NEWS//Chinese communism at 99

While the United States celebrates its 244th birthday on July 4, China is celebrating the 99th birthday of its communist party.

CPC history

The Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded on July 1, 1921.  The attraction of communism grew out of the promise of the Russian revolution that replaced the emperor with communism  (1917). In addition, China reacted with animosity to the unfair treatment it received in the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War. The treaty gave Japan the right to rule part of China’s territory.

But communism in China was not immediately embraced. Between 1921 and 1935, the CPC struggled to amass a large enough following to bring change to the corrupt oligarchy that controlled China. The CPC clashed with the national government during this time.  The most significant battles took place along the route of the Long March (1934-1935). During the Long March, Mao Zedong distinguished himself as a military and political leader. He became the head of the CPC in 1935. He would hold that position until his death in  1976.

According to China Daily, "The significant achievement of the CPC was to unite the Chinese people on one platform. Chinese society was scattered and divided into various groups and interest-based factions before liberation. Society was divided into class systems, and the gap between the elite and the common man was huge. However, the CPC united the whole nation on equal footing with equal rights, a classless society. It took almost three decades under Chairman Mao to rectify the community, remove the evils and bad habits, and create political awareness among the masses."

CPC in the future

Reflecting on the CPC’s near-century of life, an editorial in the People's Daily, the party's official newspaper, said: "This great struggle has fully demonstrated the clear political excellence of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and our socialist system. Under the resolute leadership of the party central with  [President] Comrade Xi Jinping as the core…."

President Xi reminded China's citizens about his "two centenary goals." The first of those goals is turning China into a "comprehensively well-off society" by the end of this year. The longer-range goal is to propel China into a "powerful socialist country" by 2050.

Sources: China Daily,  People's Daily, People’s Daily, Econintersect, Yahoo News, MSN.