The Clean Governance of the Chinese Soviet Republic and Its Valuable Experience

The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that the whole Party must bear in mind that comprehensive and strict governance of the Party is always on the way, and the Party’s self-revolution is always on the way; there must be no slackening, resting, fatigue, or weariness. We must unswervingly advance comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, deeply advance the great new project of Party building in the New Era, and lead social revolution through the Party’s self-revolution. Over the past century and more, our Party has relied externally on developing people’s democracy and accepting popular supervision, and internally on comprehensive and strict governance of the Party and advancing self-revolution. It has had the courage to uphold truth and correct errors, and the courage to turn the blade inward and scrape the poison from the bone, ensuring that the Party remains ever vigorous and grows stronger. Looking back at history, the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic was a great attempt to build a new type of political power in Chinese history. It was both the prototype for the political power of New China and a testing ground for the CPC’s governance, as well as an important stage in our Party’s use of self-revolution to lead social revolution. In the process of the Party leading the construction of the Chinese Soviet Republic, with clean governance as the core content, through establishing a new type of political power with broad democracy, building an unprecedentedly clean new government, constructing a comprehensive and effective supervision mechanism, and spreading a clean and upright culture of integrity for the people, it laid the foundation for political clarity, set a benchmark for clean cadres, and also opened the path of exploration for self-revolution.

党的二十大报告指出，全党必须牢记，全面从严治党永远在路上，党的自我革命永远在路上，决不能有松劲歇脚、疲劳厌战的情绪，必须持之以恒推进全面从严治党，深入推进新时代党的建设新的伟大工程，以党的自我革命引领社会革命。一百多年来，我们党外靠发展人民民主、接受人民监督，内靠全面从严治党、推进自我革命，勇于坚持真理、修正错误，勇于刀刃向内、刮骨疗毒，保证了党长盛不衰、不断发展壮大。回顾历史，中华苏维埃共和国的建立是中国历史上新型政权建设的伟大尝试，既是新中国政权建设的雏形、中国共产党治国理政的试验田，也是我们党以自我革命引领社会革命的重要阶段。党领导中华苏维埃共和国建设事业过程中，以廉政建设为核心内容，通过建立广泛民主的新型政权、建设空前廉洁的新政府、构建全面有效的监督机制、传播清正为民的廉洁文化，为政治清明奠定根基、为干部清廉树立标杆，也开启了自我革命的探索之路。

Establishing a new political power with broad democracy laid the foundation for political clarity.

建立广泛民主的新政权，为政治清明奠定根基

Before the establishment of a people’s democratic political power led by the proletariat, all forms of political power in human history had failed to fundamentally achieve political clarity. More than 90 years ago, the political power of the Chinese Soviet Republic established in Ruijin was a new type of political power that realized broad democracy. Its establishment laid the foundation for political clarity.

在无产阶级领导的人民民主政权建立之前，人类历史上的所有政权形式都没能从根本上实现政治清明。90多年前，在瑞金建立的中华苏维埃共和国政权，是一种新型的实现了广泛民主的政权形式，它的建立为政治清明奠定了根基。

For the first time, a new type of state system of people’s democracy was established. The *Constitutional Outline of the Chinese Soviet Republic* pointed out, “The state established by the Chinese Soviet political power is a democratic dictatorship of the workers and peasants. All Soviet political power belongs to the workers, peasants, Red Army soldiers, and all toiling masses.” This fully embodied the idea that “political power truly belongs to the people” and laid the fundamental foundation for political clarity.

首次确立人民民主的新型国体。《中华苏维埃共和国宪法大纲》指出，“中国苏维埃政权所建立的是工人和农民的民主专政的国家。苏维埃全部政权是属于工人、农民、红军士兵及一切劳苦大众的”。这充分体现了“政权真正属于人民”的思想，奠定了政治清明的根本基础。

Democracy was made to take root and flourish. The Soviet government organized election propaganda teams, using clubs, literacy classes, Lenin rooms, and wall newspapers to publicize election measures, holding large-scale elections in remote rural areas, granting all exploited and oppressed people full rights to vote and stand for election. These innovative measures enabled the military and civilians of the Soviet areas, who had previously known nothing of democracy, to participate broadly in elections, ensuring that “political power is truly conferred by the people.” The Chinese Soviet Republic actively expanded the forms of democratic practice. For example, it made electoral districts smaller, emphasizing that the Soviet government “must be as close as possible to the masses and seek all benefits for the masses. Therefore, whether at the township, district, county, or provincial level, the areas should not be too large.” This ensured that the actual execution of all Soviet work was carried out at the township and city Soviets, organizing Soviet work into a network so that the broad masses could directly participate in Soviet work. Every effort was made to strengthen the connection between representatives and voters, requiring each representative to lead the resident masses within a certain scope to carry out Soviet work, such as promoting joining cooperatives, urging children to attend day schools, urging adults to attend night schools, and urging each household to pay attention to hygiene.

推动民主落地生根。苏维埃政府组织选举宣传队，利用俱乐部、识字班、列宁室与墙壁报等宣传选举举措，在偏僻的农村地区举行大规模选举，给予一切被剥削被压迫的民众完全的选举权与被选举权。这些创新举措使原本不知民主为何物的苏区军民广泛参与选举，确保了“政权真正由人民赋予”。中华苏维埃共和国积极拓展民主的实现形式。比如将选区划分小一些，强调苏维埃政府“须尽量接近群众，为群众谋一切利益。因此，不论乡、区、县、省，区域都不应过大”。这就做到了一切苏维埃工作的实际执行都在乡苏和市苏，把苏维埃的工作组织成网，使广大民众直接参与苏维埃的工作。千方百计密切代表与选民的联系，要求每个代表在一定范围内去领导居民群众执行苏维埃工作，如宣传加入合作社、督促儿童进日学、督促大人进夜学、督促各家讲究卫生等。

Building an unprecedentedly clean new government set a benchmark for clean cadres.

建立空前廉洁的新政府，为干部清廉树立标杆

The image of the government and the work style of cadres are the external manifestations of political clarity, the top priority of clean governance, and a clear indicator of the degree of integrity. History is replete with examples of extravagant and decadent governments and officials preying on the people, leading to social turmoil and the collapse of political power, leaving profound warnings. The establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic brought a completely new political ecology, hailed as “the cleanest government in history.”

政府形象和干部作风是政治清明的外在体现，是廉政建设的重中之重，是廉政程度的鲜明标志。历史上政府奢靡颓败、官吏鱼肉百姓导致社会动荡、政权倾覆的例子比比皆是，也留下了深刻的警示。中华苏维埃共和国的建立使政治生态气象一新，被喻为“史上空前廉洁的政府”。

The new government was unprecedentedly streamlined and efficient. The Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic initially had nine ministries, one bureau, and one office, later adding the Central Revolutionary Military Commission and the Supreme Court, totaling 13 institutions. All these institutions were housed in the Ye family ancestral hall, with a total area of 523 square meters. “The fifteen rooms partitioned by wooden boards were the offices of the various ministries and commissions of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, each room only a dozen or so square meters, furnished with a hand-cranked telephone, a table, and a few benches—the office conditions were extremely简陋 [crude].” [1]1 The original Chinese term 简陋 (jianlou) means crude, simple, or rudimentary, often implying poverty or lack of basic facilities. The personnel in each department were extremely streamlined; each ministry had only one minister, and if there was no minister, one deputy minister was appointed. Most departments had only a dozen or so people; the largest, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection Department, had only about 80 people, and the Ministry of Finance initially had only one or two people.

新政府空前精简高效。中华苏维埃共和国临时中央政府最初设有九部一局一厅，后来增设“中革军委”和最高法庭，共13个机构。这些机构全部设在叶氏祠堂里，总面积523平方米，“木板隔成的十五个房间是中华苏维埃共和国临时政府各部委办公室，每个房间只有十几平方米，摆放着一部手摇电话机、一张桌子、几条凳子，办公条件简陋之极”。各部门人员极为精简，每个部只设部长1名，没有部长就设立1名副部长，大多十几个人，人数最多的工农检察部也不过80来人，财政部刚开始时只有一两个人。

The relationship between cadres and the masses was unprecedentedly close. During the period of the Chinese Soviet Republic, the Party and government took winning the support and endorsement of the masses as their fundamental starting point and ultimate goal, genuinely being with the masses and sincerely seeking benefits for them, “solving the problems of production and livelihood for the masses, the problem of salt, the problem of rice, the problem of housing, the problem of having children, solving all problems of the masses.” A series of entirely new systems were established, such as the “standing committee system,” the “duty representative system,” and the “cadre participation in labor system,” requiring all government staff to personally go to the fields as much as possible to help Red Army families and poor peasants lacking labor power with farming. Of the five standing committee members of the township government, except for one on duty each day, all went to the countryside to supervise work. The village-level “duty representatives” were directly elected from among the masses.

干群关系空前密切。中华苏维埃共和国时期，党和政府以得到群众拥护与支持为根本出发点和落脚点，真心和群众在一起，真心实意地为群众谋利益，“解决群众的生产和生活的问题，盐的问题，米的问题，房子的问题，生小孩子的问题，解决群众的一切问题”。建立“常委会制度”“值日代表制度”“干部参加劳动制度”等一系列全新制度，要求所有政府工作人员，尽可能亲自下田去帮助红军家属及缺乏劳动力的贫苦农民耕种。乡政府5名常委每天除1名值班外，都下乡督察工作。村负责人“值日代表”直接从群众中选举产生。

The image of cadres was completely transformed. The Soviet government strictly regulated the living allowances of its staff; they worked purely voluntarily for the workers’ and peasants’ revolution, receiving no salary, only very meager food allowances and pocket money. Starting in 1932, the Central Soviet Area unified the food standard, with Party, government, and other rear-area personnel receiving five cents per day for meals, and cadres at the township level and below had to bring their own lunch packets to work. “From the Chairman of the Central Government down to village cadres, except for a small number of technical personnel, everyone had no salary, only a small amount of leftover food money.” [2]2 “Leftover food money” (伙食尾子) refers to the small amount of money remaining from the collective food budget after meals, which was sometimes distributed equally among members as a tiny personal allowance. This is why the folk songs about the good work style of Soviet area cadres are still sung today.

干部形象脱胎换骨。苏维埃政府严格规定工作人员的生活待遇，他们纯粹是为工农革命义务工作，不拿工资，只有很少的伙食费和零用钱。从1932年开始，中央苏区统一伙食标准，党政等后方人员每人每天五分钱菜金，乡以下的干部都要自带饭包办公。“从中央政府主席到乡村干部，除少量技术人员外，大家都没有薪饷，只有少量伙食尾子”，所以关于苏区干部好作风的歌谣至今传唱。

Constructing a comprehensive and effective supervision mechanism safeguarded clean politics.

构建全面有效的监督机制，为廉洁政治保驾护航

The supervision and disciplinary mechanism is the institutional guarantee of clean politics. The cyclical pattern of rise and fall—where governance slackens and officials become complacent, leading to the fall of a regime—shows that only by fundamentally establishing a long-term supervision mechanism can enduring clean politics be ensured. The establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic was a challenge to and exploration of this age-old problem of establishing a long-term mechanism for clean politics, and it accumulated valuable experience.

监督惩戒机制是廉洁政治的制度保障。政怠宦成、人亡政息的兴亡周期率表明，只有从根本上建立长效的监督机制，才能确保永续的廉洁政治。中华苏维埃共和国的建立，是对建立廉洁政治长效机制这一亘古难题的挑战与探索，并积累了富有价值的经验。

Government power was supervised throughout the entire process. Key designs included the powers of supervision, recall, re-election, and revocation. For example, the *Detailed Rules for Elections of the Chinese Soviet Republic* stipulated that representatives “who do not perform their duties, violate the people’s trust, or commit illegal acts may be expelled by the city or township Soviet, and voters also have the right to recall such representatives.” Comrade Zhang Wentian required that “the leaders of the Soviets must enable Soviet citizens to learn to use their powers of recall and re-election.”

全过程监督政府权力。重点设计了监督权、罢免权、改选权、召回权，比如《中华苏维埃共和国的选举细则》规定，代表“若不执行自己职务，有违犯人民的付托，或做犯法行为的时候，城市或乡苏维埃得开除之，选民也有召回该代表之权”。张闻天同志要求，“苏维埃的领导者必须使苏维埃的公民学习使用他们的召回权与改选权”。

A multi-dimensional supervision system was constructed. This system included intra-Party supervision mechanisms, government supervision mechanisms, public opinion supervision mechanisms, and mass supervision mechanisms. In addition to drawing on traditional punitive mechanisms, such as vigorously strengthening judicial organs and establishing revolutionary tribunals and revolutionary courts, an innovative discovery and prevention mechanism was also built. Supervisory committees, sometimes called special committees, review committees, or Party affairs committees, were established within Party organizations. The Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection Department was established within the government, with a number of staff ranking among the highest of all government departments, covering every corner of the Soviet areas to facilitate popular denunciations. “Light cavalry units” [3]3 “Light cavalry units” (轻骑队) were rapid-response inspection teams, often composed of youth, tasked with uncovering and reporting problems in government and economic work, acting as a form of swift oversight. were set up in organizations like the Communist Youth League, implying speed, mobility, and overwhelming force. At the same time, the role of public opinion supervision was greatly utilized. Almost all Soviet area newspapers and periodicals had columns for exposing shortcomings, errors, and criticizing cadres, such as “Against Corruption and Waste,” “Red Board,” “Black Board,” “Iron Hammer,” “Self-Criticism,” “Oppose Corruption and Embezzlement,” and “Criticism and Guidance.”

构建立体化监督体系。这套体系包括党内监督机制、政府监督机制、舆论监督机制、群众监督机制等。除了借鉴传统惩治机制，大力加强司法机构，创建革命法庭、革命法院之外，还创新性地构建了一套发现与预防机制。在党组织内部设立监察委员会，有时又叫特别委员会、审查委员会、党务委员会。在政府内部设立工农检察部，工作人员人数居政府各部前列，覆盖苏区各个角落，便于民众检举。在共青团等组织中设有“轻骑队”，寓意快速机动、势如雷霆。同时，还极大地发挥舆论监督作用，苏区报刊几乎都设有揭露缺点错误、批评干部的栏目，如“反贪污浪费”“红板”“黑板”“铁锤”“自我批评”“反对贪污腐化”“批评与指导”等。

There was zero tolerance for corruption and waste. The Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic issued decrees on punishing corruption and waste, such as the *Order on Punishing Acts of Corruption and Waste*. What is noteworthy about these decrees is that they not only demonstrated an unprecedented severity in punishing acts of corruption and embezzlement but also adopted a zero-tolerance attitude towards waste. Comrade Mao Zedong admonished: “It should be made clear to all government workers that corruption and waste are extremely great crimes.” Comrade Xiang Ying pointed out: “Corruption is absolutely impermissible under the Soviet political power; if it occurs, it is a disgrace to the Soviet government.”

对贪污浪费零容忍。中华苏维埃共和国临时中央政府颁布了《关于惩治贪污浪费行为》等惩治贪污的训令。这些法令值得关注之处在于，不仅体现了对贪污挪用行为的空前严厉的惩戒力度，而且对浪费行为也采取零容忍态度。毛泽东同志告诫说：“应该使一切政府工作人员明白，贪污和浪费是极大的犯罪。”项英同志指出：“贪污是苏维埃政权下，绝不准许有的事，如若发生呢，即是苏维埃政府的羞耻。”

Spreading the clean and upright culture of integrity and serving the people, creating an atmosphere for clean governance

传播清正为民的廉洁文化，为廉政建设营造氛围

Clean culture is the spiritual foundation of clean governance. The establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic typically demonstrated a new type of governing outlook, people’s outlook, interest outlook, and mass outlook, cultivating from the cultural level the red gene of integrity and serving the people.

廉洁文化是廉政建设的精神根基。中华苏维埃共和国的建立，典型地展现了新型的执政观、人民观、利益观和群众观，从文化层面培育了清正为民的红色基因。

Striving to publicize the new type of governing outlook. Striving to publicize the Party’s nature and purpose: “Since we are a party fighting for the masses of the proletariat, we must ‘go to the masses,’ to organize a large ‘mass party’,” “all movements of the Party must go deep into the masses.” These measures also won heartfelt praise from the broad masses in the Central Soviet Area: “The Communist Party is truly good; it thinks of everything for us.” Therefore, the trust and support of the Soviet area masses for the Soviet Republic greatly increased. Every person in the Soviet area could understand that “with the Soviet, we are the masters; we obtain land, freedom, improved labor conditions, and special interests for the youth; without the Soviet, we are slaves; in the occupied areas, we lose everything.”

着力宣传新型执政观。着力宣传党的性质和宗旨：“我们既然是为无产阶级群众奋斗的政党，我们便要‘到群众中去’，要组织一个大的‘群众党’”，“党的一切运动都必须深入群众里面去”。这些举措也获得中央苏区广大群众的衷心称赞，“共产党真正好，什么事情都替我们想到了”。因此，苏区群众对苏维埃共和国的信任和拥戴大大提升，苏区民众每个人都能明白，“有苏维埃，我们就是主人，我们获得土地、自由、劳动条件的改善、青年的特殊利益；没有苏维埃，我们就是奴隶，在被占领的区域，我们失去了一切”。

Striving to publicize the new type of mass outlook. In the Central Soviet Area, Comrade Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized to Party cadres the immense power contained in the masses: “What is the true iron wall? It is the masses, the millions upon millions of people who sincerely support the revolution.” After training in various types of training classes, the broad ranks of Party cadres gradually came to understand revolutionary theory, raised their ideological consciousness, and grew into steadfast communist fighters in the crucible of revolution. A Party cadre who had participated in a training class wrote under the heading “Work Outline” in his notebook: “Strive for the group, be a teacher of the masses, go to the masses, go into the thorns of reaction. Fear no difficulty, fear no death, love no money, sacrifice for communism.” This was the harvest of their studies, and it became the life creed of millions of Party cadres.

着力宣传新型群众观。在中央苏区，毛泽东同志多次向党员干部强调群众蕴含的巨大力量：“真正的铜墙铁壁是什么？是群众，是千百万真心实意地拥护革命的群众。”广大党员干部经过各种类型的训练班培训后，逐渐懂得了革命理论，提高了思想觉悟，在革命斗争中成长为坚定的共产主义战士。一位参加过训练班的党员干部在笔记本上“工作大纲”标题下写道：“为团体努力，作群众导师，到群众中去，到反动荆棘中去。不畏难，不怕死，不爱钱，为共产主义而牺牲。”这是他们学习的收获，也成为千万党员干部的人生信条。

Striving to advocate a new type of work-style consciousness. Leading cadres at all levels in the Central Soviet Area kept the Party’s purpose firmly in mind, always regarding serving the people as their bounden duty. “Always be concerned with winning over the masses,” “every issue in the masses’ life should be brought onto our agenda. It should be discussed, decided, implemented, and inspected.” Under the guidance and inspiration of leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai, cadres at all levels in the Central Soviet Area always adhered to serving the people wholeheartedly in their work, consciously placing the interests of the masses first, forming a completely new work style.

着力倡导新型作风意识。中央苏区各级领导干部牢记党的宗旨，始终把为人民服务当作自己的天职。“时刻叨念争取群众”“一切群众生活上的问题都应该把它提到自己的议事日程上。应该讨论，应该决定，应该实行，应该检查”。在毛泽东、朱德、周恩来等领导人的引导和感召下，中央苏区各级干部在工作中都始终坚持一心为民，自觉将群众的利益放在首位，形成了一种全新的作风。

In summary, the Chinese Soviet Republic established over 90 years ago opened a new chapter in the history of China’s construction of a completely new clean political power. The rich experience and red genes formed are extremely precious, possess strong practical value, and are the red bloodline we must continue and carry forward.

总之，90多年前建立的中华苏维埃共和国翻开了中国历史上全新廉政政权建设的新篇章，形成的丰富经验和红色基因弥足珍贵，具有强烈的现实价值，是我们必须赓续的红色血脉。

(Author: Chen Shifa, Vice President of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Distinguished Researcher of the Jiangxi Provincial Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics)

（作者：陈始发，系江西财经大学副校长、江西省中国特色社会主义理论体系研究中心特约研究员）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心