GUAN JIAN
BEIJING, Sep. 12
For the first time ever, the Chinese Communist Party has made public the list of delegates to its 17th Party Congress, which will convene on Oct. 15. Moreover, in newspaper articles and television broadcasts it has emphasized the democratic process by which delegates to this Congress were chosen. All this publicity makes the whole exercise seem quite serious. Actually, the Party has never released the list of delegates since 1949. This is truly unprecedented.
As to whether or not the selection of delegates was truly democratic, the CCP's Organizational Department claims it was, and no Party members have said it was not. This is not easy for an outsider to judge.
However, the propaganda surrounding the Congress has been similar to that which preceded the National People's Congress -- the focus in selecting delegates has been on "model workers" and "advanced personnel." The emphasis is on their outstanding work performance, not their political perspective. This ensures that, even if they are chosen through a democratic election, the chosen delegates will be in political accord with the CCP's top leaders. This is in direct contravention to the democratic principle that Party leaders should be accountable to the Party Congress. Instead, the Congress is accountable to the Party leaders.
As a matter of fact, ahead of this Congress, as always, the top officials of the CCP are locked in a keen power competition behind the scenes. They must work out the distribution of power ahead of the Congress, so as to ensure unity among the 2,000 delegates. Then they will conduct the performance of "inner Party democracy."
For the past five years the people have observed the performance of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, and realized that they will not voluntarily carry out any political reforms. Therefore, pressure must be brought to bear on them to implement reforms. A debate on reform has been taking place ahead of the Party Congress, along with a debate on the guiding ideology of the CCP. Yet consensus has already been reached on the issue of democracy within the Party.
The power of the leftist faction within the Party has largely declined. Some open-minded members have suggested that the Party carry out contested elections. Some have suggested an even more radical change -- that Party leaders should be accountable to the Party Congress, and that a regular system should be implemented with fixed terms for delegates and annual meetings.
The CCP promotes individuals designated as "model workers" and "advanced personnel" as a means of avoiding real political discussion. The tradition of avoiding political confrontation is well established within the Party. Therefore, in order to avoid the issue of "inner Party democracy" and other issues, delegates' political positions are not considered prior to the Party Congress. Only their work performance is judged to determine their "advanced nature" and justify their selection as delegates to the Party Congress. Any Party member who has no links with corruption can be considered "progressive" and can meet the qualifications to be a delegate. Being free of corruption is a rare and outstanding quality among Party members nowadays.
By setting such qualifications, the Party is able to round off any rough edges among the delegates and ensure that they embody the "Party heart" and remain politically attuned to the central leadership. The requirement to conform to the official Party heart destroys individual passion and political idealism -- these eventually fade away into depression. "Individual progressiveness" replaces positive political ideals and ambition.
Fang Lizhi, the famous physics professor who was exiled to the United States after the 1989 democracy movement, used to encourage young people to join the CCP and invest their idealism and passion into transforming the Party. However, under the current reality of the CCP, the success rate of this strategy is very low.
It is important that the CCP establish the principle of making the Party leaders accountable to the Party Congress. Progress toward the so-called "democracy within the CCP" could have a real impact on China's democratic reforms. The key is whether or not the Party can change the tradition whereby the entire Party membership is subordinate to the Central Committee of the Party. Instead, the entire Party membership should be accountable to the Party Congress. This would be in keeping with the spirit of Marxism, the Chinese Communist Party's Constitution and the principles of democracy.
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(Guan Jian is the pen name of a commentator on China affairs for New Century Net. He is a former researcher at an institute of state economic reform. This article is edited and translated from the Chinese by UPI Asia Online; the original can be found at www.ncn.org. ©Copyright Guan Jian.)
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/politics/2007/09/13/commentary_democracy_with_chinese_communist_characteristics/
As to whether or not the selection of delegates was truly democratic, the CCP's Organizational Department claims it was, and no Party members have said it was not. This is not easy for an outsider to judge.
However, the propaganda surrounding the Congress has been similar to that which preceded the National People's Congress -- the focus in selecting delegates has been on "model workers" and "advanced personnel." The emphasis is on their outstanding work performance, not their political perspective. This ensures that, even if they are chosen through a democratic election, the chosen delegates will be in political accord with the CCP's top leaders. This is in direct contravention to the democratic principle that Party leaders should be accountable to the Party Congress. Instead, the Congress is accountable to the Party leaders.
As a matter of fact, ahead of this Congress, as always, the top officials of the CCP are locked in a keen power competition behind the scenes. They must work out the distribution of power ahead of the Congress, so as to ensure unity among the 2,000 delegates. Then they will conduct the performance of "inner Party democracy."
For the past five years the people have observed the performance of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, and realized that they will not voluntarily carry out any political reforms. Therefore, pressure must be brought to bear on them to implement reforms. A debate on reform has been taking place ahead of the Party Congress, along with a debate on the guiding ideology of the CCP. Yet consensus has already been reached on the issue of democracy within the Party.
The power of the leftist faction within the Party has largely declined. Some open-minded members have suggested that the Party carry out contested elections. Some have suggested an even more radical change -- that Party leaders should be accountable to the Party Congress, and that a regular system should be implemented with fixed terms for delegates and annual meetings.
The CCP promotes individuals designated as "model workers" and "advanced personnel" as a means of avoiding real political discussion. The tradition of avoiding political confrontation is well established within the Party. Therefore, in order to avoid the issue of "inner Party democracy" and other issues, delegates' political positions are not considered prior to the Party Congress. Only their work performance is judged to determine their "advanced nature" and justify their selection as delegates to the Party Congress. Any Party member who has no links with corruption can be considered "progressive" and can meet the qualifications to be a delegate. Being free of corruption is a rare and outstanding quality among Party members nowadays.
By setting such qualifications, the Party is able to round off any rough edges among the delegates and ensure that they embody the "Party heart" and remain politically attuned to the central leadership. The requirement to conform to the official Party heart destroys individual passion and political idealism -- these eventually fade away into depression. "Individual progressiveness" replaces positive political ideals and ambition.
Fang Lizhi, the famous physics professor who was exiled to the United States after the 1989 democracy movement, used to encourage young people to join the CCP and invest their idealism and passion into transforming the Party. However, under the current reality of the CCP, the success rate of this strategy is very low.
It is important that the CCP establish the principle of making the Party leaders accountable to the Party Congress. Progress toward the so-called "democracy within the CCP" could have a real impact on China's democratic reforms. The key is whether or not the Party can change the tradition whereby the entire Party membership is subordinate to the Central Committee of the Party. Instead, the entire Party membership should be accountable to the Party Congress. This would be in keeping with the spirit of Marxism, the Chinese Communist Party's Constitution and the principles of democracy.
--
(Guan Jian is the pen name of a commentator on China affairs for New Century Net. He is a former researcher at an institute of state economic reform. This article is edited and translated from the Chinese by UPI Asia Online; the original can be found at www.ncn.org. ©Copyright Guan Jian.)
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/politics/2007/09/13/commentary_democracy_with_chinese_communist_characteristics/
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