Deeply Study and Implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building | Uphold Comprehensively Strict Governance of the Party

Uphold Comprehensively Strict Governance of the Party

■ Liu Wenyu, Wang Shengnan, Li Yifei

Editor's Note: Governing the country requires first governing the Party; governing the Party demands strictness without exception. "Upholding comprehensively strict governance of the Party (坚持全面从严治党)" is one of the substantive elements of the "Fourteen Upholds" within Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building. It clearly signals that during this critical period of laying the foundation for and fully advancing the basic realization of socialist modernization, the work of Party building must be advanced as a great project without a moment's relaxation. In the centenary effort to forge a strong military and the drive to build a first-class military, the entire armed forces must consciously apply Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building to plan and advance Party building in the military, and with higher standards and more substantive measures, carry out all tasks related to comprehensively strict governance of the Party and comprehensively strict governance of the military, continuously consolidating the purity and glory of the People's Army.

At the rally celebrating the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Chairman Xi profoundly stated: "To maintain firm confidence and carry forward the struggle, we must persistently advance comprehensively strict governance of the Party." History and practice have fully demonstrated that our Party has been able to overcome one difficulty after another and achieve one victory after another, and the key lies in consistently upholding the principle that the Party must govern itself and never relaxing comprehensively strict governance of the Party. At present, the world situation, national conditions, Party conditions, and military conditions are all undergoing complex and profound changes; the "four great tests" and "four dangers" facing our Party will exist for a long time to come, and some problems affecting the Party's advanced nature and weakening the Party's purity have not been fundamentally resolved. We must advance comprehensively strict governance of the Party and comprehensively strict governance of the military with the tenacity and perseverance of a journey that is never complete, sustain over the long term the keynote of strictness, the measures of strictness, and the atmosphere of strictness, comprehensively raise the quality of Party leadership and Party building work in our military, and provide a strong political guarantee for achieving the centenary goal of army building on schedule and accelerating the building of the People's Army into a world-class military.

I

Looking back on the journey, our Party has continuously and deeply advanced comprehensively strict governance of the Party with a high degree of historical initiative, powerfully demonstrating the great resolve of the Party to permanently preserve its advanced nature and purity through the renewal and transformation of the old, and manifesting the high degree of self-awareness in leading the great social revolution through the great self-revolution.

The great practice of breaking out of the historical cycle of order and chaos, rise and fall. The question of breaking out of the historical cycle is a matter of life and death for the Party and bears on the rise and fall of our country's socialist system. More than 80 years ago, faced with Huang Yanpei's "question of the historical cycle (历史周期率之问)," Comrade Mao Zedong gave the first answer: "Let the people supervise the government." Entering the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core gave the second answer in the great practice of comprehensively strict governance of the Party: self-revolution. Comprehensively strict governance of the Party is the great practice of the Party's self-revolution in the new era, opening up a new realm of self-revolution for a century-old great Party. In the practice of governing the Party in the new era, our Party has carried forward the spirit of thorough self-revolution, resolutely eliminating all factors that damage the Party's advanced nature and purity and all viruses that erode the Party's healthy organism, becoming stronger and more powerful through revolutionary tempering and forging.

The method and path for resolving the unique difficulties of a great Party. At present, our Party has developed into the world's largest governing party with major global influence. While it has accumulated rich experience over more than a century of struggle, it also clearly recognizes the unique difficulties of a great Party under conditions of long-term governance, encapsulated in the "six questions of how to always" (六个如何始终). Since the new era, comprehensively strict governance of the Party has addressed the root causes with long-term effectiveness through the requirement of "comprehensiveness" — with full coverage of content, full coverage of subjects, a full chain of responsibility, and full integration of systems — comprehensively strengthening Party building and continuously improving the Party's level of leadership and capacity for long-term governance; it has precisely tackled problems with the keynote of "strictness," establishing effective mechanisms for identifying problems and correcting deviations, and pinpointing the key focus for resolving the unique difficulties of a great Party; it has solidified responsibility through the concept of "governance," continuously improving the system of responsibility for governing the Party, and continuously driving comprehensively strict governance of the Party to greater depth, ensuring the Party permanently preserves its advanced nature and purity, and providing a strong guarantee for the Party to always win the people's support and navigate the new journey of examination.

The key to driving the new great project of Party building in the new era to develop in depth. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has incorporated comprehensively strict governance of the Party into the "Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy," turned the blade inward, scraped the bone to cure the poison, applied strong medicine to eliminate ailments, and used severe laws to bring order out of chaos. Comprehensively strict governance of the Party has achieved historic and pioneering accomplishments, produced all-round and deep-level influence, and eliminated serious hidden dangers within the Party, the state, and the military. Armies win through discipline; discipline requires strictness above all. Our military is a people's army under the absolute leadership of the Party; doing Party building in the military well is an important component of the new great project of Party building. The People's Army upholds comprehensively strict governance of the Party to advance comprehensively strict governance of the military, with strictness foremost and strictness maintained throughout, purifying the political ecosystem, guarding against major risks, and firmly holding fast to the root and soul through tempering, forging, and the reform of abuses.

II

Comprehensively strict governance of the Party is an important component of Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building; its rich theoretical innovations and practical achievements compellingly confirm that Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building carries original contributions and powerful truth-force.

Comprehensively strict governance of the Party has been continuously enriched and developed through theoretical and practical exploration. In December 2014, Chairman Xi first put forward "comprehensively strict governance of the Party" during an inspection in Jiangsu, and it has since been continuously enriched and developed in practice. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Party devoted special study to comprehensively strict governance of the Party; the 19th National Congress of the Party established "upholding comprehensively strict governance of the Party" as one of the basic strategies for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and made specific deployments across eight aspects; the 20th National Congress of the Party was the first to put forward "improving the system of comprehensively strict governance of the Party (健全全面从严治党体系)"; the National Conference on Organizational Work held in June 2023, in elaborating Chairman Xi's important thought on Party building, explicitly put forward "highlighting comprehensively strict governance of the Party as the main theme and main thread (突出全面从严治党这个主题主线)"; in June of this year, the National Symposium on Party Building Work explicitly incorporated "upholding comprehensively strict governance of the Party" into the substantive elements of the "Fourteen Upholds" of Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building. The continuous enrichment and development of comprehensively strict governance of the Party through theoretical and practical exploration marks the continuous deepening of our Party's understanding of the laws governing Party governance, and profoundly embodies the innovative quality of Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building in keeping pace with the times.

Comprehensively strict governance of the Party transforms the Party's political advantages into advantages for winning. The core of comprehensively strict governance of the Party is strengthening Party leadership. In response to the situation that existed for a period of time within the Party — including the weakening, hollowing out, and dilution of implementation of Party leadership, and the lax and soft governance of the Party — the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core adhered to a problem-oriented approach, unswervingly advanced comprehensively strict governance of the Party, strengthened all aspects of Party building under the leadership of the Party's political construction, and through institutionalized, normalized, and long-term governance arrangements, drove an overall improvement in the level of Party governance, continuously enhancing the Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, capacity to organize the masses, and social mobilization power, successfully forging a new path for governing the Party, invigorating the Party, and strengthening the Party. Comprehensively strict governance of the Party transforms the Party's political advantages into advantages for winning, vividly embodying the strong problem orientation and powerful truth-force of Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building.

Comprehensively strict governance of the Party carries the value orientation of "for whom is the Party governed." The aspirations of the people are the direction of governance. When the Central Eight-Point Regulation was first formulated, Chairman Xi emphasized: "If we are a little less comfortable and a little less at ease, the people will be a little more comfortable, a little more satisfied, and will feel a little better about us." This plain yet profound statement vividly interprets the deep people-centered sentiment embedded in comprehensively strict governance of the Party. The country is the people, and the people are the country. By resolutely rectifying corruption and misconduct around the masses and working hard to resolve the interest problems that the people care about most, most directly, and most realistically, our Party has truly won the wholehearted support of the people. Comprehensively strict governance of the Party upholds the fundamental position of putting the people first, ensuring the Party always stands firmly with the people, thinks together with the people, and works together with the people, fully manifesting the distinctive character of Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building — that everything is for the people and everything relies on the people.

III

As an armed group that executes the Party's political tasks, the military must maintain higher standards and stricter requirements in continuously advancing comprehensively strict governance of the Party. On the new journey, facing major tests of high winds and rough seas or even violent storms, we must deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building, uphold comprehensively strict governance of the Party and comprehensively strict governance of the military, implement the requirements of genuine management and genuine strictness, bold management and bold strictness, and sustained management and sustained strictness throughout the entire process and all domains of army building and military governance, and ensure the forces are absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable.

Deeply advance political rectification (政治整训) in the new era. Political rectification is a powerful weapon and vivid practice for the military to carry out comprehensively strict governance of the Party. To deeply advance political rectification, we must deepen ideological transformation, guiding the broad ranks of officers and soldiers to answer well the foundational questions of "why join the Party, why serve as a soldier, why serve as a commander," and purging the poisonous influence and accumulated abuses at the ideological root. We must make rectification and remediation substantive, comprehensively uncovering accumulated problems and abuses, eliminating the soil and conditions for the growth of corruption, and driving a fundamental improvement in the political ecosystem. We must improve systems and mechanisms, refining and codifying the good experiences and practices accumulated during political rectification into institutional regulations, and driving political rectification to be conducted in a normalized, institutionalized, and long-term manner, ensuring the permanent continuation of our military's bloodline, the permanent solidity of its foundation, and the permanent preservation of its advantages.

Improve the system of comprehensively strict governance of the Party. Wherever the cause of the Party and the state extends, Party building must cover; wherever Party building advances, the system of comprehensively strict governance of the Party must be constructed. Further improving a system of comprehensively strict governance of the Party that is complete in its elements, fully functional, scientifically standardized, and operationally efficient is an effective path for continuously advancing the new great project of Party building in the new era. We must adhere to addressing both symptoms and root causes and comprehensive governance, conducting comprehensively strict governance of the Party and comprehensively strict governance of the military in a manner that is holistic rather than partial, systematic rather than piecemeal, sustained rather than temporary, and high-standard rather than perfunctory, responding to new situations and new problems emerging in Party governance, and continuously raising the level of institutionalization, standardization, and scientization of Party governance.

Drive comprehensively strict governance of the Party to extend to the grassroots level. The grassroots is the "last mile" of comprehensively strict governance of the Party; the requirements of comprehensively strict governance of the Party must be implemented all the way through. We must strengthen grassroots organizations, building them in accordance with law and regulations, firmly grasping the tasks of helping build Party branches, helping develop cadres, and helping cultivate backbone personnel with practical measures and seeking practical results, forging every grassroots Party organization into a strong combat fortress. We must transmit pressure and momentum downward, tightening and solidifying the responsibility for comprehensively strict governance of the Party and comprehensively strict governance of the military, further improving accountability mechanisms, ensuring that responsibility is clearly delineated, supervision and inspection are strict, and accountability is carried out in place, making it the norm that dereliction of responsibility is invariably questioned and accountability is invariably strict. We must purify the atmosphere at the grassroots level, firmly establishing the clear orientation of making great efforts to build a sound atmosphere at the grassroots level, regularly analyzing the situation of Party conduct and clean governance, strengthening the ranks of atmosphere supervisors (风气监督员), and continuously driving the building of a positive atmosphere at the grassroots level upward and in a better direction.

(Authors' unit: Rocket Force Center for the Study and Research of the Party's Innovative Theory)