Formulation of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China

The 1954 “Constitution of the People's Republic of China” was formulated on the basis of the “Common Programme” adopted by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1949 and in accordance with the new situation of the country and the objective requirements of social development. In January 1953, the Committee of the Central People's Government put the task of formulating the Constitution on its agenda and established the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, chaired by Mao Zedong.

In June, the introduction of the Party's general line in the transitional period put forward a completely new requirement for the drafting of the Constitution, namely, that it must not only establish the principle of people's democracy comprehensively and normatively on the basis of the “Common Program”, but also follow the principles of socialism, set down the general line of the transitional period in the form of a fundamental law of the state, and ensure the establishment of a socialist society in China, while adapting to the task of gradual transition, combining principle and flexibility, and formulating a constitution for the transition to socialism.

The first constitution of the People's Republic of China was formulated under the chairmanship of Mao Zedong. On January 9, 1954, the drafting of the Constitution officially began. In early March, the drafting group of the Constitution completed its fourth reading, and the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held three consecutive extended meetings to discuss and amend the draft and submitted it to the Standing Committee of the CPPCC for discussion. The revised fourth reading became the first draft of the Constitution and was submitted to the Constitution Drafting Committee by Mao Zedong on behalf of the CPC Central Committee.

From March to September, the Constitution Drafting Committee held seven formal meetings in succession to study and discuss the preliminary draft. At the same time, more than 8,000 representatives of various organizations in Beijing and major cities throughout the country discussed the preliminary draft of the Constitution in two months and put forward more than 5,900 amendments. On June 14, at the 30th Meeting of the Committee of the Central People's Government, the “Constitution of the People's Republic of China (Draft)” was discussed and adopted, and the resolution was submitted to the people of the whole country for discussion.

In nearly three months, a total of more than 1.5 million people across the country participated in the discussion, putting forward more than 118,000 amendments, additional comments, and questions.

On September 20, 1954, the “Constitution of the People's Republic of China” was adopted and promulgated at the First Session of the National People's Congress. This was the first constitution of New China. Apart from the preamble, the Constitution was divided into four chapters and 106 articles.

The Constitution stated: “The system of people's democracy—the system of new democracy—of the People's Republic of China guarantees that our country can in a peaceful way eliminate exploitation and poverty and build a prosperous and happy socialist society.” “From the founding of the People's Republic of China to the attainment of a socialist society was a period of transition.” The general tasks of the state during the transition period were, step by step, to bring about the socialist industrialization of the country and, step by step, to accomplish the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts and capitalist industry and commerce.

The People's Republic of China is a people's democratic state led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. All power in the People's Republic of China belongs to the people. The Organs through which the people exercise power were the National People's Congress and the local people's congresses at various levels. The Constitution was based on the “Common Programme of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of 1949” and was also the development of it.

The formulation and promulgation of the Constitution consolidated the achievements of the People's Revolution and the new political and economic victories since the foundation of the People's Republic of China and reflected the fundamental requirements of the state in the transitional period and the common aspirations of the broad masses of the people to build a socialist society.

The promulgation and implementation of the “Constitution of the People's Republic of China” pointed out a clear and definite path to socialism for the people of the whole country, mobilized the enthusiasm of the broad masses of the people in building socialism, effectively promoted the vigorous development of socialist undertakings; it was a good beginning for the New China to move towards the construction of socialist democracy and the rule of law.