Just what we need: An astronaut's collective

From the "As Useless as Teats on a Boar Hog" Dept.:

Chinese astronauts say they will form a "Communist Party" in space.

Now 14-strong, the Chinese astronaut corps more than meets the party's minimum requirement of at least three members for a branch, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday.

China's space communists would "carry out the regular activities of a Communist Party of China branch in space in the way we do on Earth," Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut to fly into space, was quoted by Xinhua as saying on the sidelines of the national party congress.

So what'll they do? Formulate a 5-year Plan? Let bloom a thousand flowers in a hydroponics tank? Maybe violently suppress any democratic movements or Falun Gong they might encounter out there among extra-terrestials (or other human astronauts)?

Most intriguing part of the story: The astronaut declares that Communism is more than a political ideology, it is a "spiritual power".

"Like foreign astronauts having their beliefs, we believe in communism, which is also a spiritual power," he said. "We may not pray in the way our foreign counterparts do. But the common belief has made us more united in space, where there is no national boundary, to accomplish our missions."

Only if you believe in the power of the Dark Side.