synopsis
The whole process of people’s democracy has the remarkable characteristics of full chain, all-round and full coverage, and it is the most extensive, authentic and effective democracy. Developing people’s democracy in the whole process is an essential requirement of Chinese modernization. On the new journey, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to develop people’s democracy in the whole process and give full play to the advantages of the socialist political system.
People’s democracy is the life of socialism and the proper meaning of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core has deepened its understanding of the development law of democratic politics, put forward the great idea of people’s democracy in the whole process, enriched and developed the theory of socialist democratic politics, and provided fundamental guidance for the development of socialist political civilization. Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward that "the whole process people’s democracy is the essential attribute of socialist democratic politics" and regarded the development of the whole process people’s democracy as one of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization, which profoundly revealed the great significance of developing the whole process people’s democracy in the new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way. We must unswervingly follow the road of political development in Socialism with Chinese characteristics, solidly promote people’s democracy throughout the process, ensure that the people are masters of their own affairs, and build a democratic cornerstone and gather great strength for realizing the goal of the second century and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
One of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization
Chinese modernization insists on taking people as the center and pursues the free and all-round development of people. Therefore, developing people’s democracy in the whole process has become one of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization. The whole process of people’s democracy has the remarkable characteristics of full chain, all-round and full coverage, and it is the most extensive, authentic and effective democracy. In the critical period of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way, it is of great significance to develop people’s democracy in the whole process.
Constantly meet the inevitable requirements of the people’s needs for a better life. In the new era, people’s yearning for a better life is more intense and their needs are increasingly extensive, which not only puts forward higher requirements for material and cultural life, but also increases their requirements in democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, security and environment. Solidly promoting people’s democracy in the whole process can better meet the needs of the broad masses of the people in democracy and the rule of law, and better realize that the people are the masters of the country. The whole process of people’s democracy in China not only has a complete system and procedure, but also has a complete participation in practice. All people practice democratic election, consultation, decision-making, management and supervision according to law, and manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings and social affairs through various channels and forms according to law. Constantly meeting the people’s needs for a better life requires the development of people’s democracy in the whole process, concretely and realistically embodying the people being the masters of the country in the policies and measures of the party governing the country, concretely and realistically embodying the work of the party and state organs in all aspects and at all levels, and concretely and realistically embodying the work of realizing the people’s yearning for a better life.
The inevitable requirement of giving full play to the superiority of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s political system. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "The whole process of people’s democracy in China is based on China’s national conditions, history and culture, and reflects the wishes of the people.". Democracy is the common value of all mankind, but there is no fixed model to realize it, and there are many ways to realize it because of different national conditions, so it is impossible to be uniform. The whole process of people’s democracy in China is deeply rooted in the social soil of China, which is a great achievement of the century-long struggle led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the latest development of people’s democracy in China. A comprehensive, extensive and organically connected system of people being the masters of the country has been formed, and various, smooth and orderly democratic channels have been constructed. The continuous development of people’s democracy in the whole process on the new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way is an inevitable requirement for giving full play to the advantages of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s political system and will effectively promote the prosperity and long-term stability of the party and the state.
The inevitable requirement of forging the strong leadership core of Chinese modernization. Chinese-style modernization is a socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), and upholding and strengthening the overall leadership of the Party is the first major principle that Chinese-style modernization must firmly grasp. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader profoundly pointed out: "The leadership of the Party embodies the majestic power of building Chinese modernization. Our Party adheres to the Party’s mass line, adheres to the people-centered development thinking, develops people’s democracy throughout the process, and fully stimulates the spirit of ownership of all people." The people are the greatest strength of our party’s governance. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has always represented the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China. The party leads the people in the whole process of people’s development, that is, supporting and ensuring that the people are the masters of the country, and implementing the embodiment of people’s interests, reflecting people’s wishes, safeguarding people’s rights and interests, and enhancing people’s well-being in all fields of the party’s governance. To develop a more extensive, full and sound whole-process people’s democracy is to ensure that the Party’s values, principles, objectives, tasks, operating procedures and normative requirements on the whole-process people’s democracy are implemented in all aspects of people’s being masters of the country, and in the concrete practice of people’s participation in state and social governance, so as to ensure that the Party leads the people to effectively govern the country.
Fully demonstrate the distinctive features of people’s democracy in the whole process.
General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "The unique world outlook, values, historical outlook, civilization outlook, democratic outlook, ecological outlook and its great practice contained in Chinese modernization are major innovations in the theory and practice of world modernization." On the new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way, we should continue to improve the comprehensive, extensive and organically connected system of people being the masters of the country, expand people’s orderly political participation at all levels and in all fields, make all aspects of systems and state governance reflect the people’s will more deeply, protect people’s rights and interests more widely, and fully demonstrate the distinctive characteristics of people’s democracy in the whole process of our country.
Adhere to the people-centered development of people’s democracy in the whole process. People-centered is the fundamental ruling idea of our party, and adhering to people-centered is a basic strategy for upholding and developing Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. People are the starting point of developing people’s democracy in the whole process. We should ensure that people are masters of their own affairs, continuously improve people’s well-being and constantly realize people’s yearning for a better life. The people are the fundamental force for the development of people’s democracy in the whole process. We should adhere to the people’s dominant position, fully embody the people’s will, safeguard people’s rights and interests, and stimulate people’s creative vitality. By developing people’s democracy in the whole process, the efficiency of state governance will be significantly improved, so that state governance will achieve greater and better governance results, so that people can be masters of their own affairs not only in the process, but also in the results, fully demonstrating the authenticity of democracy.
Adhere to the problem-oriented development of people’s democracy in the whole process. Problems are the voice of the times, and human society is advancing in solving problems. Today, the complexity of the problems we face and the difficulty of solving them have obviously increased. We should enhance our awareness of problems, focus on new problems encountered in practice, deep-seated problems existing in reform, development and stability, people’s urgent difficulties and worries, major problems in international changes, and outstanding problems faced by party building, and constantly put forward new ideas, new ideas and new methods to truly solve problems. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "China is so big that different people will have different demands and different views on the same thing. This is normal, and consensus should be reached through communication and consultation. More than 1.4 billion people in China want to go to one place and work hard to make it happen. If they are in the same boat and unite as one, there will be nothing that cannot be done and obstacles that cannot be overcome. " Build consensus in solving problems, enhance unity in resolving contradictions, and demonstrate the effectiveness of people’s democracy in the whole process.
Adhere to the system as the carrier to develop people’s democracy in the whole process. The whole process of people’s democracy is the essential attribute of socialist democratic politics. To develop people’s democracy in the whole process is to make various systems better reflect the people’s will, protect people’s rights and interests, stimulate people’s creativity, and use institutional systems to ensure that people are masters of their own affairs. Practice has proved that China’s people’s congress system, multi-party cooperation and political consultation system led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), regional ethnic autonomy system and grass-roots mass autonomy system ensure that people’s democracy in the whole process of development has a complete institutional arrangement. The whole process of people’s democracy in China has achieved the unity of process democracy and achievement democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, direct democracy and indirect democracy, people’s democracy and national will. It is a full-chain, all-round and full-coverage democracy and the most extensive, authentic and effective socialist democracy.
Better combine electoral democracy with deliberative democracy.
General Secretary of the Supreme Leader stressed: "The people exercise their rights through elections and voting, and all parties within the people hold full consultations before making major decisions, so as to reach consensus on common issues as much as possible, which are two important forms of socialist democracy in China. In China, these two forms of democracy are not mutually substituted and denied, but complement each other and complement each other, which together constitute the institutional characteristics and advantages of socialist democracy in China. " The whole process of people’s democracy in China connects democratic election, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic supervision, and fully mobilizes the enthusiasm of both electoral democracy and deliberative democracy, so that the people of China can express their interests and participate in the political life of the country in an effective and in-depth way.
Develop and improve the important institutional carrier to realize people’s democracy in the whole process. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "The people’s congress system is an important institutional carrier to realize people’s democracy in the whole process of our country." Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Party put forward: "Support and ensure that the people exercise state power through people’s congresses, and ensure that people’s congresses at all levels are democratically elected, accountable to the people and supervised by the people." As a fundamental political system, the people’s congress system has great vitality and obvious advantages. It is a good system that conforms to China’s national conditions and reality, embodies the nature of a socialist country, ensures that the people are masters of their own affairs, and guarantees the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader put forward "six musts", that is, we must adhere to the Communist Party of China (CPC)’s leadership, ensure that the people are masters of the country with the system, govern the country in an all-round way according to law, adhere to democratic centralism, adhere to the road of political development in Socialism with Chinese characteristics, and persist in promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, which provides a fundamental basis for adhering to and improving the people’s congress system and doing a good job in the people’s congress work in the new era. On the new journey, we must further develop and improve the people’s congress system, implement the work arrangements and measures of the CPC Central Committee on developing people’s democracy in the whole process into the work of legislation, supervision and representation of the NPC, continuously expand the people’s orderly political participation, and ensure that the people enjoy a wide range of rights and freedoms according to law.
Develop and improve the important form of deliberative democracy. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader emphasized in the Party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress that deliberative democracy is an important form of practicing people’s democracy in the whole process, and made strategic arrangements for the all-round development of deliberative democracy. Socialist deliberative democracy is an important way to realize the leadership of the party, an important system design for the party to lead the people to effectively govern the country and ensure that the people are masters of the country, and a unique form and advantage of China’s socialist democratic politics. Under the socialist system in China, it is the true meaning of people’s democracy to discuss things, and to find the greatest common denominator of the wishes and demands of the whole society. Deliberative democracy is deeply embedded in the whole process of socialist democracy in China, enriching the forms of democracy, expanding the channels of democracy and deepening the connotation of democracy. The key to developing deliberative democracy in an all-round way lies in implementing the concept and requirements of developing people’s democracy in the whole process and effectively promoting the extensive and multi-layer institutionalized development of deliberative democracy. It is necessary to make overall plans to promote consultations among political parties, people’s congresses, governments, CPPCC, people’s organizations, grass-roots organizations and social organizations, highlight key work points and form overall efficiency. We should better combine the two important forms of democracy, electoral democracy and deliberative democracy, realize the extensive and sustained participation of the overwhelming majority of the people, and integrate democratic practice into people’s daily work and production and life.
(The author is a member of the Academic Committee of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought Research Center, the supreme leader of Shandong Province.)