First, scientifically position the function of political work according to the new historical mission.
Focusing on the new historical mission, we must scientifically locate the function of political work. For a long time, we have paid more attention to what political work should and should not do, but lacked specific research on what needs to be done, what needs to be done more, and what needs to be done less. This problem involves how to correctly understand and understand the position and function of military political work, how to reasonably distinguish the key points of service guarantee, how to make necessary choices and norms, that is, how to scientifically locate the functions of military political work. The historical mission of "three presentations and one performance" provides a basic basis for us to scientifically locate the function of political work.
First of all, to scientifically position the function of political work, we must get rid of the negative influence of the "omnipotence theory" of political work. It should be noted that the erroneous concept of "omnipotence" in political work still exists in a certain range, which makes it difficult to focus the functions of political work well, and the scope of service guarantee is wider, the content is more complicated and the task is more arduous. Mainly manifested in: some people, no matter what happens or what problems occur, must rely on political work as a pioneer and take the lead. Even for some cases and accidents caused by management and accidental factors, the reasons are often found in ideological and political education, which comes down to "ineffective political work" and leads to "overwhelming political work"; For some problems that obviously should be solved by society, we often find a way out from political work, and the result is still invalid; For some problems that were originally caused by the imperfect policy system, the reasons are often found in political work. In addition, the functions of political work are extended to the society at will, such as maintaining social order, participating in social affairs, solving poverty problems, etc., so as to make it more universal. On the surface, the unlimited expansion of the function of political work seems to highlight the status and role of political work, but in fact it has caused the decentralization of power, affected the play of the main function, affected the benefit of service guarantee, and inevitably damaged the prestige of political work over time. In order to accomplish the new historical mission, we must strengthen the main functions of political work, dilute the secondary functions, give up irrelevant functions and do something different. Strengthening the main function is to link political work with the historical mission of "three contributions and one performance" and combine it with practice; The weakening of secondary functions means grasping the principle of moderation and reducing weight for some unimportant general work; Giving up irrelevant functions means resolutely giving up some problems that can only be solved by society and policies and regulations.
Secondly, to scientifically position the function of political work, we must grasp the new expansion of the scope of political work functions. The new historical mission extends the functions of our army from safeguarding national security interests to safeguarding national development interests, from responding to traditional security threats to responding to non-traditional security threats, from safeguarding national peace and development to safeguarding world peace and development, endows our army with new responsibilities and tasks, and opens up new areas for national defense construction and army development. The tasks of military political work can only be determined according to the basic tasks and current specific tasks of the army, and there can be no so-called independent political work tasks beyond the basic tasks and current specific tasks of our army. [1] P9 Therefore, the new development of our army's functions and tasks has also given political work new responsibilities and tasks, expanding and extending the functional scope of political work.
Political work must meet the needs of our army's new functional tasks, broaden the scope and connotation of service guarantee, and extend the functional role of political work wherever the functional tasks extend. Political organs at all levels should grasp the new goals, new tasks, new standards and new requirements of political work from the era connotation of the new mission, change the traditional concept of functions and tasks and work ideas, understand and grasp the responsibilities entrusted to political work by the new mission, and do all the work closely around the full implementation of our army's functions to ensure their full play. At present, China's national interests are developing from traditional territory, territorial sea and airspace to ocean, space and electromagnetic space, and the security field is also extending. The functional role of political work also requires extending to these fields, which requires us to broaden our horizons and actively explore the characteristics, laws and methods of exerting the functional role of political work around new military practice activities.
Third, to scientifically position the function of political work, we must attach importance to the operational function of political work. The operational function of political work is an important function of political work in a specific period. The newly promulgated Regulations on Political Work of China People's Liberation Army clearly puts forward the important concept of "the operational function of political work", that is, "political war", and regards public opinion war, psychological war and legal war as important ways and means to play the operational function of political work. [2] (P 1 1) It refers to a combat style led by the army around the national strategic goal. Mainly through the integration of various resources, from the political, ideological, spiritual, psychological and other fields and levels to attack the enemy. [3](p 1)
Political operations and our army's political work are intrinsically and logically related. That is to say, when the usual political work turns into wartime, especially when it enters the state of fighting, it naturally turns into political war, or even if it does not enter the process of fighting, which is what we now call military struggle. As long as the elements of confrontation are clearly reflected and the nature of confrontation is shown, we can think that political work has been given new functions and tasks and established new goals. From this, it can be concluded that political work has changed from peaceful to fierce, and it needs political work to give full play to its political fighting function. Take safeguarding national maritime rights and interests as an example. Although safeguarding national maritime rights and interests is inseparable from strong military strength, having strong military strength does not mean that it can be easily used or even displayed. After all, there are many related factors and constraints in today's world. Then, if it is inconvenient to use or display military power, to achieve the goals and effects pursued by military power, to a certain extent, we must rely on political operations, that is, the operational functions of political work.
Two, according to the new historical mission, improve the content system of political work.
Focusing on the new historical mission, we must clearly understand the new situation and new test faced by political work, actively innovate, strive to improve the content system of political work, use the party's innovative theory to take charge of military and political affairs, and effectively enhance pertinence and effectiveness. In the new period and stage, to improve the content system of military political work, we must do a good job in the following three aspects.
The first is to strengthen the consciousness of the military soul. The Party's absolute leadership over the army is the unchangeable soul of our army. In the historical mission shouldered by our army in the new century and new stage, "providing important strength guarantee for the party to consolidate its ruling position" is the core and primary mission. To fulfill this mission and ensure the safety of our party in power, the army must always obey the absolute leadership of the party. No matter how we update the times, our army will always be the army under the leadership of the party, the defender of the country, the defender of socialism and the defender of the people's interests. [4](p304)
Strengthening the consciousness of military spirit, military political work has incomparable functions and advantages, because military political work itself is the ideological work and organizational work of the party in the army. To strengthen the consciousness of military soul, we should carry out the education of "three histories" in depth, that is, the history of the party leading the people to seek liberation, the history of the party leading the national reform and opening up, and the history of the party leading the army to develop and grow. Let the officers and men fully realize that the history of the production party in China is a history of seeking liberation and happiness for the people. The road of building Socialism with Chinese characteristics initiated by the party is the only way to strengthen the country and enrich the people. The leadership of the party is the fundamental guarantee for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, further enhancing the officers and men's love and trust in the party and laying a solid ideological foundation for being loyal to and following the party. To strengthen the consciousness of military spirit, we should seriously organize officers and men to study a series of expositions of the three generations of leading cores of the Party on the Party's absolute leadership over the army, review the principles of Marxism on the relationship between classes, political parties, countries and the army, fully absorb the lessons of the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and truly understand the Party's absolute leadership over the army from the perspective of ideological and theoretical rise, objective laws and development requirements, so as to maintain the correct direction on the major principles of the Party's command of guns and be loyal guardians of the Party and the people.
The second is the deepening of patriotism. At present, to deepen the patriotism of officers and men is to take "the period of important strategic opportunities for safeguarding national development" as an important content from the perspective of development, and guide officers and men to understand how our party captures development opportunities again and again through the complicated international situation and social phenomena, how to calmly understand and deal with various contradictions and problems in the historical process, and how to turn challenges and difficulties in progress into development opportunities. So as to realize that the period of strategic opportunities for national development is hard-won, and if we grasp it, we can make great achievements; If we can't catch it, our country will lose important development opportunities and repeat the tragedy of being beaten behind in modern times. To deepen the patriotic feelings of officers and men, we should also take "safeguarding national interests" as an important content, and guide officers and men to pay attention to both national survival interests and national development interests; We should attach importance to and safeguard not only territorial security, territorial sea security and airspace security, but also national security such as maritime security, space security and electromagnetic space security, and constantly enhance the sense of identity of officers and men in safeguarding national interests.
The third is the cultivation of fighting spirit. Fighting spirit is a mental state that directly affects soldiers' behavior and war requirements, and it is a war force condensed and sublimated by soldiers' beliefs, emotions, will and ability. [5] At present, the threat to China's national sovereignty, the challenge to the reunification of the motherland, the fluctuation of social stability, and the arrival of the information war era all require our army to maintain a high degree of vigilance and high fighting spirit at all times. Focusing on the new historical mission, an important part of political work is to constantly stimulate the fighting will of officers and men, cultivate their heroic and tenacious revolutionary spirit, and temper and stimulate the fighting spirit of our army. It is necessary to strengthen education and training, arm the minds of officers and men with scientific thoughts and theories, increase the sense of mission and responsibility of former officers and men, educate and guide officers and men to establish a correct view of war, distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, truly understand why and for whom to fight, strengthen the belief that the troops dare to fight and win, and condense the morale of the troops.
Third, correct the test standard of political work with the new historical mission.
Judging from the reality of our army's political work, it is undeniable that the standards for measuring and testing the effectiveness of political work have deviated in many aspects, mainly in the following aspects: First, the standard of "being superior to others". Is to focus on the online and light up the offline. We can't unify the responsibility for the upper and the responsibility for the lower, and spare no effort to grasp some work of "sitting in the right place"; The second is the standard of "point". Pay attention to the individual and ignore the whole, replace the overall construction with individual items, and replace the implementation with points and areas; The third is the standard of "input". Pay more attention to the process than the result, equate people's energy input and work process with ideal output, talk about how many people participated, how much time they spent, how many tricks they caught, how much experience they summarized, and so on; The fourth is the "tangible" standard. Quantitative indicators such as how many materials have been forwarded by superiors, how many manuscripts have been used, and what typical ones have been produced are used as standards to test the positive and solid degree of political work. All these standards of self-reliance and pluralism must be resolutely corrected.
The historical mission of "Three Presentations and One Performance" has set a standard and yardstick for us to strengthen ideological and political construction and measure and test the effectiveness of military political work under the new situation. Efforts should be made to strengthen the awareness that the new historical mission is the only criterion for testing political work. Whether it is to measure the achievements of party committees and leaders at all levels in guiding political work or to measure the effectiveness of ideological and political construction in the army, it depends on how much effort has been made in "three mentions and one fight" and how much effectiveness has been achieved in "three mentions and one fight". It depends on whether it embodies the "three benefits", that is, whether it is conducive to the all-round development of army building, whether it is conducive to improving the combat effectiveness of the troops, and whether it is conducive to solving the practical problems of officers and men. Specifically, it should be reflected in the following three aspects.
First, it depends on whether the ideological and political leadership of the army is strong or not, and whether the political work of the army is solid or not. Strong ideological and political leadership is the first requirement of political work and the basic guarantee for the development of political work in the right direction. However, the effectiveness of political work is mainly reflected in the actual implementation and execution of the work. If the work arrangement is not checked, it is easy to go through the motions; Formalism is easy to breed if there is an inspection without asking the results. To test whether the political work in the army is solid, we should talk less about the process and more about the results.
Second, it depends not only on the morale of the troops, but also on whether the overall quality of officers and men has improved and whether the overall construction of the troops has been strengthened. The high morale and unhealthy atmosphere reflect the role of military political work in stimulating morale and giving full play to the function of service guarantee, and its effectiveness in transforming the subjective world of officers and men, correcting the world outlook, outlook on life and values. According to the requirements of the new historical mission, to strengthen and improve political work, we must also establish and implement Scientific Outlook on Development, adhere to the people-oriented principle, constantly broaden the military horizons of officers and men, cultivate their sense of world outlook, strive to improve the overall quality of officers and men, and then promote the all-round and coordinated development of the troops. This is the standard for testing political work in the times.
Third, it depends not only on whether the political consciousness, spiritual realm and moral level of officers and men have improved, but also on whether the spiritual motivation and political guarantee have been transformed into the combat effectiveness of the troops. Political work provides a powerful spiritual motivation and political guarantee for our army to fulfill its new historical mission. To fulfill the new mission and strengthen and improve the army's political work, we must first strive to build the army's soul, improve the political consciousness, spiritual realm and moral level of officers and men, and ensure that the army always unswervingly obeys the leadership and command of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission. But it depends more on whether this spiritual motivation and political guarantee promote the formation of combat effectiveness and whether it is reflected in improving the combat effectiveness of the army. This is the fundamental criterion for testing the effectiveness of political work.