China to Promote Democracy in State, Collective-owned Factories

The general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council made this call in a joint circular dated June 3, which was made public on Sunday.

The document was issued to provincial-level party committees and governments, ministerial-level departments, the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA),and leading non-government groups.

Since the 15th Party Congress in 1997, many factories had made remarkable progress in the field of ensuring workers directly exercise their democratic rights, according to the circular.

Adoption of factory democracy is to better practise "Three Represents"

To adopt factory democracy was a tangible way to practise the "Three Represents" (representing the development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China) theory of General Secretary Jiang Zemin of the CPC Central Committee, and to further implement the party's principle of depending on the Working Class heart and soul, it said.

The opening-up of a factory's internal affairs to its staff should be guided by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's theory and adhere to the Party's principles, state laws and the unitary leadership of the party committee, it stressed.

It said that factory democracy should also be integrated with efforts to adopt modern corporate systems.

Under the policy, factory staff should be allowed to join in decision-making on all major issues regarding the development of the enterprise and their own interests, the circular said.

Leading officials of these factories must be put under the supervision of all the staff, it said.

A workers' congress should be mainly responsible for implementing factory democracy, while the factory's internal affairs at all levels should be open to the staff, according to the circular.

Each factory should set up a leading group on factory democracy, composed of top officials from the factory's party committee, administration, discipline supervisory body, and trade union, it said.

Meanwhile, a supervisory body comprising representatives of the discipline supervisory body, trade union and ordinary workers should be established to monitor whether factory democracy has been properly adopted, the circular added.

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