Song Fufan: Deeply Study and Thoroughly Understand General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Expositions on Strengthening the Party's Style of Work | Marxism Research Network

The Party’s conduct is the Party’s image; it determines whom the people support or oppose and concerns the very survival of the Party. The Party Central Committee has decided to launch a study and education program throughout the entire Party on the in-depth implementation of the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations (hereinafter referred to as "Study and Education"). This represents a renewed mobilization and deployment for the Party’s conduct construction on the new journey of the New Era. It holds significant importance for unswervingly and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, and for advancing the new great project of Party building in the New Era. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has stood at the strategic height of consolidating the Party's governing status and fulfilling its mission and tasks. Starting with the "moving the wooden pole to establish trust" ^[1] measure of the Eight-Point Regulations, it has adopted a "nail-driving" spirit ^[2] to secure every position and penetrate every level. By continuously advancing the improvement of Party conduct, the enforcement of discipline, and the anti-corruption struggle, the conduct of the Party and government has taken on a completely new look, while social customs and the people's morale have continued to improve. General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important speeches and issued numerous instructions regarding the strengthening of the Party’s conduct construction, forming General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on strengthening the Party's conduct construction. These provide scientific theoretical guidance for conduct construction in the New Era. To carry out this Study and Education effectively, we must deeply study and internalize General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions and promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of the Party’s conduct construction in the New Era.

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the Party’s conduct construction are grounded in the Party’s historical coordinates in the New Era and profoundly answer fundamental questions of conduct construction under new circumstances. In studying these expositions, one must deeply recognize that "conduct issues are, at their root, issues of Party spirit" and that "the core is the issue of the relationship between the Party and the masses." The Party's conduct construction must revolve closely around strengthening Party spirit and fostering close relations between the Party and the masses, and between officials and the masses. It is necessary both to address ideological root causes by tempering Party spirit and to practice the sense of purpose by centering on close ties with the people. Only in this way can we grasp the core essence of conduct construction and achieve its objectives.

Conduct construction must focus on the cultivation of Party spirit, and it must revolve around tempering Party spirit. Outwardly, conduct reflects the image of Party members and officials; inwardly, it manifests their quality. Conduct issues are essentially issues of Party spirit, and it is Party spirit that plays the decisive role. A Marxist party can only maintain good conduct if it adheres to the principles of Party spirit. This dictates that the Party’s conduct construction must start from the tempering of Party spirit to analyze and solve problems. First, we must temper Party spirit by strengthening ideals and convictions. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Conviction is the root; conduct is the form. If the root is upright, the form will be cohesive; if the root is not upright, the form will inevitably dissipate. To maintain and carry forward the Party’s fine conduct, firming up ideals and convictions is fundamental. Our Party takes Marxism as its foundation for existence, the realization of communism as its highest ideal, and wholehearted service to the people as its fundamental purpose. This is the 'root' of communists. Without these, it would be a tree without roots." Party spirit is rooted in firm ideals and convictions, which serve as the "ballast stone" and "master switch" ^[3] for maintaining fine conduct. Once ideals and convictions waver, problems will inevitably arise in the conduct of Party members and officials. Second, tempering Party spirit requires properly handling the relationship between the public and the private. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The fundamental yardstick for measuring the strength of Party spirit is the two words: 'public' and 'private.'" Conduct issues arise because the relationship between the public and the private is not correctly aligned. If officials lack a correct outlook on right and wrong, interests, power, and career, various "derailments," "boundary-crossings," and "leakages" become inevitable. Third, Party spirit needs to be continuously tempered through serious intra-Party political life and the trials of practice. Party spirit is neither innate nor static; only through strengthening theoretical arming, improving moral cultivation, and reinforcing disciplinary constraints can one "strengthen the foundation and cultivate the origin" ^[4], resisting perverse trends and maintaining pure conduct. Serious intra-Party political life is an important guarantee for purging Party conduct. When intra-Party political life becomes a mere formality, it inevitably breeds formalism and bureaucratism. Fourth, conduct construction must be continuously deepened with the spirit of thorough self-revolution. Party members and officials should regularly conduct an "ideological check-up" against the Party Constitution, regulations, and the Party's original aspiration and founding mission to promptly clear out selfish thoughts and maintain the political character of loyalty to the Party, the supremacy of the people, seeking truth from facts, and integrity.

Conduct construction must focus on the Party-mass relationship, strengthening conduct around the closing of ties between the Party, officials, and the masses. The mass line is the Party’s lifeline and fundamental working line; maintaining close ties with the masses is our Party’s greatest advantage. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Closing the relationship between the Party and the masses and between officials and the masses, and maintaining flesh-and-blood ties with the people, has always been the foundation upon which our Party stands invincible." The starting and ending point of the Party's conduct construction is to safeguard the fundamental interests of the broadest possible masses. Therefore, conduct construction must persist in the supremacy of the people, sincerely solving problems and doing practical work for the masses, while resolutely opposing bureaucratism and formalism. First, conduct construction must implement the Party’s mass line. The greatest danger for a Marxist party after taking power, especially after being in power for a long time, is becoming detached from the masses. We must integrate the starting and ending points of all work into realizing, safeguarding, and developing the fundamental interests of the masses, and into being "practical and honest for the people." Second, conduct construction requires genuine action and hard work driven by emotion. To implement the mass line, one must have feelings for the masses, truly regarding oneself as a member of the masses and their concerns as one’s own. Emotion is something very essential; doing mass work without emotion is merely "putting on a show." Only with sincere feelings for the people can one truly work hard, and being practical, honest, and hardworking is the touchstone for testing conduct. Third, Party members and officials should always position themselves as public servants of the masses. The people are the masters of the country, and officials are the servants of the people. Being a "public servant" (gongpu) means two things: first, acting for the "public" (gong) without selfishness; second, acting as a "servant" (pu) without bureaucratic airs. It is a matter of course for public servants to be responsible to the people. This relationship cannot be inverted. Party members and officials only have the responsibility and obligation to serve the people wholeheartedly; they do not have the power to act like "overlords."

The launch of the Study and Education program—educating members to persevere in implementing the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations and promoting the continuous improvement of Party conduct—demonstrates the Party's high level of attention to conduct construction and its firm determination to see it through to the end. The broad ranks of Party members and officials must fully recognize the significance of this program, deeply internalizing General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions to demonstrate new responsibility and actions through good conduct and a good image on the new journey.

This is of great significance for building a high-quality contingent of officials and improving the Party's governing capacity. The key to starting a business or undertaking a cause lies in people, specifically the conduct of the cadre contingent. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The conduct of leading officials directly relates to the atmosphere within the Party and the political ecosystem, to whom the people support or oppose, and it determines the Party’s mass base. If the conduct of leading officials is not up to par or sufficiently robust, the conduct of the Party and social customs cannot be good." Conduct construction plays a vital role in building a high-quality cadre contingent, strengthening the Party’s governing capacity, and promoting the development of various undertakings of the Party and the state. On one hand, the Party's conduct and image relate to the Party’s creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness, determining the success or failure of the cause. As a Marxist party in power for the long term, we can never let our guard down regarding conduct issues; we must enhance our sense of crisis and govern conduct issues with the strictest standards and most severe measures, always winning the trust and support of the people through excellent conduct. On the other hand, good conduct can encourage the "key minority" ^[5] to shoulder key responsibilities and lead the "vast majority." It empowers them to face difficulties head-on, stand up in times of crisis, take responsibility for mistakes, and resolutely struggle against perverse trends. Therefore, the Party’s conduct construction must advance in tandem with whatever stage the cause of the Party and the people has reached. Only with robust conduct can one execute tasks without compromise, excuses, or shifting responsibility, thereby truly forming an atmosphere of "working in earnest and standing at the forefront."

This is of great significance for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in the New Era. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee has clearly proposed "comprehensively and strictly governing the Party" in response to the unique challenges facing a large party under conditions of long-term governance, incorporating it into the "Four Comprehensives" strategic layout. As an important component of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, conduct construction focuses on solving the problem of the Party's image. Behind this image is a comprehensive reflection of the Party’s ideology, organization, discipline, and institutional systems. Conduct construction has the effect of "pulling one hair and moving the whole body" ^[6]. Therefore, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core took the formulation and implementation of the Eight-Point Regulations as the entry point and the rectification of the "Four Winds" as the focus. They used conduct construction as a breakthrough point for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, solving the problem of "a tiger eating the sky with no place to bite" ^[7]. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions profoundly clarify the relationship between conduct construction and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. They constitute an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and his thought on the Party’s self-revolution. Since the New Era began, the Party Central Committee has used conduct construction as a breakthrough to advance the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in depth, fundamentally reversing the situation of "lax and soft" governance of the Party, strengthening Party building, and making Party leadership more powerful.

This is of great significance for advancing the great cause of building a powerful country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization. As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters the New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has evolved into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. Achieving high-quality economic and social development has become an urgent requirement of the times. The report to the 20th National Congress proposed: "From this day forward, the central task of the Communist Party of China will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization." Fulfilling this mission requires the Party to have good conduct. In the New Era, we must mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the whole Party through strengthening conduct construction. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions profoundly explain how to better enhance the Party’s creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness, stimulating the vitality of the entire Party to gather the monumental strength necessary to promote Chinese-path modernization.

III

Conduct construction is always on the road. In carrying out the Study and Education program, we should seriously study and comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions, the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations, and their implementation rules. We must systematically summarize the remarkable results and experiences gained, profoundly grasp the practical requirements of conduct construction, and complete all tasks of the Study and Education program with high standards to ensure it goes deep and proves effective.

We must seize the "key minority" of leading officials. Leading officials are the critical group for conduct construction. "The wind forms above, and customs are transformed below" ^[8]. Cadre conduct is the barometer by which the masses observe and evaluate the Party’s conduct; when leading officials take the lead, it serves as a silent demonstration. Therefore, conduct construction must start with leading officials themselves, moving from the top down and leading by example to create a "head goose effect" ^[9] that drives the whole Party toward a positive atmosphere. Leading officials should be the first to do what they require of others and resolutely refrain from what they forbid others to do. They must practice strict self-discipline, consciously resist elitist ideas and behaviors, manage their spouses, children, and staff effectively, focus on family conduct construction, and pursue a healthy lifestyle.

Firmly establish a correct outlook on power, performance, and career. These three outlooks are intimately linked to the conduct of Party members and cadres. The outlook on power aims to answer the questions of "where does power come from and for whom is it used," reflecting leadership style. The outlook on performance ^[10] aims to answer "for whom is performance achieved and what kind of performance should be sought," reflecting work style. The outlook on career aims to answer "what attitude should be taken toward one's career and what kind of career should be pursued," reflecting the ideals and convictions of cadres. Correct outlooks on power, performance, and career are basic requirements for leading cadres in fulfilling their duties and initiating undertakings, as well as an important yardstick for measuring a leading cadre’s Party spirit. Adhering to the people’s position is the fundamental prerequisite. The root cause of distorted outlooks on power, performance, and career among leading cadres lies in a failure to stand firmly with the people. We must persist in the principle that power is granted by the people and must be used for the people; the formulation of policies concerning people's livelihoods must focus on resolving the pressing difficulties and anxieties ^[11] of the masses. "Remolding the subjective world" is an important guarantee for leading cadres to firmly establish correct outlooks on power, performance, and career. While transforming the objective world, leading cadres must constantly remold their subjective world to resolve issues with the "master switch" ^[12] of their world outlook, outlook on life, and values, making the remolding of the subjective world a lifestyle habit and a spiritual pursuit.

Persistently deepen the rectification of the Four Winds. This is the primary direction of conduct building in the New Era. The Four Winds are chronic ailments that the masses loathe; if left unresolved, they will damage the Party's image among the people and lead to alienation from the masses. The Four Winds are rooted in wavering ideals and convictions. Formalism stems from subjectivism, utilitarianism, and a distorted outlook on performance; it manifests as a gap between knowledge and action, a disregard for practical results, a "sea of meetings and mountains of memos" ^[13], fraudulence, and prioritizing form over actual achievement. Bureaucratism stems from "official-standard" thinking ^[14] and a warped outlook on power; it manifests as being divorced from the masses, acting superior, shirked responsibilities, and a lack of accountability. Hedonism comes from the erosion of revolutionary will and biased values; it manifests as mental lethargy, craving enjoyment, and a lack of ambition. Extravagance reflects ideological depravity and swelling material desires; it manifests as profligacy, a luxurious lifestyle, and even degeneration and corruption. Opposing formalism requires solving the problem of superficial work, advocating for concrete actions and practical results, and establishing a correct outlook on performance. Opposing bureaucratism requires solving the problem of inaction, strengthening the consciousness of serving the people, and upholding democratic centralism. Opposing hedonism requires overcoming "privilege thinking" ^[15] and maintaining the spirit of arduous struggle. Opposing extravagance requires strictly checking profligacy and waste while advocating diligence and frugality.

Adhere to the integration of rectifying conduct, disciplining the Party, and fighting corruption. This is the effective path for conduct building in the New Era. Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline form an organic whole; Party spirit is the foundation, conduct is the manifestation, and discipline is the guarantee. Regarding the relationship between conduct and corruption, the two share a common origin and take form as a single entity. Improper conduct often breeds corruption, and corruption cases are frequently accompanied by unhealthy styles of work. Therefore, rectifying conduct, disciplining the Party, and fighting corruption are essential grips for conduct building; the three must be grasped in combination, and deployed and advanced simultaneously in practice. We must take the rectification of the Four Winds as the breakthrough point to consolidate the Party’s governing foundation, eradicate the soil for corruption through rigid institutional constraints and supervision, and build a solid line of defense for Party members against corruption and degeneration by putting discipline at the forefront. We must persist in "striking both tigers and flies" ^[16] and punish corruption with zero tolerance. Meanwhile, we must utilize the "Four Forms" ^[17] of oversight and discipline, strengthening day-to-day supervision to catch problems early and nip them in the bud. Emphasis should be placed on investigating and treating conduct issues and corruption together, rectifying the phenomenon where the two are intertwined, and eradicating the root causes to address both symptoms and root causes.

Promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of conduct building. This provides the institutional and mechanistic guarantee for conduct building in the New Era. Conduct issues are stubborn and prone to recurrence, requiring unremitting efforts and a spirit of persisting over the long term. Therefore, we must "grasp the routine, grasp the details, and grasp the long term" by establishing long-term mechanisms. Grasping the routine means integrating conduct building into daily work, frequently analyzing and judging the situation, and promptly correcting burgeoning problems. Grasping the details means focusing on minutiae, starting with specific issues, and responding to the concerns of the masses. Grasping the long term means persevering and solidifying achievements through deepening reform. We must implement the primary responsibility of Party committees and the supervisory responsibility of commissions for discipline inspection. Conduct building must address both symptoms and root causes, strengthening education and improving systems to enhance the self-awareness of resisting corruption and preventing degeneration. Emphasis should be placed on balancing positive incentives with mechanisms for allowing mistakes and correcting errors ^[18], thereby stimulating the enthusiasm of cadres to take initiative and achieve results.