Develop Socialist Democracy

An important component part of the overall layout of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Communist Party of China pays special attention to the construction and development of socialist democracy. Under the socialist system, the people are the masters of the country, and all the power of the state belongs to the people. Socialist democracy is the dialectical unity of the people's democracy and the dictatorship of the enemy. Without people's democracy, the dictatorship of the enemy cannot be effectively implemented, and the dictatorship of the enemy is the guarantee for the people's democracy; within the people, it is the dialectical unity of democracy and centralism. The people must not only enjoy extensive democracy and freedom, but also restrain themselves with socialist discipline and abide by the socialist legal system. Socialism is a country where the Party leads the people to be the masters of the country. People’s democracy is the life of socialism. The development of socialist democratic politics is the Party’s unswerving goal. For China, which has thousands of years of feudal autocratic history and cultural traditions, it is a difficult course for the Party to lead the construction of socialist democratic politics. Deng Xiaoping attached great importance to the construction of democratic politics in the modernization process, while emphasizing that the construction of democratic politics should proceed from China’s national conditions and proceed in an orderly and step-by-step manner under the leadership of the Party. He pointed out: “Democracy can only develop gradually and cannot be copied from the West. Otherwise, chaos will be caused”. He pointed out that on the issue of democratic political construction, we shall prevent from “acute disease”. “Doing in a hurry” is also not feasible.

Socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics is the unity of the people's democratic dictatorship and the fundamental political system and basic political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The People’s Congresses system is the fundamental political system and the highest form of realization for guaranteeing the position of people as the masters of the country. It is also the best form of realization for the Party to fully promote democracy and implement the mass line in the state power. The system of multi-Party cooperation and political consultation led by the CPC is an important part of China’s socialist democratic political system. The ethnic regional autonomy system is the best system for implementing democratic autonomy in areas where ethnic minorities live in concentrated communities. The grassroots mass autonomy system is a system of grassroots autonomy and democratic administration, and it is a broad and profound practice of socialist democracy. It is necessary to further promote the theoretical and practical innovations of the people’s congress system and the basic political systems, give better play to their respective functions and roles, accelerate the institutionalization, standardization and proceduralization of socialist democratic politics, and build a socialist country ruled by law. Whether the people enjoy democratic rights depends not only on whether they have the right to vote during elections, but also whether they have the right to continue to participate in daily political life, and whether they have the right to participate in democratic decision-making, democratic administration, and democratic supervision. To develop socialist democracy, it is necessary to extend democracy to people’s political life, economic life, cultural life, and social life, ensure the people’s right to equal participation and equal development, and safeguard social fairness and justice.