On Saturday 28 September a rally was held in Bolivar Hall, London to celebrate 70 years since the Communist party liberated China and brought into being the People’s Republic. The event was hosted by the CPGB-ML with the support of the Venezuelan and Chinese embassies, and of Comrade George Galloway (political commentator, broadcaster and former MP).
The meeting was well attended by patriotic Chinese students from the local London universities, as well as by comrades and supporters of our party from around the country, and was broadcast live from the hall by George Galloway’s team to audiences on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
To applause and celebration, Comrade Ranjeet Brar, speaking from the chair said:
“When comrade Chairman Mao Zedong stood in Tiananmen Square and announced to China and the world that ‘The Chinese people have stood up’, it was a moment that all workers and oppressed celebrated, and one of the greatest – along with the October Revolution in Russia – moments in world history. As such, it is applauded by all progressive humanity and workers of all countries!”
The communists’ founding chairman Harpal Brar was ten years old at the time of the revolution. He spoke on behalf of the party and pointed out to the meeting that he personally became a communist under the influence of Comrade Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China.
Harpal recalled the fight against the attacks on communism and the leadership of JV Stalin that took place in the 1960s. He remembered the despicable and harmful deviation from Marxism Leninism by Khrushchev (which led to the collapse of the once mighty USSR) and recalled the powerful example set by the Chinese party in its open polemics with the Soviet communist party on these questions.
Comrade George Galloway paid moving tribute to the feats of socialist construction and social provision that have been achieved by China since liberation.
“The days when western imperialists could tell the Chinese what to do are over,” he said, referring to Washington’s failed ‘colour revolution’ attempt in Hong Kong.
“Instead of lecturing the Chinese, as our bourgeois ‘leaders’ do, we should pay for delegations from Britain to attend and study in China,” he said. “Because your economy is as successful as ours is unsuccessful; your programmes of poverty alleviation are as successful as ours are unsuccessful.
“You have provided healthcare free at the point of need for 1.3 billion people, while in the USA sixty million people are without health provision at all – they have no health insurance. And in Britain, our NHS is failing to treat patients, the elderly and the young, due to the burden of cuts and privatisation.”
Comrade Zheng Lemin, political counsellor at the Chinese embassy closed his remarks by noting that the Chinese people can be proud of their great achievement over the 70 years since liberation, which has been achieved by the hard work of the Chinese people alone. “What’s more, we can be confident for the next 70 years, and of the final victory of a just and peaceful communist world!”
The meeting was a spirited show of solidarity with China, and forms a small part of the festivities taking place across China and the world that are remembering the heroic struggle of the Chinese people against feudalism and imperialism.
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WATCH LIVE FOOTAGE OF THE MEETING HERE: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3
