Abstract:Whole-process people's democracy is a new concept with Chinese characteristics originating from China's practice, and it is also a vivid embodiment of the development of socialist democratic politics in contemporary China. Whether it is from the concept, or the enrichment of the connotation, as well as the promotion of practice, it is contained in the original achievements of the general secretary on the whole process of people's democracy. **The "four unifications", "three alls" and "three mosts" pointed out by the general secretary contain the connotation and characteristics of whole-process people's democracy, and guide us to decode the whole-process people's democracy from the four dimensions of concept, system, time and space.
Keywords: whole-process people's democracy; Idea; System; Time; Space.
First, from the concept of practicing the people-oriented value pursuit.
**The whole-process people's democracy proposed by the general secretary is a democracy with Chinese characteristics formed on the basis of absorbing and drawing on the people-oriented thought of the excellent traditional Chinese culture and the Marxist people-oriented theory, which is not only the latest interpretation of the theory and practice of China's socialist democracy, but also the transcendence of the theory and practice of Western-style democracy.
The whole-process people's democracy absorbs and draws on the people-oriented thinking of China's excellent traditional culture. Absorb and learn from people-oriented political thought. Whether it is "the people are only the state, the country is solid" in the "Book of Shang", or "the country is people-oriented, and the society is also established for the people" in Zhu Xi's "Notes on the Four Books and Chapters and Sentences", these all interpret the profound philosophy and truth of people-oriented, and the Communist Party of China, as a Xi-oriented political party, has always adhered to the concept of the supremacy of the people in social governance. As the general secretary emphasized in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China: "Whole-process people's democracy is the essential attribute of socialist democratic politics....Adhere to the dominant position of the people, fully embody the will of the people, protect the rights and interests of the people, and stimulate the people's creative vitality. "Absorb and learn from the political ideology of putting the people first. From ancient times to the present, the idea of the people as the nobility has become a social consensus, deeply imprinted into the concept of political governance, just as the "Mencius" advocated "the people are precious, the community is secondary, and the monarch is light", which fully embodies the core people-oriented concept of "the people are noble" and "the king is light". As the general secretary emphasized at the work conference of the National People's Congress: "The key to whether a country is democratic or not lies in whether the people are truly the masters of the country, whether the people have the right to vote, and whether the people have the right to participate extensively." "Absorb and learn from the political ideas of taking the people as a mirror. Only by taking the people as a mirror can we show the future, whether it is "people are not in the water prison, they should be in the people's prison" in the "Book of Shang"; Or in the "Tang Taizong Collection: Self-Appraisal Record", "The boat is better than the people, and the water is better than the Lishu." Water can carry the boat, but also can overturn the boat", these are inspired to the people as a mirror at all times, as the general secretary emphasized, "the times are the people who produce the papers, we are the respondents, and the people are the people who read the papers".
Whole-process people's democracy inherits and develops the Marxist people-oriented theory. Whole-process people's democracy is a new era of people's democracy created by the general secretary and the people of all ethnic groups across the country in the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the guidance of Marxist democratic theory, Lenin thought on democracy, and Lenin thought. First, it inherits the true connotation of Marx and Engels' people-oriented theory. The core connotation of Marxist people-oriented theory is to seek benefits for the vast majority of the people, which requires that "people's democracy" must be oriented to meet the democratic needs of the overwhelming majority of the people, and then ensure the original intention of the people to be the masters of the country. Just as the whole-process people's democracy embodies the "whole chain, all-round, full coverage". Second, it grasped the core essence of Lenin's people-oriented thought. Lenin's people-oriented thought pointed out the direction for socialist construction, clearly emphasizing the classic thesis that "without democracy, there can be no socialism", which not only embodies the fact that democracy is both a means and an end in promoting socialist construction, but also provides guidance for perfecting the whole process of people's democracy.
Second, a complete system and procedural arrangements have been realized from the institutional perspective.
From the perspective of institutional arrangements, the party's leadership system, the people's congress system, the first-class cooperation and political consultation system under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the regional ethnic autonomy system and the grassroots mass autonomy system jointly provide a complete institutional guarantee system for the whole process of people's democratic development, and truly organically unify the party's leadership, the people as the masters of the country, and the rule of law.
The party's leadership system is the fundamental institutional guarantee for whole-process people's democracy. The premise of ensuring that the people are the masters of the country is to improve and improve the party's leadership system, and the party is in charge of everything. We have learned the lessons of the Soviet Union and improved the party's leadership system by improving the party constitution and constitution. Only by ensuring the party's overall leadership can populism, money games, and social unrest bring about some of the negative effects that cannot be eliminated, because the Communist Party of China is a political force that represents the overall interests of the people, follows the mass line, and ensures that the goal of achieving the people's mastery of the country is implemented by forming the broadest social consensus. On the contrary, if there is no political force representing the interests of the people as a whole to coordinate all this, once populism, money politics, national **, and color revolutions appear, the people's ownership of the country may come to naught.
The "one fundamental and three basic" political system provides a basic political system carrier for the whole process of people's democracy. The political system of "one fundamental and three basics" is based on absorbing sufficient nourishment from the excellent traditional Chinese culture to realize the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism. The people's congress system shoulders the task of top-level design and full coverage in promoting the construction of whole-process people's democracy, which can not only listen to the people's voices, understand the people's demands, but also mobilize the people's enthusiasm for work to the greatest extent; It can also represent the will of the people to exercise state power, be responsible to the people, and ensure that the people participate in political and social life in an orderly manner. The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the democratic parties share political power and serve the people under the political framework of "leadership and cooperation" according to their different political positions. The system of regional ethnic autonomy has played a positive role in the rational handling of ethnic affairs in promoting the building of whole-process people's democracy and has promoted the happiness of the people of all ethnic groups as masters of their own affairs. The grassroots mass autonomy system mainly takes root in the grassroots and serves the grassroots with the help of the villager (resident) autonomy system and the workers' congress system, so as to provide channels for the people to participate in grassroots public affairs.
Third, the all-weather and sustainable operation of democracy has been ensured in terms of time.
From the perspective of time, the whole-process people's democracy absorbs and draws on the desirable practices of "electoral democracy" with compliant procedures and active voters, and avoids the drawbacks of "electoral democracy" that is limited to a single line for a while, and implants the people's pursuit of a better life into the five links of democratic election, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision, ensuring the all-weather and sustainable operation of the whole-process people's democracy.
Whole-process people's democracy is embedded in all aspects of democracy around the clock, surpassing Western-style electoral democracy. In an election year, politicians are very active, and many voters are excited, and once business is back to business as usual after the election, voters will have to wait for the next election to have a chance to express their demands. Whole-process people's democracy is a democracy rooted in Chinese soil, in which the people can not only participate in politics and express their interests through democratic elections, but also participate in democratic practice through democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision. With the support of the people's congresses, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), grassroots organizations and other entities, as well as the active promotion of people's congress deputies, CPPCC members, and grassroots workers, the continuous advancement of the whole process of people's democracy has been ensured in terms of time. Democratic elections, democratic consultations, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision can each give play to its own unique advantages and complement each other's advantages, thus fundamentally providing the necessary conditions for ensuring that the people are masters of the country.
The whole-process people's democracy satisfies the people's pursuit of a better life in a sustainable way, surpassing Western-style competitive democracy. The purpose of the whole-process people's democracy is to continuously satisfy the people's pursuit of a better life, rather than to indulge in the achievements of democracy in the past. ** At the meeting to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the general secretary pointed out that "to learn from history and create the future, we must unite and lead the Chinese people to constantly strive for a better life", which shows that "the people's pursuit of a better life" is advancing in continuous development. At the same time, this kind of development and sustainability are built on the basis of past achievements, and our second centenary goal is precisely on the basis of the realization of the first centenary goal, and we further propose to build our country into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful modern socialist country, of which democracy is one of our pursuit of a better life. Whole-process people's democracy has completely broken the "party politics" or "competitive democracy" advocated by Western democracy, which is fragmentary and non-continuous, and their so-called democracy is the slogan of the election campaign, not the goal of continuity. To sum up, the whole-process people's democracy pursues a goal shared by the whole people, neither seeking the interests of the party and government itself, nor sacrificing the interests of other political parties, but realizing the people's pursuit of a better life through successive struggles from generation to generation.
Fourth, it is spatially embodied in all aspects and different levels of the party and the state.
From the perspective of space, the whole process of people's democracy should be reflected in all aspects and different levels of the party and the country, as the general secretary emphasized, it is necessary to continue to develop the whole process of people's democratic development and ensure that the people are the masters of the country to implement in the governance of the country, and in all aspects of the work of the party and the country.
Horizontally, the whole process of people's democracy is implemented in all aspects of the work of the party committee, the people's congress, and the CPPCC. As the leading organ of our country, the Party committee has always followed the principle of democratic centralism in promoting the construction of whole-process people's democracy, extensively absorbed the suggestions of the broad masses of the people, ensured that the interests of the people were maximized, and provided an example for practicing whole-process people's democracy. As the main channel for practicing whole-process people's democracy, the people's congress is conferred by the Constitution, and the people's congress is clearly defined as the organ through which the people exercise state power. As the executive organ of state power, its power is vested in the people, which requires that when formulating public policies, we must fulfill the commitment of "who I am and for whom", and let the people truly participate in it with the help of diversified communication channels such as consultations, hearings, and political meetings. As an important channel and special consultative body for socialist consultative democracy and an important form of whole-process people's democracy, the CPPCC must always follow the new positioning of "the CPPCC for the people" in the new era, constantly broaden the channels of political consultation, take meeting the needs of the people and promoting the people's livelihood as the key breakthrough point, and assist the party and the people to improve their well-being.
Vertically, whole-process people's democracy is implemented at all levels of the state, local, social, and grassroots levels. Whole-process people's democracy is a new form of democracy in all fields, from the top to the present to all levels of the party and the country, from macro to micro to all aspects of the party and the country, to ensure that the people are the masters of the country. In practice, the whole process of people's democracy has realized the linkage between the upper and lower levels, which can not only give full play to the advantages of the first-class system, but also adapt measures to local conditions. For example, when formulating and improving laws, the national level can rely on the National People's Congress system, and the local level can rely on the local people's congress system; At the grassroots level, the system of urban and rural community autonomy can be relied on to ensure the linkage between the upper and lower levels. At the same time, in order to make the laws and regulations formulated more down-to-earth, the NPC has set up grassroots legislative contact points in 32 provincial-level units across the country, thus realizing a direct legislative train. As a consultative democracy with unique Chinese characteristics, it runs through all levels of the country and localities from top to bottom, providing a platform for participation to ensure that the people are the masters of the country.
Author: Liang Hao, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, Party School of Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China].