July 1st: Founding of the Party | Stay True to Our Original Aspiration and Keep Forging Ahead

After its founding on July 23, 1921, the Communist Party of China was forced to operate in secrecy under the brutal rule of the reactionary warlord governments, lacking any environment conducive to open activity. During the Great Revolution, the Party was preoccupied with cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, with mobilizing the workers’ and peasants’ movements, and with supporting the Northern Expedition, leaving it no opportunity to commemorate the Party’s birth.

The decision to designate July 1 as the anniversary of the Party’s founding was put forward by Comrade Mao Zedong in May 1938. At that time, in his essay “On Protracted War,” the Chairman stated: “This year, on July 1, we will mark the seventeenth anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.” This was the first time a central leadership comrade explicitly identified July 1 as the Party’s founding day.
 

The Origin of the July 1st Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China

　　From July 23 to early August 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai (later relocated to South Lake in Jiaxing). The thirteen delegates attending the congress adopted the Party’s program, decided on the name “Communist Party of China,” and formally proclaimed the birth of the CPC. From that moment on, China saw the emergence of a completely new type of unified proletarian political party—guided by Marxism-Leninism and committed to the goals of achieving socialism and communism. As Comrade Mao Zedong put it: “The founding of the Communist Party of China was a momentous event that opened up a new era.”

　　Later, how was July 1st designated as the anniversary of the Party’s founding? To understand this, we must begin with the CPC Central Committee’s relocation to Yan’an.

　　After the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Party endured a long period of revolutionary warfare, facing constant turmoil and immense hardship. During those turbulent years, it did not organize any planned, large-scale, systematic, or public commemorative events to mark the Party’s founding. On January 13, 1937, the Party Central Committee moved into Yan’an, where conditions were relatively stable, and began commemorating the founding of the Party.

　　According to the “Chronological Biography of Zhou Enlai,” on July 1, 1937, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China convened a conference of Party activists in Yan’an, at which Zhou Enlai delivered a report entitled “The Communist Party of China on Its Sixteenth Anniversary.” This marked the first time in the history of our Party that Party-member education activities were held on July 1.

　　The report outlines the tortuous course of development that our Party has undergone since its founding and analyzes that the reasons for the Chinese Communist Party’s achievements lie in the fact that it is a party armed with Marxist theory and deeply rooted in the Chinese people.

　　The report systematically summarized the historical lessons of the Chinese Communist Party during the Great Revolution and called on the Party, on the basis of upholding its fine traditions and drawing from the experiences of the revolution, to consciously assume the responsibility of leading the nationwide anti-Japanese national united front.

Mao Zedong for the first time explicitly designated the anniversary of the Party’s founding.

　　Shortly after the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China convened, the Party Central Committee in Shanghai suffered a devastating blow: all central archival materials, including the congress’s records, were lost, leaving many questions about the First Congress shrouded in mystery for a considerable period. In 1936, Chen Tanqiu, a delegate to the First Congress, published an article in Moscow titled “Recollections of the First Congress,” in which he recounted the specific proceedings of the event and offered numerous vivid details. He wrote: “In the summer of 1921, on the upper floor of the private Bowen Women’s School on Pubei Road in the French Concession of Shanghai, during the second half of July, nine temporary lodgers suddenly arrived… These individuals were, in fact, representatives from communist groups across various regions, who had agreed to meet in Shanghai to formally organize the Communist Party.” However, he merely stated that the First National Congress was held “in the second half of July,” without specifying an exact date.

　　Following the formal establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front based on cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, in order to further expand the CPC’s influence, unify the Party’s thinking, rally its strength, and devote itself to the War of Resistance, the Central Committee of the CPC prepared, in the spring of 1938, to hold commemorative events marking the 17th anniversary of the Party’s founding and needed to set a specific date. At that time, among the delegates to the First National Congress in Yan’an were Mao Zedong, Dong Biwu, and others. Recalling that the Congress had been convened in July, they could not recall the exact date, so they agreed to designate July 1 as the anniversary of the Party’s founding.

　　From May 26 to June 3, 1938, Mao Zedong delivered a lecture titled “On Protracted War” at the Yan’an Anti-Japanese War Research Society. In his address, he stated: “July 1 this year marks the seventeenth anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. In order to enable every Communist Party member to make the greatest and most effective contributions in the War of Resistance Against Japan, it is also essential to conduct an in-depth study of protracted war.” This was the first time a leader of our Party designated July 1 as the anniversary of the Communist Party of China’s founding.

　　On June 14, 1938, the Propaganda Department of the CPC Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia Border Region Party Committee and the Border Region Anti-Japanese Support Association convened the first joint meeting of representatives from Yan’an’s Party, government, military, and various organs and mass organizations, agreeing to hold a commemorative week from July 1 to 7 marking the first anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the 17th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. On June 24, the Central Committee of the CPC issued the “Outline for Propaganda Commemorating the Seventeenth Anniversary of the CPC.” On June 25, the newspaper New China Daily published an article titled “From the ‘July 1’ to the ‘July 7’ Commemoration Week: How Was the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University Preparing?” which, for the first time, succinctly summarized the Party’s founding day as “July 1.”

　　According to the New China Daily, at 10 a.m. on July 1, 1938, a workers’ meeting was held at the Yan’an City Trade Union, where the General Club of the Yan’an City Trade Unions was established. At 2 p.m., the workers’ publicity team set out in formation to carry out propaganda from the Bell Tower to the North City Gate. That evening the city’s most sensational event was the lantern parade celebrating the 17th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. With the sun still high over the western ridge, schools, associations, government agencies, and military units began converging on the public stadium outside the South Gate; more than half of Yan’an’s residents had gathered there. A banner in front of the platform read, “People of All Sectors in Yan’an Celebrate the Seventeenth Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China.” At 7 p.m. the assembly was declared open. The crowd first sang the “March of the Volunteers” together, followed by an address from Mo Wenhua, Director of the Political Department of the Rear Area of the Eighth Route Army. The venue erupted in thunderous applause, while shouts of “Support the Communist Party of China” and “Long live the Communist Party of China” rose and fell. As the western afterglow vanished into night, lights illuminated the landscape, and from the city walls Yan’an looked like a sea of stars. The lantern procession then officially began, entering through the South Gate with aircraft‑shaped, bomb‑shaped, five‑star, pagoda‑shaped and other creative lantern designs. Particularly striking was the “Five Stars–Axe–Sickle” lantern carried by the Fifth Company of the Fifth Battalion of the Anti‑Japanese Military and Political University, bearing “71–77” on one side and “1921–1938” on the other. Crowds lined both sides of the streets, and songs and slogans rang through the night. For the following week, Yan’an held celebratory events every day.

The Liberation Daily has published, for the first time, a special commemorative issue marking the founding of the Party.

　　As the anniversary of the Party’s founding, “July 1” first appeared in a central document in June 1941.

　　At that time, the CPC Central Committee issued the “Instructions on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China and the Fourth Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” explicitly stating: “This year, July 1 marks the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the CPC, and July 7 marks the fourth anniversary of China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. All anti-Japanese base areas should convene meetings, adopt various measures, and hold commemorative events, while also publishing special issues or special features in their respective publications.” This was the first explicit designation, through a directive from the CPC Central Committee, of July 1 as the day to celebrate the Party’s founding.

　　On July 1, 1941, all government organs, schools, military units, and organizations in Yan’an observed a day of holiday, holding commemorative meetings and report sessions to enthusiastically celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Party’s founding. The Central Committee’s official newspaper, the Liberation Daily, published a special issue marking the 20th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, featuring an editorial and three commemorative articles penned by Zhu De, Lin Boqu, and Wu Yuzhang.

　　The editorial “In Commemoration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Communist Party of China” stated: “The founding of the Communist Party of China ushered in an entirely new era in Chinese history… Over its twenty-year history, the CPC has also rendered an indelible and momentous service to the Chinese revolution: it has become, before the entire Chinese people, the most eloquent testament that, contrary to the assertions of all those who have lost confidence and seek to rely on others or on chance, the Communist Party of China, the Chinese working class, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation are capable of independent struggle, utterly invincible, and endowed with boundless prospects.”

　　In his article “The Chinese Communist Party and the Revolutionary War,” Zhu De pointed out: “The entire history of the Communist Party is inseparable from the history of China’s revolutionary wars since the Northern Expedition.” “The twenty-year course of China’s revolutionary war has demonstrated one fundamental truth: only the Chinese Communist Party is capable of most wisely grasping the laws governing the development of China’s revolutionary war; only the Chinese Communist Party can, throughout all historical periods, resolutely wage revolutionary war in pursuit of the most revolutionary political objectives of the time, opposing the principal enemies of the Chinese nation and the people; and only the Chinese Communist Party can formulate and steadfastly uphold the most revolutionary strategic guidelines of each era.”

　　In his article “The Chinese Communist Party and the State Power,” Lin Boqu wrote: “The Chinese Communist Party has held high the banner of Bolshevism, traversed a glorious and heroic path of struggle, and etched indelible marks that will endure through the ages within a remarkably brief span of history.” He further observed: “For the first time, in a country that had not yet achieved victory in the socialist revolution, a powerful army under the leadership of the Communist Party emerged, and a democratic state power led by the Communist Party was established. This is a distinctive feature of the Chinese Revolution and a source of great pride for the Chinese Communist Party.”