Page 243 - SELECTED WORKS OF CHEN YUN Volume I

RESPECT FOR AND UNITY WITH NON-COMMUNIST CADRES 239

exemplary workers, to respect the cadre and to co-operate with him in
carrying out administrative tasks. As long as the responsible non-Party cadre
follows the leadership of the higher-level Party organization, Party members
in his department should follow his administrative leadership. Those who do
not should be criticized or disciplined.
f) When Party members and non-Party people are working together in
government departments and mass organizations, they must adhere to the
principle of democratic centralism, under which the minority is subordinate
to the majority.
g) Well-meant criticism should be offered on a mutual basis. When
non-Party cadres bring up complaints or make cynical remarks, that doesn’t
mean they are ideologically opposed to the Party. Constructive criticisms
from them should be regarded as beneficial and should spur us on to do
better. We should encourage non-Party cadres to say all they have to say
without reserve. At the same time we should make it clear to them how things
stand with us and why there are shortcomings in our work. We have to help
them to see the Party as a whole, not just the weaknesses of individual
members, to see the overall picture of our work, not just the defects in a
particular aspect of it. When non-Party cadres express wrong opinions or
when their work fails to conform to Party principles or to meet objective
needs, the Party organizations should not hesitate to criticize them candidly
and ask them to make corrections. It is normal for Party and non-Party cadres
to criticize each other; if they are not open with each other; they cannot
co-operate wholeheartedly.
h) The Party should assist non-Party cadres in their work as well as
politically and materially. Apart from the particular obligations and rights
the Party prescribes for its members, non-Party cadres should be treated
politically the same as Party cadres. Those who apply for Party membership
should be given an explanation of the provisions of the Party Constitution.
Under the present difficult conditions, non-Party cadres should be provided
with as much material assistance as possible and be looked after in the same
way as Party cadres.
i) We must specify the following points with respect to the organiza-
tional relations between Party and non-Party cadres:
—Non-Party cadres are invited to attend general Party branch meetings,
having the right to speak there but not to vote;
—Joint meetings of Party and non-Party cadres should be held at regular
intervals;
—Party organizational and cadre departments have the obligation to
look after the welfare of non-Party cadres;