Telegram of Congratulations from the
Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party to the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union and the
Officers and Soldiers of the Soviet Red
Army
In Celebration of the Twenty-fifth
Anniversary of the Founding of the Red
Army and of the Great Victory of the Red
Army
(February 21, 1943)
Special report: Tomorrow is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Red Army, whose
counteroffensive is advancing irresistibly and scoring unprecedented victories. Anti-Fascist people all over
the world unanimously express their congratulations, and the Chinese people are especially overjoyed on
this occasion. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party sent a congratulatory telegram
yesterday, of which the text is as follows.
Comrade Stalin, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union, and Officers and Soldiers of the Red Army:
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party represents all Party
comrades and Chinese people in its warm celebration of the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the founding of the Red Army and of the great victories of the Red
Army’s counteroffensive.

The Red Army’s twenty-five years of struggle and, in particular, its twenty
months of fighting against Fascist invasion have turned the anniversary of its
founding from a festival for the international working masses into a festival for
all of humanity. Because of their own experiences, freedom-loving people of all
nationalities on five continents unanimously acknowledge that the Red Army
and the people of the Soviet Union are the mountain blocking the river of Fascist
violence and are the vanguard of the creation of a new world peace. The Red
Army’s offensive over the past three months has inspired cheers and praise
everywhere in the world. And the entire world is studying the Red Army’s
victorious military and political lessons. Certainly unprecedented in history, the
offensive of the Red Army is constantly developing in scale and speed. After
launching the counteroffensive at Stalingrad1—then a city in danger—on the
Volga River on November 19, the Red Army leaped to the vicinity of the Desna
River, more than six hundred kilometers to the west. It is only a matter of time
before the Red Army completely drives Hitler’s bandits out of the Soviet Union.
Since the Red Army began its war with Germany, conditions in the world have
changed markedly. Now, because of the Red Army’s victories, the face of the
future new world is brighter and more definite. Throughout the world, all forms
of Fascist systems and ideology have forever lost space in which to exist. National
freedom and political democracy have become the unswerving principles of the
new world. We, the Chinese people, welcome the arrival of this new epoch; we
welcome the solidarity and hard work of all anti-Fascist forces in the world that
strive for this new epoch. Even while the Red Army is victorious, Britain and the
United States in North Africa, and the United States in the Pacific, have won
important victories. Britain and the United States are in the process of actively
preparing to carry out the promise of opening a second front on the European
continent. They have abrogated their unequal treaties with China. The primary
task of the Chinese people in facing this new epoch is to further strengthen our
own unity, so as to prepare to drive out the Japanese invaders just as the Red
Army is expelling the German invaders. We believe that, because of the united
struggle of the Chinese people and because of the victories and aid to the Chinese
on the part of the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States, we will also be
able to enter into a counteroffensive and win the final victory.

Long live the Red Army and its Supreme Commander Stalin!
Long live the victories of the war against Fascist aggression!
Long live the unity between China, the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United
States!
Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party
Mao Zedong
Notes
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 9, pp. 11–12, where it is reproduced from
Jiefang ribao of February 22, 1943. An identical text, minus the introductory note, can be found in Mao
Zedong wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 6–7.
1. Stalingrad is now called Volgograd.