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On Saturday 5 April, the Chinese government set out its position opposing the US’s unilateral imposition of tariffs on all its trading partners, including China. The statement correctly noted that these tariffs are in clear breach of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, and threaten to seriously disrupt the global economy. “Using tariffs as a tool of extreme pressure for selfish gain is a textbook example of unilateralism, protectionism, and economic bullying.”

It’s clear that China is the main target of the US’s tariff blackmail, which is being used to undermine China’s growth, to force China to accept the US’s terms of trade, to bully other countries into siding with the US against China, and to punish China for its success in building a modern economy and its refusal to bow down to US hegemony.

It’s equally clear that China will not back down in the face of this bullying. “We don’t make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble”, the statement said. Announcing its countermeasures on 8 April, China’s Commerce Ministry stated that “China will fight to the end if the US side is bent on going down the wrong path”.

A recent Bloomberg article describes how “China has already trade-war-proofed its economy”, observing that Chinese “companies and consumers will feel the pain from tariffs much less than Americans”. Similarly, an article in the Guardian notes that “since Trump’s first trade war with China in 2018, China has ramped up trade with other countries, making it less dependent on the US. Between 2018 and 2020, Brazil’s soya bean exports to China increased by more than 45% compared to the 2015-2017 average, while US exports declined 38% over the same period”.

While China can weather the storm, workers and business in the US will suffer. As Michael Roberts has observed: “Tariffs will substantially increase prices – US consumers will bear the brunt on a wide variety of basic foods and essential goods that physically cannot be produced domestically, with the poorest households being hit the hardest. American industry will struggle with higher costs for key intermediate supplies, machinery, and equipment, dwarfing any marginal benefits from reduced foreign competition.”

The US is exposing itself as a bully and a violator of international law and norms of behaviour. Meanwhile the global economy increasingly needs China more than it does the US. The likely effect of the Trump regime’s tariff war will be to isolate the US, not China.

We republish below articles from Global Times and Xinhua.

We are pleased to republish below an article by Jenny Clegg for the Morning Star explaining how China’s democracy works, focusing on the National People’s Congress (NPC), which met in early March.

Jenny points out that, while the Western media insists on disparaging the NPC as a “rubber stamp” parliament, it is in fact a key institution in China’s system of people’s democracy. While this system of democracy is different from Western “liberal” democracy, it is nonetheless a legitimate political form seeking to empower and represent the people.

Jenny explains that laws passed by the NPC “undergo a prior long and arduous process of deliberation, consultation and revision to ensure disagreements and differences are addressed and ultimately consensus is reached”. The People’s Congress system “involves nearly 3 million deputies, 95 per cent at township and county levels; non-Communist Party members make up at least a third of these. Villages are self-administered — elections, introduced in 1998, are conducted every 3-5 years”.

The article notes that NPC deputies “are expected to serve as ‘a bridge between party, state and people,’ spending the bulk of the recess period conducting research, carrying out inspections and extensive consultations, and then formulating proposals to be subject to rigorous debate and revision.” Trade unions, women’s and other mass organisations are consulted on all relevant pieces of legislation, and those laws that particularly concern the immediate interests of the wider public are put out in draft form for public debate.

Importantly, at a time when democratic processes are under attack in the West, Jenny observes that “the modernisation of socialist democracy in China is a work in progress”, and is being constantly reviewed and updated in order to better serve the people and encourage mass participation.

Jenny is an independent writer and researcher, specialising in China’s development and international role; and a former Senior Lecturer in Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). She is the author of China’s Global Strategy: towards a multipolar world (Pluto Press, 2009) and Storming the Heavens – Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949 – from a Marxist perspective (Manifesto Press, 2024).

In the following article on Geopolitical Economy, Ben Norton explores the complex political dynamics underlying the Trump administration’s move towards ending the conflict in Ukraine.

The summary is that “Trump is trying to divide Russia from China, in an attempt to isolate Beijing”, because “the United States sees China as the number one threat to its global dominance”.

Ben notes that Trump and top members of his cabinet have repeatedly expressed their desire to focus on countering China, and that Trump, in an interview with Tucker Carlson last year, openly stated that “you never want Russia and China uniting… I’m going to have to un-unite them, and I think I can do that, too. I have to un-unite them.”

This plan has been described as a “reverse Nixon/Kissinger strategy”, in that it seeks to revive Kissinger’s “triangular diplomacy”, befriending one of the two major enemies in order to isolate the other. Whereas the Soviet Union was the number one enemy in the 1970s, China is now seen as the main threat, as the world’s largest economy in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, and the driving force behind the trajectory towards a multipolar world.

Ben further notes that such a strategy is consistent with the ideas laid out in Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 1997 book The Grand Chessboard, which argued that the US should prevent the rise of a Eurasian power that could challenge its global hegemony. Brzezinski wrote that “the most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an ‘anti-hegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances. It would be reminiscent in scale and scope of the challenge once posed by the Sino-Soviet bloc, though this time China would likely be the leader and Russia the follower.”

In short, “Trump hopes that by trying to divide Russia and China, he can weaken Beijing, reverse US decline, and save the US empire.” However, given the depth of the strategic partnership between Russia and China, it is unlikely that such a strategy will succeed.

The following text is based on a speech given by Danny Haiphong at a hybrid public meeting (live in Portland and online via Zoom) on the theme of defending Socialist China.

Danny addresses the various questions circulating currently about what the Trump administration’s approach to China will be, noting that, some tactical differences notwithstanding, the two mainstream US political parties are united in their pursuit of a strategy aimed at containing China, encircling it, and suppressing its rise. “The overall trend of aggression toward China remains on an upward trajectory regardless of the duopoly party in the oval office.”

Danny notes that the escalating New Cold War on China is not having the desired effect, and that there is a serious possibility of the US ruling class resorting to direct military aggression. “US sanctions have failed. US militarization has failed. The US under Trump truly does not know how to approach China. It is certain however that the aggression will ramp up again.”

Given that the US and China are both nuclear powers, and that the US (unlike China) does not have a no-first-use policy, and has used nuclear weapons, and consistently engages in nuclear bullying, there is a significant danger of nuclear war. That threat must motivate a systematic response of solidarity from progressive forces around the world.

As long as the United States remains the capitalist empire that it is, we can expect it to continue pursuing China containment. That means we are all going to have to be ready to oppose these anti-China narratives, to expose people to the real China, and to build people-to-people ties and the necessary solidarity to ensure that we roll back this war machine once and for all.

January 15 marked the anniversary of the 1919 murder of Rosa Luxemburg. A fearless practical revolutionary leader and organiser, the co-founder with Karl Liebknecht of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), Rosa Luxemburg stands out as one of the greatest and most original theoreticians of Marxism and of the international working-class movement. Together with Liebknecht, she was one of the few prominent leaders of the working class to join VI Lenin and the Bolshevik Party in resolute opposition to the inter-imperialist slaughter of the First World War. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were murdered on the same day by the Freikorps, right-wing mercenary militia, acting on the orders of social democrat leader Friedrich Ebert.

Marking this year’s anniversary, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation published an article by Wang Junyan, a project manager in their Beijing office, outlining Luxemburg’s influence on a century of revolution in China.

Wang notes that Luxemburg’s brutal murder was reported at the time in the Chinese magazine Jin Hua. Shortly after, Li Da, a founding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and one of its leading early intellectuals, published several articles about Luxemburg in the Republican Daily News, a radical newspaper aligned with the New Culture Movement. In these articles, he briefly introduced some of her key works, including The Accumulation of Capital, widely considered to be her theoretical masterpiece.

“Published in 1913, The Accumulation of Capital was one of the first Marxist works to explore why capitalist countries competed for colonies and control over underdeveloped, non-capitalist countries. She wrote: ‘Capitalism is the first mode of economy with the weapon of propaganda, a mode which tends to engulf the entire globe and to stamp out all other economies, tolerating no rival at its side. Yet at the same time it is also the first mode of economy which is unable to exist by itself, which needs other economic systems as a medium and soil.’”

According to Wang: “She [Luxemburg] initiated a paradigm shift in the social sciences, switching the focus from the dominant capitalist states to colonial and dependent states, and from developed Europe and the Americas to the Global South — a shift Lenin himself would undertake at the Second World Congress of the Communist International in 1920.” (For a summary of Lenin’s criticism of Luxemburg’s position on the national question, specifically on the right of nations to self-determination, see Chapter 4 of The Right of Nations to Self-Determination.)

Wang’s article notes that, “Rosa Luxemburg was commemorated by the CPC throughout the Chinese revolution. For instance, when the party suffered a major defeat in 1927, it invoked Luxemburg as a fearless fighter against revisionism. In 1937, during the war against Japanese occupation, the party held her up as an ‘internationalist vanguard’ role model to encourage the Chinese people in their fight against Japanese imperialism.”

After the founding of the People’s Republic, some of her key works were translated and published in Chinese from the 1950s, but a willingness to explore some of her more controversial ideas only began in 1981. This was followed by the publication of two volumes of her Selected Works in 1984 and 1990. The Chinese translation of Rosa Luxemburg’s Complete Works, which were first issued in German in the 1970s and are currently being translated into English, was initiated in 2014. (The English edition of the Complete Works is being published by Verso.)

Relating Luxemburg’s contribution to the path of the Chinese revolution, Wang Junyan argues that: “Rosa Luxemburg witnessed the birth of the first socialist country in history, the Soviet Union, and embraced it whole-heartedly, even while expressing measured criticisms of it… In the mid-1950s, Chairman Mao began to see the defects and limitations of centralised planning and initiated de-centralisation reforms by delegating more power to local regions and promoting economic democracy in the industrial sector… [Later], China began to develop an interest in reforms taking place in Eastern Europe, with high-level delegations travelling to Yugoslavia and Romania in the 1970s to conduct more thorough studies of the debates around economic accounting, the law of value, and market mechanisms being held there… As President Xi Jinping remarked in his report to the Twentieth National Congress of the CPC, as China works to build a ‘great, modern socialist country’ by 2050, considerable obstacles persist in the form of formalism, bureaucratisation, and privilege-seeking. Here, Luxemburg also has illuminating insights to take into account.”

Luxemburg’s last known words, written on the evening of her murder, strongly echo the concept of the mass line, which has long occupied a central place in Chinese Marxism:

The contradiction between the powerful, decisive, aggressive offensive of the Berlin masses on the one hand and the indecisive, half-hearted vacillation of the Berlin leadership on the other is the mark of this latest episode. The leadership failed. But a new leadership can and must be created by the masses and from the masses. The masses are the crucial factor. They are the rock on which the ultimate victory of the revolution will be built. The masses were up to the challenge, and out of this ‘defeat’ they have forged a link in the chain of historic defeats, which is the pride and strength of international socialism. That is why future victories will spring from this ‘defeat’. ‘Order prevails in Berlin!’ You foolish lackeys! Your ‘order’ is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will ‘rise up again, clashing its weapons,’ and to your horror it will proclaim with trumpets blazing: I was, I am, I shall be!

Wang’s article concludes:

As China moves forward in its social and political development, Rosa Luxemburg’s thought will continue to accompany and inform that development — now more than ever, as her work successively becomes available through the Chinese edition of her Complete Works.

We reprint the article below.

The following article by Yang Ran, first published in China Daily, provides a useful overview of the unprecedented climate challenges faced by the world in 2024: “This year has seen a series of devastating extreme weather events, including wildfires in Canada and the Amazon, heat waves in France, Mali, and Mexico, fatal floods in Spain, Nepal, and Sudan, and destructive cyclones in the United States and Southeast Africa.” Of nearly 750 extreme weather events and trends recorded over the course of the year, three-quarters “were made more likely or severe due to climate change”.

The need for urgent global action and cooperation could hardly be clearer, and yet the developed countries are failing to take the necessary steps, and in many cases are moving backwards.

The recent COP29 conference in Azerbaijan reached a climate finance deal in which wealthy nations agreed to provide $300 billion annually by 2035 to help poorer countries with energy transition and climate change mitigation. However, this “falls far short of the $1.3 trillion that experts believe is needed”. Meanwhile, economic downturn is leading Western governments to deprioritise their climate goals, and the US and its allies are privileging anti-China measures (including tariffs and sanctions on electric vehicles and solar panels) over climate cooperation. Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement (again) complicates matters further.

The article quotes Teng Fei, deputy director of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy: “Trade wars and tariffs initiated by the EU (European Union) and the US actually hinder global efforts to reduce emissions — such approaches disrupt the global industrial chain and may even increase the global cost of renewable energy.”

China in recent years has invested heavily in renewable energy, electric vehicles and low-carbon industry, emerging as by far the global leader in these fields. China’s commitment has led to dramatic global price reductions in solar and wind energy. The world urgently needs the developed countries to follow China’s example.

On Tuesday 19 November, Friends of Socialist China held an event in London (and online) to report back on recent delegations to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Each of the respondents shared impressions and experiences from their respective visits to the region, alongside giving cultural and historical context, and geopolitical analysis highlighting the reasons why Xinjiang in particular is at the centre of the propaganda campaign as part of the New Cold War the Western states are waging against the People’s Republic of China. 

The event, which was held at the Marx Memorial Library, featured a panel discussion with David Peat (editor of Iskra Books), Ali Al-Assam (founder and secretary of the NewsSocial Cooperative), and Roger McKenzie (International Editor of the Morning Star and vice president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). The panel was chaired by Rashida Islam.

The first presentation, by David Peat, reported back from a commercial delegation in September 2024 arranged by China National Tourism Organisation. This trip was arranged for a large group of European travel agents to encourage international tourism in Xinjiang. Alongside historical and demographic information about the region, David highlighted the diversity of the peoples, the beautiful landscapes, the modern infrastructure and green development, and the many other charms that can be found in Xinjiang. Also discussed was China’s policy of using international and domestic tourism to support the development of regions within the country – to counteract the economic sanctions, and to promote and preserve Intangible Cultural Heritage, including of China’s 56 ethnic minorities, many of which live in the region.

Ali Al-Assam reported back from his visit in June-July 2024, as part of a political delegation. Ali’s contribution focussed on the reality of multinational society in Xinjiang – which stretches back thousands of years – with comparative comments based on his own experience of the struggle for socialism in Iraq.

Roger McKenzie, who attended the same delegation as Ali Al-Assam, gave an account of the extreme disconnect in the preconceptions of people in the West compared to his experiences of everyday life in Xinjiang. He also described the profound impact that the progress in celebrating diversity and fostering socialist internationalism had on him, particularly in relation to Xinjiang’s multicultural society.

Each of the delegates highlighted the substantial and ongoing development of the region, which is improving the livelihoods of its diverse population. It was also indicated that the continuing propaganda campaign has ultimately failed in its aim of causing destabilisation, but it had been effective in colouring the impressions of large sections of Western populations, including parts of the ‘progressive’ movement. As such, the speakers stressed that we must be vigilant with regard to ongoing and new attempts to seed division in the region, and counter the propaganda in our communities. 

Embedded below is a video of the event, which was live-streamed on the Friends of Socialist China YouTube channel.

The following article, outlining the political importance of this year’s Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held in Beijing from September 4-6, was written by our Co-Editor Keith Bennett and originally published by ChinAfrica on September 12.

Keith notes that the “long historical connection between the peoples of China and Africa is all too often ignored, suppressed or dismissed in the West. Rhetoric from politicians and biased and ignorant media reporting all too often assert that China’s ties with Africa began only in the very recent period as an economically booming China required large-scale access to minerals and raw materials. This is far from the truth.”

Citing the support extended by China to the South African liberation struggle from at least 1954, as well as its support to the Eritrean liberation movement from the 1960s, Keith writes: “As a young communist in the 1970s, I heard from South African exiles how the arrival of copies of China Reconstructs (the forerunner of China Today [by whom the article was originally commissioned]), smuggled at considerable risk into the country, were eagerly awaited, and passed from hand to hand, as a source of inspiration and hope.”

Here, Keith refers principally, but by no means exclusively, to his close friend, comrade and mentor Melville Fletcher. The national organiser of the Textile Workers’ Union of South Africa and a member of the Congress of Democrats (which organised progressive white people and later merged into the African National Congress) as well as of the underground South African Communist Party (SACP), Melville is seen here (on the right of the photo), as a member of the delegation of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) at the June 1955 Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter, the program of the liberation movement, together with his comrades, Moses Mabhida, later the General Secretary of the SACP, and Monty Naicker of the Natal Indian Congress.

Similarly, Melville’s friend Norman Levy, the father of the acclaimed novelist Deborah Levy, writing in his memoirs, The Final Prize, describing the events that were to lead to him facing charges of treason, recalled:

“The regime’s threats were followed up with police raids on 19 September 1955. On that occasion I came home to find two members of the special branch outside our front door, one of them waving a warrant authorizing them to investigate charges of treason, sedition and offences under the Suppression of Communism Act. Instructions to keep cool, think fast on your feet and have a steady hand during these encounters went out of my head as I thought of all the things that I should have taken care of in anticipation of these raids. I let the men in gingerly, trying hard to recall whether any incriminating documents, notes, names and papers were lying about, exposed. There were so many items to remember: banned publications, especially ‘Marxist-Leninist’ books; periodicals and journal articles from China, Eastern Europe and the USSR; lists of subscribers to Fighting Talk; names of people in the Congress of Democrats and the African Education Movement; and documents of the SACP. The illegal Party had not yet publicly ‘emerged’ and evidence of its existence was hardly anything I wanted to reveal through careless possession of its documents. In any case, membership of the illegal organization carried with it a severe jail sentence.”

Keith’s article goes on to note the different attitudes towards Africa displayed by China and the United States: “The contrast between the equality accorded in Beijing and the peremptory treatment bordering on racism accorded to them in Washington will not have been lost on the African leaders. In contrast with President Xi’s 40 bilaterals, when the US-Africa Leaders Summit was held in December 2022, US President Joe Biden could just about stir himself for one.”

Citing reports by the Financial Times, New York Times and Bloomberg, he writes, “Such is the stark contrast that, amidst the usual patronising cynicism, a hint of realism even managed to penetrate the Western media.”

He concludes that: “China is the greatest ally of the countries and peoples of Africa in [the] struggle for complete emancipation and the 2024 FOCAC Summit marks a significant step in that long journey.”

We are pleased to publish below the text of a pre-recorded speech by Professor Cheng Enfu for the London conference marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Cheng Enfu is one of China’s leading Marxist economists. He is former President of the Academy of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; President of the World Association for Political Economy; Editor-in-Chief of the World Review of Political Economy; and Editor-in-Chief of the World Marxism Review.

In this speech, which is based on his contribution to the edited volume People’s China at 75 – The Flag Stays Red, Professor Cheng discusses the significance of, and progress towards, China’s second centenary goal of building a rich, strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country.

Challenging the view typically held by bourgeois economists that there was very little development in pre-reform China, Cheng opines that “the first miracle of creating a preliminarily rich and strong China was achieved before the reform and opening-up”. He explains that New China broke out of underdevelopment, pushed forward science and technology, established an independent industrial system, significantly improved living standards, and achieved comprehensive development in education, culture, health and sports. In the period 1952-78, China’s GDP growth rate was more than twice the global average of 3 percent.

Development accelerated even faster from 1978, with the result that “China’s economic growth rate since the founding of New China has exceeded that of almost all capitalist countries, which vividly illustrate the historic achievements of China’s economic development.”

Professor Cheng observes that the US and its allies are trying to prevent China’s further rise. However, China’s consistent foreign policy – promoting peace and rejecting hegemonism – puts it at the heart of a global multipolar process in which the countries of the South and East are gaining importance. “Even if the US-led West launches a cool war, a cold war or a hot war against China, and keeps increasing illegal sanctions to the extent of a total blockade, China will be able to unite the vast number of developing countries and the countries of the South to fully realise the second centenary goal in a self-reliant manner.”

He advocates the adoption of a new Marxist internationalism, with three core aims:

First, to promote the development of the community of human destiny on the basis of the common values of humankind; second, to promote the development of world socialism on the basis of the core values of Marxism and socialism; and third, to unite all progressive forces at the international level to counter the hegemonic forces and monopolistic oligarchies that have attempted to besiege peace-loving countries and socialist forces such as China, Cuba, North Korea and Iran.

Professor Cheng concludes by calling for a broad unity in “opposition to neo-hegemonism, neo-imperialism, neo-colonialism, neo-racism, neo-liberalism, and neo-fascism, especially in the struggles against Russian-Ukrainian conflicts and Middle Eastern conflicts triggered by the US-led West, and against their attempts to trigger conflicts in a number of Indo-Pacific regions.”

A video of the speech is embedded below the text.

London’s Marx Memorial Library was packed on the evening of Wednesday August 21 for the launch of ‘Reading in Al-Mushtarak: Islam, the Commons, and Systems for Democratic Socialism’, published by Iskra Books. This important work was written by the late Ibrahim Allawi, the long-serving General Secretary of the Communist Party of Iraq (Central Command). It was originally published in Arabic in 1983 and has now been published in English for the first time, having been edited and translated by two of his long-time comrades, Ali Al-Assam and Majed Allawi.

The event was chaired by David Peat, an Editor for Iskra Books, who oversaw its publication and who is also the Secretary of Friends of Socialist China (Britain), with four speakers, all of whom were longtime comrades of Allawi, namely Ali Al-Assam, Majed Allawi, Farouk Mustafa Rasool and Hani Lazim, as well as Keith Bennett, Co-editor of Friends of Socialist China (FOSC), who contributed a Foreword to the book and supported the project throughout. Majed Allawi and Farouk Mustafa Rasool had travelled especially from Iraq to participate in the launch, along with other family members and comrades of Allawi, who had come from Iraq, Europe and the United States.

Ali Al-Assam, who is also a committee member of FOSC (Britain), after describing the huge growth of the communist movement in Iraq, said that “a significant setback occurred in 1959 when the party’s leadership, under Soviet influence, decided against seizing power despite its widespread popular support and control over Iraq’s military. This decision followed the sending, ‘for re-education’, of party leaders Salam Adil and Jamal Haidari to Moscow. The Soviet Union, particularly under Khrushchev, feared that a communist takeover in Iraq would destabilise its relations with the West during the Cold War.”

China, he noted, took a contrasting stance: “In contrast to the Soviet Union’s cautious stance, as Ibrahim covered well in his 1990 book, ‘Berlin Baghdad the Barter’, China took a more supportive approach towards the 14 July Revolution. He cites a 1958 article from the Chinese newspaper Renmin Ribao, which stated, ‘China cannot stand idle in the face of American aggression in the Arab region. We want peace, but we do not fear war. If the imperialist aggressors lose their balance and insist on a test of strength, then everyone who rejects slavery must prepare the necessary measures.’ According to the Chinese press at the time, thousands of Chinese officers and soldiers volunteered to fight in Iraq after the US landed its forces in Beirut in July 1958. China’s strong stance and support for Iraq’s sovereignty made it popular among the Iraqi people and communists, in stark contrast to the Soviet Union’s reluctance. Ibrahim, in his book, says that this sympathy towards the Communist Party of China could have been another factor that led Khrushchev to be wary of a communist victory in Iraq.”

Having explained how Ibrahim Allawi’s later work prefigured China’s development of a socialist market economy, independently reaching similar conclusions, Ali concluded:

“I had the privilege of visiting China twice this year with my colleagues from Friends of Socialist China. Visiting party schools and engaging with Chinese comrades provided deep insights into the creative application of scientific Marxism by the Communist Party of China since the early days of Mao Zedong’s leadership. Much of this history is documented in the ‘Concise History of the Communist Party of China’. China’s communist history has much in common with Iraqi communist history. Both parties started in regions with great histories and ancient civilisations, both have diversity of nationalities and religions, and the founders of the two parties sought to use Marxism not only as a scientific tool for change but also to unite the people. Yet the outcome was tragically different for Iraq.

“Let’s not forget that nearly one-fifth of humanity is participating in a bold and successful experiment in socialism. This is a great achievement for humanity and a source for much optimism in the future.”

In his speech, Majed Allawi, spoke about the proletarian origins of the Iraqi Communist Party, stressing. in particular, the role of its secretary Yusuf Salman Yusuf (Fahd), who was a worker in an ice factory.

“This deep class foundation gave the Iraqi Communist Party relative independence in its national decisions. This stance caused some kind of discomfort for the international communist centre, the Comintern. This was clear in the Soviet efforts to impose the recognition of Israel.

“The planning to eliminate the leadership of Comrade Fahd, who was sentenced to death with his comrades in 1948 – later reduced to life imprisonment after a global wave of protests – culminated in a retrial in 1949 while they were in prison, resulting in their execution. Dr. Ibrahim Allawi was convinced that the lack of a global campaign against this sentence contributed to their execution.

“Fahd’s execution represented a tremendous loss to the communist movement, as his leadership was exceptional in integrating class and national struggles and in deepening theoretical and cultural awareness. This quality was largely absent from the leadership that followed Fahd due to the circumstances of persecution, incarceration, and exile, despite their remarkable achievements in resolving internal conflicts that arose in the few years following Fahd’s execution.”

Farouk Mustafa Rasool, who was one of Ibrahim Allawi’s closest comrades and collaborators from the late 1950s to his death, and who today, as the Founder of the Faruk Investment Group and of Asiacell (in which capacity he first introduced technology from China’s Huawei to Iraq more than two decades ago and still maintains strong ties with China’s technology industry), is one of Iraq’s leading businessmen, said that he regarded himself, and still regards himself, as a modest student of Ibrahim Allawi. It was an honour to have worked with him. He was a brave man who made many sacrifices, including of his family life, for the cause in which he believed.

Hani Lazim stressed Allawi’s self-discipline and his democratic style of work, where he was prepared to listen to everyone’s opinion. He also taught his comrades the importance of self-reliance and that a revolutionary movement could not depend on others.

Following the meeting, a reception was held at Palestine House, where Professor Kamal Majid, another long-term comrade of Allawi, shared his insights into his character, philosophy and work.

Below is the main gist of Keith Bennett’s speech to the meeting. The full text may be found here. The speeches of Ali Al-Assam and Majed Allawi are also available here and here. The meeting may be viewed on YouTube and details of the book, including a free PDF, are on the Iskra Books website. A brief report of the meeting was published by the Morning Star.

At the invitation of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez attended the World Socialism Forum, held in Beijing from 9-10 September 2024, alongside delegates from China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Russia, Brazil, Zambia, Ghana, Lebanon, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and several other countries. Keynote speakers included Zhen Zhanmin (Vice President of CASS), Cheng Enfu (Former President of the Academy of Marxism) and Zhang Weiwei (Dean of the China Institute at Fudan University).

On the first day of the forum, CGTN journalist Li Jingjing interviewed Carlos, along with Blaise Tulo – Convener of Accra Collective of the Socialist Movement of Ghana – and Adham Sayed – Research Fellow at Zhejiang Gongshang University and member of the Lebanese Communist Party. The interview covers a range of topics, including the significance of the World Socialism Forum, the rising popularity of socialism, and China’s role in the world today.

The video is embedded below. It was originally posted on Li Jingjing’s YouTube channel.

The following is the text of a speech given by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez at an online meeting of the Scottish Trade Union Peace Network on 22 August 2024.

Carlos discusses the nature of China’s foreign policy, dealing with common criticisms such as that China seeks to “undermine democracy” in Taiwan, that it is an aggressive and expansionist power in the South China Sea, and that its nuclear arsenal poses a serious threat to world peace.

The speech goes on to analyse the theoretical basis and economic underpinnings of China’s foreign policy, observing that China’s rise “has never been based on dominating the land, labour, resources and markets of the rest of the world. It has never been driven by the expand-or-die logic of capital.”

Carlos concludes by detailing the expanding US-led campaign of containment and encirclement against China, and calling for “progressive and peace-loving people the world over to join hands in building global mass opposition to this insanity”.

Other speakers at the event included Fiona Edwards (No Cold War Britain) and Jonathon Shafi (Stop the War Scotland).

NB. This speech has been published as an article on Xinhua.

The following article by Lyn Neeley, first published in Workers World, describes some of China’s achievements on ecological protection. For example, “in 2023 China produced 60% of the world’s electric vehicles, 98% of the world’s electric buses and two-thirds of all the world’s wind and solar projects”. It looks like China will meet its goal of peaking emissions by 2030 ahead of time – indeed the evidence indicates that China’s emissions have already peaked.

Aside from renewable energy, China is the clear world leader in electric vehicles, and Chinese scientists are innovating on a number of fronts including green hydrogen and sustainable cooling materials.

Instead of cooperating with China in response to the climate crisis, “US corporations are threatened by all the Chinese innovations being developed and transforming the world. They know that when privately owned capitalist industries have monopoly control of an industry, their only goal is to maximize profits.”

When the US does invest in renewables, power plants are often built on indigenous lands, without consultation. “China just completed the largest floating solar farm in the world on top of an old coal plant! In contrast, US industries trespass on sovereign Indigenous land to construct solar plants, wind farms, power transmission lines and copper mines for lithium extraction for electric batteries – without consulting with leaders of the Indigenous nations and tribes.”

The contrast reminds us once again that the climate crisis requires socialist solutions.

The Xinhua News Agency recently carried a short interview with our co-editor Keith Bennett on the question of Chinese modernisation, which he said, has as its aim that all people can lead a dignified and meaningful life based on common prosperity.

Keith added that Western countries have seen great economic development over a long period but the gap between the rich and the poor not only persists but even gets worse. Moreover, all sorts of social problems proliferate and eventually become a drag on economic development as well.

On the other hand, Chinese modernisation has taken a different path, which replaces this vicious circle with a virtuous circle and is therefore of great significance to the world. Moreover, China’s foreign policy is an integral aspect of China’s commitment to global stability and development.

“China’s foreign policy of peace is completely connected to and in harmony with its modernisation drive at home as well as with its contributions to the modernisation of other countries.”

The following article was originally published by Xinhua.

The following text is based on a presentation given by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez at a discussion forum titled The Emancipatory Struggle for Independence in Latin America, held on 18 July 2024 at the historic Casa Miranda in London, where the celebrated Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda lived from 1802 to 1810. The event was organised by the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and was hosted by His Excellency Ambassador Félix Plasencia González.

Carlos’s presentation focuses on the relationship between sovereignty and internationalism, and the importance of that dynamic to the ideology of the Bolivarian Revolution. He details the ways in which Venezuela has been a key protagonist of revolutionary internationalism, as well as some of the ways it has been a beneficiary of such internationalism. He explains that Venezuela’s geopolitical positioning “is based on a coherent worldview in which the primary contradiction in global politics is defined as that between US-led imperialism – determined to hold onto its hegemony and to pursue a Project for a New American Century – and the freedom-loving peoples of the world.”

Carlos concludes by discussing the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, first put forward by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1954, and which have since become a basic principle in international relations and a longstanding consensus of the peoples of the Global South. He opines that the five principles recognise a fundamental reality of the current stage of history: that “all the socialist countries, the developing countries, the countries of the Global South, the non-imperialist countries, have a common interest in opposing imperialism; in having the freedom to develop according to their own chosen path and to work towards meeting the needs of their people.” As such, “the five principles establish the norms for a multipolar world”.

The event was also addressed by Francisco Domínguez, secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and member of the Friends of Socialist China advisory group. A summary of the event appeared in the popular Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Noticias.

In the second of three eyewitness articles from Xinjiang, Roger McKenzie addresses the widespread allegations that China is engaged in authoritarian repression (up to and including genocide) of the Uyghur people. He notes that the accusers “appear to have created their own definition of genocide while singularly failing to apply such a label to Israel and its onslaught against the Palestinians in Gaza”.

Meanwhile the facts of the case in Xinjiang are perfectly clear: “There is no genocide taking place in Xinjiang. I saw zero evidence of any kind of oppression of the Uighurs. All the evidence was in fact to the contrary.” The very idea of there being such a genocide is a “total fabrication manufactured by the West” with the purpose of manufacturing consent for the New Cold War on China.

What is true is that China is engaged in long-term counter-terrorism efforts in Xinjiang, in response to a series of deadly terrorist incidents carried out by extremist and separatist forces. As Roger points out, “in most countries where deadly terrorist attacks take place, one would expect the authorities to take steps to protect its citizens”. But as far as Western media and politicians are concerned, terrorist attacks aren’t the problem in China but rather the government’s understandable response – which it should be noted has been far more humane and measured than that of the US, which to this day maintains a torture camp in occupied Guantanamo Bay.

Roger observes that, while the Western imperialist countries are hurling these lurid accusations against China, the countries of the Global South – including the vast majority of Muslim-majority countries – are defending China’s record. Indeed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that it was a “hard fact … that residents of various ethnicities are living happily in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region thanks to China’s prosperity”.

It’s essential that progressive and anti-war forces in the West reject the propaganda war on China. That some elements buy into these lies is based on “an opportunistic anti-communism laced, in some quarters, with a nasty dose of Sinophobia”.

This article originally appeared in the Morning Star.

China marked the 70^th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence on June 28, with an international conference that featured a major speech by President Xi Jinping and the adoption of a Joint Declaration. The five principles were first advanced by Premier Zhou Enlai and endorsed jointly with the leaders of India and Myanmar (Burma). They went on to become a widely accepted norm of international relations.

The following is a brief commentary regarding the background and significance of the Five Principles, written by our co-editor Keith Bennett in advance of the conference. Keith notes that the question of relations between socialist and non-socialist countries arose with the victory of the October Revolution and was first addressed by Lenin. Zhou Enlai’s development of Lenin’s concept was made against the background of such great world events as the emergence of a socialist camp, the defeat of fascism and the founding of the United Nations, and the upsurge in the struggles for national liberation that would lead to the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement and the rise of the Global South. The five principles are needed more than ever today, with humanity facing a number of existential threats.

Part of the commentary featured in an article on China Daily.

Tunisian President Kais Saied paid a state visit to China coinciding with the 10th conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, held in Beijing on May 30.

Meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on May 31, the two leaders jointly announced the establishment of a strategic partnership between their countries.

Noting that China and Tunisia are good friends and brothers, Xi said that over the past 60 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Tunisia have always respected and supported each other, and treated each other as equals despite international vicissitudes, writing a vivid chapter of developing countries standing together through thick and thin.

Consolidating and developing China-Tunisia relations conforms to the fundamental interests and common expectations of the two peoples, Xi noted, adding that China is willing to work with Tunisia to continue the traditional friendship, deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and push bilateral relations to a new level.

“Today, we announced the establishment of China-Tunisia strategic partnership, which will open up an even brighter future for our relations,” he said.

China is ready to enhance synergy of development strategies with Tunisia, deepen cooperation in such fields as infrastructure construction and new energy, foster new growth engines for cooperation in medical and health care, green development, water resources, agriculture and other fields, and promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries to achieve more results, and China welcomes more high-quality Tunisian products into the Chinese market.

China is willing to continue to send high-calibre medical teams to Tunisia, and to deepen cooperation with Tunisia in education and tourism, and enhance people-to-people exchanges.

Xi urged the two sides to work with countries in the Global South to strengthen solidarity and coordination, practice true multilateralism, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, and achieve common development.

Saied said he is pleased to pay a historic visit to China on the occasion of marking the 60th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties and to attend the opening ceremony of the 10th ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum.

Tunisia enjoys profound friendship and fruitful cooperation with China, and the country expects more support from China for its national development and closer cooperation in health, transportation, green development and education, so as to raise bilateral relations to a new level. Every country has the right to independently choose a development path suiting its own national conditions. Tunisia is willing to work with China to uphold the common values of humanity, strengthen unity and coordination, oppose hegemonism and bloc confrontation, and create a more equal and beautiful world, so that people of all countries can enjoy real human rights and freedom, live in harmony, and share peace, security and prosperity.

The previous day, President Saied had met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

Li noted that China firmly supports Tunisia in actively exploring a development path with Tunisian characteristics and firmly opposes external interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs.

China is ready to work with Tunisia to deepen practical cooperation guided by high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, make solid progress in key cooperation projects, and expand cooperation in trade and renewable energy. China is ready to work with Tunisia to make every effort to build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era and promote the building of a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future, Li added, urging joint efforts from the two sides to strengthen multilateral coordination and cooperation to safeguard the common interests of developing countries.

On May 31, the Tunisian head of state also met with Zhao Leji, Chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

Zhao said that, taking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity, the two sides should make good use of important platforms such as the joint construction of the Belt and Road, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to cultivate new driving forces for bilateral cooperation.

He noted that China and Tunisia are both countries in the Global South, and that they should strengthen their coordination and cooperation on multilateral occasions to promote a more just and equitable global governance system.

Saied said that Tunisia has the unwavering will to develop friendly relations with China. His country adheres to the one-China principle and stands ready to strengthen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, thereby opening broader prospects for bilateral relations. 

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

In this article for the Morning Star, Roger McKenzie draws on his experiences on the recent Friends of Socialist China delegation, which combined visits to historical sites with discussions on contemporary Chinese politics, as well as providing an opportunity to witness the Chinese modernisation process in action.

Roger notes “the lengths the Chinese were taking to celebrate their revolutionary history at the same time as looking for ways to be at the cutting edge of modernisation”. This highlights the Chinese communists’ insistence on remaining true to the original aspiration and founding mission. After all, the founders of the CPC “had a dream of a better and fairer society based on Marxist principles” – a dream that still guides the Party today.

The article concludes that those of us in the West can learn a great deal – and take inspiration – from the Chinese example.

“China proves to me that not only is a new world possible but it has already arrived — if we choose to look and if we dare to win.”