How does the Chinese Communist Party govern the country?

Chapter 28

The democracy of urban communities in China mainly focuses on the self-government of urban residents committees.As we all know, the Chinese Communist Party has been active in rural areas for a long time, and has very little experience in governing cities, especially large cities.Before and after the founding of New China, how to govern cities became an important issue facing the Chinese Communist Party.

On October 1949, 10, more than 23 resident representatives of Shangyangshi Street, Hangzhou elected the first neighborhood committee in New China—Shangyangshi Street Residents Committee. Chen Fulin, who was the leader of the reposting group, was elected as the director of the neighborhood committee. On December 12, the Hangzhou Municipal Government officially issued the first decree in the history of New China on the establishment of urban neighborhood committees - "Working Instructions on Abolishing the Baojia System and Establishing Residential Committees". According to the "Instructions", the main purpose of the establishment of neighborhood committees is to establish the basis for the democratic management of the city by the masses, while conveying the instructions of the party and the government and reflecting the opinions of the masses. The "Instructions" clearly point out that neighborhood committees are not first-level government organizations, and their work is led by the local police station.Following Hangzhou, other cities have also set up grassroots organizations of urban residents similar to Hangzhou neighborhood committees.

In order to standardize the operation of residents' committees, on December 1954, 12, the Fourth Session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress deliberated and passed the "Regulations on the Organization of Urban Residents' Committees", which affirmed the nature, main tasks, and Organizational structure, relationship with relevant departments, etc.The Regulations clearly stipulate that residents’ committees are mass autonomous residents’ organizations. If the working departments and other organs of the people’s committees of cities and municipal districts must assign tasks to residents’ committees or their working committees, they shall be approved by the people’s committees of the city or municipal districts. Uniform arrangement.The working departments of the people's committees of cities and municipal districts may provide professional guidance to the relevant working committees of residents' committees.

The residents' committee shall have 1-17 members, one member shall be elected by each residents' group; and the members shall elect one director and 1-3 deputy directors from each other.There are five main tasks of the residents' committee: to handle the public welfare matters of the residents; to reflect the opinions and demands of the residents to the local people's committee or its dispatched agency; to mobilize the residents to respond to the government's call and abide by the law; to lead the public security work; Mediation of disputes among residents.The promulgation and implementation of the Regulations on the Organization of Urban Residents' Committees has promoted the full development of the construction of Urban Residents' Committees across the country.Where there were no neighborhood committees established at that time, neighborhood committee organizations were gradually established; where neighborhood committees had been established at that time, rectification was carried out in accordance with the provisions of the regulations.In the years from the passage of the regulations to the launch of the "Great Leap Forward" movement in 1958, urban residents' self-government and democracy developed relatively smoothly.

However, in the following 20 years, the development of urban residents’ self-government encountered setbacks, which were mainly restricted by two aspects:
One is the conflict between the work unit system and the self-government system of residents committees. In the 20s, through the implementation of the unified purchase and marketing policy, the implementation of the "First Five-Year Plan" (50-1953), and the transformation of ownership, a planned economic system was successfully established.Under this system, enterprises run the society, and the housing, medical care, education, and welfare of the vast majority of urban residents are all managed by the unit, becoming a veritable "unit person."The neighborhood committees are only responsible for the work of some so-called "marginal personnel" who have no working ability or are not included in the establishment of the unit.

Therefore, the self-government system of urban residents was greatly reduced under the planned economy system.According to the system design at that time, all personnel in the society had to enter the establishment of the unit. In this way, the fate of the neighborhood committee can be imagined.In addition, the state exercises comprehensive control and management over the society, and most of the funds of neighborhood committees come from government appropriations, so they can only passively accept the tasks assigned by the government, and in fact they have become the "legs" of the government.

Second, since the "Great Leap Forward" movement (1958-1960), political movements continued in the 20 years, which impacted the normal work of the neighborhood committees. In 1958, the climax of the "Great Leap Forward" Movement and the People's Commune Movement swept across the city, and local governments were replaced by people's communes that "integrated the party and the government" and "integrated the government and the society."While establishing people's communes in rural areas, some cities also established people's communes. Some people's committees or sub-district offices were converted into people's communes.

At this time, the residents’ committees were “busy with making steel, building industries, and running canteens. Every three days they had to beat gongs and drums to announce the good news and congratulate them. More and more people participated in production, and residents’ lives became more and more neglected.”Although the neighborhood committees were later restored during the period of national economic adjustment, during the "Cultural Revolution" period, the main task of the neighborhood committees became to grasp the "revolution", ignoring the requirements of residents' self-government and democracy.This cannot but be said to be a regression in the cause of urban residents' self-government.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978, with the continuous advancement of market-oriented reforms, the original planned economic system was gradually loosened.The relationship between units and employees has undergone profound changes: the excessive social security functions that work units have assumed for employees are gradually returned to society.This means that employees have changed from "unit people" to "social people".At the same time, the sudden emergence of non-public enterprises has led to the emergence of a large number of non-staff personnel. Coupled with the increase of migrant workers and retirees, the original urban management system can no longer adapt to the requirements of the new era and new society, and it is urgent to adjust relevant policies.For this reason, Article 1982 of the 110 Constitution stipulates that residents' committees established in cities according to the areas where residents live are grassroots mass self-governing organizations, and their directors, deputy directors, and members are elected by residents.The Constitution also stipulates that residents' committees shall set up committees for people's mediation, public security and public health, etc., to handle public affairs and public welfare undertakings in their residential areas, mediate civil disputes, assist in maintaining social order, and reflect the opinions, demands and suggestions of the people to the people's government .The state stipulates the nature, status, and functions of neighborhood committees in the form of fundamental laws.Since then, all localities have reorganized and strengthened the neighborhood committees under their jurisdiction in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution.

In 1986, the Ministry of Civil Affairs put forward the slogan of "Social Welfare and Social Affairs", and put forward the requirement of "community service" from the perspective of social security. The concept of "community" was first proposed and introduced into urban grassroots management.In September of the following year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs held a national community service work symposium in Wuhan.The meeting proposed to start with services for the elderly, the disabled, special care recipients, needy households, children, families, and other convenience services to solve the living difficulties of the residents in the jurisdiction and work hard for the improvement of the social welfare system.

With the emphasis on urban community management, on December 1989, 12, the No. 26 meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress passed the "Organization Law of the Urban Residents Committee of the People's Republic of China".Regarding the nature of neighborhood committees, the Organic Law clearly states: Resident committees are self-governing grassroots mass organizations for self-management, self-education, and self-service by residents.This means that the people's governments of cities and municipal districts or their dispatched agencies can only guide, support and help the work of residents' committees.Regarding the tasks of neighborhood committees, the Organic Law stipulates that there are six major items, namely: publicizing the Constitution, laws, regulations and national policies, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of residents, educating residents to fulfill their obligations according to the law, caring for public property, and carrying out various activities. Formal socialist spiritual civilization construction activities; handle public affairs and public welfare undertakings of residents in the living area; mediate civil disputes; assist in maintaining social order; assist the people's government or its dispatched agencies in public health and family planning related to residents' interests , special care and relief, youth education, etc.; report residents' opinions, demands and make suggestions to the people's government or its dispatched agencies.In addition, the Organic Law also stipulates the election of neighborhood committees, the composition of residents' assemblies, and the rights and obligations of neighborhood committee members.By the end of 11, there were 1995 residents' committees in cities, with 11.2 residents' committee officials.

Since the mid-to-late 20s, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has successively selected 90 urban districts, including Xicheng District in Beijing, Shenhe District in Shenyang, and Jianghan District in Wuhan, as experimental areas for national community construction to explore a community management system and operating mechanism suitable for China’s national conditions.The famous Shenyang model and Jianghan model were thus born.

The biggest feature of the so-called Shenyang model is that it injects new concepts of social governance into the grassroots management work: it recognizes the positive significance of the community community under the conditions of a market economy in practice, and will move away from relying solely on party and government administrative management. methods to carry out the rectification and management of social public life.The plan in Shenyang even considers the abolition of sub-district offices, so that the social affairs of the community can be taken care of by the community itself, and the government directly faces the self-governing community.The so-called Jianghan model has the following characteristics: it focuses on system innovation, embodies the institutional concept of "small government, big society", and carries out overall system innovation within the urban area; adheres to the principle of people-oriented, community autonomy according to law, and guarantees community Self-governing organizations are no longer a subsystem in the administrative system of government.By the end of 2004, 71375 residents' committees meeting the requirements for new-type community construction had been established in cities across the country.

While promoting the pilot project of community construction, the Ministry of Civil Affairs timely suggested measures to strengthen urban community construction to the central government. In November 2000, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council agreed and forwarded the "Opinions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Promoting Community Construction in the Country", requiring all localities to implement it conscientiously. The "Opinions" highlight the principles of "expanding democracy and residents' self-government" and emphasize that "communities must be scientifically and rationally divided according to the elements of community composition such as regionalism and sense of identity; , and gradually implement community self-management, self-education, self-service, and self-supervision.”Subsequently, the elections of neighborhood committees moved from indirect elections to direct elections. For example, residents of Liuzhou and Wuming counties in Guangxi achieved "sea elections."

Urban community residents' committees have played an irreplaceable role in serving residents, improving urban management, strengthening the relationship between the party and the masses, and maintaining social stability. Unsatisfactory working relationships, low-quality staff, weak service facilities, and difficult implementation of working funds have affected the functioning of community residents' committees and the overall advancement of urban community construction.In order to further improve the grassroots self-government system and improve the urban grassroots management and service system, on August 2010, 8, with the approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the General Office of the Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued "On Strengthening and Improving the Construction of Residents' Committees in Urban Communities" Work Opinion". The "Opinions" clearly pointed out that urban community residents' committees are grassroots mass autonomous organizations for self-management, self-education, and self-service by residents. It is necessary to uphold and develop the community democratic election system, further standardize community democratic election procedures, and steadily expand the direct election of community residents' committees. Coverage: It is necessary to improve the community democratic management system, further improve the vibrant community resident self-government mechanism led by the community party organization, promote the discussion system of community party members or party member representatives, and deeply carry out democratic decision-making in the form of residents' meetings, discussion and consultation, and democratic hearings Practice, the practice of democratic management with self-management, self-education, and self-service as the main purpose, the practice of democratic supervision with the main content of residential affairs disclosure and democratic evaluation, comprehensively promote the institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization of residents' self-government.

Just like villager self-government in rural China, the main content of urban community resident self-government is to implement democratic elections, democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic supervision.In terms of democratic elections, the form of elections has gone through from candidate nomination to self-recommended registration, from equal elections to competitive elections, from indirect elections to direct elections, and breaking the restrictions of geography and identity. The degree of democracy has been continuously improved, and urban community residents are directly elected Flourish.In terms of democratic decision-making, democratic decision-making on public affairs in the community is carried out through effective forms and channels such as community resident meetings, consultation meetings, and hearings.In terms of democratic management, work is regulated in accordance with the self-government charter and regulations of community residents, and efforts are made to enhance residents' awareness of being the masters of their own affairs, so as to realize "everyone manages the affairs of the community".In terms of democratic supervision, the affairs of the residents' committees are made public. All hot and difficult issues of concern to the residents and major matters involving the vital interests of all residents are disclosed to the residents in a timely manner, and residents' opinions are listened to and supervised by the residents through the convening of residents' deliberations.Self-government by urban residents, like self-government by villagers in rural areas, has infiltrated people's democracy into all aspects of social life and has become the most direct, broadest, and most vivid democratic practice in contemporary China.

(End of this chapter)