China’s Leninist Response to COVID-19: From Information Suppression to Total Mobilization

Chinese party-state’s response to coronavirus outbreak has gone through two phases so far: the information suppression phase in the beginning of the crisis and the mobilization phase later aimed at containing the pandemic’s spread. The CCP achieved key objectives in both phases owing to the party-state’s hierarchical and authoritarian structure, the party’s ability to transcend state institutions, and the state’s ownership over vital economic resources. Beyond the party’s Leninist structure, the containment effort was helped by community parastatal organizations such as the neighborhood committees. This paper describes the institutions and processes that have helped CCP to achieve relative success so far in containing the coronavirus. It also points to its limits of China’s authoritarian response to public health crisis and to the plight of marginalized social groups like the migrants.