Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Issue 273: Deeply Understanding the Significant Importance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Thoughts on Party Building

Party Class Study

2024-07-02

Tongfang Academy

Micro Party Class · Issue 273

Deeply grasp the significant implications of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building.

“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.

This issue's speaker

Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping has, from the historical perspective of socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era, coordinated the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with the unprecedented global changes unfolding over the past century. Focusing on the major contemporary question—what kind of long-term ruling Marxist party should we build and how should we build it—he has highlighted the central theme of comprehensively enforcing strict governance over the Party, put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies for governing and strengthening the Party, and thus formed General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on Party building. This important thought represents the latest theoretical achievement in the field of Party building, adhering to the “two combinations” and applying the “six musts.” It has elevated our Party’s understanding of the laws governing the building of a Marxist ruling party to a new height and holds profound and far-reaching significance—in terms of both theory and practice—as well as great contemporary relevance for advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era, promoting China’s modernization along the Chinese path, and realizing the great cause of national rejuvenation.

First, its significance for the times: By following the historical trend and responding to the demands of the era, we can ensure that the Party always remains at the forefront of the times and firmly stands invincible.

A great era gives rise to great thoughts, and great thoughts guide a great era. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on Party building, with its broad global perspective and profound historical insight, accurately grasps the evolving trends in the world situation, national conditions, and Party conditions. It provides a scientific answer to the questions of governing and strengthening the Party in this new era, enabling our Party to remain at the forefront of the times amid profound changes in the global landscape and to continue serving as the backbone of the entire nation as we navigate through a history marked by diverse domestic and international risks and challenges.

Leading the way forward amid profound global transformations. In today’s world, the vast majority of countries practice party politics, and political parties are a key factor influencing the rise and fall of many nations—and thus exerting significant impact on the global landscape. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the world has been undergoing a major transformation unseen in a century, entering an era of great development, great change, and great adjustment. Emerging market countries and developing nations—represented by China—are rising collectively, steadily enhancing their overall national strength and international influence, and the global power dynamic continues to shift toward the East and away from the West. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the greatest advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. Under the scientific guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building, our Party has consistently maintained its Marxist character, firmly upheld the Party’s basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy, and unswervingly reinforced our confidence in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, in our theoretical framework, in our institutional arrangements, and in our cultural identity. We have remained steadfast in upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, thereby injecting new vitality into scientific socialism in 21st-century China, helping the global socialist movement emerge from its trough and move toward rejuvenation, and guiding the profound global transformation toward a direction that serves the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the progress of human society.

Bravely shoulder our mission and tasks on the path to national rejuvenation. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese people since modern times. From the moment of its founding, the Communist Party of China has taken as its historical mission the pursuit of happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation. For over a century, the Party’s central theme has been precisely the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The Communist Party of China is the core force leading our cause. The reason why the Chinese people and the Chinese nation have been able to reverse their historical fate since modern times and achieve today’s remarkable accomplishments lies fundamentally in the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China. History and reality have proven that without the Communist Party of China, there would be no New China, and there would be no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As we enter a new era, we are closer than ever before, more confident, and better equipped to achieve the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. However, this great rejuvenation will by no means come easily or without effort; it will require even more arduous and painstaking endeavors. Guided scientifically by General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building, our Party has deeply recognized the decisive role of the new great project of Party building within the “Four Greats.” We remain unwavering in upholding and improving Party leadership, and steadfastly committed to making the Party stronger and more powerful. Together with the people, we will effectively respond to major challenges, ward off major risks, overcome major obstacles, and resolve major contradictions, thereby propelling the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation into an irreversible historical process.

Addressing prominent issues in Party governance and self-reform. As the world’s largest Marxist ruling party, the Communist Party of China must remain ever vigilant and firm in tackling the unique challenges faced by a large political party if it is to continue winning the people’s support and consolidating its long-term rule. Since the reform and opening-up, our Party has consistently upheld the principle of governing the Party from within and enforcing strict discipline, achieving remarkable results in Party building. At the same time, due to periods when Party governance was lax and discipline was not strictly enforced, there emerged numerous problems within the Party: blurred understanding and weak action regarding the Party’s leadership; weakening, hollowing out, and dilution of the Party’s leadership in practice; wavering political convictions among some Party members and cadres; persistent prevalence of formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance in certain localities and departments; serious manifestations of privilege-seeking and privileged behavior; and shocking instances of corruption. At that time, many within the Party and society were deeply concerned about the future of the Party and the country. Faced with these acute contradictions and problems that threatened the Party’s long-term rule, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building—grounded in the fundamental principles of Marxist theory on Party building—effectively addressed the practical challenges confronting Party building in the new era. With a fresh perspective and deeper understanding, these ideas have imbued the great project of Party building with new contemporary significance, enabling the Party to fully display a new spirit and new achievements in the new era.

II. Theoretical Significance: This work greatly enriches and develops Marxist theory on party building, opening up a new realm in the construction of Marxist ruling parties.

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building profoundly elucidate the fundamental principles, scientific framework, value aspirations, and key tasks of Party building. With a series of original contributions, these thoughts have greatly enriched and developed Marxist theory on Party building, opened up a new realm in the construction of Marxist ruling parties, and marked that our Party’s understanding of the laws governing the construction of Marxist ruling parties has reached a new height.

It has addressed the epochal question of building a Marxist political party that can maintain long-term governance. Since the victory of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, which established the first socialist state, how to build a Marxist political party capable of long-term governance has become a major epochal issue in the history of the international communist movement. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union spent 74 years exploring this question, accumulating certain experiences but also suffering many painful lessons, ultimately going astray and leading to the demise of both the Party and the country. The Communist Party of China attaches great importance to the building of a Marxist ruling party. After the founding of New China, Comrade Mao Zedong actively explored the laws governing the construction of a ruling party, emphasizing the need to always maintain a style of humility and prudence, to guard against arrogance and impatience, and to persevere in hard work and struggle. He also called for heightened vigilance and focused efforts to prevent the corruption and degeneration of Party members, and resolutely punished corruption—thus accumulating initial experience in Party building under conditions of nationwide governance. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “Being a ruling party is not easy at all. Once you’re in power, the Party’s responsibilities increase, the responsibilities of Communist Party members increase, and the responsibilities of our leading cadres increase as well.” Comrades Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao accumulated new experiences in exploring the construction of a Marxist political party capable of long-term governance. As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly summarized the experience of building Marxist ruling parties and our Party’s century-long historical experience—especially the great practice of comprehensively enforcing strict Party governance in the new era—and creatively answered the major epochal question of building a Marxist political party that can maintain long-term governance. This has given rise to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on Party building, greatly advancing the cause of building a Marxist ruling party and writing a new chapter in the theory of Marxist Party building.

It has deepened our understanding of the laws governing the building of Marxist ruling parties. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building, guided by Marxist theories of party building and rooted in profound reflections on the historical mission of ensuring the long-term governance of Marxist political parties, reveal the essential requirements for building Marxist ruling parties and constitute the “Party-building chapter” of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The principle of “upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership” clarifies the purpose and fundamental principles of Party building in the new era, shedding light on the deep-seated relationship between Party building and Party leadership. The principle of “using the Party’s self-revolution to lead social revolution” highlights the major mission of Party building in the new era and reveals the intrinsic connection between Party building and the Party’s cause. The principle of “regarding the country as the people and the people as the country” defines the value pursuit of Party building in the new era and elucidates its value orientation. The principles of “using the Party’s political development to guide all aspects of Party building,” “upholding ideological Party building and strengthening the Party through theory,” “maintaining a rigorous Party organizational system,” “cultivating a high-quality cadre team that is loyal, clean, and responsible,” “attracting and making good use of talented individuals from across the globe,” “persistently enforcing strict conduct and discipline,” “promoting simultaneously efforts to deter corruption, prevent corruption, and foster an aversion to corruption,” “improving the Party and state supervision systems,” and “governing the Party according to rules and regulations” outline the scientific framework and concrete pathways for Party building in the new era. The principle of “fully implementing the political responsibility for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party” identifies the fundamental guarantee for Party building in the new era and clarifies the main actors responsible for Party building. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building, embodied in the “Thirteen Upholdings,” form a systematic, logically coherent, and organically unified scientific framework that has greatly deepened our understanding of the laws governing the building of Marxist ruling parties and marks a milestone in the history of Marxist party building.

China has contributed Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the development of political parties worldwide and to the advancement of political civilization. In the current complex situation, marked by significantly increasing domestic and international risks and challenges, political parties around the world are jointly facing the daunting task of overcoming difficulties in governance and in party building. As the world’s largest Marxist ruling party—with over 98 million members and 5.065 million primary-level Party organizations—a century-old party brimming with vigor and vitality, our Party draws on its experience in governing and managing the Party with a spirit of “greatness demands great stature” to offer valuable lessons for political-party governance on a global scale. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building stem from the precious experiences gained in comprehensively enforcing strict Party governance in the new era, are deeply rooted in the rich soil of China’s outstanding traditional culture, and put forward theoretical perspectives that are both substantive and original. These thoughts vividly embody the secret behind the governance of the Communist Party of China, showcasing distinct Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese flair. They represent a shining example of the “two combinations.” Grounded in major trends in social development and the overarching global landscape of change, these important thoughts exhibit remarkable theoretical originality, powerful practical guidance, and a systematic scientific methodology. They constitute a scientific, complete, and mature theory of Party building—providing sharp intellectual tools for effectively governing, strengthening, and building the Party—and at the same time drawing on the lessons learned from the rise and fall of political parties worldwide. They offer a Chinese solution for the development of global political civilization in the age of globalization and contribute Chinese wisdom to the advancement of human political civilization.

III. Practical Significance: Guided by the Party’s self-revolution, we will lead the social revolution and continuously open up new prospects for the great new project of Party building in the new era.

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building provide the fundamental guiding principles for deepening the new great project of Party building in the new era and for doing a good job in organizational work in the new era, thereby offering strong guarantees for the development of the Party and the country. These thoughts demonstrate powerful practical force and must be upheld over the long term and fully implemented.

Fundamentally reverse the situation of weakening Party leadership. Party leadership is the very foundation and lifeline of both the Party and the country, and it is closely tied to the interests and destiny of all ethnic groups across the nation. At the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, several guidelines on political life within the Party under the new circumstances were adopted; meanwhile, the CPC Central Committee issued several regulations aimed at strengthening and safeguarding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, continuously reinforcing the Party’s political discipline and rules. We have also improved the Party’s leadership system, refining institutional arrangements for the Party’s leadership over the National People’s Congress, the government, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, supervisory organs, judicial organs, procuratorial organs, the armed forces, mass organizations, enterprises and public institutions, grassroots self-governance organizations, and social organizations—ensuring that the Party plays a leading role in all these organizations. Furthermore, we have strengthened the Party Central Committee’s leadership mechanism for major tasks, enhanced the functions and roles of the Party Central Committee’s decision-making, deliberation, and coordination bodies, and perfected mechanisms for implementing major decisions made by the Party Central Committee. We have rigorously enforced the system of seeking instructions from and reporting to the Party Central Committee, intensified political oversight, deepened political inspections, and vigorously investigated and dealt with violations of the Party’s theories, lines, principles, and policies, as well as actions undermining the Party’s centralized and unified leadership. We have eliminated “double-faced individuals,” ensuring that the entire Party maintains a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee in terms of political stance, political direction, political principles, and political path. Overall, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building have provided strong guidance and impetus, ensuring robust guarantees for the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. The Party’s leadership system continues to improve, and its leadership approaches have become more scientific. As a result, the entire Party has achieved greater ideological unity, greater political solidarity, and greater consistency in action. The Party’s political leadership, ideological guidance, ability to organize the masses, and capacity to mobilize society have all significantly strengthened, enabling the Party to remain the firm and core leadership force behind the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

We must make the Party stronger through revolutionary forging. To forge iron, one must first be strong oneself. To do well in China’s affairs, the key lies in the Party—and crucially, in the Party’s ability to govern itself and in enforcing strict governance over the Party in a comprehensive manner. As we enter a new era, our Party has taken as its main thread the enhancement of its long-term governance capacity, its advanced nature, and its purity. Guided by political building within the Party, rooted in firm conviction in our ideals, beliefs, and purposes, and focused on mobilizing the entire Party’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, we remain ever vigilant and resolute in continuously strengthening supervision, discipline enforcement, and accountability. We integrate strict governance over the Party into every aspect and stage of Party building, constantly improving the quality of Party building. Through determined efforts, the Party’s political leadership and political safeguards under strict governance have been fully brought into play. The Party’s capacity for self-purification, self-improvement, self-renewal, and self-enhancement has significantly increased. The situation of lax and weak Party governance has been fundamentally reversed. The fight against corruption has achieved an overwhelming victory and been comprehensively consolidated, eliminating serious hidden dangers within the Party, the state, and the military. As a result, the Party has become even stronger through this revolutionary forging—remaining at the forefront of the times, deeply supported by the people, courageous in carrying out self-revolution, capable of withstanding all kinds of storms and challenges, and brimming with vigor as a Marxist ruling party.

This provides a strong guarantee for the steady and sustained advancement of Chinese-style modernization. Chinese-style modernization is socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China; the Party’s leadership is directly linked to the fundamental direction, future prospects, and ultimate success or failure of Chinese-style modernization. Party building plays a decisive role in the comprehensive advancement of Chinese-style modernization. For example, we must uphold and strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, enhance top-level design, systematic planning, and overall promotion of Chinese-style modernization, thereby ensuring that it progresses smoothly along the right track. We must persistently use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to unify hearts and forge souls, enabling the entire Party to firmly grasp the distinctive features, essential requirements, and major principles of Chinese-style modernization. We must build a high-quality cadre team capable of shouldering the great responsibility of national rejuvenation, enhancing cadres’ abilities to promote high-quality development, serve the people, and prevent and resolve risks—thus providing the backbone力量 for Chinese-style modernization. We must also strengthen the Party’s organizational system, bolster the political and organizational functions of Party organizations, fully leverage the exemplary and leading role of Party members, ensure that the Party’s guidelines, policies, and decisions of the Party Central Committee are effectively implemented, and rally and unite the broad masses across all sectors—thereby injecting tremendous strength into Chinese-style modernization. Furthermore, we must continuously advance comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, combat the “Four Winds,” foster a new ethos, constantly strengthen the close bond between the Party and the people, resolutely win the tough and protracted battle against corruption, and create a clean and upright environment for Chinese-style modernization. As we embark on a new journey in the new era, we must continue to take General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on Party building as our guiding principle, unswervingly pursue comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and drive the new great project of Party building in the new era forward in greater depth, thus providing a solid political guarantee for advancing the cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.

Source | People's Daily Online, Official Website for Party History Study and Education