Tongfang Academy
Micro Party Class · Issue 351
To deepen learning and education, we must fully engage ourselves.
“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 style and strengthening theoretical education 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 extent to which a theory is realized in a country depends on how well it meets actual needs; the effectiveness of a theory’s application hinges on how deeply it is put into practice. In carrying out in-depth study and education throughout the Party on the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation, all Party members and leading cadres must earnestly place themselves, their thoughts, their work, and their responsibilities squarely at the center of the process. They should profoundly appreciate the truth and practical power of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, comprehensively promote learning, inspection, and rectification, ensure seamless integration of learning, thinking, and application, and achieve unity between knowledge, belief, and action. By demonstrating a fresh atmosphere of style-building, we can win the trust and support of the people and guarantee that the Party will always remain the strong and decisive leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Put your own thoughts into it.
The essence of style issues is a question of Party spirit. Style reflects both image and quality, embodies Party spirit, and ultimately hinges on Party spirit itself. Therefore, to strengthen and improve our work style and overcome formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance, the key lies in deeply rooting the thinking of Party member leading cadres, properly addressing questions related to their worldview, outlook on life, and values, correctly balancing the relationship between “public” and “private,” and laying a solid ideological foundation.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, a prominent feature shared by Party members and leading cadres who have violated the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations is that their “ballast stone”—their ideals and convictions—has begun to waver, and their “master switch”—their worldview, outlook on life, and values—has gone awry. As a result, they have turned a deaf ear to the repeated warnings and directives from the Party Central Committee and have ignored the cautionary lessons learned from past mistakes. Among the cases investigated for violations of the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations, some Party members and leading cadres have become addicted to eating and drinking, with alcohol addiction proving hard to break and “mental addiction” even harder to cure. Others, driven by the desire to amass wealth and climb the career ladder, have spared no effort—deploying human, material, and financial resources—to engage in grandiose “image-building projects” and “achievement-oriented projects,” blatantly using their official positions for personal gain. Their selfish motives, private interests, and personal desires have swelled unchecked; they have come to believe in the supremacy of money, fame, and pleasure, lacking any sense of awe or reverence and acting without any moral boundaries.
Belief is the root, and style is its manifestation. When the root is sound, the manifestation will coalesce; when the root is flawed, the manifestation will inevitably fall apart. To uphold and carry forward the Party’s fine style, it is essential to firmly hold onto our ideals and convictions. If we loosen even an inch in our thinking, we will lose a foot in our actions. Once extravagance begins to take root, evil paths will follow closely behind, making it inevitable that we’ll stray from the right path, overstep boundaries, and allow leaks and inefficiencies to creep in. As a result, our views on right and wrong, on the relationship between righteousness and self-interest, on the nature of power, and on our career aspirations will all become distorted. Party members and leading cadres must strengthen their foundations and nurture their core values, cultivating unwavering loyalty and deep conviction. They must remain steadfast in truth, in the right path, in principles, and in rules, properly balancing the relationships among right and wrong, public and private interests, gain and loss. They should establish themselves through faith, integrity, and practical action. We must frequently cleanse the dust from our minds, uphold great virtues, strictly observe public ethics, and safeguard personal morality; emphasize good conduct, maintain upright character, and cultivate inner virtue. We should promote values such as loyalty and honesty, fairness and integrity, hard work and frugality, and clean governance. We must clearly resist and oppose vulgar and corrupt political cultures like “networking,” “the art of being thick-skinned and ruthless,” and “unwritten rules.” We must keep our hearts pure and our path clear, nipping problems in the bud before they grow. Let us always remember the ancient saying: “A dam can collapse through a tiny ant hole; a leak can occur even through the tiniest needle’s eye.” We must persist in strengthening our moral cultivation starting from small matters and minor details, perfecting ourselves bit by bit, and ensuring that “our hearts remain unmoved by petty gains and our eyes are unblinded by the allure of colorful distractions.”
Put your own work into it.
The core of the issue of work style lies in the relationship between the Party and the masses. After a Marxist political party assumes power—especially after prolonged rule—the greatest danger is to become detached from the masses. To strengthen work style, we must integrate the work of Party members and leading cadres into this effort; we must uphold the Marxist viewpoint on the masses and implement the Party’s mass line, ensuring that our starting point and ultimate goal are firmly anchored in effectively realizing, safeguarding, and developing the fundamental interests of the broadest possible masses of the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that, given our Party’s long-term rule, party members and cadres are prone to developing a mindset of complacency and spiritual slackness after prolonged periods of stability. History and reality have repeatedly demonstrated that strengthening style of work requires placing the work of leading party members and cadres at the center of attention, enhancing their awareness of the masses, their emotional connection with the masses, and their capacity to engage in mass work, thereby continuously solidifying the mass base upon which the Party’s governance rests.
First and foremost, we must infuse our work with genuine affection for the masses. When comrades who are deeply empathetic toward the people go down to the grassroots level to carry out their duties, their efforts become tangible, palpable, and truly felt—this is a warmth that resonates deeply with the people. During his time working in Zhejiang, Comrade Xi Jinping offered a vivid description of engaging with the masses: “No matter how correct our policies may be, if they aren’t understood by the masses, it will be difficult to put them into practice. If the masses refuse to listen, you should first follow along with them—when the masses leap into the ‘pit of fire,’ you too should jump in. Once the masses awaken and climb out of that pit, they’ll ultimately come back to you. If the masses jump but you don’t, the relationship between officials and the masses will grow distant. But if you jump together with them, your bond will strengthen, and your work will become much easier.” Here, the “pit of fire” is a vivid metaphor for challenging and difficult circumstances. By following the masses as they leap into the “pit of fire,” Comrade Xi Jinping is essentially emphasizing that when engaging with the masses becomes particularly tough, we must even more so show understanding and empathy toward them, genuinely immerse ourselves in their situation, and put ourselves in their shoes to truly grasp their perspectives. This is a vivid illustration of the Marxist view of the masses.
Second, we must make concerted efforts—from institutional mechanisms and other aspects—to curb unhealthy practices. Problems in work style are stubborn and tend to recur; the “Four Winds” issues exhibit strong mutability and contagiousness. To address these “Four Winds” problems effectively, we must tackle both the symptoms and root causes by making targeted efforts at the level of work procedures and institutional mechanisms to suppress unhealthy practices. “The lower levels follow the example set by the upper levels.” All departments should earnestly examine their own practices, thoroughly identify and expose the formalistic issues plaguing the grassroots level, proactively acknowledge these problems, and promptly implement corrective measures. We must focus on identifying the underlying causes—rooted in mindset, work style, and leadership approaches—and carry out targeted rectifications. We need to pay close attention to even the smallest details and ensure that our efforts reach every corner, truly freeing grassroots cadres from unnecessary bureaucratic burdens. We should strengthen the sharing of information resources and avoid judging the quality of work solely by the number of records kept or the volume of documents submitted. Wherever possible, we should refrain from asking grassroots units to repeatedly provide data and materials already available elsewhere. Higher-level authorities must not, for convenience’s sake, keep requesting the same materials again and again—time after time, year after year. No department should demand the same materials from every unit, nor should everyone be allowed to request documents indiscriminately. By establishing clear rules and regulations, we can relieve grassroots units from the chaos of constantly being required to supply materials. We must also control the overall number and frequency of inspections and supervisions conducted at all levels. Wherever similar tasks can be combined, they should be consolidated to reduce the burden on the grassroots and enable them to devote more time and energy to actually implementing policies and getting things done.
Put your own responsibilities into it.
“Wind is generated above; customs are shaped below.” To improve work styles, we must adopt a top-down approach, with leaders at all levels setting the example and taking the lead. All leading cadres at every level must earnestly fulfill their own responsibilities, take the initiative in complying with all regulations on integrity and self-discipline, and absolutely refrain from seeking any form of privilege or special treatment. Party committees (party groups) in all regions and departments are required to shoulder their primary responsibilities, closely monitor new trends and manifestations of formalism and bureaucracy, devise effective and practical measures for rectification, and personally engage in identifying and addressing any issues of formalism and bureaucracy within their own ranks.
In terms of style building, leading cadres setting a good example by taking the lead is a silent form of demonstration. Party leaders must not only be exemplary themselves but also keep a tight rein on their family members and staff around them. They should practice what they preach, lead by example, and voluntarily submit themselves to the supervision of Party organizations at all levels as well as the broad ranks of Party members, cadres, and the general public. This will help prevent “whispers at one’s ear” from becoming the spark that ignites corruption, stop children from using their parents’ names to seek illegal gains, and guard against those close to them dragging them into wrongdoing. A large number of corruption cases have shown that many Party members and cadres can easily pass through all kinds of tests—even life-and-death trials—but they fail to pass the test of familial loyalty, leading to reluctance, inability, or even outright refusal to exercise proper oversight. In the end, it is precisely this failure that brings them down.
Party committees (leading groups) of all departments—especially their principal officials—must adopt a correct view of political achievements. They should avoid setting unrealistic targets, holding meetings that fail to address actual problems, issuing documents lacking substantive content, and engaging in activities that leave only superficial traces without yielding tangible results. They should regularly analyze the work style of their leadership teams and cadres, as well as the relationship between officials and the public within their respective regions and departments. They must promptly identify emerging trends and potential issues, and take targeted measures accordingly. We must implement long-term mechanisms for addressing formalism and reducing burdens on the grassroots level, balancing burden reduction with capacity-building, so that grassroots cadres can boldly carry out their duties. We must strengthen Party conduct and integrity building in our areas of responsibility or the localities we oversee, and resolutely combat all forms of misconduct and corruption. As evidenced by numerous cases, disciplinary and legal violations committed by leading cadres often occur precisely during their tenure as “top leaders.” Some adopt an authoritarian, one-man-rule approach; others tend to offer policies and encouragement to officials at the prefectural and municipal levels while failing to impose strict requirements or exercise effective oversight. Meanwhile, peers and subordinates dare not scrutinize or hold “top leaders” accountable—a situation that leads to unchecked power among these leaders. Given their high positions and significant authority, when top leaders go astray, they are most likely to corrupt their entire teams and disrupt discipline and order. We must promote the concretization, precision, and normalization of political supervision. We should make full use of various channels—including disciplinary inspection and supervision,巡视巡察, audit oversight, financial and accounting supervision, urging and inspection, investigative research, and petition handling—to thoroughly and comprehensively identify shortcomings in implementing the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation and its detailed implementation rules. We must urge Party organizations at all levels to earnestly enhance their sense of responsibility and mission in governing the Party, and compel “top leaders” at all levels to shoulder their primary responsibilities. Other members of the leading bodies must conscientiously fulfill their dual responsibilities. We must simultaneously uphold Party principles, Party conduct, and Party discipline, and continuously improve the integrated mechanism for ensuring that officials neither dare nor can nor wish to engage in corruption. Through rigorous governance across all dimensions, throughout the entire process, and over the full lifecycle, we must embody stringent requirements in every aspect and link of Party governance and ensure that these requirements are fully implemented among Party organizations at all levels and among all Party members.
Source | People's Daily Online, Official Website for Party History Study and Education
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Issue 352: Deeply Grasping the Distinctive Characteristics of the Party’s Cultural Leadership权
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Issue 350: The Fight Against Corruption in the New Era Has Earned the Party Historical Initiative.
