(December 25, 1980)
Deng Xiaoping

We must educate all comrades in the party to carry forward the spirit of selflessness, obedience to the overall situation, hard work, honesty and integrity, and uphold communist ideas and communist morality. The socialist country we want to build must not only have a high degree of material civilization, but also a high degree of spiritual civilization. The so-called spiritual civilization refers not only to education, science, and culture (which is completely necessary), but also to communist ideas, ideals, beliefs, morality, discipline, revolutionary positions and principles, comradely relationships between people, etc. Learning and cultivating these revolutionary spirits does not require good material conditions or a high level of education. Didn’t we rely on the scientific theory of Marxism and the above-mentioned revolutionary spirit to participate in the revolution until now? From Yan’an to New China, in addition to relying on the correct political direction, didn’t we rely on these precious revolutionary spirits to attract people across the country and foreign friendly people? Without this kind of spiritual civilization, without communist ideas, and without communist morality, how can we build socialism? The more the party and government implement various economic reforms and opening-up policies, the more party members, especially the party’s senior responsible cadres, must attach great importance to and practice communist ideas and communist ethics. Otherwise, if we ourselves are spiritually disarmed, how can we educate the youth and lead the country and the people to build socialism! During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, we have insisted on using the communist ideological system to guide the entire work; using communist morality to restrain the words and deeds of Communist Party members and advanced elements, we often advocate and praise "serving the people wholeheartedly", "individual obedience to the organization", and "selflessness" , not self-interested, dedicated to benefiting others", "not afraid of hardship, not afraid of death." Now that we have entered the socialist period, some people actually "criticized" these solemn revolutionary slogans. Not only did this absurd "criticism" not receive the due resistance, it actually received the sympathy and support of some people in our ranks. Can every Communist Party member with party spirit and revolutionary spirit tolerate this situation to continue?

Comrade Mao Zedong once said that people must have some spirit. During the long-term revolutionary war, under the guidance of the correct political direction and based on the analysis of the actual situation, we carried forward the spirit of revolution and hard work, strictly observed discipline and inspired self-sacrifice, the spirit of selflessness and putting others before ourselves, the spirit of overcoming all enemies and overcoming all difficulties, the spirit of persisting in revolutionary optimism and overcoming all difficulties to win, and achieved great victory. To engage in socialist construction and realize the four modernizations, we must also carry forward these spirits under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee. If a Communist Party member does not have these spirits, he can never be regarded as a qualified Communist Party member. Not only that, we must speak out and lead by example to promote these spirits to all people and all young people, so that they will become the main pillar of the spiritual civilization of the People's Republic of China, aspired by all people in the world who demand revolution and progress, and also envied by many people in the world who are spiritually empty and depressed.

We must vigorously strengthen the connection between the party organization, party members and the masses, and constantly and truthfully inform the masses of the country's situation and difficulties, the party's work and policies. We must resolutely criticize and correct all mistakes that are alienated from the masses and indifferent to their sufferings. The masses are the source of our strength, and the mass line and views are our heirlooms. Party organizations, party members and party cadres must be integrated with the masses and must not be in opposition to them. If any party organization is seriously divorced from the masses and cannot resolutely correct itself, it will lose its source of strength, will definitely fail, and will be abandoned by the people. All comrades in the party and cadres at all levels, especially leading cadres, must always remember this: always use this standard to check all their words and deeds.

We must work hard to help the masses solve all solvable difficulties. Difficulties that cannot be solved temporarily must be explained to the masses patiently and earnestly.

We must continue to criticize and oppose the various residual effects of feudalism on ideological and political aspects inside and outside the party, and continue to formulate and improve various systems and laws that are consistent with socialist principles to eliminate these effects. At the same time, we must criticize and oppose the tendency to worship capitalism and advocate bourgeois liberalization, criticize and oppose the decadent bourgeois ideas of benefiting oneself at the expense of others, seeking only profit, and "focusing on money," and criticize and oppose anarchism and extreme individualism. We will continue to insist on communicating with Western countries that are friendly to us, and continue to insist on learning everything that is useful to us from capitalist countries, but we must carry out the above-mentioned struggle to the end in the ideological and political field. We must carry forward the spirit of patriotism and improve national self-esteem and national self-confidence. Otherwise, we will not be able to build socialism, and we will be eroded and corrupted by various capitalist forces.