The Chinese Communist Party is increasingly asserting its role as the leader of the international communist movement.
In February and March, 22 communists from the United States, Canada, the UK, Finland, Norway, and Sweden spent two weeks visiting Zhejiang Province and Beijing.
Their itinerary was reminiscent of the Stalin-era tours when credulous wide-eyed Western communists swallowed state-generated statistics extolling the fantastic productive capacity of Russian collective farms and factories and the never-ending improvements in the lives of socialist workers.
“Since reform and opening up, more than 700 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty, contributing to more than 70 percent of the world’s poverty reduction during that period.
“Housing space for urban people has also expanded from 6.7 square meters per person to 36.6 square meters, and rural people’s living space has grown from 8.1 to 45.8 square meters per person.
“1.3 billion people are covered by medical insurance, around 97 percent of the total population.
“99.9 percent of school-age children were enrolled in school in 2017, and 45.7 percent of 18-22-year-old youth were enrolled in college.
“Women account for 52 percent of high school students, 55 percent of online entrepreneurs, and 70 percent of employed workers, and the government provides subsidies for child care.
“Life expectancy has grown to 76.7 years old from 36 years when the People’s Republic of China was founded.
“Some 900 million people are covered by pensions.
“At the same time, the trade war with the U.S. have created downward pressures on the economy and contributed to constraints on public revenue.”The Western communists also met with high-level local and national Communist Party figures. These included Zhejiang Province’s vice executive governor, Feng Fei, and professors of the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School in Beijing. The visitors were “given an overview of China’s development strategies, successes, and challenges.”
The delegates also met with the All-China Women’s Federation and the Communist Youth League of China.
“They also exchanged their ideas during a party-to-party ‘fraternity seminar,’ and a meeting with the International Department of the CPC,” People’s World reported.
Yuan Li, the Communist Youth League of China’s director of international affairs, told the delegates, “We never deny that China has its own problems, but we are doing everything we can to tackle these problems. We want to work together with people in other countries, with different parties, to tackle some of the problems we face together.”
A highlight of the visit was the 27th Wanshou Forum in Beijing on Feb. 28. The forum was on the topic of “building a community with a shared future for mankind and development of socialism in the world.” It was co-hosted by the IDCPC and Renmin University of China.
Representatives of the communist parties from North and South America, the UK, and Scandinavia gave several revolutionary speeches praising socialism’s bright future.
The UK was represented by Joti Brar and Edward Reynard of the openly Stalinist Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (CPG-ML).
It’s inspiring to know that our future is in the hands of such fine people.