Liu Honglin: The Basic Course and Experience of Ruling Party Building Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China
Marxist technological thought provides a fundamental basis for scientifically understanding the essential attributes and socio-historical effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as for correctly handling the relationship between AI and ideological and political education. As a key driving force and strategic technology of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, AI profoundly influences the three-dimensional socio-historical relationships between man and nature, man and man, and man and himself, gradually evolving into a unity of "technical means," "infrastructure," and "civilizational marker." For ideological and political education, AI is embedded as an endogenous force influencing its foundational basis, fundamental contradictions, and practical forms. Promoting the deep integration of AI and ideological and political education is an intrinsic requirement and rational choice following the laws of technological transformation to escape the paradox of technical tools and the risk of technological domination. This integration deeply contains a symbiotic relationship and interactive logic of "technology–ideological and political education," manifesting centrally as two interconnected and complementary processes and mechanisms: the "ideologization of AI" and the "AI-ification of ideological and political education."
Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Promoting Party building as a Great Project, and consistently upholding the principles and policies of 'the Party managing the Party' and 'strictly governing the Party,' is a major pioneering achievement of our Party, and a great magic weapon [1] for establishing, developing, flourishing, and strengthening the Party and the country." From a fundamental perspective, the questions of what a Marxist governing party is and how to build one are the foundational propositions of Party building. This involves at least four core issues: how to prevent and overcome the alienation of power and corruption; how to prevent and overcome detachment from the masses; how to overcome the "competence crisis" [2]; and how to overcome ideological rigidity and institutional/mechanistic rigidity. After more than 75 years of arduous exploration since the founding of New China, our Party has continuously deepened its understanding of the laws of its own building, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development. This has not only allowed the Party itself to grow from over 4 million members in the early days of New China to the world's largest governing party with nearly 100 million members, but also, "through unremitting efforts, the Party has found self-revolution as the second answer to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall, significantly enhancing its capacity for self-purification, self-perfection, self-reform, and self-improvement." Under the Party's strong and correct leadership, we successfully completed the socialist transformation and established and continuously improved the socialist system; we persisted in the truth that socialism with Chinese characters is the only path to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; and through fourteen Five-Year Plans, we have continuously advanced Chinese-path modernization step-by-step. We have now entered a new journey of uniting and leading the people of all ethnic groups to comprehensively build a great modern socialist country, achieve the Second Centenary Goal, and comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. A profound summary of the basic course and experience of the governing party's building since the founding of New China helps further promote the Party's self-revolution, escape the "historical cycle" [3] of rise and fall, solve the unique challenges facing a large party, and build a long-term governing Marxist party. It also helps persist in and strengthen the Party's overall leadership to facilitate the building of a strong nation and the cause of national rejuvenation.
I. Explorations in Governing Party Building During the Period of Socialist Revolution and Construction
During the period of socialist revolution and construction, the Party's main task was to "realize the transition from New Democracy to socialism, carry out socialist revolution, promote socialist construction, and lay the fundamental political premise and institutional foundation for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." Facing the historic transition in the Party's status and central tasks, how to overcome the phenomena of arrogance, pleasure-seeking, ideological rigidity, bureaucratism, and detachment from the masses brought about by victory; how to effectively solve the problems of ideological, organizational, and stylistic impurity within the Party; how to establish and improve the Party's organizational system nationwide, enforce strict Party discipline, and maintain the Party's unity; and how to exercise overall leadership and improve the Party's capacity and level of effective national governance and socialist construction—specifically to build the Party into one that is "established and developed according to Marxist-Leninist principles, continuously improving its organization and work in practice, and constantly strengthening its ties with the masses," becoming the "core force uniting the people of the whole country for socialist construction"—these were the core issues and goal orientations of Party building after the founding of New China. To effectively solve the prominent problems facing the governing party and achieve these goals, Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, kept the "Two Musts" [4] firmly in mind and conducted arduous explorations of Marxist governing party building through a series of measures.
First, making the Party public, improving the Party's organizational system, and strengthening the leadership of the governing party. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, the establishment of the Communist Party of China and even some Party organizations in "Kuomintang-controlled areas" [5] were secret and focused on "underground activities." After the founding of New China, establishing and improving the Party's organizational system, making the Party public, and strengthening its organizational building became the requirements of the times. On the one hand, to improve the organizational system and strengthen the Party's leadership over state organs, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee passed the Decision on Organizing CPC Committees within the Central People's Government and the Decision on Establishing CPC Party Groups within the Central People's Government on November 9, 1949. These required the establishment of Party committees and Party groups [6] within the government to "realize and strengthen the leadership of the CPC Central Committee over the Central People's Government, so as to unify and implement the execution of the Central Committee's political line and policies." According to these decisions, Party groups were established in various state organs across the country and were continuously improved alongside the reform of state institutions. On the other hand, to further establish and improve Party organizations at all levels, the CPC Central Committee issued the Instruction on Developing and Consolidating Party Organizations on May 21, 1950, requiring that Party development should "adopt a policy of strict screening and a method of steady progress." It also proposed the requirement of "making the Party public" for the first time, emphasizing that "the purpose of making the Party public is to foster closer ties between the Party and the masses, place the Party under the practical help and supervision of the masses, and build a combative, pure, Bolshevik-style party." This marked a major shift in the basic mode of the Party's organizational building.
Second, opening a new chapter through Party rectification and "rectification of style" (zhengfeng) to purify the ranks. In the early days of New China, to prevent, correct, and overcome unhealthy ideological tendencies and bureaucratic styles within the Party, purify the Party organization and the ranks of cadres, enhance the Party's prestige, and strengthen its ties with the masses, the CPC Central Committee issued the Instruction on Carrying Out a Rectification Movement throughout the Whole Party and Army on May 1, 1950. It required "conducting a large-scale rectification movement under the general leadership of the Central Committee... to strictly rectify the style of the whole Party, starting first with the style of the cadres." The main tasks were to "raise the ideological and political level of cadres and general members, overcome errors committed in work, overcome the arrogance of those who view themselves as 'heroes of the revolution' [7], overcome bureaucratism and commandism, and improve the relationship between the Party and the people." Lasting about half a year, this was the first rectification movement since the Party took power and served as a major test of its ideological, organizational, and stylistic building. To further purify the Party and prevent power corruption, the Central Committee decided in December 1951 to launch the "Three-Anti" Campaign [8] (against corruption, waste, and bureaucratism) within Party, government, and military organs. This was combined with subsequent Party rectification, requiring "education on the eight standards for Party members, as well as registration, screening, and processing based on the 'Three-Anti' Campaign." This campaign initiated the first concentrated anti-corruption struggle since the founding of New China; the case of Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan became the "first major corruption case" of the new republic.
Third, strengthening the cultivation and promotion of cadres and advancing the institutionalization of cadre education and management. "Once the political line is determined, cadres are the deciding factor"; "without a majority of leading cadres who possess both integrity and ability, the historical task cannot be completed." After the founding of New China, our Party persisted in and developed the cadre line of "appointing people on their merit," requiring that cadre selection "must resolutely implement the principle of picking cadres based on political quality (integrity) and professional competence (ability)." To adapt to the requirements of the times, the CPC Central Committee issued the Decision on the Unified Deployment of Cadres, the Unity and Transformation of Existing Technical Personnel, and the Large-Scale Cultivation and Training of Cadres on November 24, 1953. This required the deployment of a large number of outstanding cadres into the field of industrial construction according to the principles of unified adjustment, key placement, and bold promotion, ensuring the Party's industrial cadre ranks in both quantity and quality. It also required uniting and transforming existing technical personnel while cultivating a large number of new technical workers and experts. Following the cultivation and promotion of a large number of worker and peasant cadres, education and management became prominent issues. For this, the Central Committee took two types of measures: On the one hand, it issued documents such as the Instruction on Strengthening Cultural and Educational Work for Cadres (1953) and the Plan for the Rotation Training of Senior and Intermediate Cadres of the Whole Party and the Adjustment of Party Schools (1954), aiming to improve cadres' cultural levels, professional abilities, and political standing. On the other hand, it strengthened Party management of cadres and improved management methods. The Decision on Strengthening Cadre Management Work (1953) required the "gradual establishment of a system of categorical and hierarchical management of cadres under the unified leadership of the Central Committee and Party committees at all levels," initiating the management of cadres by department and by rank. Additionally, it required the establishment of a "reserve cadre list" system, making the selection of reserve cadres a regular part of Party work.
Fourth, establishing the Party's discipline inspection organs to strictly enforce Party discipline and maintain the Party's unity and centralization. Party discipline is the fundamental guarantee for protecting the Party's purity and combat effectiveness, as well as maintaining its unity. To better "execute the Party's political line and various specific policies, safeguard state and Party secrets, strengthen the Party's organizational character and discipline, maintain close ties with the masses, overcome bureaucratism, and ensure the correct implementation of all Party resolutions," 14 the Party undertook several measures. First, on November 9, 1949, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee adopted the Decision on the Establishment of the Central and Local Party Discipline Inspection Committees. This required the formation of discipline inspection organs to undertake fundamental functions such as inspecting acts of discipline violation by Party organizations, cadres, and members; accepting, reviewing, and deciding on disciplinary actions or the revocation of such actions; and strengthening education on discipline to ensure the Party's unity and centralization. Furthermore, it explicitly stipulated the leadership structure for discipline inspection: the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection would be under the direct leadership of the Political Bureau, while local discipline inspection committees at all levels would be led by the corresponding Party committees. Superior discipline inspection committees were empowered to change or cancel decisions made by those at lower levels.16 By the end of 1950, in only about a year’s time, discipline inspection organs had been established in the Central Committee, various central bureaus, and most provincial, municipal, and prefectural committees, continually strengthening discipline inspection work and the leadership of Party committees over it.
Second, to further strengthen Party discipline, the CPC Central Committee decided to establish Party Oversight Committees (监察委员会). In March 1955, the National Conference of the CPC adopted the Resolution on the Establishment of Central and Local Oversight Committees of the Party. This required that "the task of the Party’s central and local oversight committees at all levels is to regularly inspect and handle cases of Party members violating the Party Constitution, Party discipline, or state laws and decrees," and granted them "the power to inspect and handle cases of any Party member violating the Party Constitution, Party discipline, or state laws and decrees."19 Third, strengthening the Party's unity and centralization and safeguarding the authority of the Central Committee. On February 10, 1954, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee adopted the Resolution on Strengthening the Party's Unity. It emphasized that "the Party's unity is the Party's life and a basic principle of Marxism-Leninism; undermining the Party's unity is a violation of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and is equivalent to helping the enemy endanger the Party's life."20 The aim was to "solidly unite the entire working class and the people of the whole country" by consolidating inner-Party unity.21 It required upholding the unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, maintaining the unity and authority of the Center, and taking democratic centralism as a vital guarantee for Party unity. It demanded strict adherence to the system of collective leadership and a resolute opposition to erroneous tendencies such as "mountain-topism" [9], individualism, arrogance, and the cult of personality.20
The Eighth National Congress of the CPC, held from September 15 to 27, 1956, was the first National Congress convened after the founding of New China. The Congress profoundly summarized the basic experience of Party building since the Seventh National Congress, particularly since the founding of New China. It conducted pioneering explorations and systematic planning for the building of a governing party, requiring adherence to the correct ideological line and the mass line while opposing subjectivism and bureaucratism. It demanded adherence to democratic centralism and collective leadership by Party organizations at all levels to safeguard the Party's unity and centralization, explicitly identifying Party unity and centralization as "one of the most important issues in Party building."12 It called for efforts to raise the standards for Party members, continuously improve their quality, "protect and expand the democratic rights of Party members," 12 and earnestly strengthen Party building. In November 1956, at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, Mao Zedong further emphasized the need for vigilance against the growth of bureaucratic styles of work and the formation of an aristocratic stratum divorced from the people. In short, after the founding of New China, our Party focused on strengthening Party building and consolidating Party leadership ideologically, organizationally, and in terms of conduct. Through a series of measures, it "enhanced the Party's purity and the unity of the entire Party, drew the Party closer to the masses, and accumulated preliminary experience in the building of a governing party."11 Simultaneously, it provided powerful ideological, organizational, and political guarantees for leading the socialist revolution and construction.
II. Reform and Innovation in Governing Party Building during the New Period of Reform, Opening-up, and Socialist Modernization
In 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee ceased the use of the slogan "take class struggle as the key link" [10] and made the strategic decision to implement reform and opening-up, shifting the focus of the work of the Party and the state to economic construction. Socialist modernization entered a New Period, opening a new chapter for the building of the governing party. However, the Party also faced the "tests of governance, reform and opening-up, the market economy, and the external environment." [11] How to persist in, strengthen, and improve Party leadership; how to strengthen the building of Party conduct and clean government to maintain the Party's advanced nature and purity; and how to effectively solve the "two major historical tasks"—namely, "improving the Party’s leadership and governance level, and increasing its ability to resist corruption and prevent degeneration while withstanding risks"—became prominent issues and primary tasks facing Party building in this historical period.
Early in the Reform and Opening-up period, Deng Xiaoping clearly pointed out that under new historical conditions, we must think about and solve the questions of "what kind of party the governing party should be" and "what constitutes a party that is good at leadership."22 "What is a Marxist governing party and how to build one" and "what is Party leadership and how to persist in, strengthen, and improve it" can be described as the distinct themes of Party building during this period. The basic goals were "to integrate with new realities, follow the Party's basic line, persist in the principle that the Party must manage the Party and govern the Party strictly, strengthen and improve Party building, and strive to improve the Party's governance and leadership levels," 23 and "to strive to build the Party into a strong core leading the cause of socialist modernization."24 To effectively solve the prominent problems facing Party building and achieve these goals, our Party persisted in the principle that the Party must manage the Party and govern the Party strictly. Taking the building of the Party’s governing capacity and its advanced nature as the main thread, the Party advanced Party building with a spirit of reform, launched and pushed forward the "Great New Project of Party Building," [12] and opened a new situation for the construction of a Marxist governing party.
First, deepening the reform of Party and state institutions and the leadership system to persist in and improve Party leadership. Based on the "Great Discussion on the Criterion of Truth" [13] and the realization of "setting things right" (拨乱反正) in the Party's ideological line, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1978 made the strategic decision for reform and opening-up. This shifted the focus of the Party and state to economic construction, achieving the "setting right" of the Party's political line. Simultaneously, it decided to improve the Party's leadership organs, requiring that under the Party’s "unified leadership" (一元化领导), the phenomena of failing to separate the Party from the government or the enterprise, and the replacement of government/enterprise functions by the Party, be earnestly resolved. It demanded the streamlining of institutions, the devolution of power, and the resolution of the problem of over-centralization of power. In the early stages of Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping clearly pointed out that to persist in Party leadership, one must strive to improve it: "In addition to improving the state of the Party's organization, we must also improve the state of the Party's leadership work and the Party's leadership system."22 The Fifth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1980 took "upholding Party leadership, improving Party leadership, and enhancing the Party's combat effectiveness" as its theme, focusing on strengthening and improving leadership. Deng Xiaoping's August 1980 speech, "On the Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership," further outlined the blueprint for such reforms. He emphasized that reform must effectively solve defects in the existing specific systems: "The main drawbacks are bureaucratism, the phenomenon of over-concentration of power, patriarchal behavior, the system of lifelong tenure for leading cadres, and various forms of privilege."22 Later measures, such as the abolition of lifelong tenure for leading cadres, the promotion of the "Four Criteria" for cadres [14], the reform of the Party's leadership structure, and the reform of State Council institutions, were all important steps in the reform of Party and state institutions and the leadership system.
Second, establishing rules and systems to promote the institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization of Party building. Early in the Reform and Opening-up period, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "A country must have laws, and a party must have Party regulations and laws. The Party Constitution is the most fundamental Party regulation and law. Without Party regulations and laws, it is difficult to guarantee state laws."25 This historical period was a crucial pioneering and developmental phase for institutionalizing and strengthening the system of inner-Party regulations. The Certain Norms Regarding Inner-Party Political Life adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1980 established the basic requirements and norms for Party building since the start of Reform and Opening-up. The Constitution of the Communist Party of China revised and adopted by the Twelfth National Congress in 1982 laid the basic framework and content for the Party Constitution and established the fundamental basis for managing and governing the Party. On this basis, the Party Central Committee successively formulated and promulgated more than 20 inner-Party regulations, including the Provisional Regulations on the Procedures for Formulating Inner-Party Regulations of the CPC (1990), the Working Regulations for Local Committees of the CPC (Trial) (1996), the Certain Norms for the Clean Governance of Leading Cadres who are members of the CPC (Trial) (1997), the Regulations on the Selection and Appointment of Leading Party and Government Cadres (2002), the Regulations of the CPC on Disciplinary Actions (2003), the Regulations on the Protection of the Rights of CPC Members (2004), and the Regulations of the CPC on Inspection Work (Trial) (2009). These provided the basic regulatory and institutional guarantee for strengthening Party building and laid a solid foundation for the construction of the system of inner-Party regulations.
Third, improving the Party's work style and maintaining close ties with the masses. During the process of reform and opening-up, improving Party conduct and maintaining close ties with the masses became major propositions of the era. Deng Xiaoping pointed out at the beginning of this period, "I agree with Comrade Chen Yun’s statement that the issue of the governing party's conduct is a matter of life and death for the Party."22 He believed that "if our Party does not pay serious attention and does not resolutely stop this trend, then our Party and state will indeed face the question of whether they will 'change their face' [15]. This is not alarmist talk."22 To improve Party conduct and ties with the masses, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee in 1990 adopted the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Strengthening the Ties between the Party and the People. It elevated the maintenance and development of "flesh-and-blood ties" with the masses to the level of "directly relating to the rise and fall of the Party and the state," 26 requiring the entire Party to implement the mass line. In 2001, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee adopted the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Strengthening and Improving the Building of Party Style, emphasizing that "the conduct of a governing party relates to the Party's image, to the support of the people, and to the life and death of the Party and the state."27 It required strengthening Party conduct with the "Eight Persists and Eight Opposes" [16] as the primary tasks. Since the Sixteenth National Congress, the Party has emphasized that "knowing whom to believe in, whom to rely on, and for whom we work—and whether we always stand on the side of the broadest masses of the people—is the watershed dividing the materialist from the idealist conception of history, and the touchstone for judging a Marxist party."28 It called for the vigorous promotion of close ties with the masses, seeking truth from facts, arduous struggle, and the practice of criticism and self-criticism.
Fourth, opposing corruption, strengthening the building of clean government, and practicing "honest politics" (廉洁政治). Early in the Reform and Opening-up period, Deng Xiaoping clearly stated: "We must oppose corruption and practice honest politics. This is not for a day or two, or a month or two; we must oppose corruption throughout the entire process of reform and opening-up."29 As reform, opening-up, and the socialist market economy deepened, the anti-corruption situation became increasingly grim and the tasks more arduous. The Fifteenth National Congress elevated anti-corruption to "a serious political struggle relating to the life and death of the Party and the state," asserting that "if corruption cannot be effectively punished, the Party will lose the trust and support of the people."30 It required treating anti-corruption as a "systematic project" (系统工程), persisting in addressing both symptoms and root causes, practicing comprehensive management and perseverance, and continuously eradicating the soil where corruption breeds through deepened reform. Since the Sixteenth National Congress, the Central Committee has further demanded that corruption be opposed in accordance with the requirements of the Party's advanced nature and purity. It has persisted in the policy of addressing both symptoms and root causes, comprehensive management, combining punishment and prevention with an emphasis on prevention, and has focused on strengthening the "system for punishing and preventing corruption," earnestly implementing the responsibility system for building Party conduct and clean government, and resolutely punishing corruption.
Fifth, strengthening the building of the Party's governing capacity and its system of governing theory, focusing on promoting the scientific development of Party building. Since the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up, as the situation and tasks of building a governing party have evolved, the building of the Party's governing capacity, the system of governing theory, and the scientific development of Party building have become essential components of the Party's construction. Regarding the building of governing capacity, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the CPC on Strengthening the Building of the Party's Governing Capacity, emphasizing that this is "a fundamental task of the Party after taking power" [39] (p. 272). It required that, in accordance with the overall requirements of the integrated plan for socialist modernization, the Party must "continuously improve the ability to steer the socialist market economy, develop socialist democratic politics, build advanced socialist culture, construct a socialist harmonious society, and deal with international situations and handle international affairs" [39] (p. 276), focusing on solving the problem of governing capacity under new conditions. Regarding the building of the Party’s system of governing theory, in June 2004, Hu Jintao explicitly put forward the major propositions of "the building of the Party's governing theory" and the "system of governing theory," emphasizing that the building of the Party's governing theory is a systematic project. He required the close integration of Marxist governing theory with the new practice of the Party's governance, with the building of the Party's governing capacity as the focus [40]. The aim was to establish and improve the Party's system of governing theory across seven areas—governing philosophy, the foundation of governance, governing strategy, the governing system, the mode of governance, governing resources, and the governing environment—to enhance the systematic nature, foresight, and scientific rigor of building the governing party. Regarding the scientific development of Party building, this complements the Scientific Outlook on Development [17]. It requires that strengthening and improving Party building under new circumstances must raise the level of the scientific development of Party building, striving for practical results in guiding Party building with scientific theories, ensuring Party building with scientific institutions, and promoting Party building with scientific methods.
Sixth, unifying thinking and purifying the organization through Party consolidation and thematic education to advance Party building. In 1983, the Second Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the CPC on Party Consolidation, stipulating the primary tasks as "unifying thinking, rectifying work styles, strengthening discipline, and purifying the organization." It mandated a comprehensive three-year Party consolidation carried out from top to bottom in stages and batches. This aimed not only to solve the problems of impure ideology, impure work styles, and impure organization within the Party to achieve a fundamental turn for the better in the Party's conduct, but also to address the issue of the whole Party's ideological and work level being incompatible with the requirements of the situation and tasks, striving to build the Party into a firm core leading the cause of socialist modernization. To adapt to the requirements of the New Era, a new method of Party building was opened up: unifying thinking and purifying the organization through intra-Party thematic education. In 1996, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee decided to conduct a three-year education on Party spirit and Party conduct [18] from the top down, taking criticism and self-criticism as the primary method, focusing on "stressing study, stressing politics, and stressing integrity" (the "Three Stresses" [19]), and targeting leading cadres at or above the county and division level. Following this concentrated intra-Party education, activities such as the study and education of the "Three Represents" [20], the "educational activity to maintain the advanced nature of CPC members," and the activity to deeply study and practice the Scientific Outlook on Development were successively carried out. Thematic or concentrated education has thus become an important way to advance Party building.
In short, during the new period of Reform and Opening-up and socialist modernization, while establishing and developing the socialist market economy system and deepening the understanding of "what is socialism and how to build it," our Party further deepened its understanding of the laws governing "what kind of party the governing party should be and how to build such a party." By persisting in the principle that "the Party must supervise its own conduct," comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, and pursuing reform and innovation, the Party initiated and advanced the new great project of Party building. This provided a strong leadership guarantee, organizational guarantee, and political assurance for realizing the Party's central tasks during this historical period. It facilitated the great achievements of Reform and Opening-up and socialist modernization, enabling "our country to achieve the historic breakthrough from a state of relatively backward productive forces to being the world's second-largest economy, achieving the historic leap of the people's lives from insufficient food and clothing to a general level of moderate prosperity (xiaokang), and then toward a comprehensive moderate prosperity, promoting the great leap of the Chinese nation from standing up to becoming rich" [19] (p. 22).
III. Upholding the Fundamentals and Breaking New Ground in the Building of a Marxist Governing Party in the New Era and Comprehensively and Strictly Governing the Party
In the New Era, the main task facing the Party is to "realize the First Centenary Goal [21] and embark on a new journey toward the Second Centenary Goal, continuing to advance toward the grand goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" [19] (p. 23). Simultaneously, historical questions have been superimposed onto Party building and have become its problem-oriented and goal-oriented focus: "What is a Marxist governing party and how to build a long-term Marxist governing party?" and how to "effectively solve the historical challenge of the 'cycle of rise and fall' [22], enhance the consciousness of 'the Party supervising its own conduct' and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, improve the Party's governing capacity and leadership level, and enhance the Party's capacity for self-purification, self-perfection, self-innovation, and self-improvement" [41] (p. 701). The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has comprehensively and strictly governed the Party from the height of the Party and the state's survival, regarding this process as the great practice of the Party's self-revolution in the New Era. "The Party has found self-revolution as the second answer to escapting the historical cycle of rise and fall; its capacity for self-purification, self-perfection, self-innovation, and self-improvement has been significantly enhanced. The situation of being 'lax, loose, and soft' in Party governance has been fundamentally reversed, and a clean and upright political ecosystem continues to take shape and develop, ensuring the Party never changes its nature, its conviction, or its character" [42] (p. 14). Looking at the theory and practice of Party building in the New Era, its distinct themes and prominent characteristics include: conducting top-level design and proposing the General Requirements for Party Building in the New Era; making comprehensively and strictly governing the Party its distinctive theme; continuously improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party; fundamentally realizing the historic transition of Party governance from "lax, loose, and soft" to "strict, tight, and hard"; and advancing the Party's self-revolution through comprehensive and strict governance to effectively solve the unique challenges facing a large party.
First, conducting top-level design and systematic planning, and summarizing the General Requirements for Party Building in the New Era. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has emphasized—from the height of the complementarity between Party building, Party leadership, and the Party's cause, as well as the complementarity of the "Four Greats" [23]—that "to unite and lead the people in carrying out a great struggle, advancing a great cause, and realizing a great dream, the Party must unswervingly uphold and improve Party leadership and unswervingly build the Party into a stronger and more powerful force" [43] (p. 43). It has carried out top-level design and systematic planning for Party building in the New Era and summarized its General Requirements. These requirements take upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership as the basic purpose of Party building in the New Era; take "the Party supervising its own conduct" and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party as the basic guideline; and take strengthening the building of the Party's long-term governing capacity, its advanced nature, and its purity as the main thread. They treat the Party's political, ideological, organizational, work style, and disciplinary construction, along with institutional building and the anti-corruption struggle, as the fundamental content of Party building. Simultaneously, systematic planning was applied to each component; the general goals of Party building in the New Era were further summarized; and major tasks were established by closely following the general requirements, basic content, and general goals. In short, the General Requirements for Party Building in the New Era are an organic unity of the basic purpose, basic guideline, main thread, layout of content, key tasks, and construction goals, fully reflecting the integrity, systematic nature, comprehensiveness, and creativity of Party building in the New Era.
Second, using the implementation of the "Eight-Point Regulations" as the point of entry to persistently advance the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, faced with the grave situation and arduous tasks of Party building, Xi Jinping has explicitly pointed out: "We have seized the main thread of work style construction, following through consistently and deepening step by step" [44] (p. 3). Observing the theory and practice of comprehensive and strict Party governance in the New Era, the basic practical path has been to use the implementation of the Central Eight-Point Regulations as the entry point and the strict rectification of the "Four Winds" as the breakthrough, continuously advancing comprehensive and strict governance through rectifying the "Four Winds" and severely punishing corruption. In December 2012, the CPC Central Committee formulated the Regulations on Improving Work Style and Maintaining Close Ties with the Masses (the "Eight-Point Regulations"), requiring that the strict and solid implementation of the spirit of these regulations serve as the entry point. This involves unremittingly rectifying conduct and discipline, persisting in addressing both symptoms and root causes, focusing on solving current prominent problems while being dedicated to building long-term mechanisms for work style construction. At the same time, the Party persists in an anti-corruption approach characterized by "no restricted zones, full coverage, and zero tolerance," insisting on catching "tigers," "flies," and "foxes" [24] together, severely punishing corruption, and gradually building institutional mechanisms where "one does not dare to be corrupt, is not able to be corrupt, and does not want to be corrupt." Through unremittingly rectifying the "Four Winds" and punishing corruption, the Party focuses on solving prominent problems that the masses feel strongly about, rectifying the important root causes that damage the relationship between the Party and the masses and between cadres and the masses, and continuously pushing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party to develop in depth.
Third, using thematic education as a grasp and intra-Party political life as the primary channel to tighten Party discipline and rules and advance the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee has successively carried out the "Mass Line Educational Practice Activity," the "Three Stricts and Three Steadies" [25] thematic education, the "Two Studies and One Doing" [26] learning and education, the "Staying True to Our Original Aspiration and Founding Mission" thematic education, Party history learning and education, the thematic education on studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and Party discipline learning and education. These thematic education programs are treated as major measures to promote the in-depth development of the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. Simultaneously, making intra-Party life serious and standardized and tightening Party discipline and rules are treated as another important way to solve the Party's internal problems. As Xi Jinping pointed out: "Intra-Party political life is the primary platform for Party organizations to educate and manage members and for members to temper their Party spirit; governing the Party strictly must begin with intra-Party political life" [45] (p. 95). He required tightening Party discipline and rules, focusing on ensuring that all levels of Party organizations and all members and cadres act in accordance with the Principles of Intra-Party Political Life and various Party regulations [45] (p. 96), and focusing on optimizing, reconstructing, and purifying the political ecosystem so that intra-Party political life presents a new outlook and the political ecosystem improves significantly.
Fourth, advancing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party by taking the strict management of officials (zhìlì) as the key. In the New Era, Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that "for the Party to supervise its own conduct, it must first manage its cadres well; for the Party to be strictly governed, the key is the strict management of officials" [41] (p. 350). He required that in addressing work style, one must start with the Central Politburo—demanding of oneself what one asks of others and resolutely refraining from what one forbids others to do—to lead the conduct of the government and society through good Party conduct, truly winning the trust and support of the masses. He required that strict management of cadres be implemented throughout the entire process of building the cadre force, persisting in strict education, strict management, and strict supervision. Since the 18th National Congress, whether it be rectifying work styles and fighting corruption, various thematic education activities, or strengthening the construction of intra-Party regulations and "confining power within the cage of institutions," the primary targets have been leading cadres at all levels. Strict management of officials, adhering to the use of institutions to manage power, affairs, and people, is not only the focus and key of comprehensive and strict Party governance in the New Era but also its prominent characteristic.
Fifth, enhancing the consciousness of "the Party supervising its own conduct" and implementing the responsibility system for Party building at every level. The experiences and lessons of Party building profoundly demonstrate that without a consciousness of supervising the Party, and without clarifying, implementing, and holding people accountable for responsibilities, comprehensive and strict governance cannot be achieved or done well. To govern the Party strictly, one must enhance the awareness of Party governance, strengthen responsibility, supervision, and accountability, and implement the responsibility system for Party building at every level. The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core persists in combining "ideological Party building" with "institutional Party governance," ensuring they exert force in the same direction, and unifying punishment with responsibility. It continuously reinforces the responsibility for Party governance, strengthens supervision and accountability, and implements responsibility at every level. This requires both a clear division of the primary responsibility (zhǔtǐ zérèn), supervisory responsibility, and leadership responsibility for Party governance and the formulation and implementation of the Party building responsibility system. It also requires strengthening intra-Party supervision, improving the intra-Party supervision system, and giving full play to the role of inspections (xúnshì) as a "sharp sword," while promoting the organic unity of responsibility, supervision, and accountability in Party governance. As Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must improve the accountability mechanism, persist in holding people accountable whenever there is a responsibility and being strict in accountability, and organically combine supervision and inspection, target assessment, and responsibility tracking to create a strong driving force for the execution of laws and regulations" [46]. According to these new concepts, ideas, and measures for Party governance, the Party has focused on fundamentally solving the problems of missing primary responsibility, absent supervisory responsibility, and the "lax, loose, and soft" governance of the Party, effectively promoting and realizing the integration of supervision, discipline enforcement, and accountability.
Sixth, strengthening the construction of intra-Party regulations and systems while adhering to institutional Party governance and governing the Party according to regulations. Xi Jinping has explicitly pointed out that "regulations and systems possess a fundamental, overall, stable, and long-term character." [57] He has creatively applied modern governance concepts, systems thinking, and dialectical thinking to the management and governance of the Party. He requires adhering to institutional Party governance and governing the Party according to regulations, taking the strengthening of intra-Party regulations and systems as a long-term and fundamental strategy for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party [58], and regarding governing the Party according to regulations as the basic method for managing and governing the Party in the New Era. He requires the establishment of new concepts for Party governance, such as "distinguishing clearly between the public and the private" (公私分明), "distinguishing clearly between law and discipline" (法纪分明), "ensuring discipline is stricter than the law" (纪严于法), and "putting discipline before the law" (纪在法前). He calls for the effective use of the "Four Forms" [27] of supervision and discipline enforcement to comprehensively and strictly govern the Party. He requires strengthening the construction of intra-Party regulations, continuously improving the quality of rule-making, and forming a complete supporting system of intra-Party regulations. Efforts must focus on enhancing the authority and executive force of intra-Party regulations to ensure there are rules to follow, rules are followed, enforcement is strict, and violations are prosecuted. This effectively utilizes intra-Party regulations to implement the principle that the Party must manage the Party and govern itself comprehensively and strictly. Furthermore, he requires the coordinated advancement of the Four Comprehensives strategic layout, insisting on the integrated construction and coordinated advancement of the rule of law for the country (依法治国) alongside institutional Party governance and governing the Party according to regulations. [58] Since the 18th CPC National Congress, nearly 40 intra-Party regulations have been formulated or revised, including the GCPC Regulations on Integrity and Self-Discipline, the Several Norms Regarding Political Life Within the Party Under the New Situation, the CPC Regulations on Disciplinary Action, the CPC Regulations on Accountability, the CPC Regulations on Intra-Party Supervision, and the CPC Regulations on Inspection Work. This has established a relatively complete system of intra-Party regulations, providing a solid institutional guarantee for persisting in and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in the New Era.
In the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has persevered in comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, continuously promoting innovation in the theory, practice, and institutions of Party building. It has taken the construction of a system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party as a major task of Party building in the New Era. This involves continuously improving the basic requirements for: an educational system to "consolidate the foundation and nurture the soul" (固本培元、凝心铸魂); a supervision and management system that "targets precisely and treats both symptoms and root causes" (精准发力、标本兼治); a scientific, complete, effective, and practical institutional system; and a responsibility system with clear subjects and explicit requirements. Through comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, a relatively complete system for this governance has been basically constructed. This has not only effectively solved the problem of "lax, soft, and loose" Party management but also continuously promoted the Party’s self-revolution, maintaining the sobriety and determination to solve the unique challenges of a large party. Simultaneously, by persisting in and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership and continuously improving its leadership level and long-term governing capacity, our country has not only achieved the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects on schedule but has also enabled the cause of the Party and the state to achieve historic accomplishments and undergo historic shifts. "The Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up and becoming prosperous to becoming strong." [29]
IV. Conclusion
The basic experience of the Communist Party of China in strengthening its governance since the founding of New China fully proves two points. On the one hand, "the rise of a government depends on following the people’s heart, and its fall depends on defying it." The support or opposition of the people determines the rise or fall of a political party and the success or failure of its governance. The fundamental key to winning the people’s hearts depends both on a party’s original aspiration and founding mission and the state of its self-construction, and even more so on the party’s actual actions and monumental achievements in promoting national and social development and seeking the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people. On the other hand, "it takes a good blacksmith to forge good steel" (打铁必须自身硬) [28]. A Marxist governing party must always keep in mind its original aspiration and founding mission, uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, continuously strengthen Party building, and always maintain the Party’s advanced nature and purity. It must continuously improve its leadership capacity and governing level. The more complex the situation and the more arduous the tasks the Party faces, the more it must promote reform and opening up and develop the socialist market economy; the more it must advance with the times in comprehensively and strictly governing the Party and improving and strengthening its leadership; and the more it must continuously improve its capacity and quality for Party building and its leadership and governing levels.
This fundamental experience and basic law profoundly demonstrate that the Party’s leadership, Party building, and the Party’s cause are mutually reinforcing. The construction of the governing party must advance with the times according to changes in the situation and the requirements of the era. It must always adhere to a problem-oriented approach, goal-orientation, and mission-orientation. It must closely focus on the main line of Party building, strengthening the Party’s self-construction toward its building goals to maintain its advanced nature, purity, and long-term governing capacity, while continuously improving its creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness. Simultaneously, it must closely link Party building with the Party’s political line and central tasks, persisting in, strengthening, and improving Party leadership in line with the times. It must continuously enhance its leadership and governing levels, and strengthen its ability to resist corruption and prevent degeneration (拒腐防变) and withstand risks, ensuring the Party remains the strong leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Finally, the practical efficacy of Party building and Party leadership must ultimately be tested by the practical results of advancing Chinese-path modernization and continuously realizing the fundamental interests of the masses. The fundamental standard for inspecting all work regarding Party building and leadership lies in the "people’s standard"—that is, "taking whether the people support, approve, are happy with, and agree to it as the fundamental standard for measuring the gains and losses of all work." [59]