The First All-China Soviet Congress hereby proclaims before the toiling masses of China and of the whole world this Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic which recites the basic tasks to be accomplished throughout all China.
          The accomplishment of these tasks has already begun in the existing Soviet districts. But the First All-China Soviet Congress holds that the complete realization of these tasks can come only after the overthrow of the rule of imperialism and the KMT and the establishment of the rule of the Soviet Republic throughout all China. Then alone will this outline Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic find more concrete application and become a more detailed constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic.
          The First All-China Soviet Congress calls upon all Chinese workers, peasants, and toilers to proceed to struggle, under the guidance of the provisional government of the Soviet Republic, for the realization of these basic tasks:

          1.   It shall be the mission of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic to guarantee the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry in the Soviet districts, and to secure the triumph of the dictatorship throughout the whole of China. It shall be the aim of this dictatorship to destroy all feudal remnants, eliminate the influence of the imperialist powers in China, to unite China, to limit systematically the development of capitalism, to carry out economic reconstruction of the state, to promote the class-consciousness and solidarity of the proletariat, and to rally to its banner the broad masses of poor peasants in order to effect the transition to the dictatorship of the proletariat.
          2.   The Chinese Soviet régime is setting up a state based on the democratic dictatorship of the workers and peasants. All power of the Soviet shall belong to the workers, peasants, and Red Army soldiers and the entire toiling population. Under the Soviet régime the workers, peasants, Red Army soldiers, and the entire toiling population shall have the right to elect their own deputies to give effect to their power. Only militarists, bureaucrats, landlords, the gentry, t’u-hao [village bosses], monks—all exploiting and counter-revolutionary elements—shall be deprived of the right to elect deputies to participate in the government and to enjoy political freedom.
          3.   In the Chinese Soviet Republic supreme power shall be vested in the All-China Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, and {221} Soldiers’ Deputies. In between Congresses, the supreme organ of power shall be the All-China CEC of the Soviets; the CEC shall appoint a Council of People’s Commissars, which shall conduct all governmental affairs, and promulgate orders and resolutions.
          4.   All workers, peasants, Red Army soldiers, and all toilers and their families, without distinction of sex, religion, or nationality (Chinese, Manchurians, Mongolians, Moslems, Tibetans, Miao, Li as well as all Koreans, Formosans, Annamites, etc., living in China) shall be equal before the Soviet law, and shall be citizens of the Soviet Republic. In order that the workers, peasants, soldiers, and toiling masses may actually hold the reins of power, the following regulations concerning Soviet elections shall be established: All the abovementioned Soviet citizens who shall have attained the age of sixteen shall be entitled to vote and to be voted for in the elections of the Soviets. [They] shall elect deputies to all congresses of workers, peasants, and soldiers (Soviets); they shall discuss and decide all national and local political questions. The method of electing deputies [is as follows]. The workers shall elect their deputies in the factories; the artisans, peasants, and urban poor shall elect deputies according to their place of residence. Deputies to the local Soviets shall be elected by these basic units (i.e. factory districts) for a definite term; they shall participate in the work of one of the organizations or commissions attached to the town or village Soviets and shall periodically submit reports to their electors concerning their activities. The electors shall have the right at all times to recall their deputies and demand new elections. Since only the proletariat can lead the broad masses to socialism, the Chinese Soviet régime grants special rights to the proletariat in the elections to the Soviets by allowing it a greater number of deputies.
          5.   It shall be the purpose of the Soviet régime to improve thoroughly the living conditions of the working class, to pass labour legislation, to introduce the eight-hour working day, to fix a minimum wage, and to institute social insurance and state assistance to the unemployed as well as to grant the workers the right to supervise production.
          6.   In setting itself the task of abolishing feudalism and radically improving the living conditions of the peasants, the Soviet régime of China shall pass a land law, and shall order the confiscation of the land of all landlords and its distribution among the poor and middle peasants, with a view to the ultimate nationalization of the land.
          7.   It shall be the purpose of the Soviet régime of China to defend {222} the interests of the workers and peasants and restrict the development of capitalism, with a view to liberating the toiling masses from capitalist exploitation and leading them to the socialist order of society. [The Soviet government of China] shall announce the abolition of all burdensome taxation and miscellaneous levies introduced during the counter-revolutionary régime and shall put into effect a single progressive income tax. It shall harshly suppress all attempts at wrecking and sabotage on the part of either native or foreign capitalists; it shall pursue an economic policy which shall be beneficial to the workers and peasant masses, which shall be understood by these masses and which shall lead to socialism.
          8.   The Soviet régime of China shall set itself the goal of freeing China from the yoke of imperialism. It shall declare the complete sovereignty and independence of the Chinese people, shall refuse to recognize any political or economic privileges for the imperialists in China, and shall abolish all unequal treaties and foreign loans contracted by the counter-revolutionary governments. No foreign imperialist troops, whether land, sea, or air, shall be allowed to be stationed on any territory of the Chinese Soviets. All concessions or territories leased by the imperialists in China shall be unconditionally returned to China. All custom houses, railways, steamship companies, mining enterprises, factories, etc., in the hands of the imperialists shall be confiscated and nationalized. It shall be permissible for foreign enterprises to renew their leases (for their various businesses) and to continue production, provided they shall fully comply with the laws of the Soviet government.
          9.   The Soviet government of China will do its utmost to bring about the culmination of the workers’ and peasants’ revolution in its final victory throughout the whole of China. It declares that it is incumbent upon the entire toiling masses to participate in the revolutionary class struggle. The gradual introduction of universal military service and the change from voluntary to compulsory military service shall be worked out especially. The right to bear arms in defence of the revolution shall be granted only to workers, peasants, and the toiling masses; all counter-revolutionary and exploiting elements must be completely disarmed.
          10.  The Soviet government of China guarantees to the workers, peasants, and toilers freedom of speech and the press as well as the right to assembly; it will be opposed to bourgeois and landlord democracy, but is in favour of the democracy of the workers and peasant masses. It breaks down the economic and political prerogatives of {223} the bourgeoisie and the landlords, in order to remove all obstacles placed by the reactionaries on the workers’ and peasants’ road to freedom. The workers, peasants, and toiling masses shall enjoy the use of printing shops, meeting halls, and similar establishments by the power of a people’s régime, as a material basis for the realization of these rights and liberties. Furthermore, under the Soviet régime, all propaganda and other similar activities by reactionaries shall be suppressed and all exploiters be deprived of all political liberties.
          11.  It is the purpose of the Soviet government of China to guarantee the thorough emancipation of women; it recognizes freedom of marriage and will put into operation various measures for the protection of women, to enable women gradually to attain to the material basis required for their emancipation from the bondage of domestic work, and to give them the possibility of participating in the social, economic, political, and cultural life of the entire society.
          12.  The Soviet government of China shall guarantee to all workers, peasants, and the toiling masses the right to education. The Soviet government will, as far as the conditions of internal revolutionary war allow, begin at once to introduce free universal education. Above all, the Soviet government shall defend the interests of labouring youth and give them every opportunity of participating in the political and cultural revolutionary life with a view to developing new social forces.
          13.  The Soviet government of China guarantees true religious freedom to the workers, peasants, and the toiling population. Adhering to the principle of the complete separation of church and state, the Soviet state neither favours nor grants any financial assistance to any religion whatsoever. All Soviet citizens shall enjoy the right to engage in anti-religious propaganda. No religious institution of the imperialists shall be allowed to exist unless it shall comply with Soviet law.
          14.  The Soviet government of China recognizes the right of self-determination of the national minorities in China, their right to complete separation from China, and to the formation of an independent state for each national minority. All Mongolians, Tibetans, Miao, Yao, Koreans, and others living on the territory of China shall enjoy the full right to self-determination, i.e. they may either join the Union of Chinese Soviets or secede from it and form their own state as they may prefer. The Soviet régime of China will do its utmost to assist the national minorities in liberating themselves from the yoke of imperialists, the KMT militarists, t’u-ssu [tribal headmen], the princes, lamas, and others, and in achieving complete freedom and autonomy. The Soviet régime must encourage the development of {224} the national cultures and of the respective national languages of these peoples.
          15.  The Chinese régime offers asylum to Chinese and foreign revolutionaries persecuted for their revolutionary activities; it will assist and lead them in recovering their strength so that they may fight with increased vigour for the victory of the revolution.
          16.  All foreign toilers living in districts under the jurisdiction of the Soviet régime shall enjoy equal rights as stipulated by Soviet law.
          17.  The Soviet régime of China declares its readiness to form a united revolutionary front with the world proletariat and all oppressed nations, and proclaims the Soviet Union, the land of proletarian dictatorship, to be its loyal ally.
 
 

          The peasant struggle launched under the leadership of the proletariat continues to develop and each day rises to new heights. Despite the violent resistance of the imperialists and militarists, the Soviet movement grows and expands. In one area after another the Chinese peasantry, armed and organized in the ranks of the Red Army, casts off the centuries-old yoke of feudal barons and landlords, the t’u-hao [village bosses] and the gentry; it confiscates and redistributes the land of these oppressors; it demolishes the feudal order of society, destroys the power of the KMT, and builds up the workers’ and peasants’ Soviet régime – a régime which will consistently and finally accomplish tasks in the anti-imperialist and agrarian revolutions.
          The First All-China Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, and Soldiers’ Deputies ratifies the confiscation of the lands of the landlords and of other big private landowners. In order to establish uniform regulations for the confiscation and distribution of land, the First [All-China Soviet] Congress, in defence of the interests of the basic peasant masses and in order to safeguard the further development of the revolution, has passed the following agrarian law which will best secure the solution of the agrarian question.
          Article 1: All the lands of the feudal landlords, t’u-hao, gentry, militarists and other big private landowners, shall be subject to confiscation without any compensation whatever, irrespective of whether they themselves work their lands or rent them out on lease. The Soviets will distribute the confiscated lands among the poor and middle peasants. The former owners of confiscated lands shall not be entitled to receive any land allotment. Hired farm hands, coolies, and {225} toiling labourers shall enjoy equal rights to land allotments, irrespective of sex. Independent workers living in villages who have lost their previous work shall likewise be entitled to a portion of the land, subject to the consent of the peasant masses. Aged persons, orphans, and widows, who are not in a position to work and who have no relatives on whom to depend, shall be given social relief by the Soviet government, or be taken care of after the land redistribution.
          Article 2: The Red Army is the front rank fighter in the defence of the Soviet government and in the overthrow of the rule of imperialism and the government of landlords and capitalists. Therefore, each Red Army man must be given a plot of land, and the Soviet government must see to it that his land is tilled, whether or not his home is in the Soviet district or in an area ruled by the reactionaries.
          Article 3: It is a peculiar feature of the Chinese rich peasant that he is at one and the same time a landowner and a usurer; therefore, his land shall also be subject to confiscation. If a rich peasant, after his land has been confiscated, does not participate in any counterrevolutionary activities and works his land by the use of his own labour power, he may be assigned land, but not of the best quality.
          Article 4: All the property and lands of all counter-revolutionary organizations and of the military organizations of the white army, as well as of the active participants in counter-revolution, shall be confiscated. However, exceptions to this rule shall be permitted in the case of poor and middle peasants who have been drawn into the struggle against the Soviets because of their ignorance. [These] shall be granted pardons by the local Soviets, but their leaders shall without fail be dealt with according to the provision of the present law.
          Article 5: The First [All-China Soviet] Congress recognizes the principle that an egalitarian distribution of land is the most thorough method of destroying all feudal agrarian relations and the shackles of the private ownership of land by the landlords. However, the local Soviet governments shall on no account carry out this measure by force or by an order issued by higher authorities, but shall explain this procedure to the peasantry from every angle. This measure may be put into operation only with the direct support and at the desire of the basic masses of the peasantry. Thus, if the majority of the middle peasants so desire, they may [be allowed] not to participate in the redistribution [of land].
          Article 6: All lands belonging to religious institutions or to temples and all other public lands shall be unconditionally delivered into the {226} possession of the peasants by the Soviet government. However, in disposing of these lands, it shall be essential to obtain the voluntary support of the peasants, so that their religious feelings may not be offended.
          Article 7: The well-to-do peasantry seek to have the land distributed according to the means of production. The First [All-China Soviet] Congress considers this to be a counter-revolutionary effort on the part of the rich peasants to hinder the development of the agrarian revolution and to further their own ends, and it must be strictly prohibited. The local Soviets, in conformity with the local conditions in each village shall choose the method [of land division] most advantageous to the poor and middle peasants, i.e. either division on a mixed principle according to the number of consumer workers in each family, or division of the land among the middle and poor peasants, as well as hired farm hands, in equal portions according to the number of consumers, and among the rich peasants according to the labour power supplied by them (i.e. in localities where egalitarian distribution shall take place according to the number of consumers, every rich peasant capable of working shall receive as much land as is allotted to one consumer). In dividing up the land, not only the area of the land assigned but also the quality of its soil (especially its productivity) shall be taken into consideration. Furthermore, in dividing up the land it shall be essential to introduce all possible land reforms in order to create the necessary conditions for destroying feudal remnants like state-owned uncultivated land, scattered land holdings, or demarcating lines running across fields.
 

1. The Present Situation and the Success of the Soviet Movement

          Comrades! Two years have elapsed since the meeting of the First All-China Soviet Congress. The events of the past two years have shown a further decline in imperialist-KMT rule and a vigorous and triumphant development of the Soviet movement.
          We have now arrived at an era when the Chinese revolution has taken a more acute turn and when the whole world is itself passing through a transitory period leading to a second, new phase of war and revolution.... As part, of the general world revolution, the Chinese revolution has further deepened due to the growing national crisis, the collapse of the {227} KMT economy, and the success of the Soviet movement, thus pushing the Chinese revolution into the very foreground of the world revolution.
          The key factors in the present Chinese situation are: widespread civil war; a life-and-death struggle between revolution and counterrevolution; a sharp antagonism between the Soviet régime of workers and peasants and the landlord-bourgeois KMT régime; the struggle for national salvation by the Chinese people against the partition schemes of the Japanese and other imperialists; and, finally, the struggle between the imperialists who are actively preparing for a Pacific war and an attack on the Soviet Union, and the toiling masses of China and the East to prevent an imperialist war and to protect the Soviet Union....
          The growing contrast between the two régimes [i.e. the Soviet and the KMT] cannot but lead the desperate struggle between them to assume more and more violent forms. The decisive, historical stage of the struggle is now drawing near. Now that five “suppression” campaigns have ended in failure, the KMT is launching its sixth campaign against us. Accordingly, the Soviet régime is now faced with the historic task of organizing and leading all of the revolutionary masses both in the Soviet districts and other parts of the country to fight in this decisive war; of mobilizing the broad worker-peasant masses to join the Red Army; of improving the political education and technical level of the Red Army; of enlarging the local armed forces and guerrilla units; of developing extensive guerrilla warfare; of strengthening, concentrating, and unifying leadership of the Soviet [central government] over the Red Armies in all Soviet districts; increasing the tempo and improving the quality of Soviet work in every field; of strengthening the financial and economic activities of the Soviet government to assure the filling of the material needs of our revolutionary war; of developing the class struggle among the working masses; of organizing the revolutionary enthusiasm of the working masses into a struggle to smash the enemy; of developing the agrarian struggle of the peasants; of mobilizing the broad peasant masses to fight for the acquisition and protection of the land; finally, calling upon all proletarian, peasant, and labouring masses of the Soviet districts and throughout China to fight to the utmost and at all costs in the revolutionary war. This is the way to smash the sixth offensive of the imperialists and the KMT, to save China from being colonized, and to attain victory in the Soviet revolution on a national scale. {228}

2. The imperialist aggression and the Soviet government leadership in the anti-imperialist movement

          The greatest events which have transpired in China since the inauguration of the Provisional Soviet Central government have been the attacks of the imperialists and the fourth, fifth, and sixth “surrounding-and-exterminating” offensives [of the KMT] waged upon the revolution by counter-revolutionaries....
          In the past two years the Provisional Soviet Central government has repeatedly circulated statements denouncing the predatory wars waged by the Japanese imperialists and the traitorous capitulation of the KMT. On April 14, 1932, the Provisional Central government formally declared war on Japan, issued mobilization orders for war against Japan, and called on the whole nation to wage a national revolutionary war and to oppose the imperialists and the KMT who are now enslaving China. The Provisional Central government and the Revolutionary Military Council have more than once announced their readiness to conclude an agreement with any armed unit for a joint anti-Japanese and anti-imperialist military fight on the following conditions: (1) Immediate cessation of the offensive against the Soviet districts. (2) Guarantee of civil rights for the masses such as freedoms of speech, of publication, of assembly, of association and freedom to strike. (3) Arming of the masses and creation of anti-Japanese volunteers. The T’ang-ku Agreement concluded between the KMT and Japan [May 30, 1933], and direct negotiations between China and Japan which have taken place since then are actions betraying the national interest and repeatedly repudiated by the Provisional Central government on behalf of the whole nation in statements recently made public. The Soviet government has supported the anti-Japanese struggle of the masses in every part of the country. To speak only of the anti-Japanese strike of the textile workers in West Shanghai [1932], the Soviet aided them with $16,000 [Chinese currency]. In addition, the masses of the Soviet districts have also made contributions to the Volunteers in the North-eastern Provinces as well as to the [participants in the] other anti-imperialist struggles.
          In the Soviet territories, imperialist privileges have been abolished and imperialist influence wiped out. Imperialist Protestant pastors and Catholic priests have been ousted by the masses; estates of the people seized by imperialist missionaries have been returned; {229} missionary schools have been turned into Soviet schools. In short, the Soviet districts in China are the only ones liberated from the imperialist yoke....

4. Fundamental Policies of the Soviet in the Past Two Years ... 

          The Soviet régime has grown out of guerrilla warfare and from many isolated and small districts beyond the boundaries of which lies the world of the enemy. The enemy has been bent on its efforts to effect destruction and oppression of the Soviet areas. Yet the Soviet government has been victorious. It has been able to defeat the enemy and has gathered strength through its repeated victories over the enemy. This has been the environment in which the Soviet areas have developed....
          This very environment has determined the tasks of the Soviet. It must do its best to mobilize, organize, and arm the masses, to attack the enemy without let-up, and to crush the enemy’s offensive. Its task is to wage revolutionary war, to concentrate all of its strength on the development of the revolutionary war which will crush the enemy and overthrow the imperialist rule that has acted as the supporter and director of the dictatorship of the enemy. Our aim in defeating imperialism and the KMT is to liberate the Chinese people, to emancipate the 400,000,000 Chinese from the slavery and oppression of the Japanese and other imperialists, to free the hundreds of millions of our toiling compatriots from the oppression of militarists, bureaucrats, gentry and landlord bourgeoisie, to enable the Chinese people to establish under the leadership of the CCP, a bright, happy new socialist society, following the example of the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union. This is the basic task of the Soviet areas.
          The various policies and activities can be understood only in terms of this environment and these goals. They are: to consolidate the now already firmly established democratic dictatorship of workers and peasants; to expand this dictatorship to the whole country; to mobilize, organize, and arm the Soviet areas and the masses throughout the country to fight in a determined revolutionary war to overthrow the imperialist and KMT rule and to consolidate and develop the worker-peasant dictatorship; to prepare the present democratic dictatorship of workers and peasants for its turn towards the socialist proletarian dictatorship in the future. All these form the point of departure of the Soviet policies....
 

Struggle for the mobilization of all possible strength in order to win the victory of the war of resistance

          Sever diplomatic relations with Japan, expel Japanese officials from the country, arrest Japanese spies, confiscate the property of Japanese imperialists in China, repudiate Japanese loans, abrogate Japanese treaties, and take back Japanese concessions.
          Fight to the bitter end for the protection of North China and the coastal areas.
          Fight to the bitter end for the recovery of Peiping, Tientsin, and the north-eastern (provinces).
          Drive the Japanese imperialist out of China.
          Oppose any wavering or compromising.

          Mobilize the navy, army, and air forces of the whole nation to wage a national war of resistance.
          Oppose a passive, purely defensive strategy of resistance; adopt an active strategy of holding the initiative.
          Hold regular national defence conferences to discuss and decide on national defence plans and strategy.
          Arm the people and develop anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare to supplement the regular forces.
          Reform political work in the army to achieve cohesion and unanimity between commanders and fighters and between army and people. Develop the active enthusiasm of the troops.
          Render aid to the North-eastern People’s Revolutionary Army and the North-eastern Volunteer Army [anti-Japanese guerrilla forces, some led by CCP members]. Harass the enemy’s rear.
          Ensure equal treatment for all military units fighting in the war of resistance.
          Set up regional military zones over the whole country, mobilize {243} the whole populace to participate in the war, in order to transform the mercenary system of military service into a proper conscription (system).

          Everyone, except traitors, should have freedom of speech, publication, assembly, association, and of armed resistance in the anti-Japanese fight for national salvation.
          Abolish all old laws and regulations prohibiting patriotic popular movements and promulgate new, revolutionary laws and regulations. Release from prison all patriotic and revolutionary political prisoners and permit political parties to function.
          All the people of China should be mobilized and armed to participate in the war of resistance. Those who have strength should contribute their strength; those who have money, money; those who have weapons, weapons; and those who have knowledge, knowledge.
          Mobilize Mongolians, Moslems, and other minority groups for a common struggle against Japan on the basis of the principles of self-determination and self-government.

          Convene a National Assembly truly representative of the people; enact a truly democratic constitution; draft a programme for fighting against Japan and saving the nation; and elect a national defence government.
          The national defence government should contain the revolutionary elements of all parties, groups, and popular organizations, and should exclude pro-Japanese factions.
          The national defence government should adopt a system of democratic centralism which is democratic as well as centralized.
          The national defence government should carry out a revolutionary policy of fighting against Japan and saving the nation.
          Ensure local autonomy; oust corrupt officials and set up governments of integrity.

          Within the bounds of territorial integrity and national sovereignty, anti-aggression, and mutual assistance pacts should be concluded with all countries opposed to Japanese aggression.
          Support the peace camp and oppose the aggressors’ camp of Germany, Japan, and Italy. {244}
Fight against Japanese imperialism in alliance with the workers, peasants, and common people of Korea, Taiwan [Formosa], and Japan.

          Financial policy should be based on the principles of financial contributions by the wealthy and confiscation of traitors’ property for anti-Japanese expenditure. The principles underlying economic policy should be the reorganization and expansion of production for national defence, development of the rural economy, assuring the self-sufficiency in agricultural products during war-time, encouragement of national commodities [native products of China], improving the quality of native products, thorough elimination of Japanese goods from the market, punishment of traitorous merchants, and prevention of speculation and hoarding.

          Improve the treatment of workers, peasants, civil servants, teachers, and anti-Japanese soldiers.
          (Give) preferential treatment to the families of soldiers fighting against Japan.
          Abolish exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes [Tsa-shui, i.e. surtaxes of a burdensome and unreasonable nature].
          Reduce rent and interest rates.
          (Give) unemployment relief.
          Adjust foodstuff distribution (equitably).
          (Carry on) famine relief and rehabilitation.

          Change the old educational system and curriculum and institute a new system and curriculum with a view to fighting the Japanese and saving our country.
          Institute general, compulsory, and free education to raise the national consciousness of the people.
          Institute military training for students in the whole country.

          On the cornerstone of all-out co-operation between the KMT and {245} the CCP, build an anti-Japanese, national united front of all parties, groups, classes, and armies in the country to lead the fight against Japan and to cope with the national crisis by sincere unity.