Continue to Fully Mobilize the Party's Unique Strengths

Secondly, we must mobilize our Party's unique political strength. Above all, we must undertake vigorous ideological and political work among the broad ranks of Party members and cadres to reinforce their belief in Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, inspire them to continue on the road of building the country through hard work, plain living and thrift, so that, from the standpoint of politics, we preserve the Party's advanced nature and purity.

Firm political ideas and convictions and the revolutionary willpower and fighting spirit that flow from them were the source of strength that inspired Communist Party members to overcome all types of dangers and difficulties and achieve victory in the periods of revolution, construction and reform. They are one of the key strengths of our Party. In the epoch of war and revolution countless Communist Party members rushed to the aid of their country fearing neither hardship nor imprisonment and calmly faced death for the cause. They sacrificed themselves for their ideology and beliefs and the struggle, without thought of political office or financial gain. As Comrade Deng Xiaoping said: "In the past, no matter how weak or small our Party was, no matter what difficulties we encountered, we always maintained a powerful fighting spirit because we had faith in Marxism and Communism. We had the same ideals, so we had iron discipline. No matter whether we are talking about the past, the present or the future, this is our true strength." Now we are in power and conditions have improved for the Party, but some Party members and leading cadres shrink back in fear when faced with opposition, become pessimistic and give up hope in the face of difficulties. There are even some who cannot resist the temptations of power, money or sex and have become degenerate and corrupt. The basic reason is a loss of political ideals and convictions. Party organizations at all levels must strengthen the political and ideological education of Party members and cadres to reinforce their belief in Marxism, socialism with Chinese characteristics, reform and opening up and the socialist modernization drive. All Communist Party members should apply their long-term ideals in their day-to-day tasks and work untiringly and with conviction for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Our commitment to building the country through hard work, plain living and thrift has been one of our Party's guiding principles since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and is one of the bulwarks of our political strength. This is not simply because our country has a huge population, is developing from a low starting point and therefore required us to mobilize the entire Party and people to rapidly transform its grindingly poor and backward reality. It is part of our Party's fundamental nature and purpose. Since reform and opening up, the vast majority of Party members and cadres have worked diligently to build the country through hard work, plain living and thrift. Yet we cannot deny that some Party members and cadres have, over time, lost sight of these principles and have become extravagant, wasteful, and ostentatious, obsessed with their personal careers and the pursuit of pleasure. Frankly some Party members and cadres have fallen into an abyss of self-gratification and corruption and are wallowing in debauchery. This should be a profound lesson for us all. Even as our economy grows, the country becomes more powerful and the standard of living of the people increases, Party members and cadres must stick to the principle of hard work, plain living and thrift. We must apply strict cost controls, cut expenses wherever we can, and concentrate financial and material resources on improving the people's material and cultural well-being, on benefiting society, on major projects that boost the national economy and the standard of living, on basic science and high-end technical research and development, and on national development and boosting our comprehensive national power. The ancients used to say: "Whether countries or households; the thrifty succeed and the extravagant fail." This warning applies to all countries at all times and our Party members should especially take it to heart. The broad ranks of Party members and cadres should view thrift as an honor, waste as a shame, hard work as an honor, and extravagance as a disgrace. We must under no circumstances abandon this precious heirloom - the principle of building the country through hard work, plain living and thrift.

Thirdly, we must mobilize our Party's organizational strengths. Most importantly, we must strengthen the Party's organizational system and organizational pattern, create a high-quality cadre and talent pool and lay solid foundations at the grass roots level, so that, from the organizational point of view, we maintain and develop the Party's advanced nature and purity.

A Marxist political Party's ability to concentrate and apply its strength depends on scientific organization. We have created a scientific, tightly organized system of central, regional and grassroots organizations on Marxist principles that allows the whole Party acts as a cohesive unit to achieve its goals. Our Party has grown into a mighty organization with over 4 million grassroots organizations and more than 82 million members, assembling the country's most advanced elements and talented people from all walks of life, and consequently has formidable organizational and mobilizing capacity. In a word, we possess gigantic organizational resources. Fully applying these resources, developing the leadership role of Party committees and the fighting capacity of grassroots Party organizations, mobilizing the broad ranks of the Party and leading cadres to play a vanguard role will guarantee the success of our cause and that of our country.

To fully mobilize the organizational strengths of the Party, we must build a high quality cadre, able to undertake major tasks and stand the test of crises. Above all, we must train and temper our middle and high level cadres to create a stratum of capable and energetic leaders who are committed to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and can adapt to new situations and find solutions to new problems. This means we must take a broader and bolder view when it comes to making appointments by seeking out candidates who are politically steadfast, have genuine talent, can achieve results and understand the people. Leading cadres at all levels should consciously develop their Party spirit and become role models of Party loyalty and dedication to the people. They should insist on the truth and achieving practical results and have the courage to assume responsibilities, work for the benefit of the people, and always remain upright, just, honest and clean.

To mobilize the organizational strengths of the Party, we must also strengthen the Party's grassroots organization so that they become impregnable fighting organizations that push forward development, serve the people and rally the people. We must adapt to the changing economic structures and the flow of Party members by optimizing grassroots Party organizations to increase their effectiveness and make it easier for Party members to take part in activities and continuously broaden our organizational coverage. We must institutionalize the Striving for Excellence campaign, strengthen and improve inner Party education to ensure that the broad ranks of Party members focus on the Party's aims and the interests of the people at all times and devote all their efforts to reform, development and stability.