Unite to Win Still Greater Victories!
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of Unite to Win Still Greater Victories! has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the edition published in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Third English Edition, Volume 9, Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is the opening address delivered by Comrade Mao Zedong at the First Session of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, China on the 1st of April, 1969. It was first published in the Zhonggong Yanjiu, Volume 4, Number 3.
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#UNITE TO WIN STILL GREATER VICTORIES!
#OPENING ADDRESS AT THE NINTH NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA
#Mao Zedong
#1st of April, 1969
#★
Comrades!
The Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China is now in session!
We hope that the present congress will be a congress of unity and a congress of victory, and that, after its conclusion, still greater victories will be won throughout the country.
Since the founding of our Party in 1921, 48 years have already passed by. At the First National Congress, there were only 12 delegates. Two of them are here. One is old Dong Biwu and one is me. Quite a few have sacrificed their lives: the Shandong delegates, Wang Jinnmei and Deng Enming; the Hubei delegate, Chen Tanqiu; the Hunan delegate, He Shuheng; the Shanghai delegate, Li Hanjun — all these laid down their lives, while four others rebelled and became traitors: Chen Gongbo, Zhou Fohai, Zhang Guotao, and Liu Renqing. The latter two are still alive. There was another delegate called Li Da, who died two years ago. At that time, there were only a few dozen Party members in the whole country, and the majority of these were intellectuals. Later, the Party developed. The number of delegates attending the First, Second, Third, and Fourth National Congresses was very small, from 10 to 20 or from 20 to 30. The Fifth National Congress was held in Wuhan. The number of delegates was somewhat larger, several hundred. The Sixth National Congress was held in Moscow. There were several dozen delegates. Zhou Enlai and Liu Bocheng participated. The Seventh National Congress was held in Yan'an. It was a congress of unity, for there were divisions in the Party then, too, caused by the mistakes of Qu Qiubai, Li Lisan, and Wang Ming — especially the Wang Ming line. There were those who were against the election to the Central Committee of comrades who followed the Wang Ming line. We did not agree and persuaded people to elect their delegates. The result? The result was that there were only a few who were no good. Wang Ming fled abroad to oppose us. Li Lisan was also no good. Zhang Wentian and Wang Jiaxiang committed mistakes. There were only these few. As for the rest of them, such as Liu Shaoqi, Peng Zhen, and Bo Yibo, we did not know that they were bad. We were not clear about their political history. From the Eighth National Congress up to now, we have become more clear about them. We are clearer about their political line, their organizational line, and their ideology.
That is why we hope that the present congress will be a congress of unity. Can we win victory on the basis of this unity? Can the present congress become a congress of victory? After the congress, can we win still greater victories throughout the country? I think we can. I think this will be a congress of unity and a congress of victory, and that, after the congress, we can win still greater victories throughout the country.