Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party

Last updated
Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
中国共产党中央委员会组织部
AbbreviationZhongzubu (中组部)
FormationJuly 1921;103 years ago (1921-07)
TypeDepartment directly reporting to the Central Committee
Ministerial level agency
Headquarters80 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing, China
Head
 Li Ganjie
Executive deputy head
 Jiang Xinzhi
Deputy heads
 Li Xiaoxin*, Huang Jianfa, Peng Jinhui, Xu Qifang  [ zh ], Zhang Guangjun
Parent organization
 Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Website news.12371.cn/dzybmbdj/zzb/ OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
* Maintains full minister-level rank
Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party
Simplified Chinese 中国共产党中央委员会组织部
Traditional Chinese 中國共產黨中央委員會組織部
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǔzhībù

The Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the human resource management department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that controls staffing positions within the CCP.

Contents

The Organization Department is one of the most important organs of the CCP. It forms the institutional heart of the Leninist party system. It controls party personnel assignments throughout the national system, and compiles detailed and confidential reports on future potential leaders of the CCP. [1] The department is known for its highly secretive nature; state media outlet China News Service stated it "always wears a mysterious veil" and historically interacted little with the public or press. [2]

Because the People's Republic of China is a one-party state, the CCP Organization Department has an enormous amount of control over state personnel. The Organization Department is indispensable to the CCP's power, and the key to its hold over personnel throughout every level of government and industry. It is one of the key agencies of the Central Committee, along with the Central Propaganda Department, United Front Work Department and International Department.

History

In the early 2000s, the Organization Department introduced an evaluation procedure for leading officials (the cadre system) that aimed to assess regularly the officials' performance and success at implementing policies. [3] David Shambaugh notes the promulgation of Regulations on the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Cadres in July 2002, writing that the Organization Department has stepped up its evaluation of cadres, including annual appraisal reviews according to various criteria. [4] However, research conducted by Thomas Heberer in China in 2007 revealed that an effective evaluation procedure is not yet in place. Crucial policy areas, such as environmental issues, are not being evaluated, and evaluation is predominantly based on self-assessment. [3]

In 2018, it absorbed the former State Civil Servants Bureau. [5] : 76  The rationale for the change was that it would better enforce the principle of "the Party controls the cadres." [5] : 76 

Functions

The Organization Department is in charge of selecting, promoting and training Party officials and civil servants. [6] [7] : 68  The CCP uses the nomenklatura method ("list of names" in Soviet terminology) to determine appointments. [8] : 123  The nomenklatura system is how a Leninist ruling party staffs the state, exercising organizational hegemony over appointments and dominating the political life of the country. [9] The central nomenklatura list comprises the top 5,000 positions in the party-state, all of which are controlled by the Organization Department. This includes all ministerial and vice-ministerial positions, provincial governorships and First Party secretary appointments, as well as appointments of university chancellors, presidents of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, etc. [9] : 173  For senior positions, the Organization Department recommends candidates to the Standing Committee, which generally approves them. [7] : 66–67 

Related to the nomenklatura list is the bianzhi (编制) list, which is a list of the authorized number of personnel, as well as their duties and functions in government administrative organs, state enterprises, and service organizations. The bianzhi covers those employed in these organizations, whereas the nomenklatura applies to leadership positions. [4] However, because the CCP and its organizational departments are constantly intervening in the personnel and administrative functioning of state institutions, the parallel existence of the bianzhi and nomenklatura systems has become an obstacle to fundamental administrative reform in China. [3]

An equivalent of the Organization Department in the United States, according to TheTimes, would "oversee the appointments of US state governors and their deputies; the mayors of big cities; heads of federal regulatory agencies; the chief executives of General Electric, ExxonMobil, Walmart and 50-odd of the remaining largest companies; justices on the Supreme Court; the editors of The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post , the bosses of the television networks and cable stations, the presidents of Yale and Harvard and other big universities and the heads of think-tanks such as the Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation." [10] While the system is from the Soviet Union, "the CPC has taken it to an extreme," Yuan Weishi of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong is quoted as saying by the Financial Times . "China is more radical. [The party here] wants to lead everything." [10]

Bruce Gilley and Andrew J. Nathan write that in the promotion of individual candidates for high positions, a good rating from the Organization Department is essential. The department judges on such qualities as "ideological probity, loyalty to the Party, attitude toward work, and ability to mobilize others." Its research on individuals slated for top positions are "probing" and assessments often acute. [11]

Internal CCP documents give frank assessments of the Organization Department's strategy to enhance its control. Before the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, a set of Temporary Regulations were amended to encourage the appointment of cadres that explicitly supported Jiang Zemin's theory of Three Represents. [12] Jiang's closest ally in the central government, Zeng Qinghong, who headed the Central Organization Department at the time, gave a presentation at a special training session for organization and personnel cadres before the official release of the 2002 regulations. He asserted that "the work of amending the 'temporary regulations' consists in building a stronger thought, organization, and work style within the whole Party according to the requirements of the 'Three Represents'". [12]

Efforts against corruption

The Central Organization Department played a leading role in the cadre reform drive from 2005 to 2006. [4] In June 1999, the department made efforts to prevent provincial leaders from working in their native provinces in an attempt to prevent corruption. [13]

Senior CCP leaders often carry influence in the determination of key positions. The children of Li Peng, for example, came to hold powerful jobs in the power sector where he had ruled; while Zhu Rongji oversaw the finance sector, his son became the highly paid head of China International Capital Corporation, the country's largest investment bank; and Jiang Zemin replaced others when he was the CCP official in charge of technology, putting loyalists into top jobs, and his son into a key position. [10]

According to a 2009 report, the buying and selling of official positions also takes place, particularly in small localities, where head of the local Organization Department is among the most sought after positions. The job carries great discretionary power, allowing the wielder the ability to grant jobs to other individuals in return for cash. At lower levels, the practice has been characterized by bribery, corruption, treachery, and "sheer desperate self-interest," according to the Financial Times, which examined internal documents produced by the Organization Department in Jilin. [10]

Other activities

The local and provincial levels of the Organization Department administer examinations for the assigned graduates system (xuandiaosheng, 选调生), which is an alternative path to civil service in China separate and distinct from the civil service examination. [14] : 54–55  The examinations cover public service topics similar to those in the civil service examination, but are generally viewed as less competitive. [14] : 55  Through the assigned graduates system, new university graduates who are student cadres and at least probationary CCP members enter a program that sends them to grassroots positions like village leadership roles or local Communist Youth League secretaries for a few years. [14] : 54–56 

List of the Heads of Department

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese Communist Party</span> Ruling party of the Peoples Republic of China

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang. In 1949, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Since then, the CCP has governed China and has had sole control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Successive leaders of the CCP have added their own theories to the party's constitution, which outlines the party's ideology, collectively referred to as socialism with Chinese characteristics. As of 2024, the CCP has more than 99 million members, making it the second largest political party by membership in the world after India's Bharatiya Janata Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nomenklatura</span> High bureaucrats/ruling class in Eastern Bloc countries

The nomenklatura were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy, running all spheres of those countries' activity: government, industry, agriculture, education, etc., whose positions were granted only with approval by the communist party of each country or region. While in Russian language the term номенклатура has the same generic meaning as "nomenclature", in the context of the politics of the Soviet Union it refers to the "party and state nomenklatura", lists of persons vetted for key management, or "nomenklatura lists".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party</span> 24-member leading body of the Chinese Communist Party

The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the highest political body of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party</span> Committee of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party

The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Historically it has been composed of five to eleven members, and currently has seven members. Its officially mandated purpose is to conduct policy discussions and make decisions on major issues when the Politburo, a larger decision-making body, is not in session. According to the party's constitution, the General Secretary of the Central Committee must also be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premier of China</span> Head of government of China

The premier of China, officially the premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the end of the Qing dynasty, but the current post dates to 1954, five years after the establishment of the PRC. The premier is the second-highest ranking person in China's political system after the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party /president, and holds the highest rank in the civil service of the central government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kang Sheng</span> Chinese politician (1898–1975)

Kang Sheng, born Zhang Zongke, was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official, best known for having overseen the work of the CCP's internal security and intelligence apparatus during the early 1940s and again at the height of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A member of the CCP from the early 1920s, he spent time in Moscow during the early 1930s, where he learned the methods of the Soviet NKVD and became a supporter of Wang Ming for leadership of the CCP. After returning to China in the late 1930s, Kang Sheng switched his allegiance to Mao Zedong and became a close associate of Mao during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, and after. He remained at or near the pinnacle of power in the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1975. After the death of Mao and the subsequent arrest of the Gang of Four, Kang Sheng was accused of sharing responsibility with the Gang for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and in 1980 he was expelled posthumously from the CCP.

The 28 Bolsheviks were a faction in the early Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The faction was formed among Chinese Communists studying at the Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow during the late 1920s and early 1930s. They received their nickname because of their strong support for the orthodox political positions advocated by Joseph Stalin and Pavel Mif. The leaders of the faction included Wang Ming, Bo Gu, Luo Fu, He Zishu, Wang Jiaxiang, and Shen Zemin. Sun Yat-sen University closed in 1930 and the students made their way back to China.

The civil service of the People's Republic of China is the administrative system of the traditional Chinese government which consists of all levels who run the day-to-day affairs in China. The members of the civil service are selected through competitive examination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zunyi Conference</span> 1935 meeting resulting in Mao becoming head of the CCP

The Zunyi Conference was a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in January 1935 during the Long March. This meeting involved a power struggle between the leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun and the opposition led by Mao Zedong. The result was that Mao left the meeting in position to take over military command and become the leader of the Communist Party. The conference was completely unacknowledged until the 1950s and still no detailed descriptions were available until the fiftieth anniversary in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xiang Zhongfa</span> Early senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (1879–1931)

Xiang Zhongfa was a Chinese socialist who was one of the early senior leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yan'an Rectification Movement</span> 1942–45 Chinese Communist Party political effort

The Yan'an Rectification Movement was a political mass movement led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1942 to 1945. The movement took place in the Yan'an Soviet, a revolutionary base area centered on the remote city of Yan'an. Although it was during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the CCP was experiencing a time of relative peace when they could focus on internal affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Li Kenong</span>

Li Kenong was a Chinese general and politician, one of the creators of the security and intelligence apparatus of both the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army. Notably, he served as Director of the Central Investigation Department, Deputy Chief of the PLA General Staff Department and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and was awarded the rank of General in 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Party School</span> Political training school in Beijing, China

The CentralParty School is a higher education institution that trains Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres. It is located in Haidian, Beijing, close to Summer Palace and Old Summer Palace.

The 10th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1973 to 1977. It was preceded by the 9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It held three plenary sessions in the four-year period. It was formally succeeded by the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Li Weihan</span> Chinese politician

Li Weihan was a Chinese Communist Party politician. After pursuing his studies in France in 1919–20, he returned to China for the first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai in 1921. He became a member of the 6th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in 1927 but fell out of favour shortly afterwards in the wake of the unsuccessful Autumn Harvest Uprising in junction of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. When he sought to bring the uprising to an end, he found himself accused of cowardice. Li was eclipsed until reemerging in the early 1930s as a supporter of Li Lisan, a leading figure in the CCP at the time, and an opponent of the anti-Mao 28 Bolsheviks faction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jiangxi Soviet</span> Part of the Chinese Soviet Republic the Chinese Civil War

The Jiangxi Soviet was a soviet governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that existed between 1931 and 1934. It was the largest component of the Chinese Soviet Republic and home to its capital, Ruijin. At the time, the CCP was engaged in a rural insurgency against the Kuomintang-controlled Nationalist Government as part of the Chinese Civil War. CCP leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De chose to create the soviet in the rugged Jinggang Mountains on the border of Jiangxi and Fujian because of its remote location and defensible terrain. The First Red Front Army successfully repulsed a series of encirclement campaigns by the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army (NRA) during the first few years of the Soviet's existence, but they were eventually defeated by the NRA's fifth attempt in 1934-35. After the Jiangxi Soviet was defeated militarily, the CCP began the Long March towards a new base area in the northwest.

The organization of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is based upon the Leninist concept of democratic centralism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fu Zhong</span> General of the Peoples Republic of China

Fu Zhong was a general in the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China from Sichuan.

The cadre system of the Chinese Communist Party entails the methods and institutions employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to train, organize, appoint, and oversee personnel to fulfill a wide range of civil service-type roles in party, state, military, business, and other organizations across the country. The system is composed of the several million full-time, professional staff.

Li Tielin is a Chinese politician who served as director of the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform from 2002 to 2007. He was a member of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He was a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

References

  1. ↑ Gilley, Bruce; Nathan, Andrew J. (October 10, 2002). "China's New Rulers: What They Want". The New York Review of Books . ISSN   0028-7504. Archived from the original on 2023-06-01. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  2. ↑ "Veil lifted on the Party's personnel department". China News Service. 13 October 2007. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Pong, David (2009). Encyclopedia of Modern China. Charles Scribner's Sons/Gale, Cengage Learning. ISBN   978-0-684-31569-0.
  4. 1 2 3 Shambaugh, David L. (2008). China's Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-25492-3.
  5. 1 2 Tsang, Steve; Cheung, Olivia (2024). The Political Thought of Xi Jinping. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780197689363.
  6. ↑ "Decoding Chinese Politics: Party Center". Asia Society . Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  7. 1 2 Li, David Daokui (2024). China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN   978-0393292398.
  8. ↑ Jin, Keyu (2023). The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism. New York: Viking. ISBN   978-1-9848-7828-1.
  9. 1 2 Shambaugh, David, ed. (2000-03-28). The Modern Chinese State (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511528194. ISBN   978-0-521-77603-5.
  10. 1 2 3 4 McGregor, Richard (September 30, 2009). "The party organiser" . Financial Times . Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  11. ↑ Nathan, Andrew J.; Gilley, Bruce (September 26, 2002). "China's New Rulers: The Path to Power". The New York Review of Books . ISSN   0028-7504. Archived from the original on 2023-02-07. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  12. 1 2 Landry, Pierre F. (2008-08-04). Decentralized Authoritarianism in China: The Communist Party's Control of Local Elites in the Post-Mao Era (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511510243. ISBN   978-0-521-88235-4.
  13. ↑ Li, Cheng (2001). China's Leaders: The New Generation. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN   978-0-8476-9497-6.
  14. 1 2 3 Doyon, Jérôme (2023). Rejuvenating Communism: Youth Organizations and Elite Renewal in Post-Mao China. University of Michigan Press. doi: 10.3998/mpub.12291596 . ISBN   978-0-472-90294-1. JSTOR   10.3998/mpub.12291596 .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.