Communist Party of China

Communist Party of China 中国共产党
Abbreviation	CPC
General Secretary	Xi Jinping
Founders	Chen Duxiu Li Dazhao 1st National Congress
Founded	23 July, 1921
Newspaper	People's Daily
Think tank	Central Policy Research Office
Youth wing	Communist Youth League of China Young Pioneers of China
Membership (2022)	96,710,000
Political orientation	Marxism–Leninism Mao Zedong Thought Deng Xiaoping Theory Three Represents Scientific Outlook on Development Xi Jinping Thought
Website
http://cpc.people.com.cn/

The Communist Party of China (CPC) is the vanguard of both of the Chinese working class and of the Chinese nation. It is guided by its ideology which is a practical application of Marxism-Leninism to the specific conditions of China. Among these ideological developments is Socialism with Chinese characteristics which emphasizes the development of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. The realization of communism is the highest ideal and ultimate goal of the Party.

History

Founding

The Communist Party of China was founded on July 23, 1921, heavily influenced by the events of the May Fourth Movement and the October Revolution. At its first congress, the party only had about 50 members.

Civil war and War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression

In 1934, the Chinese Red Army began the Long March and retreated from Jiangxi to Shaanxi to avoid persecution from the Kuomintang and established a revolutionary base in Yan'an.

After fascist Japan invaded China, the Chinese Red Army became part of the Eighth Route Army.

After many years of civil war in which the CPC achieved total victory in mainland China and most of the coastal islands, led the People's Liberation Army to defeat the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, and forced the Republic of China into a military coup.

First Generation

The government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan. Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China in Beijing in 1949, the only ruling party in the PRC leading the Workers' and Peasants' Alliance and the United Front on behalf of the working class and exercising the People's Democratic Dictatorship in mainland China since October 1949.

Second Generation

In 1978, the third plenary session of the CPC Central Committee approved Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up policy and established several special economic zones.

Fifth Generation

By 2021, the CPC had reached over 90 million members.

Demographics

In 2020, the Communist Party of China is about 91,914,000 members large or about 6.57% of their population. In 2017, about 26.7% of members are women. In 2015, roughly 30% are farmers, herdsmen or fishermen, 25% white collar workers, 18% retirees, 8% government employees.

On July 2, 2001, Jiang Zemin allowed the possibility of membership to be extended to the bourgeoisie. This policy would result in, by 2017, a large amount of the CPC's upper ranks being filled with millionaires or even billionaires, and greatly decreased the amount of power the workers had in the PRC's political affairs.

Controversies

Disputed English nomenclature

The CPC is incorrectly referred to as "Chinese Communist Party" (CCP) in Western media; despite the CPC declaring the "Communist Party of China" to be official English translation of their native name.

Structure

CPC members are recursively grouped into party branches; higher-level party branches regulates lower-level branches. When a branch exceeds a manageable size; it gets managed by a higher-level branch of the parent branch.

For example, party (or grassroots) branches with between 50 and 100 members are grouped into General Party Branches. General Party Branches regulate grassroots branches.