(4) Steps and Basic Methods of Party Consolidation
The present Party consolidation will be carried out according to the following steps: It will proceed from the central level to the grassroots organizations, from the top downwards by stages and in groups. Rectification of the Party organization of each unit should also proceed from the top downwards in the order of the leading bodies, leading cadres and ordinary Party members.
The Party now has 40 million members, including more than 9 million cadres, and about 2.5 million Party organizations at the grassroots level and above. Party consolidation will be completed in three years, beginning in this winter, in two stages. During the first stage, beginning in winter this year, the work will be the consolidation of Party organizations of the leading bodies at the central level and at the provincial, municipal and autonomous regional level (including the Party organizations of the various ministries, commissions and offices, departments and bureaux of these two levels) and the Party organizations in the leading bodies of all the general headquarters, services and arms and great military areas of the People's Liberation Army. During this period, the provincial, municipal and autonomous regional Party committees may designate some Party organizations at the prefectural and county levels which have already completed structural reforms to carry out Party consolidation as pilot cases. Similar experiments may also be conducted in the army. In the second stage, beginning in winter 1984, all the remaining Party organizations will be consolidated, and the various provincial, municipal and autonomous regional Party committees and the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army may make concrete arrangements, in accordance with their actual conditions, on the ways of carrying out the work by groups during this stage.
After this decision is released, all the Party organizations should organize their members to seriously study the documents on Party consolidation decided upon by the Party Central Committee in order to enhance their ideological consciousness and put the regular activities of the Party organizations on a sound basis. Party members and Party cadres who have committed various kinds of mistakes should take the initiative to correct their mistakes and should not wait until Party consolidation begins in their respective units.
The basic methods of the present Party consolidation are, on the basis of a careful study of documents and enhancement of ideology and understanding, to make criticism and self-criticism, distinguish between right and wrong, correct mistakes and purify the Party organization. In the process of Party consolidation, ideological education should be strengthened from beginning to end so as to raise the ideological consciousness of the broad masses of Party members.
To meet the needs of Party consolidation, the Party Central Committee has decided to edit and publish A Must Book for Party Members, A Concise Edition of Important Documents Since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee, Comrade Mao Zedong on the Party's Style of Work and Party Organization. These three books and the Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping will be the documents for study during this Party consolidation. For Party members who lack the ability to read, the Party committees at and above the county level will be responsible for organizing and training people to read and explain to them the main contents of A Must Book for Party Members and the Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping. All Party members must, through the study of these Party consolidation documents, raise their understanding of the character, programme and task of the Party, and raise their understanding of the criteria for Party members and of the line, principles and policies of the Party since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee. The Party organizations of the leading bodies at the central and provincial, municipal and autonomous regional levels should, after the completion of Party consolidation in their own units, organize Party cadres to earnestly study some basic Marxist works. (A list of books will be decided later.) Other Party organizations should also organize their Party cadres to study these books after Party consolidation in their units is completed.
To study the documents and raise understanding is to create the necessary conditions for solving contradictions within the Party, while correctly carrying out criticism and self-criticism is an effective method to solve these contradictions. Without conscientious criticism and self-criticism, none of the aims of Party consolidation can be achieved. Not daring to criticize and fight against erroneous ideas and acts within the Party is a manifestation of impurity in Party spirit; suppressing criticism and retaliating against people who have made criticisms is abominable behaviour which violates Party discipline. While making criticism and self-criticism, we must strictly follow the principles consistently stressed by our Party and Comrade Mao Zedong: We must proceed from the desire for unity, help those who are criticized, and act in the spirit of "learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient"; we must be practical and base our criticism on facts and we should allow the people concerned to defend their cases; we must keep to the truth and not spare the feelings of those who are criticized; we must combine the seriousness and acuteness of criticism and self-criticism with a scientific attitude and attain the goal of clearing up ideology, correcting mistakes and uniting with our comrades to make common progress.
The mass line must be followed in the present Party consolidation. First of all, we should take full heed of the opinions of the masses of Party members and Party organizations at the lower levels and give full play to the positive role of the Party members in consolidating the Party. In the meantime, we should also fully heed the opinions of non-Party members. We should actively consider and accept all correct opinions, and give explanations if the opinions put forward are wrong. All the problems arising in the course of Party consolidation should be solved through discussions by the related Party organizations. On no account should the past erroneous practice of "letting the masses consolidate the Party" or letting non-Party members decide issues in the Party be repeated.
In the process of consolidating the Party organizations, we should resolutely and promptly solve all problems which can be solved immediately so that people both inside the Party and out can see in good time the actual results of the Party consolidation.
The production and work of all units should not be disrupted by the work of Party consolidation. While doing a good job in the Party consolidation, all units should strive to promote production and work.
The Communist Youth League, which is the Party's assistant and reserve force, should organize its members to study the documents on Party consolidation so as to raise their ideological and political levels.
The Party consolidation is aimed solely at solving the problems within our Party. The various democratic parties, therefore, are not required to rectify their style of work or readjust their organizations.
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