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China Communist Party Membership
Every unit in China, from the villages through the armed
forces, is run by the party, which has a monopoly on political
power
(see Membership
, ch. 10). Party members are in a sense the
heirs of the traditional gentry. They are a power-holding elite,
dispersed over the whole country, and serve as intermediaries
between their own communities or units and the nation. They are
recruited from the population at large on universalistic grounds of
"merit," and they claim authority by their mastery of an ideology
that focuses on government and public order. The ideology is
contained in books, and party members are expected to be familiar
with the basic texts, to continue studying them throughout their
careers, and to apply them in concrete situations.
The differences between the traditional elite and the party are
obvious. Party members are supposed to be revolutionaries, be
devoted to changing society rather than restoring it, come from and
represent the peasants and workers, and be willing to submit
themselves totally and unreservedly to the party. On the whole,
party members are distinctly less bookish and more militaryoriented and outwardly egalitarian than traditional elites. Party
members have been preferentially recruited from the poor peasantry
of the interior, from the army, and from the ranks of industrial
workers; intellectuals have usually found it difficult to enter the
party. The party is represented in every village and every large or
medium-sized enterprise in the country. The scope of its actions
and concerns is much greater than that of its traditional
predecessors.
Relatively speaking, there are more party members than there
were traditional gentry. In 1986 the Chinese Communist Party had 44
million members in 2.6 million local party branches. This meant
that about 8 percent of China's adult population belonged to the
party. Not all party members hold state jobs: some hold village and
township-level positions, and many armed forces enlisted personnel
join the party during their service. (Indeed, a chance to join the
party has been one of the major attractions of military service for
peasant youth.)
Party members direct all enterprises and institutions and
dominate public life and discussion. Anyone with ambitions to do
more than his or her daily job or work in a narrow professional
specialty must join the party. Membership is selective, and
candidates must demonstrate their zeal, devotion to party
principles, and willingness to make a total commitment to the
party. Ideally, membership is a complete way of life, not a job,
and selection for membership depends more on assessment of an
individual's total personality and "moral" character than on
specific qualifications or technical skills. While this could
probably be said of all communist parties, Chinese Communist Party
members certainly mirror China's traditional mandarins, who were
political generalists rather than technical specialists. Party
members are the intermediaries who link enterprises and communities
with high-level structures, and they can belong to more than one
organization, such as a factory and a municipal party body. Party
membership is virtually a requirement for upward mobility or for
opportunities to leave one's original work unit.
Data as of July 1987
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