Liu Ziyi and Wu Fulai: Promoting the Integration of Rectifying Conduct, Disciplining, and Fighting Corruption with a Systems Perspective
Since the 18th Party Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to the systemic concept and continuously deepened its understanding of the laws governing the management and governance of the Party. It has proposed important propositions such as "we must grasp the integration of straightening out work styles, enforcing discipline, and fighting corruption" and "persist in the interconnection of straightening out work styles, enforcing discipline, and fighting corruption," providing scientific guidance and an action manual for advancing the task of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. On the new journey of the New Era, we must take the systemic concept as our guide to recognize and grasp the internal logic, core essence, and practical path of this interconnection, continually steering the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party toward greater depth to provide a strong political guarantee for Chinese-path modernization.
Thinking Systemically About the Internal Logic of Connecting Work Style, Discipline, and Anti-Corruption
To promote the interconnection of straightening out work styles, enforcing discipline, and fighting corruption with a systemic concept, we must first focus on the foundational questions of how it is possible and why it is necessary. We must understand the scientific nature, inevitability, and urgency of this interconnection from multiple dimensions: theoretical, historical, and practical.
This is an inherent requirement of the Marxist worldview and methodology. Marxist dialectical materialism emphasizes grasping the internal laws of development from the perspective of universal connection, comprehensive systems, and evolutionary change, providing the basic mode of thinking and working for a Marxist party to strengthen its own building. Looking at the complex correlation between work style issues, disciplinary issues, and corruption: first, although work style issues and corruption differ in their forms of manifestation and degree of harm, they serve as the internal and external sides of one another, sharing the same roots and origins, and emerging in tandem. Second, issues of "winds and corruption" [1] have a direct causal relationship with disciplinary issues. In other words, strict discipline helps to rectify the Party’s work style and clear out corruption, while lax discipline leads to the spread of "unhealthy winds" [2] and the proliferation of graft. Therefore, the building of work styles, the building of discipline, and the anti-corruption struggle—as key links in the self-building of a Marxist party—are essentially organic components of a unity of opposites and cannot be viewed in isolation. Only through a connected and collaborative governance strategy, by grasping these three elements together, can we achieve an overall improvement in the effectiveness of Party management and governance.
This is an important manifestation of the CPC's historical experience in Party management and governance. Using a systemic concept to integrally advance the rectification of work styles, discipline, and anti-corruption is a vital historical experience and tradition of the CPC. As early as the New Democratic Revolution period [3], the Party attached importance to using strict discipline and rules to overhaul work styles and punish corruption, continuously enhancing the cohesion and combat effectiveness of Party organizations. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party strengthened its self-building through "rectification of styles and rectification of the Party" (zhěngfēng zhěngdàng). In this process, it not only resolutely punished corrupt elements such as Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan [4], but also eliminated unhealthy styles within the Party, consolidating and strengthening the "flesh-and-blood ties" between the Party and the masses. After the Reform and Opening-up, facing prominent problems triggered by the penetration of commodity-economy principles into the Party, it continuously increased the intensity of the anti-corruption struggle, gradually forming a three-part work pattern comprising leader integrity and self-discipline, the investigation of major cases, and the correction of "unhealthy winds" in departments and industries. Since the New Era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has persisted in grasping Party spirit, work style, and discipline together, strengthening the interconnection of these three elements with a "strict" keynote, achieving remarkable results. History and practice prove that persisting in this interconnection is a powerful lever for Party governance and a long-term task to ensure the Party never changes its nature, its color, or its character.
This is an inevitable choice for responding to the complex situation of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in the New Era. Since the 18th Party Congress, changes unseen in a century have accelerated, and extensive and profound changes are taking place in the domestic and international environments; the "Four Tests" and "Four Dangers" [5] facing the Party will persist for a long time. Based on a deep insight into the international situation, the national conditions, and the state of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "although the building of a clean government and the anti-corruption struggle have achieved historical achievements, the situation remains grave and complex." The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) for the first time added the term "total war" to its characterization of the anti-corruption struggle, proposing the general requirement to "resolutely fight the battle of positions, the battle of endurance, and the total war of anti-corruption," profoundly revealing the systemic characteristics of the current struggle. The "interweaving of winds and corruption" (fēngfǔ jiāozhī) is a prominent problem that must be addressed in the current stage of building Party conduct and clean government. To solve the problem of "from winds to corruption" (yóufēngjífǔ), "winds turning into corruption" (yóufēngbiànfǔ), and the "integration of winds and corruption" (fēngfǔ yītǐ), we must adhere to the systemic concept and integrally rectify unhealthy winds, disciplinary violations, and corruption. We must use new achievements in work style, discipline, and anti-corruption to inject powerful kinetic energy into the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
Systemically Grasping the Core Essence of Connecting Work Style, Discipline, and Anti-Corruption
To promote this interconnection with a systemic concept, we must observe things developmentally rather than statically, comprehensively rather than partially, systemically rather than in a fragmented way, and through universal connection rather than in isolation. We must grasp three focal points: integrity, synergy, and dynamism.
Focus on Integrity. "He who does not plan for the whole is incapable of planning for a single part." Persisting in the interconnection of work style, discipline, and anti-corruption must proceed from a holistic and global perspective. On the one hand, we must avoid isolating these three elements, and instead treat them as an organic whole, understanding the consistency and correlation of their governance subjects, objects, and functions, and coordinating the planning of their overall goals, directions, and tasks. On the other hand, we must stand at the political height of coordinately advancing the Four Comprehensives strategic layout, grasp the practical requirement of "leading the great social revolution through the Great Self-Revolution," clarify the thematic main line of work style, discipline, and anti-corruption within the context of the New Era, and promote the "New Great Project of Party Building" [6] in the New Era toward greater depth.
Enhance Synergy. Interconnection does not mean "grabbing the eyebrows and the beard all at once" [7]; rather, it means making the three promote and complement one another. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized "using fine work styles as the lead, strict discipline as the guarantee, and the punishment of corruption as the clearing of obstacles," which profoundly clarifies the functional positioning and internal correlation of the three. Among them, work style plays a leading role, providing a clear orientation for discipline and anti-corruption by correcting the Four Winds and establishing new trends; discipline plays a guaranteeing role, defining rigid boundaries by strengthening the authority and execution of the system; anti-corruption plays the role of clearing obstacles, providing practical support for work style and discipline by breaking down the barriers of solidified interests and cutting the chains of power-rent seeking [8]. Only by enhancing synergy and forming a closed-loop governance system that is differentiated and prioritized yet interconnected and internally coupled can we promote the Party’s self-revolution to advance link by link and level by level.
Focus on Dynamism. The strategic judgment that "comprehensively and strictly governing the Party is always on the road" determines that the interconnection of work style, discipline, and anti-corruption must follow the laws of dynamic governance. On the one hand, we must grasp the dynamic laws of the interwoven evolution between unhealthy winds, disciplinary violations, and corruption, and improve the mechanisms for simultaneous investigation and treatment. On the other hand, we must recognize that this work is arduous and complex. Therefore, we must accurately identify the periodic characteristics of the struggle and analyze problems within their specific historical backgrounds, while also adjusting and laying out long-term plans through a developmental lens, achieving greater results through the unity of periodic and long-term efforts.
Systemically Planning the Practical Path of Connecting Work Style, Discipline, and Anti-Corruption
The interconnection of work style, discipline, and anti-corruption is a systemic project. It requires the consolidation of responsibility as a prerequisite, the strengthening of supervision as the key, the improvement of institutions as the guarantee, and the deepening of education as the foundation, promoting the synergy and systemic integration of all elements, resources, and forces to release comprehensive effectiveness.
Promote the Connection of Responsibility and Integrate Subject Forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "Comprehensively and strictly governing the Party is the common responsibility of the whole Party; we must establish and improve a responsibility system by layers and categories." Party committees (and leading Party groups) at all levels must fulfill their "subject responsibility" (zhǔtǐ zérèn), ensuring that Party leadership runs through all aspects of improving work styles, enforcing discipline, and punishing corruption. The Commissions for Discipline Inspection (CDIs) at all levels must fulfill their "supervisory responsibility" (jiāndū zérèn), incorporating the concept of interconnection into every link of inspection, investigation, and rectification. Functional departments must fulfill their "regulatory responsibility" (jiànguǎn zérèn), highlighting fields where power is concentrated, capital is intensive, and resources are abundant. All Party members and cadres must earnestly take up their responsibilities, strengthen their awareness of integrity and self-discipline, and resolutely fight against all factors that weaken the Party's advanced nature or damage the Party's purity.
Promote the Connection of Institutions to Ensure Long-term Effectiveness. Institutions possess globality and stability; they are a powerful guarantee for deepening the treatment of both symptoms and root causes (biāoběn jiànzhì) and for normalizing the building of clean government. On the one hand, we must improve the institutional system, specifically by using institutions to solidify effective experience. We must address the procedural and structural problems behind the interweaving of "winds and corruption" to plug loopholes and eradicate the soil and conditions that breed corruption. This will prevent work style issues from evolving into corruption and enhance the effectiveness of "promoting rectification and governance through cases" [9]. On the other hand, we must strengthen institutional execution, utilizing the "two rulers" of discipline and law, insisting that everyone is equal before the system and there are no exceptions in execution, ensuring that institutional advantages are transformed into governance effectiveness.