Chinese Social Sciences Today/November 9, 2017, Page 008

Special page

“Think Tank Research” Special Issue of Shanghai Academy (4)

Building a New Pattern for Urban Primary-Level Party Building

-- Workshop on Shanghai’s Experience in Party Building since the 18th National Congress of the CPC (Practice)

To act on the new thoughts of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, about Party building, the Workshop on Shanghai’s Experience in Party Building since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, sponsored by Shanghai Academy, was held at Shanghai Academy on September 22. Participating experts and scholars exchanged ideas with the Party building workers at the primary level, about the research on Shanghai’s Party building since the 18th National Congress, as deployed by Shanghai Academy. Below are the overviews of the speeches, respectively made by Hong Feng from the Division of Party Building by Social Organizations under Shanghai Social Work Party Committee, Shen Yi from the School of Sociology and Political Science of Shanghai University, Shen Yun from the Party Working Committee of Nanjing Donglu Sub-district Office, Huangpu District, Shanghai, Yang Jingming from Shanghai Research Society for Social Science Popularization, Yu Haomiao from the Information Development Research Center of Lujiazui Smart Community, Shanghai, and Wang Dan from the School of Sociology and Political Science of Shanghai University, about the practice of primary-level Party building in Shanghai since the 18th National Congress.

Summary of the Experience in Party Building by the Social Organizations in Shanghai

Division of Party Building by Social Organizations,Shanghai Social Work Party Committee

As a pacesetter in China’s reform and opening-up and a pioneer in innovation-oriented development, Shanghai is presently at a stage that is key to its construction as “four centers” and a modern, international, socialist metropolis. To meet the new situations, new changes and new requirements, Shanghai Social Work Party Committee set up the Division of Party Building by Social Organizations, to guide Party building of social organizations across the city.

First, the landscape for Party building characterized by joint management took initial shape. The CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee has attached great importance to Party building by social organizations since the 18th National Congress, and developed a system for managing Party building by social organizations, after more than ten years of exploration. Under the unified leadership of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, and with the coordination by the Organization Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, the Shanghai Social Work Party Committee is responsible for providing guidance, coordination, inspection, and supervision to Party building by social organizations; the Party committees of the agencies detached by the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, district Party committees, and relevant departments and Party groups of the people’s organizations organize and undertake the main work of Party building by respective social organizations.

Second, outstanding achievements were made in Party building of typical and hub-like social organizations. Given the fact that social organizations are administered by multiple departments of the government, feature a big number, and differ from each other in size and influence, Shanghai focuses on Party building of 25 social organizations including the Federation on Industrial Economics, and Shanghai Financial Association, which promotes Party building in other social organizations as well. Relying on social organization federations, Party groups of hub-like social organizations have been set up in different districts and sub-districts, serving the healthy development of social organizations and undertaking all the work related to Party building of social organizations within respective jurisdictions.

Third, the results of “two coverages” were consolidated to serve more social organizations. As of September 2017, 67% of the 14,000 social organizations with normal operation in Shanghai have set up Party groups, with the work coverage ratio reaching 100%. The social organizations covered include those where the conditions permit the setting up of Party groups; as for those where the conditions don’t permit, instructors were dispatched for Party building. Resources related to regional Party building and industrial Party building were used to establish a platform serving social organizations and to make every social organization have a unit responsible for Party building.

Fourth, efforts were made to strengthen the foundation for Party building in social organizations. Multiple measures were taken to ensure that Party groups of social organizations have the funds and workers to perform jobs, and have the places for discussions. Funds were invested through diverse channels; based on return of the full amounts of Party membership dues, district governments listed the funds for Party building in social organizations in fiscal budgets. Efforts were made to build the team of Party group secretaries, encourage heads of social organizations to act as Party group secretaries and organize training classes for Party group secretaries. To maximize sharing of resources, 230 sub-district Party building service centers and 216 cultural and sports activity centers share venues and resources with the Party groups of social organizations.

Fifth, we worked to bring into full play the political core role of Party groups in social organizations. We made the job of leading social organizations towards the correct direction of development the primary task of Party groups, and intensified the political functions of Party groups. We integrated Party work into the operation of social organizations, and guided and supervised the honest practice of social organizations according to law. We explored the setup of working groups of the Party at the decision-making level of social organizations, so as to ensure that backbone Party members participate in decision-making management and play the main role in social organizations, and thus solve the problem of “a small horse pulling a big cart”.

Strengthening the Building of Primary-Level Party Organizations;Advancing Implementation of the "Double First-Class" Initiative Characteristics of Primary-Level Party Building at Shanghai’s Colleges

Shen Yi, School of Sociology and Political Science of Shanghai University

The Party committees of all the colleges in Shanghai have earnestly implemented the requirements about exercising strict governance over the Party deployed by the CPC central and municipal committees since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, focused on the actual conditions and central tasks of respective colleges, and worked to advance Party building at the primary level. The efforts have produced positive results.

First, we focused on the building of the team of secretaries, and organized training sessions for the secretaries of primary-level Party organizations. The colleges in Shanghai made building the team of heads of primary-level Party organizations the focus of work in building primary-level Party organizations, and implemented a training project themed “sending 1,000 staff Party branch secretaries to Party schools” among municipal-level colleges, offering concentrated training for over 1,700 staff Party branch secretaries, and training in rotation for Party branch secretaries at colleges. The Party committees of colleges including Shanghai University annually arranged training for newly appointed Party branch secretaries, and regularly organized talks and forums for staff Party branch secretaries to constantly improve the theoretical and practical abilities of primary-level Party workers.

Second, we worked to implement accountability for Party building at the primary level in all respects. The Party committee of Shanghai Municipal Education and Health Commission conducted field inspections of the reporting and implementation of the “two accountability systems” by the secretaries of the Party committees of municipal-level colleges, and the Party committees of colleges organized special inspections of the implementation of accountability in primary-level Party building. Since 2015, Shanghai University has comprehensively encouraged secondary schools and units to carry out evaluation of the reports about Party building by secretaries, and to link the work and Party building of respective units with the performance evaluation of secretaries, so as to actually implement the accountability for Party building.

Third, we optimized organizational structures to ensure that organizations have vigor and Party members play their role. As the reform of higher education deepens, colleges saw constant extension of the connotation of the most active “cells” at the primary level. Shanghai University proposed to “build primary-level Party branches on the most active cells” at a proper time and implemented the move. At the staff branch level, it tried to build Party branches in discipline groups, project groups, academic teams, key labs and studios; Based on the needs of major projects and key research, workers from multiple disciplines were organized and made up a Party branch of an interdisciplinary academic team. Diverse ways were introduced to build Party branches among students, including setup of “core groups of Party members at classes”, “core groups of Party members at communities”, “red card studios for Party members”, as well as “temporary Party branches” in college students’ science and technology contest teams, student clubs and volunteer service teams.

Fourth, we promoted regional Party building and kept improving the landscape for Party building across the city. By launching the platform for regional Party building, colleges provided other units in surrounding areas with intellectual, scientific research, and educational services and resources; The units within the region maintained regular exchanges of information and shared resources in training talents and serving the society. In recent years, Shanghai University has carried out cooperation with Yangpu, Jing’an, Baoshan, Xuhui and other districts and counties on dispatching workers to take temporary posts, volunteer services, partner assistance and school-enterprise collaboration, so as to smoothen the channels for the flows of talents between colleges and society.

Pooling Strength and Taking on Responsibility Working to Advance the Reform in the Trade Unions of Non-public Enterprises in Sub-districts

Party Working Committee of Nanjing Donglu Sub-district Office, Huangpu District, Shanghai

Nanjing Donglu, Shanghai was listed by the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions as a pilot sub-district for the reform in the trade unions of non-public enterprises in September 2016. The Party Working Committee of the sub-district office has worked to push forward the steady advance of the reform.

First, we built consensus and improved the organizing power, to create a new synergy driving the reform in trade unions. We established a leadership system and put in place a mechanism for jointly advancing the work. We set up a group for leading the reform in trade unions of non-public enterprises in the sub-district. We coordinated sub-district departments and social organizations to form a synergy, characterized by the synchronization between the Party and the mass.

With strengthening the “five consciousnesses” as the path, we activated operation of trade unions in enterprises. We advocated including all the staff into trade unions and encouraged staff to join trade unions online and join the trade unions outside the enterprises, so as to improve their subject consciousness. We clearly defined the responsibilities and main tasks of trade unions in enterprises, to raise their consciousness of accountability. We introduced a membership fees payment and incentive mechanism to enhance members’ consciousness of organization. We varied the management of funds with the actual conditions of enterprises, to increase the consciousness of trade union management according to law. We provided allowances for the chairmen of enterprise trade unions that fulfilled their duties, to improve their consciousness of active assumption of responsibility.

With establishing the “five mechanisms” as the move, we worked to ensure the actual implementation of the reform. We built a mechanism for the joint advance of Party building, building of trade unions, and business retention. We improved the mechanism of top-to-bottom coordination for trade unions in enterprises. We set up a mechanism for the operation of Party building service stations and trade union working offices in eight buildings in Huangpu District. We put in place a mechanism for the setup and evaluation of star-level trade unions. We implemented an incentive mechanism about the return of funds for trade unions. With systems as the guarantee, we consolidated the work of trade unions at the primary level.

Second, we provided resources and increased support to make new achievements in the trade union reform. We helped trade unions develop their scope of influence. The Party building service stations of the eight buildings showed initial influence, with many service items, including a one-stop application handling service, a visitor receiving service at windows and field visits, benefiting enterprise workers a lot and helping them solve problems easily.

Accountability was implemented quickly. We were the first in Shanghai to set up a sub-district-level center for hosting the funds of trade unions in non-public enterprises. Twenty-four “top-to-bottom” functions under six categories, as summarized by the sub-district federation of trade unions, were introduced into the service stations, activating operation of more enterprise trade unions. The zero-distance services raised the sense of fulfillment among enterprise workers. We integrated various kinds of resources of the sub-district and developed 72 service items, and organized more than 180 themed services and activities on a cumulative basis, benefiting over 20,000 enterprise workers.

The reform in trade unions of non-public enterprises in sub-districts kept releasing its effects and produced expected results: the coverage of trade unions in enterprises expanded from 56% to 74%, with 37 newly established trade unions and 1,730 new members. The quality of trade union operation improved steadily, with 177, or 75%, of the 234 independent trade unions running normally. The rate of membership fees payment climbed from 40% to 65%. Pilot projects produced results, and Shanghai Vocational College of Trade Union set up an educational and training base for trade union cadres in Shanghai at the Party Building Service Station of Hi-Tech King World Zone, providing a venue for trade union cadre training.

Linfenlu Sub-district Office: Epitome of Primary-Level Party Building in the Urban Areas of Shanghai

Shanghai Research Society for Social Science Popularization

Linfenlu Sub-district Office, Jing’an District, Shanghai is an epitome of primary-level Party building in urban Shanghai. Set up in 1988, it witnessed and participated in every major reform of the community-level Party building and community management system in Shanghai, and is a pioneer and practitioner in the reform of primary-level Party building systems in urban Shanghai.

The innovation in the Party building of Linfenlu Sub-district Office, a typical residential community, represents the width and depth of regional Party building at the primary level in urban areas of Shanghai. The Party working committee of the sub-district office, aiming to realize the residents’ wish for a better life and abiding by the requirements of the CPC central and Shanghai municipal committees about regional Party building based on integrated resources, took the lead in Shanghai to explore a partnership between the Party groups of communities and the Party groups of the tenant organizations in the communities on Party building, as well as cooperation on Party building between urban inspection and property management organizations, so as to extend Party building from the community to the region, expand the width of regional Party building, and realize the full coverage of Party building across the community. It was also the first to explore building Party groups based on residential buildings, improving the Party building organizational system composed of the Party organization in the residential community, Party branches in building complexes, and Party groups in single buildings, establishing a vertical and sophisticated working system for Party building.

In recent years, Linfenlu Sub-district Office has continued to deepen primary-level Party building, and kept strengthening the seven major abilities of the Party working committee in primary-level Party building, i.e. overall coordination, reform & innovation, serving the mass, guiding autonomy, building consensus, advancing rule by virtue, and governing according to law, so as to create a pattern in which community autonomy, co-governance, rule by virtue, and governance according to law are advanced together under the leadership of Party building.

In terms of gathering different groups, with the Party building service center as the hub, Linfenlu Sub-district Office established and improved four-level service networks for Party building, i.e. the Party building service center at the community level, the Party building service stations in blocks, the Party building service points in residential quarters, and the home of Party members in building complexes. It focused on the actual demand of different groups, and, through implementing a project named the “Log of People’s Conditions” and exploring the ways of mass work in the era of big data, provided precise and effective services to the people of the community, and gathered different groups of the community around the Party.

In terms of guiding community autonomy and releasing vigor at the primary level, Linfenlu Sub-district Office gave play to the leveraging role of the “funds for resident autonomy”, and encouraged the mass to take an active part in the move and properly manage their own business. Through a number of autonomy projects, including “Beautiful Building Complexes” and “Sunset Laundry Team”, volunteer residents took part in community affairs and carried out democratic consultation, with their vigor and enthusiasm for community autonomy effectively stimulated. In Linfenlu Sub-district Office, many Party members have pasted the mark of “Party Member’s Family” on their doors, as a way to contact the mass and receive mass supervision, making a unique scene of the community Party building in Shanghai.

In terms of integrating the regional resources for joint building and co-governance, Linfenlu Sub-district Office optimized two platforms, i.e. the community representative meeting, and community development foundation. By reforming the community committee and improving the composition of members, it laid the foundation for giving frequent play to the role of the members of the committee; By identifying residents’ demand through questionnaire surveys, defining key projects of co-governance, and providing funds for community co-governance, it smoothed the path for tenant organizations and social organizations to participate in community governance.

In terms of providing basic guarantee for rule by virtue and governance according to law, Linfenlu Sub-district Office made carrying forward the socialist core values the theme of its work, worked to build a community base for education about core values, and encouraged the people to be upbeat and kind through popular forms of activities, making the socialist core values deeply rooted in the minds of the people. It continued to advance the project of “introducing legal consultants into the community”, so as to ensure the rule of law is implemented across the community and to enable the perfect integration between the elements of the rule of law and the power of autonomy.

Big Data Helps Lujiazui Successfully Advance Party Building

Shi Yi, Lujiazui Sub-district Office, Pudong New Area, Shanghai

Yu Haomiao, Information Development Research Center of Lujiazui Smart Community, Shanghai

Lujiazui Sub-district Office, Shanghai is both an international financial center and a residential community, characterized by diverse cultures and complex community demands. In 2015, Lujiazui Sub-district Office initiated regional Party building themed “golden link”, linking the Party organizations of the city, sub-districts (communities), and residential quarters, comprehensively advancing Party building in the community tenant organizations, as well as new economic and social organizations, and building a system for Party building that matches modernized social governance.

First, the information move promoted smart Party building in Lujiazui Sub-district Office. With the aim to expand Party building to wherever there are Party members and the mass, and expand the Party‘s work to wherever the Internet is accessible, Lujiazui Sub-district Office worked to achieve two-way interactions between Party building and the Internet. The smart community provided primary-level Party building with data and services. A residential e-account system for social governance was established to integrate all the data and work accounts at the primary level, for the sake of counting and searching; innovative models for public services and public governance were highlighted, creating new room for governance in fields like smart political affairs, health management, services for elders, and community autonomy.

The process-based project system drove institutional innovation for Party building. Demand-oriented, Lujiazui Sub-district Office established a mechanism for identifying demand from bottom to top, expanded the practice of residential autonomy initiated by the sub-district office to regional Party building, and launched an app for regional Party building to collect appeals both online and offline; it managed every demand based on a full life cycle, from proposal and tracking to evaluation and improvement, developed a project operation mechanism characterized by interconnectivity, and handed the final evaluation right to the residents and white-collar workers in the region. As a result, Party building took its roots in the minds of Party members and the mass, and the Party building service platform, which integrates both service and guiding functions and combines both physical and virtual forms, took shape.

Next, guided by big data, Lujiazui Sub-district Office took Party building to a higher level. It created an information platform for Party building with the spirit typical of embroiderers. It integrated information about over 6,500 Party members and 130-plus Party organizations and information in the community database, and exercised precision management of Party building through big data. That’s a core way of thinking, guiding the improvement in smart Party building by Lujiazui Sub-district Office.

It changed the way of serving the mass through big data. It launched a platform to enable community workers to input information about residents on the platform at the earliest possible time, integrating service resources from various channels while leaving records about service provision; by building a door-to-door service system, it delivered seven service items, including Party building, political affairs, and healthcare, directly to the residential community; through touch screens and the WeChat public account, residents can directly obtain all kinds of service information.

It improved the mechanism for the management and evaluation of Party members and cadres. By expanding the dimensions and sources of big data, it established archives about the growth of Party members, associated the records about the honesty, contribution, and breakthroughs of Party members and cadres in work and other related social fields with e-archives, to regulate the conduct of Party members and cadres, link their performance with incentives like appraisal of advanced individuals, selection of excellent individuals, as well as promotion and appointment, and develop an effective mechanism for intra-Party management and oversight.

It optimized the process for Party building. It developed a list for the responsibilities of Party building, and made clear the responsibilities of each Party organization, each Party member, and each cadre. It applied management by objectives, process control and performance evaluation, and used data analysis to advance process reengineering of Party building.

It integrated the data about Party building. It realized interactions between the Party and the government step by step, and pooled the data related to Party members and cadres; Lujiazui Sub-district Office is presently carrying out basic research on the model for the innovation of primary-level Party organization and the model for the Party member vigor index. Through the platform for the integration and analysis of the big data about Party building, it aims to tap the potential values of data and identify rules and abnormalities. Problem-oriented, it works to eliminate the “pain points” of Party building.

Party Building Culture Leads Innovation in Primary-Level Party Building

Wang Dan, School of Sociology and Political Science of Shanghai University

As the birthplace of the CPC, Shanghai boasts profound cultural traditions for Party building. Shanghai presently has more than 100,000 primary-level Party organizations and over 2 million Party members. They are not only the foundation for the development of the city, but also a strong force that carries forward and fortifies the Party building culture and promotes the steady advance of urban reform. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Shanghai has firmly safeguarded the authority of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, kept improving the leading abilities of the CPC local committees in grasping the overall situation and coordinating efforts of various sides, and brought into full play the ability to innovate, power to unite, and energy to fight of Party organizations and Party members, so as to pool a strong synergy and an inexhaustible force driving the reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization.

The power driving Party building at the primary level comes from urban development. Shanghai applied primary-level Party building to every aspect and the entire process of primary-level social governance, and advanced “four changes” at the practical level, i.e. changing the focus from the top level to the primary level, changing the focus on local development to overall progress, changing from self-isolation to opening-up and integration, and changing from extensiveness to precision. The practice of “four changes” diverted management and service resources to communities, improved the four-level linkage system for primary-level Party building, advanced the complementation between communities and tenant organizations, expanded the coverage of Party building in emerging parts of the city, and helped build high-quality backbone teams in communities. The practice of advancing the “four changes” also showed the important leading role of the Party building culture.

Based on the Party’s excellent traditions in the mass line, Shanghai continued commitment to the people-centered philosophy of development, and made “uniting Party members, uniting the people and uniting the society” an important direction for primary-level Party building and social governance innovation. It worked to strengthen the political and service functions of primary-level Party organizations, and resorted to precise and efficient mass services and the basic ways of joint Party building to promote linkage of Party building in various fields, activate different elements of the city, and thus create a new landscape for social governance, characterized by super-large urban communities that are different but coexist with each other.

Based on the Party’s excellent traditions in organization, Shanghai creatively developed the “Party branch plus” model, amid the complex network-like society with new industrial layout and community tendency. It set up Party branches in buildings and in parks and established Party building service centers in communities, not only offering a place for floating Party members to take part in organization activities and for Party members to give play to their roles, but also developing a platform for Party building activities, education & training, image exhibition, resources integration and public services at the primary level, and realizing the linkage of the full coverage of Party building organizations and the full coverage of work in both traditional and emerging fields.

Based on the Party’s excellent traditions in the working style, Shanghai further improved the system for frequently contacting and serving the people. Centering on the work of contacting and serving the people in groups, it improved the mechanism for mass work that includes appeal expression, feedback handling, and evaluation, and brought into play the role of primary-level Party organizations, as well as Party members and cadres. It highlighted the decision-making approach and primary-level community platform for co-governance and discussions, which follows the principle of “from the mass and to the mass”, as well as the cultural and ideological progress of communities, further pushed forward consultative democracy at the primary level, combined Party building and cultural and ideological progress in communities, created a public cultural atmosphere in communities, and fully mobilized the wisdom and strength of the mass, so as to pool forces for community construction and urban reforms.