1st October, 1999
Exactly fifty years ago, on the 1st October 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded. It was an event that culminated over two decades of Communist Party led popular struggle. What had begun as attempted worker insurrections in the port cities of Canton and Shanghai in the late 1920s, led to the Long March, which carried the working class ideas of Marxism into the deep and impoverished countryside of feudal China.
From their deep rural bases the Chinese Communists and their people’s army led the national struggle against the Japanese militarist occupation – one of the most barbaric episodes of the Second World War. The defeat of Japanese militarism, along with the defeat of nazism and fascism, created favourable global conditions for popular forces around the world, including in the world’s most populous country, China.
The Chinese Revolution is one of the most significant and influential events of our century. Before 1949 the illiteracy rate in China was 80 percent, and life expectancy was a meagre 35 years. Now, 50 years later illiteracy has declined to less than 7 percent, and average life expectancy is more than 70 years.
Over these past 50 years the Chinese people have embarked on another heroic Long March. The Chinese Communist Party would be the first to admit that there have been confusions and errors on the way. In the late 1960s, a ruinous and misguided “Cultural Revolution” tore apart the fabric of society, and set back many of the advances made in the previous decade and a half. But throughout these fifty years, the Chinese Revolution has been guided by a number of admirable, core principles:
In 1978 a major economic reform process was unleashed, in which the PRC endeavoured to sustain the core principles of socialism while opening up to the market. In most Western media, we are constantly told that the PRC has “embraced capitalism” – this is neither how the Chinese themselves understand what they are doing, nor is it the reality. The public sector enterprises, and the rural socialist economy remain core pillars of Chinese socialism. There have, however, been an imaginative mix of partnerships, liberalisations and other market-related initiatives as well. The Chinese reform process stands in stark contrast to the neo-liberal privatisation frenzy that has reduced the former Soviet Union into a third world status. The PRC’s ability to chart an effective course through the recent Asian crisis is also noteworthy. Against the backdrop of the Asian financial crisis (and catastrophic domestic floods) China’s GDP still grew 7,8 percent last year. This was achieved, partly, through active state intervention to stimulate demand through wage increases in the public sector, and other measures.
On the occasion of this 50th anniversary, the SACP salutes the Chinese Communist Party and the people of China.
Issued by the SACP Department of Information & Publicity
E-Mail: sacp1@wn.apc.org
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Republic of South Africa
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