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The Chinese Political System and the Communist Party

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China

Adopted on December 4, 1982 by the Fifth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China at its Fifth Session.

Preamble

China is one of the countries with the longest histories in the world. The people of all nationalities in China have jointly created a splendid culture and have a glorious revolutionary tradition.

Feudal China was gradually reduced after 1840 to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. The Chinese people waged wave upon wave of heroic struggles for national independence and liberation and for democracy and freedom.

Great and earth-shaking historical changes have taken place in China in the 2Oth century.

The Revolution of 1911, led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, abolished the feudal monarchy and gave birth to the Republic of China. But the Chinese people had yet to fulfill their historical task of overthrowing imperialism and feudalism.

After waging hard, protracted and tortuous struggles, armed and otherwise, the Chinese people of all nationalities led by the Communist Party of China with Chairman Mao Zedong as its leader ultimately, in 1949, overthrew the rule of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism, won the great victory of the new democratic revolution and founded the People's Republic of China. Thereupon the Chinese people took state power into their own hands and became masters of the country.

After the founding of the People's Republic, the transition of Chinese society from a new-democratic to a socialist society was effected step by step. The socialist transformation of the private ownership of the means of production was completed, the system of exploitation of man by man eliminated and the socialist system established. The people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants, which is in essence the dictatorship of the proletariat, has been consolidated and developed. The Chinese people and the Chinese People's Liberation Army have thwarted aggression, sabotage and armed provocations by imperialists and hegemonists, safeguarded China's national independence and security and strengthened its national defence. Major successes have been achieved in economic development. An independent and fairly comprehensive socialist system of industry has in the main been established. There has been a marked increase in agricultural production. Significant progress has been made in educational, scientific, cultural and other undertakings, and socialist ideological education has yielded noteworthy results. The living standards of the people have improved considerably.

Both the victory of China's new-democratic revolution and the successes of its socialist cause have been achieved by the Chinese people of all nationalities under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, and by upholding truth, correcting errors and overcoming numerous difficulties and hardships. The basic task of the nation in the years to come is to concentrate its effort on socialist modernization. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, the Chinese people of all nationalities will continue to adhere to the people's democratic dictatorship and follow the socialist road, steadily improve socialist institutions, develop socialist democracy, improve the socialist legal system and work hard and self-reliantly to modernize industry, agriculture, national defence and science and technology step by step to turn China into a socialist country with a high level of culture and democracy.

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The Constitution of the Communist Party of China
Adopted by the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on September 6, 1982.

General Programme


The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the faithful representative of the interests of the people of all nationalities in China, and the force at the core leading China's cause of socialism. The Party's ultimate goal is the creation of a communist social system.

The Communist Party of China takes Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought as its guide to action. ...

In order to lead China's people of all nationalities in attaining the great goal of socialist modernization, the Communist Party of China must strengthen itself, carry forward its fine traditions, enhance its fighting capacity and resolutely achieve the following three essential requirements:

First, a high degree of ideological and political unity. The Communist Party of China makes the realization of communism its maximum programme, to which all its members must devote their entire lives. At the present stage, the political basis for the solidarity and unity of the whole Party consists in adherence to the socialist road, to the people's democratic dictatorship, to the leadership of the party, and to Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought and in the concentration of our efforts on socialist modernization. The Party's ideological line is to proceed from reality in all things, to integrate theory with practice, to seek truth from facts, and to verify and develop the truth through practice. In accordance with this ideological line, the whole Party must scientifically sum up historical experience, investigate and study actual conditions, solve new problems in domestic and international affairs, and oppose all erroneous deviations, whether "Left" or Right.

Second, wholehearted service to the people. The Party has no special interests of its own apart from the interests of the working class and the broadest masses of the people. The programme and policies of the Party are precisely the scientific expressions of the fundamental interests of the working class and the broadest masses of the people. Throughout the process of leading the masses in struggle to realize the ideal of communism, the Party always shares weal and woe with the people, keeps in closest contact with them, and does not allow any member to become divorced from the masses or place himself above the masses. The Party persists in educating the masses in communist ideas and follows the mass line in its work, doing everything for the masses, relying on the masses in every task, and turning its correct views into conscious action by the masses.

Third, adherence to democratic centralism. Within the Party, democracy is given full play, a high degree of centralism is practiced on the basis of democracy and a sense of organization and discipline is strengthened, so as to ensure unity of action throughout its ranks and the prompt and effective implementation of its decisions. In its internal political life, the Party conducts criticism and self-criticism in the correct way, waging ideological struggles over matters of principle, upholding truth and rectifying mistakes. Applying the principle that all members are equally subject to Party discipline, the Party duly criticizes or expels those who persist in opposing and harming the Party.

Party leadership consists mainly in political, ideological and organizational leadership. The Party must formulate and implement correct lines, principles and policies, do its organizational, propaganda and educational work well and make sure that all Party members play their exemplary vanguard role in every sphere of work and every aspect of social life. The Party must conduct its activities within the limits permitted by the Constitution and the laws of the state. It must see to it that the legislative, judicial and administrative organs of the state and the economic, cultural and people's organizations work actively and with initiative, independently, responsibly and in harmony. The Party must strengthen its leadership over the trade unions, the Communist Youth League, the Women's Federation and other mass organizations, and give full scope to their roles. The Party members are a minority in the whole population, and they must work in close co-operation with the masses of non-Party people in the common effort to make our socialist motherland ever stronger and more prosperous, until the ultimate realization of communism.

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Discussion Questions

  1. Find a diagram of the United States government and compare it to that of the Chinese government. What is the relationship between the federal, state, and local governments in the United States? Is this similar to or different than the centralized unified system of government found in China? (See Chart).
  2. Describe the role played by political parties in the United States, especially by the two major parties-- the Democrats and the Republicans. Is this similar to or different than the role played by the Chinese Communist Party?
  3. When discussing the U.S. government, we often speak of "the balance of power" between the three branches of government-- the executive (the president), the legislative (Congress), and the judicial (the Supreme Court). What is the "balance of power"? What is its purpose? How is this similar to or different than the Chinese system of government? (See Chart).
  4. Would Americans accept the idea that any one element of the government-- the president, Congress, or the Supreme Court, or one of the political parties-- should be stronger than all the others? Why?
  5. What place is given to individual freedom in the American definition of the ideal political society? How does this seem to differ from the Chinese sense of the ideal political society or from their sense of an individual's rights?
  6. On what principle do Americans disagree with the Chinese system of government? Think about and discuss the following:
    a) Do you and your classmates agree on how people "should" behave? Would Americans in general allow someone else to tell them how to behave? While some Americans might agree with the notion that all people should behave in a certain way, wouldn't they be less confident in deciding how to establish and enforce a standard of behavior? How would the entire society decide what was correct behavior, especially if people disagreed?
    b) Is there a committee at your school in charge of monitoring the social behavior of all the students? Is there such a committee in your neighborhood or at you or your mother's or father's place of work?
    c) How do Americans feel about laws that affect our personal behavior? What type of arguments are generated by issues such as: school prayer; the banning of books from public libraries or high school reading lists; the opening of a pornographic bookstore? How are the debates generated by these issues resolved?
    d) Do Americans accept government censorship of the news, media, television, radio, newspapers? Would Americans generally agree that through open discussion and free expression of opinion, the correct ideas emerge? How would this differ from the Chinese view? 
  7. Do we, as Americans, accept the idea that someone in government should be able to tell us how best to arrange our personal affairs? What job we should take? Whom and when we should marry? When we should have children and how many?
  8. Perhaps you know people or perhaps you yourself or your family belong to an organization or a religious group that sets standards for personal behavior. How is this the same or different from the government? Can people choose to belong or not to belong to such a group, or does the group automatically include everyone in the society?

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China: A Teaching Workbook | © Columbia University, East Asian Curriculum Project
Asia for Educators | afe.easia.columbia.edu

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