Study and Practice Campaign on the Scientific Outlook on Development

On September 14, 2008, the CPC Central Committee issued the "Opinions on In-depth Study and Practice of the ‘Scientific Outlook on Development’ in the Whole Party”. According to the deployment of the 17th CPC National Congress, the Central Committee has decided that, starting from September 2008, it would take about one and a half years to carry out the campaign of in-depth study and practice of the “Scientific Outlook on Development” in batches in the whole Party.

The “Opinions” made specific provisions on the guiding ideology, objective, requirements, main principles, important issues and organizational leadership of the study and practice campaign. The key problems this practical education campaign focuses on solving are as follows: in accordance with the requirement that development is the first essential, focus on solving the problems of unclear development ideas, lack of confidence in development, backward methods of development, poor quality of development and lack of development reserves; in accordance with the requirement of comprehensive and sustainable development, focus on solving the problems of one-sided development, blind development, and uncoordinated development; in accordance with the requirement of overall planning and consideration, focus on solving the problems of weak global awareness, the lack of strategic thinking, the inability to properly deal with individual and collective, partial and whole, current and long-term, central and local interests; in accordance with the requirements of strengthening and improving the Party building, focus on solving the problems of weak Party spirit, improper Party style, lax discipline, and especially it is required to solve the problem of wavering ideals and beliefs, indifferent sense of purpose and malpractices. To this end, the main principles to be grasped are as follows: adhere to emancipating the mind, take emancipating the mind as the guide; highlight the practical characteristics and closely focus on the theme of scientific development; implement mass line and fully carry forward democracy; give priority to positive education, and adhere to high standards and strict requirements.

The campaign was carried out in three batches from top to bottom. Each batch lasted about half a year, with more than 3.7 million Party organizations and more than 75 million Party members participating. The campaign was divided into three stages. The first stage of study and research, the focus of this stage is to seize the study and training, in-depth research. The second stage of analysis and inspection. The third stage of rectification and implementation. The practical education campaign of “Scientific Outlook on Development” was a major initiative to arm the whole Party with the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, an urgent need to further promote Reform and Opening-up, promote sound and rapid economic and social development, and promote social harmony and stability, and an inevitable requirement to improve the Party's ruling capacity and maintain and develop its advanced nature. Through carrying out a study and practice campaign, in order to further enhance the Party's advanced nature and improve the Party's ruling capacity, transforming the political and organizational advantages of the Party into a powerful force to promote sound and rapid economic and social development has further laid an important ideological, political and organizational foundation for achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.