Leading cadres should have the ability to observe, analyze and solve problems with scientific thinking, and constantly enhance the predictability, scientificity, creativity and initiative of their work. Among these necessary theoretical thinking, a very important one is historical thinking. Having and using the historical thinking well is of great significance for leading cadres to improve their leadership.

The scientific connotation of historical thinking

History, from the perspective of common sense, on the one hand refers to the fact that has happened and become the past, and its essence refers to the development process of nature and human society. On the other hand, it refers to the study of these facts, which is a process of summarizing and reflecting on historical facts. Historical thinking is a kind of historical viewpoint and historical method. It is a viewpoint and method to know the past and mirror the present, take the history as a mirror, use the historical perspective to understand the development law of things, grasp the direction of development, and guide the current and future work.

The reason why historical thinking is important is that history has an important reference to the present and the future. Wang fuzhi said, "what is most precious is history. With the historical thinking can give full play to the role of history for reference, to recognize the lessons of history, so that the future work less detours. In the annals of The Three Kingdoms, there is an aptly worded saying to describe history: "the mirror reflects the shape of the mirror, and the past reflects the present." The ancients often compared history to a mirror. This metaphor vividly reflects the reference role of history. Only by using history as a mirror can we recognize the present and clarify the future. History can be a mirror because it has three characteristics: regularity, development and creativity. Only when leading cadres grasp these three characteristics of history can they be regarded as grasping historical thinking.

History is regular. Law, also known as law, is the internal nature of things, the inevitable connection and development trend. Law is universal, things in the world are different, and their development and change follow their own law, so is history. It is precisely because of the regularity of history that things of the same nature are likely to appear repeatedly in the long course of history. Sima qian summed up the historical vicissitudes of dynastic changes in shi ji, and put forward the views of "examining the end of primitive times", "seeing the prosperity and the decline" and "accepting the disadvantages and changing easily", which are typical examples of using historical thinking. Grasping historical regularity is usually reflected in the summary of historical experience and lessons. On the one hand, mastering the regularity of history can obtain the excellent experience of history and enhance the leadership ability. On the other hand, we can learn from the negative lessons of history and avoid making mistakes.

History is developmental. The essence of the development of history is that the current history is developed on the basis of the past. History is the unity of the past, the present and the future. The reason why the present history can become a reality is that the past history breeds the conditions for the development of the present, and the present history also breeds the conditions for the development of the future. Marx also points out that the production relation of capitalism is the "form of confrontation" in the social production process when he discusses the emergence and development of capitalism. The communism of the future is the return of the real man "within the whole wealth of the former development". Dialectics requires us to view the issue from the perspective of connection. When we look at history, we should not only regard it as the accumulation of past events, but also pay attention to the experience and lessons that the past events provide for the current development. The development of the country and the world should attach importance to the development of history, and the daily work of leaders should also pay attention to the unity of the past work with the present and future work. Leading cadres, as important figures in the overall planning of a department or a place, must have such a unified vision. The current work is based on the previous work. If the previous work is not done well, the current work will be affected, which will further affect the future work deployment.

History is creative. The creativity of history means that people, as the subject of history, make use of the law of history and combine the law of history with people's purpose to create new history. The creativity of leading cadres in grasping history is to attach importance to the will and practice of the people. Marxism tells us that the masses are the creators of history. What meets the will of the majority of the people will become a historical trend. Party cadres come from the masses and serve them.

The regularity, development and creativity of history are unified. The repeatability and stability of the historical law will make the historical law repeat in a new form in the new historical stage, but this is the recurrence of the new higher historical development stage. The masses create history based on their grasp of the regularity and development of history. The essence of leading cadres' historical thinking is to grasp the difference and unity of these three historical characteristics.

The use of historical thinking

Have historical thinking to grasp the regularity, development and creativity of history. The application of historical thinking should also start from the three characteristics of history, which is mainly reflected in: grasping the regularity of history to grasp the focus of work, grasping the development of history to enhance the strategic vision, grasping the creativity of history to better cultivate the feelings of the people.

Grasp the regularity of history to grasp the focus of work. Dialectical materialism tells us that laws are repetitive and stable. As long as conditions are met and things in the same field conform to certain laws, they will certainly appear and take effect. For example, the law of genetic variation will appear in all organisms, and the law of value will continue to appear in all commodity societies. Law and fundamental, it will determine the basic process of the development of things. Therefore, an important task of historical thinking is to find potential historical laws in complex and changeable historical phenomena and historical connections, so as to grasp the root of things and act as a guide.

Grasp the development of history to enhance strategic vision. Strategy is the overall plan and general policy guiding the overall situation in a certain historical period. Strategic vision is to look at daily work from a long-term and overall perspective, which is a necessary ability for leading cadres. As an old saying goes, "he who does not plan for the world will not plan for the time being. He who does not consider the whole is not worth considering one area. This sentence fully reflects the unity between the present and the future, and between the local and the overall situation. At the same time, it can be seen that the time dimension is one of the important provisions of strategic vision. But the time dimension has irreversibility and uncertainty. Irreversibility means that time cannot be reversed, and uncertainty means that the future is not easy to predict. The irreversibility of time makes the mistakes in the strategy not easy to recover, and the uncertainty of time makes the future variables not easy to predict. So how to ensure the relative correctness of the strategy under the uncertainty and irreversibility of the time dimension? The answer can only be found in history. Due to the development of history, historical events and historical figures in the past can have an impact on people and things in the present. By analyzing and reflecting on these influences, people in the present can distinguish what are good experiences and what are lessons to be avoided. Under this premise, relatively correct strategic choices can be made.

Appreciate the creativity of history to have the feelings of the people. The feelings of the people is a valuable quality that party members and cadres must possess. Marxism tells us that history is the unity of regularity and purpose, and the purpose here is not the will of a single person, but the common pursuit of values of the people. Only when it conforms to the common purpose of the people will it conform to the trend of historical development. The creativity that party member cadre comprehends history, it is to comprehend the main effect that people is in historical course. Looking back on the history of the party, the reason why the communist party of China can become the largest ruling party in the world is because it has set the interests of the people as its goal since its founding, and then it can unite the people to achieve national independence and national prosperity. If party members and cadres harbor selfish interests in their work and stand against the people, they will lose the support of the people and be eliminated by history.

Source: study times