As the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is about to be held, looking back at the extraordinary course of reform and opening up over the past 40 years, China's democracy and rule of law and the process of reform and opening up have always been closely integrated and complemented by each other.
When the wheel of history entered 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee was convened, which opened the great prelude to the mainland's reform and opening up.
The spring breeze blows, and new sprouts break through the ground. From June 18 to July 1, 1979, the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress was held in Beijing. This congress, which is of symbolic significance in the history of the people's congress system, formulated seven laws, including the Election Law, the Local Organization Law, the People's Court Organization Law, the People's Procuratorate Organization Law, the Criminal Law, the Criminal Procedure Law, and the Sino-Foreign Joint Venture Law.
Since then, the mainland's legislative work has been fully restored, ensuring the smooth progress of reform and opening up. China has bid farewell to the situation of "no law" in many fields and has entered a new era of socialist democracy and rule of law.
01
"In order to guarantee people's democracy,
The socialist legal system must be strengthened."
Ten years of turmoil have seriously undermined the system of the mainland's people's congress. During this period, the people's congresses at all levels almost came to a standstill, and the building of socialist democracy and the rule of law also stalled.
The great turning point began in 1978 and began with reform and opening up.
On December 13, 1978, Deng Xiaoping pointed out in his speech at the Central Work Conference: "In order to guarantee people's democracy, it is necessary to strengthen the legal system. Democracy must be institutionalized and legalized so that such systems and laws do not change because of changes in leaders, and not because of changes in leaders' perceptions and attention. ”
He also stressed that "the problem is that the laws are very incomplete, and many laws have not yet been formulated...... Efforts should be concentrated on the enactment of criminal, civil, procedural and other necessary laws".
The Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, held five days later, made the historic decision to shift the focus of the work of the party and the state to economic construction and to carry out reform and opening up.
From December 18 to 22, 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Summing up the lessons of history, the plenary session came to an important conclusion, that is, it is necessary to strengthen legislation so that the mainland can put itself on the track of the legal system as soon as possible. The plenum pointed out that in order to safeguard people's democracy, it is necessary to strengthen the socialist legal system, institutionalize and legalize democracy, and ensure that such systems and laws have stability, continuity, and great authority, so that there are laws to follow, laws must be followed, laws must be strictly enforced, and violators must be prosecuted. "From now on, legislative work should be placed on the agenda of the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee."
This is a historic decision related to the fate of the country, and China has ushered in an unprecedented great historical turning point. Bathed in the spring breeze of the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, the mainland people's congress system and the building of socialist democracy and legal system ushered in a period of vigorous development.
Reform and opening up, bringing order out of chaos, and rapidly restoring and rebuilding democracy and the legal system have become the historical mission and responsibility of the NPC and its Standing Committee. The National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee quickly adjusted their status and went all out to shoulder the heavy responsibility of legislation.
At that time, many areas of the mainland's political, economic, and social life were in a state of lawlessness for a long time, and there was a blank space in the building of the legal system. Therefore, the main task of the NPC Standing Committee's legislative work is to quickly formulate and promulgate laws that are urgently needed in all quarters, so as to provide legal support and guarantee for economic and social recovery and reconstruction and for promoting reform and opening up.
In order to strengthen legislative work and speed up the pace of legislation, in January 1979, the CPC Central Committee decided to set up a Legislative Affairs Committee in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and on February 23 of the same year, the Sixth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress Standing Committee decided to establish the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The Legislative Affairs Committee, composed of 80 members and chaired by Peng Zhen, is a representative and authoritative legislative work body of unprecedented scale and high standards.
In a short period of more than three months, from March 1979, when the Legislative Affairs Committee began its work, to the end of June, the NPC submitted seven draft laws.
02
Seven draft laws were produced in more than three months
While setting up the working group of the Legislative Affairs Committee, Peng Zhen led and presided over the drafting or revision of seven laws. At that time, there were many laws that needed to be enacted and amended, and it was finally decided to concentrate on seven laws first.
Of these seven laws, four are laws on state institutions, including the Election Law, the Local Organization Law, the People's Court Organization Law, and the People's Procuratorate Organization Law, all of which were enacted in 1953 and 1954. In 1963, 33 drafts of the Criminal Code were drafted, and the first draft of the Criminal Procedure Code was formed in 1963. What needs to be drafted is a law that embodies the opening up and utilization of foreign capital -- the Law on Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures. Thus began the drafting or revision of seven laws.
In June 1979, Peng Zhen discussed seven draft laws with the delegates of the Beijing delegation attending the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress. (Excerpt from "Peng Zhen")
In the process of speeding up the legislation, the seven laws will face a lot of opinions and controversies. Therefore, in the process of drafting or revising the seven laws, legislators paid special attention to listening to different opinions, adopting and absorbing them on the basis of collective wisdom, and fully reflecting the voice of the people. For example, in the revision of the election law, Peng Zhen led and presided over the revision of the election law, and the differential election system was established in the law.
Wang Hanbin, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, was a witness to the legislation of that year. "Because of the differential elections, who to vote for and who not to vote for is decided by the voters or representatives according to their own wishes," he said. All these provisions are important manifestations of guaranteeing the democratic rights of voters or deputies and developing socialist democracy. ”
Gu Angran, former director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, who personally participated in the drafting or revision of the seven laws, recalled: "I reported to the Great Hall on March 8, 1979. After a while, Peng Zhen came and said to me: 'At present, the focus is on legislation, and first of all, there must be laws to follow. The legislative task is very heavy, and although I am older, I am not lazy, and I still need to work hard......"
It took more than three months to come up with seven draft laws, and the intensity of the work can be imagined. The Legislative Affairs Committee led by Peng Zhen worked day and night. During that time, Peng Zhen often held meetings with everyone in the Great Hall of the People in the evening to study the manuscript until midnight, and then walked home through Tiananmen Square and East Chang'an Avenue accompanied by the staff, so as to relax his tired body and mind after more than ten hours of intense busyness.
Recalling the days and nights of more than three months, Wang Hanbin is still full of emotion: "We work from 8 o'clock in the morning to after 12 o'clock at night every day. Every night after 12 o'clock, I sent the revised draft to Comrade Peng Zhen's house. Sometimes at 12 o'clock at night, Comrade Peng Zhen came to see us. He revised the manuscript he sent overnight and returned it early the next morning. ”
On May 27, 1979, due to overwork, Peng Zhen had a high fever and had to be admitted to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment. Even during his hospitalization, Peng Zhen did not stop working. On the afternoon of 29 May, in order to report to the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the draft of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law, Peng Zhen was given a fever reduction injection and immediately rushed to Zhongnanhai to attend a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. On June 7, Peng Zhen attended the eighth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress, at which he gave an explanation of the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft)". After the meeting, he was admitted to the hospital. On June 10, Peng Zhen recovered from his illness and was discharged from the hospital, and immediately put himself into intense work.
03
Step into a new period of socialism
A crucial step in the building of the legal system
The Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress (NPC) was the first session of the National People's Congress (NPC) to be held after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee.
On June 18, 1979, the General Assembly was opened. On 26 June, the General Assembly entered the legislative agenda. On the afternoon of that day, when Peng Zhenjian, who had disappeared from China's political arena for more than 10 years, walked onto the rostrum of the Great Hall of the People, more than 3,000 deputies in the audience applauded warmly. He then gave a lengthy presentation to the General Assembly with great enthusiasm on the seven draft laws.
In his explanation, Peng Zhen pointed out that since 1979, the focus of the nation's work has shifted to socialist modernization, and along with this historic change, the mainland must conscientiously strengthen socialist democracy and the legal system, and without a sound socialist legal system, it will be difficult to realize a sound socialist democracy. In order to fully realize socialist democracy, it is necessary to gradually improve the socialist legal system, so that the 900 million people have rules to follow, and there are people who restrain and punish bad people for doing bad things.
Peng Zhen's explanation won applause from the audience again and again. After the explanation, the applause of the delegates lasted for a long time.
On July 1, 1979, the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress closed in the Great Hall of the People. Photo/Xinhua News Agency reporter Cui Baolin
On July 1, on the basis of full discussion and deliberation, more than 3,000 delegates witnessed an exciting moment - the General Assembly adopted seven laws in a record vote.
These seven laws cover the protection of citizens' rights, the improvement of the construction of the people's congress, the restoration of the judicial organs, and the provision of legal guarantees for reform and opening up. Among them, the Election Law and the Local Organization Law have established the basis of state power on the mainland, the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law have established the criminal system of the mainland, the Organic Law of the People's Courts and the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorate have rebuilt the judicial system of the mainland, and the Law on Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures has opened the legal door for the mainland to open up to the outside world.
This is the first batch of legal fruits produced after the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, a good start for legislative work in the new period, and a major breakthrough in the mainland's legislative work after more than 20 years of silence, and a key step of foundational significance for the socialist legal system in the new period.
Deng Xiaoping was very happy to see the initial results achieved in the building of the legal system, and said: "The people of the whole country have seen the hope of strictly implementing the socialist legal system. It's not a trivial matter! ”
With the deepening of reform and opening up and the continuous development of the economy and society, by the early 90s of the 20th century, hundreds of laws were intensively promulgated, providing solid legal support for the reconstruction of social order and the promotion of reform and opening up. Now, these seven laws that have opened the curtain of legislative work in the new era have also undergone many revisions-
In order to meet the needs of the development of socialist democratic politics, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee have made seven important revisions and improvements to the Election Law, the election system of people's congress deputies has been continuously promoted in the direction of democratization, and the local organic law has also been revised six times, so as to promote the construction of local organs of power to keep pace with the times and develop and improve.
In 1979, the Criminal Law was 192 articles, and in 1997, the Criminal Law was revised to 452 articles, and then with the development of practice, 12 amendments to the Criminal Law were successively passed, and the legal provisions became more and more and more specific;
Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the mainland has formed a legal system for foreign investment based on the Law on Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Law on Foreign-Funded Enterprises, and the Law on Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Joint Ventures, i.e., the "Three Laws on Foreign Investment......
Promote reform under the rule of law, and improve the rule of law in the course of reform. Over the past 40 years and more, from "crossing the river by feeling the stones" at the same time as reform and opening up, to gradually enriching, perfecting, and perfecting the market economy reform goals after the goal of market economy reform was determined, and then to "all major reforms must be based on the law" after the formation of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, the mainland's legislative work has closely followed the rhythm of reform and opening up and escorted it all the way.
Going back in time, the light and shadow of history record the sonorous sound of the construction of socialist rule of law in the new era, and witness the glorious course of reform and opening up and democratic rule of law resonating at the same frequency. The tide of reform and opening up is surging from the depths of history, surging towards national rejuvenation, and the increasingly complete socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is constantly gathering strong legal forces to promote the protection of reform, opening up and socialist modernization.
This is the echo of history and the clarion call of the times. We look forward to writing more legislative stories of the rule of law escorting reform and opening up in the new era.
Source: "Chinese People's Congress" magazine 2024 No. 11|Reporter: Gong Yixi
Editor: Gan Yue
Editor: Lv Yue
Review: Yang Zhen