Looking to Beijing

Communists all over the world are looking to Beijing this week. There thousands of delegates and observers have gathered for the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China.
    A Party congress is the most important event in the life of any communist party. The 20th National Congress will chart the course of the People’s Republic of China as it faces the challenges and responsibilities of a world divided by imperialist greed while struggling to deal with catastrophic environmental changes.
    In the Great Hall of the People Chinese communists are laying down their party’s programme for the next five years. A plan that will steer the people’s government as it strives to build a modern China. An economy that is now second only to that of the United States in size and an agenda for peace and socialism that will strengthen all forces for progress throughout the planet.
    China is the pivot for the millions upon millions of working people across the world struggling for peace and socialism.
    China is a major force for peace. It has become a beacon of hope for all oppressed people. It offers economic assistance and medical aid to poor countries. The Belt and Road Initiative has brought real and tangible benefits to millions of people all over the world.
    Cities have been modernised beyond recognition. Absolute poverty has been abolished Vast investments have created new industries to face the challenge of the 21st century and China is, once again, the work-shop of the world.
    The immense wealth of the Western world remains in the hands of a tiny minority of capitalists and feudal lords. Millions upon millions live in poverty in the Third World while their resources are plundered by the big Western corporations.
    In the West millions of people scrabble to earn a living just to keep a roof over their heads, while a tiny elite live lives beyond the reach and often beyond the imagination of most workers.
    We, on the other hand, see a different picture in China. China’s wealth is being used to raise the standard of living of everyone in the people’s republic and help the development of the Third World through genuine fair trade and economic assistance.
    In China we see vast cities with modern offices and factories and equally modern housing for the workers who live there.
    Chinese astronauts circle the globe. A high-speed rail network spans the country. Container trains travel to Europe packed with the goods that fill our shops and markets. International airports link China to the four corners of the world. A growing network of domestic airline services and modern ports serve the seaborne trade that fires the global economy. And a state run education system and a dedicated health service that battled to contain the Covid plague is available to all.
    Some Western communists like to dwell on the mistakes of the past to try to explain why the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies of Eastern Europe collapsed in the late 1980s. But we have to move on – to look to the continuing successes of the people’s democracies still marching along the road to socialism – and above all the immense achievements of the People’s Republic of China.