Now, many books, materials, and internet fragments have historically recorded that so-and-so was a "special party member." For example, the historical data that has now been publicly declassified, Yang Du, the elder of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, and Hu Egong, the elder of Xinhai (who later left the party), were special party members.
Yang Du, one of the first special party members
Now the question arises, is this "special party member" a common name, or a special title like a title or rank?
Hu Egong
First of all, it is certain that special party members are special titles (of course, there is no necessary relationship with titles and ranks). It cannot simply be called an underground party member or a secret party member. Books and articles now refer to special party members as underground or secret party members. This is not quite accurate. Everyone knows a historical node where after the failure of the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, the CCP moved from open activities to covert struggles, "when the Party was underground, all Party members were secret." Therefore, "underground party members" or "secret party members" are the common name for ordinary party members. Let's put it this way, from a general point of view, "underground party member" or "secret party member" is a full name concept, special party member is a special name concept, special party member belongs to the category of "underground party member" or "secret party member", but has far richer connotations and more specific provisions than "underground party member" or "secret party member". Just two documents illustrate the difference between special and secret party members.
In June 1938, Zhang Wentian and Liu Shaoqi instructed in a telegram to Zhu Rui: "Party members in the leading organs and government organs of the League and all other mass organizations must organize party groups, but they must pay special attention to secret work, do not expose relations, and maintain certain comrades as special party members according to the situation." ”
Martyr, senior general, proletarian revolutionary, listed 100 heroic models who made outstanding contributions to the founding of New China, Zhu Rui
On January 5, 1946, Chen Yi sent a telegram to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the uprising of Hao Peng's troops, saying: "Two division commanders of Hao Bu are special party members; in addition, we have infiltrated more than a dozen secret party members from Huaibei District, all of whom serve as official assistants. ”
Hao Pengju, who finally defected and escaped after being arrested, was killed by the People's Liberation Army
Moreover, special party members cannot be called "special party members.". Some articles and books refer to special party members as "special party members". That's not right. CCP literature has never referred to special party members as "special party members"; CCP literature has always referred to "special party members" as party members who have made specializations within the party, and special party members are a negative and derogatory title.
It is even more important to point out the difference between special party members and alternate party members. I've seen some enthusiasts equate special party members with alternate party members. This is even more wrong. Special party members generally do not have a wait-for period (there may be a wait-for period, I am lonely and unheard of, I have not yet seen), but there is still a difference between those who have passed the test to join the CCP, and in normal organizational procedures, ordinary party members have an alternate period.
In the process of leading the red struggle, encircling the cities from the countryside and establishing the government, the CCP has developed a considerable number of special party members for the need to carry out the CCP's clandestine (covert) work (such as intelligence work), to strengthen the CCP's power in the middle and upper classes, and to carry out legal struggles with the masses. The seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China is approaching, and many people have caused various misinformations because they are unclear about this period of historical facts. Therefore, I will talk about some of the special party membership concepts that I know, hoping to give my colleagues a clearer concept.
Early Party Constitution
In fact, as early as 1938, in the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zhang Wentian gave a clear concept: "All party members are in a special position, but the general party organizational life is called a special party member." From this expression, we can see that special party members refer to those party members who have a high social status and undertake special work tasks and are under special management. Special Party members are special in the following aspects.
Group photo of the members of the Presidium of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee
First of all, special party members have a special social identity. The social origin of ordinary Party members is basically that of workers, peasants and other petty-bourgeois elements. In contrast, special party members were mainly "middle and upper class origin" (such as officials, officers, capitalists, leaders of associations, celebrities) or "elements whose social status is related to the middle and upper classes". According to the theory of class composition, these people should be classified into the categories of the bureaucratic class, the comprador class, the big bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie. In connection with this, special party members have a high social status, are in the middle and upper classes of society, and some have "achieved a certain leadership position in open organizations."
Secondly, special party members are under special management within the CCP. The Party Constitution stipulates that only a regular Party member can serve as an introducer of the CPC to join the Party, and does not require that only the leading person of the Party organization can serve. However, due to their high social status, the introduction of special Party members to the Party is often the leader of the Party's middle and high-level Party organizations. For example, Shao Piaoping (posthumously recognized as a martyr by Chairman Mao himself in May 1949, joined the Communist Party of China in 1925, one of the founders of modern and contemporary Chinese journalism, known as "iron shoulders bear morality, clever hands write articles") introduced to the party by Li Dazhao.
Martyr Shao Piaoping
Of course, the joining of special party members still requires the approval of higher-level organizations. Organizations that approve special party members often require the approval of the ccp's high-level organizations and even the central authorities. The general practice is for the leaders of the party's senior organizations to absorb and approve on behalf of the corresponding organizations. For example, Yang Du (who joined the Ccp in 1929) was approved by Zhou Enlai, then a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, on behalf of the Central Committee.
How are special party members managed? At that time, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee stipulated: "All party members with upper positions should be directly managed by the appropriate senior party committees." "There are usually two ways to do this:
One is not to be incorporated into the branch and not to participate in the organizational life of the branch. Zhao Shoushan (a former commander of the Kuomintang 38th Army) once recalled that during his time as a special party member, he "never lived the organizational life of the party."
Zhao Shoushan
The second is to be individually contacted and educated by more senior responsible comrades. The use of this management method is to keep the identity of special party members confidential. The membership of special party members is not only kept secret outside the party, but even within the party, it is in a secret state that only a few people know about. Zhao Shoushan was introduced by Peng Dehuai in 1942, and Mao Zedong personally approved the party, which many other leaders of the central government did not know at the time.
However, once a special party member no longer engages in secret work and becomes engaged in the open work of the CCP, his party membership is made public within the party and becomes an ordinary party member. Special Party members have become ordinary Party members, and some are directly incorporated into party branch organizations, living an organizational life with other Party members and disclosing their party membership. Some of them, because of the needs of their work and the need for historical secrecy, still sealed the history of their special party members and re-applied to join the CCP in public. (To be continued...) ）