Tuidang: A Movement That Can Dissolve the CCP From Within

Falun Gong practitioners express support for the Global Quitting CCP Service, or Tuidang, as part of a parade through Chinatown in San Francisco, Calif., on May 11, 2013. Tuidang is an international movement that has helped more than 376 million Chinese people renounce their association with the Chinese Communist Party. Gary Wang/The Epoch Times

On April 20, the number of people who have published their declarations to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its Youth League, and the Young Pioneers exceeded 376 million. This figure has surpassed the number of people who withdrew from the Soviet Communist Party before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. A China expert said that this grassroots Tuidang (Quit the Party) movement that started in 2004 may also trigger the disintegration of the CCP within five years.

Withdrawing from the CCP, its Youth League, and the Young Pioneers is also referred to as the “Three Withdrawals” by Chinese people. According to the Tuidang website, where the withdrawal statements are published, as of April 26, nearly 376,368,000 people have posted their withdrawal statements. This number accounts for about 27 percent of China’s total population.

In other words, at least 1 out of every 4 Chinese people has publicly declared his or her opposition to the CCP and resigned from the CCP-related organizations.

3 CCP Organizations and the Deadly Pledges

Besides the Communist Party, the Young Pioneers and the Communist Youth League are also an integral part of the communist system in China.

In China, elementary school is compulsory. Children start elementary school at age 6 and finish at age 12. The CCP requires almost all elementary school students to join the Young Pioneers, and joining is treated as a badge of honor.

The elementary schools regularly hold a pledge ceremony in which the children raise their right fist to the red Young Pioneers flag and swear, “I am a member of the Young Pioneers of China. Under the flag of the Young Pioneers, I pledge to love the CCP, the motherland, and the people; to study well, to exercise well, and to be ready at any moment to contribute all my strength to the cause of communism.”

That is to say, under the communist system, children as young as 6 years old are required to swear an oath to be ready to contribute “all their strength” to communism before they even have an understanding of what it is.

When children enter high school, they’re asked to join the Communist Youth League on a semi-compulsory basis. Again, the students are required to raise their right fist and make a pledge:

“I pledge to join the Chinese Communist Youth League voluntarily. I firmly support the leadership of the CCP, abide by the constitution of the Youth League, carry out its resolutions, fulfill its obligations as a member, strictly abide by its discipline, study diligently, work actively, make contributions and suffer hardships before others, let others take the benefits before me, and strive hard for the cause of communism.”

The oath of membership in the CCP is also somewhat similar to that of membership in the Youth League, but with a different ending, which vows to “sacrifice everything.”

The current version, which was established in 1982, goes like this:

“I pledge to join the CCP voluntarily, uphold the Party’s guidelines, abide by the Party’s constitution, fulfill my obligations as a member, carry out the Party’s decisions, strictly abide by the Party’s discipline, keep the Party’s secrets, be loyal to the Party, work actively, strive for communism for my entire life, be ready to sacrifice everything for the Party and the people at any moment, and never betray the Party.”

Since the CCP is the ruling party in China, members of the CCP can enjoy many benefits. As a result, the number of people who can be approved to join the CCP is relatively small.

At present, the number of CCP members in China is less than 100 million out of a population of 1.4 billion, so the percentage of Party members in the population is about 7 percent.

However, more than 95 percent of Chinese people have joined the Young Pioneers, which means that out of a population of 1.4 billion, the maximum number of people who can possibly make a withdrawal statement is 1.3 billion.

A Movement Triggered by the ‘Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party’

The Tuidang movement was triggered by the editorial series “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,“ first published in the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Nov. 19, 2004.

The series comprehensively exposes the bloody history of the CCP and gives an in-depth analysis of the deceptive, violent, cultish, and rogue nature of the Party in different areas of history, politics, economy, culture, and faith.

Part 7, titled “On the Chinese Communist Party’s History of Killing,” states that “under the rule of the CCP, 60 million to 80 million innocent Chinese people have been killed, leaving their broken families behind.”

This number exceeds the total number of deaths in both World Wars combined.

Since 1949, the CCP has persecuted more than half the people in China.

On Jan. 12, 2005, The Epoch Times published a statement calling for Chinese people to withdraw from the CCP and its related organizations.

On Feb. 22, 2005, more than 10 organizations, including the Epoch Media Group, the Farewell to the CCP Alliance, and the Global Coalition to Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice, joined forces to establish the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP, a nonprofit service organization that assists people with the Three Withdrawals.

For safety reasons, many Chinese people have chosen a pseudonym to publish their withdrawal statement. They believe that God sees people’s hearts and that they can undo their deadly pledges made to the CCP by disavowing them.

When people submit their statements, a unique number is created for them by the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP. People can track the status of their statements by using this unique number.

Volunteers at the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP check the statements to ensure they’re authentic before they’re released online.

After the statement is published, a certificate in both English and Chinese becomes available for the submitter to download and print out.

Senior CCP Members Have Also Quit

A noticeable phenomenon during the early stages of the Tuidang movement was that a significant number of the Three Withdrawals came from the top echelons of the CCP, including officials from the State Council, ministries, the National People’s Congress, the Central Party School, and provincial and municipal cadres.

For example, a person from the State Council used the name Hua Tianming to submit a statement on Dec. 27, 2004. The statement reads, “It was against my will to be a henchman. I want to say sorry to Chinese people. I only hope that the CCP can be ended sooner.”

His sign-off stated that he was a member of a certain office of the State Council.

There were also senior cadres of the public security and justice departments, including the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the military, including the Navy and the Beijing Military Region.

A statement published under the name of Li Bochun on Dec. 22, 2004, reads: “I am a retired technical cadre of national defense with 43 years of military experience and more than 30 years of Party membership. I used to believe whatever my superiors said, but it was only after I retired that I really understood the evil nature of the CCP.”

Another statement published on Dec. 22, 2004, under the name of Li Linying, states: “I was once a military cadre; I was deceived and believed in the CCP. However, the naked truth of the CCP’s evil cult nature has now been completely exposed. I have been following closely this evil cult for over a decade. Although I didn’t do anything bad, I nonetheless have also empowered it. Today I finally understand. I hereby solemnly declare my withdrawal from the communist cult.”

A statement by a China Central Television (CCTV) reporter reads: “Enough is enough. Today I officially disassociate myself from all relations with them. I was a reporter for the TV station for many years, and I see through their hypocrisy. ... I have been deceived by the Party under the propaganda of lies, and today I officially disassociate myself from all relations with them.”

China Expert: The CCP Will Dissolve From Within

On Dec. 25, 1991, the Soviet Union, the world’s first communist regime, collapsed. The last president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, resigned and handed over power to Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

In late 1989, republic nations that once joined the Soviet Union declared independence, and U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Gorbachev jointly declared the end of the Cold War.

As a result of the long period of autocracy and corruption, there was a wave of resignations from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union before its dissolution, with more than 20 percent of its members eventually leaving the Party.

Similarly, the Tuidang movement in China has so far empowered about 27 percent of the Chinese population to reject the CCP.

The current number of Chinese people who have rejected the CCP is more than the 20 percent of communist members who quit the Soviet Union before it collapsed. So why hasn’t the CCP fallen yet? China expert Shan Shi told The Epoch Times that there are many reasons, but the main two are these:

First, the CCP is the most powerful ruling group in the history of mankind in terms of controlling people. No other regime in history or in the world has been like the CCP, which not only controls where people can live through a household registration system, but also controls people’s beliefs and thoughts, their jobs, family life, and even how many children they can have.

With the assistance of high technology, the CCP today uses the most invasive surveillance methods to control everyone’s daily lives. Communist rule is like a high-pressure cooker, making the people inside unable to move.

Second, the CCP uses the mainland market as bait, linking the economy to politics to draw international capital investment into China, which brings in new nutrients and blood to the critically ill body of the CCP, allowing it to continue to survive.

However, Shan said the tide of the Tuidang movement has already started to dismantle the CCP from within. Although many people didn’t openly disclose their true identities when they withdrew and are still outwardly working for the CCP, they have essentially separated themselves from the CCP in their hearts. Once the external environment changes, this internal opposition force will contribute to the rapid collapse of the CCP.

At least 50,000 people are making the Three Withdrawals per day. Shan noted that at that rate, more than 20 million more people will have withdrawn in a year. In five years, more than 100 million more people will have withdrawn. With the current number being more than 376 million, by 2026, the total number of Three Withdrawals could reach 500 million, which would account for 35 percent of China’s 1.4 billion people.

He said, “By that time, the CCP will disintegrate from within, just like the Soviet Communist Party.”

Jennifer Zeng and Sherry Qi are freelance contributors to The Epoch Times.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.