This article argues that the Chinese Communist Party has adopted a unique understanding of the people. Unlike the liberal view, which generally considers the people a nonpolitical and positive entity, the party views the people as essentially political. The party’s political understanding of the people, this article argues, is consistent with the very nature of the people. Viewed from the political understanding of the people and representing the people, the party’s theories of “contradictions among the people,” of the “mass line,” and of distinctions among different classes and individuals are consistent with self-governance by the people. The party’s theories are not inherently totalitarian, antidemocratic, and arbitrary, as liberal theorists argue.
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