See : « Full video: Xi Jinping delivers speech to mark 100th anniversary of CPC’s founding », 1 lug 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYUmztqXEjI
See also : « Full Text: Speech by Xi Jinping at a ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC », (Xinhua) 15:48, July 01, 2021, http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/0701/c90000-9867483.html
And : « Watch: Art performance celebrating the centenary of CPC », https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6hOKvSmdIE
Speaking in a beautifully symbolic Mao’s vest in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace for the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping sat the stage from his very first words. He underlined the unity of the Party, of the Chinese people and of all its national components.
He paid tribute to their long struggle to achieve « a moderately prosperous society in all respects » and in « eradicating absolute poverty ». He went on saying that China will now strive to « build a modern socialist China in all respect » and to beautify and rejuvenate it. Building a socialism with Chinese characteristics remains the main objective.
« A hundred years ago, said President Xi, the pioneers of Communism in China established the Communist Party of China and developed the great founding spirit of the Party, which is comprised of the following principles: upholding truth and ideals, staying true to our original aspiration and founding mission, fighting bravely without fear of sacrifice, and remaining loyal to the Party and faithful to the people. This spirit is the Party’s source of strength. »
At the same time the Chinese communist Party has always conceived the development of China as a contribution to Human civilisation.
President Xi extended his « sincere greetings to compatriots in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and in Taiwan as well as overseas Chinese. » He reiterated the attachment of the Party and of China to World peace and mutual development, underlying an evidence: « We must continue working to promote the building of a human community with a shared future. Peace, concord, and harmony are ideas the Chinese nation has pursued and carried forward for more than 5,000 years. The Chinese nation does not carry aggressive or hegemonic traits in its genes. The Party cares about the future of humanity, and wishes to move forward in tandem with all progressive forces around the world. China has always worked to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development, and preserve international order. »
That being said, he also stressed « We Chinese are a people who uphold justice and are not intimidated by threats of force. As a nation, we have a strong sense of pride and confidence. We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will. By the same token, we will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate us. Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people. »
The president reiterated the letter and the spirit of the One Country, Two Systems for the administration of Macao and Hong Kong. He went on:
« Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete reunification is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the Communist Party of China. It is also a shared aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation. We will uphold the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, and advance peaceful national reunification. All of us, compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, must come together and move forward in unison. We must take resolute action to utterly defeat any attempt toward “Taiwan independence,” and work together to create a bright future for national rejuvenation. No one should underestimate the resolve, the will, and the ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity.»
I personally believe that this is essential. Only adventurist and exclusivist fools would miss the essential fact of the Twenty First Century: The Twentieth Century developed and organised a Multilateral International World ruled by the Charter of the UN which spells out the principles necessary to implement and uphold « collective security ». Among these, the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Sovereign States, and the Universal Declaration of Fundamental Rights which stressed Social Rights in addition to Individual Rights, the firsts being the material condition for the seconds.
Today, anyone realises that World Stability and Peace stand or fall on the international respect for the unity of Sovereign State and Taiwan has now become one of the main litmus tests in the matter. Sovereign States should be free to settle their own domestic affairs without foreign interference. Regime change is criminally illegal under International Law. Conversely the respect for the UN Charter opens wide the door to international peaceful economic and cultural cooperation.
What I found remarkable in the speech of Comrade President Xi Jinping is the expressed deep attachment to Marxism which helped make Modern China and got immensely enriched itself in the process. I personally believe that, as Marx himself intended, Marxism or historical materialism is Science and must therefore develop in accord with social reality and with Human equality. This is because Human equality is ontologically part of any scientific discourse, of any Human inter-subjective space. Chairman Mao and the other Chinese leaders said and practiced the same method adapting it to China’s context.
This is the best omen for the future of Human civilization because it puts the full force of Modern and Peaceful China behind the common development of all Mankind. It does this with a deep understanding, forged during 100 years of hard fought battles, that respect for Marxism intended as Science allows all the necessary flexibility along the way as society develops. As long as a non-exclusivist and egalitarian Human spirit prevails, many Epochs of redistribution can be experimented as long as they are indented to move forward along the road to the best possible socialist transition under the circumstances. The Chinese Communist Party has certainly demonstrated that it is capable to forge ahead, maintaining internal consensus and a real mass line while always being prompt to self-reform.
But the best here would be to leave President Xi Jinping explain:
« With the salvoes of Russia’s October Revolution in 1917, Marxism-Leninism was brought to China. Then in 1921, as the Chinese people and the Chinese nation were undergoing a great awakening and Marxism-Leninism was becoming closely integrated with the Chinese workers’ movement, the Communist Party of China was born. The founding of a communist party in China was an epoch-making event, which profoundly changed the course of Chinese history in modern times, transformed the future of the Chinese people and nation, and altered the landscape of world development.
Since the very day of its founding, the Party has made seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation its aspiration and mission. All the struggle, sacrifice, and creation through which the Party has united and led the Chinese people over the past hundred years has been tied together by one ultimate theme—bringing about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
To realize national rejuvenation, the Party united and led the Chinese people in fighting bloody battles with unyielding determination, achieving great success in the new-democratic revolution.
(….)
On the journey ahead, we must rely closely on the people to create history. Upholding the Party’s fundamental purpose of wholeheartedly serving the people, we will stand firmly with the people, implement the Party’s mass line, respect the people’s creativity, and practice a people-centered philosophy of development. We will develop whole-process people’s democracy, safeguard social fairness and justice, and resolve the imbalances and inadequacies in development and the most pressing difficulties and problems that are of great concern to the people. In doing so, we will make more notable and substantive progress toward achieving well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all.
We must continue to adapt Marxism to the Chinese context. Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology upon which our Party and country are founded; it is the very soul of our Party and the banner under which it strives. The Communist Party of China upholds the basic tenets of Marxism and the principle of seeking truth from facts. Based on China’s realities, we have developed keen insights into the trends of the day, seized the initiative in history, and made painstaking explorations. We have thus been able to keep adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times, and to guide the Chinese people in advancing our great social revolution. At the fundamental level, the capability of our Party and the strengths of socialism with Chinese characteristics are attributable to the fact that Marxism works. »
« Today, said President Xi, the first of July, is a great and solemn day in the history of both the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese nation »
In my humble view, this extraordinary celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Party is also a milestone in Human History and the true beginning of the Twenty First Century.
Paul De Marco.