The Historical Preconditions, Main Characteristics, and Party-Building Traditions of the Great Beginning of Party Building

The distinctive character and political advantage of the Communist Party of China lies in its high regard for the scientific summarization and theoretical generalization of the experience of Party founding and Party building, and in its emphasis on promptly transforming the regular understandings gradually formed in this process, as well as the habits and practices consistently upheld, into fine traditions of its own building, thereby providing a fundamental guarantee for Party building and the development of its cause. Among these, Party founding is the foundation and prerequisite of Party building; Party building starts from Party founding and continuously explores and develops in order to forge leadership strength, fulfill the original aspiration and founding mission, and form fine traditions. Thus it can be seen that the beginning of Party building is not only closely related to the creation of the Party organization and its early building practices, constituting the realistic starting point and initial form of Party building, but also reflects the arduous exploration, under China’s special social and historical conditions, of the stance, principles, values, thinking, and spirit of proletarian party building, exerting a unique and profound influence on the formation and development of Party-building traditions. Therefore, this article intends to analyze, discuss, and reveal the historical background on which the beginning of Party building relied, its early practices, and their impact on Party-building traditions, based on the profound transformation of Chinese society around the time of the founding of the Communist Party of China. This is of great value for deepening the understanding of the essential characteristics and developmental requirements of the self-building of a Marxist political party, especially the inherent laws of strengthening Party leadership and Party building under the conditions of a communist party’s long-term governance.

中国共产党的鲜明品格和政治优势，就是高度重视对建党及党建经验的科学总结与理论概括，并注重将这一过程中逐步形成的规律性认识以及始终坚持的习惯和做法及时转化为自身建设的优良传统，进而为党的建设及其事业发展提供根本保障。其中，建党是党建的基础和前提，党建起步于建党并不断探索发展以锻造领导力量、践行初心使命、形成优良传统。由此可见，党的建设的开端既与党的组织创建及其初期的建设实践密切相关，而构成党的建设的现实起点和初始形态，又体现出在中国特殊的社会历史条件下对无产阶级政党建设立场、原则、价值、思维、精神等的艰辛探索，而对党建传统的形成发展产生独特性、深层次影响。因此，本文拟以中国共产党成立前后中国社会的深刻变革为基础，分析、探讨并揭示党的建设的开端所依托的历史背景、初期实践及其对党建传统的影响，这对于深化理解马克思主义政党自身建设的本质特征和发展要求，特别是共产党长期执政条件下加强党的领导和党的建设的内在规律具有重要价值。

01

01

The Historical Preconditions of the Great Beginning of Party Building

党的建设伟大开端的历史前提

Mao Zedong once pointed out, “To study Party history, starting only from 1921 cannot fully explain the problem; I am afraid we need materials from the earlier part to explain the Party’s predecessor.” [1]1 Mao Zedong, “How to Study Party History” (1942), in *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 2. The original Chinese reads: “研究党史，只从1921年起还不能完全说明问题，恐怕要有前面这部分的材料说明共产党的前身。” The profound transformation of modern Chinese society was a process in which the traditional social foundation moved from disorder to a new equilibrium, in which ideas and concepts moved from anomie to a clear new direction, and in which political practice moved from failure to the emergence of new political forces leading revolution. The combined effect of these elements constituted the social and historical preconditions for the founding of the Communist Party of China and for the initiation and effective advancement of Party building.

毛泽东曾指出，“研究党史，只从1921年起还不能完全说明问题，恐怕要有前面这部分的材料说明共产党的前身。”近代中国社会的深刻变革，是传统社会基础经由失序而达到新的平衡的过程，是思想观念经由失范而明确新的方向的过程，是政治实践经由失败而产生新的政治力量并领导革命的过程。这些要素的综合作用构成了中国共产党成立并开启和有效推进党的建设的社会历史前提。

1. The Disorder of the Social Foundation Required a New Organizational Form to Arouse the Masses

1. 社会基础的失序需要新的组织形式唤起民众

Since ancient times, China has been a civilizational community of multi-ethnic coexistence, based on the principle of benevolence that “within the four seas, all men are brothers.” [2]2 A classical Confucian ideal from the *Analects* (12.5), expressing universal brotherhood. Traditional Chinese society was a small-peasant society with a unique organizational form and structure, where the family constituted the basic organizational unit of social production and social life. As Mao Zedong argued, “For thousands of years, it has been an individual economy, with each household as a production unit.” [3]3 Mao Zedong, “Get Organized!” (1943), in *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 3. Under the ethical-based social and political order, the organizational strength of the family as a basic organizational unit was robust, but horizontally, connections between different organizations were often relatively weak, and vertically, the degree of organization was further weakened by distinctions between inside and outside, and between close and distant relations. At the same time, an important feature of China’s “hundred dynasties all practicing the Qin system of governance” [4]4 A reference to the unified administrative and legal system established by the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), which later dynasties largely inherited. was that “imperial power did not extend below the county level.” [5]5 A traditional description of the limited reach of imperial authority in China’s grassroots governance, where the county was the lowest level of formal state administration. Grassroots society was mainly governed by local gentry, and the power structure composed of bureaucratic administrative divisions extended stably downward, making county-level government quite stable, while below the county level there seemed to be an “administrative vacuum.” From this perspective, ancient Chinese society was prone to “separatist regimes” or even “fragmentation,” a phenomenon that recurred cyclically in history.

中国自古以来是一个以“四海之内皆兄弟”的仁爱理念为原则、多族群和谐共存的文明共同体。中国传统社会是具有独特组织形式及结构的小农社会，家庭构成社会生产和社会生活的基本组织要素。正如毛泽东认为，“几千年来都是个体经济，一家一户就是一个生产单位。”在伦理本位的社会政治秩序下，家庭作为基本组织单元的组织程度是有力的，但在横向上不同组织之间往往联系相对较弱，在纵向上又会因为内外有别、远近亲疏而使组织程度进一步弱化。同时，中国“百代都行秦政法”的重要特点是“皇权不下县”，基层社会主要交由乡贤治理，由科层制的行政区划层级构成的权力结构稳定地向下延伸，使得县级政权相当稳固，而县以下似乎出现“行政真空”。由此来看，中国古代社会容易出现“割据”甚至是“四分五裂”的状态，这种现象在历史中循环出现。

When traditional China entered the modern world, the changes in vertical central-local relations caused by warlord conflicts, as well as the social pattern of the coexistence of multiple forces—capitalist forces (landlords, compradors), political forces (bureaucrats), military forces (warlords), and cultural forces (old and new intellectuals)—further amplified the problems of traditional Chinese social structure. As Sun Yat-sen pointed out, “China’s four hundred million people are actually like a sheet of loose sand.” [6]6 Sun Yat-sen, a founding father of the Republic of China, used this metaphor to describe China’s lack of social cohesion in the early 20th century. The young Mao Zedong also reflected on this, saying, “There is not the slightest organization; an organized society cannot be seen, an organized place cannot be seen.” [7]7 Mao Zedong, “Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan” (1927), in *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 1. Inheriting Sun Yat-sen’s core concern, Mao Zedong conducted a profound analysis of China’s social organizational forms and structural patterns, ultimately finding the fundamental way to solve the problem: thorough social transformation through “organizing” and “arousing the masses.” “Organizing” included both organizing the peasantry through land revolution and organizing the masses through establishing Party organizations; these two aspects interacted and complemented each other, forming a combined force for organizing the people. Among these, the Party’s political leadership strength and advanced organizational strength largely overcame the shortcomings and weaknesses of traditional peasant self-organization (such as peasant associations) that tended toward clan-based structures, providing the peasantry with an organizational vehicle that transcended blood and geographical ties. “Arousing the masses” had two meanings: first, by transforming relations of production so that peasants, on the basis of obtaining economic benefits and gains such as land, grain, and tools, enhanced their identification with themselves as masters of the country; second, by using advanced ideas to propagate and educate, Party intellectuals awakened the peasants’ class consciousness, revolutionary consciousness, and national consciousness. Mao Zedong pointed out in “The Direction of the Youth Movement”: “What are the lessons of the revolution over the past fifty years and more? Fundamentally, it is this one principle: ‘arouse the masses.’” [8]8 Mao Zedong, “The Direction of the Youth Movement” (1939), in *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 2.

当传统中国步入现代世界，军阀纷争所导致的纵向央地关系变化，以及资本势力（地主、买办）、政治势力（官僚）、军事势力（军阀）、文化势力（新旧知识分子）多元并存的社会格局，则进一步放大了中国传统社会结构的问题。诚如孙中山所指出的，“中国四万万人实等于一片散沙。”青年毛泽东也对此进行反思，“一点没有组织，一个有组织的社会看不见，一块有组织的地方看不见”。继承孙中山的核心关切，毛泽东对中国社会组织方式和结构形式进行深刻分析，最终找到了解决问题的根本途径，那就是通过“组织起来”和“唤醒民众”进行彻底的社会改造。“组织起来”既包括通过土地革命把农民组织起来，也包括通过建立党组织把民众组织起来，这两方面相互作用与补充，可以形成组织民众的合力。其中，党的政治领导力量和先进组织力量很大程度上克服了传统农民自发组织（例如农会）家族化的弊端和弱点，为农民提供了一个超越血缘、地缘关系的组织载体。“唤醒民众”有两方面意思，一是通过变革生产关系使农民在获得土地、粮食、工具等经济利益和收益的基础上增进对自身作为国家主人的认同，二是通过党内知识分子利用先进理念的宣传与教育唤醒农民的阶级意识、革命意识和民族意识。毛泽东在《青年运动的方向》中指出：“这五十多年来的革命的经验教训是什么呢？根本就是‘唤起民众’这一条道理。”

2. The Anomie of Ideas and Concepts Required a New Scientific Theory to Guide the Direction

2. 思想观念的失范需要新的科学理论指引方向

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, foreign enterprises, capital, and commodities flooded into the Chinese market, triggering profound changes in social class and stratum relations. On the one hand, Chinese capitalism, especially national capitalism, experienced a brief period of development, causing changes in the original class and stratum structure. On the other hand, the proletariat, which emerged and developed in different types of enterprises, began to step onto the historical stage, becoming an important force driving social and historical progress. As foreign capital invaded and colluded with China’s feudal political forces, the financial, military, and personnel power controlled by the Qing central government steadily declined, leading to complex changes in traditional central-local relations and the corresponding concepts, methods, and channels of resource possession and allocation. More importantly, while this change triggered the decline of the traditional feudal dynastic ruling order, it stimulated the growth of new social forces and organizational forms. It was precisely this mutual struggle, competition, and transformation between old and new political forces that created the political disorder of the early Republic of China—feudal restoration, warlord separatism, and bullying by the great powers—and while profoundly affecting China’s social transformation and development, it also gave rise to new ideas, new doctrines, new classes, and new systems to coordinate, alleviate, and resolve the social problems and conflicts of interest caused by the invasion of foreign capital.

19 世纪末 20 世纪初，外国企业、资本、商品等涌入中国市场，引发社会阶级阶层关系的深刻变动。一方面是中国资本主义特别是民族资本主义曾取得短暂发展，使得原有阶级阶层结构发生变化。另一方面是产生并发展于不同类型企业中的无产阶级开始登上历史舞台，成为推动社会历史进步的重要力量。而随着外国资本的入侵及其与中国封建政治势力的相互勾结，清朝中央政府所掌握的财政、武装、人事力量不断式微，致使中国传统央地关系以及相应的资源占有与配置理念、方式、途径等发生复杂变化。更为主要的是，这种变化在引发传统封建王朝统治秩序衰落的同时，刺激着新兴社会力量和组织形式的生长。也正是这种新旧政治力量之间的相互斗争、博弈与转化，造成了民国初年封建复辟、军阀割据、列强欺凌的政治失序局面，并在深刻影响中国社会转型发展的同时催生着新思路、新主义、新阶级、新制度来协调、缓和及解决外国资本侵入引发的社会问题和利益对立。

During this period, through fierce debates between reform and revolution, constitutionalism and republicanism, a group of advanced intellectuals in China’s ideological circles completed their transformation into Marxists through repeated comparison and selection. At that time, the Party’s main founders, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, already had considerable influence and appeal in intellectual circles. It was under their influence and shaping that the intellectuals of the May Fourth generation [9]9 The May Fourth Movement (1919) was a major anti-imperialist, anti-feudal cultural and political movement led by Chinese intellectuals, often seen as the ideological starting point for the rise of the CPC. “first discovered that they were youth, and roughly understood their own era; then, looking at old morality and old literature, seeds of rebellion were born in their hearts,” [10]10 A paraphrase of the intellectual awakening described in works on the May Fourth generation. ultimately enabling them to form an independent character not dependent on political power. When a naive and youthful age met an era of cultural innovation, the educated youth armed with new ideas, in the process of going down to grassroots society and moving among the workers and peasants, gradually learned to use the scientific theory of “shouldering the revolution” [11]11 A phrase from the Chinese revolutionary context, emphasizing the role of scientific theory (Marxism) in guiding revolutionary practice. and the historical laws it revealed to solve China’s practical problems, growing into the Party’s first batch of young Party members and backbone forces.

这一时期，通过改良与革命、立宪与共和的激烈论战，中国思想界一批先进知识分子在反复推求比较中完成向马克思主义者的立场转变。当时，党的主要创建者陈独秀和李大钊在知识界中已具有相当的影响力和号召力。“五四”一代知识分子正是受到他们的影响和塑造“首先发现了自己是青年，又粗略地认识了自己的时代，再来看旧道德、旧文学，心中就生出了叛逆的种子”，最终得以形成不依附于政治权力的独立性特征。当天真烂漫的年纪遇见文化革新的时代，经过新思想武装的知识青年在走入基层社会和走向工农群众的过程中，逐步学会了运用“担负革命”的科学理论及其所揭示的历史规律解决中国实际问题，成长为党的第一批青年党员和骨干力量。

3. The Failure of Party Politics Required a New Political Force to Lead the Revolution

3. 政党政治的失败需要新的政治力量领导革命

The transformation and utilization of the concept of political parties by modern Chinese intellectuals completely shattered the ancient precept of “the gentleman does not form cliques” (君子不党), which Chinese literati had long upheld, leading to the historical phenomenon of young students taking pride in joining a party. As the various political forces in Chinese society further differentiated and regrouped, original political groups transformed into political parties one after another, and those engaged in political movements mostly joined party registries. “For a time, gatherings and associations were like a frenzy, and the name ‘political party’ sprouted like spring grass, numbering nearly a hundred,” to the point where “when meeting a stranger, after asking his name and surname, one would often ask about his party.” Unlike the negative image of “factions” (朋党) or “cliques” (宗派) in traditional times, at this time “political party” carried a positive connotation, linked in principle to republicanism and constitutionalism, and connected in system to elections and parliaments. However, the political parties of this period generally lacked clear platforms and constitutions, had no common ideals or discipline, and focused their recruitment efforts primarily on high-ranking officials, celebrities, and political elites from the upper-middle strata of society, severely alienating workers, peasants, and other底层 groups. Naturally, they were unable to confront contradictions or guard against corruption and extravagance, and the collective action and unified will of the parties ceased to exist. Therefore, the political parties and their organizational operations in the political life of the early Republic of China were merely loose aggregations of elite politicians, never truly reflecting the essence and characteristics of modern party politics, let alone producing the historical role and practical effect of凝聚力量, leading revolution, and saving the nation through effective representation by a political party.

近代中国知识分子对政党观念的改造和利用，使得“君子不党”这个中国文人所坚守的古老教条被彻底打破，致使青年学生出现以入党为荣的历史现象。随着中国社会的各种政治力量进一步分化和重组，原有的政治团体纷纷转化为政党，而从事政治运动者亦大都归于党籍。“一时集会结社，犹如疯狂，而政党之名，如春草怒生，为数几至近百”，甚至出现了“遇不相识者，问尊姓大名而外，往往有问及贵党者”。和传统时代“朋党”或“宗派”的负面形象不同，此时“政党”具有在理念上与共和、立宪相联，在制度上与选举、国会相通的积极意涵。但这一时期各政党普遍缺乏明确的纲领和章程，没有共同的理想和纪律，在发展党员时注意力主要在社会中上层的达官贵人和名流政客，严重脱离工人和农民等底层群体，自然无法做到正视矛盾和防腐戒奢，政党的集体行动和统一意志也就不复存在。因此，民国初年政治生活中的政党及其组织运作仅是一种精英政客的松散集合，并未真正体现现代政党政治的本质和特征，更谈不上通过政党的有效代表产生凝聚力量、领导革命、拯救国运的历史作用和实践效果。

During the period of brewing the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, a group of people with lofty ideals were generally aware of the deep-seated problems behind the political anomaly of casually forming political parties while neglecting party building in the early Republic of China. They sought to create a “party of the common people and laborers” and then use the organizational power of this new type of party to reflect and resolve the fierce struggles and contradictions in society. During this period, Li Dazhao emphasized in “The Training of Groups and the Cause of Reform” that “the political parties since the establishment of the Republic have all been profiteering from chaos, forming cliques for private gain, calling friends and gathering companions, swindling and bluffing, licking the boots of big shots, and seeking their own rice bowls. They have neither the spirit of a political party nor the organization of a group. Expecting them to carry out some reform undertakings and bring benefits to the people is like hoping the sun rises from the west.” Chen Duxiu also pointed out in “Political Transformation and Party Transformation” that “if the political parties are not transformed, there is no hope for political transformation.” Cai Hesen, a student in France, in his correspondence with Mao Zedong discussing the issue of party building, similarly stated, “Unless a Communist Party consistent with Russia (consistent in principles and methods) is organized, the mass movement, labor movement, and reform movement will not be powerful or thorough.” He advocated cultivating “a minority of highly conscious and highly organized elements” and “strictly selecting genuine Party members and distributing them in various occupational organs, factories, farms, parliaments, and other places.” These discussions consistently reflected the scientific concepts and correct thinking of the early founders of the Chinese Communist Party in exploring the establishment and building of a political party, and were highly forward-looking and instructive for the Chinese people’s innovation of party concepts, connotations, and forms at that time.

中国共产党在酝酿建党时期，一批仁人志士就普遍意识到民国初年随意组建政党而忽略政党建设这一政治怪象背后的深层问题，并寻求通过创建一个“平民的劳动家的政党”，然后再运用新型政党的组织化力量反映和解决社会的激烈斗争和矛盾冲突。这一时期，李大钊在《团体的训练和革新的事业》中强调，“既入民国以来的政党，都是趁火打劫，植党营私，呼朋啸侣，招摇撞骗，捧大老之粗腿，谋自己的饭碗，既无政党之精神，亦无团体的组织，指望由他们做出些改革事业为人民谋福利，只和盼望日头由西边出来一样”，而陈独秀在《政治改造与政党改造》中也指出，“政党不改造，政治决没有改造底希望”。留法学生蔡和森在与毛泽东通信讨论建党问题时同样表示，“非组织与俄一致的（原理方法都一致）共产党，则民众运动、劳动运动、改造运动皆不会有力，不会彻底”，要培养“少数极觉悟极有组织的份子”，要“严格的物色确实党员，分布各职业机关，工厂、农场、议会等处”。这些论述一致地反映出中国共产党早期创始人探索建立政党和建设政党的科学观念和正确思路，对于其时中国人革新政党理念、内涵和形式非常具有前瞻性和指导性。

02 [12]12 The original text contains “02” as a standalone paragraph tag, likely a section or subheading number in the source. It is translated as is.

02

The Main Characteristics of the Great Beginning of Party Building

党的建设伟大开端的主要特征

The founding of the Chinese Communist Party and the commencement of its own building practices brought a completely new face to the Chinese revolution. Because from this moment on, the Chinese revolutionary cause had a scientific, strong, and advanced leading core. However, the Party deeply understood the principle that “it takes a good blacksmith to make good steel” and “leading the social revolution through self-revolution.” Facing the revolutionary situation in the early days of its founding, although the Chinese Communist Party experienced twists and turns, it was able to promptly adjust its strategic policies and action platforms for its own building and for leading the revolution. This not only effectively promoted the development of Party building but also implanted excellent genes in politics, ideology, organization, and style of work into Party building, exerting an important influence on the formation of Party-building traditions.

中国共产党的成立及自身建设实践的开启，让中国革命的面目焕然一新。因为从这一刻起，中国革命事业拥有了科学、坚强且先进的领导核心。但党深知“打铁还需自身硬”“以自我革命引领社会革命”的道理，面对成立初期的革命形势，中国共产党虽历经曲折但能及时调整自身建设和领导革命的战略策略和行动纲领，不仅有效推进了党的建设的开展，而且为党的建设植入政治、思想、组织、作风等方面的优良基因，对党建传统的形成产生了重要影响。

1. From Criticizing Old Classics to Constructing New Doctrines

1. 从批判旧经典到建构新主义

Classics are normative systems of discourse that gradually emerged in ancient Chinese society along with political and economic evolution, possessing distinct functions such as ideological guidance, value integration, and identity marking. Among them, Confucian texts and the classical studies (经学) they formed are the most representative classics of China. With the invasion of Western powers, the successive abolition of traditional systems such as the imperial examination system and the monarchy, and the implementation of policies and regulations such as the “Provisional Regulations on General Education” and the “University Decree” promulgated by the Republic of China, the functions of traditional classics gradually diminished in modern Chinese society, even facing total negation under the trend of “radical anti-tradition.” While breaking the authority of traditional classics, a group of insightful individuals and progressive youth attempted to construct new ideological concepts and value systems. On the eve of the Party’s founding, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Mao Zedong, and others, by establishing ideological and cultural societies, running training schools, and publishing progressive journals, prompted young intellectuals to abandon the old culture of the bourgeoisie and instead begin to accept, disseminate, and practice the new culture of the proletariat, striving to use this as a spiritual force to transform China and change the world. Mao Zedong wrote in a letter to Luo Zhanglong: “There must be an ‘ism’ that everyone jointly believes in and abides by. Without an ism, no atmosphere can be created.” It is worth noting that as “ism” gradually became a discourse system of primordial status for explaining and regulating the phenomenal world, Chinese Marxists engaged in fierce debates with social reformists and anarchists over the fundamental question of “how to transform Chinese society,” which to a certain extent promoted the improvement of the ideological and theoretical literacy of early Chinese Communists.

经典是中国古代社会伴随政治经济演变逐步产生的规范性言说体系，具有鲜明的思想引领、价值整合、身份标识等功能。其中，儒家文本及其形成的经学是中国最具代表性的经典。随着西方列强的入侵、科举制和君主制等传统制度的相继废除以及中华民国颁布的《普通教育暂行办法》《大学令》等政策制度的推行，传统经典具有的功能在近代中国社会逐渐丧失，甚至在“激烈反传统”的态势下遭遇全盘否定。而在破除传统经典权威的同时，一批有识之士和进步青年尝试构建新的思想观念和价值体系。建党前夕，陈独秀、李大钊和毛泽东等通过成立思想文化社团、举办培训学校、出版进步刊物等，促使青年知识分子放弃资产阶级的旧文化，转而开始接受、传播和实践无产阶级的新文化，力图以此作为变革中国、改造世界的精神力量。毛泽东在致罗章龙的信中写道：“要有一种为大家共同信守的‘主义’，没有主义，是造不成空气的。”值得一提的是，随着“主义”逐步变成解释和规范现象世界的具有本原地位的言说叙事体系，中国马克思主义者与社会改良主义者和无政府主义者等围绕“如何改造中国社会”这一根本问题展开了激烈论战，并在一定程度上促进了早期中国共产党人思想理论素养的提升。

From the day of its founding, the Party placed great emphasis on enhancing its advanced nature through a break with the old social system and ideology and culture. It conducted ideological and theoretical education for Party members by publishing periodicals such as *New Youth* (《新青年》), *The Vanguard* (《前锋》), and *The Guide* (《向导》), as well as translating and compiling classic Marxist-Leninist theoretical books, using proletarian ideology and culture to guide the scientific direction of China’s social development. However, as the struggle situation developed and the number of Party members grew rapidly, the “peasant rebel armies” who participated in the revolution and even joined the Party at that time, although possessing a simple class consciousness of resisting exploitation and oppression, generally lacked preliminary Marxist theoretical cultivation and revolutionary consciousness. As a result, the contradiction between proletarian ideology and the ideology of peasants and the petty bourgeoisie within the Party became increasingly serious. Chen Duxiu pointed out at the Third National Congress of the Party: “The education work of Party members has been neglected,” and “there are serious tendencies of individualism within the Party. Party members often do not fully trust the Party.” In response, the Party successively formulated documents such as the “Resolution on the Question of Education and Propaganda,” the “Resolution on the Question of Intra-Party Organization and Education and Propaganda,” the “Resolution on Propaganda Work,” and the “Resolution on the Question of Propaganda,” gradually constructing a complete set of mechanisms for Marxist study, research, education, training, and propaganda. This played an important role in correcting the erroneous attitude of some Party organizations and members in the early days of the Party’s founding who neglected the cultivation of Party spirit and the transformation of their worldview. It should be pointed out that the Party’s direction in constructing and innovating Marxism was not simply the accumulation and transmission of knowledge, but the use of advanced ideological theory to strive to break down the separation between intellectuals and the masses of workers and peasants, forging an organizational subject that manifests the advanced essence and political characteristics of a Marxist political party, in order to establish a new system and a new society that conform to the overall interests of the people and the trend of national development.

党从成立之日起就非常注重在同旧有社会制度和思想文化的决裂中增强先进性建设，并通过出版《新青年》《前锋》《向导》等报刊以及翻译、编写马克思列宁主义经典理论书籍等途径对党员开展思想理论教育，用无产阶级思想文化指引中国社会发展的科学方向。但随着斗争形势向前发展和党员数量快速增长，当时参加革命乃至入党的“农民起义军”，虽然具有反抗剥削和压迫的朴素阶级意识，却普遍缺乏初步的马克思主义理论修养和革命觉悟，结果导致党内无产阶级思想与农民、小资产阶级思想的矛盾愈发严重。陈独秀在党的三大上指出：“忽略了党员的教育工作”，“党内存在着严重的个人主义倾向。党员往往不完全信赖党”。对此，党陆续制订了《教育宣传问题决议案》《党内组织及宣传教育问题决议案》《对于宣传工作之决议案》《宣传问题决议案》等文件，逐步建构了一整套马克思主义学习、研究、教育、培训、宣传机制，对于纠正建党初期一些党组织和党员忽视党性修养和世界观改造的错误态度具有重要作用。应当指出，党建构和创新马克思主义的指向并不是单纯的知识积累和传承，而是用先进思想理论努力打破知识分子和工农群众的区隔，为建立符合人民整体利益和民族发展趋势的新制度和新社会锻造一个彰显马克思主义政党先进本质和政治特质的组织主体。

2. From Formulating the Maximum Program to Clarifying the Minimum Program

2. 从制定最高纲领到明确最低纲领

A political party’s political program is both a political declaration of which class and stratum’s fundamental interests it represents and a main marker by which the people judge the party’s developmental responsibility, policy propositions, and level of progress. As a basic constituent element of a modern political party, formulating and forming a scientific political program is of landmark significance for a party’s founding, development, and maturation; otherwise, “it will be a potential party, not an actual party.” The First National Congress of the CPC adopted the “First Program of the Communist Party of China,” i.e., the maximum program, and Article 1 designated the party’s name as “the Communist Party of China.” The choice of name was in fact also a choice of nature, purpose, and founding principles. The maximum program’s provisions such as “abolish class distinctions” and “socialize the means of production” profoundly indicated that at its founding the party openly declared to the outside world its special nature as a working-class party and its lofty ideal of embracing communism, providing a fundamental basis for the party to play a leading and building role based on a strong political orientation and subjective self-awareness. However, as party organizations at all levels and in all localities carried out work according to the goals and political line determined by the maximum program, the party’s main leaders, after examining China’s national conditions, political situation, and popular sentiment at the time, discovered that certain contents and requirements of that program were at odds with the characteristics of the era, the needs of the masses, and the party’s tasks of struggle. That is to say, the backward nature of Chinese society determined that the party’s most urgent difficulty and problem at that time was not to immediately launch a proletarian socialist revolution to abolish capitalist private ownership, but rather to concentrate social resources and integrate forces from all sides to resist and eliminate the exploitation and oppression of the Chinese people by reactionary forces at home and abroad, thereby creating the fundamental political premise and social conditions for the realization of the maximum program.

政党的政治纲领，既是它昭示代表何种阶级和阶层根本利益的政治宣言，也是人民群众据以判断该政党发展责任、政策主张和进步水准的主要标志。作为现代政党的基本构成要素，制定和形成科学的政治纲领对于政党创建、发展、成熟具有标志性意义，否则“它将是一个潜在的党，而不是一个实在的党”。党的一大通过《中国共产党第一个纲领》即最高纲领，第一条将党的名称确定为“中国共产党”。名称的选择，实际上也是性质宗旨和建党原则的选择。最高纲领作出“消灭阶级差别”“归社会公有”等规定，深刻表明党初创时就向外界公开宣示其作为工人阶级政党的特殊性质和胸怀共产主义的崇高理想，这为党基于强烈的政治倾向和主体自觉发挥领导和建设作用提供了根本依据。但随着各级各地党组织依据最高纲领确定的奋斗目标和政治路线开展工作，党的主要领导人考察当时中国的国情、政情和民情发现，该纲领的某些内容和要求与时代特征、群众需求以及党的斗争任务是有差距的。即是说，中国社会的落后性质决定党在当下最迫切的困难和问题不是立即发动无产阶级社会主义革命消灭资本家私有制，而是集中社会资源、整合各方力量抵抗和消除国内外反动势力对中国人民的剥削和压榨，为最高纲领的实现创造根本政治前提和社会条件。

The Second National Congress of the CPC, while adhering to the maximum program, based on Lenin’s theory on the national and colonial question, revealed and analyzed the history of imperialist powers’ aggression against China and China’s evolution into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, formulated the democratic revolutionary program of opposing imperialism and feudalism and the first relatively complete formal constitution, and made a clear distinction between the maximum program and the minimum program. Centering on the minimum program, the Second National Congress adhered to and developed the original goal of Party building, emphasizing that “the Communist Party is the combination of all class-conscious proletarian elements” and is “a party that carries out revolutionary movements and is also a large mass party,” and initially explained the methods and paths to achieve this goal from the aspects of party-mass relations, party organization, and training. Although a systematic and complete Sinicized theoretical system of Party building had not yet been formed at this time, the Party-building goals of “vanguard” and “mass party” indicated that the party had already initially grasped the dialectical relationship between the maximum program and the minimum program, and, centering on the core tasks and lessons of the current democratic revolution, continuously explored and gradually formed regular understandings of the influencing factors of Party building such as class stance, mass base, ideal pursuit, and political line. Thereafter, although there were detours and even varying degrees of line errors in the practice of Party building, the party has always been a unifier of the maximum program and the minimum program, that is, unifying the “future program” and the “present program,” and, based on the great vision of scientific socialism and the basic national conditions of the development and transformation of the principal social contradiction, guiding organizations, party members, and cadres to devote themselves to what the party is doing and must do at different stages by setting goals, planning the overall situation, and formulating strategies and tactics, thereby avoiding blindness and giving play to initiative in undertaking endeavors, overcoming difficulties, and strengthening self-building.

党的二大在坚持最高纲领的同时，依据列宁关于民族和殖民地问题的理论，揭示并分析了帝国主义列强侵略中国以及中国演变为半殖民地半封建社会的历史，制定出反帝反封建的民主革命纲领和第一部内容比较完整的正式章程，并对最高纲领和最低纲领作了明确区分。围绕最低纲领，党的二大坚持并发展了原初的党建目标，强调“共产党是所有阶级觉悟的无产阶级分子的组合”，是“一个做革命运动的并且一个大的群众党”，并初步从党群关系、党的组织和训练等方面阐释了完成这一目标的方法和路径。虽然此时尚未形成系统完整的中国化党建理论体系，但“先锋军”和“群众党”的党建目标表明，党已经初步把握到最高纲领和最低纲领的辩证关系，围绕现阶段民主革命的核心任务和经验教训不断探索并逐渐形成关于阶级立场、群众基础、理想追求和政治路线等党建影响因素的规律性认识。此后，尽管在建党及党建实践中走过弯路甚至出现不同程度的路线错误，但党始终是最高纲领和最低纲领的统一论者，也就是把“将来的纲领”和“现在的纲领”统一起来，依据科学社会主义的伟大构想和社会主要矛盾发展转化的基本国情，通过设置目标、运筹大局、制定战略及策略等方式引导组织、党员和干部投身于不同阶段党正在做和必须做的事情，并由此在干事创业、攻坚克难以及加强自身建设中避免盲目性、发挥主动性。

3. From Organizing “New Youth” to Leading “New Comrades”

3. 从组织“新青年”到领导“新同志”

From the very beginning of its preparation for founding, the party regarded itself as a “labor party” and paid attention to developing party members according to the high standards and strict requirements of the advanced elements of the proletariat. Out of consideration for maintaining the vanguard nature, the urgent task of Party building during this period was to establish and improve the party’s organizational structure, expand the party membership, and especially focus on developing worker party members. However, the number of industrial workers in China at that time was relatively small, so the party’s organizational strength was very weak. From this perspective, it seemed an inevitable choice for the party to concentrate its efforts on going among the masses of workers and peasants outside the student and intellectual strata to recruit members and organize revolution. As the “Constitution of the Communist Party of China” adopted by the Second National Congress of the CPC stated at the outset: “We must ‘go among the masses’ to organize a large ‘mass party.’” In fact, many intellectual party members left campuses and integrated with the workers and peasants. Not only did they, through powerful propaganda and organization, gather all revolutionary forces that could be united and mobilized around the party, thereby strengthening the class base and mass base for the development of the working-class party, but also, while uniting laborers and awakening peasants, they profoundly changed their own ideological purity, revolutionary will, and political ability, cultivating the proletarian communist Party spirit.

党筹建伊始便将自身视为“劳工政党”，并注重按照无产阶级先进分子的高标准和严要求发展党员。出于保持先锋队性质的考虑，这一时期党的建设迫切任务是建立健全党的组织机构，扩大党员队伍尤其是重点发展工人党员。但当时中国产业工人数量相对较少，所以党的组织力量非常弱小。如此而论，党集中精力到学生和知识阶层之外的工农群众中去吸纳成员和组织革命似乎成为一种必然选择。正如党的二大通过的《中国共产党章程》开宗明义指出：“要‘到群众中去’要组织一个大的‘群众党’。”事实上，很多知识分子党员离开校园和工农群众打成一片，不仅借助于强有力的宣传和组织把一切可以团结和动员的革命有生力量汇集在党的周围，增强了工人阶级政党发展的阶级基础及群众基础，更在团结劳工和唤醒农民的同时使自身思想纯度、革命意志和政治能力发生深刻变化，培养了无产阶级共产主义的党性修养。

In January 1925, the “Resolution on Organizational Problems” adopted by the Fourth National Congress of the CPC proposed that, “for the purpose of absorbing workers and poor peasants, the general revolutionary elements, into the party,” the constitution’s provisions on forming party groups should be changed to “three or more people can form a branch.” In October of the same year, the Party Central Committee adopted the “Resolution on Organizational Problems,” emphasizing that absorbing industrial workers, progressive peasants, and revolutionary intellectuals into the party was “the most important responsibility of our party at present.” Subsequently, the party’s organization and membership developed rapidly; within nine months, “the number of party members increased threefold,” and worker party members accounted for a relatively high proportion. At the same time, the party paid more attention to developing peasant party members, training backbone cadres for the peasant movement, and establishing grassroots organizations in rural areas. In July 1926, the Party Central Committee proposed in the “Resolution on the Peasant Movement” that the standard for peasants to join the party “should be whether they are loyal and brave in fighting for the interests of the peasants, and it is not necessary to ask whether they have patriarchal social ideas or superstitions.” By the time of the Fifth National Congress of the CPC in April 1927, the number of party members nationwide had exceeded 50,000, achieving a historical leap from an initial small team for organizing propaganda to a “truly mass party.” Party members during this period were distributed across different regions, industries, and organizational levels, with workers accounting for the highest proportion, exceeding half, followed by intellectuals and peasants, fully demonstrating that the peasant masses had gradually awakened and become a powerful new collective force in the party membership.

1925 年 1 月，党的四大通过的《对于组织问题之议决案》提出，“为着吸收工人和贫农一般的革命分子入党起见”，党章有关组建党小组的规定应改为“三人以上即可组织支部”。同年 10 月，党中央通过《组织问题议决案》，强调要把吸收产业工人、进步农民和革命知识分子入党视为“吾党目前之最重要的责任”。随后，党的组织及党员人数迅速发展，9 个月的时间内“党员数量是增加了三倍”，并且工人党员占据了较高比例。与此同时，党更加重视发展农民党员、培养农运骨干和建立农村基层组织的工作。1926 年 7 月，党中央在《农民运动议决案》中提出，农民入党“应以是否忠实而勇敢的为农民利益争斗为标准，不必问其有无宗法社会思想及迷信”。到 1927 年 4 月党的五大召开时，全国党员人数突破 5 万，实现了从最初组织宣传小团队向“真正群众的党”的历史跨越。这一时期的党员分布于不同地区、行业及组织层级，其中工人所占比例最高并超过半数，其次为知识分子和农民，充分显示出农民群众已经逐步觉醒并成为党员队伍中新增的强大集体力量。

4. From Social Elites to Revolutionary Vanguards

4. 从社会精英到革命先锋

In the early period of the party’s founding, enhancing its combat effectiveness in playing a vanguard and exemplary role was concentrated in two aspects: first, establishing faith in thought; second, emphasizing discipline in organization. Judging whether a political party can shoulder the heavy responsibility of being a “vanguard for the proletariat in carrying out revolutionary movements” depends first on whether it possesses a scientific guiding ideology and action program. From its inception, the party adhered to a firm, pure, and persistent belief in the people, directing its gaze toward the broadest group of working and peasant masses. It not only maintained and demonstrated the true nature of the faith of a proletarian party through concrete revolutionary dedication, heroic struggle, and exemplary leadership, but also regarded this faith as the “qualitative stipulation” for establishing organizational existence, manifesting advanced attributes, and laying the foundation of capability. At the same time, the party did not position itself as a “Marxist study society organized by intellectuals” or a “utopian revolutionary group divorced from the masses,” but rather, as a highly organized force, continuously used the most essential aspects of the party—such as doctrine, faith, purpose, program, and work style—to educate and inspire advanced elements who were full of revolutionary spirit and willing to strive unremittingly, even sacrifice their lives, for the interests of the proletariat to join the party. Through establishing a strong organizational system and leadership mechanism, it mobilized and led the social masses to join the party’s undertakings of armed insurrection, political struggle, and social change, ensuring the comprehensive awakening of the class consciousness and subjective initiative of the working people. This value core of Party building—for the people, relying on the people, and serving the people—not only accumulated a deep mass base and advantages of advanced representation for the party’s leadership of the revolutionary struggle, but also ensured that Party building could always adapt to the requirements of the party’s organization and its cause’s development in the process of shaping the people’s organizational power and national cohesion.

党创建初期提升发挥先锋模范作用的战斗力集中体现在两个方面，一是思想上树立信仰，二是组织上突出纪律。判断一个政党能否担当“为无产阶级做革命运动的急先锋”重任，首先在于是否具备科学的指导思想和行动纲领。党自成立时起就秉承坚定、纯粹、执着的人民信仰，把目光投向工农劳苦大众这一最普遍群体，不仅用实实在在的革命奉献、英勇战斗、率先垂范保持并彰显着无产阶级政党的信仰本色，更将这一信仰作为确立组织存在、彰显先进属性、奠定本领基础的“质的规定性”。同时，党没有把自身定位成“知识者所组织的马克思学会”或“离开群众之空想的革命团体”，而是作为高度组织化的力量不断用主义、信仰、宗旨、纲领、作风等事关政党最为本质的方面教育和感召富有革命精神、愿为无产阶级利益不懈奋斗甚至牺牲生命的先进分子入党，并通过建立强有力的组织体系和领导机制，发动并引领社会民众加入党所从事的武装暴动、政治斗争和社会变革事业之中，确保劳动人民阶级意识和主体自觉的全面唤醒。这种为了人民、依靠人民、服务人民的党建价值内核，不仅为党领导革命斗争积累了深厚群众基础和先进代表优势，同样保证了党的建设得以在塑造人民组织力和民族凝聚力的过程中始终适应党组织及其事业发展要求。

From the moment it was founded, the Party likewise stressed the issue of discipline building with a high degree of ideological self-awareness, creating at the source a favorable intra-Party environment for strict governance and the forging of a strong organization. The *First Programme of the Communist Party of China* was the Party’s first intra-Party regulation, setting the standard and conditions for admitting new Party members as “better none than a mediocre one,” including “recognising the Party’s programme and policies and being willing to become a loyal Party member,” and “breaking off all ties with parties and groups that attempt to oppose the Party’s programme” before joining the Party. The programme and resolutions adopted at the First National Congress also made clear the Bolshevik principle of Party building, stipulating that Party members must accept the Party’s discipline and programme, and that local organisations must accept the supervision and guidance of the Central Committee. The *Constitution of the Communist Party of China* adopted at the Second National Congress set up a special chapter on discipline, formally establishing a series of disciplinary constraints to guide the words and actions of Party members, and making provisions on the conditions for Party membership, the procedures for joining the Party, organisational principles, organisational structure, and Party discipline. These provisions were not only disciplinary requirements for Party members, but, more fundamentally, stipulations that Party members must be absolutely loyal to the Party’s faith, programme, constitution, and purpose. Thereafter, when the Party’s Third and Fourth National Congresses revised the Party Constitution, they supplemented the corresponding content and measures for Party discipline building. During this period, the Party strictly maintained and enforced its discipline and oversight mechanisms, imposing resolute sanctions on and purging Party members who violated discipline, failed to meet the standards, or even became corrupt and degenerate. It can be seen that, after the Party’s founding, both its strategy for governing the Party and its mode of organisational operation were essentially different from and superior to those of the Kuomintang. This also enabled the Communist Party of China, as a newborn political force, to stand out among various political parties and groups with its strong Party spirit and vanguard image, and, by being itself always competent, to take on the historical task of launching and leading the Chinese revolution.

党一经成立同样以高度的思想自觉强调纪律建设问题，在源头上为从严管党治党和锻造强固组织塑造了良好党内环境。《中国共产党第一个纲领》就是党的第一部党内法规，为吸收新党员设定了“宁缺毋滥”的标准和条件，包括“承认本党纲领和政策，并愿成为忠实党员”，在入党前“与企图反对本党纲领的党派和集团断绝一切联系”。党的一大通过的纲领和决议还明确布尔什维克的建党原则，规定党员必须接受党的纲领和纪律，地方组织必须接受中央的监督和指导。党的二大通过的《中国共产党章程》设置纪律专章，专门确立一系列纪律约束和引导党员的言论行动，并对党员条件、入党手续、组织原则、组织机构、党的纪律等作出规定。这些规定既是对党员的纪律要求，更是对党员要绝对忠诚于党的信仰、纲领、章程、宗旨等的根本规定。此后，党的三大、党的四大修订党章时均对党的纪律建设进行相应的内容和措施补充。这一时期，党严格维护和执行党的纪律及监督机制，对违反纪律、不符合标准甚至腐化堕落的党员给以坚决的制裁和清理。可见，党成立后无论是管党治党策略还是组织运行方式都从本质上区别并超越了国民党。这也使得作为新生政治力量的中国共产党能够以坚强的党性和先锋的面貌在各政党及团体的比较中脱颖而出，以自身始终过硬承担起发动并领导中国革命的历史重任。

5. From “not establishing any relations with other political parties” to establishing a “democratic united front”

5. 从“不同其他党派建立任何关系”到建立“民主的联合战线”

In the course of their practice of Party building and Party construction, the early Chinese Communists foresightedly noted the value of the united front as a source of strength and its role in social integration. In particular, Mao Zedong was the first to grasp and put forward the idea of “the great union of the popular masses,” which was crucial for the Party’s subsequent establishment, development and leadership of the united front. At the First National Congress, “on the question of the attitude towards other political parties, there was a short debate”; for instance, whether and how to establish a united front with Sun Yat-sen’s Kuomintang became a hot topic at the meeting. However, constrained by the historical background and the revolutionary situation, the Party at that time focused on solving pressing issues such as propagating the “doctrine” and organising the workers. It had not yet formed a clear judgment on the basic nature of Chinese society and class relations, let alone on uniting with national revolutionary political parties and establishing a democratic united front. Hence, the *First Resolution of the Communist Party of China* stipulated: “Only the interests of the proletariat shall be upheld; no relations shall be established with any other political party.” This policy of concentrating the energy of unity and solidarity mainly on the proletariat and its vanguard, while adopting a closed-door, exclusionary and combative stance towards any political party, including the Kuomintang, reflected the Party’s insufficient understanding of the essential function and political advantages of the united front in serving the revolutionary struggle. As Mao Zedong later summarised: “All past revolutionary struggles in China achieved little. The basic reason was that they were unable to unite their real friends to attack their real enemies.”

早期中国共产党人在建党及党建的实践过程中有预见地注意到统一战线的力量保障价值和社会整合作用，特别是毛泽东最早领悟并提出“民众的大联合”思想，对党后续建立、发展和领导统一战线是至关重要的。党的一大围绕“对其他政党的态度问题上，产生了短时间的争论”，比如是否和如何与孙中山领导的国民党建立联合战线成为会议的热点话题。但受限于历史背景和革命形势，党当时着重解决的是宣传“主义”和组织工人等紧要问题，对中国社会的基本性质和阶级关系尚未形成清晰判断，更谈不上联合民族革命政党和建立民主联合战线，故而《中国共产党第一个决议》规定：“只维护无产阶级的利益，不同其他党派建立任何关系。”这种将团结统一的目光和精力主要放在无产阶级及其先锋队身上，而对包括国民党在内的任何党派采取关门、排斥和斗争的政策主张，反映出党对统一战线服务革命斗争的本质功能和政治优势认识不足。正如毛泽东后来总结：“中国过去一切革命斗争成效甚少，其基本原因就是因为不能团结真正的朋友，以攻击真正的敌人。”

Analysing the economic status, revolutionary attitude, and relations of interest of the various classes in Chinese society, and solving the basic question of whom to rely on, whom to unite with, and whom to attack, was not only the fundamental prerequisite for carrying out the revolutionary movement, but also the primary issue in the Party’s organisational building at its founding. As the situation of class struggle changed, the Party quickly discovered in the anti-imperialist and anti-warlord revolution the unfavourable situation of the enemy being strong and ourselves weak, and the relative limitations of the strength of the working class. It realised that to defeat hostile forces, it was necessary to take active steps to unite the broadest possible range of allies, and to form as far as possible a united front with other political parties and classes. This change in attitude was concentratedly expressed in the *Views of the Communist Party of China on the Current Situation* published on 15 June 1922, which for the first time publicly issued a nationwide call to the revolutionary democratic factions, including the Kuomintang, to “jointly establish a democratic united front.” In July 1922, the Second National Congress, on the basis of a preliminary analysis of the conditions of the various classes in Chinese society, formulated and adopted the *Resolution on the “Democratic United Front,”* further clarifying the significance, strategic principles, implementation steps and other issues of establishing a democratic united front. It made the political decision to unite with and assist the democratic factions and to jointly fight the enemy, while at the same time emphasising the principle of the Party’s independence within the revolutionary united front. On this basis, Mao Zedong was the first to put forward the basic view that “the Communist Party should temporarily abandon its most radical proposals and cooperate with the more radical Kuomintang,” laying an important ideological foundation for promoting the first Kuomintang-CPC cooperation.

分析中国社会各阶级的经济地位、革命态度、利益关系，解决依靠谁、团结谁、打击谁的基本问题，不仅是革命运动开展的根本前提，更是党初创时组织建设的首要问题。随着阶级斗争形势的变化，党在反帝反军阀的革命中很快发现敌强我弱的不利态势和工人阶级力量的相对有限性，意识到战胜敌对势力必须采取积极步骤联合最大范围内可以联合的同盟者，尽可能形成与其他党派和阶级之间的联合战线。这种认识态度的转变集中表现在 1922 年 6 月 15 日发表的《中国共产党对于时局的主张》，首次向全国公开表达愿与国民党等革命民主派“共同建立一民主主义的联合战线”的倡议。1922 年 7 月，党的二大在对中国社会各阶级状况进行初步分析的基础上制定通过《关于“民主的联合战线”的议决案》，进一步阐明建立民主联合战线的重要意义、策略原则和实施步骤等问题，作出联合和援助民主派、共同对敌展开斗争的政治决策，同时着重强调党在革命统一战线中的独立性原则。在此基础上，毛泽东率先提出“共产党暂放弃他们最急进的主张，和较急进的国民党合作”的基本观点，为推动国共第一次合作奠定了重要思想基础。

03

03

The Essential Stipulations and Manifestations of the Party-Building Tradition

党建传统的本质规定与现实表现

The Party-building tradition, in short, refers to the habits and practices that the Communist Party of China gradually formed and has consistently adhered to in the course of leading the great cause of China’s revolution, construction and reform, as well as in the process of its own building. These habits and practices are a systematic integration of the positions, principles, values, thinking, and spirit of the Party’s leadership and Party building, and are also concrete manifestations of the Party’s behavioural self-awareness, historical initiative, and social recognition. The Party-building tradition is fundamentally determined by the Party’s nature, and is gradually formed in the course of the Party’s practice of its fundamental purpose, its original aspiration and founding mission, and its long-term self-building. It should be pointed out that the Party-building tradition is closely related to the great beginning of Party building; the great beginning of Party building is the prerequisite condition and an important influencing factor for the formation of the Party-building tradition. Therefore, based on the historical background of the Party’s founding, its historical responsibilities, and its struggles and achievements over more than a century, the essential stipulations and manifestations of the Party-building tradition can be explored.

党建传统，简而言之，就是中国共产党在领导中国革命建设改革伟业以及进行自身建设的过程中，逐步形成并始终坚持的习惯和做法。这些习惯和做法是对党的领导和党的建设的立场、原则、价值、思维、精神等的系统化集成，也是党的行为自觉、历史主动和社会认同的具体表现。党建传统从根本上是由党的性质决定的，是在党践行根本宗旨、初心使命以及长期的自身建设中逐步形成的。需要指出的是，党建传统与党的建设的伟大开端密切相关，党的建设伟大开端是党建传统形成的前提性条件和重要影响因素。因此，基于党成立的时代背景、历史责任和百余年来的奋斗与成就可以探知党建传统的本质规定和现实表现。

1. The Essential Stipulations of the Party-Building Tradition

1. 党建传统的本质规定

The Party-building tradition is the external manifestation of the objective conditions and value core that guide and lead Party building. It reflects both the essential requirements and spiritual character of Party building, and manifests the strategic resolve and political responsibility of Chinese Communists. The great beginning of Party building profoundly indicates that, as the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, the Party established its original aspiration and founding mission with a firm people’s standpoint from the very moment of its founding. It gradually mastered and innovatively developed the fundamental principles and methods of Marxism, step by step deepened its understanding of the trends and laws of historical development, and in practice focused on realising the practical application of theory and the actual transformation of society in accordance with the central tasks and programme objectives. This provided the intrinsic stipulating factors for the gradual formation of the Party’s fine tradition of Party building.

党建传统是引导和统领党的建设的客观条件和价值内核的外在表现，既反映了党的建设的本质要求和精神品格，又彰显了中国共产党人的战略定力和政治责任。党的建设伟大开端深刻表明，作为中国人民和中华民族的先锋队，党自成立伊始就以坚定的人民立场确立初心使命，逐步掌握并创新发展马克思主义基本原理和方法，一步步深化对历史发展趋势和规律的认识，在实践中注重围绕中心任务和纲领目标实现对理论的实践运用和社会的现实改造，从而为逐步形成党的建设优良传统提供了内在规定性因素。

First, upholding the original aspiration and founding mission. The original aspiration and founding mission of the Communist Party of China distinctly embody the Party’s fundamental nature and the original intention of its founding, serving as the value benchmark and political guarantee for all actions taken by Party members, Party cadres, and Party organizations. From its birth, the Party has firmly occupied the high ground of truth, morality, and value. From adhering to the purpose of serving the people, to transforming the original aspiration and founding mission into the mass line of concrete action, and then to proposing the people-centered development thought, the original aspiration and founding mission runs through the entire process of the Party’s adherence to and strengthening of its own building and its struggle of more than a century. In this process, it continuously confirms the essential characteristics of the Party as a Marxist political party, strengthens the Party’s vanguard attributes, and outwardly disseminates the political ideals the Party seeks to realize. The original aspiration and founding mission not only express the Party’s ideals, convictions, and value concerns but also constitute the internal driving force for the Party’s development from nothing to something, from small to large, from weak to strong, until it becomes the world’s largest political party, deeply integrated into the practice of Party building that is “always on the road.” The conscious recognition and unrepentant assumption of the original aspiration and founding mission determine that the Party has extremely high standards of cultivation in terms of nature, purpose, value stance, and interest orientation. This means that the Party, under the guidance of communist ideology and the inspiration of faith, is a politically conscious, organized, and disciplined vanguard shaped by advanced elements who use blood and life to practice “seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation.” It can be seen that the original aspiration and founding mission are the most profound and historically tested internal stipulations of the Party-building tradition, playing an immeasurable role in ensuring the entire Party always remembers the basic propositions of “who I am, for whom,” “where I come from, where I am going.” Without this essential dimension of the original aspiration and founding mission, Party building and the Party’s cause would lose their value foundation, let alone effective development and advancement. In this sense, Xi Jinping emphasized at the 20th National Congress of the CPC that from now on the Party’s central task is to comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, earnestly admonishing the entire Party to “be sure to never forget the original aspiration and founding mission.” This centrally reflects the centenary Party’s reflection and examination of its own advanced nature and purity, as well as its firm adherence to promoting comprehensive and strict governance of the Party.

第一，坚守初心使命。中国共产党的初心使命鲜明体现党的根本性质和建党初衷，是全体党员、党的干部、党的组织开展一切行动的价值基准和政治保障。党自诞生起就牢牢占据真理、道义和价值的制高点，从遵守为人民服务的宗旨，到把初心使命转化为具体行动的群众路线，再到提出以人民为中心的发展思想，初心使命贯穿于党坚持和加强自身建设与百余年奋斗的全过程，并在这一过程中不断确证党的马克思主义政党本质特征、强化党的先锋队属性以及向外传播党所要实现的政治理想。初心使命不仅表达了党的理想信念和价值关怀，更构成了党从无到有、由小变大、由弱变强直至发展成为世界第一大政党的内驱动力，深度融入党的建设“永远在路上”的实践中。对初心使命的自觉认定和无悔担当，决定了党在性质宗旨、价值立场、利益取向等方面具有极高修养要求，意味着党是在共产主义思想指导和信仰感召下，用鲜血和生命践行“为人民谋幸福、为民族谋复兴”的先进分子所塑造的讲政治、有组织、守纪律的先锋队。可见，初心使命是党建传统最深刻的、经过历史检验的内在规定，对于全党始终铭记“我是谁、为了谁”“从哪里来、往哪里走”这些基本命题发挥着不可估量的作用。离开了初心使命这一本质性维度，党的建设和党的事业就失去了价值依托，更谈不上有效发展和推进。在这个意义上，习近平在党的二十大上强调，从现在起党的中心任务就是以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴，谆谆告诫全党“务必不忘初心、牢记使命”，集中反映了百年大党对自身先进性、纯洁性的反思审视以及对深入推进全面从严治党的坚定持守。

Second, innovating scientific theory. Among the various doctrines introduced to China from the West in modern times, Marxism, with its historical materialism’s concern for the principal position of the people, its emphasis on the worker-peasant alliance and the united front, its depiction of the prospects for a future new society, and its revelation of the general principles of proletarian political party building, was chosen, accepted, and firmly believed in by Chinese advanced intellectuals who were苦苦 seeking the path of national salvation and national liberation. As Mao Zedong pointed out, “Historical materialism is the philosophical foundation of our Party.” [19]19 Mao Zedong, “Letter to Li Jinxi” (August 23, 1920), in *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 1 (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991), p. 4. The original Chinese reads: “唯物史观是吾党哲学的根据.” However, the extreme particularity of Chinese society and revolution required the Party not only to deeply grasp the basic principles and methods of historical materialism but also to make Marxism a “developing theory” through the process of the Two Integrations, and then to use Marxism adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of the times to scientifically grasp the conditions, process, and results of the Chinese revolution. In the early period of Party building, Chinese Communists mainly represented by Comrade Mao Zedong waged a resolute struggle against various erroneous ideological trends within the Party, especially dogmatism and empiricism. It was precisely in the process of initially promoting the Two Integrations that Mao Zedong and a group of Chinese Communists adhering to the correct ideological line gradually deepened their understanding and cognition of China’s national conditions, revolutionary characteristics, and the laws of Party building, thereby creatively opening up a new path of revolutionary development: encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing political power by armed force. Although this “integration” was preliminary, the Party gradually formed correct ideological guidance such as “concrete analysis of concrete conditions,” “practice first,” and “seeking truth from facts” in the process of applying Marxism to China’s reality and adapting it to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. This greatly promoted the historical process of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and gradually formed the Party’s innovative theory, thereby deeply integrating the formation of the Party-building tradition with the Party’s theoretical innovation and promoting each other.

第二，创新科学理论。在近代以来西学东渐的各种学说中，马克思主义以其唯物史观对人民主体地位的关切、对工农联盟及统一战线的重视、对未来新社会前景的描绘以及对无产阶级政党建设一般原理的揭示，为苦苦探寻国家救亡和民族解放之道的中国先进知识分子所选择、接受并坚定信仰。正如毛泽东所指出的，“唯物史观是吾党哲学的根据。”但中国社会和革命的极端特殊性要求党不仅要深入掌握唯物史观的基本原理与方法，更要在“两个结合”的过程中让马克思主义成为“发展着的理论”，进而运用中国化时代化的马克思主义科学把握中国革命的条件、进程和结果。建党初期，以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人与党内各种错误思潮特别是教条主义、经验主义展开了坚决斗争，毛泽东等坚持正确思想路线的一批中国共产党人正是在初步推动“两个结合”过程中，一步步深化对中国国情、革命特点和党建规律的认识和理解，进而创造性开辟出农村包围城市、武装夺取政权的革命发展新道路。尽管这个“结合”是初步的，但党在将马克思主义运用于中国实际并加以中国化时代化的演绎过程中逐渐形成了“具体问题具体分析”“实践第一”“实事求是”等正确思想指导，极大推动了马克思主义中国化的历史进程并逐步形成了党的创新理论，从而使党建传统的形成与党的理论创新深度融合并相互促进。

Third, adhering to the standard of practice. Party building has never been carried out in isolation, focusing on Party building for the sake of Party building, but rather is advanced and promoted according to the Party’s central tasks and programmatic goals in different periods or stages. The First National Congress of the CPC established the Party’s highest program, which, during the arduous revolutionary years, guided and inspired countless Communists to disregard life and death, upholding the loyal heart and spirit of sacrifice expressed in the line “Beheading is nothing, as long as the doctrine is true,” [20]20 This line is from a poem by the revolutionary martyr Xia Minghan (1900–1928), written before his execution. The full couplet is: “Beheading is nothing, as long as the doctrine is true. Killed Xia Minghan, there will be others to follow.” striving to complete the great cause of national rejuvenation and establish the most complete, most progressive, most revolutionary, and most reasonable communist social system for humanity. However, for a proletarian political party, any lofty ideal cannot be separated from the revolutionary situation, political and economic conditions of the objective world, and the central tasks determined thereby. Similarly, the key to measuring whether Party building is scientific lies in whether it can systematically grasp all-round influencing factors such as the historical orientation, political tasks, strategic goals, and work priorities of the Party and the state, and accordingly formulate, implement, and timely adjust the line, principles, and policies guiding Party building. The Communist Party of China resolutely opposes the practice of separating the highest ideal, common ideal, basic line, and short-term Party building tasks. It emphasizes, under the guidance of the vision of a “free association of individuals,” ensuring the correctness of the path, principles, and direction of Party building, while also focusing on progressing from the near to the distant, from bits and pieces to the whole, continuously making it bigger, better, and stronger, so that it can effectively shoulder the political responsibility and mission of leading the people in revolution, construction, and reform. Reviewing the evolution of the Party building layout over more than a century, it can be seen that from the initial focus on ideological building, work style building, and organizational building in the early period of Party building, to the 13th National Congress of the CPC proposing “to blaze a new path in Party building that does not rely on political movements but on reform and institutional building,” [21]21 This formulation comes from the report of the 13th National Congress of the CPC (1987), which marked a shift away from mass political campaigns (such as the Cultural Revolution) toward institutionalized and reform-based approaches to Party building. and then to the formation in the New Era of a strategic layout with political building as the统领, an important law is the mutual promotion and parallel development of Party building and the Party’s cause. Among them, Party building provides direction guidance and organizational guarantee for the Party’s cause, while the Party’s cause continuously tests the quality of Party building and makes new and higher demands. Thus, the Party-building tradition is formed and developed in solid practical struggle, and the objective effectiveness of the Party’s leadership and Party building always demonstrates the practical power of the Party-building tradition.

第三，坚持实践标准。党的建设从来都不是就党建抓党建、为党建而党建孤立进行的，而是依据党在不同时期或阶段的中心任务和纲领目标展开推进的。党的一大确定党的最高纲领，在艰苦的革命岁月中引领和激励着无数共产党人将生死置之度外，秉持“砍头不要紧，只要主义真”的耿耿丹心和牺牲精神，为完成民族复兴伟业和建立人类最完全最进步最革命最合理的共产主义社会制度而奋斗。但对无产阶级政党而言，任何崇高理想都不能脱离客观世界的革命形势和政治经济状况以及由此决定的中心任务。同样，衡量党的建设科学与否，关键就在于能否系统把握党和国家的历史方位、政治任务、战略目标、工作重点等全方位的影响要素，据此制定、执行和及时调整指导党的建设的路线方针政策。中国共产党坚决反对把最高理想、共同理想、基本路线与近期党建任务割裂开来的做法，既强调在“自由人联合体”愿景的引领下，保证党建道路、原则和方向的正确性，又注重由近及远、由点滴到整体，不断做大做优做强，使之切实担负起领导人民干革命、搞建设、抓改革的政治重任和职责使命。回顾百余年党建布局的演变，可以看出，从建党初期着重开展的思想建设、作风建设和组织建设到党的十三大提出“在党的建设上走出一条不搞政治运动，而靠改革和制度建设的新路子”，再到新时代形成以政治建设为统领的战略布局，一个重要规律就是党的建设和党的事业的相互促进、并行发展。其中，党的建设为党的事业提供方向指引和组织保障，党的事业持续检验党的建设质量、作出新的更高要求，从而使党建传统形成发展于坚实的斗争实践中，并始终以党的领导和党的建设的客观成效彰显党建传统的实践伟力。

2. The Realistic Manifestation of the Party-Building Tradition

2. 党建传统的现实表现

The original aspiration and founding mission, innovative theory, and the standard of practice together constitute the essential stipulations of the Party-building tradition. These essential stipulations were seeds sown in the great beginning of Marxist-Leninist party theory and the Communist Party of China’s own building, profoundly influencing the formation, development, and realistic manifestation of the Party-building tradition.

初心使命、创新理论和实践标准等共同构成党建传统的本质规定，这些本质规定是在马克思列宁主义政党学说与中国共产党自身建设的伟大开端中即已埋下的种子，深刻影响党建传统的形成发展及其现实表现。

First, putting the people first and upholding justice for all under Heaven are given equal weight. When the Great Way prevails, the world is shared by all. [22]22 “When the Great Way prevails, the world is shared by all” (大道之行，天下为公) is a classical Confucian ideal from the *Book of Rites* (*Liji*), describing a utopian society of public-spiritedness and harmony. The most thorough selflessness is the greatest public-spiritedness. Regarding the Party’s value stance, the classical Marxist writers made it very clear in the *Communist Manifesto*: Communists have no interests separate from those of the proletariat as a whole; they represent only the interests of the toiling masses everywhere. Mao Zedong described this as “serving the people wholeheartedly, not half-heartedly or with two-thirds of one’s heart,” and this nature and purpose were deeply implanted in the thinking and innermost being of all Party members and cadres. In the New Era, Chinese Communists, bearing in mind “two overall situations” [23]23 “Two overall situations” (两个大局) refers to the overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the overall situation of changes unseen in a century in the world., take “letting all the people of all countries live a good life” as the greatest “public good,” emphasizing that “the Communist Party of China is a party that seeks happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and it is also a party that seeks progress for humanity and harmony for the world.” In the unity of the original aspiration and founding mission with a global vision, they have enriched and deepened their understanding of the laws governing the exercise of power by the Communist Party and the laws of Party building itself. Today, the solemn pledge “I will serve the people without any thought of self and never let them down” is being turned into the living practice of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation. Through the creation of Chinese-path modernization and the effort to build a community with a shared future for mankind, the Party “contributes to solving the common problems facing humanity,” enabling Communists to truly manifest a selflessness and noble character that transcends personal desires and even life itself. It can be said that adhering to a people-centered approach and upholding a global vision are internally unified and mutually reinforcing. They not only carry forward and elevate the simple aspiration of the ancient Chinese sages—“to ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and livelihood for the people, to continue the lost teachings of past sages, and to establish peace for all future generations”—but also constitute an important part of the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. They are the deep-seated reason for the continuous success of Party building and a vivid manifestation of the Party-building tradition formed over more than a century.

第一，人民至上与天下为公并重。大道之行，天下为公。最彻底的无私即是最大的为公。对于党的价值立场，马克思主义经典作家在《共产党宣言》中阐发得非常清楚，认为共产党人没有任何同整个无产阶级的利益不同的利益，其代表的只有天下劳苦大众的利益。毛泽东将之描述为“要全心全意为人民服务，不要半心半意或者三分之二的心三分之二的意为人民服务”，并使这种性质宗旨深深植根于全体党员、干部的思维和心灵深处。新时代中国共产党人胸怀“两个大局”，将“让所有国家的人民都过上好日子”作为最大的“公”，强调“中国共产党是为中国人民谋幸福、为中华民族谋复兴的党，也是为人类谋进步、为世界谋大同的党”，在初心使命和天下情怀的统一中丰富和深化了对共产党执政规律、党的自身建设规律的认识。如今，“我将无我，不负人民” 的铮铮诺言正在变成强国建设和民族复兴的生动实践，并通过中国式现代化的创造和推动构建人类命运共同体的努力“为解决人类面临的共同问题作出贡献”，使共产党人真正呈现出一种超越个人私欲、生命的无私无我和高风亮节。可以说，坚持人民至上和坚持胸怀天下是内在统一、相辅相成的，其不仅承续和升华了中华民族先贤“为天地立心，为生民立命，为往圣继绝学，为万世开太平”的朴素情怀，更构成习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想世界观方法论的重要内容，是党的建设不断取得成功的深层原因，更是百余年来形成的党建传统的鲜亮体现。

Second, Party leadership and Party building are given equal weight. In the earliest stage of its founding, the issue of Party leadership was manifested and strengthened through a tortuous process of gradually deepening the understanding of leadership over the democratic revolution. The First National Congress of the CPC adopted the Party’s first resolution—the *Resolution on Current Practical Work*—which stressed that the Party’s central task at that time was to strengthen leadership over the workers. However, neither the First nor the Second National Congress contained a direct exposition on striving for leadership; the term “guiding authority” was used more frequently. The Third National Congress stipulated that when Communist Party members joined the Kuomintang, they must maintain the principle of independence in political, ideological and organizational matters. This indicates that before the Fourth National Congress, the Party had already made preliminary explorations into its own leadership position and the requirements of Party building. The Fourth National Congress explicitly raised the issue of leadership over the democratic revolution, but lacked the necessary understanding of the means to realize that leadership. Although the Party’s main leaders in this period failed to correctly handle the issue of leadership, causing serious setbacks to the revolutionary cause, the Party’s exploration of leadership never ceased. Instead, in accordance with the requirements of its political nature and class essence, it continuously strengthened its subjective awareness of leading the struggle and building itself. Through practical tempering, it gradually formed a scientific understanding and established its core leadership position. At the August 7th Meeting [24]24 The August 7th Meeting (八七会议) was an emergency meeting of the CPC Central Committee held on 7 August 1927, which corrected the Party’s right-leaning capitulationist errors and decided on the policy of agrarian revolution and armed resistance against the Kuomintang., the Party swiftly and resolutely made the decision to resist the Kuomintang reactionaries with armed force, and Mao Zedong explicitly put forward the idea that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Thereafter, the Party always emphasized the decisive significance of leadership in leading the revolutionary struggle and in its own building. Summarizing the experience of the domestic revolutionary war, Mao Zedong pointed out: “This absolute leadership of the Communist Party is the most important condition for carrying the revolutionary war through to the end.” Xi Jinping has further emphasized Party leadership from the height of the essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the greatest strength of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, pointing out that the Party is the highest political leadership force and that upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the highest political leadership principle. It is thus evident that giving equal weight to Party building and Party leadership is not only a historical experience of fundamental status and role formed by the Party in leading revolution, construction and reform, but also a fine tradition running through the Party’s arduous struggle over more than a century.

第二，党的领导与党的建设并重。在成立的最初阶段，党的领导问题是在逐步加深对民主革命领导权的曲折认识中得以体现和加强的。党的一大通过党的第一个决议——《关于当前实际工作的决议》，强调党在当下中心任务是加强对工人的领导。但党的一大、党的二大都没有争取领导权的直接阐述，较多使用“指导权”的表述。党的三大规定共产党员加入国民党时，必须在政治思想组织上保持独立性的原则。此即表明，党的四大召开前党对自身领导地位和建设要求已有初步探索。党的四大明确提出民主革命的领导权问题，但对实现领导权的途径缺乏必要认识。尽管这一时期党的主要领导人未能正确处理领导权问题，导致革命事业遭受严重挫折，但党对领导权的探索未曾中断，而是依据政治属性和阶级本质的要求不断加强领导斗争和自身建设的主体意识，历经实践锻造逐步形成科学认识并确立领导核心地位。党在八七会议上迅速而果断地做出武装反抗国民党反动派的决定，毛泽东则明确提出“枪杆子里面出政权”的思想。此后，党在领导革命斗争和自身建设中始终强调领导权的决定性意义，毛泽东总结国内革命战争经验时指出：“共产党的这种绝对的领导权，是使革命战争坚持到底的最主要的条件。”习近平更是从中国特色社会主义最本质特征和中国特色社会主义制度最大优势的高度强调党的领导，并指出党是最高政治领导力量，坚持党中央集中统一领导是最高政治领导原则。可见，党的建设与党的领导并重，既是党领导革命建设改革形成的具有根本性地位和作用的历史经验，也是贯穿于党的百余年艰辛奋斗历程的优良传统。

Third, spiritual shaping and value guidance are given equal weight. The founding of the Party—this “earth-shattering event” [25]25 “Earth-shattering event” (开天辟地的大事变) is a phrase Mao Zedong used to describe the founding of the CPC, emphasizing its epoch-making significance.—caused the Chinese people to shift from passivity to initiative in the spiritual realm. If the changes in the socio-economic structure, the pattern of interests and class relations since modern times were the historical premise for recasting the spiritual pillar of the Chinese people, and if Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture provided the ideological and cultural support for this fundamental and deep-seated transformation, then the Party’s own building and political actions, imbued with a strong subjective intentionality, were the most dynamic factor in completing this link by actively accepting Marxism, absorbing the essence of traditional culture and combining it with the emerging class foundation. In its struggle over more than a century, the Party has demonstrated a subjective power unprecedented in history. It has not only forged the spiritual genealogy of Communists with the great founding spirit of the Party as its source, but also shaped a revolutionary culture with distinctive features and advantages, organically integrating it with traditional culture and advanced socialist culture to form a new culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It has not only put forward the core socialist value system and core socialist values, but also proposed building the Chinese nation’s shared spiritual home and forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. It has not only proposed adhering to the Chinese cultural standpoint and undertaking new cultural missions on the new journey, but also proposed creating a new cultural life form. It has not only emphasized strengthening confidence in the path, confidence in the theory, and confidence in the system, but also emphasized that, in the final analysis, it is necessary to strengthen confidence in the culture. These spiritual pursuits and value concerns, with a power that is both profound and enduring, both soft and hard, are embedded in the Party’s skeletal frame and body. They constitute a glorious tradition of Party building, through which the Party, starting with just over 50 members at its founding, gradually developed, grew and became a powerful political party with nearly 100 million members. They have been transformed into a powerful spiritual force for the Party to lead social revolution through self-revolution, and for Party organizations at all levels and all Party members to be loyal to the Party, protect the Party, and do their utmost to revitalize and strengthen the Party.

第三，精神塑造与价值引领并重。建党这一“开天辟地的大事变”使中国人在精神上由被动转为主动。如果说，近代以来社会经济结构、利益格局及阶级关系的变革是重铸中国人精神支柱的历史前提，马克思主义和中华优秀传统文化构筑了这一根本性转变、深层次变革的思想文化支撑，那么中国共产党有着强烈主体意向性的自身建设和政治行动就是主动接受马克思主义、汲取传统文化精髓并将其与新兴阶级基础相结合而完成这一环节最具能动性的因素。在百余年奋斗中，党展现出历史上前所未有的主体力量，不仅塑造了以伟大建党精神为源头的共产党人精神谱系，还塑造了具有鲜明特色和优势的革命文化并使其同传统文化、社会主义先进文化有机结合，形成中国特色社会主义的新文化；不仅提出了社会主义核心价值体系和社会主义核心价值观，还提出建设中华民族共有精神家园和铸牢中华民族共同体意识；不仅提出坚守中华文化立场和新征程上新的文化使命，还提出造就了新的文化生命体；不仅强调坚定道路自信、理论自信、制度自信，还强调归根结底是要坚定文化自信。这些精神追求和价值关切，以一种至深至久、至柔至刚的力量嵌入党的骨骼肌体，构成党由成立之初的 50 多名党员逐步发展、壮大、成长为拥有近亿党员的强大政党建设的光荣传统，并转化为中国共产党以自我革命引领社会革命以及党的各级组织和全体党员忠诚为党护党、全力兴党强党的强大精神力量。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心