chin. 50 the communist party_0001

8/11/2019 Chin. 50 the Communist Party_0001

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85THE COMMUNIST PARTY

fownded,.-i',.+*t2#'.4t a meeting of fourteen delegates fromsix cells' tbe Chinese

Comrnunist rorry g,'*"ii"io'o'-ocjo *"*b"' b'y D3:3' 1'2 millionmembers by

1945, and 4.5 million *'*a'it Uy Da9' To aciieue its goal of ouerthrowingthe

existing gouernment )"1)tir,titning a socialist stdte,lheparty had to bwild a

command. strwcture "r:;;;;";7irc:isiue.leadership, a body of,cadres to cdrrv

out

their decisions' and '""'*y 'Ut'i'-fiql"the betier-eqwippedNationalists' Frorn

1934 wntilhis death tu\'giZ, UooZ*i,ngg-"cupiedtLeLigh.est,eadershiprole in

the party. Much of the )rr:iiirriiiitnsTt b po'uy into an effectiuereuolutionarv

orsanization shoutd,;;:;;'r:;', g; " ;i3h""-;t1l8e,-1e6e\'tike Mao from

;i:;:;;;;;;' ) *i*i'''of the pirtv sinc.e the 1e20s' ^ -- -f'"'iil,,nt,,tionbetowi'i;;.191t*:*;r':,J1#,Y;::,:1:;;::';;:;,::party organizations tben operattng undergrc

he stressed. rlr" i*porro*"r'ri o;r:; *r*i'."' accepting discipline andpreseruing

secrecy. Euen after 'nl'iLt""iom*"i't i'u:i a'fi*ed ihe 'Nationalists and

shifted its centrar ,rrir"rr''*)roging tL* staie aid economy,the organizational

;';;;;;; i;rebped during wartirne remdined irnportant'Through th, tg+i', t'iso" ona oao".il' si'oqi was one 'of

the handful '

top leadeygranQhe "1"'i depresidettt of the-leopie'sRepublic of Chitu

"":

lsse tuY1's6s,"ttu'i|g'iii:e;t';;;;i n"ot'l'iii'i'o*""'' be' w'as brtnjej :) 'chief "caiif-alir, 'ooii''l' 'nj;:[p)o:*x6rashcheu"

and he died front "::::-';:'rnent in L969.

\7hile providing more favorable conditions for,h.';;;;;; d",,.iop and carrvout its 11,11, the.rirfUtn*."t of Guomindang-CommunISt- coop-;ffi;;;ilot,id"'ublv incrlase the possibilitiesfor the bourgeoisie'o ""t"

its influence upol the

;;;;;;;;dermine it from within' In order to'#,### r-;;;; ind'P"'d""e'.PuritY' andffi;;;"rir.irra ir) raise the requirements for

those whowish to 'tr-r- lr-: ;:-' ::ii place rhem

rrlpt"urii"" for : :t: - -': :r;.ie s'orkers r:ra''be excepted r: I ;: -'1 :J' :'r:.i:itlitltt :di:::1-:.of partv membe:t ::.I 1--::''l r theor\':

r Lr:l-r '-

iuirr"air.ipii,-'t "i-r:'e ertendingdemo'-::'1

within the pa=: j :titct pam'cadr


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41,2 I The PeoPle's RePublicship mentioned here may be less strict in partyo r ganizations working underground.

In the restoration and expansion of party or-

ganizations in some places we must depend onbackbone members and cadres who are trustlvor-thy and absolutelv true to the party. On no ac-count should these people be transferred wilfully.A clear distinction should be drawn betweeninner-parn' rvork and open mass work. Strictersecrec\- should be enforced regarding all inner-partl u-ork and organizational matters, whichshould not be made known to all our comrades,

particularly those working in the open. Party or-gans should be very small, and unnecessary orga-nizations and official titles should be abolished.Their contacts with other quarters, especially withcomrades working openly, should be establishedrvith finesse. Although this is a very difficult task,it is a most important aspect of undergroundwork. These small, underground leading organsmust be preserved even when the situation per-

mits overt action. In cases when greater overt ac-tion becomes possible, it will suffice for the massorganizations and comrades who work in theopen to take part in public activities.

With regard to the party's underground work,we should have foresight, persistence, and pa-tience and we must not allow the slightest impet-uosity or negligence because, with the situationchanging, what seems unimportant today may be-

come very important tomorrow. So, what we dotoday should be subordinate to what we do to-morrow. In the past, many of our comrades sim-piy did not have a long-range perspective orpatience. They were afflicted with an intolerableimpetuosity and were much too negligent. Eventoda.', they do not take into account the presentcircumstances and still less the future situationu'hen assigning tasks and carrying them out. They

recruit parw members in public, Iaunch revolu-tionarv emulation drives, initiate shock cam-paigns, and transfer cadres and reshuffle partyorganizations at rvill. From now on, we mustcease to criticize our comrades arbitrarily as"fearing death" or "vacillating," for this encour-ages adventurist sentiments. The hurry-scurry dis-

order in the underground organs should also --.stopped.

If something goes wrong in our undergrou:.:

organizations, they should suspend operatio-When a situation grows tense, the staff shou.:leave the place {or a while if possible. '$fitho-:considerable assurance of security, rlo \r-otrshould be embarked upon. It doesn't matter if r:,:work is not well done.'What really matters is th::the organizations must under no circumstances I =destroyed. We must be particularly careful to e=-tablish solid underground leading organs whic:.

will not vacillate under any storm and stress. [:must take firm disciplinary measures against tho'.comrades who violate the principles of unde:-ground work.

We shall be in a position to deal with enem.agents provided we properly coordinate our ope:-and underground work and provided the undei-ground organizations carry out their work in a:,orderly way without negligence or recklessness.

Enemy agents can still sneak into our party. So ir,addition to carefully selecting our members, u'eshould try to prevent these agents from doing verrserious harm to us, chiefly by properly coordinat-ing our open and underground work.

-.Tfhere conditions permit, inner-party democ-racy should be extended. For instance, the leading

, organs should frequently communicate with the, rank and file, ask them for criticisms of their lead-; ers and offer guidance through discussion withj them. lWe should not only formally adopt some-=dEhocratic procedures but, much more impor-

tantly, we should advocate a democratic spirit inour work. The leading organs should carefullvconsider the opinions of all comrades and respecrthe rights they are entitled to. Leading membersdo not have any privileges inside the party and scmust not take pride in their leading status and be-

come conceited. They should submit to the ma-jority, subject themselves to discipline, acceptcriticisms from their subordinates, listen atten-tively to the reports from below and make detailedexplanations to the comrades concerned. Thevshould regard themselves as ordinary people, treatother comrades as equals and brothers, and han-

{-:e problems lmF\ar:;:irit which all ourtpitit lt which to n

r-hich to educateotl

:tocracY that is needInstances of com

.rill abound in thffr'olve Problems

rhort:nd according to P::r--o organizational ISome of them are r

'*'ithout resorting :o

are too mechanicals

of leadershiP. Thrs qoc-1-atic Practice. -{l

. t Trom a political and'f ;' and onlY then u'r " o:lln measures be u'arra::II;r- rhe partY and shor:.

-not be used erceP: ;4 - To tighten ci--:1

comrades' sense of r.' selves to the malox- tion; it does nor r

should make freousures to Punish ou:the more the Ieai:ishment, the more t

-SqsjPline is' B' rsrthat within rhe e-ar

express oPinions iing organs but th-r:maioritY in acrio:-gans' decisions ceSuch inqnclad JLrtremelY difficuli iomine us. But Purutaids to them.

' I he Part\' 5 '(r-'liished onlY on rhe ibe considered tru-r

Porates the exPe-tthe comrades. Dertem of individu-r- :rhan-{. PePisions,ot

-democraticallt. -:.-'-) l ._,ilr

-)i/'


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T ('',-:

Ce problems impartially. This is the democratic.pirit which all our cadres should possess, thespirit in which to remold themselves and with

*hich to educate other comrades. This is the de-qgclagy that is needed inside the party',\-Instances of commandism and punitiveness

srili abound in thEfarty. Our comradds, failin -tosolve problems thoroughly from a political angleand aicording to principles, have instead resorted:o organizational and disciplinary measures. .Some of them are unable to solve any problenrl

u'ithout resorting to the latter.) Moreover, they'

are too mechanical and absolute in their methodsof leadership. This is a kind of extremely undem-ocratic practice. All problems should be solved

'from a political angle and according to principles,and only then will organizationaland disciplinaryrneasures be warranted. Discipline is necessary inthe party and rli;;ia-G'iighi.n.d, but it should

-not be used except as a last resort.- To tighten diicipline means'to he'ighten ourcomradei' sense of the need to subordinate them-selves to the majority and to the party organiza-tion; it does not mean that the leading organsshould make frequent use of disciplinary mea-sures to punish our comrades. On the contrary,the more the leading organs resort to such pun-ishment, the more obvious the poor state of our

-{iq*cjp-Llne.-rs-.-Ey party discipline we do not meanihat within the party comrades are forbidden toexpress opinions differing from those of the lead-ing organs but that they submit themselves to themaiority in action and carry out the leading or-gans' decisions .despite differences of opinion'Such inqrclad disciffiib,ilout party makes it ex-remely difficult for the enemy agents to under-mine us. But punitiveness and commandism areaids to them. /-The'pilii;i collective leadership can be estab-

lished only on the basis of democracy. And it canbe considered truly collective only when it incor-porates the experience and the useful ideas of a1lihe comrades. Democratic centralism and the sys-tem of individual responsibility should go hand in-hand.

Dectsi,qnq q4-Mjor issues should be made- demoirati.rtty, ,itt ough individuals must hold

..::.. should also :.

- -: undergrou::: -::=:'id operatio:.::. tri staff shou-:: : ssible. 'Witho-.::.: - -lli1'. flO \1'Olr.: :::- I matter if th.:::--" 3amerS iS th::- :::aumstances b.

: -.::-'.' careful to es-::--.: organs whic:

: :::: and stress. [e::;-::S againStthOSe:'".:-;::les of under-

: :.:.1 s.ith enemv- ::inate our open:: '.:ied the under--: :ieir rvork in an

:--: tr recklessness,r: rur paffy. So in: :i members, we

=---,-s ::om doing verl: :eriv coordinat-

- a .,,,.-rrk,

,.-.:-.:-party democ-.:-:::rce, the leading-:l:nicate with the' --::rls of their lead-

-: . iiscussion with,:-:.:llr-adopt some--..,h more impor-:.=ocratic spirit in-.. .rould carefully:::::des and respect

*;ading members:: ::re party and So

-:.-::g status and be-

: .-:mit to the ma-::scipline, accept:::es. listen atten-,. :id make detailed:r -rlflCeffled. They- :. :r ar\- people, treat: ::Lrfhers, and han-

f.,tr

The Comtnunist Partt' I 41,3\,,'th. ,"rporrribility for executing these decisions.'Exejcutive o.grrri should .ur.y otrt their rvork inan orderly way and should be governed bv disci-

pline, while leaders shouldsupervise and check

up on this work. )i-The true demoLratic spirit is inseparable from

the communist morality of selflessness; its oppo-'site is selfishness. Conceit, ostentation, and indi-

.. vidualiitic heroism are manifestations of selfish' thinking. People who think this way seek to lord itover others and are unwilling to play second fid-dle; they want the right to order others about but

do not want to take orders; they criticize,attack,

and abuse others at will but do not allow others to,criticizethem; they want others to submit to theiri "decisions" but they themselves refuse to obey thedecisions of the party organization; they considerothers' violations of the principle of centralism tobe breaches of discipline but deny that their ownviolations of the democratic principle are likewisedisciplinary breaches; and they seek only their

own Pr-o,Inotion and even do so at the expense of.-oth6ii. These are remnants in the party of the ide-ology characteristic of the old society and are con-trary to the spirit of democracY.

The extension of democracy in the parn' re-quires, in the first place, that our cadres shouidhave a keen understanding of it and sei an .\3rn-ple by their own actions before thel can :r:rn \r-lrcomrades and the masses to pracrice ier:oc:-:ct '

In the past, partv members and c;ire s'"''-r.

-'-i::;J'to speak lest thet should nake mlt:aies trr:d ieheld responsible for rherr. T:r. s:.n:rei ir'rm alack of demogl2gv ii1 :he ::::','. I:s::: .i of employ-ing persuasion and. -j,:;::-.': itr fl]Coufdge oufcomrades in ther: \\'ori :: ::e ios'er ler-els, we of-ten struggle t'rrh :rd an:ck them in order to getthe s'ork done. This is nor a democratic approach.It has made our comrades afraid to speak and to

act for iear of serring off a struggle. Struggle isonh' necessarv in dealing with those who persistin their mistakes and refuse to study and mendtheir wa1's. Even then, the purpose is to educate'

It was wrong to wilfullyattack our comradesduring ideological struggles, label them as oppor-tunists, and dismiss them from their work because


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414 I The PeoPle's RePublic

they expressed differing views. The result- of thispractic; has been that a lot of comrades who helddiff"r.r, views dared not express them' This onlyserved to conceal differences on political issuesand on issues of principle so that the differencescould not be thrashed out. And it only led to su-perficral unitv in the party and impaired realpolitical and ideologicai unity establishedon prin-.lpl.t. Instead of lessening opposition betweenor.r. .o*rades and the leading organs, it intensi-fied such opposition. Therefore, rather than help-ing the leaders, the comrades were always findingfault rvith them, thus giving rise to further unprin-cipled struggle. The seeming absence of differ-e.,ces of opinion is not always a good thigg,

'When we'say that we shoulil not attack ourcomrades wilfully in ideological struggles, we donot mean that we should deny the existence of

'. divergent views on political issues and on issues ofprinciple among our comrades' Qn. the contrary,it it really to resolve such differences that we want-

, our comrades to express their views fully' Most ofthe differences can be eliminated through persua-sion and discussion. In the future, we must beparticularly careful about expelling comrades be-carrs. of their different views on political issuesand on issues of principle. We should do so onlywhen they violate organizational discipline and

All work and ihange depend'on our cad6'Therefore, the question of the cadres is a crucialone in the party. The party's central task is to trainla.ge ,tumbers of cadres and assign them to the

"u.io.r,fronts. The local organizations should pay

special attention to the selection of cadres fortraining. In his conclusion, Comrade Mao Ze-Jong put forward the criteria for the kind of cad-..t ..'. require at present. He said they must beversed in Marxism-Leninism, politically far-siehred. .ompetent in work, full of the spirit ofself-sacrihce. capable of tackling problems ontheir os'n. sreadfast in the midst of difficulties,loval and Ce.'oted in serving the nation, the class,and the partr'. and free from selfishness and indi-vidualistic heroism. Er-erv one of our cadresshould aspire to measure up to these criteria'

To bring our present and future cadres up tcthese criteria will entail arduous efforts both b'.the party and the cadres themselves. We shouli

not use these criteria to test them and to dismissthose who are not yet up to the criteria. It is ob-vious that our cadres have various shortcomings'political as well as in competence, thinking, andid.ology, and some are even tainted with the badhabits of the old society. But our purpose is toremold them and raise them to the required stan-dard, not to destroy them. This is extremely hardwork, but it can be done beqause we are going to

,u-qid--h. wh6lA"ofmr'kird.'sr. should regu-larl')'.examine.otrrcadies, assign them appropriatejobs and tasks to which they are equal, and helpthem in their work. The leading organs in manyplaces have made mistakes in this respect andshould correct them.

The promotion of new cadres is an importantmatter "t

pr.t.t t, but they can be promoted onlyby stages.'We should not casually boost them into

very hlgh positions, as we did in the past, for itonly seiuei to overwhelm them. In North China,breaches in harmony and cooperation betweenveteran and new cadres have already cropped up'This merits our attention' Both veteran and newcadres have their own strong points as well astheir shortcomings. They should learn from andrespect each other, so that each can adopt the oth-er's strong points, offset his own weaknesses, and

help to improve collective leadership'Party members who join mass organizations

should set up leading party groups' But theseparty groups must be skillful in carrying out theirwork. A leading party group should absolutely ac-cept the leadership of the party headquarters atth-e corresponding level and the leadership of theparty groups at higher levels. The party headquar-iers sho.rld be prudent and considerate when giv-

ing leadership to party groups. They shoulddilrtt all matters with the comrades of thegroups and should refrain from mechanicallytaking decisions on all minor issues' This does,rot ,n.".t that they should not give them leader-ship on specific matters; rather, it means that their

leadership should be dYnamic.

I

I

- -Th. diSorderlt al.of our comrades shotend to the cenrral u

way accordingro rtrq

All our comrades b,spirit which, hortesetruly down-to-earrhtively push f,or'*'ard

'rrq . 6nce thev hasspsg1lc task, the'' sbto b.uckledou:r andwith the integranon

practical sPirit can teliminated and b'ureThere should t'e ;

paganda work. esetlot of successes in dsome of our coruaipropaganda slogaeparfy education iganda, slogans for

masses, and Pam- 1of the masses. The

ir y''


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=::le cadres up :- -i efforts both ::--.r'es. We shou-:

-=::: and to disnr..:-: ::ireria. It is o:-:-- -s shortcominE..:=::;e. rhinking, an-

=-:::ed n-ith the ba;: :: purpose is i::-:e required star-

' i :i ;\Tremely har;i--'.re are going tc'- [e should regu----: ::.m appropriare:--. .cual) and help

. :; rrgans in man.'---. ::is respect and

:--- rs an important.:: ra tromoted onl.'.. -.'. hoost them into

.: r:: rhe past, for it:::,. ln \orth China...::..ration between:-:=adr-cropped up.:: i'eteran and neu',- :oints as well as

'i. learn from and: - ;.:.a adopt the oth-'.. -. ',,,-eaknesses, and

:.-=:ship.:.:ss organizations

, =oups. But these::: ;:rn-ing out their

,.-- ,, :ld absolutely ac-r::' headquarters at::: .eadership of the--.-.. rarty headquar-:.;:i.erate when giv-

-:s. They should:= comrades of the::om mechanically:: issues. This does.: give them leader-

::- rr means that their

\{ " The Communist PartY / 415

--Tfie diSo*Eit and unsystematic style of work "Get armed to support the Soviet Union" andof our comrades should changeJhey should at- "Get armed to wage the national revolutionaryrendto the central tasks and wolk in an orderly war" when mobilizing the masses for action. Theyway-according.to.theprioritiesatdifferentstages. added to strike demands the call to "Drive the{li our comrades have an ardent-revolutionary , Japanese aggressors out of China." It often hap-spirit which, however, should be combined with a , pened that they published articles on inner-partyuuly down-to-earth spirit, so that they can effec- i problems in publications distributed in generaldvely p_ugf .6orward. their.wor{

chin. 50 the communist party_0001

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