Commitment to clearly defined values: putting the people above all else and following a people-centered approach
The ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC was held on the morning of July 1, 2021 at Tiananmen Square. During the ceremony, a formation of helicopters cut through the skies, carrying the Party flag and a number of banners that fluttered in the wind. One of the banners was emblazoned with the slogan “long live the great Chinese people,” in a display of the Party’s commitment to putting the people above all else.
The principle of putting the people first is a reflection of the CPC’s nature and purpose as well as the historical materialist perspective that the people are the creators of history. This principle is also a distinctive characteristic and theoretical quality of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It mandates that Chinese Communists always regard the wellbeing of the people as the nation’s top priority and that they make the fundamental interests of the broadest majority the inspiration and benchmark for all their work. Explaining this principle in simple language, Xi Jinping has said, “Putting the people above all else means that we must follow through with things that make the people happy?in support, and stay away from things that make them sneer in contempt.”
A political party’s regard for human life is a revealing test of the values it upholds. While speaking about the fight against Covid-19 during the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 2020, Xi Jinping conveyed some important details: there had been more than 3,000 Covid-19 patients aged 80 or older treated in Hubei Province, one of whom was an 87-year-old patient whose life was saved after being given painstaking care by a group of around 10 medical workers over dozens of days. Xi Jinping said, “This is what putting the people above all else means. All those people working on one patient is a true reflection of the commitment to save lives at all costs.”
Putting the people above all else is not a hollow, abstract concept; it must be implemented by the Party in every facet throughout the whole process of national governance. The people-centered philosophy of development, first introduced at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, creatively applies the principle of putting the people above all else in the country’s approach to development. This represents an innovative expansion on Marxist thought on the people, on development, and on modernization made by the CPC Central Committee led by Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping has said, “We will only have the right view of development and modernization if we follow a people-centered approach, insisting that development is for the people, reliant on the people, and that its fruits should be shared by the people.” ??
As mentioned in the Chinese classics, “There are some fixed principles in governing a state, among which benefitting the people should be the root.” Xi Jinping has said that the principle of shared development in the new development philosophy “represents the idea of people-centered development” and “reflects the demand of achieving shared prosperity in stages.” Marx and Engels envisaged that in the society of the future “production will be calculated to provide wealth for all,” and it would feature “the participation of all in the enjoyments provided by all.” Xi Jinping has said, “The development we pursue is that which brings benefit to the people, and the prosperity we pursue is that shared by all people.” In the pursuit of common prosperity, he has required that full consideration be given to what is necessary and what is possible, that more effective institutional arrangements be made, and that step-by-step progress be achieved in accordance with the underlying laws of economic and social development. He has said that we must make constant efforts to both bake a larger cake and ensure that it is divided fairly. We must act with purpose and initiative to address issues including the gaps among regions, urban and rural areas and the incomes of different groups, see that the strengths of the socialist system are exerted more fully, give the people a greater sense of fulfillment, and eradicate the phenomenon of massive disparity between rich and poor.
Since 2012, the CPC Central Committee led by Xi Jinping?has made the fight against poverty the top priority. As a result, all of China’s rural poor under current standards have been lifted out of poverty, marking a major milestone in the push toward common prosperity for all. After eight years of continuous effort, all 832 previously poor counties and close to 100 million people nationwide exited poverty, bringing a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty that plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years. This is a miraculous achievement in the history of humanity’s poverty reduction efforts, and represents a big and solid step forward on the path toward common prosperity.
Our great Party and country remain on course in the pursuit of our original aspirations. Our achievements in shaking off poverty and reaching moderate prosperity in all respects are not the finish line, but rather the beginning of a new life and a new struggle, and a new?starting point of our push toward common prosperity. Looking toward the future, Xi Jinping stressed the following: “On the journey ahead, we must rely closely on the people to create history. Upholding the Party’s fundamental purpose of wholeheartedly serving the people, we will stand firmly with the people, implement the Party’s mass line, respect the people’s creativity, and practice a people-centered philosophy of development. We will develop whole-process people’s democracy, safeguard social fairness and justice, and resolve the imbalances and inadequacies in development and the most pressing difficulties and problems that are of great concern to the people. In doing so, we will make more notable and substantive progress toward achieving well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all.”
