ABSTRACT
The new statutes gave the Communist Party a legal position and a leading role at every level in the hierarchy, while Party members held all the most important posts in the institutions of state. The National People's Congress amended the constitution, exercised legislative power, appointed the president and the vice-president of the republic, and voted the budget and the plans for economic development. The State Council consisted of about forty ministries or commissions under the authority of the premier and ten to fifteen deputy premiers. The Party's hold on the government was affirmed first of all at the level of the Central Committee; the Central Committee also directed and supervised the action of all provincial and local Party organizations or the corresponding state organs. The Communist Youth League was re-established in 1949 as the Democratic Youth League, but resumed its former name in 1956. The local and regional Party institutions reproduced the central organs to a certain extent.
