Deepening the Reform of the Party Building System to Advance the Party’s Self-Revolution

Institutional building is the core and key element of Party building. On the new journey of the New Era, deepening the reform of the Party building system is rich in content and arduous in task. Targeting the prominent problems existing within the Party and adapting to the inherent requirements of deeply advancing the Party’s self-revolution, the current focus should be on key institutional reforms such as the Party’s leadership system, the cadre and personnel system, and the power supervision system, so as to further push the reform of the Party building system to a deeper level.

制度建设是党的建设中的核心要素、关键要素。在新时代新征程上深化党的建设制度改革，内容丰富、任务艰巨，针对党内存在的突出问题，适应深入推进党的自我革命的内在要求，当前应着重抓好党的领导制度、干部人事制度、权力监督制度等重点制度改革，把党的建设制度改革进一步推向深入。

Further deepen the reform of the Party’s leadership system and earnestly implement democratic centralism.

进一步深化党的领导制度改革，切实贯彻民主集中制。

Historical experience shows that strict institutional governance of the Party is based on “institutions” and the key lies in “governance.” Whether it is the improvement and perfection of institutions or the strength and effectiveness of governance, a basic political logic must be followed: that is, in the process of deeply advancing the reform of the Party building system, develop people’s democracy and improve intra-Party democracy, using institutional building as a driving force to deeply advance the Party’s self-revolution. Without people’s democracy, the Party’s ruling status and core leadership role will be difficult to sustain over the long term; without intra-Party democracy, the Party’s institutional building and strict institutional governance will be difficult to advance deeply. Both the unique challenges facing our Party and the prominent problems existing within the Party urgently require taking the development of people’s democracy and the advancement of intra-Party democracy as the goal orientation, further deepening the reform of the Party’s leadership system, organizational system, work system, and intra-Party life system, making every effort to break through the deep-seated institutional and mechanistic obstacles affecting the Party’s vitality, resolutely plugging the institutional loopholes that breed corruption and the “Four Forms of Decadence” [1]1 The “Four Forms of Decadence” (四风) refers to formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, targets of a major Party rectification campaign launched in 2013., and better transforming the institutional advantages of the Party’s democratic centralism into a powerful driving force for strict institutional governance of the Party and into a powerful efficacy for the Party’s self-revolution.

历史经验表明，严格制度治党，基础是“制”、关键是“治”。无论是制度的健全完善，还是治理的坚强有力，都必须遵循一个基本的政治逻辑，这就是，在深入推进党的建设制度改革中发展人民民主、健全党内民主，以制度建设为动力深入推进党的自我革命。没有人民民主，党的执政地位和核心领导作用很难持久巩固；没有党内民主，党的制度建设和严格制度治党很难深入推进。无论是我们党面临的独有难题，还是党内存在的突出问题，都迫切要求以发展人民民主、推进党内民主为目标导向，进一步深化党的领导制度、组织制度、工作制度和党内生活制度改革，着力破解影响党生机活力的深层次体制机制障碍，坚决堵塞滋生腐败现象和“四风”问题的制度漏洞，把党的民主集中制的制度优势更好转化为严格制度治党的强大动力、转化为党的自我革命的强大效能。

Adhering to the organic unity of centralism on the basis of democracy and democracy under the guidance of centralism, forming a political situation that is both centralized and democratic, both disciplined and free, both unified will and individual ease of mind and lively vitality, is the fundamental institutional guarantee for enhancing unity within the Party and revitalizing the Party’s vitality. To uphold and implement democratic centralism, it is necessary to prevent both the tendency of excessive democracy and insufficient centralism, which leads to decentralism, and to effectively strengthen the Party’s centralized and unified leadership, ensuring the core and authority of the Party Central Committee; at the same time, it is necessary to prevent the drawbacks of excessive centralism and insufficient democracy, and to effectively strengthen the restriction and supervision of the exercise of power by the “top leader” [2]2 “Top leader” (一把手) is the Chinese term for the leading official in a Party or government unit, who holds primary responsibility and authority..

坚持民主基础上的集中和集中指导下的民主有机统一，形成既有集中又有民主，既有纪律又有自由，既有统一意志又有个人心情舒畅、生动活泼的政治局面，是增强党内团结、焕发党的生机活力的根本制度保证。坚持和贯彻民主集中制，既要防止民主过滥、集中不够，出现分散主义的倾向，切实加强党的集中统一领导，确保党中央的核心和权威，又要防止集中过度、民主不足的弊端，切实加强对“一把手”运用权力的制约和监督。

The Party Central Committee has issued a series of clear regulations and major measures in strengthening power supervision, repeatedly emphasizing that power, affairs, and personnel must be managed by institutions, that power must be confined in the cage of institutions, and that power must be exercised in the sunlight; it has prominently emphasized strengthening the restriction and supervision of the exercise of power by leading cadres, especially the “top leader,” the “key minority” [3]3 “Key minority” (关键少数) refers to leading cadres, especially at senior levels, whose conduct has an outsized influence on the political ecosystem., including strictly stipulating and implementing the living system of major leading cadres, further eliminating from the institutional level the soil and conditions for major leading cadres to abuse power and rely on power for corruption. The institutional regulations are clear, and the requirements are specific and concrete; the key lies in thorough implementation and earnest execution. The practice of history and reality profoundly shows that further improving and strengthening the intra-Party democratic system, and enhancing the subjectivity and sense of responsibility of the vast number of Party members, is an indispensable institutional force for implementing democratic centralism and unleashing the power of democratic supervision.

党中央在强化权力监督方面出台了一系列明确规定和重大措施，反复强调必须用制度管权管事管人，把权力关进制度的笼子，让权力在阳光下运行；突出强调加强对主要领导干部尤其是“一把手”这一“关键少数”行使权力的制约和监督，包括严格规定和执行主要领导干部生活制度，从制度层面进一步消除主要领导干部滥用权力、恃权腐败的土壤和条件。制度规定明确、要求规范具体，关键在于深入贯彻、切实执行。历史与现实的实践深刻表明，进一步完善和加强党内民主制度，增强广大党员的主体性和责任感，是贯彻落实民主集中制、释放民主监督威力不可或缺的制度化力量。

Further deepen the reform of the cadre and personnel system and enhance the public trustworthiness of selecting and appointing officials.

进一步深化干部人事制度改革，提高选人用人公信度。

Selecting and appointing officials has a decisive political orientation and value orientation. Employing one virtuous person leads all the virtuous to gather; seeing the virtuous and thinking of emulating them becomes a prevailing trend. Employing one bad person leads to a negative orientation, and personal依附 [4]4 The Chinese term 依附 (yīfù) means “dependency” or “clientelism,” referring to the formation of personal patron-client relationships that undermine formal institutional rules. quietly grows. To prevent and eliminate the use of power for personal gain and reliance on power for corruption, it is necessary to establish and improve a series of supporting systems. The most critical link is to address the issue from the source, effectively solving the problem of “the conferral of power.” The essence of public power is the entrustment of society to the state, the trust of the people in officials. All public power originates from the people; therefore, only by adhering to “power conferred by the people” can we achieve “power used for the people,” curbing and eliminating power corruption from the source. “Power conferred by the people” essentially means that, from the institutional level, we must strictly control the selection and appointment of leading cadres at all levels, effectively strengthening the democratic mechanisms in the process of cadre selection and appointment, so that all leading cadres and state functionaries who hold public power are constantly aware, through strict institutional norms and constraints, that the power in their hands is conferred by the people and must be used to wholeheartedly do good deeds and seek benefits for the people, always acting as the “guardians” of the interests of the masses of the people. The essence of state public power and the value orientation of serving the people’s interests constitute the fundamental logic for deepening the reform of the cadre and personnel system and further improving the cadre selection and appointment system of democratic selection and fair appointment of officials.

选人用人具有决定性的政治导向和价值导向，用一贤人则群贤毕至，见贤思齐就蔚然成风；用一坏人则负面导向，人身依附就悄然生长。防止和消除以权谋私、恃权腐败，需要建立健全一系列配套制度，最关键环节就是必须从源头上治理，切实解决好“权力授受”问题。公共权力的本质是社会对国家的委托、是人民对官员的信任，一切公共权力都来源于人民，因而只有坚持“权为民所授”，才能做到“权为民所用”，从源头上遏制和清除权力腐败现象。“权为民所授”，实质上就是要从制度层面把好各级领导干部的选拔任用关，切实强化干部选拔任用过程中的民主化机制，使一切掌握公共权力的领导干部和国家工作人员时刻从严格的制度规范和制约中意识到：自己手中的权力是人民授予的，必须用来全心全意为人民办好事、谋利益，始终做人民大众利益的“守护人”。国家公共权力的本质和服务人民利益的价值取向，是深化干部人事制度改革，进一步完善民主选人、公正用人的干部选拔任用制度的根本逻辑。

This requires effectively solving the problem of whether cadres are selected by the will of the majority or by the will of a minority. On the issue of selecting and appointing officials, the Party managing cadres is an unshakable principle. The Party is the faithful representative of the people’s interests; apart from the interests of the broadest masses of the people, the Party has no special interests of its own. The nature and purpose of the Party determine that Party organizations and Party member leading cadres, in the process of selecting and appointing officials or recommending cadres to state organs and enterprises and institutions, must firmly stand on the people’s side, respect public opinion, conform to the people’s will, and through democratic centralism, select and appoint those talents who can seek benefits for the people and are recognized and satisfied by the masses to leadership positions at all levels. Various phenomena profoundly warn us that strict institutional governance of the Party, advancing self-revolution, and deepening the reform of the cadre selection and appointment system are extremely important. We must adhere to the principle of democratic centralism, increase the weight of democratic mechanisms in the process of cadre selection and appointment, and organically unify “the Party selecting cadres” and “the Party managing cadres” with “the people selecting cadres” and “the people managing cadres” from the institutional and systemic level, neither simply “selecting people by votes” nor neglecting or ignoring public opinion, so as to maximize the plugging of loopholes for power corruption. Only in this way can the political ecosystem within the Party be purified and optimized, ensuring that Party organizations at all levels always remain faithful representatives of the people’s will and interests, and ensuring that all leading cadres forever maintain the clean and honest public servant nature.

这就需要切实解决好是靠多数人意志选干部还是靠少数人意志选干部的问题。在选人用人问题上，党管干部是不可动摇的原则。党是人民利益的忠实代表，除了最广大人民利益之外，党没有自己任何特殊的利益。党的性质和宗旨决定，党组织和党员领导干部在选人用人或向国家机关和企事业单位推荐干部过程中，必须坚定站在人民的立场上，尊重民意、顺应民心，通过民主集中制将那些能够为人民谋利益、群众公认和满意的人才选拔任用到各级领导岗位上来。种种现象深刻警示我们，严格制度治党，推进自我革命，深化干部选拔任用制度改革极其重要。必须坚持民主集中制原则，增大民主机制在干部选拔任用过程中的分量，从制度和体制层面将“党选干部”“党管干部”同“民选干部”“民管干部”有机统一起来，既不要单纯“以票取人”，也不能轻视、忽略民意，最大限度堵塞权力腐败漏洞。只有这样，党内政治生态才能净化优化，确保各级党组织始终成为人民意志和利益的忠实代表，确保所有领导干部永葆清正廉洁的公仆本色。

Further deepen the reform of the power supervision system and organically combine intra-Party supervision with people’s supervision.

进一步深化权力监督制度改革，把党内监督同人民监督有机结合起来。

The Marxist state theory points out: “The essential characteristic of the state is the public power separated from the mass of the people.” [5]5 This is a paraphrase of Friedrich Engels’s formulation in *The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State* (1884). Because it is separated from and stands above society, any public power constantly faces the danger of being monopolized by a minority for personal gain and relying on power for corruption. Power corruption is the greatest lesion endangering the life of a ruling party and the greatest infringement on people’s sovereignty. If corruption is not eliminated, people’s democracy is out of the question, the Party’s leadership cannot be consolidated, and national modernization cannot be realized. Our country is a socialist country; all power of the state belongs to the people. Power must be placed under the supervision of the people; this is the basic political logic for the operation of public power and a fundamental measure to prevent power from being abused and generating corruption.

马克思主义国家学说指明：“国家的本质特征，是和人民大众分离的公共权力。”由于脱离社会并凌驾于社会之上，因而任何公共权力都时刻面临着被少数人垄断而以权谋私、恃权腐败的危险。权力腐败是危害执政党生命的最大病灶，是对人民主权的最大侵害，腐败不除，人民民主无从谈起，党的领导无从巩固，国家现代化无从实现。我国是社会主义国家，国家的一切权力属于人民。权力必须置于人民监督之下，这是公共权力运行的基本政治逻辑，也是防止权力被滥用而产生腐败的一项根本措施。

Strengthening people’s supervision is a basic principle that must be followed in the operation of all public power. The people have the right to supervise the state and state functionaries; this is the essential manifestation of “the people reappropriating state power” and “the political form through which the people achieve social liberation.” [6]6 These phrases are drawn from Karl Marx’s *The Civil War in France* (1871), describing the Paris Commune’s principle of popular control over state power. The important thoughts of Marxist classical writers on strengthening people’s supervision of public power provide the fundamental guidance for the operation of all types of public power in our country. The practice of anti-corruption has fully shown that the people’s eyes are sharp, and the people are an omnipresent supervisory force. Let the people supervise the government, and the government will not slack off; let everyone take responsibility, and there will be no cycle of rise and fall. Further reforming and improving the system of people’s supervision, continuously expanding the functions of power supervision by people’s congresses, democratic supervision by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, mass supervision by social organizations, and public opinion supervision by news media, and giving full play to the institutionalized, standardized, and normalized effectiveness of people’s supervision, are important contents for advancing the Party’s self-revolution on the new journey of the New Era and important tasks for further deepening the reform of the power supervision system.

加强人民监督，是一切公共权力运行必须遵循的基本原则。人民有权监督国家和国家工作人员，“这是人民群众把国家政权重新收回”的本质体现，“是人民群众获得社会解放的政治形式”。马克思主义经典作家关于加强人民对公共权力监督的重要思想，为我国各类公共权力运行提供了根本遵循。反腐败实践充分表明，人民的眼睛是雪亮的，人民是无所不在的监督力量。让人民来监督政府，政府才不会懈怠；人人起来负责，才不会人亡政息。进一步改革和完善人民监督制度体系，不断拓展人民代表大会的权力监督、人民政协的民主监督、社会组织的群众监督、新闻媒体的舆论监督等功能，充分发挥人民监督制度化、规范化、常态化成效，是在新时代新征程上推进党的自我革命的重要内容，是进一步深化权力监督制度改革的重要任务。

Strengthening popular supervision is intended to better promote intra-Party supervision. Strengthening intra-Party supervision is the internal driving force for deeply advancing the Party’s self-revolution; the courage to engage in self-supervision is a distinctive quality of a Marxist political party. Marx and Engels, in the *Communist Manifesto*, particularly emphasized that the Communist Party leads an independent movement of the overwhelming majority and for the interests of the overwhelming majority; therefore, the Party “has no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole” and “in the various national struggles of the proletarians, the Communists emphasize and uphold the interests of the proletariat as a whole, independent of all nationality.” This special attribute and historical mission of the Communist Party constitute the fundamental basis and internal logic for the Party’s ability to become a strong fighting collective, possess iron discipline, courageously engage in self-revolution, and continuously eliminate various problems existing on the Party’s body. The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, and at the same time the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation; the people’s standpoint is the Party’s standpoint. Apart from the people’s interests, the Party has no special interests of its own. To fulfill the Party’s original aspiration and founding mission, for the sake of the people’s liberation and national rejuvenation, the Party unhesitatingly smashes all ideological chains that fetter it, eliminates any problems and malpractices existing within the Party, consciously accepts popular supervision, promptly discovers problems and corrects deviations, and continuously upholds truth and corrects errors. This is the fundamental secret and key to the centenary Party’s eternal youth and vitality. The Party Central Committee, closely centering on opposing power corruption and correcting the deep-seated maladies of the “Four Forms of Decadence”[7]7 The “Four Forms of Decadence” (四风) refers to formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, which were the target of a major Party rectification campaign launched after the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012., has made great efforts to strengthen the institutional system for Party self-supervision, forming an intra-Party regulations and rules system with the Party Constitution as its foundation and democratic centralism as its core, and establishing and perfecting a series of intra-Party supervision institutional norms. This is a major achievement of our Party in advancing its self-revolution through strict institutional governance of the Party. In the process of Chinese-path modernization, further deepening the reform of the power supervision system urgently requires better integrating intra-Party supervision with popular supervision, further perfecting a power supervision system that takes intra-Party supervision as its core and popular supervision as its driving force, featuring unified leadership, full coverage, authoritative efficiency, and converging synergy, thereby further perfecting the long-term mechanism that relies on the “two great magic weapons” of popular supervision and self-revolution to break out of the historical cycle of rise and fall, order and chaos.[8]8 This refers to the “historical cycle” (历史周期率) of a ruling group rising, becoming corrupt, and falling, a concept famously discussed between Mao Zedong and Huang Yanpei in 1945. The “two magic weapons” (两大法宝) of popular supervision and self-revolution are the CPC’s proposed solution to this cycle.

加强人民监督，是为了更好地促进党内监督。加强党内监督，是深入推进党的自我革命的内在动力；勇于自我监督，是马克思主义政党的特有品质。马克思和恩格斯在《共产党宣言》中特别强调，共产党领导的是绝大多数人的、为绝大多数人谋利益的独立的运动，因此党“没有任何同整个无产阶级的利益不同的利益”，“在无产者不同的民族的斗争中，共产党人强调和坚持整个无产阶级共同的不分民族的利益”。共产党的这一特殊属性和历史使命，是党能够成为坚强的战斗集体、具有铁的纪律、勇于自我革命、不断清除党的肌体上存在种种问题的根本依据和内在逻辑。中国共产党是中国工人阶级的先锋队，同时是中国人民和中华民族的先锋队，人民的立场就是党的立场，除了人民利益之外，党没有自己特殊的利益；为了践行党的初心和使命，为了人民解放和民族复兴，党义无反顾地打碎一切禁锢自己的思想锁链，清除党内存在的任何问题和弊端，自觉接受人民监督，及时发现问题、纠正偏差，不断坚持真理、修正错误。这就是百年大党永葆青春风华的根本奥秘和关键所在。党中央紧紧围绕反对权力腐败、纠正“四风”痼疾，着力加强党的自我监督制度体系建设，形成了以党章为根本、以民主集中制为核心的党内法规制度体系，建立健全了一系列党内监督制度规范，这是我们党通过严格的制度治党推进党的自我革命的重大成果。在中国式现代化进程中，进一步深化权力监督制度改革，迫切要求把党内监督同人民监督更好融合起来，进一步完善以党内监督为核心、以人民监督为动力，统一领导、全面覆盖、权威高效、聚成合力的权力监督体系，从而进一步健全依靠人民监督和自我革命这“两大法宝”跳出治乱兴衰历史周期率的长效机制。

Our Party, with the political self-awareness that “to forge iron, one must be strong oneself,” with the political firmness of “using strong medicine to cure an illness and severe punishment to bring order,” with the tenacious attitude of “leaving a mark when grasping iron and an imprint when treading on stone,” and with the strong courage of “scraping the poison off the bone and cutting off a poisoned wrist to save the body,” has rectified work styles and enforced discipline, combated corruption and promoted clean governance, used iron discipline and rules to strengthen the restraint on power, and confined power in an institutional cage, effectively changing the situation of “losing control, laxity, and softness” in managing and governing the Party. Thus, it has united and led the people of the whole country to create the New Era, win the New Era, and walk with high spirits at the forefront of the New Era.

我们党以“打铁必须自身硬”的政治自觉，以“猛药去疴、重典治乱”的政治坚定，以“抓铁有痕、踏石留印”的坚韧态度，以“刮骨疗毒、壮士断腕”的坚强勇气正风肃纪、反腐倡廉，以铁的纪律和规矩加强对权力的约束，把权力关进制度笼子，有效改变了管党治党“失之于宽、失之于松、失之于软”的状况，从而团结带领全国人民开创了新时代、赢得了新时代，意气风发走在新时代前列。

Source: *Chinese Social Sciences Today*, February 28, 2025

文章来源：《中国社会科学报》2025年2月28日

Online Editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆