(East-West Question) Zheng Huan: How to compare the Communist Party of China's self-revolution from the perspective of political parties?

　　China News Agency, Beijing, March 10th: How to compare the self-revolution of the Chinese Communist Party from the perspective of political parties?

　　Author Zheng Huan Associate Professor of the Party Building Teaching and Research Department of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National School of Administration), Deputy Director of the Teaching and Research Section of the World Political Party Comparison

　　Looking at political parties in various countries, it can be said that there are very few who can truly face up to their own problems, form a set of self-disciplined institutional norms, and severely punish a large number of corrupt and degenerate elements in the party like the Chinese Communist Party.

　　The successful reform of the Chinese Communist Party has brought a huge impact on foreign scholars.

Many scholars have noticed that the Communist Party of China is highly adaptable. It is good at adjusting its ideology and policies appropriately according to changes in the situation, and it also has strong autonomy.

While absorbing external achievements, we adhere to the leadership of the party and the leading role of the government, and adhere to our own bottom line for reform.

　　Shen Dawei, an American China studies expert, believes: "The Chinese Communist Party is soberly aware that the possibility of losing its ruling position does exist, and its leaders and cadres are also convinced that as long as they conduct self-reflection, adjust and implement prescient policies and reforms, they can avoid The fate of perishing.” More and more overseas CCP researchers use concepts such as “adaptive”, “resilience” and “self-correction” to analyze and understand the Chinese Communist Party.

In their view, the Chinese Communist Party's ideological and theoretical innovations, institutional building efforts, and the absorption of new elites all reflect its ability to adapt to social, economic and environmental changes.

　　Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of China has strictly governed the party in an all-round way. On the basis of a profound understanding of the governing laws of the Communist Party, it has creatively put forward the party's theory of self-revolution.

　　Where does the self-revolutionary ability of the Chinese Communist Party come from?

Why is this a distinctive feature that distinguishes it from other political parties in the world?

To answer these theoretical questions, it is necessary to understand the Communist Party of China from the perspective of political party civilization comparison, and accurately grasp the uniqueness of the Communist Party of China.

On the morning of July 1, 2021, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China was held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

The picture shows the National Flag Guard preparing to raise the flag.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Sheng Jiapeng

First of all, the self-revolution of the Chinese Communist Party is rooted in the foundation of Chinese civilization and has formed a unique view of civilization.

The Communist Party of China is a political party rooted in traditional Chinese civilization. The party's theory of self-revolution has a profound civilizational and cultural foundation.

Chinese civilization has a tradition of introspection, and has always regarded self-discipline as the foundation and foundation of being a person, doing things, and being an official.

In the long history of 5,000 years, a political culture focusing on self-reflection and self-discipline has been formed.

"The Analects" says that "I examine my body three times a day", "I cultivate myself to respect", "I cultivate myself to comfort the people", and "I cultivate myself to comfort the people". It is said that "reverse listening is called intelligence, inner vision is called bright, and self-conquering is called strong".

The Chinese Communists insisted on combining the basic principles of Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and promoted the new practice of the party's self-revolution.

For example, in strengthening the cultivation of party spirit, the Chinese Communists have formed a personal "cultivation" path from the beneficial wisdom of the ancient culture of self-cultivation and moral cultivation, and formed a collective "cultivation" path in the political life of the party. In transforming the objective world and subjective A practical approach has been formed in the world, and a creative transformation of Chinese culture and Chinese spirit has been carried out.

Secondly, the Chinese Communists have always emphasized independence and self-reliance, forming a unique self-view.

In the long-term revolutionary practice, the Chinese Communists have formed a strong autonomy.

Chinese Communists' self-understanding is fundamentally different from that of many dependent parties.

In looking at its own mistakes and choosing reform strategies, the Communist Party of China has always firmly adhered to its own path.

Peter Rowland, a professor at Cambridge University, noticed that China, unlike the Soviet Union, did not follow the advice of international organizations and neoclassical economic theorists in its policy choices, but made independent decisions based on China's actual situation.

The self-revolution of the Communist Party of China includes rich connotations, including the basic abilities of self-purification, self-improvement, self-innovation, and self-improvement. It has formed a systematic thinking of self-cultivation, self-discipline, and self-shaping, and firmly grasps the fate of its own. in hand.

Third, the self-revolution of the Communist Party of China is rooted in the great Chinese revolution and has formed a unique revolutionary concept.

The theory of self-revolution by the Chinese Communists is based on China's unique revolutionary tradition.

The connotation of self-revolution is to warn the whole party not to lose the revolutionary spirit in the sound of applause and praise, and gradually enter a state of being content with the status quo, not thinking about progress, daring to fight, and seeking pleasure.

The fundamental reason why the Party has gone through centuries of vicissitudes and vicissitudes is that it can uphold the revolutionary spirit.

This idea of ​​revolution is not to advocate violent revolution for the rest of the world, but to maintain a sense of urgency and crisis at all times.

On the evening of June 28, 2021, the theatrical performance "The Great Journey" to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China was grandly held at the National Stadium.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Han Haidan

Fourth, the Chinese Communists have established a set of self-disciplined institutional norms, forming a unique institutional view.

The Chinese Communists have modernized the traditional Chinese culture of introspection and established a set of mature self-restraint institutional norms.

After a hundred years of development, the institutional foundation of the party's self-revolution has matured, and a strong error-correcting ability guaranteed by the system has been formed.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of China has vigorously promoted the construction of intra-party laws and regulations.

As of July 1, 2021, there are a total of 3,615 valid intra-party laws and regulations in the whole party, forming a relatively complete system of intra-party laws and regulations, and based on this, a systematic and complete party system has been formed. is unique.

Different from Western political parties' understanding of party law and party discipline, the CPC's understanding of institutional norms is more mature and has distinct Chinese characteristics.

Based on deep thinking and scientific summary of their own problems, they have formed a unique theory of discipline, and originally expounded the understanding of discipline and rules, law and party discipline, governing the country according to law and governing the party according to rules, and formed the unique system view of the Communist Party of China.

Fifth, the Communist Party of China has creatively developed the fine traditions of Marxist political parties and formed a unique concept of political parties.

The Chinese Communists have deeply grasped the governing laws and characteristics of Marxist political parties, and have formed a series of important practical achievements.

For example, carry out criticism and self-criticism, take political life seriously within the party, strengthen ideals and beliefs, combine regular education with centralized education, and strengthen inner-party supervision.

For a long time, the Communist Party of China has put ideological construction in the first place, combined regular education and centralized education within the party, and explored an effective path to maintain the advanced nature and purity of the party.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of China has established and improved the party and state supervision system, strengthened the party's political supervision, and formed a new pattern of intra-party supervision that covers disciplinary supervision, supervision supervision, station supervision, and inspection supervision.

Sixth, Chinese Communists have a more complex understanding of right and wrong, and have formed a unique view of problems.

Compared with other political parties in the world, the Chinese Communist Party has always been able to face up to its own problems.

In terms of understanding of problems, the CPC is more proactive and courageous; in diagnosing problems, the CPC is more objective and sober; in correcting problems, the CPC is more conscious and timely.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Self-revolution itself is to deal with problems, and tabooing diseases and avoiding doctors is the natural enemy of self-revolution." Compared with other political parties in the world, the Chinese Communist Party pays more attention to small problems and hidden problems. The understanding should be more in-depth, emphasizing the effect of preventing microscopic and preventing gradual progress, so as to avoid accumulation and hard to return, and the disease is terminally ill.

At the same time, the Chinese people's "right and wrong view" and "fault view" are based on different time and space conditions.

Whether it's "yesterday is not yesterday" or "yesterday is but today is not", both emphasize the need to recognize mistakes dynamically.

In the eyes of some foreign political parties, the understanding of mistakes simply stays at the level of "original sin" and "redemption", and they adopt a black-and-white, one-size-fits-all attitude towards mistakes, and cannot accurately understand the "three seven openness" proposed by the Chinese Communists regarding mistakes. ” and other viewpoints, and it is even more difficult to understand the complex conception of issues in Chinese political practice.

Seventh, the Chinese Communist Party's self-revolution and people's supervision complement each other, forming a unique inner and outer appearance.

The Communist Party of China emphasizes both self-revolution and people's supervision, and achieves longevity through benign interactions inside and outside the party.

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection pointed out that in the past 100 years, the party has maintained its longevity and continued to grow by relying on the development of people's democracy and accepting people's supervision outside the party, and by strictly governing the party in an all-round way and promoting self-revolution.

In contrast, major Western political parties place more emphasis on external supervision and separation of powers and checks and balances. Many political parties have to experience major electoral defeats or factional battles to promote their own reforms and innovations, which often lead to protracted problems and are eventually replaced by emerging political forces. .

In contrast, the Chinese Communists have formed a benign mechanism of internal and external interaction, are good at responding to public opinion in a timely manner, and correct their own mistakes in a timely manner, forming a unique internal and external appearance.

On the morning of July 1, 2021, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China was held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

The picture shows the flying celebration before the start of the conference.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Kejia

　　All in all, the Chinese Communist Party is a party that can correctly treat its own mistakes and is good at self-improvement and self-innovation.

In its long-term historical practice, the Communist Party of China has formed a unique view of civilization, self-view, revolution, system, political party, problem and internal appearance, which has created the unique character and strong self-revolutionary ability of the Communist Party of China, and has also contributed to the world political parties. Civilization made new contributions.

To this end, it is necessary to further strengthen foreign exchanges and tell the story of the Chinese Communist Party's self-revolution.

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About the Author:

　　Zheng Huan is an associate professor of the Party Building Teaching and Research Department of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National School of Administration), and the deputy director of the Teaching and Research Section of the Comparison of World Political Parties.

In the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National School of Administration), he is responsible for teaching courses such as the historical lessons of the Soviet Communist Party's loss of its ruling status and the enlightenment of foreign clean government construction.

Zheng Huan was awarded the European Union Erasmus Scholarship and exchanged at the Centre for European Studies at Sciences Po.