news from the cpi(m)
History Cannot be Ignored
Fidel Castro
Last October 1st commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Peoples'
Republic of China.
On that historic day in 1949, Mao Zedong presided over the first parade
of the Peoples' Army and the people of China in Tiananmen Square as
leader of the Communist Party of China. The victorious soldiers were
carrying the weapons taken in combat from the invaders, oligarchs and
traitors to their country.
At the end of WWII the United States, one of the powers that had
sustained the least amount of material losses in the war, was
monopolizing the nuclear weapon and more than 80% of the world's gold
while enjoying considerable industrial and agricultural development.
The victorious Revolution in a country as huge as China, in the year
1949, nurtured the hopes of a great number of colonized countries, many
of which would not take much longer in shaking off the imposed yoke.
Lenin had foreseen the imperialist phase of developed capitalism and the
role of the colonized countries' struggle in world history. The triumph
of the Chinese Revolution came as a confirmation of that prediction.
The Peoples' Republic of Korea was created in the year 1948. The first
commemoration of the Chinese victory was attended by representatives of
the USSR, the country that had contributed more than 20 million lives to
the war against Fascism; by those in the Peoples' Republic of Korea,
which had been occupied by Japan, and by the Vietnamese combatants who,
after fighting against the Japanese, were heroically fighting the French
attempt to once again colonize Vietnam, this time with the support of
the United States.
At that time, nobody would have thought that less than four years after
that memorable date, with no other link than their ideas, in far-off
Cuba the attack on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953 would take
place, and just nine years after the liberation of China, the Cuban
Revolution would triumph 90 miles away from the imperialist metropolis.
It is in the light of these events that I watched with particular
interest the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Chinese
Revolution. Our friendship with that centuries-old culture, the most
ancient of civilizations known to man, is well-known.
In the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of Chinese citizens were
sent to our country practically as slaves, duped by the English
merchants. Many of them joined the Liberation Army and fought for our
independence. However, our ties with China draw from from the Marxist
ideas that inspired the Cuban Revolution and passed the difficult test
of divisions between the two great Socialist states that caused such
damage to the world revolutionary movement.
In the challenging days of the Soviet demise, China, along with Vietnam,
Laos and Korea, maintained its fraternal relations and solidarity with
Cuba. They were the only four countries that, together with Cuba, held
the Socialist banners high during the dark days when the United States,
NATO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were imposing
neoliberalism and plundering the world.
History cannot be ignored. In spite of the enormous contribution of the
people of China and the political and military strategy of Mao in the
struggle against Japanese Fascism, the United States disregarded and
isolated the government of the most densely populated country on the
planet and deprived it of its right to participate in the United Nations
Security Council; it stepped in with its troops to prevent the
liberation of Taiwan, an island belonging to China; it supported and
supplied the remains of an army whose leader had betrayed all the
agreements signed in the struggle against the Japanese invaders during
WWII. Taiwan received and still receives the most modern weaponry from
the US war industry.
The US not only deprived China of its legitimate rights but it also
intervened in the internal Korean conflict, sending its forces in at the
head of a military coalition that defiantly moved forward getting close
to the vital points of that great country, and threatened to use nuclear
weapons against China whose people had made such a contribution to the
Japanese defeat.
The Party and the heroic people of China did not hesitate in the face of
the crude threats. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese volunteer
combatants launched a vigorous counterattack and made the Yankee forces
retreat back to today's border between the two Koreas. Hundreds of
thousands of valiant internationalist Chinese and an equal number of
Korean patriots died or were wounded in that bloody war. Later on, the
Yankee Empire would kill millions of Vietnamese.
On October 1, 1949, upon its proclamation as the Peoples' Republic,
China had no nuclear weapons or any of the advanced military technology
it has today, with which it does not threaten any country.
What would the West say now? The mainstream US press was, in general,
hostile. Its major newspapers headlined their editorials with such
phrases as: "…little interest for ideology", "…a show of power",
"Communist China celebrates its 60 years with a military show."
Nevertheless, it was not possible to ignore the struggle. All the media
were reiterating the idea that it was a show of power. The news
especially focused on the pictures of the military parade.
They were not hiding their admiration for the wide broadcasting of the
parade that Chinese TV offered up for international public opinion.
It did not go unnoticed; rather, it was cause for amazement that China
would present 52 new types of weapons, among them the latest generation
of combat vehicles, amphibious vehicles, radars, reconnaissance planes
and sophisticated communications equipment.
The media highlighted the presence of the DF-31 intercontinental
missiles that can strike with nuclear warheads targets located 6,250
miles away, as well as the medium-range missiles and the anti-missile
defenses.
The 151 fighter planes, the heavy bombers, the modern means of air
surveillance and helicopters took by surprise the avid newshounds and
military technicians. "The Chinese army now has most of the
sophisticated weapons that make up the arsenals of western countries",
was a statement made by the Chinese Defense Minister and highlighted by
the western press.
The 500 armored vehicles and the 60 civilian floats that paraded in
front of the mausoleum caused a mighty impact.
The advanced technology was irrefutable proof of the developed military
capacity that had started from scratch some decades ago. What was
unbeatable was the human factor. No developed western country could
have reached the level of precision and organization shown by China that
day. With a certain scornful tone, officers and soldiers were described
as marching at a pace of 115 goose-steps per minute.
The various forces that paraded there, men and women, did so with
unparalleled distinction and elegance. Anyone would find it hard to
believe that thousands of human beings could reach such perfect
organization. Both the people on foot and those in their vehicles
marched past the stand and saluted with hard-to-achieve precision, order
and military demeanor.
If such qualities seemed to be the result of military discipline and
rigorous practice, more than 150,000 citizens of that huge hive of
civilians, mainly young men and women, were a surprise for their
capacity to reach en masse the level of organization and perfection
attained by their armed compatriots.
The beginning of the celebration and the saluting of the troops by the
Head of State and Secretary General of the Communist Party was
impressive. One could notice the deep bonds between the leadership and
the people.
Hu Jintao's speech was short and precise. In just under 10 minutes he
expressed many ideas. On that day he surpassed Barack Obama's gift for
synthesis. When he speaks, he represents almost five times more
population than the president of the United States. He doesn't have to
shut down torture centers nor is he at war with any other state; he
doesn't send his soldiers more than 6,250 miles away to intervene and
kill with sophisticated war means; he doesn't have hundreds of military
bases in other countries or powerful fleets sailing the seven seas; he
does not owe trillions of dollars or in the midst of an enormous
international financial crisis offers the world the cooperation of a
country whose economy is not in recession and keeps growing at a high
rate.
Essential ideas communicated by the president of China:
"On a day like today sixty years ago, after more than one hundred years
of bloody battles waged from the onset of modern history, the Chinese
people finally achieved the great victory of the Chinese Revolution and
President Mao Zedong proclaimed, on this very spot, the founding of the
Peoples' Republic of China thus allowing the Chinese people to stand
tall from that moment on, and the Chinese nation, with a more than
5,000-year history of civilization, to enter a new era of development
and progress."
"The development and progress achieved in the sixty years of the New
China has fully shown that only socialism can save China and that only
reform and opening can lead to the development of China, socialism and
Marxism. The Chinese people have the necessary confidence and capacity
to build their country well and to make their due contribution to the
world."
"We adhere firmly to the principles of peaceful reunification…"
"…we shall continue to work, alongside the different peoples of the
world, to promote the noble cause of peace and the development of
humankind as well as the building of a harmonious world based on lasting
peace and common prosperity."
"History has taught us that the path forward is never smooth, but that a
united people that take their future in their own hands will certainly
overcome all difficulties, continuously creating great historical
epics."
These are categorical answers to the war-mongering and threatening
policies of the empire.
Fidel Castro Ruz
October 6, 2009
5:35 PM
_______________________________________________
Marxistindia mailing list
Marxistindia@cpim.org
http://cpim.org/mailman/listinfo/marxistindia_cpim.org
http://wwww.cpim.org
No comments:
Post a Comment