'We Will Hold Mao Zedong's Banner Forever', Says Xi Jinping

Chairman Mao of the Communist Party of China reading the document that founded the People's Republic of China in October 1949. The country celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2009., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

‘We will hold Mao Zedong’s banner forever’

December 27, 2013

BEIJING. — Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday that the Communist Party of China will hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought “forever” in pursuing the Chinese nation’s rejuvenation.

While commemorating the 120th anniversary of the birth of the late Chinese leader, President Xi hailed Mao and other members of the older generation of revolutionaries as “great figures” in fighting national and class oppression, as well as standing at the wave front of the positive tide in the Chinese nation and world.

At a symposium held by the CPC Central Committee in Beijing, President Xi said Mao, the principal founder of the CPC, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Republic of China, was “a great proletarian revolutionary, strategist and theorist.”

“Mao is a great figure who changed the face of the nation and led the Chinese people to a new destiny,” said President Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

He pointed out that a correct historical view must be adopted to appraise a historical figure.

“Revolutionary leaders are not gods, but human beings,” President Xi said.

“(We) cannot worship them like gods or refuse to allow people to point out and correct their errors just because they are great; neither can we totally repudiate them and erase their historical feats just because they made mistakes,” President Xi said.

“(We) should not simply attribute the success in historical favourable circumstances to individuals, nor should we blame individuals for setbacks in adverse situation,” he said.

“(We) cannot use today’s conditions and level of development and understanding to judge our predecessors, nor can we expect the predecessors to have done things that only the successors can do,” he said.

Under the new conditions, Party members should adhere to and make good use of the “living soul” of Mao Zedong Thought, namely seeking truth from facts, the “mass line” and independence, President Xi said.

The CPC in June initiated a year of campaigning to strengthen the “mass line”, a guideline under which the CPC is required to prioritise the interests of the people.

President Xi said it was not easy to find a correct path. “The path decides the nation’s destiny.”

“Socialism with Chinese characteristics does not just fall from the sky,” President Xi said, adding that it was achieved through the toil and sacrifice of the Party and the people.

Without the pros and cons of historical experience learnt from practical exploration before reform and opening up, processes would not have proceeded so smoothly, President Xi added.

To realise the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the key is with the CPC, he said.

He also vowed to “seriously treat ‘illnesses’ which harm the nature and purity of the Party and rip out any ‘malignant tumours’ on the healthy bodies of the CPC.”

Persistent effort will enable the CPC to always be at the core of leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, President Xi stressed.

Mao was born on December 26, 1893 and died on September 9, 1976.

— Xinhua.