Steadily Promoting the Normalization and Long-Term Effectiveness of Work Style Improvement

Work style improvement is an important component of Party building. What to focus on in work style improvement and how to carry it out are directly related to how comprehensive and strict governance of the Party can break new ground. The Eight-Point Regulations opened a new situation in work style improvement, resolutely corrected and rectified the "Four Forms of Decadence" [1]1 A reference to the story of three female Red Army soldiers during the Long March who, after borrowing lodging from a poor peasant family, cut their only blanket in half and left it for the family as a gift., continuously carried out rectification of work style and discipline, and broke new ground for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in the New Era. In response to violations that defy the ban and the "Four Forms of Decadence" that have taken on disguised and mutated forms, General

作风建设是党的建设的重要内容，作风建设抓什么、怎么抓关系到全面从严治党如何破局。中央八项规定打开作风建设新局面，坚决纠正整治“四风”问题，持续开展正风肃纪，破题新时代的全面从严治党。针对顶风违纪和隐形变异“四风”问题，习近平总书记强调要严肃查处，坚持作风建设的铁规矩、硬杠杠不动摇、长期有效。2025年3月，中办印发《关于在全党开展深入贯彻中央八项规定精神学习教育的通知》，要求在全党深入开展学习教育，锲而不舍推进中央八项规定精神的落实，强化党的创新理论武装，进一步推进管党治党从严从实。习近平总书记在河南考察时强调，“中央八项规定是党中央徙木立信之举，是新时代管党治党的标志性措施。开展深入贯彻中央八项规定精神学习教育，是今年党建工作的重点任务。要在一体推进学查改上下功夫，把党员干部个人查摆整改与组织查摆整改紧密结合起来，切实把作风硬要求变成硬措施、让铁规矩长出铁牙齿，确保学有质量、查有力度、改有成效。”党风问题关系执政党的生死存亡。我们要以滚石上山的劲头、爬坡过坎的勇气持续推进作风建设，逐步实现弊绝风清、海晏河清。

Deeply Grasp the Essential Requirements and Core Issues of Conduct Improvement

深刻把握作风建设的本质要求和核心问题

Problems in conduct will damage the Party’s advanced nature and purity, cause the Party to become detached from the masses, undermine the mass base of the Party’s governance, and mean that the Party will lose the foundation, lifeblood, and strength of its governance. In this regard, we must have a sense of crisis and urgency, we must see the problems and the crux of the issues, and we must not allow conduct problems to become a barrier separating the Party from the people.

作风出问题就会损坏党的先进性和纯洁性，致使党脱离群众，破坏党执政的群众基础，意味着党将失去执政的根基、血脉和力量。对此，我们要有危机感和紧迫感，要看到问题和症结所在，不能让作风问题成为阻隔党和人民群众的障墙。

Party spirit determines conduct; conduct problems profoundly reflect issues of Party spirit. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that “conduct problems are essentially problems

党性决定作风，作风问题深刻反映党性问题。习近平总书记强调“作风问题本质上是党性问题。”纠正整治作风问题不能浮于表面，要看到作风问题在本质上是党性问题。作风出问题根源在于党性不强，需要在解决作风问题的基础之上，解决深层次的党性问题。党性深刻体现在党员的是非观、义利观、权力观和事业观之中，把人民群众装进心里，一心为公、事事为公，摆正公私关系是强化党性修养的必然要求。

A Marxist political party takes wholeheartedly serving the people as its purpose, and Party spirit and people-centeredness are highly consistent. Maintaining close ties with the masses is an inherent requirement of Party spirit, and preserving the flesh-and-blood bond between the Party and the people is the core issue of style-of-work building. As early as the revolutionary war years, the Party established close ties with the people, which developed into a glorious tradition and fine style of work that the Party has persistently upheld. The story of three female Red Army soldiers borrowing lodging and leaving a blanket [1]1 A reference to the story of three female Red Army soldiers during the Long March who, after borrowing lodging from a poor peasant family, cut their only blanket in half and left it for the family as a gift. demonstrates the deep bond of fish-and-water affection and shared hardships between Communists and the people; during the Three Great Campaigns of the Liberation War [2]2 The three decisive military campaigns (Liaoshen, Huaihai, Pingjin) fought between the CPC and the Kuomintang from late 1948 to early 1949, which led to the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War., the broad masses of the people provided logistical support to the People's Army without compensation, using shoulder poles and handcarts to ensure victory in the Liberation War. This is the profound sentiment between the Party and the people; the formation of the mass line is a vivid portrayal of the Party maintaining its flesh-and-blood bond with the people.

马克思主义政党以全心全意为人民服务为宗旨，党性与人民性具有高度一致性。密切联系群众是党性的内在要求，保持党同人民群众的血肉联系是作风建设的核心问题。早在革命战争年代，党就同人民群众建立起密切联系，发展成为党持续坚持的光荣传统和优良作风。三名女红军借宿留被的故事彰显出共产党人与人民群众的鱼水情深、风雨同舟；在解放战争三大战役时期，广大人民群众无偿为人民军队提供后勤支持，以肩挑车推的方式保障解放战争取得胜利。这就是党同人民群众的深厚情感，群众路线的形成正是党同人民群众保持血肉联系的生动写照。

Maintaining close ties with the masses is the Party's greatest political advantage, while becoming divorced from the masses is the greatest danger for a Marxist political party after it assumes power. The people are the subjects who create history; uniting the people can gather immense strength. Maintaining close ties with the masses is an important guarantee for the Party's great victories in revolution, construction, and reform, and an important manifestation of the Party's advanced nature and purity. It enables our Party to be clearly distinguished from other political parties and to win the support and endorsement of the broadest masses of the people.

密切联系群众是党的最大政治优势，脱离群众是马克思主义政党执政之后最大的危险。人民群众是创造历史的主体，将人民群众团结起来就能汇聚磅礴之力。密切联系群众是我们党取得革命、建设和改革伟大胜利的重要保障，是党的先进性和纯洁性的重要体现，使我们党能够与其他政党显著区别开来，赢得最广大人民群众的支持和拥护。

Style-of-work building is an important entry point and focal point for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party

作风建设是全面从严治党的重要切入点和着力点

Comprehensive and strict governance of the Party is a major theoretical and practical issue, and a new great project of Party building. Our Party is a century-old major party with over 99 million members. Faced with complex and severe situations and tasks, finding a breakthrough for self-revolution and opening up a new situation in Party building is crucial. The Party's style of work concerns the Party's image; a good style of work can provide strong impetus for advancing the Party's self-revolution. Grasping style of work is an important entry point and focal point for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. When the Party's style of work is correct, the people's hearts are at ease. To comprehensively raise the level of Party building, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to "integrate the requirements of style-of-work building into the Party's ideological building, organizational building, anti-corruption and clean governance building, and institutional building." [3]3 Xi Jinping, speech at a meeting on Party building, 2014. The Party's style of work profoundly reflects the Party-mass relationship; there are no small matters in style-of-work issues. We must make great efforts to strengthen the Party's style-of-work building, actively respond to risks and challenges, work with high morale to undertake endeavors, share hardships with the people, and win popular support.

全面从严治党是一个重大理论和实践课题，是党的建设新的伟大工程。我们党是一个拥有9900多万党员的百年大党，面对复杂严峻的形势和任务，找到自我革命的突破口，打开党建新局面至关重要。党的作风关乎党的形象，好的作风可为推进党自我革命提供强大动力。抓作风是全面从严治党的重要切入点和着力点，党风正，人民心气顺。为全面提升党的建设水平，习近平总书记强调要“把作风建设要求融入党的思想建设、组织建设、反腐倡廉建设、制度建设之中。”党的作风深刻反映出党群关系，作风问题无小事，要下大力气强化党的作风建设，积极应对风险和挑战，以昂扬的斗志干事创业，与人民同甘共苦，赢得民心。

We must firmly grasp the key issues in style-of-work building. Maintaining the flesh-and-blood bond between the Party and the people requires strengthening and improving style-of-work building; strengthening style-of-work building is an effective path for practicing the mass line. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "strengthening style-of-work building must closely adhere to the key of the flesh-and-blood bond between the Party and the people." [4]4 Xi Jinping, speech at a symposium on Party building, 2018. We must focus on the prominent issues that the people strongly reflect, treat them seriously and rigorously; what the people oppose and detest is precisely what we must resolutely guard against and correct, and we must have zero tolerance for actions that harm the people. The "four forms of decadence" [5]5 A term referring to formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance, which the CPC has targeted in its anti-corruption and style-of-work campaigns since 2013. are an important manifestation of the Party becoming divorced from the people, and are vile habits deeply detested by the people. Formalism and bureaucracy have long existed within the Party and are stubborn and recurrent diseases of style-of-work building. In correcting the "four forms of decadence," we must prevent "fatigue syndrome," always be on guard against new trends in the hidden mutation of the "four forms of decadence," and strike at corrupt practices as soon as they appear. Formalism and bureaucracy need to be treated as key tasks in style-of-work building, placed in a prominent position, with in-depth investigation and research, precise targeted rectification, and the implementation of the Party's decisions and deployments carried out effectively.

要牢牢抓住作风建设的关键问题。保持党同人民群众的血肉联系需要加强和改进作风建设，强化作风建设是践行群众路线的有效路径，习近平总书记强调“加强作风建设必须紧扣党同人民群众血肉联系这个关键”。要聚焦人民群众反映强烈的突出问题，严肃认真对待，人民群众所反对和痛恨的就是我们所应坚决防范和纠正的，对损害人民群众的行为要零容忍。“四风”问题是党脱离人民群众的重要表现，是人民群众深恶痛绝的恶习。形式主义、官僚主义在党内长期存在，是作风建设的顽瘴痼疾，在纠治“四风”问题中要防止产生“疲劳综合征”，时刻防范“四风”隐形变异新动向，对歪风陋习要坚持露头就打。需要将形式主义、官僚主义作为作风建设的重点任务，摆在突出位置，深入调查研究，精准靶向整治，推动党的决策部署执行到位。

We must use small entry points to activate the entire chessboard of style-of-work building. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "the task of improving work style is very heavy; the Eight-Point Regulations are an entry point and a mobilization order." [6]6 Xi Jinping, speech at the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, 2013. Phenomena such as Party cadres alienating and distancing themselves from the masses, being unwilling to interact with the masses, being unable to do mass work, treating the masses with a bad attitude, being arrogant and overbearing towards the masses, conducting investigation and research as a mere formality, and drowning in mountains of documents and seas of meetings occur from time to time. A large amount of evidence proves that the work and cause of a locality succeed or fail due to the style of work of Party cadres. We must start from eight aspects, including investigation and research, streamlining meetings, and news reporting, treating them as an act of "moving the timber to establish trust" [7]7 An allusion to the ancient Chinese story of Lord Shang Yang of the State of Qin, who moved a piece of timber to demonstrate his commitment to the rule of law and gain the people's trust, used here to signify the Party's determination to enforce its rules. in the New Era, applying strict requirements to deepen style-of-work building. We must unswervingly implement the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations, cultivate deep feelings for the people, respond promptly to the people's reasonable demands, and "handle good things well, handle practical matters concretely, and handle difficult matters properly" concerning the people's concerns, achieving substantive progress in correcting and rectifying the "four forms of decadence" and promoting style-of-work building to go deeper and be more concrete. Unhealthy tendencies and corruption are inseparable. Our Party used the Central Eight-Point Regulations as an entry point for style-of-work building, treating them as long-term effective iron rules and hard thresholds, digging deep into related corruption issues, and effectively advancing the building of a clean and honest Party. At the same time, centering on the general requirements of Party building in the New Era, style-of-work building has been extended to all aspects of Party management and governance, effectively promoting the comprehensive development of strict governance of the Party.

要以小切口盘活作风建设整盘棋。习近平总书记强调“改进工作作风的任务非常繁重，八项规定是一个切入口和动员令。”党员干部疏远群众、脱离群众，不愿和群众打交道，不会做群众工作，对群众态度恶劣，对群众颐指气使、霸气十足，调查研究走过场，文山会海等现象时有发生。大量事实证明，一个地方的工作和事业，成由党员干部作风，败也由党员干部作风。要从调查研究、精简会议、新闻报道等八个方面入手，将其作为新时代的徙木立信之举，做到从严要求，以此深化作风建设。锲而不舍落实中央八项规定精神，厚植与人民群众的情感，对人民群众的合理诉求要及时回应，把人民群众关心的“好事办好、实事办实、难事办妥”，取得纠正整治“四风”的实质性进展，推动作风建设走深走实。不正之风与腐败问题密不可分，我们党以中央八项规定切入作风建设，将其作为长期有效的铁规矩、硬杠杠，深挖相关联的腐败问题，有效推进了党风廉政建设。同时围绕新时代党的建设的总要求，将作风建设推行至管党治党的各个环节，有力推进了从严治党的全面开展。

Continuously Create a New Situation in Style-of-Work Building

持续开创作风建设新局面

We must promote tracing the roots of style-of-work building and thicken the ideals and convictions of Party cadres. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "conviction is the root, style of work is the form; when the root is correct, the form gathers; when the root is incorrect, the form will surely scatter." [8]8 Xi Jinping, speech at a meeting on Party building, 2014. The "four forms of decadence" are fundamentally a departure from Party spirit and the abandonment of the Party's purpose. Strengthening style-of-work building requires grasping the fundamentals and highlighting key points; we must trace the roots, return to simplicity, consolidate the foundation and nourish the vitality, supplement the "calcium" [9]9 A metaphor for ideological conviction, derived from the phrase "lack of calcium" used by Xi Jinping to describe cad lacking in thought, fortify the ideals and convictions of Party cadres, continuously strengthen Party spirit education, strengthen ideological and moral cultivation, practice the Party's fundamental purpose, and cultivate a fine style of work.

要推进作风建设追根溯源，厚植党员干部的理想信念。习近平总书记强调“信念是本，作风是形，本正而形聚，本不正则形必散。”“四风”问题根源上是背离党性和丢掉党的宗旨，强化作风建设要抓住根本、突出重点，要追根溯源、返璞归真、固本培元，补上思想上缺少的“钙”，筑牢党员干部的理想信念，不断强化党性教育，强化思想道德修养，践行党的根本宗旨，养成优良作风。

To advance work style improvement, the upper level must set an example for the lower level, using a fine Party conduct to guide social conduct and public sentiment. Leading by example from the top is the key to improving the Party’s work style. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “the improvement of work style should begin with the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.” The work style of senior Party cadres serves as an important barometer for both Party conduct and social conduct, exerting a strong demonstrative effect. Our Party began promoting work style improvement from the top down as early as the revolutionary period. Mao Zedong used only one lamp wick each night, Zhu De carried grain up the mountain alongside ordinary soldiers, and the central leadership led the entire Party in cultivating a fine work style. In the New Era of work style improvement, starting with the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, central leaders have taken the lead in implementing the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations and its detailed rules, adhering to the highest standards and the strictest requirements, setting benchmarks and examples for the entire Party. Leading cadres across the Party have aligned themselves with these standards, curbing long-standing unhealthy tendencies, eliminating serious hidden dangers within the Party, and significantly improving the previously lax and weak situation in Party governance.

要推进作风建设以上率下，以优良党风引领社风民风。以上率下是改进党的作风的关键所在。习近平总书记强调要“从中央政治局做起改进工作作风”。党的高级干部的作风是党风和社风的重要风向标，具有强烈的示范效应。我们党从革命时期就已经开始以上率下推进作风建设，毛泽东每晚只点一根灯芯，朱德同普通战士一起挑粮上山，中央领导带领全党养成好作风。在新时代的作风建设方面，从中央常委、中央政治局抓起，中央领导带头践行中央八项规定及其实施细则精神，执行最高标准和最严要求，为全党立标杆、做榜样。全党领导干部对标对表，刹住多年存在的歪风邪气，清除党内存在的严重隐患，管党治党宽松软现象得到明显改善。

Work style improvement must be centered on the Party’s central tasks, advancing it with a focus on the regular, the detailed, and the small. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “work style improvement serves the overall work of the Party.” Work style improvement is always in progress, never completed, and forever on the march. It is not a matter of tightening up for a while and then relaxing; rather, it must be grasped regularly, in detail, and over the long term, with unremitting efforts, so that the people can feel and see the results. It must revolve around the Party’s central tasks, reflect the requirements of Party building, actively respond to new situations and new challenges, and promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of the Party’s work style improvement. In the process of improving work style, the Party’s theories, lines, principles, and policies must be fully implemented, and comprehensive and strict governance of the Party must be continuously advanced, providing strong strength for Chinese-path modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

要围绕党的中心工作，推进作风建设抓常抓细抓小。习近平总书记强调“作风建设是为党的工作大局服务的”。作风建设只有进行时，没有完成时，永远在路上。作风建设不是抓一时紧一时，而是抓常、抓细、抓长，常抓不懈，要让人民群众可感可及。要围绕党的中心任务，体现党的建设的要求，积极应对新形势新挑战，常态化长效化推进党的作风建设。在改进作风的过程中将党的理论和路线方针政策执行到位，不断推进全面从严治党，为中国式现代化建设和中华民族伟大复兴提供强大力量。

History and reality show that the Party’s fine traditions and work style have ensured its progress and development in different historical periods, and the Party’s survival or demise is closely linked to its work style. Using the Eight-Point Regulations as an entry point for work style improvement, and effectively driving comprehensive and strict governance of the Party through work style improvement, are important measures for responding to changes unseen in a century and a powerful lever for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in the New Era. We must persistently rectify conduct and enforce discipline, continuously opening up new prospects for work style improvement.

历史和现实说明，党的优良传统和作风保障党在不同历史时期的前进和发展，党的生死存亡与作风息息相关。以中央八项规定切入作风建设，以作风建设有效带动全面从严治党，是应对百年未有之大变局的重要举措，是新时代全面从严治党的有力抓手，我们要持之以恒正风肃纪，不断开创作风建设的新局面。

(The authors are respectively a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Marxism Studies, Renmin University of China, and a doctoral student at the School of Marxism Studies, Renmin University of China.)

（作者分别为中国人民大学马克思主义学院教授、博士生导师，中国人民大学马克思主义学院博士研究生）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心