On The Chinese Communist Party’s Spiritual Drive

The spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China refers to the spiritual motive forces generated by the intellectual,moral,idealistic and other spiritual factors of the Communist Party of China and the impact it has had on practice.The Communist Party of China,as a mission-oriented party,is a Marxist party with a high degree of spiritual drive.The Communist Party of China’s spiritual drive has deep ideological roots,in which Marxist ideology dominates and plays a guiding role,and the philosophical resources of ancient China and the West carry significant referential value.Marxist theoretical contemplations on spiritual drive consist of four main aspects: first,the spiritual element as the basis of objectivity in spiritual motivation,second,material force is the realistic base of spiritual motivation,third,human liberation is the value-based pursuit of spiritual motivation,and fourth,Party spirit is the holistic expression of spiritual motivation.The history of ancient Chinese thought on spiritual drive can be summarized in six keywords,namely,―the benevolent love others‖,―the people are the foundation of a state‖,―earning trust from people‖,―righteousness of the politicians‖,―harmony between man and nature‖ and ―the whole world as one community‖,which correspond to the spiritual drive of ―benevolence and love‖,the spiritual drive of attaching importance to ―the people‖,the spiritual drive of observing ―integrity‖,the spiritual drive of upholding ―justice‖,the spiritual drive of promoting ―peace and harmony‖ and the spiritual drive of pursuing ―greater harmony‖.The Western theoretical exploration of spiritual drive is consistent with the scale of the development of the history of ideas,which can be divided into three components: the contemplations on spiritual drive in ancient Greek philosophy,the awareness of spiritual drive in medieval philosophy,and the reflections on spiritual drive in recent modern Western philosophical thoughts.From the perspective of historical materialism,the development process of the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China can be divided into five historical stages.The first stage has seen spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China(1921-1949)taken shape.Since the early days of the May Fourth Movement and the founding of the Party,the spiritual drive of the CPC was nurtured and developed.Under the ―torrential floods‖ of the Revolution,the spiritual drive of the CPC continued to evolve,and the Party’s spiritual drive had seen further development during the tumult of the Great Agrarian Revolution,and it was carried forward during the self-salvation resistance against Japanese aggression,and the torch of the spiritual power of the CPC was relayed during the Liberation War.The second stage includes the exploration and arduous development of the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China(1949-1965).In the early years of the founding of New China,the CCP’s spiritual drive was supported through practice,and under the influence of the ―two tendencies‖,it was in this period the Party’s spiritual drive was adversely impacted before it was fully integrated and continued to be developed.Third,a serious setback to the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China(1966-1976)took place.The leftist tendency and the spiritual drive of the CPC were in a deadlock,the ―Striking down anything‖ movement has caused a serious setback to the CPC’s spiritual drive,and a cult of personality exerted a negative impact on the CPC’s spiritual drive.Fourth,a turning point was marked in the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China and its development in accord with the times(1977-2012).The great turn of reform and opening-up and the restoration of the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China has seen spiritual drive playing a commanding role in transitioning the country into a socialist market economy,as well as in advancing socialist culture and ethics.Fifth,this period saw the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China continuing to deepen and expand(2012-present).New developments of CPC’s spiritual drive emerged as Chinese socialism enters a new era which includes the comprehensive advancement of CPC’s spiritual drive in the wake of the great historical momentum of national revival,and furthermore,the spiritual drive of the Party is continually materialized and institutionalized.The fundamental factors for the generation of the Chinese Communist Party’s spiritual drive are material interests and economic factors.The key to its transformation from―spontaneous‖ to ―conscious‖ and from ―inevitable kingdom‖ to ―free kingdom‖ lies in the internal promotion of Party building.The decisive role of material factors and the propelling role of Party building have together constituted a complete set of logical thoughts for generating the CPC’s spiritual drive.This study,on the basis of insisting on the decisive role of material factors,focuses on the key process of Party building,which transformed the Party’s spiritual drive from a ―spontaneous‖ form to a ―conscious‖ one.There is a need to explore the generating logic of the Party’s spiritual drive in areas including the Party’s political building,thought building,organizational building,and conduct building.First,political building is the basic prerequisite for generating the spiritual drive of the CPC,which can be subdivided into the prerequisites of political belief,political leadership,political competence,and political ecology.Secondly,thought building provides the conceptual basis for the generation of the CPC’s spiritual drive,that is,the spiritual ―calcium‖ provides conceptual nourishment for the generation of the CPC’s spiritual drive,the ―wind‖ that is a learning culture which helps create the conceptual conditions necessary for the generation of the CPC’s spiritual drive and to establish the conceptual consensus for the generation of the CPC’s spiritual drive by making sure that the theories enter the ―brain‖ of Party members.Thirdly,organizational building provides a source of strength for generating the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China.More specifically,democratic centralization is the organizational and institutional guaranty for the Party’s spiritual drive,whereas the formation of the Party’s grass-roots organizations is the grass-roots organizational guarantee for generating the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China and building a capable team of Party members and cadres remain the key organizational guaranty for generating the spiritual drive of the Party.Fourthly,the work-style improvement effort is the cornerstone of the CPC’s spiritual drive,that is,the need to combine theory and practice,to keep links with the masses,to carry out the tradition of criticism and self-criticism.Together,they help to enrich,uplift and transcend the spiritual drive of the CPC.Fifth,conduct building is the normative constraint for generating the spiritual drive of the CPC,that is,the need to tighten institutional constraints and therefore provides a guarantee for promoting the spiritual drive of the CPC,to keep clear of the ―electrified high-voltage line‖ which refers to the bottom line for guarding the spiritual drive of the CPC,and seizing the ―key few‖ to give full play to the demonstration effect of internalizing the spiritual drive of the CPC.The content and form of the CPC’s spiritual drive can be divided into conceptual,practical and historical forms.The practical form is the materialized product of the Party’s spiritual drive;the conceptual form refers to the conceptual foundation and scaffolding that keeps CPC’s spiritual drive alive,and the historical form is the culminating product of the CPC’s spiritual drive in a particular historical period;all three are inseparable and interrelated.First,the ideaistic form of the Party’s spiritual drive is comprised of the idealistic and belief form,the conceptual form of value,and the conceptual form of morality.Second,the practical form of the CPC’s spiritual drive mainly includes the practical form of material production,the practical form of spiritual production,and the practical form of communication.Third,the historical form of the Party’s spiritual drive,based on the historical logic of the Chinese nation ―standing up‖,―getting rich‖ and ―becoming strong‖,mainly manifests over the course of the Chinese people’s revolution,construction,and reform under the Party’s leadership.The CPC’s spiritual drive follows three main lines of logic: the logic of ―subjectivity‖,―objectification‖ and ―structuration‖.First,the logic of ―subjectivity‖ shows that the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China has taken the role of leading the development of the subjective world.This can be summed up by the commitment to its original aspiration,the firm belief in ideals,and its political and moral characters,which correspond to the concepts of responsibility,faith,politics and ethics of the Party’s spiritual drive respectively.Secondly,the logic of ―objectification‖ means that the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China has been deeply integrated into the objective world.This mainly includes the four logics of the path,theory,institution and culture,which correspond respectively to the role of the Party’s spiritual drive in guiding the development of the Chinese path,in guiding the process of building Chinese theories,embedding itself into the process of constructing Chinese institutions and integrating into the process of the formation of Chinese culture.Thirdly,the logic of ―structuration‖ means that the spiritual drive has deeply embedded in the social structure.This mainly includes the five aspects of material dimension,political dimension,cultural dimension,social dimension and ecological dimension,which correspond to the influence of the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China on the economic structure,political structure,cultural structure,social structure and ecological structure of Chinese socialism.The real-world application of the Party’s spiritual drive can be considered in four aspects:the individual dimension,the family dimension,the social dimension and the national dimension.First,with respect to individual dimension,the spiritual drive of the CPC can be further extended to the life of Party members,that is to deeply integrate the spiritual drive of the CPC into the political life,daily life and spiritual life of Party members,and to create an atmosphere in which spiritual drive is filled to the brim of the life of Party members.Second,in terms of the familial dimension,the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China can be further extended to the cultivation of family values,that is,to draw inspiration from the spiritual drive of the Communist Party of China and to enhance the effectiveness of fostering family values.Thirdly,from the social dimension,the Party’s spiritual drive of the can be further extended to social governance,so that a more inclusive social governance model can be better implemented.Fourthly,from the national perspective,the Party’s spiritual drive can be further extended to national governance,enabling it to achieve ―good governance‖,―innovative governance‖ and ―breakthrough governance‖ for national,local and grassroots-level governments.Throughout history,there is no political party that attaches so much importance to the spiritual leadership and spiritual cultivation of the entire Party much like the CPC,nor has there been any political organization that has armed the entire Party with such a high degree of spiritual mission that guides its practice as the CPC.It is the eternal spiritual force that makes the CPC a truly mission-driven political party that is capable of shouldering with the utmost task of rejuvenating the nation.