Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, March 28, 2014

Listen up!

If democratic centralism is to work, the people at the top of the system have to listen to what the masses are saying. The Communist Party of China has issued a reminder about the importance of listening.

The official Party statements as translated by the propaganda (i.e. public relations) department have always seemed, to me, to have a naive tone and stilted syntax. This press release continues that tradition.

CPC demands officials hear public views

A Communist Party of China (CPC) department has required CPC members and officials to listen to the public in a direct face-to-face manner.

Hearing of public opinions should be combined with study and education as well as solving practical problems in carrying out the second phase of China's "mass line" campaign, said a circular issued by the leading group of the campaign and published on Wednesday.

CPC officials should communicate with members of the public in good faith and with sincerity and encourage them to express their real feelings and thoughts, the circular said.

Party leaders and members at city and county-level CPC and government agencies should reach local communities and villages and conduct long-term investigations, random visits and individual talks with members of the public in order to hear their opinions, it said.

The document demanded no delay in addressing problems spotted in the campaign, such as leading officials' pursuit of "vanity" projects and snobbish attitudes, the Party and government agencies' idle and irresponsible work style, as well as power abuse and unfair enforcement practices by officials with law enforcement and public service organs.

CPC committees and organizations at all levels should take political responsibility to ensure the campaign is carried out in a proper manner and leading officials should invest enough time and energy to advance the campaign, the circular said.

It also called on CPC members and officials to study President Xi Jinping's recent remarks on the mass-line campaign and learn from the late model official Jiao Yulu.