The Site of the First National Congress of the CPC is located at 76 Xingye Road in Shanghai. [Photo/VCG]

The Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century, adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, unequivocally states that "since its founding in 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has remained true to its original aspiration and mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation." By underlining the "original aspiration" of the Party, we are expected to answer the following questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? And where are we going? By emphasizing the "mission" of the Party, we are expected to find answers to questions including "whom should we serve," "what are we going to do" and "what should we do." Both "original aspiration" and "mission" are closely linked with the foundation of the Party and the rationale of the Party's ruling position. In this paper, I would like to share my understandings on the Party's original aspiration and mission from three dimensions.

I. UNDERSTANDING THE CPC'S ORIGINAL ASPIRATION AND MISSION FROM ITS BANNER

The banner is the guide to action for the Party to fulfill its original aspiration and mission. The Party's banner is manifested in the Constitution of the CPC which states that the CPC takes Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guide to action. The development of all these political theories and thoughts is consistent, reflecting the Party's efforts to bring in changes to meet the circumstances of the time. The CPC's official ideology has its origin in Marxism-Leninism. Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era all represent the application and development of Marxism-Leninism under the Chinese circumstances. In other words, they are the "mainstream" of the Party's official ideology. Specifically, Mao Zedong Thought represents both the application and development of Marxism-Leninism in China and the origin of the sinified Marxism. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is both the sinified Marxism in contemporary China and the Marxism of the 21st century. Together, they constitute the "orthodox" of the Party's ideology.

Both revolutionary mentors like Marx, Engels and Lenin and the CPC leaders including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping discussed the original aspiration and mission of the Communists. As the first dimension of our analysis in this paper, their narratives and arguments shed important light on the original aspiration and mission of the Chinese communists.

Marx and Engels on the Communists' Original Aspiration and Mission. The publication of The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels in 1848 ushered in the birth of Marxism. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels announced that "the Communists do not form a separate party opposed to the other working-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole," "all previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority" and "in place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." Marx and Engels further elaborated on the Communist Party's nature, merits, fundamental programs, strategies and principles, and laid out the supreme ideal and objective for the communists.