The concept of political performance is a concentrated expression of the world view, outlook on life, values and views of power, status and interests of party members and cadres in their work and entrepreneurship. It is a fundamental issue related to the party spirit. When Comrade Xi Jinping was working in Shanghai, he required leading cadres to handle "ideological concerns, power concerns, social concerns, family relations, and life concerns" and calculate "interest accounts, legal accounts, and conscience accounts." "Passing the test" is the prerequisite guarantee for practicing the correct view of political performance, and "keeping accounts" is an important method to test the effectiveness of political performance. "Passing customs" and "keeping accounts", one internal and one external, complement each other and together constitute the methodology of the Chinese Communists' correct view of political achievements in the new era. "Passing" aims to build a strong ideological dam and maintain a healthy atmosphere; "keeping accounts" focuses on weighing the pros and cons, clarifying behavioral boundaries, and ensuring that every decision and every work is in line with the party's purpose, national laws and people's expectations.
1. “Passing the test” is the prerequisite for the concept of political performance
The Communist Party of China has always emphasized that party members and cadres should sharpen their original aspirations and fulfill their mission while "passing the test." As early as January 1963, Comrade Zhou Enlai proposed that leading cadres should live well in the "five tests" of "ideology, politics, life, family and society", which laid an important foundation for advancing party building in the future. The Party's theoretical innovations come from the same source. In August 2007, Comrade Xi Jinping asked leading cadres at all levels in Shanghai to conduct "ideological relations, power relations, social relations, family relations and life relations", further enriching the contemporary connotation of this tradition. The "five levels" constitute a solid line of defense for party members and cadres to cultivate their moral integrity and start their own business. Each level contains profound political requirements and practical standards.
"Ideology" is related to the future and destiny of the party. The key is to adhere to ideals and beliefs unwaveringly. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Leading cadres should take tempering their party spirit and improving their ideological consciousness as a lifelong task, and they should live, learn and cultivate until they are old." Party members and cadres must firmly grasp the correct political direction, keep a clear head and a firm political stance in the face of major issues of right and wrong, and continue to improve their political judgment, political understanding, and political execution. The essence of "power relations" is to correctly handle the relationship between public and private. The Communist Party of China is a party that serves the people wholeheartedly. It must adhere to the principle of using power for the people, limited use of power, fair use of power, and use of power in accordance with the law to ensure that power is "public". "Social relations" requires party members and cadres to treat social interactions with caution, speak and behave in compliance with standards, and purify the "social circle" and "life circle." To choose good friends, you must stick to the bottom line of principles and maintain an image of integrity. "Family relations" are related to the effectiveness of family tradition construction and are a practical test faced by leading cadres. They must strictly manage family members and cultivate good family traditions. "Life-related" reflects the moral character of party members and cadres. If you don’t sweep one house, how can you sweep the world? We must pay attention to small things and details, and be cautious about independence, desire, and subtlety. As the ancients said, "I examine myself three times a day," I can maintain my true self even in private and when no one is around. These "five levels" are interrelated and in-depth, and together guide party members and cadres to create achievements in transforming the subjective world and the objective world, ensuring that the cause of the party and the people is passed down from generation to generation and has a permanent foundation.
2. “Accounting” is an important method to test the effectiveness of political performance
"Accounting" is the recording, inspection and value evaluation of the performance practices of party members and cadres. To be a "clear person" in politics, we must be wary of the "muddleheadedness" of party spirit cultivation. What Chinese Communists need to remember is by no means an account of personal gains and losses, fame and fortune, but an account of benefiting the people, career development, and historical sedimentation. Success does not have to be mine, success must be mine.
Calculate the "interest account" well and adhere to the fundamental position of people's supremacy. People's livelihood is no small matter, and the branches and leaves are always related to feelings. The core of the performance concept is for whom the performance is created. A correct view of political performance is based on a correct view of interests. The key to calculating the "interest account" well is to clarify and handle the relationship between personal interests and collective interests, local interests and overall interests, and current interests and long-term interests. Our party has no special interests of its own, and all its work must take the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people as the highest standard. The fundamental criterion for testing political performance is whether it does practical things and solves problems for the people, and whether it gives the people a real sense of gain, happiness, and security. The eight words "safety and warmth" and "emergency, difficulty and worry" must be engraved in the hearts of party members.
Calculate the "legal accounting" and establish the behavioral principles of using power in accordance with the law. The rule of law is the cornerstone of governing and rejuvenating the country, and is also a solid guarantee for creating political achievements that can withstand testing. The rule of law protects Chinese-style modernization. To calculate "legal accounts" well means to have a deep understanding of the rigid constraints of legal disciplines, and to be clearly aware that any so-called "political achievements" that deviate from the track of the rule of law and violate disciplinary rules are not only ineffective, but also harmful. Party members and cadres must always be in awe, strictly constrain the exercise of power within the institutional cage, and ensure that every work can withstand legal and disciplinary inspection.
Calculate "conscience accounts" well and abide by the political character of loyalty to the party. Serving as an official for one term and benefiting one party is the conscience and responsibility that party members and cadres should have. China's excellent traditional culture advocates "honest and honest officials", and its core is the call for the moral conscience of those in power. For Chinese Communists, conscience is closely linked to the cultivation of party spirit and official and political ethics. Calculating the "account of conscience" is essentially to protect the spiritual high ground of Communists and to always maintain their utter loyalty to the Party and their deep feelings for the people. Party members and cadres must always ask themselves whether they have truly fulfilled their original mission and whether they have fulfilled their duties with a clear conscience.
"Accounts of interests, legal disciplines, and accounts of conscience" are interconnected and internally unified. They jointly guide party members and cadres to establish and practice a view of political performance that meets the requirements of the party, the needs of the times, and the expectations of the people. They use a clear-headed "bookkeeping" concept to ensure that political performance does not deteriorate or be biased, and solidly promotes the stability and long-term development of the cause of the party and the people.
3. Promote party members and cadres to establish and practice a correct view of political performance through "passing accounting"
Establish and practice a correct view of political performance, educate and guide party members and cadres at all levels, especially leading cadres, to persist in seeking truth from facts, carry out work according to local conditions, and do more to lay the foundation, increase stamina, and benefit the long-term. We should establish the orientation of emphasizing both demonstrated performance and potential performance, improve the differentiated assessment and evaluation system, streamline and optimize assessment indicators, and guide cadres to face contradictions, solve problems, and promote development. "Passing" and "accounting" are dialectically unified and complementary to each other. "Accounting" is the touchstone of "passing". Only by calculating the "three accounts" can the quality of "passing" be purified.
The correct view of political performance lies in grasping the key word "people". From what Xi Jinping said when he was in the Liangjiahe Brigade of Wen'anyi Commune in Yanchuan County, Shaanxi Province, "Going to the countryside must pass five passes: flea pass, food pass, life pass, labor pass, and ideological pass." General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized: "Communists must remember that benefiting the people is the greatest political achievement." Adhere to the people-first stance and require party members and cadres to pass the "five tests" well, always put the people at the top of their hearts, ensure that power is always used for the benefit of the people, and win the trust of the people with good style. Party members and cadres must always keep in mind that where there are people's needs, good deeds can be done and performance can be created. Whether performance is good or not depends on the actual feelings of the masses and is judged by the masses.
The practical requirement for a correct view of political performance is hard work and hard work. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Establish a correct view of political performance, insist on being based on reality and scientific decision-making, insist on long-term perspective and lay a solid foundation, persist in doing practical things, strive for practical results, and prevent formalism and bureaucracy." Party members and cadres must carry forward the spirit of nailing, observe the actual situation, take practical measures, and seek practical results, and resolutely put an end to the slogan-style, statement-style, and packaged implementation practices. They must say what is urgent and do it quickly, maintain strategic focus on long-term tasks, and work hard for a long time.
Establish and practice a correct view of political performance in cultivating party spirit. A correct view of political performance requires party members and cadres to not only do practical things that the people can see, touch, and benefit from, but also pave the way for future generations, lay the foundation, and do good things that will benefit the long-term. The fundamental guarantee for a correct view of political performance is a strong party spirit. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In the final analysis, party spirit plays a decisive role in establishing and practicing a correct view of political performance." This important discussion profoundly reveals the essence of the view of political performance. Party members and cadres must regard strengthening party spirit as a lifelong task, thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, cultivate the party spirit of communists, and constantly improve political judgment, political understanding, and political execution. They must consciously accept inner-party supervision, mass supervision, and public opinion supervision, promptly discover and correct deviations in their work, and always be fearful, warned in words, and restrained in deeds.
"Passing customs" and "keeping accounts" complement each other and are practiced both internally and externally, profoundly revealing the inherent unity of moral cultivation and entrepreneurship in the Chinese Communists' correct view of political achievements. "Passing five passes" is the foundation for establishing political ethics and establishing political achievements, which is related to the correct direction, stable stance, clean environment, strict family tradition, and clean ethics; "calculating three accounts" is the standard for observing actual performance and verifying results, demonstrating the foundation of values, the rope of law, and the purity of original intentions. The two are integrated and jointly build a complete practical logic for party members and cadres in the new era to fulfill their missions and create achievements.
The journey in the new era is grand and the mission lies on our shoulders. Party members and cadres should always bear in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest instructions, regard "passing the test" as a lifelong compulsory course, and use "keeping accounts" as a mirror for daily improvement. It is necessary to cultivate political loyalty with party spirit, lay a solid foundation for the people with a pragmatic style, and shoulder the important responsibilities of the times with excellent skills. Only in this way can we always maintain our true character despite the test of wind and rain, make contributions in great practice, create excellent achievements that can truly withstand the test of practice, the judgment of the people, and the precipitation of history, inject great power into promoting the great cause of national rejuvenation, and write a new chapter that is worthy of the party, the people, and the times.
(The authors are respectively the deputy dean of the Institute of Discipline Inspection and Supervision of East China Normal University and an assistant researcher at the Party Regulations Research Center of East China Normal University)
