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The Communist Party of China (CPC) has more than 90 million members and more than 4.6 million grassroots Party organizations. It has been in power for a long time in a country with a population of 1.4 billion. It is the strong core of leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

A political party should have faith. For the CPC, this refers to the faith in Marxism, communism and socialism with Chinese characteristics. Party officials should learn to capture the essence of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. They should read more Marxism classics and classical works on adapting Marxism to the Chinese context ans truly understand the Marxist stance, viewpoint and methodology, and internalize them so that they uphold faith in Marxism and persevere in pursuing their ideals with strong convictions. These ideals should be the beacon of faith for Party officials.

Political faith and ideals do not spring fully-formed into existence, and it is not easy to stick to them. We must withstand the Four Tests (the four tests are related to governance, reform and opening-up, the market economy, and the external environment) and overcome the Four Risks (the four risks are lacking in drive, incompetence, being out of touch with the people, corruption and other misconduct.) We should take account of today's realities to plan for the future. We should have a deep understanding of the dialectical relationship between the long-term goal of communism and the common ideal of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The communist ideals would be no more than empty talk without our current efforts to develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and to rejuvenate the Chinese nation. But we should not avoid talking about these ideals or abandon them simply because they will take a long time to achieve. 

An ancient scholar once said, "We worry about the next one thousand years when we are only to last less than a hundred." Our confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics can ultimately be condensed into faith in socialism and Marxism. 

It is a fact that we are in the initial stage of socialism, but we should aim high for the future. Our education campaign on reaffirming ideals and convictions since 2012 has proved effective and should be continued.

(Source: Extract from Xi Jinping's speech at the conference reviewing the Aspiration and Mission education campaign, January 8, 2020.)