On Strengthening the Party Committee System

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of On Strengthening the Party Committee System has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following editions:

  • On Strengthening the Party Committee System, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
  • Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Strengthening the Party Committee System, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 10, Routledge, New York and London, 2023.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an excerpt from a resolution drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Xibaipo, Pingshan, Hebei, China on the 20th of September, 1948. It was first published in October 1949.

The resolution made the following provisions for the broadening and building of regular democratic life within the Party:

  • Party committees at various levels should regularly convene Party congresses and conferences at their respective levels, as required by the Party Constitution.
  • These congresses and conferences should be vested with all the powers stipulated in the Party Constitution, and there must be no infringement.
  • Adequate preparations should be made before meetings.
  • Inner-Party controversies should be reported promptly and truthfully to the higher levels, and important controversies must be reported to the Central Committee.

The resolution also provided for strengthening the Party committee system and required that the rule that important questions must be decided collectively after discussion by the Party committee should be enforced by Party committees at all levels, that no decisions on important matters should be made by an individual, and that neither collective leadership nor individual responsibility should be overemphasized to the neglect of the other.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#ON STRENGTHENING THE PARTY COMMITTEE SYSTEM

#EXCERPT FROM THE RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA ON CONVENING PARTY CONGRESSES AND CONFERENCES AT VARIOUS LEVELS

#Mao Zedong
#20th of September, 1948

#★

The Party committee system is an important Party institution for ensuring collective leadership and preventing any individual from monopolizing the conduct of affairs. It has recently been found that, in some (of course not all) leading bodies, it is the habitual practice for one individual to monopolize the conduct of affairs and decide important problems. Solutions to important problems are decided not by Party committee meetings, but by one individual, and membership in the Party committee has become nominal. Differences of opinion among committee members cannot be resolved and are left unresolved for a long time. Members of the Party committee maintain only formal, not real, unity among themselves. This situation must be changed. From now on, a sound system of Party committee meetings must be instituted in all leading bodies, from the bureaus of the Central Committee to the prefectural Party committees; from the Party committees of the fronts to the Party committees of brigades and military areas (sub-commissions of the Revolutionary Military Commission or leading groups); and the leading Party members' groups in government bodies, people's organizations, the news agency, and the newspaper offices. All important problems (of course, not the unimportant, trivial problems, or problems whose solutions have already been decided after discussion at meetings and need only be carried out) must be submitted to the committee for discussion, and the committee members present should express their views fully and reach definite decisions which should then be carried out by the members concerned. The same procedure should be followed by Party committees below the prefectural and brigade levels. In the higher leading bodies, there should also be meetings of the directors and cadres in the departments (for example, the propaganda department and the organizational department), commissions (for example, the labour, women's, and youth commissions), schools (for example, Party schools), and offices (for example, the research offices). Of course, we must see to it that the meetings are not too long or too frequent and they must not get bogged down in discussion of petty matters, lest the work be hindered. On important problems which are complicated and on which opinions differ, there must, in addition, be personal consultations before the meeting to enable the members to think things over, lest decisions by the meeting become a mere formality or no decision can be reached. Party committee meetings must be divided into two categories, standing committee meetings and plenary sessions, and the two should not be confused. Furthermore, we must take care that neither collective leadership nor personal responsibility is overemphasized to the neglect of the other. In the army, the person in command has the right to make emergency decisions during battle and when circumstances require. When investigating your own problems of indiscipline and anarchy, you must also examine any shortcomings or errors in the application of the Party committee system, past or present.

Upon receipt of this resolution, you shall make it known to all Party committee members and discuss it.