Source: "National Archives Administration" WeChat public account
In 1954, the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China was promulgated to the people of the whole country for comments, and then unanimously adopted at the first session of the First National People's Congress held in September. It is the first constitution of New China, a summary of the historical experience of the Chinese people in their heroic struggle for the birth of New China over the past 100 years and more, and a summary of the new historical experience since the founding of New China; it affirms the new democratic revolutionary road that the CPC has led the Chinese people to take; at the same time, it has set the general line of the CPC in the transitional period as the general task of the people of the whole country in the transitional period in the form of law.
A major event in the establishment of the country
At the beginning of the founding of New China, because the objective conditions for convening the National People's Congress and formulating the constitution were not yet mature, the "Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" (hereinafter referred to as the "Common Program") formulated in September 1949 has always played the role of a provisional constitution. Under the leadership of the party, after three years of arduous struggle, the economy has gradually recovered, the society has become increasingly stable, and all the work of New China has been put on the right track. On January 1, 1953, the People's Daily, in a New Year's Day editorial, listed "convening the National People's Congress, adopting the Constitution, and adopting the national construction plan" as the three great tasks of 1953 and announced them to the whole country.
According to the party's practice, before deciding on such a major event, Mao Zedong or other central leaders had to listen to the opinions of people outside the party in advance. On January 11, he convened a forum in Zhongnanhai attended by 18 non-party democrats. Zhou Enlai presided over the 44th meeting of the Standing Committee of the First National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on 12 May and listened to opinions extensively. On the 13th, the meeting of the Central People's Government Committee decided to establish the Constitution Drafting Committee of the People's Republic of China with Mao Zedong as its chairman.
In December 1953, as soon as the examination and approval of the outline of the general line of the transitional period was completed, Mao Zedong immediately plunged into the drafting of the constitution. On 24 July, he led the members of the drafting group to leave Beijing for Hangzhou by special train to preside over the drafting of the draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China. On the train, he said to his entourage: "To govern the country, there must be a Dafa. We went to Hangzhou this time to concentrate on doing a good job in this important task of building a country and securing the country. ”
Proceed from the current reality in China
In Hangzhou, Mao Zedong and the members of the drafting team began intense work. On January 15, 1954, in a telegram to Liu Shaoqi and the comrades of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he emphasized: "I hope that all members of the Politburo and the Central Committee in Beijing will take the time to read the following major reference documents from now on: (1) the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union and the Stalin Report (there is a separate version); (2) the 1918 Constitution of the Russian Federation (see Compilation I of the Constitution and Electoral Law compiled by the General Office of the Government); (3) The constitutions of Romania, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and other countries (see the People's Publishing House's "Compilation of Constitutions of People's Democratic Countries", the constitutions of various countries in this book are similar, Romania and Poland take the newer, Germany and the Czech Republic take the more detailed and special points, and the rest of the time can also be read more); (4) the 1913 draft Constitution of the Temple of Heaven, the 1923 Cao Kun Constitution, and the 1946 Chiang Kai-shek Constitution (see Compilation 3 of the Constitution and Election Law, which can represent the cabinet system, the inter-provincial autonomy system, and the presidential dictatorship system); (5) The 1946 Constitution of France (see Compilation IV of the Constitutional Electoral Law, which can represent a more progressive and complete bourgeois cabinet constitution). He believes that it is absolutely necessary to formulate a constitution of our own country and refer to the constitutions of other countries and the constitutions of China in history. The good things of others are absorbed in combination with China's national conditions; Bad and even reactionary things can also be cited as a warning.
Mao Zedong said many times that our constitution is a socialist type of constitution. Therefore, he paid special attention to studying and drawing on the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (Fundamental Law) promulgated in 1918, the Constitution of the Soviet Union promulgated in 1936, and Stalin's Report on the Draft Constitution of the Soviet Union. In addition, reference is made to the constitutions of a number of people's democracies in Eastern Europe. As for the constitutions of capitalist countries, he attached great importance to the 1946 Constitution of the French Republic, believing that it represented a more progressive and complete bourgeois cabinet constitution. Regarding China's constitutions since the end of the Qing Dynasty, he said: "There are positive and negative aspects. For example, the "Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China" in the first year of the Republic of China was a better thing in that period; Of course, it is incomplete, flawed, and bourgeois, but it is revolutionary and democratic. ”
Whether it is a foreign constitution or a Chinese constitution in the past, it can only be used as a reference. In formulating the constitution of the new China, we must proceed from the reality of the present China. Mao Zedong's fundamental guiding principle for drafting the constitution was: "Facts should be the basis and should not be fabricated out of thin air." ”
The constitution was drafted prudently
With the previous foundation, the drafting of the constitution is progressing relatively smoothly. In mid-February 1954, the drafting group drafted the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China (First Draft). Subsequently, under the chairmanship of Mao Zedong, the group read through and reformed. By 9 March, the Constitution Drafting Group had completed the first phase of its tasks, providing a relatively mature draft for further discussion and revision of the draft Constitution for the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
On March 12, 13 and 15, Liu Shaoqi presided over an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing to discuss the fourth reading of the draft of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (first draft). Since then, the drafting of the first draft of the Constitution has come to an end, and it is ready to be submitted to the Constitutional Drafting Committee after discussing and revising the scope of the Constitution. On the 17th, Mao Zedong and his entourage returned to Beijing and immediately set about convening a meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee to discuss the draft Constitution. Subsequently, he reviewed and revised the revised draft of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (first draft) on the 18th and 19th.
On March 23, 1954, at the first meeting of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong, on behalf of the Communist Party of China, proposed the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China (First Draft) to the meeting. The picture shows Mao Zedong revising the draft constitution.
On March 23, Mao Zedong presided over the first meeting of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. First of all, on behalf of the Communist Party of China, he formally proposed the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China (First Draft). The meeting decided to complete the discussion and revision of the first draft of the Constitution within the next two months, so that it could be submitted to the Central People's Government Committee for approval and its publication as a draft.
From May 27 to 31, under the chairmanship of Liu Shaoqi, the Constitution Drafting Committee held several meetings to discuss the first draft chapter by chapter, and form a draft constitution (revised draft). On 8 June, he chaired the sixth meeting for discussion. At the same time, more than 8,000 people from the CPPCC National Committee, provincial and municipal party and government organs, military leading organs, democratic parties, and local organizations of various mass organizations spent more than two months discussing the first draft of the constitution and put forward more than 5,900 opinions on various amendments. On the 11th, the 7th session was reconvened to conduct a final review of all the articles of the draft constitution (revised draft).
After more than 80 days of discussion and repeated revisions, the conditions are ripe for the draft constitution to be submitted to the people of the whole country for open discussion. On June 14, Mao Zedong presided over the 30th meeting of the Central People's Government Committee to discuss and adopt the "Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China" and the "Resolution on Promulgating the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China". At the end of the meeting, he made a speech, saying: "It seems that this draft constitution has won the hearts of the people. "This draft constitution has been supported by everyone, mainly in two ways. First, this draft constitution sums up historical experience, especially the experience of revolution and construction in the last five years, and also sums up the experience on constitutional issues since the end of the Qing Dynasty. …… Secondly, our draft constitution combines principle and flexibility. "An organization must have a charter, and a country must also have a charter, and the constitution is a general charter and the fundamental law. By using the constitution, a fundamental law, to fix the principles of people's democracy and socialism, so that the people of the whole country have a clear track and make the people of the whole country feel that there is a clear, definite, and correct road to follow, we can enhance the enthusiasm of the people of the whole country. Our overall goal is to strive for the building of a great socialist country. ”
Subsequently, in the past three months, more than 150 million people across the country participated in the discussion and put forward more than 1.18 million amendments and supplementary opinions and questions. According to the recollections of some eyewitnesses, the discussion took place at a time when the flood disaster was serious, and under such difficult conditions, the masses of the people were not in the least enthusiastic about the draft constitution of the new China, and they put forward many pertinent and specific opinions and questions.
On September 9, Mao Zedong presided over the 34th meeting of the Central People's Government Committee, and after discussing and amending the "Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China," it was decided to submit it to the first session of the first National People's Congress to be held for deliberation. On 14 July, at an extraordinary meeting of the Central People's Government Committee, he made a final deliberation on the draft constitution and gave explanations on the two amendments put forward by NPC deputies. He added: "This is a relatively complete constitution. First it was drafted by the CPC Central Committee, then discussed by more than 500 senior cadres in Beijing, more than 8,000 people across the country, and then discussed by the people of the whole country for three months. This time, more than 1,000 deputies to the National People's Congress discussed it again. The drafting of the constitution was prudent, and every article and word was carefully carried out, but it is needless to say that it is flawless and seamless. This constitution is suited to our current realities, and it adheres to principle, but it is flexible. ”
All power belongs to the people
On September 15, 1954, the first session of the First National People's Congress was grandly opened at the Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, Beijing. Amid the warm applause of the delegates, Mao Zedong announced the opening of the conference and delivered a speech. At the meeting, Liu Shaoqi, on behalf of the Constitution Drafting Committee, made a "Report on the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China." He said: "The draft constitution we are proposing now is a summary of the historical experience of the Chinese people's revolutionary struggle over the past 100 years and more, as well as a summary of China's historical experience on constitutional issues in modern times. Of course, our draft constitution is also a summary of the new historical experience since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the discussion of the people of the whole country, it has been proved that our draft constitution represents the interests of the people of all nationalities throughout the country and seeks truth from facts. …… After being adopted by the National People's Congress, the draft constitution of our country will become the fundamental law of the mainland,...... It must be complied with by all the people and by all organs of the State. In particular, he pointed out: "The Communist Party of China is the core of our country's leadership. This status of the Party should in no way entitle Party members to any special rights in the life of the State. It just makes them more responsible. Members of the Chinese Communist Party must play an exemplary role in abiding by the Constitution and all other laws. ”
On September 20, 1954, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China was adopted at the first session of the First National People's Congress. The picture shows the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (partially revised) drafted before the meeting. Central Archives Collection
On September 20, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China was adopted and promulgated at the first session of the First National People's Congress. It further established the fundamental political system of the socialist society on the mainland, and clearly stipulated: "The People's Republic of China is a people's democratic state led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. "All power in the People's Republic of China belongs to the people. The organs through which the people exercise power are the National People's Congress and local people's congresses at all levels. "The National People's Congress, local people's congresses at all levels, and other state organs shall all practice democratic centralism."
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China, enacted in 1954, is a socialist type of constitution that embodies two principles, namely the principle of people's democracy and the principle of socialism. It defined the political system in which the Chinese people exercised their right to be masters of their own affairs in the form of a fundamental law, and pointed out the correct way to continue to struggle for the establishment of a socialist society.