Understanding General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Thoughts on the Party's Self-Revolution from Three Dimensions

On the morning of January 8, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, profoundly expounding on the important ideas of the Party's self-revolution.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that in the practice and theoretical exploration of the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in the new era for ten years, we have continuously deepened our understanding of the Party's self-revolution, accumulated rich practical experience, and formed a series of important theoretical achievements, systematically answering major questions such as why our Party should engage in self-revolution, why it can engage in self-revolution, and how to promote self-revolution.

General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thoughts on the Party's self-revolution are the fundamental guiding principle for deepening the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, Party conduct and integrity building, and the fight against corruption in the new era and on a new journey.

On January 8, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China. Photo by Ju Peng, Xinhua News Agency

On January 8, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China. Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi attended the meeting. Photo by Pang Xinglei, Xinhua News Agency

01 Why does our Party need self-revolution?

"As the world's largest Marxist ruling party, how can our Party successfully avoid the historical cycle of governance, chaos, prosperity, and decline, and ensure that the Party will never change its nature, color, or flavor? This is a strategic issue facing all Party members."

At this plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping once again discussed the important issue of the "historical cycle."

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in the great practice of promoting comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has continuously conducted practical exploration and theoretical thinking. Based on Comrade Mao Zedong's earlier answer of "letting the people supervise the government," it has provided a second answer, namely, continuously promoting the Party's self-revolution.

The two answers, spanning a long period of time, focus on the relationship between the Party and the people, and on self-examination and self-correction. The consistent theme is the conscious adherence to the Party's original aspiration and mission, the mastery of historical initiative, and the clarity and determination to successfully navigate the "examination".

General Secretary Xi Jinping stated that I often talk about the issue of breaking the historical cycle, which is a major issue related to the Party's great cause for all ages, related to the Party's survival and death, and related to the rise and fall of China's socialist system.

At the opening ceremony of the study and implementation seminar on the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping deeply analyzed the issues left behind by the rise and fall of governance and chaos in ancient and modern China and abroad, from the prosperity and decline of successive feudal dynasties, to the successes and failures of past peasant uprisings, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the CPSU, and the changes in Eastern Europe, and profoundly pointed out that the fundamental reason is that "they could not solve their own problems."

History serves as a mirror to reflect the rise and fall of dynasties.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chinese-style socialism has entered a new era, and national rejuvenation has entered a crucial stage. The Party is advancing unprecedentedly great undertakings, and also faces unprecedented risks and challenges. Reflections on how to break the historical cycle have always been on General Secretary Xi Jinping's mind.

In May 2015, at the 12th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, he emphasized the importance of "daring to carry out self-revolution and daring to face problems."

In July 2016, at the celebration of the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, he pointed out that the entire Party must, with the political courage of self-revolution, strive to solve the outstanding problems within the Party itself, and continuously enhance the Party's ability to purify, improve, reform, and elevate itself.

In October 2017, in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he pointed out that only by adhering to the persistence and perseverance of the fight against corruption, deepening the approach of both addressing symptoms and root causes, and ensuring the integrity of cadres, the cleanness of the government, and political clarity, can we break the historical cycle and ensure the long-term governance and stability of the Party and the country.

In October 2022, in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he pointed out that through unremitting efforts, the Party has found a second answer to the historical cycle of governance, chaos, prosperity, and decline, that is, self-revolution, ensuring that the Party will never change its nature, color, or flavor.

……

From continuously deepening the understanding of self-revolution to the in-depth promotion of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in the new era, the unremitting pursuit of theory and practice focuses on breaking the historical cycle of governance, chaos, prosperity, and decline, and on using great self-revolution to lead great social revolution, achieving the grand goals of national rejuvenation and building a strong country.

02 Why can our Party carry out self-revolution?

Self-revolution is like performing surgery on oneself, it is extremely painful and incredibly difficult. Why can the Chinese Communist Party do it?

Selflessness breeds fearlessness.

General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that the reason why our Party has the courage for self-revolution is that our Party has no special interests of its own, except for the interests of the state, the nation, and the people.

The Party has no special interests of its own. This is the source of our Party's courage and confidence in carrying out self-revolution.

For over a hundred years, the Party has relied on developing people's democracy and accepting people's supervision externally, and on comprehensive and strict governance of the Party and promoting self-revolution internally, daring to uphold the truth, correct mistakes, and dare to turn inward and eliminate malignant tumors, ensuring the Party's continued prosperity, development, and growth. The two answers to the "question from the cave dwelling" embody an unbreakable truth—"the support of the people is related to the life and death of the Party."

"What the people oppose and hate, we must resolutely prevent and combat." "Offending thousands of people, but not betraying 1.4 billion." "We cannot conduct self-revolution behind closed doors, but should listen more to the opinions of the people and consciously accept the supervision of the people."……

Looking back at the great practice of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in the new era, from "catching tigers," "swatting flies," and "hunting foxes" to resolutely combating corruption; to closely focusing on the stubborn problems of the "four winds," strictly investigating and imposing strong deterrence; and to promoting the extension of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party to the grassroots level, resolutely rectifying and investigating unhealthy trends and corruption among the masses… in every solid measure, "the interests of the people" is the unchanging keyword.

The spirit of self-revolution is a strong support for the Party's eternal youth and vitality.

An advanced Marxist political party is not born, but is forged in the continuous process of self-revolution.

The Party's third historical resolution lists "persisting in self-revolution" as one of the ten historical experiences of the Party's century-long struggle, requiring it to be cherished, adhered to for a long time, and continuously enriched and developed in practice in the new era.

03 How does our Party advance self-revolution?

On the new journey, facing new changes in the domestic and international situation and new developments in practice, whether there is a strong spirit of self-revolution and whether the Party's self-revolution can be carried through to the end are key factors determining the success or failure of the Party's and the country's cause.

In January 2022, at the first Central Commission for Discipline Inspection plenary session after the centenary of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping conducted an in-depth analysis of the relationship between comprehensively governing the Party with strictness and self-revolution, expounding the Party's "combination of punches" for promoting self-revolution with "six musts," covering various aspects including political construction, ideological construction, style of work construction, anti-corruption struggle, organizational construction, and institutional construction.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China report, for the first time, made specific arrangements for "improving the Party's self-revolution system and norms," placing institutional construction in a more prominent position and emphasizing the need to "form a mechanism for upholding truth, correcting mistakes, discovering problems, and correcting deviations"...

At this Central Commission for Discipline Inspection plenary session, with the important task of promoting self-revolution as its anchor, it emphasized the practical requirements of "nine withs" -

With upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee as the fundamental guarantee;

With leading the great social revolution as the fundamental purpose;

With Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the fundamental guideline;

With breaking the historical cycle as the strategic goal;

With solving the unique problems of a large party as the main direction of attack;

With improving the system for comprehensively governing the Party with strictness as an effective approach;

With forging a strong organization and building an excellent team as an important focus;

With rectifying the style of work, strengthening discipline, and combating corruption as an important lever;

With the combination of self-supervision and people's supervision as a powerful driving force.

The nine aspects of requirements encompass both macro-level goals, tasks, and top-level designs, as well as detailed implementation methods and key priorities; they combine epistemology and methodology, providing a powerful ideological weapon and scientific action guideline for continuing to advance the Party's self-revolution on the new journey.

At this Central Commission for Discipline Inspection plenary session, General Secretary Xi Jinping conducted an in-depth analysis of the current situation in the anti-corruption struggle, emphasizing the need to "have a clear understanding of the new situations and trends in the anti-corruption struggle, and a clear understanding of the soil and conditions that give rise to corruption," and making specific deployments for anti-corruption work.

Comprehensively governing the Party with strictness is a perpetual endeavor, and the Party's self-revolution is a perpetual endeavor.

On the new journey, by deeply understanding the essence, significance, and practical requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thoughts on the Party's self-revolution, and by comprehensively pushing forward the Party's governance with strictness, the Communist Party of China will surely present a new excellent answer sheet to history and the people on the new path of examination.

Pictures and text are from | Communist Party Member WeChat Official Account