannot be the slightest doubt what the final outcome of the world struggle will be. In this sense, the complete victory of socialism is fully and absolutely assured.”

In a very real sense, therefore, the liberation of China, and the founding of the People’s Republic, whose 75th anniversary we have just celebrated, arose from the October Revolution. In his 1949 article, ‘On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship’, Mao Zedong explained:

Continue reading China takes forward the legacy of the October Revolution

Andrew Murray: China’s poverty alleviation is not just an achievement, it is a socialist achievement

We are pleased to reprint below the speech delivered by Andrew Murray to our September 28 conference celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

In his remarks, Andrew refers to Xi Jinping’s observation that without China socialism might have become marginal to world development.

He notes that China has been central to two major reconceptualisations of socialism – on the role of the peasantry in the revolution and regarding the close association of socialism with national liberation and the struggle against imperialism.

He explains that two key aspects of socialist development are the transformation of social relations and the development of the productive forces and explains how the PRC has adjusted the relative weight given to each in the periods before and after 1978.

He also stresses the continuity in the Chinese position regarding the protracted nature of the transition to socialism.

Andrew Murray is the political correspondent of the Morning Star. He has served as the Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, Chief of Staff at Unite the union, and as an adviser to Jeremy Corbyn MP when he was Leader of the Labour Party. He has written many books including ‘The Fall and Rise of the British Left’ and ‘Is Socialism Possible in Britain?’

First let me congratulate the Chinese comrades on the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).  It is an event which reveals new layers of significance today, when other landmarks of the twentieth century have faded.

It is significant of course for world politics and for the Chinese people themselves.  But here I want to discuss its significance for socialism.  As Xi Jinping has said, without China socialism might have become marginal to world development.  There are of course other socialist countries, but none have the size and international importance of the PRC.

Some deny the socialist character of China.  I recall discussing with the eminent Marxist political economist David Harvey his views. He said that when he visited a location in China – he has been many times – he might see a landscape of paddy fields and then come back a few years later and see a city with factories, a high-speed railway and so on in the same spot.  I asked him how this could be done, when such a pace of development would be quite impossible in Britain.  He replied, “no private property rights to get in the way”.  That might not be a scientific definition of the dictatorship of the proletariat, but it is certainly an aspect!

Socialism is not an invariant concept.  It was developed in nineteenth century Europe and could not possibly remain the same as it spreads across the world and new experience from various countries accumulates.  Socialism has already been reconceptualised, and China has been at the centre of two major such developments.  First, it recentred socialism upon the peasantry in the Chinese revolution, and to a certain extent decentred its reliance on the industrial working class of developed capitalist countries.  And secondly, it associated socialism closely with national liberation and the struggle against imperialism, building on the analysis of Lenin and the Communist International.  This has relocated the nexus of socialism to what we now call the Global South.

Of course, socialism cannot be reduced to simply being whatever one chooses to call it.  It has real content.  Two aspects of the development of socialism are the transformation of social relations and the development of the productive forces. Both are essential, and China has laid the emphasis first on one and then the other since 1949.  Until 1978 transforming social relations took pride of place, although there was of course significant advance in the productive forces through that period.  But the focus was on class struggle, sometimes practised in counter-productive ways.  Since 1978 the emphasis has been on the development of the economy and the productive forces.  This has been accompanied by a concern to maintain social stability, but it is certain that the class struggle, which the Communist Party of China (CPC) acknowledges may be decisive in some circumstances, will need to be reasserted if the full achievement of socialism is to be reached.  The two aims are linked dialectically.

Continue reading Andrew Murray: China’s poverty alleviation is not just an achievement, it is a socialist achievement

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. 

Assessing Chinese socialism 75 years after its revolution

The following article by Andrew Murray explores the enduring significance of the People’s Republic of China, 75 years after its founding.

Andrew writes that this significance proceeds along three axes:

First is the developmental axis – China’s “transformation from the mutilated prey of sundry imperialisms and a laggard in world standards of social development, into a mighty power in sight of having the world’s largest national economy”.

Second is the democratic, anti-imperialist axis – China’s impact on the ongoing eastward and southward shift of the world’s economic and political centre of gravity.

Third is the socialist axis – “by maintaining a socialist orientation after other developments in that direction have faltered it both keeps open the possibility of plural systemic options in the world, defeating Washington’s dreams of ideological unipolarity, and prevents socialism itself from being pushed into the shadows of history”.

Andrew, a longstanding and prominent anti-war campaigner, notes in relation to China’s foreign policy:

The alternative world order promoted by the Chinese government offers co-operation and development for all and eschews militarism and interference. It prioritises adherence to international law and peaceful resolution of disputes. This is not the world order of imperialism — pressure, threats, looting and diktat.

On the nature of China’s political system, Andrew urges the reader not to try and “squeeze the experience of Chinese socialism into the straitjacket of European experience” and to instead study it on its own terms. In spite of undeniable problems and contradictions, “the future of socialism in the world depends very heavily on developments in China and on the leadership of its Communist Party”. And furthermore, “the complete elimination of absolute poverty, a recent achievement of the CPC, is not just a staggering achievement, it is a socialist one”.

The article concludes:

After 75 years, the People’s Republic of China stands at the very heart of an alternative to the world of the Washington Consensus, neoliberal centrism, the militarised “New World Order” and economic crisis and chaos. The alternative itself is unfinished and perhaps unfinishable, but China is holding the door open to possibilities beyond the status quo, to a menu of other options for humanity. That is most likely the most profound global significance of the PRC on its 75th birthday.

This article was written for the Friends of Socialist China special anniversary supplement published by the Morning Star on September 28, to coincide with London conference celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It is extracted from Andrew’s contribution to the book People’s China at 75 – The Flag Stays Red, available now from Praxis Press.

The PDF of the supplement can be downloaded here.

There is a story, possibly apocryphal, regarding a parliamentary by-election in St Pancras, north London, in 1949. The Communist Party stood a candidate and, amidst a deteriorating Cold War atmosphere, polled fairly dismally.

Johnnie Campbell, a laconic Scotsman central to the CPGB’s leadership for decades, was dispatched to the locality to rally the troops in the aftermath. Surveying his dispirited comrades, he supposedly declared: “Well, things aren’t going our way in St Pancras right now…but we’ve won in China!”

To many, that was the immediate significance of the Chinese revolution. For millions of Communists and sympathisers around the world, as well as oppressed masses in the colonies and semi-colonies, the victory of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the party-led People’s Liberation Army was a huge advance – really the greatest conceivable – in a worldwide process of socialist revolution.

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