CPC's Governing Concept And Its Evolution
How the Party's governing concept has been evolving in the different historic periods
July 1 will be the 86th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the upcoming 17th National Congress of the Party makes it a special one. The CPC National Congress and the policies adopted by it are usually milestones in the Party's development and exert profound influence on China's development. On the eve of the Party's 86th birthday, Beijing Review interviewed Zhang Rongchen, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, about how the Party's governing concept has evolved through different historic periods.
Beijing Review: What was the major task for the CPC immediately after its founding?
Zhang Rongchen: The founding of the CPC in July 1921 was directly influenced by the October Revolution in Russia in 1917. However, the CPC was founded for the specific needs of the Chinese revolutionary situation.
After the First Opium War in 1840, China was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. Then Chinese people faced two historic tasks of pursuing national independence and liberation and building a strong country with well-off people. The fulfillment of these two historical tasks had to start with a thorough anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism revolution.
The people demanded the founding of a Party led by the working class to guide a Chinese anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism revolution. The democratic revolution after the founding of the CPC fulfilled these anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism tasks and achieved national independence and liberation. This meant that the governing status of the CPC was historically inevitable and in line with the interests and demands of the public.
What was the principle and governing concept of the CPC after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949?
Since the first day of its founding the CPC has taken "serving the people wholeheartedly" as its principle, which has been written into the Party Constitution. In 1944, Mao Zedong made a speech entitled "Serving the People Wholeheartedly," in which he said, "Our Communist Party and the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies led by our Party are battalions of the revolution. These battalions of ours are wholly dedicated to the liberation of the people and work entirely in the people's interests." This is not only the guiding principle for the army but also the CPC's guiding principle.
With the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, the Party's principle of serving the people has become its governing principle.
The Second Plenary Session of the Seventh CPC Central Committee convened in March 1949 passed new regulations, forbidding birthday celebrations for CPC leaders, discouraging proposing toasts and giving applause to Party leaders, forbidding naming places, streets or enterprises after Party leaders and forbidding ranking any Party leader with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.
When the conference decided to move the headquarters of the CPC Central Committee from Xibaipo in Hebei Province to Beijing, Mao made the famous remarks, "We are going to the capital city for an examination. I hope we can all pass it, and not make the same mistake as Li Zicheng." (Li led a peasant uprising during the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In 1644 his army captured Beijing, and the last Ming Emperor was compelled to hang himself in shame. However, due to Li's corrupt ways, his victory was short lived.) Mao's remark was calling on the whole Party to remain modest, prudent and free from arrogance and rashness in its style of work and to preserve the style of plain living and hard work.
What were the characteristics of the Party, in terms of the tasks it undertook and its theoretical development, directly after it initiated the reform and opening-up policy?
The chaotic Cultural Revolution (1966-76) caused stagnation of China's socialist development. The harmful repercussions included piles of wronged and misjudged cases, destroyed Party and government organizations, paralyzed economic construction and strained foreign relationships. At the turning point of the Party's development and the country's development, the CPC, led by Deng Xiaoping, decided to blaze a new trail by acknowledging its mistakes and confirming its achievements.
On August 18, 1980, Deng made an important speech on reforming the Party's organizational system at a conference of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee. He pointed out the Party's mistakes had more to do with imperfect organizational schemes and structure than leaders' personal mistaken perceptions. Deng emphasized that the solution to all problems within the Party depended on the establishment of a functioning structure.
What are the latest developments of the Party's governing concepts since the 16th National Congress of the CPC in 2002?
After the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee in 1989, the CPC's third-generation leadership took shape with Jiang Zemin at the core and created a series of new theories about the Party development in the new condition of building a socialist market economy in China. An important theory is "Three Represents," which explains what the CPC currently stands for. The CPC represents the development trends of advanced productive forces, the orientations of an advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people of China.
After the 16th National Congress of the CPC in 2002, it put forward new governing principles of "scientific and democratic rule and rule in accordance with law."
A decision at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee in 2004 said the Party must always exercise its governing power in a scientific, democratic and law-abiding manner, and constantly improve its leadership skills and ways of governance; the whole Party should fully act on the concept of "Three Represents," keep pace with the times and lead Chinese people of all ethnic groups to build a well-off society in an all-round way.
This was the first time in the Party's 55 years in power that it had put forward scientific, democratic and law-bidding governance as its goal in order to enhance the Party's ability to govern well.
What have been the notable characteristics of the Party's theories since the 16th National Congress of the CPC?
The most outstanding feature is innovation. Since the 16th National Congress of the CPC, the current leadership has put forward many innovative governance theories, which are the new fruit of Marxism's evolution in China. These new theories include a people-oriented approach, the concept of scientific development, a harmonious society, a new socialist countryside, an innovation-oriented country, a socialist concept of honor and disgrace, a harmonious world, and maintaining the Party's advanced nature as well as enhancing its governance capacity. These theories have profound guiding significance for the grand cause of building a socialist society with Chinese characteristics.
