Leading the way

The CPC has won the support of the people by being decisive in giving direction to the Chinese nation

I will risk giving an opinion on the trajectory of the Communist Party of China founded in 1921. Our starting point will be not what the Party says about itself, but the role it has played in the face of the great problems confronted by the Chinese people.

The Chinese civilization has a long history. Before European capitalism took off, it was probably one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world. However, between 1840 and 1949, China was subjected to a semi-colonial situation and ran the risk of national fragmentation. Many political and social forces fought against this situation, but it was the CPC that led the fight for China to continue to exist as a sovereign and independent nation, facing and defeating not only European imperialism, but also the imperialism of the United States and Japan. Since Oct 1, 1949, not only has China's territorial integrity been maintained, but conditions have been created to later resume exercising sovereignty over Macao and Hong Kong.

China inaugurated feudalism centuries before Europe. Although there were countless peasant revolutions and urban struggles against this state of affairs, it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that the explicit struggle for a democratic republic began to overcome feudalism in both the economy and politics.

It was the CPC that led the decisive battles against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism. The CPC converted the fight against the Japanese imperialist invasion from 1931 into a catalyst for a revolution that radically changed the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people. The great protagonists of this process of liberation were the rural masses, and the greatest benefits were extended to peasant women and youth. The choices made by the CPC were instrumental in destroying the millennial power of feudalism and semi-feudalism.

This is because the Chinese communists realized that, under imperialism, peasant revolutions could become socialist revolutions, provided that there was an alliance between urban and rural workers with a clear programmatic objective and strategy to go beyond a bourgeois revolution. The Chinese communists dedicated themselves to build a new type of party with armed forces under the guidance of proletarian ideas and a new type of strategy such as people's war, using the rural areas to encircle the cities.

Between 1949 and 1978, China faced triple pressures: that of the US, that of the Soviet Union and that of the urgent need for economic and social development. In 1982, the top leaders of the Party and the State adopted a political orientation that persists today-socialism with Chinese characteristics. In 1992, socialist market economy was put forward, and this economic development path was based on a combination of the State and market, prioritizing the development of the productive forces with socialist objectives.

As a direct result, China in 2020 surpassed the US in several economic indicators, especially vis-à-vis GDP in terms of purchasing power parity. Again, the choices made by the CPC were fundamental to this outcome.

Considering the century that has passed since 1921 as a whole, the CPC was and remains the main impetus in terms of global economic development and the geopolitical changes taking place between the East and the West. And it counted in its favor the traditions of its ancient civilization, with the impulse of a revolution on the march, with the stimulus of the Soviet experience and with the perception that Marxism could be a brilliant guide for action. On this basis, the CPC developed its essential method-the concrete analysis of the actual situation. The CPC built its vision of socialism over a century. It has great practical experience of improving the lives of people through the construction of socialism.

And the CPC has a theoretical matrix, composed of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

Above all, we must also remember that the CPC triumphed because it knew, at the same time, to connect with the people and fight for their interests.

The author is a professor of international relations at the Federal University of ABC in Sao Paolo, Brazil, member of the National Directorate of the Workers' Party and director of the Perseu Abramo Foundation. This article is supported by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.