What are the Three People's Principles?

Three Principles of the People

The democratic revolutionary program advocated by Sun Yat-sen. It consists of Principles of Nationalism, Principles of Democracy and Principles of People's Livelihood, referred to as "Three People's Principles". The development process of the Three People's Principles is divided into two stages, namely the old Three People's Principles and the new Three People's Principles. It is a precious spiritual heritage of the Chinese people.

The old Three People's Principles reflected the basic social contradictions during China's old democratic revolutionary period and summarized the three major struggle tasks posed by the objective historical process. In 1894 (the 20th year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty), Sun Yat-sen established the Xingzhonghui in Honolulu. The oath of membership of this earliest organization of bourgeois revolutionary democrats was: "Drive out the Tartars, restore China, and establish a government of the United States." The oath, together with the content of the "Articles of Association for the Revival of China" about saving the nation and revitalizing China, became a brief expression of nationalism and civil rights. The program of the Revive China Conference put forward the requirements for a democratic, democratic and peaceful country for the first time in an epoch-making manner. The following year, when Sun Yat-sen fled abroad due to the miscarriage of the Guangzhou Uprising, he carefully studied the bourgeois social and political theories and investigated the capitalist social system on the spot. "I realized that those who could only make the country rich and strong and have civil rights as developed as those of the European powers still failed to bring peace to the people." It is the land of paradise. Therefore, Europeans with lofty ideals still have a social revolutionary movement. In order to achieve a permanent solution, they adopt the principle of people's livelihood to solve the national and civil rights issues at the same time. This is the basis for the proposition of the Three People's Principles." Through subsequent revolutionary practice, the Three People's Principles were enriched and developed. In the political platform of the Tongmenghui, the Three People's Principles were fully expressed in four sentences: "Expelling the Tartars, restoring China, establishing the Republic of China, and equalizing land rights."

Nationalism was the battle banner first unveiled by Sun Yat-sen. It reflects the complex ethnic contradictions in modern Chinese society - the contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation, and the contradiction between the Qing ruling group headed by the Manchu nobles and the Han and other ethnic minorities. Imperialism and the Qing ruling group are increasingly collude.

One of the main contents of nationalism is "anti-Manchu". "Drive out the Tartars and restore China" has always been the battle cry of the bourgeois revolutionary democrats in the late Qing Dynasty. This was not only because the Qing Dynasty was a feudal autocratic regime "dominated" by Manchu nobles, but also because it had become a "foreign court." This is why the "anti-Manchu" slogan has broad mobilizing significance. Avoiding the fate of China being partitioned and communist and striving for national independence and liberation is another main content of nationalism. In an article published in Minbao, Sun Yat-sen listed "forced by foreign countries" and "remnated by alien species" as the basic reasons why nationalism "cannot be delayed even for a moment." "There is no way to save the dying without revolution," and revolution must "first overthrow the Manchu government." This is where the significance of nationalism's opposition to imperialist oppression lies.

Democracy is the core of the Three People's Principles. It reflects another major contradiction in modern Chinese society, that is, the contradiction between feudalism and the masses of the people. The basic content of civil rights is: to expose and criticize feudal despotism, pointing out that the feudal social and political system deprives human rights and is therefore by no means "bearable by equal citizens"; it is necessary to overthrow the feudal monarchy through the "national revolution" and replace it. With the "democratic and constitutional" democracy and system, we will put an end to the serious state of "the poison of a thousand years of autocracy that has not been cured". In line with this "reform" of the "state system", the planning of the political system also constitutes an important part of civil rights.

People's Livelihood Principle is Sun Yat-sen's "social revolution" program. The issue it hopes to solve is China's modernization, that is, developing a capitalist economy and making China rich and powerful from poverty and weakness; it also includes caring for the lives of working people. the content of welfare, as well as a critique of the socioeconomic ulcers of capitalism and the resulting “sympathy for socialism.” Sun Yat-sen attributed the main content of people's livelihood doctrine to the two major issues of land and capital. "Equal land rights" - "state-owned land" is Sun Yat-sen's land plan.

The main content is "We should improve the social and economic organization and determine the price of land in the world. The existing land value will still belong to the original owner, and the increased value of social improvements and progress after the revolution will belong to the country and be enjoyed by the people." Sun Yat-sen believed that the implementation of this plan could prevent monopoly and make "the public wealthier", thus promoting "social development". On the issue of capital, Sun Yat-sen confirmed that "industrialism is necessary for China." He believes that China's modernization is an inevitable trend in history, and the book "Industrial Plan" is the grand blueprint for social and economic development. He attributed the way to develop the social economy to "controlling capital" and developing "state socialism", that is, "big industries" (such as railways, electricity, water conservancy, etc.) that "cannot be left to individuals and have an exclusive nature" "are all state-owned ", because this can not only "prevent the abuses of capitalist monopoly", but also "combine the resources of the whole country." People's Livelihood is essentially a plan to develop capitalism to the maximum extent, although it is colored by subjective socialism.

The Three People's Principles have historical limitations, mainly manifested in the lack of clear and thorough anti-imperialist and anti-feudal content. However, it critically inherited the positive content of the Peasant War and the Reform Movement, borrowed democratic ideological materials from the West, and became a relatively complete democratic revolutionary program in modern Chinese society. The Three People's Principles reflected the main contradictions of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, expressed the people's desire to strive for independence, democracy, and prosperity. It marked the beginning of the old democratic revolution in a more complete sense and produced significant positive changes under the historical conditions at that time. effect.