Xu Qinfia and Zuo Yuntian: Exploratory Practices and Main Experiences of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's People-Centered Position
As a proletarian party guided by Marxism, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) has consistently maintained its position as the faithful representative of the power and interests of the Lao working class, laboring people, and the entire nation. It led the Lao people through wars of national liberation against French, Japanese, and American aggression, eventually breaking the shackles of colonial and feudal oppression to achieve total liberation. In 1975, the Lao People's Democratic Republic was established, and from that moment, the Lao people truly became the masters of their own country. Summarizing the LPRP's practical explorations of the "people-centered position" and identifying its underlying laws is an essential requirement for consolidating the ruling status of a proletarian party and meeting the tests of governance. This task provides international experience for socialist countries to uphold a people-centered position while offering a practical foundation and realistic reference for the development of world socialism and the international communist movement.
I. Theoretical Support for the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's Adherence to the People-Centered Position
On the basis of inheriting and developing Marxist-Leninist thought on the people-centered position, the LPRP has formed and refined a viewpoint on the people-centered position with indigenous Lao characteristics through its practice of leading the Lao people in the struggle for national liberation, socialist transformation, and "renovation and opening up" (革新开放). Marxist-Leninist thought on the people-centered position serves as the theoretical foundation for the LPRP's views, while the theoretical fruits of the Sinicization—or rather, the Laotianization—of Marxism, namely Kaysone Phomvihane Thought on the supremacy of the people, serve as the fundamental guide.
(1) Marxism-Leninism as the Theoretical Foundation
In the midst of the proletarian revolution, Marx and Engels realized that the political basis for the long-term governance of a proletarian party lies in steadfastly maintaining a people-centered position and winning the support of the masses. The original aspiration and founding mission of a proletarian party is to lead the vast majority and seek interests for the vast majority, ultimately realizing "the free development of each" and "the free development of all." On one hand, Marx and Engels explicitly pointed out that the task of the proletarian party is to overthrow private property and all bourgeois modes of production and systems capable of generating exploitation and oppression. Taking the people-centered position as their starting point, Marx and Engels conducted a powerful critique of the laws governing the contradictory movement of the capitalist mode of production and the social maladies found therein. They proposed the establishment of a future society of equality and freedom for all—eliminating exploitation and oppression—so that the masses could achieve economic and political liberation, and ultimately, human emancipation itself. On the other hand, Marx emphasized that "historical activity is the activity of the masses, and with the thoroughness of the historical activity, the size of the mass whose activity it is will therefore increase." One must fully recognize that the masses are the subjects of practice and the creators of history. One must attach full importance to the subjective status of the masses as the drivers of historical change and give full play to their decisive role in creating material and spiritual wealth.
In leading the practice of revolutionary struggle in the Soviet Union, Lenin anchored himself in the characteristics of the new stage of imperialism and upheld a people-centered position, forming a new theory of revolutionary struggle and human liberation for the imperialist era. On one hand, he further highlighted that the masses are the creators of social wealth and the promoters of social change, thereby enriching and developing the Marxist materialist conception of history. Stating that "the workers and peasants have created all wealth for the bourgeoisie through their own labor," he affirmed the revolutionary actions and heroic spirit of the masses as the fundamental force for eliminating autocracy. On the other hand, he proposed that the people are the guarantee of the stability of proletarian political power. A Marxist ruling party possesses immense power and manages vast social resources, which easily gives rise to a universal practical problem: alienation from the masses. This occurs when a party fails to "maintain firm ties with the vast majority of the worker and peasant masses." Lenin pointed out the dangers of such alienation. Consequently, a Marxist party must have the courage to take the initiative in accepting mass criticism and supervision, maintain close party-mass relations, and wage a resolute struggle against the bureaucracy, "red tape-ism" (文牍主义 [1]), and dogmatism that alienate the party from the masses.
As a proletarian party guided by Marxism-Leninism, the LPRP's adherence to a people-centered position is an inevitable requirement for maintaining the party's class character and nature. Marxism-Leninism is precisely the theoretical cornerstone of the LPRP's people-centered position.
(2) Kaysone Phomvihane Thought as the Fundamental Guide
Kaysone Phomvihane was the primary founder and core leader of the LPRP and the state. He dedicated his life to the struggle for Lao national liberation, socialist construction, and the cause of renovation, leaving behind a precious spiritual legacy for the Lao people. Kaysone Phomvihane Thought is the product of the integration of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete realities of Laos. At the 10th National Congress of the LPRP, Kaysone Phomvihane Thought was written into the Party Constitution [2] alongside Marxism-Leninism, becoming the Party's guiding ideology and compass for action. Adhering to the mass line, emphasizing the subjective status of the people, and struggling whole-heartedly for the liberation and happiness of the people are essential components of Kaysone Phomvihane Thought. At the 1st Congress of the Lao People's Party (the former name of the LPRP), Phomvihane provided a profound explanation of the Party's nature and mission: the LPRP is the party of the working class and the laboring class, and it must persist in serving the country and the masses. At the 2nd Congress, he further affirmed the status and role of the people, noting that during the period of national-democratic revolution, the primary revolutionary forces were the workers and peasants, who were the decisive factors ensuring revolutionary victory. Following the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975 under Phomvihane's leadership, a three-year plan for socio-economic development (1978–1980) was formulated to improve the material and cultural life of the masses and raise the standards of education and healthcare, leading to a comprehensive improvement in the living standards of the various ethnic groups in Laos. At the 5th Congress of the LPRP, Phomvihane again emphasized the importance of the power of the masses, summarizing and elevating this as the hard-won experience of Laos’s revolutionary struggle and renovation and opening up over the preceding decades.
Kaysone Phomvihane Thought is imbued with a deep sentiment for the people. It provides a localized Laotian interpretation of the Marxist materialist conception of history and the Leninist view of the people, enriching and developing Marxism-Leninism. It serves as the fundamental theoretical guide for the LPRP to consistently implement its people-centered position.
II. Practical Explorations of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party in Practicing the People-Centered Position
As a proletarian party guided by Marxism-Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought, the LPRP has fully enacted its people-centered position by perfecting the political system of people's democracy, achieving a significant increase in the people's standard of living, and clearing channels for the convergence of the people's power. It places the people's demands at the forefront, constantly meeting and responding to the needs and expectations of the people in different eras.
(1) Perfecting the Political System of People’s Democracy
"The working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes." When summarizing the lessons of the failure of the Paris Commune, Marx emphasized that the working class could not take the existing bourgeois bureaucratic-military machinery intact to serve itself; rather, it had to use revolutionary violence to thoroughly break and destroy it, replacing the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie with the dictatorship of the proletariat. Perfecting the political system of people's democracy is not only an inevitable requirement for defending proletarian political power but also an inherent part of safeguarding the people's interests and maintaining the proletarian party’s people-centered position.
First, the Party has refined the theoretical construction of people's democracy. Using the Marxist-Leninist people-centered position as a fulcrum and based on a deep analysis of the nature of Lao society and its stage of development, the LPRP has provided a thorough explanation regarding the definition of people's democracy and the relationship between the people's democratic system and socialism. At the 7th Plenary Session of the 4th Central Committee of the LPRP, Kaysone Phomvihane emphasized that the people's democratic system is the stage preceding socialism, and socialist democracy is the ultimate destination of people's democracy. The people's democratic system already contains many socialist elements; therefore, one must avoid erroneous understandings such as "pitting socialism against the people's democratic system." After the 8th Plenary Session of the 4th Central Committee, the Party ceased using the term "dictatorship of the proletariat," replacing it with "people's democratic dictatorship" (人民民主专政 [3]). At the 10th Plenary Session of the 4th Central Committee, the Party elaborated on the people's democratic system across various dimensions, including economic, political, and social development. The 5th Congress of the LPRP re-examined the social nature of Laos and its basic national conditions at the current stage, pointing out that Laos is in a period of continuing to establish and perfect the people's democratic system while creating conditions for a gradual transition to socialism. This further clarified theoretical issues such as the connotation and goals of the Lao people's democratic system, achieving a shift in the ideological, theoretical, and political line from "building a socialist system" to "continuing to establish and perfect the people's democratic system." Into the twenty-first century, the LPRP further refined and enriched these ideas in the reports of the 10th and 11th Congresses, forming a theoretical system of people's democracy unique to Laos.
Second, the Party has strengthened the institutional construction of people's democracy. The 2nd Congress of the LPRP gave clear instructions on the Party's revolutionary tasks and planned for socialist construction and the perfection of people's democracy after seizing state power: "Unite the masses of all ethnic groups, overthrow the aggression and rule of imperialism, bureaucratic capitalism, and the feudal class, complete the national-democratic revolution nationwide, and prepare conditions for a direct transition to socialism without passing through the capitalist road, making Laos a peaceful, independent, democratic, unified, and prosperous country." The LPRP has further highlighted the status of people's democracy and its people-centered position by constructing a legal system for people's democracy. In 1991, Laos promulgated its first Constitution, which established the status of people's democracy in the form of a fundamental law, clarifying that state power comes from the people and belongs to the people. As of 2017, Laos had promulgated and implemented over 140 laws and regulations surrounding areas relevant to the people’s interests—including politics, economy, culture, society, investment, and the environment—forming a relatively complete legal-institutional system that provides a guarantee for the protection of people's rights and the status of people's democracy. In 2012, the Resolution on Building Provinces as Strategic Units, Districts as Comprehensively Strong Units, and Villages as Development Units (the "Three-Builds" Directive) was issued. It took the strengthening of democratic institutions as a primary task, fully respecting the initiative and will of the people, and enabling them to fully enjoy various rights of political participation and social governance. The LPRP emphasizes that the rights of the Lao masses as masters of the state are guaranteed and realized through a political system with the Party as the leadership core. In accordance with the Constitution, the Party has perfected the central-local political structure, strengthened primary-level party organizations in combination with "mass movements" (群众运动 [4]), united all ethnic groups to serve the socialist system, severely punished die-hard elements who oppose the interests of the people and the state, and strengthened the institutional construction of people's democracy.
Third, the Party has ensured that people's democracy is substantive and broad-based. Since the founding of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Party has been committed to promoting unity between the Party and the entire people by refining the theoretical system and strengthening institutional construction. This has created a vibrant political situation, actively ensuring the basic right of the people to be masters of their own affairs and guaranteeing the authenticity of people's democracy. Simultaneously, the LPRP has fully mobilized social organizations—such as the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC), labor unions, youth unions, and women's federations—allowing the broad masses to devote themselves to socialist construction. Furthermore, the LPRP attaches great importance to the country's traditional national culture, guiding and advocating for the study and protection of indigenous culture and vigorously building cultural facilities. Given the specific national condition where Buddhist culture is integrated into all aspects of daily life and the number of believers is vast, the Party values the role of Buddhist culture and organizations in enhancing ethnic unity, broadening democratic channels, remaining close to public sentiment, and maintaining social stability. It has formulated and introduced religious policies that conform to the will of the people, regarding the broad masses of believers as a positive force for socialist construction. By guiding religion to adapt to socialism, the Party has achieved an organic unity between Buddhist education, patriotic education, and civic moral education. This has expanded the theoretical extension of "the people" and enhanced the broad-based nature of people's democracy.
(2) Achieving a Significant Increase in the People's Standard of Living
After the 18th century, Lao territory was constantly threatened and invaded by external forces, causing severe damage to the Lao economy. The LPRP has always prioritized the interests of the masses, taking the protection and fulfillment of those interests as its starting point and ultimate goal. Therefore, rapidly developing the economy and improving the people's standard of living became the primary issues for the LPRP to resolve after founding the state. To fundamentally change Laos's state of poverty, it was necessary to apply Marxism-Leninism to Lao reality, adhere to a people-centered position, and take the maintenance of the people's interests as the highest value pursuit. This involved promoting progress in various fields closely related to people's lives—such as economic development, public health, civic education, and human resource development—and striving toward the developmental goal of prosperity for the people.
First is the promotion of economic and social development. The Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) leads the government in formulating "Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plans" to coordinate the development of the national economy and promote economic elevation and prosperity. Through development under several "Five-Year Plans," Laos's per capita GDP grew from $325 USD in 2000 to $2,664 USD in 2020, with the average annual GDP growth rate maintaining around 7%. The report of the 11th National Congress of the LPRP in 2021 proposed a "Socio-Economic Development Plan" for the next five years, striving to achieve an average annual economic growth of 4% and a target per capita GDP of $2,880, to "steadily improve the living standards and quality of life of the people of all ethnic groups across the country, and remove the 'Least Developed Country' [5] label." Reports from successive Party Congresses of the LPRP have all emphasized economic development as the central task and provided top-level design and planning for future economic development. In addition to summarizing the experience of "Chintanakan Mai" (Innovation and Renovation) [6] and demanding continued progress along that path, the 6th and 7th National Congresses of the LPRP also made comprehensive deployments on how to escape poverty, developing the Lao socio-economy through the formulation of medium- and short-term plans to promote the transformation of the economic structure toward industrialization and modernization. The 10th National Congress pointed out that "to develop, we must persist in taking economic construction as the center, while simultaneously integrating social development, cultural protection, and environmental sustainability... economic development must be closely integrated with national defense and security, and economic prosperity and strength must be closely linked with poverty reduction and the continuous improvement of the material and cultural living standards of the people of all ethnic groups." The report of the 11th National Congress proposed focusing on strengthening infrastructure and large-scale service construction to allow the masses to lead happy and healthy lives, and emphasized that during the process of implementing the "9th Five-Year" economic construction plan, the Party should "fully consult and extensively listen to the opinions and demands of people of all parties and ethnic groups across the country, give full play to the sense of ownership [7] among people of all social strata, and strengthen democracy in practice."
Second is the elevation of public health service capabilities. Healthcare is a necessity for people's livelihoods. The LPRP has repeatedly emphasized that the coverage and quality of medical and health services should be improved, investment in medical health in remote areas should be increased, and a contingent of dedicated doctors and nurses with a spirit of service should be trained to ensure that the Lao people generally enjoy medical and health services. Laos has implemented a free medical policy in public hospitals nationwide and launched "Health Villages" and "Advanced Disease Prevention Villages" campaigns to strengthen the self-protection awareness of the masses. It has also made considerable progress in the United Nations "Millennium Development Goals," such as reducing child mortality, ensuring maternal health, preventing and treating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability. The LPRP has extended public health work to the vast rural areas of Laos, reaching a coverage rate of 98%, and has provided over 5,000 village-level medical kits for rural areas. At the same time, it actively guides the orderly development of the Red Cross, strengthens exchanges and cooperation with the Red Cross of other countries and the World Health Organization, persists in implementing the public health and social welfare security policies of the LPRP and the state, and carries out mutual medical assistance; the proportion of the poor population joining medical hardship assistance has reached more than three-quarters. Notably, when controlling and preventing the sudden public health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, the LPRP coordinated and utilized domestic and foreign medical resources to keep the number of confirmed cases and deaths in Laos at a low level, and actively conducted scientific research cooperation with countries such as China, ensuring the safety of the lives and property of the Lao people.
Third is the improvement of the national education system. Education is the foundation of people's livelihoods. The LPRP has always placed education in a position of priority development and has continuously deepened the reform of the national education system. As early as the beginning of the founding of the state, in order to eliminate illiteracy and improve the cultural level of the masses, the LPRP and the state strove to open primary education in villages, including impoverished areas. In 1991, the 5th National Congress of the LPRP clearly proposed the educational guidelines and goals of "improving the educational level of the whole nation," while the 7th National Congress proposed the slogan "improve education quality and promote the transformation of Lao education toward modernization." Choummaly Sayasone, General Secretary of the LPRP Central Committee, emphasized at the meeting celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the LPRP that education development and human resource development should be treated as central tasks to cultivate Lao people with ideals, morality, knowledge, and ability to meet the needs of the country and society. After decades of development, the coverage of the educated population in Laos has expanded; the number of primary and secondary schools in Laos grew from 4,444 and 83 at the time of the nation's founding to 8,823 and 1,816 respectively in 2019. By the end of the "8th Five-Year Plan," the enrollment rate for five-year-olds reached 82.7%, and the primary school enrollment rate reached 99%. Regarding vocational education, as of 2017, a total of 23 vocational education schools and 101 vocational-technical schools were established, basically covering elementary, intermediate, advanced, and preparatory levels, focusing on cultivating technical workers, management personnel, enterprise personnel, and other types of talents to provide substantial human resource support for the development of the national economy and the rational layout of industries. In terms of higher education, the country has established a total of 5 undergraduate institutions and 106 junior colleges; in addition, 12 teacher-training colleges, including the Faculty of Education at the National University, have been established, basically completing the construction of the national education system's coverage.
(3) Smoothing the Channels for Converging the People's Power
The LPRP persists in the people's standpoint, gives play to the role of mass organizations to concentrate public opinion, maintains the purity of the Party through the anti-corruption struggle, unites the people around the Party, and smooths the channels for converging the people's power.
First is strengthening the close ties between the Party and the people. "Party members and cadres must always be attached to the people, loyal to the people, and love the people, persist in the mass line, and persist in taking the people as the basis." The LPRP believes that whether close ties are maintained with the masses is a decisive condition for the Party's life or death, existence, and development; being divorced from the masses is the greatest threat and challenge facing the Party. Maintaining close ties with the masses means understanding what the masses think, feel, need, and expect. Therefore, the LPRP constantly attaches importance to the role of mass organizations, creatively leading people of all ethnic groups to unite within the united front under the Party's leadership, giving play to the role of mass organizations such as the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union, the Lao Women’s Union, and the Lao Federation of Trade Unions in rural construction, poverty reduction, and grassroots development, and strengthening education on ethnic unity. At the same time, the LPRP actively inherits and promotes national culture. Given the reality that a large number of people are religious and Buddhism has long been integrated into all fields of social life, it regards the religious masses as an active force in socialist construction and treats Buddhist activities as an important component of patriotism and citizenship education, using this as an important way to unite the broad masses and smooth the channels for converging the people's power.
Second is strengthening the construction of the Party's work style. "Our Party always persists in the guidance of Marxist-Leninist theories of Party building, adheres to the principle of democratic centralism, actively advocates for inner-Party self-criticism and mutual criticism, resolutely combats the use of power for personal gain and opportunism, and builds a transparent, active, and excellent Party." The issue of work style is a prominent expression of whether a Marxist party can maintain its advanced nature and purity, and is also the key to whether a ruling party can gather the hearts of the people, concentrate public opinion, and give full play to the people's power. The LPRP requires Party members and cadres at all levels to closely link with the masses and stipulates they must go deep into the masses, the countryside, ethnic minority areas, and impoverished areas. Members of the Central Politburo, including the General Secretary of the LPRP Central Committee, must go to the grassroots at least three times a year, treating the findings from grassroots inspections as the basis for formulating policies and guiding practical work. At the same time, the Party's work style relates to the image of the Party in the hearts of the masses and the prestige of the Party; it must resolutely struggle against unhealthy tendencies. To this end, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 10th LPRP Central Committee focused on major issues such as Party building, emphasizing the need to strengthen the construction of the Party's work style, and decided to launch a resolute struggle against unhealthy styles such as bureaucratism, formalism, individualism, money worship, and extravagance, making overall deployments for work style construction from the height of Party building. Subsequently, the 4th and 5th Plenary Sessions of the 10th Central Committee successively issued inner-Party documents and regulations such as the Order on Carrying Out Party Rectification Political Life Meetings Throughout the Party and Resolutely Rectifying the Party to be Pure, Strong, and Stable, highlighting the need to combat all unhealthy styles and cultivate a correct style of work and life.
Third is punishing corruption to coalesce hearts and gather strength. The problem of corruption and graft causes serious losses to the state and society at best and destroys the Party's image and severs the ties between the Party and the people at worst, causing the Party to lose its basis for governance. The LPRP attaches great importance to punishing corruption, resolutely curbing the corruption of Party members, and maintaining the prestige of the Party. In 1992, the 5th Plenary Session of the 5th LPRP Central Committee promulgated the Regulations Against Corruption and Graft; since then, the Lao state has formulated and revised the Anti-Corruption Law many times, continuously improving the anti-corruption legal system. In 2012, the LPRP Central Politburo issued Document No. 2 to revise the original Prohibitions on the Conduct of Party Members and Cadres, writing corrupt behavior into the Party Constitution as "Prohibitions for Party Members," and established Party inspection and supervision work and disciplinary inspection commissions at all levels, clarifying Party discipline. Starting from 2014, the LPRP proposed that public officials must disclose their assets to curb corrupt behavior; any assets exceeding a value of 20 million Kip (equivalent to approximately 15,000 RMB) must be reported. Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh emphasized at the 2017 All-Party Political Life Mobilization Meeting that corruption, as one of the prominent problems in Party building work, must be addressed: "After the 10th National Congress, Party committees and organizations at all levels must actively implement [resolutions], take the lead in studying solutions to prominent problems, further accelerate the implementation process, and earnestly resolve shortcomings in inner-Party work." In the same year, the Resolution on Resisting Bureaucratism and Corruption was promulgated, providing top-level design and institutional arrangements for punishing corruption and for the innovation and construction of the Party. Since the 10th National Congress, a series of rules and regulations to combat corruption have been issued, regulating issues such as the allocation of vehicles for leading cadres, prohibitions for public officials, and personal affairs, while exploring the establishment of a personal asset declaration system for leading cadres, a responsibility system for clean government construction, and an accountability system. Through severe punishment of corruption, the Party has further gathered the hearts of the people, tightened the ties between the Party and the masses, and smoothed the channels for converging the people's power.
III. Main Experience of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's Persistence in the People's Standpoint
In nearly 70 years of practical exploration, the LPRP has consistently persisted in the people's standpoint, enriching people's theory to gather hearts, improving Party building to converge the people's power, and addressing governance challenges to follow the people's will. This has greatly improved the living conditions of the people of all ethnic groups in Laos and accumulated a wealth of practical experience.
(1) Founding People's Theory to Gather the Hearts of the People
The fundamental reason why the LPRP has been able to achieve the current series of successes is its ability to always maintain contact with the masses, continuously respond to the needs of the masses at different stages of development, sublimate the practical exploration of practicing the people's standpoint into theory, and arm the minds of Party members and cadres with it to guide service to the people's interests and solve specific realistic problems.
First is strengthening the summation of experience to form a systematic theory. The LPRP emphasizes the need to always persist in the Party’s nature as a proletarian party, persist in Marxism-Leninism and socialist ideals, and attach importance to studying and grasping the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism. Upholding the Marxist-Leninist view of the people's standpoint, the LPRP has accumulated a large amount of practical experience in serving the people and in uniting and leading the masses to struggle for liberation during the processes of national liberation, society, and "Chintanakan Mai" (Innovation and Renovation), providing a practical basis and source for the founding and formation of people's theory. To fundamentally and eternally maintain the people's standpoint of governing for the people and establishing the Party for the people, one must summarize and refine practical experience into a systematic people's theory and use it as a theoretical weapon to unify the thinking of the whole Party and maintain the Party's advanced nature and purity. The LPRP has organized and summarized issues around improving the system of people's democracy, improving the people's living standards, smoothing the channels for converging the people's power, promoting inner-Party and social democracy, and giving play to the Party's leading role. It has sublimated the exploratory experience of serving the people and governing into theory, forming a people's theory based on the people's standpoint. This theory inherits the Marxist-Leninist people's standpoint, creatively applies Marxism-Leninism to solve local problems in Laos, and promotes the development of the Sinicization [8] of Marxism-Leninism in a local context.
Second, utilizing theoretical arming of Party members and cadres to serve the people. As the backbone and essential component of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP), the firmness of the standing and the correctness of the value orientation of Party members and cadres are directly related to the preservation of the Party's nature and its capacity to serve the people. For a long time, the LPRP has been committed to cultivating and building a high-quality and high-standard contingent of Party members and cadres. It emphasizes the ideological and theoretical study of members and leading cadres, selecting and sending outstanding young cadres to socialist countries such as China and Vietnam to study political theory, professional skills, and knowledge, while inviting experts from the Chinese and Vietnamese theoretical communities to Laos to introduce their experiences in Reform and Opening-up and Renovations [9]. Furthermore, administrative academies have been established at all levels within Laos to regularly arrange for the study of Party members and cadres, and young members with high theoretical levels and professional skills are selected for the cadre ranks to improve the overall theoretical literacy and operational capacity of the contingent. Simultaneously, the Party issued the Regulations on the Political Responsibility of Senior Leading Cadres and the Regulations of the Political Bureau of the LPRP Central Committee on the Political Responsibility of Leading Cadres. These measures have enhanced the sense of political responsibility and the awareness of leading by example among Party members and cadres, enabling them to correctly establish a people-centered standing and strengthening their ability to serve the people. Only by arming the minds of Party members and cadres with people-centered theory—ensuring that the people-centered standing of serving the people and striving for their interests is deeply rooted in their hearts, and improving their political-ideological consciousness and professional quality—can the style [10] of Party members and cadres be improved at its ideological source, ensuring the lasting bond between the Party and the people as well as the Party's advanced nature and purity.
Third, prioritizing the interpretation and dissemination of theory to educate the people. Whether the masses can master theory as a "weapon of criticism" depends on the communication and explanation of that theory. The process of the LPRP continuously deepening the localization [11] of Marxism-Leninism is, in essence, the process of using the people-centered standing of Marxism-Leninism to educate, unite, and lead the masses in solving the practical problems of Laos. For many years, the LPRP has used various forms to normalize the promotion of the Party's line, principles, and policies to the masses, transforming these into the people's own ideological concepts and mobilizing the masses to participate in the practice of realizing the Party's line. The 11th National Congress of the LPRP formulated eight major policies to further implement the Renovation line, one of which is to "leverage the role of mass organizations such as the Lao Front for National Development" to carry out the work of publicizing, organizing, and mobilizing the masses. Through the research, dissemination, and education of Marxism-Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought [12], Marxism-Leninism has gradually occupied a dominant position in the spiritual world of the people, deepening its guiding role in the field of ideology. Through cross-generational interpretation, dissemination, and education, people-centered theory has become the ideological foundation for condensing the people's strength, forging close ties between the Party and the people, and giving play to the role of the people.
(II) Improving Party building to consolidate the people's strength
The reason the LPRP has been able to lead the people to achieve success in the socialist revolution and the Renovation and Opening-up is, most crucially, its adherence to the people-centered standing in guiding the improvement of the Party's own building, and the enhancement of the Party's governing capacity through self-building to highlight its people-centered standing, thereby gathering formidable strength from the people.
On one hand, the Party adheres to the people-centered standing to guide and improve the Party's own building. The LPRP has always centered itself around the masses, adhering to the principle of putting the people first, practicing service to the people, and implementing the Party's mass line. It relies on the masses, builds and develops the Party through mass revolutionary movements, and takes the people-centered standing as the fundamental starting point and ultimate goal of the Party's self-building. First, it persists in the people-centered standing to carry out ideological and theoretical building. Since the revolutionary era, the LPRP has inscribed the strengthening of the Party's ideological and theoretical building into the Party Constitution and clarified its importance through internal Party regulations. In every subsequent Party Congress, it has emphasized strengthening the study of Marxism-Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought, "continuing to achieve new breakthroughs in theoretical thinking to lay the foundation for enhancing the Party's wisdom, improving its leadership capacity, and translating theoretical achievements into a line of policies consistent with our country's environment and reality." [13] By comprehensively carrying out activities to cultivate ideals and convictions, the Party ensures that members and cadres fully recognize the dangers of detaching from or betraying the people, establishes a people-centered standing of striving for the people's interests, and effectively enhances their sense of responsibility and service. Second, it persists in the people-centered standing to strengthen the Party's political building. The LPRP Constitution emphasizes that members and cadres should strengthen self-tempering, study Marxism-Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought, and prioritize learning the Party's line, principles, policies, and the national laws, adhering to the correct political direction and standing, and unswervingly advancing along the path of Renovation. Simultaneously, it emphasizes the need for courage in political self-criticism, the continuous transformation of deficiencies that conflict with the people's interests, taking the lead in following the law, and consciously shouldering the responsibility of serving the people.
On the other hand, the Party uses its own building to highlight its people-oriented value orientation. Strengthening the Party's self-building and consciously transforming systems and mechanisms that do not meet the people's needs or the requirements of national governance—making them responsive to the people's expectations, the development of the times, and the laws of governance—is, fundamentally, about highlighting the people-centered value orientation of a proletarian party. Since its founding, the LPRP has taken national liberation and the protection of the people's fundamental interests as its objective, engaging in arduous struggles alongside the masses against domestic feudal forces and foreign imperialist colonial aggressors. Through these revolutions, it forged "flesh-and-blood ties" with the masses, making the Party's political standing firmer and its people-centered value orientation more prominent. During the revolutionary period, the LPRP gave clear instructions on the direction of its construction: "We must maintain close ties with the mass struggle movement and build the Party into one that is firm and strong politically, ideologically, and organizationally." The 3rd National Congress of the LPRP further emphasized that the Party's building must achieve the "three integrations": integration with the people's movement, integration with the reform of government organs and mass organizations, and integration with the improvement of the quality of Party members and cadres. Strengthening the Party's self-building—firmly adhering to the people-centered standing in ideology, streamlining the service systems in organization, staying closer to the lives of the masses in "style," and eliminating phenomena that betray the people's interests in anti-corruption efforts—is, in essence, making the interests of the masses the fundamental principle of all work and focusing on solving the practical problems of the people.
Today, along with the continuous development of economic globalization, international competition has become increasingly fierce. The "peaceful evolution" [14] of Western capitalism toward socialism has taken on new forms. The LPRP still faces many unprecedented challenges, and the grand, comprehensive, and arduous historical mission it shoulders remains unchanged. To maintain the Party's class attributes and nature over the long term, it must persist in using the people-centered standing to guide the improvement of its own building and remain firm in the people-centered standing of Marxism-Leninism.
(III) Responding to risks and challenges to align with the people's will
"The Party's line is not copied from books; rather, it is formulated through research, exploration, and reflection after putting in the hard work to master the national conditions, the people's conditions, and the basic characteristics of our country's actual social and historical situation." The reason the LPRP has been able to lead the people to achieve significant progress in the socialist revolution and Renovation and Opening-up is, in final analysis, its adherence to the people-centered standing of Marxism-Leninism. It takes the protection of the people's fundamental interests as the starting point and ultimate goal in responding to risks and challenges, thereby aligning with the aspirations of the people and winning their support.
On one hand, the Party takes the protection of the people's fundamental interests as the starting point for addressing risks and challenges. The LPRP has always adhered to a people-centered standing, using this as the anchor for enhancing the Party's various capabilities and safeguarding the people's interests. From the "First Five-Year Plan" to the "Ninth Five-Year Plan," the LPRP has consistently prioritized issues related to the people's interests, formulating development goals that have led to the doubling of Laos's GDP, national income, and industrial output. This has greatly promoted economic development and successfully addressed domestic and international challenges such as economic backwardness, intense ideological struggle, and the Southeast Asian financial crisis. The history of socialist development at home and abroad fully proves that only by continuously improving the people's living standards and conforming to their expectations can the superiority of the socialist system and the scientific nature of Marxism-Leninism be fully demonstrated. Only then can the Party freely respond to all internal and external risks, and only then will the people's support for the Party and their faith in socialism be continuously strengthened. In the New Era, the LPRP still faces many governance difficulties such as poverty reduction, structural economic issues, public health events like the COVID-19 pandemic, and the "peaceful evolution" efforts of Western countries. Only by taking the protection of the fundamental interests of the masses as the basic starting point of governance and persisting in the people-centered standing can the Party consolidate a broader, more authentic, and more powerful strength from the people, thereby shoring up the class and mass foundations of the Party's governance and providing an inexhaustible impetus for responding to risks and challenges.
On the other hand, the Party regards the protection of the people's fundamental interests as the ultimate goal of responding to risks and challenges. For the Party to govern the country and respond to all challenges, the ultimate goal must be the fundamental interests of the people. This is not only a direct reflection of the political and class attributes of a proletarian party but also a fundamental requirement of adhering to the people-centered standing of Marxism-Leninism. Since the Renovation and Opening-up, Laos has experienced shocks to the socialist cause and the ideological field caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union, the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the Asian financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, under the leadership of the LPRP, the country has maintained national and social stability, sustained economic development, and a flourishing socialist cause. "Despite facing many difficulties and challenges, we firmly believe that we will be able to overcome various obstacles and achieve greater success, eventually leading our country into the front lines of socialism." Historical facts show that only when the people of the whole country, under the leadership of the Party, apply the standing, viewpoints, and methods of Marxism-Leninism to solve their own practical problems, and take the protection of the people's fundamental interests as the starting point and final goal, can the success of the socialist revolution and Renovation and Opening-up be achieved. Therefore, in the face of increasingly complex domestic and international situations and new governance challenges, the Party must always take the protection of the people's fundamental interests as its goal, continuously strengthen its ties with the people, and accumulate the people's strength for the governance of the country.
(Authors' Affiliation: Xu Qinfa and Zuo Yuntian, School of Marxism, Guangxi University) Online Editor: Tong Xin Source: Scientific Socialism, 2022, Issue 2