- by Alex Denton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2062
Imperial Palace.
Alex Denton represented the Communist Party of Australia Central Committee on the 3rd Communist party Leaders Delegation of North American, Oceanian and Nordic Countries from the 25th of June to the 3rd of July 2023, organised by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC).
The delegation visited three cities: Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), Guiyang (Guizhou province) and Beijing.
We headed to the Guangdong Academy of Social Science where we were treated to a presentation of the detailed history of the reform and opening up in Guangdong which has seen the province go from a primarily agricultural province with a GDP of 18.585 billion yuan in 1978 to the largest economic province in China with a GDP in 2022 of 12.9 trillion yuan. Afterwards we were given a presentation of the current state of Chinese Modernisation and the future and goals for the province. We were introduced to the concepts of common features of modernisation and the specific characteristics of Chinese modernisation. Common features include: Industrialisation, Urbanisation, Marketisation, Democratisation, the Rule of law and Secularisation. Specifically Chinese characteristics of modernisation include: its large population, common prosperity, peaceful development, and living in harmony with nature.
We arrived later that afternoon into Guiyang and were taken to the CPC Guizhou Provincial Party School.
We attended a local cultural performance called “Colourful Guizhou Style.” The performance was filled with wonderful displays of cultural music and dance of the local Miao people, there were also modern performances including some comedy, and a moving modern dance routine telling the story of the Chinese Red army heroically crossing a raging river during the days of the revolution and the long march.
We attended a lecture and presentation titled, “Strengthen the Modernisation of the Primary-level Governance System and Ability” which was given by Professor Qiu Zhonghui – Director of the Teaching and Research Department of Public Management of the party school. This lecture talked about the ongoing grass roots work at the local level of the CPC.
We were taken to a pavilion in the community square, where there are QR codes that anyone can scan to submit their issues directly to the local party organisation. This proved to be an overwhelming success.
The comrade showed us into the main party building which also serves as a hub for community services. The office is always open for locals to come and go, and runs many community programs, from helping people to sign up for healthcare benefits, legal advice, and activities and classes. The local party organisation has received much recognition and awards from the CPC for this work.
During this dinner I presented a copy of the Communist Party of Australia book The Trade Unions: Communist Theory and Practice of Trade Unionism by Lance Sharkey to the director as a donation to their schools and its library which was warmly and graciously received.
On the 28th May we took a fast train to the Zunyi Municipal Party School for a presentation on the history of the CPC entitled “The Glorious History and Great Contributions of the Communist Party of China” which was delivered by Professor Yang Heying from the Department of Marxism of the Guizhou Provincial Party School. Afterwards we went to the site of the Zunyi Conference and its museum where we saw artifacts from the revolutionary civil war.
We had a meeting with comrade Zhou Rongguo, the Director-General and comrade Wang Yingchun, and young members from the International Department of Communist Party of China’s (IDCPC) Bureau of North American, Oceanian, and Nordic Affairs. In this meeting comrades from each country in the delegation had an opportunity to give a short presentation to the IDCPC about the situations in their country. In representing the CPA, I discussed with the comrades our current major campaign to support the Yes vote in the upcoming referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament, and our ongoing campaigns against the aggressive and provocative AUKUS agreement and its continued draining of our country’s resources away from much needed public services into the pockets of the armaments industry.
Also in Zunyi we had the honour of being the first foreign party representatives to be invited to attend internal CPC customs and processes. We attended an event packed with comrades where the CPC honoured their 50-year veterans, and witnessed the induction of new young comrades including their oath-taking ceremony.
I also discussed with the comrades the current method of attack against the CPC coming from the capitalist camp in Australia and we had discussions on potential ways of combatting the outright misinformation often spread by Australian and other western capitalist media against the People’s Republic of China and the CPC.
Later we headed to the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) and were given a presentation from comrade Shapkat Wushur, Member of the Secretariat of the CYLC Central Committee.
We headed to a meeting with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and heard from comrade Xiong Xuanguo, the Deputy Chairman of the ACFTU, about the work they were doing in the country and about the changed role that trade unions play after the revolution.
Comrades from the IDCPC took us to the new CPC museum recently built in 2021 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the CPC. The museum holds incredible exhibits spanning all 100 years of the party’s history, covering events such as the war against Japanese imperialist invasion, the Chinese revolution and the recent reform and opening up period.
On the final day of official activities we began with a meeting with Professor Guo Qiang, Deputy Director for Teaching and Research of Scientific Socialism at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. The topic for discussion was Chinese Modernisation – where we learned of the long-term modernisation plans of the CPC including their goals for 2035 and 2050.
My impressions of China are that the CPC has a very high-level understanding of Marxism and of the need to create the material conditions for the change to a socialist society and economy. The Chinese form of modernisation in particular shows the socialist nature of the country especially in its goals of peaceful development both with other countries and nature itself. The Dictatorship of the Proletariat is alive and well in the People’s Republic of China.
I will end with the words of one of the Chinese comrades from the CPC School in Guizhou: “The festivities must always come to an end, but our friendship is eternal”.
Long live the People’s Republic of China! Long live the eternal friendship between the CPC and the CPA!
National Big Data Centre. Photos: Alex Denton – CPA.
