The Important Thought of "Three Represents"

It is a relatively complete scientific system that blends philosophy, political economy, scientific socialism and other fields, and covers economy, politics, science and technology, education, culture, nationality, military affairs, diplomacy, united front, Party building, etc. It, however, still needs to be further enriched and developed from all aspects. In the practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, the CPC with Jiang Zemin as the main representative deepened their understanding of what socialism is, how to build socialism, and what kind of Party to build and how to build the Party when the Party enjoyed a long-term ruling, and gradually formed an important thought.

The thought can be summarized as follows. The CPC must always represent the development requirements of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.

Always representing the development requirements of China's advanced productive forces means that the Party's theory, line, program, principles, policies and various tasks must conform to the development laws of productive forces, embody the requirements of continuously promoting the liberation and development of social productive forces, especially the requirements of promoting the development of advanced productive forces, and aim at improving the people's living standards by developing productive forces. Always representing the orientation of China's advanced culture, that is, the Party's theory, line, program, principles, policies and various tasks must reflect the requirements of developing socialist culture facing modernization, the world and the future which is distinctly Chinese pro-science and people-oriented, promote the continuous improvement of the ideological and ethical quality and scientific and cultural quality of the whole nation, and provide spiritual motivation and intellectual support for China's economic development and social progress. Always representing the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people means that the Party's theory, line, program, principles, policies and various tasks must always take the fundamental interests of the people as the starting point and destination, give full play to the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the people, and enable the people to continuously obtain practical economic, political and cultural benefits on the basis of continuous social development and progress.

The important thought of the “Three Represents” is a unified whole that is interrelated to and promotes one another. It was proposed on the basis of a scientific judgment of the Party’s historical position. It reflected the new requirements for the work of the Party and the state posed by the development and changes of the world, China and the Party itself around the 1990s. It was formed at the background when world socialism fell into a low tide, the world multipolarization and economic globalization became increasingly apparent, the competition of economy-based, science and technology-led comprehensive national strength turned more fierce, and the international situation and world pattern underwent profound changes, after the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. It was formed in the new exploration of building socialism with Chinese characteristics by the Party and the people since the Reform and Opening-up, especially since the 4th Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee. Its formation was based on the reality that at the turn of the century, what the CPC faced was two historical issues that must be solved, that is, further improving the Party’s leadership and ruling level and its ability to resist corruption, changes and risks. At the conference celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the CPC in 2001, Jiang Zemin made a systematic elaboration on the scientific connotation and spiritual essence of the “Three Represents”.

It internally unified the administration of the Party and the state, reflects the basic experience that socialism with Chinese characteristics must adhere to, covers such various fields as socialist economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction, Party building, national defense and military modernization, motherland reunification, international strategy and diplomatic work, involves reform, development and stability, internal affairs, diplomacy, national defense, and the administration of the Party, the country and the army. With a series of closely related and interconnected new ideas, viewpoints and theories, the important thought further answered what socialism is and how to build it, creatively answered what kind of Party to build and how to build it when the Party enjoyed a long-term ruling, and deepened our understanding of the Party’s ruling law, socialist construction law and historical development law of human society. It not only adhered to the Marxist world outlook and methodology but also endowed it with distinct spirit of the times and practical requirements. It integrated the development of advanced productive forces and culture and the realization of the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people with the Party’s advanced nature and elevated the former to the Party’s nature, aim and guiding ideology. It is the Party’s creative application and development of dialectical materialism and historical materialism.

Always keeping to the “Three Represents” is the root of founding the Party, the foundation of ruling the Party, and the source of its strength. The key of implementing the “Three Represents” lies in keeping pace with the times, the core lies in upholding the Party’s advanced nature and the essence lies in governance for the people.

In 2002, the 16th CPC National Congress established the “Three Represents” together with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory as the guiding ideology that the Party must adhere to for a long time and wrote it into the Party Constitution. In 2004, it was included into the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.