Follow the boss: can China’s Communist Party ignite initiative in its grass-roots cadres?
- Key rule designed to boost initiative also mandates that low-level cadres seek authorisation to make decisions, or face disciplinary action
- The contradictory messages may still see some local leaders gamble on bold action, but the safer strategy for most would be risk aversion, analysts say
Robin Wang carries three mobile phones wherever he goes – two for his boss and one for himself, along with two high-capacity power banks.
“I was so afraid to miss any calls and messages [at the time]. People called to report what was happening, discuss containment measures and ask for instructions,” said Wang, who is based in Pudong district. “For major decisions, my boss needed to call his own bosses for instructions.”
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SCMP Explains: How does the Chinese Communist Party operate?
Wang and his boss are among the millions of Communist Party cadres in China at the lower end of the command chain, responsible for putting the thousands of edicts and orders issued by the leadership into action.
A commentary published by People’s Daily on Wednesday said many grass-roots officials had complained that their energy was being drained by having to meet endless bureaucratic requirements, such as filling in forms via mobile apps, and checking social media.
The party was determined to fight the new form of “formalism” to free up these officials to do work to help the community, the commentary said.
“These new tasks show signs of formalism and they dampen the incentives of grass-roots officials,” it said.