Political Work

Ideological Front | What Does It Take to Raise the Consciousness of Officers and Soldiers

思想战线丨靠什么来提高官兵自觉

PLA Daily (解放军报) 29 July 2026

Summary

A PLA political work journal piece invokes Marshal Luo Ronghuan's writings—specifically 'A Brief Discussion of Company-Level Political Work' and 'The Gutian Conference and Our Army's Political Work'—to argue that raising officers' and soldiers' conscious initiative (自觉性) through example, persuasion, and the mass line is more durable than coercive discipline. The article closes by citing Xi Jinping's formulation that political work 'must focus on people' and must not become 'empty talk aimed at nothing.' This is standard political work doctrine content; its value is as a record of how the institution currently frames the legitimacy problem of political officers—specifically the tension between coercive discipline and voluntary ideological identification—for an audience of junior political cadres, not as evidence of a new policy line or changed posture.

Translation

● "If among the soldiers there is no conscious initiative and high political awareness, then all passive precautions will produce only a temporary effect." Political work is our army's foundational skill, its greatest distinguishing feature and greatest advantage. For political work to manifest that distinctive advantage and fulfill its role as the lifeline, it cannot do without scientific and effective methods. Marshal Luo Ronghuan was one of the founders of our army's political work. In articles such as "A Brief Discussion of Company-Level Political Work" and "The Gutian Conference and Our Army's Political Work," he systematically discussed how to carry out political work, emphasizing that the purpose of political work is "to raise the consciousness of soldiers," and pointing out that political work achieves this common purpose "on the basis of promoting democracy, using the mass line method, using persuasion and education, raising awareness, and raising the level of conscious initiative (自觉性)." These articles are collected in Selected Military Writings of Luo Ronghuan. The standpoints, viewpoints, and methods they contain profoundly illuminate the inner laws of political work and carry important instructive significance for doing political work well in the new era and giving the lifeline greater vitality.

Marxism holds that the development and change of things is determined by internal causes; internal causes are the basis of change, external causes are the conditions of change, and external causes operate through internal causes. A person's ideological awareness belongs to the category of subjective initiative (主观能动性) and is an internal cause; external education, orders, and discipline are objective conditions and are external causes. External conditions can truly take effect only when they are transformed into internal ideological identification and behavioral consciousness. In carrying out political work, raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers through leading by example, patient persuasion and education, promoting democracy, and applying the mass line method—so that officers and soldiers identify from the bottom of their hearts with the Party's principles and policies, objectives and tasks, and discipline and rules, and thereby carry them out autonomously and consciously—is precisely a creative application of this scientific principle. History and practice have fully demonstrated that political work is work done with people; only by respecting the principal status of officers and soldiers and stimulating their inner awareness can the lifeline truly possess vitality.

Raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers requires model leadership and leading by example. For officers and soldiers, model leadership and leading by example are themselves the best political work—a "silent order." During the Jinggang Mountains period, conditions in the Red Army were extremely harsh. There were not even bowls and chopsticks for meals; the cook would press the rice into rice balls, one per person, and there was often not enough to eat. Whenever a meal was served, Party members would voluntarily go and stand guard over the weapons, waiting until everyone had received their rice ball before going to eat; sometimes there was no rice left and they would go hungry. The prestige of the Party representative was accumulated through such exemplary actions, one by one, to the point that "if an order was issued without the Party representative's signature, soldiers would be suspicious of that order. There was no institutional rule requiring this—it was entirely a matter of the soldiers' voluntary respect for the Party representative." As Luo Ronghuan recalled in his writings, "At that time, the vast majority of cadres set a fine example and maintained a good style of keeping close ties with the masses," and "the relationship between officers and soldiers was truly close—truly indestructible and unbreakable." Practice has proven that raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers does not rely on empty preaching but on the concrete actions of model leadership. Political cadres are the principal force for carrying out political work; their every word and action may shape a prevailing atmosphere and a guiding orientation. The power of truth and the power of character must be unified, and through taking the lead and sharing hardships, the ideological and emotional identification of officers and soldiers must be continuously deepened, thereby transforming it into the conscious action of striving to strengthen the army.

Raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers requires patient persuasion and the blending of reason and feeling. Patient persuasion and education embody the fundamental attitude toward officers and soldiers and are the key to fully bringing out the power of political work. Luo Ronghuan maintained that "political education and the work of patient persuasion are truly the basic link in all work," and that political workers "must never diminish the positive role of political education and persuasion." The transformation of a person's thinking is a gradual process that cannot be accomplished through one or two orders or educational sessions. "If among the soldiers there is no conscious initiative and high political awareness, then all passive precautions will produce only a temporary effect." During the War of Liberation, faced with the problem of some wounded and sick soldiers becoming arrogant about their merits and violating discipline, Luo Ronghuan decisively convened a meeting. By designating disabled and sick soldiers as honored servicemen (荣誉军人) and inviting respected veteran comrades to recount the glorious traditions of the Red Army, he approached the matter through positive education to change the thinking of the troublemaking wounded and sick soldiers, patiently guiding them to reflect on themselves. Those troublemaking soldiers were deeply moved; they voluntarily acknowledged their mistakes, not only consciously taking the lead in observing discipline but also conducting ideological work among other wounded and sick soldiers. This profoundly instructs us that raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers cannot do without patient persuasion. On the premise of caring for and looking after officers and soldiers, ideological education that blends reason and feeling must be conducted—moving people with feeling and convincing people with reason—so as to guide officers and soldiers to proactively transform their thinking and raise their awareness.

Raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers requires promoting democracy and maintaining close ties with the masses. Promoting democracy and implementing the mass line is, in essence, respecting officers and soldiers, believing in officers and soldiers, and relying on officers and soldiers; it emphasizes giving full play to the subjective initiative of officers and soldiers, mobilizing their enthusiasm, and using collective wisdom to solve practical problems. Luo Ronghuan pointed out that "in military management, there is a degree of coerciveness"—through stipulating the implementation of various regulations, a high degree of unified action is consolidated to ensure the accomplishment of combat tasks. "But the methods of political work must differ; it is necessary to persuade and educate soldiers with even greater effort and patience and to promote a greater degree of democracy, so as to inspire the morale of soldiers, achieve the same objective, and accomplish combat and work tasks." In the early period of the People's Army, "the soldiers' committee system proposed at the Sanwan Reorganization and established at the Jinggang Mountains was intended to promote democracy." After the soldiers' committee system was established, "soldiers could criticize platoon leaders and company commanders at certain meetings; democracy began from there. The arrogance of the old-style officers subsided, and the morale of the soldiers was very high," effectively opposing the warlordism that existed to a certain degree at the time. Luo Ronghuan also recalled, "At that time, it was extremely difficult for anyone who wanted to take a few men and a few guns and desert. This was the power of political work. The Party's work was very meticulous; the more difficult the environment, the more united we became." Therefore, raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers requires promoting democracy and implementing the mass line, genuinely making officers and soldiers feel respected and trusted. Only in this way can officers and soldiers be guided to transform external requirements into firm choices that come from the heart, fundamentally consolidating the effectiveness of political work.

Chairman Xi has pointed out: "Political work is work done with people; it must focus on people, and must not see things without seeing people. Divorced from people, political work becomes empty talk aimed at nothing." At present, the social environment in which the troops operate, the form of warfare they face, and the composition of officers and soldiers have all undergone profound changes compared with the revolutionary war years, but the essence of political work has not changed, and the fine traditions of political work must not be abandoned. Political cadres of our army should draw nourishment from Luo Ronghuan's political work wisdom of "raising the consciousness of officers and soldiers"—inspiring officers and soldiers through words and deeds, enlightening awareness through patient persuasion, and strengthening the relationship between officers and soldiers through promoting democracy and implementing the mass line—so as to continuously boost morale and fighting spirit, stimulate drive and vitality, and win trust and confidence, allowing political work, this lifeline, to radiate even more vigorous vitality in the new era.

Original Chinese

●“如果在战士中，没有自觉的积极性与高度的政治觉悟，则一切消极防范，都是一种暂时的效果。” 政治工作是我军的看家本领，是我军的最大特色、最大优势。而政治工作要彰显特色优势，发挥生命线作用，则离不开科学有效的方法。罗荣桓元帅是我军政治工作奠基人之一，他在《略谈连队政治工作》和《古田会议和我军的政治工作》等文章中对如何开展政治工作进行了系统论述，强调政治工作的目的是“提高战士的自觉”，并指出政治工作是“在发扬民主的基础上，用群众路线的方法，用说服教育、提高觉悟，提高自觉性的方法，来达到同一目的”。这些文章被收录在《罗荣桓军事文选》中，其中蕴含的立场、观点、方法，深刻揭示了政治工作的内在规律，对我们做好新时代政治工作、让生命线更有生命力具有重要的启示意义。马克思主义认为，事物发展变化是由内因决定的，内因是变化的根据，外因是变化的条件，外因通过内因起作用。人的思想觉悟属于主观能动性的范畴，是内因；外在的教育、命令、纪律属于客观的条件，是外因，外在的条件只有在转化成内在的思想认同和行为自觉时才能真正发挥作用。在开展政治工作时，通过以身作则、耐心的说服教育、发扬民主和群众路线的方法提高官兵的自觉，使官兵从内心深处认同党的方针政策、目标任务和纪律规矩，从而自主自觉地执行，正是对这一科学原理的创造性运用。历史和实践已经充分证明，政治工作是做人的工作，只有尊重官兵的主体地位，激发官兵的内在觉悟，生命线才能真正具有生命力。提高官兵自觉要靠模范带头、以身作则。对官兵而言，模范带头、以身作则本身就是最好的政治工作，是“无声的命令”。在井冈山时期，红军条件极为艰苦，吃饭连碗筷都没有，饭由伙夫捏成饭坨，一人一个，还经常不够吃。每逢开饭，党员们就主动去看护枪支，等大家分过了饭坨才去吃，有时饭没有了，就饿一顿。党代表的威信就是在这样一点一滴的模范行动中积累起来的，以至于“如果下个命令，没有党代表的署名，士兵对这个命令就要怀疑的。这也并没有什么制度规定，完全是出于士兵自愿尊重党代表”。正如罗荣桓在文中回忆，“那时，绝大部分干部的模范作用、联系群众的作风都很好”“官兵关系真是密切，真是拖不垮打不烂的”。实践证明，提高官兵自觉靠的不是空洞的说教，而是模范带头的实际行动。政治干部是开展政治工作的主体力量，一言一行、一举一动都可能会形成一种风气、一种导向。必须把真理力量和人格力量统一起来，在身先示范、同甘共苦中不断增进官兵在思想上和情感上的认同，进而转化为矢志强军的行动自觉。提高官兵自觉要靠耐心说服、情理交融。耐心说服教育彰显的是对待官兵的根本态度，是把政治工作威力充分发挥出来的重点所在。罗荣桓主张，“政治教育与耐心说服的工作，才真正是工作中的基本环节”，政治工作人员“决不能降低政治教育与说服的积极作用”。人的思想转变是一个渐进的过程，不可能靠一两次命令或教育就能完成。“如果在战士中，没有自觉的积极性与高度的政治觉悟，则一切消极防范，都是一种暂时的效果。”解放战争时期，面对部分伤病员居功自傲、违反纪律的问题，罗荣桓果断召开会议，通过将伤残病员列为荣誉军人、请德高望重的老同志讲述红军光荣传统等方式，从正面教育入手改变闹事伤病员的思想观念，耐心引导他们自我反省。那些闹事的伤病员们深受触动，主动检讨错误，不仅自觉带头遵守纪律，还做起了其他伤病员的思想工作。这深刻启示我们，提高官兵自觉离不开耐心说服，要在关心爱护官兵的前提下，对官兵进行情理交融的思想教育，以情动人、以理服人，从而引导官兵主动转变思想、提高觉悟。提高官兵自觉要靠发扬民主、联系群众。发扬民主，贯彻群众路线，本质上是尊重官兵、相信官兵、依靠官兵，强调充分发挥官兵的主观能动性，调动其积极性，用集体的智慧解决实际问题。罗荣桓指出，“在军事管理方面，是有些带强制性的”，通过规定对各种条令的执行来巩固高度的集中行动，保证完成战斗任务。“而政治工作的方式方法就要有所不同，必须更艰苦耐心地说服教育战士与发扬较多之民主，来启发战士的情绪，达到同一的目标，完成战斗与工作任务。”人民军队初创时期，“在三湾改编时提出并在井冈山建立的士兵委员会制度，是为了发扬民主”。建立了士兵委员会制度后，“战士在一定的会议上可以批评排长、连长，民主就从这里开始了。旧官长的气焰下去了，士兵的情绪很高”，有力反对了当时一定程度上存在的军阀主义作风。罗荣桓对此还回忆道，“那时，谁想拖上几个人几支枪逃跑，那是难极了。这是政治工作的威力。党的工作很细密，环境越困难越团结”。因此，提高官兵自觉就必须发扬民主和贯彻群众路线，切实让官兵感到被尊重、被信任，如此才能引导官兵将外在的要求转化为发自内心的坚定选择，从根本上巩固政治工作成效。习主席指出：“政治工作是做人的工作，要盯着人做工作，不能见物不见人。脱离了人，政治工作就空对空了。”当前，部队所处的社会环境、面临的战争形态、官兵的结构成分相较于革命战争年代都发生了深刻变化，但政治工作的本质没有变，政治工作优良传统不能丢。我军政治干部应当从罗荣桓“提高官兵自觉”的政治工作智慧中汲取营养，以言传身教感召官兵，以耐心说服启发觉悟，以发扬民主和贯彻群众路线密切官兵关系，不断提振军心士气、激发动力活力、赢得信任信心，让政治工作这个生命线在新时代焕发出更加蓬勃的生机与活力。