Permanent organ of the supreme state organ of power

The permanent organ^[I] of the supreme state organ of power is elected at the constitutive session of a new electoral term of the supreme state organ of power. Since the supreme state organ of power only convenes for a few days each year, most of its duties are delegated to its permanent organ, which can meet up to several times a month. The most common names given to these organs are Standing Committee, Presidium, State Council, and Council of State.^[1] In most cases, the permanent organ of the supreme state organ of power was designated as the collective state presidency.^[2] In some countries, such as in the Socialist Republic of Romania and the People's Republic of Angola, the state president as head of state served ex officio as chairman of the permanent organ.^[3]

Powers of the permanent organ chair

When he was not concurrently designated as head of state, the chair of a permanent organ had no distinct powers other than chairing the sessions.^[4] Unlike common practice in liberal democratic states, the permanent organ chair could not veto the supreme state organ of power or dissolve it. Theoretically, the supreme state organ of power could remove the entirety of the presidium or change its composition as it pleased.^[5] Laws adopted by the supreme state organ of power and its permanent organ had to be promulgated, in the Soviet Union at least, through a signature by the permanent organ chair. However, in practice, the chair of the permanent organ was treated by foreign states as the head of state since the officeholder often was sent on missions to represent the state abroad.^[4]

The first communist states to establish an office of president were Czechoslovakia and East Germany. The president of Czechoslovakia was quite powerful, and could convene, postpone, and dissolve the Czechoslovak supreme state organ of power. The East German presidency, like the Czechoslovak presidency, was elected by the supreme state organ of power, but unlike its Czechoslovak counterpart, was only empowered to represent the state abroad and promulgate laws by signature alongside the head of government. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party also established a presidency, first known as the chairman of the People's Republic of China and later reestablished in 1982 as state president.^[6] Mao Zedong, the first leader of the People's Republic of China, rejected that the chairmanship functioned as a head of state, arguing instead that the major differences between the Soviet system and the Chinese was that the chairmanship acted as a representative of the state collective leadership.^[7] Liu Shaoqi, Mao's deputy, in his report on the 1954 Constitution of China, stated that the powers of the Chinese head of state was jointly exercised by the permanent organ, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and the state chairman.^[8] The president has no independent powers other than those bestowed by China's permanent organ.^[9]

Membership

To be eligible for election to a permanent organ, one must already be a member of the supreme state organ of power. As part of the delegation of power, the permanent organs holds legislative powers, such as issuing decrees, representing the state abroad, interpreting the laws, organising national elections, convoking the sessions of the supreme state organ of power, holding referendums, adopting treaties, appointing and recalling diplomatic representatives, and representing the supreme state organ of power when it is not in session. While it's officially accountable to the sessions of the supreme state organ of power, the permanent organs have usually amassed so much power that the supreme state organs of power have failed to hold them accountable.^[10]

The permanent organs of communist states share many common features. For example, the Presidium of Albania's Supreme People's Assembly was composed of a chair, two vice chairs, one secretary, and about ten members. In Bulgaria, the State Council was composed of 29 members, of which one served as chair, one as first deputy chair, three deputy chairs, and one secretary. The Hungarian People's Republic named its permanent organ the Presidential Council, and it was composed of about 21 members, of which one served as chair, two as deputy chairs and one as secretary.^[11]

Ruling party control

The permanent organ is firmly under the ruling party's control. However, in circumstances where more than one party exists, the other parties are usually represented in the membership. In some instances, they hold high-standing positions within the permanent organ. For example, Petur Tanchev as leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union served as first deputy chairman. In East Germany, Gerald Götting, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Heinrich Homann, chairman of the National Democratic Party, and Manfred Gerlach, as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party served as deputy chairmen of the State Council. The same goes for Poland, where in 1985, were Tadeusz Młyńczak from the Alliance of Democrats and Zdzisław Tomal from the United Peasants' Party also concurrently served as deputy chairs of the State Council.^[10]

Explanatory notes

1. This organ has been given a myriad of designations in different communist states, such as:

   • permanent body of the supreme state organ of power,
   • standing organ of the supreme state organ of power,
   • standing body of the supreme state organ of power,
   • supreme continuously functioning organ of state power (Bulgaria),
   • supreme state organ of power in permanent session (Albania), and
   • supreme state organ of power in permanent activity (Romania).