Thread by @PM_Thornton

人民日报： New collection of 50 speeches by #China's Xi Jinping published under the title of "On Persisting with the People as Masters of the Country" (elaborating on the peoples democratic dictatorship) 习近平同志《论坚持人民当家作主》出版发行 paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2021…

人民日报 p. 2 outlines some of the included speeches, including an address by XJP on implementing the spirit of the Sixth Plenum of the 18th Party Congress (so, of the *last* Sixth Plenum): "Maintain the authority of the Party Central Committee & implement democratic centralism"

Although Xi's address at the Jan 2017 Sixth Plenum focused on Party discipline & organizational life (excerpt: xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-…), his Feb speech on implementing the *spirit* of the plenary offered a vigorous defence of the CCP's system of democratic centralism (民主集中).

He begins with a defensive summary of the Nov 2016 CC's "Several Principles on the Political Life of the Party in the New Situation" 《关于新形势下党内政治生活的若干准则》the first point of which is the need for all to adhere to the centralised & unified leadership of the Party

"Why," Xi asks, "do the 'Principles' emphasise this issue so much? It is because for some time now, the phenomenon of disregard for the authority of the Party Central Committee has been widespread, and is in cases very serious." Xi then accuses high-ranking Party cadres...

of harbouring ambiguous & wavering attitudes, of spouting "self-righteous nonsense" & openly expressing attitudes contrary to the "line" of the Central Committee; others appear unaware of the lack of discipline in the Party, or fail to report violations, "making small moves"...

against the Party Central Committee. Some make "adaptations" to Party guidelines, others set up "independent kingdoms" & "private suzerains." And some-- like Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Xu Caihou-- openly engage in factional activity to split the Party from within.

"If the Party Central Committee lacks authority, the Party's line & policies cannot be implemented, if we each do what we want to do & do not do what we do not want to do, the Party scatters like sand, becomes a 'private club,' the 'Party's leadership' becomes an empty phrase."

Xi thus asserts that for these reasons, the "Guidelines" emphasise that the Party *must* oppose individualism, decentralism, liberalism, and personalism, and all Party members & Party organisations must unwaveringly implement the Central Committee's line in all things.

Xi then poses the seemingly reasonable question of whether all of this emphasis on maintaining the authority & centralised leadership of the Party's Central Committee, is not truly *democratic* centralism, that is to say, does not fail to carry forward democracy within the Party?

"Absolutely not!" Xi thunders in response: "The two cannot be opposed to one another. We implement democratic centralism that is both centralized *and* democratic, displaying both discipline and freedom." He then outlines the Party's formal system of consultation & deliberation..

which, he says, "allows for Party members to fully express their views, speak freely, propose amendments, criticise & even oppose" Party proposals without fear of admonition or punishment.

"However, once the Party Central Committee makes its decision, all parties must resolutely implement, even if they disagree or if its implementation is not to their liking. Moreover, implementation must be wholehearted, not "of two minds or half-hearted."

Responding to other anonymous critiques, Xi asks whether this process doesn't strip localities & depts of their authority to implement policy? He declares that lower levels must acknowledge their authority comes only from the power of the Central Committee which they must uphold.

Xi's 2017 address on implementing the spirit of the Sixth Plenum of the 18th Party Congress-- inc. its responses to invisible critiques-- sheds interesting light on intra-Party dynamics as the *current* Sixth Plenum kicks off today in Beijing.

First, as Minxin Pei points out, the 2016 revision to the “Principles” – "one of the most important political documents issued by the post-Mao leadership" – *replaced* the section from the 1980s on “Adherence to collective leadership and opposition to personal arbitrary rule”

with a discussion of “Adherence to the principle of democratic centralism”-- and necessitating XJP's responses to his invisible critics within the Party. Second, XJP has steadily reoriented HJT era discussion of "intra-Party democracy" w/ a new focus on "democratic centralism"

and, in particular, with an emphasis on "correct, effective centralism" (from the Politburo's Oct 2020 approval of a revised version of the “Central Committee work regulations” (as @HollySnapeWang has pointed out), short-shrifting the meagre "democratic" element of the concept.

Third, as @ZhangTaisu and Tom Ginsburg argue, democratic centralism's reinvention under #China's “turn towards law” under Xi has only further widened the Party's scope both to police administrative compliance within the governing apparatus & to control local agents.

(For references for most of the above, see my open-access @chinaquarterly "Of Constitutions, Campaigns and Commissions: A Century of Democratic Centralism under the CCP" in the #CCPCentenary special issue) cup.org/3H5DUWs