Abstract

Opposite to the mainstream academic view that little attention was paid to legal system building in the anti-corruption campaigns in the early stage of the People’s Republic of China (“New China”), this article focuses on not only the mass movement but also the establishment of a legal system in that period. Supported by numerous historical data, this article argues that a fundamental legal system for anti-corruption has actually been built in the early years of the New China. The Party Central Committee, Government Administration Council (renamed State Council), Discipline Inspection and Supervision Departments, and political-legal departments enacted and enforced a complete set of preliminary anti-corruption regulations and provisions conforming to the national conditions. Accompanying discipline inspection and supervision system and judicial system were also built. Criminal laws, administrative rules and regulations at that time all embodied the goal to combat corruption.

When studying anti-corruption campaigns in the early days of the New China, some scholars ignored the establishment of the laws and regulations and considered the mass anti-corruption campaign to be legal nihilism, asserting that what Chairman Mao was constructing was “rule of the masses under the concept of rule of man,” and “the legal system was never considered as the basic policy and practice.” In fact, the truth is completely contrary to what these scholars believed. Shortly after its establishment, the New China enacted and enforced a complete set of disciplines for management, politics, and finance. She also promulgated criminal regulations and established a judicial and supervisory system to suppress corruption.


I. Historical and objective observation of anti-corruption system in the early stage of The New China

Indeed, it is true that in the early stage of the New China, the fight against corruption relied highly on the people’s power. However, the view of “rule of man” is open to dispute.

First of all, this view omits the fact that it was a period when everything of the New China had begun to restart. Despite this fact, objectively, the foundation of People Democratic Legal System has existed already.

Back in different periods of domestic revolutionary wars, the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and the People’s Government had formulated many policies and ordinances which represented the People’s will and conformed to the interests of revolution. Notwithstanding their simple forms and unavoidable regional limits, these policies effectively safeguarded and promoted the development of the revolutionary cause, and these ordinances became the buds of the new Chinese People’s democratic legal system. After the victory of the Liberation War, the Party united with the democratic parties and enacted the Common Program and the Organic Law of Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China. According to the Common Program, which includes replacing the old Kuomintang legal system with the new People’s system, the Party and the Government led the mass to destroy the struggle of the old legal system. The central government, together with the local governments, rebuilt the legal system nationwide by promulgating the Trade Union Law, the Marriage Law, the Land Reform Law, and other laws and decrees about labor protections, regional autonomy of ethnic minorities, and business management regarding public and private companies. During the movements against the “three evils” and against the “five evils,” (or Three-Anti Campaign and Five-Anti Campaign) China enacted Anti-Corruption Regulations. At that time, the Military and Administrative Commission (later renamed as the Administrative Committee) from every big administrative region legislated many bylaws. Varied as the regulations were, they did successfully help fight corruption in their respective localities. According to a rough estimate from the Central People’s Government Committee of Legal Affairs, from the establishment of the New China to the end of year 1953, there were 3333 promulgated (or proclaimed) laws and decrees (resolutions included). The anti-corruption campaign was thus conducted together with the construction of the legal system. Therefore, it appears that those who believed that the anti-corruption campaign was under the “rule by masses under the concept of rule by men” were actually wrong about history.

Secondly, those scholars misunderstand that shortly after the Party gained the state power, it was historically inevitable for the Party to mobilize the masses to participate in struggles against corruption, and they also neglect the functions of mass movements to establish legal system in the early days of the New China.

In the early stage of the New China, anti-corruption laws and regulations were enacted by summarizing the experience of mass campaigns, which proves that people combatting against corruption did play a role in the establishment of legal system. Many people took part in these storm-like mass campaigns. These campaigns were very powerful, but hard to control. They smashed the old orders and regimes and replaced them with new ones. The laws in the New China reflected the lessons learned in the mass movement and were made in response to the practical needs of mass battles. The CPC reckoned that it was necessary to have mass movement anti-corruption campaign first, and then create anti-corruption laws. If the legal construction had been enacted and enforced before mass movements, anti-corruption could only be carried out formally instead of effectively. People could not be aroused as quickly, bureaucracy could not be eliminated, and the defilement of the society could not be purged as it was. So, due to the situation at that time, it was necessary for people to combat corruption. There is no doubt that mass movement was a secret weapon, but this weapon could not be abused. Chinese anti-corruption laws and regulations were gradually perfected by the experiences of mass campaigns against corruption. After the rules had been enacted, mass campaigns should be carried out under the law.

Thirdly, these scholars ignored the fact that the legal system of the New China was a response to the urgent needs of national development, and hence it gradually developed.

In the initial stage of the New China before the anti-corruption campaigns, the legal system for the campaign was preliminary, but by no means complete. But having an incomplete system is not the same as having no system. Chinese anti-corruption law was not perfect and complete all at once. The system could only be improved gradually, using the lessons gained from combating corruption movements. At that time, some of the laws for anti-corruption were written, yet some were not. As Dong Biwu said, “Our country and the Party have proposed many policies and programs in the past which represented the interests and requests of the vast majority of people. Some of these policies, although could not become the written law due to subjective situation, they functioned as laws and regulations in effect.” Without these laws and regulations, people in the battle would become disorderly. Errors would not be able to be rectified in time. The large-scale movements would be in a mess, and the struggle against corruption would turn into a failure. Due to the Fights against Three Evils and Five Evils, mediations among the people were carried out; circuit courts were set up step by step from the county-level; a jury system was established at the trial. Many new judicial reform measures like people’s reception rooms and judicial work on duty were adopted by courts at all level. All of these efforts progressively established the judicial system with Chinese characteristics. Dong Biwu once talked about building Chinese legal system, and he said that the “Chinese People’s Democratic Legal System cannot be inflexible and subjective, but should be made according to reality and the objective requirements of political and economic development, and must gradually be developed and perfected step by step.”

The anti-corruption legal system in the early days of the New China included Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Non-criminal Law, administrative law and regulations, and relevant judicial interpretations regarding anti-corruption. It also included the relevant instructions, orders, decisions, regulations, notices, ordinances, and opinions enforced by State Council, its departments, and the departments of the Central Committee of the CPC (CCCPC). All these played a significant role in building the anti-corruption legal system during the early period of establishing the New China. The establishment of the anti-corruption laws should be viewed historically and objectively. One should not negate its existence simply because of the fact that the system was imperfect.