Telegram from Mao Zedong and Others Greeting the National Day of Czechoslovakia

(May 8, 1959)

Comrade Antonín Novotný, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and President of the Czechoslovak Republic; Comrade Zdeněk Fierlinger, Chairman of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic; Comrade Viliam Široký, Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak Republic:

On the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the National Day of the Czechoslovak Republic, we wish, on behalf of the Communist Party of China, the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese people, to extend warm fraternal greetings to you and, through you, to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic, and the Czechoslovak people.

Over the past year, under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak people have achieved significant successes in developing the socialist economy and raising the people’s material and cultural living standards. At present, the Czechoslovak people are forging ahead with full confidence, striving for the comprehensive realization of the grand goal of completing socialist construction set forth by the 11th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

The Czechoslovak people, who have always been loyal to proletarian internationalism and ardently love peace, have made important contributions to the great struggle of strengthening the unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union, safeguarding the purity of Marxism-Leninism, resolutely opposing modern revisionism, and defending world peace. The Chinese people deeply appreciate the fraternal assistance and support rendered by the Government and people of the Czechoslovak Republic in China’s socialist construction and in the struggle to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose U.S. imperialist aggression and foreign interference.

We are deeply convinced that, with the vigorous development of the socialist construction undertakings of our two countries, the fraternal friendship and close cooperation between the Chinese and Czechoslovak peoples will certainly be further consolidated and developed, thereby contributing to the strengthening of the great unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union and to the cause of safeguarding world peace.

May the unbreakable fraternal friendship between the Chinese and Czechoslovak peoples endure forever!

Mao Zedong
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Liu Shaoqi
Chairman of the People’s Republic of China

Zhu De
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China

Zhou Enlai
Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China

Beijing, May 8, 1959
Printed based on the text published in Renmin Ribao on May 9, 1959.