"Chairman Mao" became famous here. Visiting the "Red Capital" Ruijin: The People's Congress system originated here

Ruijin is a red city with red blood. The journey from Ruijin to Beijing is also the great journey of the Communists to overthrow the old world and establish a new China. Many institutional measures that we are familiar with today can be traced back to their origins in Ruijin, including the People's Congress system.

General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the meeting celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National People's Congress, pointing out that the people's congress system is the result of the arduous exploration and long-term struggle of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It is a brand-new political system that has grown from Chinese soil and a great creation in the history of human political systems. The establishment of the people's congress system means that China's politics has fundamentally achieved a great leap from a minority of people holding power and the vast majority of people being oppressed and exploited to the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the people being the masters of their own country, and has achieved a great transformation of China's political system.

Looking back at history and remembering the path we have taken is the only way to move forward better. In early August this year, a reporter from Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News went to Ruijin, the birthplace of the people's congress system, with 10 young people from the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee to draw great strength for the new journey from the glorious history of the Party leading the people to explore, establish and develop the people's congress system.

There is an endless stream of tourists visiting the site of the First Soviet University

Nowadays, at the beginning of March every year, more than 2,800 NPC deputies from all over the country wear their sacred representative certificates, exercise their representative rights at the meeting venue, and discuss national affairs.

The First National Soviet Congress was held in Yeping, Ruijin from November 7 to 20, 1931, which was equivalent to today's National People's Congress. The site of the First Soviet Congress is located in the Yeping Revolutionary Site Group. It is a blue brick and gray tile building from the Ming Dynasty. It was originally the ancestral hall of the local Xie family. At that time, Xiang Ying followed Mao Zedong's instructions, negotiated with the elders of the Xie family in the village, and invited mud and wood craftsmen to repair it and arrange it into a solemn venue. The current venue is open to the public after being re-exhibited based on the information preserved at that time.

Entering the venue, the first thing that caught the reporter's eyes was the portraits of Marx and Lenin on the main wall of the rostrum, with a sickle and hammer red flag hanging in the middle of the portraits. There was a couplet on both sides of the rostrum, and the banner read "Proletarians of the world unite!" There was a horizontal plaque in front of the rostrum, with eight large characters "Workers and Peasants' Artillery, Democratic Dictatorship" written on it. The venue was stained with red and the atmosphere was warm, with triangular colored flags with slogans written on them. From the preserved historical old photos, it can be seen that the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses in the Soviet area and the commanders and fighters of the Red Army was unprecedentedly high, and everyone raised their hands very high when attending the meeting.

Historical photos displayed at the site of the First Soviet University

After deliberation by 610 delegates, the First National Congress of the Soviet Union adopted the Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic, which was also the first fundamental law formulated under the leadership of the Communist Party of China that advocated that workers and peasants should be the masters of their own affairs and safeguarded the system of workers and peasants being the masters of their own affairs. The Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic was declared established, which was the first nationwide red regime established under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and Ruijin became the capital of the Chinese Soviet Republic.

In addition, the Congress also passed legal regulations such as the Land Law and the Labor Law, and elected a Central Executive Committee consisting of 63 people including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Zhu De. As the highest authority during the closed period of the Congress, in terms of function, it is equivalent to the current Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

"At this meeting, Comrade Mao Zedong was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee and chairman of the People's Committee. The title 'Chairman Mao' became famous from then on, spreading all the way to Beijing and throughout the world," said tour guide Yang Pei.

On one hand, the congress was held successfully, and on the other hand, there was a thrilling military struggle. In order to avoid the bombing of the Kuomintang aircraft, Mao Zedong proposed to build a fake venue in Changting County to divert the Kuomintang's attention and ensure the safety of the "First Soviet Congress". Sure enough, just after the military parade on the opening day of the congress, more than a dozen enemy planes roared over Ruijin and flew straight to the fake venue.

In April 1933, the organs of the Chinese Soviet Republic moved from Yeping Village to Shazhouba, Ruijin. According to the Soviet Organization Law, a national Soviet Congress was to be held every two years. Therefore, the venue of the Second National Soviet Congress was set up in Laochating Village, Shazhouba.

Above the gate of the Second National Congress of the Soviet Union, there are large red relief characters of "Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic". The auditorium is octagonal in shape, and from above it looks like the octagonal hats of the Red Army. The auditorium faces south and is divided into two floors. The rostrum can be seen from every angle upstairs and downstairs. There are 17 double-leaf doors and 41 windows around the auditorium, which are convenient for evacuation, ventilation and lighting. There is an air-raid shelter not far from the auditorium, which can be used to avoid enemy attacks in time.

The current auditorium was also rebuilt later, using a reinforced concrete structure. According to the guide, when the venue was first built, the cadres and masses in the Soviet area used local materials and made full use of the dense forests around them. The trunks of living trees were used as the pillars of the entire auditorium, and the leaves on the treetops were also preserved. "In this way, the roof of the entire auditorium can be covered, and when the Kuomintang's aircraft conducted reconnaissance, they would think that this was just a forest."

The Second National Congress of the Soviet Union officially opened on January 22, 1934. It was originally scheduled to last 17 days, but on the 9th day, due to urgent military intelligence, it closed ahead of schedule on February 1. There were 693 official delegates, 83 alternate delegates, and 1,500 auditors attending the congress.

A series of laws and regulations enacted and promulgated during the Soviet period

During the conference, in addition to relevant reports, the conference also discussed and passed the revised Constitution Outline, Soviet construction, Red Army construction, economic construction and other resolutions and decisions on the national flag, national emblem, military flag, etc. A new Central Executive Committee was elected, Mao Zedong continued to be elected as the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee, and Zhang Wentian was elected as the Chairman of the People's Committee.

It is worth mentioning that when Mao Zedong delivered a report at the conference, he proposed "caring about the lives of the masses and paying attention to work methods", which became an important symbol of the formation of the Chinese Communist Party's mass line.

The People's Congress System is Continuously Developing and Improving

From the "First Soviet University" to the "Second Soviet University", the young people of Shanghai People's University were filled with emotion: Although the war was still raging at that time, the young Communist Party of China had already begun the great exploration of governing the country.

At the Ruijin Chinese Soviet Congress System History Exhibition Hall, the young people of the Shanghai People's Congress learned that from the election of delegates to the National Soviet Regional Congress in February 1930 to the election of delegates to the Second National Soviet Congress in August 1933, four large-scale democratic election campaigns were carried out in the Soviet area. Extensive democratic elections are also a concentrated expression of Soviet democratic politics.

According to reports, in order to do a good job in electing representatives, a three-day public notice period is required to post a red list and a black list to determine whether someone has the right to vote. Only after they have the right to vote can they proceed to the next step. In order to select representatives well, a special election training class is also held to train election staff. Official representatives are selected under a rigorous and standardized system.

The Central Revolutionary Base Area History Museum displays the delegate certificate of Comrade He Changgong of the Second National Soviet Congress. The certificate is 6.5 cm long and 9.5 cm wide. On this yellowed certificate, the delegate's name, age, gender, class, native place, and meeting residence are recorded. The seal of the Central Representative Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic is stamped at the bottom of the certificate. The right side and back of the certificate also clearly state the validity of the delegate certificate and the rules of the conference, which clearly stipulate the rights and obligations of the delegates.

In the view of Liang Feng from the Research Office of the Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, the exploration and practice of the Soviet area in the division of constituencies, determination of voter qualifications, public announcement of representative candidates, performance of duties by representatives in accordance with the law, and mass "wall newspaper" supervision, have demonstrated the strong will and determination of our party to use systems to ensure that the people are masters of their own country.

In addition, a system for Soviet deputies to contact voters was established at that time. Each deputie had to contact 70 voters. Their task was to collect the difficulties and problems encountered by these 70 voters and report them to the presidium, which would then collectively study how to solve them. Hearing this, everyone smiled and said, "This is the current system for NPC deputies to contact the masses!"

"From the National Soviet Congress to the current construction of grassroots legislative contact points and home sites, the people's congress system is a system that is constantly developing and improving based on practice and national conditions, and the word 'people' has always been the top priority." said Liu Liang, former deputy director of the Party History Office of the Ruijin Municipal Party Committee and visiting professor at the Ruijin Cadre College.