Celebrating 73 Years of the People’s Republic of China

The Proclamation of the People's Republic of China from Mao Zedong Tiananmen, Beijing 1st October, 1949

“Dear comrades! Today, I hereby declare the formal establishment of the People's Republic of China and its Central People's Government!

The people throughout China have been plunged into bitter suffering and tribulations since the Chiang Kai-shek Kuomintang reactionary government betrayed the fatherland, colluded with imperialists, and launched the counter-revolutionary war. Fortunately our People's Liberation Army, backed by the whole nation, has been fighting heroically and selflessly to defend the territorial sovereignty of our homeland, to protect the people's lives and property, to relieve the people of their sufferings, and to struggle for their rights, and it eventually wiped out the reactionary troops and overthrew the reactionary rule of the Nationalist government. Now, the People's War of Liberation has been basically won, and the majority of the people in the country have been liberated. On this foundation, the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, composed of delegates of all the democratic parties and people's organization of China, the People's Liberation Army, the various regions and nationalities of the country, and the overseas Chinese and other patriotic elements, has been convened.

Representing the will of the whole nation, [this session of the conference] has enacted the organic law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, elected Mao Zedong as chairman of the Central People's Government; and Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Song Qingling, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, and Gao Gang as vice chairmen; and Chen Yi, He Long, Li Lisan, Lin Boqu, Ye Jianying, He Xiangning, Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, Wu Yuzhang, Xu Xiangqian, Peng Zhen, Bo Yibo, Nie Rongzhen, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Seypidin, Rao Shushi, Tan Kah-kee, Luo Ronghuan, Deng Zihui, Ulanhu, Xu Teli, Cai Chang, Liu Geping, Ma Yinchu, Chen Yun, Kang Sheng, Lin Feng, Ma Xulun, Guo Moruo, Zhang Yunyi, Deng Xiaoping, Gao Chongmin, Shen Junru, Shen Yanbing, Chen Shutong, Szeto Mei-tong, Li Xijiu, Huang Yanpei, Cai Tingkai, Xi Zhongxun, Peng Zemin, Zhang Zhizhong, Fu Zuoyi, Li Zhuchen, Li Zhangda, Zhang Nanxian, Liu Yazi, Zhang Dongsun, and Long Yun as council members to form the Central People's Government Council, proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China and decided on Beijing as the capital of the People's Republic of China.

The Central People's Government Council of the People's Republic of China took office today in the capital and unanimously made the following decisions:

• To proclaim the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China;

• To adopt the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as the policy of the government;

• To elect Lin Boqu from among the council members as secretary general of the Central People's Government Council;

• To appoint Zhou Enlai as premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government and concurrently minister of Foreign Affairs,

• Mao Zedong as chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government,

• Zhu De as commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army,

• Shen Junru as president of the Supreme People's Court of the Central People's Government, and

• Luo Ronghuan as procurator general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the Central People's Government,

• and to charge them with the task of the speedy formation of the various organs of the government to carry out the work of the government.

At the same time, the Central People's Government Council decided to declare to the governments of all other countries that this government is the sole legal government representing all the people of the People's Republic of China. This government is willing to establish diplomatic relations with any foreign government that is willing to observe the principles of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

Marking the founding of the People’s Republic on 1st of October, 1949, National Day marks the beginning of a week-long holiday marked by ceremonies and celebrations. Since its founding, the People’s Republic of China has achieved many goals; raising up the Chinese nation, liberating the people from the chains of feudalism and imperialism. This year’s National Day celebrations coincide with preparations for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which will begin on the 16th of October. 

The proclamation of the People’s Republic marked the end of of the horrors of a hundred years of war and exploitation suffered by the Chinese people—the century of humiliation—beginning in 1839 with the First Opium War, where the British Empire stole Hong Kong, forced the first of many unequal treaties, and left a stain on the Chinese nation which must never be forgotten. The China of 1839 stands in stark contrast to the China of 2022, almost a full two hundred years later. Life expectancy has more than doubled, extreme poverty has been completely eliminated, high-speed public transportation criss-crosses across the country, and China stands today as the largest producer of renewable energy in the world. All of these achievements, and more, have been publicly and thoroughly reported, and shine as a beacon of hope for the whole world to see as the prime example of socialist development and construction in existence today. The timing of these events; however, also draws attention toward geopolitical developments that are not as widely reported. As developed and successful as China is today, it has not reached this point without detractors, and old imperialist powers remain obsessed with playing the same old imperialist games. China’s rise couldn’t possibly go unnoticed, and the prosperity of her people remains, as always, a subject of great envy and consternation from those who would seek to steal it.

China’s National Day celebrations, and the upcoming 20th National Congress, come at a time of increasing geopolitical instability and rising tensions throughout the world. As President Xi Jinping took part in the Martyrs Day ceremony at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen on Friday, it may have occurred to him that someday—maybe soon—the great cause of revolution, of freedom, of liberation, will once again require the greatest sacrifice of the bravest heroes. As popular referenda are approved, seeing four regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye—formally join the Russian Federation, and provocations continue in the pacific, across the Taiwan strait, and the Korean peninsula, it seems the world stands on the edge of a new period of unprecedented upheaval. 

These provocations, and the global upheaval, are all the result of intentional policies from the declining imperialist powers of the West—with the United States as its hegemon. From the Maidan Coup in Ukraine in 2014, to the Pelosi Tour through Asia, including Taiwan, earlier this year, the Cold War mentality is still alive and well in the west; while China continues down the path of socialist construction and building a community with a shared future for mankind, the west continues down the path of exploitation and destruction. The examples are too numerous to list, but a clear fact is emerging: not only are the imperialist maneuvers of the United States and its vast array of satellites not slowing down, they are becoming more and more desperate, and more and more dangerous. 

With the National Congress coming up, many major events and decisions will be coming with it—the antecedents of which are now being finalized. The special operation in Ukraine is barreling madly towards open war—a situation in which China is increasingly likely to support Russia. Provocations are continuing in the Pacific—a situation in which the United States is attempting to directly provoke wars in Korea and across the Taiwan strait. Tensions are ratcheting up in Iran—who recently joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and have been growing closer as a key ally to China in recent years. China’s own continuing internal developments are ongoing, such as infrastructure—including the Belt and Road Initiative— and socioeconomic development—such as the growing domestic middle class and the development of the rural areas. This year’s National Day holiday is a time of great celebration, as well as sober reflection, as China begins taking the next steps towards its great centenary goal in 2049: transforming China into a strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and modern socialist country. With President Xi Jinping expected to be elected for a historic third term, looking up at the Monument to the People’s Heroes, he must have been reflecting on these things—how to navigate the times, and how to complete these seemingly insurmountable tasks. China has charted a historic path, and will soon be ready to reap the greatest harvest. 

The back of the US imperialist hegemony will soon be broken; either under the weight of its own internal contradictions, or as a result of external pressure—most likely a combination of both will be necessary. As that old world is dying, the new world—the world of liberation, the world of true freedom, of socialism—is being born. The weight of that world rests on the shoulders of the Communist Party, and on the whole of the Chinese nation and its people as they staunchly carry on the legacy of revolutionary heroes the world over. 

中华人民共和国万岁！ Long live the People’s Republic of China!

世界人民大团结万岁！ Long live the great unity of the people!