Unswervingly Advancing Whole-Process People’s Democracy

Democracy is a common value of all humanity and an important concept that the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people have consistently upheld. On December 4, the State Council Information Office published the white paper *China: Democracy That Works*, which comprehensively summarizes the historical process and notable achievements of China’s democratic development. Starting today, our newspaper launches the column “Series Discussions on ‘China: Democracy That Works’,” delving into the value concepts, institutional procedures, participatory practices, and global significance of whole-process people’s democracy.

民主是全人类的共同价值，是中国共产党和中国人民始终不渝坚持的重要理念。12月4日，国务院新闻办公室发表《中国的民主》白皮书，全面总结了中国的民主发展的历史进程与显著成就。本报即日起开设《“中国的民主”系列谈》栏目，深入阐释全过程人民民主的价值理念、制度程序、参与实践和世界意义。

Since its founding, the Communist Party of China has taken as its mission the realization of the Chinese people’s mastery of their own affairs and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. People’s democracy is the banner that the CPC has always held high. Over the course of a century of struggle, the CPC has consistently adhered to integrating the Marxist theory of people’s democracy with China’s practice and with the fine traditional Chinese culture, unswervingly advancing whole-process people’s democracy. This has greatly developed democratic theory, enriched democratic standards, expanded the scope of democracy, and broadened democratic pathways. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee [1]1 The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee was held in November 2021 and adopted the Party’s third historic resolution, the *Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s Centenary Struggle*. identified the continuous development of people’s democracy as one of the historical significances of the Party’s century-long struggle, upheld the principle of putting the people first as a historical experience of that struggle, and highlighted the active development of whole-process democracy as a successful experience in political construction since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. It emphasized that the Party, as it embarks on the new journey of the second centenary goal [2]2 The second centenary goal refers to building China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of the 21st century, the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China., must develop whole-process people’s democracy and ensure the people’s position as masters of the country.

中国共产党自成立之日起，就以实现中国人民当家作主和中华民族伟大复兴为己任，人民民主是中国共产党始终高举的旗帜。在百年奋斗征程中，中国共产党始终坚持把马克思主义人民民主理论与中国实践结合起来，与中华优秀传统文化结合起来，矢志不渝推进全过程人民民主，极大地发展了民主理论，丰富了民主标准，扩大了民主范围，拓宽了民主路径。党的十九届六中全会把推进人民民主不断发展作为党百年奋斗的历史意义，把坚持人民至上作为党百年奋斗的历史经验，把积极发展全过程民主作为党的十八大以来政治建设的成功经验，强调党迈步在第二个百年新征程中必须发展全过程人民民主、保证人民当家作主。

During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, CPC members, at the very founding of the Party, aspired to “create a new politics based on society,” “abolish the system of domination and submission,” and “break the system that treats others as mere instruments.” They successfully completed the tasks of the New Democratic Revolution. In the period of the Agrarian Revolution [3]3 The Agrarian Revolution (1927–1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s rural-based armed struggle and land reform, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War period., the Party led the people in establishing Soviet worker-peasant regimes, achieving partial governance and enabling the working people to become masters of political power for the first time in Chinese history. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the CPC actively implemented the *Administrative Program of the Democratic Government*, the *Administrative Program for the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region During the War of Resistance*, and the *Administrative Program for the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region*, integrating democracy into the “Three-Thirds System” [4]4 The “Three-Thirds System” was a policy for united front regimes in the anti-Japanese base areas during the War of Resistance, where Communists, non-Party progressives, and centrists each occupied roughly one-third of government posts. of regime building, mass organization, and relations between officers and soldiers, combining the War of Resistance with the establishment of democratic institutions, and creating a powerful democratic current in the border regions. During the War of Liberation, Comrade Mao Zedong and other central leaders deeply pondered the meaning of the people’s democratic dictatorship and creatively designed the state regime of New Democracy. The victory of the New Democratic Revolution and the founding of New China realized a great leap in China from several thousand years of feudal autocratic politics to people’s democracy, creating the political and social conditions for realizing whole-process people’s democracy.

在新民主主义革命时期，中国共产党人在建党之初就立志“站在社会基础上造成新的政治”“废除统治与屈服的关系”“打破擅用他人一如器物的制度”，成功完成新民主主义革命的任务。在土地革命时期，党带领人民建立了工农苏维埃政权，实现局部执政，使劳动人民在中国历史上首次成为政权的主人；在抗日战争时期，中国共产党积极实施《民主政府施政纲领》《陕甘宁边区抗战时期施政纲领》《陕甘宁边区施政纲领》，把民主贯通在“三三制”政权建设、民众组织、官兵关系等各个方面，把抗日战争和建立民主制度结合起来，在边区形成巨大的民主潮流；解放战争时期，毛泽东等中央领导同志深入思考人民民主专政的含义，创造性设计新民主主义的国家政权建设。新民主主义革命的胜利和新中国的成立，实现了中国从几千年封建专制政治向人民民主的伟大飞跃，为实现全过程人民民主创造了政治和社会条件。

After the founding of New China, the Chinese people truly became masters of their country, society, and their own destiny. In September 1949, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference was convened, marking the formal establishment of the system of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the formal formation of the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC—a new type of party system that grew out of China’s soil. In 1954, over 1,200 deputies to the National People’s Congress, elected through universal suffrage, participated in the First Session of the First National People’s Congress, which adopted the *Constitution of the People’s Republic of China*, establishing the state system of the people’s democratic dictatorship and the political system of the People’s Congresses. The system of People’s Congresses is the true embodiment of China’s electoral democracy and the fundamental political system of the country. The system of regional ethnic autonomy, born during the revolutionary period and fully implemented after the founding of New China, explored a basic political system that achieves the organic unity of centralization in a multi-ethnic state and local ethnic autonomy. During the period of socialist revolution and socialist construction, China successfully achieved the transition from New Democracy to socialism, carried out socialist revolution, advanced socialist construction, and realized the most extensive and profound social transformation in the history of the Chinese nation. It achieved a great leap in which a large Eastern country, once poor and backward with a huge population, strode into socialist society, laying the fundamental political premise and institutional foundation for realizing whole-process people’s democracy.

新中国成立后，中国人民真正成为国家、社会和自己命运的主人。1949年9月，中国人民政治协商会议第一届全体会议召开，标志着人民政协制度正式确立，中国共产党领导的多党合作和政治协商制度也正式形成，这是在中国土壤中成长出来的新型政党制度。1954年，由人民普选产生的1200多名全国人大代表参加第一届全国人民代表大会第一次会议，通过了《中华人民共和国宪法》，确立了人民民主专政的国体和人民代表大会制度的政体。人民代表大会制度，是中国选举民主的真实体现，是我国的根本政治制度。诞生于革命时期并在新中国成立后全面实行的民族区域自治制度，探索出多民族国家实现中央集权和民族地方自治有机统一的基本政治制度。在社会主义革命和社会主义建设时期，中国成功实现从新民主主义到社会主义的转变，进行社会主义革命，推进社会主义建设，实现了中华民族有史以来最为广泛而深刻的社会变革，实现了一穷二白、人口众多的东方大国大步迈进社会主义社会的伟大飞跃，为实现全过程人民民主奠定了根本政治前提和制度基础。

Without democracy, there is no socialism, and there is no socialist modernization. After reform and opening up, the Party led the people in adhering to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics and developing socialist democracy, achieving significant progress. In the early period of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “We must strictly distinguish socialist democracy from bourgeois democracy and individualistic democracy; we must combine democracy for the people with dictatorship over the enemy, and combine democracy with centralism, democracy with the legal system, democracy with discipline, and democracy with the leadership of the Party.” Grassroots self-governance, written into the 1982 Constitution and implemented nationwide after 1987, is the true embodiment of direct democracy at the grassroots level. Socialist consultative democracy flourished, and the system of intra-Party political life became more complete. Intra-Party democracy is the lifeblood of the Party, and people’s democracy is the lifeblood of socialism. The construction of the rule of law advanced forcefully, achieving a high degree of unity among the leadership of the Party, the people being the masters of the country, and law-based governance. In national political life, democratic centralism is the Party’s fundamental organizational principle and fundamental leadership system, as well as the fundamental working system for leading bodies. It both mobilizes the initiative of all sides and forms a unified will, preventing the fragmentation of state governance. During the period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, China achieved a historic breakthrough from a state of relatively backward productive forces to becoming the world’s second-largest economy, providing institutional guarantees full of new vitality and material conditions for rapid development for advancing whole-process people’s democracy.

没有民主，就没有社会主义，就没有社会主义的现代化。改革开放以后，党领导人民坚持中国特色社会主义政治发展道路，发展社会主义民主，取得重大进展。改革开放初期，邓小平就指出：“一定要把社会主义民主同资产阶级民主、个人主义民主严格地区别开来，一定要把对人民的民主和对敌人的专政结合起来，把民主和集中、民主和法制、民主和纪律、民主和党的领导结合起来。”写入1982年宪法并于1987年以后在中国推行的基层群众自治是基层直接民主的真实体现，社会主义协商民主蓬勃发展，党内政治生活制度更加完善。党内民主是党的生命，人民民主是社会主义的生命，法治建设有力推进，党的领导、人民当家作主和依法治国实现高度统一。在国家政治生活中，民主集中制是党的根本组织原则和根本领导制度，也是领导班子的根本工作制度，既调动各方面积极性，也形成统一意志，防止国家治理碎片化。在改革开放和社会主义现代化建设时期，我国实现了从生产力相对落后的状况到经济总量跃居世界第二的历史性突破，为推进全过程人民民主提供了充满新的活力的体制保障和快速发展的物质条件。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era. The CPC has unified upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership, perfecting a comprehensive, extensive, and organically linked institutional system for the people to be masters of the country, and building a socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics. It has expanded orderly political participation by the people at all levels and in all fields, ensuring that institutions and state governance better reflect the people’s will, protect the people’s rights and interests, and stimulate the people’s creativity. While advancing electoral democracy, the Party has vigorously promoted the extensive, multilevel, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, continuously enriching and developing the forms of socialist democracy. This ensures that whole-process people’s democracy includes all elements—electoral democracy, consultative democracy, social democracy, and grassroots democracy—and covers all areas—democratic elections, democratic consultations, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision. It runs through all aspects, including establishing and improving the system for upholding the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, perfecting the system of intra-Party democracy, and upholding and improving the system of People’s Congresses. Advancing whole-process people’s democracy has provided extensive institutional space for the Party to lead and govern the country, becoming a notable hallmark of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, historic achievements and historic transformations have occurred in the work of the Party and the state in all fields. The Chinese nation has experienced a great leap from standing up and growing prosperous to becoming strong, providing more complete institutional guarantees, a more solid material foundation, and a more proactive spiritual force for developing whole-process people’s democracy.

党的十八大以来，中国特色社会主义进入新时代。中国共产党把坚持和加强党的全面领导，健全全面、广泛、有机衔接的人民当家作主制度体系，构建中国特色社会主义法治体系有机统一起来，从各层次各领域扩大人民有序政治参与，使各方面制度和国家治理更好体现人民意志、保障人民权益、激发人民创造。党在推进选举民主的同时，大力推进协商民主广泛多层制度化发展，不断丰富和发展社会主义民主形式，使全过程人民民主包括选举民主、协商民主、社会民主、基层民主等全部要素，涵盖民主选举、民主协商、民主决策、民主管理、民主监督等一切领域，贯通在建立健全维护党中央权威和集中统一领导制度、完善党内民主制度、坚持和完善人大制度等各个方面。推进全过程人民民主为党领导和治理国家提供了广泛的制度性空间，成为实现中华民族伟大复兴的显著标志。党的十八大以来，党和国家各方面事业取得的历史性成就、发生的历史性变革，中华民族迎来了从站起来、富起来到强起来的伟大飞跃，为发展全过程人民民主提供了更为完善的制度保证、更为坚实的物质基础、更为主动的精神力量。

The century-long struggle of the CPC has fundamentally changed the future and destiny of the Chinese people. The Chinese people have completely shaken off the fate of being bullied, oppressed, and enslaved, becoming masters of their country, society, and their own destiny. The Chinese people’s aspiration for a better life is constantly being turned into reality. This has enabled the Marxist theory of people’s democracy to take root, sprout, and thrive in the soil of this ancient Eastern country, ultimately giving democracy its true meaning. Looking to the future, the CPC, in its unswerving efforts to advance whole-process people’s democracy, will surely write even more splendid chapters in the history of human political civilization.

中国共产党的百年奋斗从根本上改变了中国人民的前途和命运，中国人民彻底摆脱了被欺负、被压迫、被奴役的命运，成为国家、社会和自己命运的主人，中国人民对美好生活的向往不断变成现实，使马克思主义人民民主理论在古老东方大国土壤中生根发芽、茁壮成长，最终使民主具有了真正意义。展望未来，奋力推进全过程人民民主的中国共产党必将在人类政治文明史上书写更加精彩的篇章。

(The author is a researcher at the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee [National Academy of Governance], and Deputy Director and Professor of the Department of Party Building Teaching and Research.)

（作者系中央党校〔国家行政学院〕习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心研究员、党的建设教研部副主任、教授）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心