Communist Party of China

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Communist Party of China
中国共产党
Hammer and Sickle
Chairman Hu Jintao
Founded July 1, 1921 (official)
July 23, 1921 (de facto)
Headquarters Zhongnanhai, Beijing
Political ideology Marxism-Leninism (official), Maoism (official), Deng Xiaoping Theory (official) with Socialism with Chinese characteristics, Three Represents (official), Harmonious Society (informal)
No. of members Around 70 million

The Communist Party of China (CPC) (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共產黨; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the ruling political party of the People's Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the country's constitution. The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921, and fought the National Government of China (Republic of China) led by the Kuomintang (KMT) during the Chinese Civil War, which ended with the Communist Party of China's victory in the Chinese Revolution. With more than 70 million members,[1] the CPC is the largest political party in the world, although the party prides itself on its exclusivity, with this number being but 5% of the total population of China.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] As Revolutionary Party

Flag of the Communist Party of China
Flag of the Communist Party of China

The Communist Party of China was initially founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in Shanghai in 1921 as a study society and an informal network. There were informal groups in China in 1920, and also overseas, but the official beginning was the 1st Congress attended by 13 men in July 1921, when the formal and unified name Communist Party of China was adopted and all other names of communist groups were dropped. Mao Zedong was present as one of two delegates from a Hunan communist group, which had maybe 10 members out of 53 for all China. Other 12 members attended included Zhang Guotao, Wang Jingwei, Dong Biwu, Li Hanjun, Li Da, Chen Tanqiu, Liu Renjing, Zhou Fohai, He Shuheng, Deng Enming, Chen Gongbo, Bao Huiseng (represented by Chen Duxiu sheltering in Canton at that time) and a representative from the Comintern.

Flag of the Chinese Soviet Republic, or Jiangxi Soviet, which existed from 1931 to 1934 in Jiangxi Province.
Flag of the Chinese Soviet Republic, or Jiangxi Soviet, which existed from 1931 to 1934 in Jiangxi Province.

Under the guidance of the Soviet Union, the party was reorganized along Leninist lines in 1923, while party members were encouraged to join the Kuomintang as individual members in preparation for the Northern Expedition - a policy recommended by the Dutch communist Henk Sneevliet, then Comintern representative in China (see Henk Sneevliet#Working for the Comintern).

The party was small at first, but grew intermittently through the first Chinese Revolution of 1925-27. Even during that revolution, which was far before the rapid growth of the 1940s and 1950s, the party was the largest communist party in the world, larger even than the CPSU. With the collapse of the revolution in 1927 the party was massacred at the hands of the Kuomintang with more than 4 in 5 members being killed. The only major section of the party which survived was the section built around Mao Zedong, which through its loyalty to the Comintern line and short-lived strategic "alliances" with the Kuomintang, was able to survive the slaughter. Mao Zedong achieved success using Mobile Warfare, which was at first rejected by the leadership and then resumed on the famous Long March. The Western world first got a clear view of the Communist Party of China through Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China.

After 1945, the civil war resumed and despite initial gains by the Kuomintang, it was defeated and forced to flee to off-shore islands, the biggest among which is Taiwan. The Kuomintang's defeat marked the onset of the Chinese Revolution whence Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 1949.

[edit] As Ruling Party

The CPC's ideologies have significantly evolved since its founding. Mao's revolution that founded the PRC was nominally based on Marxism-Leninism with a rural focus based on China's social situations at the time. During the 1960s and 1970s, the CCP experienced a significant ideological breakdown with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev and their allies. Since then Mao's peasant revolutionary vision and so-called "continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" stipulated that class enemies continued to exist even though the socialist revolution seemed to be complete, giving way to the disastrous Cultural Revolution. This fusion of ideas became known officially as "Mao Zedong Thought", or Maoism outside of China. It represented a powerful branch of communism that existed in opposition to the Soviet Union's "Marxist revisionism".

Following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, however, the CCP under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping moved towards Socialism with Chinese characteristics and instituted Chinese economic reform. In reversing some of Mao's "extreme-leftist" policies, Deng argued that a socialist country and the market economy model were not mutually exclusive. While asserting the political power of the Party itself, the change in policy generated significant economic growth. The ideology itself, however, came into clash on both sides of the spectrum with Maoists as well as progressive liberals, culminating with other social factors to cause the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests. Deng's vision for economic success and a new socialist market model became entrenched in the Party constitution in 1997 as Deng Xiaoping Theory.

The "third generation" of leadership under Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, and associates largely continued Deng's progressive economic vision while overseeing the re-emergence of Chinese nationalism in the 1990's. Nationalist sentiment has seemingly also evolved to become informally the part of the Party's guiding doctrine. As part of Jiang's nominal legacy, the CCP ratified the Three Represents into the 2003 revision of the Party Constitution as a "guiding ideology", encouraging the Party to represent "advanced productive forces, the progressive course of China's culture, and the fundamental interests of the people." There are various interpretations of the Three Represents. Most notably, the theory has legitimized the entry of private business owners and quasi-"bourgeoisie" elements into the party.

The insistent road of focusing almost exclusively on economic reform has led to a wide range of serious social problems. The CPC's "fourth generation" of leadership under Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, after taking power in 2003, attempted reversing such a trend by bringing forth an integrated ideology that tackled both social and economic concerns. This new ideology was known as the creation of a Harmonious Society using the Scientific Development Perspective.

The degree of power the Party had on the state has gradually decreased as economic liberalizations progressed. The evolution of CCP ideology has gone through a number of defining changes that it no longer bears much resemblance to its founding principles. The CCP's current policies are fiercely rejected as capitalist by most communists, especially anti-revisionists, and by adherents of the Chinese New Left from within the PRC. Today, college-educated people within the People's Republic of China are said to be more likely to join because of economic benefits of membership.[citation needed]

The CCP both practices and supports a single-party state form of government. In periods of relative political liberalization, the influence of people and organizations outside the formal party structure has tended to increase, but such opportunities have vacillated repeatedly over time. Since the 1980s, as its commitment to Marxist ideology has appeared to wane, the party has begun to increasingly invoke Chinese nationalism as a legitimizing principle as opposed to the socialist construction for which the party was originally created. The change from socialism to nationalism has pleased the CCP's former enemy, the Kuomintang (KMT), which has warmed its relations with the CCP since 2003.[2]

[edit] Role within the People's Republic of China

The CPC is one of the three centers of power within the People's Republic of China, the other two being the state apparatus and the People's Liberation Army. It is the main center of power in the PRC.

The relationship between party and state is somewhat different from that of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union under Stalin's successors, in which the party controlled the state. In the current PRC structure, power derives from the state position, but key state positions are invariably held by members of the party and the party through its organization department makes crucial decisions on who occupies what position. However, in contrast to the Soviet situation where the party had extra-legal authority, since the early 1990s, it has been established that the party is subject to rule of law and is therefore subject to the authority of the state and the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.

Within the central government, the Party and state structures are fused with the leader of a ministry or commission also being the leader of the party body associated with that ministry. At the provincial or lower levels, the party and state heads are invariably separate, although the party head has a high state position and the state head has a high party position.

[edit] Organization

The party's organizational structure was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt afterwards by Deng Xiaoping, who subsequently initiated "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and brought all state apparatuses back under the control of the CPC.

Theoretically, the party's highest body is the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which meets at least once every 5 years. The primary organs of power in the Communist Party which are listed in the party constitution include:

Jiang Zemin with Hu Jintao, the current General Secretary of the party.
Jiang Zemin with Hu Jintao, the current General Secretary of the party.

Other central organizations include:

  • General Office;
  • Organization Department;
  • Propaganda (Publicity) Department;
  • International Liaison Department; and
  • United Front Department
The People's Liberation Army in dress uniform.
The People's Liberation Army in dress uniform.

In addition, there are numerous commissions and leading groups, the most important of which are:

  • Commission for Politics and Law
  • Work Committee for Organs under the Central Committee
  • Work Committee for Central Government Organs
  • Central Financial and Economic Leading Group
  • Central Leading Group for Rural Work
  • Central Leading Group for Party Building
  • Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group
  • Central Taiwan Affairs Leading Group
  • Commission for Protection of Party Secrets
  • Leading Group for State Security
  • Party History Research Centre
  • Party Research Center
  • Central Party School

Every five years, the Communist Party of China holds a National Congress. Formally, the Congress serves two functions: to approve changes to the Party constitution and to elect a Central Committee, about 300 strong. The Central Committee in turn elects the Politburo. In practice, positions within the Central Committee and Politburo are determined before a Party Congress, and the main purpose of the Congress is to announce the party policies and vision for the direction of China in the following few years.

The party's central focus of power is the Politburo Standing Committee. The process for selecting Standing Committee members, as well as Politburo members, occurs behind the scenes in a process parallel to the National Congress. The new power structure is announced obliquely through the positioning of portraits in the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Party. The number of Standing Committee members varies and has tended to increase over time. The Committee was expanded to nine at the 16th Party National Congress in 2002.

There are two other key organs of political power in the People's Republic of China: the formal government and the People's Liberation Army.

There are, in addition to decision-making roles, advisory committees, including the People's Political Consultative Conference. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a Central Advisory Commission established by Deng Xiaoping which consisted of senior retired leaders, but with their passing this has been abolished.

[edit] Viewpoints: Criticism and Support

There are a variety of opinions about the Communist Party of China, and opinions about the CPC often create unexpected political alliances and divisions. For example, many chief executive officers of Western companies tend to have favorable impressions of the CPC,[citation needed] while many revolutionary Maoists and other Marxists have strongly negative opinions. Trotskyists argue that the party lost its Marxist credentials in the 1920s and adhered to a Stalinist political doctrine, with many calling for political revolution. Opinions about the CPC also create very strong divisions among groups normally ideologically united such as conservatives in the United States.

Many of the unexpected opinions about the CPC result from its rare combination of attributes as a party formally based on Marxism which has overseen a dynamic market economy, yet maintains an authoritarian political system.

Supporters of the International Tibet Independence Movement, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Falun Gong, a spiritual group, and Taiwan independence, neoconservatives in the United States and Japan, along with many left-wing forces in those same countries, are among the groups which have opposed the CPC government because it is a single-party state regime.

In addition, American neoconservatives sometimes argue that the Communist Party of China is a grave threat to peace because of its authoritarian nature, its adherence to a military build up, and threats made to Taiwan.

Some of the opponents of the Party within the Chinese democracy movement have tended not to argue that a strong Chinese state is inherently bad, but rather that the Communist leadership is corrupt. The Chinese New Left, meanwhile, is a current within China that seeks to "revert China to the socialist road" -- i.e., to return China to the days after Mao Zedong but before the reforms of Deng Xiaoping and his successors.

Another school of thought argues that the worst of the abuses took place decades ago, and that the current leadership is not only unconnected with them, but were actually victims of that era. They have also argued that while the modern Communist Party may be flawed, it is comparatively better than previous regimes, with respect to improving the general standard of living, than any other government that has governed China in the past century and can be put in more favorable light against most governments of the developing nations. However, farmers and other rural people have been marginalized, and their standard of living and national influence have been greatly reduced, as a result, the CPC has recently taken sweeping measures to regain support from the countryside, to limited success.

In addition, some scholars contend that China has never operated under a decentralized democratic regime in its several thousand years of history, and therefore it can be argued that the structure present, albeit not up to western moral standards, is the best possible option when compared to its alternatives. A sudden transition to democracy, they contend, would result in the economic and political upheaval that occurred in the Soviet Union in the 1990s, and that by focusing on economic growth, China is setting the stage for a more gradual but more sustainable transition to a more liberal system. This group sees Mainland China as being similar to Spain in the 1960s, and South Korea and Taiwan during the 1970s.

As with the first group, this school of thought brings together some unlikely political allies. Not only do most intellectuals within the Chinese government follow this school of thinking, but it is also the common belief held amongst pro-free trade liberals in the West.

There is also a common misconception that Communist Party members are supportive of their party's policies, and that the party line is united nationally. In fact, many regional party organizations pursue their own ideological deviants from the conventional ideologies promoted by the party, and can be antagonistic to the party at the national level.


[edit] Current leadership

The Members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China are:

Members of the Politburo of the CPC Central committee:

Wang Lequan, Wang Zhaoguo, Hui Liangyu, Liu Qi, Liu Yunshan, Li Changchun, Wu Yi, Wu Bangguo, Wu Guanzheng, Zhang Lichang, Zhang Dejiang, Chen Liangyu (dismissed in September 2006), Luo Gan, Zhou Yongkang, Hu Jintao, Yu Zhengsheng, He Guoqiang, Jia Qinglin, Guo Boxiong, Huang Ju, Cao Gangchuan, Zeng Qinghong, Zeng Peiyan, Wen Jiabao.

Alternate member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee: Wang Gang

Members of Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee: Zeng Qinghong, Liu Yunshan, Zhou Yongkang, He Guoqiang, Wang Gang, Xu Caihou, He Yong.

[edit] List of leaders of the Communist Party of China

Main article: List of leaders of the Communist Party of China

In reality, since the founding of the PRC, only four individuals have held the formal position of CPC leadership (Chairman before 1982, General Secretary thereafter) concurrent to being China's paramount leader. They were:

Deng Xiaoping was notably the Chinese leader who did not hold formal leadership posts in the Communist Party during his tenure as China's paramount leader, a period which in reality lasted from 1978 to the mid-1990's.

Two people held the position of Communist Party General Secretary without holding paramount power (interestingly, they were all dismissed and fell into political disgrace):

[edit] References

  1. ^ CPC holds grand rally to celebrate 85th founding anniversary, Xinhua News Agency, June 30, 2006
  2. ^ See 2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China.
  3. ^ Hua Guofeng's term goes on to 1982, but did not have real power during the years 1978-1982
  4. ^ there are different opinions on which year Jiang's paramount power began. Some say 1992, when he became President, some say 1995, when Deng's influence became basically negligible, some say 1997, when Deng died

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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