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The People's Procuratorate in Communist China: The Institution Ascendant, 1954–1957

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

George Ginsburgs  and
Arthur Stahnke
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Extract

In March 1954, the Central Committee of the CCP offered for discussion the initial draft of the Constitution which reflected the victories of the people's democracy and socialism. In this draft was systematised the new historical experience of the revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people and the accumulated experience of state building. In the discussion of the draft, which lasted more than two months, took part more than 8,000 representatives of various strata of the population.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 34 , June 1968 , pp. 82 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1968

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References

1 Hsin-min, Chou, “Organizatsionnye voprosy razvitiya pravovoi nauki v KNR”, (Organisational Questions of the Development of Legal Science in the C.P.R.), Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, 1961, No. 3, pp. 67–68Google Scholar. The text of the draft Constitution was published as a supplement to People's China, No. 13 (1 07 1954)Google Scholar. For local commentaries on the document, see “China's Draft Constitution (Editorial of the People's Daily, 16 June 1954)”, ibid. No. 13, pp. 3–6; Liu Tsun-chi, “A Constitution for Socialism”, ibid. No. 14 (16 July 1954), pp. 3–6; Soong Ching Ling, “ A Major Happy Event”, ibid. p. 7; “Our Correspondent”, “Fruits of Victory, How the Chinese people greeted their first democratic constitution”, ibid. pp. 8–10; YuMing and Hsi Ping, “Our Constitution, A Group of Shanghai Workers Discuss the Draft Constitution”, ibid. No. 18 (16 September 1954), pp. 17–20.

2 Text in Documents of the First Session of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (Peking, 1955), pp. 131–163Google Scholar. The passages of the Constitution devoted to the procuratorate are briefly discussed byChi-hsu, Li, “People's Procuratorate in Our Country”, Chung Kuo Ching Nien Pao (Peking), 11 11 1954Google Scholar; SCMP, No. 932.

3 Hou-li, Wang, “The Courts and the Procurator's Offices in the Draft Constitution”, Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 7 07 1954Google Scholar; SCMP, No. 852.

4 Text inDocuments of the First Session of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, pp. 201–211;Blaustein, A. P. (ed.), Fundamental Legal Documents of Communist China (South Hackensack, N.J., 1962), pp. 144–152Google Scholar;Sudarikov, N. G. (ed.), Konstitutsiya i osnovnye zakonodatelnye akty Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (Constitutional and Fundamental Legislative Acts of the C.P.R.) (Moscow, 1955), pp. 670–676Google Scholar.

5 Text inKrymov, A. G. and Shafir, M. A. (eds.) Konstitutsiya i osnovnye zakonodatelnye akty Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (1954–1958) (Moscow, 1959), p. 677Google Scholar.

6 This will correct an error which occurs in the first instalment where, on p. 34, the statement is made that the 1954 Organic Act does not mention special procuratorates at all.

7 “Tientsin Railway Special Court of Justice Strengthens Railway Staffers’ and Workers’ Education on Law and Discipline through Adjudication of Cases” NCNA, 15 02 1954Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 750;“Special Courts and Special Public Procurator's Offices Set Up in Part of the Industrial and Mining Districts and along Railway Lines”, NCNA, 1 04 1954Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 789;“Railway Special Courts Set Up in Various Places”, NCNA, 5 09 1954Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 912. The first railway court was apparently opened in Tientsin in October 1953,Hsia, Tao-tai, “Die Volksgerichte in der Volksrepublik China”, OsteuropaRecht, 1963, No. 3, p. 174Google Scholar, citing People's Daily, 4 November 1953.

8 Lunev, A. E., Sud, prokuratura i gosudarstvennyi kontrol v Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respublike (The Judiciary, the Procuratorate and State Control in the C.P.R.) (Moscow, 1956), p. 49Google Scholar;Voevodin, L. D., Gosudarstvennyi stroi Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (State Structure of the C.P.R.) (Moscow, 1956), p. 210Google Scholar.

9 Speech byTing-cheng, Chang, CB, No. 349Google Scholar.

10 Text inKrymov, A. G. and Shafir, M. A. (eds.), op. cit., p. 672Google Scholar.Lunev, A. E., op. dt., p. 37, notes thatGoogle Scholar: Among the special courts of the C.P.R. prior to 1954 there were a few courts in industrial enterprises, one ina tree farm and one in a state farm. These special courts began to be organised in the second half of 1953. Thelegal basis for the organisation of industrial courts was the decision of the 2nd National conference of judicialworkers held in April 1953. All the aforementioned special courts were organised on an experimental basis. No regulations concerning them were adopted. According to the decisions of the 2nd National conference of judicial workers and the directives of the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme People's Court of the C.P.R. these courts were charged with examining criminal cases involving all offences committed by anyone on the premises of the enterprise. These crimes included counter-revolutionary crimes, banditry, crimes by officials, eoconomic crimes, crimes against life, health and personal dignity, crimes against social mores, property crimes, etc. These courts were also entrusted with an examination of labour disputes. Study and recapitulation of the practice of these courts showed the inexpediency of their independent existence, separate from the local people's courts. It was recognised that the most correct way was to organise circuit sessions of local people's courts in lieu of independent courts. Already in the first half of 1954 such circuit sessions were organised in the city courtsof Peking, Tientsin, Shanghai, Sian, Mukden. In some industrial districts the courts organised in 1953 on the enterprises were reorganised into circuit sessions of city or provincial courts. As indicated, special procuratorial units were created to serve the above courts, a staff of regular procurators must have been attached to them who were reabsorbed into the ranks of the local procurator's office when these courts were liquidated or reclassified.

11 Cf. Shurmann, Franz, Ideology and Organization in Communist China (Berkeley, 1966), pp. 208–209Google Scholar.

12 Chungking Jih-pao, 27 September 1957, cited by Leng, Shao-Chuan, “Die VolksStaatsanwaltschaft im Kommunistischen China”, OsteuropaRecht, 1963, No. 3, p. 198, note 23Google Scholar.

13 Vide,Lunev, A. E., Sushchnost Konstitutsii Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (Essence of the Constitution of the C.P.R.) (Moscow, 1958), p. 122Google Scholar;Voevodin, L. D., in Voevodin, L. D., Zlatopolskii, D. L., Kuprits, N. Ya., Gosudarstvennoe pravo stran narodnoi demokratii (State Law of the Countries of People'sDemocracy) (Moscow, 1960), p. 210Google Scholar.

14 Lunev, A. E., op. cit. (note 8, supra), p. 52Google Scholar.

15 Ibid. p. 56.

16 People's China, 1954, No. 9, p. 30Google Scholar; Documents of the First Session of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, p. 64.

17 Shafir, M., “Zakonodatelnaya rabota v Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respublike” (Legislative Work in the C.P.R.), Sovety deputatov trudyashchikhsya, 1959, No. 4, pp. 86, 88Google Scholar.

18 e.g.,Kondratiev, R. S., Grachev, L. A., Gosudarstvennyi stroi Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (State Structure of the C.P.R.) (Moscow, 1959), pp. 88–89Google Scholar;Menzhinskii, V. I., Voevodin, L. D., “Kitaiskaya Narodnaya Respublika–gosudarstvo demokraticheskoi diktatury naroda” (The C.P.R.–A State of the People's Democratic Dictatorship) in 10 let Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (Moscow, 1959), pp. 52–53Google Scholar;Lunev, A. E., op. clt. (note 8, supra), p. 50Google Scholar; idem, op. dt. (note 13, supra), p. 122.Voevodin, L. D., op. cit., pp. 209–210Google Scholar, puts it very bluntly: “…only on this condition [i.e., external independence] is the procuratorate able to safeguard uniform revolutionary legality, which for China is especially important since the country suffered in the recent past from political and economic fragmentation and even today individual employeesof the State apparatus are infected by ‘localism’”.

19 Lunev, A. E., op. cit. (note 8, supra), p. 57Google Scholar. Also,Voevodin, L. D., op. cit., p. 212Google Scholar.

20 However, the Regulations on Arrest and Detention, adopted on 20 December 1954, also permitted arrest “without a warrant when a person is discovered making preparations for a crime, in the act ofperpetrating a crime or apprehended immediately after commission of a crime. The accused may be detained no morethan 24 hours before notification is given to the appropriate People's Procuratorate by the Public Securityorgan. Within 48 hours, the People's Procuratorate is either to sanction the arrest or order the release ofthe accused”, NCNA, 21 December 1954 and SCMP, No. 953; for text of the Regulations in Russian, seeSudarikov, N. G. (ed.), op. cit., pp. 680–683Google Scholar. Also, seeFang, Chou, Gosudarstvennye organy Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (State Organs of theChinese People's Republic), tr. from the Chinese by Gudoshnikov, L. M. and Ostroumov, G. S. (Moscow, 1958), p. 211Google Scholar.

21 People's Daily, 29 September 1954; Documents of the First Session of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, pp. 185–199;Blaustein, A. P. (ed.), op. cit., pp. 131–143Google Scholar;Sudarikov, N. G. (ed.), op. cit., pp. 659–669Google Scholar.

22 Lunev, A. E., op. cit. (note 8, supra), p. 34, note 1Google Scholar.

23 Hsin-min, Chou, “Kharakter narodnoi prokuratury Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki i ee zadachi” (The Character of the People's Procuratorate in the C.P.R. and its tasks) Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, 1956, No. 6, p. 45Google Scholar;Fang, Chou, op. dt., p. 205Google Scholar; Tadevosyan, V., “Zakonodatelstvo o prokurature v Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respublike” (Legislation on the Procuratorate in the C.P.R.) Sotsialisticheskaya zakonnost, 1954, No. 12, pp. 39–42Google Scholar.

24 Cf. Ginsburgs, G., “Theory and Practice of Parliamentary Procedure in Communist China: Organizational and Institutional Principles”, University of Toronto Law Journal, 1963, No. 1, pp. 25Google Scholar, 48. The First Session of the Third National People's Congress on 26 December 1964 heard a “Report on the Work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate by Chang Ting-cheng, Chief Procurator”, and on 4 January1965, adopted a Resolution approving it. See,Main Documents of the First Session of the Third National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (Peking, 1965), pp. 52, 60–67Google Scholar.

25 See: “Appointments Approved for Kansu Provincial People's Procuratorate”, Kansu Jihpao, 25 April 1955, and SCMP, No. 1089 (Suppl.); “Officers of Yunnan Provincial People's Procuratorate Appointed”, Yunnan Jih-pao, 13 March 1955, and SCMP, No. 1082 (Suppl.); “Standing Committee of National People's Congress Approves Appointments of Personnel of Kiangsi Provincial People's Procuratorate”, Hsin Hua Jih-pao, 4 May 1955, and SCMP, No. 1066; “Officers of Shensi Provincial People's Procuratorate Appointed”, Shensi Jih-pao, 10 May 1955, andSCMP, No. 1079; “NP C Standing Committee Passes Appointments to Procuratorates”, Jen-min Jih-pao, 11 November 1955, and SCMP, No. 1176; “NP C Standing Committee Decides on Appointments to Procuratorate-General”, NCNA, 13 September, 1955, and SCMP, No. 1132; “Appointments t o Procuratorates in Country made by NP C Standing Committeat 29th Session”, NCNA, 22 December 1955, and SCMP, No. 1199; “Nam e List of NP C Appointments and Terminations of Appointments by the 31st Session of NPC Standing Committee”, NCNA, 23 January 1956, and SCMP, No. 1220; “NameList of NPC Standing Committee Appointments on March 17”, NCNA, 17 March 1956, and SCMP, No. 1256; “Appointments by 34th Session or Standing Committee”, NCNA, 25 April 1956, and SCMP, No. 1283; “Appointments Ratified by 42nd Meeting of NP C Standing Committee”, NCNA, 13 June 1956, and SCMP, No. 1317.

26 Speech by the Minister of Justice, Shih Liang, before the National People's Congress on 29 July 1955, CB, No. 349; Speech by Chang Ting-cheng (note 9, supra). The ratio of men to offices in both 1954 and 1955 was approximately 6 to 1.

27 Hsin-min, Chou, op. cit., p. 44Google Scholar.

28 Speech byTing-cheng, Chang (note 9, supra), CB, No. 349Google Scholar.

29 “Huang Sha-hung Demands Code of Laws Before June 27th Session of NPC”, NCNA, 27 June 1956, and SCMP, No. 1321.

30 “Report on Procuratorate Work in Hupeh”, Chang Chiang Jih-pao (Hankow), 30 08 1957Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 1654.

31 Lunev, A. E., op. cit. (note 8, supra), pp. 53–54Google Scholar.

32 Idem, op. cit.(note 13, supra), p. 123.

33 Idem, op. cit. (note 8, supra), p. 55.

34 Idem, op. cit. (note 13, supra), p. 123.

35 Idem, op. cit. (note 8, supra), p. 52.

36 Hsin-min, Chou, op. cit., p. 44Google Scholar.

37 “Positive Role of Procuratorial Correspondents”, NCNA, 3 September 1956, and SCMP, No. 1378.

38 Ibid..

39 Lunev, A. E., op. cit. (note 8, supra), p. 59Google Scholar.

40 “Positive Role of Procuratorial Correspondents” (note 37, supra).

41 Lunev, A. E., op. dt. (note 8, supra), p. 59Google Scholar.

42 “National Procuratorial Work Conference Convened by Supreme People's Procuratorate”, NCNA, 25 November 1954, and SCMP, No. 938.

43 “For More Successful Suppression of the Enemy and Protection of the People”, Jen-min Jih-pao, 8 January 1955, and SCMP, No. 966.

44 “National Procuratorial Work Conference…” (note 42, supra).

45 “Cadres of Provincial and Municipal Procuratorates Conscientiously Study Organic Law of People's Procuratorates”, NCNA, 27 February 1955, and SCMP, No. 1191.

46 Ibid..

47 Ibid..

48 Cheng-wen, Tan, “Improve the People's Procuratorial System; Consolidate the Legal System of the State”, Kuang-ming jih-pao, 3 01 1955, and SCMP, No. 991Google Scholar.

49 Hsin-min, Chou, op. cit., p. 46Google Scholar.

50 Ibid. p. 48.

51 Ibid. p. 47.

52 Tan Cheng-wen, op. cit..

53 “Implement the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorates; Strengthen the People's Procuratorate Work”, Kuang-ming jih-pao, 27 May 1955, and SCMP, No. 1075.

54 Chugunov, V. E., Ugolovnoe sudoproizvodstvo Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (ocherki) (Criminal Court Procedure of the C.P.R.) (Moscow, 1959), pp. 79–80Google Scholar.

55 “National Conference of Chief Procurators of Provinces, Municipalities and Autonomous Regions”, NCNA, 9 December 1955, and SCMP, No. 1191.

56 Ibid..

57 Ibid..

58 Chugunov, V. E., op. cit., p. 80Google Scholar.

59 Speech byPi-wu, Tung, Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Peking, 1956), Vol. 2, p. 90Google Scholar.

60 “Dar Kitaiskogo obshchestva izucheniya politiko-yuridicheskikh nauk institutu prava im. A. Ya. Vyshinskogo Akademii nauk SSSR” (Gift of the Chinese Society for the Study of Politico-Legal Sciences to the Institute of Law of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. named after A. Ya. Vyshinskii), Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, 1955, No. 3, p. 131. See, too, “Sovetskaya yuridicheskaya literatura v KNR, Kitaiskaya yuridicheskaya literatura v SSSR” (Soviet Legal Literature in the C.P.R.—Chinese Legal Literature in the U.S.S.R.), ibid. 1959, No. 9, pp. 132–135.

61 Institute of Criminal Law Research, Central Political-Judicial Cadres’ School, Lectures on the General Principles of Criminal Law in the People's Republic of China (Peking, 1957)Google Scholar; Joint Press Research Service (hereafter JPRS), No. 13,331.

62 Institute of Civil Law, Central Political-Judicial Cadres' School, Basic Problems in the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China (Peking, 1958)Google Scholar; JPRS, No. 4,879.

63 “Liu Weh-hui on Judicial Work in Chengtu”, NCNA, 17 May 1957, and SCMP, No. 1539.

64 “Implement the Organic Law…” (note 53, supra).

65 Chugunov, V. E., op. cit., p. 80Google Scholar.

66 Ibid. p. 81.

67 Ibid. Likewise, Chang Tzu-pei,Chungunov, V. E., “Osnovnye cherty ugolovnogo protsessa Kitaiskoi Narodnoi Respubliki” (Basic Traits of the Criminal Procedure of the C.P.R.), Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, 1957, No. 2, p. 74Google Scholar.

68 Chugunov, V. E., op. ell., p. 82Google Scholar.

69 “Report on the Work of the Szechwan Provincial People's Procuratorate”, by Chin-piao, Ku, delivered at the 5th session of the First Szechwan Provincial People's Congress on 22 August 1957, Szechwan Jih-pao, 25 08 1957Google Scholar; JPRS, No. 472–D.

70 “3rd National Conference on Procuratorial Work Concluded”, NCNA, 5 April 1956, and SCMP, No. 1269.

71 Pi-wu, Tung, “The Work of the People's Courts in the Past Year”, New China Advances to Socialism (Peking, 1956), pp. 173–174Google Scholar.

72 Ta-tsun, K.u, “Report on the Work of the Kwantung Provincial People's Government During the Past Four Years”, submitted to the 1st Meeting of the First Kwantung Provincial People's Congress on 3 August 1954, Nan Fang Jih-pao (Canton), 16 08 1954Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 932 (Suppl.).

73 Speech by Chang Ting-cheng (note 9, supra).

74 “Work of the Municipal People's Procuratorate, Tsingtao, Shantung Province”, Tsingtao Jih-pao, 14 September 1957, and JPRS, No. 187–D. See, also, “State of Work ofthe Shanghai Procuratorate During the First Half of 1957”, by Fan, Wang, Chieh Fang Jih-pao (Shanghai), 31 08 1957Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 1652 ; “Report on Procuratorate Work in Hupeh”, Chang Chiang Jih-pao (Hankow), 30 08 1957, and SCMP, No. 1654Google Scholar; and “Work Report of the People's Procuratorate of Chengtu, Szechwan”, delivered by Wang Fei, Chief Procurator of the Chengtu People's Procuratorate, at the 2nd Meeting of the Second Session of the Chengtu People's Congress on 10 September 1957, Chengtu Jih-pao, 11 September 1957, and SCMP, No. 1667; “Some Questions on Political and Legal Work” byPi-wu, Tung, delivered to the 3rd Session of the 2nd National Committee of the CPPCC, on 12 03 1957, CB, No. 444Google Scholar.

75 “Work of the Municipal People's Procuratorate, Tsingtao, Shantung Province” (note 74, supra). Cf. Fang, Chou, op. cit., p. 207Google Scholar: “Investigation work requires very great care, it must strictly conform to the prescriptions of the law; the use of unlawful methods to achieve any goals is impermissible. That is why supervision by organs of the people's procuratorate over investigation work is established”.

76 Pi-wu, Tungop. cit. (note 71supra), p. 174Google Scholar. The speaker also noted, however, “some people's courts did not divide their work with the public security and procuratorial organisations according to their respective duties” (p. 178). To add to the spirit of competition, the bar, with the blessing of the régime, now began to play an active role in court hearings as well. Cf. “Chinese Lawyers’ Good Record Described”, NCNA, 14 January 1956, and SCMP, No. 1452. A representative of the Ministry of Justice was quoted as having cited 1,057 cases in which defence counsel were instrumental “in securing in 50–19 per cent, of the cases, reductionof the severity of the charge or sentence, acquittals, pardons, remissions or retrials”. One reason for encouraging attorneys vigorously t o defend the rights of their clients in court was that it provided an extra check on miscarriages of justice, not excluding some consciously perpetrated by those consecrated “championsof legality”—the procurators themselves. That the latter possibility was far from remote can be gathered from the tenor of a newspaper editorial's comments to the effect that “if the prosecutor, out of retaliation and frame-up tries to place the accused in a criminal position, it is particularly necessary to havea defence system to protect the innocent against false charges. Nor is this all. Such persons enjoy these rightswhether they are eventually found guilty or not guilty”. “For Enforcement of the System of Defense in the Courts”, Kuang-ming jih-pao, 24 March 1955, and SCMP, No. 1045. Apparently, not all judges found the presence of eager lawyers in their forum entirely to their liking for, according toPi-wu, Tung, op. cit. (note 71, supra), p. 178Google Scholar, “some people's courts failed to carry out the judicial system properly or even restricted or deprived the accused of the right of defence or appeal”.

77 Hsien-tien, Kao, “Judicial Supervision Exercised by People's Procuratorates”, Kuangming Jih-pao, 1 03 1955Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 1975.

78 Ting-cheng, Chang, “Report on Procuratorial Work Since 1956”, delivered at the 4th Session of the 1st National People's Congress, on 1 07 1957Google Scholar, CB, No. 466.

79 Pi-wu, Tung, op. cit. (note 71, supra), p. 174Google Scholar.

80 Chang Ting-cheng, loc. cit. (note 78, supra).

81 “Work of the Municipal People's Procuratorate, Tsingtao, Shantung Province,” (note 74, supra). Figures presented by the Heilungkiang Higher People's Court show that in that province the procuratorate protested 1–2 per cent, of the decisions already in force and 9–8 per cent, of the court decisions pending execution,Tseng-fu, Wang, “Work Report of the Heilungkiang Provincial Higher People's Court”, Heilungkiang Jih-pao, 27 09 1957Google Scholar, and JPRS, No. 101–D.

82 Shao-ch'i, Liu, “Political Report of the Central Committee to the Eighth National Congress of the CCP”, Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China (Peking, 1956), Vol. 1, p. 82Google Scholar. See, too,Fang, Chou, op. cit., p. 217Google Scholar.

83 “Speech by Comrade Tung Pi-wu”, loc. cit. (note 59, supra), p. 90.

84 “3rd National Conference on Procuratorial Work Concluded” (note 70, supra).

85 Speech by Chang Ting-cheng (note 9, supra). The Chief Procurator of the C.P.R. then went on to say: “They worked in concert with the organisations concerned t o deal severely with the sabotage activities perpetrated by the prisoners in detention, and checked up and corrected undesirable measures adopted for the custody and indoctrination of the prisoners. The above work is a positive contribution toward hitting the counter-revolutionaries and other criminal elements, protecting the correct enforcement of the law and safeguarding the security of the Socialist cause of the nation.”

86 Tan Cheng-wen, Deputy Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, op. cit. (note 48, supra).

87 “Work of the Municipal People's Procuratorate, Tsingtao, Shantung Province” (note 74, supra).

88 “Report on the Work of the Szechwan Provincial People's Procuratorate” (note 69, supra).

89 “The Work of People's Procuratorates,” byChang Ting-cheng, Procurator-General, Supreme People's Procuratorate, Speech delivered to the First Session of the Second National People's Congress on 24 04 1959, NCNA, 24 April 1959, and CB, No. 569.

90 Tang Cheng-wen, op. cit. (note 48, supra).

91 Ibid..

92 “Work Report of the People's Procuratorate of Chengtu, Szechwan” (note 74, supra). See also, “Work of the Municipal People's Procuratorate, Tsingtao, Shantung Province” (note 74, supra), and “Report on Procuratorial Work Since 1956” (note 78, supra).

93 Lunev, A. E., op. cit. (note 8, supra), p. 58Google Scholar. Also, idem, op. cit. (note 13 supra)P. 124.

94 “Report on Procuratorial Work Since 1956” (note 78, supra).

95 “Noted Chinese Jurist, Mei Jo-ao, on Trials of Japanese Criminals”, NCNA, 22 June 1956, and SCMP, No. 1318.

96 e.g., “Released Japanese Criminal Pledges to Work for Friendship,”NCNA, 22 June 1956, and SCMP, No. 1318; “ Convicted War Criminals Interviewed,” NCNA, 22 June 1956, and SCMP, No. 1318.

97 “Work of the Municipal People's Procuratorate, Tsingtao, Shantung Province” (note 74, supra); “Report on Procuratorial Work Since 1956” (note 78, supra); “Report on the Work of the Szechwan Provincial People's Procuratorate“ (note 69, supra); and, “State of Work of the Shanghai Procuratorate During the First Half of 1957” (note 74, supra).

98 Pi-wu, Tung, op. tit. (note 71, supra), pp. 176–177Google Scholar;Chugunov, V. E., op cit., pp. 249–250Google Scholar.

99 “The Campaign Against Counter-Revolutionaries in Kwantung Must Be Correctly Assessed”, byKuang-ying, Yun, People's Deputy and People's Procurator of Kwantung Province, Nan Fang Jih-pao, 6 08 1957Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 1619. Nevertheless, according toSergiev, A., Rol demokraticheskoi diktatury naroda v stroitelstve sotsializma v Kitae (The Role of the People's Democratic Dictatorship in the Building of Socialism in China) (Moscow, 1958), p. 300Google Scholar: “The overwhelming majority of persons arrested and punished had committed counter-revolutionary crimes or acts hostile to the people's democratic system”.

100 e.g., “There Must Be Dictatorship for the Undesirable Characters”, Jen-min Jih-pao, 19 August 1957, and SCMP, No. 1598.

101 Thus, “All Counter-Revolutionary Criminals Must be Severely Punished”, Shensi Jih-pao, 20 April 1955, and SCMP, No. 1064; “Deal a Deadly Blow to the Activities of Criminal Elements”, Nan Fang Jih-pao, 6 June 1955, and SCMP, No. 1082 (Suppl.).

102 Speech by Chang Ting-cheng (note 9, supra). He adds: “the present deviation in certain places of refraining from arresting and trying those who should be arrested and tried and to pass light sentences on those who have perpetrated high crimes should be thoroughly rectified and overcome”. And, further on: Our work is also beset with many shortcomings and blunders. At present, the organisation of our people's procuratorial organs is not sound enough. They therefore cannot be made to shoulder all their tasks. Among some procuratorial cadres, because they are complacent over the past success of the movement to suppress counter-revolutionaries and are unable to recognise the gravity of the subversive activities of the enemies confronting them, there grows among them a most dangerous sentiment to be lethargic and to underestimate the enemy. Although they have been alerted and criticised on the issue, such a tendency has not been thoroughly overcome. The procuratorial cadres in some places fail to understand adequately the importance of the revolutionary legal system. They make mechanical use of the provisions of the law, bog themselves down with intricate red-tapism, andestrange themselves from the present actual struggle. Although the occurrence of these shortcomings and mistakesis related to the lack of working experience to a certain extent, their occurrence is also inseparable from the inadequate leadership in political ideology and in work on the part of the people's procuratorates. We are at present exerting ourselves to have these shortcomings and mistakes overcome. A year later,Pi-wu, Tung, op. cil. (note 71, supra), pp. 177–178Google Scholar, deplored similar deficiencies in the work of the courts: “A major [shortcoming] is that in handling cases of counter-revolution, some people's courts passed either too light or too severe sentences. Some wound up the cases they handled hastily without thorough verification of the facts relating to the crimes committed. There were even a few cases in which erroneous judgments were rendered.… The chief reason for these shortcomings and mistakes is the rapid development of the political situation in China since the latter half of last year and the failure on the part of some of the judicial officers to keep their understanding abreast ofthe objective developments. In handling cases, they were not adept in executing the state policy in the light ofthe changes in the country's political situation and distinguishing between cases in which leniency or severity should be exercised in accordance with the law”.

103 See, for example: “Counter-Revolutionary Riot Conspiracy Unearthed in Shensi; Over 200 Rounded Up”, Shensi Jih-pao, 6 April 1955, and SCMP, No. 1049 (Suppl.). The figure of those released was given in the “Report on Procuratorial Work Since 1956” (note 78, supra).

104 “Speech by Comrade Tung Pi-wu”, loc. cit. (note 59, supra), p. 89.

105 Yung-ping, Sou, “Why Hang Up and Beat a Martyr's Wife? Why NotDeal with the Case?” People's Daily, 29 08 1956Google Scholar, and SCMP, No. 1368.

106 According toSergiev, A., op. cit., p. 300Google Scholar: “To strengthen legality, in 1957 the work of the organs of public security, the people's courts, the procuratorate, and the organs of people's control was put in order”.

107 Mentioned bySergiev, A., op. cit., pp. 301–302Google Scholar, was the “anti-Party group” in Anhwei Province, headed, inter alios, by the Chief Procuratorof the province and the Deputy Chief Procurator of the province (concurrently a member of the provincial Party committee). In his words, “using their leading position in the system of organs of the procuratorate and ofjustice, this anti-Party group abetted counter-revolutionaries, distorted the policy of the Party in the sphere of struggle against counter revolution, attempted to weaken the dictatorship of the proletariat”.