Until the 1970s the CCP and the KWP in general espoused a similar general ideology, that of Marxism-Leninism. The communist principle of democratic centralism was applied in the two counties. Economically this meant that the state not only owned the means of production but also centralised economic planning, investment and distribution. Power was concentrated in the hands of the respective parties with all party members and party organisations expected to unconditionally support and carry out the party line. Comparable political structures were also erected in the two countries. The highest organs of state the North Korean People's Assembly and the Chinese National People's Congress were run along the same lines. In principle membership of these organs and almost all party positions were elected. In reality they were anything but as there was usually only one candidate to vote for on the ballot paper. Therefore far from representing the proletariat and peasants the parties became totalitarian regimes run by select groups of people. These groups did not allow other political ideas or ideologies to circulate except for the government line. The struggle for power within the ruling cliché was intense in both parties, resulting in factions developing and clashing. Factionalism died down only when one man in each country held absolute power, Mao Zedong in China and Kim Il Sung in North Korea