Wu Gangping: Grasp the Implementation of Reform with the Spirit of Driving Nails [1]
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee scientifically planned a grand blueprint for further comprehensively deepening reform, emphasizing "grasping reform implementation with the spirit of driving a nail." The Central Economic Work Conference held from December 11 to 12, 2024, proposed, "adhere to the principle of action first, strengthen confidence, face difficulties head-on, act with vigor, and ensure that the various decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee are implemented to the letter." General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that a correct strategy requires correct tactics for implementation and execution; only through implementation can results be produced, and only through execution can effectiveness be seen. A profound understanding and comprehensive implementation of the spirit of driving a nail in grasping reform implementation is of great significance for the entire Party to work with one heart and one mind to carry out various reform measures, and to promote the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through a Chinese-path modernization.
I. Grasping Reform Implementation Requires Carrying Forward the Spirit of Driving a Nail
The spirit of driving a nail [1] embodies a working style that prizes practical action and focuses intensely on implementation. Reform and opening up is the "important magic weapon" [2] by which the Party and the people have made great strides to catch up with the times. In the process of continuously and comprehensively deepening reform, we must carry forward the spirit of driving a nail, build an ideological consensus to transform the strategic deployment of further comprehensively deepening reform into a powerful force for advancing Chinese-path modernization, and act with a clear target and precision to ensure reform implementation.
An excellent tradition and working style of the Party. Focusing on practical action and stressing implementation is a glorious tradition of the Party and the key to its ability to lead the people to continuous new victories in revolution, construction, and reform. In every historical period, our Party has consistently attached importance to implementation, adopting pragmatic and efficient measures and methods to carry out the Party's major policies and promoting continuous progress and breakthroughs in the Party's cause. General Secretary Xi Jinping vividly compared implementation to driving a nail into a wall: if you don't hit the right spot, the nail will go crooked; if you hit the right spot but only strike it once or twice, the nail will fall out; if you strike it three or four times, the nail will still work itself loose after a short while. Only by striking it seven or eight times in succession can the nail be firm. He stressed that we must have the spirit of driving a nail; driving a nail is often not achieved with a single hammer blow, but rather by striking it hammer after hammer until the nail is driven solid and firm, securing one nail before moving to the next, and continuing this process—this will inevitably yield great results. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the need to carry forward the spirit of driving a nail, to avoid "tossing and turning" [3] or reversals, and to effectively implement work to produce real results that can withstand the test of practice, the people, and history. At the Central Economic Work Conference in December 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping made a systematic deployment of the issue of implementation, emphasizing the need to implement to the letter, with lightning speed, seeking truth from facts, and with the courage and capacity to act. Any notion that things need not be taken seriously, any thought of "just doing enough," or any "muddling through" mentality is harmful and of no benefit to the cause of the Party and the people—all such attitudes are absolutely unacceptable. Prizing practical action and stressing implementation has become a distinctive feature of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era.
The key to achieving historical successes in the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that grasping implementation is the fundamental requirement of the Party's political line, ideological line, and the mass line, and it is also an important hallmark for measuring the Party spirit [4] and the "view of political performance" [5] of leading officials. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform (and its predecessor leading group) has held 73 meetings, and the word "implementation" has run through them all, appearing frequently in public reports. The deep advancement of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era, achieving historical changes, systematic reshaping, and holistic restructuring in many fields, has its key in grasping deployment, implementation, and supervision with the spirit of driving a nail. At the central level, there has been overall design, coordinated planning, holistic promotion, and supervised implementation. Various regions and departments have clarified tasks, assigned responsibilities, worked backward from deadlines [6], and pushed forward in overlapping stages [7]. The entire Party has taken the implementation of reform through the spirit of driving a nail as a priority task and key measure, ensuring that reform progresses steadily and orderly. History and practice have proven that the deeper reform moves, the more complex and sharp the conflicts of interest it touches; every step forward is difficult, and the importance of grasping implementation and emphasizing practical effects becomes even more prominent.
The realistic necessity of further comprehensively deepening reform. One part deployment, nine parts implementation. Further comprehensively deepening reform is a new chapter of the times in the striving toward Chinese-path modernization, as well as a practical sequel to the project of comprehensively deepening reform since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. Compared with past reform practices, the characteristics of "tackling fortifications" [8] are more distinct and the tasks are more heavy; therefore, even greater effort must be expended on implementation. The reform tasks proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee have not only a "roadmap" but also a "timetable," with tight schedules and heavy burdens. To complete the various reform tasks proposed by the Plenum by the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 2029, there are only five years. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that formulating a good document is only the "first step of a ten-thousand-mile Long March"; the key lies in the implementation of the document. In carrying out implementation, we must prevent situations where plans remain mere "empty words on paper" [9], we must avoid "waiting and watching," and we must shun "eagerness for quick success and instant benefits." The Plenum identified over 300 major reform measures, involving a wide range of areas, touching deep interests, and possessing great difficulty. Some broad reform ideas, requirements, and tasks have been proposed, but how exactly to reform and how to operate them actually involves a series of arduous tasks yet to be done. Faced with the decisions and deployments for further comprehensively deepening reform, the Party Central Committee must continue to lead the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups to turn the blueprint into reality and transform goals into action. We must carry forward the spirit of driving a nail, being extremely rigorous, meticulous, and practical, "keeping a close eye on the task and working on it repeatedly until results are achieved."
II. Grasping the Core Meaning of Implementation through the Spirit of Driving a Nail
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out the need to make good use of existing reform achievements and important experience, to emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts, advance with the times, and be pragmatic. We must fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties and put all our effort into the organization and implementation of reform tasks. The series of reform deployments made by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee are strategic, forward-looking, and directional. To implement these major deployments, we must adapt to local conditions, seize the key points, act with precision, enhance the consistency of reform policy orientation, and gather reform synergy. Under the correct decision-making of the Party Central Committee, the entire Party should go all out to grasp implementation.
Establishing and practicing a correct view of political performance. To grasp reform implementation, one must first have a correct view of political performance, taking the welfare of the people as the greatest achievement. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we must carry forward the spirit of driving a nail, establish and practice a correct view of political performance, investigate the actual situation, propose practical moves, seek practical results, and resolutely prevent and overcome formalism. We must strictly avoid "image projects" [10] that are all show and "vanity projects" [11] that waste money and manpower. Solving the problem of the view of political performance requires clarifying for whom we create achievements, what kind of achievements we create, and how we create them. We must treat the implementation of reform as a major political task, drawing a single blueprint to the end, and acting as both "promoters" and "doers" of reform. We must maintain strategic focus, striking one hammer blow after another and working generation after generation, to implement various reform strategic deployments to the letter. We must resolutely prevent and overcome formalism, avoid empty talk, hollow efforts, and seeking false fame. We should use new ideas, methods, and measures to keep a close eye on the task and work on it repeatedly until reform tasks are refined, implemented, and grounded, and until each strategic deployment of further comprehensively deepening reform yields results. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we must emphasize efficiency: speed is efficiency, correct methods are efficiency, and reducing errors is also efficiency. For lagging work, we must work backward from deadlines to catch up; for certain highly difficult reforms, principal responsible comrades must personally push them forward, track progress, and "sound the bell to hear the ring" [12].
Adhering to correct methodology. Grasping the systemic project of further comprehensively deepening reform requires systematic thinking, supporting measures, and continuous action, as well as the adoption of correct methods. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that reform and opening up is a brand-new cause without precedent, and we must adhere to the correct methodology, advancing through continuous practical exploration. Comprehensively deepening reform must combine top-level design with "crossing the river by feeling the stones" [13], and must focus on systematicity, wholeness, and synergy; however, the most fundamental element is to carry forward the spirit of driving a nail. The spirit of driving a nail is a working style and effective method that General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly advocated and long maintained. Reform must focus on synergy—not only the synergy of reform plans but also the synergy of reform implementation and, more importantly, the synergy of reform effects. Only by consistently carrying forward the spirit of driving a nail can we ensure these three aspects complement each other and continue to lead reform into deeper waters. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we must maintain a "protracted war" strategically while fighting "battles of annihilation" [14] tactically. Strategically, we must adhere to seeking progress while maintaining stability, do a good job in top-level design, and grasp the rhythm and intensity with persistence over the long term. Tactically, we must grasp implementation and do practical work, focusing on actual results, consolidating every step, and fighting one battle after another. Grasping reform requires "driving to the point" [hitting the right spot]; the first priority is to thoroughly understand the spirit of reform, grasp the correct direction of reform, and always adhere to a problem-oriented approach. Grasping reform requires "driving deep and firm"; we cannot rely on brute force or random striking, but must combine it with reality and adapt to local conditions, maintaining the tenacity and perseverance of "clinging to the green mountain and never letting go" [15], and gathering the wisdom of all parties and the power of the people. Whether reform work can be implemented in place depends on the implementation of responsibility. We must establish a chain of primary responsibility that connects the top and bottom with accountability at every level, and optimize mechanisms for defining responsibility and enabling accountability, ensuring every line of command is straight and taut.
Handling several major relationships. Grasping reform implementation with the spirit of driving a nail requires both the momentum of "leaving footprints on stone and grasp marks on iron" [16] and attention to rules and rhythm. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that reform is a systemic project that requires scientific methods and the handling of relationships between all parties. To promote the steady and long-term progress of further comprehensively deepening reform, we must properly handle the major relationships between reform and the rule of law, "breaking" and "establishing" [17], reform and opening up, and deployment and implementation. Reform and the rule of law are interdependent and indispensable; they must be considered as a whole and promoted in coordination without neglecting either. We must improve the rule of law within reform and deepen reform within the track of the rule of law. We must focus on better coordinating "breaking" and "establishing," grasping the dialectical relationship and the sequence of succession between the two—daring to break while being good at establishing—to achieve the set tasks and goals of reform in the process of combining the two. Reform and opening up complement and promote each other; adhering to the unity of the two means being good at using the power and methods of reform to deal with and solve new contradictions and problems arising in opening up, while also being good at using the vitality and methods of opening up to promote the effectiveness and high-quality development of reform. Further comprehensively deepening reform involves many points, wide areas, and complex matters; we must handle the relationship between deployment and implementation, clarifying priorities and grasping the "timing, intensity, and effect" [18], while using the spirit of driving a nail to push reform measures to be refined and implemented, accumulating small victories into a great victory.
III. Promoting the Effective Implementation of Tasks with the Spirit of Driving a Nail
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that grasping reform and promoting development is, in the final analysis, to let the people live better lives. To be an official is to have responsibility; the scale of the cause depends on the scale of the responsibility taken, and the scale of the achievement depends on the scale of the duty fulfilled. Responsibility is the way to plan and accomplish things. At a new historical starting point, we must remain true to our original aspiration for reform, work hard and pragmatically, and struggle unremittingly. We must grasp reform implementation with the spirit of driving a nail, implementing the systemic project of further comprehensively deepening reform and pushing it to achieve continuous new results.
Devoting oneself to the people to ensure practical results. Reform only has meaning if it is for the people; reform only has momentum if it relies on the people. To grasp reform implementation with the spirit of driving a nail, we must adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, "driving the nail" into the livelihood issues that the people are generally concerned about. We must focus on key areas and crucial links, exerting continuous effort in "patching shortcomings, strengthening weak points, stabilizing the foundation, and improving quality." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that strengthening the Party’s leadership over reform work must be reflected not only in discussion and decision-making but also in implementation and results. We must work hard on being pragmatic and avoiding vanity, focusing more energy on solving practical problems one by one—"dissecting the sparrow" [19]—thinking through problems deeply and meticulously, solving whatever problems exist and ensuring whoever is responsible solves them. Party members and officials at all levels must, with a spirit of devotion to the people, more accurately align with the needs of development, the expectations of the grassroots, and the aspirations of the people, effectively enhancing the precision, relevance, and effectiveness of reform. By upholding this spirit and grasping reform implementation, and by testing reform through practical results and the satisfaction of the masses, we can give the people a greater, more direct, and more substantial sense of gain, happiness, and security, forming a powerful synergy to advance reform and ensure its success.
Seek truth from facts and be pragmatic, driving the nail strike after strike. The process of implementation will not be smooth sailing; it is bound to be full of difficulties and obstacles. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that implementation cannot be achieved through flowery boxing and embroidery [20]; simply shouting slogans without taking action will not work, and merely holding meetings or issuing documents is insufficient—it must be translated into concrete action. Driving a nail often cannot be completed with a single stroke. Party members and officials at all levels must use a work style of seeking truth from facts and pragmatism, exerting force repeatedly and continuously, striking one blow after another. If the work style is not truthful or pragmatic, it will be difficult to go deep or sustain efforts, and may even lead to the reform being abandoned halfway, rendering all previous efforts wasted [21]. Therefore, one must muster the momentum to ensure every strike hits the mark and produces results, establishing and maintaining a style of seeking truth from facts, exerting continuous effort, and persisting over the long term to drive the "nails of reform" firmly and deeply. Correct decision-making is inseparable from investigation and research; likewise, correct implementation is inseparable from investigation and research. One must stoop down and sink to the front lines, stride out of the courtyard, and go to the workshops, docks, fields, markets, and communities to see and experience things firsthand. We must stay close to the production and lives of the masses, close to the reality of economic and social development, and close to the practical problems facing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. In particular, we should go more frequently to places where the masses have many complaints and where work is poorly done, to hear the truth, investigate the real situation, and achieve real results, earnestly clarifying existing contradictions and problems to perform all tasks solidly and well. In grasping implementation, the "Number One" [22] is the key. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that at the critical juncture of major reforms, the political stance chosen by leading officials has a decisive influence on whether the reform can proceed smoothly. Leading officials must play the exemplary role of the "key minority" [23], resolutely rectifying various unhealthy tendencies, adhering to the mass line, and fully mobilizing the initiative and creativity of the masses to actively participate in and promote reform. They must shoulder their responsibilities, have the courage to carry the heaviest loads, dare to gnaw on the hardest bones [24], and be skilled at handling the "hottest sweet potatoes" [25], grasping their assigned work tightly and effectively to produce results.
Have the courage to take responsibility and be proactive in achieving success. Speaking the truth and doing practical work are the best ways to test and temper Party spirit. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that leading officials, especially senior officials, bear the important responsibility of promoting reform. They must enhance their sense of political responsibility and historical mission, and with the political courage to storm fortifications and press forward in the face of difficulties, confront contradictions and problems without avoidance, eradicate deep-seated malaise [26] without hesitation, and respond to risks and challenges without shrinking back, striving to open up a new horizon for reform and development. Whether one is politically minded and whether one’s Party spirit is strong is fundamentally judged by whether one can resolutely implement the various decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, working with earnestness, daring to take responsibility, being proactive, and putting all reform tasks into practice. We must reject "lying-flat officials" [27]. The broad ranks of Party members and officials must possess both the excellent character of daring to take responsibility without evading matters and the comprehensive ability to be proactive and skilled at accomplishing tasks. Party members and officials at all levels must utilize the "earnest strength" to grasp firmly, the "ruthless strength" to grasp boldly, the "skilful strength" to grasp wisely, and the "resilient strength" to grasp constantly. They must be proactive and successful in their endeavors, leading their comrades to set the direction, clarify the path, and prescribe the right medicine [28]. Simultaneously, they must personally deploy important tasks, personally oversee key links, and personally inquire about the status of implementation, earnestly shouldering the important responsibility of ensuring the implementation of reform.
Source: Hongqi Wengao [29], Issue No. 24, 2024 Web Editor: Bao Luo