State Honours Model Workers on Labour Day

Everyone should learn from model workers and devote themselves to building socialism with Chinese characteristics with more confidence and vigour, President Jiang Zemin said in Beijing on Saturday.

Extending his greetings to workers in China and the world on the eve of International Labour Day, Jiang said the people are the driving force in history.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have accomplished much through hard work and self-sufficiency, Jiang told the conference honouring model workers.

The last time model workers throughout the nation were honoured was in 1995, said officials with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

This year, the State Council honoured 2,946 workers nationwide for their contribution in promoting the country's opening-up, reform and modernization.

Jiang said model workers are the vanguard in the country's advancement.

Jiang urged his countrymen to learn from model workers, adopting their ideals to carry out the Party's and the government's policies.

"We have launched the reform, opening-up and modernization drive in the interests of the people, and only by closely depending on the masses can the drive be successful," he said.

He said a key point of the Party and the government's work is to ensure that the interests of the people are realized, safeguarded and expanded, and the initiative of the masses is correctly guided, protected and brought into play.

The Party's objective of "serving the people wholeheartedly" should be enthusiastically supported, Jiang said.

Mass organizations such as trade unions, the Communist Youth League and women's associations should help strengthen relations between the masses and the government, he said.

Party members and cadres should join with the people, and fight corruption and unresponsive bureaucratic behaviour that turns a blind eye to the interests of the masses, he said.

China's reform and modernization rests to a large extent on the people, Jiang said.

Premier Zhu Rongji spoke highly of the selflessness and devotion of model workers. He urged other workers to learn from them.

Li Huangxi, a national model worker from China First Automobile Works, said Chinese workers should spare no effort in contributing to the country's development.

Wei Jianxing, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed the importance of learning from model workers and advanced personnel.

At a symposium to mark the International Labour Day on May 1, Wei, also president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, noted that the nearly 3,000 individuals cited in Beijing on Saturday are the outstanding representatives of the Chinese working class. Their thinking and behaviour embodies the noble character and morals of the Chinese working class.





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