At the 20th Central Committee Politburo

Speech at the fourth collective study

(March 30, 2023)

Xi Jinping

　　Today, we are holding a collective study on the theme of learning and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The purpose is to play a leading role and promote the entire Party's in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the thematic education, laying a solid foundation in ideological theory.

　　Here, I would like to emphasize a few points regarding the thematic education.

　　 First, learning and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is a fundamental requirement for opening up a new chapter in the cause of development in the new era and on the new journey. For the world's largest Marxist ruling party, a strong theory leads to clear direction, unity of hearts, and confidence. The guidance of Marxist scientific theory is the fundamental reason for our Party's firm belief and its ability to seize the initiative in history. Persisting in using the latest achievements of the Sinicization of Marxism to arm the entire Party, guide practice, and promote work is an important experience of our Party in creating history and achieving brilliance. In the new era and on the new journey, facing the complex international and domestic situations, the arduous tasks of reform, development, and stability, and various unpredictable risks and challenges, achieving the strategic goals set by the 20th National Congress of the CPC urgently requires a large number of Party members and cadres, especially leading cadres at all levels, to further study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This is the main consideration of the Party Central Committee in launching this thematic education throughout the Party.

　　Every step forward in the Party's theoretical innovation requires a corresponding step forward in theoretical education. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has undergone 10 years of development, and during this period, we have also promoted Party-wide learning for 10 years, achieving significant results. However, the task of theoretical education remains arduous. On the one hand, there are still some issues that need to be addressed in terms of truly learning, believing, and applying the theory, truly understanding it, and truly putting it into practice. On the other hand, the Party's innovative theory is constantly developing. The 20th National Congress of the CPC put forward a series of major ideas and viewpoints. Since the 20th National Congress of the CPC, some new viewpoints have been put forward in the process of expounding the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, especially the putting forward and systematic elaboration of Chinese modernization, a major theoretical and practical issue, further enriching Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The study and implementation of this aspect has only just begun. This thematic education, with the theme of learning and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, aims to promote the entire Party, especially leading cadres, to continuously deepen the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

　　 Second, focus on grasping the scientific system and essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The process of theoretical innovation of the Party is a process of summarizing experience, exploring the unknown, and discovering truth; it is a process of grasping the internal connections between things, revealing objective laws, and foreseeing the inevitable trend of the development of things. The theoretical achievements thus formed are naturally a scientific system, logically rigorous, and organically unified whole. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is closely focused on answering major questions of the times, such as what kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics to uphold and develop in the new era, how to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, what kind of socialist modern powerful country to build, how to build a socialist modern powerful country, and what kind of long-term ruling Marxist political party to build, and how to build a long-term ruling Marxist political party. It is a theoretical achievement that continuously deepens the understanding of the laws of human social development, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of the Communist Party's governance. Its content covers all aspects of reform, development, stability, domestic and foreign affairs, national defense, governance of the Party, governance of the country, and governance of the army, forming a complete scientific system. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC clearly points out that the "Ten Points of Clarification," "Fourteen Points of Adherence," and "Thirteen Achievements" summarize the main content of this thought. We must not only comprehensively and systematically learn and master these main contents, but also grasp the scientific system of this thought as a whole, achieving integration and mutual understanding. The new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies proposed for various fields, and the specific requirements put forward for various aspects of work, should all be understood and grasped within the entire scientific system, avoiding fragmentation and one-sidedness, and not only seeing the trees but also the forest.

　　At the same time, to thoroughly understand Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we must also grasp the worldview, methodology, and the standpoints, viewpoints, and methods running through this thought. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed a scientific method for continuing to advance theoretical innovation, namely: we must uphold putting the people first, we must uphold self-reliance, we must uphold upholding the right principles while making innovations, we must uphold a problem-oriented approach, we must uphold a systems perspective, and we must uphold a global perspective. These "six must upholds" are also an important embodiment of the standpoints, viewpoints, and methods of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Only by accurately grasping the standpoints, viewpoints, and methods of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, including the "six must upholds," can we better understand the essence of this thought, get the methodology right, have a higher perspective on issues, a deeper understanding of issues, and accurate work, ensuring that we are measured and flexible in our approach. In actual work, some leading cadres' inaccurate judgment of the situation, passive response to risks, and handling of complex contradictions often have a close relationship with their failure to grasp the essence of the Party's innovative theory.

　　 Third, carry forward the fine style of linking theory with practice. The degree to which a theory is implemented in a country depends on the degree to which it meets the needs of reality, and the effectiveness of a theory's role depends on the depth to which it is put into practice. Practicality is a prominent characteristic of Marxism. The purpose of studying Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era lies in its application, in transforming this thought into a powerful ideological weapon for transforming the subjective world and the objective world. Only by putting one's own thoughts, work, and responsibilities into it can one truly appreciate the power of truth and the practical power of scientific theory.

　　The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposes to use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to unify thinking and strengthen the soul, which is to promote the entire Party to transform its subjective world with the Party's innovative theory as a weapon. In this thematic education, Party members and cadres, especially leading cadres at all levels, should actively put their own thoughts into it, learn and master the Party's innovative theory's requirements on strengthening ideals and beliefs, improving ideological realm, and strengthening Party spirit, including remaining true to the original aspiration and keeping the mission firmly in mind, bearing in mind "the major affairs of the state," improving political judgment, political understanding, and political implementation, "Three Stricts and Three Earnests," loyalty, integrity, and dedication, serving the people wholeheartedly, and being honest and clean, always maintaining the political character of a Communist Party member. In particular, we must transform the worldview, methodology, and the standpoints, viewpoints, and methods running through this thought into our own ideological weapons, internalizing them and putting them into practice.

　　We must apply the Party's innovative theory to the implementation of the major strategic deployments put forward by the 20th National Congress of the CPC. We must be good at using Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to observe, grasp, and lead the times, better coordinating the overall strategic layout of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the major changes unseen in a century in the world, deeply understanding the times and trends, dangers and opportunities, and actively adapting to changes, responding to changes, and seeking changes. We must be good at using this thought to make new progress and breakthroughs in Chinese modernization, strengthen political leadership, enrich strategic support, expand practical paths, solve development problems, stimulate dynamism and vitality, and make the Chinese characteristics of Chinese modernization more distinct, its advantages more prominent, and its prospects brighter. We must be good at using this thought to solve various contradictions and problems in economic and social development, comprehensively, accurately, and completely implement the new development philosophy, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, promote high-quality development, and promote common prosperity. We must be good at using this thought to prevent and resolve major risks, enhance awareness of risks, adhere to the bottom-line thinking, be prepared for danger in times of peace, and always maintain a state of readiness, playing a proactive role and winning a proactive battle, preventing various risks from emerging and resolving them before they occur, resolutely preventing various risks from getting out of control and spreading, and resolutely preventing systemic risks. We must be good at using this thought to deepen the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, always maintaining the clarity and determination to solve the unique problems of a large party, both focusing on solving new problems and focusing on solving existing deep-seated problems, ensuring that the Party will never change its nature, color, or flavor.

　　 Fourth, comrades of the Central Politburo must set an example in the thematic education. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, I have repeatedly emphasized that leading cadres must set an example in all aspects and lead by example. Practice has proved that this is an effective leadership and work method. In this thematic education, comrades of the Central Political Bureau must take the lead in learning, understanding, and implementing the spirit of the Party Central Committee's documents on in-depth thematic education, setting a higher standard, stricter requirements, and more practical measures to set an example, set a benchmark, and lead the way for the whole Party. We must take the lead in theoretical study, guiding and promoting the whole Party to deepen the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We must take the lead in conducting investigations and research, going deep into reality and the masses, enhancing awareness of problems, truly understanding the situation, identifying problems, and formulating practical countermeasures, putting forward new ideas and methods for solving problems, and guiding and promoting the whole Party to develop a strong style of investigation and research. We must take the lead in checking and rectifying problems, closely combining them with the new situation, new tasks, and new responsibilities, organically integrating learning, checking, and rectification, comprehensively identifying shortcomings and deviations in our work, correctly treating and consciously accepting supervision from both inside and outside the Party, earnestly conducting criticism and self-criticism, focusing on solving problems from the ideological roots and institutional mechanisms, leading the whole Party to conduct thorough investigations and rectifications, and winning the trust of the people with the actual results of the rectification. We must take the lead in the thematic education in our respective regions and areas of responsibility, strengthening leadership responsibilities, keeping abreast of progress, focusing on identifying and resolving various nascent and potential problems, correctly handling the relationship between daily work and thematic education, ensuring that the work is solid and in-depth, ensuring that the direction does not deviate and the intensity does not decrease, promoting the solid implementation of thematic education, and striving to achieve tangible results.