100th Anniversary of the Communist Party of China
Input by Dr Blade Nzimande, South African Communist Party General Secretary
Thursday, 1 July 2021
On behalf of the South African Communist Party (SACP) Central Committee and the Party’s entire membership, allow me to express our congratulatory message to the people and the Communist Party of China (CPC) on the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC. This year, this month, 2021 July, also marks the Centenary of the founding of the South African Communist Party. Our two parties were founded during the same month, seven days apart, in 1921. The CPC was founded on 23 July 1921, while the SACP was founded on 30 July 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa. This is therefore a Shared Founding Centenary of the CPC and the SACP.
The CPC, with great discipline and the support of the Chinese people, achieved victory against semi-colonialism and the imperialists in China and established its leadership of the Chinese people. It was this historic victory that paved the way for the CPC, 28 years after its founding, playing a leading role in founding the People’s Republic of China in 1949. This laid a firm foundation for the impressive achievements realised by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC. China moved from what the CPC characterised as a backward society to the second largest national economy in the world, with abject poverty eliminated.
The basis of these achievements is underlined by what Cde Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC and the President of China, said in his anniversary message earlier today, 1 July 2021, about the role of the Party in the rejuvenation of China:
“Since the very day of its founding, the Communist Party of China has made seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation its aspiration and mission. All the struggles, sacrifices and creations through which the party has united (traversed and led the Chinese People over the past 100 years, has been tied together by one ultimate theme: the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.
Developing the forces of production and industrialisation played a key in the transformation realised by China. It is this change that saw China emerge as a key trading partner of many countries in all global regions. And, unlike much of the formerly colonised world, the content of China’s international trade comprises finished products, something in the past associated with the triad economies of the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. China’s technological capabilities, including own product and production process innovation, research, development, are impressive - something many countries in the former colonised world aspire to achieve.
China had to overcome many countervailing factors, both objective and subjective, including attacks co-ordinated through the exploitation of the media. Defending and deepening China’s independence, including policy sovereignty, has played a major role in propelling China forward.
In contrast, in many formerly colonised countries foreign-based institutions and accumulation interests have established a firm grip on policy direction. There are imperialist economic policy documents that are unveiled as the policies of such developing countries. However, analysed deep down to the root, those are a policy regime transmitted through the imperialist mechanisms of international loan conditionalities and foreign monopoly finance and other accumulation interests. The defence of national independence by the CPC, and its exercise of China’s policy sovereignty, should serve as a great inspiration.
Here in South Africa, the SACP built an alliance starting in the late 1920s with the African National Congress (ANC), the trade union movement, and forged a national liberation movement involving an array of other democratic as well as sectoral formations. It was through this national liberation movement with the alliance in the forefront, and in addition with international solidarity, that we succeeded to close the chapter of the colonial era and the apartheid regime in 1994. The Soviet Union, which was dissolved three years before our victory over the apartheid regime, played a key part through material support to our struggle, as part of the international solidarity that we received. China itself had earlier played an important role in supporting the liberation struggle in our country.
Our victory over the apartheid regime was a milestone of great importance. It was following this victory that we adopted the modern-day human rights-based South African constitution. When we dislodged the apartheid regime, the balance of forces, which we tilted in favour of our liberation struggle, was internationally dominated by the triumph of neoliberal class and state forces. It was in this context that we had to carry forward our strategy of the national democratic revolution and implement broader social transformation.
Now life in South Africa is better than under apartheid and the entire colonial era. Our people have realised massive social advances, starting with human rights, including socio-economic rights such as access to education, healthcare, housing, water, and so on. However, we still have a lot of work to do to achieve universal coverage in many areas of broader social transformation.
In addition, our post-1994 achievements are facing a great threat of erosion, due among others to the persisting economic crisis showed by high levels of unemployment, poverty, inequality, and stagnation. The global COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation. Our key challenge is to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and resolve the economic crisis, which has caused a social reproduction crisis showed by many households struggling to support life. No country can achieve everything on its own. Partnership is important, just like solidarity during the liberation struggle.
We are therefore looking forward to deepening our party-to-party relations with the CPC and among others scientific co-operation with China in our struggle to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and resolve underdevelopment in our country.
South Africa is still a minerals-rich country. However, if these minerals are merely extracted and exported as raw materials, it will remain difficult for South Africa to reduce unemployment, poverty, and inequality. It is therefore a key national imperative for South Africa to build domestic industrial capacity to transform the minerals into processed industrial inputs and finished goods. Given China’s industrial achievements, we need to forge a developmental partnership to lift South Africa and other countries in the Southern African region and Africa at large out of the persisting colonial-type mineral extractive relationship with its key trading partners.
Finally, China has developed a COVID-19 vaccine. It is important to forge co-operation for South Africa to access the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine on a developmental and solidarity basis and add it to its vaccine rollout programme. The efficacy of the vaccine to the COVID-19 variants that are dominant in South Africa and its safety are essential. We also recall the words of the President of China Comrade Xi Jinping when he pledged that if it succeeded to develop a COVID-19 vaccine China will make it a global public good.
Allow me to end with input with an announcement. On Sunday, 4 July starting at 11 AM the SACP will hold an opening rally to mark the celebration of its centenary. On 30 July, the SACP will hold a virtual SACP Inaugural Annual Lecture. This will be followed on 1 August starting at 11 AM, by an SACP Centenary Rally. These activities will be held virtually in view of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in our country.
Statement issued by SACP, 1 July 2021
