Common Program: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|PolicyProvisional programconstitution adoptedof bythe CPPCCPeople's inRepublic 1949of China}}

{{Use American English|date=April 2024}}{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}

{{Infobox constitution|document_name=Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|jurisdiction={{PRC}}|date_repealed=Never formally repealed|head_of_state=Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China|date_effective=September 29, 1949|Image=Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference logo.svg|caption=Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference logo|Image size=128px}}[[File:通过共同纲领.jpg|thumb|Picture of CPPCC members when the Common Program was discussed and passed at the conference in 1949. ]]

The{{Infobox '''constitution|document_name=Common Program''' wasof the primary general policy document issued by the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]|jurisdiction={{PRC}}|date_repealed=Never (CPPCC)formally inrepealed; 1949.superseded Theby program,the though[[Constitution havingof nothe legalPeople's power,Republic servedof in effect as an interim [[provisional constitutionChina]]|head_of_state=Chairman untilof 1954,the whenCentral aPeople's newly written [[1954 ConstitutionGovernment of the People's Republic of China|constitution]]date_effective=29 wasSeptember passed1949|Image=Chinese andPeople's ratifiedPolitical byConsultative theConference [[1st Nationallogo.svg|caption=Chinese People's Congress]].Political Consultative Conference logo|Image size=128px}}

[[File:通过共同纲领.jpg|thumb|Picture of CPPCC members when the Common Program was discussed and passed at the conference in 1949. ]]

The '''Common Program''' was the primary general policy document passed by the [[First plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|first plenary session]] of the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] in September 1949. The ''Common Program'' served as the [[provisional constitution]] of the People's Republic of China from 1949 until September 1954, when the formal [[1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China|constitution]] was passed and ratified by the [[1st National People's Congress]].

== Background ==

On September 29, 1949, the [[1st Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference#The first plenary session|firstFirst plenaryPlenary sessionSession of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] unanimously adopted the Common Program as the basic political program for the country following the success of the [[Chinese Communist Revolution|Chinese revolution]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Zheng |first=Qian |title=An Ideological History of the Communist Party of China |date=2020 |publisher=Royal Collins Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4878-0391-9 |editor-last=Zheng |editor-first=Qian |volume=2 |___location=Montreal, Quebec |translator-last=Sun |translator-first=Li |translator-last2=Bryant |translator-first2=Shelly}}</ref>{{Rp|page=25}}

The Common Program functioned as China's provisional constitution until 1954.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |title=The Cold War in East Asia |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-138-65179-1 |___location=Abingdon, Oxon}}</ref>{{Rp|page=67}}

== Key provisions ==

The Common Program defined [[China]] as a [[New Democracy|new democratic]] country which would practice a [[people's democratic dictatorship]] led by the [[proletariat]] and based on an alliance of workers and peasants which would unite all of China's democratic classes (defined as those opposing imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism and favoring an independent China).<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=25}}

== Provisions ==

The Common Program defined [[China]] as a "[[New Democracy|new democraticdemocracy]] country" which would practice a [[people's democratic dictatorship]] led by the [[proletariat]] and based on an alliance of workers and peasants which would unite all of China's "democratic classes" (defined as those opposing imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism and favoring an independent China).<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=25}}

The Common Program described [[System of people's congress|people's congresses]] as the primary organs through which the people would exercise state power.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=26}} It stated that the [[National People's Congress]] was the highest body of state power.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=26}} According to the Common Program, all state organs should practice [[democratic centralism]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=26}}

The Common Program described the primary task of the new government as eliminating feudal, [[Comprador|compradorial]], and [[Fascism|fascist]] ideologies.<ref name=":Li">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Hongshan |title=Fighting on the Cultural Front: U.S.-China Relations in the Cold War |date=2024 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9780231207058 |___location=New York, NY |jstor=10.7312/li--20704}}</ref>{{Rp|page=27}}

Generally, the Common Program prioritized ownership of the state-owned economy, although it also gave consideration to some private interests.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=4}} It did not seek to eliminate capitalism as a whole, instead encouraging private enterprises viewed as beneficial to the national economy and sought to implement a mixed economy.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=4-5}}

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The Common Program addresses [[Agriculture in China|agriculture]] in Article 34, stating that "the People's Government should organize peasants and all labor power that can carry out agricultural work to ... [develop] agricultural production ... Every step of [[Land Reform Movement (China)|land reform]] should be integrated with the revival and development of agricultural production."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=80}}

Article 35 emphasized the development of heavy [[Technological and industrial history of China|industry]], such as mining, iron and steel, power, machinery, electrical industry, and the chemical industry "in order to build a foundation for the industrialization of the nation."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=81}}

Regarding [[Foreign policy of China|China's foreign policy]], Articles 54 and 56 state that [[Foreign relations of China|China's foreign relations]] would be based on respect for mutual sovereignty.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leung |first=Beatrice |last2=Wang |first2=Marcus J. J. |date=2016-05-03 |title=Sino–Vatican Negotiations: problems in sovereign right and national security |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10670564.2015.1104921 |journal=Journal of Contemporary China |language=en |volume=25 |issue=99 |pages=467–482 |doi=10.1080/10670564.2015.1104921 |issn=1067-0564|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Rp|page=469}}

== Academic analysis ==

Researcher Zheng Qian compares the Common Program's support for an economy with mixed forms of ownership to [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s [[New Economic Policy]] during the post-1921 transitional period in the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=5}}

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== Further reading ==

* [https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1949-ccp-program.asp Text in English]

{{Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference}}

[[Category:Economic history of China]]

[[Category:Legal history of China]]