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
opposing 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. Internationally, we have relied
* This is part of Mao Zedong's opening address to the Third Session of the First
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
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.
Contrary to their expectation, we have proved able to overcome our difficulties, deal counterblows 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 importance, 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 themselves, 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)