Liu Lianjun: Strict Supervision and Constraint with Strength, Gracious Care and Incentive with Warmth
Young cadres are the fresh force [1] for the cause of the Party and the state and the successors to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "To achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, the key lies in the Party, the key lies in people, and in the final analysis, the key lies in cultivating and fostering generation after generation of reliable successors." The communique of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection [2] emphasized: "Deeply grasp the higher requirements for motivating responsibility and action posed by the goals and tasks of the '15th Five-Year Plan' period; unswervingly promote Party members and cadres to start businesses and pursue careers while observing rules and discipline"; "Strengthen the treatment of both symptoms and root causes, and effectively utilize the strategic leverage of integrated advancement of ensuring that officials do not dare, are not able, and do not want to be corrupt [3]"; and "Focus on investigating and punishing corruption among the 'key minority' [4] and young cadres." Prompting young cadres to truly study, understand, believe in, and apply Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and the Party's Self-Revolution—ensuring that the requirements for clean governance enter their minds, hearts, and actions to prevent corruption—is an important part of deeply advancing the construction of a clean government and the anti-corruption struggle, as well as an essential component of cultivating young cadres. The "Proposals" adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party emphasized combining strict management with deep concern, and giving equal weight to incentives and constraints, so as to stimulate the internal drive and collective vitality of the cadre workforce. To cultivate young cadres, we must deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s relevant important expositions and the decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee. We must consistently persist in "grasping with both hands": grasping strict management with one hand and deep concern with the other; grasping incentives with one hand and constraints with the other, so as to foster batch after batch of young cadres who are loyal to the Party, courageous in taking responsibility, and clean and upright.
Young cadres possess a strong sense of career dedication, abundant energy, active thinking, and systematic knowledge structures. They are courageous in innovation, dare to break through conventional shackles [5], and are willing to try solving problems with new concepts, technologies, and methods. They are the vanguard for starting businesses and the "pathbreakers" [6] for overcoming difficult challenges. However, it must also be seen that because they are not yet deeply experienced in the ways of the world, when faced with external risks and "hunting" [7] by lures and temptations, some young cadres may lose their footing at the baseline of resisting corruption and preventing degeneration due to unsteady ideals and convictions or insufficient tempering of their Party spirit [8]. This results in serious consequences involving violations of discipline and law. Furthermore, some lack a deep understanding of the relationship between wanting to do work, being able to do work, successfully completing work, and staying out of trouble; they are prone to pessimism and a negative mindset due to setbacks in a single moment or task, leading to a decline in motivation and a reduction in vitality. The growth of young cadres is not a "sprint" achieved overnight, but rather a "marathon" that requires maintaining sufficient endurance and confidence. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Cadre management is a science; one must dare to grasp and be good at managing, applying precise policies to reflect the strength of the organization. It is also an art; one must provide backing and encouragement, showing care and tolerance to reflect the warmth of the organization." In cultivating young cadres, maintaining the strength of strict management and constraint alongside the warmth of deep concern and motivation are two aspects that cannot be neglected one in favor of the other. Strict constraints lacking warmth are not conducive to fostering a spirit of struggle and developmental resilience in young cadres; deep concern and incentives lacking strength are not conducive to fostering their political capacity and sense of responsibility. Only by "grasping with both hands" and ensuring both hands are firm [9] can we truly lead young cadres to run the relay race of history with full confidence and vigor.
Our Party has always attached great importance to the cultivation of young cadres and has accumulated valuable experience. Comrade Mao Zedong once pointed out: "In the great struggle of the Chinese people, many activists have emerged and continue to emerge; our responsibility lies in organizing them, cultivating them, caring for them, and being good at using them." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has proceeded from the overall situation of building a strong country and national rejuvenation to make a series of important expositions regarding why we cultivate young cadres, what kind of young cadres to cultivate, and how to cultivate them. These have pointed out the direction and provided the fundamental follow-through for cultivating young cadres. Various regions and departments have utilized multiple modernized and precise cultivation models, such as the "Blue-from-Indigo Project" [10] and the "Seedling Thinning and Cultivation" [11] plans, to provide their respective areas with a large number of outstanding young cadres who have repeatedly rendered meritorious service in their posts. At a new historical starting point, cultivating young cadres requires persisting in "grasping with both hands" to continuously stimulate their internal motivation and overall vitality.
Firm ideals and convictions, along with reverence for Party discipline and national law, are the foundation for young cadres to establish themselves in life. For young cadres to "take up the baton" [12], the most important thing is to take up the baton of struggling for the lofty ideal of Communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must persistently strengthen education on ideals and convictions for young cadres, ensuring they deeply understand and always remember the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, internalizing these into firm political, ideological, and behavioral consciousness. At the same time, we must strengthen education on Party discipline and national law, so they hold themselves to strict requirements, exercise extreme caution with the power in their hands, and truly ensure that "power is used for the people, emotions are tied to the people, and benefits are sought for the people." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Good cadres are selected, but even more so, they are managed. Strict management is deep concern; it is being truly responsible for the cadres." One of the important ways for Party organizations at all levels to be responsible for young cadres is to define the boundaries of their words and deeds through Party discipline and national law. On one hand, we must urge young cadres to carry out regularized study of internal Party regulations and national laws, using the strict management of discipline and law to safeguard their careers and lives. On the other hand, we must weave a tight web of disciplinary and legal rules, refining specific requirements for political discipline and political rules to create a clean and healthy political ecosystem for the growth of young cadres.
While strict management and constraints provide strength, the warmth of deep concern and motivation can inspire young cadres to move forward boldly in their work, dare to experiment, and release their overall vitality. We must adhere to the correct orientation in appointing personnel, putting political standards in the first place, emphasizing practical work, and relying on actual performance. This will form a healthy mechanism where the capable are promoted, the excellent are rewarded, the mediocre are demoted, and the inferior are eliminated, guiding young cadres to be proactive while observing rules and discipline. We must continuously improve the incentive and protection mechanisms for taking responsibility and taking action, refining the implementation of the "Three Distinctions" [13]. We should treat the slips and errors made by young cadres in the process of starting businesses and pursuing careers objectively and fairly, clearly distinguishing whether the purpose was for the "public good" or "private gain," and whether the attitude was "intentional" or "negligent," so as to eliminate the worries of young cadres. When young cadres engage in reform and innovation, they may encounter false accusations or dishonest reports; the Party organization should investigate in a timely manner, clarify quickly, and punish severely, taking a clear-cut stand to back and encourage young cadres who take responsibility. We should soundly establish care and concern mechanisms, providing care for young cadres politically, ideologically, in their daily lives, and psychologically. This allows them to feel the warmth and power of the organization, fully stimulating their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity.