"Rule of Law" Figures in the History of the Communist Party of China (1) | Liang Baitai, a red legal expert who "puts his life into the country"

Liang Baitai, born on September 14, 1899 in An ordinary peasant family in Xinchang County, Zhejiang Province, wrote "Husband's Oath to Xu Guo" at the age of 16, vowing to be a "Xu Guoda husband" who "puts his body into the country, strives to take on state affairs, protects the country, and does not forget the public with selfishness". In 1919, he participated in the "May Fourth" Movement during his studies at the Zhejiang Provincial First Normal School in Hangzhou, and joined the Socialist Communist Youth League in 1920. In 1921, he went to the Soviet Union with Liu Shaoqi, Ren Bishi, Xiao Jinguang, etc., and in 1922, he entered the Moscow Oriental University to study, and joined the Communist Party of China, becoming a member of the Communist Party of China in the early days of the founding of the Party. During his studies in the Soviet Union, he deeply felt that a country could not do without laws, so he made up his mind to study hard, systematically study Soviet law and lay a solid foundation in legal theory, and then he also served as a judge in the court of Boli Province (now Khabarovsk) in the Soviet Union. After returning to China in 1931, he was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic, served as vice minister of justice, minister and member of the Supreme Court, provisional procurator general, vice minister of internal affairs, acting minister, etc. In December 1934, he became a member of the Central Branch of the Cpc Central Committee after the Long March of the Central Red Army, deputy director of the Central Government Office of the Chinese Soviet Republic (director was Chen Yi), and died heroically after being captured in Dayu County, Jiangxi In March 1935.

The first Red Constitution was drafted

At the beginning of the establishment of the Chinese Soviet in 1931, when legal talents were urgently needed, Liang Baitai was the only person in the party who had systematically studied Soviet law and had experience in practice, and Chairman Mao Zedong (then chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic) sent a telegram to the Central Committee to find this "red legal expert".

After Liang Baitai returned to China in 1931 and arrived in Ruijin, Mao Zedong warmly shook his hand and said: "I have been waiting for you, our red law experts, the first red constitution is waiting for you to draft!" After that, he joined Mao Zedong as a constitutional writer and drafter of decrees, and Zhou Yisu, Zhang Dingcheng, Zeng Shan, Yuan Desheng, Liu Jianzhong and others formed the first constitution drafting committee in the history of our party. Liang Baitai conscientiously summed up the experience of revolutionary struggle and political power building in the revolutionary base areas, drew up the "Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic" with reference to the Soviet Constitution, and with the convening of the First National Congress of the Chinese Soviet in Ruijin Yeping from November 7 to 20, 1931, a brand-new red power was born in the east of the world. The "Constitution" was discussed and adopted at this meeting. As the first fundamental law formulated by the Chinese themselves to ensure the people's democratic dictatorship, it has been recorded in the history of the people's constitutional movement in our country.

Led and created judicial work in the Soviet Union

Subsequently, in just three years, he and He Shuheng, Dong Biwu, Xiang Ying, Zhang Dingcheng, Gao Zili, and others carried out the work of creating Soviet political and legal organs and judicial systems. He successively participated in the drafting of more than 10 important laws, including the Organic Law of the Soviet Government, the Land Law of the Chinese Soviet Republic, the Regulations on Marriage of the Chinese Soviet Republic, the Regulations of the Chinese Soviet Republic on the Punishment of Counter-Revolution, the Judicial Procedures of the Chinese Soviet Republic, the Regulations on the Revolutionary Tribunals, the Work Outline of the Revolutionary Tribunals, and the Regulations of Detention Centers.

In October 1932, he pointed out in "The Work of the People's Commissariat of Justice in one year": "The judicial organs did not exist in the Soviet region in the past, and this was a pioneering act after the establishment of the central government. In the administration of justice every work is a new creation and a new construction. "As the first red regime to truly be headed by the people themselves, the judicial work in the Soviet Union has condensed a lot of energy and sweat from scratch, from small to large, from grass-roots to sound. In the Marriage Regulations, it is clearly pointed out that "the marriage of men and women is based on the principle of freedom, abolishing all feudal institutions of arranged forced and traded marriages", "prohibiting the adoption of child brides", "practicing monogamy and prohibiting polygamy", "marriage between men and women must be agreed by both parties and not forced by either party or a third party", and so on. The implementation of the Marriage Regulations brought a new life to women, prompting them to closely link their fate with the Red Army and the base areas in the Soviet Union, so that they bravely threw themselves into the torrent of revolution and made great contributions to the Chinese revolution.

After the promulgation and implementation of the "Land Law," the Red Army "beat up local tycoons and divided up the land" according to law. For the first time in China's history, it destroyed the feudal land system, enabled the toiling masses to obtain the land that had been desired for generations, greatly liberated the rural productive forces, and also enabled them to thank and support the Communist Party of China from the bottom of their hearts, thus greatly arousing the revolutionary enthusiasm of the broad masses and turning the broad masses of peasants into the most reliable and solid ally of the Chinese revolution.

Establish a labor reform system in the Soviet Union

On February 19, 1932, at the seventh executive meeting of the central government of the Soviet Union, Liang Baitai proposed the establishment of the Labor Correctional Institute, and personally drafted the "Interim Statute of the Labor Correctional Institute", which was implemented after the central government discussed and approved it on August 10, 1932.

In the Interim Statute of the Labor Correctional Institute, specific and clear provisions are made on the purpose, conditions, affiliation, tasks and internal institutional settings of the establishment of the Labor Correctional Institute. According to the Statutes, the Penitentiary of Labour is the caretaker who educates and reforms all prisoners who violate Soviet decrees, so that during their imprisonment they will no longer violate Soviet decrees and become new people who obey the law and have certain labor skills to support themselves. Chairman Mao Zedong praised in his government report at the "Second Soviet" Congress (the Second National Congress of the Chinese Soviet Republic): "Soviet prisons adopt penitentiaryism for criminals other than the death penalty," and "adopting reformism for criminals other than the death penalty" means using the communist spirit and labor discipline to educate prisoners and reform the nature of crimes committed." The current labor reform policy of "combining punishment and education, with the purpose of reforming people" originated from the labor reform system in the Soviet Period. It can be said that the practice of the Penitentiary of Labor is a far-reaching and creative work in the field of justice.

Adhere to the correct policy of judicial work

Liang Baitai held that judicial work must be standardized and orderly from the very beginning. In January 1932, in accordance with the Sixth Directive of the Central Executive Committee, Liang Baitai led the formulation of the Provisional Regulations on the Organization and Adjudication of the Adjudication Department, which specified the nature of the Adjudication Department, the organizational system, the organization of the courtroom and the procedures for adjudication at all levels, as well as the work and tasks of the prosecutors. It has promoted the establishment of the county-level adjudication department, which has made the judicial organs in the Soviet District take shape and formed a judicial system with the characteristics of the Soviet District. He stressed: "When the establishment of the judiciary begins, attention must be paid to the establishment of the judicial process". At the same time, he also actively promoted and participated in the drafting of the Judicial Procedures of the Chinese Soviet Republic, so that the adjudication work of the adjudication departments at all levels has laws to follow and rules to shield. He also stressed the need to unify and standardize the case files, and for this reason the People's Commissariat of Justice also issued various legal documents, such as case files, trial records, judgments, summonses, etc. He also attached great importance to open trials, and when he found cases in his work that were not tried in public, he said: "The settlement of cases in this way is not through the mass line, but through the secret line." He demanded that the trial should be conducted in public and allowed to observe, accept mass supervision and educate the masses.

In order to standardize the trial, Liang Baitai personally participated in the trial of the case, and he participated in the trial of the case at that time, which had a greater impact on the Soviet region. On May 9, 1932, the Provisional Supreme Court retried Xie Busheng's case of embezzling public funds, embezzling property of local tycoons, and abusing his power to kill villagers, which was dealt with by the Ruijin Magistrates' Department. Liang Baitai served as the presiding judge, Liang Baitai interrogated Xie Busheng, listened to his defense, and after the court debated and the collegial panel reviewed, made a judgment rejecting Xie Busheng's appeal and upholding the original judgment. This was the first corruption case punished since the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic, and it caused strong repercussions in the Soviet region.

In response to the problem of corruption, Liang Baitai thought about the problem from a legal point of view and proposed that a complete law on the punishment of corruption should be formulated, which was endorsed by He Shuheng, who reported to Chairman Mao Zedong and Vice Chairman Xiang Ying, and after obtaining consent, the "On Punishing Corruption and Wasteful Behavior" directive was soon promulgated, and the Central Executive Committee issued and implemented it on December 15, 1933. The work of punishing corruption in the Soviet union should be put on the track of the legal system.

On March 25, 1934, the Supreme Special Court tried the case of Xiong Xianbi, chairman of the Yudu County Soviet Government, for embezzlement and dereliction of duty, and Liang Baitai appeared in court as a public prosecutor, and eventually Xiong Xianbi was sentenced to one year in prison for corruption and dereliction of duty, and deprived of citizenship for one year after the additional period expired. This also became the beginning of the Red Judicial Additional Punishment.

It can be said that Liang Baitai is the pioneer and founder of the people's judicial system, which is worthy of our study and admiration. Inheriting the red gene and being a good red successor is to firmly adhere to the belief of taking the road of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics in the study of red judicial traditions, use the fine tradition of red justice to enlighten wisdom, inspire morale, and constantly create a new situation in the construction of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. (Correspondent: Kang Cunsheng)