The First National Congress
Date: July 23-31, 1921
Place: first in Shanghai and later moved
on board a boat on Lake Nanhu in Jiaxing County, Zhejiang Province
Number of delegates: 12
Party membership: over 50
Major contents: The central task of the congress
was to discuss the question of officially establishing the Chinese
Communist Party. The congress adopted the first Party program
and decided on the name of the Party as the Communist Party of
China. It decided on the objectives of the Party as follows: to
overthrow the bourgeoisie by means of the revolutionary army of
the proletariat, to rebuild the country by the laboring classes
and to work for the ultimate elimination of class distinction;
to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat in order to attain
the objective of class struggle, that is, the elimination of classes;
and to abolish ownership by capitalists and establish ownership
by the entire society through confiscating all the means of production.
The congress also adopted the Resolution on the Present Tasks,
according to which the central task of the Party after its founding
was to get the working class organized and to provide guidance
to the workers' movement.
The congress elected Chen Duxiu, Zhang Guotao and
Li Da to form the Central Bureau with Chen serving as its secretary.
