Etymologically, the word "Party" in China's ancient books has many meanings: it refers to grassroots residents' organizations, relatives and friends' organizations, private secret organizations and sectarian organizations within the ruling class, but it is not a political party in the modern political sense. In western countries, the English writing of the word "Party" means "part", which was later extended to a social and political organization. Since modern times, western scholars have given various definitions of political parties. The main points are as follows: a political party is a group that practices a certain theory; Political party is a kind of power organization; Political parties are the tools of elections; Political parties are organizations where people "seek public office"; A political party is a group in which the people control the government, and it is a channel for the expression and aggregation of interests. Among them, the definition of political party given by edmund burke, a British Conservative, is the most influential: the so-called political party is a people's organization that all of us unite on the basis of certain special principles and promote national interests through common struggle. Although the explanations of the above viewpoints are different, the similarities are all focused on the external characteristics or activity characteristics of political parties, and do not involve the class foundation and class essence of political parties. The concept of political party in the modern sense was introduced into China from the west at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. Liang Qichao, a famous scholar in modern China, compared political parties to cronies and thought that "political parties are United for the purpose of the country; Cronies are also those who combine for personal purposes. " Obviously, he also explained what a political party is in form, but failed to clarify the essential characteristics of a political party. Classical Marxist writers use the theory of historical materialism to closely link political parties with class interests and scientifically reveal the essence of political parties. At the same time, it also summarizes the characteristics of political parties themselves, thus distinguishing political parties from other social and political organizations. According to their exposition of political parties, we believe that the so-called political party is the concentrated representative of the interests of a specific class or stratum, and it is a political organization in which the backbone elements of a specific class take the same actions in political activities under the guidance of the same political program in order to seek and consolidate political power. Marxism holds that political parties are indispensable tools for class struggle and political life in modern society. It is an important law in modern times that people organize themselves through political parties to strive for and safeguard their own interests. As a special political organization, political parties are different from state organs and general social groups and political factions. To sum up, political parties have the following basic characteristics: political parties have distinct class characteristics. A political party is a political organization based on certain class interests, the core force of the class, and the organizer and leader of political activities and political struggles. The struggle between political parties is the concentrated expression of the interest struggle of all classes and strata. Political parties are class organizations. However, a political party is only composed of some people in the class or stratum it represents. We call these people "advanced elements" or "elite elements". They represent the fundamental interests of the whole class, organize the people in the form of political parties and play a leading role, thus becoming the core strength of the class. The distinctive class nature of political parties and the high overall quality of party member are the remarkable characteristics that distinguish political parties from other social organizations. Political parties are institutionalized organizations. In order to play the role of class organizer and leader, political parties must have a systematic organization and strict organizational principles. Generally speaking, any national unified political party has an independent organizational system from the central to the grassroots. There are usually leading bodies such as the National Congress of the Party, the Central Committee and the Political Bureau, and there are also grass-roots organizations of the Party at all levels at the local level. In western countries, a parliamentary group is set up in the parliament to lead and supervise the members of the party. Whether a political party has authority, influence and combat effectiveness depends not only on a systematic organization, but also on strict organizational principles. Political parties are not as compulsory as the organs of state power. Only by restraining party member's behavior through certain organizational discipline can a political party unify its thoughts and actions, thus making the party influential and effective. Therefore, political parties generally have a set of written or unwritten party disciplines to control and restrain party member's behavior. The stricter the party's discipline, the more effective it is. Of course, whether the party's discipline is strict or not has a certain relationship with the nature, political tradition, political system type and party system type of a country. In general, the organizational discipline of proletarian political parties is relatively strong, because its organizational discipline is based on the fundamental interests of the proletariat, the United class consciousness and the principle of democratic centralism. party member has a high degree of political belief and self-sacrifice spirit. Lenin called the organizational discipline of proletarian political parties "iron discipline". Influenced by the so-called concepts of independence and individual freedom, most bourgeois political parties are lax in discipline and organization, and they are not binding on party member. Political parties in some capitalist countries also have strict organizational discipline, such as the French defense and alliance founded by Charles de Gaulle. The discipline of fascist political parties is stricter, because the party controls party member by means of terror, and party member idolizes the party leaders blindly. A political party has its own political program. Marx and Engels believed that the party's political program was a banner that was publicly set up to show the party's nature and the party's movement level (strategic strategy), and party member gathered together through this banner. Lenin also said that the party should have a clear political program. The difference between political parties is mainly manifested in the political program, which shows that the political goals of political parties and the class interests represented by political parties are different. Compared with the bourgeois party, the political program of the proletarian party is very clear, which is why it has a broad mass base. The party program mainly expounds the party's purpose, historical mission, basic strategy and the central task at this stage, thus distinguishing political parties from terrorist organizations and gang organizations. Political parties carry out activities around state power. In modern democratic countries, any legitimate political party, whether conservative or radical, and no matter how open the national political system is, is related to state power to varying degrees. Political parties in capitalist countries take turns to govern through elections, either forming a separate cabinet to monopolize state power or participating in state power through party alliances. The political party that failed in the general election performed the duties of the opposition party in the parliament and restrained and supervised the ruling party. In socialist countries, the proletarian party is the ruling party and the core force leading the socialist cause, and there is no problem of competing with other political parties to take turns to govern.