So the communist party only accepts the most advanced elements of the proletariat, people with the highest class consciousness. How does the party educate the rest of the population if it is that picky with who they let in?
I was told that the difference between the Bolsheviks and the Menscheviks was that the Menscheviks let anyone join, but the Bolsheviks only let people with advanced class consciousness join. How does that give popularity to a party if it is so exclusive?
Communist parties are meant to be organizations of action rather than simply representing an ideology. They are supposed to do stuff. When there is a natural disaster in China for example, they often send out the CPC members to help with disaster relief. You are actually expected to participate in things so naturally you have to be a bit picky.
A person does not have to be a member of the party to view it positively. People generally view their fire department positively despite not being firefighters themselves. As long as the party is doing good work people will view it positively even if they are not themselves a member of it. In fact, letting in people willy-nilly can hurt the party’s reputation if it negatively impacts their work.