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.

中國共產黨誕生

中國共產黨誕生于20世紀20年代，是近代中國社會及中國人民革命斗爭發展的必然結果，是馬克思列寧主義同中國工人運動相結合的產物。

1920年年初，中國共產黨創始人李大釗與陳獨秀在北京和上海分別活動，籌建中國共產黨。3月，李大釗發起成立了北京大學馬克思學說研究會，這是中國最早的學習和研究馬克思主義的團體。5月，陳獨秀在上海組織了馬克思主義研究會。在此基礎上，同年6月，陳獨秀等決定建立共產黨組織。關于黨的名稱，陳獨秀征求李大釗的意見，李大釗主張定名為“共產黨”，陳獨秀表示完全同意。

經過醞釀和準備，1920年8月，上海的共產黨早期組織正式成立，取名為“中國共產黨”，這是中國的第一個共產黨組織。北京的共產黨早期組織于1920年10月正式成立，當時取名為“共產黨小組”。此后，武漢、長沙、濟南、廣州等地先后建立起共產黨的地方組織。在歐洲和日本，中國留學生和僑民中的先進分子也建立了共產黨的早期組織。各地共產黨早期組織的建立有力促進了馬克思主義的進一步傳播及其同中國工人運動的結合，為在中國建立共產黨準備了條件。

1921年7月23日，中國共產黨第一次全國代表大會在上海召開。因受外部干擾，最后一天的會議轉移到浙江嘉興南湖一艘游船上舉行。參加大會的有國內各地及旅日早期黨組織的代表李達、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，還有陳獨秀指定的代表包惠僧。他們代表著全國50多名黨員。共產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《中國共產黨綱領》，確定黨的名稱為“中國共產黨”，規定黨的綱領是：革命軍隊必須與無產階級一起推翻資本家階級的政權；承認無產階級專政，直到階級斗爭結束，即直到消滅社會的階級區分；消滅資本家私有制，沒收機器、土地、廠房和半成品等生產資料，歸社會公有；聯合第三國際。黨綱明確提出，把工人、農民和士兵組織起來，承認黨的根本政治目的是實行社會革命。黨綱還包含屬于黨章性質的一些條文，規定了民主集中制的組織原則和黨的紀律。大會通過決議，確定中國共產黨成立后的中心任務是領導工人運動，并對開展工人運動的組織和宣傳等工作作了具體規定。大會選舉產生了中國共產黨中央臨時領導機構——中央局，陳獨秀為書記，張國燾負責組織工作，李達負責宣傳工作。

中共一大正式宣告了中國共產黨的成立。從此，在古老落后的中國出現了完全新式的、以馬克思列寧主義為行動指南的、以實現社會主義和共產主義為奮斗目標的、統一的和唯一的無產階級政黨。這是近代以來中國社會進步和革命發展的客觀要求，是中國歷史上開天辟地的大事件。自從有了中國共產黨，中國革命的面貌煥然一新。