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Politics and Policy in Post-Mao Cadre Retirement*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Melanie Manion
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Extract

Personnel changes in the party and government in communist systems are typically politicized and personalistic. Changes occur as the result of natural death, political error or consolidation of personal power from the top. Cadres able to manoeuver around the vagaries of politics enjoy de facto lifelong tenure. In 1978, the experience in the People's Republic of China (PRC) was no different in that regard: lifelong tenure, barring political error, had existed since the consolidation of power in the 1950s. Purge had been the dominant form of exit from office in the PRC. And because purge had not meant physical liquidation in the Chinese case, veteran revolutionaries had survived and reappeared to dominate the Party and government bureaucracies for decades.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 129 , March 1992 , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1992

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References

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24. Central Committee and State Council, Decision to Establish Advisers, 13 August 1980, in Gongzuo wenjian, Vol. 1, pp. 14–16.Google Scholar

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26. The initial arrangement introduced in 1978 had advisers advising at a level lower than their pre-retirement position, a problematic relationship given the principle of leadership by the Party organization.

27. See Zhonggong zhongyang zuzhi bu yanjiu shi (ed.), Zuo hao xin shiqi de ganbu gongzuo (Do Well the Cadre Work of the New Period) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1984), pp. 201–203.Google Scholar

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29. Renmin ribao, 24 09 1980, p. 3.Google Scholar

30. Remmin ribao 29 01 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

31. Central Committee, Decision to Establish a Veteran Cadre Retirement System, 20 02 1982Google Scholar, in Gongzuo wenjian, Vol. 1, pp. 1–13.Google Scholar

32. Editorial Board, “Jigou gaige shi yi chang geming” (“Structural reform is a Involution”), Hongqi, 1982, No. 6, p. 5.Google Scholar

33. See Yeping, Chen, “Baozheng dang de shiye jiwang kailai de zhongda juece.”Google Scholar

34. The draft set the average age of the Central Committee at 55 to 65, of provincial Party committee standing committees at 50 to 60, of prefectural Party committee standing committees at 50 or lower, and of county Party committee standing committees at 45 or below. Draft of the Revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China, 2 April 1980, ch. 6, art. 32, in Issues and Studies, Vol. 16, No. 9 (1980), pp. 85–109.

35. Constitution of the Communist Party of China, 6 09 1982Google Scholar, ch. 6, art. 37, in Beijing Review, Vol. 25, No. 38 (1982), p. 19.Google Scholar

36. See below.

37. See Constitution of the Communist Party of China, 6 09 1982Google Scholar, ch. 3, art. 22, and ch. 4, art. 28, pp. 15–17.

38. Ibid.

39. Ibid.

40. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: China, 22 07 1983, p. K9.Google Scholar Deng gave the speech on 30 July 1982 at an enlarged meeting of the Politburo.

41. Zhi, Cao, Renshi zhidu gaiyao, pp. 382–83.Google Scholar

42. See below.

43. Provisional Measures on Arrangements for Aged, Weak, Ill, and Disabled Cadres; Slate Council, Provisional Regulations on Veteran Cadre Special Retirement, 7 October 1980, in Ju, Guowuyuan Fazhi (ed.), Zhonghua renmin gongheguo fagui kuibian, 1980 (Compilation of 1980 Laws and Regulations of the PRC) (Beijing: Falu chubanshe, 1986), pp. 279–282.Google Scholar

44. In 1978–81, only cadres of prefectural rank and higher were eligible for special retirement status if they had joined the communists after 1945. Provisional Measures on Arrangements for Aged, Weak, Ill, and Disabled Cadres. Given the relationship between revolutionary seniority and bureaucratic rank, not many cadres fit that category.

45. Some State Council Regulations on the Veteran Cadre Special Retirement System, 10 April 1982, in Gongzuo wenjian, Vol. 1, pp. 43–46.Google Scholar Most but not all revolutionaries were eligible for special retirement status. The general formulation was that the following cadres were eligible for special retirement status once they reached the retirement age specified for their rank and sex: those who before the founding of the PRC had participated in the revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party, had not engaged in salaried employment but had been paid in kind through the Communist Party supply system, or who had engaged in underground revolutionary work for the Communist Party. The most comprehensive regulation on the issue is the Central Committee's Organization Department, Notice on Establishing Regulations on the Revolutionary Service History for Cadres Who Participated in Revolutionary Work before the Founding of the People's Republic of China, 27 September 1982, in ibid. pp. 104–111. Until 1988, at least 17 other regulations, many of them applicable only to very small groups of cadres, were issued to clarify revolutionary service history standards.

46. Veterans of the Revolutionary Civil Wars (1924–27 and 1927–37) received a bonus of two months' salary, veterans of the early Anti-Japanese War period (1937–42) received one and a half month's salary, and veterans of the later Anti-Japanese War period (1943–45) received one month's salary. Some Regulations on the Veteran Cadre Special Retirement System.

47. Shouyi, Zhao, “Jianli you zhongguo tese de ganbu lixiu tuixiu zhidu” (“Establish a cadre retirement system with Chinese characteristics”), in Renshi zhidu gaige wenxuan bianji zu (ed.), Renshi zhidu gaige wenxuan (Selections on Reform of the Personnel System) (Beijing: Laodong renshi chubanshe, 1983), pp. 130–33.Google Scholar Zhao made the speech in October 1982; he was minister of labour and personnel at the time.

48. See Renmin ribao, 4 01 1983, p. 1Google Scholar, 10 January 1983, p. 3, and 28 January 1983, p. 2. The general secretary at the time was Hu Yaobang.

49. The term tuixiu fei (retirement payment) was generally used to refer to the pensions of regularly retired cadres. The term fei was occasionally used with regard to specially retired cadres; on the other hand, the term gongzi was not used with regard to regularly retired cadres. Zhi, Cao, Renshi zhidu gaiyao, p. 396.Google Scholar

50. One indication that the policy was taken seriously appears in an article in the most prominent periodical for the Chinese elderly. The article complains that work places are pursuing excessively ambitious goals of combining retirement with work activity, to the detriment of the health of retired veterans and with little concern for their preferences. “Xian yure bu ke zhuigui gao bili” (“We must not strive for high proportions in the contribution of surplus energy”), Zhongguo laonian, 1984, No. 3, p. 29.Google Scholar

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53. Central Committee's Organization Department, Notice on Arranging Organizational Life for Party Members Who Have Specially Retired, Regularly Retired, or Retired for Extraordinary Reasons (tuizhi), 30 07 1981Google Scholar, in Gongzuo wenjian, Vol. 1, pp. 128–131.Google Scholar

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55. Central Committee's General Office and State Council's General Office, Notice on Implementing Regulations on Benefits for Specially Retired Cadres, 3 June 1984, in Gongzuo wenjian, Vol. 2, pp. 199–202Google Scholar; State Council, Notice for Comrades Who Have Stepped Down from Positions of Leadership in State Council Organs to Give Up Former Offices, 12 February 1988, in Laodong renshi zhengce zhuankan (Journal of Labour and Personnel Policies), 1988, No. 5, p. 16.Google Scholar

56. Some Views of the Central Committee's Organization Department on Strengthening Veteran Cadre Work, 29 December 1978, in Gongzuo wenjian, Vol. 1, pp. 80–88.Google Scholar See also Provisional Regulations on Veteran Cadre Special Retirement; Central Committee's Organization Department, Suggestions on Appropriate Management of Veteran Cadres Who Have Stepped Down from Office, 2 June 1982, in Gongzuo wenjian, Vol. 1, pp. 192–95Google Scholar; Central Committee's Organization Department and Ministry of Labour and Personnel, Trial Measures on Scope of Responsibility of Veteran Cadre Bureaus (and Divisions) in State Council and Central Committee Organizations, 31 December 1982, in ibid. pp. 222–23; Central Committee's Organization Department, Summary of Forum of Nine Provinces (and City) on Veteran Cadre Work, 25 April 1983, in ibid. pp. 89–97.

57. Xingming, Wang (deputy director of Cadre Retirement Division, Veteran Cadre Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Personnel), interviewed in Beijing, 24 11 1986.Google Scholar

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64. Liang, Chen, interview, 7 11 1988.Google Scholar

65. The retirement age for women workers was set five years below that for cadres. See State Council Provisional Measures on the Retirement of Workers, 2 06 1978Google Scholar, in Laodong renshi bu zhengce yanjiu shi (ed.), Zhonghua renmin gongheguo laodong fagui xuanbian (Selected Labour Laws and Regulations of the PRC) (Beijing: Laodong renshi chubanshe, 1986), pp. 337–340.Google Scholar

66. Policy-makers also granted retirement bonuses for regularly retired cadres who were national labour heroes, national labour models, war heroes, and cadres with special contributions to the revolution or socialist construction. Bonuses were set at 5 to 15% of salary, added to the pension, with the stipulation that total pension could not exceed pre-retirement salary. Provisional Measures on Arrangements for Aged, Weak, Ill, and Disabled Cadres.

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68. Jinbo, Hu, “Li tuixiu ganbu ying tongyi guanli” (“Regularly and specially retired cadres should be jointly managed”), Renshi (Personnel), 1988, No. 4, p. 13.Google Scholar

69. In 1963 the Central Committee's Secretariat issued a decision calling on leaders of ministries and provinces to retire if old age had affected their ability to lead. In 1965 the Central Committee's Organization Department drafted a set of regulations based on that decision. The regulations began to be implemented in a few ministries as a pilot project, but were never implemented generally. The whole effort was soon interrupted by the Cultural Revolution. See Zhi, Cao, Renshi zhidu gaiyao, pp. 382–83.Google Scholar

70. Provisional Measures on Arrangements for Aged, Weak, Ill, and Disabled Cadres.

71. Decision to Establish a Veteran Cadre Retirement System.

72. Some Regulations on the Veteran Cadre Special Retirement System.

73. The following cadres, men and women, were to retire at 65: government ministers and Central Committee department heads, provincial Party committee first secretaries, and provincial governors. The following were to retire at 60: deputy ministers and Central Committee department deputy heads, provincial Party committee secretaries (other than first secretaries), provincial deputy governors, bureau chiefs and their deputies in State Council and Central Committee bureaus, heads and deputy; heads in provincial Party committee and provincial government departments, prefectural Party committee secretaries and deputy secretaries, and prefectural commissioners and deputy commissioners.

74. The models were promoted in a September 1984 circular issued by the Central Committee's General Office. See Foreign Broadcast Information Service, China: Daily Report, 5 09 1984, p. K3.Google Scholar

75. Zhaohua, Wang, “Ganbu ‘sihua’ he ganbu zhidu gaige de jige wenti.”Google Scholar

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77. See Zhimin, Yi, Rubai, Li, and Zhenmin, Hu (eds.), Guojia gongwuyuan gailun (Introduction to the National Civil Service) (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, 1989), p. 211.Google Scholar

78. Provisional Measures on Arrangements for Aged, Weak, Ill, and Disabled Cadres.

79. Communiqué of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

80. On the campaigns, see de B. Mills, William, “Generational change in China,” Problems of Communism, Vol. 32, No. 6 (1983), pp. 16–35Google Scholar; Forster, Keith, “The reform of provincial Party committees in China: the case of Zhejiang,” Asian Survey, Vol. 24, No. 6 (1984), pp. 618–636CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and “Repudiation of the Cultural Revolution in China: the case of Zhejiang,” Pacific Affairs, Vol. 59, No. 1 (1986), pp. 5–27Google Scholar; Lee, Hong Yung, “Deng Xiaoping's reforms of the Chinese bureaucracy,” in Morse, Ronald A. (ed.), The Limits of Reform in China (Boulder: Westview Press, 1983), pp. 19–37Google Scholar; Lieberthal, Kenneth, “China in 1982: a middling course for the Middle Kingdom,” Asian Survey, Vol. 23, No. 1 (1983), pp. 26–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

81. Central Committee's Organization Department, Some Decisions Which Cadres at All Levels Must Observe during Structural Reform, issued in early 1983, Renmin ribao, 12 02 1983, p. 1.Google Scholar

82. Liang, Chen, interview, 7 11 1988.Google Scholar

83. Baotang, Su and Yi, Lin (eds.), Guojia gongwuyuan zhidu jianghua (A Guide to the National Civil Service System) (Beijing: Laodong renshi chubanshe, 1988), p. 340Google Scholar. This observation is supported by my own interviews with cadres and with officials in the Ministry of Personnel.

84. Decision to Establish a Veteran Cadre Retirement System.

85. See Di, Zhu, “Lun ganbu de xinlao jiaoti” (“On the transfer of duties from veteran to new cadres”), in Qing, Han and Furong, Qiu (eds.), Laodong renshi zhidu gaige wenxuan (Selections on Reform of the Labour and Personnel Systems) (Changsha: Hunan renmin chubanshe, 1987), pp. 74–86.Google Scholar

86. Liang, Chen, interview, 7 11 1988Google Scholar. See also Mengpi, Shen, “Guojia gongwuyuan de tuixiu tuizhi zhidu” (“National civil service retirement system”), in Junlin, Liu and Guangqian, Dai (eds.), Guojia gongwuyuan zhidu jianghua (A Guide to the National Civil Service System) (Beijing: Nengyuan chubanshe, 1989), pp. 226–252.Google Scholar

87. Wenbo, Wang (director of Cadre Retirement General Office, Ministry of Personnel), interviewed in Beijing, 9 02 1990.Google Scholar

88. See Yung-sheng, Ch'en, “Peiping's current cadre policy,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1983), pp. 14–30Google Scholar; Yung-hsien, Tseng, “The new leadership in mainland China,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 18, No. 6 (1983), pp. 15–42.Google Scholar

89. See Hsueh-ch'un, Fang, “Personnel changes in the CCP's central leadership,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 21, No. 12 (1985), pp. 27–54Google Scholar; Ying-ming, Li, “The recent changes in the Peking leadership,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 21, No. 12 (1985), pp. 65–75.Google Scholar

90. Moreover, in the case of Deng (as Zhao Ziyang later revealed), Party leaders secretly agreed that he would be consulted on all major policy decisions, despite his retirement from all positions except chairman of the Central Military Commission. Of course, most people were ignorant of the deal until Zhao, 's revelation in 05 1989Google Scholar. See the account in “Deng purges Zhao supporters, South China Morning Post, 22 05 1989, p. 6.Google Scholar

91. Deng, 's talk on quelling rebellion in Beijing,” Beijing Review, Vol. 32, No. 28 (1989), pp. 18–21.Google Scholar