Wang Yu and Liu Libo: The Exploratory Progress and Significance of the Communist Party of China’s Adherence to Integrating Political Work with Economic Work
As the two most significant social governance practices in human society, the organic integration of political work and economic work is conducive to promoting the healthy development of all social undertakings, including politics, economy, and culture. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has consistently attached great importance to the issue of combining political and economic work. Throughout the Party's various historical periods, it has persisted in this integration, ensuring the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution and achieving the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, leaving behind precious historical experience.
I. The Basic Connotations of the CPC’s Integration of Political Work and Economic Work
Political work and economic work are unavoidable topics in all forms of social governance. In the modern sense, politics refers to the actions of governments and political parties in governing the state; it is the sum total of various social activities and social relations centered on state power. In a broad sense, political work refers to the various activities carried out by specific classes, political parties, and organizations to realize their programs and fundamental tasks. In a narrow sense, political work refers only to ideological work, organizational work, and propaganda work, which is essentially equivalent to the Party’s ideological and political work, with its primary task being the activation of the human element within the productive forces. In the modern sense, the economy is the sum total of the social relations of production in a given historical period, serving as the basis upon which the superstructure—including politics and ideology—is built. Economic work refers to activities carried out in the economic field, primarily those that promote the development of productive forces and satisfy the material and cultural needs of human life. Economic work is the foundation of the entire society and the basis upon which political work exists and develops; conversely, political work influences the healthy development of economic work. The two stand in a relationship of dialectical unity. Since the emergence of classes, states, and political party systems, in order to realize and safeguard the interests of their own class, state, or party, they have all made the balancing of political and economic work their main theme. Political and economic work have thus become the two most indispensable social governance practices in human society.
The CPC has always focused on the integration of political and economic work, constantly reflecting on how to balance their relationship. The understanding of the relationship between the two has undergone various stages of development across different historical periods.
During the years of revolutionary war, in order to adapt to the needs of the wartime situation and strengthen the Party’s leadership over the military, the Party introduced the concept of "political work" during its own construction and that of the army. It clearly stated that "political work is the lifeblood of the Red Army" and that "revolutionary political work led by the Communist Party is the lifeblood of the revolutionary army." The "political work" mentioned here actually refers to "ideological and political work" in the modern sense. Simultaneously, during the process of local governance in the Soviet Areas and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region [1], the Party gradually began to contemplate the relationship between political and economic work. In 1933, Mao Zedong emphasized that attention must be paid to economic work, calling for the mobilization of the masses within economic work and the immediate launch of movements on the economic front. He emphasized: "We must certainly not resort to commandism [2]; what we want is vigorous propaganda to convince the masses, to develop cooperatives, promote public bonds, and perform all economic mobilization work in accordance with the concrete environment and the manifested sentiments of the masses." He also explicitly proposed that "using cultural and educational work to raise the political and cultural level of the masses is equally of immense importance for the development of the national economy." Here, Mao Zedong put forward the importance of mobilizing the masses within economic work. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Mao Zedong pointed out: "A given culture (as an ideological form) is a reflection of the politics and economy of a given society, and the former in turn has a tremendous influence and effect upon the latter; while the economy is the base, politics is the concentrated expression of the economy." He emphasized that one must learn to do economic work and proposed that "only by adopting the method of leaders assuming responsibility and doing the work themselves, combining the leading backbone with the broad masses, and combining general calls with specific guidance, can production work be effectively advanced," further elaborating on the methods and means of political mobilization within economic work. During the War of Liberation, Mao Zedong explicitly stated that it is necessary to provide material benefits to the led while simultaneously providing them with political education, elucidating the equal importance of economic and political work. By correctly handling the relationship between the two—focusing on the material interests of the masses while conducting political mobilization—the Party won broad support, and the masses became the strong bulwark for the victory of the revolution.
After the founding of New China, the CPC became the governing party. The economic base and the superstructure underwent revolutionary changes, and the cause of socialist construction became the primary task. The Party’s understanding of the relationship between political and economic work was further sublimated. In 1955, Mao Zedong explicitly put forward the scientific thesis that "political work is the lifeblood of all economic work" and the view that political work "must be done in integration with economic work and cannot be done in isolation." In 1958, when discussing the relationship between "Red and Expert" [3], and between politics and professional work, he further emphasized the unity of political and economic work, stressing: "Ideological work and political work are the guarantee for accomplishing economic work and technical work; they serve the economic base. Ideology and politics are the commander, the soul. If our ideological and political work relaxes even slightly, economic and technical work will surely go astray." Here, "political work" refers generally to the political education of the masses, while "economic work" refers to activities carried out for economic development.
During the period of Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized that taking economic construction as the center did not mean discarding political work. As early as October 1979, Deng remarked: "Political work must be implemented in the economy; political problems must be resolved from an economic perspective." He later explicitly proposed that "after the focus of work has shifted to economic construction, the whole Party must study how to adapt to new conditions, strengthen the Party’s ideological work, and prevent the tendency of becoming buried in economic work while neglecting ideological work." Jiang Zemin clearly stated that political work "is the lifeblood of economic work and all other work," emphasizing that "we must prevent and correct the 'two skins' phenomenon [4]—the decoupling of ideological and political work from economic work—and must carry them out in close integration with economic work and various professional tasks." He also emphasized the role of political work in guaranteeing economic work: "Economic development requires strong political guarantees and sufficient political conditions; otherwise, economic construction cannot be done well. There is politics in economic work and all other professional work." Hu Jintao explicitly proposed that we "must integrate ideological and political work with economic work and various professional tasks." He specifically elaborated on the mutually reinforcing relationship between solving practical problems and ideological-political work: "We must persist in combining the solution of practical problems with the performance of ideological and political work, both improving the effectiveness of ideological and political work through the resolution of practical problems and reducing the difficulty of solving practical problems by strengthening ideological and political work." These expositions further deepened the Party’s understanding of the relationship between political and economic work, providing the basic guidelines for our Party to handle this relationship during the Reform and Opening-up period. Since the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to the integration of political and economic work, putting forward important views such as the requirement that a governing party "must effectively strengthen the Party's leadership over economic work and perform economic work in a down-to-earth manner."
In summary, while the Party's phrasing regarding political and economic work has differed across historical periods, overall, the "political work" emphasized by the Party refers primarily to the Party’s ideological and political work. It belongs to the category of the relations of production and the superstructure, possessing functions such as political identification, social mobilization, and spiritual construction. It encompasses the fields of ideological work, political work, and mass work. While it focuses on solving problems of spiritual civilization [5], it also contains elements of material civilization. Its relationship with economic work is not one of command and direction, but rather of service and guarantee; that is, political work serves economic work. This is specifically reflected in ensuring the socialist nature and orientation of economic work, providing spiritual impetus for economic development, and creating a harmonious social environment. The Party’s concept of "economic work" is relatively clear, referring mainly to work carried out around addressing the economic base and developing productive forces, with a focus on meeting the material needs of the masses and building material civilization. However, it also contains elements of political work. The Party’s economic work itself can become an effective carrier for political work; the development of economic work provides a strong material guarantee for political work; and the achievements of economic work help consolidate the foundation of political work. The Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China fully affirmed the Party’s "important ideas of long-term significance," such as that "ideological and political work is the lifeblood of economic work and all other work, and that the principles of the unity of politics and economy, the unity of politics and technology, and being both 'Red and Expert' must be implemented." In the New Era, our Party has once again emphasized that "ideological and political work is a fine tradition, a distinct characteristic, and a prominent political advantage of the Party, and is the lifeblood of all work." The "all work" mentioned here naturally includes "economic work." This reflects both the Party's consistent basic philosophy of valuing the handling of the relationship between political and economic work and the further sublimation of the Party’s theoretical understanding of this relationship after becoming the governing party. As the two primary activities of social governance, only when the Party’s political work is integrated with economic work can the cause of socialist construction be pushed onto a track of healthy development.
II. The Practical Course of Integrating Political and Economic Work before the 18th National Congress of the CPC
From the founding of the CPC until the 18th National Congress, the Party consistently implemented the concept of integrating political work with economic work during the process of leading the people in revolution and construction. It proposed concepts such as the "principle of material interests" in political education, the idea that political work must be "done in integration with economic work," the "two-handed approach" (grasping with both hands and ensuring both are firm) [6], and the view that "the Party’s ideological and political work is the lifeblood of economic work and all other work." By utilizing ideological and political work to organize, lead, and educate the people within socio-economic activities, the Party raised the ideological and political consciousness of the people, ensured the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution, and laid a solid economic foundation for socialist modernization.
(i) During the New Democratic Revolution, the Party persisted in the principle of material interests within political work, maximizing the unity and education of the masses from all walks of life while overcoming economic difficulties.
Ideological and political work can only realize its functions of political identification, political mobilization, and spiritual construction if it obeys and serves the Party’s central work. During the New Democratic Revolution, the primary task of the Party’s ideological and political work was to mobilize the masses around the revolution. The Party persisted in the organic integration of political and economic work. By organizing, leading, and educating the people within economic activities, the Party increased their material welfare while simultaneously raising their political consciousness, greatly stimulating the enthusiasm and initiative of the masses to participate in the revolution.
During the Land Revolutionary War [7], class contradiction was the primary contradiction in Chinese society. To awaken the political consciousness of the workers and peasants and mobilize their enthusiasm for the revolution, the Party implemented the land policy of "land to the tiller," focusing on solving the land issue that peasants cared about most. While attending to the interests and lives of the masses, it awakened their class consciousness. As early as the Jiangxi Soviet period, Mao Zedong proposed that for the Party’s political calls to win the support of the masses, "we must be with the masses, we must arouse their enthusiasm, we must concern ourselves with their well-being, we must earnestly and sincerely work for their interests and solve their problems of production and daily life." He required that in specific economic and other work closely related to the interests of the masses, attention must be paid to the methods of educating them, stating: "In all other work—as in the work of land investigation, economic construction, cultural and educational work, or work in the new areas and border regions—if we merely set tasks without paying attention to the methods of implementation, if we do not oppose bureaucratic methods of work and adopt practical and concrete ones, and if we do not discard commandist methods and adopt methods of patient persuasion, then no task can be accomplished." By leading the people to strive for material interests while simultaneously awakening their class consciousness in the areas it governed, the Party undertook a preliminary exploration of the art of "governing the country and pacifying the people" through the integration of political and economic work.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, national contradictions rose to become the principal contradiction in Chinese society. The most urgent task became consolidating a national consensus and mobilizing the masses to jointly oppose Imperialist Japanese aggression. Regarding how to maximize the people's national awakening and their enthusiasm for participating in the war effort, Mao Zedong believed that "satisfying the immediate interests of the masses is the most persuasive, the most appealing, and the most cohesive." To mobilize all positive factors and establish the Anti-Japanese National United Front, the Party changed its policy from "land to the tiller" to a policy of reducing rent and interest. Addressing the farmers' lack of understanding of this policy, the Party strengthened education on the national spirit, teaching the masses to link immediate interests with future interests and local interests with the interests of the entire nation. The policy of reducing rent and interest eventually won the mutual understanding of both landlords and peasants, uniting anti-Japanese forces to the greatest extent possible.
In the face of contradictions in Party-mass relations caused by economic difficulties in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region—triggered by the Kuomintang's anti-communist climax during the stalemate stage of the war—Mao Zedong explicitly discussed the relationship between economic work and political education: "In these two tasks, education (or study) cannot be carried out in isolation. We are not living in an era of 'study, and a salary will be found therein' [8]; we cannot 'rectify righteousness and clarify the Way' on an empty stomach. We must get food to eat; we must attend to economic work. To talk about education or study apart from economic work is nothing but redundant empty talk." The Party mobilized the Party, government, military, civilians, and students to "use our own hands to ensure we have ample food and clothing," launching a vigorous Great Production Movement [9]. By organizing labor competitions, rewarding labor heroes, and forming mutual aid groups and cooperatives, a positive social trend of "labor is glorious" was established. In a short period, this mobilized the enthusiasm of all sectors to participate in production for national salvation, achieving the effect of educating, mobilizing, and organizing the masses while improving production efficiency and overcoming the economic difficulties of the base areas. It was precisely because the Party organically combined economic work with ideological and political work, awakening national consciousness and satisfying material interests, that it maximized the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the masses in the base areas. Consequently, the CPC became the "mainstay" (中流砥柱) [10] of the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
During the War of Liberation, class contradictions once again rose to become the principal contradiction in Chinese society. How to mobilize the masses to participate in overturning the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang became a pressing topic. Through ideological and political work in movements such as Land Reform, the Party awakened the class consciousness of the masses and guided them in transforming economic struggle into political struggle. After the Kuomintang launched the all-out civil war, the Party gradually restored the Land Reform policy in the economic sphere. On one hand, it actively educated peasants on class concepts, explaining the Party’s land policy in detail so that it reached every heart and household. On the other hand, by organizing the masses to "dig out the bitter roots" [11] and calculate accounts of exploitation, it helped peasants improve their understanding through practical struggle. The combination of political and economic work awakened the peasants' class consciousness and stimulated their revolutionary fervor, leading them to participate in the Land Reform movement in large numbers. In the latter stages of the War of Liberation, Mao Zedong began considering the training of cadres capable of undertaking the cause of building the New China. He emphasized that cadres must achieve the unification of leading political work and leading economic work, proposing that for a leading class or party to realize its leadership, it "must provide material benefits to the led, or at least not damage their interests, while simultaneously providing them with political education." By permeating economic work with ideological and political work, the Party won the broad support of the masses, who became the strong backbone of victory in the War of Liberation.
During the years of revolutionary war, the Party combined political work with economic work, using ideological and political work to awaken national and class consciousness. It guided the people to link immediate interests with future interests and local interests with the interests of the whole nation, mobilizing the enthusiasm of the masses to participate in the revolution. Through economic work, it mobilized and organized the masses, paying constant attention to their basic needs and bringing them visible, tangible benefits, thereby winning their recognition and support for the Party's leadership. Through political work, it guided the masses to recognize their own interests and struggle relentlessly for them, laying a solid foundation for revolutionary victory while leaving behind valuable historical experience.
(II) During the period of socialist revolution and construction, the Party explicitly proposed that political work "must be done in conjunction with economic work," greatly mobilizing the enthusiasm of the masses for production and construction.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the principal contradiction in our society shifted to the contradiction between the people's demand for the establishment of an advanced industrial country and the reality of a backward agricultural country, and between the people's need for rapid economic and cultural development and the state of the economy and culture failing to meet those needs. The focus of the Party's work gradually shifted to socialist construction, and the primary tasks of political and economic work shifted accordingly. To build socialism on the foundation of the "poverty and blankness" (一穷二白) [12] of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, it was indispensable to mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the masses. In leading the people to build socialism, the Party placed special emphasis on the combination of political and economic work.
As early as March 1955, Mao Zedong required leading cadres "on the basis of raising their level of Marxism-Leninism, to make themselves experts proficient in both political and economic work. On one hand, they must handle ideological and political work well; on the other, they must handle economic construction well." Through powerful ideological and political work, the Party greatly mobilized the masses' enthusiasm for production and construction. In 1956, after the Eighth National Congress of the CPC shifted the focus of work to the tasks of socialist construction, the Party carried out vivid and practical socialist ideological education during economic construction to win the people's understanding and support for continued hard struggle and "tightening one's belt" (过紧日子) during the process. This greatly stimulated the people's fervor for building socialism. In January 1958, in the "Sixty Points on Working Methods," Mao Zedong explicitly pointed out the need to oppose the tendency of ignoring politics, opposing both "hollow politicians" and "practical workers who have lost their way." He stated: "The unity of politics and economy, and the unity of politics and technology, is beyond doubt; it is so every year and will be so forever... If one pays no attention to ideology and politics and is busy with chores all day, one will become an economist or technician who has lost their way, which is very dangerous." Under the guidance of these thoughts, the Party combined political and economic work, led the people in establishing the socialist political and economic system, and educated the masses with socialist ideology. This stimulated the people's sense of ownership (主人翁意识) and their endogenous motivation to participate in socialist construction, leading the masses through an arduous process of socialist exploration. This resulted in great achievements such as the early completion of the "First Five-Year Plan," laying a solid foundation for overcoming the New China’s economic difficulties and advancing socialist industrialization.
During this period, the Party gave play to the superiority of the socialist system. The combination of political and economic work always maintained a socialist orientation, boosting the people's confidence and stimulating their passion for building socialism while fostering their sense of ownership. It sought to satisfy the people’s material needs as much as possible, leveraging the advantages of the planned economy to build consensus and guide people to contribute to socialist industrialization, leaving behind valuable experience in construction. Of course, during the Party's socialist exploration, there was a period where an erroneous tendency of overemphasizing political work while neglecting economic work emerged, causing serious damage to the various undertakings of the Party and the state and leaving behind a painful historical lesson.
(III) During the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, the CPC persisted in "grasping with both hands, and both hands must be tough," fully mobilizing the enthusiasm and initiative of the masses to participate in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
At the beginning of reform and opening up, the Party explicitly shifted its focus to economic construction. Regarding how to ensure that ideological and political work injected strong impetus into economic construction and ensured that economic construction did not deviate from the socialist orientation, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "The extremely arduous and complex tasks of socialist modernization are before us... We must place ideological and political work in an extremely important position and do it earnestly and seriously; it must not be relaxed." He emphasized: "While paying full attention to satisfying the people's needs and gradually improving their living standards, we must also pay attention to ideological and political work, the core of which is building socialist spiritual civilization." In 1983, he again explicitly emphasized: "The whole Party must study how to adapt to new conditions, strengthen the Party's ideological work, and prevent the tendency of becoming buried in economic work while neglecting ideological work." He repeatedly warned that the construction of material civilization and spiritual civilization must be "grasped with both hands, and both hands must be tough," emphasizing that "if the construction of spiritual civilization is not strengthened, the construction of material civilization will also suffer damage and take detours." Deng Xiaoping also emphasized the methods of ideological and political work among the masses in economic work, proposing that education must be linked to reality and that investigations and research must be fully carried out: "Only when the masses feel from facts that the Party and socialism are good will education regarding ideals, discipline, communist ideology, and patriotism be effective." Addressing the negative situation during this period where some fields focused only on economic work while neglecting ideological and political work—leading to the spread of bourgeois liberalization [13] and the formation of distorted life values such as "looking toward money in everything" (一切向钱看)—Deng Xiaoping spoke many times around 1989 about the greatest failure of the decade's development being education and the weakening of ideological and political work: "In the previous period, we were busy with the Four Modernizations and developing the economy, and ideological and political work became weak." Deng reflexively considered the problems caused by the lack of coordination between political and economic work since reform and opening up, clearly proposing that "ideological and political work and the ranks of ideological and political workers must be greatly strengthened and must never be weakened."
After the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee, accompanying the gradual satisfaction of the people’s material needs, people put forward higher demands for spiritual and cultural life. Jiang Zemin explicitly stated that "the Party's ideological and political work is the lifeblood of economic work and all other work," emphasizing that at no time and under no circumstances should the development of material civilization be achieved at the cost of weakening or even sacrificing the construction of spiritual civilization. In economic construction, attention should be paid to promoting all-around human development and improving the overall quality of the people. Jiang Zemin specifically discussed the relationship between ideological and political work and economic work, emphasizing the need to "properly handle the relationship between adopting economic, administrative, and other regulatory means and strengthening ideological and political work. While using various means to regulate distribution, we must pay attention to propaganda and ideological education, guiding people neither to passively compare personal incomes and blindly pursue premature consumption, nor to lose the drive for progress, but rather to work hard and realistically to determine material interest goals that can be achieved through effort under their respective conditions." He believed that only by doing political work in conjunction with economic work and combining it with the improvement of the people’s lives could the Party win the hearts of the people: "We must combine doing ideological work among the masses with helping them solve practical problems, both speaking reason and handling practical matters, convincing people with logic and touching them with emotion, integrating ideological education into the handling of practical matters, and guiding the masses to raise their spiritual realm and enhance their trust in the Party and government by solving real-world problems." Jiang Zemin believed that ideological and political work is an important means of mobilizing and organizing the masses to participate in socialist construction: "Only by emphasizing politics (讲政治) can we mobilize, inspire, and unite the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country." To this end, he explicitly proposed that doing work regarding people and ideological and political work is the central link in unifying the "two civilizations" [14] in the practice of modernization, requiring cadres at all levels to improve their qualities and abilities in both economic and political work. "Leading cadres, especially high-ranking cadres, must have the 'string of politics' in their minds; they must never attend only to economic work while ignoring political work... If our leading cadres depart from politics and only bury themselves in specific economic affairs, they will become leaders who are not clear-headed."
After the 16th National Congress of the CPC, in the face of the growing material and cultural needs of the masses at the turn of the century, Hu Jintao proposed the Scientific Outlook on Development. This perspective emphasized putting people first and achieving comprehensive human development, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the masses to participate in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Hu Jintao pointed out: "In the face of the new situation, our ideological and political work must be strengthened and must not be weakened in any way; it must innovate and must not mark time [15]." He repeatedly emphasized that ideological and political work must pay attention to the vital interests of the common people and place importance on the principle of material interests in ideological and political education. He proposed that, on the basis of continuous social development and progress, even greater attention should be paid to the economic, political, and cultural interests of the masses, further improving and raising their material and cultural living standards. Hu Jintao required that in economic work, targeting the "hot spots" and "difficult points" [16] of general concern to the masses, one must do a good job in ideological work by resolving doubts and improving understanding. It is necessary to present facts and reason things out to help the masses improve their cognition: "Be adept at guiding hot-button and sensitive issues, and pay attention to mastering the proper 'degree' [17] in publicity and promotion." Regarding certain decisions that align with the long-term direction of economic and social development and the fundamental interests of the masses, but which the masses may not temporarily think through or understand, he stated: "Take the initiative to clearly explain the actual situation and work plans to the masses, and do a good job in the masses' ideological work." Addressing the issue of insufficient coordination between ideological-political work and economic work in some locales during the new period, Hu Jintao specifically reminded leading officials to pay attention to several issues, the first of which was "to combine ideological and political work with economic work and various professional tasks, embedding ideological education work within practical work." Hu Jintao similarly required leading officials to learn how to do political work while engaged in economic work: "If one is occupied with daily routines all day long, indifferent to politics, and oblivious to social, ideological, and political trends, it is impossible to be a clear-headed and qualified leading official; continuing in this way carries the danger of losing principles and losing one's way in work." To this end, he also specifically proposed a dual standard for evaluating officials: "One must look not only at their achievements and abilities in leading material civilization construction, but also at their achievements and abilities in leading spiritual civilization [18] construction."
It is precisely because the Party, under the guidance of the basic line centered on economic construction after the reform and opening-up, achieved the organic combination of political and economic work—and permeated economic work with effective ideological and political work—that it ensured the healthy development of the socialist market economy. By emphasizing the exercise of human agency in economic construction and enhancing people's ideological and political quality while liberating and developing the productive forces, the Party maximized the mobilization of the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the masses to participate in reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization, enabling our country to achieve world-renowned achievements in a very short period of time.
III. In the New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, the Party’s Persistence in Combining Political and Economic Work has Injected New Vitality into the Comprehensive Promotion of Chinese-path Modernization
In a certain sense, "the century-long journey of Chinese-path modernization is also the historical logic of ideological and political education moving in the same direction, developing continuously, and serving modernization." Entering the New Era, the Party's central task is to lead the people of the whole country to realize the grand goal of comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly put forward views such as "economic work is the central work" and "ideological work is an extremely important task for the Party." The Party has reaffirmed that ideological and political work is the lifeline of economic work and all other work, requiring that the Party's ideological and political work be coordinated and carried out simultaneously with economic construction. This has theoretically deepened the understanding of combining political and economic work and practically innovated the methods of this combination, achieving historical transformations and historical achievements, and injecting new vitality into the healthy development of the cause of Chinese-path modernization.
(1) Persisting in the combination of political and economic work and continuously strengthening the Party's overall leadership has secured the political direction for the comprehensive promotion of Chinese-path modernization.
Persisting in the Party's leadership and a firm and correct political direction is the fundamental guarantee for the continuous and healthy development of Chinese-path modernization via high-quality development. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly pointed out that "promoting Chinese-path modernization must be taken as the greatest politics," emphasizing that Chinese-path modernization is "socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China." He attaches great importance to the importance of strengthening the Party's leadership in economic work, emphasizing that "as the governing party, we must earnestly strengthen the Party's leadership over economic work and do economic work in a down-to-earth manner." In the process of leading the comprehensive promotion of Chinese-path modernization, the Party has both maintained the central position of economic construction and clearly proposed taking ideological and political work as an important method of governing the Party and the country to serve the Party's governance. This has strengthened the Party's ideological, political, and organizational leadership over economic work. By publicizing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and by publicizing and explaining the Party's line, principles, and policies in the New Era, the Party arms minds with its latest theoretical achievements. In leading economic work, it uses rule-of-law thinking to improve the consciousness of implementing the Party's line, principles, and policies, ensuring that the Party's economic work always adheres to the correct political direction. By leveraging the propaganda and guidance advantages of the Party's ideological and political work in economic tasks, it educates and guides the masses to move in the same direction as the Party and the government, consciously implementing the New Development Philosophy [19] and ensuring that China's economic construction always advances along the socialist path, allowing the cause of Chinese-path modernization to move steadily and reach far through high-quality development.
(2) Persisting in the combination of political and economic work and continuously improving the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security has forged an ideological consensus for the comprehensive promotion of Chinese-path modernization.
As the governing party, only by combining political work with economic work to promote the healthy development of social productive forces and continuously enhancing the people's sense of gain and happiness will the masses more firmly support the Party's leadership and the socialist system. Only then can the Party's propositions be transformed into people's conscious actions and an ideological consensus be forged for further promoting Chinese-path modernization. Entering the New Era, the Party regards ideological and political work as an important way of governing the Party and the state, emphasizing that unifying thoughts and gathering strength must be placed in an important position in all work of the Party and the country. To this end, General Secretary Xi Jinping particularly emphasized the need to handle ideological work within economic work well, "solving both practical and ideological problems, to better strengthen confidence, gather the people's hearts, warm the people's hearts, and build a common heart." The Party insists on using Core Socialist Values to gather strength, giving play to the traditional advantage of combining economic work with ideological-political work and combining the resolution of ideological problems with the resolution of practical problems. It both "speaks reason" through political work and "handles practical affairs" through economic work. While doing a good job in economic work and satisfying the people's aspiration for a better material life, the Party also utilizes opportunities such as the comprehensive summary of the historical experience of the Party's century-long struggle and the comprehensive building of a moderately prosperous society [20] to educate and guide the masses to understand the great achievements made under the Party's leadership. This encourages people to support the Party's leadership from the bottom of their hearts, continuously strengthening the "Four Consciousnesses," firming the "Four Confidences," and achieving the "Two Upholds," working together and striving in unity to comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization.
(3) Persisting in the combination of political and economic work and continuously stimulating the endogenous vitality of the masses has injected spiritual momentum into the comprehensive promotion of Chinese-path modernization.
The human factor is the decisive factor in the productive forces, and stimulating the endogenous vitality of the masses to participate in economic construction is an inherent requirement for comprehensively promoting Chinese-path modernization. In the process of comprehensively building a modern socialist country in the New Era, the masses remain the principal force. However, some Party leading officials were not adept at transforming the Party's correct policies into the conscious actions of the masses, leading to a serious "wait, rely, and ask" [21] mentality among the masses in some impoverished areas. In response to these problems, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the need to "persist in the subjectivity of the masses and stimulate endogenous motivation." In the New Era, the Party pays particular attention to stimulating the creative potential, vigorous vitality, and endogenous drive of the masses, giving full play to the role of ideological and political work. This guides the masses to realize that improving people's livelihoods is both the direction of the Party and government's work and the goal and direction of the masses' own struggles. In specific practice, the Party implements whole-process people's democracy in its political work, inspiring the masses' sense of political participation and enhancing their sense of ownership and responsibility in building Chinese-path modernization. The Party combines economic work with ideological and political work by publicizing the New Era spirit of scientists, model workers, and craftsmen, promoting a spirit of "emulating, learning from, catching up with, and surpassing" [22] among the masses. This cultivates their attitude toward labor, their will to struggle, and their spirit of innovation, mobilizing their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity. Through political work, the Party allows people to recognize the internal relationship between Chinese-path modernization, national rejuvenation, and people's happiness, stimulating the masses' consciousness to participate in Chinese-path modernization and injecting strong spiritual momentum into the project.
(4) Persisting in the combination of political and economic work and focusing on promoting comprehensive human development has provided talent support for the comprehensive promotion of Chinese-path modernization.
The construction of Chinese-path modernization is a systemic project that includes not only the construction of material civilization but also spiritual civilization, such as promoting comprehensive human development and improving the overall quality and level of civilization of the masses. Realizing the modernization of the person and cultivating citizens with modern consciousness is also an important task. Since the New Era, along with the transformation of the principal contradiction in Chinese society [23], the people's aspiration for a better life is no longer just about solving the problems of food, clothing, and material needs, but also includes growing demands in spiritual and cultural aspects. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the goal of achieving common prosperity for all people, requiring that ideological and political work permeate economic work and all management tasks. He established the concept of "grand publicity" [24], combining ideological work with governance in various fields: "Establish a people-centered work orientation, combining service to the masses with educating and guiding them, and combining the satisfaction of needs with the improvement of quality." In the process of promoting Chinese-path modernization in the New Era, while doing economic work and satisfying the material needs of the masses, our Party persists in the strategy of strengthening the country through talent. It guides people to continuously improve their ideological and political quality, absorb scientific and cultural knowledge, and improve labor skills, focusing on cultivating high-quality talents with comprehensive development in ethics, intellect, physique, aesthetics, and labor. The Party earnestly strengthens ideological, political, and moral guidance for the masses, using Core Socialist Values to guide them to improve their spiritual realm and pursue higher lifestyles while seeking material interests; it persists in combining the rule of law with the rule of virtue. In economic activities, it gives play to the role of laws and regulations, community conventions, village rules and people’s agreements, and family traditions and precepts [25]. Through multiple channels, it educates and guides the masses to change outdated customs, establish new civilized trends, and truly improve people's civilized literacy and their ability to build socialist modernization.
(5) Persisting in the combination of political and economic work and creating a safe and stable social order has provided a favorable environment for the comprehensive promotion of Chinese-path modernization.
A safe and stable social governance environment is the basic prerequisite for realizing Chinese-path modernization. The combination of political and economic work helps correct people's misunderstandings of the Party's line, principles, and policies, dissolves various negative emotions, and eliminates various unstable factors in their embryonic stage. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party has leveraged the advantages of combining political and economic work, permeating ideological and political work into political, economic, cultural, ecological-civilization, and social construction. It utilizes the educational, guiding, and regulatory functions of ideological-political work to actively publicize the Party's strategy of governing the country according to law, strengthens education on the Holistic Approach to National Security, and guides people to consciously abide by laws and regulations, promoting social and political stability and maintaining the overall situation of safety and stability. It educates and guides people to carry out orderly market competition, carry out production and business operations with integrity according to the law, and obtain material interests through legitimate means. This overcomes negative tendencies that disrupt the order of the socialist market economy, such as profit-seeking at all costs, and eliminates chronic maladies that affect healthy economic development, such as destroying the environment for profit and lack of integrity in manufacturing counterfeit goods. This has built a sound socialist market economy order. It cultivates a rational, peaceful, and healthy mentality in people, guiding them to express emotions reasonably and alleviate conflicts, so they can devote themselves to the cause of modernization with a peaceful mind, a correct posture, and full enthusiasm. At present, a social relationship of safety and stability, fair competition, rationality and order, and interpersonal harmony has basically formed in China, providing a good social and political environment for further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting Chinese-path modernization.
IV. The Significance of the CPC’s Persistence in Combining Political and Economic Work
The theory of combining the Party’s political work with economic work stems directly from Marxist theories regarding matter and consciousness, the productive forces and relations of production, the economic base and the superstructure, the role of the masses as the creators of history, and the well-rounded development of the individual. Furthermore, it has greatly enriched these contents in both theory and practice. This represents an innovative development of the Marxist materialist conception of history, providing successful experience for proletarian parties leading the masses in socialist revolution and construction, and possessing significant theoretical value and practical guiding significance for the theory and practice of scientific socialism.
(1) The combination of political work and economic work helps the masses correctly understand the basic contradictions of society and consolidate the lofty ideal of communism
Political work possesses a function of fostering political identity; however, to realize this function, one must consider the basic demands of the masses and satisfy their actual interests. Engaging solely in "empty politics" [26] while neglecting economic work and ignoring people's basic material demands will ultimately result in the loss of popular support. Only by providing the masses with a greater sense of gain while simultaneously improving their ideological and political quality can we better guide them to strengthen their political identification with the Party’s leadership and establish the lofty ideal of communism. Marx and Engels believed that society is composed of many factors: "'The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life'"; "The development of politics, law, philosophy, religion, literature, art, etc., is based on economic development. But all these react upon one another and also upon the economic base." These expositions possess worldview and methodological significance for a proletarian party in correctly handling the relationship between political work and economic work.
Lenin practiced and developed the Marxist materialist conception of history, emphasizing that "politics is a concentrated expression of economics... politics must take precedence over economics," and that we "should help the workers not only in their economic struggle, but also in their political struggle." The historical practice of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in handling the relationship between political work and economic work is precisely built and developed upon these understandings. Mao Zedong believed that while the object of study for political economy is the relations of production, one cannot study them in isolation; they must be studied in connection with the productive forces and the superstructure. On the basis of inheriting the Marxist-Leninist materialist conception of history and integrating it with the reality of China's revolution and construction, he creatively proposed: "We must take the balance and imbalance between the productive forces and the relations of production, and between the relations of production and the superstructure, as the 'key link' [27] to study the economic problems of socialist society."
On this basis, Chinese Communists applied a scientific worldview and methodology to correctly understand and profoundly grasp the basic and primary contradictions of socialism. They reflected deeply on the relationship between political work and economic work, gradually forming the viewpoint of combining the two. In practice, the Party has persisted in this combination; while unswervingly performing economic work to develop socialist productive forces, it has continuously utilized political work to adjust socialist relations of production, maintain a stable and united social order, and ensure the correct direction for economic development. This has achieved the "two miracles" of long-term social stability and rapid economic development, strengthened people's belief in socialism with Chinese characteristics and the lofty ideal of communism, realized political identification with the Party’s leadership, and consolidated the Party's foundation for governance.
The successful practice of the CPC in combining political work with economic work to develop socialism with Chinese characteristics proves that only by profoundly grasping the basic contradictions of socialism and persisting in this combination can a socialist state promote the high-quality and healthy development of the socialist cause. Only then can it continuously enhance the masses' sense of gain, happiness, and security, win their heartfelt advocacy and support, increasingly consolidate the Communist Party's foundation for governance, and ultimately realize the lofty ideal of communism.
(2) The combination of political work and economic work helps mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the people in participating in socialist revolution and construction
As an important tool for adjusting the relations of production and the superstructure, political work possesses a social mobilization function. It plays a major role in promoting the development of social productive forces and economic construction, helps stimulate the internal vitality of the masses to participate in production and construction, improves labor productivity, and can provide powerful spiritual motivation for socialist economic construction. Marx and Engels argued that the masses are the creators of history, and "everything for which people struggle is related to their interests," and that "'ideas' always disgraced themselves insofar as they differed from 'interests'." This provided a theoretical guide for the proletarian party to combine political work with economic work, inspire the political consciousness of the masses, and mobilize their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity.
In socialist practice, Lenin more explicitly raised the issue of mobilizing the masses, emphasizing the use of political work to provide spiritual motivation for economic work: "He who concentrates his attention on the economic struggle and forgets about political agitation and propaganda... will never be able to persistently and successfully attract the lowest sections of the proletariat to the workers’ cause." Stalin inherited and developed Lenin's thoughts, criticizing those members "intoxicated by economic successes" who ignored the Party's political work: "The general mistake is that people want to approach the peasantry only through verbal agitation... not realizing that the peasant needs agitation by facts [28], not verbal agitation, agitation that offers direct benefits."
The CPC further developed the Marxist theory of the masses as creators of history. In considering how to mobilize the people, it proposed a method combining political and economic work, as well as material and spiritual incentives. As early as the Revolutionary War years, Mao Zedong pointed out: "In all work that requires the participation of the masses... if the masses are not conscious and willing, it will degenerate into a mere formality and fail." Combining this with the ideological and living conditions of the Chinese people in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, he explicitly proposed that through education, we must "make the masses realize their own interests and unite to fight for them." By inspiring political consciousness and leading the people to overcome economic difficulties, the Party guided the workers and peasants to struggle for their own interests, stimulating their subjectivity and achieving the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the CPC combined political and economic work to maximize the mobilization of the people's subjectivity in production and construction, injecting powerful spiritual motivation into socialist construction. This history demonstrates that the masses are always the core force promoting social development. Whether in revolution or construction, a proletarian party can only stimulate the people's internal vitality and guide them to strive for their long-term interests by combining political and economic work while inspiring their political consciousness.
(3) The combination of political work and economic work helps promote the well-rounded development of the individual and cultivate qualified builders and successors for the socialist cause
Ideological and political work possesses a function of "spiritual construction." Combining it with economic work allows for the integration of ideological education into daily economic life, enhancing the sense of gain and relevance of such work. This raises the people's spiritual realm and level of ideological understanding while satisfying their material needs, thereby boosting confidence in scientific socialism. The ultimate goal of communist society is to achieve the free and well-rounded development of the individual, where everyone’s spirit and body, individuality and sociality, can develop universally, fully, and freely. However, the direction, mode, and degree of human development are constrained by social conditions; only in a communist society can well-rounded development be fully realized. The combination of education with productive labor is the only way to achieve this.
As the primary stage of communism, socialism must allow people to live a good material life while also ensuring a wealthy spiritual life. The superiority of a socialist society includes not only material civilization but also spiritual civilization, such as promoting well-rounded development and raising the level of civility among the masses. Therefore, the development of socialism must avoid both the tendency toward excessive politicization and the tendency toward focusing one-sidedly on economic interests. This logic is reflected in Mao Zedong’s assertion that we cannot "uphold justice and describe the Way" [29] on an empty stomach; in Deng Xiaoping’s emphasis on "grasping with both hands" [30] (material and spiritual civilizations); and in General Secretary Xi Jinping’s statement that Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and spiritual civilizations are coordinated.
The success of China's socialist revolution and construction has created the basic conditions for promoting well-rounded development. In practice, the CPC has combined political work with economic work and education with productive labor. It has continuously advanced material and spiritual civilizations together, always maintaining the position of political work as the "lifeblood" of economic work. It has utilized fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture to unite the strength of the Chinese nation, focusing on achieving common prosperity for all. While meeting material needs, it has continuously met spiritual and cultural needs, building a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership, and cultivating high-quality talents with all-around development in ethics, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor for the socialist cause.
In conclusion, by combining political work with economic work, the CPC has achieved great accomplishments in revolution and construction. This has not only fundamentally changed the destiny of the Chinese people and positively impacted the Party’s long-term governance but has also demonstrated the powerful vitality of Marxism, providing a positive reference for socialist revolution and construction worldwide. Socialist countries must handle the relationship between political and economic work by avoiding both excessive politicization and the one-sided pursuit of economic interests. Only under the Party’s leadership can the combination of these two enhance the masses' identification with Marxism and communism, bolster confidence in socialism, and mobilize their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, allowing scientific socialism to radiate new vigor and vitality throughout the world.
(The authors are respectively a doctoral student at the School of Marxism, Shaanxi Normal University; and the Dean, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Marxism, Shaanxi Normal University) Web Editor: Ma Jingren Source: "Socialist Studies," Issue 2, 2025