Speaking at a symposium in Beijing on 2 September 2025, Keith Bennett recalled the history of solidarity with China's revolution, commemorating friends of China such as George Hogg and Arthur Clegg, and the history of workers' organizations who stood by China including the communist-led South Wales Miners Federation.

China’s friends commemorated

2 Sep, 2025

The following is an account of the symposium
on the website of the Friends of Socialist China.

Friends of Socialist China: During his recent visit to China for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Chinese people’s victory in the war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war, our co-editor Keith Bennett participated in an international symposium organised by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Science, on September 2, and the Chinese Modernisation Forum (2025), organised by the School of Marxism, the Institute of Chinese Communist Party History and Party Building, and the Institute of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, all of Tsinghua University, on September 4.

We print below the text of the paper presented by Keith, which outlines the solidarity extended by people in Britain to the Chinese people’s heroic resistance, from internationalists like George Hogg who made the journey to China, to the China Campaign Committee which organised and agitated the length and breadth of the country, to the singular contribution of the South Wales miners.

 

Text of Keith Bennett’s talk