By The Metrofile
The Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded on July 1st, 1921. In fact, the CPC traces its origin to the May 4th Movement of 1919, during which radical Western ideologies like Marxism and anarchism gained traction among Chinese intellectuals. Other influences stemming from the Bolshevik revolution and Marxist theory inspired the CPC.
Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were among the first to publicly support Leninism and world revolution. Both regarded the October Revolution in Russia as groundbreaking, believing it to herald a new era for oppressed countries everywhere.
From 1921 to 1949, the CPC led the Chinese people in their arduous armed struggle and finally succeeded in overthrowing the rule of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism, and establishing the People’s Republic of China (PRC). After the founding of the PRC, the CPC led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in defending the independence and security of the country, successfully completing the transition from new democratic revolution to socialist revolution, carrying out systematic large-scale socialist construction, and achieving economic and cultural progress unparalleled in Chinese history.
After the founding of the PRC, the CPC continued to lead the nation to make constant progress: triumphing over repeated threats, sabotage and armed provocation of imperialists and hegemonists, safeguarding the nation’s independence and security; successfully achieving a great transfer of the Chinese society from new-democratism to socialism, accomplishing, in a general sense, the socialist transformation of the private ownership of the means of production; and launching the large-scale socialist economic construction in a planned way, and enabling Chinese economic and cultural causes to attain unprecedented development.
At its nature, the CPC is the vanguard of the Chinese working class as well as the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. It is the core of leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The party represents the development trend of China’s advanced productive forces, the orientation of China’s advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people (the Three Representatives).
After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee at the end of 1978, the country embarked on the biggest change in the history of New China. From 1979, the CPC began to carry out the reform and opening-up policy initiated by Deng Xiaoping. In over two decades since the initiation of the reform and opening-up, China’s economic and social development have been crowned with remarkable success and the country has taken on a new look. This has been the best period since the founding of the PRC in which the Chinese people have reaped the most material benefits.
Since Xi Jinping took power, Xi has initiated a wide-reaching anti-corruption campaign, while centralising powers in the office of CPC general secretary at the expense of the collective leadership of prior decades. In 2021, CPC celebrated its centenary, and China lifted all people across the nation to walk out of extreme poverty. This marks a significant milestone for China as well as the world.
