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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
One of the major causes of the success of the Chinese Communist party is its effective organization and indoctrination of the masses at the grass roots, primarily through a myriad of mass organizations. A study of these organizations in mainland China is significant for a number of reasons. First, in a country like Communist China where the degree of bureaucratization and centralization is high and where mass organizations serve in many respects as a principal medium between government and party policies and the people, the basic programs and policy shifts formulated by the leading organs of these organizations often indicate the direction of the political wind. Second, while details of decisions and deliberations made at meetings of government and party organs are painstakingly guarded, information regarding the programs, activities, and leadership of the mass organizations is more available. Third, by an examination of these mass organizations, we may, to some extent, evaluate the attitudes and reactions of different social classes and groups in present-day China and at the same time observe the techniques employed by the CCP in social communication and political indoctrination.
1 For a previous article in English on mass organizations in mainland China, see Barnett, A. Doak, “Mass Political Organizations in Communist China,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 277, pp. 76–88 (Sept., 1951)Google Scholar.
2 See Yao-pang, Hu, “Call to China's Youth to Build Socialism,” NONA, Peking, May 4, 1954Google Scholar.
3 Yao-pang, Hu, “Rally the Nation's Youth and March Courageously toward National Construction,” Report to the 2nd Congress of the NDYL, Jen-min jih-pao [People's Daily, JMJP], July 6, 1953, p. 3Google Scholar.
4 Ch'ang, Li, “Report on the Revision of the Constitution of the NDYL of China,” JMJP, July 7, 1953, p. 3Google Scholar.
5 For names of the heads of 10 major mass organizations, eee Table I.
6 In a speech commemorating the anniversary of Stalin's death on March 5, 1954, Ch'en Yün stated that socialism could install itself in one country at a time, and that this policy would require Communist parties in other countries to make a temporary but necessary retreat when one socialist country (such as the USSR between 1921 and 1941) built up her strength peacefully. Chinese text in JMJP, March 6, 1954, p. 1Google Scholar; see also Christian Science Monitor, March 9, 25, 1954.
7 Reported in Ta-kung pao, Tientsin, May 1, 1954, p. 2Google Scholar.
8 Hu Yao-pang, op. cit. p. 3.
9 Han, Hsia, “Peasant Women T'an Ch'un-hua Became a Magistrate,” Hsin-Chung-kuo fu-nü [Women of New China], No. 7, 1953, July 9, 1953, pp. 18–19Google Scholar; and People's China, May 16, 1953, p. 30Google Scholar.
10 Particular emphasis is assigned by all mass organizations to the promotion of technical innovations in industry, to organized farming, and to emulation contests. For detailed examples, see League's, Youth Directive of May 4th, JMJP, April 10, 1954, p. 1Google Scholar; editorial in Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao [Journal of Chinese Youth], April 15, 1954; and editorial in Hsin-Chung-kuo fu-nü [Women of New China], Feb. 28, 1954.
11 The Committee to Eliminate Illiteracy, set up on November 20, 1952, plans to remove illiteracy among employees in government organs before 1956, among industrial workers before 1957, among young peasants and workers before 1960, and among all the populace within 10 years. Literacy is defined by the Committee as the learning of 2,000 Chinese characters, knowledge of phonetic symbols, and the ability to write short essays of 300 to 500 words.
12 For some examples, see Pien, Tung, “Educating the Young Rural Women to Serve Contentedly in the Socialist Reform Work in Agriculture,” Hsin-Chung-kuo fu-nü [Women of New China], No. 52, Feb. 28, 1954, pp. 8–9Google Scholar; and editorial, “Educating the Rural Youth on the General Line [of the State],” Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien, Vol. 131, Feb. 16, 1954, p. 1Google Scholar.
13 “China's General Line of Transition to Socialism” People's China, January 1, 1954, pp. 5–9Google Scholar.
14 New York Times, June 18, 1954, p. 3Google Scholar. Chinese text in China Daily News, New York, June 22, 1954Google Scholar.
15 Article 8. See Christian Science Monitor, June 18, 1954, p. 17Google Scholar.
16 Ta-Kung pao, Tientsin, May 1, 1954, p. 2Google Scholar.
17 JMJP, April 10, 1954, p. 1Google Scholar.
18 See Feng, Hsiao, “Election in the Countryside,” China Reconstructs, March-April, 1954, p. 16Google Scholar; “Successful Conclusion of Basic Elections in the Various Regions,” JMJP, April 28, 1954, p. 3Google Scholar; and “Reports on Basic Election in Rural Districts,” JMJP, Feb. 20, 1954, p. 3Google Scholar.
19 Liao Ch'eng-chih, “Struggle for the Safeguarding and Construction of Our Fatherland,” Report to the 2nd Congress of the All-China Federation of Democratic Youth, June 10, 1953.
20 Chung-kuo ch'ing-nien pao [Journal of Chinese Youth,] April 3, 1954, p. 2Google Scholar.
21 For concrete examples on basic-level indoctrination and propaganda techniques, contents, and problems, see Tsen-yang chieh-li hsüan-ch'uan-wang [How to Set Up a Propaganda Network] (Peking, May, 1951)Google Scholar; Tsen-yang ts'o hsüan-ch'uan-yuan [How to be a Propagandist] (Peking, May, 1951)Google Scholar; Kung-ch'ang chung ti hsüan-ch'uan ku-tung kung-ts o [Propaganda and Agitation Work in the Factories], Shanghai Labor Federation, Oct., 1950Google Scholar; and Fu-nu kung-ts o shou-ts'e [Handbook on Women's Work], ACFDW (Shanghai, May, 1951)Google Scholar.
22 For details and examples of organizational methods at the grass-roots level, see Ch'eng-shih fu-nü chi-chi feng-tzu ch'iao-ts'ai [Text-book for Activists in the Urban Women's Movement], ACFDW (Peking, 1954)Google Scholar, and Hsüeh-hsi wu-san kung-ch'ang kung-hui kung-tso ching-yen [Learn the Working Experience of the Trade Union in the Wu-san Factory] (Hankow, 1953)Google Scholar.
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