New Journey Ahead

The much-awaited Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) came amid a flurry of international diplomatic activities. Beijing and Washington announced a surprising climate pact at the COP26 summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden are expected to hold a video conference. Xi also warned against a “relapse into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era” in the Asia-Pacific region during a speech on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The plenum has attracted worldwide attention as a key venue for the Party to formulate direction for key policies.

Glorious Journey over the Past Century

The Party has had a glorious journey over the past 100 years. The major tasks of the Party in the period of the new-democratic revolution were to oppose imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism, seek national independence and the people’s liberation, and create the fundamental social conditions for realizing national rejuvenation. In this period, Chinese communists, with Mao Zedong as their chief representative, put forward a series of important theories for socialist construction. The third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee, the CPC, with Deng Xiaoping at the core, made the historic decision to shift the focus of the Party and the country’s work to economic development with the launch of the reform and opening-up drive. After the fourth plenary session of the 13th Central Committee, Chinese communists, with Jiang Zemin as their chief representative, formed the Theory of Three Represents. After the 16th National Party Congress, with Hu Jintao at the helm, China achieved historic transformations from a highly centralized planned economy into a socialist market economy brimming with vitality, and from extensive isolation to openness to the outside world across the board. It achieved a historic leap from a country with relatively backward productive forces to the world’s second-largest economy.

Following the Party’s 18th National Congress, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has set forth a series of original new ideas, thoughts, and strategies on national governance. China’s economic development has become much more balanced and sustainable. China’s economic strength, scientific and technological clout, and composite national strength have reached new heights. Speakers at the session repeatedly stated that the major tasks of the Party during the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization would continue. 

The historical significance of the Party’s endeavors over the past century was highlighted at the session: They have fundamentally transformed the future of the Chinese people, opened up the right path for achieving rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, demonstrated the strong vitality of Marxism, produced a profound influence on the course of world history, and made the Party a forerunner of the times.

Over the past century, the Party has accumulated valuable historical experience across 10 aspects: upholding the Party’s leadership, putting the people first, advancing theoretical innovation, staying independent, following the Chinese path, maintaining a global vision, breaking new ground, standing up for ourselves, promoting the united front, and remaining committed to self-reform. Reflecting on this experience sheds light on the Party’s values that transcend time.

Broader World Ahead

A historic document titled “Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century” was unveiled at the plenum. The resolution is highly significant because only two of that magnitude have ever happened in the past: “Resolution on Certain Issues in the History of the CPC” led by Mao Zedong in 1945, and “Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of the CPC since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” led by Deng Xiaoping in 1981.

According to Wang Xiaohui, executive deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, crucial issues in the Party’s history were essentially solved by the first two historic resolutions. The new resolution focuses on summarizing the major achievements and historical experience of the CPC’s 100 years of endeavors to address present reality, which is conducive to promoting the wisdom, unity, confidence, and motivation necessary to embark on a new journey to fully build a great modern socialist country.

The plenum emphasized Marxist principles by stressing “all Party members should uphold historical materialism.” This concept is core to Marxist thought, taken from Hegel and expanded by Karl Marx.

The sixth plenum again emphasized Xi Jinping’s core position in the Party. The new generation of Chinese leadership with Xi at the core has been highlighted by a relentless anti-corruption campaign, a massive targeted poverty alleviation campaign, and the Belt and Road Initiative, among many other projects and policies. Vijay Nambiar, former Indian Ambassador to China, wrote for an Indian newspaper during the plenum that “China will instead spread its wings to the wider world” under Xi’s leadership.

The author is a reputed Indian writer, editor, columnist, and scholar.