Luo Wendong: Profoundly Understand and Practice General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Thought on the Party’s Self-Revolution
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection: "The Party Central Committee has persisted in leading social revolution through the Party's self-revolution, consistently advancing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and achieving new progress and results. The entire Party has gained a clearer understanding and taken firmer action on the major issue of self-revolution." Since the start of the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has coordinated the overall strategic situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world's profound changes unseen in a century. With unprecedented determination and intensity, they have advanced the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, creatively proposing a series of original and landmark new concepts, thoughts, and strategies. This has formed General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on the Party’s self-revolution, which enriches and develops the Marxist theory of party building and guides the century-old Party in opening up a new frontier of self-revolution. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on the Party’s self-revolution is a new chapter of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It marks a new height in our Party's understanding of the laws governing the building of Marxist political parties and the laws of Communist Party governance. It provides the fundamental compliance for further advancing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, the improvement of Party conduct, the building of an honest government, and the anti-corruption struggle on the new journey in the New Era.
An important theoretical achievement resulting from the comprehensive summary of historical and practical experience
The emergence of any major innovative thought is not accidental; it possesses historical conditions and a practical foundation upon which it is formed. In the long river of human history, whether it be the rule of slave-owning aristocrats and feudal dynasties characterized by conquest through force, or bourgeois political parties characterized by "taking turns at the seat" [1], none could escape the historical destiny of rising and then declining, nor could they jump out of the "historical cycle" [2] of "rising swiftly and falling suddenly." Can the Communist Party of China—guided by Marxism, holding the realization of communism as its highest ideal, and taking the pursuit of happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and founding mission—jump out of this historical cycle? As early as 1945, Comrade Mao Zedong gave the first answer in his "cave dwelling dialogue" [3] with the democratic figure Huang Yanpei in Yan’an: "This new path is democracy. Only by letting the people supervise the government will the government not dare to slacken. Only when everyone stands up to take responsibility will the government remain vibrant even after the passing of individual leaders." It is precisely by relying on the support and supervision of the broad masses of the people that our Party has overcome various difficulties and obstacles to continuously grow and strengthen, leading the people to great victories in the New Democratic Revolution, socialist revolution and construction, and reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, as socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has continuously conducted practical explorations and theoretical reflections during the historical process of promoting the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. It has found the second answer to jumping out of the historical cycle of rise and fall, which is to continuously promote the Party’s self-revolution. Starting with the formulation and implementation of the Eight-Point Regulations, and advancing an unprecedented anti-corruption struggle with the sense of mission to "offend thousands to avoid failing 1.4 billion," our Party has delivered a "combination of punches" in self-revolution, forming a complete set of institutional norms for the Party's self-purification, self-perfection, self-renewal, and self-improvement. By persistently rectifying conduct, disciplining the Party, and fighting corruption—correcting the Four Winds with the "spirit of driving a nail" [4], and unswervingly "striking tigers," "swatting flies," and "hunting foxes"—we have halted unhealthy trends that went unchecked for a long time, cured chronic ailments that persisted for years, and eliminated serious hidden dangers within the Party, the state, and the military. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee summarized the historical experience of the Party's century of struggle, one tenet of which was "persisting in self-revolution." General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the second plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee was even more deafening and sobering: "On the occasion of the Party's centenary, we must stay alert to danger in times of peace and constantly be wary of whether this century-old Party will become senile and riddled with disease. We must not be forgetful of the detours and twists in the Party's history, nor of the profound lessons in Chinese and foreign political history where parties perished by being content with the status quo and surrendering to ease; we must not be slow to react to our own problems, handling them lethargically or weakly, which would eventually lead to the collapse of the regime!" In 2024, national supervisory and disciplinary organs filed a total of 877,000 cases and disciplined 889,000 people, including 73 officials at or above the provincial and ministerial level. The intensity of our Party's heavy-handed anti-corruption and disciplinary efforts is staggering. Practice has proven that the Party's self-revolution has enabled us to win the historical initiative to ensure the Party never changes its nature, its conviction, or its character [5], and to win the historical initiative for the Party to unite and lead all the people to strive together for the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
Using history as a mirror to understand the rise and fall of dynasties, and clarifying prosperity and decline through learning, thinking, practicing, and internalizing. Inspired by historical experience and based on practical exploration, General Secretary Xi Jinping has continuously deepened the systematic understanding of the Party's self-construction and long-term governance, continuously gaining increasingly rich practical experience, and gradually forming General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on the Party’s self-revolution. As early as the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee with Chinese and foreign journalists, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must ensure the Party manages itself and is governed with strictness, effectively solving the prominent problems existing within ourselves." At the assembly celebrating the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The whole Party must use the political courage of self-revolution to focus on solving the prominent problems existing within the Party itself." The report to the 19th CPC National Congress further made the important judgment that "having the courage to carry out self-revolution and governing the Party with strictness is the most distinctive character of our Party." At the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping systematically elucidated the rationale, the source of confidence, and the practical requirements of the Party's self-revolution. This centrally reflects the grasp of regularity, the richness of creativity, and the enhancement of effectiveness in comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in the New Era, pointing out the direction and path for striving to open up a new realm of self-revolution for a century-old Party.
A powerful ideological weapon for fundamentally solving the unique challenges of a large Marxist party
Having weathered over a hundred years of storms, our Party remains youthful and vibrant, having developed into the world's largest political party with more than 99 million members, exercising long-term governance in a large country of over 1.4 billion people. Greatness brings its own advantages, but also its own unique difficulties. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress stated: "As the world's largest Marxist governing party, to always win the people's support and consolidate its long-term governing status, our Party must always remain sober and determined in solving the unique challenges of a large party." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection: "How to always stay true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind; how to always unify our thoughts, will, and actions; how to always possess strong governing capacity and leadership level; how to always maintain a state of mind for entrepreneurship and achievement; how to always be able to discover and solve our own problems in a timely manner; and how to always maintain a clean and upright political ecosystem—these are all unique challenges that our large Party must solve." Solving these problems is a hurdle that must be cleared to realize the Party's missions and tasks on the new journey in the New Era, and a "hard bone to chew" that must be tackled for the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party to adapt to new situations and requirements. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on the Party’s self-revolution is a major achievement of adhering to the "Two Combinations" [6] and promoting theoretical innovation centered on solving these unique challenges of a large party, constituting a complete theoretical system with a high degree of unity in politics, science, and practice.
This important thought profoundly answers the major question of "why our Party must undergo self-revolution," pointing out the fundamental task of ensuring the whole Party always remains true to its original aspiration and undertakes its mission. Marx and Engels believed: "Revolution is necessary, therefore, not only because the ruling class cannot be overthrown in any other way, but also because the class overthrowing it can only in a revolution succeed in ridding itself of all the muck of ages and become fitted to found society anew." Our Party is not only an active leader and practitioner of advanced Chinese culture but also a loyal inheritor and promoter of fine traditional Chinese culture. Only by examining itself with a dialectical materialist worldview and methodology and a spirit of "weeding through the old to bring forth the new" [7], alerting itself with a strong sense of potential danger, and continuously improving its leadership and governing capabilities, can the Party ensure it never changes its nature, conviction, or character, and lead the magnificent social revolution with a self-revolution that "clears the muddy water and brings in the fresh" [8]. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "With changes in the situation, tasks, external environment, and the composition of the Party membership, various contradictions and problems will inevitably appear within the Party. We must have the courage to turn the blade inward, eliminate various negative influences in a timely manner, and ensure the Party is always full of vigor and vitality." Since the start of the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the people in successfully promoting and expanding Chinese-path modernization, continuing to push forward the great social revolution. In this process, the leading role of the Party's self-revolution over the great social revolution must be brought into play, driving the great social revolution from victory to new victory.
This important thought profoundly answers the major question of "why our Party can undergo self-revolution," strengthening the confidence and determination of the whole Party to use the "second answer" and solve the unique challenges of a large party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Looking across the world, no other political party can treat its own construction as seriously as the Communist Party of China, or promote self-revolution with such high consciousness, scientific attitude, and systematic approach. This is our Party's significant advantage and our secret to leading the times." "The sea is vast because it admits all rivers; a cliff stands tall because it has no desires." The nature, purpose, original aspiration, and mission of the Party determine that our Party is far-sighted and broad-minded, always representing the fundamental interests of the widest range of people. It can persist in the truth and correct its mistakes, and can resist the "hunting" and corrosion of all interest groups, power cliques, and privileged classes. This is the distinctive character of our Party's spirit of self-revolution and the internal reason and secret for always maintaining its advanced nature and purity.
This important thought profoundly answers the major question of "how to promote self-revolution," demonstrating the bright prospects for the Party to maintain its vitality and succeed on the "new journey to take the test" [9]. Only by understanding the principle can one find the method, and only by finding the method can one achieve good governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s practical requirements for deeply promoting the Party's self-revolution include both overall top-level design and specific methods and paths, constituting a scientific, standardized, efficient, and fully functional dynamic system. This includes taking the persistence of the Central Committee's centralized and unified leadership as the fundamental guarantee, taking the leading of the great social revolution as the fundamental goal, taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the fundamental compliance, taking the jumping out of the historical cycle as the strategic goal, taking the resolution of the unique challenges of a large party as the main direction of attack, taking the improvement of the system for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party as the effective path, taking the forging of strong organizations and the building of a competent workforce as the important focus, taking the rectification of conduct, discipline, and anti-corruption as the important grasp, and taking the combination of self-supervision and people's supervision as the powerful driving force. At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must promote the concretization, precision, and normalization of political supervision"; "We must guide Party members and cadres to transform external constraints into self-discipline, internalizing them into norms of speech and behavior that are used daily without conscious thought"; "We must deeply promote the simultaneous investigation and treatment of conduct issues and corruption"; "We must strengthen the principal and supervisory responsibilities for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party"; "We must continue to promote the extension of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party to the grassroots"; and "We must deepen the reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system." Only by accurately grasping this series of practical requirements, persisting in managing the Party with the spirit of reform and strict standards, and striving for greater results, can we ensure that the Party always remains the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and pushes Chinese-path modernization toward steady and long-term progress.
A scientific guide for action to advance the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in depth on the new journey
The Party's self-revolution is not a temporary or local measure of expediency, but a strategic choice made from a long-term and overall perspective; the task is arduous, and the prospects are bright. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Our Party is a Marxist governing party, but at the same time it is a Marxist revolutionary party." "The longer we govern, the more we must not lose the true character of a Marxist party, the more we must not forget the Party's original aspiration and mission, and the more we must not lose the spirit of self-revolution." On the new journey in the New Era, to deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on the Party’s self-revolution, we must understand not only the words but also the meaning, and not only what it is but also why it is so. We must profoundly grasp the principles, logic, and philosophy contained in this important thought, master its spiritual essence and practical requirements, make the ideas and measures for the Party's self-revolution more rigorous, and grasp the self-revolution in every front and every link specifically and deeply. We must carry out the Party's great self-revolution to the end with a spirit of never slackening and overcoming all difficulties.
Strengthen the primary responsibility and supervisory responsibility for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. We must persist in the Central Committee's centralized and unified leadership, and maintaining a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee must be practiced in both word and deed. Comprehensively and strictly governing the Party is an arduous and complex systemic project; Party committees must take the initiative to grasp and manage it, while Commissions for Discipline Inspection must fulfill their specialized supervisory responsibilities, focusing on their main duties and performing their primary business well. All responsible subjects must know, shoulder, and perform their responsibilities. We must optimize the evaluation mechanism for responsibility implementation and carry out precise and scientific accountability for dereliction of duty and responsibility. It is necessary to promote the concrete, precise, and normalized implementation of political supervision, persisting in taking the implementation of the Party Central Committee's various decisions and deployments as the focus of political supervision, working together to push forward reform breakthroughs and promote high-quality development. We must continuously promote the extension of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party to the grassroots level. Party committees at all levels, especially at the municipal and county levels, must take the rectification of unhealthy tendencies and corruption issues occurring "at the people's side" [10] as an important task to be grasped on a normalized basis, making the results tangible and accessible to the masses. We should deepen the reform of grassroots supervision systems and mechanisms, combining discipline inspection and supervision with grassroots inspections [11] and coordinating them with supervision from all aspects. We must implement long-term mechanisms for rectifying formalism to reduce the burden on the grassroots, allowing the vast number of grassroots cadres to have more energy to focus on implementation.
Work hard to promote the improvement of the institutional framework and normative system for the Party's self-revolution. Closely following the general requirements for Party building in the New Era, we must persist in full coverage of content, full coverage of objects, a full chain of responsibility, and full integration of systems. We must persist in institutional Party governance and governing the Party according to regulations, improving the system of intra-Party regulations to further form a virtuous cycle of discovering problems, correcting deviations, promoting innovation, and achieving an overall improvement in governing capacity by relying on the Party's own internal strength. We should improve the supervisory system under the Party's unified leadership that is all-encompassing, authoritative, and efficient, and refine various systems for intra-Party supervision. We must deepen the reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system, persisting in the combination of authorization and power control, to "lock power in the cage of institutions" [12]. We must consciously accept the supervision of the people, effectively integrating intra-Party supervision with supervision by state organs, democratic supervision, judicial supervision, mass supervision, and public opinion supervision, achieving a virtuous interaction where self-discipline and hetero-discipline complement each other.
Persist in strengthening the rectification of conduct and discipline with a rigorous tone. The issue of Party style is a matter of the Party's very survival. We must carry forward the Party's glorious traditions and fine conduct, encouraging Party members and cadres to take the lead in conducting deep investigations and research, working with earnestness and seeking practical results. We must always adhere to zero tolerance, taking the Eight-Point Regulations as an iron rule and a hard benchmark, seriously investigating and handling "Four Winds" issues that defy discipline or take on invisible and mutated forms. We must urge Party members and cadres to resolutely oppose "privilege mentality" and "privilege phenomena," and firmly establish correct views on power, performance, and career. Strengthening the Party's disciplinary development is a regular task; we must guide Party members and cadres to transform hetero-discipline into self-discipline, internalizing standards into norms of speech and behavior that are "used daily without conscious thought" [13]. We should establish a normalized and long-term mechanism for discipline education, ensuring it runs through the entire growth cycle of cadres and integrates into the whole process of organizational management. We must strictly implement the Party's discipline, accurately apply the "Four Forms" [14], seek truth from facts, ensure neither the innocent are wronged nor the guilty escape, grasp issues early and while they are small, and nip problems in the bud. We must unify strict management and supervision with the encouragement of taking initiative, so that cadres can engage in reform, innovation, and entrepreneurship while complying with regulations and discipline. We must persist in simultaneously grasping Party spirit, Party style, and Party discipline, consolidating the foundation and nurturing the source [15] ideologically, raising the consciousness of Party spirit, enhancing the ability to resist corruption and prevent degeneration, and cultivating a noble spirit of integrity.
Resolutely fight the battle against corruption as a battle of attrition, a protracted war, and an all-out war. Corruption is the greatest threat facing our Party, and the anti-corruption struggle is the most thorough form of self-revolution. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "At present, the situation of the anti-corruption struggle remains grave and complex. The existing stock of corruption has not yet been cleared, while incremental growth continues to occur. The task of eradicating the soil and conditions for the breeding of corruption remains arduous and heavy. In understanding the anti-corruption struggle, one must have historical perspective and strategic height, focusing on the realization of the Party's mission and tasks." We must always maintain a high-pressure posture against corruption, focusing on and investigating key problems, key fields, and key objects. We should deepen the simultaneous investigation of those who receive bribes and those who offer them, resolutely eliminating systemic corruption risks and hidden dangers. We must enhance the effectiveness of "promoting reform and governance through cases," promoting the improvement of mechanisms for the constraint and supervision of power allocation and operation, and enriching effective methods for preventing and treating new types of corruption and hidden corruption. We should deepen international cooperation in anti-corruption, constructing an integrated mechanism for pursuing fugitives, preventing escape, and recovering stolen assets. We must persist in the integration of rectifying conduct, strengthening discipline, and fighting corruption, deeply promoting the simultaneous investigation and treatment of both misconduct and corruption, using "simultaneous investigation" to severely punish intertwined issues of style and corruption, and "simultaneous treatment" to eradicate their common roots. We should deepen the treatment of both symptoms and root causes, promote national anti-corruption legislation, and strengthen the building of a culture of integrity in the New Era. We must educate and guide the vast number of Party members and cadres to enhance their conscious desire "not to want to be corrupt," so that severe punishment, regulation of power, and educational guidance are closely integrated and coordinated, continuously achieving more results and greater efficacy in anti-corruption.
"The strong pass is like a wall of iron, yet with firm strides we are crossing its summit" [16]. The current and upcoming period is a critical stage for comprehensively advancing the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization. Party building and the Party's self-revolution face new situations and new tasks. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Only by having the courage for self-revolution can we win the historical initiative." On the new journey in the New Era, we must persist in taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guide, fully implement the spirit of the 20th Party Congress and the second and third plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, and deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on the Party's self-revolution. We must resolutely implement the strategic policy of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, profoundly understand the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments," consciously enhance the "Four Consciousnesses," firm up the "Four Confidences," and achieve the "Two Upholds." With the tenacity and perseverance of "always being on the road," we will push the Party's self-revolution to a deeper level, providing a strong guarantee for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization.
(The author is a specially invited researcher at the CASS Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Research Center)
Source: People's Daily (January 20, 2025, Page 09)