This July, The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will mark 100 years of existence, always at the forefront of the battles that, over that time, have liberated the courageous people of Mao Tse-Tung to establish a new era of distinctively Chinese socialism.

Personally, I have always seen the Chinese Revolution as an important milestone when analyzing the challenges that the peoples of Our America must overcome to profoundly transform the prevailing reality, ever since the days when I began my Venezuelan leftist militancy, a time when we studied the ideas of Comrade Mao Tse-Tung, particularly as they pertained to what is known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which aimed to shake the country’s foundations and launch a true transition toward socialism.

We valued this thought from a profoundly reflexive standpoint, and with the conviction that this experience would nourish the roots of what was already our project of national liberation, from which justly arose the maxim of combining study and revolutionary practice. These words remained etched indelibly in our mind: “Imperialism and all reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality, they are not so powerful […] it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful.”

With these influences, we trained ourselves, assuming the task of familiarizing ourselves, as in the Chinese case, with other experiences that would strengthen the ideological construct that would sustain the battles we were certain we would encounter against imperialism and, simultaneously against those who, from a revisionist and/or reformist and dogmatic stance, would aspire to detract from the true programmatic bases of our socialist construction.

II

After the triumph of the Bolivarian Revolution, Commander Chávez set himself the task of strengthening relations with the People’s Republic of China, going so far as to create a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that included more than 500 bilateral cooperation agreements in science and technology, telecommunications, education, petroleum, housing, mining, and health and safety, among other areas.

This rapprochement between both peoples has revealed parallels between the Chinese and Bolivarian revolutions, except the historical distances and, referring fundamentally to the current horizon, the importance placed on rescuing traditions, ancestral culture and national history. It also exposed the emphasis both revolutionary processes place on the fight against poverty, respect of nature, environmental protection and, generally, the marked human face that characterizes them, as well as the common perspective to consolidate the multi-centred and multipolar world to which our countries aspire for one and all, and that the Eternal Commander so aptly foresaw.

In the Chinese case, it also underscored the role played by the century-old Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the entire process, encouraging popular participation and maintaining its faithfulness to the ideological principles set by the founding fathers which, along with the current wise leadership of Comrade Xi Jinping, within the framework of a policy of reform and openness, have made it possible to achieve the objectives sought by that nation with serenity, a clear conscience, and a strong desire for peace and understanding. China, while maintaining a firm and courageous stance against North American interventionism, in favour of the self-determination of peoples and in support of countries which, like Venezuela, has been under constant attack from imperialism and its allies.

In other words, in China as in Venezuela, we fully identify with the fight for a new world that, as we have said elsewhere in this piece, is not only possible but crucial.

III

The so-called Chinese miracle is nothing more than the result of successful application of a well-conceived long-term strategic plan that has made possible, with the humanist vision cited earlier, to continue to adapt itself to new realities, without ignoring the original principles and, simultaneously, to revitalize the foundations of the homeland of Mao Tse-Tung, leveraging the construction of a modern socialist country that is today an example of prosperity and rescue of its cultural identity, starting with the definition and planning of new stages of development, supported by standards that guide them and ensure their realization over time. Its impact has been to strengthen the successes achieved, generating greater stability and social security and, similarly, advancing toward the goal of obtaining a relatively affluent society.

From this perspective, and despite being at a conjuncture as complex as the current one, characterized by the brutal imperial onslaught against our peoples and the battle we are leading as humanity against the COVID-19 pandemic, our brethren Chinese people have succeeded in driving economic growth and fighting a relentless war against poverty in recent years that has made possible extraordinary gains in standard of living, a purpose that has become the central focus of Comrade Xi Jinping’s thought and whose successes have been recognized internationally.

The challenges of the Chinese people in today’s world, wracked by the profound crisis of the capitalist system and by the attempt to impose on us anachronistic supremacist doctrines, are also those of the homeland of Bolívar and Chávez, which raises the urgent need to continue working with determination for unity, solidarity and cooperation among nations. More than ever, I urge you to strengthen our ties of friendship and solidarity in order to consolidate a monolithic counter-hegemonic centre to continue demonstrating that only with socialist construction will we be able to conquer the evils capitalism imposes on peoples, a task about which our sister People’s Republic of China has valuable experience to share.

I am convinced that we will succeed, for the peoples of China and Venezuela, and for the whole planet!

(Translated by the Quebec Chapter of the Network in Defense of Humanity - REDH)

April 23, 2021