Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party

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Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party
Front cover of Constitution of the Communist Party of China 2007 (cropped).jpg
Front cover of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party

The Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party has 55 articles and its contents describe the program of the party, as well as its organizational structure and party symbolism. The Chinese Communist Party adopted its first program at the 1st National Congress and adopted its first constitution in 1945. Its current constitution was adopted in 1982; while it has since been revised, its basic content has been stable since 1982.

Contents

History

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) first outlined some of the basic elements of a constitution in its Party Program adopted during the 1st National Congress, although the Party Program itself was not a constitution. It stated that the Party's guiding ideology is Marxism–Leninism, and its ultimate goal is the realization of communism. [1] : 116 

The 2nd National Congress in 1922 adopted the Party Program. The Party's minimum program was a democratic revolution aimed at thoroughly opposing imperialism and feudalism. It stipulated the qualifications for Party membership and the procedures for joining the Party, the Party's organizational principles, organizational structure, discipline, and system. [2]

The 3rd National Congress in 1923 amended the program to stipulate the rights and obligations of alternate and full members. [2]

The 4th National Congress in 1925 amended the program to stipulate that Party branches are the basic units of the Party, change the title of Chairman of the Central Committee to General Secretary, and change the title of chairman of the executive committee of the Party at all levels to Secretary. [2]

The 5th National Congress in 1927 amended the program to stipulate that the Party's organizational principle is democratic centralism, that the age for joining the Party is 18 years or older, that the relationship between the Party and the Youth League must be defined, and that in addition to electing one formal member of the Central Committee as General Secretary, the Central Committee must also elect several formal members of the Central Committee to organize the Politburo to guide all political work nationwide. [2]

The 6th National Congress in 1928 amended the program to emphasize that the CCP was a branch of the Communist International, highlighting the leading position of the Communist International. [2]

The CCP's 1945 constitution described Mao Zedong Thought as the party's working compass, [3] : 23  writing it into the preamble. [1] : 117  The 1945 constitution also discusses democracy in the context of New Democracy. [3] : 22  Passed at the Party's 7th National Congress, it was the first independently drafted by the Party. [1] : 117 

People's Republic of China

The 8th National Congress held in September 1956 removed Mao Zedong Thought from the guiding ideology list; declared that socialist transformation was complete and the socialist system was established; and made building a socialist economy the Party's primary task. [2]

The constitution adopted during April 1969 at the 9th National Congress named Lin Biao as Mao Zedong's "close comrade in arms and successor". [4] : 142  The 9th Congress in April 1969 re-established Mao Zedong Thought as the Party's guiding ideology. It affirmed the Cultural Revolution and the theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. [2]

The 10th National Congress in August 1983 removed the content that mentioned Lin Biao as the successor, and continued to affirm the Cultural Revolution. [2]

The 11th National Congress in August 1977 reinstated the economic construction content of the 8th National Congress, set the Four Modernizations as the Party's goal, and reinstated the Discipline Inspection Commissions at all levels. It continued to affirm the Cultural Revolution. [2]

The constitution currently in force was adopted at The 12th National Congress in September 1982. [1] : 117  Although the constitution has been revised since, its basic content continues to be the 1982 constitution. [1] : 117  The constitution can be amended once every five years. [5] The 12th Congress repudiated the Cultural Revolution and the theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It abolished the positions of chairman and Vice Chairmen of the Central Committee, stipulating that the General Secretary of the Central Committee would be the principal leader of the Party Central Committee. It additionally established the Central Advisory Commission, stipulated the oath of joining the Party, and proposed the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. [2]

The 13th National Congress in October–November 1987 amended the constitution to expound the theory of the primary stage of socialism and formulated the "three-step" modernization development strategy. [2]

The 14th National Congress in October 1992 established a socialist market economy system, proposed to arm the whole Party with Deng Xiaoping's theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, and abolished the Central Advisory Commission. The 1992 revision of the constitution noted the importance of policy experimentation, incorporating language that the CCP "must boldly experiment with new methods, ... review new experience and solve new problems, and enrich and develop Marxism in practice." [6] : 65 

The 15th National Congress in September 1997 established Deng Xiaoping Theory as the CCP's guiding ideology; and put forward its basic program for the primary stage of socialism. [2]

21st century

The 16th National Congress in November 2002 included the incorporation of the Three Represents. It also included the goal of building a moderately prosperous society. [7]

The 17th National Congress in October 2007 included the incorporation of the Scientific Outlook on Development. It also included the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. [8]

The 18th National Congress in November 2012, saw the inclusion of the Scientific Outlook on Development as a "guiding ideology" of the party, 'upgraded' from simply an ideology to merely "follow and implement" when it was initially written into the constitution in 2007. [9] The affirmation of socialism with Chinese characteristics as a "system" (zhidu) was written into the party constitution for the first time. The "construction of ecological civilization" (shengtai wenming) as a major goal of the party was also written into the party constitution, an extension from the previous version of the constitution which included economic, political, cultural, and social realms; this ostensibly increased the attention the party intended to focus on the environment. [10] : 1 

The 19th National Congress in October 2017 ratified amendments including the incorporation of Xi Jinping Thought. [11] General Secretary Xi Jinping thus became the first leader since Deng Xiaoping to append his name into party ideology; the change also led to many international media outlets calling Xi the "most powerful leader since Mao." [11] The Belt and Road Initiative was also added to the party constitution. [12] [13] : 58  Amendments in 2017 also strengthened the role of party committees in state-owned enterprises. [14] : 113–114 

The 20th National Congress in October 2022 saw several amendments to the party constitution. Additions included opposition to Taiwan independence, [15] developing a "fighting spirit" and strengthening fighting ability, as well as additions of goals related to Xi, including gradually achieving common prosperity, promoting Chinese-style modernization and developing a "broader, fuller and more robust" whole-process people's democracy. [15] The status of Xi and the CCP were further strengthened with the amendments, with the amended constitution naming the CCP as the "supreme political leadership force". [15] The Two Upholds was added, thereby cementing the "core" status of Xi Jinping. [16]

Contents

The constitution states that Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought are the party's official ideology. [5] The constitution emphasizes the party's role in promoting socialist democracy, in developing and strengthening a socialist legal system, and in consolidating public resolve to carry out the modernization program. [17]

The constitution states that the interests of the people and the party are paramount over the interests of party members. [18] : 112  The constitution states that in emergencies and urgent situations, members are encouraged to contribute to special funds (as in the case of the special fund for the 2008 Sichuan earthquake). [18] : 111–112 

Since 1945, the party's constitution has defined the party's view of democratic centralism as "centralism based on democracy and democracy under centralized leadership." [3] : 23  Academic Jean-Pierre Cabestan writes that this approach defines and limits democracy within the party, indicating that central leadership prevails over the rights of party members to challenge leadership. [3] : 23 

The Chinese Communist Party Admission Oath has been written into the constitution since 1982. [1] : 117 

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Li, Ying (2024). Red Ink: A History of Printing and Politics in China. Royal Collins Press. ISBN   9781487812737.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "中国共产党历次全国代表大会数据库" [Database of the National Congresses of the Chinese Communist Party]. Chinese Communist Party News Network . Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cabestan, Jean-Pierre (2024). "Organisation and (Lack of) Democracy in the Chinese Communist Party: A Critical Reading of the Successive Iterations of the Party Constitution". In Doyon, Jérôme; Froissart, Chloé (eds.). The Chinese Communist Party: a 100-Year Trajectory. Canberra: ANU Press. pp. 17–45. doi: 10.22459/CCP.2024.01 . ISBN   9781760466244.
  4. ↑ Hammond, Ken (2023). China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future. New York, NY: 1804 Books. ISBN   9781736850084.
  5. 1 2 Hou, Xiaojia (2024). "China's Shift to Personalistic Rule: Xi Jinping's Centralization of Political Power". In Fang, Qiang; Li, Xiaobing (eds.). China under Xi Jinping: A New Assessment. Leiden University Press. p. 92. ISBN   9789087284411. JSTOR   jj.15136086.
  6. ↑ Heilmann, Sebastian (2018). Red Swan: How Unorthodox Policy-Making Facilitated China's Rise. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv2n7q6b. ISBN   978-962-996-827-4. JSTOR   j.ctv2n7q6b. S2CID   158420253.
  7. ↑ Huang, Yibing (2020). An Ideological History of the Communist Party of China. Vol. 3. Qian Zheng, Guoyou Wu, Xuemei Ding, Li Sun, Shelly Bryant. Montreal, Quebec. pp. 474–475. ISBN   978-1-4878-0425-1. OCLC   1165409653.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ↑ "中国特色社会主义理论体系的概括提出有何重大意义？" [What is the significance of summarizing the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics?]. Chinese Communist Party . August 29, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
  9. ↑ "十八大对党章作了哪些修改？". People's Daily . November 28, 2012. Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  10. ↑ Rodenbiker, Jesse (2023). Ecological States: Politics of Science and Nature in Urbanizing China. Environments of East Asia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN   978-1-5017-6900-9. JSTOR   10.7591/j.ctv310vjnd.
  11. 1 2 Phillips, Tom (October 24, 2017). "Xi Jinping becomes most powerful leader since Mao with China's change to constitution". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on October 24, 2017. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  12. ↑ Goh, Brenda; Ruwitch, John (October 24, 2017). "Pressure on as Xi's 'Belt and Road' enshrined in Chinese party charter". Reuters . Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  13. ↑ Shinn, David H.; Eisenman, Joshua (2023). China's Relations with Africa: a New Era of Strategic Engagement. New York: Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/shin21000. ISBN   978-0-231-21001-0. JSTOR   10.7312/shin21000.
  14. ↑ Borst, Nicholas (2025). The Bird and the Cage: China's Economic Contradictions. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-981-96-3997-7. ISBN   978-981-96-3996-0.
  15. 1 2 3 "Factbox: China's Communist Party amends its charter, strengthens Xi's power". Reuters . October 22, 2022. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  16. ↑ Grzywacz, Jarek (January 26, 2023). "How Xi Jinping Used the CCP Constitution to Cement His Power". The Diplomat . Archived from the original on July 12, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  17. ↑ PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . China: A Country Study. Federal Research Division. July 1987.
  18. 1 2 Marquis, Christopher; Qiao, Kunyuan (2022). Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise. Kunyuan Qiao. New Haven: Yale University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv3006z6k. ISBN   978-0-300-26883-6. JSTOR   j.ctv3006z6k. OCLC   1348572572. S2CID   253067190.
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