Yang Mingwei: The Inevitable Logic of the "Three Unities"

General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, using the "Six How-tos" ^[1] to elaborate in depth on the "unique challenges that a large Party must resolve." He admonished the entire Party to remain clear-headed and determined at all times in addressing these unique challenges. Among them, resolving the unique challenge of "how to always unify thinking, unify will, and unify action" is a "hurdle that must be cleared" to realize the Party's missions and tasks on the new journey of the New Era, and a "tough bone that must be gnawed" ^[2] to ensure that comprehensively and strictly governing the Party adapts to new situations and requirements. It is of profound significance.

Unifying thinking, will, and action is a unique character trait developed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) through more than a century of united struggle, and it concerns the Party’s survival and development. When discussing the Party's political building, General Secretary Xi Jinping explicitly pointed out: "Guaranteeing the Party's unity and uniformity is the lifeblood of the Party; it is also the key to our Party becoming a century-old Party and creating a century of great achievements." The CPC has grown from a small party of dozens of people into a large party with over 96 million members; throughout its journey, it has always faced the question of how to guarantee the Party's unity and uniformity. Faced with complex and perilous objective environments and struggle situations, our Party has been adept at correctly handling different understandings, listening to diverse opinions, and coalescing forces from all sides. Simultaneously, by focusing on its own political building, it gradually formed an organizational advantage of unity and uniformity and accumulated rich experience. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution ^[3], the Party unified thinking, will, and action across the entire Party through the convening of the Seventh National Congress. "The Seventh National Congress, together with the ideological and political rectification ^[4] of the entire Party in the preceding period, laid the foundation for our Party's unified thinking, and on this basis, victory was achieved in the democratic revolution against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism." After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong, when discussing how to further promote social development with representatives from literary and artistic circles, specifically noted this special character of the CPC: "You understand a bit of the Communist Party's logic—it is to push forward, to unify thinking, and to have a common language." In the Party's history, at every major historical juncture and in the face of complex situations, the Party Central Committee has always called for "all comrades to pool their wisdom and strength, and unify thinking, will, and action." These "three unities" as a conceptual understanding and code of conduct have long been deeply etched in the minds of every Communist and integrated into the Party’s philosophy of governance. Consequently, they enable our Party to always maintain unified thought, firm will, coordinated action, and formidable combat effectiveness. Regarding this, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "History and reality both prove that the Party’s unity and uniformity are where the future and destiny of the Party and the people lie, and where the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups are located; they must not be obscured or shaken at any time or under any circumstances." Without the "three unities," it would be impossible for our Party’s cause to develop, impossible to achieve success, and even more impossible to become a great political party that dares to struggle and dares to win.

Unifying thinking, will, and action is a major political responsibility bestowed upon the CPC by the new journey of the New Era, and it concerns the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Under the new situation, our Party shoulders the mission and task of uniting and leading the people of all ethnic groups to comprehensively build a great modern socialist country, achieve the Second Centenary Goal ^[5], and comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. How to further maintain clarity of understanding and consciousness of action regarding the issue of unity and uniformity is a major political responsibility bestowed upon the CPC by history. As the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era advances comprehensively, we are closer to, and have more confidence and capability in, achieving the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than at any other period in history. However, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is by no means something that can be achieved easily with the beating of drums and gongs ^[6]; it requires conducting the Great Struggle, building the Great Project, advancing the Great Cause, and thereby finally realizing the Great Dream ^[7]. The entire Party must consciously unify thinking, will, and action to ensure the Party always stands at the forefront of the times during the historical process of profound changes in the global situation, always remains the backbone of the people nationwide during the historical process of responding to various domestic and international risks and tests, and always remains the strong leadership core during the historical process of persisting in and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. Only in this way can we inspire all sons and daughters of the Chinese nation to forge ahead continuously and converge the majestic force to build the Chinese Dream with one heart. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has addressed the problems of the weakening, hollowing out, dilution, and marginalization of the Party's leadership that existed for a period. It has taken the strengthening and maintenance of the Party Central Committee’s centralized and unified leadership as a common political responsibility for the entire Party, continuously improving the system of Party leadership institutions, making the entire Party more unified in thought, more united politically, and more consistent in action. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "To govern the world's largest political party and most populous country, we must persist in the Party's centralized and unified leadership, uphold the authority of the Party Central Committee, and ensure the Party always oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties." The road ahead is exceptionally arduous and the tasks are exceptionally heavy; only by strengthening unity and uniformity can we ensure that a large Party like ours forms "a single piece of hard steel" and develops sufficient capacity to comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Unifying thinking, will, and action is the fundamental method inspired by the practice of the Great Struggle for the CPC to resolve its unique challenges; it concerns whether all Chinese people can maintain strategic clarity in the face of massive challenges. What do we rely on to unify thinking, will, and action? We must always maintain strategic clarity on this question. Unifying thinking, fundamentally speaking, first requires unification under the guiding ideology determined by the Party, arming the entire Party with scientific theory, especially the Party’s innovative theories. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "We must use the latest achievements in the Sinicization of Marxism to unify thinking, will, and action." As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters the New Era, we must profoundly comprehend the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments" under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Unifying will, fundamentally speaking, means strengthening the seriousness of Party discipline and national law, unifying individual wills with the will of the Party and the people, and simultaneously forming a favorable political ecosystem and political situation. Our Party has always emphasized "creating a political situation in which there is both centralization and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and individual peace of mind and vitality" ^[8]. This requires correctly grasping the dialectical relationship between democracy and centralization. Unifying thinking, will, and action does not mean doing away with democracy; strengthening the Party's centralized unity and strengthening democracy are themselves mutually unifying and are two sides of the same coin. Our Party has always attached importance to grasping the dialectical unity between strengthening centralized unity and fully promoting people's democracy and intra-Party democracy. If one is "not adept at resolving problems in work through democratic methods," then "it is impossible to implement true democratic centralism, and thus impossible to have true centralized unity." General Secretary Xi Jinping explicitly pointed out that emphasizing the maintenance of the Party Central Committee’s authority and centralized, unified leadership does not mean doing away with democratic centralism; these two cannot be pitted against each other. The democratic centralism we implement is a system with both centralization and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and individual peace of mind and vitality; it is a system where democracy and centralization are closely integrated. Unifying action, fundamentally speaking, means aligning with the Party Central Committee in action, consciously maintaining a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee in thought, politics, and action—resolutely responding to what the Party Central Committee advocates, resolutely carrying out what the Party Central Committee decides, and resolutely refraining from what the Party Central Committee prohibits.

Currently, the world’s once-in-a-century shifts are accelerating; a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth; the international balance of power is undergoing profound adjustments; anti-globalization trends are rising; and unilateralism and protectionism are significantly increasing. The global economic recovery is sluggish, local conflicts and turbulence occur frequently, and global problems are intensifying; the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. China's development has entered a period where strategic opportunities and risk challenges coexist, and uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing; "black swan" and "gray rhino" events could occur at any time. Standing at a new historical starting point, to lead more than 1.4 billion Chinese people to successfully walk the "road of the new exam" ^[9] of the New Era, we must always maintain strategic clarity and political firmness regarding unity and uniformity. If we cannot resolve the unique challenge of a large Party—unifying thinking, will, and action—it will be difficult for us to climb the slopes and clear the hurdles ^[10], or to withstand the major tests of high winds, swift waves, and even perilous stormy seas. Only by uniting more strongly and uniformly under the leadership of the Party, with all people thinking in one direction and exerting effort toward a common goal—pooling hearts and strength, forming a Great Wall of Will ^[11], and advancing in lockstep—can we finally realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.