How does the Chinese Communist Party govern the country?

Chapter 2

The establishment and consolidation of the leadership of the Communist Party of China is closely related to the ideological renewal mechanism it has established.Generally speaking, ideology refers to the fundamental interests and requirements of the ruling class, social groups, and even countries and country groups based on certain world outlooks and values, for the fundamental interests and requirements of their own classes, groups, and even the country, or for the purpose of transforming the world, establishing political power, and consolidating their own political rule. The social ideals, values, political principles, action programs and practical strategies proposed and established based on the goals of the society.Lasswell, one of the important representatives of the American behaviorism school, pointed out: "Any elite uses the symbols of a common destiny as a banner to defend itself and safeguard its own interests. These symbols are the 'ideology' of the current system."

Ideological work occupies a very important position in all the work of the CCP.The CCP’s ideological work disseminates the basic principles of Marxism in the form of reasoning, publicizes the latest achievements of the Sinicization of Marxism, clarifies the party’s theories, lines, principles, policies and their theoretical and practical basis, and uses theories to arm the cadres and the masses. Help them master scientific thinking and working methods, improve their awareness of implementing the party's line, principles, and policies, and lead the people of the whole country to strive for the completion of the established goals.

During the revolutionary years, especially during the Yan'an period, the Chinese Communist Party used Mao Zedong Thought, the theoretical achievement of the Sinicization of Marxism, to unify the entire party, and carried out a party-wide rectification movement to eliminate the "left" dogma that copied the experience of the Soviet Union and the instructions of the Communist International. erroneous thinking.Mao Zedong pioneered the road of "encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power with arms" which was different from the urban riots of the October Revolution in Russia, and finally guided the revolution to victory.Making a revolution depends on Mao Zedong Thought, which has become an important belief of the Chinese people.The living soul of Mao Zedong Thought—seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and independence—has also been deeply imprinted in the hearts of every Chinese.Time shifting is easy.Faced with the new situation after taking power, the Chinese Communist Party needs new theories to guide practice, and cannot directly copy the successful experience of the revolutionary war years. "Mao Zedong's extensive use of the campaign methods developed during the Yan'an period has seriously affected the pace, style and nature of the state regime after 1949."

After the death of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, as the core of the second-generation central leadership collective, took the lead in calling for breaking the rigidity of thinking and boldly emancipating the mind in response to the severe ideological rigidity and many restricted areas of thought in society, and strongly supported the issue of the standard of truth raised in China at that time big discussion. "The important significance of this discussion is to reunify the thinking of the whole party and the people of the whole country on the basis of Comrade Mao Zedong's "On Practice"."The discussion on the standard of truth solved the problem of emancipating the mind. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1978 also affirmed that practice is the only criterion for testing truth. Leadership and the socialist system, negating the ideological trend of Mao Zedong Thought.Therefore, while further emancipating the mind from the "Left" tendency, it is necessary to correct the Right tendency, "discuss clearly the major principles of thought and theory, and unify them on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought", and " Research on the fundamental task of theoretical propaganda work after the focus of the whole party's work has shifted".In this way, emancipating the mind and unifying the mind are combined.This theoretical construction model has become a new beginning to promote the development of ideological lines.Following the path of emancipating the mind and unifying the mind, in 1982 Deng Xiaoping put forward the proposition of "walking one's own path and building socialism with Chinese characteristics", which became a new ideological guide to promote China's reform, development and progress, and was later named "Deng Xiaoping Theory". .

After more than 20 years of reform and development, Chinese society has seen diversification of interests and differentiation of social classes.The Communist Party of China has long positioned itself as the "vanguard of the Chinese working class", representing the interests of the working class and the working people. Ensure broad representation of the party.Under the new situation of reform and opening up, this method of "incorporation" obviously cannot reflect the profound changes in the social class structure.In response, the third-generation central leadership with Jiang Zemin at the core put forward the important thought of "Three Represents," which is fully expressed as follows: "The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, and at the same time the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation." , is the leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, represents the development requirements of China's advanced productive forces, represents the direction of China's advanced culture, and represents the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people." Starting from traditional theories, the Communist Party of China once declared: There is actually a relationship between the exploiter and the exploited among workers, and private business owners cannot be recruited into the party.However, on the basis of emancipating the mind and advancing with the times, the important thinking of the "Three Represents" must "recognize the party's program and charter, consciously strive for the party's line and program, go through long-term tests, and conform to party members' principles." Advanced elements from other social strata that meet certain conditions can be absorbed into the party to enhance the party's influence and cohesion in the whole society.The meaning of this theory is very clear, which is to "strengthen the party's class foundation and expand the party's mass foundation."In this way, through emancipating the mind and completing theoretical innovation, the problem of whether private business owners can join the party, which has attracted widespread attention at home and abroad, has been resolved.

After entering the 21st century, with the deepening of economic globalization and reform and opening up, China's development is facing a series of deep-seated new problems and new contradictions. The long-term structural contradictions and extensive growth pattern have not been fundamentally changed; the socialist market economic system has initially been established, but institutional obstacles to development still exist; The general trend has not yet been fundamentally reversed, and there are still a considerable number of poor and low-income people in urban and rural areas, making it more difficult to take into account the interests of all parties; coordinated development has achieved remarkable results, and at the same time the situation of weak agricultural foundation and lagging behind in rural development has not changed, shrinking urban and rural areas. , regional development gaps and the arduous task of promoting coordinated economic and social development; the continuous development of socialist democratic politics and the solid implementation of the basic strategy of ruling the country by law; meanwhile, the construction of democracy and the legal system have not yet fully met the requirements of expanding people's democracy and economic and social development, and political system reform needs Continue to deepen; the socialist culture is more prosperous, and at the same time, the spiritual and cultural needs of the people are becoming more and more vigorous, and the independence, selectivity, variability, and differences of people's ideological activities are significantly enhanced, and higher requirements are put forward for the development of advanced socialist culture; social vitality is obvious. At the same time, the social structure, social organization form, and social interest pattern have undergone profound changes, and social construction and management are facing many new issues; opening up is expanding, and at the same time, international competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and foreseeable and unforeseen risks are increasing. Domestic development and opening to the outside world have higher requirements, and so on.Faced with this situation, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with Hu Jintao as the general secretary called on the whole party to "never become rigid and never stagnant" and put forward the scientific concept of development.

The scientific concept of development, the first essence is development, the core is people-oriented, the basic requirement is comprehensive coordination and sustainability, and the fundamental method is overall consideration.

Researchers at home and abroad have noticed that "after the reform and opening up in 1978, ideology undoubtedly did not die out, but its nature and function have undergone fundamental changes. The thoughts of classic writers such as Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong are not enough to demonstrate the current Rationality of policy. New ideas must be invented. These ideas are based on the basic principles of Marxism (however poor these principles are), but born of and respecting the national conditions of the country. This is the ideology of 'Chinese characteristics'."

There is some truth to this argument.The Chinese pursue "renew day by day, renew day by day, renew day by day", the so-called "Although Zhou is an old state, its life is renewed." In January 1940, Mao Zedong commented on Sun Yat-sen in "On New Democracy": "Mr. Sun Yat-sen is great not only because he led the great Revolution of 1 (although it was a democratic revolution in the old period), but also because he was able to' Adapting to the trend of the world and meeting the needs of the people', proposed the three revolutionary policies of uniting Russia, uniting the Communist Party, and supporting agriculture and industry, made a new interpretation of the Three Principles of the People, and established the new Three Principles of the People with the three major policies."This theoretical innovation spirit of advancing with the times is also the internal driving force for the renewal of the Chinese Communist Party's own ideology.

In short, the fundamental goal of the Communist Party of China’s continuous theoretical innovation is to use the latest achievements of the Sinicization of Marxism to arm the entire Party and the country, and to unify the pace of the entire Party and the country with new ideas.As General Secretary Hu Jintao pointed out in his speech at the meeting celebrating the [-]th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, theoretical maturity is the firm foundation of politics, theoretical advancement with the times is the premise of forging ahead in action, and ideological unity It is an important guarantee for the unity of the whole party.

(End of this chapter)