Page 80 - SELECTED WORKS OF LIU SHAOQI Volume I

76 LIU SHAOQI
remould themselves and with which to educate other comrades. This
is the democracy that is needed inside the Party.
Instances of commandism and punitiveness still abound in the
Party. Our comrades, failing to solve problems thoroughly from a
political angle and according to principles, have instead resorted to
organizational and disciplinary measures. (Some of them are unable
to solve any problem without resorting to the latter.) Moreover, they
are too mechanical and absolute in their methods of leadership. This
is a kind of extremely undemocratic practice. All problems should
be solved from a political angle and according to principles, and only
then will organizational and disciplinary measures be warranted. Dis-
cipline is necessary in the Party and should be tightened, but it should
not be used except as a last resort.
To tighten discipline means to heighten our comrades’ sense of
the need to subordinate themselves to the majority and to the Party
organization; it does not mean that the leading organs should make
frequent use of disciplinary measures to punish our comrades. On
the contrary, the more the leading organs resort to such punishment,
the more obvious the poor state of our discipline is.
By Party discipline we do not mean that within the Party com-
rades are forbidden to express opinions differing from those of the
leading organs but that they submit themselves to the majority in
action and carry out the leading organs’ decisions despite differences
of opinion.
Such iron-clad discipline in our Party makes it extremely difficult
for the enemy agents to undermine us. But punitiveness and com-
mandism are aids to them.
The Party’s collective leadership can be established only on the
basis of democracy. And it can be considered truly collective only
when it incorporates the experience and the useful ideas of all the
comrades.
Democratic centralism and the system of individual responsibility
should go hand in hand. Decisions on major issues should be made
democratically, although individuals must hold the responsibility for
executing these decisions. Executive organs should carry out their
work in an orderly way and should be governed by discipline, while
leaders should supervise and check up on this work.
The true democratic spirit is inseparable from the communist
morality of selflessness, its opposite being selfishness. Conceit,
ostentation and individualistic heroism are manifestations of selfish