He Husheng and Fang Liang: Deeply Grasp the Inner Meaning of the Unique Challenges Facing a Large Party
As the world’s largest Marxist governing party, if the Communist Party of China (CPC) is to consistently win the support of the people and consolidate its position of long-term governance, it must remain sober and determined at all times to resolve the unique challenges of a large party. At the second plenary session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping provided a profound explanation of these unique challenges through the lens of the "six hows to always" [1]. This fully reflects our Party’s deep understanding of its own nature, the situation and tasks it faces, and the changes in the Party's conditions. It demonstrates a strong sense of vigilance, a clear political consciousness, and firm strategic confidence. We must profoundly grasp the inner meaning of the large party’s unique challenges from the perspectives of history and reality, gain a deep understanding of the characterizations of "uniqueness" and "difficulty," strengthen the Party through the tempering process of self-revolution, and deliver a new, excellent performance to history and the people on the "new journey to face the tests" [2].
Grasping the "Uniqueness" of the Large Party’s Unique Challenges through the Party's Nature and Characteristics
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "It is not easy to manage such a large party well, and it is even harder to build such a large party into a strong Marxist governing party." Having a large party and a large country is an advantage that allows us to accomplish great things and build grand undertakings, but it also means our governance of the Party and the country faces many unique challenges. To understand where the "uniqueness" of these challenges lies, we must accurately grasp them from three dimensions: party attributes, value orientation, and organizational scale.
From the perspective of party attributes, a Marxist party is characterized by its advanced nature. It possesses an inherent and unremitting pursuit of advancedness and purity, bearing the mission of making new and greater contributions to humanity.
How to always be able to discover and solve its own existing problems in a timely manner is one of the unique challenges for the CPC as a Marxist party. The advanced nature of a Marxist party is not innate; it is tempered through continuous self-revolution. General Secretary Xi Jinping warned the whole Party: "For such a large party, situated in a governing position and controlling governing resources, it is very easy—under the halo of governance achievements—to overlook one’s own deficiencies and problems, falling into the predicament where 'it is easy to revolutionize others, but hard to revolutionize oneself.'" Since the 18th National Congress, our Party has unwaveringly promoted comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, solving many prominent internal issues. However, the building of the Party—especially the construction of Party style, clean government, and the anti-corruption struggle—faces many stubborn and recurring problems. If these are not strictly guarded against and promptly rectified, they will eventually rebound and resurface, leading to the loss of all previous gains.
How to always maintain the mental state for pioneering and entrepreneurship is another unique challenge for the CPC as a Marxist party. Marxist parties possess lofty social ideals and a great historical mission; they harbor sublime and firm ideals and beliefs and struggle unremittingly for them. History tells us that Marxist parties are the political leadership forces most capable of realizing social transformation. At the same time, some Marxist parties that achieved certain victories became infatuated with applause and flowers, settling for the status quo and losing the revolutionary spirit and will to struggle they once possessed. The sobering lessons [3] of the Communist parties in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries are not far off. General Secretary Xi Jinping admonished the whole Party: "We are revolutionaries; we must not lose the revolutionary spirit." As Communists are always revolutionaries, they should always maintain a mental state of pioneering and entrepreneurship, advancing self-revolution and leading social revolution with a vigorous revolutionary spirit. How to maintain such a mental state under conditions of long-term governance and continuously enhance the Party's creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness is a major subject for the CPC as a large Marxist party.
From the perspective of value orientation, "the people first" is the distinct value orientation of the CPC. This orientation constitutes the foundation of the Party's long-term governance in a large socialist country like China, while simultaneously presenting unique challenges that the governing party of a large socialist country must answer.
How to always remain true to our original aspiration and founding mission is a unique challenge for the CPC as the governing party of a large socialist country. Since its founding, our Party has always taken seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and founding mission. The Party comes from the people, is rooted in the people, and serves the people; it represents the fundamental interests of the broadest possible range of the Chinese people and has no special interests of its own. This is the root of the Party’s invincibility. "The country is the people, and the people are the country" [4]. Being born for the people and flourishing because of the people is the fundamental starting point and ultimate goal of the Party’s governance and national rejuvenation. General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "For an individual or a political party, the most precious thing is to remain true to the original aspiration after experiencing the vicissitudes of life and to maintain the true colors after weathering the storms." How to adhere to the people-centered stance and consolidate and strengthen the Party's foundation of governance is a unique challenge faced by the CPC in its long-term governance.
How to always possess strong governing capacity and leadership level is another unique challenge. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Our Party is the world’s largest governing party, leading the world’s most populous country. How to wield power and govern well, and how to better organize and mobilize 1.4 billion people to comprehensively build a modern socialist country, is a major subject that always requires a high degree of attention." The China led by the Party is a global power of over 1.4 billion people, engaged in the unprecedented cause of great rejuvenation; the responsibility is extremely heavy, the challenges are immense, and the influence is wide-reaching. "Governing a country should be viewed like tending a garden: clearing the weeds is easy, but achieving order and uniformity is difficult" [5]. Contemporary China's basic national conditions—such as its massive population, vast territory, and prominent problems of unbalanced and inadequate development—place extremely high demands on the Party's governing capacity and leadership level. How to continuously improve these capacities and enhance the effectiveness of national governance throughout the process of governing is a unique challenge for the CPC.
From the perspective of organizational scale, as of December 31, 2021, the CPC had 96.712 million members and 4.936 million primary-level Party organizations. The number of Party members exceeds the populations of European countries such as the United Kingdom and France, and the number and scale of Party organizations are the largest in the world. It is undeniably a world-class large party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Our Party is the largest political party in the world. Being big means one must look like a big party, but being big also brings the 'difficulties of bigness.'" The increase in the number of members means the CPC gathers increasingly powerful strength, but at the same time, the massive organizational scale brings unique challenges belonging to a world-class large party, testing the Party's unity, uniformity, advancedness, and purity.
How to always achieve unity in thought, will, and action is one of these unique challenges. The CPC has grown from a small party of dozens of people into a large party with over 96 million members; this continuous expansion is the basis for our Party winning victories and creating historical achievements. However, the large number of members, their complex structure, and the wide distribution and varying conditions of Party organizations all increase the difficulty of managing the Party. Mao Zedong once pointed out: "A column of troops is often not very aligned, so one must frequently shout 'align to the right' (or 'look toward the center')" [6]. When the ranks are small, "aligning" is relatively easy; when the ranks are large, "aligning" becomes a difficult but extremely important task. As the leading force for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it would be extremely dangerous for the CPC not to have a unified pace. How to ensure the Party’s strength, vigor, unity, and uniformity while its scale expands is a proposition placed before the Party on its new centenary journey.
How to always maintain a clean and upright political ecosystem is another unique challenge. For a political party, the quantity and quality of members complement each other but are not identical. The Party needs a certain quantity of members to ensure the quality of Party building, but an increase in overall quantity does not necessarily lead to an overall improvement in quality. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "When the political ecosystem is good, people's hearts are at peace and integrity prevails; when the political ecosystem is bad, people's hearts are scattered and many ills arise." For us to become an invincible and unbreakable Marxist party, the fundamental factor lies in whether we can maintain the Party’s own advancedness and purity. As a century-old party attracting world attention, the CPC clearly recognizes that its advancedness and purity are both the sharp blade with which the Party remains invincible and the fountain of life that the Party must carefully nurture. In the historical context of rapid membership expansion, how to continue strictly governing the Party, preventing corruption and transformation [7], and maintaining serious and earnest intra-Party political life is a task of the times the Party must solve.
Grasping the "Difficulty" of the Large Party’s Unique Challenges through the Party's Developmental Process
As a Marxist party with a history of over 100 years, the CPC's own development process determines that it must face unique challenges distinct from those of other parties. From the linear logic of Chinese social and historical development, only by deeply understanding the cultural heritage and historical context of our Party's growth can we profoundly grasp where the "difficulty" of the large party's unique challenges lies, and thereby build the Party into a vigorous Marxist governing party that can withstand various storms and always stay at the forefront of the times.
From the perspective of historical lessons, how to escape the historical cycle of rise and fall is a profound concern for the CPC as a large party. With such a long history, such a large scale, and such a long period of governance, how can the CPC escape this cycle? This question is essentially a concern for the state power under long-term governance. It is difficult to start an undertaking, but even harder to maintain it. From the perspective of world political history, a regime in its early stages often achieves a series of brilliant successes due to its vigor and fighting spirit. However, over time, due to changes in status, the corrosive nature of power, and the inertia of governance, it gradually loses its enterprising spirit and vitality. As the long-term governing party driving the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, whether the CPC can learn from the profound lessons of some large and old parties in the world—and ensure that the CPC itself does not collapse and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics does not fall during the long course of history—is an extremely difficult and major risk and challenge.
Looking back at the history of the rise and fall of China's feudal dynasties and uprising movements, many great dynasties with far-reaching influence appeared, but they all without exception failed to escape the historical cycle, moving toward the "end of the regime upon the death of the ruler" [8] as time passed. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that there are many reasons for these historical tragedies of decline after a peak: "One common and extremely important reason is that the ruling groups became addicted to pleasure, lived in extreme luxury and extravagance, were fatuous and shameless, and the officialdom became corrupt where power was traded for bribes. They could not solve their own problems, leading to a situation where the people could not make a living and disasters occurred simultaneously, ultimately resulting in a change of dynasty." Facts fully demonstrate that to achieve enduring prosperity and long-term governance, one must always remain sober and determined to solve the unique challenges of a large party, learn from the historical lessons of the downfall of successive Chinese dynasties, and explore effective paths to realize the prosperity and long-term stability of the Party and the country's cause.
The core proposition of how a Marxist governing party can escape the historical cycle of rise and fall under conditions of long-term governance is not an abstract or isolated one; it is a composite proposition involving political, economic, cultural, and various other aspects. It has always been a profound concern of our Party. In a loess cave in Yan'an, Mao Zedong gave the "first answer": "Only by letting the people supervise the government will the government not dare to slacken." Since the 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has given the "second answer" to escaping the historical cycle: self-revolution. Both answers are solutions provided by our Party under the guidance of historical materialism, adhering to the combination of theory and practice, and they point the way for our Party to consolidate its position of long-term governance.
From the perspective of realistic tests, how to deal with the "Four Tests" and "Four Dangers" [9] is an objective necessity for the CPC as a large party. Currently, changes in the world, the times, and history are unfolding in unprecedented ways, presenting a series of challenges that humanity must treat seriously. As the strong leadership core of the Party and the country's cause, the complexity of the situation the CPC faces, the weight of the responsibilities it bears, and the difficulty of the tasks it shoulders are rare in the world and rare in history. General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out: "The tests of governance, reform and opening up, the market economy, and the external environment will exist for a long time; the dangers of mental slackness, lack of capacity, being divorced from the masses, and passivity and corruption will exist for a long time." Only by deeply understanding the realistic tests current facing our Party, and accurately grasping where the difficulties of reality lie, can we effectively strengthen our own construction with the sobriety and determination to solve the unique challenges of a large party, ensuring the Party’s vigorous vitality and strong combat effectiveness.
Scientifically assessing "times" and "trends" [10] while dialectically grasping "crises" and "opportunities" is the only way to ensure victory from a thousand miles away. Under the new situation, the "Four Tests" [11] reveal the severe challenges and realistic dangers facing the Party under new historical conditions: as the Party’s duration in power increases, its leadership and governance standards, as well as the modernization of the national governance system and capacity, require continuous improvement; as reform and opening up deepen, social relations undergo profound changes, necessitating the correct resolution of new social contradictions; as the socialist market economy develops and the pattern of social interests is constantly adjusted, new social relations must be rationally coordinated; and as the international situation changes, we must always maintain strategic initiative in safeguarding national security, properly handling the relationships between the internal and external, the immediate and the distant, and the superficial and the essential. Only if the entire Party maintains strategic clarity and strategic resolve, responding to the "Four Tests" with political, ideological, and active consciousness, can we ensure the Party remains full of vigor and vitality and continues to stand at the forefront of the times.
In the process of long-term governance by a Marxist party, internal problems that may come to light fundamentally affect the fulfillment of its governing mission. The "Four Dangers" [12] accurately summarize the perils facing our Party’s governance under the new situation: the "danger of mental slackness" exists at all times and has far-reaching effects, constituting one of the systemic risks facing a political party; the "danger of lack of capacity" is a major issue affecting the overall situation of national development, as the competency levels of Party and state cadres determine the quality of all work; the "danger of being divorced from the masses" is the greatest danger after the Party takes power, for the future and destiny of a party or regime depend on whether it wins or loses the support of the people—once divorced from the masses, our Party will lose its vitality; the "danger of passivity and corruption" is the largest "malignant tumor" harming the Party’s vitality and combat effectiveness, seriously eroding the Party’s healthy organism and shaking its foundations of governance. From this, it is evident that only by profoundly recognizing the gravity of the dangers we face and persistently advancing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party can we ensure the Party does not change its nature, its conviction, or its character [13], thereby becoming a party that leads the world's development trends.
Looking toward future development, how to comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization is a vital task for the CPC as a large party. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed that, from this day forward, the central task of the Party is to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal [14] 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. This is a great and arduous undertaking facing a complex and severe situation, burdensome tasks, and numerous contradictions and problems; it must undergo long-term, unremitting efforts and be prepared to withstand the major tests of high winds, choppy waters, and even perilous storms. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The key to building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts lies in the Party." As the "backbone" (主心骨) of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and as the "mainstay" (中流砥柱) and "stabilizing anchor" (定海神针) [15] of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the CPC must firmly grasp historical initiative and answer the political summons with a heart of loyalty to ensure that our socialist modernization does not deviate, break down, or stagnate under the new situation.
Modernization is an objective process of economic, social, and civilizational progress, as well as a common developmental pursuit for the people of the world. Chinese-path modernization is socialist modernization led by the CPC; it shares common characteristics with the modernization of all countries but also possesses Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. As a new path to modernization, Chinese-path modernization can neither imitate Western models of modernization nor follow the old path of Soviet socialist modernization; instead, it must explore a correct path suited to our national conditions that reflects the characteristics and advantages of a late-developing country. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must persist in advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, neither taking the old path of being closed and stagnant, nor taking the evil path of changing flags and banners" [16]. Constructing the theory of Chinese-path modernization and advancing its process is no easy feat; it requires our Party to continuously engage in theoretical innovation and practical exploration to ensure the cause of our modernization advances steadily and reaches far.
One must climb step by step to maintain a steady pace; incremental progress in strategic arrangements leads to the steady advancement of modernization. Chinese-path modernization takes the "two-step" strategic arrangement [17] as its framework and the "five persistences" [18] as its guiding principles, clearly indicating the direction for China's future development. The 20th CPC National Congress, with high-reaching strategic thinking, demarcated five important principles for building a great modern socialist country, providing our Party with an important "magic weapon" (法宝) [19] to overcome difficulties and obstacles on the journey ahead. Among these, "upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership" occupies the primary position, highlighting the Party’s key role in leading the process of socialist modernization. It can be said that on the future path of development, how to ensure Chinese-path modernization goes on long, far, and well—and how to comprehensive advance national rejuvenation through it—is an arduous and important task for our Party.
To govern the country, one must first govern the Party; only with a flourishing Party can there be a strong nation. Solving the unique challenges of a large party is a threshold that must be crossed to realize the Party’s missions and tasks on the new journey of the New Era; it is a "hard bone" [20] that must be chewed to ensure that the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party adapts to new situations and requirements. On the road ahead, we must profoundly grasp the inner significance of the unique challenges of a large party, maintain clarity and determination in solving these challenges at all times, and always remain in high alignment with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. We must profoundly understand the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments," further strengthen the "Four Consciousnesses," [21] firm up the "Four Confidences," [22] and achieve the "Two Upholds." We must unite as one, struggle hard, and push the great ship of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation to brave the wind and waves and sail toward distant horizons!