The style of a political party in power determines its very survival. To achieve a fundamental turn for the better in the style of our Party, the Central Committee has decided on an overall rectification of Party style and consolidation of Party organizations, which will proceed by stages and by groups over a period of three years beginning from the latter half of 1983. This task will undoubtedly be of primary importance to the Party, and it requires very careful attention and preparation and should be carried out step by step in a planned way. The key link in accomplishing this work must be thoroughgoing ideological education throughout the Party. In conjunction with the study and implementation of the report and the new Party Constitution to be adopted by this Party congress, the whole Party should study the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China and the Guiding Principles for Inner-Party Political Life and carry on an education in the basic theories of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, in the ideal of communism and the Party's line, principles and policies and in essential knowledge concerning the Party and the requirements for Party membership. We must lay stress on getting every member to understand clearly the character, position and role of the Party and to realize that all Party members have only the duty to serve the people diligently and conscientiously, and no right whatsoever to take advantage of their power and positions to "fatten" on the state and on the masses. In matters of organization and leadership, the consolidation will start with the leading organs and cadres and then proceed, from top to bottom, with the leading bodies at different levels which have already been consolidated leading the consolidation of the subordinate and primary organizations. Bad elements must on no account be permitted to take this as an opportunity to frame and attack good people. We must act in, and develop further, the spirit of the Yanan Rectification Movement of 1942, follow its principle of "learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient" and its twofold objective of "clarity in ideology and unity among comrades" in unfolding earnest criticism and self-criticism, and take appropriate measures to solicit opinions from the masses outside the Party. In the final stage, there will be a re-registration of all Party members and, in strict accordance with the provisions of the new Party Constitution, those who still fail to meet the requirements for membership after education shall be expelled from the Party or asked to withdraw from it. At the same time, concrete measures should be worked out to strengthen and improve Party leadership so as to effect an improvement in the work of Party organizations at all levels.

Through the proposed consolidation of the Party, we must further normalize inner-Party political life, place an effective check on unhealthy tendencies and greatly strengthen the ties between the Party and the masses. In this way, we will certainly achieve a fundamental turn for the better in our Party style.

Comrades! Our Central Committee has explained to this congress the fighting tasks that confront the whole Party. We have proposed that in the coming five years a fundamental turn for the better should be made in the financial and economic situation, in standards of social conduct and in Party style. Can these tasks be accomplished? The Central Committee is confident that the unanimous reply by our congress will be: Yes, the tasks can and definitely shall be accomplished!

The principles and tasks to be defined by this congress will enrich and develop the correct line followed since the Third Plenary Session of the Party's 11th Central Committee. Richer in content and closer to reality, they will be even more persuasive in unifying the thinking of the entire Party and the people of all our nationalities and become an even more accurate guide to our action.

At this point, it should be emphasized that our Party faces yet another historic task, that of joining hands with all our patriotic fellow-countrymen in a common endeavour to accomplish the sacred task of reunifying our mother-land. Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of our motherland, and the people in Taiwan are our kith and kin. The return of Taiwan to the embrace of our great and indivisible motherland with her history of 5,000 years, population of one billion and territory of 9.6 million square kilometres is the common desire of all our compatriots; it will be an inevitable outcome of historical development, which no political party or individual can resist. It is China's internal affair with which no foreign country has the right to interfere. We hope that our compatriots in Taiwan, Xianggang (Hongkong) and Aomen (Macao) and Chinese nationals residing abroad will urge the Kuomintang authorities to take a realistic view of the situation and put the future of our country and the interests of the nation above all else, instead of persisting in their obdurate stand, so that talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party may be held at an early date and, together, we can bring about the peaceful reunification of our motherland.

Socialist modernization is the common will, and is in the fundamental interests, of the people of all our nationalities. Remember what hardships and miseries the Chinese nation went through in the century or more between the Opium War of 1840 and liberation! Long years of historical experience have inevitably turned the hearts and minds of all members of our Party, army and people to the fundamental goal of the prosperity of the country under socialism and of reunification, particularly the return of Taiwan to the motherland. Socialist China's political situation is stable, and the prospect is that our modernization and reunification will definitely succeed. This prospect accords with the desires of the people and the tide of history. So long as we firmly trust and rely on the overwhelming majority of the masses, maintain close ties with the people, and work conscientiously for their interests, our cause will be invincible.