China Democratic League

The China Democratic League (CDL) is one of the eight legally recognized minor political parties in the People's Republic of China under the Chinese Communist Party's United Front. The CDL was originally founded in 1941 as an umbrella coalition group of the Chinese National Socialist Party, the Chinese Youth Party and the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party to fight the Imperial Japanese Army while providing for a "Third Way". In 2020, the CDL had around 330,600 members. The CDL is the second-ranking minor party in China after the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang. Of all such parties it also has the most seats in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress at 9 seats. However, it has 58 seats in the National People's Congress, 6 less than the Jiusan Society. Its current chairman is Ding Zhongli. The China Democratic Political League was established in Chongqing on 19 March 1941, and changed its name to the China Democratic League in September 1944. At its formation, it was a coalition of three pro-democracy parties and three pressure groups. Its two main goals were to support China's war effort during the Second Sino-Japanese War and to provide a centrist third option between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. Influential members or supporters included Zhang Dongsun, Zhang Junmai (Carson Chang), Luo Longji, Pan Guangdan, Huang Yanpei, Fei Xiaotong, Li Huang of the Young China Party, Wu Han, Chu Anping, and Wen Yiduo. After the war, many Americans in China were sympathetic to the League. Theodore White wrote that if "the men of the middle group were well organized, they could guarantee peace. But they are not. They lack an army, a political machine, roots in any social class. Only the spread of education and industry can create enough men of the modern world to give them a broad social base." In October 1945, the League released a report reaffirming its political commitments and outlining its goals.