The Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the construction of the people's congress system
Xiong Daohong
Over the past 70 years since 1954, the people's congress system has been established under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and has been continuously consolidated, developed and improved, providing a fundamental political system guarantee for the Party to lead the people to comprehensively promote the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization. As the first National Congress of the Communist Party of China after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in September 1956 had an important impact on the construction of the people's congress system.
The establishment and development of the people's congress system before the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has consistently and unremittingly pursued the exploration of a political system suited to China's national conditions and ensuring that the people are the masters of the country. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, the Party carried out practical exploration and theoretical thinking on the fundamental question of how to organize state power. In January 1940, Mao Zedong clearly stated in "On New Democracy": "Without an appropriate form of political power, it cannot represent the country." China can now adopt a system of national people's congresses, provincial people's congresses, county people's congresses, district people's congresses and township people's congresses, with governments elected by congresses at all levels. "In September 1949, the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which had provisional constitutional status, defined the people's democratic dictatorship as the state system of New China and also stipulated the political system of New China: The state power of the People's Republic of China belongs to the people. The organs through which the people exercise state power are the people's congresses at all levels and the people's governments at all levels. The highest organ of state power is the National People's Congress. All organs of political power at all levels practice democratic centralism. As a result, clear arrangements were made for the implementation of the people's congress system in New China, which laid the foundation for the formal establishment of the system.
In the early days after the founding of New China, the conditions for holding universal suffrage nationwide were not yet in place, and according to the stipulations of the "Common Program," before the convening of local people's congresses by universal suffrage, local people's congresses from all walks of life gradually assumed the functions and powers of the people's congresses. Before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the CPC Central Committee attached great importance to the people's congresses of all walks of life, a form of transition to the people's congress system, and issued instructions on many occasions to advocate and supervise them. On August 13, 1949, a meeting of representatives from all walks of life was held in Beiping City, and Mao Zedong attended the meeting to congratulate him, and in his speech he hoped that all cities across the country would quickly convene the same meeting, strengthen the ties between the government and the people, assist the government in carrying out various construction work, and prepare conditions for the convening of the people's congress by universal suffrage. At the meeting, Mao Zedong took out an unsigned letter from a citizen that he had brought with him and handed it over to the representative meeting for processing. The letter reflected to him the problems of high prices, excessive taxes, and unemployment, and aroused heated discussions among the deputies. Finally, Peng Zhen, chairman of the conference, summarized the opinions of the delegates, analyzed the causes of the problems, and proposed solutions. All the delegates applauded thunderously and unanimously agreed. In February 1951, Liu Shaoqi pointed out in his speech at the Third Beijing Municipal People's Congress: The people's congress and the people's congress system are the basic system of our country and the best basic organizational form of the people's democratic regime. The democratization of our country cannot be separated from the country's economic construction, the development of the people's economic undertakings, and the country's industrialization. By September 1952, 30 provinces, 2 provincial-level administrative districts, 160 cities, 2,174 counties (including administrative units equivalent to county-level) and more than 280,000 townships had not only established people's governments, but also convened people's congresses. In many localities, people's congresses from all walks of life have already assumed the functions and powers of the people's congresses.
In the three years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the party has led the people to consolidate the nascent people's political power and successfully made a series of achievements, such as institutional reform and the recovery and development of the national economy under the new democracy. After more than three years of political practice, the conditions for the implementation of universal suffrage have been fully met. In January 1953, the Committee of the Central People's Government made a resolution to convene people's congresses at the township, county, and provincial (municipal) levels, which were elected by the people by universal suffrage, and to convene the National People's Congress on this basis. On March 1, the "Election Law of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and Local People's Congresses at All Levels," which was deliberated and adopted by the Central People's Government Committee, was promulgated and put into effect. Beginning in the second half of 1953, grassroots elections were held in more than 210,000 grassroots electoral units and 323 million registered voters, and more than 5.66 million deputies to grassroots people's congresses were elected. On the basis of the completion of the grassroots elections, 1,226 deputies to the National People's Congress were elected nationwide. From September 15 to 28, 1954, the first session of the First National People's Congress was solemnly held. Article 2 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted by the congress clearly stipulates: "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 all practice democratic centralism. "The convening of the first session of the National People's Congress and the promulgation and implementation of the 1954 Constitution marked the formal establishment of the people's congress system, the fundamental political system of the country.
The first session of the National People's Congress elected the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, with Liu Shaoqi as the chairman, Song Qingling and 13 others as the vice chairman, and Peng Zhen, the vice chairman and secretary general. Since Liu Shaoqi's work focuses on the CPC Central Committee, the daily work of the NPC Standing Committee is controlled by Peng Allah. On October 29, 1954, Peng Zhen delivered a speech at a meeting of cadres of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, pointing out that the Standing Committee was "a place where heroes can be useful." In order to strengthen the party's leadership over the work of the people's congress, in January 1956, the organs of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress established a party group. From September 1954 to the end of 1957, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress held a total of 89 meetings, at which the NPC and its Standing Committee adopted more than 80 laws, decrees, and decisions on legal issues, examined and approved the First Five-Year Plan and annual plans and budgets, and decided on major construction projects for the comprehensive management of the Yellow River. The working organs, work procedures, and work systems of the NPC and its Standing Committee have also been gradually established and improved. In order to enable people's congress deputies to have a comprehensive understanding of the actual situation, maintain close ties with the masses, and truly reflect the will of the people, the 20 th session of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress held in August 1955 formally established the inspection of people's congress deputies as a system. During the inspection in November 1955, NPC deputies and CPPCC members wrote a report of about 1.8 million words, raising many important questions and opinions. The system of inspection by deputies enables people's congress deputies to truly understand the objective reality, better concentrate the people's opinions and wisdom, ensure that the NPC correctly decides on various policies, and effectively supervise the timely improvement of the work of state organs at all levels, and has become an important measure to prevent and overcome the subjectivist and bureaucratic tendencies of state leading organs that are divorced from reality and the masses. During this period, the top leaders of the party and the state also attached great importance to the work of the people's congresses and the building of the legal system. When the Party Central Committee decided on major issues, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai often asked Peng Zhen whether it was in accordance with the Constitution and legal procedures.
Generally speaking, in the first few years after the formal establishment of the people's congress system, the work of the people's congress was quite active. However, while the people's congress system has proved to be a good system suited to China's national conditions, some problems have gradually been exposed, mainly because some specific systems stipulated in the Constitution and the Organic Law of State Institutions are still defective or imperfect, such as the contradiction between the highly centralized and unified legislative system and practical needs, the relatively weak supervision work of the people's congresses, and the need to further develop the role of people's congress deputies. All these have become issues that need to be considered in strengthening and perfecting the people's congress system.
Beginning in the second half of 1953, in accordance with the provisions of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Election of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses at All Levels," universal suffrage was carried out on an unprecedented scale throughout the country, and people's congresses were convened at each level. The picture shows that on September 27, 1953, Li Shunda and Shen Jilan, famous model workers, were elected as deputies to the Township People's Congress at the Xigou Constituency Election Conference of Xigou Township, Pingshun County, Shanxi Province.
The Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China promoted the construction of the people's congress system
In preparation for the convening of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and for large-scale economic construction, Mao Zedong and other central leaders conducted a large number of thorough and systematic investigations and studies from the end of 1955 to the spring of 1956. In the course of the investigation, Mao Zedong gradually formed a series of views that were of guiding significance to China's socialist construction. On April 25, 1956, Mao Zedong made a speech entitled "On the Ten Major Relations" at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and on May 2, he made a report to the Supreme Council of State. The basic principle set forth in "On the Ten Major Relations" is to mobilize all positive factors inside and outside the party, at home and abroad, to serve the cause of socialism. This is embodied in political relations, that is, the mobilization of various positive factors from the perspective of political life and ideological and cultural life, which constitutes the basic motive for the expansion of socialist democracy during this period, thus promoting the building of the people's congress system. In his speech, Mao Zedong also noted the contradiction between the highly centralized and unified legislative system and practical needs. He elaborated on the relationship between the central and local authorities, stressing the need to expand the power of the localities on the premise of consolidating the unified leadership of the central authorities. He said: "The mainland constitution stipulates that local governments have no legislative power, and legislative power is concentrated in the National People's Congress." "This one is also a study of the Soviet Union. Because when drafting the constitution, I once asked some comrades: should it be written like this, it is said that this is the case in the Soviet Union, and some capitalist countries are also like this, but it seems that this is not the case in the United States. Speaking of the question of legislative power at the state level in United States, he said, "United States the country is very developed, it has only developed in a little more than a hundred years, and this is a question worth noting." We hate United States imperialism, imperialism is really bad, but there are always some reasons why it has become such a developing country. Its political system is studied. It looks like we're going to have to expand the power of the local area a little bit as well. If the local power is too small, it will be detrimental to socialist construction." Around this time, the party also put forward a series of new policies in other areas, all of which made important ideological and theoretical preparations for the convening of the Eighth National Congress.
In terms of further giving play to the role of people's congress deputies, Zhou Enlai also made important expositions before the convening of the Eighth National Congress. In July 1956, he delivered a speech at the first congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, stressing that "dictatorship must continue and democracy must be expanded." He pointed out that it is necessary to think of some ways to expand democracy in the state system. First, it is necessary to enable people's congress deputies to have frequent contact with the people. Second, the government should allow the people's representatives to criticize their own mistakes and admit the mistakes that should be admitted. The government should come out and answer the opinions put forward by the people's deputies. The answer is correct, and the people are satisfied; No, you can get up and argue. Zhou Enlai spoke of the Third Session of the First National People's Congress held in June 1956. At this meeting, as many as 163 delegates and responsible persons of government departments spoke at the conference, plus one representative submitted a written statement, a total of 164 people spoke. After the meeting, the deputies' speeches, "including those criticizing the government's work, whether they are right, partly right, or even wrong," were published in the newspapers, which "set a precedent." Third, it is necessary to further enable people's congress deputies to participate in the inspection of government work, all the way to the inspection of public security and judicial work. These ideas of expanding democracy in the system have provided guidance for the construction of the people's congress system.
From the perspective of the international background, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held in February 1956 sharply exposed and criticized the serious mistakes made by Stalin in leading the socialist construction of the Soviet Union and the serious consequences caused by his personality cult. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted a very cautious attitude toward the 20 th CPSU Congress, affirming the positive policy decisions of the 20 th CPSU Congress, and at the same time expressing its own principled stand against the complete rejection of Stalin. Taking the Soviet Union as a mirror, the reflection on the historical lessons of Stalin's violation of the party's democratic centralism and serious damage to the socialist legal system also requires the party to think deeply about improving the democratic legal system and further giving full play to the advantages of the people's congress system.
From September 15 to 27, 1956, the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing. The congress put forward many good policy proposals for improving the party and state system, and in particular, put forward many clear requirements for strengthening the building of the people's congress system, which are mainly reflected in the emphasis on expanding people's democracy, strengthening supervision, and strengthening the legal system.
Chairman Mao Zedong delivered an opening speech at the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China
The Eighth Party Congress laid down the main tasks of the country's political life, including the further expansion of the country's democratic life and the struggle against bureaucracy, and stressed the need to strengthen the supervision of government organs by the people's congresses. In his political report, Liu Shaoqi clearly pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee over government organs at the central level, and the supervision of local people's congresses at all levels over local government organs at all levels. To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the inspection work of the people's deputies in order to extensively collect the opinions of the masses of the people, and to strengthen the inspection, criticism, and discussion of the government's work by the people's congresses at all levels. The resolution of the congress on the political report pointed out: "It is necessary to use the method of strengthening the party's leadership and supervision over state organs, the method of strengthening the supervision of state organs at all levels by the people's congresses at all levels, the method of strengthening the supervision of state organs at all levels from top to bottom and from the bottom up, and the method of strengthening the criticism and supervision of state organs by the masses of the people and the lower-level functionaries of the organs, so as to wage an unremitting struggle against the phenomenon of bureaucracy that is divorced from the masses and reality."
An important part of strengthening supervision is to give play to the advantages of the people's congress system, so as to strengthen supervision over the work of the party and the state from the masses and non-party personages. The constitution of the Eighth Party Congress clearly pointed out in the general program: "The Communist Party of China is already the ruling party, so it should pay special attention to modesty and prudence, guard against arrogance and rashness, and make great efforts to struggle against the bureaucratic phenomenon of detachment from the masses and from actual life in every party organization and in every state organ and economic organization." In his report on revising the party constitution, Deng Xiaoping stressed the need to strengthen the party's leading role in all aspects and to make appropriate provisions in terms of the state system and the party system, so as to exercise strict supervision over the party organizations and party members. He pointed out that we need to exercise supervision within the party, and we also need supervision from the masses of the people and people outside the party over our party's organizations and party members. The key to both supervision within and outside the party lies in developing the democratic life of the party and the state and carrying forward the traditional work style of our party, which is the "style of combining theory with practice, the style of closely linking with the masses of the people, and the style of self-criticism" advocated by Comrade Mao Zedong in his political report to the Seventh National Congress. In his report, Deng Xiaoping pointed out the party's task of continuing to implement the mass line in its work, and stressed the need to adopt a series of concrete measures, including the need to improve the democratic life of the party and the state, so that the lower-level organizations of the party and the government will have full convenience and guarantee that they can criticize the mistakes and shortcomings in the work of the higher-level organs in a timely and unscrupulous manner, so that the various meetings of the party and the state, especially the party congresses and people's congresses at all levels, will become a forum for fully reflecting the views of the masses and carrying out criticism and debate.
During the meeting, in their conversations with foreign party delegations, the central leaders also repeatedly touched on the party's summing up of historical experience and talked about such issues as expanding democracy and dealing with different opinions. For example, when Liu Shaoqi met with a delegation of the Communist Party of Belgium, at the request of a guest, he introduced his experience in handling different opinions within the CPC: There are often different opinions and differences of opinion within the party, and the party has the responsibility to unify these different opinions. Unification is true unity, ideological unity, which requires discussion and allowing all kinds of opinions to be expressed. Erroneous opinions should also be made public, and then mistakes should be pointed out. In the past, there was a method in our party, which was to not allow people to reserve their opinions. Now we don't think that's good. If you are not convinced, you can keep it, but you must implement the majority decision. There was merit in allowing reservations, as in some cases minority views were correct. If a minority opinion is wrong, it can be retained, and later it turns out that his opinion is wrong, and he can give up his original opinion. On the issue of democracy and centralism, Zhou Enlai said at a meeting with the delegation of the Communist Party of Australia: We must pay attention to inner-party democracy, listen to the opinions of the masses, and exercise collective leadership. If there is no democracy, there can be no centralization, and centralization is based on democracy. This point is particularly important to our ruling party, and we should pay attention to opinions inside and outside the party; if we do not hear different opinions, bureaucracy will emerge and we will fall behind. All these expositions reflect the guarantee that the people are the masters of the country and that they can effectively supervise the exercise of power, and are also consistent with the internal logic of the building of the people's congress system.
The speeches of the deputies to the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China also touched on the supervisory role of the people's congress system. For example, Luo Ruiqing, then minister of public security, pointed out that all activities of the people's public security organs must strictly abide by the provisions of the Constitution and laws, establish a correct system of division of labor and responsibility and mutual restraint with the procuratorial organs and courts, and conscientiously submit to the supervision of the state's legal supervision organs. The people's public security organs should report their work to the people through the people's congresses at all levels and various mass meetings, and pay attention to listening to the criticisms and suggestions of the masses at all times, so as to obtain supervision from the broad masses. The deputies to the people's congress have played a powerful supervisory role in inspecting the anti-insurgency work, and this work should continue to be strengthened in the future. Li Weihan, then head of the United Front Work Department, pointed out that it is necessary to create all necessary conditions to facilitate the supervision of the CPC by democratic parties and democratic personages without party affiliation. organization of regular and occasional inspections; Conduct full criticism and self-criticism at meetings of the People's Congress, the People's Political Consultative Conference and other state organs; Discussions and consultations were held between our party organizations and democratic party organizations and democratic personages within various organs, and between relevant organs and relevant democratic parties, democratic personages, and people's organizations. These are already effective methods that should be done more widely and seriously, and should be institutionalized. Liu Shuzhou, then director of the United Front Work Department of the Shanghai Municipal CPC Committee and vice mayor of Shanghai, cited the recently convened Shanghai Municipal People's Congress as an example and talked about the significance of the people's congress in playing a supervisory role for democratic parties and democratic personages. He mentioned that more than 70 percent of the 276 proposals received by the Municipal People's Congress were specific proposals on improving industrial and commercial undertakings, culture, education, health, and scientific research, and many of them were practical and feasible. At the municipal people's congress, the democrats criticized the party's failure to properly arrange for the Chinese painting circles and opera workers, the failure to promptly solve the problems of the busy work of primary and secondary schools, the problems of cooperative relations in the economic reorganization, the supply of non-staple foodstuffs and the management of housing, and certain shortcomings in the implementation of policies, and played a certain role in supervising and promoting the work.
In addition, the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) made important expositions on strengthening the legal system of people's democracy and put forward new requirements for the legislative work of the people's congresses. Liu Shaoqi pointed out in his political report that in the past, in order to liberate the people from reactionary rule and the social productive forces from the shackles of the old relations of production, the main method of struggle was the direct action of the masses of the people. A complete legal system is absolutely necessary." The General Assembly's resolution on the political report states: "We must further strengthen the people's democratic legal system and consolidate the order of socialist construction. The State must systematically enact complete laws gradually and systematically as needed. All state organs and state functionaries must strictly abide by the laws of the state so that the people's democratic rights are fully protected by the state. ”
Dong Biwu made an important speech entitled "Further Strengthening the People's Democracy and Legal System and Guaranteeing the Cause of Socialist Construction." He pointed out that the mainland still lacks some relatively complete basic laws and regulations that are urgently needed, such as the criminal law, civil law, procedural law, labor law, and land use law, and that a small number of party members and state functionaries do not attach importance to or do not abide by the state's legal system. He stressed that the people's congress system is the country's fundamental political system. The number of annual sessions of the people's congress is clearly stipulated in the Constitution and relevant organic laws. Over the years, the National People's Congress has convened its sessions in strict accordance with its regulations, and the people's congresses of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions have generally convened their sessions in accordance with their regulations. However, the people's congresses at the county and township levels did not meet on schedule in some localities in accordance with regulations, and even some provincial people's congresses did not meet as scheduled last year. As for such illegal phenomena as not listening to the opinions of deputies, dismissing deputies without following the procedures prescribed by law, and even restricting deputies from reflecting the voice of the masses to the people's congresses, they have occurred on more than one occasion in some provinces and counties. Therefore, he pointed out: The people's congress system has not yet been well established in some places and has not yet fully brought into play its role, and this deserves serious attention. He pointed out that the central link in further strengthening the people's democracy and legal system at present is to "do things according to law," and this has two significances: First, there must be laws to follow, and second, laws must be followed. It is necessary to strengthen the party's leadership over the work of the legal system. Dong Biwu's speech embodied a profound understanding of the building of the legal system, which was particularly valuable at that time and was of important guiding significance for strengthening the building of the people's congress system.
After the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the exploration of improving the people's congress system
After the convening of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in light of the tasks and requirements set forth by the congress for the people's congresses, all localities actively inspected the building and functioning of the people's congress system, and put forward opinions and suggestions. On November 8, 1956, the People's Daily published a letter entitled "Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Government Organs by the People's Congress." The letter reflected that at that time, Fengdu County in Sichuan Province and even many counties and cities in Sichuan Province did not hold people's congress meetings as scheduled, the county people's committees did not report their work to the congress in accordance with regulations, the deputies did not have a complete understanding of the government's work, and the people's congresses that had been held in Fengdu County had little time for the deputies to speak and discuss, the people's deputies could not fully express their opinions, and the different opinions of the deputies from various groups could not be discussed, and so on. Taking into account that Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province at that time, formulated interim measures to strengthen the supervision of the municipal people's congress deputies over the work of the government and to strengthen the ties between the people's deputies and the voters (including the content that the mayor and vice mayor should meet with the deputies regularly every month; The Municipal People's Committee shall, as necessary, appoint a special person to visit the representative and solicit opinions; The letter suggests that the Central People's Government take the Chongqing Municipal Interim Measures as a reference and formulate measures that can be used by all counties and cities throughout the country to strengthen the ties between the government and the deputies and between the deputies and their constituents, and to issue them to the county and city people's committees for effective implementation. During this period, Hubei, Sichuan, Guangdong, and many other localities strengthened the people's congresses' supervision over state organs by formulating methods or adopting specific measures; for example, Wuhan City implemented the method of having the responsible persons of government organs report their work to the people's deputies and inspect them together with the people's deputies, which played a great role in helping and urging government organs to overcome bureaucracy and strengthen ties between the government and the masses; Yangchun County, Guangdong Province, in accordance with the suggestions put forward by the county people's procuratorate, made a resolution to correct the mistake of holding meetings of the county people's congress and the people's committee in the past for a long time without complying with the legal time. All these have promoted the practice of building the people's congress system at different levels.
Under the guidance of the spirit of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has explored ways to improve the people's congress system. In the process, the NPC's foreign exchanges have also been further developed. From November 1956 to February of the following year, Peng Zhen led a delegation of the National People's Congress to visit the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugoslavia. During the visit, the delegation focused on the work of parliaments, paying particular attention to the organization of parliaments, the scope and methods of work of the Standing Committee, and the role of parliaments in the building of State power. On 2 February 1957, the People's Daily published an editorial entitled "Welcoming the Return of the National People's Congress Delegation," pointing out: "In strengthening the unity of socialist countries and enhancing mutual understanding of each other on various issues, in addition to the talks between the leaders of the party and the state of various countries, the mutual contacts and contacts of parliamentary delegations, which are the highest organs of state power, are undoubtedly also an effective way to pay attention." Since then, the NPC's foreign exchanges, including the dispatch of foreign affairs delegations, have increasingly become an important part of the mainland's diplomatic undertakings.
After more than half a year of research and exploration, on May 8, 1957, a report on several opinions on improving the system of the mainland people's congress was formed, which was officially submitted to Peng Zhen and the Central Committee in the name of the party group of the organ of the NPC Standing Committee. The main contents of the report include: strengthening the regular work of the NPC and its Standing Committee, and the NPC has set up eight committees to assist the NPC and its Standing Committee in carrying out legislation and supervision; Local people's congresses at or above the county level shall establish standing committees; give certain legislative powers to provincial people's congresses and their standing committees; Strengthen the work of people's congress deputies at all levels, and establish a system of fixed contact between deputies and their original election units. These far-sighted reform plans involve some major issues in the building of the people's congress system and the regular work of the people's congresses. On 13 May, during his talks with foreign guests, Peng Zhen pointed out that he was prepared to take some necessary measures to strengthen the people's congresses' supervision over government work, such as setting up organs to supervise government work, so as to oppose bureaucracy. On the 18th of the same month, he presided over a forum of the NPC Standing Committee, which mainly discussed whether local people's congresses at all levels should set up standing committees and how the NPC Standing Committee should supervise the work of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. He pointed out that "this is a big problem" and that "the people's congresses at all levels should supervise the work of the government, and if there is no standing committee, supervision will be a problem." The establishment of standing committees by local people's congresses at all levels involves the issue of amending the Constitution. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress supervises the work of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. The General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has notified people from several provinces to jointly study this matter." All this shows that these reform plans have been taken into account by the Party Central Committee and put on the agenda. However, not long after the report of the party group of the NPC Standing Committee was sent, these proposals were criticized as "rightists' ideas" due to the "anti-rightist" struggle, and the reform was shelved.
After the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, with the work of bringing order out of chaos in an all-round way, the political life of the party and the state gradually returned to normal, and the people's congress system also entered a new stage of development. In 1979, in the process of studying and revising the Organic Law of local people's congresses and local governments at all levels, the above-mentioned issues once again became the key issues to be considered in the revision process, and the reform plan that had been shelved was finally affirmed and absorbed. In July 1979, the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress (NPC) adopted a resolution on amending certain provisions of the Constitution and local organic laws, stipulating that local people's congresses at and above the county level should establish standing committees, and endowing provincial people's congresses and their standing committees with the power to formulate local laws and regulations. This is a major development and improvement of the mainland's people's congress system. The 1982 Constitution stipulates the establishment of special committees on nationalities, law, finance and economy, education, science, culture and health, foreign affairs, overseas Chinese, and other special committees to study, deliberate, and formulate relevant bills under the leadership of the NPC and its Standing Committee. The creation of special committees was finally enshrined in the Constitution. Continuing the exploratory pace of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the people's congress system has been continuously improved and improved, providing an important institutional guarantee for the Party to lead the people to create a miracle of rapid economic development and long-term social stability.
Source: "Centennial Tide" Issue 9, 2024
Author: Xiong Daohong (Associate Researcher, Third Research Department, Institute of Party History and Literature, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China)