◇As a distinctive character, the courage to self-revolution stems from the nature and purpose of the Party, the original intention and mission, and runs through the history of the Party; As a kind of political consciousness, the courage to self-revolution is a kind of courage and consciousness that dares to turn inward and self-scavenging carrion, which is the fundamental reason why the Communist Party of China has always been able to maintain and stimulate its own vigorous vitality

◇General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the party's self-revolution has profound ideological connotation and great epochal value, and profoundly reveals the political consciousness of the Communist Party of China

◇ In the new era, our party has explored an effective way to jump out of the historical cycle by relying on self-revolution under the condition of long-term rule

◇Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the party's self-revolution, the new era has made historic and pioneering achievements in strictly administering the party, exerting all-round and deep-seated influence, and accumulating valuable experience in promoting the party's self-revolution in the new era

On January 1, 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 Second Plenary Session of the 9th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China Photo by Zhang Ling / This magazine

Strong political parties are forged in self-revolution. Being bold in self-revolution is not only a distinctive character cultivated by the CPC over the past 100 years of struggle, but also a political consciousness inherited by the CPC, and a powerful support for the CPC's eternal youthful vitality.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important expositions on the party's self-revolution from the perspective of the overall development of the cause of the party and the country, from the combination of history and reality, theory and practice. This series of important expositions is profound in thought and heavy in content, which not only profoundly answers a series of major questions, such as the background, rich connotation, and practical requirements of the party's self-revolution in the new era, but also profoundly reveals that the courage of self-revolution is the political consciousness of the Chinese communists, which is of a strong political, theoretical, and guiding nature.

In-depth study of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on the party's self-revolution is of great significance for the whole party to deeply understand the decisive significance of the "two establishments", strengthen the "four consciousness", strengthen the "four self-confidence", achieve "two safeguards", further strengthen and carry forward the political consciousness of daring to self-revolution, focus on solving the outstanding problems existing in the party itself, and continuously enhance the party's self-purification, self-improvement, self-innovation and self-improvement ability.

The Party's Self-Revolution in the New Era: Theory, History, and Reality

As a distinctive character, the courage to self-revolution stems from the nature, purpose, original intention and mission of the Party, and runs through the entire history of the Party; As a kind of political consciousness, the courage to self-revolution is also a kind of courage and consciousness that dares to turn inward and self-scavenging carrion, which is the fundamental reason why the Communist Party of China can always walk in the forefront of the times, become the backbone of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and always maintain and stimulate its own vigorous vitality.

"Self-revolution" is a concept with a specific connotation that flashes the light of the Party's theoretical and practical innovation in the new era. On May 2015, 5, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his speech at the 5th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, "Be brave in self-revolution, dare to face problems head-on, and jointly do a good job in comprehensively deepening reform." Since then, on many important occasions, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly elaborated on the theoretical connotation and practical requirements of "self-revolution", so that it has been continuously enriched and developed.

The proposal of "self-revolution" has a profound background of the times and embodies the high unity of theoretical logic, historical logic and practical logic.

The Marxist theory on party building is the theoretical basis for self-revolution. Progressiveness and purity are the essential attributes of a Marxist political party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "our party has inherited and developed the Marxist theory of party building, and has formed rich ideological achievements on the party's self-revolution." The Communist Party of China is a political party armed with Marxism, and Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology for building our party and state. Always being with the people and striving for the interests of the people is the fundamental difference between a Marxist political party and other political parties. In other words, the courage and consciousness of a Marxist party to carry out self-revolution is determined by its advanced nature, and its characteristics are also innate. For more than 100 years, the Party has always adhered to the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, devoted itself to the great cause of national rejuvenation, and worked hard without daring to slacken off in the slightest. As a Marxist political party, the Communist Party of China does not have any special interests of its own, and has never represented the interests of any interest group, any powerful group, or any privileged stratum. This is precisely the theoretical basis put forward by the self-revolution, and it is also the source and confidence of the courage of the Communist Party of China to dare to make self-revolution.

The excellent traditional Chinese culture has given rich cultural nourishment to the proposal of self-revolution. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must not abandon the excellent cultural traditions of the Chinese nation, on the contrary, we must inherit and carry forward them well, because this is the 'root' and 'soul' of our nation, and without this 'root' and 'soul', there will be no foundation." "Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has been a nation that has the courage to change and forge ahead, and concepts such as "changing the law and striving for strength", "reforming the old and renewing" and "ceaseless self-improvement" have always been important treasures of China's excellent traditional culture. From the "I Ching" "Heaven and earth change and become four times, Tangwu revolution, follow the heavens and respond to people" to the "Records of Rites" "Gou is new, every day is new, and every day is new", many sage quotes throughout the ages reflect the admiration and importance of reforming the old and the new thinking of change and the sense of self-improvement and self-examination. From a historical point of view, a series of important requirements emphasized by our party today, such as "self-revolution," "iron must be hardened by itself," "revolutionizing the old and making new," and "keeping the right and bringing out the new," all have a cultural connection with those excellent traditional Chinese cultures that have lasted for thousands of years. The excellent traditional Chinese culture is one of the cultural sources proposed by the self-revolution.

Self-revolution is an important historical experience of the CPC's centennial struggle. Over the past 100 years and more, one of the important historical experiences of the CPC has been able to step by step grow from weak to strong, from small to large, to be reborn again and again from the ashes, and to survive in desperate situations, to save the people from fire and water, to help the people in danger, to work extremely hard, and to unite and lead the people to create the great achievements that are in the annals of history today, lies in "persisting in self-revolution." The Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party's Centennial Struggle, in comprehensively summing up the historical experience of the CPC's centennial struggle, pointed out: "The secret of the Party's greater vitality after a century of vicissitudes lies in always adhering to the truth and correcting mistakes. The greatness of the Party does not lie in not making mistakes, but in never hiding from medical treatment, actively carrying out criticism and self-criticism, daring to face problems head-on, and daring to make self-revolution. This summary not only clarifies that self-revolution is an important crystallization of the party's historical experience of a century of struggle, but also deeply summarizes the secret of success why the party can jump out of the historical cycle of chaos and rise and fall and become more energetic after a century of vicissitudes.

Self-revolution is an inevitable requirement for comprehensively building a modern socialist country and comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must stand at the height of the party's long-term ruling power, the country's long-term peace and stability, and the people's happiness and well-being, take the comprehensive strict management of the party as the party's long-term strategy and eternal topic, always adhere to the problem-oriented, maintain strategic concentration, carry forward the spirit of thorough self-revolution, always blow the clarion call, adhere to the strict keynote, strict measures, and strict atmosphere for a long time, and carry out the party's great self-revolution to the end." "The key to comprehensively building a modern socialist country and comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation lies in the party. At present, the great changes unprecedented in a century are accelerating, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, and China's development has entered a period in which strategic opportunities and risks and challenges coexist, and uncertainties and unpredictable factors increase. Specific to the party's self-building, after 10 years of firm efforts, we have achieved obvious results in administering the party strictly in an all-round way, but some deep-seated problems within the party have not yet been fundamentally resolved, the possibility of some old problems rebounding and reviving still exists, the slightest slackening will lead to revival, new problems are still emerging, and the "four major tests" and "four dangers" will exist for a long time. As the world's largest Marxist ruling party, our party must always maintain a sober and firm determination to solve the unique problems of the big party in order to always win the support of the people and consolidate its long-term ruling position. All comrades in the party should always maintain the spirit of self-revolution, enhance their political consciousness that the party is always on the road to running the party strictly in an all-round way, comprehensively promote the party's self-purification, self-improvement, self-renewal, and self-improvement, so that our party will stick to its original mission and always become a strong leadership core for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The rich connotation of the party's self-revolution in the new era: uprightness, reform, and innovation

General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the party's self-revolution has profound ideological connotation and great epochal value, and profoundly reveals the political consciousness of the Communist Party of China.

"Being bold in self-revolution is the most distinctive character of our party and the greatest advantage of our party." On February 2017, 2, General Secretary Xi Jinping focused on the profound connotation of "self-revolution" at the seminar for major leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels to study and implement the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and put forward in a clear-cut manner: "This ability is not only a distinctive symbol that distinguishes our party from other political parties in the world, but also an important reason for the longevity of our party." "This is a big assertion. This thesis profoundly reveals the distinctive spiritual character and political consciousness of the CPC that distinguishes it from other political parties; it is not only a profound grasp of the party's nature, purpose, and original mission, but also a comprehensive summary of the party's political character and historical experience, and vividly embodies the inevitable requirement for our party to always maintain its advanced nature and purity.

The nature, purpose, and original mission of the Party determine that the Party has the courage and consciousness to make self-revolution, can examine itself based on the fundamental interests of the people, can always put the interests of the people in the highest position, and "seek fundamental and great benefits" for the people; The party's political character and historical experience profoundly reflect that in the face of twists and turns and mistakes on the road of progress and in the face of contradictions and problems existing within the party, the CPC never conceals shortcomings, evades problems, and pretends to be wrong, but dares to turn inward with a knife edge, actively find out the causes, overcome shortcomings with shortcomings, solve problems with problems, admit and correct mistakes, and constantly draw lessons, increase wisdom, and develop and grow in the process.

"To carry out well the great social revolution of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, our party must have the courage to carry out self-revolution." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Our party is the world's largest political party established under the guidance of Marxist party-building theory and in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism, and has been in power for a long time in the world's most populous country. "The Communist Party of China is the largest Marxist ruling party in the world, and no external force can defeat us, only ourselves. It is not easy to manage a party as big as ours, especially to build a party as big as ours into a strong Marxist ruling party. In the face of new changes in the domestic and international situation and new developments in practice, whether or not we have a strong spirit of self-revolution, whether we have excellent characteristics of self-purification, and whether we can unremittingly struggle against our own problems and mistakes have become key factors determining the success or failure of the party. On the new road to achieving the second centenary goal, if our party wants to consolidate its long-term ruling position and always win the heartfelt support of the people, we must deeply understand that the party's self-revolution is always on the road, unswervingly promote the party's great self-revolution, lead the great social revolution with the great self-revolution, and constantly write a new chapter in adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

"Only by striving to achieve our own leap forward in reforming the old and keeping the right and making a new move can we continuously inject vitality into the cause of the party and the people." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "We must adhere to the unity of upright and innovative, adhere to the party's nature, purpose, ideals and beliefs, and original mission, and at the same time solve various contradictions and problems within the party with new concepts, ideas, methods and means, and continuously improve the effectiveness of self-revolution." He stressed that "we must seek breakthroughs in self-innovation" and "constantly open up the future through revolution." These important expositions profoundly reveal the meaning of self-revolution around several key words such as "uprightness", "reform", and "dingxin".

"Keeping the righteousness" means that we must unswervingly adhere to the party's nature, purpose, ideals and beliefs, and original mission, show great morality, strict public morality, and abide by private morality, emphasize moral conduct, correct conduct, and cultivate the mind, so as to stand up with faith, personality, and practical work; "Revolution" means to filter impurities, remove toxins, and cut off tumors, constantly purify the party's ranks, and constantly eliminate the shortcomings of various systems and mechanisms that hinder development; "Dingxin" means to solve all kinds of contradictions and problems existing in the party with new concepts, ideas, methods, and means, build and temper ourselves with the spirit of courage in self-revolution, and constantly enhance the party's ability to purify, improve, renew and improve itself. These contents have greatly deepened our understanding of the Party's self-revolution in the new era.

"Corruption is the biggest threat facing the party, and resolutely preventing and controlling corruption is a major political task that the party must grasp well for a long time in its self-revolution." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In the face of the long-standing 'four major tests' and 'four dangers', solving the unique problems of the big party must be a long-term and arduous process, which determines that the comprehensive strict management of the party is always on the road, and the party's self-revolution is always on the road." "The people's will is the greatest politics and the most precious resource for the party's leadership and governance. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has deeply promoted the comprehensive and strict management of the Party, insisted that the iron must be hard by itself, launched an unprecedented anti-corruption struggle, undertaken the mission of "offending thousands of people and living up to 1.4 billion yuan", and promoted the integration of not daring to be corrupt, not being corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt. However, we must also be soberly aware that as long as there are soil and conditions for corruption, corruption will not be eradicated, and our fight against corruption will not stop. We must always maintain the spirit of self-revolution, adhere to the strategic principle of administering the party strictly in an all-round way, regard anti-corruption as a major political task that the party must grasp well for a long time in its self-revolution, and unswervingly carry out the building of party style and clean government and the struggle against corruption to the end.

"As long as there are no problems with the Marxist ruling party, there will be no major problems in socialist countries, and we will be able to jump out of the historical cycle rate of 'its rise is also prosperous, and its death is also sudden.'" Our party attaches great importance to the exploration of the issue of historical cycle rate. More than 70 years ago, Comrade Mao Zedong lived in the Yan'an Bucket Room and gave the first answer in the famous "Cave Pair": "Only by letting the people supervise the government will the government dare not relax." More than 70 years later, General Secretary Xi Jinping comprehensively summed up the party's centennial struggle, especially the new practice since the <>th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and gave the second answer: "This is self-revolution." The change from "cave pairing" to "self-revolution" reflects not only the historical responsibility and political consciousness of the Chinese Communists for the future of the country and the nation, but also the ideological development process of the Chinese Communists in exploring this major issue.

In the new era, our party has explored an effective way to jump out of the historical cycle by relying on self-revolution under long-term ruling conditions. The successful exploration of this road not only solved the cyclical fate of the dynastic regime in Chinese history, "its rise is also prosperous, and its death is also sudden", but also creatively answered the major question of how Marxist political parties can always maintain their advanced nature and purity under the condition of long-term rule, and always do not change their quality, color, and taste, which is of great historical significance.

The "new realm" of the party's self-revolution in the new era:

Valuable experience and great significance

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Comprehensively administering the party strictly is a great practice of the party's self-revolution in the new era, and has opened up a new realm of self-revolution for the century-old party." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has incorporated "comprehensively administering the Party strictly" into the "four comprehensive" strategic layout, played a set of "combined fists" of self-revolution, formed a complete set of institutional norms for the Party's self-purification, self-improvement, self-innovation and self-improvement, opened up a new realm of the Party's self-revolution in the new era, and vividly practiced the political consciousness of the Communist Party of China.

The valuable experience accumulated in promoting the Party's self-revolution in the new era. Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the party's self-revolution, the new era has made historic and pioneering achievements in comprehensively administering the party strictly, exerting all-round and deep-seated influence, and has accumulated valuable experience in promoting the party's self-revolution in the new era.

On January 2022, 1, at the sixth plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we must adhere to the party's political construction as the leadership and adhere to the fundamental political direction of self-revolution; We must persist in taking ideological construction as the basic construction of the Party and temper the sharp ideological weapon of self-revolution; We must resolutely implement the spirit of the eight central regulations, rectify the style of work with strict discipline, and enrich the effective ways of self-revolution; We must persist in fighting corruption and punishing evil with the momentum of thunder, and fight a tough and protracted battle for self-revolution; We must persist in strengthening the political function and organizational cohesion of Party organizations, and forge a contingent of cadres who dare to be good at struggle and dare to make self-revolution; We must persist in building an institutional normative system of self-purification, self-improvement, self-innovation and self-improvement, and provide institutional guarantees for promoting the great self-revolution.

In his speech, General Secretary Xi Jinping expounded the relationship between comprehensively administering the party strictly and self-revolution with six "musts", and profoundly summarized the successful practice and valuable experience of the party's self-revolution in the new era.

The great practical guiding significance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the party's self-revolution. Practice has proved that General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the party's self-revolution is a systematic and scientific theoretical system, which has great practical guiding significance for the whole party to study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, promote the party's governance and self-construction in the new era, and realize the long-term peace and stability of the country and the party's long-term rule.

Theoretically speaking, this series of important expositions takes the party's great practice of self-revolution in the new era as the basis and condenses a series of new understandings and new practices, which not only further enriches and deepens our understanding of the Marxist theory on party building, but also provides a fundamental basis for adhering to the party's nature and purpose and forever maintaining the party's youthful vitality under the conditions of the new era.

In practice, this series of important expositions has raised the party's self-revolution and self-renewal to a new height, promoted the continuous development of strict party management in an all-round way and in depth, and marked and shaped the distinctive characteristics of the party's governance in the new era.

From a historical point of view, this series of important expositions has reached a new height in understanding of what kind of long-term ruling Marxist political party to build and how to build a long-term ruling Marxist political party; it has deepened the understanding that the party must always maintain its own advanced nature and purity in terms of the rich connotation and practical requirements of self-revolution, and has made original contributions to enriching and developing the Marxist theory of party building.

(Text | Dong Zhenrui Author's institution: Research Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China)

Source: 2023-05-27 Outlook Issue 2023, 22