Mao Zedong’s Thought on Constitution-Making by the People in the “1954 Constitution” and Its Implications

2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the promulgation and implementation of China’s current constitution, the “1982 Constitution.” The 1982 Constitution inherits the basic spirit and main content of the *Common Programme* and the “1954 Constitution,” while the *Common Programme* and the “1954 Constitution” embody Mao Zedong’s thought on constitution-making by the people. Mao Zedong and the constitutional drafting group he led were the principal drafters of the “1954 Constitution,” which can be said to be a direct embodiment of Mao Zedong’s thought on constitution-making by the people. There has been much scholarly research on the “1954 Constitution,” but this research is primarily based on ex post facto perspectives or the perspectives of Western constitutional theory. The “1954 Constitution” was the first socialist-type constitution and people’s constitution in China’s history, laying an important foundation for the formation and development of the contemporary Chinese constitutional system. Research on the “1954 Constitution” should be cautious in applying Western constitutional theory; it needs to be examined by situating it within Mao Zedong’s thought on constitution-making by the people and the historical changes of the contemporary Chinese constitutional system. This article does not intend to explore the specific content of the “1954 Constitution,” but rather focuses on the Mao Zedong thought on constitution-making by the people reflected in the “1954 Constitution” in terms of its foundation, purpose, and method of formulation. It analyzes the “1954 Constitution” from the perspective of Mao Zedong’s thought on constitution-making by the people, in order to provide insights for the comprehensive implementation of the current constitution.

2022年是我国现行宪法“八二宪法”颁布实施40周年，“八二宪法”继承了《共同纲领》和“五四宪法”的基本精神和主要内容，而《共同纲领》和“五四宪法”则体现了毛泽东人民立宪思想。毛泽东及其领导的宪法起草小组是“五四宪法”的主要起草者，“五四宪法”可以说是毛泽东人民立宪思想的直接体现。对“五四宪法”学界已经有诸多研究，但这些研究主要基于事后视角或西方宪法理论视角。“五四宪法”是我国历史上第一部社会主义类型宪法、人民宪法，为当代中国宪法制度的形成与发展奠定了重要基础。对“五四宪法”的研究，应慎用西方宪法理论，需要将其置于毛泽东人民立宪思想和当代中国宪法制度历史变迁中来加以考察。本文无意于探讨“五四宪法”的具体内容，而是着重探讨“五四宪法”在制定基础、制定目的与制定方法方面所体现的毛泽东人民立宪思想，并从毛泽东人民立宪思想的角度出发来分析“五四宪法”，以期能够为现行宪法的全面实施提供启示。

I. The Foundation for the Formulation of the “1954 Constitution”

一、“五四宪法”的制定基础

The emergence of a constitution is closely related to the concept of popular sovereignty. Mao Zedong believed that a constitution is an acknowledgment of democratic fact; that is, democratic fact must first be created before a constitution can be formulated. The process of creating democratic fact is, in fact, also the process of creating the “people” in the constitutional sense. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, upheld the value concept of the people as the subject, led the Chinese people to victory in the New Democratic Revolution, created democratic fact and the “people” in the constitutional sense, and on this basis successfully formulated the “1954 Constitution.”

宪法的产生与人民主权理念息息相关。毛泽东认为，宪法是对民主事实的承认，亦就是说，必须先创造出民主事实，才能制定宪法。而民主事实的创造过程，实际上也是立宪意义上“人民”的创造过程。以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人秉持人民主体论的价值理念，带领中国人民取得了新民主主义革命的胜利，创造出民主事实和立宪意义上的“人民”，在此基础上成功制定了“五四宪法”。

(A) The Creation of Democratic Fact

（一）民主事实的创造

The relationship between constitution and democracy is an important issue in the emergence and development of constitutions. “If one examines the constitutions of countries around the world from the perspectives of constitutional development history and textual content, one finds that every constitution is related to democracy, either in substance or in form.” Mao Zedong keenly noted this issue, pointing out: “Constitutional government in the world’s history, whether in Britain, France, the United States, or the Soviet Union, has always been such that after a revolution succeeded and democratic fact existed, a fundamental law was promulgated to acknowledge it; this is the constitution.” This judgment profoundly reveals one level of the relationship between constitution and democracy: democratic fact must first be created, and then a constitution is promulgated to confirm that democratic fact.

宪法与民主的关系，是宪法产生与发展过程中的一个重要问题。“如果从宪法的发展历史和条文内容等方面考察世界各国的宪法，就会发现，无论哪一部宪法都在实质上或者形式上与民主有关。”毛泽东敏锐地注意到了这个问题，他指出：“世界上历来的宪政，不论是英国、法国、美国，或者是苏联，都是在革命成功有了民主事实之后，颁布一个根本大法，去承认它，这就是宪法。”这一判断深刻揭示了宪法与民主一个层面的关系，即要先创造出民主事实，然后通过颁布宪法对民主事实进行确认。

The process by which the Chinese Communist Party led the Chinese people to overthrow the oppression of the “three great mountains” [1]1 The *Common Programme* (《共同纲领》) refers to the *Common Programme of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference*, adopted in 1949, which served as the provisional constitution of the People’s Republic of China until the 1954 Constitution was enacted. and strive for victory in the New Democratic Revolution can be said to be a continuous process of creating democratic fact. Mao Zedong emphasized: “The characteristic of China is that it is not an independent, democratic state, but a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country; internally, there is no democratic system, but oppression by the feudal system; externally, there is no national independence, but oppression by imperialism.” Therefore, for China to formulate and effectively implement a constitution, many things were lacking, the main ones being independence and democracy; at the same time, there were two things in excess: imperialist oppression and feudal oppression. These judgments also profoundly explain why the many constitutions and constitutional documents that appeared in modern Chinese history failed to play a role in promoting China’s social progress. Take the *Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China* (hereinafter referred to as the *Provisional Constitution*) formulated by the Chinese national bourgeoisie as an example. At the time of its promulgation, China was still in a state of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society; the Chinese people still suffered under the oppression of the “three great mountains” and lived under autocratic rule. Thousands of years of feudal autocratic rule meant that the Chinese people had never exercised democratic rights, and thus no democratic fact existed. Consequently, the *Provisional Constitution*, lacking the support of democratic fact, was soon discarded by Yuan Shikai. [2]2 “普天之下莫非王土、率土之滨莫非王臣” (all under heaven is the king’s land, and all who dwell on the land are the king’s subjects): A classical Chinese saying from the *Book of Songs* (Shijing), expressing the absolute sovereignty of the monarch over territory and subjects in feudal ideology. Mao Zedong also profoundly exposed and criticized the deceptiveness of the so-called constitutional government of the Nanjing National Government. He pointed out that the reason the Nanjing National Government’s constitutional government was false constitutional government was that China at that time had a semi-colonial and semi-feudal polity, “and there was no fact of democratic politics.” Therefore, the direction of effort at that time should be “to strive for democracy not yet achieved, not to acknowledge already democratized fact.” As Xi Jinping pointed out, “History proves that without overthrowing the

中国共产党带领中国人民推翻“三座大山”的压迫、争取新民主主义革命胜利的过程，可以说就是一个不断创造民主事实的过程。毛泽东强调：“中国的特点是：不是一个独立的民主的国家，而是一个半殖民地半封建国家；在内部没有民主制度，而受封建制度压迫；在外部没有民族独立，而受帝国主义压迫。”因此，我国要制定并有效实施宪法，尚缺少很多东西，其中主要缺少独立和民主这两个东西；同时，多了帝国主义的压迫和封建主义的压迫这两个东西。这些判断也深刻解释了为什么中国近代史上出现的诸多宪法以及宪法性文件没能发挥推动中国社会进步的作用。以中国民族资产阶级制定的《中华民国临时约法》（以下简称《临时约法》）为例，《临时约法》在颁布之时，中国仍处于半殖民地半封建社会状态，中国人民仍然遭受“三座大山”压迫、生活在专制统治之下，几千年封建专制统治使得中国人民从来没有行使过民主权利，也就不存在民主事实。因此，《临时约法》由于缺乏民主事实的支撑，很快就被袁世凯废弃。毛泽东亦对南京国民政府所谓宪政的欺骗性进行了深刻揭露和批判。他指出，南京国民政府的宪政之所以是假宪政，是因为当时中国是半殖民地半封建的政治，“尚无民主政治的事实”，所以当时要努力的方向应当是“争取尚未取得的民主，不是承认已经民主化的事实”。正如习近平所指出，“历史证明，不推翻压在中国人民头上的三座大山，不实行人民民主，任何宪法都不可能得到人民拥护，都不可能起到推动我国社会发展进步的作用”。

For New China, the creation of democratic facts, the founding of New China, and the formulation of the constitution are three moments. The Chinese Communist Party’s creation of democratic facts began with the construction of base-area political power during the period of the New Democratic Revolution. During this period, the Chinese Communist Party promulgated constitutional documents such as the *Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic*, the *Administrative Programme of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region*, and the *Constitutional Principles of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region*, establishing democratic political power in the base areas and stipulating that the masses of the people enjoyed a series of democratic rights. Under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, these constitutional documents were effectively implemented. The broad masses of the people in the base areas gradually awakened, gradually became aware of the democratic rights they enjoyed, and learned how to exercise these democratic rights, thereby “stimulating the revolutionary enthusiasm of the people in the base areas and further promoting the revolutionary struggle of the people throughout the country.” This not only provided valuable historical experience for subsequent democratic construction and constitution-making work but also, as the revolutionary base areas expanded until the final victory of the New Democratic Revolution, created crucial democratic facts for the formulation of the New China constitution. Even so, at the time of the proclamation of the founding of New China on 1 October 1949, “the people’s revolutionary war was still continuing over vast tracts of land, the reform of the land system had not yet been carried out in the extensive newly liberated areas, and the revolutionary social order had not yet been fully consolidated.” In particular, the principal contradiction in the vast rural areas remained “the contradiction between feudalism and democracy, that is, between the landlords and the peasants.” That is to say, at the time of the founding of New China, democratic facts still did not exist in some places, and the conditions for formulating a constitution were not yet ripe. Therefore, the *Common Programme*, which served as a provisional constitution, was formulated. By 1954, the reform of the land system in the vast rural areas had been basically completed, the revolutionary social order had been consolidated, and the foundation of democratic facts for formulating a constitution had been fully created. Hence, the “1954 Constitution” emerged as the times required.

对于新中国而言，民主事实的创造、新中国成立和宪法的制定是三个时刻。中国共产党对民主事实的创造始于新民主主义革命时期的根据地政权建设。这一时期，中国共产党颁布《中华苏维埃共和国宪法大纲》《陕甘宁边区施政纲领》《陕甘宁边区宪法原则》等宪法性文件，在根据地建立民主政权，规定人民群众享有一系列民主权利。在中国共产党领导下，这些宪法性文件得到有效实施，根据地广大人民群众逐渐觉醒，逐渐意识到自己享有的民主权利并学会如何行使民主权利，从而“激发了根据地人民的革命积极性，并进一步推动了全国人民的革命斗争”，不仅为以后的民主建设和制宪工作提供了宝贵的历史经验，而且随着革命根据地的扩大直至最终取得新民主主义革命的胜利，为新中国宪法的制定创造了至关重要的民主事实。即便如此，在1949年10月1日新中国宣告成立之时，“人民革命战争还在大片的国土上继续进行，土地制度的改革在广大的新解放区还没有进行，革命的社会秩序还没有完全巩固”，尤其是广大农村地区的主要矛盾仍然是“封建主义和民主主义即地主和农民之间的矛盾”，也就是说，新中国成立之时仍有一些地方尚不存在民主事实，制定宪法的条件还不成熟，于是就制定了发挥临时宪法作用的《共同纲领》。到了1954年，广大农村地区的土地制度改革已经基本完成，革命的社会秩序已经得到巩固，制定宪法的民主事实基础已经完全创造出来，于是“五四宪法”应运而生。

(2) The Creation of “the People” in the Constitutional Sense

（二）立宪意义上“人民”的创造

The creation of “the people” in the constitutional sense, that is, the creation of the constitutional subject, answers the question “by whom is the constitution established, and for whom is it established?” Viewed from the origin and development of modern and contemporary constitutions, “the formation and popularization of the concept of popular sovereignty is the foundation for the emergence of constitutions.” “Popular sovereignty” is relative to monarchical sovereignty and parliamentary sovereignty. Therefore, “the people” in the constitutional sense can be said to be a “pre-constitutional” political concept, signifying the identity and status of the masters of the country. The people are the constitutional subject; the constitution is established by the people and for the people. In contrast to the “pre-constitutional” character of the concept of “the people,” “citizen” or “national” is a “post-constitutional” legal concept, a legal identity established in accordance with the constitution. The people must first obtain state sovereignty before they can formulate a constitution, establish their own political power, and safeguard the people’s sovereignty and political power through the constitution. “Only after the people have won democracy and grasped state power can they elevate their will into constitutional law through state power.” Consequently, the process of creating democratic facts is in fact also the process of creating “the people” in the constitutional sense. To create “the people” in the constitutional sense, it is necessary to make the people aware of their identity as masters of the country, and to effectively organize the people who have become aware of their identity as masters of the country.

立宪意义上“人民”的创造，亦即立宪主体的创造，回答的是“宪法由谁来立、为谁而立”的问题。从近现代宪法的起源与发展来看，“人民主权观念的形成和普及是宪法产生的基础”，“人民主权”是相对于君主主权、议会主权而言的，因而，立宪意义上的“人民”可以说是一个“前宪法”的政治概念，表征着国家主人翁的身份和状态，人民是立宪主体，宪法由人民来立、为人民而立。与“人民”概念的“前宪法”特性不同，“公民”或“国民”是一个“后宪法”的法律概念，是依据宪法确立的一种法律身份。人民必须先取得国家主权，才能制定宪法、建立自己的政权，并通过宪法来维护人民的主权与政权。“人民只有在争得民主、掌握国家政权之后，才能把自己的意志通过国家政权上升为宪法法律。”因而，民主事实的创造过程实际上也是立宪意义上“人民”的创造过程。而要创造立宪意义上的“人民”，就必须使人民意识到自己的国家主人翁身份，并且要把意识到自己国家主人翁身份的人民有效地组织起来。

First, the principle of the people as the subject was a value that Mao Zedong consistently upheld. Mao emphasized that “the people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history”; “the key to all problems lies in politics, and the key to all politics lies in the masses; if the question of whether or not to have the masses is not resolved, nothing can be discussed.” For thousands of years, feudal society upheld the notion that “all under heaven is the king’s land, and all who dwell on the land are the king’s subjects,” [2]2 “普天之下莫非王土、率土之滨莫非王臣” (all under heaven is the king’s land, and all who dwell on the land are the king’s subjects): A classical Chinese saying from the *Book of Songs* (Shijing), expressing the absolute sovereignty of the monarch over territory and subjects in feudal ideology. leaving the Chinese people in a state of oppression and enslavement. In modern times, with the invasion of Western powers, China gradually sank into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, worsening the oppression and enslavement of the Chinese people, who were unaware of their identity as masters of the country. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese people broke the millennia-old feudal rule, overthrew the oppression of the “three big mountains,” [3]3 “三座大山” (three big mountains): A standard CPC term referring to imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, which were seen as the three oppressive forces on the Chinese people before 1949. and achieved national independence and people’s liberation. The so-called “the Chinese people have stood up” means that the Chinese people became aware of their identity as masters of the country and assumed that role. It can be said that the process by which the CPC united and led the people to create democratic facts was a process of awakening the people, winning state sovereignty for them, and establishing a people’s political power.

首先，人民主体论是毛泽东一直秉持的价值观念。毛泽东强调，“人民，只有人民，才是创造世界历史的动力”；“一切问题的关键在政治，一切政治的关键在民众，不解决要不要民众的问题，一切都无从谈起”。几千年封建社会奉行“普天之下莫非王土、率土之滨莫非王臣”，中国人民处于被压迫、奴役的状态；近代以来，随着西方列强的入侵，中国逐步沦为半殖民地半封建社会，中国人民被压迫、奴役状态更加严重，意识不到自己的国家主人翁身份。在中国共产党领导下，中国人民打破几千年的封建统治，推翻“三座大山”的压迫，实现了民族独立、人民解放。所谓“中国人民站起来了”，即中国人民意识到了自己的国家主人翁身份，成为国家主人。可以说，中国共产党团结带领人民创造民主事实的过程就是一个使人民觉醒，为人民争得国家主权、建立人民政权的过程。

Second, Mao Zedong paid particular attention to and constantly explored forms for effectively organizing the people. As early as the 1920s, during the Hunan Self-Government Movement, the young Mao Zedong put forward the idea of “people’s constitution-making,” emphasizing that the people should directly elect representatives through universal suffrage to form a People’s Constitutional Convention, which would draft the constitution. After joining the revolutionary cause, from the peasant associations during the Hunan Peasant Movement, the workers’, peasants’, and soldiers’ representative councils during the Jinggangshan period, to the national united front political power during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the people’s representative conferences during the War of Liberation, and finally the People’s Congress that formulated the “1954 Constitution,” Mao Zedong consistently attached great importance to the organizational forms through which the people won state sovereignty and the substantive representativeness of those forms. For example, Mao emphasized that the Anti-Japanese National United Front political power should implement the “three-thirds system,” [4]4 “三三制” (three-thirds system): A policy for the composition of political power in the Anti-Japanese base areas, where Communist Party members, non-Party leftists, and centrists each held one-third of the positions, aimed at broadening the united front. meaning that Communist Party members would account for one-third, non-Party leftist progressives one-third, and centrists who were neither left nor right one-third. When electing deputies to the First National People’s Congress, Mao stressed that the proportion of deputies should be substantively reasonable, taking into account all political parties, nationalities, classes, and groups, “taking care of both the majority and the minority,” and “our focus is on taking care of the majority, while also taking care of the minority. All representative figures from various nationalities, political parties, and classes who are loyal to the cause of the people’s state, have done work, achieved considerable results, and have a relatively good attitude toward the people should have a place.” Moreover, regarding the occupational composition of deputies, Mao particularly emphasized the proportion of grassroots deputies, stating that “the majority of deputies should still be people from the grassroots, such as labor heroes like Hao Jianxiu and Li Shunda.” [5]5 Hao Jianxiu and Li Shunda: Hao Jianxiu (1935–2000) was a model textile worker and later a senior official; Li Shunda (1915–1983) was a model peasant and agricultural labor hero. Both were celebrated as grassroots representatives in early PRC political symbolism. As one scholar noted, “In every movement, when it became possible to establish a legislative body representing the interests of the people, he (Mao Zedong—author’s note) did not miss the opportunity to experiment, going through six forms in succession until his legal thought fully matured and he found the ‘people’s constitution-making’ body suited to China’s conditions—the People’s Congress.”

其次，毛泽东尤其关注并一直在探索把人民有效组织起来的形式。早在20世纪20年代，青年时代的毛泽东在湖南自治运动中就提出了“人民立宪”的思想，强调人民通过直接普选选出代表，组成人民宪法会议，由人民宪法会议制定宪法。参与革命事业后，从湖南农民运动时期的农会、井冈山时期的工农兵代表会，到抗日战争时期的民族统一战线政权、解放战争时期的人民代表会议，再到制定“五四宪法”的人民代表大会，毛泽东始终高度重视人民争得国家主权的组织形式以及组织形式的实质代表性。例如，毛泽东强调抗日民族统一战线政权要实行“三三制”，即共产党员占三分之一，非党的左派进步分子占三分之一，不左不右的中间派占三分之一。在选举第一届全国人大代表时，毛泽东强调人大代表的比例要具有实质合理性，要照顾到各党派、各民族、阶级和团体，“既要照顾多数，也要照顾少数”，“我们的重点是照顾多数，同时照顾少数。凡是对人民国家的事业忠诚的，做了工作的，有相当成绩的，对人民态度比较好的各民族、各党派、各阶级的代表性人物都有份”。并且，对于代表的职业构成，毛泽东尤其注重基层代表的比例，强调“多数的代表还应当是下面的人，像郝建秀、李顺达这些劳动英雄”。正如有学者所说，“每一运动，当有可能建立一个代表人民利益的立法机关时，他（毛泽东——笔者注）都不失时机地进行尝试，前后历选六种形式，直到最后他的法律思想完全成熟时才找到适合中国情况的‘人民立宪’机关——人民代表大会”。

II. The Purpose of Formulating the “1954 Constitution”

二、“五四宪法”的制定目的

Thousands of years of feudal autocratic rule and the invasion of Western powers in modern history left the Chinese people in a state of “loose sand,” where individuals could not control their own destiny, let alone know the future of the country. Mao Zedong pointed out that in the old society, no class could control its own destiny: “Workers, peasants, and other laborers were under the rule of others; they obtained no rights, and their fate was in the hands of others. The ruling class could not control its own destiny either; for example, the Kuomintang government was also uneasy.” Therefore, how to effectively organize the “loose sand” of the Chinese people through a constitution was an important consideration for Mao Zedong when drafting the “1954 Constitution.” The methods he chose mainly included two: establishing the state system of the people’s democratic dictatorship and the political system of the People’s Congress system, and clarifying the general line for the transition period.

几千年封建专制统治和近代史上西方列强的入侵，使得中国民众呈现出“一盘散沙”状态，个人无法掌握自己的命运，国家前途更不知在何方。毛泽东指出，在旧社会无论哪个阶级都不能掌握自己的命运，“工人、农民和其他劳动者是在被统治之下的，他们得不到什么权利，命运操纵在人家手里。统治阶级也不能掌握自己的命运，比如国民党政府，它也是不安的”。因此，如何通过宪法把“一盘散沙”的中国人民有效组织起来，是毛泽东在起草“五四宪法”时考虑的重要内容，而他选择的方法主要包括两个，即建立人民民主专政的国体、人民代表大会制度的政体和明确过渡时期总路线。

(A) Establishing the State System of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship and the Political System of the People’s Congress System

（一）建立人民民主专政的国体和人民代表大会制度的政体

The so-called state system refers to “the status of various social classes in the state.” The “1954 Constitution” bore the mission of establishing a political power of the people’s democratic dictatorship to maintain the revolutionary order; “without this, the revolution would fail, the people would suffer, and the country would perish.” Therefore, the “1954 Constitution” established the state system of the people’s democratic dictatorship. Among its purposes, “promoting democracy” constituted an important aim of Mao Zedong in drafting the “1954 Constitution,” revealing another dimension of the relationship between the constitution and democracy: the formulation and implementation of the constitution can promote the development of democracy. Mao Zedong pointed out: “Our democracy is not bourgeois democracy, but people’s democracy, that is, the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the proletariat and based on the worker-peasant alliance. The principle of people’s democracy runs through our entire constitution.” Mao Zedong’s elaboration of the state system of the people’s democratic dictatorship was closely related to handling two types of contradictions: contradictions between the enemy and the people, and contradictions among the people. Contradictions between the enemy and the people are those where fundamental interests conflict; to resolve them, the method of dictatorship is used to strike at domestic and foreign enemies who undermine China’s socialist construction and attempt to subvert the state power. Contradictions among the people are those where fundamental interests are consistent; to resolve them, the method of democracy is used. In short, within the people, a democratic system is implemented, granting the people the right to vote and the right to speak; toward the enemy, the right to vote and the right to speak are deprived. “These two aspects, the democratic aspect within the people and the dictatorial aspect toward the opposition, combined together, constitute the people’s democratic dictatorship.” The first paragraph of the preamble to the “1954 Constitution” stipulates: “After more than one hundred years of heroic struggle, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, ... established the People’s Republic of China, a people’s democratic dictatorship”; Article 1 stipulates: “The People’s Republic of China is a people’s democratic state led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance.” This established the state system of the people’s democratic dictatorship.

所谓国体，是指“社会各阶级在国家中的地位”。“五四宪法”承载着建立人民民主专政的政权以维护革命秩序的使命，“不这样，革命就要失败，人民就要遭殃，国家就要灭亡”。因此，“五四宪法”建立了人民民主专政的国体。其中，“发扬民主”构成毛泽东起草“五四宪法”的重要目的之一，这揭示了宪法与民主另一个层面的关系，即宪法的制定与实施能够促进民主的发展。毛泽东指出：“我们的民主不是资产阶级的民主，而是人民民主，这就是无产阶级领导的、以工农联盟为基础的人民民主专政。人民民主的原则贯穿在我们整个宪法中。”毛泽东对人民民主专政国体的阐述与处理两类矛盾密切相关，即敌我矛盾和人民内部矛盾。敌我矛盾是根本利益相冲突的矛盾，解决敌我矛盾，用专政的办法，打击破坏我国社会主义建设、试图颠覆国家政权的国内外敌人。人民内部矛盾是根本利益相一致的矛盾，解决人民内部矛盾要用民主的办法。总之，在人民内部实行民主制度，给人民选举权和发言权；对敌人则剥夺其选举权和发言权。“这两方面，对人民内部的民主方面和对反对派的专政方面，互相结合起来，就是人民民主专政。”“五四宪法”序言第一段规定：“中国人民经过一百多年的英勇奋斗，终于在中国共产党领导下，……建立了人民民主专政的中华人民共和国”；第一条规定：“中华人民共和国是工人阶级领导的、以工农联盟为基础的人民民主国家。”这就确立了人民民主专政的国体。

The so-called political system refers to “the form in which a certain social class organizes the state organs to oppose the enemy and protect itself.” Under the state system of the people’s democratic dictatorship, the “1954 Constitution” established the political system of the People’s Congress system, constructed a system of state institutions centered on the People’s Congress, and stipulated a series of fundamental rights of citizens. The “Explanation of the Draft Constitution” pointed out: “The provisions of the draft constitution on state institutions and people’s rights legally guarantee the development of the state’s democratization.”

所谓政体，是指“一定的社会阶级取何种形式去组织那反对敌人保护自己的政权机关”。在人民民主专政的国体下，“五四宪法”建立了人民代表大会制度的政体，构建了以人民代表大会为核心的国家机构系统，规定了一系列公民基本权利。《宪法草案初稿说明》指出：“宪法草案关于国家机构和人民权利的各项规定从法律上保障了国家民主化的发展。”

(B) Clarifying the General Line for the Transition Period

（二）明确过渡时期总路线

Stipulating the future development goals of the state in the constitution was an innovation of Mao Zedong’s thought on people’s constitution-making. The drafting of the “1954 Constitution” mainly drew on the experience of the Soviet constitution, but Mao Zedong did not copy it mechanically. Stalin had distinguished between a constitution and a program, emphasizing: “A constitution records what already exists, while a program records what is hoped for.” Mao Zedong did not adopt this view; instead, he added a preamble before the main body of the “1954 Constitution,” stipulating the development goals of the state in the preamble. In fact, the practice of stipulating future development goals in the constitution originated from the legal construction of the base areas. Article 1 of the “Constitutional Outline of the Chinese Soviet Republic,” adopted by the First National Congress of Soviets of China in 1931, clearly stipulated: “The task of the basic law (constitution) of the Chinese Soviet Republic is to ensure the political power of the worker-peasant democratic dictatorship in the Soviet areas and to achieve its victory throughout China.” When drafting the “1954 Constitution,” Mao Zedong continued this practice of stipulating future development goals in the constitution.

在宪法中规定国家的未来发展目标，是毛泽东人民立宪思想的一个创举。“五四宪法”的起草主要参考了苏联宪法的经验，但是毛泽东并没有照抄照搬苏联宪法。斯大林曾对宪法与纲领作出区分，强调：“宪法是写已经有的，而纲领是写希望。”毛泽东并没有吸纳这种意见，而是在“五四宪法”正文之前增加一个序言，在序言中规定了国家的发展目标。实际上，在宪法中规定未来的发展目标这一做法起始于根据地时期的法制建设。1931年中华苏维埃第一次全国代表大会通过的《中华苏维埃共和国宪法大纲》第一条即明确规定：“中华苏维埃共和国的基本法(宪法)的任务，在于保证苏维埃区域工农民主专政的政权和达到他在全中国的胜利。”在起草“五四宪法”时，毛泽东延续了在宪法中规定未来发展目标的做法。

The “1954 Constitution” stipulates in its preamble the general line for the transition period, namely: “From the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the completion of a socialist society, this is a transition period. The general task of the state during the transition period is to gradually realize the socialist industrialization of the state and gradually complete the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce.” Mao Zedong emphasized: “This constitution is based on the Common Program [6]6 The Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, adopted in 1949, served as the provisional constitution of the People's Republic of China before the 1954 Constitution was enacted. plus the general line; it is a constitution for the transition period and can probably be in effect for about fifteen years.” Stipulating the general line for the transition period explicitly in the constitution, “using the form of a fundamental law like the constitution … makes the whole people feel there is a clear, definite, and correct path to follow, and can thus raise the enthusiasm of the whole people.” In Mao’s view, it was crucial to stipulate the general line for the transition period in the “1954 Constitution”; it can be said that the general line for the transition period constituted the guiding ideology and basic basis for drafting the “1954 Constitution.” The drafting of the “1954 Constitution” was originally supposed to be completed in 1953, but because the general line for the transition period was still being formulated and refined in 1953, the constitutional drafting work had not yet begun at that time. After the general line for the transition period was finalized in December 1953, Mao Zedong immediately began the drafting work of the “1954 Constitution,” ultimately incorporating the general line for the transition period into the preamble of the “1954 Constitution.” The doyen of constitutional law, Xu Chongde, believes that the provisions of the “1954 Constitution” on the general task of the transition period “were the historical task entrusted by the era” and that “all the constitutional norms unfolding around this general task reflected the spirit and demands of the era, manifesting the era’s characteristics of China’s transition to a socialist society.”

“五四宪法”在序言中规定过渡时期总路线，即“从中华人民共和国成立到社会主义社会建成，这是一个过渡时期。国家在过渡时期的总任务是逐步实现国家的社会主义工业化，逐步完成对农业、手工业和资本主义工商业的社会主义改造”。毛泽东强调：“这个宪法，是以共同纲领为基础加上总路线，是过渡时期的宪法，大概可以管十五年左右。”在宪法中明确规定过渡时期总路线，“用宪法这样一个根本大法的形式，……使全国人民感到有一条清楚的明确的和正确的道路可走，就可以提高全国人民的积极性”。在毛泽东看来，在“五四宪法”中规定过渡时期总路线至关重要，可以说，过渡时期总路线构成起草“五四宪法”的指导思想和基本依据。“五四宪法”的起草工作本来应该在1953年完成，但是因为1953年过渡时期总路线还处在酝酿和完善过程中，所以当时尚未开始宪法起草工作。1953年12月过渡时期总路线确定之后，毛泽东立即开始“五四宪法”的起草工作，最终将过渡时期总路线写入“五四宪法”序言。宪法学泰斗许崇德认为，“五四宪法”关于过渡时期总任务的规定，“是时代赋予的历史任务”“围绕着这个总任务而展开的全部宪法规范，都反映了时代的精神和要求，表现了中国向社会主义社会过渡的时代特色”。

The “Explanation of the Preliminary Draft of the Constitution” [7]7 An official explanatory document issued during the drafting process of the 1954 Constitution, outlining the rationale behind its provisions. emphasizes: “The basic task of the constitution is to make correct provisions suited to the needs of history in terms of the state’s system, the state’s power, and the people’s rights, so as to provide legal guarantees for the completion of the state’s general task during the transition period. The main effort of the draft constitution is first directed toward this purpose.” Consequently, the “1954 Constitution” is a “constitution for the transition period.” Some scholars point out that while the nature of a “transitional constitution” suited the actual conditions of social development at the time, objectively it “also implied the idea of understanding the constitution as a means or tool.” Under this guiding thought, “once the transition period ended, or if there were other more effective means and methods to ‘raise the enthusiasm of the whole people,’ then the 1954 Constitution would lose its realistic basis for existence.” The subsequent actual developments indeed bore this out: when the socialist transformation was completed ahead of schedule in 1956, the “1954 Constitution,” due to the realization of its core objective, became a dead letter, “losing its legitimacy and capacity to continue regulating the state and society.”

《宪法草案初稿说明》强调：“宪法的基本任务，就是要从国家的制度、国家的权力和人民的权利等方面作出正确的适合历史需要的规定，使国家在过渡时期的总任务的完成获有法律上的保证。宪法草案的主要努力，首先用在这个目的上。”因而，“五四宪法”是一部“过渡时期的宪法”。有学者指出，“过渡宪法”的性质虽然符合当时的社会发展实际情况，但在客观上“也隐含着把宪法理解为手段或工具的思想”。在这种思想指导下，“一旦过渡时期结束，或者有其他更为有效的手段与办法来‘提高全国人民的积极性’，那么，五四宪法也就失去了存在的现实根据”。后来发生的实际情况确实如此，当1956年社会主义改造提前完成之后，“五四宪法”就因其核心目标的实现而成为一纸具文，“失去了继续调整国家和社会的正当性与能力”。

So, did the invalidation of the “1954 Constitution” lie in its “instrumental nature”? According to the Marxist viewpoint, the economic base determines the superstructure, and the superstructure serves the economic base. Constitutions and laws all belong to the superstructure, determined by and serving the economic base; according to the Marxist revelation of the essence of law, law is an instrument of class rule, and “the constitution is the fundamental law of the state that concentratedly expresses the will and interests of the ruling class in establishing a democratic state.” Therefore, from the perspective of political attributes, the constitution itself possesses a certain instrumentality. From the perspective of formal logic, if the general line for the transition period were external to the constitution, but the state intended to implement the general line through the enforcement of the “1954 Constitution,” then it could be said that the “1954 Constitution” had an instrumental character with respect to the general line. However, the actual situation is that the general line for the transition period is explicitly stipulated within the “1954 Constitution,” internal to it, which means that implementing the general line for the transition period is a clear requirement put forward by the “1954 Constitution” itself. Some might argue that the “1954 Constitution,” as a constitution, should not stipulate content such as national development goals, but this view essentially judges the “1954 Constitution” by Western constitutional theory, and such a judgment is itself biased. In fact, as mentioned earlier, constitutional documents like the “Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic” [8]8 A constitutional document adopted in 1931 by the Chinese Soviet Republic, a state-like entity established by the Chinese Communist Party in its rural base areas before 1949. formulated during the base area period already stipulated development goals; every constitution of New China, including the Common Program, the “1954 Constitution,” the “1975 Constitution,” the “1978 Constitution,” and the “1982 Constitution,” has stipulated national development goals. The “1982 Constitution” has been in effect for 40 years and is a good constitution that has played a huge role; one reason is that it stipulates the long-term development goals of the state, giving the whole people a sense of direction. Therefore, part of the reason for the subsequent invalidation of the “1954 Constitution” lies not in its instrumental positioning, but in the fact that its provisions on national development goals were insufficiently reasonable and comprehensive.

那么，“五四宪法”失效是否在于其“工具性质”呢？按照马克思主义观点，经济基础决定上层建筑，上层建筑服务于经济基础。宪法、法律都属于上层建筑，决定并服务于经济基础；按照马克思主义对法的本质的揭示，法是阶级统治的工具，而“宪法是集中表现统治阶级建立民主制国家的意志和利益的国家根本法”。因此，从政治属性来讲，宪法本身就具有一定的工具性。从形式逻辑来看，如果过渡时期总路线是外在于宪法的，但国家意欲通过“五四宪法”的实施来推行过渡时期总路线，此时可以说“五四宪法”对于过渡时期总路线而言具有工具性质；但实际情况是过渡时期总路线明确规定于“五四宪法”之中，是内在于“五四宪法”的，这就意味着贯彻落实过渡时期总路线是“五四宪法”提出的明确要求。或许会有观点认为，“五四宪法”作为宪法不应规定国家发展目标之类的内容，但这种观点实质上是以西方宪法理论来评判“五四宪法”，这种评判本身有失偏颇。实际上，如前所述，早在根据地时期制定的《中华苏维埃共和国宪法大纲》等宪法性文件就规定了发展目标；新中国的历部宪法，包括《共同纲领》、“五四宪法”、“七五宪法”、“七八宪法”、“八二宪法”在内，均规定了国家的发展目标。“八二宪法”实施至今40年，能够发挥巨大作用、是一部好宪法，其中一个原因就是其规定了国家的远期发展目标，给全国人民以方向感。因此，“五四宪法”后来失效的部分原因不在于其工具性定位，而在于其关于国家发展目标的设置不够合理充分。

Mao Zedong summarized the purpose of formulating the “1954 Constitution” as “striving to build a great socialist country.” According to Mao’s plan, to build a great socialist country, it was necessary first to lay the foundation over about fifteen years, and then to engage in in-depth construction until completion, with the entire process requiring about fifty years. This foundation-laying phase was the phase of implementing the general line for the transition period. According to the estimates at the time, the transition period would last for three five-year plans, starting from 1953 and basically ending in 1967, about fifteen years. Following this plan, when drafting the “1954 Constitution,” the scientifically reasonable approach should have been to stipulate the long-term goal of “building a great socialist country” within the “1954 Constitution.” It must be understood that institutions are fundamental and long-lasting; especially the constitution, as the state’s “general charter” and “fundamental law,” should stipulate the long-term development goals of the state. However, what was ultimately written into the text of the “1954 Constitution” was the transitional goal belonging to the foundation-laying phase. This led to the situation where, once the transitional goal was achieved, the “1954 Constitution” lost its effectiveness due to the lack of guidance from a long-term goal.

毛泽东将制定“五四宪法”的目的概括为“为建设一个伟大的社会主义国家而奋斗”。按照毛泽东的计划，要建成一个伟大的社会主义国家，需要先用十五年左右打下基础，然后再去深入建设直至建成，整个过程大概需要五十年。这个打基础的环节就是实施过渡时期总路线的环节，按照当时的估计，过渡时期要持续三个五年计划，从1953年算起，到1967年基本结束，十五年左右时间。按照这个计划，在起草“五四宪法”时，科学合理的做法应当是把“建设一个伟大的社会主义国家”这样一个远期目标规定于“五四宪法”之中。须知，制度是管根本、管长远的，尤其是作为国家“总章程”和“根本大法”的宪法，更应规定国家发展的远期目标。但是，最终写入“五四宪法”文本的却是属于打基础阶段的过渡目标，这就导致当过渡目标实现后，“五四宪法”就因缺少远期目标的指引而失去效力。

This reflects, to a certain extent, that the constitution drafters at the time lacked a deep understanding of the fundamental law nature of the constitution, and were overly focused on the formulation of the constitution while neglecting its amendment, to the point of producing statements like “this constitution … can probably be in effect for about fifteen years” and characterizing the “1954 Constitution” explicitly as a “constitution for the transition period” and a “constitution for the current stage.” In fact, even after the transitional goal was achieved, the next stage’s struggle objectives could still have been clarified through amending the constitution.

这在一定程度上反映出当时的宪法起草者对宪法的根本法属性缺乏深入认知，以及过于关注宪法的制定而忽视宪法的修改，以至于产生“这个宪法，……大概可以管十五年左右”的说法和将“五四宪法”明确为“过渡时期的宪法”“现阶段的宪法”的定性。实际上，即便过渡目标实现后，仍可以通过修改宪法来明确下一阶段的奋斗目标。

III. The Method of Formulating the “1954 Constitution”

三、“五四宪法”的制定方法

Mao Zedong attached great importance to the method of drafting the “1954 Constitution,” emphasizing that “making a constitution is doing science”; “the drafting of the constitution was done carefully; every article, every word was seriously worked on.”

毛泽东高度重视起草“五四宪法”的方法，强调“搞宪法就是搞科学”；“宪法的起草算是慎重的，每一条、每一字都是认真搞了的”。

First, the formulation of the constitution should adopt the method of combining the opinions of leading organs with the opinions of the broad masses. Mao Zedong pointed out that the reason the “1954 Constitution” draft won popular support was that its drafting work adopted “the method of combining the opinions of leading organs with the opinions of the broad masses.” Mao Zedong particularly emphasized allowing ordinary people to participate in discussing the content of the constitutional draft. As early as during the Hunan Autonomy Movement [9]9 A political movement in the early 1920s in Hunan province, led by local elites including a young Mao Zedong, advocating for provincial self-government and a provincial constitution., some held the view that the issue of autonomy was too complex and only those with professional knowledge of politics and law could participate in the discussion. In response, the young Mao Zedong stressed: “This still regards politics as the affair of a special class, still regards politics as the exclusive profession of those whose minds are filled with political science and law and whose bodies are clad in long gowns—this is a great mistake. … From now on, politics and law should not be stored in the minds of gentlemen in long gowns, but in the minds of workers and peasants.” According to statistics, during the nearly three-month nationwide public discussion of the “1954 Constitution” draft, “a total of over 150 million people from all walks of life across the country participated in the discussion of the constitutional draft,” “in many areas, the number of people who heard the reports and participated in the discussion reached over 70% of the local adult population, and in some cities and individual prefectures it reached over 90%,” ultimately resulting in as many as 520,000 proposed amendments to the constitutional draft.

第一，宪法的制定要采取领导机关意见和广大群众意见相结合的方法。毛泽东指出，“五四宪法”草案之所以得人心，是因为“五四宪法”的起草工作采取了“领导机关的意见和广大群众的意见相结合的方法”。毛泽东尤其注重让普通群众参与讨论宪法草案的内容。早在湖南自治运动期间，有观点认为自治问题太复杂，只有那些具有政治法律专业知识的人才可以参与讨论。对此，青年时代的毛泽东强调：“这还是认政治是一个特殊阶级的事，还是认政治是脑子头装了政治学法律学、身上装了长褂子一类人的专门职业，这大错而特错了。……以后的政治法律，不装在穿长衣的先生们的脑子里，而装在工人们农人们的脑子里。”据统计，在“五四宪法”草案历时近3个月的全民讨论环节，“全国各界共有一亿五千多万人参加了宪法草案的讨论”，“许多地区听报告和参加讨论的人数都达到了当地成年人口的70%以上，有些城市和个别的专区并达到了90%以上”，最终提出的宪法草案修改意见达52万条之多。

Second, the formulation of a constitution must be based on the country’s actual conditions. The fundamental guideline Mao Zedong established for drafting the constitution was “to take facts as the basis and not to fabricate out of nothing.” The most important factual basis at that time was that the New Democratic Revolution had achieved complete victory, the people’s democratic dictatorship had been firmly established, the socialist economy had gained a strong leading position, and the systematic socialist transformation had already begun. On this basis, the “1954 Constitution” summarized two aspects of historical experience: first, the experience of the Chinese Communist Party leading the people in the New Democratic Revolution and socialist construction, “especially the experience of revolution and construction in the most recent five years”; second, the experience of the Chinese people in constitution-making in modern times.

第二，宪法的制定要立足本国实际。毛泽东为宪法的起草确定的根本方针是“以事实为根据，不能凭空臆造”。当时最大的事实根据就是新民主主义革命已经取得完全胜利、人民民主专政的国家已经巩固地建立起来、社会主义经济已经取得强有力的领导地位、已经开始有系统地进行社会主义改造。基于此，“五四宪法”总结了两方面的历史经验：一是中国共产党领导人民进行新民主主义革命和社会主义建设的经验，“特别是最近五年的革命和建设的经验”；二是近代以来中国人民的制宪经验。

Third, the formulation of a constitution must draw on and learn from the experience of foreign constitution-making. When drafting the “1954 Constitution” draft, Mao Zedong specifically prepared a list of constitutional documents for reference for the Politburo of the Central Committee, which included not only many constitutions and constitutional documents that had appeared in China’s modern history, but also the Soviet Constitution, the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and foreign constitutions such as those of Romania, Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and France. Mao Zedong emphasized: “When it comes to constitutions, the bourgeoisie was the pioneer. Whether in Britain, France, or the United States, the bourgeoisie all had a revolutionary period, and it was then that they began to draft constitutions.” The absorption and reference of foreign constitution-making experience must be based on China’s national conditions and must never be copied or imitated mechanically. Mao Zedong stressed: “The so-called ‘wholesale Westernization’ proposition is a mistaken viewpoint. To absorb foreign things in a formalistic way has caused great losses in China’s past.” The formulation of the “1954 Constitution” both referred to foreign experience and was based on China’s national conditions. The “1954 Constitution” primarily took the socialist constitutions led by the Soviet Union as its reference object, drawing on “the good things in the constitutions of the Soviet Union and the various people’s democratic countries,” but it also boldly rejected content that did not conform to China’s national conditions. For example, its provisions on the structure of the constitution, the establishment of the state presidency, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the establishment of state institutions differed from the Soviet Constitution. In short, the formulation of the “1954 Constitution” “mainly summarized China’s revolutionary experience and construction experience, and at the same time it was a combination of domestic experience and international experience,” and it belonged in nature to a socialist constitution. Mao Zedong pointed out: “Our constitution is of a new socialist type, different from the bourgeois type. Our constitution is far more progressive than even the constitutions of their revolutionary period. We are superior to them.”

第三，宪法的制定要吸收借鉴外国宪法制定经验。在起草“五四宪法”草案时，毛泽东专门为中央政治局开列了一个宪法文件参考名单，其中既包括我国近代历史上出现的诸多宪法和宪法性文件，也包括苏联宪法、苏俄宪法以及罗马尼亚、波兰、德国、捷克、法国等外国宪法。毛泽东强调：“讲到宪法，资产阶级是先行的。英国也好，法国也好，美国也好，资产阶级都有过革命时期，宪法就是他们在那个时候开始搞起的。”对于外国宪法制定经验的吸收借鉴，必须立足我国国情，决不能照抄照搬。毛泽东强调：“所谓‘全盘西化’的主张，乃是一种错误的观点。形式主义地吸收外国的东西，在中国过去是吃过大亏的。”“五四宪法”的制定既参考了国外经验，也立足我国国情。“五四宪法”主要是以苏联为首的社会主义宪法为参考对象，参考了“苏联和各人民民主国家宪法中好的东西”，但是对其中不符合国情的内容也大胆否定，例如，宪法结构、国家主席的设立、少数民族区域自治制度、国家机构的设立等方面的规定不同于苏联宪法。总之，“五四宪法”的制定“主要是总结了我国的革命经验和建设经验，同时它也是本国经验和国际经验的结合”，在性质上属于社会主义宪法。毛泽东指出：“我们的宪法是新的社会主义类型，不同于资产阶级类型。我们的宪法，就是比他们革命时期的宪法也进步得多。我们优越于他们。”

Fourth, the formulation of a constitution must adhere to the combination of principle and flexibility. The principles of democracy and socialism were important principles of the “1954 Constitution.” Among them, the principle of democracy was embodied in the fact that “our democracy is not bourgeois democracy, but people’s democracy, that is, the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the proletariat and based on the worker-peasant alliance”; the principle of socialism was embodied in the fact that “we have socialism now, and the constitution stipulates that we must complete socialist transformation and realize the socialist industrialization of the country,” achieving socialist ownership by the whole people. Regarding how to develop people’s democracy and build socialism through the provisions of the “1954 Constitution” and their implementation, Mao Zedong emphasized: “Things that cannot be accomplished in a short time must be allowed to be accomplished step by step.” For example, guaranteeing citizens’ rights is an inherent requirement of developing people’s democracy, but rights are not abstract; they are concrete and require a certain material foundation as a guarantee. Mao Zedong stressed: “The material guarantees for citizens’ rights will certainly expand in the future as production develops, but what we write now is still ‘gradual expansion.’” The finally adopted “1954 Constitution” added the phrase “gradual expansion” to the relevant articles on rights such as the right to work, the right to receive material assistance from the state, and the right to education, which reflected the flexibility of developing people’s democracy. The construction of socialism could not be accomplished overnight; various forms of state capitalism had to be gradually adopted as transitional forms, which reflected the flexibility of building socialism.

第四，宪法的制定要坚持原则性与灵活性相结合。民主原则和社会主义原则是“五四宪法”的重要原则。其中，民主原则体现在“我们的民主不是资产阶级的民主，而是人民民主，这就是无产阶级领导的、以工农联盟为基础的人民民主专政”；社会主义原则体现在“我们现在就有社会主义，宪法中规定，一定要完成社会主义改造，实现国家的社会主义工业化”，达到社会主义全民所有制。如何通过“五四宪法”的规定及其实施来发展人民民主和建设社会主义，毛泽东强调：“一时办不到的事，必须允许逐步去办。”例如，保障公民权利是发展人民民主的题中应有之意，但是权利并非抽象的，而是具体的，是需要一定的物质基础作保障的。毛泽东强调：“公民权利的物质保障，将来生产发展了，比现在一定扩大，但我们现在写的还是‘逐步扩大’。”最终通过的“五四宪法”在劳动权、获得国家物质帮助权、受教育权等权利的相关条文中都增写了“逐步扩大”一词，这就体现了发展人民民主的灵活性。社会主义的建设也不是一蹴而就的，必须逐步实行各种形式的国家资本主义作为过渡形式，这就体现了建设社会主义的灵活性。

“The development of any thing is not linear, but spiraling upward, that is, wave-like development.” China’s current constitution was formed after inheriting the main content and basic spirit of the “1954 Constitution,” absorbing the lessons of the “1975 Constitution” and the “1978 Constitution,” and undergoing a dialectical development process of “thesis—antithesis—synthesis.” [10]10 The “1975 Constitution” and the “1978 Constitution” were the second and third constitutions of the People’s Republic of China, adopted during the Cultural Revolution and its immediate aftermath, respectively; they are generally regarded by Chinese legal scholarship as flawed products of their political context. Xi Jinping emphasized: “Comprehensively implementing the constitution is the primary task and foundational work of comprehensively governing the country according to law and building a socialist country under the rule of law.” Mao Zedong’s thought on constitution-making by the people has very important enlightening significance for the comprehensive implementation of the current constitution.

“任何事物的发展都不是直线的，而是螺旋式地上升，也就是波浪式发展。”我国现行宪法是在继承了“五四宪法”的主要内容和基本精神，吸取了“七五宪法”“七八宪法”的教训，经历了“正—反—合”的辩证发展过程后形成的。习近平强调：“全面贯彻实施宪法是全面依法治国、建设社会主义法治国家的首要任务和基础性工作。”毛泽东人民立宪思想对于现行宪法的全面实施具有十分重要的启示意义。

First, to promote the comprehensive implementation of the current constitution, the legal attribute of the constitution must be highlighted. An important reason why the “1954 Constitution” became ineffective shortly after its promulgation was that its political instrumentality was overemphasized, while the legal attribute inherent in the constitution itself was neglected. The constitution “has the highest legal status, the highest legal authority, and the highest legal effect.” To promote the comprehensive implementation of the current constitution, great importance must be attached to the legal attribute of the constitution. The constitution must be implemented in the processes of legislation, law enforcement, judiciary, and law-abiding. A system for the implementation and supervision of the constitution, including constitutional interpretation and constitutional review, must be established and improved. [11]11 “Constitutional review” (合宪性审查) refers to the mechanism for reviewing laws and regulations for conformity with the constitution, a system that has been formally established in China but whose practical operation remains a subject of scholarly discussion.

第一，推动现行宪法全面实施，必须突出宪法的法律属性。“五四宪法”颁布后短时间内就失效的一个重要原因就是过于强调其政治方面的工具性，而忽视了宪法本身所具有的法律属性。宪法“具有最高的法律地位、法律权威、法律效力”，推动现行宪法全面实施，必须高度重视宪法的法律属性，要在立法、执法、司法、守法过程中贯彻落实宪法，要建立健全包括宪法解释、合宪性审查在内的宪法实施与监督制度。

Second, to promote the comprehensive implementation of the current constitution, the constitutional principle of respecting and safeguarding human rights must be fully implemented. Xi Jinping emphasized that comprehensively advancing law-based governance “is a broad and profound revolution in the field of national governance,” and “comprehensively implementing the constitution is the primary task of comprehensively advancing law-based governance.” To comprehensively implement the constitution, it must be recognized that the masses of the people are the source of strength and the foundation of victory. Constitutional education must be strengthened among the masses, and the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of the broad masses of the people must be mobilized. “The basic principle of Marxism-Leninism is to enable the masses to recognize their own interests and to unite and fight for their own interests.” “The fundamental rights and duties of citizens are the core content of the constitution, and the constitution is the fundamental guarantee for every citizen to enjoy rights and fulfill obligations.” Therefore, to mobilize the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of the broad masses of the people in participating in the comprehensive advancement of law-based governance and the comprehensive implementation of the constitution, it is necessary to “enable the broad masses of the people to truly recognize that the constitution is not only a code of conduct that all citizens must follow, but also a legal weapon to protect citizens’ rights, so that the constitution truly enters daily life and enters the midst of the masses.” This requires that in the process of comprehensively implementing the constitution, human rights must be earnestly respected and safeguarded. Of course, the understanding of human rights cannot copy the West but must be based on China’s national conditions. The protection of human rights requires a certain material foundation. “The substantive content and goal of human rights are the survival and development of human beings,” and “the happy life of the people is the greatest human right.” Although China has now built a moderately prosperous society in all respects and become the world’s second-largest economy, its per capita GDP ranking in the world is still relatively backward. This requires us to “adhere to combining the universal principles of human rights with the country’s actual conditions, and adhere to the right to subsistence and the right to development as the primary basic human rights.”

第二，推动现行宪法全面实施，必须全面落实尊重和保障人权的宪法原则。习近平强调，全面推进依法治国“是国家治理领域一场广泛而深刻的革命”，“全面实施宪法是全面依法治国的首要任务”。要全面实施宪法必须认识到人民群众是力量源泉和胜利之本，必须在人民群众中加强宪法教育，调动广大人民群众的主动性、积极性、创造性。“马克思列宁主义的基本原则，就是要使群众认识自己的利益，并且团结起来，为自己的利益而奋斗。”“公民的基本权利和义务是宪法的核心内容，宪法是每个公民享有权利、履行义务的根本保证。”因此，要调动广大人民群众参与全面依法治国和宪法全面实施的主动性、积极性、创造性，就必须“使广大人民群众真正认识到宪法不仅是全体公民必须遵循的行为规范，而且是保障公民权利的法律武器，使宪法真正走入日常生活、走入人民群众”。这就要求在宪法全面实施过程中，必须切实尊重和保障人权。当然，对于人权的理解不能照搬西方，而要立足我国国情。人权的保障需要一定的物质基础。“人权的实质内容和目标是人的生存和发展”，“人民幸福生活是最大的人权”。我国现在虽然已经全面建成小康社会，成为世界第二大经济体，但是人均GDP在世界上的排名仍然比较落后，这就需要我们“坚持把人权的普遍性原则同本国实际相结合，坚持生存权和发展权是首要的基本人权”。

Third, promoting the comprehensive implementation of the current Constitution must entail perfecting whole-process people’s democracy. Mao Zedong revealed the two-layered relationship between the constitution and democracy: the creation of democratic facts is the prerequisite for making a constitution, and the implementation of the constitution can promote the development of democracy. At the same time, democracy also differs in quality and depth; the higher the quality and the deeper the degree of democratic development, the more it will drive the in-depth implementation of the constitution. In other words, the further development of democracy can promote the further implementation of the constitution. The people’s democracy in our country has developed to the point where it has now formed whole-process people’s democracy, “realizing the unity of process democracy and outcome democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, direct democracy and indirect democracy, people’s democracy and the will of the state. It is a democracy that covers all chains, all aspects, and all areas, and is the broadest, most genuine, and most effective socialist democracy.” [12]12 Quotation from Xi Jinping’s speech at the Central Conference on Work Related to People’s Congresses, October 2021. The state system, the form of government, the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and the relevant rights of citizens to participate in the management of state affairs, as stipulated in the current Constitution, provide the fundamental legal institutional foundation for whole-process people’s democracy. As whole-process people’s democracy is gradually perfected and deeply practiced, the relevant provisions of the Constitution will inevitably be fully implemented.

第三，推动现行宪法全面实施，必须完善全过程人民民主。毛泽东揭示了宪法与民主的两层关系，即民主事实的创造是制定宪法的前提，宪法的实施能够促进民主的发展。同时，民主也存在质量高低之分、程度深浅之别，民主发展得质量越高、程度越深，也会越推动宪法深入实施，也就是说，民主的进一步发展能够促进宪法的进一步实施。我国人民民主发展到今天，已经形成了全过程人民民主，“实现了过程民主和成果民主、程序民主和实质民主、直接民主和间接民主、人民民主和国家意志相统一，是全链条、全方位、全覆盖的民主，是最广泛、最真实、最管用的社会主义民主”。而现行宪法规定的国体、政体、中国共产党领导的多党合作与政治协商制度、公民参与国家事务管理的相关权利等内容，为全过程人民民主提供了根本法上的制度基础。随着全过程人民民主逐渐完善和深入实践，宪法的相关规定必将得到全面实施。

Fourth, promoting the comprehensive implementation of the current Constitution must adopt a method that combines basing itself on our country’s national conditions, promoting the excellent traditional Chinese legal culture, and absorbing and drawing on the beneficial achievements of foreign rule of law. Especially when absorbing and drawing on foreign rule-of-law experience, it is necessary to recognize that the drawbacks of Western rule of law have been increasingly exposed in recent years. We must critically absorb foreign rule-of-law experience from an independent and self-reliant standpoint, discarding its dross and absorbing its beneficial components. In this process, some of our core and fundamental things must absolutely not be discarded. Xi Jinping emphasizes, “There is politics within the rule of law; there is no rule of law divorced from politics. … Behind every form of rule of law there is a set of political theories, within every model of rule of law there is a political logic, and beneath every path of rule of law there is a political stance”; “Party leadership is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the most fundamental guarantee of socialist rule of law.” [13]13 Quotation from Xi Jinping’s speech at the Central Conference on Work Related to the Rule of Law, 2014. The preamble and Article 1 of the current Constitution explicitly stipulate the leadership position of the Party. Therefore, in promoting the comprehensive implementation of the current Constitution, Party leadership must be upheld, and the so-called Western “constitutionalism” must be resolutely opposed.

第四，推动现行宪法全面实施，必须采取立足我国国情、弘扬中华优秀传统法律文化与吸收借鉴国外法治有益成果相结合的方式方法。尤其在吸收借鉴国外法治经验的时候，要认识到西方法治的弊端近几年暴露得越来越多，我们必须在独立自主的立场上批判性地吸收国外法治经验，剔除其糟粕、吸取其有益成分。在这个过程中，我们的一些核心、根本的东西绝对不能丢。习近平强调，“法治当中有政治，没有脱离政治的法治。……每一种法治形态背后都有一套政治理论，每一种法治模式当中都有一种政治逻辑，每一条法治道路底下都有一种政治立场”；“党的领导是中国特色社会主义最本质的特征，是社会主义法治最根本的保证”。现行宪法序言和正文第一条明确规定了党的领导地位，因此，在推动现行宪法全面实施过程中，必须坚持党的领导，必须坚决反对西方所谓“宪政”。

(Author: Zhang Xiaoshuai, Lecturer at China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong)

（作者：张小帅，中国浦东干部学院讲师）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心