Order No. 26 on Punishing Corruption and Wasteful Practices

The first complete legal document against corruption and waste was formulated after the founding of the Communist Party of China. After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, the Communist Party of China began to lead the revolutionary war independently, create a people's army, rural revolutionary bases and seize power with arms, and the Chinese Revolution entered the period of the Agrarian Revolutionary War.

For many historical and other reasons, the new Soviet regime inevitably had problems of corruption and waste, which tarnished the image of the Party and the Soviet government, damaged the relationship between the Party, the government, and the people, and seriously shook the foundation of the democratic regime of workers and peasants. In this regard, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, established in November 1931, while promoting the construction of power, economy, culture, and education in the base areas attached great importance to the construction of clean government and severely punished corrupt elements.

After the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Provisional Central Government, presided over a standing meeting of the People's Committee and reiterated that the Provisional Central Government should combat severely against all corrupt elements such as corruption and waste; and on February 17, 1932, in the name of the People's Committee, issued General Order No. 3 on "Helping the Red Army Develop the War and Implementing the Thrifty Economy Campaign", demanding that "all levels must resolutely implement it" and "no slight negligence or negligence". The Central Public Procuratorial Department of Workers and Peasants set up an additional complaint bureau and set up complain boxes in various organs and units and at street intersections to accept complaints and reports from the people.

From the autumn and winter of 1933, the struggle against corruption and waste in the Central Soviet Union came to a climax, and a number of cases of corruption and waste that were strongly reflected by the masses were promptly published, disclosing the wasteful payments and other criminal matters involved in these cases, and the Red China newspaper also made public reports. In order to provide a legal basis for the Central Soviet Union to carry out the struggle against corruption and waste, on December 15, 1933, the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic issued "Order No. 26 on Punishing Corruption and Wasteful Practices", which clearly stated that in order to strictly punish corruption and waste, the following punishments were stipulated: (1) Any employee of Soviet organs, state enterprises and public organizations who takes advantage of his position to embezzle public funds for personal gain shall be dealt with in accordance with the following items: Embezzlement of public funds over 500 yuan shall be punished by death. A person who embezzles public funds of more than 300 yuan or less than 500 yuan shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two years and not more than five years. Those who embezzle public funds above 100 yuan and below 300 yuan shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than two years. Those who embezzle public funds below 100 yuan shall be punished by forced labor for less than half a year. (2) Any person who commits one of the items in Article 1, in addition to the penalties in Article 1, may confiscate all or part of his or her family property, and recover the public funds he or she has embezzled. (3) Anyone who misappropriates public funds for private profit shall be guilty of embezzlement and shall be punished in accordance with the first two articles. (4) Employees of Soviet organs, state enterprises, and public organizations who waste public money by neglecting their duties, resulting in losses to the state, shall be punished by a warning, dismissal from office, or imprisonment from one month to three years, depending on the extent of the waste.

The order was printed as a bulletin in large letters and widely posted and distributed in the Central Soviet Union. To expand the influence and cooperate with this struggle, The Central Public Procuratorial Department of Workers and Peasants also issued a special instruction letter entitled "How to Prosecute Corruption and Waste", which was published at the same time in the Red China newspaper on January 4, 1934, together with the Twenty-Sixth Instruction. The enactment of “Order No. 26 on Punishing Corruption and Wasteful Practices” marked the beginning of the legalization of the fight against corruption and wasteful practices under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Based on this provision, Soviet governments at all levels have seriously investigated and dealt with corruption cases, promoting clean government and winning the hearts of the people.