The Birth of the Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded in the 1920s. It was the natural outcome of developments in Chinese society and the Chinese people's revolutionary struggle. It resulted from the integration of Marxism-Leninism with Chinese workers' movement.
In early 1920, Li Dazhao (1889-1927) and Chen Duxiu (1879-1942), two key figures in founding the CPC, started making preparations in Beijing and Shanghai to found a communist political party in China. In Peking University in March, Li Dazhao set up a society for the study of Marxist theories. This was the first such body to be established in China. In Shanghai in May, Chen Duxiu organized a society for the study of Marxism. Based on these groups, Chen and others decided to found a communist party organization in June. When Chen consulted Li about the name of the new organization, Li suggested "Communist Party" and Chen fully agreed.
A communist organization was formally set up in Shanghai in August 1920, under the name of the "Chinese Communist Party." This was China's first communist party organization. A similar body in Beijing was founded in October, called the "communist group." Following these, similar early-period communist organizations were set up in Wuhan, Changsha, Ji'nan, Guangzhou and other places across China, and among progressive overseas students and Chinese expatriates in Japan and Europe. These organizations helped spread Marxism and integrate Marxism with the Chinese workers' movement, and paved the way for the formal founding of the CPC.
On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was convened in Shanghai. Following harassment by external authorities, the delegates moved to Jiaxing in Zhejiang, a neighboring province of Shanghai, to hold their final session on a sightseeing boat on the Nanhu Lake.
The delegates to the congress were: Li Da (1890-1966), Li Hanjun (1890-1927), Dong Biwu (1886-1975), Chen Tanqiu (1896-1943), Mao Zedong, He Shuheng (1876-1935), Wang Jinmei (1898-1925), Deng Enming (1901-1931), Zhang Guotao (1897-1979), Liu Renjing (1902-1987), Chen Gongbo (1892-1946) and Zhou Fohai (1897-1948). Bao Huiseng (1894-1979) was a delegate dispatched by Chen Duxiu. They represented more than 50 Party members across the country. Two representatives of the Communist International (the Comintern), identified as "G. Maring (1883-1942)" and "Nikolsky (1889-1938)," attended the meeting as observers.
The delegates decided that the name of the new party would be the "Communist Party of China," and adopted the Program of the Communist Party of China, which contained the following provisions: The revolutionary army and the proletariat must work together to overthrow the power of the capitalist class; establish and maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat until the end of class struggle or the elimination of classes; abolish private ownership of capitalists; confiscate the machines, land, factories and semi-finished products and other means of production to be owned by the public; and ally the Party with the Third International (another name for the Communist International).
The Party's program affirmed the commitment to organizing the workers, peasants and soldiers, and set the Party's political goal as to undertake social revolution. The program contained provisions similar to those in a party constitution, as well as principles such as democratic centralism and Party discipline.
The congress passed the Party's first resolution, and defined leading the workers' movement as its central task with specific rules about how to organize and publicize the movement.
The congress elected a Central Bureau as the CPC's provisional leadership body, with Chen Duxiu serving as secretary, Zhang Guotao in charge of organizational work, and Li Da, publicity work.
This represented the formal establishment of the CPC. Thus, in a backward country with a long history, a unified political party of an entirely new type emerged, the only party that represented the proletariat and took Marxism-Leninism as its guide and socialism and communism as its goal. This was an epoch-making event in China's history – the culmination of social progress and revolutionary development in modern China. With the arrival of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese revolution took on a brand-new image.
中国共产党诞生
中国共产党诞生于20世纪20年代，是近代中国社会及中国人民革命斗争发展的必然结果，是马克思列宁主义同中国工人运动相结合的产物。
1920年年初，中国共产党创始人李大钊与陈独秀在北京和上海分别活动，筹建中国共产党。3月，李大钊发起成立了北京大学马克思学说研究会，这是中国最早的学习和研究马克思主义的团体。5月，陈独秀在上海组织了马克思主义研究会。在此基础上，同年6月，陈独秀等决定建立共产党组织。关于党的名称，陈独秀征求李大钊的意见，李大钊主张定名为“共产党”，陈独秀表示完全同意。
经过酝酿和准备，1920年8月，上海的共产党早期组织正式成立，取名为“中国共产党”，这是中国的第一个共产党组织。北京的共产党早期组织于1920年10月正式成立，当时取名为“共产党小组”。此后，武汉、长沙、济南、广州等地先后建立起共产党的地方组织。在欧洲和日本，中国留学生和侨民中的先进分子也建立了共产党的早期组织。各地共产党早期组织的建立有力促进了马克思主义的进一步传播及其同中国工人运动的结合，为在中国建立共产党准备了条件。
1921年7月23日，中国共产党第一次全国代表大会在上海召开。因受外部干扰，最后一天的会议转移到浙江嘉兴南湖一艘游船上举行。参加大会的有国内各地及旅日早期党组织的代表李达、李汉俊、董必武、陈潭秋、毛泽东、何叔衡、王尽美、邓恩铭、张国焘、刘仁静、陈公博、周佛海，还有陈独秀指定的代表包惠僧。他们代表着全国50多名党员。共产国际代表马林和尼科尔斯基列席了这次大会。大会讨论并通过了《中国共产党纲领》，确定党的名称为“中国共产党”，规定党的纲领是：革命军队必须与无产阶级一起推翻资本家阶级的政权；承认无产阶级专政，直到阶级斗争结束，即直到消灭社会的阶级区分；消灭资本家私有制，没收机器、土地、厂房和半成品等生产资料，归社会公有；联合第三国际。党纲明确提出，把工人、农民和士兵组织起来，承认党的根本政治目的是实行社会革命。党纲还包含属于党章性质的一些条文，规定了民主集中制的组织原则和党的纪律。大会通过决议，确定中国共产党成立后的中心任务是领导工人运动，并对开展工人运动的组织和宣传等工作作了具体规定。大会选举产生了中国共产党中央临时领导机构——中央局，陈独秀为书记，张国焘负责组织工作，李达负责宣传工作。
中共一大正式宣告了中国共产党的成立。从此，在古老落后的中国出现了完全新式的、以马克思列宁主义为行动指南的、以实现社会主义和共产主义为奋斗目标的、统一的和唯一的无产阶级政党。这是近代以来中国社会进步和革命发展的客观要求，是中国历史上开天辟地的大事件。自从有了中国共产党，中国革命的面貌焕然一新。