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16th Party Congress Report
X. Strengthen and Improve Party Building In a large multi-ethnic developing country like ours, we must spare no efforts to strengthen and improve the Party's leadership and fully advance the great new undertaking of Party building if we are to rally the entire people to work heart and soul in building a well-off society in an all-round way and speed up the socialist modernization drive. To strengthen and improve Party building, we must hold high the great banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory, implement the important thought of Three Represents in a comprehensive way and ensure that the Party's line, principles and policies fully reflect the fundamental interests of the people and the requirements of development of our times. We must adhere to the principle that the Party exercises self-discipline and is strict with its members, and further address the two major historical subjects of how to enhance the Party's art of leadership and governance and how to raise the Party's capacity to resist corruption, prevent degeneration and withstand risks. We must acquire an accurate understanding of social progress in contemporary China, and reform and improve the Party's way of leadership and governance and its leadership and working systems so that the Party will be full of vigor and vitality in its work. We must proceed with Party building ideologically, organizationally and in work style in parallel with institutional improvement, not only ensuring a good performance of our day-to-day work, but also tackling prominent issues in good time. Unyielding efforts will be made to ensure that our Party is forever the vanguard both of the Chinese working class and of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation as well as the core of leadership in building socialism with Chinese characteristics and that it always represents the development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. 1. Study and implement the important thought of Three Represents intensively and raise all Party members' level of the Marxist theory. The rise in the Party's ideological and theoretical level is an ideological guarantee for continued progress of the cause of our Party and state. We must highlight the Party's ideological and theoretical building. We must continue to arm all Party members with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thoughtand Deng Xiaoping Theory and usher in a new upsurge in the study and implementation of the important thought of Three Represents. Party members and cadres, particularly senior and middle-rank cadres, should take the lead in studying and acting on the important thought of Three Represents. They should play an exemplary role in studying diligently, using their brains, emancipating their minds, keeping pace with the times and boldly engaging in practice and innovation. We will carry out an intensive education among all Party members in the history of development of Marxism and promote the truth-seeking and pioneering spirit. We will deepen our understanding of the laws on governance by the Communist Party, on building socialism and on development of human society and constantly enrich and develop Marxism. 2. Build up the Party's governing capacity and improve its art of leadership and governance. Faced with profound changes in the conditions of governance and social environment, Party committees and leading cadres at all levels must, in response to the requirements of the new situation and new tasks, acquire new knowledge, accumulate new experience and develop new abilities in practice, thus living up to the mission assigned to them and the full trust placed on them. They must view the world with broad vision, acquire a correct understanding of the requirements of the times and be good at thinking on a theoretical plane and in a strategic perspective so as to improve their ability of sizing up the situation in a scientific way. They must act in compliance with objective and scientific laws, address promptly the new situation and problems in reform and development, know how to seize opportunities to accelerate development and enhance their abilities of keeping the market economy well in hand. They must correctly understand and handle various social contradictions, know how to balance the relations among different interests, overcome difficulties and go on improving their ability of coping with complicated situations. They must enhance their awareness of law and know how to integrate the adherence to Party leadership and the people being the masters of the country with ruling the country by law and improve their abilities of exercising state power according to law. They must base themselves on the overall interests of the work of the entire Party and the whole country, firmly implement the Party's line, principles and policies, work creatively in light of realities and keep enhancing their ability of commanding the whole situation. 3. Adhere to and improve democratic centralism and enhance the Party's vitality, solidarity and unity. Democratic centralism is a system that integrates centralism on the basis of democracy with democracy under centralized guidance. Inner-Party democracy is the life of the Party and plays an important exemplary and leading role in people's democracy. We should establish and improve an inner-Party democratic system that fully reflects the will of Party members and organizations, starting with the reform of the relevant systems and mechanisms on the basis of guaranteeing the democratic rights of Party members and giving priority to improving the systems of Party congresses and of Party committees. The system of Party congresses with regular annual conferences should be tried out in more cities and counties. We should explore ways to give play to the role of delegates when Party congresses are not in session. In accordance with the principle of collective leadership, democratic centralism, individual consultations and decision by meetings, we should improve the rules of procedure and decision-making mechanism within Party committees in order to give fuller play to the role of plenary sessions of Party committees. We need to reform and improve the inner-Party electoral system. We should establish and improve inner-Party information sharing and reporting systems and the system of soliciting opinions concerning major policy decisions. The centralization and unity of the Party and state are where the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups lie. The whole Party and the entire nation must maintain a high degree of unity with regard to the guiding ideology, line, principles and policies and major questions of principle. All Party members must consciously abide by the principle that individual Party members are subordinate to the organization, that the minority is subordinate to the majority, that lower Party organizations are subordinate to the higher ones and that all the constituent organizations and members of the Party are subordinate to its National Congress and Central Committee. They must safeguard the authority of the Central Committee and ensure that its decisions are carried out without fail. Party organizations at all levels and all Party members, leading cadres in particular, must strictly abide by Party discipline. Under no circumstances should they be allowed to go their own ways in disregard of orders and prohibitions. 4. Build a contingent of high-caliber leading cadres and form an energetic and promising leadership. It is a matter of vital importance for maintaining prolonged stability of the Party and state to build a contingent of high-caliber leading cadres capable of assuming heavy responsibilities and withstanding the test of trials and tribulations, and especially to train a large number of outstanding leading cadres for the mission of running the Party, state and army in accordance with the principle of bringing up more revolutionary, younger, better educated and more professionally competent cadres. We should conscientiously implement the regulations on the selection and appointment of leading cadres and make a point of testing and identifying cadres in the practice of reform and development so as to promote to leading positions in good time those who are accredited with ability, integrity and outstanding performance and enjoy popular support. We should make greater efforts to train and select outstanding young cadres, helping them cultivate their Party spirit, pursue theoretical study and gain practical experience so that they will improve in all respects. We should do a better job of training and selecting women cadres, cadres from among ethnic minorities and non-Party cadres. We should continue to do well the work related to retired cadres. We should turn the leading bodies of the Party at all levels into staunch collectives that firmly implement the important thought of Three Represents mainly by improving their qualities, optimizing their composition, refining their work style and enhancing solidarity. We should train more and more successors to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics so that the cause of the Party and people will be carried forward. 5. Build the Party well at the primary level, reinforce its class foundation and expand its mass base. The primary organizations of the Party constitute its foundation for doing all its work and building up its combat effectiveness. They should organize, motivate and practice the implementation of the important thought of Three Represents. We should, by focusing on the central task and serving the overall interests, broaden the fields of our endeavor, intensify our functions and expand the coverage of the Party's work so as to increase the rallying power and combat effectiveness of primary organizations. We should strengthen the building of village-level supporting organizations which rally around village Party organizations, and explore effective ways that will enable cadres to receive education regularly and farmers to get long-term tangible benefits. In order that state-owned and collective enterprises operate well, we must persistently rely on the working class wholeheartedly, and Party organizations in those enterprises should take an active part in the decision-making on major issues and give full play to their role as the political core. We should strengthen Party building in enterprises of the non-public sectors. Party organizations in enterprises must carry out the Party's principles and policies, and provide guidance to and supervise the enterprises in observing the laws and regulations of the state. They should exercise leadership over trade unions, the Communist Youth League and other mass organizations, rally the workers around them, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all quarters and stimulate the healthy development of the enterprises. We should attach great importance to Party building in communities, striving to bring about a new pattern in Party building in urban communities, with the focus on serving the people. We should intensify our efforts to establish Party organizations in mass organizations and intermediaries. We should fully carry out Party building in Party and government organs as well as schools, research institutions, cultural groups and other institutions. Party members must play their vanguard and exemplary role, foster the lofty ideal of communism, fortify their conviction in socialism with Chinese characteristics and work hard to realize the Party's basic program for the current stage. We need to carry out Party-wide education to maintain the progressiveness of Party members mainly by putting the important thought of Three Represents into practice. We should recruit Party members mainly from among workers, farmers, intellectuals, servicemen and cadres, thus expanding the basic components and backbone of the Party. We should make a point of recruiting Party members from among those in the forefront of work and production and from among the prominent intellectuals and young people. We should admit into the Party advanced elements of other social strata who accept the Party's program and Constitution, work for the realization of the Party's line and program consciously and meet the qualifications of Party membership following a long period of test, in order to increase the influence and rallying force of the Party in society at large. We must, in light of the new situation, seek new mechanisms and methods for the management of Party membership. 6. Strengthen and improve the Party's style of work and intensify the struggle against corruption. The key to improving the Party's style of work lies in keeping the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the people. The biggest political advantage of our Party lies in its close ties with the masses while the biggest potential danger for it as a ruling party comes from its divorce from them. We must at all times and under all circumstances adhere to the Party's mass line, and to the purpose of serving the people heart and soul and regard the people's interests as the starting point and goal of all our work. We must carry forward the fine tradition and style of our Party, bearing in mind the fundamental principle that the Party is built for the public and that it exercises state power for the people. We must make effective efforts to resolve the outstanding issues in respect of the way of thinking, study and work of our Party, its style of leadership and its cadres' way of life and especially to prevent and overcome formalism and bureaucracy by acting on the principle of the "eight do's" and "eight don'ts" (*Note 2) put forward by the Party Central Committee, by resorting to both educational and institutional means and by correctly conducting criticism and self-criticism. Closely following the new changes in social activities and carefully studying the new features of our mass work, we must strengthen and improve such work throughout the process of building the Party and political power. All Party members, primarily leading cadres at all levels, must do mass work well in light of the new situation and, by persuading, setting examples and providing services, unite and lead the masses in making progress. To combat and prevent corruption resolutely is a major political task of the whole Party. If we do not crack down on corruption, the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the people will suffer a lot and the Party will be in danger of losing its ruling position, or possibly heading for self-destruction. Against the background of its long-term governance and China's opening up and development of the socialist market economy, the Party must be on full alert against corrosion by all decadent ideas and maintain the purity of its membership. Party committees at all levels must fully recognize the urgency as well as the protracted nature of the fight against corruption. They should enhance confidence, do a solid job, take a clear-cut stand and never waver in carrying on the fight in depth. We should work still harder to make sure that our leading cadres are clean, honest and self-disciplined, and see to it that major corruption cases are investigated and dealt with. Malpractices in departments and trades and services must be corrected. We must adhere to the principle of addressing both symptoms and root causes of corruption and taking comprehensive measures to rectify both while devoting greater efforts gradually to tackling the latter. We must strengthen education, develop democracy, improve the legal system, tighten supervision, make institutional innovation and incorporate counter-corruption in all our major policy measures so as to prevent and tackle corruption at its source. We must uphold and improve the leadership system and working mechanism against corruption and earnestly implement the responsibility system for improving the Party's work style and building clean government, in a concerted effort to prevent and punish corruption. Leading cadres, particularly senior ones, should play an exemplary role in exercising the power in their hands correctly. They must always be honest and upright and take the initiative to crack down on all forms of corruption. All corruptionists must be thoroughly investigated and punished without leniency. So long as all Party comrades always maintain the vigor and vitality, dashing spirit and integrity as Communists and have the people at heart, the foundation of our Party's governance will remain rock solid. Comrades, To build a well-off society in an all-round way and create a new situation in building socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is essential, under the firm leadership of the CPC, to develop a socialist market economy, socialist democracy and an advanced socialist culture, keep the coordinated development of the socialist material, political and spiritual civilizations, and bring about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The CPC is deeply rooted in the Chinese nation. Since the very day of its founding, it has been the vanguard of the Chinese working class and also of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, shouldering the grand mission of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. During the new-democratic revolution, our Party united and led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in fulfilling the historic task of winning national independence and people's liberation, thus laying the groundwork for our great national rejuvenation. After the founding of New China, our Party creatively completed the transition from New Democracy to socialism, the greatest and most profound social transformation ever in China's history, and embarked on a socialist road and the historical journey to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since the Third Plenary Session of its Eleventh Central Committee, our Party has found the correct road to socialism with Chinese characteristics, injecting new and greater vitality into our drive for national rejuvenation. Splendid prospects present themselves before the great cause of rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. To build a well-off society in an all-round way, step up the socialist modernization drive and make socialist China a stronger and more prosperous country, thus contributing still more to the cause of human progress - this is a historical mission our Party must take on with courage. The fulfillment of this mission inevitably depends on the solidarity of the Party and that of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. Solidarity means strength; solidarity means victory. After going through all the hardships and setbacks, our Party and people have gained rich experience and become increasingly mature. In the face of a world that is far from being tranquil and the formidable tasks before us, all Party members must be mindful of the potential danger and stay prepared against adversities in times of peace. We must be keenly aware of the rigorous challenges brought about by the ever-sharpening international competition as well as risks and difficulties that may arise on our road ahead. We must bear in mind the overall interests of our Party all the more deeply, cherish the solidarity all the more dearly and safeguard stability all the more firmly. All Party comrades and the people of all ethnic groups of the country, let us rally closely around the Party Central Committee and work with one heart and one mind in a joint and unyielding effort to advance the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and create a happier life and a better future for us all! *Note 1 - The Four Cardinal Principles are: to keep to the socialist road and to uphold the people's democratic dictatorship, leadership by the Communist Party, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. *Note 2 - The "eight do's" and "eight don'ts" are: 1. Emancipate the mind and seek truth from facts; do not stick to old ways and make no progress. 2. Combine theory with practice; do not copy mechanically or take to book worship. 3. Keep close ties with the people; do not go in for formalism and bureaucracy. 4. Adhere to the principle of democratic centralism; do not act arbitrarily or stay feeble and lax. 5. Abide by Party discipline; do not pursue liberalism. 6. Be honest and upright; do not abuse power for personal gains. 7. Work hard; do not indulge in hedonism. 8. Appoint people on their merits; do not resort to malpractice in personnel placement.
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