Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Challenges of Party Building in the Reform Era
- 3 New Institutional Links
- Appendix: Survey Design and Implementation
- 4 The Politics of Co-optation
- 5 The Political Beliefs and Behaviors of China's Red Capitalists
- Appendix: Multivariate Analyses of Political Beliefs of Officials and Entrepreneurs
- 6 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - The Politics of Co-optation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Challenges of Party Building in the Reform Era
- 3 New Institutional Links
- Appendix: Survey Design and Implementation
- 4 The Politics of Co-optation
- 5 The Political Beliefs and Behaviors of China's Red Capitalists
- Appendix: Multivariate Analyses of Political Beliefs of Officials and Entrepreneurs
- 6 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
If we allow private entrepreneurs [to join the party], it would create serious conceptual chaos within the party, and destroy the unified foundation of the political thought of the party that is now united, and destroy the baseline of what the party is able to accommodate in terms of its advanced class nature. … The party name, the party constitution, and the party platform all would have to be changed.
The practical experience of our party shows that the structure of the party membership is related to and to a certain degree influences the party's character. However, it is not the decisive factor affecting the party's character.
WITH the beginning of the reform era, the CCP not only created new organizations to link itself with the changing economic and social environment, it also undertook a determined and extensive effort to recruit new members with new sets of skills into the party. This was a direct consequence of the party's decision to switch its key task from promoting class struggle during the Mao years to promoting economic modernization in the post-Mao era. The change in goals necessitated a change in criteria for recruiting new members and appointing new personnel to key posts in the party and government at all levels.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Red Capitalists in ChinaThe Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change, pp. 89 - 115Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003