By its constitution and organization the Party is democratic. In practice it has been a loose oligarchy, similar to the machinery whereby American presidential candidates are nominated. In composition it is by its own statement a cross section of China, composed of persons who qualify as a political elite by their zeal in seeking and obtaining entrance to the Party. Administratively, the Kuomintang possesses a group of Ministries (_pu_), closely similar to the governmental ministries, and executing quasi-governmental policy, plus an additional group of separate or affiliated organizations having common purposes. In power politics, the Kuomintang claims supremacy in all unoccupied China and legitimate power over the occupied areas; in practice it yields frequently to the demands of dissidents. In function, its highest purpose--bequeathed by Sun Yat-sen--is to destroy its own monopoly of power when the time for democracy shall come; like medicine, it is committed to the eradication of the reason for its own existence. THE PARTY CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM The Kuomintang adopted a Party-Constitution after thirty-odd years of activity when, at the suggestion of Soviet advisers, it reorganized on January 28, 1924 as a formal party, with membership books, regular dues, etc. Up to then it had operated through techniques intermediate in formality between American major-party looseness and Chinese secret-society formality. In twelve chapters, the Constitution dealt with Membership, Organization, Special Areas, the Leader (Sun Yat-sen, _Tsung-li_), the Highest Party Organs, Provincial Party Organization, _Hsien_ Organization, District (_ch'ü_) Organization, and Sub-district (_ch'ü-fên_, roughly equivalent to the _pao_ in local government) Organization, Terms of Office, Discipline, and Finance.[1] The actual application of this Constitution is best described in the words of Wang Shih-chieh, who wrote before the current hostilities:[2] The system of organization of the Chinese Kuomintang is based upon the _Constitution and Bye-laws of the Chinese Kuomintang_ [_Chung-kuo Kuo-min-tang Hsien-chang_] which was passed in the First Party Congress [_Ch'üan-kuo Tai-piao Ta-hui_] on January 28, Year XIII [1924], and amended in the following two Party Congresses on January 16, Year XV [1926] and on March 27, Year XVIII [1929]. No amendment of any sort was made in the Fourth and Fifth Party Congresses held in the Years XX [1931] and XXIV [1935] respectively.