First Published: The Call, Vol. 6, No. 33, August 29, 1977.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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The Communist Party of China has just concluded its Eleventh National Congress. The meeting was held in Peking’s Great Hail of the People from August 12-18, and was described in detail by a press communique released on August 20.
The Congress, which is the highest body of the Party, met for the first time since 1973 and for the first time since the death of the Party’s great founder, leader and teacher Mao Tsetung. Through its deliberations, the struggle against the “gang of four” was summed up, and China’s revolutionary road for the period ahead was charted.
The main points on the agenda of the meeting were the adoption of the Political Report delivered by Party Chairman Hua Kuo-feng; a revision of the Party’s Constitution: and the election of a new Central Committee. According to the communique, the Congress “held high the great banner of Chairman Mao and adhered to his proletarian revolutionary line.” It was a “Congress that upheld Marxism and unity and the principle of being open and aboveboard. It was a Congress of unity, a Congress of victory.”
More than 1,500 delegates attended the Congress representing some 35 million members of the Communist Party. Extensive pre-Congress deliberations were held in all the Party’s organizations and units throughout the country, and great care was taken in electing the delegates.
Chairman Hua declared the opening of the meeting on August 12 as the band played “The East is Red,” China’s national anthem. A thunderous ovation went up from the delegates as the members of the Congress Presidium took their places on the rostrum. These veteran Party leaders included Hua Kuo-feng, Yeh Chien-ying, Teng Hsiao-ping, Li Hsien-nien and Wang Tung-hsing.
In his Political Report, Chairman Hua explained the historic tasks which lay before the Party at this juncture. He stressed that it is necessary to uphold Chairman Mao’s teachings, sum up the struggle against the “gang” and persevere in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Chairman Hua called on the whole Party to implement the strategic decision recently made by the Central Committee to “grasp the key link of class struggle and bring about great order across the land.” In this way, he emphasized, the Congress would be able to lead in making China a “great, powerful, modern socialist country by the end of this century.”
The communique stated, “Chairman Hua points out that as far as ideology and theory are concerned, the eleventh struggle between two lines in our Party has unfolded around the question of whether to uphold or to vitiate the theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is the salient feature of this struggle.”
The report went on to explain in depth how the “gang” had perverted Chairman Mao’s great contributions to Marxism-Leninism on this question.
Chairman Hua said that the smashing of the “gang” was “yet another signal victory achieved in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.” He pointed out that the Cultural Revolution will go down in the history of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a “momentous innovation,” and he elaborated on its tremendous achievements.
At the same time, the report observed: “Now that the ’gang’ has been overthrown, we are able to achieve stability and unity and attain great order across the land in compliance with Chairman Mao’s instructions. Thus, the smashing of the ’gang of four’ marks the triumphant conclusion of our first Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.”
Laying all bourgeois speculation to rest about China turning away from its revolutionary path, Chairman Hua emphasized that the conclusion of this first Cultural Revolution “does not mean the end of class struggle or the end of the continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.”
The report then proceeded to examine the international situation, reaffirming Chairman Mao’s proletarian internationalist line on foreign affairs and calling for intensified unity against the U.S. and the USSR, and the war preparations of these two imperialist superpowers. He noted that the USSR poses the greater danger between the superpowers.
Commenting on Mao Tse-tung’s great concept of the three worlds, Chairman Hua said that “it is the correct strategic and tactical formulation for the international proletariat in the present era and constitutes the class line in its international affairs.” He pointed out the need to strengthen China’s unity with all genuine Marxist-Leninists the world over and carry through to the end the struggle against modern revisionism.
In concluding the report, Hua Kuo-feng highlighted the main features of the excellent situation inside China, particularly the new leap forward which has developed in the national economy since it was liberated from the shackles of the “gang’s” influence. He laid emphasis especially on the great examples that have been set by the Tachai commune in agriculture and the Taching oilfield in industry.
In speaking of the fighting tasks that lay ahead, the report called for continuing the criticism of the “gang” and taking various measures to strengthen the Party, the state and socialist culture and education. Chairman Hua pointed out the need to “grasp revolution and promote production” as a way to push the national economy forward.
Finally, Chairman Hua declared that the Party Central Committee had decided to convene the Fifth National People’s Congress in the near future.
Following the Political Report, Vice-Chairman Yeh Chien-ying delivered his report on the changes in the Constitution. Several revisions were made to sharply combat the line of the “gang” on party building and to strengthen the democratic-centralism of the Party.
It was Vice-Chairman Teng Hsiao-ping who gave the closing address to the Congress. Comrade Teng was only restored to his positions in the Party and the state apparatus last month, after the “gang’s” efforts to overthrow and discredit him were exposed. Teng, the Executive Chairman of the Congress, announced the election of the 201 Central Committee members and 132 alternates. When Hua Kuo-feng’s name was read, the delegates burst into a stormy ovation, signaling their tremendous confidence in China’s new leader.
Teng Hsiao-ping pointed out in closing the Congress that a new change has come over the whole Party since the downfall of the “gang.” He spoke about both the great victories which had been won and also the difficult problems that still await solutions. “So long as we really have faith in the masses and rely on them we can surmount these difficulties one by one and go on to one new victory after another,” he said.
The Eleventh Party Congress is clearly a major development in the Chinese revolution, and its decisions will be warmly supported by people all over the world. The utter repudiation of the “gang” and the defeat of their efforts to make a counter-revolution in China are victories which belong to the revolutionary movement internationally, because the cause of socialism has been advanced and the danger of capitalist restoration has been checked.
The Congress demonstrated clearly that the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Tse-tung for half a century is truly a great party, tested and tempered in the storms of the most difficult class battles. Under Chairman Hua Kuo-feng’s leadership, the Party and the Chinese people are bound to continue scoring new triumphs in building socialism.