Chapter I

Membership

Article 1 Any Chinese worker, poor peasant, lower-middle peasant, revolutionary soldier or any other revolutionary who has reached the age of 18 and who accepts the Constitution of the Party and is willing to join a Party organization and work actively in it, carry out the Party's decisions, observe Party discipline and pay membership dues may become a member of the Communist Party of China.

Article 2 The Communist Party of China demands that its members should:

(1) Conscientiously study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, criticize capitalism and revisionism and strive to remould their world outlook;

(2) Serve the people wholeheartedly and pursue no private interests either for themselves or for a small number of people;

(3) Unite with all the people who can be united inside and outside the Party, including those who have wrongly opposed them;

(4) Maintain close ties with the masses and consult with them when matters arise;

(5) Earnestly practise criticism and self-criticism, be bold in correcting their shortcomings and mistakes and dare to struggle against words and deeds that run counter to Party principles;

(6) Uphold the Party's unity, refuse to take part in and moreover oppose any factional organization or activity which splits the Party;

(7) Be truthful and honest to the Party, observe Party discipline and the laws of the state and strictly guard Party and state secrets; and

(8) Actively fulfil the tasks assigned them by the Party and play an exemplary vanguard role in the three great revolutionary movements of class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment.

Article 3 Applicants for Party membership must go through the procedure for admission individually. An applicant must be recommended by two full Party members, fill in an application form for Party membership and be examined by a Party branch, which must seek opinions extensively inside and outside the Party; he or she may become a probationary member after being accepted by the general membership meeting of the Party branch and being approved by the next higher Party committee.

Before approving the admission of an applicant for Party membership, the higher Party committee must appoint someone specially to talk with the applicant and carefully examine his or her case.

Article 4 The probationary period of a probationary member is one year. The Party organization concerned should make further efforts to educate and observe him or her.

When the probationary period has expired, the Party branch to which the probationary member belongs must promptly discuss whether he or she is qualified for full membership. If qualified, he or she should be given full membership as scheduled; if it is necessary to continue to observe him or her, the probationary period may be extended but no more than one year; if he or she is found to be really unfit for Party membership, his or her status as a probationary member should be annulled. Any decision either to transfer a probationary member to full membership, to prolong the probationary period, or to annul his or her status as a probationary member must be adopted by the general membership meeting of the Party branch and approved by the next higher Party committee. The probationary period of a probationary member begins from the day when the higher Party committee approves the applicant's admission. The Party standing of a Party member begins from the day when he or she is transferred to full membership.

A probationary member does not have the right to vote and to elect or be elected enjoyed by a full member.

Article 5 When a Party member violates Party discipline, the Party organization concerned should give the member education and, on the merits of the case, may take any of the following disciplinary measures - a warning, a serious warning, removal from his or her post in the Party, being placed on probation within the Party, and expulsion from the Party.

The period for which the Party member concerned is placed on probation should not exceed two years. During this period, he or she does not have the right to vote and to elect or be elected. If the Party member concerned has been through the period of probation and has corrected his or her mistake, these rights should be restored; if the member clings to the mistake instead of correcting it, he or she should be expelled from the Party.

Proven renegades, enemy agents, absolutely unrepentant persons in power taking the capitalist road, alien class elements, degenerates and new bourgeois elements must be expelled from the Party and not be re-admitted.

Article 6 Any disciplinary measure taken against a Party member must be decided on by a general membership meeting of the Party branch to which the member belongs and should be submitted to the next higher Party committee for approval. Under special circumstances, a primary Party committee or a higher Party committee has the power to take disciplinary action against a Party member.

Any decision to remove a member from a local Party committee at any level, to place on probation or to expel the member from the Party must be made by the said Party committee and be submitted to the next higher Party committee for approval.

Corresponding provisions on disciplinary measures against members of the Party committees at all levels in the army units should be laid down by the Military Commission of the Central Committee in accordance with the Party Constitution.

Any decision to take a disciplinary measure against a Member or Alternate Member of the Central Committee must be made by the Central Committee or its Political Bureau.

When a Party organization takes a decision on a disciplinary measure against a member, it must, barring special circumstances, notify the member that he or she should attend the meeting. If the member disagrees with the decision, he or she may ask for a review of the case and has the right to appeal to higher Party committees, up to and including the Central Committee.

Article 7 A Party member whose revolutionary will has degenerated, who fails to function as a Communist and remains unchanged despite repeated education may be persuaded to withdraw from the Party. The case must be decided by the general membership meeting of the Party branch concerned and submitted to the next higher Party committee for approval.

A Party member who fails to take part in Party life, to do the work assigned by the Party and to pay membership dues over six months and without proper reason is regarded as having given up membership.

When a Party member asks to withdraw from the Party or has given up membership, the Party branch concerned should, with the approval of its general membership meeting, remove his or her name from the Party rolls and report the case to the next higher Party committee for the record.

Chapter II

Organizational System Of the Party

Article 8 The Party is organized on the principle of democratic centralism.

The whole Party must observe democratic centralist discipline: The individual is subordinate to the organization, the minority is subordinate to the majority, the lower level is subordinate to the higher level, and the entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee.

Article 9 Delegates to Party congresses and members of Party committees at all levels should be elected by secret ballot after democratic consultation and in accordance with the five requirements for successors in the revolutionary cause of the proletariat and with the principle of combining the old, the middle-aged and the young.

Article 10 The highest leading body of the Party is the National Congress and, when it is not in session, the Central Committee elected by it. The leading bodies of Party organizations at all levels in the localities and in the army units are the Party congresses or general membership meetings at their respective levels and the Party committees elected by them. Party congresses at all levels are convened by Party committees at their respective levels. The convocation of Party congresses at all levels in the localities and in the army units and the composition of the Party committees they elect are subject to approval by the next higher Party committee.

Article 11 Party committees at all levels operate on the principle of combining collective leadership with individual responsibility under a division of labour. They should rely on the political experience and wisdom of the collective; all important issues are to be decided collectively, and at the same time each individual is to be enabled to play his or her due part.

Party committees at all levels should set up their working bodies in accordance with the principles of close ties with the masses and of structural simplicity and efficiency. Party committees at the county level and upwards may send out their representative organs when necessary.