Annotations and Revisions to Liu Shaoqi’s
“Report on the Draft Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (Draft)”
(September 1954)
This document, after being reviewed by Comrade Chen Boda, should be forwarded to Comrade Liu Shaoqi:
Some further revisions have been made2). Please review and consider them. I plan to discuss this matter tonight.
Mao Zedong
4:00 A.M., September 13th
The Xinhai Revolution deeply rooted the idea of a democratic republic in the hearts of the people, leading to universal recognition that any
Chen Boda,
who at the time served as Deputy Minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Drafting Committee for the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.
[2]
From September 7 to 15, 1954, Mao Zedong made numerous revisions to Liu Shaoqi’s draft report on the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. Six relatively complete sets of these revisions are included in this text.

Annotations and Revisions to Liu Shaoqi’s “Report on the Draft Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (Draft)”
speech or action that violates this principle is illegal. However, the revolutionary forces of that time had their shortcomings. They lacked a thorough program against imperialism and feudalism, and they failed to broadly mobilize and organize the popular masses upon whom they could rely.
Consequently, they were unable to achieve a decisive victory over imperialism and feudalism. Ultimately, the revolution collapsed, and the reactionary forces led by Yuan Shikai seized state power.
Among the successive reactionary governments that ruled China, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist regime was the last. It never desired a constitution. Yet, even in its dying days, it attempted to save itself with a bogus constitution. This sham charter met with staunch opposition from the Communist Party of China, all democratic parties, and the Chinese people. As with previous reactionary regimes, less than three years after Chiang Kai-shek promulgated his fake constitution, his rule was completely overthrown.
Meanwhile, counterrevolutionary parties such as the Youth Party and the Social Nationalist Party, which supported this spurious constitution, were likewise spurned by the populace. All representatives present here clearly recall this episode.
Four
Currently, U.S. imperialism still occupies Taiwan, while Chiang Kai-shek’s traitorous clique continues to wreak havoc there and constantly plots to return to the mainland. The resurgence of reactionaries remains a real and pressing danger. To underestimate this threat would be a grave mistake.

Five
During our country’s transitional period, the people’s democratic united front—led by the working class and comprising various democratic classes, democratic parties, and mass organizations—plays a crucial role. This united front is based on the worker-peasant alliance yet extends beyond it; it represents an alliance between the laboring people and those non-laboring elements with whom cooperation is possible.
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Imperialists and Chiang Kai-shek’s traitorous clique in Taiwan strongly oppose our socialist construction and launch daily attacks against us. Is there anything surprising about this? The very fact that they do so proves we are on the right path.
Certain foreign bourgeois newspapers expressed disappointment upon discovering that the course outlined in our constitutional draft “is precisely the path taken by the Soviet Union.” Indeed, the path we are following is the same one the Soviets have trod, and there can be no doubt about this. The Soviet path conforms to the laws of historical development and constitutes the inevitable route for human society. There is no escaping it. We have always regarded Marxism-Leninism as a universal truth.
To undermine our socialist cause, cunning enemies have also deliberately recruited individuals—such as Trotskyist and Chen Duxiu adherents—who masquerade as “leftists” while attacking the specific steps and measures of our socialist transformation. They claim that our efforts are “not thorough enough,” “too compromising,” or “deviating from Marxism.” Their aim is to confuse public opinion. They seek to rupture our alliance with the national bourgeoisie and immediately expropriate them. They also criticize our agricultural policies as “too slow,” urging us to break our unity with the peasantry. Are not all these assertions sheer nonsense? If we were to act according to their advice, only imperialists and Chiang Kai-shek’s traitors would rejoice.

Seven
The reason our state can safeguard the freedom and rights of every citizen is, of course, determined by our national and social systems. The masses in any capitalist country neither possess nor could ever possess the extensive personal freedoms enjoyed by the Chinese people.
In 1954, Mao Zedong was in Beijing.