Skip to main content
Assessing Chinese socialism 75 years after its revolution
ANDREW MURRAY reflects on the achievements and character of socialism with Chinese characteristics
Red flags flying for Martyrs Day today in Beijing

THERE is a story, possibly apocryphal, regarding a parliamentary by-election in St Pancras, north London, in 1949.  The Communist Party stood a candidate and, amidst a deteriorating Cold War atmosphere, polled fairly dismally.

Johnnie Campbell, a laconic Scotsman central to the CPGB’s leadership for decades, was dispatched to the locality to rally the troops in the aftermath. Surveying his dispirited comrades, he supposedly declared: “Well, things aren’t going our way in St Pancras right now…but we’ve won in China!”

To many, that was the immediate significance of the Chinese revolution. For millions of Communists and sympathisers around the world, as well as oppressed masses in the colonies and semi-colonies, the victory of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the party-led People’s Liberation Army was a huge advance – really the greatest conceivable – in a worldwide process of socialist revolution.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Health Secretary Wes Streeting with Prime Minister Keir Star
NHS / 15 May 2025
15 May 2025
A view of £5, £10, £20 and £50 bank notes
Economy / 15 May 2025
15 May 2025
A pregnancy test kit indicating pregnancy
Britain / 14 May 2025
14 May 2025
Similar stories
A Fuxing high-speed train running near the Beijing Central B
Books / 29 January 2025
29 January 2025
GABRIEL ROCKHILL recommends a perfect primer on contemporary China
LESSONS FROM CHINA: Students in Tieling High School, Liaonin
Features / 25 January 2025
25 January 2025
From defeating illiteracy to tackling student stress, China’s system transforms lives while putting people before profit — British educators should consider what we could learn from the world’s largest school system, writes LOGAN WILLIAMS
People celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Peop
Features / 1 October 2024
1 October 2024
KEITH BENNETT surveys the People’s Republic’s first 75 years arguing that the vast changes rest on an essential continuity
CELEBRATING RED CHINA:
China 75 celebrations held by the
Com
Features / 30 September 2024
30 September 2024
As the People's Republic turns 75, ROBERT GRIFFITHS details how British communists championed Chinese sovereignty against imperialism, weathering the political storms of the Sino-Soviet split and collapse of the USSR to rebuild relations for the modern era