The Birth of the Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded in the 1920s. It was the natural outcome of developments in Chinese society and the Chinese people's revolutionary struggle. It resulted from the integration of Marxism-Leninism with Chinese workers' movement.
In early 1920, Li Dazhao (1889-1927) and Chen Duxiu (1879-1942), two key figures in founding the CPC, started making preparations in Beijing and Shanghai to found a communist political party in China. In Peking University in March, Li Dazhao set up a society for the study of Marxist theories. This was the first such body to be established in China. In Shanghai in May, Chen Duxiu organized a society for the study of Marxism. Based on these groups, Chen and others decided to found a communist party organization in June. When Chen consulted Li about the name of the new organization, Li suggested "Communist Party" and Chen fully agreed.
A communist organization was formally set up in Shanghai in August 1920, under the name of the "Chinese Communist Party." This was China's first communist party organization. A similar body in Beijing was founded in October, called the "communist group." Following these, similar early-period communist organizations were set up in Wuhan, Changsha, Ji'nan, Guangzhou and other places across China, and among progressive overseas students and Chinese expatriates in Japan and Europe. These organizations helped spread Marxism and integrate Marxism with the Chinese workers' movement, and paved the way for the formal founding of the CPC.
On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was convened in Shanghai. Following harassment by external authorities, the delegates moved to Jiaxing in Zhejiang, a neighboring province of Shanghai, to hold their final session on a sightseeing boat on the Nanhu Lake.
The delegates to the congress were: Li Da (1890-1966), Li Hanjun (1890-1927), Dong Biwu (1886-1975), Chen Tanqiu (1896-1943), Mao Zedong, He Shuheng (1876-1935), Wang Jinmei (1898-1925), Deng Enming (1901-1931), Zhang Guotao (1897-1979), Liu Renjing (1902-1987), Chen Gongbo (1892-1946) and Zhou Fohai (1897-1948). Bao Huiseng (1894-1979) was a delegate dispatched by Chen Duxiu. They represented more than 50 Party members across the country. Two representatives of the Communist International (the Comintern), identified as "G. Maring (1883-1942)" and "Nikolsky (1889-1938)," attended the meeting as observers.
The delegates decided that the name of the new party would be the "Communist Party of China," and adopted the Program of the Communist Party of China, which contained the following provisions: The revolutionary army and the proletariat must work together to overthrow the power of the capitalist class; establish and maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat until the end of class struggle or the elimination of classes; abolish private ownership of capitalists; confiscate the machines, land, factories and semi-finished products and other means of production to be owned by the public; and ally the Party with the Third International (another name for the Communist International).
The Party's program affirmed the commitment to organizing the workers, peasants and soldiers, and set the Party's political goal as to undertake social revolution. The program contained provisions similar to those in a party constitution, as well as principles such as democratic centralism and Party discipline.
The congress passed the Party's first resolution, and defined leading the workers' movement as its central task with specific rules about how to organize and publicize the movement.
The congress elected a Central Bureau as the CPC's provisional leadership body, with Chen Duxiu serving as secretary, Zhang Guotao in charge of organizational work, and Li Da, publicity work.
This represented the formal establishment of the CPC. Thus, in a backward country with a long history, a unified political party of an entirely new type emerged, the only party that represented the proletariat and took Marxism-Leninism as its guide and socialism and communism as its goal. This was an epoch-making event in China's history – the culmination of social progress and revolutionary development in modern China. With the arrival of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese revolution took on a brand-new image.
中國共產(chǎn)黨誕生
中國共產(chǎn)黨誕生于20世紀(jì)20年代,是近代中國社會及中國人民革命斗爭發(fā)展的必然結(jié)果,是馬克思列寧主義同中國工人運(yùn)動相結(jié)合的產(chǎn)物。
1920年年初,中國共產(chǎn)黨創(chuàng)始人李大釗與陳獨(dú)秀在北京和上海分別活動,籌建中國共產(chǎn)黨。3月,李大釗發(fā)起成立了北京大學(xué)馬克思學(xué)說研究會,這是中國最早的學(xué)習(xí)和研究馬克思主義的團(tuán)體。5月,陳獨(dú)秀在上海組織了馬克思主義研究會。在此基礎(chǔ)上,同年6月,陳獨(dú)秀等決定建立共產(chǎn)黨組織。關(guān)于黨的名稱,陳獨(dú)秀征求李大釗的意見,李大釗主張定名為“共產(chǎn)黨”,陳獨(dú)秀表示完全同意。
經(jīng)過醞釀和準(zhǔn)備,1920年8月,上海的共產(chǎn)黨早期組織正式成立,取名為“中國共產(chǎn)黨”,這是中國的第一個(gè)共產(chǎn)黨組織。北京的共產(chǎn)黨早期組織于1920年10月正式成立,當(dāng)時(shí)取名為“共產(chǎn)黨小組”。此后,武漢、長沙、濟(jì)南、廣州等地先后建立起共產(chǎn)黨的地方組織。在歐洲和日本,中國留學(xué)生和僑民中的先進(jìn)分子也建立了共產(chǎn)黨的早期組織。各地共產(chǎn)黨早期組織的建立有力促進(jìn)了馬克思主義的進(jìn)一步傳播及其同中國工人運(yùn)動的結(jié)合,為在中國建立共產(chǎn)黨準(zhǔn)備了條件。
1921年7月23日,中國共產(chǎn)黨第一次全國代表大會在上海召開。因受外部干擾,最后一天的會議轉(zhuǎn)移到浙江嘉興南湖一艘游船上舉行。參加大會的有國內(nèi)各地及旅日早期黨組織的代表李達(dá)、李漢俊、董必武、陳潭秋、毛澤東、何叔衡、王盡美、鄧恩銘、張國燾、劉仁靜、陳公博、周佛海,還有陳獨(dú)秀指定的代表包惠僧。他們代表著全國50多名黨員。共產(chǎn)國際代表馬林和尼科爾斯基列席了這次大會。大會討論并通過了《中國共產(chǎn)黨綱領(lǐng)》,確定黨的名稱為“中國共產(chǎn)黨”,規(guī)定黨的綱領(lǐng)是:革命軍隊(duì)必須與無產(chǎn)階級一起推翻資本家階級的政權(quán);承認(rèn)無產(chǎn)階級專政,直到階級斗爭結(jié)束,即直到消滅社會的階級區(qū)分;消滅資本家私有制,沒收機(jī)器、土地、廠房和半成品等生產(chǎn)資料,歸社會公有;聯(lián)合第三國際。黨綱明確提出,把工人、農(nóng)民和士兵組織起來,承認(rèn)黨的根本政治目的是實(shí)行社會革命。黨綱還包含屬于黨章性質(zhì)的一些條文,規(guī)定了民主集中制的組織原則和黨的紀(jì)律。大會通過決議,確定中國共產(chǎn)黨成立后的中心任務(wù)是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)工人運(yùn)動,并對開展工人運(yùn)動的組織和宣傳等工作作了具體規(guī)定。大會選舉產(chǎn)生了中國共產(chǎn)黨中央臨時(shí)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)機(jī)構(gòu)——中央局,陳獨(dú)秀為書記,張國燾負(fù)責(zé)組織工作,李達(dá)負(fù)責(zé)宣傳工作。
中共一大正式宣告了中國共產(chǎn)黨的成立。從此,在古老落后的中國出現(xiàn)了完全新式的、以馬克思列寧主義為行動指南的、以實(shí)現(xiàn)社會主義和共產(chǎn)主義為奮斗目標(biāo)的、統(tǒng)一的和唯一的無產(chǎn)階級政黨。這是近代以來中國社會進(jìn)步和革命發(fā)展的客觀要求,是中國歷史上開天辟地的大事件。自從有了中國共產(chǎn)黨,中國革命的面貌煥然一新。