THE WORLD FROM NOW ON MUST BE A WORLD THAT BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE(October 23, 1951)

The great struggle to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea is going on and must go on until the U.S. government is willing to come to a peaceful settlement. We have no intention of encroaching on any country; we are only oppossing imperialist aggression against our country. As everyone knows, the Chinese people would not be fighting U.S. forces if they had not occupied our Taiwan, invaded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and pushed on to our northeastern borders. But since the U.S. aggressors have attacked us, we cannot but raise the banner of anti-aggression.

This is absolutely necessary and perfectly just, and the whole nation understands that it is so. To press on with this struggle, which is essential and just, we must continue to stiffen our efforts in resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea and must increase production and practice economy to support the Chinese People's Volunteers. This is the central task of the Chinese people today and accordingly the central task of our present meeting.

We have long affirmed that the Korean question should be settled by peaceful means, and this is still our position. If the U.S.government is willing to settle the question on a fair and reasonable basis instead of sabotaging and obstructing the progress of negotiations in various underhand ways as it has done in the past, it will be possible for the Korean armistice negotiations to succeed; otherwise it will be impossible.

In the two years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, we have won great victories in all fields of work. We have won these victories by relying on all the forces that can be united. Within the country, we have relied on the solid unity of all the ethnic groups, democratic classes, democratic parties, people's organizations and patriotic democrats under the leadership of the working class and the Communist Party.

Internationaly, we have relied on the solid unity of the camp of peace and democracy headed by the Soviet Union and on the profound sympathy of the peace-loving people throughout the world. Hence our great victories in all spheres of work, which were not what our enemies had expected. Our enemies thought that since the new-born People's Republic of China was faced with a lot of difficulties and since on top of that they were launching a war of aggression against us, we would not be able to overcome our difficulties or deal counterblows to the aggressors.

Contarary to their expectaion, we have proved able to overcome our difficulties, deal countorblows to the aggressors and win great victories. Our enemies are short-sighted, they fail to see the strength of our great domestic and international unity and fail to realize that the founding of the People's Republic of China has once and for all put an end to the days when the Chinese people could be bullied by foreign imperialists.

Nor do they realize that the birth of the socialist Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and the People's Democracies, the solid unity between the two great countries of China and the Soviet Union based on the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, the solid unity of the entire camp of peace and democracy and the profound sympathy of the peace-loving people of the world for this great camp have ended for good the era in which imperialism could dominate the world. Our enemies fail to see all this and still want to bully the People's Republic of China and dominate the world.

But, comrades, I can say with confidence that their design is crazy, and futile, and impossible of achievement. Contrary to their thinking, the People's Republic of China will brook no bullying, the great peace camp headed by the Soviet Union will brook no encroachment, and the peace-loving people of the world will not be taken in . Comrades, the victory of the great October Socialist Revolution of the Soviet Union has assured the prospect of victory of the people of the world, and today this prospect has developed and reinforced with the founding of the People's Republic of China and the People's Democracies.

It is true that, in the historical period following World War I and the October Revolution in Russia, three imperialist powers-Germany, Italy and Japan-made attempts to dominate the world; this happened before the founding of the People's Republic of China and the People's Democracies. But what came of it ? Didn't the attempts of the three imperialist powers prove to be crazy and futile? Didn't the results turn out to be the opposite of what they wanted ?

Didn't the imperialists who aimed at domination get struck down themselves? Today things are entirely different; the great People's Republic of China has been founded, the People's Democracies have been established, the level of political consciousness of the people of the world has been raised, the struggle for national liberation has been surging ahead all over Asia and in North Africa, the strength of the imperialist bloc as a whole has been drastically weakened and, what is of vital impertance, the strength of the Soviet Union, our closest ally, has been greatly enhanced. In these circumstances, isn't the outcome quite predictable if any imperialist power tries to follow in the footsteps of the three aggressors, Germany, Italy and Japan?

In a word, the world from now on must be a world that belongs to the people, with the people of each country governing themselves, and definitely not a world where imperialism and its lackeys can continue to ride roughshod. I hope that the people of our country will do a good job of uniting thmselves, uniting with our ally the Soviet Union, uniting with all the People's Democracies and uniting with all nations and peoples of the world that sympathize with us, and continue to advance to victory in the struggle against aggression, to victory in building our great country, to victory in the defense of a lasting world peace. Comrades, I am confident that, so long as we do all this, victory will decidedly be ours.

(From People's Daily, October 24, 1951)