The Fundamental Guidance and Action Guide for Deepening the Improvement of Work Style

The work style of the ruling party bears on the Party’s image, on popular support, and on the life and death of the Party and the state. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has begun its breakthrough by formulating

Far-sighted strategic considerations——

The Party’s work style is related to the will of the people and determines the success or failure of the Party and the state’s cause.

The Party’s work style is the image of the Party and a barometer for observing the relationship between the Party and the masses, between cadres and the people, and the will of the people. If the Party’s work style is correct, the people’s mood is smooth, and the Party and the people can share hardships and joys. Standing at the new starting point of the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s emphasis on strengthening the improvement of the Party’s work style embodies both a profound sense of urgency and far-reaching strategic considerations.

Maintaining a fine work style is one of the important reasons for our Party’s continuous victories. On April 24, 1945, Comrade Mao Zedong, in his political report “On Coalition Government” delivered at the Seventh National Congress of the CPC, first summarized and formed the Party’s “Three Great Work Styles” [1]1 The “Three Great Work Styles” refer to the integration of theory with practice, close ties with the masses, and criticism and self-criticism, as formulated by Mao Zedong in his 1945 report “On Coalition Government.” and emphasized that these are the distinctive signs distinguishing our Party from any other political party, becoming a major innovative achievement in the theory of Party building. Precisely because the Party cultivated and adhered to a whole set of glorious traditions and fine work styles, including the “Three Great Work Styles,” in the long-term practice of struggle, our Party has been able to traverse a hundred years of wind and rain, repeatedly rising again in times of crisis and correcting mistakes after errors, becoming an indestructible Marxist political party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “In the hard years of the revolutionary war era, the standards for the Party’s work style construction across the board were very high, the measures were very strict, and the tests were very real. Great revolutionary spirits such as the Jinggangshan Spirit, the Long March Spirit, the Yan’an Spirit, and the Xibaipo Spirit [2]2 These are revolutionary spirits named after key locations in CPC history: Jinggangshan (the first rural revolutionary base), the Long March (1934-35), Yan’an (wartime headquarters, 1936-48), and Xibaipo (site of the 1949 Central Committee meeting before entering Beijing). were all composed of visible, tangible, and perceptible glorious traditions and fine work styles.” These glorious traditions and fine work styles are the concentrated embodiment of the Party’s nature and purpose, its original aspiration and founding mission, and its faith and convictions. The century-long history of struggle enlightens us that for the Party to gain the support and endorsement of the masses, it must persistently carry forward the Party’s glorious traditions and fine work styles.

As a Marxist political party in long-term governance, the Party must never take work style issues lightly at any time. After the Party came to power nationwide, its ruling position brought tremendous changes to the ranks of Party members and cadres. Around the time of the founding of New China, Comrade Mao Zedong repeatedly warned the entire Party to be vigilant against the new situations and new problems brought about by the change in the Party’s status, and he frequently addressed this work. In the more than 70 years since the founding of New China, various problems that have emerged in the Party’s work style are actually closely related to the change in the Party’s status. With the increase in the Party’s time in governance and the profound changes in the internal and external environment in which the Party finds itself, work style issues have manifested themselves with increasing complexity. Throughout history, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, there are countless examples of ruling groups collapsing due to a corrupt work style. In the later period of the Soviet Communist Party’s rule, the high level was severely detached from the grassroots, the organization was severely detached from its members, and Party members were severely detached from the masses. Various problems such as the hollowing out of faith, ideological diversification, and institutional bureaucratization emerged within the Party, becoming one of the important reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Communist Party. Therefore, if a ruling party does not pay attention to work style construction and allows unhealthy tendencies to erode the Party’s body, it risks losing the people’s support and the danger of losing political power. Drawing lessons from experience, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “For our Party to always be the vanguard of the times, the backbone of the nation, and always be a Marxist ruling party, it must itself always be rock-solid.” What does it mean to always be rock-solid? It means adhering to and carrying forward the Party’s fine traditions and work style, building the Party into a vibrant Marxist ruling party that always stays at the forefront of the times, enjoys the heartfelt support of the people, is brave in self-revolution, can withstand various storms and tests.

The greater the risks, the more numerous the challenges, and the heavier the tasks, the more necessary it is to strengthen the improvement of the Party’s work style. In today’s world, changes unseen in a century are accelerating. Our country is in a critical period for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects has achieved great historic accomplishments, the battle against poverty has achieved a comprehensive victory, and the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country has been smoothly launched. At the same time, we still face many difficulties and challenges on the road ahead. Especially under the new circumstances, there are many problems within the Party that urgently need to be resolved. For example, some feel that they can now take a good breather and rest on their laurels, becoming comfortable officials and peace-time officials; some feel that “the boat has reached the dock, the carriage has arrived at the station,” lacking enterprise, loafing on the job with mediocre governance and lazy politics; some have become more calculating about personal gains and losses, full of worries and fears about taking responsibility yet greedy for fame, fortune, and enjoyment; some are accustomed to being “mouthpieces” and “relay stations,” detouring around difficulties and passing tough problems upward, lacking the sharpness and fighting spirit to tackle tough problems. Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization is an unprecedented great undertaking and will inevitably face unprecedented huge challenges. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that the greater the risks, the more numerous the challenges, and the heavier the tasks, the more necessary it is to strengthen the improvement of the Party’s work style, using a good work style to invigorate spirit, stimulate fighting spirit, establish an image, and win the people’s hearts.

Thorough and concise theoretical explanation——

The essence of work style issues is Party spirit, and the core is the relationship between the Party and the masses.

Work style reflects image and quality, embodies Party spirit, and what plays a decisive role is also Party spirit. To improve work style, one must return to simplicity, consolidate the foundation, and strengthen the roots, focusing on firming up ideals and convictions, practicing the fundamental purpose, and strengthening moral cultivation.

To maintain and carry forward the Party’s fine work style, firming up ideals and convictions is fundamental. Conviction is the root, work style is the form; if the root is correct, the form gathers; if the root is incorrect, the form will inevitably scatter. Our Party takes Marxism as its foundation for building the Party, takes the realization of communism as its highest ideal, and takes serving the people wholeheartedly as its fundamental purpose. This is the root of Communists. For Communists, if they waver in their faith, deviate from Party spirit, or discard their purpose, they may be captured in the “hunt.” [3]3 “Hunt” (围猎) is a metaphor used in CPC discourse for the process by which interest groups target and corrupt Party officials. For the Communist Party, once it loses its ideals and convictions, it is essentially no different from other political parties, it will lose its spiritual motivation and spiritual bond, it will become a mob, and it will be difficult to escape the fate of failure. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that ideals and convictions are the “calcium” in the spirit of Communists. If Communists lack ideals and convictions, they will be “calcium-deficient” in spirit, suffer from “osteomalacia,” and inevitably lead to political deterioration, economic greed, moral depravity, and a corrupt lifestyle. Therefore, in improving work style, we must return to simplicity, consolidate the foundation, and strengthen the roots, guiding Party members, especially leading cadres, to continuously strengthen Party spirit cultivation, continuously build a solid foundation of faith, replenish the calcium of the spirit, and steady the rudder of thought.

Serious and rigorous inner-Party political life is the “purifier” for cleansing Party conduct. What kind of inner-Party political life exists determines what kind of work style Party members and cadres will have. Whether a leading body is strong and capable is closely related to whether it has serious and rigorous inner-Party political life; whether a leading cadre is strong and authoritative is also closely related to whether they have undergone the tempering of serious and rigorous inner-Party political life. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has presided over the democratic life meeting of the Political

The core issue of work style is the relationship between the Party and the masses. Mass work is our fundamental skill; our Party rose to power through mass work, and it must rely on mass work to achieve long-term governance. For a period, our development achievements were very significant, and the people's material and cultural living standards continuously improved. Yet the Party's connection with the people became more distant, and the phenomenon of detachment from the masses became more prominent in certain aspects. Where does the problem lie? General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In my view, it is mainly because some Party members and cadres have weakened their sense of purpose, their feelings toward the masses have changed, and their work style issues have become prominent. If the mass viewpoint is discarded, the mass stance is skewed, and the mass line is deviated from, the masses will not have you in their eyes

Fruitful practical explorations——

The Eight-Point Regulations are a landmark measure that changed the political ecosystem and social landscape

After the 18th National Congress of the CPC [4]4 The “Four Forms of Decadence” (四风) refers to formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, which were the primary targets of the Party’s mass-line education campaign launched in 2013., faced with various problems and malpractices within the Party, how was the Party to govern itself? How was comprehensive and strict governance of the Party to be strict? It was like a tiger trying to eat the sky, with no place to start. "Difficult things in the world must be done starting from the easy; great things in the world must be done starting from the small." [5] The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, taking the overall situation into account and conducting in-depth assessment, after repeated deliberation, decided to grasp work style improvement by starting with the Eight-Point Regulations, starting small, seeing the big from the small, driving the big with the small, maintaining consistency, and advancing step by step.

Once the Eight-Point Regulations were implemented, work style improvement was fully activated. Given that in the period before the 18th National Congress, eating and drinking in excess among some leading cadres had become common practice, the people were greatly dissatisfied, and many had consequently lost confidence, General

The improvement of work style must grasp the “key minority” of leading cadres at all levels. Leading cadres are the “key minority” for the development of the Party and the state’s cause, and they serve as a weather vane for the entire Party and society. During the revolutionary war years, a major difference between our army and the Kuomintang army was that our cadres led troops into battle by charging to the front, shouting “Follow me,” while Kuomintang officers often ordered soldiers to “Charge for me”—a difference of one word, yet a world of difference. Fan Zixia, commander of the New Tenth Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, told his troops: “I advance, and you follow me; I stop, and you push me forward; I retreat, and you shoot me.” In improving work style, leading cadres setting a good example is a silent demonstration. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, from the democratic life meetings of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee, the collective study sessions of the Political Bureau, to special seminars for provincial and ministerial-level cadres, and training classes for county Party secretaries, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized on various occasions that leading cadres must deeply recognize the importance of playing a leading role, measuring themselves with a strict yardstick and demanding of themselves with high standards. Ultimately, demanding from above or pushing from behind is not as effective as leading from the front.

Persisting in the integration of rectifying work style, enforcing discipline, and combating corruption is an effective path for improving work style. Party spirit, work style, and Party discipline form an organic whole: Party spirit is the foundation, work style is the manifestation, and Party discipline is the guarantee. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee has successively launched a series of centralized study and education campaigns across the Party, focusing on improving work style, strictly enforcing discipline, and punishing corruption, promoting the integration of rectifying work style, enforcing discipline, and combating corruption. Practice shows that the longer a problem is addressed, the more evident it becomes how difficult it is to change prevailing trends! The interweaving of unhealthy tendencies and corruption is a prominent issue that must be addressed in the current efforts to improve Party conduct, build clean government, and fight corruption. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: Use “joint investigation” to severely punish the intertwined issues of work style and corruption, and use “joint governance” to eradicate the common roots of work style and corruption. It is necessary to combine the rectification of work style, enforcement of discipline, and combating of corruption, always adhering to a strict tone, strict measures, and a strict atmosphere, using fine work style as a guide, strict discipline as a guarantee, and anti-corruption and punishment of evil to clear obstacles, promoting the Party’s self-revolution in a linked and progressive manner, continuously achieving self-transcendence through discarding the old and embracing the new, and upholding fundamental principles while breaking new ground.

Making the Party’s work style comprehensively pure is an important goal of improving work style. The ultimate aim of grasping work style improvement is to ensure that cadres at all levels establish and promote a good work style. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee has made great efforts to improve work style, precisely to extend from solving the problem of the “Four Forms of Decadence” [4]4 The “Four Forms of Decadence” (四风) refers to formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, which were the primary targets of the Party’s mass-line education campaign launched in 2013., striving to improve ideological style, work style, leadership style, and cadres’ lifestyle, and to improve the style of study, writing, and meetings, so as to make the Party’s work style comprehensively pure. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that comprehensive and strict governance of the Party and encouraging responsible conduct are inherently unified, not opposed to each other. Strictness does not mean stifling everyone, turning things into a stagnant pool of lifelessness and inaction, but rather, through clarifying direction, establishing rules, rectifying atmosphere, and strengthening immunity, to create a clean and upright political ecosystem within the Party, foster a favorable environment conducive to undertaking endeavors, further mobilize the Party’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, and effectively ensure that a fine Party style leads to the improvement of social conduct and public morals.

Promoting the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style improvement is the institutional guarantee for improving work style. For a period, work style issues faced a difficult cycle that was hard to break out of, with the crux lying in underestimating their stubbornness and recurrence, lacking the tenacity for sustained effort, the patience for strict enforcement, and institutions that could govern long-term and consolidate the foundation. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “The key is to work hard on regular, detailed, and long-term efforts” and “to carry forward the spirit of driving in nails.” Ultimately, improving work style relies on institutions. It is necessary to focus on the long term, address both symptoms and root causes, establish and improve rules and regulations, tighten the institutional “cage,” ensure that the established institutions are workable, strongly guiding, and effective over the long term, and use rigid institutional provisions and strict institutional implementation to ensure that work style improvement is standardized, normalized, and long-lasting. Since the New Era, the Party Central Committee has promoted a series of new theoretical and practical achievements in work style improvement, which have been continuously incorporated into the norms of political life within the Party under new circumstances, the code of integrity and self-discipline, and written into intra-Party regulations such as the regulations on intra-Party supervision, the regulations on disciplinary sanctions, and the regulations on accountability, providing fundamental guidance and institutional guarantees for the entire Party to continuously improve its work style, and the institutionalization and normalization of work style improvement have reached a new level.

The improvement of work style is always ongoing, with no final resting point. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has led the sustained improvement of the Party’s work style and government conduct, winning the trust and support of the people. These changes are comprehensive and profound, far-reaching and inspiring, accumulating strong positive energy for the development of the Party and the state’s cause. We must take the in-depth study and implementation of the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations as an opportunity to profoundly understand the major political, theoretical, and practical guiding significance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on strengthening the Party’s work style improvement, fully recognize the major achievements in the Party’s work style improvement in the New Era, clearly grasp the new trends and new developments facing the Party’s work style improvement on the new journey, adhere to the momentum of rolling a stone up a mountain and the courage of climbing a slope and crossing a ridge, maintain resolve without yielding an inch, persist with endurance and long-term effort, tirelessly strengthen the Party’s work style improvement, and ensure that the Party always remains the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

(The author is Deputy Director of the First Research Department of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee)

Online editor: Tongxin