Red Tape is the symbol of government restrictions on independent action by people, groups, and companies. China may be the champion of red tape and democratic centralism may be the primary cause.
China’s war on bureaucratic window dressing has been stepped up, with 2019 declared the year of reducing the burden on grass-roots officials.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is counting on the millions of junior party cadres across the country to implement his ambitious campaigns to end corruption, alleviate poverty and rejuvenate the nation. Instead, they often find themselves entangled in endless meetings and exhausted by the mountains of reports they are required to prepare…
Li, a staffer at a county-level legislature in the southern province of Guangdong… said his fellow cadres also lamented that their appraisals were based on “ridiculous” check-the-box indicators instead of meaningful measures of their performance…
In a March directive announcing the latest crackdown on “formalism” – as the flurry of meaningless bureaucratic activity is known in China – the party’s Central Committee warned against evaluating cadres’ performance solely on the basis of photos or videos taken of their work.
The directive, which declared 2019 the year for reducing the grass roots burden, also called for governments to cut down on meetings and guidelines by 30 to 50 per cent.
The number of meetings being held is staggering. Last week local state media reported that the public Security Bureau in Tianjin City, northeast China, had convened more than 160,000 meetings in recent years for its officers to learn from past corruption cases involving the city’s former mayor and police chief…
The March directive to chip away at redundant files and meetings showed the central government realised that bureaucrats could hardly focus on their real tasks with all that red tape, Zhuang said…
Since coming to power, Xi has made repeated efforts to chip away at the stubborn sloth of China’s bureaucracy. He declared war against “formalism” almost immediately after becoming the party’s general secretary in 2012…
Nor is Xi the first Chinese leader to tackle the issue. Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao all tried to fix the problem, with varying degrees of success, only to see the problem emerge once again, seemingly stronger than ever…
To many civil servants, the campaigns – many aimed at curbing formalism themselves – have only meant more meetings, more documents, more peculiar evaluations, in which they are required to repeatedly reflect on their mistakes, and endlessly rewrite most of their reports…
And, just days after Beijing’s directive, Li received a new guideline from the municipal party cell, handed down at 10am.
“May all counties submit documents on discussions about ‘curbing the burden of grass roots governance’. The voice of the front line needs to be heard,” it read.
“All materials shall be sent to the municipal party cell’s mailbox by three this afternoon,” the guideline continued.
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A total of 15 teams of disciplinary inspectors have been dispatched to three central government departments and 42 state-owned enterprises (SOEs)... said an official statement Tuesday.
This is the third round of routine disciplinary inspections launched by the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee, the statement said.
The three central government departments were the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the National Energy Administration, and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The 42 SOEs were administrated by the central government, including the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China State Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
The inspection teams will be stationed at the departments and state firms for two and a half months, and will receive complaints about violations of Party disciplinary rules from the public.
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When Americans contemplate a legislature that has about eight times as many legislators as their Congress, they must wonder how anything gets done. This would be time to review democratic centralism and the National People's Congress' Standing Committee.
China’s largest political event of the year, a meeting of legislative delegates and political advisers known as the “two sessions”, gets under way this week and comes at a time when Chinese leader Xi Jinping faces one of the most challenging periods since coming to power.
Thousands of delegates will descend on the Great Hall of the People in Beijing while authorities go into overdrive to prevent any semblance of dissent during the two weeks of meetings of the nearly 3,000-strong National People’s Congress (NPC) , and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body.
NPC session
The annual meeting is nicknamed the “two sessions” because both the NPC and the CPCC meet. The NPC, a legislative body, is often described as a “rubber stamping” parliament whose function is mainly ceremonial.
During the meeting, NPC delegates will ratify legislation, personnel changes and the government budget – all of which have been largely approved beforehand. Delegates include not only government officials but also business executives and celebrities like Tencent founder Pony Ma, actor Jackie Chan, and former NBA player Yao Ming.
Most laws are made by the NPC standing committee, which runs the legislature and passes laws throughout the year. The legislature, which has been meeting since 1954, has never voted down a proposed law…
Before major political events, security in Beijing is often tightened with human rights activists put under surveillance or “travelled” outside the capital…
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China's legislature
When Americans contemplate a legislature that has about eight times as many legislators as their Congress, they must wonder how anything gets done. This would be time to review democratic centralism and the National People's Congress' Standing Committee.
China’s largest political event of the year, a meeting of legislative delegates and political advisers known as the “two sessions”, gets under way this week and comes at a time when Chinese leader Xi Jinping faces one of the most challenging periods since coming to power.
Thousands of delegates will descend on the Great Hall of the People in Beijing while authorities go into overdrive to prevent any semblance of dissent during the two weeks of meetings of the nearly 3,000-strong National People’s Congress (NPC) , and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body.
The annual meeting is nicknamed the “two sessions” because both the NPC and the CPCC meet. The NPC, a legislative body, is often described as a “rubber stamping” parliament whose function is mainly ceremonial.
During the meeting, NPC delegates will ratify legislation, personnel changes and the government budget – all of which have been largely approved beforehand. Delegates include not only government officials but also business executives and celebrities like Tencent founder Pony Ma, actor Jackie Chan, and former NBA player Yao Ming.
Most laws are made by the NPC standing committee, which runs the legislature and passes laws throughout the year. The legislature, which has been meeting since 1954, has never voted down a proposed law…
Before major political events, security in Beijing is often tightened with human rights activists put under surveillance or “travelled” outside the capital…
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A total of 98 tasks in advancing law-based governance in China have been assigned to respective units, according to a statement made public recently.
The statement came after a meeting on facilitating the tasks set by the Commission for Law-based Governance of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
In legislative affairs, tasks include promoting legislation with a holistic approach to national security, protection of intellectual property rights and key reform areas.
In law enforcement, improvements are expected in key sectors including food and drug, work safety, environment protection and public security.
The tasks also include reforming civil litigation systems and building a public legal service system.
Each task has been allocated to a responsible unit and given specific requirements on its monthly work plan and time table, according to the statement.
The tasks were also assigned to the office of the commission and four coordination teams, which will be responsible for follow-up inspections and supervision of respective areas.
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Fist fights among voters who have different political orientations is quite common in developing countries during election seasons. Now, a similar show is shockingly staged in the US, which boasts one of the most developed and mature democratic election systems…
Trump's rise was not anticipated by most analysts and observers. At the beginning of the election, Trump, a rich, narcissist and inflammatory candidate, was only treated as an underdog. His job was basically to act as a clown to attract more voters' attention to the GOP. However, knocking down most other promising candidates, the clown is now the biggest dark horse.
Trump is the last option for the GOP establishment…
The rise of Trump has opened a Pandora's box in US society…
Despite candidates' promises, Americans know elections cannot really change their lives. Then, why not support Trump and vent their spleen?
The rise of a racist in the US political arena worries the whole world. Usually, the tempo of the evolution of US politics can be predicted, while Trump's ascent indicates all possibilities and unpredictability. He has even been called another Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler by some Western media.
Mussolini and Hitler came to power through elections, a heavy lesson for Western democracy. Now, most analysts believe the US election system will stop Trump from being president eventually. The process will be scary but not dangerous.
Even if Trump is simply a false alarm, the impact has already left a dent. The US faces the prospect of an institutional failure, which might be triggered by a growing mass of real-life problems.
The US had better watch itself for not being a source of destructive forces against world peace, more than pointing fingers at other countries for their so-called nationalism and tyranny.
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The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6, and
a description of the AP exam format. $2.00. Order HERE.
Careless talk could cost you your job. Especially if you bad-mouth the boss.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has carried out the most far-reaching anti-corruption campaign in Communist Party history — at the same time as the harshest crackdown on free speech in decades.
Now he is tightening the screws further, outlawing internal dissent within the party through new disciplinary rules…
The purge is an attempt to silence rising dissent within the party, experts say, and is a reflection of Xi’s obsession with control, as well as the dramatic centralization of power he has engineered in the past two years.
To his supporters, it is another attempt to restore discipline and ideological purity to a party riddled with corruption and cynicism.
To his critics, the move carries disturbing echoes of the dark days of Mao Zedong.
Xi speaking at the World Internet Conference
Xi, they say, has surrounded himself with sycophants who can only deliver good news. He is undermining the ideas of collective leadership and “intraparty democracy” that the Party had adopted — and trumpeted — after Mao’s death, and replacing them with a return to one-man rule…
China’s president has taken personal control of policymaking in a way no leader has since the time of Mao, and seems to be popular among the Chinese people. But his anti-corruption campaign has riled a proportion of the Communist Party’s 88 million members…
[T]he party issued new disciplinary regulations outlawing any “improper discussion.”
Last month, the editor-in-chief of Xinjiang Daily, Zhao Xinwei, became the first influential party member to be fired for making public comments critical of government policy…
Communist party propagandists have traditionally sought inspiration from Marx and Mao when trying to get their message across to the masses. Now they are looking to Eric B and Rakim.
Hoping to boost the image of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, propaganda officials this week transformed him into a microphone fiend, releasing a 2min 44s rap in which the man they call “Big Daddy Xi” contributes backing vocals.
“Rule the party strictly! Govern the country by law. [The whole country] is overwhelmed with joy,” announces one of the rap’s opening stanzas, according to a translation by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post…
Below are the lyrics to the rap cartoon:
“The Reform Group is Two Years Old”
The Reform Group is Two Years Old 2015
Gotta eye the reform group in 2015
[It] pushes economic development and a wealthier society
[It] improves [government] services
[Must] streamline the administration and delegate power to lower levels
[Must] believe in the government
Let hands that should not move stay unmoved, let the market rule
They insist on fighting corruption
They specialise in hitting tigers
Rule the party strictly
Govern the country by law
[The whole country] is overwhelmed with joy
Unfold the three stricts and three honests
Let the people supervise
Put a tight lid on corrupt officials who put out their hands recklessly
The reform group is two years old, it has done quite a lot
Change the education system, change the medical system, change the household registration system, CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE!
Help the people, benefit the people, don’t tire people
Fight poverty with precision
[Xi’s sound bite] Let the people’s wishes become our action
The reform group is two years old, it has done quite a lot Change the pricing system, change taxes, change SOEs, CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE!
Streamline the administration and delegate power to lower levels, unleash energy
Reform the supply side [economy] and upgrade the economy
[Xi’s sound bite] An arrow will never return once it’s shot by a bow
The reform group is two years old, it has done quite a lot
Flies, tigers, big foxes, CATCH CATCH CATCH CATCH!
To rule the party strictly we must harden our bodies, the judicial reform must be victorious
[Xi’s sound bite] All corruption must be punished. Every corrupt official must be prosecuted
The reform group is two years old, it has done quite a lot
Cure the water, cure the air, cure the land, CURE CURE CURE CURE!
Clear water and lush mountains equals a mountain of gold
This is what is we must do on “One Belt, One Road”
[Xi’s sound bite] The principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.
Push progress in Asia and Europe
It’s name is “One Belt, One Road”
Free-trade [zone] opened, mutual help on law and finance
Founding of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, accelerating the building of infrastructure
The yuan admitted to SDR
They hate smog to the bone
To preserve ecology, [they are] determined to open the bow
Shut down the ones that are supposed to be shut down
Suspend those who are supposed to be suspended
With clear water and lush mountains, a new march can start
The reform group is two years old, it has done quite a lot
Streamline the administration and delegate power to lower levels and unleash energy
Reform the supply side [economy] and upgrade the economy
[Xi] only the daring will prevail at key stages of reform
The reform group is two years old, it has done quite a lot
Flies, tigers, big foxes, CATCH CATCH CATCH CATCH!
To rule the party strictly we must harden our bodies, the judicial reform must be victorious
[Xi] Hold the sword to fight corruption high
The reform group is two years old, it has done quite a lot
Cure the water, cure the air, cure the land, CURE CURE CURE CURE!
Clear water and lush mountains equals a mountain of gold
This is what is we must do on “One Belt, One Road”
[Xi] It’s not closed, but open and tolerant
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry.
The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6, and
a description of the AP exam format. $2.00. Order HERE.
Just The Facts! 2nd editionis a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam.
The message from Beijing to Hong Kong could well be: "Look back in your textbook. It's not called democracy. It's called democratic centralism." Oh, and the Communist Party is willing to share some of its power with some of the people in Hong Kong, just not with all of them.
On the eve of a decision by Beijing on rules for elections in Hong Kong, a top Chinese scholar presented a series of justifications on Thursday for why the territory’s more than seven million people should temper demands for Western-style democracy, insisting that a “less perfect” version of democracy is better than none at all.
Hong Kong is set to pick its top official, the chief executive, by a popular vote starting in 2017. China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, is expected to give guidance in the coming days on how it should implement the elections.
Beijing has taken the position that candidates must be vetted by a nominating committee, which democracy activists and pro-establishment figures alike say will screen out anyone seen as unacceptable by Beijing.
Wang Zhenmin
Speaking in Hong Kong on Thursday, Wang Zhenmin, dean of the law school at Tsinghua University in Beijing… said… “The overwhelming majority of the people in Hong Kong and the central authorities would like to see universal suffrage in 2017,” he said. “We should not let the people down…. Less perfect universal suffrage is better than no universal suffrage. Leave some room for future growth.”…
Democrats in the Hong Kong legislature have vowed to block any measure that does not allow for free and fair elections, and a broad coalition of citizens, including religious leaders, students and even some members of the city’s financial community, have vowed to stage large protests that may disrupt business in Asia’s top financial center if the government’s plan limits who can be on the ballot.
Mr. Wang acknowledged that there was mistrust over Beijing’s intentions in Hong Kong, which is run separately from the rest of China… Many Hong Kong residents fear that such autonomy is being eroded, citing recent pressure on the media and a controversial policy document issued by Beijing earlier this year…
Mr. Wang drew on a theoretical shift made more than a decade ago that allowed capitalists into the Communist Party…
[He] appeared to [be] advocating that [the business tycoons] retain power in Hong Kong disproportionate to their numbers.
“Even if it is a small group of people, a very small group of people,” Mr. Wang said. “But they control the destiny of the economy in Hong Kong. If we just ignore their interests, then Hong Kong capitalism will stop. So that’s why on the one hand we realize universal suffrage in Hong Kong, on the other hand we must guarantee the continued development of capitalism in Hong Kong.”…
China’s legislature laid down strict limits on Sunday to proposed voting reforms in Hong Kong, drawing battle lines in what pro-democracy groups warned would be a deepening confrontation over clashing visions of the political future of the city and of China.
Pushing back against months of rallies calling for free, democratic elections in Hong Kong, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee set out procedural barriers for candidates for the city’s top leader that would ensure Beijing remained the gatekeeper to that position and to political power over the city...
The move closes one of the few avenues left for gradual political liberalization in China after a sustained campaign against dissent on the mainland this year under President Xi Jinping...
Occupy Central, the main Hong Kong group advocating open elections, said it was planning civil disobedience protests in the city’s commercial heart...
Beyond its consequences for this former British colony of 7.2 million people, the tight reins on Hong Kong politics reflect a fear among leaders in Beijing that political concessions here would ignite demands for liberalization on the mainland, a quarter-century after such hopes were extinguished on Tiananmen Square in 1989...
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Politicians of all stripes claim the support of silent majorities. And who can dispute that when there is silence?
In the Hong Kong dispute, understanding the version described by the state media requires that you understand other viewpoints as well. This statement by the government-run news agency certainly isn't held together by internal logic. The CNN description of the opposing point of view seems pretty objective.
Nearly 120,000 people in Hong Kong joined a Sunday parade as the final stage of the Peace and Democracy movement opposing Occupy Central and supporting a peaceful and legitimate way to determine how the region's next chief executive would be elected through universal suffrage…
[T]his is a strong voice uttered by the majority of citizens living in the international financial center who usually remained silence on political issues and fixed their attentions in their own businesses…
[A] few people instigated a movement calling on citizens to occupy Central, Hong Kong's iconic heart for financial and political facilities, if the election of the next chief executive by universal suffrage is not "consistent with accepted international standards."
No matter what attitude toward Occupy Central movement he or she holds, such an idea has planted a society-tearing concept that could eventually drive Hong Kong into chaos and depression.
Opinion of the silent majority should not be kidnapped by a handful of people. So, they stepped forward Sunday and told the extremists that any action or proposal violating the laws, such as occupying Central and civil nomination for chief executive candidates, are not popular in Hong Kong.
Occupying Central, as rehearsed by some young citizens on July 2 early morning at Charter Garden, could paralyze Hong Kong's core businesses, bring billions of dollars economic loss and frighten thousands of overseas tourists.
It could not threaten the central government and could bring nothing to Hong Kong's constitutional reform but breaking the laws.
The constitutional reform in Hong Kong should not be a zero-sum game. Negotiation and consultation under the Basic Law and the top legislature's decisions will help different social parties reach consensus, which is the only way that could lead the region to future democracy and prosperity…
Nearly 800,000 Hong Kongers have done something China's 1.3 billion people can only dream of: cast a ballot to demand a democratic government.
In an unofficial referendum organized by pro-democracy activists and denounced by Chinese authorities, 787,767 people in the city of more than seven million have called for the right to directly elect their next leader.
But Beijing has insisted Hong Kong politics stays in line with Chinese rule, paving the way for a showdown in the city.
Occupy Central is a pro-democracy group founded in 2013. Their goal is to allow the Hong Kong public to elect its next leader without strings attached.
If the Hong Kong government doesn't eventually give the public more voting rights, Occupy Central has threatened to "occupy" Central district, the city's financial hub, with a sit-in that would disrupt businesses and block traffic.
A few weeks ago, the Chinese government released a strongly-worded white paper that said Hong Kong does not have "full autonomy" and asserted that ultimate power over the city lay with Beijing. But many pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong see this as a violation of "one country, two systems."
Currently, Hong Kong's leader, known as the chief executive, is elected by a small committee. In 2012, this committee selected Leung Chun-ying, a staunch Beijing choice, who remains in power today.
The Hong Kong government has promised residents they will be able to vote for their own leader by 2017, but here's the catch: Beijing says it will only allow candidates who "love China."
Occupy Central responded by organizing an unofficial city-wide referendum, which asked people to choose between three ways to reform Hong Kong's voting system. All three plans proposed that candidates be nominated publicly, regardless of whether the candidates have Beijing's blessing…
Organizers had expected only 100,000 votes for what was originally just a two-day voting period. The final tally of valid ballots cast came to 787,767, with 42% going towards a proposal from the Alliance for True Democracy that said candidates for Hong Kong's chief executive should be nominated by the public, and conditions such as requiring candidates to "love China, love Hong Kong" should not be allowed.
There is a reason for building a running track with right-angle turns.
Yes, the laws of mass and velocity do mean that sprinting athletes must either slow to a jog before the turns or careen out of their lanes and into one another. But officials in northeastern China who built a running track with four neat right-angle corners cited a higher purpose: pleasing their leaders.
In a television news report that has spread on the Internet this week and flummoxed even people hardened to the absurdities of Chinese officialdom, an employee at the sports ground explained that the old track, with its old-fashioned rounded turns, was looking worn and they were in a hurry to spruce it up.
“A provincial-level leader was coming for an inspection,” said the unnamed employee at the Qinghe Forestry Bureau’s sports ground in Tonghe County, Heilongjiang Province. “To cope with the leader, we covered it over.”…
Television reporter tries taking a turn
For now, the rectangular running track of Tonghe County has joined other wonders that, to many Chinese people, exemplify a bureaucracy often consumed with maintaining pleasing, and often expensive and wasteful, facades…
One newspaper offered a perverse kind of admiration. “It would be difficult to find a second example of this kind of fakery and making-do in the entire world,” said a commentator in The Procuratorial Daily…
The employee at the sports ground who was forced to explain it all said, “We all feel ashamed.” But when asked why the problem had not been fixed, he gave an answer that summed up the mystery of a box-shaped running track:
“If a leader doesn’t change it, then who else can?”
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.
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.
Every year about this time I have to give myself a dope slap to shake the cobwebs in my memory. It seems there are so many congresses in China: the National Peoples Congress, the National Party Congress, and today (again) the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. And then there are the provincial and local people's and party congresses.
For a regime that's not democratically representative, there are certainly lots of organizations that have the appearance of representation. Then I remind myself about democratic centralism. That's the idea that the leadership (i.e. the Communist Party leaders) are supposed to gather preferences and suggestions from the populace, formulate policies, and lead the people toward those policy goals. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is meant to be one of those vehicles for gathering preferences and suggestions. It's also a way to lead the people toward those policy goals determined by the Party politburo's central committee.
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), also known as the People's PCC or just "The PCC", is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China. The organization consists of delegates from a range of political parties and organizations, as well as independent members. The proportion of representation of the various parties is determined by established convention, negotiated between the parties.
In practice, the largest and dominant party in the Conference is the Communist Party of China which has about one third of the seats. Other members are drawn from the United Front parties allied with the CPC, and from independent members who are not members of any party. The Conference is intended to appear to be more representative and be composed of a broader range of people than is typical of government office in the People's Republic of China.
The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference typically holds a yearly meeting at the same time as plenary sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC). Both CPPCC National Committee and NPC plenary sessions are often called the "National Lianghui" (The National Two Meetings), making important national level political decisions.
The 2014 session of the CPPCC is scheduled to open on March 3, 2014, in conjunction with the annual session of China's National People's Congress (NPC).
China's top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng Monday pledged to further efforts to contribute to the deepening of the country's reforms in a comprehensive manner.
Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the pledge in a report delivered at the opening meeting of the Second Session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee that opened in Beijing Monday.
"We will perform all our functions in a spirit of reform and innovation throughout the course of our work, ... and strive to play a bigger role in the development of the cause of the Party and country," Yu said in his report.
In regards to future work of the CPPCC, Yu said the political advisory body must uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), while adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics…
Liberalizing the economy and strengthening democratic centralism seem to be the goals of the new leadership in China. Can it be done? Oh, and by the way, they'll not have any Chinese Khrushchevs or Gorbachevs there.
The Chinese Communist Party has warned officials to combat “dangerous” Western values and other perceived ideological threats, according to accounts on Monday of a directive that analysts said reflects the top leader Xi Jinping’s determination to preserve top-down political control even as he considers economic liberalization…
The central document, “Concerning the situation in the ideological sphere,” has not been openly published… But what did come to light in the local summaries exuded anxiety about the party’s grip on opinion…
The Chinese government has confronted demands for democratic reform from activists emboldened by Mr. Xi’s vows to respect the law. In recent days, some activists have cited rumors that the party issued a warning against seven ideas that are considered anathema, including media freedom and judicial independence…
Officials must “fully understand the dangers posed by views and theories advocated by the West,” said the account from Chongqing, which said they must “cut off at the source channels for disseminating erroneous currents of thought.”
“Strengthen management of the Internet, enhance guidance of opinion, purify the environment on the Internet, give no opportunities that lawless elements can seize on,” it said…
Stalin
Mr. Xi has accompanied such signals of [economic] change with the messages defending party tradition and control. In December, he said China must absorb the lessons of the collapse of the Soviet Union, which he blamed on political ill-discipline and ideological laxity under Mikhail Gorbachev.
More recently, Mr. Xi told officials that the Chinese Communist Party may not have survived if it had disowned Mao Zedong in the same way that the Soviet Union condemned Stalin, a party newspaper, the Guangming Daily, said last week…
Maintaining democratic centralism and fighting corruption. Sounds like a plan; almost like the name for a new mass campaign. The balancing might be real or it might only be an act.
When China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, visited the country’s south to promote himself before the public as an audacious reformer following in the footsteps of Deng Xiaoping, he had another message to deliver to Communist Party officials behind closed doors.
Despite decades of heady economic growth, Mr. Xi told party insiders during a visit to Guangdong Province in December, China must still heed the “deeply profound” lessons of the former Soviet Union, where political rot, ideological heresy and military disloyalty brought down the governing party. In a province famed for its frenetic capitalism, he demanded a return to traditional Leninist discipline…
Xi
In Mr. Xi’s first three months as China’s top leader, he has gyrated between defending the party’s absolute hold on power and vowing a fundamental assault on entrenched interests of the party elite that fuel corruption. How to balance those goals presents a quandary to Mr. Xi, whose agenda could easily be undermined by rival leaders determined to protect their own bailiwicks and on guard against anything that weakens the party’s authority…
“Everyone is talking about reform, but in fact everyone has a fear of reform,” said Ma Yong, a historian at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. For party leaders, he added: “The question is: Can society be kept under control while you go forward? That’s the test.”…
The tension between embracing change and defending top-down party power has been an abiding theme in China since Deng set the country on its economic transformation in the late 1970s. But Mr. Xi has come to power at a time when such strains are especially acute…
Yesterday I got a question from a colleague about some details that are relevant to at least three of the countries included in the AP comparative course.
Why, I thought, should I not share this with lots of people? Some of you might have similar or identical questions. I've tried to anonymize things to encourage more questions.
Here's the original question:
As always thanks for all that you do for us and the Comparative Government course. I'm having difficulty clearly explaining the difference between democratic centralism and the idea of the vanguard party. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I just realized the question was only implied. But I answered as if the question had been direct:
Oh, you guys who still teach. You ask the most obscure questions.
Okay, here's my free response.
Marx
A vanguard party is an organization devoted to achieving a revolution. Democratic centralism is a method it uses.
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx presented the concept of the vanguard party as solely qualified to politically lead the proletariat in revolution; in Chapter II: "Proletarians and Communists" of The Communist Manifesto (1848), they said:
"The Communists, therefore, are, on the one hand, practically the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others; on the other hand, theoretically, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the lines of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement. The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: Formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat."
Democratic Centralism is one of the methods used by a vanguard party to organize and foment revolution and later to rule. The basic idea is that there is supposed to be open discussion within the party after which the truest of the true believers organize the disparate and disorganized ideas of the masses into a party line which is harmonious with the official ideology. Then they go back and teach that party line to the masses.
Lenin
In a large bureaucratic party, that means that the topmost leaders (standing committee of the politburo central committee?) eventually tell those below them in the hierarchy what the policy is and they tell those below them, etc., etc. Somewhere along the way down are those who are to implement the policy and they are to do that as the "truth" goes out.
As Lenin described it, democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion, unity of action."[1]
I have confidence in those Wikipedia articles because they match what I know and those Marxists are great ones for ensuring that good information is posted on those relevant Wikipedia pages. They tend to quickly jump on people's mistakes.
Khomeini
It's good to note that other revolutionaries use these Marxist ideas.
I think the Iranian revolutionaries are the best example, even if the vanguard party is hard to identify. The rather informal hierarchy of ayatollahs who have political ambitions (not most of the ayatollahs) and the true believers among the officer corps of the Revolutionary Guard are probably the best group to call the vanguard party. But the system is set up to facilitate democratic centralism. That's why there's conflict between the supreme leader and the president when there is disagreement about the party line.
Teaching (and learning) comparative government and politics is a complex and demanding task. We can all use all the help we can get. This cyber place is somewhere to facilitate helpful interactions.
