Comrade Supreme Leader pointed out in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China: "From the 19th National Congress to the 20th National Congress, it is ‘ Two hundred years ’ The historical intersection period of the goal. We must not only build a well-off society in an all-round way and achieve the goal of the first century, but also start a new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way and March towards the goal of the second century. " We should profoundly understand the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, make a decisive victory in building a well-off society in an all-round way with a never-ending mental state and an indomitable struggle posture, successfully start a new journey of building a socialist modernized country in an all-round way, and lay the foundation for the Chinese dream of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Clarify the new goal: building a socialist modern country in an all-round way in two steps
Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s development is the unity of stages and continuity. According to the changing conditions of the times, it is a basic experience for Socialism with Chinese characteristics to break down the great ideal into practical and specific goals and tasks, and complete them step by step and in stages.
After the reform and opening up, our party made strategic arrangements for China’s socialist modernization, and put forward a "three-step" strategy from food and clothing to a well-off society and then to basically realize modernization in the middle of the 21st century. On the basis that the first two goals have been achieved ahead of schedule, the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way by the centenary of the founding of the Party and building China into a socialist modern country by the centenary of the founding of New China is put forward. Scientific goal setting and strategic arrangement have played an important leading role in China’s successful development.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, on the basis of the great achievements made in China’s development since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, historic changes have taken place in the cause of the party and the state, and Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. Based on the scientific judgment of the new historical orientation of China’s development, and in line with the people’s yearning for a better life, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will achieve the goal of the second century in two stages: the first stage, from 2020 to 2035, on the basis of building a well-off society in an all-round way, will strive for another 15 years to basically realize socialist modernization. This will advance the goal of basically realizing modernization in the middle of the 21st century put forward by our Party in 1980s to 2035. In the second stage, from 2035 to the middle of this century, on the basis of basically realizing modernization, we will strive for another 15 years to build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful socialist modernization power. It is a strategic arrangement for the development of Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era to build a well-off society in an all-round way, to basically realize modernization, and then to build a socialist modernization power in an all-round way.
Building a well-off society in an all-round way, basically realizing modernization and building a socialist modernization power in an all-round way are closely linked and connected with each other. The former is the foundation of the latter, while the latter is the development and promotion of the former. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly describes the timetable, road map and task book for realizing modernization and national rejuvenation. We should deepen our understanding and make solid progress step by step.
Carrying out new ideas: arming the mind and guiding practice with Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the New Era.
The Communist Party of China (CPC)’s great practice of revolution, construction and reform led by China people for more than 90 years is a historical process of continuous struggle for saving the country, rejuvenating the country and strengthening the country, and seeking happiness for the people and national rejuvenation. In this historical process, our party has been pioneering and innovating with great theoretical courage, combining the basic principles of Marxism with China’s concrete reality, and constantly forming new achievements of Marxism in China, reaching a new height of Marxism in China, and guiding practice to achieve new success.
In the final analysis, it is necessary to make our country and nation "strong" as soon as possible to win the victory in building a well-off society in an all-round way, start a new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way and continue to advance the great cause of Socialism with Chinese characteristics. The era of "being strong" calls for the theory of "being strong". Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the New Era is the inheritance and development of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Theory of Three Represents and Scientific Outlook on Development, and the latest achievement of Marxism in China. It thinks about and grasps the future development of the Party and the country with a broader and longer-term vision, and systematically answers the major issues of the times, such as what kind of Socialism with Chinese characteristics to adhere to and develop, and how to adhere to and develop Socialism with Chinese characteristics, from the combination of theory and practice, which is the guiding ideology that must be adhered to and continuously developed for a long time to realize the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Under the guidance of the Supreme Leader’s Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought in the new era, building a well-off society in an all-round way by 2020 marks a key step for socialist China and the Chinese nation to "strengthen"; By the middle of this century, building a socialist modern power in an all-round way will mark the real strengthening of socialist China and the Chinese nation. In this great historical process, the Supreme Leader’s Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought in the new era will continue to enrich and develop, and Marxism in contemporary China and Marxism in the 21st century will radiate more dazzling truth.
Solve new contradictions: continuously meet the people’s growing needs for a better life with more balanced and full development.
The times of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s development are different, and the people have different requirements for a better life. In the early days of reform and opening up, China’s economic and social development level was very low. Accelerating the development of social production to meet the people’s growing material and cultural needs is the basic way to solve the main social contradictions. After more than 30 years of rapid development, the main social contradiction in our country has been transformed into the contradiction between the people’s growing need for a better life and the unbalanced development. The main problem to be solved is the problem encountered in the stage of "getting rich" to "getting strong". Only by closely following the changes of major social contradictions and promoting more balanced and adequate development can we better meet the growing needs of the people in economic, political, cultural, social and ecological aspects and better promote the all-round development of people and social progress.
To achieve a more balanced and full development, we must increase our efforts to make up for the shortcomings. From the stage of building a well-off society in an all-round way, "the economy is more developed, democracy is more sound, science and education are more advanced, culture is more prosperous, society is more harmonious, and people’s lives are more affluent" to the stage of basically realizing modernization, "being in the forefront of innovative countries" and "the people’s rights to equal participation and equal development are fully guaranteed. A country ruled by law, a government ruled by law and a society ruled by law have been basically established, the degree of social civilization has reached a new height, the common prosperity of all people has taken solid steps, the pattern of modern social governance has basically taken shape, the goal of beautiful China has been basically realized, and then the material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization and ecological civilization will be comprehensively improved and the common prosperity of all people will be basically realized in the stage of building a powerful socialist country, which clearly shows that a more balanced and full development can be achieved.
Exploring new governance: giving full play to the party’s leadership advantages and improving the modernization level of state governance
Since the Second World War, although some countries once achieved rapid development, they failed to step into the threshold of modernization and fell into various "traps". One of the fundamental reasons is the lack of strong leadership of the ruling party and scientific and stable institutional guarantee. The greatest advantage of the Socialism with Chinese characteristics system is the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). In the new era, to give full play to the party’s leadership advantages, we must unswervingly adhere to the party’s leadership, constantly improve the party’s leadership, and especially constantly improve the party’s ability and level of governing the country.
Looking at the historical process since the birth of socialism, how to govern a brand-new society like socialist society has not been well solved in the past world socialist practice. Since the reform and opening up, our party has been thinking about the issue of state governance from a new perspective, emphasizing that the issues of leadership system and organizational system are more fundamental, overall, stable and long-term. In the new era of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, a major historical task before us is to promote the Socialism with Chinese characteristics system to be more mature and stereotyped, and to provide a complete, more stable and more effective system for the development of the cause of the party and the state, for the happiness and well-being of the people, for social harmony and stability, and for the long-term stability of the country.
In order to provide such an institutional system, the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that "the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the Socialism with Chinese characteristics system and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity"; By 2020, it is necessary to form a systematic, scientific, standardized and effective system to make all aspects of the system more mature and stereotyped. In the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Supreme Leader further clarified the goal of modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity: by 2035, all aspects of the system will be more perfect, and the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity will be basically realized; By the middle of this century, the national governance system and governance capacity will be modernized. The gradual realization of the goal of modernization of state governance will certainly give full play to the party’s leadership advantages, release huge institutional energy, effectively guarantee all undertakings to a new level, and successfully write a new chapter in realizing the goal of "two hundred years" and the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream.
(The author is Zhu Bingyuan, a professor at the Institute of Marxism of Suzhou University)