Wang Yili: Improving rural governance focuses on taking practical measures to create practical results

In 2022, in an important year of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way and starting a new journey of the second centenary goal, the No. 1 document of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2022" anchors the overall goal of rural revitalization, aims at the weak links of rural governance, puts forward clear requirements for highlighting practical results to improve rural governance, and effectively maintains the overall situation of stable development of rural society.

1. Consolidate the fighting fortress at the grassroots level in rural areas

This year's No. 1 Central Document puts the strengthening of the construction of rural grassroots organizations in the first place in terms of rural governance, which is not only a tradition of the party's leadership of the "three rural" work, but also an important requirement for all the time. There are many types of rural grassroots organizations in a broad sense, mainly including grassroots party organizations, peasant autonomous organizations (i.e., village committees), rural collective economic organizations, and rural economic and social organizations including peasant cooperatives. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "if the foundation is not firm, the earth will shake." Rural work is complicated, and the key is to do a good job in building rural grassroots organizations. "Rural grassroots party organizations are the "backbone" and "leading geese" of rural revitalization, and only by building grassroots party organizations well, actively leading, and being a good example, can we achieve effective rural social governance.

The strengthening of the responsibilities of county-level party committees in grasping townships and promoting villages proposed in the No. 1 document of the Central Committee is a powerful measure to fully mobilize and give full play to the role of county-level party committees as the "front-line command" of rural revitalization and rural governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that "the party's management of rural work is our tradition, and this tradition cannot be lost", and "the key to running rural affairs well lies in the party". From a practical point of view, on the one hand, rural governance should be promoted as a whole from the county level, and the main governance responsibilities of counties, townships and villages should be implemented at different levels; On the other hand, it is necessary to build excellent and strong township party committees, which is the key, and earnestly give full play to the functions of townships and towns as rural governance and service centers. In short, it is necessary to always regard the strengthening of party building and leadership as a red line running through the entire process of rural governance, and give full play to the role of rural grassroots party organizations as the core of leadership. The party building work is fully covered, so that the decision-making can be led by someone and the work will be efficient.

The No. 1 document of the Central Committee proposes to strengthen the building of leading groups in townships, towns, and villages after the centralized re-election, and strengthen the training and supervision of the three talent teams of grassroots cadres and front-line village branch secretaries, cadres stationed in villages, and cadres of the village "two committees". From practice, it can be seen that the selection of leaders is extremely important for achieving effective governance. Strengthening the training and education of cadres is an important means and an important embodiment of improving the ability of grassroots cadres to effectively respond to the new situation, new tasks and new challenges in the context of the shift of the focus of the "three rural" work, and grasping the revitalization of talents. To strengthen the supervision of grassroots cadres, it is necessary to prevent "one-word hall" and "micro-corruption" and promote the participation of multiple subjects, including villagers, in rural governance.

At the same time, it is necessary to improve the rural governance system that combines autonomy, rule of law, and rule by virtue under the leadership of party organizations, and promote the modernization of the rural governance system and governance capacity. Autonomy is not the arbitrary and capricious rule of the peasant masses, nor is it the government's "banning" or "letting go," still less is it detaching from the party's leadership or negating the party's leadership. It is necessary not only to give play to the role of party organizations and the government as the "backbone," but also to arouse the sense of "master" among the peasant masses. The rule of law should link and adapt legislation with the protection of the fundamental interests of the broad masses of peasants, and match it with rural revitalization. The rule of virtue cannot be imposed by public power, and it is still more difficult to put forward unrealistic moral standards, which leads to the alienation of the rule of virtue, and it is necessary to take into account "righteousness" and "benefit", and it is necessary to coordinate morality and interests, so that virtuous people can have "gains". The rural governance system of "three governance" is important in the unity of knowledge and action, and it is necessary to integrate the "three governance" into the practice of grassroots governance according to local conditions, and explore the "three governance" combination model in line with its own reality.

Second, do a good job in the building of spiritual civilization in rural areas

Rural revitalization should not only shape but also cast the soul. Strengthening the construction of spiritual civilization in rural areas is an important part of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "the construction of spiritual civilization in rural areas is very important, and the transformation of material into spirit and spirit into material is the view of dialectics", emphasizing that "the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy should focus on material civilization and spiritual civilization together". China has been a big agricultural country since ancient times, and the traditional culture developed from thousands of years of agricultural civilization has naturally been integrated into our value system, and has also become a valuable wealth and development foundation for rural revitalization in the new era. It is an important way to effectively stimulate the endogenous power of rural revitalization by inheriting the excellent traditional farming culture, protecting and utilizing the intangible cultural heritage and important agricultural cultural heritage, and empowering rural governance and development through culture.

First of all, it is necessary to create a platform carrier for the construction of rural spiritual civilization that adapts to the characteristics of peasant groups, and carry out objectified and focused publicity and education in combination with the construction of civilization practice centers, institutes and stations in the new era, and county-level financial media centers. Combined with the rural landscape improvement project, promote the construction of theme landscapes, cultural corridors, propaganda columns, etc., so that the core values of socialism can be daily, concretized, visualized, and lived, and better perceived and understood by the peasant masses. Innovate the working methods for the construction of spiritual civilization in rural areas, actively explore specific ways to promote the integrated development of urban and rural spiritual civilization, increase the supply of rural cultural products in various forms and down-to-earth atmosphere, integrate resources for cultural activities to benefit the people, and support farmers to spontaneously organize and carry out cultural and sports activities that reflect the interest and flavor of farming, such as village songs, "village evenings", square dances, fun games, and farmers' harvest festivals, so as to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the peasant masses and guide the formation of a positive social atmosphere in rural areas.

In addition, it is necessary to dig deep into the moral norms contained in the rural society, inherit and carry forward the beneficial nutrients of traditional culture, and actively cultivate civilized rural customs, good family customs, and simple folk customs. Promote the reform of rural marriage customs and funeral customs in accordance with local conditions, promote the change of customs in rural areas, and draw a clear line between traditional etiquette and stereotyped customs. We should resolutely oppose all kinds of unhealthy tendencies, and focus on solving outstanding problems such as high-priced bride prices, comparison of favors, and generous burials and poor maintenance, which are strongly resented by the masses and are of general concern to public opinion. While attaching importance to practical results, it is necessary to combine the actual conditions of various localities and prevent "one size fits all," so as to win the general recognition and support of the people.

3. Maintain social peace and stability in rural areas

Stability is the premise of doing all the work well. Rural areas are the most basic unit of governance and the "nerve endings" of the national governance system, and the stable development of rural areas is related to the overall situation of national and social development. Doing a good job in rural social stability is an inevitable requirement for creating a stable environment for rural revitalization and building a harmonious society. At present, the changes of a century and the epidemic of the century are intertwined and superimposed, the external environment is complex and severe, and the domestic tasks are arduous and arduous. The more complex the situation, the more necessary it is to stabilize the "ballast stone" of the "three rural" and provide a strong guarantee for winning the overall initiative.

This year's No. 1 Central Document focuses on promoting the construction of safe and rule of law villages at a higher level in terms of maintaining rural social peace and stability, which proposes to strengthen grassroots social psychological services and crisis intervention in order to effectively resolve rural social contradictions and disputes, and build a one-stop diversified contradiction and dispute resolution mechanism. This is a further development of the "Maple Bridge Experience". One of the essences of the "Fengqiao experience" is to "rely on the masses to resolve contradictions on the spot." With the development and progress of society, people will apply the "Fengqiao experience" to the practice of rural governance, and continue to innovate and develop, such as: people's mediation, judicial mediation, administrative mediation and other ways combined with the "Fengqiao experience", highlighting the concept of governance according to law, system governance, source governance, and comprehensive governance, to ensure that the problem is solved at the grassroots level, resolved at the source, and truly achieved "contradictions do not turn in" and "small things do not go out of the village, big things do not go out of the township".

To maintain social peace and stability in rural areas, it is also necessary to carry out the struggle against organized crime and evil in rural areas on a regular basis, and continue to crack down on "village tyrants". Prevent the erosion and influence of underworld forces, family and clan forces, and so forth on rural grassroots political power. In accordance with the law, we will severely crack down on illegal and criminal acts of pornography, gambling, drugs, and infringement of the personal rights of rural women and children in rural areas, and continuously improve the political ecology and public security environment in rural areas. We should severely crack down on illegal and criminal activities such as the production and sale of fake and shoddy agricultural materials, illegal fund-raising, and telecommunications fraud in rural areas in accordance with the law, and stop the use of religion and cults to interfere in rural public affairs in accordance with the law, so as to maintain a stable and tranquil social order.

Under the new situation, the development of rural society is facing many new situations and new problems, the contradictions at the grassroots level are complex and diverse, and the task of rural revitalization is long-term and arduous.

(The author is a Ph.D. candidate at the China Rural Revitalization Research Institute, Hunan Normal University; Source: "China Rural Discovery" Issue 2, 2022)