Telegram on the Forty-Eighth Anniversary
(November 6, 1965)
Moscow

Comrade L. I. Brezhnev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union;
Comrade A. I. Mikoyan, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR;
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 Soviet government, and to the fraternal Soviet people.

Eighteen 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 halt the victorious advance of all peoples along the glorious path opened up by the October Revolution.

From the very first day of the October Revolution’s triumph, the great Soviet people have endured countless severe trials, displaying unparalleled courage and heroism. They vanquished the armed intervention of international imperialism and the counter-revolutionary rebellions of the domestic landlord-bourgeoisie, and in a relatively short span of time transformed their homeland into a mighty socialist state. During the Second World War, united as one and undaunted by sacrifice, the Soviet people shattered Hitler’s fascist onslaught, thereby defending and consolidating the Soviet regime. The great victory in the Great Patriotic War opened up even broader prospects for the liberation cause of oppressed peoples and nations worldwide. The Chinese people have always taken sincere pride in the magnificent achievements of the fraternal Soviet people. We wholeheartedly wish the Soviet people that they will continue to advance along the glorious road of the October Socialist Revolution and attain ever greater 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 the fraternal Soviet people, 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 humanity—U.S. imperialism and its 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