Address at the Opening Session of the Ninth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
1969-04-01
Source: Chairman Mao Talks to the People (Stuart Schram, ed., 1974)
Sacrificed their lives: the Shantung delegates Wang Chin-mei and Teng En-ming, the Hupei delegate Ch’en T’an-ch’iu, the
Hunan delegate Ho Shu-heng, the Shanghai delegate Li Han-chiin — all these laid down their lives, while four others rebelled and became traitors: Ch’en Kung-po, Chou Fo-hai,
Chang Kuo-t’ao and Liu Jen-ch’ing. The latter two are still
alive. There was another delegate called Li Ta who died two
years ago. At that time there were only a few dozen party
members in the whole country and the majority of these were
intellectuals. Later the Party developed. The number of delegates attending the First, Second, Third and Fourth Congresses
was very small, from ten to twenty or from twenty to thirty. The
Fifth Congress was held in Wuhan. The number of delegates
was somewhat larger, several hundred. The Sixth Congress was
held in Moscow. There were several dozen delegates, Comrade
En-lai and Comrade [Liu] Po-ch’eng participated. The Seventh
Congress was held in Yenan. It was a congress of unity, for
Date: 1969-04-01
Source: JMJP, 2 April 1969.

24 Address at the Opening Session of the
Ninth National Congress of the
Chinese Communist Party

Comrades! The Ninth Congress of the Chinese Communist
Party is now in session. (Long and enthusiastic applause. Delegates shout: ‘Long live Chairman Mao! A long, long life to
Chairman Mao!’)
I hope that this will be a good congress, a congress of unity, a
congress of victory (enthusiastic applause and cheers).
Since the foundation of our Party in 1921, forty-eight years
have already passed by. At the First Congress there were only
twelve delegates. Two of them are here. One is Old Tung [Pi-wu] and one is me (enthusiastic applause). Quite a few have

Speech at the Ninth Congress 281
there were divisions in the Party then too, caused by the mistakes of Ch’ii Ch’iu-pai, Li Li-san and Wang Ming — especially
the Wang Ming Line. There were those who were against the
election to the Central Committee of comrades who followed
the Wang Ming Line. We did not agree and persuaded
people to elect their delegates. The result? The result was that
there were only a few who were no good. Wang Ming fled
abroad to oppose us. Li Li-san was also no good. Chang Wen-tien and Wang Chia-hsiang committed mistakes. There were
only these few. As for the rest of them, such as Liu Shao-ch’i,
P’eng Chen and Po I-po, we did not know that they were bad.
We were not clear about their political history.
From the Eighth Congress up to now we have become more
clear about them. We are clearer about their political line, their
organizational line, and their ideology. Therefore we hope that
this Congress will become a congress of unity (enthusiastic applause and cheers). Can we win victory on the basis of this
unity? Can this Congress become a congress of victory? After
the Congress, can we win still greater victories throughout the
country? I think we can. I think this will be a congress of unity
and a congress of victory (enthusiastic applause). After the Congress we can win still greater victories throughout the country.
(Prolonged enthusiastic applause and shouts of ‘Long live
Chairman Mao! A long, long life to Chairman Mao! May
Chairman Mao live for ever!’)