CHINA University students join the Chinese Communist Party to have a secure job

The high rate of youth unemployment does not affect graduates in Marxist ideology. Since Xi Jinping came to power, the number of Party members has grown rapidly. New graduates no longer seek employment in foreign firms, but in public administration and state companies.

Rome () – With fewer job opportunities due to the slowdown in the national economy, joining the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) offers young graduates more job opportunities. In some cases, affiliation to the Party is a fundamental requirement to access important positions in the government. This year, for the first time, new graduates exceeded 10 million: economic difficulties, aggravated by the “Covid zero” policy, however, pushed the youth unemployment rate (16-24 years old) to a record level of 18, 6%.

CPC members have surpassed 96 million, the Party Organization Department announced on June 30. In the Xi era, the CCP is expanding rapidly: Some 21 million people have signed up since the 18th Congress in 2012, when the current Supreme Leader came to power. The percentage of affiliates with a higher educational level continues to grow and 53.2% of the adherents are professionals.

According to the Financial Times, on a website for the recruitment of young graduates there has been a 20% increase in jobs offered that require a degree in Marxism. Employers are not only government departments, state-owned companies, or CCP organizations, but also private companies. In recent years, the authorities ordered private companies – Chinese or foreign – to set up a Party committee within their own structure.

These private companies are required to hire staff and guarantee the budget to handle CCP affairs. Following the crackdown on tech and real estate companies that broke out in 2021, private companies are recruiting Marxism graduates to show their loyalty to the authorities. Companies also need people who know the Party’s doctrine to manage relations with the government and carefully follow the official line in their business operations.

Marxism and Party doctrines are required courses for students in China. Before the Xi era, university students did not know about these issues. The decisive turning point occurred in 2018, when the regime reformed the Constitution and eliminated the limit of two terms for the presidency; at that time universities were mandated to have at least one professor of Marxism for every 350 students. In subsequent years, the hiring of “ideology” professors multiplied. The number of teachers in this area increased by two thirds.

Marxism courses in China include the philosophy of Karl Marx and the doctrines of CCP leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi. The proportion of Xi’s thought has increased considerably in university textbooks, and many top universities across the country have set up research centers on the Chinese president’s doctrine.

Apparently, the Chinese authorities take a pragmatic approach to the philosophy of Marx and Mao. As social conflicts intensify and workers’ rights are left unprotected, the authorities consider the practical application of Marxist philosophy increasingly dangerous. That is why nostalgia for the Maoist era has become an “underground” current. When leftist and Maoist students participated in the labor movement in the southern city of Shenzhen in 2018, the police without hesitation arrested them along with the protesting workers.

A university official told the Financial Times anonymously that “this is the golden moment for graduates of Marxism.” Newly hired professors for ideological courses at universities are offered a lucrative bonus. The teaching of Xi’s cult of personality begins as early as primary school, and in elite schools, teachers of that subject receive above-average salaries.

The impact of the pandemic and the intervention of the state in economic policy have led young graduates to change their orientation when looking for a job. Jobs in foreign companies are not profitable for graduates of the best universities. The general opinion is that working for the state is safer. In 2021, 70% of the graduates of Tsinghua University, one of the best in China, chose to work for the government, party organizations, and state-owned enterprises.