Persistently Advancing the Theoretical Dimension, Value Scale, and Practical Orientation of Intra-Party Regulations Construction

Since socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, the construction of the Chinese Communist Party’s intra-Party regulations system has achieved unprecedented accomplishments, forming a “relatively complete system of intra-Party regulations.” The key to comprehensively building a modern socialist country and comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation lies in the Party; the foundation for perfecting the Party’s leadership system and improving the system for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party lies in regulations. The fundamental role of intra-Party regulations in Party building and their supporting role in Party leadership determine the critical position of intra-Party regulations within the Party’s institutional structure. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC put forward the requirement to “improve the system of intra-Party regulations and enhance their authority and enforcement.” Standing at a new historical starting point, the Party’s theory, values, and practice provide directional guidance and inexhaustible impetus for the further development and improvement of the intra-Party regulations system.

中国特色社会主义进入新时代以来，中国共产党党内法规体系建设取得了空前成就，形成了“比较完善的党内法规体系”。全面建设社会主义现代化国家、全面推进中华民族伟大复兴，关键在党；完善党的领导制度体系、健全全面从严治党体系，基础在规。党内法规对党的建设的基础性作用和对党的领导的支撑性作用决定了党内法规在党的制度结构中的关键地位。党的二十大报告提出了“完善党内法规制度体系，增强党内法规权威性和执行力”的要求，站在历史的新起点上，党的理论、价值与实践为党内法规体系的进一步发展完善提供了方向的指引和不竭的动力。

I. Theory: The Internal Support for Intra-Party Regulations Construction

一、理论：党内法规建设的内在支撑

Intra-Party regulations are an important component of the socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics, the institutional embodiment of the Party’s unified will, the institutional norms for the Party’s leadership and Party-building activities, and the institutional support for comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. Theory is the guide to action; placing high importance on theoretical construction and theoretical guidance is a basic requirement for the advanced nature of a Marxist political party, a distinctive political character and powerful political advantage that ensures our Party always stays at the forefront of the times. The critical position of intra-Party regulations within the Party’s institutional structure determines that the construction of intra-Party regulations cannot be separated from the guidance of advanced theory. As an original and pioneering institutional practice of our Party in contemporary China and even the world today, intra-Party regulations inevitably contain the Party’s theoretical presuppositions in the field of institutional construction, and intra-Party regulations themselves will undergo a continuous process of theorization.

党内法规是中国特色社会主义法治体系的重要组成部分，是党的统一意志的制度体现，是党的领导和党的建设活动的制度规范，是全面从严治党的制度支撑。理论是行动的先导，高度重视理论建设和理论指导，是马克思主义政党先进性的基本要求，是我们党始终走在时代前列的鲜明政治品格和强大政治优势，党内法规在党的制度结构中的关键地位决定了党内法规建设离不开先进理论的指导。党内法规作为我们党在当代中国乃至当今世界原创性和开创性的制度实践，其中必然蕴含着我们党在制度建设领域的理论预设，党内法规自身也将经历一个持续不断的理论化过程。

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has achieved a new leap in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times and serves as the fundamental guidance for all our Party’s work. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the most important reason for the great achievements in intra-Party regulations construction has been adherence to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, taking it as the fundamental basis for formulating and revising intra-Party regulations, and promoting the continuous consolidation, development, and improvement of intra-Party regulations construction along the correct track. At the same time, theoretical and academic circles have provided broad and profound theoretical support for intra-Party regulations construction. Experts and scholars from multiple disciplines, including the history and construction of the CPC, Marxist theory, law, and political science, have paid sustained attention to intra-Party regulations construction. Starting from different research interests, they have put forward theoretical suggestions at different levels and from different perspectives for intra-Party regulations construction. Experts and scholars have conducted extensive discussions and in-depth deliberations on basic issues such as the concept, attributes, and boundaries of intra-Party regulations; formal rationality issues such as the system structure, effectiveness hierarchy, and basic categories of intra-Party regulations; and substantive normative issues such as the objectives, tasks, adjustment objects, and adjustment content of intra-Party regulations, forming a consensus. These consensuses have been incorporated into specific plans for the development and improvement of intra-Party regulations, thus forming a benign interaction mechanism between the formulating subjects and the subjects constructing the theoretical system.

习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想实现了马克思主义中国化时代化新的飞跃，是我们党开展各项工作的根本遵循。党的十八大以来，党内法规建设取得巨大成就的最重要原因就是坚持习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的指导，并将之作为制定、修订党内法规的根本遵循，推进党内法规建设沿着正确的轨道不断巩固、发展和完善。与此同时，理论界和学术界也为党内法规建设提供了广泛而深邃的理论支撑。党史党建学、马克思主义理论、法学、政治学等多学科的专家学者对党内法规建设给予持续关注，从不同的研究旨趣出发，为党内法规建设提出了不同层面、不同视角的理论建议。专家学者对党内法规的概念、属性、边界等基础性问题，党内法规的体系结构、效力等级、基本范畴等形式合理性问题，党内法规的目标任务、调整对象和调整内容等实质规范性问题，进行了广泛的讨论和深入的商榷，并形成共识。这些共识被纳入党内法规发展完善的具体方案，从而形成了制定主体与理论体系建构主体的良性互动机制。

II. Value: The Spiritual Signpost for Intra-Party Regulations Construction

二、价值：党内法规建设的精神路标

Value is the soul of institutions, and institutions are the body of value. The century-long transformation of intra-Party regulations has been a process of development and change upon the Party’s value thread. The Party’s value system inherently prescribes the attributes of intra-Party regulations and inherently determines that the direction of intra-Party regulations construction and development cannot deviate. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasizes that “the core is to solve the problem of ‘for whom’ things are done.” The reason intra-Party regulations can be effectively implemented and continuously improved for the better is precisely because the Chinese Communist Party, as a Marxist political party and the vanguard of the proletariat, possesses unique values and a sense of mission. On the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, the “System of Intra-Party Regulations of the Chinese Communist Party” published by the Bureau of Regulations of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee also clearly pointed out that intra-Party regulations must not only “possess strong political attributes” but also have “a distinct value orientation.” This indicates that the construction of intra-Party regulations must not only build a complete set of instrumental rule systems for governing the Party but also integrate the Party’s value normative system into them, responding in practice to two major practical issues raised in the report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC: “persistently using the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to consolidate the soul and unite the heart” and “adhering to the simultaneous and coordinated advancement of ideological Party building and institutional governance of the Party.”

价值是制度之魂，制度是价值之体，党内法规的百年变革，是在党的价值脉络之上的发展变化，党的价值体系内在地规定了党内法规的属性，内在地决定了党内法规的建设发展方向不能有所偏颇。习近平总书记强调，“核心要解决好为什么人的问题”。党内法规之所以能够有效施行并不断趋优向善，正是由于中国共产党作为马克思主义政党和无产阶级先锋队，有着独特的价值观念和使命担当。中国共产党成立一百周年之时，中共中央办公厅法规局发布的《中国共产党党内法规体系》也明确指出，党内法规不仅要“具有强烈的政治属性”，还要具有“鲜明的价值导向”。这表明，党内法规建设不仅要构建一整套管党治党的工具性规则体系，还要将党的价值规范体系融入其中，在实践中回应好党的二十大报告提出的“坚持不懈用新时代中国特色社会主义思想凝心铸魂”和“坚持思想建党和制度治党同向发力”两大现实问题。

Only by clarifying “who we are” can the intrinsic value of institutional construction be determined. Only by the Party being “what it is” can it manifest its essence in the process of governance and better exert its function of comprehensive leadership. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC points out that “through unremitting efforts, the Party has found the second answer to the historical cycle of rise and fall, chaos and order—self-revolution,” and proposes to “improve the institutional normative system for the Party’s self-revolution.” These two statements represent the unity of the value and norms of “self-revolution,” the transformation of the Party’s mechanism for resisting corruption and preventing degeneration, which has been continuously tested through practice, into procedural institutional norms. This helps clarify “who we are” and thereby determine the intrinsic value of institutional construction. Politics cannot be merely the extension and application of the will to power; politics needs to rely on specific political values to establish and maintain interactive and mutually constructive relationships between subjects. In his speech at the ceremony marking the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping stated: “The Chinese Communist Party always represents the fundamental interests of the broadest majority of the people, shares weal and woe and life and death with the people, has no special interests of its own, and has never represented the interests of any interest groups, any power groups, or any privileged strata.” The Chinese Communist Party must never degenerate into a devalued structural political existence and a controlling power system, nor must it degenerate into a bureaucratic organization detached from the masses. Therefore, while continuously “filtering impurities, removing toxins, and excising malignant tumors” to “ensure the health of the Party’s body,” the normative guarantee of the institutional system is indispensable. Manifesting the Party’s most distinctive character of self-revolution is inseparable from the escort of intra-Party regulations.

只有明确了“我们是谁”才能确定制度建设的内在价值，党只有“是其所是”才能在执政过程中彰显其本质，更好地发挥全面领导的政党功能。党的二十大报告指出，“经过不懈努力，党找到了自我革命这一跳出治乱兴衰历史周期率的第二个答案”，并提出要“完善党的自我革命制度规范体系”。这两条论述是“自我革命”价值与规范的统一，是党经过实践不断检验的拒腐防变机制向程序性的制度规范的转化，有助于明确“我们是谁”进而确定制度建设的内在价值。政治不能只是权力意志的伸张和应用，政治需要依靠特定的政治价值建立并维持主体间的互动互构关系。习近平总书记在庆祝中国共产党成立100周年大会上的讲话中指出：“中国共产党始终代表最广大人民根本利益，与人民休戚与共、生死相依，没有任何自己特殊的利益，从来不代表任何利益集团、任何权势团体、任何特权阶层的利益。”中国共产党绝不能蜕变成去价值化的结构性政治存在和控制性的权力体制，绝不能蜕变成脱离群众的官僚化组织。因此，在不断“过滤杂质、清除毒素、割除毒瘤”的同时“保证党的肌体健康”，离不开制度体系的规范保障，彰显我们党自我革命的最鲜明品格，离不开党内法规的保驾护航。

III. Practice: The Fundamental Driving Force for Intra-Party Regulations Construction

三、实践：党内法规建设的根本动力

Practice is the activity of the subjective seen in the objective, the sole criterion for testing the correctness of theory, policy, and institutions. “Discovering truth through practice, and verifying and developing truth through practice” is both the philosophical summary and important experience of our Party’s independent exploration of the Chinese revolutionary path, and the basic process and inevitable path for our Party to promote the improvement and development of the socialist system in light of new situations, new problems, and new needs. Specifically, institutional construction is stable with changes, advancing through change. Intra-Party regulations “are born because of the Party, established because of the Party, and thrive because of the Party,” closely related to the Party’s practical activities, exhibiting the institutional construction characteristic of “practice first, refinement later.” Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, comprehensive and strict governance of the Party has provided substantial practical experience and realistic basis for intra-Party regulations construction. Consequently, in the texts of intra-Party regulations issued and revised since the New Era, many new phenomena, new problems, new propositions, and new important theoretical achievements have been written in, showing that intra-Party regulations exhibit a problem-oriented and time-sensitive character closely integrated with real-world practice.

实践是主观见之于客观的活动，是检验理论、政策、制度正确与否的唯一标准。“通过实践发现真理，又通过实践证实和发展真理”，这既是我们党独立探索中国革命道路的哲学总结与重要经验，也是我们党根据新情况、新问题、新需要推动社会主义制度完善发展的基本过程与必由之路。具体来说，制度建设是稳中有变，因变而进的，党内法规“因党而生、因党而立、因党而兴”，与党的实践活动紧密相关，呈现出“实践在前，提炼在后”的制度建设特征。党的十八大以来，全面从严治党为党内法规建设提供了厚重的实践经验与现实依据。由此，在新时代以来发布和修订的党内法规文本中，就有许多新现象、新问题、新主张和新的重要理论成果被写入，党内法规呈现出与现实实践紧密结合的问题导向与时效特征。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party’s leadership has been comprehensively strengthened, the Party’s core position in the national governance structure has been continuously consolidated, and the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee have been effectively ensured. At the same time, intra-Party regulations construction has achieved historic accomplishments and undergone historic transformations. Intra-Party regulations construction and the Party’s governance of the country have been interconnected and mutually reinforcing, successfully promoting the continuous transformation of the institutional advantages of intra-Party regulations into governance effectiveness. Although the direct objects of intra-Party regulations are often limited to the “intra-Party” sphere, the Party’s leadership is comprehensive, systematic, and holistic, which determines that intra-Party regulations possess an objective governance effect that “spills over.”

党的十八大以来，党的领导得到了全面加强，党在国家治理结构中的核心地位不断巩固，党中央权威和集中统一领导得到有力保证。与此同时，党内法规建设也取得了历史性成就、发生了历史性变革，党内法规建设与党的治国理政相互衔接、相互联动，成功推动党内法规制度优势不断转化为治理实效。尽管党内法规直接作用的对象往往限定在“党内”的范畴，但党的领导是全面的、系统的、整体的，这决定了党内法规具有“溢出”的客观治理功效。

In the construction of intra-Party regulations in the New Era, it is necessary not only to observe the functional characteristics of intra-Party regulations in the process of practice from the perspective of the Party’s subjectivity, but also to observe the systemic characteristics of intra-Party regulations in the practice of the Party leading national governance from a structural perspective. High-ranking intra-Party regulations, including the Party Constitution, codes, and regulations, possess fundamental, overall, macroscopic, and holistic characteristics; their issuance and revision have the key function of adjusting and perfecting the Party’s leadership system. Therefore, high-ranking intra-Party regulations should highlight the maintenance of the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership, and focus on integrating with the Party’s top-level design. Low-ranking intra-Party regulations, including provisions, measures, rules, and detailed rules, are specific stipulations on the requirements and procedures for a certain important aspect of the work of the Communist Party of China. They constitute the vast majority of intra-Party regulations in practice, possess relatively strong procedural, targeted, and operational characteristics, and are the institutional prerequisites for ensuring that the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee are implemented and for realizing the transformation from the “Chinese system” to “Chinese governance.” To comprehensively construct intra-Party regulations at all ranks, it is necessary to fully grasp the functional positioning of intra-Party regulations at each rank, and based on practice, promote the construction of a system of intra-Party regulations that is logically self-consistent in form and progressively effective in force.

在新时代的党内法规建设中，不但要从党的主体性出发，观察在实践过程中党内法规的功能性特征，而且要从结构性视角出发，观察党内法规在党领导国家治理实践中的系统性特征。包括党章、准则、条例在内的高位阶党内法规具有根本性、全局性、宏观性、整体性的特征，其发布、修订具有调整与完善党的领导体制的关键功效，因此，高位阶党内法规要突出维护党中央权威与集中统一领导，注重与党的顶层设计相结合；包括规定、办法、规则、细则在内的低位阶党内法规是对中国共产党某一重要方面工作的要求、程序等所作出的具体规定，实践中占党内法规的绝大多数，具有较强的程序性、针对性和可操作性，是推动党中央决策部署落到实处、实现“中国之制”向“中国之治”转化的制度要件。统筹建设各位阶党内法规，需要充分把握各位阶党内法规的功能定位，基于实践推动构建形式上逻辑自洽、效力上层层递进的党内法规规范体系。

(Author’s bio: Xu Qirui, Deputy Secretary-General of the Academic Committee of the Research Center for Intra-Party Regulations and National Supervision, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者简介：徐启瑞，中国社会科学院大学党内法规与国家监察研究中心学术委员会副秘书长）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心