Implement the Party’s Organizational Guideline for the New Era

Implement the Party’s Organizational Guideline for the New Era*

June 29, 2020

It takes the efforts of the whole Party to fully implement its organizational guideline for the new era. We must have a thorough understanding of its rich content and requirements. In implementing the guideline, we should stay true to our goal, adopt a problem-solving approach and deliver results.

First, we should uphold and improve the Party’s leadership and follow and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Party’s organizational guideline is determined by its sound political guideline, and serves to ensure that the sound political guideline is implemented properly. The Party exercises overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in our country. This is the most important guideline the Party has developed in leading the people in the course of revolution, construction and reform.

The fundamental purpose of strengthening the Party’s organizations is to uphold and improve overall Party leadership and provide a strong guarantee for advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. During the War of Liberation, the Party Central Committee called for the preparation of a well-trained force for the day when political power would be won nationwide. In less than three months, the Party’s organizational departments at all levels sent 53,000 Party officials to work in the newly liberated areas. In the years from 1952 to 1954, in order to carry out large-scale economic construction, more than 160,000 people were transferred to the industrial sector across the country, among whom more than 3,000 assumed leading positions in key Soviet-aided factories and mines. In 1956, the Party Central Committee issued a call to encourage intellectuals to dedicate themselves to socialist development. By the end of June 1957, more than 17,500 of 110,000 senior intellectuals in China had joined the Party. Many scientists of the older generation such as Li Siguang and Qian Xuesen joined the Party in the 1950s.

Now, we expect to accomplish the First Centenary Goal and embark on a new journey towards the Second Centenary Goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects. Today’s world is going through profound and complex changes, and we are faced with risks and challenges, both foreseeable and unforeseeable. We should be fully aware of this complexity and these challenges, and we should pursue the goal of national rejuvenation in the context of a world facing a scale of change unseen in a century. If we are to respond effectively to daunting challenges, defuse risks, remove major obstacles and resolve serious problems, and if we are to succeed in our great historic struggle with many new features and achieve the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must ensure the leadership of the Party.

Upholding Party leadership first and foremost means upholding the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership. We should see to it that all Party members closely follow the Party’s central leadership in thinking, action and political orientation. We should also see to it that Party committees and Party leadership groups at all levels as well as primary-level Party organizations in all sectors perform their political and organizational functions. We should unite and energize Party members, officials, professionals and the general public so that they will come together and become a powerful force to build socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era.

Second, we should arm all Party members with the Party’s sound theories. The Party’s organization is the body, while its vision is the soul, so to speak. To strengthen the Party’s organization, we should build up the body, and more importantly, shape its soul. The Party has succeeded in accomplishing a mission that no other political force in modern China was able to complete, and it has led the people in making great achievements in revolution, construction and reform. What has made this possible is that the Party has always followed Marxism as its guide to action, and informed all its members about the latest achievement in adapting Marxism to China’s realities. And this has created a shared vision, a strong will, great strength, and a powerful capacity to act in concert in our Party.

As the largest political party in the world, our Party should act in a way commensurate with its status, although it faces various problems that come with size. It is especially difficult for the whole Party to maintain a high degree of unity in thinking and theory. We must arm the Party with Marxism, especially the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Party organizations at all levels, Party members and officials, and especially we leading officials, should know how to use the theoretical weapons of Marxism, improve our ability to apply theory in practice, and turn the Party’s new thinking into a force for advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. We in Party committees at all levels and our organizational departments should take the Party’s sound theories as the guide to consolidating the Party’s organizations. We should promote reform and open new ground under new conditions, move ahead with the times, gain a good understanding of how to conduct the Party’s organizational work, and be creative in our work. This will provide a strong organizational base for accomplishing the Party’s historic mission in the new era.

Third, we should improve the Party’s organizational system. A well-knit organizational system is the source of strength of a Marxist political party. Lenin said, “The proletariat can, and inevitably will, become an invincible force only through its ideological unification on the principles of Marxism being reinforced by the material unity of organization.” Our Party has established a well-functioning organizational structure consisting of the central, local and primary level units. This comprises 3,200 local Party committees, 145,000 Party leadership groups and Party working committees, and 4.68 million primary-level Party organizations.

This is a strength no other political party in the world has. The strength of the Party’s organizational system can be fully unleashed only when our central, local and primary-level Party units maintain their strengths and play their roles. Only with a tight-knit organizational system where Party units at all levels are well-developed, well-functioning, closely connected, and competent in policy implementation can the Party exercise effective leadership, just as the brain directs the arms and the arms employ the fingers. This is why we emphasize that priority should be given to strengthening the organizational system in implementing the Party’s organizational guideline for the new era.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have worked to strengthen the Party’s organizations as a priority. We have done this, first and foremost, by strengthening the Central Committee, and the Political Bureau and its standing committee. In the Party regulations we have formulated, high standards are set for comrades in the central leadership team. This requires them to play an exemplary role for the rest of the Party in observing the Party’s discipline and rules, and fulfilling their political responsibility for exercising governance over the Party.

Central Party and government departments should take the lead in implementing the decisions and action plans of the Central Committee, and must not erect any roadblocks. We must implement the regulations on the work of Party leadership groups and on the Party’s working bodies, so as to turn central Party and government departments into models in keeping political commitment, observing discipline, taking responsibilities seriously, and carrying out duties effectively.

Local Party committees are the main channel in implementing the Central Committee’s decisions and action plans, and this channel must not be impeded. We must fully implement the regulations on the work of local Party committees, to build them into strong organizations that resolutely follow the lead of the Central Committee, exercise strict and effective self-governance and supervision, maintain high cohesion, and have a high degree of integrity.

The primary-level Party organizations are the “last mile” in implementing the Central Committee’s decisions and action plans, and they must not be allowed to drag feet or take no action. We must pay greater attention to strengthening primary-level Party organizations, rectify the weak and the slack ones, address shortcomings in their work, and ensure Party organizations and their work cover all sectors. This will enable these organizations in different sectors to play a key role in exercising Party leadership.

At the same time, we must recruit new high-caliber Party members, strengthen the commitment of all Party members and keep them well managed so that they can be the vanguard and the models in advancing reform and development and ensuring stability. We in the Party organizations at all levels should continue to strengthen our ability to provide political leadership and theoretical guidance and to organize and inspire the people. We can thus rally all the people closely around the Party.

Fourth, we should build a core contingent of administrative officials and talent of all disciplines. As an ancient Chinese philosopher observed, “If a country has a huge pool of talent, good governance is ensured; otherwise, poor governance is unavoidable.” Managing human resources, including officials and talent, is essentially a matter of how to put people to good use. To respond to changes, create new opportunities, and open new horizons to rejuvenate our country, the key is for us to strengthen the Party’s leadership teams at all levels and train high-caliber officials. As I have said before, great decisions and implementation plans will come to nothing if they are not implemented by competent people. The Party’s organizational guideline for the new era requires that officials be selected on the basis of both integrity and competence, with greater emphasis on the former. Officials with competence but no integrity will ruin our cause; those with integrity but no competence will weaken our cause; only those with both integrity and competence can ensure the success of our cause.

Our Party emphasized at the Fourth Plenary Session of its 19th Central Committee that strengthening the governance capacity of officials is a major task in the new era. We should give officials more training in theory to strengthen their political commitment, hone their skills, and give them more hands-on practice. We should urge all officials to perform their duties and exercise their power in strict accordance with all relevant regulations. We in the Party organizations at all levels should set high standards of political commitment and integrity for officials. We should not allow anyone with a dubious political stance or lack of integrity to present themselves as an effective performer. We must also set strict standards of qualification and competence for officials, appoint leadership teams, and use capable officials with passion and vigor to meet the needs of development. This way, we can identify and appoint officials who are enterprising, devoted to their jobs, and able to deliver results. We should select and train younger officials from among the best, focusing on the quality of candidates. We should not be impatient as if trying to help shoots grow by pulling them up, still less should we lower our standards for officials. High-caliber younger officials, once selected, need to be properly trained and managed. We should strengthen political and professional training of officials, so that they will honor their political commitment, and have a good command of theory and the professional skills and knowhow to respond to the call of our times.

We should reform the human resources management system, and improve the supervision mechanism with a view to ensuring that our officials keep their political commitment, perform their duties properly, practice the code of conduct and observe discipline. This reform should aim for greater career mobility, providing opportunities for officials to move up or down and in or out, and promoting the competent and awarding the high performers, while demoting the mediocre and dismissing the poorest performers. We should build and improve incentive and protection mechanisms to encourage officials to fulfill their duties, live up to their responsibilities, and resolve tough issues, and we should provide them with proper support.

We should accelerate the reform of institutions and mechanisms for managing human resources and remove institutional obstacles to recruiting, training, using, evaluating, rotating and motivating staff. We should implement a more proactive, open and effective human resources policy to form a sound human resources system with international competitiveness, to pool competent people of all disciplines and put them to the best use.

Fifth, we should improve the Party’s organizational system. Democratic centralism is the fundamental organizational and leadership principle of our Party. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Central Committee has formulated and revised a range of Party rules and regulations. They include guidelines for internal Party activities under new circumstances, and regulations on the work of Party leadership groups, on the work of local Party committees, on the Party’s working bodies, on the work of Party branches, and on the work of primary-level Party organizations in rural areas, state-owned enterprises, and Party and government departments.

At its Fourth Plenary Session, the 19th Central Committee incorporated into the state and governance systems the principle that optimizing and safeguarding the Party’s centralized, unified organizational system is an important means of upholding and improving the Party’s leadership system.

The competent departments of the Central Committee and Party committees and Party leadership groups at all levels should take concrete steps to implement the Party’s organizational rules and regulations, and meet the requirements of the Central Committee in light of their specific conditions. Efforts should be made to establish a complete and sound set of systems and institutions, including those for the setup, operation, management and supervision of Party organizations.

Efforts should also be made to improve and enforce the system under which Party committees and Party leadership groups assume primary responsibility in strictly enforcing Party discipline. All these efforts to strengthen the Party’s organizations should be institutionalized, standardized and well-conceived.

* Part of the speech at the 21st group study session of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee.

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