Promoting the Improvement of Work Style through Both Symptom Treatment and Root-Cause Management with Sustained Effort

Attaching great importance to work style improvement and consistently prioritizing it is a key reason why the Communist Party of China has been able to unite and lead the people to continuously achieve victories in revolution, construction, and reform over its more than 100 years of magnificent struggle. It is also an important foundation for the Party to always win the people's support and consolidate its long-term ruling

高度重视作风建设，始终把作风建设摆在突出位置来抓，是中国共产党在100多年波澜壮阔的奋斗历程中，能够团结带领人民不断取得革命、建设、改革胜利的重要原因，也是党始终赢得人民拥护、巩固长期执政地位的重要基础。习近平总书记明确指出，作风问题必须抓长、长抓，扭住不放，持之以恒，久久为功。新时代新征程，坚持标本兼治、综合施策，推进作风建设常态化长效化，方能以优良作风为进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化提供坚强保障。

Cultivating a fine work style is a magic weapon for victory

培育优良作风是制胜法宝

The Party's work style not only affects the Party's image and its creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness, but also bears on popular support and even the success or failure of the cause of the Party and the state. Over the course of its more than 100 years of struggle, our Party has always regarded work style improvement as an important aspect of Party building. Comrade Mao Zedong creatively used the rectification movement [1]1 The “Four Forms of Decadence” (四风) refers to formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance, which were the primary targets of the Party’s work style improvement campaign launched after the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012. form to promote the improvement of the Party's work style, proposing and cultivating fine traditional work styles such as integrating theory with practice, maintaining close ties with the masses, and conducting criticism and self-criticism. During the revolutionary war years, the whole Party's work style improvement standards were high, measures were strict, and tests were real; there are countless examples embodying our Party's glorious traditions and fine work style. Communists carried forward the fine work style of "bringing their own dry rations to work, wearing straw sandals to make revolution by day, and carrying lanterns to visit poor peasants by night," winning the trust of the masses and enabling the revolutionary forces to grow from small to large and from weak to strong. Glorious traditions and fine work style are the concentrated embodiment of our Party's nature and purpose, and are the distinctive mark distinguishing our Party from other political parties. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, there are many reasons why our Party was able to win the New Democratic Revolution and lead the people in establishing New China; one important reason is that our Party has always maintained a flesh-and-blood bond with the masses, ultimately "defeating the Xi'an work style with the Yan'an work style." [2]2 “Ballast stone” (压舱石) is a metaphor used in Chinese political discourse for a stabilizing foundation, here referring to ideals and convictions.

党的作风不仅关系党的形象和党的创造力、凝聚力、战斗力，更关系人心向背，乃至党和国家事业成败。在100余年奋斗历程中，我们党一直将作风建设作为党的建设重要方面。毛泽东同志创造性地运用整风形式推动党的作风建设，提出并培育了理论联系实际、密切联系群众、批评和自我批评等优良传统作风。在革命战争年代，全党作风建设标准高、措施严、考验实，体现我们党光荣传统和优良作风的事例不胜枚举。共产党人发扬“自带干粮去办公，日着草鞋干革命，夜打灯笼访贫农”的好作风，赢得群众信任，使革命力量由小到大，由弱到强。光荣传统和优良作风是我们党性质和宗旨的集中体现，是我们党区别于其他政党的显著标志。正如习近平总书记指出的，我们党之所以能够取得新民主主义革命的胜利，带领人民建立了新中国，原因有很多条，其中重要一条是我们党始终保持同人民群众的血肉联系，最终“用延安作风打败西安作风”。

During the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, Comrade Deng Xiaoping proposed taking effective measures from various aspects to improve the Party's work style, and put forward the idea of promoting work style improvement through institutional development, emphasizing that "if the institutional problem is not solved, the ideological and work style problems cannot be solved either." Comrade Jiang Zemin proposed focusing on prominent issues in ideological style, study style, work style, leadership style, and cadres' lifestyle to carry out work. Comrade Hu Jintao emphasized comprehensively strengthening the improvement of leading cadres' work style and put forward clear requirements for promoting various tasks with a pragmatic work style. Documents such as the "Guidelines for Political Life Within the Party," the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Strengthening the Party's Ties with the Masses," and the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Strengthening and Improving the Party's Work Style" were formulated and adopted. Activities such as the Party consolidation campaign, the "Three Emphases" education campaign [3]3 “Master switch” (总开关) is a metaphor for the fundamental guiding principle of worldview, outlook on life, and values., the education campaign on the "Three Represents" important thought, the education campaign on maintaining the advanced nature of Communist Party members, and the in-depth study and practice of the Scientific Outlook on Development were carried out. The spiritual outlook and work style of the whole Party took on a completely new look, providing important guarantees for the smooth progress of reform and opening up and socialist modernization.

在改革开放和社会主义现代化建设新时期，邓小平同志提出从各方面采取有效措施，搞好党的作风建设，并提出通过制度建设推进作风建设的思路，强调“制度问题不解决，思想作风问题也解决不了”。江泽民同志提出，要抓住思想作风、学风、工作作风、领导作风和干部生活作风等方面存在的突出问题开展工作。胡锦涛同志强调全面加强领导干部作风建设，并对以求真务实作风推进各项工作提出明确要求。制定通过了《关于党内政治生活的若干准则》《中共中央关于加强党同人民群众联系的决定》《中共中央关于加强和改进党的作风建设的决定》等，开展了整党活动、“三讲”教育活动、“三个代表”重要思想学习教育活动、保持共产党员先进性教育活动、深入学习实践科学发展观活动等，全党精神面貌和作风状况焕然一新，为改革开放和社会主义现代化建设顺利推进提供了重要保障。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important expositions on work style improvement, pointing out that work style problems are essentially problems of Party spirit, and the core is the issue of the Party's relationship with the masses, emphasizing that strengthening and improving work style is an effective way to maintain the Party's flesh-and-blood bond with the masses. Focusing on serving the overall work of the Party and on ensuring that the Party always remains the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has taken the lead by example, promoting glorious

党的十八大以来，习近平总书记围绕作风建设发表一系列重要论述，指出作风问题本质上是党性问题，核心是党同人民群众的关系问题，强调加强和改进作风建设是保持党同人民群众血肉联系的有效途径。着眼于服务党的工作大局，着眼于使党始终成为中国特色社会主义事业的坚强领导核心，以习近平同志为核心的党中央率先垂范，弘扬谦虚谨慎、艰苦奋斗等光荣传统，涵养求真务实、清正廉洁的新风正气，把纪律和规矩挺在前面，抓早抓小、防微杜渐，坚决纠正形式主义、官僚主义、享乐主义和奢靡之风，坚决破除特权思想、特权行为，坚决整治群众身边不正之风和腐败问题，解决了新形势下作风建设抓什么、怎么抓的问题，并以作风建设新气象、新成效赢得人民群众的信任和拥护，开辟了以伟大自我革命引领伟大社会革命的新境界。

Work Style Improvement Is Always on the Way

作风建设永远在路上

Both history and reality tell us that work style problems are stubborn and recurrent; forming a fine work style cannot be achieved once and for all, nor can overcoming a bad work style be accomplished overnight. Doing a good job of work style improvement is not a matter of a single day’s effort; there is only a starting point, no finishing point, only a process of being carried out, no process of being completed; it is always on the way.

历史和现实都告诉我们，作风问题具有顽固性和反复性，形成优良作风不可能一劳永逸，克服不良作风也不可能一蹴而就。抓好作风建设非一日之功，只有起点、没有终点，只有进行时、没有完成时，永远在路上。

At present, prominent problems within the Party such as impurity in ideology, organization, and work style have not yet been fundamentally resolved. As the internal and external environment in which the Party operates undergoes profound changes, work style problems are manifesting themselves in increasingly complex ways. Some Party cadres and members have wavered in their ideals and convictions, their revolutionary will has declined, violations of the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations and its implementing rules occur from time to time, formalism and bureaucracy remain deeply ingrained habits in some localities and departments, hedonism and extravagance periodically rear their heads, and hidden and mutated behaviors are growing stealthily. Currently, China is in a critical period of comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. Further comprehensively deepening reform covers a wide scope, touches on deep interests, and presents great difficulty in overcoming obstacles; we still face many difficulties and challenges, and various work style problems within the Party will become more prominent. It must be recognized that to whatever stage the cause of the Party and the people develops, Party work style improvement must advance to that stage. We must place work style improvement in a prominent position, effectively strengthen work style education, resolutely discard all erroneous ideas of taking a breather or relaxing efforts, resolutely prevent the emergence of a “fatigue syndrome,” and, with the momentum of rolling a stone up a mountain and the courage of climbing a slope and crossing a ridge, push the Party to purify, improve, reform, and elevate itself, constantly inspiring spirit and arousing fighting will with a good work style, and constantly gathering positive energy to promote reform and development with new achievements in work style improvement.

眼下，党内存在的思想不纯、组织不纯、作风不纯等突出问题尚未得到根本解决。随着党所处内外环境的深刻变化，作风问题越来越复杂地表现出来。一些党员干部理想信念动摇，革命意志衰退，违反中央八项规定及其实施细则精神的问题时有发生，形式主义、官僚主义在一些地方和部门依然积习难改，享乐主义、奢靡之风不时抬头，隐形变异行为潜滋暗长。当前，我国正处于以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业的关键时期，进一步全面深化改革涉及范围广、触及利益深、攻坚难度大，我们仍面临许多难关和挑战，党内形形色色的作风问题会更加凸显。要认识到，党和人民事业发展到什么阶段，党的作风建设就要推进到什么阶段。必须把作风建设放在突出位置，切实加强作风教育，坚决摒弃各种歇歇气、松松劲的错误思想，坚决防止产生“疲劳综合征”，要以滚石上山的劲头、爬坡过坎的勇气，推动党自我净化、自我完善、自我革新、自我提高，不断以好的作风振奋精神、激发斗志，不断以作风建设新成效汇聚推动改革发展的正能量。

The Key Is to Persistently Address Both Symptoms and Root Causes

关键要持之以恒标本兼治

The value of work style improvement lies in the two characters of “constant” and “long-term.” On the new journey of the New Era, we must thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on strengthening the Party’s work style improvement and the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations and its implementing rules, closely monitor and analyze and judge new trends in the Party’s condition and work style, focus on further strengthening the Party’s ties with the masses, maintain the tenacity for constant effort and the patience for long-term effort, persist in making regular efforts to see normalcy, and making sustained efforts to see lasting results, persist in targeting problems and addressing root causes, treating both symptoms and root causes, so that Party cadres and members not only dare not engage in unhealthy tendencies but also cannot and do not want to engage in them. This is an urgent requirement and an inherent part of consolidating the achievements already made in work style improvement and continuously deepening work style improvement.

作风建设贵在常、长二字。新时代新征程，我们要深入学习贯彻习近平总书记关于加强党的作风建设的重要论述和中央八项规定及其实施细则精神，密切关注和分析研判党情党风新动向，以进一步密切党同人民群众的联系为重点，保持常抓的韧劲、长抓的耐心，坚持经常抓、见常态，持久抓、见长效，坚持奔着问题去、对着根源治，既治标又治本，使党员干部不仅不敢沾染歪风邪气，而且不能、不想沾染歪风邪气。这是巩固作风建设已经取得的成效、不断把作风建设引向深入的迫切要求和题中应有之义。

Persistently Strengthen the Dam of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations. The Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations are the entry point and mobilization order for improving work style. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has started by formulating and implementing the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations to break new ground, correcting the “Four Forms of Decadence”[1]1 The “Four Forms of Decadence” (四风) refers to formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance, which were the primary targets of the Party’s work style improvement campaign launched after the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012. with the spirit of driving a nail, stopping some unhealthy practices that had long gone unchecked, and correcting some stubborn and deep-seated maladies that had persisted for many years. Through the revolutionary forging of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in the New Era, the state of lax discipline and floating work style has been significantly changed, an atmosphere of genuine, strict, and long-term management and supervision has basically taken shape, the Party’s conduct and government conduct have taken on a completely new look, social conduct and public sentiment have continued to improve, and the Party’s image in the hearts of the people has been reshaped. A 2024 public opinion survey by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that 97.4% and 94.9% of respondents were satisfied with the Party Central Committee’s leading role in implementing the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations and affirmed the overall effectiveness, respectively. Needless to say, some old problems in work style improvement are still hiding here and there, some deep-seated problems have been temporarily alleviated but not fundamentally resolved, and in particular, the inertia of eating, drinking, and seeking pleasure remains strong, and the potential for a rebound is also accumulating. Therefore, thoroughly implementing the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations and strengthening the dam of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations still requires constant and unremitting effort. We must take the opportunity of the Party-wide study and education on thoroughly implementing the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations to summarize the results and experience of the study, comprehensively and deeply identify problems in implementing the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations and its implementing rules, and carry out scientific, precise, and targeted rectification.

持之以恒加固中央八项规定堤坝。中央八项规定是改进作风的切入口和动员令。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央从制定和落实中央八项规定开局破题，以钉钉子精神纠治“四风”，刹住了一些长期没有刹住的歪风，纠治了一些多年未除的顽瘴痼疾。经过新时代全面从严治党的革命性锻造，纪律松弛、作风飘浮状况显著改变，真管真严、敢管敢严、长管长严的氛围基本形成，党风政风焕然一新，社风民风持续向好，重塑了党在人民心中的形象。2024年国家统计局社情民意调查显示，对党中央带头贯彻落实中央八项规定情况表示满意、总体成效表示肯定的分别为97.4%、94.9%。毋庸讳言，在作风建设上仍有一些老问题东躲西藏，一些深层次问题暂时缓解但未能得到根本解决，特别是吃喝玩乐惯性仍然很大，反弹势能也在积蓄。因此，深入贯彻中央八项规定精神、加固中央八项规定堤坝仍须常抓不懈。要以全党开展深入贯彻中央八项规定精神学习教育为契机，总结学习成效和经验，全面深入查找落实中央八项规定及其实施细则精神方面存在的问题，并科学精准靶向整治。

Continuously enhance Party spirit cultivation. The root cause of various problems in the work style of some Party cadres and members lies in the wavering of the “ballast stone” of ideals and convictions, and the deviation of the “master switch” of worldview, outlook on life, and values. If the problem of the “master switch” is not resolved, the pathogen of work-style problems will still exist. Just as when a patient is treated for an illness, after the illness is cured and enters the recovery period, if conditions permit, the pathogens latent in the body may reproduce again, causing the illness to recur or relapse repeatedly. Therefore, for Communists, to eradicate the pathogen of work-style problems and prevent unhealthy tendencies from approaching and attaching to the body, efforts must be made to establish roots and consolidate foundations, solving the problem of Party spirit. In short, it is necessary to grasp ideology, clarify the bottom line, educate and guide Party members, especially leading cadres, to cultivate healthy tendencies, eliminate evil influences, consolidate foundations, adhere to truth, adhere to the right path, adhere to principles, adhere to rules, correctly handle the relationships between right and wrong, public and private, gain and loss, establish and practice a correct outlook on political performance, follow the Party’s mass line in the New Era, unswervingly seek benefits for the people, and continuously enhance Party spirit cultivation and ideological realm.

不断提升党性修养。一些党员干部的作风出现这样那样的问题，根子还是理想信念这个“压舱石”发生了动摇，世界观、人生观、价值观这个“总开关”出现了偏差。“总开关”问题不解决，作风问题的病原体就仍然存在。正如病人治病一样，病治了以后，进入恢复期，如果条件具备，潜伏于身体内的病原体就可能再度繁殖，进而使病症再度发作或反复发作。因此，对共产党人来讲，根除作风问题的病原体，防止歪风邪气近身附体，必须在立根固本上下功夫，解决好党性问题。简而言之，就是要抓思想、明底线，教育引导党员特别是领导干部养正气、祛邪气、固根本，坚守真理、坚守正道、坚守原则、坚守规矩，正确处理是和非、公和私、得和失的关系，树立和践行正确政绩观，走好新时代党的群众路线，矢志不移为民造福，不断提升党性修养和思想境界。

Comprehensively strengthen institutional construction around work-style problems. Many problems appear to be issues of atmosphere, but when analyzed in depth, they are often problems of systems and mechanisms. To improve work style, the fundamental reliance must be on institutions. Without institutional guarantees, the achievements of improving work style cannot be preserved. To promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work-style improvement, the key is to have a complete set of scientific and reasonable laws, regulations, and institutions. It is necessary to plug the loopholes that breed unhealthy tendencies from the perspective of systems and mechanisms, persist in starting from problems, deepen reform, transform functions, use the rule-of-law thinking and rule-of-law methods to improve work style, advance institutional innovation in step with the times, focus on improving the long-term mechanism for reducing burdens at the grassroots level, improve the institutional mechanism for preventing and treating formalism and bureaucracy, improve the mechanism for simultaneous investigation and treatment of unhealthy tendencies and corruption, perfect the performance evaluation system for political achievements, standardize the mechanism for evaluating cadres’ political performance, improve the positive incentive mechanism, establish a mechanism for fault tolerance and error correction, establish a disciplinary education mechanism that combines regular and centralized approaches, perfect the mechanism for the allocation and operation of power and its constraints, etc., establish a strict and complete system of laws, regulations, and institutions for work-style improvement, and ensure the transformation of work-style improvement from treating symptoms to treating root causes through rigid institutional provisions and strict institutional implementation, achieving the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work-style improvement.

围绕作风问题全面加强制度建设。许多问题看起来是风气问题，往深处剖析又往往是体制机制问题。抓作风建设，根本上还是要靠制度。没有制度保障，改进作风的成果也保不住。推动作风建设常态化长效化，关键要有一整套科学合理的法规制度。要从体制机制上堵住滋生不正之风的漏洞，坚持从问题入手，深化改革、转变职能，以法治思维和法治方法抓作风建设，与时俱进推进制度创新，着力健全为基层减负长效机制，健全防治形式主义、官僚主义制度机制，健全不正之风和腐败问题同查同治机制，完善政绩考核评价体系，规范干部政绩考核机制，健全正向激励机制，建立容错纠错机制，建立经常性和集中性相结合的纪律教育机制，完善权力配置和运行制约机制等，建立严格、完善的作风建设法规制度体系，以刚性的制度规定和严格的制度执行，确保作风建设由治标向治本转变，实现作风建设常态化长效化。

(The author is a Distinguished Researcher of the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Deputy Director of the Institute of Philosophy)

（作者系中国社会科学院习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员、哲学研究所副所长）

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