Exercising Overall Leadership and Coordinating the Efforst of All Concerned

The important guiding principle for the Party to strengthen and improve its leadership and give play to its leading role is the scientific summary of historic experiences.

It was proposed at the 7th Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee and further defined at the 13th CPC National Congress. During the period of the New-Democratic Revolution, the Party formed a system in which the Party committee exercised unified leadership over all work of the Party, government, army and mass.

The “Decision of the CPPC Central Committee on Unifying the Leadership of the Party in Anti-Japanese Base Areas and Adjusting the Relations among Organizations” adopted by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in September 1942 clearly stipulates that the Party is the highest form of proletarian vanguard and proletarian organization. It must lead all other organizations, such as the army, the government and mass organizations. The unity and unification of the leadership of the base areas must be manifested in the fact that each base area has a unified Party Committee exercising overall leadership over the area. After the Party obtained the governing status, its leading role should be realized by improving its leadership system and scientific governing mode. In the early years of New China, the political power organs at all levels were still in the initial stage, while the Party's leading organs and organizations at all levels were relatively strict and sound, with rich experience in the specific leadership of the work related to the Party, government, military and mass. Therefore, the unified leadership pattern of the Party committee formed during the democratic revolution period was followed. This played a very important role in unified command and coordinated completion of the tasks of democratic revolution, economic recovery and socialist transformation at that time. Under the unified leadership pattern, the Party initially put forward some basic principles for correctly handling Party-government relations. During the period of socialist construction, the Party still adheres to the centralized and unified leadership system.

On January 30, 1962, Mao Zedong pointed out at the enlarged Central Working Conference: “The Party exercises overall leadership over seven aspects including industry, agriculture, commerce, culture, education, army, government and Party.” On December 12, 1973, Mao Zedong said at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: “The Political Bureau is in charge of everything, and the Party exercises overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the country.”

Deng Xiaoping pointed out in 1975: “It is not easy to be a good secretary of county Party committee. You must have broad experience as a leader and be able to administer the work all over the county, and in all fields, including the Party, government, mass organization and military, cultural and educational affairs.” The centralized and unified leadership of the Party is of great significance for coordinating the pace of all aspects of the Party, government, military and civilians to win the victory of revolution and construction. Nevertheless, during the “Great Cultural Revolution”, "the unified leadership of the Party” was seriously impacted. Therefore, we must reform the leadership system of the Party and country.

In 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee put forward the reform of leadership system by distinguishing between the responsibilities of the Party and those of the government and stopping substituting the former for the latter. The “Resolution on Certain Historical Issues of the Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” adopted in 1981 put forward the principle of handling Party-government relations, that is, "when leading state affairs and various economic, cultural and social work, the Party must correctly handle the relationship with other organizations, and ensure that state power organs, administrative organs, judicial organs and various economic and cultural organizations effectively exercise their functions and powers, and ensure that trade unions, the Communist Youth League organizations, women's federations, associations for science and technology, federations of literary and art circles and other mass organizations work actively and responsibly". According to the 7th Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee held on October 20, 1987, the separation of the Party and government makes the Party in a detached position for controlling contradictions and exercising overall leadership, so that the Party can play the leading role of “coordinating all efforts”.

The report of the 13th CPC National Congress in 1987 pointed out that the key to political system reform is the separation of the Party and government. Separation of the Party and government means separation of functions of the Party and government. Failure to separate the Party from the government actually reduces the Party's leading role. Only by separating the Party and government can we better realize the Party's leading role and improve its leadership. The separation of Party and government put forward at the 13th CPC National Congress does not mean that "we should not emphasize the centralization and unity of the Party", but aims to improve and better strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party.

Deng Xiaoping emphasized that the Party should focus on big things, rather than small things, and should mainly solve problems directly related to the mass and do ideological work, rather than specific routine affairs, which should be done by legal state agencies or government departments. Deng Xiaoping said to several colleagues from the CPC Central Committee in September 4, l990: “As for your method of work, I'd like to make a suggestion when major questions arise concerning policies and principles. All organizations, including the State Council and the National People's Congress, should have their leading Party cadres submit those questions to the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee for discussion. After decisions are made, they should be discussed and implemented by the organizations concerned”. Exercising overall leadership refers to that Party committees at all levels should focus on grasping the direction, discussing major issues and managing the overall situation, concentrate on grasping major issues which are overall, strategic, fundamental and forward-looking, adhere to the correct political direction, decide on major issues, arrange important appointment and dismissal, strengthen ideological and political work, maintain social and political stability, and effectively implement the Party's political, ideological and organizational leadership in various fields

Leadership by the Party mainly refers to its political, ideological and organizational leadership. The Party formulates major principles and policies, puts forward legislative proposals, recommends important cadres, carries out ideological propaganda, gives full play to the role of Party organizations and Party members, and improves scientific, democratic and legal governance, thus ensuring that the Party leads the people in effectively running the country. Coordinating the efforts of all means that the Party committee should proceed from promoting the overall work, coordinate the relationship with the National People's Congress, the government, and the CPPCC, and make overall arrangements for discipline inspection, organization, propaganda, the united front, politics and law, armed forces, and mass organizations, so that all parties can perform their duties and responsibilities, and cooperate with each other to form a joint force. We regulate relations between Party committees and people's congresses, governments, CPPCC and mass organizations. We support people's congresses in performing their functions as organs of state power according to law, in ensuring that the Party’s views become the will of the state and that candidates recommended by Party organizations become leading cadres of the organs of state power through legal procedures, and in exercising supervision over them; we support governments to perform their statutory functions and administer according to law; we also support CPPCC in performing its functions by centering on the two major subjects of unity ad democracy. We strengthen the Party’s leadership over trade unions, the Communist Youth League organizations, women's federations and other mass organizations and support them to carry out work according to law and their own constitutions to better act as a bridge between the Party and the people.

The Party’s “exercising overall leadership and coordinating all efforts” involves many new ideas, new decisions and new measures related to the Party’s leadership and governing style, which not only ensures the consolidation of the Party’s governing status and the effectiveness of its leadership role, but also ensures the law-based performance and effective exertion of functions of state power organs.