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Control and Style: Discipline Inspection Commissions Since the 11th Congress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Graham Young
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Extract

The legacies of the Cultural Revolution have been nowhere more enduring than in the Chinese Communist Party organization. Since late 1967, when the process of rebuilding the shattered Party began, strengthening Party leadership has been a principal theme of Chinese politics; that theme has become even more pronounced in recent years. It is now claimed that earlier efforts achieved nothing, and that during the whole “decade of turmoil” until 1976, disarray in the Party persisted and political authority declined still further. Recent programmes of Party reform, therefore, still seek to overcome the malign effects of the Cultural Revolution in order to achieve the complementary objectives of reviving abandoned Party “traditions” and refashioning the Party according to the new political direction demanded by its present leaders.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 97 , March 1984 , pp. 24 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1984

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References

1. Cocks, Paul. Politics of Party Control: The Historical and Institutional Role of Party Control Organs in the CPSU (Ph.D. thesis. Harvard University, 1968)Google Scholar; also Cocks's “The rationalization of Party control” in Johnson, Chalmers (ed.). Change in Communist Systems (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1970)Google Scholar; and “Bureaucracy and Party control” in Mesa-Lago, Carmelo and Beck, Carl (eds.). Comparative Socialist Systems: Essays in Politics and Economics (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Center for International Studies, 1975)Google Scholar;

2. Cocks, Paul. “The role of the Party Control Committee in Communist China,” East Asian Research Center, Harvard University, Papers on China, Vol. 22B, 1969, pp. 49–50Google Scholar; Brief references to Party control organs in other works do imply their lack of political significance: e.g. Harding, Harry, Organizing China (Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1981), pp. 80–81Google Scholar; Vogel, Ezra, Canton Under Communism (New York: Harper and Row, 1969), p. 303Google Scholar; Moody, Peter, The Politics of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist party of China (Hamden: The Shoestring Press, 1973), p. 38Google Scholar;

3. Current Background, No. 196, pp. 8–11; No. 224, pp. 2, 10; No. 244, pp. 1–5, 19; No.250, pp. 9–15; Survey of China Mainland Press (SCMP), No. 1005, pp. 7–11. There are also few available discussions of the general guidelines for thework of discipline inspection commissions. An exception is a 1950 speech by Zhu De, who was head of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission, republished in Renmin ribao (People's Daily), 4 July 1979, pp. 1, 3. Zhu noted among the difficulties faced by discipline inspection commissions the failure of leading organs to appreciate the importance of their work.

4. Renmin ribao. 5 April 1955, p. 1.

5. Documents of Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Sept. 1956—Apr. 1969, Vol.I (Hong Kong: Union Research Institute, 1971), p. 185Google Scholar;

6. SCMP, No. 1344, pp. 9–14; Extracts from China Mainland Magazines, No. 54, pp. 2–28.

7. SCMP, No. 4112, pp. 6–11; No. 4127, pp. 8–10; No. 4130, pp. 4–13; SCMP (Supplement), No. 221, pp. 16–19.

8. Renmin ribao, 5 April 1955, p. 1 and 14 April 1955, p. 1.

9. Research Office of the Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee, Dang de zuzhi gongzuo wenda (Questions and Answers on Parly Organization Work) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1965), pp. 11–12Google Scholar;

10. Renmin ribao, 14 April 1955, p. 1.

11. Renmin ribao, 29 September 1956, p. 6.

12. Editorial Group of the CCP Central Control Commission General Office, Dang de jilu he dang de jiancha gongzuo (Party Discipline and Party Control Work) (Beijing: Tongsu duwuchubanshe, 1957), p. 8Google Scholar(hereafterParty Discipline). A partial exception applied below the xian, whereby xian control commissions were to guide control work and check on discipline observance in lower-level Party organizations. Members of lower-level Party committees responsible for control work were to abide by decisions of the upper-level control commission, although it was made clear that they were still entirely subordinate to their own Party committees (ibid. pp. 9–13). A 1961 Nan fang ribao article revealed that, in rural Party branches, one committee member was to be responsible for control work, and was obliged to report the situation in the unit to the higher control commission (SCMP, 2802, pp. 6–7). It is, however, going much too far to suggest that this showed “measures… to permit party controllers to report information upward directly through the control organs rather than through the regular party hierarchy and various party secretaries,” especially if this is taken as a precursor to making the control system “an effective and alternative channel of information and investigatory probe for the party leadership ” –Cocks, “The role of the Party Control Committee,” p. 71; also Charles Neuhauser, “The Chinese Communist Party in the 1960s: prelude to the Cultural Revolution,” The China Quarterly, No. 32 (1967), p. 15Google Scholar; First, the article refers only to the level below the xian and not to the relationship between control commissions. In direct contrast to the implication drawn, moreover, its thrust concerned collective leadership, with heavy emphasis on the need for all questions to be handled collectively by Party committees.

13. Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Vol. I: Documents (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1956), p. 166Google Scholar;

14. Renmin ribao, 29 September 1956, p. 6. See also Party Discipline, p. 19: SCMP, No. 1435, p. 19; Extracts from China Mainland Magazines, No. 44, pp. 2–3.

15. Party Discipline, p. 8.

16. Cocks places some emphasis on publication of an article on rectification by Gong Zirong, an alternate member of the Central Control Commission, in Renmin ribao, 5 January 1961, p. 7 (”The role of the Party Control Committee,” p. 63). But this does not necessarily suggest any increasing prominence of control organs. Gong was also deputy director of the General Office of the Central Committee, and this is probably the capacity in which he wrote the article. It is also significant that the article makes no reference to Party control organs playing a part in rectification. Teiwes's exhaustive study of rectification movements does not indicate a major role for control organs. He notes that the 1950 rectification movement was to be handled by “specially responsible organs.” which he speculates might have included discipline inspection commissions, while stating that there is no direct evidence for this: Teiwes, Frederick C., Politics and Purges in China: Rectification and the Decline of Party Norms 1950–1965 (White Plains: M. E. Sharpe, 1979), p. 154Google Scholar;

17. Renmin ribao, 18 March 1958, p. 4.

18. Usually the charges were linked to association with Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Zhen or Yang Shangkun: e.g. Selections from China Mainland Magazines (SCMM), No. 651, p. 39; SCMP, No. 3933, p. 11; No. 4112, p. 8; No. 4130, p. 11.

19. SCMM, No. 652, p. 38.

20. British Broadcasting Corporation, Summary of World Broadcasts, Pt. Ill: The Far East (hereafter SWB FE), 5883/B11/10; Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report–China (hereafter FBIS), 16 June 1978, Ll–3.

21. A pamphlet written in 1981 referred to DICs of basic-level Party committees - that is, below the level specified in the 1977 Constitution: Organization Department of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the CCP, Dang de zuzhi gongzuo wenda (Questions and Answers on Party Organization Work) (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe, 1982), pp. 15, 35Google Scholar;

22. Renmin ribao, 30 January 1981, p. 1; also 27 February 1982, p. 1.

23. Seventeen former CDIC members were elected to the Central Advisory Commission, including all but one of the former CDIC deputy secretaries.

24. Renmin ribao. 9 September 1982. p. 3.

25. “Notice of the First Plenum of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission “ in Renmin shouce (People's Handbook) (1979). p. 176 (hereafter cited “Notice of First Plenum”).

26. See Jianying's, Ye report on revision of the Party Constitution in The Eleventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents) (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1977), pp. 169–72Google Scholar.

27. Renmin ribao. 9 September 1982, p. 3.

28. FBIS, 5 January 1981, 03; Renmin ribao, 31 July 1979 in Renmin shouce 1979, pp. 180–81.

29. Hongqi (Red Flag), No. 6 (1980), pp. 2–11Google Scholar;

30. In 1979 the CDIC referred to propagation of a version of the “Guiding Principles” which it had drafted (Renmin ribao, 23 August 1979, p. 1). The CDIC plenum in January 1980 revised the document before submitting it to the Central Committee (Renmin ribao, 28 January 1980, p. 1). According to one source the document was revised seven times, with the CDIC considering different versions in January 1979 and January 1980 (Renmin ribao, 17 March 1980, pp. 1—2), although Huang Kecheng said it had been revised more than 10 times (SWB FE/6375/BII/15). In its report to the 12th Congress, the CDIC listed first among the various aspects of its work that it had “drafted and implemented” the “Guiding Principles” (Renmin ribao. 12 September 1982, p.2).

31. “Notice of First Plenum,” pp. 176–77; Hongqi, No. 6 (1980), pp. 7, 9Google Scholar;Renmin ribao, 20 August 1980, p. 3; SWB FE/6212/BII/18.

32. FB1S, 21 October 1981, 05.

33. Hongqi, No. 6 (1980), pp. 5–6Google Scholar and No. 10 (1980), pp. 39–42; Renmin ribao, 21 March 1983, p. 3.

34. Renmin ribao, 29 August 19'82, p. 1, 12 October 1982, p. 1, 19 March 1983, pp. 1, 4, 10 May 1983, p. 1.

35. Yingchao, Deng in Deng Yingchao Huang Kecheng guanyu dangfeng wenti de jianghua (Speeches by Deng Yingchao and Huang Kecheng on the Question of Party Style) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1981), pp. 6–7Google Scholar; Renmin ribao, 14 April 1982, p. 2; SWB FE/6569/BII/5. One commentator noted that some rehabilitated cadres sought favoured treatment for their children to compensate them for sufferings during the earlier period of political disgrace – Renmin ribao, 11 August 1980, p. 4.

36. Renmin ribao, 6 July 1979, p.4; SWB FE/68SS/BII/9; China Daily, 16 July 1972, p.3.

37. SWB FE/6165/BII/4, 6559/BII/3–4; Renmin ribao, 14 May 1981, p. 1.

38. Renmin ribao, 15 August 1980, pp. 1, 4, and 17 September 1980, p. 1; SWB FE/6555/BII/7.

39. Renmin ribao, 14 April 1982, p. 2.

40. Ibid. 17 October 1980, p. 1. This article and several others concerning the case (from Zhongguo qingnian bao, 16 October 1980; Beijing ribao, 18 October 1980; Renmin ribao, 30 October 1980) are in the Chinese People's University's Fuyin baokan ziliao (Reprints of Press Materials) series Zhongguo zhengzhi (Chinese Politics), No. 20 (1980), pp. 35–38Google Scholar;

41. E.g.SWB FE/6803/BII/1, 6896/BII/3, 6961/BII/10, 6856/BII/17; Renmin ribao, 23 January 1982, p, 1 and 31 July 1981, p. 1; FBIS, 17 February 1982, Kl.

42. SWB FE 6619/BII/13, 6883/BII/8, 6888/BII/10, 13; Renmin ribao, 7 November 1981, p. 1.

43. SWB FE/6561/BII/6, 6879/BII/l 1; Renmin ribao, 12 January 1982, p. 1, 27 July 1982, p. 1.

44. Renmin ribao, 6 October 1981, p. 1; SWB FE/6673/BII/6, 6856/BII/15–16.

45. Renmin ribao, 9 March 1981, p. 1, 29 May 1981, p. 1, 31 August 1981, p. 2, 15 December 1981, p. 2; SWB FE/6693/BII/17.

46. Renmin ribao, 27 July 1983, p. 1.

47. Hongqi, No. 4 (1982), p. 6Google Scholar; Also Renmin ribao, 15 March 1982, p. 1.

48. Renmin ribao, 5 February 1983, p. 1.

49. On criminals’ use of the “study of relationships” see Renmin ribao, 9 June 1982, p. 3; raw, 7 April 1982, K13–15.

50. Beijing ribao, 29 September 1981, reprinted in the Fuyin baokan ziliao series Zhongguo gongchandang (Chinese Communist Party), No. 17 (1981), p. 87Google Scholar;

51. Renmin ribao, 7 August 1981, p. 1.

52. Renmin ribao, 13 June 1981, pp. 1–2, 17 October 1980, p. 1, 23 November 1981, p. 1, 12 October 1982, p. 4; FBIS, 29 December 1981, Kl–2.

53. FBIS, 28 July 1981, W2–3.

54. Renmin ribao, 25 April 1979, p. 3; SWB FE/6915/B1I/1–2, 6922/BII/4–5, 7107/BII/l.

55. E.g.SWB FE/7107/BII/1–2, 6407/BII/9; Renmin ribao, 12 November 1978, p. 2.

56. Renmin ribao, 28 January 1980, pp. 1, 3.

57. Renmin ribao, 12 September 1982, p. 2.

58. Hongqi, No. 7 (1980), p. 17Google Scholar; FBIS, 11 April 1980,04–5, 18 April 1980, SI, 28 May 1980, S2; SWB FE/6617/BII/7.

59. FBIS, 21 February 1981, Tl, 8 April 1981, T3–4, 21 April 1981, Q2, 21 April 1981, S2.

60. Renmin ribao, 9 February 1983, p. 4, 26 April 1983, p. 1; SWB FE/7267/BII/17, 7325/BII/15, 7339/BII/5.

61. Deng, Xiaoping quoted in Hongqi, No. 21 (1981), p. 7Google Scholar; Renmin ribao, 5 December 1979, p. 3 and 28 January 1980, p. 1.

62. Deng, in Issues and Studies, Vol. XVII, No. 7 (07 1981), pp. 112–13Google Scholar; SWB FE/6844/BII/17, 6646/BII/3; FBIS, 14 April 1981, R5.

63. E.g.SWB FE/7310/BII/1.

64. “Notice of First Plenum,” p. 178.

65. Renmin ribao, 23 August 1979. p. 1.

66. FBIS, 24 December 1980, 03.

67. Renmin ribao, 23 November 1982, p. 2.

68. SWB FE/6407/BII/9–10, 6558/BII/5–6;Renmin ribao, 20 August 1980. pp. 1, 3 and 17 December 1980. p. 3.

69. Renmin ribao, 25 January 1979 in Renmin shouce 1979, p. 171; “Notice of First Plenum,” p. 175.

70. A pamphlet written in 1981 by the Organization Department of the Liaoning CCP Committee, in discussing punishment of Party members, refers to the “Regulations of the Central Control Commission of the CCP concerning the right of approval in the punishment of Party members,” which had been approved by the Central Committee in April 1957. Its summary of the “Regulations” is an almost verbatim reproduction of the same section in the pamphlet of the same title published by the Central Committee's Organization Department before the Cultural Revolution, the only difference being substitution of “discipline inspection commissions” for “control commissions”: Dang de zuzhi gongzuo wenda (Shenyang. 1982), pp. [79–81Google Scholar;cf. the pre-Cultural Revolution pamphlet of the same title, cited above, pp. 71–73.

71. “Notice of First Plenum,” p. 177; Renmin ribao, 14 April 1982, p. 2; China Daily, 27 February 1982, p. 4.

72. “Notice of First Plenum,” p. 178; Renmin ribao. 20 February 1983. p. 4; Hongqi, No. 4 (1982), pp. 37–38Google Scholar; By mid 1979 the CDIC claimed to have received more than 150,000 letters from Party members and the masses, while DICs of 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions had received more than 490.000 letters and visits: Renmin ribao, 23 August 1979. p. 1.

73. SWB FE/6555/BII/4–5.

74. Renmin ribao.5 April 1982, p. 3; seealsoGwangming ribao.8December 1981.p. 3.

75. Renmin ribao, 3 March 1982. p. 3.

76. Ibid. 28 January 1980. p. 3.

77. Hongqi, No. 7 (1980). pp. 15–17Google Scholar;

78. Renmin ribao, 20 February 1983, p. 4; SWB FE/7292/BII/7, 7311/BII/ll, 7314/BII/12.

79. Renmin ribao, 20 February 1983, p. 4.

80. “Notice of First Plenum,” p. 178; Renmin ribao, 9 March 1981, p. 4, 23 August 1979, p. 1 and 24 August 1981, p. 4.

81. SWB FE/6671/BII/2; see, for example, the excerpts from study materials for Party cadres compiled by CDIC members, closely resembling the “Guiding Principles “: SWB FE/6370/BII/1–8.

82. SWB FE/6206/BII/18;, FBIS,14 March 1980, Rl; Hongqino No. 3 (1982), pp. 11, 14Google Scholar;

83. “Notice of First Plenum,” p. 177; also Renmin ribao, 28 January 1980, p. 3 and 17 March 1980, p. 2.

84. Renmin ribao, 25 March 1979 in Renmin shouce 1979, p. 180.

85. Renmin ribao. 20 February 1983, p. 4.

86. Hongqi, No. 7 (1980), pp. 15–16Google Scholar;FBIS, 15 April 1980, S4.

87. SWB FE/6212/BII/15, 6858/BII/3.

88. Ibid. 6985/B1I/3, 7044/BII/10, 7098/B11/20; Renmin ribao, 2 June 1982, p. 1.

89. Ibid. 7020/B11/7, 7026/BII/12.

90. FBIS, 25 March 1981, U2. The results of these surveys were quoted by Wang Renzhong in Hongqi, No. 5 (1982), p. 9Google Scholar;

91. Renmin ribao, 12 October 1982, p. 1,27 December 1982, p. l; SWBFE;/7236/BII/6.

92. Renmin ribao, 8 September 1982, p. 5.

93. Ibid. 5 May 1981, p. 1.

94. Ibid. 8 September 1982, p. 5.

95. Ibid. 25 January 1979 in Renmin shouce 1979, pp. 171, 174; “Notice of First Plenum,” p. 177; Renmin ribao, 9 March 1981, p. 4.

96. SWB FE/6653/BII/9, 6267/BII/11, 7299/BII/11, 7319/BII/6.

97. ibid. 6902/BII/2.

98. Renmin ribao, 9 February 1983. p. 4.

99. Hongqi, No. 4 (1982), p. 8Google Scholar. 100. At a CDIC working conference in July 1979 Wang Heshou advised DIC cadres to avoid cases in which they had any personal interest: Renmin ribao, 31 July 1979 in Renmin shouce 1979, p. 182.

100. At a CDIC working comferrence in July 1979 Wang Heshou advised DIC cadres to avoid cases in which they had any personal interest: Renmin ribao. 31 July 1979 in Renmin shouce 1979, p. 182.

101. Renmin ribao, 20 February 1983, p. 4; SWB FE/7319/BII/6, 7345/BII/10.

102. Commentary in Dangfeng yu dangji (Party Style and Party Discipline) reprinted in Renmin ribao, 26 September 1980, p. 4; also SWB FE/6554/BII/5; Beijing ribao, 17 October 1981 and 28 October 1981 in Zhongguo gongchandang. No. 20 (1981), pp. 68–70Google Scholar; In August 1982 an unidentified “leading member” of the CDIC claimed that such practices had been basically checked above thexian level: SWB FE/7119/BII/4.

103. Hongqi, No. 7 (1980), p. 20Google Scholar;

104. Renmin ribao. 17 October 1980. p. 1.

105. Hongqi, No. 3 (1982), p. 14Google Scholar.

106. Renmin ribao, 26 February 1981, p. 5.

107. Renmin ribao, 23 August 1979, p.l; SWB FE/676/BII/4; FBIS, 14 March 1980, Rl, 7 April 1980, P6. In a February 1981 speech Deng Yingchao noted that establishment of DICs followed the foundation of the CDIC. She complained that, while most units had established DICs, not enough cadres had been assigned, and she urged completion of the DIC network: Deng Yingchao Huang Kecheng guanyu dangfeng wenti de jianghua, p. 2.

108. Renmin ribao, 20 February 1983, p. 4.

109. SWB FE/6267/BII/11; Renmin ribao, 23 February 1983, p. 4.

110. FBIS, 10 February 1982, 02–3.

111. SWB FE/6993/BII/4–5.

112. Renmin ribao, 23 July 1982, p. 1; SWB FE/7333/BII/4.

113. Renminribao, 25 March 1979 in Renmin shouce 1979, p. 180: SWB FE/6444/BII/ 11, 6716/BII/3, 6734/BII/9.

114. Renmin ribao, 24 August 1981, pp. 1, 4 and 20 September 1981, p. 1; also 28 November 1982, p. 1 and 8 December 1982, p. 1.

115. SWB FE/6716/B11/5.

116. Renmin ribao, 11 March 1982, p. 1 and 23 November 1982. pp. 1, 4.

117. SWB FE/6558/BII/5, 6957/B1I/10.

118. Renmin ribao, 17 December 1980, p. 3.

119. Ibid, 17 September 1980, p. 1; SWB FE/6531/BII/5, 6551/B1I/7–8.

120. FBIS, 14 April 1981, R5,16 June 1980,02–3; SWBFE/6599/BII/8,6894/BII/6–7.

121. Renmin ribao, 10 September 1982, p. 1: also Hu Qiaomu interviewed in Renmin ribao, 14 September 1982, p. 3.

122. Renmin ribao, 9 September 1982, p. 3. Most of the changes in the DIC organizational network were included in the 1980 draft of the Party Constitution: Issues and Studies, Vol. XVI, No. 9 (12 1980), pp. 106–107Google Scholar;

123. Renmin ribao, 8 September 1982, p. 4.

124. Ibid. 20 February 1983, p. 4.

125. Ibid. 8 September 1982, p. 5.