Chapter 114 Constitution drafting work plan

(January 15, 1954) Comrade Shaoqi and comrades of the Central Committee: The drafting of the constitution by the constitutional group started on January 9, and the plan is as follows: (1) Strive to complete the first draft of the draft constitution on January 31, and then send this first draft to comrades in the Central Committee for reading. (2) It is planned to review the first draft in the first half of February, and Comrades Deng Xiaoping and Li Weihan[1] are invited to participate.Then it will be submitted to the Politburo (and members of the Central Committee in Beijing) for discussion and preliminary approval.

(3) Submit to the Constitution Drafting Committee for discussion in early March, complete the discussion and pass the preliminary approval within March. (4) Within April, the constitutional group will review and amend it, and then submit it to the Politburo for discussion, and then submit it to the Constitution Drafting Committee for approval. (5) On May 1, the Constitution Drafting Committee will publish the draft constitution and submit it to the people of the whole country for discussion for four months, so that necessary amendments can be made in September based on the opinions of the people and then submitted to the National People's Congress for final approval.

In order to facilitate discussions in the Politburo in February, I hope that members of the Politburo and members of the Central Committee in Beijing will take the time to read the following main reference documents from now on: (1) The Constitution of the Soviet Union in 1936 and the Stalin Report (with separate editions); (2) The 1918 Soviet Russian Constitution (see the Constitution and Election Law Compilation 1 compiled by the General Office of the Government); (3) The constitutions of Romania, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and other countries (see People's Publishing House "Compilation of Constitutions of People's Democracies". There are unique points, and the rest can be read more if you have time);

(4) The draft Constitution of the Temple of Heaven in 1913, the Constitution of Cao Kun in 1923, and the Constitution of Chiang Kai-shek in 1946. Type III); (5) The 1946 French Constitution (see Compilation IV of Constitutional Electoral Law Materials, which may represent a relatively progressive and complete constitution of the bourgeois cabinet system). Any comments are welcome. Mao Zedong January 15, 1954 Printed from originals kept at the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Deng Xiaoping, then Vice Premier of the State Council.Li Weihan, then head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.They are all members of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.