Carrying forward the Party's fine traditions and maintaining the Party's advanced nature are concrete manifestations of the Party's advanced nature. Over 80 years of glorious struggle, our Party has formed a number of fine traditions and styles. In addition to the three familiar traditions and styles: linking theory with practice, maintaining close ties with the masses, and criticism and self-criticism, there are also modesty, prudence, hard work, pragmatism, pioneering spirit, and innovation. These fine traditions and styles embody the nature, purpose, program, and line of the Marxist party, which is the banner that distinguishes our Party from other political parties significantly. They are the concrete manifestation of our Party’s advanced nature, the heirloom and political advantages of our Party, and the source of strength and spiritual support that unites the Party and the people.
The Party's advanced nature requires adherence to the dialectical materialist worldview. In terms of style, it is embodied in integrating theory with practice. Since its founding, our Party has formed three theoretical achievements: Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and the "Three Represents" important thought. They are the products of combining theory with actual conditions, shining examples of upholding and developing Marxism, and concentrated expressions of the advanced nature of our Party. Because we are armed and guided by scientific theories, our Party has been able to lead the people to overcome all difficulties, obstacles, and setbacks, go through one trial after another, and continue to win new victories in the great journey of revolution, construction, and reform.
The Party's advanced nature calls for always standing on the position of the masses. In terms of style, it is embodied in maintaining close contact with the masses. Historical materialism holds that the masses are the real heroes who make history and push history forward. Based on this fundamental principle of Marxism, our Party has set serving the people wholeheartedly as its fundamental purpose. In practice, it gradually formed a fine tradition of maintaining close ties with the masses, established the mass line of doing everything for the masses, relying entirely on the masses, coming from the masses, and going back to the masses, thus establishing flesh-and-blood ties between our Party and the masses. The three generations of leadership of our Party have all made brilliant expositions on this.
The Party's advanced nature requires upholding truth, correcting errors, and being selfless in the style of criticism and self-criticism. Our Party takes the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of people as the starting point and destination of all its work. The nature and purpose of the Party determine that our Party is not afraid of criticism and self-criticism. Comrade Mao Zedong attached great importance to promoting criticism and self-criticism, stating that this is the only effective way to resist all kinds of political dust and germs from contaminating the minds of our comrades and the body of our Party. Practice has proven that reflecting on one's thoughts and work, frequently carrying out correct and undistorted, serious and not superficial criticism and self-criticism, has allowed maxims to endure for long eventful years in our Party and write one song after another magnificent era of triumph, giving rise to the Jinggangshan Spirit, the Long March Spirit, the Yan'an Spirit, the Daqing Spirit, and the 'Two Bombs, One Satellite' Spirit. All these spirits are distinct manifestations and sublimations of our Party's fine traditions.
Our Party has been able to grow from small to large, from weak to strong, unite and lead the people of all nationalities to achieve great achievements in revolution, construction, and reform. One of the important reasons is that our Party has fine traditions and styles, allowing us to always stand at the forefront of the times, maintain vigor and vitality, represent the development requirements of China's advanced productive forces, the direction of China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of people in China.
In the context of long-term governance, we should carry forward the fine traditions of the Party. Looking at ancient and modern history, the more comfort and good situations there are, the less easy it is to prepare and remain silent. Comrade Mao Zedong reflected endlessly on the history of the late Ming Dynasty, the Peasants’ War, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This has been validated by the history of the world socialist movement. At the end of the last century, in the 1980s and 1990s, the reason why the ruling parties of the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries lost their governing positions one after another is that many Western strategies of Westernization and differentiation were external factors, while the problems within these parties themselves were internal factors. Ultimately, it is rooted in the gradual arrogance of power, relaxing their own style building, discarding good traditions and styles, becoming detached from reality and the masses, rigid thinking, complacency, apathy, and contradicting the nature and purpose of Marxist political parties, thereby losing their advanced nature and popular support. Learning from past experiences, the longer our Party governs, the greater the test we face in this regard. Therefore, inheriting and carrying forward the Party's fine traditions and styles, maintaining the Party's advanced nature, and consolidating the Party's governing status are crucial. From the perspective of the environment our Party faces, changes in domestic and international situations constantly present new challenges. The Party must unswervingly carry forward the Party's fine traditions and styles. As early as the beginning of reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping solemnly proposed strengthening the Party's work style in the new situation.