Tongfang Academy
Micro Party Class · Issue 358
The Intrinsic Logic and Practical Requirements for Deepening the Reform of the Party’s Governance System
“Theoretical cultivation is the core of the comprehensive quality of Party members and cadres. Theoretical maturity is the foundation for political maturity, and political steadfastness stems from theoretical clarity.” For Party members and cadres, fostering a fine academic ethos and strengthening theoretical training are both fundamental requirements for cultivating Party spirit and an inescapable political responsibility.
Tongfang Law Firm provides all its lawyers with learning opportunities in the form of micro-party classes, thereby enhancing their ideological and political awareness as well as their spirit of learning and inquiry. By establishing a long-term educational mechanism, the firm has created a new platform for self-education and self-improvement.
The key to doing well in China’s affairs lies in the Party. At the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, the Party proposed that “the Party’s leadership is the fundamental guarantee for further deepening reform in a comprehensive manner and advancing Chinese-style modernization,” and emphasized the need to “focus on mobilizing the entire Party’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity in pursuing reform and promoting development, and to improve the systems and mechanisms for Party building.” At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “in this new era and on this new journey, we must uphold the spirit of reform and strict standards in governing the Party, strive for greater achievements, and ensure that the tasks and deployments set forth at the 20th National Congress of the Party and the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee are effectively implemented.” At present, deepening reform of the Party-building system and improving the systems and mechanisms for Party building are not only an important component of further deepening reform in a comprehensive manner but also a crucial guarantee for the success of such reform. A profound understanding of the internal logic, objectives, and key measures underlying the reform of the Party-building system, as well as a firm grasp of the practical requirements for systematically advancing this reform, will empower and enhance our efforts to continue promoting the great new project of Party building and provide a strong guarantee for energetically writing a new chapter in Chinese-style modernization.
1. Enhance historical initiative and strengthen awareness of deepening the reform of Party building systems.
Classical Marxist writers argued that the development of productive forces leads to an expansion of social interactions and the widespread evolution of division of labor. This expanded interaction requires “order” and rules to maintain stability, and these rules gradually evolve into institutions. History and practice have shown that institutions are fundamental, overarching, stable, and long-term issues that bear on the development of the Party and the cause of the country. As the strong leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Communist Party of China has consistently maintained a high degree of consciousness in using the Party’s self-revolution to guide social revolution, and has deepened its efforts to govern the Party according to systems and regulations. Since the reform and opening-up, and especially since the comprehensive deepening of reform in the new era, our Party has adhered to institutional development as the main thread, making concerted efforts to remove institutional and systemic shortcomings in various fields. This not only provides solid institutional guarantees for economic and social development and the advancement of Chinese-style modernization, but also offers crucial support for achieving the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. At the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, it was proposed to “deepen the reform of the Party’s organizational system”; and the report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC incorporated the principle of “integrating institutional development throughout” into the general requirements for Party building in the new era. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, reforms of the Party’s organizational system have focused intensively on breakthroughs in areas such as the Party’s organizational structure, cadre and personnel systems, grassroots organizational construction systems, and talent-development mechanisms. Emphasis has been placed on “improving the system of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party,” laying a solid foundation for this system by “establishing key pillars and frameworks.” These efforts have yielded remarkable results in advancing the reform of the Party’s organizational system, marking that our Party’s understanding of the laws governing governance and Party building has reached a new height.
The wise adapt to changing times, and the knowledgeable adjust their actions according to circumstances. A good system is always able to renew and adapt itself through reform and innovation, keeping pace with the times. At present, as global conditions, national realities, and the Party’s situation undergo profound changes, effectively addressing various risks and challenges and steadily advancing Chinese-style modernization require us to promote the reform of Party-building systems with a spirit of reform and innovation, ensuring that such reforms are deepened and made more concrete. First, deepening the reform of Party-building systems conforms to the endogenous logic of institutional development and also meets the overall need for further comprehensively deepening reform. As Marx pointed out, “The process of institutional change is a mutual interaction between the tension of productive forces and the adaptability of production relations.” The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clearly defined the overarching goal of comprehensively deepening reform as perfecting and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, while putting forward “six areas of close focus.” The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee further clarified that the overarching goal of continuing to comprehensively deepen reform is to keep perfecting and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, and proposed “seven areas of focused attention,” adding the security domain and enriching and improving the target requirements for each field in line with current developments. At present, to further comprehensively deepen reform, we must grasp the “key link” of economic system reform, advance reforms across all fields, and thereby better align production relations with productive forces, as well as the superstructure with the economic base. The Party-building system belongs to the superstructure and therefore needs to adapt to changing times, undergoing renewal, iteration, and transformation. Second, further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity call for continuously improving the Party’s leadership system and governance methods. Through sustained deepening of the reform of Party-building systems, we must consolidate our foundations, build on our strengths, address our weaknesses, and strengthen our weak points, thus making the Party-building system more mature and well-established. Finally, to properly address the unique challenges faced by a large party—namely, “how to always remain true to our original aspirations”—and build a Marxist ruling party that is even stronger and more powerful, we must rely on reform and on institutions. It is through internal Party “institutions” that we can achieve effective internal Party governance. This requires continuously deepening the reform of Party-building systems, perfecting the comprehensive system of strict Party governance, and constantly enhancing the Party’s ability for self-purification, self-improvement, self-renewal, and self-enhancement, thereby ensuring that the Party remains untainted, unchanged in color, and true to its original character, and continues to seize the initiative in history on the new journey ahead.
2. Emphasize reform and innovation, and clearly identify key priorities.
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party proposed that “the entire Party must consciously place reform in an even more prominent position and, closely focusing on advancing Chinese-style modernization, further deepen reform comprehensively.” It also emphasized the need to “innovate and improve leadership and governance approaches” and “raise the Party’s level of leadership in further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese-style modernization.” Therefore, in deepening institutional reforms for Party building, we must adopt a spirit of “further” reform and innovation, implement the requirements of “comprehensive” reform practice, and achieve gradual progress and systematic integration through “deepening.” This calls upon us to adopt a holistic mindset to grasp the entirely new challenges and strategic goals facing the Party under the new circumstances, and to clearly identify the key tasks and critical measures for deepening institutional reforms in Party building.
From the perspective of reform priorities, deepening institutional reforms in Party building hinges on adhering to the six major principles of “six persistences,” thereby mobilizing the entire Party’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity in pursuing reform and promoting development, and further perfecting the institutional mechanisms for Party building. This represents the key link and central focus of the current reform efforts. To achieve this, we must continue to deepen comprehensive reform, effectively removing ideological barriers, systemic and institutional shortcomings, and structural contradictions that hinder the advancement of Chinese-style modernization, thus further liberating and developing social productive forces and stimulating and enhancing societal vitality. We must earnestly strengthen the fighting spirit and capabilities of Party members and cadres, boost and enhance their governance skills and professional competence, focus on cultivating the “critical few,” and foster a sound political environment. We should refine incentive mechanisms that encourage responsibility and action, accelerate the establishment of assessment and incentive systems aligned with high-quality development, and motivate Party organizations at all levels and the vast number of Party members and cadres to become active promoters and pragmatic practitioners of reform—encouraging cadres to be bold in reform, courageous in taking responsibility, and adept at getting things done.
From the perspective of reform priorities, we must always uphold the Party Central Committee’s centralized and unified leadership over further deepening comprehensive reform. We should establish and improve long-term mechanisms for strengthening ideological conviction through study, enhancing intellectual capacity through study, rectifying work style through study, and promoting practical action through study. We should highlight the central theme of studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and set up a disciplinary education mechanism that combines regular and concentrated efforts. We must effectively translate the outcomes of our study into concrete actions that benefit the people. We should continue to deepen reform of the cadre and personnel system, using clear criteria for selecting and appointing officials to guide the practice of a correct view of political achievements, promote both upward and downward mobility of cadres, implement the “three distinctions,” and refine mechanisms for tolerating mistakes and correcting errors. We should strengthen professional training and practical experience, reinforce daily management and supervision of cadres, and integrate strict management and supervision with encouragement of taking responsibility and initiative, enabling cadres to innovate and start businesses while adhering to rules and discipline. We should enhance the political and organizational functions of Party organizations, improve the political discernment, political comprehension, and political execution capabilities of Party members and cadres, refine mechanisms for educating and managing Party members and leveraging their roles, strictly control the entry threshold for Party membership, strengthen Party building-led grassroots governance, and drive all levels of Party organizations toward comprehensive progress and robustness. Through solid and effective measures, we will truly deepen the reform of Party building systems, promote the maturation and institutionalization of these systems, and provide strong guarantees for advancing Chinese-style modernization.
3. Enhance the effectiveness of deepening reforms to the Party-building system.
As the cause of the Party and the people advances to a certain stage, so too must the reform of the Party’s institutional building advance to that same stage. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must comprehensively promote political, ideological, organizational, work-style, and disciplinary development within the Party, integrate institutional development throughout all these efforts, deepen the fight against corruption, continuously enhance the quality of Party building, and build the Party into a Marxist ruling party that always stays at the forefront of the times, enjoys the heartfelt support of the people, dares to carry out self-revolution, can withstand all kinds of storms and trials, and brims with vigor and vitality.” Overall, deepening the reform of the Party’s institutional building ultimately aims to transform the Party’s political, organizational, and institutional strengths into effective governance capabilities, using “governance by the Party” to lead “China’s governance.”
To deepen the reform of the Party’s institutional framework, we must adhere to an effectiveness-oriented approach, adopt more pragmatic measures, and coordinate efforts to enhance the practical effectiveness of the reforms. First, we must continuously improve the Party’s leadership systems and mechanisms, refine the methods of Party leadership and governance, and enhance the Party’s capacity to set the right course, grasp the overall situation, formulate policies, and promote reform. We must fully leverage the Party’s core leadership role in overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties, uniting and leading the people to confront major risks and challenges. Second, we must uphold a comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach to governance, ensuring that political development, ideological development, organizational development, work style development, disciplinary development, institutional development, and the fight against corruption all work in concert and with integrated strength. Third, we must refine the mechanism for simultaneously promoting the prevention of corruption—making it impossible, unaffordable, and unthinkable—and strengthen the interconnectedness, synergy, and coordination among these three aspects. We must make political oversight more concrete, precise, and routine, improve Party regulations, and enhance their authority and enforceability. Fourth, we must build an organizational system that is vertically integrated and effectively implemented, promoting Party building to drive the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas and using Party building to lead grassroots governance. We must explore effective approaches to strengthening Party building under the “three new” conditions, enhance and improve the management of mobile Party members, and comprehensively elevate the quality and effectiveness of education and management for these members. Fifth, we must normalize the practice of promoting both upward and downward mobility of leading cadres, focusing on addressing issues such as arbitrary actions, inaction, reluctance to take responsibility, and incompetence. We must establish sound mechanisms for effectively preventing and correcting deviations in the concept of political achievements, and continue to deepen efforts to combat formalism and reduce burdens on the grassroots level. Sixth, we must establish and improve regular training mechanisms, especially basic training programs, to genuinely enhance leading cadres’ abilities to promote high-quality development, serve the masses, and prevent and resolve risks. We must strengthen specialized training and practical exercises, comprehensively improve cadres’ capacity for modernization, and encourage them to be enterprising and take the lead, ensuring that Chinese-style modernization progresses steadily and sustainably.
Source | People's Daily Online, Official Website for Party History Study and Education
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Issue 359: Solidify the Soul of Communist Party Members—Firmly Upholding Ideals and Beliefs
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Issue 357: Pooling Strong Momentum Through Excellent Conduct and Writing a New Chapter in Party Building for the New Era
