May 16, 1943 (No. 1) The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China fully endorses the proposal of the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Comintern, dated May 15, 1943, to dissolve the Comintern. Effective immediately, the CPC is released from all obligations imposed upon it by the Comintern’s Statutes and by the resolutions of its successive congresses.

(1) The Comintern has fulfilled its historical mission: it not only safeguarded revolutionary Marxism in the countries of Europe and America, as well as in Japan, against the ravages of opportunism; helped advanced workers unite to form genuine workers’ parties; supported socialist Soviet Russia; and waged an unyielding struggle against fascism and the fascist war; but also, to the utmost of its ability, assisted the liberation movements of the oppressed peoples of the East, enabling their advanced working masses to organize their own parties and to become the vanguard of all liberation struggles. Of particular significance for the Chinese people was its exertion of every possible effort, in 1924 while Dr. Sun Yat-sen was still alive, to facilitate the establishment of the First United Front between the KMT and the CPC, and subsequently to contribute to the success of the Northern Expedition. Moreover, during the years 1917–1937, when the Chinese revolution found itself at its most critical juncture, the Comintern extended vigorous support to the Chinese revolutionary people. Finally, throughout the six-year War of Resistance Against Japan since 1937, it called upon its sections in various countries and upon the working classes worldwide to aid the Chinese people in their struggle against Japanese imperialist aggression. In short, throughout its entire existence, the Comintern did everything within its power to assist the calamity-stricken Chinese people.

However, as stated in the Presidium’s proposal, the present situation—both domestically and internationally—has grown markedly more complex. The Comintern’s original organizational form can no longer accommodate the continued expansion of the workers’ movement in each country. In the ongoing anti-fascist allied war of liberation, the communist parties must increasingly address all questions independently, in accordance with their respective national conditions and historical circumstances, in order to achieve broader and swifter upsurges of the national masses and mass mobilization, thereby securing a thorough and complete victory. Furthermore, the communist parties and their leading cadres have now attained a higher level of growth and political maturity. For these reasons, the Presidium of the Comintern’s Executive Committee proposes to the communist parties that the Comintern be dissolved. Under current conditions, dissolution of the Comintern is more advantageous than its continued existence. Given the exigencies of the war, it is impossible to convene an international congress to deliberate on the matter; hence, the Presidium makes this proposal directly to the communist parties. Accordingly, the Central Committee of the CPC fully concurs with the grounds set forth in the proposal and approves the dissolution of the Comintern. The Central Committee further notes that, following Karl Marx’s dissolution of the First International, the workers’ movement in various countries underwent further development. Similarly, the present announcement of the Third International’s dissolution will undoubtedly hasten the triumph of the global anti-fascist war and the liberation of all humanity.

(3) The founding of the CPC was the outcome of the development of the Chinese workers’ movement after the May Fourth Movement of 1919, and of the broader course of modern Chinese history. Wherever there exists a proletariat and a workers’ movement, a party of the working class will inevitably emerge. Even without the Comintern, the CPC would nonetheless have come into being; this is a historical necessity. From its very inception, the CPC was the first in modern Chinese history to clearly chart for the Chinese people a path of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, and all members of the Party, setting an example by their own conduct, have remained steadfastly devoted to the cause of national liberation, sacrificing their lives and succeeding one another in the struggle. The CPC has indeed received considerable assistance from the Comintern during its revolutionary struggles; yet for many years now, Chinese communists have been fully capable of determining their own political line, policies, and actions independently, on the basis of their nation’s specific conditions and particular circumstances. Since the Seventh Congress of the Comintern, in August 1935, resolved not to interfere in the internal affairs of national communist parties, the Executive Committee and its Presidium have adhered to this decision and have refrained from any such interference in the CPC’s organizational matters. The revolutionary forces created by the CPC constitute the mainstay of all progressive forces in China. Since the outbreak of the War of Resistance, particularly in the enemy-occupied rear areas where struggles of unprecedented severity have been waged, these revolutionary forces have been developed entirely through the CPC’s own independent efforts, without recourse to external assistance—a feat hitherto unparalleled in the history of the Chinese revolutionary movement over the past several decades. Revolution cannot be exported or imported; it can only arise from within each nation itself. This is a truth long expounded by Marxists-Leninists, and the practice of the CPC has fully confirmed it. Under these circumstances, the dissolution of the Comintern will further strengthen the self-confidence and creative capacity of Chinese communists, consolidate the Party’s ties with the Chinese people, and enhance its combat effectiveness. The Chinese communists are among the finest sons and daughters of the Chinese nation. They will continue to stand bravely at the forefront of the War of Resistance, cooperating with the Kuomintang and all other anti-Japanese parties and non-affiliated individuals, supporting the National Government’s measures for the war effort, defeating the Japanese aggressors and their fascist allies—Germany and Italy—and bringing to completion the great undertaking of establishing an independent, democratic New China.

(4) The Chinese communists are Marxists-Leninists. Since Marxism-Leninism is a science, and science knows no national boundaries, they will continue to apply and develop it flexibly in accordance with China’s specific conditions, so as to serve our nation’s cause of resisting aggression and building a new country. The Chinese communists are the inheritors of our nation’s noblest traditions in culture, thought, and morality, regarding these fine heritages as inseparable from their very being, and they will continue to cherish and carry them forward. The rectification campaigns launched by the CPC in recent years—against subjectivism, sectarianism, and bureaucratic rigidity—are aimed at deepening the integration of “revolutionary science” with Marxist-Leninist theory and with Chinese revolutionary practice, history, and culture. These campaigns have demonstrated the CPC’s creative intellectual capacity just as much as its creative capacity in revolutionary practice, and they attest to the Party’s ability to work together with the Chinese people to fulfill the historic tasks entrusted to them. The Central Committee of the CPC is convinced that our comrades will be able to unite in perfect harmony, overcome their shortcomings, and give full rein to their creativity and initiative. If this can be achieved, then despite the formidable strength of our enemy, Japanese imperialism, and the numerous difficulties that lie ahead, we shall surely accomplish our mission.