Zhu Jiamu: Commemorating the Centenary of the "February 7th" Strike and Carrying Forward Revolutionary Heritage

February 7, 2023, marks the 100th anniversary of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' General Strike and the "February 7th Massacre," famous events in the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese Revolution, and the Chinese labor movement. To implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s directives on strengthening Party history education, carrying forward glorious traditions, continuing the red bloodline, and passing on the red gene, and to commemorate the centenary of the "February 7th" Strike, the Zhengzhou Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) established a research project last year titled "The Historical Connotation and Contemporary Value of the February 7th Spirit." This project is spearheaded by the CASS Institute of Political Science. I believe this is entirely necessary and opportune; it holds not only significant academic and historical importance but also profound political and practical significance.

On the eve of the centenary of the Party's founding, the CPC Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, organized and launched a Party history study and education campaign across the entire Party. It required the popularization of Party history knowledge to promote such education among the masses, at the grassroots level, and in the hearts of the people. It emphasized the meticulous organization of publications on Party history themes, striving to tell the stories of the Party, the revolution, and its heroes ^[1], and mandated that Party history education be normalized. The "February 7th" Strike was the terminus of the first high tide of the labor movement initiated after our Party's founding. It produced numerous heroic figures, represented by the martyrs Lin Xiangqian and Shi Yang, demonstrating the high degree of organization and mighty power of the Chinese working class while accumulating experience and lessons bought with blood. It serves as a vivid teaching material for Party history education. A few years ago, amid the rampant trend of historical nihilism ^[2], some clamored to demolish the February 7th Memorial Tower in Zhengzhou and change the name of the "February 7th Theater" in Beijing. Their aim was to negate the labor movement, distort the history of the Party and the revolution, erase people’s historical memory, confuse public thought, and subvert the concepts of right and wrong. Therefore, conducting research on "The Historical Connotation and Contemporary Value of the February 7th Spirit" is a proactive response to the Central Committee’s call for Party history education and a powerful counterstrike against the trend of historical nihilism. It deserves full affirmation and great praise.

General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed that the CPC has constructed a spiritual lineage of Chinese Communists through long-term struggle. Although the "February 7th Spirit" was not included in the first list of the spiritual lineage published by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, its spirit is undoubtedly a component of the Party's spiritual lineage. During the "February 7th" Strike, there were only just over 200 Party members in the entire country. The reason they were able to methodically organize 30,000 workers for a general strike along the 1,000-kilometer Beijing-Hankou Railway within three hours was primarily because the Party’s revolutionary propositions aligned with the fundamental interests of the working masses, and the revolutionary spirit of the Communists possessed a massive power of attraction for the workers. Today, the working class has stood up to become the masters of the country, and our primary task has shifted from revolutionary struggle to the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. However, the nature of the Party as the vanguard of the working class has not changed. We must never lose the revolutionary spirit of maintaining close ties with the masses, serving the people heart and soul, and struggling for the ideal of communism, nor the spirit of fearing neither difficulties nor enemies and daring to struggle. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that "revolutionary ideals reach higher than the heavens" and demanded that we "do not forget that we are revolutionaries." Regarding the once-popular fallacy that "our Party must change from a revolutionary party to a governing party," he pointed out: "Marxism holds that social revolution is based on the contradictory movement between the productive forces and the relations of production; it is not merely a social movement that destroys the old political superstructure, but even more a movement of new social construction. Our Party is a Marxist governing party, but it is at the same time a Marxist revolutionary party. It must maintain that same drive, that same revolutionary enthusiasm, and that same death-defying spirit from the revolutionary war period, and carry the revolutionary work through to the end." Conducting research on "The Historical Connotation and Contemporary Value of the February 7th Spirit" is entirely consistent with the spirit of the aforementioned discourse by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Our Constitution stipulates: "The People's Republic of China is a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants." "The socialist system is the fundamental system of the People's Republic of China. Leadership by the Communist Party of China is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics." The Party Constitution stipulates: "The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class." "The Party's loftiest ideal and ultimate goal is the realization of communism." After the start of Reform and Opening-up, some once suggested that the working class was no longer the representative of advanced productive forces and advocated for changing the Party's name from the Communist Party to the Social Party. However, the entire history of the Party, including the research on "The Historical Connotation and Contemporary Value of the February 7th Spirit," eloquently proves that among all classes and strata of Chinese society, the working class is the one with the highest consciousness, the most thorough organizational discipline and revolutionary character, the broadest mind, and the strongest combat effectiveness. They were linked to advanced productive forces not only in the eras of steam power and electrification but remain linked to advanced productive forces in the eras of information and intelligence. Today, China's more than 800 million employees, including over 200 million industrial workers, are the main force not only in traditional industries but also in modern industries. The rhetoric that disparages the working class and seeks to change the nature of the Party as a working-class party is completely untenable. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized on various occasions the need to "consolidate the class foundation and mass foundation of the Party's governance." The "class" referred to here is, of course, the working class. At the 20th National Congress, he emphasized once again the need to "rely on the working class heart and soul, improve the system of democratic management in enterprises and public institutions where the basic form is the workers' congress, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers." These discourses tell us that we must never forget at any time that our Party is the party of the working class, our country is a country led by the working class, and the working class is our leading class. Putting the people first ^[3] means, first and foremost, putting the working class first; being people-centered means, first and foremost, being working-class-centered.

Now, New China has been established for over 70 years, China's Gross National Product has leapt to the second highest in the world, and the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is closer than at any period in history. All of this is built upon the foundation of the successive struggles and sacrifices of countless revolutionary martyrs, including the pioneers of the "February 7th" Strike. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "As we move forward, we must not forget the path we have traveled; no matter how far we go or how glorious a future we reach, we cannot forget the past we have walked, and we cannot forget why we set out." My understanding is that the reason the Zhengzhou Institute of CASS established and the Institute of Political Science undertook the "Historical Connotation and Contemporary Value of the February 7th Spirit" project is to utilize red resources ^[4] to guide people in not forgetting the path we have traveled and why we set out. Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we shall continue to push forward the cause of comprehensively building a modern socialist country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.