The Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China

It was held in Shanghai from July 16 to 23, 1922. There were 12 members of the Central Bureau of the Party, the delegates of local organizations and some delegates who returned to China after attending the First Congress of the Party and also national revolutionary groups in the Far East: Chen Duxiu, Zhang Guotao, Li Da, Yang Mingzhai, Luo Zhanglong, Wang Jinmei, Xu Baihao, Cai Hesen, Tan Pingshan, Li Zhenying and Shi Cuntong (the name of one person is still unknown). The representative of the Communist International Voitinsky also attended the meeting.

The Congress lasted for eight days and held three plenary sessions, with many changes of venue for the group meetings and plenary sessions, the first of which was held at 625 South Chengdu Road, Auxiliary Road (now No. 30, Lane 7, North Chengdu Road) in the former public concession in Shanghai.

Chen Duxiu presided over the Congress and made a report on behalf of the Central Bureau on the work of the Central Committee for the past year; Zhang Guotao reported on his attendance at the First Congress of Communist Parties and National Revolutionary Groups in the Far East and the convening of the First National Labor Congress; Shi Cuntong, the representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, made a report on the convening of the First National Congress of the Communist Youth League.

The main agenda of the Congress was to further discuss and define the Party program regarding the period of democratic revolution. Based on Lenin's theory of the national and colonial question and the semi-colonial and semi-feudal nature of Chinese society, the Congress formulated the Party's supreme and minimum programs. The Party's supreme program was to realize socialism and communism, stating that the goal of the Party was “to organize the proletariat, use the means of class struggle, establish the politics of the workers’ and peasants’ dictatorship, eradicate the system of private property, and advance gradually to a communist society.” The minimum program of the Party, i.e., the revolutionary tasks of China at this stage, is: “(1) eradicate internal chaos, overthrow the warlords, and build domestic peace; (2) overthrow oppression by the international imperialists and win the complete independence of the Chinese nation; (3) unify China proper (including the three provinces in the northeast) and establish a real democratic republic.”

The Congress made a preliminary analysis of the concrete links between the democratic and socialist revolutions. The declaration adopted by the Congress pointed out: “When the democratic revolution succeeds, the proletariat will simply gain some liberties and rights, but will not achieve complete liberation. Moreover, the success of the democratic movement will only help the rapid development of the nascent bourgeoisie, who will come into opposition to the proletariat. Therefore, the proletariat must deal with the bourgeoisie immediately, establishing ‘a proletarian dictatorship in alliance with the poor peasants.’ If the organizational and fighting strength of the proletariat increases, this second struggle will succeed immediately after the victory of the democratic revolution.”

In order to implement the Party's democratic revolutionary program and promote the development of the democratic revolution in China, the Congress adopted nine resolutions, including the "Resolution on the 'United Front of Democracy'", the "Resolution on the 'Trade Union Movement and the Communist Party'", and the "Resolution on Joining the Communist International", which regulated the issues of organizing the democratic united front, leading the workers' movement and uniting the proletariat in the world.

The Congress also adopted the "Resolution on the Organizational Structures of the Communist Party of China", and on this basis adopted the first Party constitution after the establishment of the Party, the "Constitution of the Communist Party of China", which made specific provisions on the conditions of Party members, the construction of Party organizations at all levels and Party discipline, and clearly elaborated the organizational principle of democratic centralism of the Party.

In accordance with the provisions of the “Constitution of the Communist Party of China”, the Congress elected the Central Executive Committee, with Chen Duxiu, Zhang Guotao, Cai Hesen, Gao Junyu and Deng Zhongxia as members of the Central Executive Committee and Li Hanjun, Li Dazhao and Xiang Jingyu (female) as alternate executive members. Chen Duxiu was elected as the chairman of the Central Executive Committee, while Cai Hesen and Zhang Guotao were respectively responsible for the publicity and organizational work of the Party.

The Congress was of great significance to the development of the theory and practice of the mass line of the CPC, which began to adopt a revolutionary method that had not been adopted and could not be adopted by the national bourgeoisie, petty bourgeois parties and political factions, namely the method of the mass line.

For the first time in modern Chinese history, the Congress clearly set forth the task of a thorough anti-imperialist and anti-feudal democratic revolution.