Connection With Propaganda
According to Steiner, the mass line is closely related to the CCP’s propaganda apparatus. Despite the vast output from the CCP’s propaganda apparatus, in January 1951 the Central Committee published a directive condemning as a “principal weakness of the Party's propaganda” a failure to effectively give “systematic guidance and control of various levels of party organizations.”
The directive said that “One of the inborn duties of a Communist lies in the incessant effort to carry out propaganda among the people so as to educate them, to wage relentless war against all reactionary and mistaken conceptions and principles, and to promote as well as raise the political consciousness of the masses.”
The directive called for the establishment of networks of "propaganda officers"—one in every party cell—and "reporting officers" at higher levels. Propaganda activity was to be conducted among the masses under strict control and in "fixed activity programs." Among other duties, propaganda officers were to maintain "constant public contact" so they could "assist the Party in the choice of propaganda matter and methods appropriate for different periods of time."
Earlier directives connected the need to boost consciousness of the mass line with criticisms and self-criticisms in the press. Party members were supposed to "be trained to appreciate that criticism and self-criticism in newspapers and periodicals are necessary methods for strengthening the relations between the Party and the popular masses."
Read more about this topic: Mass Line
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