Newly elected village cadres must firmly establish four mindsets

The village-level general election work is being actively advanced. How can we select good village officials who are "clean in office and promising in career," so that villagers who want to work have opportunities, capable people have a platform, and village officials who accomplish things have status; while the few "officials who do nothing" who muddle along and go through the motions "step aside"? Identify among current village cadres those with four ideological tendencies such as a "lax" mindset, a "muddle-along" mentality, a "procrastinating" plan, and a "passing-the-buck" approach. Through open elections and democratic evaluations, eradicate the soil in which they exist, promote ideological transformation, let those who do not seek progress and do not repent "step down," and enable village cadres with good ideological and political quality and strong wealth-leading ability to stand out in the general election. In my view, the key to the village-level general election lies in "changing mindsets." Newly elected village cadres should have the mindset of serving the masses, the mindset of democratic management, the mindset of becoming wealthy through hard work, and the mindset of handling affairs with integrity. Only village cadres who keep the masses in their hearts and think about doing things for the masses can possibly serve well as the "leaders" of village development.

First, they must have the mindset of serving the masses. The rural Party branch is the foundation of all the Party's work and combat effectiveness in rural areas, the leadership core of various village-level organizations and all work, the bridge and bond linking our Party with the broad masses of farmers, the reliable guarantee for uniting and leading the masses to complete various tasks, and the window through which farmers understand and know the Party. Village cadres must maintain close ties with the masses. They should achieve the "three sincerities": sincerely handle matters that benefit the masses, sincerely help disadvantaged masses, and sincerely listen to the voices and opinions of the masses. Starting from the hot and difficult issues that farmers care about, they should do more things that warm people's hearts and have long-term benefits, think about what farmers think about, worry about what farmers worry about, and solve practical difficulties for the masses. By handling well the things that individual households cannot handle and the things urgently needed by disadvantaged groups among the villagers, they can better reflect the warmth of the Party and the government and always unite the broad masses around the village Party branch.

Village cadres must keep the masses in their hearts, always think of the masses, and do everything for the masses. They must follow the mass line, trust the masses, rely on the masses, genuinely serve the masses, and solidly do practical and good things for the masses; they must persist in being diligent and clean, wholehearted in public duty, and handling affairs according to law; they must be good at doing ideological work and coordination work among the masses, care about the lives of the masses, and unite people's hearts with emotion. In practical work, they must be able to do things, know how to do things, and accomplish things.

Second, they must have the mindset of democratic management. As the saying goes, "Three cobblers combined equal one Zhuge Liang." When deciding major issues in the village, they must first think of Party members and the masses and pay attention to listening to their opinions. When encountering resistance and difficulties in work, they must promptly consult Party members and the masses to obtain their understanding, help, and support. They must fully promote democracy and conscientiously implement the principle of democratic centralism. They should hold gatherings of many able people, not one-voice meetings. In the process of forming resolutions, they should ensure free and full expression; seek debate behind closed doors and unity when going out to handle affairs. After a resolution is passed, they must emphasize centralism and obedience to achieve unity in action.

They must actively promote the village-level organization "six deliberations and six disclosures" working method (that is, proposal by the villager group, initial deliberation by the village Party branch, discussion by the village "two committees," participation in deliberation by village-stationed cadres, review by the village "two representatives deliberative assembly," and resolution by the villagers' assembly; disclosure of village-level public welfare project applications, disclosure of construction standards and scale, disclosure of labor contributions, disclosure of procurement and bidding, disclosure of financial income and expenditure, and disclosure of implementation results), to ensure villagers' representatives' rights to vote, decide, execute, and supervise, and to achieve that important matters can be deliberated, important matters must be deliberated, and deliberations can lead to decisions. They must establish and improve the villager self-governance system, the "one matter, one deliberation" system, and the "three meetings and one lesson" system. Village cadres must take the lead in observing the systems and consciously accept democratic evaluation by Party members, group leaders, and villagers' representatives. The Party branch must adhere to the Party's organizational life system, regularly convene branch committee meetings and Party member assemblies, promptly report work situations, persist in the systems of democratic evaluation of cadres, evaluation of the branch, and branch democratic life meetings, ensure that team members supervise each other and accept supervision by the broad Party members, continuously improve systems such as village affairs disclosure, Party member deliberative assemblies, and villagers' representative deliberative assemblies, implement democratic financial management, enhance the transparency of village affairs management, and achieve "giving the masses clarity and safeguarding the cadres' innocence."

Third, they must have the mindset of leading people to wealth. Village cadres must take developing the economy, leading the masses toward moderate prosperity, and building a new countryside as their primary responsibility. They must firmly establish the mindset that "if you do not become wealthy yourself, you are not fit to be a cadre; if you cannot lead others to wealth, you are not a good cadre," effectively strengthen development awareness, establish the sense of responsibility to hold office in one place and bring wealth to one area, lead villagers to give play to the village's advantages, identify the path of economic development, plant where planting is suitable, raise livestock where raising is suitable, and do business where business is suitable, so as to boost the economy. One household becoming wealthy is not wealth; only when the whole village is wealthy is it truly wealth. Village cadres must lead well the "elite troops" and also pay attention to the "weak troops." For special households such as those lacking labor or strength or without education, they must pay special attention and provide help, adopt measures suited to each household, point out paths, and promote their prosperity. These households absolutely must not become "forgotten corners."

Village cadres must understand the economy, be able to base themselves on the village's advantages, aim at market demand, and identify the breakthrough point and starting point for the whole village's economic development. In accordance with the requirement of "one village, one product," they must vigorously develop "fist" products, strive to form economies of scale, guide villagers to choose the right development path, and identify wealth-building projects. At the same time, they must pay attention to solving the problem of "having money to do things," use forms such as optimizing and revitalizing village collective assets, developing agricultural resources, and cooperative economic services to develop village-level economic accumulation, base themselves on the village's actual conditions, and turn the village's location advantages, resource advantages, and talent advantages into development advantages. Villages with resource conditions should take the path of simultaneous resource development and industrial substitution; villages with a certain scale of specialty agriculture should work on scale operation and deep processing. They must fully mobilize all forces that can be mobilized, think of all methods that can be thought of, use all relationships that can be used to borrow a boat to go to sea, use external strength to strengthen internal strength, organically combine "blood transfusion" and "blood creation," accelerate development, and advance the process of becoming wealthy, achieving moderate prosperity, and building a new countryside.

Fourth, they must have the mindset of handling affairs with integrity. "Fairness produces clarity, integrity produces authority." Only fairness can bring clarity, and only integrity can bring prestige. Under the new situation, for village cadres to shape a good image of themselves, they must be self-disciplined and clean, wholehearted in public duty, not use the authority in their hands for personal gain, not embezzle state or collective property, not engage in corruption or extortion of bribes, and not use state generosity to give gifts or indulge in lavish eating and drinking. Every word and action of village cadres is in the eyes of the masses. In work, they must pay attention to preventing minor issues from developing, keep the alarm bell ringing, start from small matters, conduct themselves uprightly, do things cleanly, and influence and inspire others through their own exemplary actions. They must handle affairs impartially and adhere to principles. They must implement policies openly, justly, and fairly, treat problems equally without discrimination, without distinguishing relatives and friends, and without making distinctions between insiders and outsiders; they must strictly observe discipline and implement policies without distortion. They must complete various tasks assigned by higher levels on time, implement policies without compromise, and not engage in "where there are policies from above, there are countermeasures below," nor implement policies with bias or distortion; they must lead by example and take the lead in setting an example. At any time and under any circumstances, village cadres must not seek special privileges. They must practice what they preach, set an example for the masses, conscientiously implement the responsibility system for improving Party conduct and clean government in rural areas, and truly achieve serving the people, being pragmatic, and being clean.