Stay True to Our Original Aspiration and Continue Marching Forward

Stay True to Our Original Aspiration and Continue Marching Forward*

July 1, 2016

"Looking at the mirror we know about ourselves; reflecting on the past we know what to do now." Today we review our history not to take comfort in our successes, and not to look for excuses for evading the difficulties we currently face, but for the purpose of summing up experience, learning the laws of history, and giving ourselves the power and courage to move forward.

It was pointed out at the 18th CPC National Congress that persevering with a path of developing socialism with Chinese characteristics will be a long and hard historic task. There will be great struggles with new historic characteristics. All Party members should be aware that we must be ready at all times to meet great challenges, take on great risks and obstacles and solve major problems, dedicate ourselves to the path of Chinese socialism, and maintain and consolidate the Party's leadership so that our Party, our country, and our people will prevail.

History will move forward. It will not wait for the hesitant, the bystanders, slackers or the weak. Only by marching forward with history will we be able to have a bright future.

Our Party has stood the test of time for 95 years, but we should always retain the spirit of the Communists at the time of the founding of our Party. We should always have a heart for the people. We shall move forward, but we shall not forget the path we have taken in the past. No matter how far we go towards a bright future, we should not forget why we set out in the first place. Facing the future and challenges, all Party members should never forget why we started out and continue marching forward.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. This means we should continue to hold Marxism as our guiding philosophy, combine Marxist principles with the realities and circumstances of today's China, and push forward theoretical innovation. We should keep experimenting, so as to keep Marxism abreast of the times.

The guiding philosophy is the spiritual beacon of a party. Over the past 95 years, the CPC has accomplished so many tasks which were thought to be impossible by other political forces. The reason for this has been precisely attributed to our adoption of Marxism as our guide of action, while the theories of Marxism have then been further developed. This has allowed our Party to free itself from the limitations of all previous political forces, which focused on pursuing their own special interests. This has enabled us to hold on to the materialist dialectic view and selflessly lead China's revolution, development and reform, whilst sticking to the truth and correcting the mistakes we made. Our Party has never wavered in its belief in Marxism either in favorable or unfavorable circumstances.

Marxism and its development in China have always been a scientific guideline for handling the affairs of our Party and our people, and a foundation for unity in the Party and between people of all ethnicities.

Marxism is the fundamental guiding thought for the establishment of our Party and our country. Departing from or abandoning Marxism, the Party would lose its soul and direction. On the issue of Marxism as the fundamental guiding thought, we shall not waver under any circumstances.

At the same time, facing the new characteristics of our era and the demands of new realities, Marxism also needs to be better integrated with the realities of China, keep abreast with the times, and respond to the need of the Chinese people. Marxism does not put a lid on truth but opens a path to truth. Frederick Engels has said, "Marx's whole way of thinking [Auffassungsweise] is not so much a doctrine as a method. It provides, not so much ready-made dogmas, as aids to further investigation and the method for such investigation."

New realities inspire new thoughts and the source of new theories is practice. Practical development should have no end; neither should our endeavor to seek truth and innovative theories. Today, the changes of our time and the development of our nation have gone far beyond the imagination of classical Marxist writers of their era. But we are also fully aware that the development of socialism in China is but several decades in practice and is still at a rudimentary phase. There will be more problems as we further develop, and that requires us to be more courageous and more innovative in our practice.

If our understanding of the theory is not thorough, we cannot convince others. We should broaden our horizon to review the prevailing conditions and practical need of Marxism in todays development. We must focus on identifying and resolving problems, and focus our attention on what we are doing. We should listen to the voices of our era and further boost the integration of Marxism and the circumstances and realities of Chinese development today. We should open a new chapter for Marxism in the 21st century and allow it to shine brighter in modern China.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. We should remember that our Party has made striving for communism and socialism its goal from the very beginning. We will continue to uphold the lofty ideal of communism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, and march forward to achieve this goal.

Revolutionary ideals are more important than anything else. Why the Party is called the Communist Party of China is because since day one our Party has made communism its highest ideal. The reason our Party is able to rise again and again through hardships and adversities is because the Party has always held on to this great ideal and aspiration.

"Without resolve, one can accomplish nothing." The wavering of one's faith and ideal is the most dangerous risk. The decline of a party often begins with its members' loss of faith and ideals. Whether our Party is strong or not depends on whether our members' faith and ideals are strong or not. In the past 95 years, communist ideals have encouraged one generation of Communists after another to work hard, and many have even lost their lives in the process. "Let them cut off my head, I will not abandon my faith." "Our enemies can take our lives but they cannot take away our faith." These lines from our fighters express the commitment and loyalty of Communists to their faith. The light of our ideal will not go out and the light of our faith will not go out. Bearing in mind the faith of our revolutionary martyrs, we will never forget the ideals they fought for and lost their lives for.

Ideals should be lofty; faith requires commitment. We should see ideals and faith education as strategic tasks in order to maintain the political commitment to pursue our ideals. Party members should be loyal followers and practitioners of the ideals of communism and a socialist society with Chinese characteristics, and play a leading role in the building of a moderately prosperous society and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Only when we thoroughly understand the theory will we be loyal politically. Strong faith should be founded on a comprehensive understanding of Marxism and historical rules. All Party members should study in depth Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development, as well as new theories developed after the 18th CPC National Congress. We should continuously upgrade our understanding of Marxism and maintain steadfast pursuit of the great ideal and goal. We should educate all Party members and officials to turn what we have learned into a force to politically and ethically cultivate ourselves. We should earnestly study, understand, and believe these theories, and put them to good use. We should not be conceited or impetuous when we have won success, and not waver or give up in times of adversity. We should stand fast and hold on to the great ideas that promote the progress of human society and the realization of human ideals.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. We should be confident in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We should not waver in adhering to the basic line of our Party and continue to advance the great cause of Chinese socialism.

Direction guides our path and path determines fate. Socialism with Chinese characteristics did not fall from the sky: It is the fundamental reward of the hard work and great sacrifices made by the Party and the people. Chinese socialism is both our great calling and a basic guarantee of our future.

The whole Party should be confident in our path, theory, system and culture. In today's world, if any party, nation or people deserves to be confident, it is the CPC, the PRC and the Chinese nation. "I'm sure to live for 200 years, and will swim for 3,000 li." We shall have such courage and confidence so that we can overcome any challenges we meet, open up new horizons and create new miracles.

We should believe that socialism with Chinese characteristics is the path towards socialist modernization and a better life for the people. We should believe that the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the right theory to lead the Party and the people towards realizing Chinese socialism and national rejuvenation. It is a scientific theoretical system keeping up with the times. We should believe that socialism with Chinese characteristics is the fundamental guarantee of China's modernization and development. It is a system with Chinese characteristics, clear strengths, and an ever self-improving mechanism.

The confidence in our culture is a more fundamental, broader and more profound faith in the development of China. It derives from our splendid 5,000-year history and is embedded in decades of a revolutionary struggle that embodies the deep-rooted spiritual pursuits of the Chinese nation, and represents the unique cultural identity of the Chinese people. We should foster the core values of Chinese socialism, uphold the national spirit featuring love of the country, follow the call of the times, namely, reform and innovation, and steadily build up the inner strength of the Party and the people of all ethnic groups.

All Party members should keep in mind that what we build is socialism with Chinese characteristics, and nothing else. History has not ended and will not end. To judge whether socialism with Chinese characteristics is good or not, we should look to the facts and listen to the voices of the Chinese people – not to the subjective judgment of those who look at China through a distorted lens. The CPC and the Chinese people are more than confident that we can offer the Chinese solution to the human society for people to explore for a better social system.

Deng Xiaoping once said, "We should adhere to the basic line for a hundred years, with no vacillation. That is the only way to win the trust and support of the people. Any one who attempted to change the line, principles and policies adopted since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee would not be countenanced by the people; he would be toppled." The basic line of our Party is the lifeline of the state and a guarantee for the people's happiness. We should place economic development at the center of our nation's invigoration, use the Four Cardinal Principles as the bedrock of our nation and reform and opening up as our path to prosperity, and hold on to our beliefs.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. We need to implement the Five-point Strategy, push forward the Four-pronged Strategy, fully advance the building of a moderately prosperous society, and strive to achieve the Two Centenary Goals.

At present, our main task is to complete the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, as the centenary of the CPC approaches. This will lay a solid foundation for us to achieve our next goal in the middle of the century, which will see the 100th anniversary of the founding of the PRC – building China into a prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, modern socialist country.

Building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is our Party's solemn promise to our people and history. It is also the common aspiration of more than 1.3 billion Chinese people. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, our Party has been vigorously devoted to the Five-point Strategy. We have striven to achieve the strategic goals of completing a moderately prosperous society in all respects, taking reform to a new level, advancing the rule of law, and strengthening Party discipline. The Five-point Strategy and the Four-pronged Strategy promote each other and develop together. We should carry them forward in an integrated way, with a fundamental focus on economic development, then simultaneously developing the socialist market economy, political democracy, an advanced culture, a harmonious society, and ecological conservation so as to create a better life for the people and make China into a prosperous and beautiful nation.

Development is the top priority of the Party and our country, and holds the key to solving all problems in China. We must bear in mind that the following realities have not changed: China is in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come; there is still a wide gap between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the inadequate supply; China is still the biggest developing country in the world. These are the fundamentals which we must face up to when pursuing development.

We are now facing a new development pattern both at home and abroad: China's economy is entering a new normal; the global economy is in a transitional period; and new breakthroughs in science and technology are under way. We should continue to focus on economic development, lead the economic new normal with new development concepts, further transform economic growth models, restructure our economy, improve the quality and efficiency of development, and accelerate supply-side reform so as to make our economic development more efficient, fairer, more sustainable, and of a higher quality. We must be innovation-oriented, value coordination, and strive for green, open and shared mechanisms and environment in order to constantly expand our economic and national strengths.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. This also means that we must maintain reform and opening up. We should have the courage to strengthen reform, further free our minds, liberate and develop social productivity and vitality, and constantly push forward reform and opening up.

Reform and opening up defines contemporary China. It is the most prominent feature of our Party in this new era. It is a strategic choice that has shaped the course of development of today's China.It is an important approach for the Party and the people to go along with the times.

Reform must keep to the right direction. We must neither follow the old path of a rigid closed-door policy, nor an erroneous path by abandoning socialism. We must take improving and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and modernizing our national governance system and capacity as the general goal of continuing reform comprehensively. We must be innovation-oriented with our theory, practice, system and other fields. Then our system can be more mature, economic development can be of higher quality, governance can be more advanced, and most importantly, our people can feel they are benefiting.

We must focus on reforming our economic system, remain committed to the direction of socialist market economy, and comprehensively strengthen systematic reform in economy, politics, cultural industry, social governance, ecological conservation and Party building.

Reform tends to be easy to start with and then to get harder. We must take systematic, integrated and coordinated actions in reform, dare to enter uncharted waters, and tackle tough issues. We must be courageous enough to carry out self-revolution, boost reform with strong determination, tackle long-existing problems, deal with entrenched interests and related problems, break ideological shackles, knock down the fence of vested interests, and remove systemic obstacles in the way of social and economic development.

Reform and the rule of law are like the two wings of a bird or the two wheels of a cart. We should stick to the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese features, accelerate its construction, and build a socialist country practicing the rule of law.

To achieve the comprehensive rule of law, the core is about the integration of the Party's leadership, people's participation as masters of the country, and the law-based governance of the nation. The key to achieving the comprehensive rule of law lies in reaffirming the Party's leadership in legislation, its guarantee of law enforcement, its support for judicial justice, and its rigorous observation of the law. Everyone in the country must honor the authority of the Constitution and the law, and uphold the Constitution. All organizations and individuals must act within the limits of the Constitution and the law, and no one has the right to go beyond the Constitution or the law.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. We need to believe that the Party is rooted in the people, and that the power of the Party comes from the people. We should insist that everything is for the people, rely on the people, give full play to the people's enthusiasm, initiative and creativity, and push forward the cause of benefiting the people.

Prosperity for the people is the basic political position of the CPC, and it is the prominent feature that distinguishes Marxist parties from other parties. Our Party and people stand together through storm and stress, go through thick and thin together, and keep flesh-and-blood ties, which is the basic guarantee of the Party in overcoming all difficulties and risks. "Win popular support, and you win the country; lose it, and you will lose the country."

All Party members should put the people in the highest place of their minds, and uphold the fundamental principle of serving the people wholeheartedly, realizing, maintaining and developing the basic interests of the people. We should take the support, approval, satisfaction, and consent of the people as the fundamental criteria for appraising all of our initiatives. This will give our Party an inexhaustible source of strength.

Leading the people to create a happy life is the persistent goal of our Party. We should follow people's longing for a better life, insist on people-oriented development, focus on ensuring and improving people's living standard while developing all social programs, balance income distribution, win the battle against poverty, and guarantee people's rights of equal participation and equal development, making the achievement of reform better benefit all the people in a more equal way, and moving towards realizing the goal of common prosperity of all people.

Respecting the principal position of the people and guaranteeing their status as masters of the nation is the consistent position of our Party. We should stick to the development of socialist political mechanisms with Chinese characteristics. We should adhere to, fully implement and constantly develop the people's congress system, multiparty cooperation, and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC. We should enhance the system of regional ethnic autonomy and the system of community-level self-governance, develop socialist consultative democracy, consolidate and develop the broadest patriotic United Front, and expand people's political participation. We should do all this in order to make sure that people take full part in national governance and social governance, and push for a nationwide liveliness, stability and unity.

"Feats are accomplished by capable people; work develops because of achievers." To develop the cause of the Party and the people calls for better use of talent in all fields. We should have the wisdom to identify achievers, the sincerity to cherish them, the courage to use them, and the means to gather them. We should open all possible ways to attract the best talent in and out of the Party at home and abroad, form a nurturing environment in which everyone wants to be an achiever, all strive to be an achiever, all have the ability to be an achiever, and all are able to make best use of their talents.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. We must stick to the road of peaceful development, insist on a mutually beneficial opening strategy, strengthen friendly exchanges with other countries, and advance the noble cause of peace and development with people from all countries.

To constantly make new and greater contribution to humanity is a solemn promise made by our Party and our people a long time ago. We have gone through difficult times, knowing deeply the value of peace and development, and regarding the promotion of world peace and development as our own noble responsibility.

Today's mankind is better qualified than ever before to achieve the goal of peace and development together. China advocates that people of all countries make concerted efforts, turn pressure into impetus, turn crises into opportunities, replace confrontation with cooperation, and replace monopoly with "benefits for all". What kind of international order and governance system best suits the world, and best suits the people of all countries? This is something that should be decided by all countries through consultation, and not by a single country or a minority of countries. Together with people from all other countries, China will actively participate in the construction of a global governance system, trying to contribute China's wisdom to implementing global governance and push global order and governance to develop in a fairer and more reasonable way.

The purpose of China's diplomatic policy is to safeguard world peace and promote common development. China is always a builder of world peace, contributor of global development, and maintainer of global order. China is willing to expand converging interests with other countries, accelerating the construction of new international relations centering on win-win cooperation and forming a community of shared future and common interests. 

China is committed to an independent foreign policy of peace and developing friendly cooperation with all other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. China follows the basic state policy of opening up, developing its economy with the door open to the outside world. Through major international cooperation projects like the Belt and Road Initiative, we work to create a more comprehensive, diversified and deeper opening-up structure.

The Chinese people know very well that China's development has benefited from international society. China is willing to contribute to the development of the international community. China's opening up is not a one man show; it welcomes joint efforts from other countries; it is not a fight for spheres of influence, or a means of building a "garden" in its own backyard, but to support the common development of all countries or build a "park" that can be shared by the international community.

China advocates a global community of shared future and opposes the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games. China believes that all countries are equal, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor. China respects the right of each nation's choice of development road, and upholds international justice. China is opposed to any country imposing its own will on other countries, or interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, or the strong bullying the weak. China does not covet other countries' rights and interests or become jealous of their achievements, nor do we give up our legitimate rights and interests. Saber rattling cannot scare us Chinese. We do not make trouble, but when it comes, we will not back away. We will not let any country force us to betray our core interests or undermine our country's sovereignty, security and developmental interests.

The CPC will pursue exchange and cooperation with political parties and organizations from all countries and regions, boosting relations between countries on the basis of independence, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs.

– Let us stay true to our original aspiration and continue marching forward. We must maintain our Party's progressive nature and integrity. We must improve our capacity to lead and to govern, reinforce our ability to withstand risk and combat corruption, and advance the great project of continuously building our Party.

China's success hinges on our Party. The most essential feature of the socialist society with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the CPC. The greatest advantage of the socialist system of China is also the leadership of the CPC. The foundation and lifeblood of the CPC and the country, and the interests and wellbeing of all Chinese people boil down to upholding and improving the leadership of the CPC.

The CPC has 88 million members and 4.4 million organizations, and leads a country of more than 1.3 billion people. The building of the Party is of vital importance and affects the overall situation. The CPC's self-improvement must keep abreast of the development of the causes of the Party and the people. This is a basic rule which we must follow in Party building.

A progressive nature and integrity are the essential features of Marxist political parties. To reinforce the Party is to fight against all the problems that may weaken the Party or erode the freedom from corruption, to cure sickness and heal wounds, to drive out evil and usher in the good. The entire Party needs the courage to conduct self-revolution to solve the Party's prominent problems. We must constantly enhance the Party's capability to carry out self-purification, self-improvement, self-innovation and self-cultivation. We must stand the "four tests" and overcome the "four risks". Only by doing so, can we make sure that the Party will always stay at the core of the firm leadership of socialist society with Chinese characteristics.

To govern the country, the Party must be governed first. The management of Party affairs must be strict. If supervision is lax, outstanding issues within the Party that are of significant public concern cannot be solved, and our Party will lose its right to rule and be eliminated by history. Our Party must be managed with stringent regulations at all times. We must be strict, decisive and persistent in enforcing Party discipline.

The basis of this is to supervise the political activities within the Party. Self-supervision of the Party should start with political activities within our Party. We must strengthen and regulate intra-Party political activities; strictly enforce the CPC's political discipline and political rules; make political activities within the Party more political, more relevant to the current times, more principled, and more effective, and comprehensively purify the political environment within the Party. All Party members must enhance their political integrity, develop a better understanding of the general picture, follow the core leadership of the Central Committee, and act consistently with CPC Central Committee policy, ensuring that they remain loyal to the Party, share its concerns, and assume their responsibilities and fulfill their obligations.

The Party's style of work has a significant bearing on its image, which serves as a "barometer" to observe the relations between the Party and the people and between officials and ordinary individuals. It can also help judge trends in public sentiment. If the Party has a sound style of work, then the people are at peace and willing to stand with the Party in both success and adversity. What has happened shows that if discipline is effectively and strictly implemented and supervision is resolute and strict, every problem can be addressed in improving the Party's style of work. We should never halt our efforts to improve the Party's style of work. "How can one correct others if he himself is not upright?" The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the Central Committee of the CPC as well as senior officials must take the lead to engage in a constant effort to improve the conduct of the Party, and uphold and carry forward our Party's fine traditions. Through a routine, meticulous, and sustained effort, we must improve the conduct of our Party in all respects and ensure that the Party always stands and maintains its bond with the people.

The biggest threat our Party faces as a governing party is corruption. Since its 18th National Congress, our Party has been committed to both caging the "tigers" and swatting the "flies". Not only have we created a deterrent so that officials dare not become corrupt, we have also yielded initial results in our efforts to ensure that officials cannot and have no desire to commit acts of corruption. All this indicates that the fight against corruption is in the process of gathering unstoppable momentum. We must make unremitting efforts to combat corruption, promote integrity and stay vigilant against degeneration. Officials at all levels must develop a sound attitude towards power, maintain lofty moral pursuits, and retain absolute respect for the people, the Party, law and discipline. Their exercise of power must be fair, law-based, people-oriented and clean. They must always preserve the political nature of Communists to stay free from corruption. With firm determination, we will maintain our zero-tolerance attitude towards corruption and look into every case involving corruption, leaving no place to hide for corrupt officials within the Party.

Our great undertakings need high-caliber officials. It is important to adhere to the criterion of evaluating officials in terms of both political integrity and professional capability, with priority given to integrity. We must appoint people on their merits without regard to their origins. Putting our cause first, we must act in a fair and upright manner and resolutely prevent and rectify undesirable tendencies in the selection and appointment of personnel, so as to carefully cultivate, promptly discover, and appropriately employ the good officials that our Party and people need.

An important element for officials to rise is to use virtue to cultivate oneself, establish one's authority, and win the trust of the people. All Party members and officials should keep in mind the Three Guidelines for Ethical Behavior and Three Basic Rules of Conduct; maintain the right worldview, outlook on life, and values; be mindful of the Party, the people, their responsibilities, and the rules; and regard selfless contribution to the causes of the Party and people as their highest aspiration in life. Officials at all levels should be diligent in acquiring knowledge and improving their competence in practice, so that they can keep their professional expertise and working abilities abreast of the times, avoid ignorance, and become more skilled in their work.

* Part of the speech at the ceremony marking the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)