The full text of a document which was passed at the Sixth Plenum of
the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on
September 26, was made public in Beijing Sunday, spelling out the
principles and tasks of the Party in terms of improving Party
style.
The document, the "Decision of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China on Strengthening and Improving the
Building of the Party Style," contains about 14,000 Chinese
characters in 11 parts.
The decision looks at the "extreme importance and urgency" of
improving the Party style. It says that the style of the ruling
party is directly related to the Party's image, whether or not the
Party will win the support of the people, and the fate of the Party
and the state. In general, the CPC has a good style, but certain
problems need to be immediately tackled. All CPC members should be
watchful in times of peace.
Party members should have a thorough knowledge of the Party's
present situation, the decision says. It is wrong to be pessimistic
while ignoring the main trends, and it is dangerous to neglect the
seriousness of problems, lose concentration and make no effort to
solve the problem.
According to the decision, in this new phase of development, the
guiding principle and overall requirement for improving the Party
style are to bring the Party style to a new level by carrying on
good traditions, enhancing ideological education, accelerating
system building and tackling outstanding issues, and in doing so,
the CPC should stick to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and
Deng Xiaoping Theory and follow the important theory of "Three
Represent's", focus on the central task of economic development and
the country's overall situation of reforms, development and
stability, persist in the Party administering the Party itself and
in exercising strict self-discipline, further cement relations with
the people, maintain the Party's advanced nature and purity, and
enhance its creativity, cohesion and fighting ability.
The decision points out that now and in the future, efforts must be
centered on key issues in the Party's way of thinking, studying and
working, and on its leadership and on the lifestyle of cadres. The
main tasks will be:
--
to adhere to the principle of emancipating the mind and seeking
truth from facts, so as to prevent old ways of doing things and
refrain from being contented with things as they are;
--
to uphold the principle of combining theory with practice, and
fight against bookishness;
--
to keep in touch with the people, and fight against formalism and
bureaucracy;
--
to maintain democratic centralism, and refrain from acting
arbitrarily or despotically and prevent laziness;
--
to keep to the Party's disciplinary rules, so as to prevent
liberalism;
--
to promote justice and honesty, and to fight against the abuse of
power for personal gain;
--
to work hard, and fight against hedonism; and
--
to promote officials according to their ability and merits, so as
to prevent unfair and corrupt appointment of officials.
The decision then made detailed explanations of the above-
mentioned eight tasks.
To
improve the Party style, priority must be given to improve the
style of thinking. Adhering to the principle of emancipating the
mind and seeking truth from facts is the fundamental requirement
for the party to advance with progressive tides of the times and
always keep advanced.
The whole party must consciously emancipate the mind from outdated
ideas, practices and systems, from wrong and dogmatic understanding
of Marxism and from the shackles of subjectivism and metaphysic,
continuously push for innovations in theories, systems and science
and technology, strive to explore a new stage in the development of
the Marxist theories, and create a new situation in the development
of the cause of the Party and the country.
Combining theory with practice is the key to the Party's
maintaining strong creativeness. To carry on such a style of study
is a kind of basic work in improving the Party style. All Party
members must be diligent in study in accordance with practical work
and conduct their work in a creative way, with theory unified with
reality, study integrated with practice, and words matching
behavior.
Standing at the core of improving the Party style is maintaining
flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the masses. The biggest
threat faced by a ruling Marxist Party is that it would deviate
from the people. Cadres at various levels must observe people's
living conditions, listen to people's opinions, accumulate people's
wisdom and treasure people's work. They should always take into
consideration the dangers and sufferings of the people and work for
their benefit wholeheartedly. Party members should be diligent in
their work and serve the people. They should tell the truth, report
real information and guard against haste and boasting.
Democratic centralism makes up the Party's fundamental
organizational and leading system. To fully practice democracy and
safeguard centralization is an important part of improving the
Party style. In the course of reforming old and establishing new
systems, working out policies and making decisions on major issues,
democracy should be practiced so as to mobilize the enthusiasm of
all walks of life. In the meantime, the trend of decentralization
should be prevented and corrected. It is not allowed to disobey
orders and violate bans, to fabricate countermeasures and act
against policies, and to implement protectionism in some areas and
departments.
Strict discipline is a vital guarantee for carrying out the Party's
lines, maintaining the Party's unity and completing the Party's
tasks. Political discipline is the most important discipline of the
Party. All Party organizations and members at various levels must
stick to the basic lines of the Party, consciously keep in line
with the CPC Central Committee, safeguard the committee's
authority, and ensure that the committee's decisions are carried
out unimpeded.
The Party is established for the people and its governance of the
country is aimed at serving the people. The facts are decided by
the nature and purpose of the Party and are the fundamental goals
of improving the Party style. Supervision inside the Party should
be strengthened and channels of democracy should be expanded, the
masses should be relied on, and the exercise of power should be put
under effective supervision. Cases involving power abuse for
personal gains must be investigated and treated seriously, and
efforts should be focused on major cases in an effort to give
severe penalty to corrupt ones. The Party should win confidence
from the people by way of improving the Party style and keeping
clean government and from the practical results of fighting against
corruption.
Hard work and perseverance are the Party's fine traditions and are
great spiritual force for the Party to unite and lead the people to
build a strong country and realize national revitalization. It is
of great significance to combat various decadent thoughts and
maintain the nature of the Party and the power of the state. Party
members and cadres should form a revolutionary outlook of life,
raise their ideological and ethical quality and foster a positive
way of life.
The decision emphasizes the need of appointing Party cadres
according to their ability, so as to provide the organizational
guarantee for improving the Party style. The selection of officials
for leading posts plays a significant role in improving the Party
style. Efforts should be made to quicken the reform of the Party's
personnel system and continue the successful practice of selecting
officials with a good method and selecting officials who have a
good working style.
The decision points out that the Party must work effectively and
implement the main tasks so that the style of the Party will attain
new and obvious progress, the ties between the Party and the masses
and ties between cadres and the masses will have new and obvious
improvement, and the people will see a clear-cut improvement and
become more confident.
China is witnessing economic prosperity, unity among all ethnic
groups and social stability, and the country has entered an
important period of full-scale development, the decision notes.
With a scientific theory and correct line, with fine style and
valuable experiences during 80 years of struggle, with firm
determination and concerted efforts to improve the Party style,
with the confidence and support of the people, the Party is
absolutely confident in and capable of pushing the building of the
Party style to a new level.
The decision calls on the whole Party to rally closely around the
CPC Central Committee with Jiang Zemin at the core, hold high the
banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory and further implement the important
theory of "Three Represent's", blaze new trails and do a good job
to achieve more success in building socialism with Chinese
characteristics.
(Xinhua News
Agency 10/07/2001)