Li Xiaohan: Integrating the "Practical Approach" Throughout the Entire Process of Establishing and Practicing a Correct View of Performance Achievements
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that we must educate and guide Party members and cadres, especially leading cadres, to "speak the truth, perform practical deeds, and seek practical results; and to promote work and solve problems in a down-to-earth manner." This important discourse points out a clear practical path for Party members and cadres to establish and practice a correct outlook on political achievements [1]. Party members and cadres must permeate the entire process of considering problems and handling affairs with the word "substantiality" (shi), speaking the truth, performing practical deeds, and seeking practical results, so as to achieve solid performance through steadfast work and genuinely satisfy the masses.
Speaking the truth is a fundamental political quality of Chinese Communists. So-called speaking the truth means being loyal to the Party, seeking truth from facts, and ensuring that one's internal thoughts match one's external manifestations [2]; it means facing problems head-on and reporting situations as they are. The century-long history of our Party profoundly demonstrates that speaking the truth is the best way to test and temper Party spirit. Some Party members and cadres trim their sails to the wind [3] and act with slick worldliness; some cover up contradictions and gloss over difficulties to create a facade of peace [4]; others say one thing to people's faces but do another behind their backs. All of these are driven by selfish motives and distracting thoughts. Speaking the truth is being responsible to the Party, the people, and the cause; it is a manifestation of hiding no private intentions and seeking no private interests. Being loyal and honest to the Party first requires speaking honest words, performing honest deeds, and being an honest person. Only by speaking the truth can one hold the bottom line and truly become a backbone for promoting the development of the Party and state undertakings, as well as a public servant serving the people.
Performing practical deeds is an important requirement for practicing the fundamental purpose of wholeheartedly serving the people. To perform practical deeds for the people, we must eliminate the practice of putting up "flowery frameworks" [5], doing superficial work, or building "image projects" [6]. We must persist in starting from the prominent problems that the masses are most concerned about, focusing precisely on the "urgent, difficult, anxious, and hopeful" (ji nan chou pan) [7] issues of the masses, and resolutely discarding practices that are divorced from reality, ostentatious and wasteful, or that exhaust the people and drain the treasury. In reality, a minority of Party members and cadres have developed a skewed outlook on political achievements: some treat undertaking tasks as a springboard for promotion, being overambitious for greatness and seeking quick success; others are keen on creating "highlight projects" within the visual range of their superiors, while ignoring the actual feelings of the masses. If Party members and cadres undertake tasks only for their personal future and individual fame, it will be difficult for them to settle down and focus on implementation. Only by establishing and practicing a correct outlook on political achievements and sincerely solving problems and seeking well-being for the masses can we truly achieve the goal of "doing what the people expect" and ensure that practical deeds for the people are done solidly, well, and to the satisfaction of the people's hearts.
Seeking practical results is the ultimate destination of undertaking tasks and starting a career. The Way is not found in empty talk; learning seeks practical results [8]. Seeking practical results means ensuring that all work conforms to objective laws and fits actual needs; it means pursuing substantial development, development without "water" [9], and development that integrates speed, quality, and efficiency, so that the masses receive real benefits and feel happiness. In the 1980s, while working in Zhengding, Hebei, Comrade Xi Jinping faced the phenomenon of the "high-yield but poor county." He stated clearly: "I would rather lose the crown of being a 'national high-yield county' if it means letting the masses live a better life." Comrade Xi Jinping sought truth from facts in reporting the situation to higher authorities and striving for policy support. As a result, the county's grain procurement quota was reduced by 28 million jin [10], and the planting structure was adjusted, which allowed the income of local farmers to double. One should value solid performance over empty fame, and the fundamental over the superficial. This is a vivid portrayal of speaking the truth, performing practical deeds, and seeking practical results.
Speaking the truth, performing practical deeds, and seeking practical results profoundly manifest the theoretical character of Marxism and centrally embody the Chinese Communists' ideological line of seeking truth from facts and their work style of being realistic and pragmatic. These three are dialectically unified, interlinked, and indispensable. They constitute both a scientific methodology for understanding and transforming the world and an important guideline for Party members and cadres in the New Era to practice their original aspiration and founding mission and to temper their sense of responsibility. Speaking the truth is the prerequisite: only by grasping the actual situation and facing problems without concealment can we identify the crux of the matter and grasp the right direction. Performing practical deeds is the key: only by being down-to-earth and working with earnest perseverance can we solve difficult problems and promote development. Seeking practical results is the goal: only by judging heroes based on solid performance and testing quality through practical effects can we win the trust and hearts of the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping points out profoundly: "Whether a cadre seeks truth from facts can be seen from many aspects, but the most fundamental thing is to see whether they speak the truth and honest words, and whether they perform practical deeds and seek practical results." The value of work lies in pragmatism, and the success of a cause lies in solid work. Without action, there is not a shred of Marxism. The broad masses of Party members and cadres must keep in mind that "empty talk harms the country, while solid work makes it flourish" [11]. They should not indulge in empty dreams or pursue illusory reputations [12], but rather perform their duties with a realistic and pragmatic attitude and a style of solid work. They must create solid achievements that can withstand the test of practice, the people, and history, and continue to compose new chapters of Chinese-path modernization.