Comprehensively Grasp the Era’s Requirements for Party Discipline Building

Facing complex and volatile international and domestic situations, facing a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and facing the new expectations of the people, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC made a major decision to further deepen reform comprehensively and advance Chinese-path modernization. This glorious yet arduous historical mission sets new goals and higher demands for further improving the Party’s leadership level and effectively strengthening and improving Party building. Among these, continuously summarizing the experience of strict Party governance, adapting to the new situations, new tasks, and new requirements of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and ensuring that Party discipline building keeps pace with the times constitute the era’s requirement for deepening the reform of the Party’s institutional system and ensuring that reform always advances in the correct political direction.

面对纷繁复杂的国际国内形势，面对新一轮科技革命和产业变革，面对人民群众新期待，党的二十届三中全会作出了进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的重大决定。这一光荣而艰巨的历史使命对进一步提高党的领导水平、切实加强和改进党的建设提出了新的目标和更高要求。其中，不断总结从严管党治党经验，适应全面从严治党新形势新任务新要求，实现党的纪律建设与时俱进，是深化党的建设制度改革、确保改革始终沿着正确政治方向前进的时代要求。

Discipline building is a prominent highlight in the overall layout of Party building in the New Era. The entire Party deepens its understanding of the laws of self-revolution, advances the theoretical, practical, and institutional innovation of Party building in step with the times, incorporates Party discipline building into the overall layout of Party building in the New Era, and accurately grasps the political nature, timeliness, and targetedness of Party discipline building. The seriousness, deterrence, and coverage of disciplinary supervision have been continuously strengthened, providing a solid guarantee for the development of all Party undertakings.

纪律建设是新时代党的建设总体布局的突出亮点。全党不断深化对自我革命规律的认识，与时俱进推进党的建设理论、实践和制度创新，将党的纪律建设纳入新时代党的建设总体布局，并准确把握党的纪律建设的政治性时代性针对性，纪律监督的严肃性、威慑力、覆盖面不断增强，为党的各项事业发展提供了坚强的保障。

Use strict political discipline to drive comprehensive strictness in all other disciplines. Political discipline is the concentrated embodiment of the political nature of Party discipline. Firmly supporting the Two Establishments and resolutely achieving the Two Upholds are the core content of the Party’s political discipline. Only by strictly enforcing political discipline and political rules can a strong guarantee be provided for the Party’s political construction. For a Marxist political party, strict discipline is an important feature and a significant hallmark that distinguishes a Marxist political party from other types of political parties; this is determined by the class foundation of a Marxist political party. From its early founding, our Party established a clear concept of “founding the Party through discipline,” placing particular emphasis on discipline building, especially political discipline building. The Party Constitution formulated at the Second National Congress of the CPC already made clear stipulations on political discipline. The Fifth National Congress of the CPC put forward the concept of “political discipline,” marking the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party’s more proactive efforts to strengthen discipline building with the reinforcement of political discipline as its main content, always “placing strict political discipline first in the work of governing the Party,” and regarding it as “an important means to enhance the ability to cope with various political tests and complex environments.” The theoretical innovation and practical development of the Party Central Committee regarding strict political discipline have been advanced to a new era height. Centering on the Party’s political construction, it has continuously deepened the construction of the Party’s political discipline, placing political discipline at the core of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. All this fully demonstrates that strictly observing political discipline and political rules is the essential characteristic of a Marxist political party and the concentrated embodiment of taking a clear-cut political stand.

以严明的政治纪律带动各项纪律全面从严。政治纪律是党的纪律政治性的集中体现，坚定拥护“两个确立”、坚决做到“两个维护”是党的政治纪律的核心内容。只有严明政治纪律和政治规矩，才能为党的政治建设提供坚强保证。对于马克思主义政党来说，严明的纪律性是马克思主义政党区别于其他类型政党的一个重要特征和显著标志，这是由马克思主义政党的阶级基础决定的。我们党成立初期就树立了明确的“纪律立党”理念，尤为重视纪律建设特别是政治纪律建设。党的二大制定的党章，便对政治方面的纪律作出明确规定。党的五大提出了“政治纪律”这一概念，标志着中国共产党开始更加积极主动地以强化政治纪律为主要内容的纪律建设，始终“把严明政治纪律放在治党工作的第一位”，将其作为“应对各种政治考验和复杂环境能力的重要手段”。党中央关于严明政治纪律的理论创新和实践发展推进至新的时代高度，并围绕党的政治建设持续深化党的政治纪律建设，将政治纪律摆在了全面从严治党的核心地位。这一切充分表明，严守政治纪律和政治规矩，是马克思主义政党的本质特征，是旗帜鲜明讲政治的集中体现。

Political discipline is the rule that Party organizations at all levels and all Party members must abide by in terms of political direction, political stance, political speech, and political behavior. Taking a clear-cut political stand, as a consistent political advantage of our Party, is the unique magic weapon for our Party to always maintain its political advanced nature. Making the Party’s political construction the fundamental construction of the Party is a scientific summary of the experience of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. In the New Era, the key to strengthening political discipline building lies in rigorously enforcing political life within the Party, taking the improvement of political judgment, political understanding, and political execution as the focal points of political discipline building. On this basis, using strict political discipline to drive comprehensive strictness in all other disciplines, and accurately grasping the inherent laws by which strict political discipline drives strict organizational discipline, integrity discipline, mass line discipline, work discipline, and lifestyle discipline, constitute the inevitable path for Party discipline building in the New Era.

政治纪律是各级党组织和全体党员在政治方向、政治立场、政治言论、政治行为方面必须遵守的规矩。旗帜鲜明讲政治作为我们党一以贯之的政治优势，是我们党始终保持政治上先进性的独特法宝。把党的政治建设作为党的根本性建设，更是对全面从严治党经验的科学总结。新时代加强政治纪律建设，关键在于严肃党内政治生活，以提高政治判断力、政治领悟力、政治执行力作为政治纪律建设的着力点。在此基础上，以严明政治纪律带动各项纪律全面从严，准确把握严明政治纪律带动严明组织纪律、廉洁纪律、群众纪律、工作纪律和生活纪律的内在规律，是新时代党的纪律建设的必然遵循。

Strengthen Party discipline building in step with the times, centering on the Party’s central work at the current stage. Keeping pace with the times is the theoretical character of our Party as a Marxist political party. Keeping Party discipline building in step with the times means always closely centering on the Party’s historical mission and central tasks to strengthen Party discipline building, and striving to enhance the scientific nature, rationality, and authority of the system. Over a century of practice in Party discipline building shows that the continuous development and changes in the world situation, national conditions, and Party conditions determine that Party discipline building is a process of continuous development and improvement. Disciplinary regulations, enforcement methods, and supporting mechanisms must keep pace with the times as the Party’s cause develops, continuously reform and innovate in light of new tasks and practices, and embody the requirements of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party and strict management of the Party membership in Party discipline, making it a red line of conduct for all Party members. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC has opened a new chapter in further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese-path modernization. Facing this historical mission, Party discipline building must also keep pace with the times. Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the “Implementation Measures for Discipline Inspection and Supervision Organs to Accurately Apply the ‘Four Forms’ (Trial).” [1]1 The “Four Forms” (四种形态) refer to a graduated system of disciplinary measures: (1) red-teaming and earnest talks; (2) light disciplinary action and minor organizational adjustments; (3) heavy disciplinary action and major post adjustments; (4) investigation and prosecution for serious disciplinary or legal violations. This measure comprehensively stipulates the “Four Forms” in the form of intra-Party regulations, marking the formation of important institutional achievements for the “Four Forms,” highlighting the governance concept of addressing problems early and preventing them from growing, embodying the enforcement principle that discipline is stricter than law and comes before law, implementing the work policy of learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the illness to save the patient, and fulfilling the organizational requirement of combining leniency with severity and strictness with care. It is a major theoretical, practical, and institutional innovation of our Party concerning comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. In the New Era, centering on the Party’s central work, strengthening Party discipline building and strictly enforcing discipline guided by the accurate application of the “Four Forms” is an important lever for deepening the reform of the Party’s institutional system and deeply advancing the construction of a clean and honest Party and the fight against corruption.

围绕党在现阶段的中心工作与时俱进加强党的纪律建设。与时俱进是我们党作为马克思主义政党的理论品格。党的纪律建设的与时俱进，就是要始终紧紧围绕党的历史使命和中心任务加强党的纪律建设，着力增强制度的科学性、合理性、权威性。百余年党的纪律建设实践表明，世情、国情和党情不断发展变化，决定了党的纪律建设是一个不断发展和完善的过程。纪律规定、执纪办法、配套机制必须随着党的事业发展而与时俱进，结合新的任务和实践不断改革创新，把全面从严治党、从严管理党员队伍的要求体现到党的纪律上，使之成为全体党员的行为红线。党的二十届三中全会开启了进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的新篇章，在这一历史使命面前，党的纪律建设更要实现与时俱进。日前，中共中央办公厅印发了《纪检监察机关准确运用“四种形态”实施办法（试行）》。该办法以党内法规的形式对“四种形态”作出全面规定，标志着“四种形态”形成了重要的制度成果，彰显了抓早抓小、防微杜渐的治理理念，体现了纪严于法、纪在法前的执纪原则，贯彻了惩前毖后、治病救人的工作方针，落实了宽严相济、严管厚爱的组织要求，是我们党关于全面从严治党的重大理论、实践和制度创新。新时代，围绕党的中心工作，以准确运用“四种形态”为导向加强党的纪律建设、严格纪律执行，是深化党的建设制度改革、深入推进党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争的重要抓手。

Strengthen Party discipline building centering on the main responsibility for governing the Party and exercising comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. Implementing the main responsibility for governing the Party is a clear requirement put forward by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core for Party organizations at all levels, from the political height of consolidating the Party’s ruling position and forever maintaining the Party’s advanced nature and purity. Grasping the key subject of Party committees (leading Party groups), firmly holding the “bull’s nose” of the responsibility system, and further implementing the main responsibility of Party committees (leading Party groups), the first responsibility of secretaries, and the leadership responsibilities of members of Party committees (leading Party groups) are prominent requirements for strengthening Party building, including Party discipline building, in the New Era.

围绕管党治党、全面从严治党的主体责任加强党的纪律建设。落实管党治党主体责任，是以习近平同志为核心的党中央从巩固党的执政地位、永葆党的先进性纯洁性的政治高度对各级党组织提出的明确要求。抓住党委（党组）这个关键主体，紧紧扭住责任制这个“牛鼻子”，进一步落实好党委（党组）主体责任、书记第一责任人责任和党委（党组）成员的领导责任，是新时代加强党的建设包括党的纪律建设的突出要求。

Our Party has revised the “Regulations of the Chinese Communist Party on Disciplinary Action” several times according to the needs of the situation, summarizing and elevating the fresh experience of Party discipline building in the New Era into clear requirements, making Party discipline more scientific, standardized, and in line with actual needs. On this basis, in accordance with the new tasks of the New Era, the Party has solidly promoted the normalization of Party discipline education, successively deploying and carrying out several rounds of centralized intra-Party education, each of which included disciplinary content, consolidating the ideological foundation for Party members and cadres to abide by and uphold discipline, and ensuring the smooth progress of various undertakings of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era through strict disciplinary enforcement. However, it must also be clearly recognized that, facing the mission and tasks of the Chinese Communist Party on the new journey of the New Era, some Party members and cadres do not have a deep understanding and grasp of “always being on the road,” lack a clear understanding of the still severe and complex situation, and have insufficient awareness of the arduousness and long-term nature of Party discipline building. The problems of some Party members and cadres not stopping or refraining from misconduct remain prominent, the “Four Forms of Decadence” [2]2 The “Four Forms of Decadence” (四风) refer to formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance. are repeatedly prohibited but persist, and corruption among the “key minority” remains high. The tasks of curbing new cases and clearing existing ones are arduous and heavy. Therefore, further strengthening Party discipline building centering on the main responsibility for governing the Party and exercising comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and using the main responsibility to promote the in-depth development of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, is the political sobriety that the entire Party must always grasp. It is necessary to continue to strengthen the supervision of leading cadres, especially the top leaders, ensuring that there are no privileges in observing Party discipline and no exceptions in enforcing Party discipline. Party committees (leading Party groups) at all levels must fulfill the main responsibility for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, lead and support disciplinary enforcement and law enforcement agencies in investigating and dealing with disciplinary and legal violations. Secretaries of Party committees (leading Party groups) must fulfill their first responsibility, taking the lead in upholding Party discipline and daring to manage and strictly manage. Leading cadres at all levels must adhere to “dual responsibility for one post,” [3]3 “Dual responsibility for one post” (一岗双责) means that a leading cadre is responsible both for their assigned business duties and for Party building and clean governance within their jurisdiction. always ensuring strict management of their jurisdiction and strict accountability for their responsibilities. At the same time, by transmitting pressure layer by layer and exploring methods such as lists of powers and responsibilities for Party organizations, responsibilities are further consolidated.

我们党根据形势需要几经修订《中国共产党纪律处分条例》，将新时代党的纪律建设的新鲜经验总结提升为明确要求，使党纪更加科学规范且符合实际要求。在此基础上，根据新时代新任务扎实推进党的纪律教育常态化，先后部署开展了多次党内集中教育，每一次都包含纪律的内容，筑牢了党员干部遵纪守纪的思想基础，并通过严格的纪律执行保障新时代中国特色社会主义各项事业顺利推进。但是，也必须清醒认识到，面对新时代新征程中国共产党的使命任务，一些党员干部对“永远在路上”理解把握不深刻，对依然严峻复杂的形势缺乏清醒认识，对党的纪律建设的艰巨性、长期性认识不到位，部分党员干部不收敛不收手问题仍比较突出、“四风”问题屡禁难绝、“关键少数”腐败依然高发，遏增量、清存量任务艰巨繁重。因此，进一步围绕管党治党、全面从严治党的主体责任加强党的纪律建设，以主体责任推动全面从严治党向纵深发展，是全党必须要时刻把握的政治清醒。要继续强化对领导干部特别是一把手的监督，做到遵守党的纪律没有特权，执行党的纪律没有例外。各级党委（党组）要落实全面从严治党主体责任，领导和支持执纪执法机关查处违纪违法问题。党委（党组）书记履行好第一责任人责任，在维护党的纪律上率先垂范、敢管严管。各级领导干部坚持“一岗双责”，始终做到严管所辖、严负其责。同时，通过层层传导压力，探索党组织权责清单等方式进一步压实责任。

Strengthen Party discipline building by consolidating and deepening the achievements of Party discipline study and education. Carrying out Party discipline study and education is a major deployment made by the Party Central Committee, and it plays an important role in enhancing the discipline awareness of Party members and cadres and improving the governance effectiveness of rule-based Party governance. At the critical juncture of advancing Chinese-path modernization, carrying out Party discipline study and education is precisely about guiding the broad masses of Party members, in the process of studying discipline, understanding discipline, clarifying discipline, and observing discipline, to truly transform disciplinary rules and regulations into political consciousness, ideological consciousness, and action consciousness, and to effectively unify their thinking and action with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee. As the centralized Party discipline study and education completes its phased tasks, how to effectively transform the achievements of Party discipline study and education into concrete actions for studying and implementing the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC [4]4 The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC, held in July 2024, focused on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization., into the correct outlook on power, outlook on political performance, and outlook on career of the broad masses of Party members and cadres, to promote Party members and cadres to be baptized in thought, tempered in work style, and improved in ability, and to consciously regard Party discipline and state law as an insurmountable red line, is the central task of Party discipline building for a period to come.

围绕巩固和深化党纪学习教育成果加强党的纪律建设。开展党纪学习教育是党中央作出的重大部署，对增强党员干部的纪律意识、提升依规治党的治理效能具有重要作用。在推进中国式现代化的关键节点，开展党纪学习教育就是要引导广大党员在学纪、知纪、明纪、守纪中真正把纪律规矩转化为政治自觉、思想自觉、行动自觉，切实把思想和行动统一到习近平总书记重要讲话精神和党中央决策部署上来。随着集中性党纪学习教育完成阶段性任务，如何将党纪学习教育成果切实转化为学习贯彻党的二十届三中全会精神的实际行动，转化为广大党员干部正确的权力观、政绩观、事业观，推动党员干部在思想上受洗礼、作风上得锤炼、能力上有提升，并自觉把党纪国法作为不可逾越的红线，是今后一段时期党的纪律建设的中心任务。

To consolidate and deepen the achievements of Party discipline study and education, first, we must make sustained efforts in deep study and thorough understanding, earnestly summarize and refine the effective practices and successful experiences of Party discipline study and education, improve the normalization of learning mechanisms, and promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of discipline building. Second, we must make sustained efforts in integration and transformation, combining the actual conditions and key work of the region, department, or unit, and continuously enhance the self-education, self-improvement, and self-management capabilities of the broad masses of Party members, especially leading Party cadres, as well as the organization’s educational and guiding functions. Third, we must make sustained efforts in abiding by discipline and observing rules, so that iron discipline is transformed into the daily habits and conscious compliance of Party members and cadres.

巩固和深化党纪学习教育成果，一要在深学细悟上持续发力，认真总结提炼党纪学习教育中的有效做法和成功经验，完善常态化学习机制，推动纪律建设常态长效。二要在结合转化上持续发力，结合本地区本部门本单位实际和重点工作，不断增强广大党员特别是党员领导干部自我教育、自我提高、自我管理能力和组织的教育引导功能。三要在遵规守纪上持续发力，使铁的纪律转化为党员干部的日常习惯和自觉遵循。

(The author is a professor at the Party Regulations Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law)

（作者系中国政法大学党规研究中心教授）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧