Party Discipline Study and Education
Study of the original text of "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Actions"

(Source: Website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission)
 

What is organizational discipline, and what are the acts that violate organizational discipline?

Organizational discipline is a set of behavioral rules that regulate and govern the relationships between different levels of Party organizations, between Party organizations and Party members, and between Party members themselves. It is a fundamental condition for maintaining the Party's centralized unity and preserving its fighting capacity. Its essential requirement is to uphold democratic centralism and implement the Party's organizational line in the new era.

Acts that violate organizational discipline mainly include the following categories: violating the principle of democratic centralism; failing to implement organizational decisions; failing to explain and report as required; engaging in non-organizational activities; violating regulations on cadre selection and appointment; illegally seeking personal gain in personnel matters; infringing on the rights of Party members; violating regulations on the development of Party members; violating regulations on going abroad (exiting the country), etc.

The newly revised "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Actions" has 17 articles in Chapter 7, "Punishments for Violating Organizational Discipline," with 2 new articles and 7 revised articles. Article 80 has been added, stipulating that Party members who have a legal and regulatory obligation to testify in Party organization disciplinary investigations but refuse to testify or intentionally provide false information, reaching a moderately serious or serious level, shall be given warnings, serious warnings, or even expulsion from the Party; Article 85 has been added, clearly stipulating that those who engage in humanism in promoting the work of promoting the ability of leading cadres to rise and fall, and who evade organizational adjustments through Party discipline and government affairs punishments, use organizational adjustments to replace Party discipline and government affairs punishments, or make light of serious matters in other ways, shall be given corresponding punishments according to the circumstances. Article 86 adds provisions on punishing those who fabricate facts or illegally seek personal gain in the awarding of academic titles, promoting a good atmosphere of recognizing, loving, respecting, and using talent, and providing disciplinary guarantees for promoting innovative talent evaluation mechanisms; Article 91 stipulates punishments for Party members who go abroad (exit the country) for private reasons with approval but exceed the approved scope; and so on.

Circumstances and Punishment Provisions for Violating the Principle of Democratic Centralism

Article 77 of the "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Actions" stipulates punishments for violating the principle of democratic centralism. It can be divided into four categories:

　　1. Refusal to execute or unauthorized alteration of major decisions made by the Party organization. Major decisions mainly refer to decisions made by the Party organization regarding work task deployment, cadre appointments, adjustments, and handling, in accordance with the rules of procedure and decision-making procedures. These decisions are binding on Party organization members and must be obeyed and executed. As long as there is either refusal to execute or unauthorized alteration, it constitutes a violation of discipline.

　　2. Violation of the rules of procedure, with individuals or a minority deciding on major issues. This mainly refers to violations of the Party Constitution's provision that "all major issues must be decided by the Party committee through collective discussion in accordance with the principles of collective leadership, democratic centralism, individual deliberation, and meeting decisions," as well as the specific rules of procedure and decision-making procedures established by Party organizations at all levels.

　　3. Deliberately circumventing collective decision-making in deciding on major matters, important cadre appointments and removals, important project arrangements, and large sums of money. Deliberately circumventing collective decision-making mainly refers to individuals or a minority deliberately violating relevant rules of procedure and decision-making procedures, not making decisions on "three major and one major" matters within their responsibilities and authority through collective discussion and meeting decisions, or making temporary decisions by individuals or a minority in emergencies without promptly reporting to the leadership team afterwards, etc.

　　4. Collective violation of regulations under the guise of collective decision-making. Although this disciplinary violation complies with the collective rules of procedure and decision-making procedures, there is a fact of collective violation of regulations in decision-making, and the collective decision-making procedure becomes a means and pretext to conceal the purpose of collective violation of regulations.

The Party is a unified whole organized according to its own program and constitution, in accordance with democratic centralism. The most fundamental aspect of maintaining serious Party life is the earnest implementation of the Party's democratic centralism.

Disciplinary supervision has found that some Party and government leading cadres act arbitrarily and autocratically, ignoring major decisions of the Party organization; some engage in patriarchal rule and one-man rule, habitually setting the tone for everything in advance, making decisions on major issues without sufficient deliberation and discussion among members of the leadership team, and even ignoring the opinions of the majority; some deliberately circumvent collective decision-making procedures, imposing their personal opinions on the collective and the organization, replacing organizational decisions with personal decisions; some use "meeting discussions" as a pretext, using collective decision-making procedures as a means to conceal collective violations of regulations, etc.

　　Therefore, the "Regulations" clearly hold those who act arbitrarily or independently, who fail to make decisions, fail to implement decisions, or fail to implement decisions effectively, and who collectively violate regulations under the name of collective Party committee decision-making accountable for disciplinary responsibility, giving them warnings or serious warnings; in serious cases, they shall be given the punishment of removal from Party posts or probationary membership.