ORGANIZATION AND HISTORY OF THE UNITED FRONT DEPARTMENT OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R011000090006-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2002
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: March 15, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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INTLLOEAX 14
r ice an ?I''
SECURI INFORMATION
INFORMA ION REPORT REPORT NO.
Ja . CD NO.
1400
25X1A
0
COUNTRY China DO NOT CIRCULATE, DATE DISTR. March 1952
SUBJECT Organization and History of the United Front
Department of the Chinese Communist Party
DATE OF
INFO.
NO. OF PAGES
..6
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PLACE I SUPPLEMENT TO
ACQUIRED
CENTRAL ' I NTELL I CWICE AGENCY
CLASSIFICATION SEC,
REPORT NO. 25X1 X
STAT%
ARMY
Organization
1. The Chinese Communist Party United Front Department (UFD) functions unc]Ler
t e 43'-1 retariat of the Party Poli o and is directed by LI Wei-han (
with CHTI Yen-ming ( )2 and HSING Hsi-piing (4jP A; . )l
as deputy-directors. One of Na main tasks at present is-to hold the non-
Communist parties and cliques close to the Communist Party. Its organization
is partially overt and partially covert. Only a small number of responsible
persons of the UFD have made open contact with the various parties and
cliques, but many workers have infiltrated secretly into those organizations
as well as into different strata of Chinese society.
2. The general organizational structure and main personnel of the UFD on the
central level are as followst .
a. First Bureaux This bureaus headed by CHGU Tzu-chien (IQ is a
secretariat responsible for managing the secretarial duties o the
Department, for communications and contacts, general affairs, and the
receipt and payment of funds. It has three sub-divisionst
(1) Confidential Division, under TSOU Chlun (4 )
b. Second Bureau- This is an investigation and research bureau with the
.responsibility of investigating the various democratic parties and
cliques and the general conditions of united front service throughout
China. In addition,its functions now cover the activities of overseas
CO 1DEN ,IAA-
(2) Communications
(3) General Affairs
CLASSIFICATION "' Ca53.
NAVY j
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Chinese3 and the investigation of p ersonnel4 of foreign countries including
their political background, thoughts and activities. The ultimate goal of
all these investigations is to compile statistics and prepare analyses for
reference in formulating united front policies. As some of the Bureau's
duties are similar to those of the Social Affairs Department, the two organs
,have close relations. They exchange information, and in a number of locali-
ties their personnel. have become practically identical. Essentially, however,
they are separate entities. The Second Bureau's sub-divisions are:
Investigation
Statistics
Research
c. The Third Bureau: Headed by SHA1 Po-shun (' *b j ), the Third Bureau
is also known as the Public Relations Bureaus.' It has liaison duties and
is in charge of matters relating to the personnel of various parties and
cliques, including the welcoming of elements absorbed into the UFD. Its
sub-divisions are the following:'
(1) Personnel, under HUANG Jen { ~~)
(2) Communications, under CHU Yu-hsueh
(3) Guest House
d. First Office:6 This office has the supervision of cultural, educational
and religious bodies throughout China. The chiefrs name is unknown?, but
the deputy is HO Ch'eng hsiang (ex) l4 ;, . ). The sub-divisions are:
(1) Culture and Education
(2) Religious Affairs
(3) Propaganda
(1) minority Racial Groups
(2) Asia Division
(3) American Division
responsible for controlling certain parties and cliques, non-partisan
democratic personages, and industrial and commercial bodies.
f. Third Office:6 The particular responsibilities of this office are the
affairs of overseas Chinese and the. consolidation of different minority'
racial groups. LIEN Kuan tit I ) is chief, and his deputy is HSU Ching-
chreng. (''~-y~~- 4 ) . There are our sub-divisions:
e. Second Office-.6 This unit is directed by L I A N G H u a ( $ . ) and is
(4) Western Europe Division
Fourth Office:6 The Fourth Office is in charge of matters relating to
winning over and giving support to Asian countries. Its area sub-divisions
are the following:
(1) Korea
(2) Japan
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Vietnam
Burma
Thailand
Malaya
Indonesia
India
The Philippines
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h. Personnel Training Classr This organ trains personnel for the UFD,.:includ-
ing overseas workers, investigation personnel, and United Front regional and
minority racial grog cadre personnel. The deputy-chief is HSIEH Sheng
3. The organization of the UFD on the area level follows much the same pattern as
that on the central with a united front department in each area functioning under
the supervision of the politburo in the area concerned and upon directives from
the Central Department.
a. The organization of these departments is as followss
(1)
Secretariat, which is sub-divided into the Confidential, Telecommunica-
tions, and General Affairs divisions.
(2) Liaison Bureau, sub-divided into Personnel.. Communications, and Reception
divisions.
(3)
(4)
Investigation and Research, sub-divided into Investigation, Statistics,
and Research.
Another bureau, with three divisionst Minority Racial Groups, Overseas
Chinese Affairs, and a division overseeing political, religious and
cultural bodies of the people.
b. The present directors of the united front departments in the several area
politburos are:
(1)
East China Bureaus WU- R' o-chien ( tl `j * )
(2)
Central and South China Bureaus.
CHANG Chih-i ( 'pj
(3)
Northeast China Bureaus
SU Yu-wen (
X? _ )
(4)
Southwest China Bureaus
WANG Wei-chow
(5). Northwest China Bureaus
WANG Feng (:j
)
(6)
South China Sub-Bureaus8
JAG Chang-feng
On the provincial, regional,9 and hsien (district) levels, united front depart-
ments also have been set up. Each functions under the jurisdiction of its
Communist Party provincial, regional or hsien committee and is organized into
six divisions. Confidential, Liaison, Investigation and Research, Local Service,
Overseas Chinese Affairs, and Minority Raeial`Groups.-0
5, in 1951, with a view to further controlling the parties and cliques which had
taken part in the united front, the Communists decided that the post of secretary-
general in governmental organizations of various levels, with a few special
exceptions, were to be held concurrently by directors of the Party's united front
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departments of the same level. This would provide acloser means of contact
between Communists and non-Communists in government service. In addition,
racial groups' affairs committees-- on different levels of government were to
be headed by united front directors on the?same level. For example, United
Front Department. Director LT Wei-han is now secretary-general of the National
Committee of the Peoplets Political Consultative Conference (PPCC); secretary-
general of the Government Administration Council; and chairman. of the central
Racial Groups? Affairs Committee. Deputy Director HSING Hsi ping is also first
deputy secretary-general of the PPCC. CH'I Yen-ming,~in addition to his deputy
directorship holds the post of secretary-general of the Government Administration
Council.
6. The UFD directors in the area politburos also hold other concurrent posts. WU
K'o-chien is secretary-general of the East China Military and Administrative
Committee, while CHANG Chih-i is secretary-general of the Central and South
China Military and Administrative Committee. SU Yu-wen is secretary-general of
the Northeast Government. WANG Feng#olds the chairmanship of the Racial Groups'
Affairs Committee, Northwest China litary and Administrative Committee, and
WANG Wei-chou is chairman of the Racial Groups" Affairs Committee of the South-
west China Military and Administrative Committee.
His
7. The origins of the present Chinese Communist United Front Department date back
to a November 193" meeting of the Party Politburo, held at Wangyaopao in north-
ern Shensi. During the meeting criticisms were leveled at the widely held view
within the Party that the Chinese Nationalist capitalist class could. not possibly
join Chinese workers and peasants in the fight against the Japanese. rt was
also pointed out that the set-back suffered by the Party and.the Red Army during
the second internal revolutionary strife12 had been the result of such a narrow-
minded and closed door policy within the Party itself. Therefore, it wa
dec?de at this meeting to establish a Racial Groups' United Front ( , $J
8. On 2.7 December 193S, MAO Tse-tung wrote an article analyzing the possibility. and
importance of establishing a Party united front. Section II of that article stated
that the "present duty of the Party is to coordinate Red Army activities of the
workers, peasants, students, the fairly well-to-do class and the national
capitalist class into one united front of national revolution throughout the
nation." In Section III he advocated that, with the establishment of a united
front, the Workers and Peasants Democratic Central Government which had been set-
up by the Party should be renamed the People's Republic.13
9. In 1936 the'Communists began their united front drive under. the direction of
CHOU En-lai, and using. the slogan of an anti-Japanese front they sought to win
the'allegiance of all parties-and cliques and all opposition elements within the
Kuomintang (1Gr). In May of that year, the Communists placed a request before
the Nationalist Government, asking for an end to the internal war. In August
the CCF central authorities asked the KART to establish a bi-party anti-Japanese
united front and to stop their attacks against Communist troops. The Sian incident
followed, as a result of which the KMT was forced to accept the Communist requests.
10. In July 1937, with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Communist Party
finally. secured public recognition. It opened offices in Nanking, Wuhan, Chung-
king and various other places, and a united front organization was formed in each
.office. The slogans of the united front at that time were.firm advocation of the
War, of united efforts, and of democracy as opposed to dictatorship. Under these
slogaris the Communists were able to win the support of certain democratic parties,
cliques and people's bodies and to gradually strengthen their own position, while
weakening that of the Nationalists.
SECRETI
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11. In 1945, after the Japanese surrender and the failure of the KMT-Communist
peace talks,. the Communists renewed their slogan of a People's Democratic
United Front. Their policy was to win over to the united front all those
elements of the population who opposed the. Nationalist regime and to intensify
the split between the KL1T central and regional authorities. With-the assistance
of various democratic parties, cliques and other anti-KMT groupsl4 the
Communists were able to extend their control over different strata of Chinese
society, including certain professional groups, workers, merchants, students,
cultural and economic organizations, and part of the overseas Chinese. During
this same period a united front department was officially establis ed within
the Communist Party. It was nominally headed by LI Wei-han t~ y}, but
actually directed by CHOU En-lai.
12. While continuing to strengthen its basis of support at home, the Chinese
Communist Party has more recently broadened its policy to include other Asian
peoples, under the slogan of an Asian peoples' anti-imperialist liberation
united front movement. In conjunction with other organs of the Party, the
United Front Department is now striving to win the friendship of non-Communist
Asian powers and is aiding native Communist parties in their efforts to gain
political power, all with the aim of making Communist China the center of
leadership for Asia.
2 5X1A 2. Comment. which also deals with the organization and
theUnited ron Department., reported CHMI Yen-ming as secretary-
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general of the department, but the terminology may. have been confused with
-the concurrent post he holds as assistant secretary-general of the Govern-
ment Administration Council.
25X1 A 3. Comment. the UF'D has been entrusted with
e asc of controlling overseas nese by the establishment of Overseas
Chinese Democratic Federations.
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25X1A 4. Comment. This applies mainly to government personnel.
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5.
Comment. This is the first report identifying the head of the
Third Bureau and the first stating that this bureau and the Public
Relations Bureau are the same organ.
60
Coment. The administrative relationship of these four offices
to the bureaus is not clear. I laced them all under the Third. Bureau.
7. L Comment.
Possibly HU Chino-mu as suggested
S. Comment.
describes the organization and personnel of this
bureau.
9.
Comment.
Possibly divisions of some of the provinces, such as
North and South Kiangsu and North, South, East, West Szechuan.
10.
Comment. As information is incomplete, the names of personnel of the
F
united rat '
ont organizations in the various provinces, areas, and districts
have not been included in this report.
11.
Comment. Probably the same organization translated in other reports
as Minority Affairs Committee or Commission of Affairs of Nationalities.
12.
Comment. This refers to the Nanchang uprising which began in August 1927
I.A.
Comment. The term People's Republic of China, which the Peiping author-
"
4 e u
sing at present, was selected on the basis of MAO's advocacy in
this article.
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Comment. a report of a policy meeting,
held by the Department in Peiping during November 1951, in which these
democratic parties and groups took part.
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