Study Is the Prerequisite and Action Is the Key*

February 4, 2016 and April 13, 2017

I

The "Two Studies, One Action"¹ education campaign is an important plan for enhancing the political philosophy of the Party and an effective boost to the Four-pronged Strategy. It will be particularly effective in strengthening Party discipline down to the community level. In this campaign, the prerequisite is study, and the key is action. Party organizations at all levels should shoulder the main responsibility for the campaign, and take differentiated and problem-based approaches in order to ensure that desired results are delivered.

In strengthening the Party, the priority is to enhance its political philosophy and the key is to ensure discipline among Party members and officials. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, our Party has launched two education campaigns – the Mass Line, and the Three Guidelines for Ethical Behavior and Three Basic Rules of Conduct – which have all played an important role in addressing prominent problems among Party officials, particularly those at the level of county or equivalent administrative unit, and have helped to strengthen Party discipline. But strengthening political philosophy cannot be completed in a single big push. By targeting the majority of Party members instead of a minority of officials at important positions, and changing the education model from short-term and intensive to long-term and regular, the "Two Studies, One Action" campaign aims to solidify the Marxist stance of Party members, ensure all Party members remain consistent with the Central Committee in thinking and action, and maintain the Party's profile as a Marxist party with ideals and faith.

Grassroots Party organizations are the cornerstone of our Party's governance and source of its strength. Only if the grassroots organizations are sound and the Party members play their due roles, can the Party's foundation be firm and the Party itself vigorous. The "Two Studies, One Action" campaign aims to strengthen the discipline of each and every Party branch and Party member. The prerequisite of this campaign is study, and the key is action. Party members should always be alert to their problems in study and trained to correct them in action. They must establish benchmarks, set red lines, and build a pioneering image – displaying the power of faith with action. We should rectify disqualified grassroots Party organizations and uphold and implement effective rules and regulations. New situations and new problems require that we should be stricter with intra-Party political activities and conduct, and remedy institutional shortcomings in an innovative way, supervise the activities in the Party, and intensify the education of Party members.

It is a major responsibility of all Party organizations and leaders concerned to organize the "Two Studies, One Action" education campaign properly. Secretaries of Party committees at all levels should do an effective job in disciplining committee members, Party members, and all the staff in accordance with methods and requirements for the education of Party members. We should embrace a differentiated approach and timely guidance, adopting different solutions to different problems, and avoid simply going through the motions. Officials at the level of county or equivalent administrative unit should set a good example in this education campaign, relate the campaign to their actual work, take their studies to a new depth, and set higher requirements for themselves to improve their political capability and their theoretical level.

(a directive on launching the "Two Studies, One Action" 
education campaign, February 4, 2016)

II

The Party-wide "Two Studies, One Action" education campaign launched last year has achieved remarkable results. Practice has proven that the campaign is an effective means of strengthening the theoretical, organizational, and institutional development of the Party. It is also a fundamental project for comprehensively governing the Party with strict discipline, and we must persevere with it. The campaign should prioritize theoretical and political training, guiding Party members' words and deeds through the Party Constitution and rules, and directing the whole Party with the innovative theoretical developments; and it should guide all to become qualified Party members. The campaign must focus on a small number of key officials and on grassroots Party branches. It should also promote a solution-based approach and make full use of role models. Measures should be taken to ensure that Party committees, or Party leadership groups, at various levels fulfill their major responsibilities, and that the campaign is carried out on a regular and institutionalized basis. The campaign should ensure that Party organizations perform their functions and play a central role; that officials are loyal, honest, and responsible and play an exemplary role; and that the majority of Party members play a model role as the vanguard, so as to provide a strong organizational guarantee for promoting the overall plan for economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress and advancing the Four-pronged Strategy.

(a directive on advancing the "Two Studies, One Action" 
education campaign, April 13, 2017)

* Two directives on the "Two Studies, One Action" education campaign.

Notes 

¹  This refers to the education campaign asking all Party members to study the Party Constitution and rules, and speeches of Xi Jinping, and to become qualified Party members.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)