The November 15 white paper on the mainland's political party system, which emphasises the role of the eight so-called 'democratic parties', comes at a historically appropriate time. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the anti-rightist movement, during which the leaders of these minor parties were denounced, persecuted and purged.
In 1956, Mao Zedong launched the 'Hundred Flowers Campaign' in which intellectuals were encouraged to speak up and criticise the Communist Party. They were assured that there would be no reprisals.
However, the next year, Mao reneged on his promise and cracked down on those who had spoken out, saying that all he was doing was 'luring snakes from their holes'.
There then followed a nationwide campaign to seek out and denounce so-called 'rightists', who had vented their dissatisfaction at the communists. Hundreds of thousands of people were purged.
Among the prominent victims was Zhang Bojun, then minister of communications and chairman of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, one of the eight 'democratic parties'. He was classified as the 'No.1 rightist' by Mao and stripped of his ministerial post.
Another major victim of the purge was Luo Longji, a founder of the China Democratic League - another of the 'democratic parties' - who had been minister of the timber industry.
In 1981, five years after Mao's death, the party issued a 'resolution on certain questions' in the party's history that held Mao responsible for the Cultural Revolution. However, it skipped lightly over the anti-rightist movement, saying simply that there were 'serious faults and errors in the guidelines of the party's work'. No doubt the party was more concerned about the victims of the Cultural Revolution - who were Communist Party members, after all - than victims who were members of the 'democratic parties'.