Report on the Revision of the Constitution of the Communist Party of China

Deng Xiaoping's report to the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on September 16, 1956, included in Volume 1 of the Collected Works of Deng Xiaoping.

The “Report” profoundly analyzes the new changes in the Party's situation and the new challenges facing the Party. It is pointed out that the Communist Party of China is already a ruling Party and occupies a leading position in all national work. The position of the ruling Party makes the Party face a new test. The report comprehensively and systematically expounds the Party's mass line. It is pointed out that the mass line is the fundamental issue in the Party's organizational work, the fundamental issue in the Party Constitution and the need for continuing education within the Party.

Furthermore, the “Report” expounds the important theoretical and practical significance of adhering to the Party's mass line. It is pointed out that the working class must rely on the mass strength of its own class and that of all the working people to realize its historical mission. Therefore, in order to carry out the Party's mass line, the Party must combat bureaucratism.

The “Report” focuses on the analysis of various manifestations of bureaucratism and reveals the root causes, pointing out that bureaucratism is a vestige of the age-long rule of exploiters in the history of mankind and has a deep and far-reaching influence on socio-political life. It proposes that carrying out the mass line and overcoming bureaucratism involve a long-term struggle.

The “Report” emphasizes the adherence to the democratic centralism of the Party, deeply expounds the experience and lessons of democratic centralism between Party organizations and Party members, between higher and lower organizations of the Party, between central and local organizations of the Party, and puts forward collective leadership and opposition to personality cult in Party organizations at all levels.

The “Report” proposes to implement the permanent system of Party congresses at all levels. It is argued that such reforms can certainly lead to significant development of inner-Party democracy. It is emphasized that in order to consolidate and preserve the Party, the Party must seriously and systematically study the situation and problems in the work of state organs in order to put forward correct, practical and concrete proposals for the work of the state, or revise its own propositions in time according to practice, and regularly supervise the work of state organs.

“The Report on the Revision of the Constitution of the Communist Party of China” is a profound summary of the Party's governing experience since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a new development of Marxist Party-building theory and a direction for the construction of the ruling party in the socialist period, under the conditions of great changes in the ruling position and environment of the Communist Party of China.