Old Photos (Issue 9)

Author: Shandong Huabao Publishing House
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-04-01
Features: Excerpt: Old Stories Revisited · Constitutional Construction in Base Areas
Wang Jianmin
Recently, CCTV programs such as "News Investigation" and "China Report" have provided detailed coverage of the entire process of democratic village committee elections in a rural area in Northeast China. There were no pre-selected candidates designated by higher authorities; the election was entirely free, equal, and open. Locals refer to it as "the grand election." Each candidate had to deliver a "platform" at the voters' assembly and answer questions from the electorate. Incumbent village committee members seeking re-election often had to face critical inquiries from voters. This was genuine democratic election. The fact that such an event was widely publicized in the media as a major topic indicates that it is something new to us. However, this sense of novelty arises only because we have long strayed from it; as early as half a century ago, we had a democratic politics worthy of being recorded in the annals of political history. The old photographs published here recreate some scenes from that time. During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, the CCP implemented a relatively extensive democratic politics in the and later. In rural areas, village heads were directly elected by voters. The "Organizational Regulations of the People's Congresses at All Levels in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region" stipulated that village heads and directors of administrative villages were directly elected by voters' assemblies and were re-elected every six months. To mobilize the anti-Japanese forces of the entire society, a system called the "Three-One-Three System" was implemented in the base areas at the township level and above. This system stipulated that in both legislative and administrative bodies, CCP members accounted for one-third, while the progressive forces and moderate factions of other anti-Japanese parties each accounted for one-third. In the base areas, all those who supported the anti-Japanese cause, including landlords and capitalists, enjoyed democratic rights. In a country burdened by millennia of autocracy, amidst the boundless political darkness in the Guomindang-controlled areas, the democratic governance in the anti-Japanese base areas must have inspired immense hope in the Chinese people fighting for a republic. Many democratic-minded observers paid enthusiastic attention and were delighted and excited by it. From late 1939 to the first half of 1940, Mr. Li Gongpu conducted six months of observation and reporting in the Jin-Cha-Oi Anti-Japanese Base Area, writing the book "North China Behind Japanese Lines—Jin-Cha-Oi," which vividly recorded the democratic political scenes he witnessed: During the days of the village head elections, the streets were adorned with red and green banners, bearing slogans such as "Elect True Representatives," "Elect Dedicated and Unafraid Forward-Movers as Village Heads," and "Elect Village Heads Who Represent the Interests of the Masses." Some villages even erected colorful pavilions and arches on election day, as if it were a festival. Figure ① depicts the scene of an election assembly in an anti-Japanese base area, with a banner reading "Swiftly End One-Party Dictatorship" prominently displayed on one side of the rostrum, representing the base area people's pursuit of democratic constitutionalism. According to Mr. Li's observations, voter participation rates in each village averaged over 80%. He also particularly described the active participation of women in the elections. Throughout the entire base area, not only in political life but also in other aspects such as the economy, education, and culture, a spirit of democracy prevailed. In Mr. Li's eyes, "the flowers of anti-Japanese democracy bloomed across North China."