The Historic Contributions of the Party Constitution of the Seventh National Congress of the CPC

The Yan’an period was an important period in which the Chinese Communist Party moved toward maturity. The Seventh National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held from 23 April to 11 June 1945 in the Central Auditorium at Yangjialing, Yan’an, has been recorded in history as a “congress of unity, a congress of victory” and occupies an important historical position in Party history. The “Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party” adopted at the Seventh National Congress (hereinafter referred to as the “Seventh Congress Party Constitution”) likewise possesses important historical significance and far-reaching influence. It was the most complete, most detailed, and best Party constitution to embody the wisdom of the entire Party during the period of the democratic revolution. It was a summary of the experience of the Chinese Communist Party, which, after 17 years of struggle and tempering since the Sixth National Congress in 1928, had transformed from weak to strong, from defeat to victory, and moved toward maturity. It was an important symbol of the Party’s maturity and an important milestone in the history of Party constitution development, making historic contributions to promoting the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times and ensuring the complete victory of the New Democratic Revolution and the socialist transformation.

延安时期是中国共产党走向成熟的重要时期。1945年4月23日至6月11日在延安杨家岭中央大礼堂举行的中国共产党第七次全国代表大会，作为“团结的大会，胜利的大会”而载入史册，在党史上具有重要的历史地位。党的七大通过的《中国共产党党章》（以下简称“七大党章”）同样有着重要历史意义和深远影响，是民主革命时期最完备、最详尽、凝聚全党智慧最好的一部党章，是1928年党的六大之后历经17年斗争锤炼的中国共产党由弱变强、转败为胜、走向成熟历史的经验总结，是党成熟的重要标志，也是党章发展史上的重要里程碑，为推动马克思主义中国化时代化、保证新民主主义革命和社会主义改造等彻底胜利作出了历史性贡献。

It elucidated that the guiding ideology of the Party is Mao Zedong Thought, making a historic contribution to promoting the integration of Marxism with China’s actual conditions and realizing the first historic leap in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context.

阐明了党的指导思想是毛泽东思想，为推动马克思主义同中国实际相结合、实现马克思主义中国化第一次历史性飞跃作出了历史性贡献

Mao Zedong Thought is a precious spiritual treasure obtained by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people through arduous hardships. Comrade Liu Shaoqi pointed out in his “Report on the Revision of the Party Constitution” (published under the title “On the Party”): “For over a hundred years, the disaster-ridden Chinese nation and Chinese people, in their struggle for liberation through bloodshed, have accumulated countless rich experiences. These actual struggles and their experiences inevitably had to form their own great theory,” and he concluded that “this theory is Mao Zedong Thought.” In his report, he also provided a relatively complete and systematic summary of the theoretical system of Mao Zedong Thought, including theories and policies on the new democracy, the liberation of peasants, the revolutionary united front, revolutionary war, revolutionary base areas, and Party building. He also emphasized that Mao Zedong Thought “is the developing and perfecting Sinicized Marxism, it is the complete revolutionary theory of state-building for the Chinese people,” “it is China’s communism, China’s Marxism,” and “it is the continued development of Marxism in the national-democratic revolution of colonial, semi-colonial, and semi-feudal countries in the current era; it is an excellent model of the nationalization of Marxism.” (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 22, Central Party Literature Press, 2011) The “Report on the Revision of the Party Constitution” revealed the rich connotation and essential characteristics of Mao Zedong Thought, enabling the entire Party to gain a relatively complete understanding and profound comprehension of Mao Zedong Thought.

毛泽东思想是中国共产党和中国人民历尽艰辛获得的宝贵精神财富。刘少奇同志在《关于修改党章的报告》（发表时改为《论党》）中指出：“百余年来，灾难深重的中国民族和中国人民，为了自己的解放而流血斗争，积有无数丰富的经验，这些实际斗争及其经验，不可避免地要形成自己的伟大的理论”，并总结说，“这个理论，就是毛泽东思想”。他还在报告中对毛泽东思想的理论体系进行了比较完整、系统的概括，包括关于新民主主义、解放农民、革命统一战线、革命战争、革命根据地、党的建设的理论与政策等；还强调毛泽东思想“乃是发展着与完善着的中国化的马克思主义，乃是中国人民完整的革命建国理论”，“就是中国的共产主义，中国的马克思主义”，“就是马克思主义在目前时代的殖民地、半殖民地、半封建国家民族民主革命中的继续发展，就是马克思主义民族化的优秀典型”。（《建党以来重要文献选编（1921—1949）》第22册，中央文献出版社2011年版）《关于修改党章的报告》揭示了毛泽东思想的丰富内涵和本质特征，使全党对毛泽东思想有了比较完整的认识和深刻的理解。

The Seventh Congress Party Constitution adhered to integrating Marxism-Leninism with the actual conditions of the Chinese revolution. In the General Program, it emphasized: “The Chinese Communist Party takes the thought of the integration of the theory of Marxism-Leninism with the practice of the Chinese revolution—Mao Zedong Thought—as the guide for all its work, and opposes any dogmatist or empiricist deviation.” And in Article 1, Chapter 2, “Duties of Party Members,” the first point stressed: “Strive to raise one’s own level of consciousness and to comprehend the foundations of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.” (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 22) Thus, the Seventh Congress Party Constitution not only established the guiding position of Mao Zedong Thought as the “guide for all work” but also stipulated the study and comprehension of Mao Zedong Thought as a duty of every Party member. Establishing the guiding position of Mao Zedong Thought throughout the Party reflected the Party’s ideological and political maturity and the great improvement in the Party’s theoretical level. From then on, Mao Zedong Thought achieved even greater consensus and resonance within the entire Party, increasingly became the Party’s ideological weapon, and continuously played its role as a “guide,” exerting its truth function in guiding all work, including the revolutionary struggle, to achieve continuous success. It became a great model of theoretical innovation integrating the universal truth of Marxism with China’s actual conditions, and ultimately realized the first historic leap in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context.

七大党章坚持把马列主义同中国革命实际相结合，在总纲中强调：“中国共产党，以马克思列宁主义的理论与中国革命的实践之统一的思想——毛泽东思想，作为自己一切工作的指针，反对任何教条主义的或经验主义的偏向。”并在条文第一章第二条“凡党员均有下列义务”中的第一点就强调“努力地提高自己的觉悟程度和领会马克思列宁主义、毛泽东思想的基础。”（《建党以来重要文献选编（1921—1949）》第22册）可见，七大党章不但确立毛泽东思想是“一切工作的指针”的指导地位，并且把学习领会毛泽东思想规定为每个党员的义务。确立毛泽东思想在全党的指导地位，反映了全党思想上、政治上的成熟，反映了党的理论水平的极大提高。至此，毛泽东思想更加在全党达成共识、引起共鸣，更加成为党的思想武器，进而不断发挥其“指针”作用，发挥其指导革命斗争等一切工作不断取得成功的真理作用，成为马克思主义普遍真理与中国实际相结合的理论创新的伟大典范，并最终实现了马克思主义中国化的第一次历史性飞跃。

It completely put forward the program for the New Democratic Revolution, making a historic contribution to leading the entire Party to victory in the New Democratic Revolution and the Socialist Revolution.

完整地提出了新民主主义革命的纲领，为引领全党夺取新民主主义革命和社会主义革命的胜利作出了历史性贡献

The Seventh Congress Party Constitution added a General Program before the organizational regulations, a precedent in the history of Party constitutions and a practice followed in subsequent Party constitutions. Comrade Liu Shaoqi emphasized in “On the Party”: “We have now formulated a General Program for the Party and added it before the Party Constitution. This is our Party’s basic program. It is also a component of the Party Constitution, the premise and general principles of the Party Constitution.” The General Program of the Seventh Congress Party Constitution concisely and clearly pointed out that the nature of the Party is “the advanced, organized contingent of the Chinese working class,” its immediate goal is “to strive for the realization of China’s new democratic system,” and its ultimate aim “is to realize the communist system in China.” It also profoundly and completely revealed the program of the New Democratic Revolution, elucidating the nature, leading force, motive forces, targets, tasks, and characteristics of the New Democratic Revolution, and profoundly pointed out that “in the revolutionary struggle, the Chinese Communist Party must strive to become the backbone of all revolutionary mass organizations and revolutionary state organizations.” The Seventh Congress Party Constitution pointed the way and provided a model for understanding the Chinese Communist Party both inside and outside the Party.

七大党章在组织章程条文之前增加了总纲，这是党章史上的先例，也是之后党章的惯例。刘少奇同志在《论党》中强调：“我们现在制订了党的总纲，加在党章前面。这就是我们党的基本纲领。这也是党章的组成部分，是党章的前提和总则。”七大党章的总纲简明扼要地指明了党的性质是“中国工人阶级的先进的有组织的部队”，奋斗目标是“为实现中国的新民主主义制度而奋斗”，最终目的“是在中国实现共产主义制度”。同时还深刻完整地揭示了新民主主义革命纲领，阐明了新民主主义革命的性质、领导力量、动力、对象、任务和特点等，深刻指出“中国共产党在革命斗争中，必须努力使自己成为一切革命的群众组织及革命的国家组织之中坚”。七大党章为党内外了解中国共产党指明了方向、提供了范本。

The General Program of the Seventh Congress Party Constitution was in fact the Party’s most basic political and organizational program. It was a banner publicly raised by our Party, “a milestone set up before the world by which people can measure the level of the Party’s movement.” It helped educate Party members to consciously implement the Party Constitution on the basis of raising their understanding. “All Party members must recognize this General Program and take it as the criterion for all their activities,” and this “would further promote the unity and unification of the entire Party.” Thus, the Seventh Congress Party Constitution was a revolutionary program guiding the entire Party to lead the Chinese nation and the Chinese people to win national independence and people’s liberation. It increasingly played an active guiding role in the revolution and construction of the Chinese people, the Chinese nation, and the entire country, enabling our Party to win one victory after another after the Seventh National Congress.

七大党章的总纲实际上就是党最基本的政治纲领和组织纲领，是我们党公开树立起来的一面旗帜，“是在全世界面前树立起可供人们用来衡量党的运动水平的里程碑”，有助于教育党员在提高认识的基础上自觉执行党章，“凡是党员，都必须承认这个总纲，并以这个总纲作为自己一切活动的准则”，而这“将更加促进全党的团结与统一”。可见，七大党章是一部指引全党带领中华民族和中国人民夺取民族独立和人民解放的革命纲领，日益对中国人民、中华民族和整个国家的革命与建设发挥能动性的引领作用，让我们党在七大后不断夺取一次又一次胜利。

It initiated the precedent of adding a General Program before the Party Constitution’s articles, making historic contributions to comprehensively strengthening the Party’s self-building in terms of the Party’s organizational principles, organizational system, Party style, and Party discipline.

开启了在党章条文之前增写总纲的先河，在党的组织原则、组织制度、党的作风、党的纪律等方面为全面加强党的自身建设作出了历史性贡献

In 1945, when the Seventh National Congress convened, the nationwide War of Resistance against Japan was on the verge of victory. The Party had 1.21 million members nationwide and led base areas with a population of 95 million. After long revolutionary tempering, the Chinese Communist Party “had already become a nationwide, mass-based, ideologically, politically, and organizationally consolidated Marxist-Leninist Party with its own leader.” However, to a certain extent, there also appeared phenomena exposed in the “Central Committee Decision on Strengthening Party Spirit,” drafted by Comrade Wang Jiaxiang, such as some Party members “acting freely in politics, not seeking instructions from the Central Committee or higher-level authorities, not respecting the decisions of the Central Committee and higher levels, speaking casually, and seeking to be unconventional”; “forming their own systems and situations organizationally, emphasizing independent activities, opposing centralized leadership, engaging in departmentalism, being unable to mobilize people, disregarding organizational discipline, and considering only the individual”; and “in ideology and consciousness, developing petty-bourgeois individualism to oppose proletarian collectivism, starting from the individual in everything,” and other “tendencies that violate Party spirit.” (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 18)

1945年，七大召开之际，全民族抗战即将胜利，全国共有121万名党员，领导着9500万人口的根据地，中国共产党经过长期的革命锤炼，“已经是一个全国范围的，广大群众性的，思想上、政治上、组织上巩固的，有了自己领袖的马克思列宁主义的党”，但在一定程度上也出现了王稼祥同志起草的《中共中央关于增强党性的决定》中所揭露的，有的党员“在政治上自由行动，不请示中央或上级意见，不尊重中央及上级的决定，随便发言，标新立异”，“在组织上自成系统，自成局面，强调独立活动，反对集中领导，本位主义，调不动人，目无组织，只有个人”，“在思想意识上，是发展小资产阶级的个人主义，来反对无产阶级的集体主义，一切从个人出发”等“违反党性的倾向”（《建党以来重要文献选编（1921—1949）》第18册）。

In order to effectively strengthen Party building and ensure the Party’s political and ideological consistency as well as organizational and action unity, the Seventh Congress Party Constitution fully played its role as the most fundamental intra-Party regulation and its foundational role in Party building. It strengthened and perfected the Party’s organizational principles, organizational system, Party style, and Party discipline, striving to “enable the entire Party to receive timely and correct guidance in ideology, theory, political line, and organizational system at the critical moment when the revolution faced a major new transition, and to obtain a strong guarantee for unity and the struggle for victory” (History of the Chinese Communist Party (Volume I), Part 2, Chinese Communist Party History Press, 2011). This in fact also marked the development and maturity of the Party’s organizational building, style building, and discipline building.

为了切实加强党的建设，为了保证全党在政治上、思想上的一致和组织上、行动上的统一，七大党章充分发挥其最根本的党内法规和在党的建设上的基础性作用，对党的组织原则、组织制度、党的作风、党的纪律等进行了强化和完善，努力“使全党能够在革命面临新的重大转变的关键时刻，在思想理论、政治路线和组织制度上得到及时正确的指导，得到团结一致争取胜利的强有力的保证”（《中国共产党历史（第一卷）》下册，中共党史出版社2011年版），这实际上也标志着党的组织建设、作风建设和纪律建设上的发展和成熟。

As the code of conduct for the Party’s organizations and its members, the Party Constitution possesses the highest authority and the greatest binding force. As Comrade Liu Shaoqi pointed out in *On the Party*: “The Party Constitution, the Party’s regulations, must not only stipulate the Party’s basic principles, but also, on the basis of these principles, prescribe the methods for the Party’s organizations to carry out practical actions, and prescribe the Party’s organizational forms and the rules for the Party’s internal life.” [1]1 Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) was a senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party and a key theorist of Party building. *On the Party* (1945) was his report to the Seventh National Congress on the revision of the Party Constitution. In view of this, the Party Constitution of the Seventh National Congress comprehensively strengthened Party building through several “firsts.” For example, for the first time, in the form of Party Constitution articles, it centrally and explicitly stipulated the obligations of Party members to study theory, observe Party discipline, adhere to the mass line, and play an exemplary role, as well as their rights to speak, to vote and stand for election, to make proposals, and to criticize, embodying the dialectical idea that “there are no rights without obligations, nor obligations without rights,” thereby enhancing Party members’ enthusiasm and sense of responsibility for the Party’s cause and safeguarding unity and solidarity within the Party. For the first time, it emphasized the Party’s purpose that “Chinese Communists must possess the spirit of wholeheartedly serving the Chinese people” and the Party’s mass line that “they must establish broad ties with the masses of workers, peasants, and other revolutionary people, and constantly pay attention to consolidating and expanding these ties,” and required that “every Party member must earnestly listen to the voices of the masses of the people and understand their urgent needs” and “must constantly warn themselves of the danger of becoming divorced from the masses of the people, and must constantly pay attention to preventing and cleansing within themselves such erroneous tendencies as tailism, commandism, closed-doorism, bureaucratism, and warlordism that are divorced from the masses.” [2]2 “Tailism” (尾巴主义) refers to passively following the masses rather than leading them; “commandism” (命令主义) is issuing orders without persuasion; “closed-doorism” (关门主义) is sectarian exclusion of non-Party elements; “bureaucratism” (官僚主义) is rigid, self-serving officialdom; “warlordism” (军阀主义) is arbitrary, militaristic leadership. These were criticized as deviations from the mass line. For the first time, it revealed the Party’s style of criticism and self-criticism, namely, “to use the method of criticism and self-criticism to regularly examine one’s own mistakes and shortcomings in work, to educate one’s own Party members and cadres, and to promptly correct one’s own mistakes.” For the first time, it proposed “democratic centralism, that is, centralism on the basis of democracy and democracy under centralized leadership,” and also explained the basic conditions such as the individual submitting to the Party organization to which they belong, the minority submitting to the majority, and lower-level organizations submitting to higher-level organizations. For the first time, it discussed the principle and specific practices of developing Party members based on performance rather than class origin. For the first time, it explicitly stipulated that the Central Committee could convene delegates from local Party committees to hold a National Party Congress, and that the National Party Congress had the power to remove and replace some Central Committee members, among other things. At the same time, it stipulated that those who failed to implement the resolutions of the Central Committee and higher-level organizations, or who violated the Party Constitution and Party discipline, should be subject to Party disciplinary sanctions such as admonition or warning, removal from work, probation within the Party, or expulsion from the Party. These “firsts” fully demonstrate the pioneering and innovative nature of the Party Constitution of the Seventh National Congress, and at the same time highlight its important position and contribution in the history of the Party and the history of the Party Constitution’s development, serving as a link between the past and the future.

党章作为党的组织和党员的行动准则，具有最高权威和最大约束力。正如刘少奇同志在《论党》中所指出的：“党章，党的法规，不仅是要规定党的基本原则，而且要根据这些原则规定党的组织之实际行动的方法，规定党的组织形式与党的内部生活的规则。”鉴于此，七大党章通过数个“第一次”全面加强了党的建设。譬如，第一次以党章条文的形式集中地明确地规定了党员要履行的学习理论、遵守党纪、坚持群众路线和发挥模范作用的义务，以及拥有的发言权、选举权与被选举权、建议权、批评权等权利，体现了“没有无义务的权利，也没有无权利的义务”的辩证思想，提高了党员对党的事业的积极性与责任心，维护了党内团结和统一。第一次强调了“中国共产党人必须具有全心全意为中国人民服务的精神”的党的宗旨和“必须与工人群众、农民群众及其他革命人民建立广泛的联系。并经常注意巩固与扩大这种联系”的党的群众路线，并要求“每一个党员都必须用心倾听人民群众的呼声和了解他们的迫切需要”“必须经常警戒自己脱离人民群众的危险性，必须经常注意防止和清洗自己内部的尾巴主义、命令主义、关门主义、官僚主义与军阀主义等脱离群众的错误倾向”。第一次揭示了要“用批评和自我批评的方法，经常检讨自己工作中的错误与缺点，来教育自己的党员和干部，并及时纠正自己的错误”的党的批评与自我批评的作风。第一次提出了“民主的集中制，即是在民主基础上的集中和在集中领导下的民主”，还阐释了个人服从所属党的组织、少数服从多数、下级组织服从上级组织等基本条件。第一次论述了发展党员不唯成分、重在表现的原则和具体做法。第一次明确规定了中央委员会可以召集各地方党委代表举行党的全国代表会议，而党的全国代表会议具有撤换和补选部分中央委员等方面的权力。同时规定凡不执行中央和上级组织的决议的违犯党章、党纪者，应给予劝告或警告、撤销工作、留党察看、开除党籍等党纪处分，等等。这些“第一次”充分说明了七大党章的开拓性、创新性，同时更彰显出它在党史和党章发展史上承前启后、继往开来的重要地位和贡献。

(Author: Huang Wei, Professor at the School of Marxism, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine)

（作者：黄伟，系贵州中医药大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心