Telegram of Congratulations from Mao Zedong et al. on the Forty-Eighth Anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution (November 6, 1965)  To Comrade L. I. Brezhnev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Moscow; to Comrade A. I. Mikoyan, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; and to Comrade A. N. Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR:

On the occasion of the forty-eighth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, on behalf of the Communist Party of China, the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese people, we extend our warmest congratulations to you, to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to the Government of the USSR, and to the fraternal Soviet people.

Forty-eight years ago, under the leadership of the great Lenin and the glorious Bolshevik Party, the Russian proletariat and working people launched an armed uprising, overthrew the reactionary rule of the landlords and the bourgeoisie, and established the world’s first state of proletarian dictatorship. The Great October Socialist Revolution ushered in a new epoch in human history. Over the past forty-eight years, the struggle for liberation waged by oppressed peoples and nations throughout the world has surged forward with ever-increasing momentum, achieving victory after victory. History has already demonstrated, and will continue to demonstrate, that no force in the world can prevent the peoples of all countries from advancing triumphantly along the glorious path opened up by the October Revolution.

From the very first day of the October Revolution’s victory, the great Soviet people have been subjected to severe trials of every kind, displaying a spirit of fearless heroism. They vanquished the armed intervention of international imperialism and the counterrevolutionary rebellions of the domestic landlord-bourgeoisie, and in a relatively short span of time transformed their motherland into a powerful socialist state. During the Second World War, the Soviet people stood united, undaunted by sacrifice, crushed the frenzied onslaught of Hitlerite fascism, and defended and consolidated the Soviet政权. The great victory in the Great Patriotic War opened up even broader prospects for the cause of liberation of oppressed peoples and nations worldwide.

The Chinese people have always taken sincere pleasure in the magnificent achievements attained by our fraternal Soviet brothers and sisters. We wholeheartedly wish the Soviet people continued progress along the glorious road of the October Socialist Revolution, and ever new victories.

The great friendship between the peoples of China and the Soviet Union was forged in the course of prolonged revolutionary struggles. This friendship is eternal and unbreakable. Under any circumstances, the Chinese people will, as always, stand side by side with our fraternal Soviet comrades, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, to safeguard and strengthen the friendship and solidarity between our two peoples, to oppose the most vicious enemy of all peoples—the U.S. imperialists and their lackeys—and to strive together for the triumph of world peace, national liberation, people’s democracy, and the socialist cause.

Long live the Great October Socialist Revolution!  Long live the great friendship and solidarity between the peoples of China and the Soviet Union!

Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China  Liu Shaoqi, President 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, November 6, 1965  Printed according to the edition in the People’s Daily of November 7, 1965.