OUR PARTY MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO ENGAGE IN SELF-REFORM

OUR PARTY MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO ENGAGE IN SELF-REFORM*

February 13, 2017

The defining characteristic and the greatest strength of our Party come from its courage to engage in self-reform. Ours is a great Party not because we do not make mistakes, but because we have never tried to cover up our mistakes. Rather, we face up to them and reform ourselves. The Party has a matchless ability to restore itself.

At the New Year reception hosted by the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference at the end of last year, I spoke about the spirit of carrying the revolution through to the end. I chose this topic because keeping the revolutionary spirit alive is an issue that must be addressed by the CPC, a Marxist party that was founded more than 95 years ago and has governed the country for more than 67 years. 

Our Party has always attached great importance to this issue. In March 1949, on the eve of the nationwide victory of the Chinese revolution, Chairman Mao proposed Two Musts at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh CPC Central Committee, emphasizing that “the Chinese revolution is great, but the road after the revolution will be longer, the work greater and more arduous”. This was a call to the whole Party to continue to maintain and carry forward the revolutionary spirit. After we launched reform and opening up in 1978, Comrade Deng Xiaoping emphasized the need to promote “the revolutionary spirit, which inspires people to work tirelessly”. We must never allow ourselves to lose the revolutionary spirit amid applause and praise, to gradually become contented, to lack the drive to make progress, to be afraid to face up to difficulties, and to become complacent and indulge in pleasure-seeking. If that happens, it will pose a great threat to our Party. Forging ahead with our founding mission in mind means that we should never forget our revolutionary spirit. 

In order to maintain its progressive and wholesome nature and to accomplish its lofty mission, a Marxist party must “make up for past mistakes, welcome criticism, and regard self-correction as a virtue and knowledge of its own faults as the hallmark of wisdom”. It must never ease up on its efforts to remedy shortcomings, and it should always respond to the call of the times and meet the needs of the people. 

Why was our Party able to emerge victorious in the prolonged power contest between various political forces in modern China? Why has it always stayed at the forefront of the times as the backbone of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation? The fundamental reason is that our Party has always kept alive the spirit of self-reform and the courage to recognize and correct its mistakes. By using the scalpel, time and again, to remove the lesion from its body, our Party has repeatedly overcome its own weaknesses through its own efforts. This ability is a distinct feature that makes our Party different from political parties in other countries and an important reason behind our Party’s enduring vitality.

The courage to engage in self-reform comes from the fact that our Party has no interests of its own; it only pursues the interests of the country, the nation, and the people. Chairman Mao said, “Communists are a special group of people. They do not hanker after personal gain, but only seek benefits for the people and the nation. They are rooted among the people. They are the people’s sons and daughters as well as their teachers. They are on constant guard against losing touch with the people. Whatever situation they encounter, they always put the interests of all the people first. This is how they have won the wholehearted support of the people. This is what is behind the ultimate victory of their cause.” “Those who harbor no self-interest may run the government.” “Selflessness in governance creates social equity.” Only those with no pursuit of personal gain in mind can work for the fundamental interests of all. Selflessness enables us to ensure that our conduct is in keeping with the Party’s nature and purpose, and with the people’s fundamental interests. It also drives us to face up to our shortcomings, problems and mistakes and rectify them. 

After the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, we made the decision to enforce strict self-discipline in the Party and take resolute action to resolve long-standing intractable problems within the Party. Like driving nails with a hammer, we have fully and rigorously enforced Party discipline. This demonstrates our strong revolutionary spirit and our Party’s resolve to reform itself. Today, many people worldwide marvel at the rapid pace of China’s ground-breaking advances in theory, practice and system, and its tremendous social transformation. This progress reflects our Party’s character — never becoming conceited and never slackening our effort — as well as our commitment to continuously cleanse, improve, renew and temper ourselves.

At present, the world, our country and our Party are all undergoing profound changes that present increasingly complex challenges. The Four Tests — tests of the capacity to exercise governance, carry out reform and opening up, develop the market economy, and respond to external developments — and the Four Risks — lack of drive, incompetence, disengagement from the people, and inaction and corruption — are becoming more severe. The more onerous the task, the greater the risks and challenges, and the more we must carry forward the spirit of self-reform. Against this background, what will determine our future and the success of our cause is whether the Party has a strong sense of self-reform, the resolve to improve itself, and the perseverance to address its own shortcomings and mistakes.

With nearly 89 million members and more than 4.4 million primary-level organizations, ours is the largest governing party in the world. This position makes it easy for a large party like ours, with access to all the resources afforded by its governing status, to be carried away by its achievements and overlook its shortcomings, and to be ensnared in a situation where it is more convenient for the party to reform others rather than itself. No external forces can defeat our Party, only we alone can defeat ourselves. The future of the Party is in the hands of the Party. We must have a full and objective understanding of our Party, always proceed from facts and realities, and have the courage to temper ourselves in the spirit of self-reform if we are to become stronger and forever maintain the Party’s vitality.

To engage in self-reform, we should have the courage to face up to our own shortcomings and redress them. “The greatest threat to governance is not knowing the cause of problems.” Covering up problems and refusal to rectify them can only stifle self-reform, the purpose of which is exactly to identify and address these problems. Problems do exist at all times. Just as seepage piping, if ignored, will eventually cause the dam to collapse — we must not turn a blind eye to small problems and allow them to build up into catastrophes. It is through self-reform that we can keep the cause of the Party and the people strong and robust as ever. We must do so by breaking new ground while consolidating our foundations.

Some people blindly believe in the Western model of changeover in running the government by different parties and the separation of powers, arguing that under the one-party system the governing party cannot resolve problems of its own. But the fact is, across the world, there are few political parties like the Communist Party of China, a party that has always faced up to its own problems, instituted a complete set of rules and regulations for self-discipline, and severely punished a large number of corrupt and degenerate elements within its ranks.

Party committees at all levels should measure their performance against the Party Constitution, discipline and regulations, as well as its theories, guidelines and policies. Just as “a virtuous man often examines himself as a fallible person”, Party committees should identify shortcomings and their root causes through thorough analysis, correct them, and stay committed to our goal. 

We must address problems that undermine the Party’s progressive and wholesome nature, impede internal Party activities or internal Party supervision, or cause serious public concern, and we must be ready to take resolute action against such tough issues on this never-ending journey of self-reform, and win the trust of the people with our solid performance.

* Part of the speech at a study session on implementing the decisions of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, attended by principal officials at the provincial and ministerial level.

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