Chapter 116 About the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China[1]

(June 14, 1954) This draft constitution appears to be popular.The first draft of the draft constitution was discussed by more than 500 people in Beijing, among activists from all walks of life in various provinces and cities, that is, in the extensive discussions of more than 8,000 people representing the whole country, and it can be seen that it is relatively good. , is agreed and supported by everyone.Many people have spoken today, and they all say the same thing. Why organize such a broad discussion? There are several benefits.First of all, are the things proposed by a few people approved by the majority? After discussion, it has been confirmed that the basic provisions and basic principles of the first draft of the Constitution are approved by everyone.Everything that was correct in the first draft has been retained.The opinions of a few leaders are supported by thousands of people, which shows that they are reasonable, applicable and feasible.In this way, we have confidence.Second, more than 5,900 comments (not including questions) were collected during the discussion.These opinions can be divided into three parts.Part of it is incorrect.There are still some parts, although not necessarily very incorrect, but they are inappropriate, and it is better not to adopt them.If it is not adopted, why collect it again? What is the benefit of collecting these opinions? It is beneficial to understand that there are such views on the Constitution in the minds of more than 8,000 people, and to compare them.The third part is adopted.This is of course good and much needed.Without these opinions, although the first draft of the Constitution is basically correct, it is still incomplete, flawed, and imprecise.The current draft may still have shortcomings and is incomplete, and the people of the whole country need to be consulted on it.But from today's point of view, this draft is relatively complete, which is the result of adopting reasonable opinions.

What is the reason why this draft constitution is popular? In my opinion, one of the reasons is that the drafting of the constitution adopted the method of combining the opinions of the leading organs and the masses.This draft constitution combines the opinions of a small number of leaders and the opinions of more than 8,000 people. After it is promulgated, it will be discussed by the people of the whole country so that the opinions of the central government and the opinions of the people of the whole country can be combined.This is the method of combining the leadership with the masses, and the leadership with the broad masses of activists.We have adopted this approach in the past, and we will continue to do so in the future.All important legislation must adopt this method.This time we adopted this method and obtained a relatively good and complete draft constitution.

Why do everyone here and the majority of activists support this draft constitution? Why do you think it is good? There are two main points: one is to sum up experience, and the other is to combine principles and flexibility. First, this draft constitution summarizes historical experience, especially the experience of revolution and construction in the last five years.It summarizes the experience of the people's revolution led by the proletariat against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, and summarizes the experience of social reform, economic construction, cultural construction, and government work in recent years.This draft constitution also summarizes the experience on constitutional issues since the end of the Qing Dynasty, starting from the "Nineteen Creeds"[2] in the late Qing Dynasty, to the "Interim Constitution of the Republic of China"[3] in the first year of the Republic of China, and to several aspects of the Beiyang warlord government. From the first constitution and the draft constitution[4] to the "Constitution of the Republic of China during the Political Training Period" of the reactionary Chiang Kai-shek government[5], to Chiang Kai-shek's pseudo-constitution[6].There are positives and negatives in this.For example, the "Interim Constitution of the Republic of China" in the first year of the Republic of China was a relatively good thing at that time; of course, it was incomplete, flawed, and bourgeois, but it was revolutionary and democratic.This agreement is very simple, and it is said that it was drafted hastily, and it only took one month from drafting to approval.The remaining constitutions and draft constitutions are, on the whole, reactionary.Our draft constitution mainly summarizes our country's revolutionary experience and construction experience, and it is also a combination of domestic experience and international experience.Our constitution is of the type of socialist constitution.We are mainly based on our own experience, and we also refer to the good things in the constitutions of the Soviet Union and other people's democracies.When it comes to the constitution, the bourgeoisie goes first.Whether it is Britain, France, or the United States, the bourgeoisie has had a revolutionary period, and it was at that time that they started to create the constitution.We cannot write off bourgeois democracy and say that their constitution has no place in history.But the constitutions of the present bourgeoisie are completely bad and bad, and the constitutions of the imperialist countries especially deceive and oppress the majority.Our constitution is a new socialist type, different from the bourgeois type.Even our constitution is much more advanced than that of their revolutionary period.We are superior to them.

Second, our draft constitution combines principle and flexibility.The principles are basically two: the democratic principle and the socialist principle.Our democracy is not bourgeois democracy, but people's democracy, which is the people's democratic dictatorship led by the proletariat and based on the alliance of workers and peasants.The principle of people's democracy runs through our entire Constitution.The other is the principle of socialism.Our country now has socialism.The Constitution stipulates that socialist transformation must be completed and the socialist industrialization of the country must be realized.This is principled.In order to implement the principles of socialism, is it necessary to implement socialism on a national scale in one morning? This is very revolutionary in form, but it lacks flexibility, it will not work, it will be opposed, and it will fail.Therefore, things that cannot be done temporarily must be allowed to be done gradually.For example, state capitalism is about gradually implementing it.State capitalism does not have only one form of public-private partnership, but various forms.One is "gradually" and the other is "various".This is the gradual implementation of various forms of state capitalism in order to achieve socialist ownership by the whole people.Socialist ownership by the whole people is a principle, and flexibility must be combined to achieve this principle.Flexibility is state capitalism, and it comes in not one form but "various", realized not in one day but "gradually".This is flexible.We will write what can be implemented now, and we will not write what cannot be implemented.For example, the material guarantee of civil rights will definitely expand in the future as production develops, but what we are writing about now is still "gradual expansion".This is also flexibility.Another example is the united front, which was written in the "Common Program", and now it is also written in the preamble of the draft constitution.There must be such a "broad people's democratic united front of all democratic classes, democratic parties, and people's organizations" to stabilize all strata, the national bourgeoisie and democratic parties, and the peasants and urban petty bourgeoisie.There is also the issue of ethnic minorities, which has both commonality and particularity.The common provisions apply to the common ones, and the special provisions apply to the special ones.Minorities have their own characteristics in politics, economy and culture.What are the characteristics of the minority economy? For example, Article 5 states that there are four types of ownership of the means of production in the People's Republic of China. In fact, there are other types of ownership in our minority areas.Does the primitive communal ownership still exist? It may exist among some ethnic minorities.Our country also has slave-owner ownership, as well as feudal lord ownership.Now it seems that the slave system, the feudal system, and the capitalist system are all bad. In fact, they were all more progressive than the primitive communal system in history.These systems were progressive at the beginning, but later they failed, so other systems took their place.Article 70 of the draft constitution stipulates that ethnic minority areas "may formulate autonomous regulations and separate regulations in accordance with the political, economic and cultural characteristics of the local ethnic groups."All of this is a combination of principle and flexibility.

The reason why this draft constitution is supported by everyone, and why everyone says it is good, is because of these two points: one is that it correctly and appropriately sums up experience, and the other is that it correctly and appropriately combines principles and flexibility.If it is not like this, I think everyone will not approve of it, and will not say it is good. This draft constitution is completely implementable and must be implemented.Of course, today it is only a draft. In a few months, it will be passed by the National People's Congress and it will become a formal constitution.Today we are going to prepare to implement it.After it is passed, everyone in the country must implement it, especially the staff of state organs must take the lead in implementing it. First of all, everyone present here must implement it.Failure to do so is a violation of the Constitution.

After our draft constitution is promulgated, it will gain the unanimous support of the people of the whole country and increase the enthusiasm of the people of the whole country.A group must have a charter, and a country must also have a charter. The constitution is the general charter and the fundamental law.Using the constitution as a fundamental law to fix the principles of people's democracy and socialism so that the people of the whole country can have a clear track and feel that there is a clear and correct path to take, can improve the people's morality of the people of the whole country. enthusiasm.

After the promulgation of this draft constitution, will it have an impact internationally? It will affect both the democratic camp and capitalist countries.In the democratic camp, they will be happy to see that we have a clearly defined and correct path.The Chinese are happy, and so are they.The oppressed and exploited people in capitalist countries would also be happy if they saw it.Of course there are people who are unhappy, neither the imperialists nor Chiang Kai-shek will be happy.Do you think Chiang Kai-shek will be happy? I don't think you need to ask his opinion to know that he is unhappy.We are very familiar with Chiang Kai-shek, and he would never approve of it.President Eisenhower was not happy either, and also said it was not good.They will say that our constitution is a clear but very bad path, a wrong path, socialism and people's democracy are mistakes.They also disapprove of flexibility.What they like most is that we come up with socialism one morning and make the world chaotic, and they are happy.They also disapprove of China's united front, and they hope that we will have a "uniform".Our constitution has our national characteristics, but it is also international. It is a national phenomenon and an international phenomenon.There are many countries that are oppressed by imperialism and feudalism like us, and whose populations account for the majority in the world. We have a revolutionary constitution, a people's democratic constitution, and a clear, definite and correct road. The people will help.

Our overall goal is to strive to build a great socialist country.We are a big country with a population of 600 million. How long will it take to realize socialist industrialization, to realize the socialistization and mechanization of agriculture, and to build a great socialist country? Let’s not talk about death now, it will probably be three to five years The plan, that is, fifteen years or so, can lay a foundation.By then, will it be great? Not necessarily.In my opinion, if we want to build a great socialist country, it will take about fifty years, that is, ten five-year plans, and it will be almost the same, and it will be very different from what it is now.What can we make now? We can make tables and chairs, we can make teacups and teapots, we can grow food, we can grind it into flour, we can make paper, but we can’t make a car, an airplane, a tank, or a tractor. .Don't blow the cowhide too much, and don't raise the tail.Of course, I am not saying that if one car can be built, the tail can be raised a bit, and if ten cars can be built, the tail can be raised higher, and as the number of cars increases, the tail can be raised higher.That's not okay.Even if you look like a man fifty years from now, you should be as humble as you are now.If at that time you become proud and look down upon others, then that is not good.Don't be proud even for a hundred years.Never cock your tail.

Our constitution is a socialist type constitution, but it is not yet a completely socialist constitution. It is a constitution for a transitional period.We must now unite the people of the whole country, unite all forces that can and should be united, and strive to build a great socialist country.This Constitution was written for this purpose. Finally, explain a problem.Some people say that the deletion of certain provisions in the draft constitution is due to the particular modesty of some people.It cannot be explained in this way.It's not about modesty, it's because it's inappropriate, unreasonable, and unscientific to write like that.In a people's democratic country like ours, such inappropriate articles should not be written.It's not that I should have written it, but I didn't write it because of modesty.There is nothing wrong with being modest or not in science.Doing the constitution is doing science.We must believe nothing but science, that is to say, superstition.Whether it is Chinese, foreigners, dead or alive, what is right is right, and what is wrong is wrong, otherwise it is called superstition.To get rid of superstitions.Regardless of whether it is ancient or modern, believe what is correct and disbelieve what is incorrect, and not only disbelieve but also criticize.This is the scientific attitude.

It is published according to "Selected Readings of Mao Zedong's Works" published by People's Publishing House in 1986. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is Mao Zedong's speech at the 30th meeting of the Central People's Government Committee. [2] Refers to the "Nineteen Major Articles of Creed" issued by the Qing government in November 1911 in order to resist the Wuchang Uprising and maintain the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty.Among them, it is stipulated that "the imperial rule of the Qing Empire will never be easy" and "the emperor is sacred and inviolable".

[3] The Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China was promulgated in March 1912 in the name of Sun Yat-sen, the provisional president of the Republic of China.It stipulates that "the sovereignty of the Republic of China belongs to all citizens", and the people enjoy freedom of person, residence, property, speech, communication, association, and religious belief.This provisional agreement has the nature of a constitution of a bourgeois republic and was abolished by Yuan Shikai in May 1914. [4] Refers to the "Draft Constitution of the Temple of Heaven" and the "Constitution of the Republic of China" of the Yuan Shikai government, the "Constitution of the Republic of China" of the Cao Kun government, and the "Draft National Constitution" of the Duan Qirui government.In October 1913, Yuan Shikai's government drafted the "Draft Constitution of the Temple of Heaven" in order to tear up the "Interim Constitution of the Republic of China". This draft constitution gave the president great powers.But Yuan Shikai was still not satisfied, and in May 1914, he promulgated the "Constitution of the Republic of China", which stipulated that the president would take over the country's ruling power and prepare for the restoration of the emperor.In October 1923, after bribing the election of the president, Cao Kun promulgated the "Constitution of the Republic of China" formulated by bribing parliamentarians, which was called the "Bribing Constitution" at that time.In December 1925, the "Draft National Constitution" drafted by Duan Qirui's executive government was not officially passed due to the opposition of the people of the whole country. [5] "The Constitution of the Republic of China during the Political Training Period" was promulgated by the Kuomintang government in June 1931 to legitimize its one-party dictatorship and fascist dictatorship. [6] Refers to the "Constitution of the Republic of China" adopted by the "National Assembly" in December 1946 after Chiang Kai-shek tore up the resolutions of the CPPCC and launched a full-scale civil war.