Telegram to Liu Shaoqi and the Central Committee Concerning the Work Plan of the Constitution Drafting Group (January 15, 1954)

Comrade Shaoqi and fellow members of the Central Committee:  The Constitution Drafting Group began work on the constitutional draft on January 9. The plan is as follows:

(1) To strive to complete a preliminary draft of the Constitution by January 31 and immediately submit this draft to all members of the Central Committee for their review.

(2) To arrange for a second reading of the preliminary draft in the first half of February, with the participation of Comrades Deng Xiaoping and Li Weihan[1]. Thereafter, it will be put before the Politburo (and all Central Committee members then in Beijing) for discussion and initial approval.

(3) In early March, the draft will be submitted to the Constitution Drafting Committee for deliberation; deliberations are to be completed and the draft preliminarily approved within March.

(4) During April, the Constitution Drafting Group will again examine and revise the draft, then present it once more to the Politburo for discussion, after which it will be submitted to the Constitution Drafting Committee for adoption.

(5) On May 1, the Constitution Drafting Committee will publish the constitutional draft and place it before the people of the whole country for four months’ discussion, so that, based on public opinion, any necessary amendments may be made by September and the draft then submitted to the National People’s Congress for final adoption.

In order to facilitate discussion by the Politburo in February, it is requested that all members of the Politburo and all Central Committee members then in Beijing, from now on, set aside time to read the following principal reference documents:

(1) The 1936 Soviet Constitution and Stalin’s report thereto (available as a separate publication);

(2) The 1918 Constitution of Soviet Russia (see Volume I of the Compilation of Constitutional and Electoral Law Materials compiled by the General Office of the Government);

(3) The constitutions of Romania, Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and other countries (see the Collection of Constitutions of People’s Democratic States published by the People’s Publishing House; the constitutions included therein are largely similar, with the Romanian and Polish versions chosen for their relative novelty, and the German and Czech versions selected for their greater detail and distinctive features; if time permits, further study of other texts is also desirable);

(4) The 1913 Tian Tan Draft Constitution, the 1923 Cao Kun Constitution, and the 1946 Chiang Kai-shek Constitution (see Volume III of the Compilation of Constitutional and Electoral Law Materials, which represent three types: the cabinet system, the system of federated provincial autonomy, and presidential dictatorship);

(5) The French Constitution of 1946 (see Volume IV of the Compilation of Constitutional and Electoral Law Materials, which exemplifies a relatively progressive and comprehensive bourgeois parliamentary constitution).

Please communicate any comments you may have.

Mao Zedong  January 15, 1954  Printed from the telegram manuscript as reviewed and approved by Mao Zedong.

Notes  [1] Deng Xiaoping was at that time Vice Premier of the Government Administration Council. Li Weihan was then Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. Both were members of the Constitution Drafting Committee of the People’s Republic of China.