Marxism Research Network
Unofficial English Translation

Zhang Shifei: Unwaveringly Uphold and Strengthen the Party's Overall Leadership

CPC History & Party Building

"Doing China's affairs well depends, crucially, on the Party." Persisting in and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership is one of the most important achievements since the 18th Party Congress [1], and it is the fundamental political guarantee for the success of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Entering the New Era, faced with profound changes in world, national, and Party conditions, as well as the profound shifts in the principal contradiction [2] of our society and the more complex and challenging new situations and problems that have emerged since our country has grown prosperous, we must provide robust answers to questions such as "What does it mean to persist in and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership?" and "How do we persist in and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership?"

The Comprehensive, Systematic, and Holistic Nature of the Party's Leadership

Conducting in-depth research into the question of "What it means to persist in and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership" helps clarify the subjects and scope of the Party's leadership. It makes the Party's leadership responsibilities explicit, systematic, and orderly, thereby better serving the cause of the Party and the state in the New Era. Surveying General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important expositions on the Party's leadership, one can see that these discourses define the subjects and scope of that leadership. First, they point out in a governing capacity that the Party, as the highest force for political leadership, must lead everything; second, they emphasize exercising leadership over the functional systems of the Party and the state; and finally, they discuss in detail that the Party must lead all specific areas of work.

First, the Party leads everything as the highest force for political leadership, reflecting the comprehensiveness of its leadership. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Party, government, military, society, and academia; east, west, south, north, and center—the Party leads everything." The system of Party leadership is our country's fundamental leadership system, occupying a commanding position within the state system and the system of national governance. It is noteworthy that this important exposition uses the word "everything" (一切) to summarize the subjects and scope of the Party's leadership. "Everything" encompasses all types of groups in the New Era, covers the two dimensions of time and space, and includes the entire cause of governing the country and conducting state affairs. The reason the Party's leadership must ensure full coverage of all subjects and categories is the inseparable internal unity between the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is an inevitable requirement of following the laws of Communist Party governance, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of the development of human society.

Second, exercising leadership over the functional systems of Party and state institutions—and thereby leading the whole of society and the broad masses of the people—reflects the systematic nature of the Party’s leadership. In terms of subjects, the functional system of Party and state institutions mainly includes several systems such as the People’s Congresses, the government, the People's Political Consultative Conferences, supervisory organs, judicial organs, procuratorial organs, and mass organizations [3]. Leadership over these systems is, in a certain sense, equivalent to leading the entire state apparatus and exerts influence over the whole of society. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the social governance system characterized by Party committee leadership, government responsibility, democratic consultation, social coordination, public participation, rule of law guarantees, and technological support, so as to build a social governance community where everyone is responsible, everyone does their duty, and everyone shares in the benefits. Persisting in Party committee leadership is the priority among priorities for governing society and promoting development. By persisting in and improving the system of Party leadership and ensuring the full coverage of that leadership, we not only ensure that the various operational subjects of the Party and state institutional systems cooperate closely and operate in an orderly fashion, but also allow the masses to deeply feel the distinct advantages of the CPC and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Third, the Party exercises overall leadership and coordinates all sides to lead all specific work, reflecting the holistic nature of the Party’s leadership. Persisting in the Party's leadership over various fields and groups can mobilize strengths, compensate for weaknesses, and promote the holistic advancement of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Specifically, these fields and groups are most prominently reflected in economic work, education, and the people’s military.

  1. Grasping the leadership of economic work. The Party’s leadership over economic work is mainly reflected in "setting the direction" and "solving difficult problems." On one hand, the Party’s leadership can rectify the path of economic development and correctly handle the relationship between the socialist system and the market economy, preventing us from returning to the old path of being closed and stagnant or taking the "evil path" of changing flags and colors [4]. On the other hand, the Party’s leadership advantage in exercising overall governance is crucial for overcoming the inherent defects in economic work.
  2. Continuously leading the cause of education. China's development cannot happen without talent; the cultivation of talent cannot happen without education; and the conduct of education cannot happen without the Party’s leadership. As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in the "Nine Persists" regarding educational work, "strengthening the Party’s overall leadership over educational work is the fundamental guarantee for running education well." The Party's guidance over education brings China's reserve of talent into the scope of its leadership. This not only reflects the comprehensive coverage of the Party's leadership but, more importantly, ensures its sustainability.
  3. Ensuring absolute leadership over the people’s military. The people’s military is the pillar of the state. "The Party commands the gun is the fundamental guarantee for maintaining the essence and purpose of the people’s military; this is an unshakeable truth our Party arrived at through struggles of blood and fire." Based on the "Two Centenary Goals" [5] and the grand ideal of realizing Communism, the CPC requires a strong people’s military to ensure the stability and continuity of state power. The Party's leadership over the military must be guaranteed by institutions. The Constitution establishes that the highest command of the military is the responsibility of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC); the primary task of building and strengthening the military lies in implementing and complying with the CMC Chairman Responsibility System, which is the highest political rule.

Party Leadership is a Holistic Project: Pull One Hair and the Whole Body Moves

The comprehensive, systematic, and holistic nature of the Party's leadership requires the Party to persist in leading all work. In addition to all areas of Party work persisting in the Party's leadership, the People’s Congresses, the government, the People's Political Consultative Conferences, supervisory commissions, courts, procuratorates, and the military—as well as the various democratic parties, personages without party affiliation, all enterprises and public institutions, and mass organizations such as trade unions, the Communist Youth League, and the Women’s Federation—must all persist in the Party's leadership.

First, this is reflected in the Party's leadership over organizational work, promotional, ideological, and cultural work, and ethnic and religious work.

  1. Persisting in the Party's leadership over organizational work. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The Party’s strength comes from organization. The Party’s overall leadership and all of the Party's work must be realized through a strong Party organizational system." Organizational work occupies an extremely important position in the overall situation of the Party's work. Through solid and efficient organizational work, our Party concentrates the combat effectiveness of tens of millions of members, thereby mobilizing the people of all ethnic groups across the country to devote themselves to the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Through a broad and strong organizational system, the Party's political advancement is transmitted into the effectiveness of national governance in the form of organizational advantages.
  2. Persisting in the Party's leadership over promotional, ideological, and cultural work. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Promotional and ideological work is meant to consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field and consolidate the common ideological basis for the united struggle of the whole Party and the people of the whole country." To strengthen the Party's leadership over this work, we must clearly persist in the principle that the Party manages promotion and the Party manages ideology; this is the fundamental path to promoting the rapid and healthy development of promotional and ideological work. In the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, the Party's leadership in this field has formed a series of rich and practical experiences: persisting in the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field and continuously promoting the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism; grounding ourselves in China's reality and vigorously building a Chinese academic system with its own characteristics; and respecting the laws of communication, innovating communication methods, utilizing advanced technology, and creating excellent works facing the broadest masses of the people.
  3. Persisting in the Party's leadership over ethnic and religious work. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Ethnic work and religious work are both matters involving the overall situation." Whether ethnic work can be done well depends fundamentally on whether the Party's leadership is strong and powerful. Strengthening the Party's leadership is the fundamental guarantee for doing religious work well, and we must firmly adhere to this basic principle of religious work.

Second, it is reflected in the Party's leadership over the People’s Congresses, the government, and the People's Political Consultative Conferences (PPCC).

  1. Persisting in the Party's leadership over the work of the People’s Congresses. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The system of People’s Congresses is a fundamental political institutional arrangement that integrates the Party's leadership, the people as masters of the country, and the rule of law, ensuring that the Party leads the people in governing the country effectively according to the law." This system provides the fundamental political institutional guarantee for the people to be masters of their own destiny and is an important institutional support for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Only by persisting in the leadership of the CPC can we continuously consolidate the advantages of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics—especially in terms of political development—from the perspectives of the nature of the state, governance effectiveness, and people's democracy. This keeps the direction steady and effectively ensures that national political life is both vibrant and stable.
  2. Persisting in the Party's leadership over government work. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "In handling the relationship between the Party and the government, the first thing is to persist in the Party's leadership; only under this major prerequisite comes the division of labor." Since the 18th Party Congress, as the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity led by the Party has steadily progressed, our government has achieved a series of extraordinary accomplishments in transforming government functions, promoting reform and development, and reforming its own institutions. Facing a bright future for the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we can overcome various unforeseen difficulties only by continuing to persist in and strengthen the Party’s leadership over all work. By continuously improving the Party's leadership and governing styles, and enhancing the organizational and coordination capabilities of local Party committees over major tasks and the executive power of governments, we can provide efficient administrative support for the stability and order of the new journey.
  3. Persisting in the Party's leadership over the work of the PPCC. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must integrate the Party's leadership throughout all the work of the PPCC and earnestly implement all requirements of the Party Central Committee regarding the work of the People’s Consultative Conference." From the history of the PPCC, its establishment, development, and fulfillment of duties are inseparable from the leadership of the CPC. Only by persisting in the Party's leadership can we provide the correct direction for the PPCC’s development, fully realize its duties and mission, and provide the fundamental political guarantee for developing whole-process people's democracy. The Party's leadership is the common choice of all Chinese people, the original aspiration when the PPCC was founded, and the fundamental guarantee for its progress. Only by pooling the will, wisdom, consensus, and enthusiasm of all sectors of society—forming a powerful force among all Chinese people at home and abroad—can we better contribute to the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
  4. Persisting in the Party's leadership over the work of the courts. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must persist in the Party's absolute leadership over judicial, procuratorial, and public security work, drawing wisdom and strength from the Party's century of struggle." Persisting in the Party's leadership over court work is the fundamental political guarantee for building a country, government, and society under the rule of law. The primary and fundamental point is to firmly establish the guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law in the comprehensive law-based governance of the country. Second, we must unswervingly follow the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics to safeguard the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the national governance system. Finally, we must persist in fully implementing the people-centered development philosophy in all aspects and throughout the entire process of judicial and administrative work, ensuring that judicial work is deeply rooted in the masses.
  5. Persisting in the Party's leadership over the work of the procuratorates. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must speed up the construction of a comprehensive, standardized, and efficient system of checks and balances on law enforcement and judicial power." As important political organs, procuratorial organs have an unshirkable political responsibility to implement legal supervision. They should correctly handle the relationship between politics and the rule of law, consistently study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, unswervingly follow the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and ensure that procuratorial work is for, relies on, benefits, and protects the people. Through every case, they should watch over social fairness and justice and guard the political foundation of the Party's governance.

Third, this is reflected in the leadership over various enterprises, institutions, and mass organizations, such as trade unions, the Communist Youth League, and women's federations. First, we must persist in the leadership over state-owned enterprises (SOEs). General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "Persisting in the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building are the glorious traditions of our country's SOEs; they are the 'root' and 'soul' of SOEs and the unique advantage of our country's SOEs." The fundamental reason why SOEs have been able to consistently serve as the economic backbone of the nation’s rise amid a rapidly changing era and increasingly fierce global competition is that they have always persisted in and continuously strengthened the Party's leadership over all work. This is the successful experience behind the brilliant achievements of our SOEs in the past, and it is the key to SOEs continuing to hold the lifeblood of the national economy in the future. Only by persisting in the Party’s leadership and maintaining the eternal political character of SOEs can we facilitate the high-quality development of these enterprises. Second, we must strengthen and improve the Party's leadership over work concerning "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers" [6]. Our country is a traditional agricultural power, which constitutes one of our basic national conditions. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed: "We must persist in solving the 'three rural issues' as the top priority of the whole Party's work and persist in prioritizing the development of agriculture and rural areas." Under the unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, and on the premise of consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation, all regions have steadily advanced the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. They have gradually explored a new path for Party-managed rural work that is effective and conforms to actual conditions under the requirements of the New Era. Third, mass organizations [7] must consciously persist in the leadership of the Communist Party of China. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the Party's mass organization work "is important work for Party organizations to mobilize the broad masses of the people to struggle for the completion of the Party's central tasks." Only by persisting in political guidance can we enhance the governance capacity of mass organization work. Primarily, this emphasizes the political responsibility of Party committees at all levels to lead mass organizations, effectively strengthening the awareness of the "big picture" and the "awareness of mass organizations" among these committees, while recognizing the importance and urgency of persisting in and strengthening the Party's mass organization work in the New Era. Furthermore, we must clarify and reinforce the Party's directional guidance over mass organizations, creating organizations that hold firm political stances, share the Party's burdens, and are responsible to the people. Finally, we must value the ideological guidance provided to the masses.

Improving the systems and mechanisms of Party leadership, continuously refining the methods of Party leadership, and consolidating the foundation for persisting in and strengthening the Party's overall leadership.

How should we persist in and strengthen the Party's overall leadership? In the New Era, this is a highly comprehensive project. The comprehensive nature of the Party leading everything requires Party members and cadres to deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, strengthen the Four Consciousnesses [8], bolster the Four Confidences [9], and achieve the Two Upholds. The systemic nature of the Party leading the functional systems of the Party and the state requires establishing and perfecting the system of Party leadership institutions and mechanisms. The holistic nature of the Party leading all specific tasks requires continuously improving the Party's leadership methods and flexibly employing various leadership techniques to maximally demonstrate the Party’s superb leadership capacity.

We must continuously improve the systems and mechanisms of Party leadership. First, we must establish and perfect the systems and mechanisms for the Party's leadership over major work. We should optimize the Party Central Committee’s decision-making, deliberative, and coordinating bodies to be responsible for top-level design, overall layout, integrated coordination, and holistic advancement of major work. We should strengthen and optimize the Party’s leadership over deepening reform, the rule of law, agriculture and rural areas, discipline inspection and supervision, organization and propaganda, national security, ethnic and religious affairs, and education, science, and technology. Second, we must reinforce the leading position of Party organizations within organizations at the same level. By establishing Party committees (Party leadership groups) in state organs, public institutions, and social organizations, we can better leverage the Party’s role in exercising overall leadership and coordinating all efforts. We must accelerate the establishment and perfection of Party organizations in new types of economic and social organizations to achieve full coverage of Party organizations. Third, we must better utilize the roles of the Party’s functional departments. We should further optimize the allocation of responsibilities for departments such as organization, propaganda, political and legal affairs [10], and education and training, coordinating the work of their respective systems and fields through strengthened centralized coordination functions. We should further optimize the setup of various Party offices and dispatched agencies while setting up institutions directly under Party committees at all levels according to the principle of lean and efficient operation. Fourth, we must coordinate the setup of Party and government institutions, further scientifically defining the positioning and division of labor between Party and state institutions to prevent institutional overlap and functional duplication. Fifth, we must advance the reform of the Party's discipline inspection system and the state's supervision system.

We must continuously improve the Party's leadership methods and heighten the level of Party leadership. Reforming and perfecting the Party's leadership methods is the guarantee for persisting in and strengthening Party leadership; the Party exercising overall leadership and coordinating all efforts is an important advantage of the political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Improving leadership methods and levels can begin with "one fundamental and two basics." The "one fundamental" is the fundamental leadership system of democratic centralism—that is, "being adept at using democratic methods to collect opinions and make scientific decisions, being adept at using consultation to increase consensus and pool strength, and simultaneously being adept at centralizing and daring to take responsibility, preventing situations where there is discussion without decision or decision without implementation." The "two basics" are persisting in the basic leadership method of the mass line and the basic leadership mode of law-based governance. Under the correct top-level design of the Party's overall leadership, methods are the "bridge" and the "boat." We must persist in the mass line of "from the masses, to the masses," fully mobilizing the initiative of the people to seek development, promote progress, and realize their dreams, ensuring that all leadership work moves in a direction beneficial to the people. At the same time, we must persist in the basic leadership mode of law-based governance, incorporating Party leadership into every link of legislation, law enforcement, justice, and law-abiding behavior. We must give full play to the basic normative role of the Constitution, administrative regulations, and local regulations to build a system of the rule of law that conforms to global, national, and Party conditions. We must accelerate the construction of the system of internal Party regulations to form a perfected and effective system. This will enhance the Party's capacity for innovation, its ability to resist risks, and its prestige among the masses.

We must deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, strengthen the Four Consciousnesses, bolster the Four Confidences, and achieve the Two Upholds. Through a series of thematic education campaigns and the strict implementation of internal Party regulations, our Party has built a solid foundation for the implementation of the Two Upholds at the political, ideological, and institutional levels. On the "new path to take the exam" [11], the broad masses of Party members must even more deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, strengthen the Four Consciousnesses, bolster the Four Confidences, and achieve the Two Upholds, unswervingly maintaining a high degree of consistency in thought, politics, and action with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. Persisting in and strengthening Party leadership in the New Era requires a reform path that is reasonable and distinguishes between the primary and the secondary. Based on in-depth analysis of actual conditions, we can further research and plan the theoretical and practical paths for improving Party leadership, making the persistence and strengthening of Party leadership a piece of holistic, scientific work that accounts for both primary and secondary structures.