Critics may pose more harm than officials who take bribes, says party’s former personnel chief

China’s former party personnel chief has called for party members who criticise the party and party policy to be punished with disciplinary action.

Zhang Quanjing, the former head of the Organisation Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, said party officials that criticise the party and party leaders might have done greater harm than “corrupt officials who took millions of yuan in bribes”.

He said: “If they refused to correct [their wrongdoings] they should either be stripped of party membership or advised to leave the party.”

Zhang comments came in a lengthy article published by the Red Flag Manuscript, a bi-weekly magazine run by the party theoretical magazine, Qiushi.

In his article, “To Promote Red Culture and To Gain Initiatives in Ideological Work”, he called for a revival of “red culture” – a euphemism for Maoist ideology – as a tool to resist what he said was the “invasion of Western ideology”.

It is believed the article is a speech Zhang delivered to a group of leftists, who gathered in a private forum in Beijing recently.

Zhang was the party’s personnel chief from 1994 to 1999. He served many other roles in the ideological area after leaving office. He was president of the National Society of Communist Party Construction between 2000 and 2005.

Quoting former leader Mao Zedong's dictum that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun as well as barrel of pen, Zhang called for an all-out fight against the “international hostile forces” in the face of “a sharp and complicated struggle in the ideological area”.

He said the ruling party must be alert to those “hostile forces”, who are now actively promoting “peaceful evolution”, “colour revolution”, “democratic constitutionalism”, “neo-liberalism” and “democratic socialism” in China.

The Red Flag Manuscript is known for its conservative stance, and recently published an article arguing for the “existence of class struggle” – an extremely leftist Maoist theory that was seen as being behind the notorious Cultural Revolution. The article sparked a nationwide ideological debate.

The former party personnel chief praised President and Communist party chief Xi Jinping for promoting Mao’s ideology since he came to office.

Zhang also urged party officials to implement Xi’s instruction in the ideological and propaganda work.

Since he came into office two years ago, Xi has signalled his intention to revive Maoist ideology and to tighten ideology control on academia and media.

This has meant an apparent return to Maoist-style dogma, launching ideological pushes such as the “mass line” campaign, “criticism and self-criticism” and a “rectification campaign”.

In recent months, party officials from some of the most prestigious universities and research institutes have pledged to uphold ideological controls over students and academic faculties.