At a time when the Communist Party of China (CPC) is preparing for a new generational leadership transition, and as scandalous allegations of corruption swirl around senior Party leaders, the role and function of the CPC must inevitably be subjected to renewed scrutiny. The publication in English of The Marxist Theory of Party: Classics, Innovations and the Communist Party of China provides a useful insight into the day-to-day concerns as well as the strategic orientation of the Chinese party. The book is a translation of what is in essence a manual for party organization published by Renmin University Press in Beijing and can be considered as fairly representative of thinking about the CPC’s current orientation. Despite its title, the book concentrates on the experience of the CPC; and there is an all-too-short discussion (four dedicated pages and some other scattered references) about Lenin’s theoretical development of the party and little about Marxist practice before Lenin (again four dedicated pages and scattered references to the Communist League and the First and Second Internationals). This is a critical weakness since Lenin’s own views underwent such an enormous transformation, from his early classic What is to be Done? to his later postrevolutionary insights into party tactics and strategy, such as Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder, or the early documents of the Communist International. It might also have been relevant to have discussed in more detail the Marxist critics of Lenin, such as the reformist Karl Kautsky or the revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, to put the debate into sharper relief. There is also little discussion of the extreme deformation of inner-party democracy within the CPSU and international communist movement during the Stalin period and after, and only a peremptory mention of Khruschev’s 20th congress speech in 1956. The virtual collapse of the CPC during the Cultural Revolution is also mentioned in passing but not analysed, suggesting a continuing reticence on this period preventing a more thorough critique. The overwhelming bulk of the book takes Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and the once-disgraced Liu Shaoqi as the basis for “classical” references. Certainly the rich history of the CPC provides plenty of food for thought but it is a pity there are not more comparisons of the CPC with other parties overseas. Nonetheless, given the paucity of information and objective analysis of the CPC itself, Wu Meihua gives a solid background for studying the CPC’s ideological basis, organizational structure and style of work. The book certainly doesn’t shy away from the issue of corruption and the standards of behaviour required from cadres (See Chapter 7 part 5, “Anti-Corruption and the Party”). This is good as far as it goes but readers will question how these criteria have been applied in practice in the current situation, where abuse of power, nepotism and the intertwining of political power and business interests present a potentially lethal danger to the socialist future for China. Wu correctly mentions that one of the roots of corruption is the continuing remnant of feudal traditional thinking, which promotes patriarchal and hierarchical practices. The second factor is “decadent bourgeois ideas and lifestyles” which have blossomed during the economic reform period. The third factor in Wu’s opinion is the institutional loopholes of the transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy, which allow corrupt officials to enrich themselves. A fourth element is the weak ideological outlook of cadres themselves and a fifth is the weak supervisory elements within the Party itself. The final factor is the insufficient severity of punishment. Certainly, all these factors are important; but the very nature of a “socialist market economy”, with its fundamental motor being the interaction between the state and private sector, provides the objective conditions for the creation not simply of a few corrupt officials but of an entire corrupt stratum–or even the emergence of a bureaucratic bourgeoisie, the “crony capitalists” prevalent in many developing Asian economies. This is surely the single most important factor since it will affect not only the efficiency of the Chinese economy or the credibility of its political leadership but the fundamental character of China’s socioeconomic and political nature. There is clearly still a large gap between aspiration and reality here. Wu shows that, despite profound political changes, there is a strong continuity in the political line of the CPC through the decades; and many of the “classical” references come from the period of either the United Front, when the CPC allied with the bourgeois-led Guomindang against Japanese occupation, or the era of New Democracy, when the CPC reached out beyond the working class and peasantry to form alliances with the middle strata and the national bourgeoisie. The clear suggestion is that the current strategic line of the party must also seek allies in these social forces, or their modern day equivalents, a point emphasised by former CPC leader Jiang Zemin’s so-called policy of the “Three Represents”. The last three sections – Chapter 10: “The Program and Political Line of a Marxist Party and the CPC Practice”, Chapter 11: “Ideological Line of the Party”, and Chapter 12: “Ideological and Theoretical Development of the Marxist Party”, will go a long way to reassure sceptics that positive debates on Marxism and the socialist orientation of the CPC remain very much alive in China today. These are certainly the most important sections of Wu’s book and they are thankfully well written and structured. A large part of the book deals with the need of the CPC to be a governing party; again, some contrast with the failures of the Soviet and European CPs would have been illuminating, but Wu’s focus rarely strays from the Chinese experience. Another major gripe is the lack of an index, but on the other hand the chapter and section headings are clear and well organised. This book is by no means the last word on the role and function of communist parties in the modern world, nor is it a history of the Chinese Communist Party itself; but it is an invaluable help in making sense of the complex role of the CPC today and thereby of the possible future directions for China itself.