The Establishment of a Legal System in Anti-corruption Campaigns in the Early Days of The New China

• Author: Wang Chuanli
• Pages: 102-134

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102 TSINGHUA CHINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 7:101

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LEGAL SYSTEM IN

ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGNS IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE

NEW CHINA

WANG Chuanli

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 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.

Key words: the New China, Anti-corruption, Establishment of Legal System

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.”1 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,

1 Guo Daohui (郭道晖), Renzhi Zouxiang Fazhi-Wushi Nian Lai Woguo Fazhi Jianshe de Quzhe Jingli (人

治走向法制——五十年来我国法制建设的曲折经历) [Rule by Men to Rule by Law--Tortuous Development of

Chinese Legal System in 50 Years], 7 BAINIAN CHAO (百年潮) [CENTURIAL TIDE] 2 (1999).

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2014] ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL SYSTEM 103

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,

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104 TSINGHUA CHINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 7:101

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.”2 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

2 Tung Piwu (董必武), Tung Piwu Xuanji (董必武选集) [Collected Works of Tung Piwu] 411 (1985).