The Constitution of the
Chinese Communist Party
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 Ci ...
has 53 articles and its contents describe the program of the Party, as well as its organizational structure and Party symbolism.
History
The
Chinese Communist Party
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 Ci ...
(CCP)'s constitution currently in force was adopted at the
12th National Congress of the CCP in September 1982. In accordance with the changing situation and tasks, revisions were made in some of the articles at the
13th National Congress in November 1987 and in the General Program and some of the articles at the
14th National Congress in October 1992, and a few revisions were made in the General Program at the
16th National Congress of the CCP in November 2002.
In March 2004, The "
Three Represents
The Three Represents or the important thought of Three Represents is a guiding socio-political theory within China credited to then-general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Jiang Zemin, which was ratified at the Sixteenth Party ...
" were written into the constitution. New changes and additions were made at CCP's
19th National Congress in October 2017
and at its
20th National Congress in October 2022.
Contents
The Party Constitution is composed of a preamble titled "General Program", followed by 11 numbered chapters composed of 53 articles. The chapters are, in order:
# Membership
# The Party's Organizational System
# Central Party Organizations
# Local Party Organizations
# Primary-Level Party Organizations
# Party Officials
# Party Discipline
# Party Organs for Discipline Inspection
# Leading Party Member Groups
# Relationship between the Party and the Communist Youth League of China
# Party Emblem and Flag
The organizational principle that drives the
political system of the PRC is "
democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is a practice in which political decisions reached by voting processes are binding upon all members of the political party. It is mainly associated with Leninism, wherein the party's political vanguard of professional revo ...
". Within the system, the democratic feature demands participation and expression of opinion on key policy issues from members at all levels of party organization. It depends on a constant process of consultation and investigation. At the same time, the centralist feature requires that subordinate organizational levels follow the dictates of superior levels. Once the debate has reached the highest level and decisions concerning policy have been made, all party members are obliged to support the Central Committee.
The constitution emphasizes the party's role in promoting
socialist democracy
Socialist democracy is a political system that aligns with principles of both socialism and democracy. It includes ideologies such as council communism, democratic socialism, and Soviet democracy, as well as Marxist democracy like the dictatorsh ...
, in developing and strengthening a
socialist legal system, and in consolidating public resolve to carry out the modernization program.
See also
*
Chinese Communist Party Admission Oath
The Chinese Communist Party Admission Oath () is an oath that prospective members of the Chinese Communist Party must take to become a party member according to Article 6 of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party.
There have been five ...
References
External links
Text of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party as of October 22, 2022
Text of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party as of October 24, 2017
{{Communist Party of China
Chinese Communist Party
Party platforms