Gu Yan: To promote political army building, it is necessary to enhance the consciousness and thoroughness of ideological transformation

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has made a series of important expositions on strengthening the ideological transformation of Party members and cadres. Recently, at the Political Work Conference of the Central Military Commission, Chairman Xi Jinping emphasized and elaborated on "enhancing the consciousness and thoroughness of ideological transformation" in the first place of the key tasks that need to be grasped well in promoting political army building, fully highlighting the important position and role of "ideological transformation" in promoting political army building in the new era.

Ideological transformation is an important part of the building of a Marxist political party

The Communist Manifesto clearly put forward the idea of "two ruptures": "The communist revolution is the most complete break with traditional ownership relations; It is not surprising that in the course of its own development, it has made the most radical break with traditional notions. The idea of "two breaks" determines that "ideological transformation" will inevitably accompany the whole process of building a proletarian political party and promoting the whole process of social revolution. According to Lenin's theory, advanced ideas need to be infused into people's minds from the outside, and advanced ideas should be used to occupy people's minds, so as to eliminate the shackling influence of negative and erroneous ideas on people.

The Gutian Conference of 1929 was a successful ideological transformation movement that focused on correcting erroneous thinking within the party by applying the Marxist theory on party building and in light of the reality of the Chinese revolution and army building. Since then, the principle of ideological party building and political army building has permeated the entire historical process of the building of the people's army, and has provided a guideline for resolving the contradictions and problems faced by the party and the army building in different historical periods through ideological transformation.

Under the new historical conditions, profound changes are taking place in the world, the country, the party, and the military, the "four major tests" and "four dangers" facing our party have existed for a long time, and the ideological and political tests facing our army have become more complicated.

To transform the objective world, we must first transform the subjective world

Marxism is a sharp ideological weapon for the proletariat to understand and transform the world. The Marxist world outlook holds that the whole world consists of two parts: the subjective world and the objective world. In order to understand and transform the objective world, we must first understand and transform the subjective world.

The subjective world is a world of ideas composed of ideas, consciousness, attitudes, emotions, will, etc. The subjective world is the reflection of the objective world in the human mind, and in turn the subjective world can influence and change the objective world. "On a certain material basis, the mind controls everything, and the mind changes everything." The Communist Party of China has always adhered to the combination of transforming the subjective world with the transformation of the objective world, the combination of promoting self-revolution and promoting social revolution, leading the transformation of the objective world with the transformation of the subjective world, and leading the great social revolution through the great self-revolution. It has become the distinctive character and outstanding advantage of the Communist Party of China.

Ideological revolution is the primary task of self-revolution. In the past, during a period of practice in the revolutionary struggle, the main task of the ideological revolution was to oppose subjectivism, dogmatism, sectarianism, etc., and to resolve the problems of the two tendencies of "left" and "right" that often appeared, or in other words, mainly to solve the problem of line. In particular, the Yan'an Rectification Movement focused on correcting all kinds of erroneous ideas that had been formed within the party for a long time through launching an extensive, universal, and in-depth Marxist education campaign, unified the ideological understanding of the whole party through active and healthy ideological struggle, and made the party more united, stronger and more powerful, and provided an ideological and organizational guarantee for our party to accomplish the historical tasks of the new democratic revolution.

Under the new historical conditions, we must persist in building the party ideologically and politically and maintaining the nature, purpose, and true character of our army, and an important issue is that we must thoroughly eliminate all kinds of erroneous ideas that confuse right and wrong. To thoroughly implement the spirit of the Central Military Commission's political work conference, we must do a good job in tackling key tasks, that is, we must enhance our consciousness and thoroughness in ideological transformation, constantly dig deep into the ideological roots of putting the individual first, correct the value orientation of hedonism, expose and criticize the means and tricks of political speculation, and thoroughly eradicate the soil and conditions for the emergence of decadent ideology and culture. Chairman Xi Jinping's important speech at the Political Work Conference of the Central Military Commission made a profound analysis of the deep-seated contradictions and problems that need to be resolved in the current political construction of the army, and called for solving the ideological root problems, which fully embodies the firm will and determination to promote the party's self-revolution, and also provides us with precise targets and theoretical weapons for enhancing the consciousness and thoroughness of ideological transformation.

Use scientific thinking to clear up and correct thinking

Thoughts determine behavior. What kind of thinking there is, what kind of behavior there is. To promote political army building, it is necessary to reflect on the deep-seated contradictions and problems that need to be vigilant and vigilant, which are manifested in politics, ideology, organization, work style, discipline, and so on, and are rooted in ideals and beliefs, the cultivation of party spirit, and the moral and moral character of officials.

To promote the political building of the army and enhance the consciousness and thoroughness of ideological transformation, it is necessary to carry out the ideological struggle, persist in breaking down and establishing at the same time, conscientiously establish correct thinking, use correct thinking to criticize, attack, and eliminate erroneous thinking, and then ideologically eradicate the soil and conditions for the breeding of corruption. The ideological transformation of our party is the practice of ideological construction to unify thinking with the party's theory that keeps pace with the times. Under the new historical conditions, implementing the strategy of political and military building in the new era is also faced with the historical task of correcting various erroneous ideas. To promote political rectification and training, it is necessary to deepen the ideological arming, master the weapon of criticism, arm the mind with the basic principles of Marxism, and use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the latest achievement of Marxism in the Chinese era, to solve the problems of loyalty, political performance, power, and the masses, and thoroughly correct all kinds of erroneous ideas that are incompatible with the party's nature and purpose, so as to clear the obstacles and open up the way for the party's self-revolution to be carried out to the end.

Cultivate the cultural heritage of ideological transformation

The text carries the Tao, and the text transforms the person. Thought and culture are the soul of culture, and culture is the temperament of thought. To strengthen ideological transformation, a very important point is to cultivate cultural heritage and cultivate a healthy atmosphere.

In the long historical years, the Chinese nation has accumulated and formed a rich and excellent official and moral culture, and its outstanding characteristics are "public" and "honest", that is, "public life is bright, and honesty is vigorous". From the point of view of the relationship between ideology and culture, ideological transformation must not allow culture to be absent, and correct political ideology needs to be cultivated and cultivated by pure political culture. Therefore, it is necessary to give full play to the role of culture in cultivating and nourishing ideals and beliefs, party spirit cultivation, official morality and character, vigorously carry forward the culture of honesty and official morality in the excellent traditional Chinese culture, carry forward the traditional morality of "cultivating Qi and governing peace", carry forward the loyal quality of the ancients of "serving the country with loyalty", the noble integrity of "not bending over for five buckets of rice", and the value orientation of "worrying about the worries of the world first, and enjoying the joy of the world after the world", and use the rich traditional Chinese culture, especially the culture of honesty, The culture of official ethics and so on cultivates the political integrity and official moral character of party members and cadres, so that party members and cadres, especially senior cadres, become "a noble person, a pure person, a moral person, a person who is detached from low-level interests, and a person who is beneficial to the people".

Transform the power of thought into material power

Consciously and thoroughly transforming one's mind is to cultivate the "study of the mind" of the communists. The ideological transformation of communists is guided by Marxism as a scientific theory, and is the concrete application and practice of Marxist epistemology in the field of ideological transformation. Therefore, ideological transformation must adhere to the organic unity of practice and understanding, and through the spiraling process of "practice, understanding, re-practice, and re-understanding," in the final analysis, it is necessary to understand and transform the world through the transformation of thinking, establish the Marxist world outlook, outlook on life, and values, master the Marxist stand, viewpoint, and method, and regard ideological transformation as a lifelong task, and live to old age, learn from old age, and transform old age.

To cultivate the "study of the heart" of communists, it is necessary to "lead to conscience." Easier said than done. In Marxist terms, it is to transform the spirit into matter, externalize the power of thought and spirit into the material force to transform the world and promote the social revolution, and finally achieve the "unity of knowledge and action" that is internalized in the heart and externalized in action, and cultivate to become a person who is consistent with words and deeds, consistent with the outside and inside, and pure and pure. Party members and cadres must enhance their consciousness and thoroughness in ideological transformation, and must adhere to the practical standards of ideological transformation, closely integrate ideological transformation with the performance of their duties and daily life, and identify the authenticity of loyalty and political success in the performance of their duties and in their daily lives. This requires that ideological transformation must properly handle the dialectical relationships between subjectivity and objectivity, understanding and practice, dedication and demand, struggle and enjoyment, adhere to the problem orientation, pay attention to seeking truth and pragmatism, carry forward the spirit of struggle, strengthen responsibility, have the courage to overcome difficulties, and earnestly achieve the unity of learning, thinking and application, and knowledge, belief and action.

(Source: Kunlun Ce Network, originally published in the 7th edition of the People's Liberation Army Daily on July 5, 2024)