Reporters Jiang Lin and Zhang Yao

April 23, 2018 07:37 Source: People's Daily Online - People's Daily

How to understand the significance of big learning? How to conduct large-scale learning? The reporter interviewed Liu Jingbei, member of the Executive Committee and Director of the Research Department of Pudong Cadre College in China, and Dai Lixing, Director and Researcher of the Party Building and Party History Research Office of the Marxism Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Transforming the spirit of the 19th National Congress into an ideological weapon for the entire Party and society

Reporter: How to understand the significance of the Great Learning and why is it emphasized that the whole party should have a Great Learning?

Liu Jingbei: Valuing learning is a distinctive quality that our party is born with, and it is also a successful experience in promoting the development of our cause. The people of the CPC who rely on learning to go to today will also rely on learning to go to the future. It is on the basis of continuous learning that our party has opened up the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and achieved tremendous achievements in reform, opening up, and socialist modernization construction.

In the new era, we need to transform the spirit of the 19th National Congress into a ideological weapon for the whole party and society through extensive learning, arm our minds with new ideas, and guide our work.

Dai Lixing: The era we are in is one of great development and change. The speed of knowledge innovation and updating has greatly accelerated. If party organizations at all levels and party members do not strengthen their learning, they will not be able to establish themselves in this era. The whole party's great learning is an urgent need to keep up with the development of the times.

Entering a new era, new situations, problems, and contradictions continue to emerge. Only by further strengthening learning, comprehensively enhancing the Party's governing ability, and gaining determination and energy from learning can we create a new situation for career development in the new era. It is an urgent need for the whole party to have a big study to promote the development of the cause.

For decades, our party has continuously improved its governing ability through learning, withstood various tests, and continuously consolidated its governing position. It is an urgent need for the whole party to engage in a major study, which is a new great project to strengthen party building in the new era.

Let Party members and cadres have a great enrichment of their minds, a great liberation of their thoughts, a great improvement of their understanding, and a great enhancement of their abilities

Reporter: How do we understand the meaning of "big learning" when the whole party comes for a big study?

Dai Lixing: The so-called "big" can be understood from two aspects: first, the subject involved is large. We should regard learning as a shared responsibility of the entire party, and all members of the party should learn. The strategic task of learning must be implemented in over 4.5 million grassroots party organizations and over 89 million party members. Secondly, it involves a wide range of content. The learning emphasized here not only includes various aspects such as business learning, but more importantly, political learning. Through learning, continuously enhance the Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal.

Liu Jingbei: The 'big' of big learning also includes significant meaning and a long time span. If we do not proactively accelerate knowledge updates and optimize our knowledge structure, it will be difficult to cope with new situations and solve new problems. This big study is not just a general study, but a big study of entering a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must understand the significance of the Great Learning from the perspective of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

The historical mission of the new era and the goals and tasks proposed by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China determine that this great learning cannot be achieved overnight, and will inevitably accompany the entire process of winning the decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and building a socialist modernized strong country. Great learning can greatly enrich the minds of Party members and cadres, liberate their thoughts, enhance their understanding, and strengthen their abilities.

University study should be comprehensive, systematic, and exploratory, learning from both textbooks and practical experience

Reporter: How should big learning be carried out? How should party members learn?

Dai Lixing: The study of the Party has different focuses and directions in different historical stages, but the theme is only one, which is to always focus on the overall trend of the times and solve the practical problems in the development of the Party and the country.

At present, the most core learning task of the entire party is to make learning Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era a compulsory political course, and strive to improve one's political literacy and ideological and theoretical level.

Liu Jingbei: We must regard the study, propaganda, and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the primary political task for the current and foreseeable future, and make efforts to truly understand, comprehend, and implement it. In addition, one should also learn the Party's line, principles, policies, and national laws and regulations, as well as knowledge of economics, politics, history, and other related fields.

Great learning should be comprehensive, systematic, and exploratory, learning from both books and practice. In learning, we should fully leverage the main channels and positions of party schools (administrative colleges), cadre colleges, and party committee theoretical learning centers at all levels, and effectively focus on the learning of "key minorities"; Give full play to the role of grassroots party organizations and build each branch into a learning oriented branch.

People's Daily (11th edition, April 23, 2018)