Doctrine Political Work

Great Wall Watchtower | Understanding Unity Is True Intelligence, Practicing Unity Is True Ability

长城瞭望丨懂团结是真聪明会团结是真本领

PLA Daily (解放军报) 13 August 2026

Summary

The fourth installment in a PLA political education series on 'grassroots work methods' (基层工作方法) elaborates Xi Jinping's formulation that 'understanding unity is true intelligence, practicing unity is true ability,' directing company-level Party branch leadership teams to distinguish genuine unity from 'false unity' (虚假团结) and to apply the Maoist 'unity–criticism–unity' method to resolve internal contradictions. The piece cites the 'Hard Bone Sixth Company' and 'Yang Gensi Company' as model Party branches and frames cohesion explicitly as a prerequisite for combat readiness — exercises, duty, and emergency response — under the 'combat effectiveness standard' (战斗力标准). This is standard political work content; its value is as a record of how the institution frames intra-team discipline and anti-factionalism to junior officers, not as evidence of a new policy line, though the repeated emphasis on rooting out false harmony at the grassroots points to an acknowledged cohesion problem the series is designed to address.

Translation

Understanding Unity Is True Intelligence, Practicing Unity Is True Ability

— A Series of Discussions on Studying and Implementing Chairman Xi's Important Statements on Grassroots Work Methods, No. 4

■ Zhou Junbing, Gao Congcong

Every undertaking must have its method before it can succeed. Unity is the way to accomplish things, and also a scientific method.

Chairman Xi has pointed out: "Understanding unity is true intelligence, and practicing unity is true ability. Unity produces cohesion, combat effectiveness, new productive forces, and cadres." When many hands gather firewood, the flames burn high; when brothers are of one mind, their sharpness can cut through metal. Unity is strength — without unity, no matter how capable an individual may be, nothing can be accomplished. Studying and implementing Chairman Xi's important statements on grassroots work methods, and driving comprehensive progress and across-the-board excellence (全面过硬) in our military's grassroots building, requires us to fully recognize the importance of unity, to genuinely understand unity and practice unity, and to consolidate the overall combined strength (整体合力) of united struggle.

Understanding unity and practicing unity is a manifestation of wisdom and a demonstration of capability. On the subject of unity, many grassroots Party member cadres feel it is a topic everyone already knows. In reality, many people do not truly or deeply understand it — some even speak of unity while in practice undermining it, with the result that progress in grassroots building is affected.

Understanding unity and practicing unity is conducive to grassroots units fulfilling their mission tasks. Comrade Nie Rongzhen once said: "If our military is not united internally — you doing your thing, I doing mine — we cannot win battles, and nothing can be accomplished." The grassroots is the "tip of the blade" for combat effectiveness generation. Tasks such as exercises and training, combat readiness duty, and emergency response all depend on grassroots Party organizations to take the lead in implementation. Only by understanding unity and practicing unity can there be unified thinking and consistent objectives, enabling the rapid consolidation of officers' and soldiers' will, coordination of all types of resources, and reinforcement of all types of forces, ensuring that units can be mobilized at any time, can charge forward, and can win.

Understanding unity and practicing unity is conducive to improving grassroots self-building capacity. Grassroots self-building capacity is the foundation for the long-term development of the force, encompassing leadership team building, talent cultivation, system implementation, day-to-day management, and every other aspect — all of which require a multi-pronged, coordinated effort. When grassroots Party organizations are united and divide labor cooperatively, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of leadership team members so that each performs their own duties, bears their own responsibilities, and displays their own talents, this naturally encourages everyone to pool their wisdom to break through bottlenecks in building, and to work collectively to address shortcomings and weak points, continuously improving grassroots capacity for self-education (自我教育), self-management (自我管理), and self-building (自我建设).

Understanding unity and practicing unity is conducive to rectifying the atmosphere (风气) at the grassroots level. The grassroots atmosphere is a "barometer" reflecting grassroots cohesion. Party member cadres who understand unity will inevitably place the overall situation of unit building and the vital interests of officers and soldiers first in all matters, and will consciously act with fairness and integrity and selfless dedication to duty. Party organizations that practice unity are able to insist on collective deliberation and open transparency on sensitive matters of concern to officers and soldiers, relying on collective oversight to curb unhealthy tendencies. Practice has proven that when leadership team members achieve unity through their own impartiality, selflessness, and clean exercise of power, this will inevitably produce a powerful exemplary effect, driving the grassroots toward a clean atmosphere and an upward spirit.

The Party branch of the "Hard Bone Sixth Company" achieves genuine unity through genuine criticism; the Party branch of the "Yang Gensi Company" persists in using the "Three Believes" (三个不相信) to consolidate fighting spirit… The reason they have become models for grassroots Party organizations is, in a very important respect, that the Party branch leadership team understands unity and practices unity, with team members aligned in purpose and harmonious in spirit, united as one. Looking in contrast at individual units where self-building has shown little improvement and contradictions and problems have accumulated — tracing this to its root cause, one important reason is that the leadership team is not internally united, has not mastered the ideological methods, work methods, and leadership methods for enhancing unity, resulting in demoralization and dispersal of strength.

To understand unity and practice unity, one must first know what genuine unity is and what false unity is. Chairman Xi has pointed out: "On the basis of Party spirit principles, we must continuously strengthen genuine unity — the kind in which one can bare one's heart and fight shoulder to shoulder — and must not engage in that kind of false unity (虚假团结) where the surface appears harmonious but in reality people are competing against and guarding against each other." Genuine unity causes comrades to be of one mind and one virtue, to deal with each other with candor, and gives rise to a life-and-death trust of "entrusting your back to your comrade-in-arms." False unity is merely a matter of personal favors and making accommodations — outwardly speaking in unison but not of one heart, calm and untroubled for a time, but prone to problems the moment turbulence arises. Grassroots Party organizations must place Party spirit principles first, resolutely draw their swords against false unity (坚决向虚假团结亮剑), and must absolutely never treat indulgence and accommodation as unity, or treat smoothing things over as harmony.

To understand unity and practice unity, the key lies in making good use of the "treasure" (法宝) of "unity — criticism — unity." "Unity — criticism — unity" is the Party's precious experience in resolving internal contradictions, and also an effective method for enhancing leadership team unity. For grassroots Party organizations to make good use of this "treasure," they must both treat unity as the starting point and the ultimate goal, and treat criticism as an important means of enhancing unity. As long as Party member cadres proceed from the desire for unity, from the standpoint of safeguarding the overall situation, and from the standpoint of caring for comrades and advancing work — raising real problems and raising problems truthfully — they will certainly be able to eliminate barriers and build trust through criticism and self-criticism, achieving unity at a higher level.

To understand unity and practice unity, the ultimate requirement is to focus on consolidating will and strength in pursuit of victory in war (凝心聚力谋打赢). Those above and below who share the same desire will prevail — winning in war is the greatest common denominator and the ultimate objective for uniting the force. This requires Party organizations at all levels to firmly establish the thinking of a combat force (战斗队思想) and uphold the combat effectiveness standard, unifying the thinking and strength of all officers and soldiers around preparing for and fighting war, guiding everyone to integrate personal growth into company building, to align personal objectives with the objective of winning, to temper through repeated arduous and dangerous tasks the revolutionary comradeship (革命情谊) of sharing hardship and sharing life and death, to forge the unit into a hard steel (坚硬钢铁) that is invincible in attack and unconquerable in battle, and to continuously deliver a winning answer sheet (胜战答卷) on the journey of strengthening the military.

Original Chinese

懂团结是真聪明会团结是真本领 ——学习贯彻习主席关于基层工作方法的重要论述系列谈④ ■周俊冰高淙淙事必有法，然后可成。团结是成事之道，也是科学方法。习主席指出，“懂团结是真聪明，会团结是真本领。团结出凝聚力，出战斗力，出新的生产力，也出干部”。众人拾柴火焰高，兄弟同心，其利断金。团结就是力量，不团结，一个人本事再大也办不成任何事情。学习贯彻习主席关于基层工作方法的重要论述，推动我军基层建设全面进步、全面过硬，要求我们充分认识团结的重要性，真正做到懂团结、会团结，凝聚起团结奋斗的整体合力。懂团结、会团结是智慧的体现，也是能力的彰显。对于团结，很多基层党员干部都觉得这个话题人人皆知。事实上，不少人并不真知深知，甚至口头上讲团结，行动上破坏团结，结果影响了基层建设进步。懂团结、会团结，有利于基层遂行使命任务。聂荣臻同志曾说：“如果我们军队内部不团结，你搞你的，我搞我的，就不能打胜仗，就什么事也搞不成。”基层是战斗力生成的“刀尖”，演训演练、战备值守、应急处突等各项任务，要靠基层党组织牵头落实。懂团结、会团结，方能思想统一、目标一致，第一时间凝聚官兵意志、统筹各类资源、强固各类力量，确保部队随时拉得出、冲得上、打得赢。懂团结、会团结，有利于提高基层自建能力。基层自建能力是部队长远发展的底气，涵盖班子建设、人才培养、制度落实、日常管理等方方面面，尤须多管齐下、协同发力。基层党组织团结一致、分工合作，充分调动班子成员的积极性，使他们各司其职、各负其责、各展其才，自然会激励大家集思广益破解建设堵点，群策群力补齐短板弱项，持续提升基层自我教育、自我管理、自我建设的能力。懂团结、会团结，有利于纯正基层风气。基层风气是反映基层凝聚力的“晴雨表”。懂团结的党员干部，必然凡事以部队建设大局、官兵切身利益为重，自觉做到公道正派、克己奉公；会团结的党组织，能在官兵关切的敏感事项上坚持集体研究、公开透明，靠集体监督遏制不正之风。事实证明，班子成员以自身公正无私、清廉用权搞好团结，必定会产生强大引领作用，带动基层风清气正、昂扬向上。 “硬骨头六连”党支部以真批评实现真团结，“杨根思连”党支部坚持以“三个不相信”凝聚斗志……他们之所以成为基层党组织的表率，很重要的一点就是党支部一班人懂团结、会团结，班子成员心齐气顺、团结一心。反观个别单位，自身建设起色不大、矛盾问题积压，究其根源，一个重要原因就是班子内部不团结，没有掌握增进团结的思想方法、工作方法、领导方法，导致人心涣散、力量分散。要做到懂团结、会团结，首先要知道什么是真正的团结、什么是虚假的团结。习主席指出，“在党性原则基础上，不断增强能够掏心见胆、并肩奋斗的真正的团结，而不能搞那种表面一团和气、实际上相互较劲设防的虚假团结”。真正的团结，令同志之间同心同德、坦诚相待，催生“把后背交给战友”的生死信赖。虚假的团结，只是讲人情、搞变通，表面同声不同心，一时风平浪静、相安无事，一遇风浪便容易出问题。基层党组织要坚持党性原则第一，坚决向虚假团结亮剑，绝不能把迁就纵容当团结、把息事宁人当和谐。要做到懂团结、会团结，贵在用好“团结—批评—团结”这一“法宝”。“团结—批评—团结”是我们党解决内部矛盾的宝贵经验，也是增进班子团结的有效方法。基层党组织用好这一“法宝”，既要把团结作为出发点和落脚点，也要把批评作为增进团结的重要手段。党员干部只要从团结的愿望出发，从维护大局出发，从关心同志、促进工作出发，真点问题、点真问题，就一定能通过批评和自我批评消除隔阂、增进信任，实现更高层次的团结。要做到懂团结、会团结，最终要落到凝心聚力谋打赢上。上下同欲者胜，胜战打赢就是团结队伍的最大公约数和最终目标。这就要求各级党组织树牢战斗队思想、坚持战斗力标准，把全体官兵的思想和力量统一到备战打仗上来，引导大家把个人成长融入连队建设，把个人目标对接打赢目标，在一次次急难险重任务中淬炼甘苦与共、生死与共的革命情谊，把单位锻造成一块攻无不克、战无不胜的“坚硬钢铁”，在强军征程上不断交出胜战答卷。