Chapter 32 Chapter thirty

Only by letting those who dare to criticize and self-criticize have no worries about gains and losses and future worries, can democratic life be effective. “It’s going to be a democratic life meeting again, and I have to say something against my will and listen to something that doesn’t matter.” In mid-June 2010, a leading cadre of a certain agency in Beijing complained privately to a reporter. According to the "Several Regulations Concerning the Democratic Life of Party Members and Leading Cadres of the Party and State Organs Above the County Level" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1990, the democratic life meeting of party members and leading cadres of the Party and state organs above the county level shall be held at least once every six months. The life meeting should be held before the end of July, and the democratic life meeting in the second half of the year should be held at the end of January of the following year."

As an organizational activity system within the party aimed at carrying out criticism and self-criticism, the Democratic Life Society has always been regarded as a magic weapon for upholding and improving democratic centralism and enhancing the cohesion and combat effectiveness of the leadership team. However, the reporter's investigation found that in recent years, the quality of democratic life meetings of the leading groups of many departments and units is not high.Only talk about achievements and not about problems, or talk about achievements with great fanfare and understate problems, turning criticism and self-criticism into praise and self-praise.Even no matter how serious the team's problems are, they always keep silent and criticize each other. At most, they just "raise some hope", which deviates from the original intention of the Democratic Life Association.

A leading cadre in a government agency in Beijing who did not want to be named told the reporter that in some democratic life meetings, some people also raised opinions, but most of them were irrelevant, or blatantly derogatory, such as "criticizing" leaders for "sometimes being too strict with comrades." Doing work without paying attention to the body", "busy with work and neglecting the family", etc. In his view, some leading cadres do not have enough understanding of the importance of democratic life, and they often start under the constraints of the system. “Sometimes it’s just in the name of raising awareness, looking for a few documents, reading them in turn, self-summarizing, criticizing and self-criticizing without touching the soul, and finally arranging someone to write a material and submit it.”

Some interviewees also mentioned that some democratic life meetings have been turned into "grievance meetings" and "grievance meetings", and members of the leadership team are unwilling to open their minds and analyze themselves. Complain, complain about distress, find objective reasons, but don't talk about your own problems." In addition, the reporter learned that some democratic life will not be democratic.As soon as the meeting started, the "top leaders" gave speeches first and made a report. They spoke wildly and unconstrainedly, and did not allow others to interrupt, let alone leave time for others to speak. It was a real "report meeting" and "parent meeting".

In accordance with the requirements of the members of the higher-level party committee (party group) to participate in the democratic life meeting of the leading group of the next-level party committee (party group), in some units and departments, although the higher-level leaders participated in the democratic life meeting, these leaders usually only talked about "learning from each other's strengths and making up for their weaknesses." Improve together", "If there is something, change it, if there is nothing, encourage it" and other official phrases. In the 1980s, the central government established a unified democratic life meeting system for the whole party for the first time in the form of written regulations. On October 18, 1992, it was approved by the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. For the first time, it was stated in the party constitution that leading cadres must participate in the democratic life meeting of the party committee and party group, and it has been followed to this day.

According to Professor Ye Duchu, a party building expert from the Central Party School, the democratic life meeting is specially set up for leading cadres who hold certain positions. . "However, in recent years, democratic life has become ill. Some people criticize it a lot, and some worry about the danger of a 'gradual form'." The interviewed experts believe that democratic life requires sincere and profound criticism and self-criticism. If a good atmosphere for positive ideological struggle cannot be created, it will turn into a "group massage party" where mutual praise is set, exposing impure motives and impure thoughts. Pure, impure party style is a concrete manifestation of style corruption under the new situation.

"Criticizing leaders is afraid of being retaliated, criticizing peers is afraid of hurting peace, criticizing subordinates is afraid of losing votes, criticizing oneself is afraid of losing prestige. It is difficult to criticize others, but it is even more difficult to criticize yourself." Regarding the decline in the quality of democratic life, a researcher from a scientific research institution in Beijing The words of the cadres are very representative. Professor Lu Zhaowang of the School of Politics and Public Administration of China University of Political Science and Law believes that the prevalence of "good people" in democratic life is related to the profound changes in the distribution of social interests.With the deepening of the reform, personal interests have gradually become stable and predictable, and some leading cadres have strengthened their sense of prudence and self-protection, their party spirit has become weaker than before, and their selfishness has become more explicit than before. Hello, everyone", they got along peacefully and dealt with the matter.

According to the reporter's understanding, there are still some party members and cadres who obey the leaders' orders and form a personal dependence relationship. Even if they have different ideas and opinions, they dare not or do not want to speak out in public.This lack of democratic cultivation and the ability to implement democracy has severely restricted the progress of democracy within the party. "As a member of the leadership team, I must be more aware of the problems of other people in the team than ordinary people." Professor Tan Fang, deputy director of the Theory Department of South China Normal University and member of the Teaching Steering Committee of Ideological and Political Courses in Guangdong Universities, said that if someone is at the democratic life meeting, he should be informed as soon as possible. By pointing out problems frankly and profoundly, some people may not go further and further down the wrong path, and even lose their reputation in the end.

In the opinion of the talker, the prevalence of "good people" in democratic life meetings is largely due to the fact that a small number of leading cadres like to practice "one-word teaching" and "patriarchal system", ignore the right of party members to participate in party decision-making, and make some decision-making within the party , it is difficult to build on the basis of real democracy. "This makes many people don't want to speak, are too lazy to speak, and it is impossible to have a real exchange of ideas freely." The talking party believed that the main leaders of some units and departments deliberately covered up the affairs that should have been participated in and understood by the team members, so that their opinions and suggestions could not be respected as they should be, which also seriously hindered their participation in democratic life. The enthusiasm and initiative of the meeting.

Lu Zhaowang also believes that the quality of democratic life in some units and departments is not high.The main leaders of some teams are afraid of exposing problems, causing "family ugliness to be publicized" and affecting the image of the team, so it is difficult to form an atmosphere of criticism and self-criticism. Democratic life will be a mere formality, and the final result is to cover up the problems of the leadership itself. "Some of the briefings and rectification measures reported by the democratic life associations are bound to be whitewashed. If the higher-ups are more bureaucratic, what they see is a false impression." Tan Fang said.

On October 6, 2008, He Zhi, former secretary of the party group and director of the grain bureau in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, was tried for corruption, bribery, and private distribution of state-owned assets.According to media reports, at a democratic life meeting during his tenure, several members of the party group publicly exposed He Zhi's suspected corruption, and then jointly signed a letter to the relevant departments, strongly demanding that corresponding measures be taken against him.Since then, He Zhi was "double-regulated" by the local discipline inspection committee and further obtained evidence. Relevant leaders of the central government issued special instructions after learning about the incident, saying that Hunan Zhuzhou Grain Bureau held a democratic life meeting to expose the "top leader" problem, and it was not easy to verify the truth, and asked for further reporting and understanding. "Unfortunately, there are very few people who can expose the problems in the democratic life meeting in reality." Tan Fang said. "In reality, it is simply a miracle to openly challenge the authority of the department's 'top leader' through democratic life, and even uncover serious problems." Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor at Nankai University, believes that this may be caused by He Zhi's case. The reason for the high-level concern. Qi Shanhong said that democratic life associations are originally a form of democracy in which everyone communicates with each other and improves each other, but at present some democratic life associations cannot truly play the role of upholding the truth and spreading the word. Emotional function. "A sour democratic life will not touch the soul, let alone achieve common improvement through fierce ideological confrontation, but will poison people's souls to a certain extent, mislead people's value orientation, and worsen the ecological environment of power. "Qi Shanhong said. A number of interviewed experts believe that society is developing rapidly, and party building should also keep pace with the times.Democratic life meetings are an important link in organizational construction. Party organizations at all levels should carry out institutional innovations in democratic life meetings, and they cannot always circle around in the original model. "Whether the democratic life meeting is held well or not depends on the 'top leader'." Lu Zhaowang said that the "top leader" must establish a sense of democracy, and take the democratic life meeting as a platform to better solve problems in work, as a A platform that gathers the wisdom of party members and cadres.In addition, a certain system should be adopted to reflect the opinions and suggestions of cadres and the masses inside and outside the party in the democratic life meeting. He suggested that the degree of information disclosure of the Democratic Life Association should be improved, and an information disclosure mechanism for the Democratic Life Association should be established.First of all, we must increase the degree of information disclosure to the majority of party members; secondly, we must also disclose information to non-party members regarding issues related to the general public.As long as it does not involve confidentiality, the more open it is, the better it is to solve the problem, and the more it can reflect the value of the democratic life association.Establish a mass appraisal system for democratic life meetings, or attract the masses to participate in democratic life meetings. Zhang Xiang, Secretary of the General Party Branch of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, said in an interview with reporters that the purpose of holding democratic life meetings is to solve problems, which requires the "top leaders" to create an atmosphere in which subordinates dare to speak, and strengthen science and democracy. Construction, so that problems and contradictions can be resolved in a timely manner as soon as they arise, rather than having to be accumulated and resolved in democratic life meetings. He pointed out that the democratic life meeting can explore and gradually expand the scope of participants and solicit opinions. "When solving the problems of the team and team members, it also enables the participants to be educated and influenced by inner-party democracy, and then promote the construction of social democracy." Ye Duchu believes that to hold democratic life meetings well, it is necessary to closely combine the relevant regulations on advanced nature education activities and the specific reality of the unit and department, pay attention to practical results, and do a good job. "The main leader of the party committee or party group is the first person responsible for the democratic life meeting. He must be strict with himself, drive other comrades with exemplary actions, and improve the quality of the democratic life meeting." Qi Shanhong pointed out that the key is to further standardize the democratic selection mechanism of cadres from the system, effectively restrict the power of "top leaders", and put an end to the "formalization and formalization" of democratic life, so that others can dare to express different views and opinions. Dare to expose shortcomings. "Because of the objective phenomenon that the fate of subordinates is controlled by superiors and the fate of the same level is controlled by the 'top leader', in order for democratic life to truly play a role, it is necessary to put an end to the phenomenon of subordinates blindly being loyal to superiors and forgetting to be loyal to the truth. A protection mechanism for those who insist on telling the truth." Qi Shanhong said. "Leading cadres who retaliate against those who tell the truth should be strictly held accountable." Talking party suggested that members of the leadership team have violations of discipline and law. Those who do not point out or criticize at the life meeting, once discovered, should earnestly and seriously investigate the responsibility of themselves and the principal persons in charge. "While continuing to make good use of the face-to-face form, we can consider expanding channels and try to take advantage of the Internet." Tan Fang said, "We can establish several small-scale 'democratic life meeting rooms' similar to online chat rooms or QQ groups or 'Democratic life groups' to exchange ideas or criticize. This will not only avoid face-to-face embarrassment and speak freely, but also facilitate inspection and supervision by higher authorities and leaders."