Better Upholding and Developing Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

Section 4: Take charge of the “four greatness”, make overall plans to promote the “five-in-one” overall layout, and coordinate the promotion of the “four comprehensive” strategic layout

To better adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, we must take charge of the “four greatness”, make overall plans to promote the overall layout of the “five-in-one”, and coordinate the promotion of the “four comprehensive” strategic layout, which is the overall plan of the Communist Party of China to promote the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the top-level design of the party to realize socialist modernization.

1. the “four greats” are closely linked, interconnected and interact

The proposal of the “four greats” as a whole is a major theoretical innovation, which clarifies the party’s general strategy for governing the country in the new era and the general blueprint for leading the overall situation, embodies the high degree of unity of the goal of struggle, the path to realization, and the driving force for progress, embodies the high degree of unity of historical inheritance, practical tasks, and future direction, embodies the high degree of unity of the party’s future and destiny, the country’s future and destiny, and the nation’s future destiny, and profoundly answers what is the party’s historical mission in the new era. The major theoretical and practical issue of how to realize the party’s historical mission in the new era has brought the party’s understanding of its own historical mission to a new height. Comrade Xi Jinping clearly pointed out: “The great struggle, the great project, the great cause, and the great dream are closely linked, interconnected and interacting, and the decisive role is the new great project of party building.“1 This is of crucial significance for the correct understanding of the “Four Greats.”

The “four greats” are an organic and unified whole.

Great dreams guide the correct direction and provide the course for great struggles, great projects, and great causes; great struggles show the spirit of responsibility and provide traction for great projects, great causes, and great dreams; great projects forge leading forces and provide a strong guarantee for great struggles, great causes, and great dreams; and great causes declare the banner of the road and open up a path of advance for great struggles, great projects, and great dreams. The “Four Greats” epitomize the new concepts, ideas and strategies of the Party Central Committee in governing the country with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, highlight the historical mission and grand goal of the Communist Party of China under the new historical conditions, and form the overall framework of the Party Central Committee’s governance of the country. The historic changes in the party and the country were achieved precisely under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of China in the great struggle with many new historical characteristics, were guaranteed by the new great project of party building, advanced in the direction of the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and were inspired by the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Great projects play a decisive role in the “four greats.” To administer the country, we must first administer the party, and we must administer the party strictly; this is the profound conclusion drawn by the CPC in its own construction. Deepening the people’s promotion of the new great project of party building is an inevitable requirement for maintaining the party’s advanced nature and purity, for improving the party’s ruling ability and level, and for ensuring the party’s comprehensive leadership. The reason why the great project plays a decisive role is because the Communist Party of China is the leading body of the great cause, the great struggle and the great dream: advancing the great cause cannot be separated from the party, the strong core of leadership; the party, the backbone of the people of the whole country, cannot be separated from the party as the backbone of the people of the whole country to carry out the great struggle; and the realization of the great dream is even more inseparable from the party, the vanguard that will always walk in the forefront of the times. The iron must be its own. In order to unite and lead the people in waging great struggles, advancing great causes, and realizing great dreams, the party must unswervingly uphold and improve the party’s leadership, unswervingly promote the comprehensive and strict management of the party, and build the party into a stronger and more powerful party. As long as the party builds itself well and strongly, it will certainly be able to lead the ship carrying the great dream of the Chinese nation to travel steadily and far.

2. make overall plans to promote the overall layout of the “five-in-one”

The overall layout of the “five-in-one” economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction involves all links of productive forces and production relations, economic foundation and superstructure

Penetrating all aspects of socialist modernization is a scientific summary of the CPC’s practical experience in socialist construction.

The overall layout of the “five-in-one” is a major achievement of the party’s deepening understanding of the law governing socialist construction. Before the victory of the Chinese revolution, Comrade Mao Zedong proposed that the new country and society we want to build must not only have a new politics and a new economy, but also a new culture. After the founding of New China, the party united and led the people to carry out the comprehensive construction of socialism and carried out profound explorations on the layout and construction methods of socialist construction. In the new period of reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, on the basis of summing up the experience of socialist construction, put forward the idea of taking economic construction as the center and promoting all-round social development and all-round progress. In accordance with this important thought of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee put forward for the first time the concept of “the overall layout of socialist modernization” and preliminarily established the overall layout of China’s socialist modernization construction, namely: “With economic construction as the center, unswervingly carry out economic structural reform, unswervingly carry out political structural reform, unswervingly strengthen the building of spiritual civilization, and make these aspects cooperate and promote each other.“1 Economy, politics and culture have become important contents of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The 15th and 16th National Congresses of the Communist Party of China further clarified the goals and requirements for the comprehensive economic, political and cultural construction and all-round development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and deepened the understanding of the overall layout. After the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party put forward the task of social construction, so that the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics has developed more clearly from the “trinity” to the “four-in-one.” The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further put forward the construction of ecological civilization as a new requirement for achieving the goal of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China formally established the overall layout of the “five-in-one” construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era profoundly expounds the goals, directions and strategic deployment of the overall layout of the “five-in-one.” ——In economic construction, it is to adapt, grasp and lead the new normal of economic development and adhere to the new development concept;

Vigorously promote supply-side structural reform, optimize the economic structure, accelerate the construction of a modern economic system, build an innovative country, promote the formation of a new pattern of comprehensive opening up, and achieve high-quality economic development.

– In political construction, it is to adhere to the organic unity of the party’s leadership, the people’s mastery of the country, and the rule of law, improve the system of the people being the masters of the country, improve the grassroots democratic system, improve the consultative democratic system, consolidate and develop the patriotic united front, improve the supervision system of the party and the state, strengthen the restraint and supervision of power, and comprehensively promote the rule of law.

– In terms of cultural construction, it means strengthening cultural self-confidence, firmly grasping the leadership of ideological work, cultivating and practicing the core socialist values, strengthening ideological and moral construction, prospering and developing socialist literature and art, promoting the development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries, and building a socialist cultural power.

– In terms of social construction, it is to ensure and improve people’s livelihood, solve the most direct and practical interests of the people, strengthen and innovate social governance, create a social governance pattern of joint construction, co-governance and sharing, and effectively safeguard national security.

——In the construction of ecological civilization, it is to promote green development, build a beautiful China, strengthen the construction of ecological civilization system, increase the protection of ecosystems, focus on solving prominent environmental problems, and form a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production mode and lifestyle that conserves resources and protects the environment.

The formation and deepening of the overall layout of the “five-in-one” in the new era reflects the continuous accumulation of experience and sublimation of understanding of the Communist Party of China in promoting socialist construction, and enables us to have a more comprehensive and profound understanding of the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.