Zhu Xiqun: Fully Understand and Grasp the Leadership Position and Role of the Party in Whole-Process People's Democracy
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "A very important lesson from the fact that China’s governance has achieved world-renowned success is that, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, we have followed the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, and persisted in developing whole-process people's democracy." The "Recommendations" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC proposed: "Persist in the organic unity of Party leadership, the people as masters of the country, and the law-based governance of the country, and develop whole-process people's democracy." Whole-process people's democracy is a great political creation under the leadership of the CPC, based on China’s national conditions, rooted in Chinese soil, and possessing deep historical and cultural heritage. To develop whole-process people's democracy, we must fully recognize and firmly grasp the CPC’s leading position and role. Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for developing whole-process people's democracy; it runs through the entire chain, every field, and every link of the practice of whole-process people's democracy, ensuring that the people's status as masters of the country is fully implemented. It must be consistently upheld and comprehensively strengthened.
Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for the development of whole-process people's democracy
The CPC’s leading position and role in whole-process people's democracy possess profound theoretical, historical, and practical logic.
First, it is the inevitable conclusion of Marxist theories on democratic politics. Based on a critique of the hypocrisy of capitalist democracy, the classical Marxist writers sketched a blueprint for proletarian democracy. Marxism holds that the historical mission of the proletariat is to establish a democracy that truly belongs to the people. As a new type of democracy, the essence of socialist democracy is that the proletariat and the broad masses of the people are the masters of the country. However, the realization of the people’s status as masters cannot be completed spontaneously; it must be organized and led by an advanced proletarian party. In the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels clearly pointed out: "The first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class to win the battle of democracy." This indicates that winning the battle of democracy and establishing a regime where the people are masters is the primary task of the proletarian party. Socialist democracy is democracy for the vast majority; it requires the strong leadership of the proletarian party to ensure that democracy develops in the right direction and to prevent it from degenerating into anarchism or being re-appropriated by the bourgeoisie. Interest expression and interest aggregation—or representation—are important functions of all political parties. People’s democracy can only be led and promoted by a party that represents the interests of the people. The CPC has always represented the fundamental interests of the broadest possible range of the Chinese people and has no special interests of its own. Therefore, amidst a complex pattern of interests, it can effectively integrate the will and demands of all social strata and sectors, condensing a powerful synergy for national governance. Whole-process people's democracy is precisely a great creation under the leadership of the CPC that combines Marxist democratic political theory with excellent traditional Chinese political culture and China’s specific realities, ensuring the "people-centeredness" of democracy and avoiding the maladies of Western democracy, such as capital games and political theater.
Second, it is the inevitable choice of the historical development of people's democracy in China over the past century. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that "history is the best textbook." Historical development reveals not only lessons but also historical laws. The history of the CPC’s struggle is a history of uniting and leading the Chinese people in the pursuit of national independence, people's liberation, national prosperity, and people's happiness; it is also a history of continuous exploration and development of people's democracy. Since its birth, the CPC has taken "the people as masters of the country" as its unswerving value pursuit. In the process of leading the revolution, construction, and reform, it has consistently adhered to the mass line, forming the fundamental working method of "from the masses, to the masses." From military democracy and worker-peasant democracy during the revolutionary war years to the construction of "three-thirds system" [1] democratic political power in the anti-Japanese base areas; from the establishment of the system of people's congresses as the fundamental political system after the founding of New China to the establishment and improvement of the system of CPC-led multi-party cooperation and political consultation, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance—this magnificent history demonstrates that without the leadership of the CPC, there would be no people as masters of the country, and no establishment or development of socialist democracy. Party leadership and people's democracy are inherently unified; only the CPC can lead and guarantee the people’s status as masters of the country.
Third, it is the inevitable requirement for advancing whole-process people's democracy in the New Era. In the process of modernization, a strong political core is an inevitable requirement for a country to maintain a balance between development and stability. To develop whole-process people's democracy and advance the modernization of the state governance system and capacity, we must persist in and strengthen Party leadership. Party leadership is comprehensive, systematic, and holistic; it necessarily includes leadership over democratic politics. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Only the Communist Party of China can persist in the principle of 'establishing a party for the public and exercising power for the people' [2] and fully develop democracy." Party leadership is the "compass" ensuring that whole-process people's democracy always moves in a socialist direction; it is the "booster" that stimulates the democratic vitality of the entire society and promotes the continuous deepening of democratic practice; and it is the "ballast stone" for responding to various risks and challenges at home and abroad and maintaining national political and social stability. In the practice of whole-process people's democracy, the Party plays the role of the leadership core that exercises overall leadership and coordinates all efforts. This effectively prevents a situation of "a group of dragons without a leader" [3] or a "heap of loose sand" [4], overcomes friction and internal depletion between different interest groups, and transforms democratic values and concepts into scientific decision-making, efficient execution, and powerful supervision. This achieves the unity of process and results-based democracy, procedural and substantive democracy, direct and indirect democracy, and people's democracy and the national will. Only by adhering to Party leadership can we ensure that democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision are interconnected and form a synergy, building a democratic political pattern that is full-chain, comprehensive, and all-encompassing, so that the people’s status as masters is more specifically, deeply, and effectively reflected in all aspects of national political and social life.
Specific manifestations and institutional guarantees of Party leadership in whole-process people's democracy
The Party's leadership over the development of whole-process people's democracy is manifested specifically and realistically in the entire process and all aspects of state governance through a series of scientific and complete institutional arrangements and specific operational mechanisms.
Party leadership over whole-process people's democracy is realized through the fundamental political system and basic political systems. The Party’s leadership is first and foremost an institutionalized leadership. The system of people's congresses, as China’s fundamental political system, is the most important institutional carrier through which the Party leads whole-process people's democracy. Through this system, the Party’s propositions become the national will through legal procedures, the candidates recommended by Party organizations become leaders of state power organs through legal procedures, and the Party’s line, principles, policies, and decision-making deployments are fully implemented and effectively executed in national work. The system of CPC-led multi-party cooperation and political consultation provides the basic institutional framework for democratic consultation. Through the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) as a specialized consultative body, the Party conducts extensive consultations with various democratic parties, personages without party affiliation, and people from all walks of life on major national policies and major issues in economic and social development, broadly soliciting opinions and gathering the wisdom of the people to achieve scientific and democratic decision-making. Furthermore, the system of regional ethnic autonomy and the system of community-level self-governance are also important institutional arrangements under the Party's leadership to ensure that people in specific regions and at the grassroots level exercise their rights as masters of the country.
Party leadership over whole-process people's democracy runs through the entire chain of democratic elections, consultation, decision-making, management, and supervision. Whole-process people's democracy is a complete chain, and the Party's leading role is reflected in every key node of this chain. In the link of democratic elections, we persist in combining the principle of the Party managing cadres with the legal election of officials by the people. Through deliberation, consultation, and recommendation, we ensure that the elected people’s representatives and leaders of state organs are both loyal to the Party and the people and possess the ability to perform their duties, thereby specifically unifying Party leadership with the people as masters. In the link of democratic consultation, the Party is the advocate, organizer, and leader. Consultations within political parties, people's congresses, government, the CPPCC, people's organizations, the grassroots, and social organizations are all conducted in an orderly manner under the Party's unified leadership. For example, during the drafting of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the Party Central Committee persisted in "opening the doors to seek advice" and "gathering wisdom from all," widely listening to opinions from all sectors of society through online solicitation and other forms, vividly practicing the spirit of consultation in whole-process people's democracy. In the link of democratic decision-making, we persist in democratic centralism, integrating Party leadership into the entire process of major decision-making. Major legislative plans and important draft laws concerning the national economy and people's livelihood are submitted by the Leading Party Group of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) to the Party Central Committee for approval or instructions according to procedures. This set of procedures ensures that major decisions both conform to the fundamental interests of the broadest range of the people and reflect the Party's centralized and unified leadership, achieving the scientization and democratization of decision-making. In the link of democratic management, the Party, through its extensive organizational system and mass work network, mobilizes and organizes the people to manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings, and social affairs according to the law, transforming the Party's leadership into social governance effectiveness. In the link of democratic supervision, the Party leads and supports the NPC, CPPCC, supervisory organs, and judicial organs in performing their supervisory duties according to the law, while supporting and guaranteeing the people's supervision over the exercise of power through various channels. For example, the establishment of the system whereby the State Council reports on the management of state-owned assets to the NPC Standing Committee is a major decision-making deployment by the Party Central Committee to strengthen the NPC’s supervisory function and ensure that the power entrusted by the people is always used to serve the people.
The Leading Party Group (党组, dǎngzǔ) system is the key mechanism for the Party to play its leading role in state power organs. To ensure that the Party's theories, lines, principles, and policies are implemented in national work, the Party establishes Leading Party Groups in the leading bodies of central and local state organs, people’s organizations, economic organizations, cultural organizations, and other non-Party organizations. The Leading Party Group plays a core leading role within its unit by "setting the direction, managing the overall situation, and ensuring implementation." Taking legislative work as an example, the Leading Party Group of the NPC Standing Committee plays a key role in formulating the legislative agenda, deliberating important draft laws, and coordinating major differences in legislative work. Before an important draft law is submitted to a meeting of the Standing Committee for deliberation, it is often studied and discussed by a meeting of the Standing Committee’s Leading Party Group to reach a consensus on major principles and key clauses; for complex issues involving major institutional and policy adjustments, the Leading Party Group promptly requests instructions and reports to the Party Central Committee. After the Party Central Committee clarifies the direction, the subsequent statutory deliberation procedures continue. This mechanism ensures that legislative work always adheres to the correct political direction and ensures that the Party's propositions and the people's will are accurately transformed into national laws. It can be said that the Leading Party Group system is the "converter" and "connector" for realizing the organic unity of Party leadership and state organs’ lawful performance of duties; it is an important institutional guarantee for the Party to implement specific leadership in whole-process people's democracy.
Further strengthen the Party's comprehensive leadership and promote the continuous development of whole-process people's democracy
Under the Party's strong leadership, the practice of whole-process people's democracy in the New Era has achieved fruitful results, demonstrating great vitality, profoundly changing China’s political ecosystem, and contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to world political civilization. To develop whole-process people's democracy, we must unwaveringly persist in and strengthen the Party's comprehensive leadership, continuously improve the Party's ability and level of leading democratic political construction, and let the people's status as masters of the country shine with even greater brilliance.
We must continue to deepen our understanding of the laws governing the organic unity of Party leadership, the people as masters of the country, and law-based governance. Persisting in the organic unity of these three is an inevitable requirement for the development of socialist democratic politics and a core concept that must be firmly grasped in advancing whole-process people's democracy. Party leadership is for the better realization of the people as masters; the people as masters is the essence and core of socialist democracy and must be realized under Party leadership; and law-based governance is the basic way the Party leads the people in governing the country, providing a rule-of-law guarantee for both. These three are not fragmented but an inseparable whole. We must continue to deepen our understanding of their internal unified relationship and achieve true ideological integration. At the same time, we must be adept at using Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods to analyze and solve practical problems in China’s democratic political construction, accelerate the construction of a democratic discourse system with Chinese characteristics, style, and flair, and tell the story of Chinese democracy with confidence, strengthening our confidence in our path, theory, system, and culture. We must persist in "concepts first" by strengthening ideological armament, publicity, and education, guiding the entire Party and society to profoundly understand the scientific connotation and great significance of whole-process people's democracy, and gathering the broadest value consensus for its development.
The institutional system through which the Party oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties must be continuously improved. To strengthen the Party’s leadership over whole-process people's democracy, we must incessantly perfect the systems by which the Party leads the People's Congresses, the government, the People's Political Consultative Conferences, supervisory organs, judicial organs, procuratorial organs, the armed forces, people's organizations, enterprises and public institutions, primary-level self-governing mass organizations, and social organizations. This ensures that the Party fully exerts its leading role within all types of organizations. We must further refine the mechanisms for implementing the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, and improve the procedures for the Party Central Committee’s leadership and decision-making on major issues in legislative and judicial work. We should optimize the setup and operational mechanisms of Leading Party Groups [5] within state organs, clarifying their scope of deliberation and decision-making procedures to ensure that they can effectively function as the leadership core while fully supporting and guaranteeing that state organs carry out their work independently, responsibly, and in coordination according to the law. Regarding decision-making mechanisms, we must improve the rules of procedure and decision-making processes for Party committees (and Leading Party Groups), integrating public participation, expert verification, risk assessment, legality review, and collective discussion as statutory procedures for major decisions to enhance the scientific, democratic, and law-based nature of decision-making. Regarding execution mechanisms, we must strengthen the pivotal role of the Party's organizational system in implementing decisions, ensuring that the central authorities’ decrees are implemented to the letter and that orders and prohibitions are strictly followed [6]. Regarding supervisory mechanisms, with intra-Party supervision as the leading force, we should promote the organic integration and coordination of various forms of oversight—including People's Congress oversight, democratic oversight, administrative oversight, judicial oversight, public oversight, and media oversight—to form a normalized and long-term supervisory synergy, ensuring that democratic practice does not deviate or become distorted.
The Party’s level of scientific, democratic, and law-based governance must be continuously raised. We must persist in using intra-Party democracy to drive people’s democracy. Intra-Party democracy is the lifeblood of the Party and an important manifestation of people's democracy. We must continuously improve the systems of intra-Party democracy, further broaden the channels for Party members to participate in Party affairs, and lead and promote the formation and development of a democratic atmosphere throughout society through the fuller development of intra-Party democracy. We must improve our ability to use legal thinking and law-based methods to deepen reform, promote development, resolve contradictions, maintain stability, and respond to risks. We must be adept at turning the Party’s propositions into the will of the state through statutory procedures, adept at ensuring that candidates recommended by Party organizations become leaders of state power organs through statutory procedures, and adept at exercising the Party’s leadership over the state and society through the organs of state power. We must persist in and develop the "Fengqiao Experience" [7] in the New Era, follow the Party's mass line in the New Era, improve the system for Party members and cadres to maintain contact with the masses, and smooth and standardize channels for the expression of public demands, coordination of interests, and protection of rights and interests. This ensures that the people’s right to know, right to participate, right to express themselves, and right to supervise are implemented in all fields and aspects of national governance.
The leadership of the Communist Party of China consists in supporting and ensuring that the people act as masters of the country. Only by unswervingly adhering to and strengthening the Party's overall leadership, and by continuously promoting theoretical, practical, and institutional innovation in whole-process people's democracy, can we fully exert the advantages and characteristics of China's socialist democratic politics. This will provide a solid and reliable political guarantee for the smooth implementation of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and the successful realization of the goals of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.