ROSTER OF PRESIDIUM OF FIRST CONGRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 10, 1998
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: September 16, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Rely a 2000/08/26: CIA-RDP61 SO0527AO0'0'20epA 65-4 o- j7
- AAA 16 ?- CHINA: COMMUNIST
Sept. 16, 1954
ROSTER OF PRESIDIUM OF FIRST CONGRESS
Peking, Chinese Home Service, in Mandarin, Sept. 15, 1954, 1510 GNTi --W
(Text)
Peking--Following is the roster of the Presidium of the first session
of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China:
(The, Presidium consists of 97 persons and they are listed in order of the
number of strokes in Chinese characters representing each surname--
Peking)
Mao Tse-tung, Wang Tsung-lun, Ssutu Mei-tang, Chu Te, Chu Te-hai,
Ho Hsiang-ning, Wu Yu-chang, Wu Yao-tsung, Soong Ching-ling, Li Ssu-
kuang, Li Hsien-nien, Li Shun-ta, Li Te-chuan, Li Chi-shen, Li Chu-chen,
Shen Yen4ping, Shen Chun-ju, Chou Wen-Chiang, Chou En-lei) Lin Chiao-
chihp Lin Po-chu, Lin Piao, Lin Feng, KO-chi-mu-ku, Chu Ko-chen, Liu Ya-tzu,
Hu Tzu-ang, Hu Yao-pang, Fan Yung, Wei Kuo-ching, Hsu Hsiang-Chien,
Hsu Te-li;
Hsiang-chi-yueh-hsi, Ulanfu, Panchen Ngoerhtehni Lozong Chinglie Lhundrub
Chujijiatsan, Ma Hsu-lun, Ma Yin-chu, Kao Chung-min, Tsui Chien-kung,
Chang Chih-chung, Chang Hsi-jo, Chang Wen-tien, Chang Nan-hsien, Chang
Lan, Liang Hsi, Mei Lan-fang, Chang Po-Chun, Hsi Chung-hsun, Hsu Kuang-
ping, Hsu Te-heng, Ko Mo-jo, Chen Shao-min, Chen Shu-tung, Chen Shao-
kuan, Chen Yun, Chen Ching-yu, Chen Chia-keng, Chen I, Fu Tso-i,
Chi Wen-fu, Peng Chen, Peng Te-huai, Peng Tse-min, Sheng Pei-hua, Cheng
Chien, Hue Lo-keng;
Ho Lung,.Huang Chang-shui, Huang Yen-pei, Yang Ming-hsien, Yeh Chien-
ying, Tung Pi-wu, Dalai Lama Ngawang Lozong Dantzem Jiatso, Yung I-jen,
Hsiung Ko-wu, Liu Shao-chi, Liu Po-cheng, Liu Ko-ping, Liu Hung-sheng,
Liu Lan-tao, Ou Pai-chuan, Tsai Ting-kai, Tsai Chang, Teng Tzu-hui,
Teng Fang-chin, Teng Pao-shan, Kung Tien-min, Lai Jo-yu, Lung Yun,
Po I-PD. Hsieh Chueh-tsai, Sai Fu-ting, Han En, Han Wang-chen, Nieh
Jung-chen, Lo Jung-huan, and An Ping-shan.
The secretary general of the first session is Li Wei-han.
LIU SHAO-CHI DRAFT CONSTITUTION REPORT
Peking, NCNA, in English Morse to Southeast Asia, Europe, and North
America, Sept. 15, 1954, 1420 GMT--W
(Text)
Peking, Sept. 15--Page one--The National People's Congress today heard
a report on the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China
by Liu Shao-chi, speaking for the Committee for Drafting the Constitution
of the People's Republic of China.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 SO0527A000200010065-4
 Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 SO0527A000200010065-4
- AAA 15 - 1 CHINA: COMMUNIST
Sept. 16, 1954
This -system of People's Congresses, which hasrbrought the people of the
whole country closely together, is the greatet guarantee for the building
of a prosperous and happy Socialist State.
The development of a People's democratic r
5 years is. prominently featured in today
functions of People's Congresses and Peo
rural areas are carried. A sketch in the
percent of China's population took part
Interviews with individual deputies to
cover two entire pages of the supplem
e in China during the past
ress. Many articles on the
to Government in urban and
OPTE'S DAILY shows that 85.88
n elections at the lowest level.
he National People's Congress
in today's Peking DAILY.
The PEOPLE'S DAILY brings news of vi' ory in the battle against the
highest water level in 100 years al ` g the middle reaches of the Yangtze
River. In a message to the Central ople's Government, the river fighters
guarding the 133-kilometer-long dangerous section along the Yangtze
River above the Tungting Lake, rep' t that the industrial city of
Wuhan and the life and property of, illions of people living in this low-
l
ying area arf
e now sae.
The Peking DAILY WORKER reports gat the No. 1 Steel Smelting Plant of the
Anshan Iron and Steel Company is, eing reconstructed. When completed
it will become.a modern plant e ipped with automatic devices, and
the output of steel is expected o increase considerably.
A dispatch from the Northeast ''Ping center of Penki says that a new
coal pit is due to be opened a and Oct. 1.
The Peking DAILY WORKER also jns a column describing China's biggest
department store, the No. 1 S 'te-owned Department Store in Shanghai.
Its daily customers add up to round 100,000 the paper reports, but
many more turn up on Sundays ;'d holidays. Total sales this year
In another editorial on fore
Soviet proposal of Sept. 10
discuss the German question
security in Europe is in the
declares that the rejection
EDC Treaty is a heavy blow to
This paper also carries an
in the past 10 years, in h
other fields.
n news, the PEOPLE'S DAILY says that the
fling for a four-power conference to
d the establishment of a system of collective
nterests of the people of Europe. It
the French National Assembly of the
the American aggressive bloc.
title on some of Albania's achievements
industry, agriculture, and cultural and
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 SO0527A000200010065-4
 Approved For Reldase 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 S00527A00Q200010065-4
- AAA 17 - CHINA: COYL14IUNIST
Sept. 16, 1954
Liu Shao-chi described the adoption of the Constitution as the
primary task of the present session of the Congress and a great
historic event in the life of the Nation. The Draft Constitution
would become the fundamental law of the State after adoption by the
present session, he said.
The Committee for the Drafting of the Constitution, headed by Comrade
Mao Tse-tung, had been formed in January 1953 by the Central People's
Government Council. In March this year the Committee had received
a Draft Constitution from the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China. After thorough discussion for 2 months by 8,000
representatives of democrattc parties, popular organizations, and others,
a draft had been published for public discussion on July 14.
The present amended draft now before the session of the Congress was
the result of more than 2 months of keen Nationwide discussion in which
150 million people participated and took into consideration the
numerous proposals and amendments that had been sent in and had
been approved by the Central People's Government Council on Sept. 9.
Liu Shao-chi first outlined the historic significance of the Draft
Constitution.
The Draft Constitution, he said, rested on the foundation of the complete
victory won by the Chinese people in their prolonged struggle against
imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. It rested on the
firm establishment of the People's democratic State led by the working
class and based on the worker-peasant alliance. It rested on the
powerful Socialist economy which is playing a leading role in China's
economic life, and the fact that theprocess of transformation has begun
in the gradual transition toward Socialism. Based on these facts, Liu
Shao-chi went on, China's Constitution was a Socialist, not a bourgeois
type of constitution.
The Present Draft Constitution embodied the historical experience both
of the Chinese people's revolutionary struggle and the constitutional
movement of China in the modern period. It embodied the interests and will
of the Chinese people and of the great changes in the country. It also
drew from the experience of other countries, especially from that
of the Soviet Union and the People's Democracies.
The struggle between revolution and counterrevolution had never ceased
during the past 100 years or more. It was reflected, on the question
of the State system, in three different constitutional forms demanded by
three different social forces.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 SO0527A000200010065-4
 Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 S00527A0002MO10065-4
- AAA 18 - CRJA: COMB UNZST
Sept. 16, 1954
Page 2--First, there had been the bogus constitutions drawn up by
the rulers of the Manchu Dynasty, the northern warlords and the
Chiang Kai-shek Kuomintang, who were opposed even to bourgeois democracy
and never really wanted a constitution, When these were on their
last legs, they schemed to save themselves with the help of such bogus
constitutions. They failed. and all their "constitutions" became mere
scraps of paper.
Secondly, as regards the. constitution of a bourgeois democratic republic
which the Chinese national bourgeoisie in past years used to yearn for,
Liu Shao-chi said that no such constitution had ever been established in
China except for the provisional constitution that arose out of the 1911
revolution. This was immediately scrapped by warlord Yuan Shih-kai.
Many nations did become bourgeois republics after throwing off
feudalism, Liu Shao-chi pointed out. However, this was a mere illusion in
semicolonial and semifeudal China because the Chinese bourgeoisie was
unable to lead the people to defeat the combined forces of foreign
imperialism and domestic reactionaries.
Thirdly, there is the constitution of a people's republic, led by
the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance, which
the present session of the National People's Congress had before it for
enactment, This democratic and Socialist constitution conformed to the
interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. It
would be the only genuine constitution China had ever had, Liu Shao-chi
stated,
The Draft Constitution also summed up the new historical experiences
since the founding of the People's Republic of China 5 years ago, during
which period the common program adopted by the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference in 1949 acted as a provisional constitution.
In these 5 years, China had ended her former position as a colony or
vassal state under the rule of foreign imperialism, and because an
independent State. She had emerged as a great power in the world.
Together with the Soviet Union and the People's Democracies, she
had become a bulwark in the defense of world peace. She had put an end
to feudalism and long years of chaos and had achieved unprecedented
unification over the entire mnainland and unity among the nationalities.
Where before the people had no political power, now in the main democracy
had been built up. In 5 years, China had rehabilitated a national
economy ruined by the imperialists and the Kuomintang reactionaries
and started Socialist construction, thanks to the enthusiasm and
initiative of the people and to the assistance of her great ally, the
Soviet Union.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4
 Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4
- AAA 1 CHINA: COMMUNIST
Sept. 16, 1;51
Page 3--The great changes during the past 5 years provided a vivid
answer to a fundamental and repeatedly debated question in modern
China--which way to go, capitalism or Socialism? The past 5 years had
provided that the'only correct road forward for China was to attain
Socialism--in which the economy is single and unified--from the present
society, in which the economic structure was complicated, Liu Shao-chi
stated.
In fact, China had entered on the road to Socialism and as from 1553 had
entered into planned economic construction, with Socialism as the objective.
Therefore it was necessary to take a step forward, on the basis of the
common program, and make a constitution to affirm in legal form the central
task of the State during the transitional period, which called for the
step-by-step Socialist industrialization of the country, the gradual
Socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist
industry and commerce.
Liu Shao-chi then gave some explanation of the basic content of the Draft
Constitution.
On the character of the State in China, Liu Shao-chi said the fact that
it was led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance
indicated that China was a country of people's democracy in which the
overwhelming majority were the true masters of the State, in sharp
contrast with capitalist countries, in which the ruling bourgeoisie
formed only a minority.
He described the broad people's democratic united front in China, and stressed
the continuous strengthening of the worker-peasant alliance which also
included the alliance with individual handicraftsmen and other
individuals engaged in nonagricultural labor. This was the basic
guarantee for the successful leadership of the working class, he said.
The People's Democratic United Front, he added, led by the working class
and composed of all democratic classes, democratic parties and people's
organizations--based on and broader than the worker-peasant alliance--
was playing an important role in China's transition period to Socialism.
Liu Shao-chi said that a national bourgeoisie continued to exist in
China during the transition period. But due to the specific historical
conditions of China's oppression by foreign imperialism, there hay:
been not only struggle but also alliance between the working class
and the national bourgeoisie. The State also united patriotic people
of all other class forms in society, especially those of the various
national minorities.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4
 Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4
- AAA 20 - CHINA: COMMUNIST
Sept. 15, 1;54
The great revolutionary unity of the entire Chinese people, led by the
working class, Liu Shao-chi pointed out, was necessary not only to the
Chinese People's Revolution, but also to the realization of Socialism
since imperialism still existed. Our Constitution must therfore be one
,or the great unity of the people of the entire country in building a
Socialist society, Liu Shao-chi declared.
Dealing with the problem of building a Socialist society in a peaceful
manner, Liu Shao-chi enumerated the forms through which Socialist trans-
formation would be carried out. The cooperatives--a partial collective
ownership by the working people--was the main form of Socialist
transformation of agriculture and handicrafts, while capitalist industry
and commerce were being transformed through State capitalism.
Liu Shao-chi pointed out that as distinct from the capitalist countries,
in China Socialist revolution could be achieved not through the overthrow
of the capitalist State system but through step-by-step Socialist
transformation. This was because China was a people's democratic
country led by the working class, because the Socialist economy owned
by the State had already become the leading force and the capitalist
sector was not dominant in the national economy.
Liu Shao-chi particularly referred to the Socialist transformation of
capitalist industry and commerce that would take place step by step
over a considerable period through the-various forms of State capitalism.
Any member of the national 'bourgeoisie world have appropriate work, and
the livelihood and work of any member of the national bourgeoisie who was
willing to accept the Socialist transformation, observe the laws, and not
undermine the people's property would be appropriately arranged by the
State. They would not be deprived of their political rights.
Our policy and methods in building Socialism were perfectly correct, Liu
Shao-chi said, referring to the clamor by China's enemies, who had a?great
dislike for her Socialist principles, and the disappointment..of sections
of the foreign capitalist press that China had taken the road traversed
by the Soviet Union--the road that all human societies would inevitably
take according to the laws of historical development.
Liu Shao-chi next spoke on the Chinese people's democratic political
system and the rights and duties of the people.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4
 Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 SO0527A000200010065-4
- AAA 21 - CHINA: CON CHIST
Sept. 1E, 195+
The people's congress system was the political syzter which conformed
to the nature of the State. The Draft Constitution stipulated that
all State organs, from the State Council to the Local People's
Councils at the lowest level, were established, supervised, or removed
from'office where necessary by the National People's Congress or the
Local People's Congresses elected by the people.
The Standing Committee elected by the National People's Congress and'the
chairman of the People's Republic of China would jointly
perform the function and exercise the power of the head of the State,
but neither of them had powers above those of the National People's
Congress.
Important State affairs were not decided by a single individual or a
few individuals. Important affairs affecting the whole Nation had to be
discussed and decided upon by the National People's Congress, or its
Standing Committee, and important local affairs had to be discussed
and decided upon by the Local People's Congresses.
China's political system had a high degree of centralization, Liu
Shao-chi stated, but it was based on a high degree of democracy.
Criticizing some foreign bourgeois press comments on the Draft
Constitution, he said these people measured China's political system
by bourgeois standards and missed the biggest and most fundamental point--
the fact that the Chinese people, led by the working class, had become
the masters in their country.
Liu Shao-chi enumerated freedom of speech, the press, assembly,
association, procession, and demonstration, enjoyed by the Chinese people
and materially facilitated by the State as established in the Draft
Constitution, in addition to a number of other rights including the
freedom of religious belief. The broad masses of the people in any
capitalist countries, he said, had not enjoyed and could not enjoy such
broad individual freedom as the Chinese people enjoy.
Our State gives every consideration to individual interests, he went on;
the public interests of our State and society cannot diverge from
individual interests. The State also gave every protection to the public
interests of the country and society, which were the very foundation on
which to satisfy the individual interests of the masses of the
people.
On the duties of the people, he said that the Chinese people have both
full democratic power and full obligations toward the State.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61 SO0527A000200010065-4
 Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4
- AAA 22 - CHINA: CONYIUNIST
Sept. 10, 155+
Page 5--Liu Shao-chi then noted that the age-old system of national
oppression had been abolished. Since the founding of the People's
Republic of China, China had become a great family of free and equal
nationalities, he declared.
The Draft Constitution reflected the common interests of all the nationalities
in China. It stated that China was a unified, multinational State and that
all the areas of national autonomy were inseparable parts of the People's
Republic of China.
The Draft Constitution also insured that all the national minorities
were genuinely able to exercise their right of autonomy wherever they
li;e in numbers.
Liu Shao-chi emphatically pointed out that the Han nationality, who were
more advanced than the other nationalities in political, economic, and
cultural development, had the special obligation of helping the
development of the fraternal nationalities.
Building a Socialist society was the common objective o; all nationalities
of China, he went on. In v,,riew of the different historical conditions of
the nationalities, the question o" when and how the Socialist transforma-
tion would be carried out would vary. The people of the various nationalities
must ':.e free to follow their own desires in making their decisions, he
stressed.
The Constitution, reflecting the experience and aspirations of the
people would be a great, active factor in the life of the Chinese
state, Liu Shao-chi stated. It would be an inspiration to the mass of
the people in their struggle to safeguard and develop the fruits of
China's victory, to smash all schemes of enemies who attempted to under-
mine China's social and State systems, and to strive for making China's
construction more perfect and quickening its tempo.
Liu Shao-chi said that the passage of the Constitution would bring joy to
the Chinese people and to China's friends throughout the world.e
Constitution established China's fundamental policy in international
affairs as that of working for the cause of world peace and the progress
of humanity.
What China had achieved and would achieve would be helpful to the common
cause for peace and progress of the people of the world, Liu Shao-chi
said, and to strive for lasting world peace was a necessary condition for
China's Socialist construction.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP61S00527A000200010065-4