Author: Yang Ziqiang (Researcher, Institute of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Chinese Min University)
A great cause needs a noble spirit, and a noble spirit supports a great cause. Spirit is the soul on which a party, a country, and a nation depend for their survival, and only when they reach a certain height spiritually can this party, country, and nation stand firm and forge ahead courageously in the torrent of history. At the meeting to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the great spirit of "adhering to the truth, adhering to ideals, practicing the original intention, undertaking the mission, not being afraid of sacrifice, heroic struggle, loyalty to the party, and living up to the people". This is the great national spirit summarized by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress with "great creative spirit, great struggle spirit, great unity spirit, and great dream spirit", which together constitute the spiritual backbone of contemporary Chinese. Profoundly understanding, accurately grasping, and vigorously carrying forward the great spirit of party building and the great national spirit are of great theoretical, historical, and practical significance to the new era of constantly winning new victories in the great struggle, advancing the new great project of party building, upholding and developing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The great national spirit has bred the great spirit of party building in the great historical exploration, and the great party building spirit has led history to create a new historical glory of the great national spirit
The great spirit of party building stems from the great burst of the great national spirit at a time of national peril. The national spirit is the soul of a nation's vitality and cohesion. The Chinese nation is a great nation in the world and has a long history of civilization of more than 5,000 years. The development of civilization has never been a smooth road. The Chinese nation has experienced many tribulations in history, but it has never been crushed, but has been unyielding through setbacks, has gone through many ups and downs and become stronger, and has constantly grown and risen from tribulations, and its important support lies in the great national spirit that has been cultivated, inherited, and developed by the people of Chinese in their long-term struggle. Whenever the Chinese nation is at a critical juncture, the great national spirit will burst forth with tremendous energy, liberating the nation from fire and water and saving the country from danger. After the Opium War in 1840, China gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, with the country humiliated, the people suffering, and civilization being dusted, and the Chinese nation suffering unprecedented disasters. It was precisely in the context of that era that the great national spirit once again burst forth tremendously, especially in the course of the cpc's pioneers exploring the road of saving the country and the people, forming the spiritual genealogy of the Chinese communists represented by the great spirit of party building, stirring up the heroic spirit and fearless national courage of the entire nation in its struggle to the end against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, and began to write the most magnificent epic in the history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. It can be said that at the "darkest moment" when the mountains and rivers of the Chinese nation are broken and the lives are ruined, the great national spirit is facing the crisis of the times of subjugation of the country and the extinction of the species, and the powerful force that bursts out to overcome all difficulties and hardships is an important foundation for the pioneers of the CPC to shape the great spirit of party building.
The great spirit of party building embodies the great activation of the Marxist truth force on the great national spirit. If a nation wants to walk in the forefront of the times, it cannot do without theoretical thinking for a moment; if a national spirit wants to promote the development of the times, it cannot do without ideological guidance for a moment. After the Opium War, the Chinese people lived in dire straits. In order to save the nation from peril, in order to change the fate of being enslaved and bullied, countless benevolent people with rich national spirit have gone forward and tried to find a way out to save the nation, but they all ended in failure. The revolutionary movement urgently needs new organizations to unite, and the national spirit urgently needs new ideas to activate. The October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China with the sound of a cannon. This is like a ray of light in the darkness, and the Chinese people, who are trapped in wandering and suffering, see the way out and hope for solving China's problems. Gathered under the banner of Marxism, China's advanced elements actively threw themselves into the practice of mass struggle, investigating life among workers, propagating the revolution, running schools, and running trade unions. The wide spread of Marxism in China and the close integration with the Chinese workers' movement have endowed the great national spirit with unprecedented connotations of the times and effectively promoted the germination of the great spirit of party building. It can be said that the great activation of the great national spirit by the marxist truth force has given the pioneers of the Communist Party of China the ideological conditions to shape the great spirit of party building. It is precisely in this great awakening that the Chinese people and the Chinese nation have changed from passive to active spiritually, the Chinese revolution has taken on a new look, and the Chinese nation has begun to move toward great rejuvenation with difficulty but irreversibly.
The spiritual genealogy of Chinese communists with the great spirit of party building as its source is a great enrichment and development of the great national spirit. Trees are thousands of feet tall and have roots, and water flows for thousands of miles. Over the past one hundred years, the CPC has always carried forward the great spirit of party building in coping with various difficulties and challenges, and has formed such great spirits as the spirit of Jinggangshan, the spirit of the Long March, the spirit of the Zunyi Conference, the spirit of Yan'an, the spirit of Xibaipo, the spirit of Hongyan, the spirit of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the spirit of "two bombs and one satellite," the spirit of special zones, the spirit of fighting floods, the spirit of fighting earthquakes and disaster relief, and the spirit of fighting the epidemic, and has built up the spiritual genealogy of Chinese communists. This series of great spirits is the living water gushing from the "source" of the great party-building spirit in different historical periods, and it is also the fruitful result of the continuous vigorous development of the "soil" of the great national spirit. In the course of a century of revolution, construction, and reform, countless Chinese communists have thrown their heads and spilled their blood, creating one shining spiritual monument after another. The spiritual genealogy of Chinese communists written with the great spirit of party building as the source not only embodies our party's firm conviction, fundamental purpose, and fine work style, but also embodies the great character of Chinese communists who struggle hard, sacrifice and dedication, and forge ahead in a pioneering spirit, but has also been deeply integrated into the blood of our party, country, nation, and people, and nourishes the spirit of great creation, great struggle, great unity, and great dreams. The great spirit of party building has become an important part of the great national spirit with the richest connotation of the times, the political character with the richest values of the times, and has become the source of strength for contemporary Chinese to enhance their morale, backbone, and confidence, and fully embodies the great enrichment and development of the great national spirit of the spiritual genealogy of the Chinese communists.
The great spirit of party building and the great national spirit shine together, are unified in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and are condensed in the struggle to realize the Chinese nation's great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream
The great spirit of party building and the great national spirit together constitute the spiritual backbone of contemporary Chinese, and we must maintain a straight posture that never bends. Both the great spirit of party building and the great national spirit are the sources that nurture the unique spiritual character of contemporary Chinese, represent the unique spiritual identity of contemporary Chinese, and build a unique spiritual world of contemporary Chinese, which together constitute the spiritual backbone of contemporary Chinese. Today, the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has shown unprecedented bright prospects and entered an irreversible historical process, and every Chinese should have this confidence. At the same time, the world today is experiencing major changes unprecedented in a century, China is in a critical period of development from great to strong, the task of reform, development and stability is unprecedented, and the number of contradictions, risks and challenges is unprecedented. In the face of the severe and complicated situation, we need to draw strength from the great spirit of party building and the great national spirit, from the profound connection between spiritual initiative and historical initiative, profoundly understand that the red regime was not easy to come by, new China was not easy to come by, and socialism with Chinese characteristics was not easy to come by, profoundly understand why the Communist Party of China can do it, why Marxism works, and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good, and strengthen self-confidence in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, theoretical self-confidence, institutional self-confidence, and cultural self-confidence.
The Communist Party of China is the founder of the great spirit of party building and the inheritor of the great national spirit, and it must always be the backbone of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and it must maintain a posture of unremitting struggle. The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and is not only the founder of the great spirit of party building, but also the inheritor of the great national spirit. Without the Communist Party of China, there would be no great spirit of party building and no great national spirit that showed unprecedented vitality. In the new era and new journey, to vigorously carry forward the great spirit of party building and the great national spirit, we must always maintain the sense of distress in defending the country with the lofty ambition and pride of fighting the country, carry forward the revolutionary spirit of the older generation of revolutionaries who "should chase the poor and the poor with courage, and must not become the overlord of fame and learning," carry forward the fighting spirit of the communists who "have the courage to sacrifice more and dare to teach the sun and the moon for a new day," and always continue the spiritual bloodline of the communists with the soberness of "catching up with the examination." We must profoundly advance the new great project of party building, persistently strengthen the comprehensive and strict management of the party, constantly maintain the party's advanced nature and purity, enhance the party's ability to purify itself, improve itself, renovate itself, and improve itself, ensure that the party does not change its nature, color, and taste, ensure that the party always walks in the forefront of the times in the historical process of profound changes in the world situation, and always becomes the backbone of the people of the whole country in the historical process of coping with various risks and tests at home and abroad. In the historical process of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, it has always become a strong core of leadership.
To combine the basic tenets of Marxism with China's excellent traditional culture and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of the spiritual genealogy of Chinese communists and the great national spirit, we must maintain a never-ending forward posture. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to "persist in integrating the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional culture, use Marxism to observe the times, grasp the times, lead the times, and continue to develop contemporary Chinese Marxism and Marxism in the 21st century." The great national spirit is the quintessence of China's excellent traditional culture, and the great spirit of party building is a precious spiritual wealth produced by combining the basic tenets of Marxism with the great national spirit. In China's outstanding traditional culture, the sentiment of serving the country by "profiting from the life and death of the country, and avoiding it because of misfortunes and blessings"; the people-oriented thinking of "the people are only the state, the people are solid and the state is ning"; and the dedication spirit of "who has not died in life since ancient times, and who has left Dan to take care of the sweat and youth" are the common background of the great party building spirit and the great national spirit. From the course of development in which the great spirit of party building and the great national spirit are in line with each other and advance with the times, we must profoundly understand the essence of Marxism and Chinese civilization, use Marxist stands, viewpoints, and methods to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of the spiritual genealogy of the Chinese communists and the great national spirit, and use the vigorous revolutionary culture and the vigorous advanced socialist culture to forge ahead and invigorate the spirit of the whole nation. It is necessary to persist in using the core socialist values to unite our hearts and minds, and cultivate new people of the times who will shoulder the great responsibility of national rejuvenation. We should not forget the original, absorb foreign countries, and face the future, better build the Chinese spirit, Chinese values, and Chinese strength, better promote the Chinese-style modernization that coordinates material civilization and spiritual civilization, and provide a strong spiritual force for the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Source: Learning Times