Page 319 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes 13.3 Structure and Role of the Communist Party in China

The Communist Party of China occupies an important position in the political system of China. Like
Communist Parties in other Communist countries it performs functions which are radically different
from the functions performed by parties in liberal democratic system. Even in comparison to the
Communist Party of Soviet Union, the Communist Party of China occupies as a unique position. In
so far as in Russia the revolution was brought about not by the Bolshevik Communist Party alone, on
the other hand in China the credit for ushering the revolution rests with the Communist Party, which
worked both against the local Kuomintang (National Party), the Japanese aggressors. After the
accomplishment of the revolution the Communist Party became the chief guiding force and began to
determine the major policies and decisions of the government.
In fact Mao established the Communist Party with a view to provide an organizational structure
through which the State could exercise its dictatorship on behalf of the proletarist and from which all
the authority flowed. He asserted that “any attack on the party as such would be in the nature of a
rebellion, an attack on the system and an attempt to subvert the state.” According to Prof. Gargi Dutt,
Mao recreated party structure which had three features. Firstly, it was created under the watchful
eyes of the army, which naturally came to acquire a leading voice in the selection of members. Secondly,
most of the important positions both at the central as well as provincial and local levels were reserved
for the men. Thirdly, a number of new faces were mainly taken from the army, even though some
were picked up from the masses.
Organisation: Like Communist Parties in other countries the Communist Party of China is organised
on the principle of ‘democratic centralism’, which means that all leading party organs are constituted
on the basis of election by the lower organ and are accountable for their working to them at specified
intervals. On the other hand centralism implies that all important decisions are taken by the top
party organs and the lower organs faithfully implement these decisions. In other words it implies
that “the individual is subordinate to the organisation, the minority is subordinate to the majority,
the lower level is subordinate to the higher level and the entire party is subordinate to the Central
Committee”.
Another notable feature of the party organisation in China is its hierarchical structure. The lowest
organ of the party is known as cell which is constituted in factories, schools, colleges and even street.
Cell can be formed by any 20 party members. The main task of the cell is to prepare new members for
the party and propagate Mao’s ideology. It also tries to promote labour discipline. The next organ of
the party is the Municipal Party Congress which is constituted by the cells and supervises their
working. It meets once a year. Above municipal party Congress stands provincial Congress which is
responsible for organising the party work within their respective areas. Above the provincial Congress
stands the National Party Congress which is elected by the Provincial Congresses for a period of five
years, and is the highest organ of the party. It formulates the policies and programmes of the party
and can also revise or amend the party constitution. It is quite an unwieldy body and works through
the Central Committee.
The Central Committee is appointed by the National Party Congress and directs all the work of the
party when the National Party Congress is not in session. It supervises the work of all party cadres
and keeps watch on the working of lower party organisations. The Central Committee works through
Polit Bureau which actually takes all important party decisions. The members of Polit bureau are
elected by the Central-Committee. Above the Polit Bureau stands the Standing Committee which
includes all top ranking party members. It takes all important decisions subject to the approval of the
Polit Bureau and the Central Committee.
In addition the Party has a Secretariat which is responsible for the execution of its policy. It also looks
after the daily routine work of the Central Committee. Apart from this there exist a large number of
party control commissions.
Role of the Communist Party: As noted above, the Communist Party of China has been assigned a
dominant role in the political system of the country. According to Ward and Macridis, “In the politics
of China, the Chinese Communist Party is clearly the decision making centre and implementing

314 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY