Xu Yishan, Mao Wanglei, and Xiang Jiawu: Profoundly Grasping the Dialectical Thinking in General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Exposition on the Solutions to the Unique Challenges Facing a Large Party
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) explicitly pointed out that we "must always stay cool-headed and determined to address the challenges unique to a large party." This is the first time our Party has proposed the important political concept of "challenges unique to a large party." At the same time, the report of the 20th National Congress emphasized that "only by persisting in the application of dialectical materialism and historical materialism can we correctly answer the major questions posed by the times and practice," and that we must "manage, govern, and build the Party with dialectical thinking." The "challenges unique to a large party" represent a scientific conclusion reached by organically combining the basic tenets of Marxism with the reality of CPC building. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the way to solve these "challenges unique to a large party" are imbued with dialectical thinking. They not only enrich and develop Marxist theory on Party building but also provide the fundamental guidance for constructing a Sinicized Marxist theory of Party building. The dialectical thinking in General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on solving "challenges unique to a large party" is mainly reflected in three aspects: planning institutional construction from the perspective of interconnectedness, clarifying strategic deployment from the perspective of development, and analyzing standards and boundaries from the perspective of contradiction.
I. Planning Institutional Improvement from the Perspective of Interconnectedness
The report of the 20th National Congress proposed for the first time "improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party." Compared to previous expositions on the strategic layout of "comprehensively and strictly governing the Party," the focus has shifted more toward the holistic construction and systematic improvement of this governance. The proposal to "improve the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party" is a major political measure and an innovation of systems and mechanisms to coordinate the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party and promote the Party's self-revolution. It fully reflects the unique insights of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core regarding the solution to the "challenges unique to a large party" in the New Era and on the new journey. Improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party should not involve a one-sided focus on local parts while ignoring the whole, nor should it involve grasping the macro-totality while neglecting key components. Instead, we must use the perspective of interconnectedness to plan institutional improvement, fully recognizing the inseparable organic link between the parts and the whole, focusing on local areas while maintaining an overall perspective.
The function of parts and their changes affect the function of the whole; the function of key parts and their changes can even play a decisive role in the function of the whole. Improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party requires accurately identifying key areas and key segments to achieve the effect of "getting twice the result with half the effort." [1] General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To build our Party well, we must seize the 'key minority'." As the backbone of the Party’s cause, leading officials are the "key minority." [2] Improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party must firmly grasp this key group; we must "conduct in-depth thematic education throughout the Party, with a focus on leading officials at or above the county and director level," to further calibrate the ideological baseline and behavioral bottom line, ensuring the entire Party’s unity in thought and consistency in action. The crux of improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party is reflected not only in grasping key groups but also in focusing on key scopes. "We must carry out special rectifications for prominent sectoral, systemic, and regional corruption problems... and strengthen reform and institutional construction of supervision mechanisms in key areas," further focusing on the "disaster areas" where problems frequently occur in the process of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. At the current stage, county-level Party organizations are the key part connecting the higher and lower levels in the CPC’s overall organizational structure. The construction of the county Party committee must receive sufficient attention to radiate and drive the construction of primary-level Party organizations below the county level. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Grasp the key of the county Party committee." The report of the 20th National Congress also clarified the "clear orientation of emphasizing the primary level," aiming to further consolidate the Party's governing foundation and thereby build a Marxist party capable of long-term governance.
The whole governs the parts from a dominant position. We must fully value the function and role of the whole, basing ourselves on the entirety and coordinating the overall situation to achieve the optimal state of the whole's function. In the process of improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, we cannot view problems in isolation or one-sidedly. We must see that the connections between things are universal and objective, and use a broader vision to comprehensively view and analyze the improvement of the system. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must persist in ensuring full coverage of content, objects, responsibility, and systems to further improve the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party." In terms of content, this means covering all of the Party's disciplines, including organizational, integrity, mass, work, and lifestyle disciplines. Discipline building must be placed in a more prominent position to build a "discipline matrix" covering all Party members and organizations at all levels. In terms of subjects, we must ensure "strictness for those above and below, and strictness for both matters and people." This means not just focusing on one or two "keys" and "priorities" while neglecting others, but ensuring no person or matter enjoys privileges or exceptions. In terms of responsibility, we must clarify direct responsibility and highlight leadership responsibility in the process of disciplinary action, tracing responsibility up and down to ensure no one is missed, achieving a chain of accountability. In terms of systems, we must "constrain every word and deed with the Party Constitution, regulations, and discipline," further realizing the interconnectedness and implementation of various internal Party rules and regulations.
II. Clarifying Strategic Deployment from the Perspective of Development
With the rapid development of the economy and society and the continuous changes in the conditions of the Party, the country, and the world, the strategic deployment for the Party to manage itself and govern itself strictly has been in a process of continuous enrichment and development. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must proceed from the height of the Party's long-term governance, the country's long-term stability, and the people's happiness and well-being, and treat the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party as the Party's long-term strategy and eternal subject." This fully reflects that Chinese Communists, represented by Comrade Xi Jinping, always persist in viewing Party building issues from the perspective of development, and always revolve around the long-term and arduous exploration of "what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build and how to build it." On the New Era’s new journey, the way to solve the "challenges unique to a large party" is to use the perspective of development to continue implementing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party and further advance the Party's self-revolution. The strategic deployment for solving the "challenges unique to a large party" will always be a work in progress and never a finished task.
The great revolutionary teacher Engels also pointed out: "The world is not to be comprehended as a complex of ready-made things, but as a complex of processes." Things exist and develop as processes. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report of the 20th National Congress: "All of us in the Party must remember that the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party is an unending journey, and the Party's self-revolution is an unending journey." Therefore, in the process of solving the "challenges unique to a large party," we must not only dispel all absurd ideas of being complacent or hesitant but also reject all erroneous practices of attempting to achieve results once and for all, overnight, or by following old conventions. We must constantly explore the optimal solution for dealing with "challenges unique to a large party" through dynamic progress. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party should be a dynamic system with rich connotations, complete functions, scientific standards, and efficient operation." From "strict governance of the Party" to "comprehensive and strict governance of the Party," from "promoting the development of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in depth" to "improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party," and from "having the courage for self-revolution and strictly managing and governing the Party" to "improving the system of norms and regulations for the Party's self-revolution"—the continuous deepening of these expressions profoundly reflects that in the process of solving "challenges unique to a large party," the Party has consistently followed the perspective of development based on a scientific examination of the objective development of the Party's situation, continuously pushing the strict governance of the Party deeper and further expanding the breadth and intensity of self-revolution.
Materialist dialectics holds that the triumph of new things over old things is an irresistible trend. At the same time, the development of things is a unity of progressiveness and tortuousness. We must clearly see that the road for the development of new things is full of twists and hardships, and we must grasp and handle the dialectical relationship between quantitative change and qualitative change in the long-term struggle and practice. The report of the 20th National Congress clearly pointed out: "Fiercely win the tough and protracted battle against corruption." The anti-corruption struggle is an important part of the CPC's self-building and an important means to solve "challenges unique to a large party" such as "how to always maintain a clean and upright political ecosystem." It is also a historical task with a long time span and wide coverage. The struggle against corruption must win both the regular protracted battle and the current stage's tough battle. Only by fighting each tough battle well and accumulating small victories into big ones can we possibly win the protracted battle. On the New Era’s new journey, we must continue to maintain firm determination and confidence in the Party managing itself and governing itself strictly, pay attention to the accumulation of results in strict governance in daily life, and ensure that the "sharp sword hangs high and the deterrence is always present," taking every step steadily on the road to solving the "challenges unique to a large party" and persisting over the long term to lay a solid foundation for final victory.
III. Analyzing Standards and Boundaries from the Perspective of Contradiction
Lenin once proposed: "Dialectics can be briefly defined as the doctrine of the unity of opposites." Contradiction is the essence and core of dialectics. Therefore, the solution to the "challenges unique to a large party" must also rely on the perspective of contradiction for the dialectical analysis of its standards and boundaries. On the New Era’s new journey, among the many contradictions—"internal and external to the Party, domestic and international, traditional and non-traditional, and between human society and nature"—the CPC must accurately identify and properly resolve the primary contradiction faced at the current stage. This is because the existence and development of the primary contradiction determine or influence the existence and development of other contradictions; once the primary contradiction is solved, secondary contradictions can be easily resolved. At the same time, within a contradiction, we must also correctly perceive the dialectical relationship between the principal and secondary aspects of the contradiction, scientifically grasping the balance of handling them and distinguishing between the "mainstream" and the "tributary."
The primary contradiction occupies the dominant position and plays a decisive role in the development of things. The principal aspect of the contradiction is in the controlling position and plays the leading role. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "If we do not distinguish between primary and secondary and try to grasp 'eyebrows and beard all at once,' we cannot do our work well... we must prioritize solving the primary contradiction and the principal aspect of the contradiction." [3] When analyzing the standards and boundaries for solving the "challenges unique to a large party," we must accurately and firmly grasp the primary contradiction, using its resolution to provide the prerequisites and practical experience for solving other contradictions.
As far as the current stage is concerned, there is still a certain tension between the quality of Party building and the historical tasks the Party needs to complete. This is the primary contradiction and prominent problem our Party must face directly in the great journey of uniting and leading the Chinese people to build a great modern socialist country and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the solution to the "challenges unique to a large party" provide the most fundamental guidance for the primary contradiction our Party must face and solve now and in the future. On this basis, through a precise understanding and profound grasp of the contradiction analysis method, we should concentrate our efforts on further improving the quality of Party building. At the same time, by "placing the rectification of formalism and bureaucratism in a more prominent position... and placing discipline building in a more prominent position," we can comprehensively improve the quality and level of Party building to match the historical tasks the Party needs to complete.
On the basis of accurately grasping the primary contradiction of the CPC at the current stage, we must also distinguish between the "mainstream" and the "tributary." Currently, in the process of the CPC strengthening its own construction and solving the primary contradiction, the overall effect presented is "good" and the general atmosphere is "strict." "Strictness" is the "main theme" and "keynote" of our Party in the process of solving the primary contradiction; the key to comprehensively and strictly governing the Party lies in "strictness." General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The requirement of strictness must be implemented throughout the entire process of Party regulation formulation, disciplinary education, and disciplinary supervision." He also clearly required: "Strictly manage disciplinary inspection and supervision officials, and strictly punish corrupt elements within the system." Only by keeping a close watch on the "mainstream" and identifying the primary contradiction and its principal aspect can we better promote the resolution of the primary contradiction. At the same time, while soberly analyzing the primary contradiction and its principal aspect faced by the CPC at present, we also need to pay attention to secondary contradictions and the secondary aspects of contradictions. While "strictness" is indeed the "mainstream" and the principal aspect, General Secretary Xi Jinping also clearly emphasized that "strictness does not mean managing everyone to death." We must also take into account flexible measures in the process of governing the Party, "persisting in the combination of strict management and kind care, and placing equal emphasis on incentive and constraint," achieving a combination of rigidity and flexibility. On the New Era’s new journey, high-quality development remains the primary task in building a great modern socialist country. We must not restrain the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the broad masses of Party members and officials because of an overemphasis on "strictness." Solving the "challenges unique to a large party" cannot ignore secondary contradictions and secondary aspects of contradictions either. "Flexibility" is the "tributary" and the secondary aspect. We must implement the "Three Distinctions" [4] to motivate officials to dare to take responsibility and act proactively, and promote the resolution of secondary contradictions and secondary aspects of contradictions through means such as "effectively strengthening political and Party spirit education."
On the New Era’s new journey, a comprehensive understanding of the dialectical thinking in General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the way to solve "challenges unique to a large party" will help the entire Party more deeply understand and grasp the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party and the improvement of the system of norms and regulations for the Party's self-revolution. Using "dialectical thinking to manage, govern, and build the Party" is of great theoretical significance and practical guiding value.