Editor's note: As the pioneer, explorer and founder of "the Party leads everything", Mao Zedong initially proposed as early as the Agrarian Revolution that the whole nation made it clear that the Party should lead everything" during the War of Resistance Against Japan. In the ear

Editor's note: As the pioneer, explorer and founder of "the Party leads everything", Mao Zedong initially proposed as early as the Agrarian Revolution period that the whole nation made it clear that the Party should lead everything" during the War of Resistance Against Japan. In the early days of the founding of New China, it emphasized that "the Party must lead everything", and then to the exploration of socialist construction, "the Party leads everything", and took a series of measures to resolutely correct all wrong tendencies that deviate from the Party's leadership, ensuring the Party's strong leadership over the cause of China's revolution and construction. In terms of connotation, Mao Zedong mainly answered the basic questions such as why the Party should lead everything and how to lead everything from the perspective of the Party's leadership position, subject, content, methods, systems, etc., and provided important guidance for the Party to lead all other organizations and all aspects of work. Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party leads everything" reveals the basic principles of the Marxist party governance laws and has important contemporary value. It must be unswervingly adhered to, grasped scientifically and accurately and promoted institutionalization.

Whether it is the New Democratic Revolution period, or the Socialist Revolution and the construction period, Mao Zedong mentioned "the Party leads everything". Entering the new era, Xi Jinping inherited and developed this important thought, reiterated that "the Party leads everything", regarded it as the first basic strategy for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and wrote it into the Party Constitution, emphasizing that "this is the most valuable experience of the Party leading the people in revolution, construction, and reform." Based on the present, looking back at history, and studying the formation process and rich connotation of Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party leads everything" will not only help to grasp the basic issues of "the Party leads everything" and deepen the understanding of the laws of Marxist party governance, but also have important value in deeply understanding the decisive significance of " two establishing ", achieving " two maintaining ", and better adhering to the Party's leadership over all work.

1. Historical evolution of Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party Leads Everything"

From the perspective of ideological history, Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party Leads Everything" has always been throughout his revolutionary career. It was initially proposed in the period of the Agrarian Revolution and was officially formed during the War of Resistance against Japan for the whole nation. After the founding of New China, it continued to enrich and develop, and gradually expanded from the beginning to the party's leadership of the regime, people's groups, economic work and other fields.

1. Preliminary proposal: "All work, after the party's discussion and resolutions," and then implement

As early as in the practice of establishing the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong had already realized the party's leadership position in the Chinese revolution. On August 13, 1920, after an investigation of the world revolutionary movement, Cai Hesen, who was working and studying in France, proposed the steps of the Chinese revolution in his letter to Mao Zedong, emphasizing that the Communist Party should be organized first, "because he is the initiator, propagandist, vanguard, and combat department of the revolutionary movement", so that the revolutionary movement "can have a nerve center." On December 1, Mao Zedong wrote back to Cai Hesen: "I express my deep agreement." This shows that Mao Zedong had accepted this view at this time, thus laying the ideological foundation for the proposal of "the Party leads everything." After the failure of the Great Revolution, Mao Zedong summarized his experience and lessons and believed that this was "because the proletariat did not resolutely implement its leadership". China's democratic revolution "must be completed by the leadership of the proletariat" and "the flag of the Communist Party should be raised high." On the way to lead the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops to Jinggangshan , the branch was adapted through Sanwan, and the branch was built on the company. The party's Front Enemy Committee was unified and the party's leadership over the army was strengthened. At the same time, since most of them were born from the old-style army, there were erroneous tendencies such as simple military views, extreme democratization of , and non-organizational views in , and there was also a dispute over centralization and decentralization of the Party's leadership of the army. In response, Mao Zedong advocated that the Party implemented a centralized system over the leadership of the Red Army, but this was accused of "secretary dictatorship" and " parent-system ".

11 In December 2029, the 9th Party Congress of the Red Fourth Army passed the draft resolution drafted by Mao Zedong, namely, the resolution of the Gutian Conference, which clearly stated that the Party should actively pay attention to and discuss military work, "All work, after the Party's discussion and resolution, will be implemented by the masses." Here, Mao Zedong used the expression of "all work", mainly in response to the wrong views that appeared within the Red Fourth Army Party, such as the belief that the Front Committee "manages too much" and "too concentrated power", to highlight the Party's absolute leadership over the army. Of course, this mainly refers to all the work in the army. But in the era of revolutionary wars, military work was the central task, and the People's Army also had to "execute the political tasks of the revolution", including propaganda, organization, arming the masses, establishing revolutionary regimes, party organizations, etc. Therefore, we can think that the Gutian Conference's resolution passed the political establishment of the army and initially proposed "the Party leads everything."

2. Formal formation: the party "should lead all other organizations"

After the outbreak of the national war of resistance, Mao Zedong strived for the party's leadership in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the principle of independence and autonomy in the united front, adhered to the party's command of guns, and emphasized that the success of the Chinese revolution is inseparable from the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The new democratic revolution must build a nationwide and mass party under the leadership of the proletariat, form the party's "absolute leadership over the revolutionary war" and mobilize all forces to strive for victory in the War of Resistance.

As the War of Resistance Against Japan entered a stalemate stage, the regionality and guerrilla nature of the War of Resistance behind enemy lines increased. In addition, the expansion of the party member team, party organizations and base areas, the relationship between the party, government, military and civilians has become independent, and the instructions of the central government are not resolutely implemented, and the army and government are celebrating independence with the party. To this end, on September 1, 1942, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Decision on Unifying the Leadership of the Party in Anti-Japanese Base Areas and Adjusting the Relationships between Organizations" (hereinafter referred to as the "September 1 Decision"), which clearly stated that the Party "should lead all other organizations" and that each base area should "have a unified Party committee that leads everything." Here, the word "should" is added before "leading everything" based on the understanding of the Marxist theory of party building. At that time, the central leadership collective realized that the Party was "the highest form of proletarian organization" in the rectification movement through studying the "Simplified Tutorial on the History of the Communist Party of the United Nations (Bolsheviks)" and the "Twelve Articles on the Bolshevikization" during the rectification movement. Hence, he decided to clarify that the central representative organs of each base area and party committees at all levels were the highest leading organs of each region, and unify the leadership of the party, government, military and civilian work in each region.

"September 1 Decision" is also listed as a rectification file. From October 1942 to January 1943, the Northwest Bureau Senior Cadres Meeting held a key discussion on the "September 1st Decision". Mao Zedong emphasized at the meeting that we must recognize the "September 1 Decision" and that the Party must lead the army, the government and the people's organizations, and everything must be under the leadership of the Party. In January 1944, Mao Zedong commented on a record of Peng Dehuai's speech on rectification and study: "All forms of class union must be led by the Party." In the Yan'an Rectification Movement, in , the Party's centralized and unified leadership was strengthened by opposing bad styles such as subjectivism and sectarianism, and "the Party leads everything" gradually became a consensus and was implemented. During the War of Liberation, especially after the People's Liberation Army entered a strategic offensive, in order to ensure the strict implementation of the Party's lines, principles and policies, Mao Zedong emphasized the need to strengthen organizationality and discipline, maintain the Party's centralized and unified leadership, and overcome undiscipline, anarchy, localism and guerrillaism. On the eve of the founding of New China, Mao Zedong further thought about the issue of state power after the victory of the New Democratic Revolution, emphasizing that "the working class, through its own vanguard, achieved leadership over the country and its government of the masses of the people" and implemented the people's democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the Communist Party.

3. Comprehensively promote: "The Party must lead everything"

After the founding of New China, the Communist Party of China began to rule the country.In response to the tendency of deviating from the Party’s leadership and decentralization in government work and economic work, Mao Zedong emphasized that "the Party must lead everything", and clearly stated that it is necessary to strengthen the leadership of the economic front, strengthen the leadership of the government’s financial and economic departments, strengthen the Party’s collective leadership and unified leadership, maintain the Party’s unity, and have made useful explorations on how to adhere to “the Party’s leadership in everything” under the conditions of national governance.

In the practice of the Party leading the state power, there is a tendency to ignore politics, oppose politics and technology, and believe that the Party cannot lead specific technical and business work, which is more prominent in health work. Mao Zedong attached great importance to medical and health work. As early as September 1951, he issued an instruction requiring party committees at all levels to correct the shortcomings of lack of attention to health, epidemic prevention and general medical work, and to regard it as a major political task and to "lead and help health workers." However, this work has not received the attention it deserves. The health department has a serious non-political tendency and inappropriately emphasized the particularity of health work. It believes that the Party Committee does not understand and cannot control it. There are problems such as the political atmosphere of the health department, the lack of serious research and implementation of the Party's policies, the frequent independence of the Party, and the weak view of the masses.

11 In April 1953, Mao Zedong criticized the leadership of the Ministry of Health of the Military Commission and the Ministry of Health of the Government, pointing out that it "cannot see political leadership, nor serious business and technical leadership" and demanded serious inspections. The Party Group of the Ministry of Health has not paid enough attention to this instruction and has not carefully and systematically studied and implemented it. In early December of the same year, when listening to the report of the Ministry of Health, Mao Zedong once again made severe criticisms, pointing out that the "big shortcomings of health work are less politics" and the wrong idea of ​​"If you don't understand, you can't care about me", and emphasizing that "the Party must lead everything and lead our various work." In April 1954, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China also emphasized in its review and report to the Party Group of the Ministry of Health that the Party must lead everything, and the work of any aspect and any department must be strictly put under the leadership and supervision of the Party. Here, the word "must" is added before "leading everything" to emphasize the firmness of implementing the Party's leadership.

11957, in order to oppose decentralization, Mao Zedong further proposed the 32-character policy of "the power is monopolized, the power is scattered; the central government decides that all parties will handle it; there is also a decision, and it will not be separated from the principle; the work inspection is conducted, and the central government has its responsibilities", emphasizing that "concentration can only be concentrated on the Party Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Standing Committee, and there can only be one core." In December 1961, when talking about his work in 1962, Mao Zedong said: "The Party leads everything." In January 1962, Mao Zedong once again pointed out in his speech at the expanded Central Work Conference: "The Party leads everything in seven aspects: industry, agriculture, commerce, education, military, politics, and the Party." In less than two months, Mao Zedong emphasized twice that "the Party leads everything", with the purpose of requiring all departments to formulate a set of specific policies, policies and methods suitable for the situation under the guidance of the general line, accelerate the correction of mistakes since the "Great Leap Forward", and promote all work to be on the right track.

In summary, Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party leads everything" is consistent. He has gone through a gradual deepening process of initial proposal, formal formation, and comprehensive promotion. In terms of leadership objects, it has expanded from the initial military to the industry, agriculture, commerce, education, military, politics, and the Party. In terms of form, it has been clear from the clearance of the Party "should lead everything" during the War of Resistance Against Japan to the emphasis on "the Party leads everything" during the socialist construction period, "the Party leads everything", the basic principle of the Marxist theory of party building has changed from theory to reality in China, and has adapted to the objective needs of the Chinese revolution and social development since modern times.

2. The rich connotation of Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party Leads Everything"

Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party Leads Everything" has rich connotations, which strongly responds to the prominent questions of the Party in leading the Chinese revolution and construction practice, and profoundly answers the basic questions such as the reason, subject, content, methods and institutional guarantees of "the Party Leads Everything". It is the product of the combination of the basic principles of the Marxist theory of party building with the specific practice of party leadership, and is a correct theoretical principles and experience summary of the Party's leadership in the Party's leadership that has been proven by practice.

1. In the leadership position of the Party, it is emphasized that the Party is the leadership center, mainstay and core of leadership, and answers why the Party should lead everything

The reason why the Party wants to lead everything is determined by the nature and status of the Party. Regarding the Party’s leadership and role, Mao Zedong adhered to the view that the Party was the vanguard of the proletariat, proposed that the Party “is the vanguard of the most thorough national liberation”, and used the terms “the center of leadership”, “the core of leadership”, “the core of leadership”, “core force”, “center of gravity”, “the mainstay”, and “guide”.

One of them, the Party is the "center of leadership". As early as the beginning of the founding of the Party, the young Mao Zedong accepted the Marxist-Leninist theory of Party founding and realized that the Party was the vanguard and the "nerve center" leading the revolutionary movement. In December 1929, Mao Zedong pointed out: "The Party's leading organs must have correct guidance lines and come up with solutions when encountering problems to establish a leadership center." The so-called "center" means to give full play to the role of the Party in taking charge, coordinating and commanding all parties, and provide the correct line and method for leading everything.

Secondly, the party is the "mainstay". During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Mao Zedong proposed that "the force and the people led by the Communist Party have become the mainstay of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression." This is mainly based on the fact that the Communist Party of China took the lead in holding up the banner of anti-Japanese war, implemented the correct national united front policy of anti-Japanese war, adhered to the comprehensive line of resistance and the general strategic policy of protracted war, and made significant contributions to the victory of the War of Resistance. Mao Zedong also emphasized that the Party is "the backbone of the Chinese people", which is a political prerequisite for realizing "China's independence and liberation" and "industrialization and agricultural modernization".

Third, the party is the "core of leadership". Mao Zedong once listed unified leadership as one of the top ten policies to fight against Japan, and made it clear that "we must establish a leadership core and oppose 'one country and three public officials'." In the opening speech of the Party’s seventh National Congress, it was proposed that the Party is the “center of focus” for the Chinese people to resist Japan and save the country, the people’s liberation and construction of a new China. Later, Mao Zedong emphasized that the Party is not only the "core of leadership for the whole Chinese people", but also the "core force leading our cause." This means that the core of the Party’s leadership is not only reflected in the relationship between the Party and the people, but also in various undertakings led by the Party.

2. In terms of the party's leadership, the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is highlighted, and the key to "the party leads everything" is

The party's leadership is not only reflected in the relationship between organizations at the same level, but also in the relationship between superiors and subordinates. The Communist Party of China was "established in accordance with the revolutionary theory and revolutionary style of Marxism-Leninism" and adhered to the principle that subordinates obey superiors and the whole party obeyed the central government. Correspondingly, in the subject of "the Party leads everything", Mao Zedong emphasized "a stronger and more capable central government" and "a strong unified leadership of the central government", and also proposed to pay attention to handling the relationship between the central government and local governments, centralization and decentralization, and mobilize all forces that can be mobilized.

1938, the "Decision on Work Rules and Disciplines of Party Departments at All Levels" passed by the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stipulated that "all work of the Party is led by the central government."In order to enhance the leadership effectiveness of the central government, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made the "Decision on Adjustment and Simplification of Central Institutions" in March 1943, which clearly stated that the Central Political Bureau led the entire party's work during the two central plenary sessions and had the right to decide all major issues; Secretariat is an office that handles daily work in accordance with the principles decided by the Politburo. The meeting was convened by the Chairman at any time. Mao Zedong was the chairman of the Politburo and the Secretariat. The Chairman had the right to make the final decision on the issues discussed in the meeting. In 1945, at the preparatory meeting of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong emphasized that "we must align with the central benchmark." With the continuous victory of the War of Liberation, in 1948, Mao Zedong emphasized that "all possible and necessary powers in the country must be unified with the central government."

After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. In December 1952, when reviewing and revising the draft decision of the CPC Central Committee on changing the methods of managing cadres and establishing the Ministry of Finance and Economics, Mao Zedong added a passage: "All major and important policies, policies, and plans must be uniformly stipulated by the Party Central Committee." In February 1954, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized that "the only center of the unity of the Party is the Central Committee of the Party." In June 1958, when reviewing and revising the notice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to establish various groups in finance, politics and law, foreign affairs, science, and culture and education, Mao Zedong specially added the content of the division of powers, emphasizing that "the major policies and guidelines are in the Politburo", "the decision-making power is in the Party Central Committee", and "the specific implementation and detailed decision-making belong to the government agencies and their party groups." As a result, through the establishment of a leading group, the model of "ruling party decision-making - government agencies implementation" was formed, strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee on major work.

3. In terms of the Party’s leadership content, the propositions of ideological leadership, political leadership and organizational leadership are put forward, and the implementation method of “the Party leads everything” is clarified. How to achieve “the Party leads everything”? Mao Zedong emphasized the content and elements of ideology, politics, and organization, and also led and embedded these three elements into all other organizations and various fields by building a party that is completely consolidated in ideological, political and organizational terms.

First, ideological leadership "is the first priority in mastering all leadership." "The issue of proletarian ideological leadership is a very important issue." Mastering ideological education as the "first-class business" and "the central link of carrying out great political struggles" is the prerequisite and guarantee for completing "all political tasks of the Party". Correspondingly, overcoming prominent problems within the Party “first to rectify ideologically.” During the Yan'an Rectification Movement, Mao Zedong personally served as the leader of the Central Study Group. From March 20, 1943, he served as the secretary of the Propaganda Committee and the president of the Central Party School, promoting the theoretical study of the whole party. He also emphasized that the guiding role of theory must be played, a strong theoretical team must be formed, the research and publicity of Marxist theory must be strengthened, the education and ideological work of cadres must be strengthened, and the party spirit must be strengthened. Party newspapers are collective propagandists and organizers, with a great impact on the inside and outside the party and are the most sharp weapons. To transform the Party, we must first transform the Party newspaper, grasp the leadership of news agencies and newspapers, be good at using newspapers to guide work, and be sure to make it fully conform to and timely publicize the Party’s policies and fully demonstrate Party spirit.

Second, the Party leads everything, and the most important thing is political leadership. "The key to all problems lies in politics." Leadership work is first and foremost political leadership, we must do a good job in political work. Mao Zedong repeatedly corrected the tendency to oppose politics and military, business, technology, etc., emphasizing that politics is the commander and first, and it is the guarantee for completing economic and technical work. He must not only oppose the tendency to ignore politics, but also oppose short revolutionaries. Especially in response to the so-called "outsiders cannot lead experts", he clearly stated: "We rely on politics to lead, and without politics, there is no way to lead." To achieve the political leadership of the Party, we must first put forward basic political slogans, foresee the future and possible biases at the turning point, formulate correct policies, policies, and strategies based on changes in the situation and objective reality, clarify the main tasks, point out the direction of progress, and closely grasp the implementation of policies, and oppose the "left" and right biases.Communist Party members must become models and carry out political work, persuade and educate non-party members, strive for the masses, and work with allies.

Third, ensure "the Party leads everything" with the improvement and consolidation of the organization. The leadership of the Party must be achieved through the Party’s organization, Party members and cadres. In Mao Zedong's view, "if it has been organized, then there is an organizational leadership." To organize, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of party members, cadre teams and party organizational system. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao Zedong emphasized that the Communist Party must expand its organization and develop the party boldly. In the anti-Japanese democratic regime, "one-third of the Communist Party members must have superior conditions in terms of quality." After the founding of New China, the Party Committee, Party Group and grassroots Party organizations were established in state organs and the Party’s organizational life was strictly implemented to achieve the Party’s leadership over the state power institutions. In order to strengthen the Party's leadership over science and technology and education, Mao Zedong proposed to strive for intellectuals to join the Party. Those who have joined the democratic party can cross the Party and establish a team of proletarian intellectuals. Otherwise, laymen cannot lead the insiders. "There must be many of the best cadres" and rely on them to connect with party members and the masses to truly promote the overall work. To this end, he proposed the cadre line that ranks people based on merit and cadre standards that are both morally and professional. Cadres should be both popular and professional, and understand the laws of the objective world more, so that leaders can adapt to objective laws. In the party’s organizational life, in response to the problems of insufficient democracy and insufficient concentration, we propose “concentration on the basis of democracy and democracy under centralized guidance.”

4. In terms of the Party’s leadership methods, it emphasizes the insistence on combining leadership with the masses, general and individual, and the focus on central work, etc., and clarifies the basic path of “the Party leads everything”

“The Party leads everything”, not only should we propose tasks, but we should also solve the problem of methods to complete tasks.” Mao Zedong attached great importance to the issue of leadership methods and emphasized that "if you do not make mistakes, you must pay attention to leadership methods and strengthen leadership."

First, combine leadership with the masses, and transform the correct propositions of the Party into conscious actions of the general public. "The Party is a core, it must have a masses." Fight for the practical interests of the masses, represent the interests of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people most faithfully, and work together with all those who can be united. First, we must "concentrate from the masses and stick to the masses" to form correct leadership opinions. Second, implement the responsibility of the head and take action personally, be good at uniting activists, and rely on them to improve the middle elements, strive for backward elements, and "grasp both ends and lead the middle." Third, implement a method that is both division of labor and unified. When the superior leadership organ conveys any work tasks downward, it should promote other cadres and even all personnel to do it through the main person in charge of the subordinate organ and the general person in charge. Fourth, oppose bad styles such as bureaucracy and commandism that are separated from the masses, handle letters from the people appropriately, appear among the people as ordinary workers, and maintain close ties with the masses.

The second is to combine general and individual, and implement the general opinions of the Party in all areas. Leaders should be good at gaining specific experience from the guidance of individual units and events, and then forming general opinions, and putting these general opinions into many individual units for testing, and then focusing and summarizing new experiences, making new instructions to guide the masses generally and gradually promoting them. When the leadership’s opinions are implemented, we must start from the specific situation and systematically summarize typical and mature advanced experiences among the masses. Pamphlets that describe typical experiences are often "much more vivid and richer than resolutions and instructions issued by the leadership, and can give inexperienced comrades a way to start." In this regard, Mao Zedong regarded summarizing and disseminating experience as the "leader's responsibility" and practiced it personally, and promptly approved typical experiences with universal significance and promotional value to various places for reference. After the "Great Leap Forward", Mao Zedong further realized that it is necessary to conduct a historical examination of successful experiences and lessons of failure in work, gradually overcome blindness, understand objective laws, and formulate various regulations suitable for the situation, so as to lead all aspects of work.

The third is to do a good job in the central work and promote all aspects of work around the central work. The process of leadership is actually the process of resolving contradictions. Within a certain period of time, leaders must grasp the main contradiction, "there can only be one central job, supplemented by other second- and third-ranked jobs", rather than forming many central jobs. To this end, the general manager of a region must consider the struggle history and environment of the office, coordinate the overall situation, form a holistic concept of taking care of comprehensive care, learn to "play the piano", put all work in an appropriate position, correctly determine the focus of work in each period, and grasp the central work in each period, and at the same time, do not relax the work that is not the current center but indispensable, so that all aspects of work can cooperate with each other.

5. In the Party’s leadership system, we will promote the establishment and improvement of the system of requesting instructions, Party committee system, , centralized leadership system, etc., providing important guarantees for "the Party leads everything".

focuses on the rigid constraints of the application of systems, regulations, and discipline, and regulate the relationship between the Party and other organizations such as the Party and the army and the government, and initially establishes the basic system of "the Party leads everything". As early as 1929, Mao Zedong proposed to correct it from a "institutional perspective" and "strictly implement discipline." In October 1938, Mao Zedong reiterated the party's discipline at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Party's expanded Sixth Central Committee - " Four Obediences ", namely "individuals obey the organization", "minors obey the majority", "lower subordinates obey superiors", and "the whole party obeys the central government", emphasizing that "a more detailed party regulations must be formulated to unify the actions of leading organs at all levels." Specifically, Mao Zedong mainly promoted the establishment and improvement of the following systems.

is the first to report the system. At the turning point of the Liberation War, in response to some comrades' lack of understanding of the importance of requesting instructions and the bad habit of not asking for instructions before and afterwards, Mao Zedong drafted the party instructions for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in January 1948, on the establishment of a report system, and made specific provisions on the content and number of words of the report. It was clear that the central bureaus and branches would be handled by the secretary themselves and made comprehensive reports to the central and central chairman every two months; each field army . In addition to the combat policy, the heads of the military region should make comprehensive reports and requests for instructions every two months. In March, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Supplementary Instructions on Establishing a Reporting System" drafted by Mao Zedong, further broadening the scope of requests for instructions and reports. In June, he drafted the "Matters that all central bureaus, branches and front committees should report to the Central Committee" for the Central Committee, specifically stipulated 18 contents that must be reported to the Central Committee in advance or afterwards. Mao Zedong personally urged the implementation of the system of requesting instructions and reporting, and also regarded it as an important part of strengthening discipline. After the founding of New China, the system of requesting and reporting was implemented in the practice of the Party leading the government organs, and strengthened the request and reporting of requests and reports from various departments of the Central People's Government system to the Central Committee.

The second is the party committee system. During the revolutionary war years, due to the long-term war environment that was divided by the enemy, the habit of individuals taking charge and individuals deciding to solve important problems was very strong. To this end, in September 1948, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the decision on "Regarding the Party Committee System" drafted by Mao Zedong, emphasizing that "the Party Committee System is an important system for ensuring collective leadership and preventing individuals from taking charge of the Party." It is necessary to establish a sound Party Committee meeting system. All important issues must be submitted to the committee for discussion, and specific provisions are made on the meeting time and procedures of the Party Committee meeting system. In March 1949, in the conclusion of the report made by Mao Zedong at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party, he specifically explained the working methods of the Party Committee, such as the Party Secretary should be good at being a "squad leader", and ask subordinates what they don't understand or don't understand, and have "numbers" in their minds. These methods are of great guiding significance for improving the operational efficiency of the Party Committee and leading all work.

The third is the centralized leadership system. As early as the "September 1st Decision", in order to ensure that the Party Committee can lead everything, it was clarified that the components of Party committees at all levels "must include the main responsible party members and cadres in the Party affairs, the government, and the military." In order to streamline the organization, in March 1943, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish a propaganda committee, an organization committee and a civil movement committee to conduct centralized leadership of the party's propaganda system, organization system and the people's movement respectively.In November 1949, Mao Zedong presided over the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and decided to set up a branch party committee and a branch party group under the Party Committee of the Central People's Government, including politics, law, finance, economy, culture and education, and initially established a system for the Party to lead the political, law, finance, economy, culture and education under the conditions of national governance to ensure the implementation of "all decisions of the Party Central Committee related to the government's work." In June 1958, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a notice, deciding to establish a five-part group, including finance, politics and law, foreign affairs, science, culture and education. Through these groups, the Party Central Committee has achieved "centralized leadership" over important departments.

3. The contemporary value of Mao Zedong’s idea of ​​“the Party leads everything”

With the development of practice, the scientificity and truth of the Marxist party governance laws revealed by Mao Zedong’s idea of ​​“the Party leads everything” has become increasingly prominent and has important contemporary value.

1. Unswervingly adhere to the principle of "the Party leads everything"

"The Party leads everything" embodies the basic principles of the Communist Party's governance. After becoming a firm Marxist, Mao Zedong actively participated in the revolutionary practice of the Party’s leadership, always adhered to the Party’s leadership, and resolutely corrected the wrong tendency of deviating from the Party’s leadership. It is precisely through the persistence and emphasis on "the Party leads everything" at all critical stages that a series of measures have been taken to strengthen the Party's leadership, which ensures that China's revolution and construction have always been carried out under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China. After the reform and opening up, in order to strengthen and improve the Party's leadership, there was a wrong tendency to deny the Party's leadership in the process of promoting the reform of the political system. In this regard, Deng Xiaoping clearly criticized and regarded upholding the Party's leadership as the core of 's four basic principles. In January 2000, Jiang Zemin reiterated that "the Party leads everything when workers, peasants, soldiers, and businessmen." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in response to the problems within the Party’s vague understanding of upholding the Party’s leadership and weak actions, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has proposed that the Party’s leadership is comprehensive, systematic and holistic, and it is necessary to uphold the Party’s leadership over all work.

Through historical review, we can clearly find that "the Party leads everything" has been mentioned repeatedly in order to correct the tendency to deviate from the Party's leadership. Theoretically speaking, according to the Marxist theory of party building, the party should and can lead everything. However, in practice, on the one hand, the Party itself will have various problems in politics, ideology, organization, style, discipline, etc., and the understanding of the laws of China's revolution, construction and reform requires a process. Correct theoretical lines, principles and policies often need to be gradually formed and improved after summarizing successful experiences, especially the lessons of failure, to affect the Party's leadership; on the other hand, the army, regime, mass organizations, etc. that are led have their own logic and independence of action, and do not necessarily take the initiative and voluntarily accept the Party's leadership at all times. Because of this, it is necessary to constantly emphasize that "the Party leads everything" and uphold and strengthen the Party's overall leadership to ensure the Party's leadership. Mao Zedong's thought on "the Party leads everything" reveals the basic principles of the laws of Marxist party governance and demonstrates the firm belief and high confidence of Marxist politicians. Therefore, we must unswervingly adhere to the principle of "the Party leads everything", always be vigilant and resolutely correct all wrong tendencies that deviate from and weaken the Party's leadership, oppose erroneous tendencies such as sectarianism, liberalism, warlordism, hilltopism, decentralism, individualism, and parochialism, to ensure the Party's leadership over all work, so as to give full play to the Party's greatest advantage of centralized and unified leadership.

2. Scientifically and accurately grasp the "Party Leads Everything"

Historically, there are often deviations in the understanding and implementation of "Party Leads Everything". In this regard, Mao Zedong has made special discussions on many occasions, providing guidance for scientifically and accurately grasping its basic requirements, upholding and improving the Party’s leadership.

"The Party Leads Everything" is different from "The Party Controls Everything". The relationship between the Party and the Government must be handled well and prevent the Party from replacing the government.On the one hand, "the Party must perform the task of leading the government", and through the Party's organizational system and the role of Party members and cadres, we will strengthen leadership in ideological, political, organizational, etc. to ensure the implementation of the Party's theoretical, line, principles and policies. On the other hand, when implementing it, it is necessary to improve the prestige of the regime system through the regime system, and to prevent interference and substitution of everything from party members to non-party members. In Mao Zedong's view, the relationship between the party and the government is an organic unity of the inseparable party and the separation of the party and the government. The so-called "no distinction between the party and the government" means that the party must unify its leadership and its policies and policies; the so-called separation of the party and the government means that the specific business will be carried out by each business department." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping emphasized that "we cannot simply talk about the separation of the party and government or the integration of the party and government." "When dealing with the relationship between the party and government well, we must first adhere to the leadership of the party. Under this premise, we have different divisions of labor, and no matter how the division of labor is, the starting point and end point are to uphold and improve the leadership of the party." Following this idea, after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in the reform of the Party and state institutions, the party and government institutions were coordinated and set up, and the party’s functional departments should give full play to the unified and coordinated management functions of the Party’s functional departments.

Adhere to collective leadership and oppose individual arbitrary and decentralization. In response to the phenomenon of individual arrangement and decentralization that emerged in leadership, Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized collective leadership and regarded it as the "highest principle", believing that "only by relying on collective political experience and collective wisdom can the correct leadership of the Party and the country be guaranteed." "The leadership of the Party Committee is collective leadership, not the first secretary's personal arbitrary decision." Even the "monopoly of power" repeatedly emphasized during the "Great Leap Forward", Mao Zedong also explained that "the main power should be concentrated on the collective of the central and local party committees", rather than the individual. We must promote democracy, inspire criticism and discussion, let others speak, listen humbly to the opinions of the masses, be used to listening to gossip, discuss issues with everyone, and collectively discuss and decide major matters. We adhere to collective leadership and have individual responsibility. The two are opposite and unified and indispensable.

Resolutely safeguard the authority and centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. The most critical, most important and fundamental thing to upholding the "Party Leads Everything" lies in the authority and centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. If the Party Central Committee has no authority and the decisions of the Party Central Committee can be selected, then the Party’s leadership will be greatly reduced, let alone “the Party leads everything.” Because of this, whether in the revolutionary war years or after the founding of New China, Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, advocated the concentration of all power that must be concentrated on the Central Committee and the decision-making power lies with the Party Central Committee. History has also proved that it is precisely because of the strong leadership of the first generation of the Party’s central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core that the Chinese revolution achieved victory. On the new journey, we must resolutely safeguard the core of the Party and the authority of the Party Central Committee, and strengthen and safeguard the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee.

3. Promote the institutionalization of "the Party Leads Everything"

In the practical exploration of leading the Chinese revolution and construction, Mao Zedong combined the Marxist theory of party building with the specific reality of China. He not only opened up the correct path, but also enriched and developed the leadership thought of the Marxist party, continuously deepened his understanding of the laws of the Marxist party governance, and timely transformed successful leadership practical experience into the leadership system, laying the foundation for the Party's leadership system, and ensuring "the Party Leads Everything" with the rigid constraints of the system.

Historically, Mao Zedong attached great importance to the use of systems to achieve "the Party leads everything." In 1938, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formulated the work rules and disciplines of the Central Committee and party departments at all levels and other party regulations. After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong realized that solving institutional problems is more important than solving ideological problems, and proposed to establish a certain system to ensure the "implementation of collective leadership." In 1956, the Party Constitution passed by the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China made specific provisions on giving full play to the Party’s core leadership role, strengthening the Party’s collective leadership, and the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. Although the Party’s leadership system was impacted for a period of time, this proves the importance of the system from the opposite side.After the reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping pointed out when summarizing this historical experience and lessons, "Because the failure to actually solve the leadership system problems and some other reasons, it still led to the 'Cultural Revolution'." The leadership system and organizational system problems "are more fundamental, overall, stable and long-term." Therefore, we must attach great importance to the construction of the Party’s leadership system, adhere to and improve the Party’s leadership system, strictly enforce the Party’s discipline, especially political discipline and political rules, and realize the institutionalization, legalization, standardization and proceduralization of Party leadership, so that "the Party leads everything" will always operate on the correct track of the system.

In short, Mao Zedong's thoughts on "the Party leads everything" profoundly explained the basic issues, revealed the basic principles of the Marxist party governance laws, and provided important guidance for the Party to lead all other organizations and various work. Although the Party’s leadership made mistakes in the process of exploring socialist construction, this is precisely because it violates Mao Zedong’s previous correct ideas, which further proves the scientific nature of Mao Zedong’s idea of ​​“the Party leads everything”. Entering the new era, to uphold the Party’s leadership over all work, we must inherit Mao Zedong’s thought on “the Party leads everything”, and at the same time, based on specific reality and in line with objective laws, we must continuously promote theoretical, practical and institutional innovation of the Party’s leadership, strengthen and improve the Party’s leadership, and uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics with the Party’s overall leadership.

References:

[1] "Collected Works of Mao Zedong" Volume 1, Beijing: People's Publishing House, 1993.

[2] "Xi Jinping: Governance of China" Volume 4, Beijing: Foreign Languages ​​Publishing House, 2022.

[3] Xin Xiangyang: "Marxist Democratic Centralism Thought and Contemporary China's Political Development", Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2015.

[4] Jin Minqing: "The Road to the Transformation of the Thought of Young Mao Zedong", Beijing: Social Sciences Documentation Press, 2015.

[5] Gong Yun: "The Centennial Process of the Evolution of the Guiding Ideology of the Communist Party of China", "Research on Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Theory" No. 8, 2021.

[6] Lin Jianhua et al.: "Outline of the Sinicization, Timeliness and Popularization of Marxism", Beijing: Intellectual Property Publishing House, 2016.

[7] Wang Shijin: "Authoritative Research on Leadership", Beijing: China Social Press, 2014.

[8] Zhu Yifei: "Analysis of Mao Zedong's Thought on Maintaining the Authority of the Party Central Committee and Centralized and Unified Leadership", "Marxism Research" No. 3, 2021.

(Author: Fang Tao, associate researcher at the Institute of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Source: "Marxism Research" Issue 7, 2022)