168-535: Former parties Former parties Former parties A communist state , also known as a Marxist–Leninist state , is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism , a branch of the communist ideology . Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union , the Comintern after its Bolshevisation , and the communist states within
336-444: A Soviet economy that remained capitalist to a significant degree ." This changed with the introduction of the command economy , and the term socialist law was conceived to reflect this in the 1930s. Hungarian legal theorist Imre Szabó acknowledged similarities between socialist law and civil law, but he noted that "four basic types of law may be distinguished: the laws of the slave, feudal, capitalist, and socialist societies." Using
504-542: A civil law system . The countries of Eastern Europe had formally been governed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire , German Empire , and Russian Empire —all of whom had a civil law legal system. Cuba had a civil law system imposed on them by Spain, while China introduced civil law to overlay with Confucian elements, and Vietnam used French law. Since the establishment of the Soviet Union, there has been
672-628: A communist society . Other terms used by communist states include national-democratic , people's democratic , socialist-oriented , and workers and peasants' states. Academics, political commentators, and other scholars tend to distinguish between communist states and democratic socialist states, with the first representing the Eastern Bloc and the latter representing Western Bloc countries that have been democratically governed by socialist parties such as France , Sweden , and Western social-democracies in general, among others. During
840-730: A full-scale battle in which Beijing and its port city of Tianjin fell to invading Japanese forces (July–August 1937). , On 11 July, in accordance with the Goso conference, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff authorized the deployment of an infantry division from the Chōsen Army , two combined brigades from the Kwantung Army and an air regiment composed of 18 squadrons as reinforcements to Northern China. By 20 July, total Japanese military strength in
1008-431: A "great number of legal institutions and legal relations remain the same in socialist law", further stating that it is "necessary and justified" to put them to use if they are "in conformity with the corresponding interests of the ruling class in the state in question." Importantly, socialist law had retained civil law institutions, methodology, and organisation. This can be discerned by the fact that East Germany retained
1176-460: A broader 'segment of society' [...] than the court itself." Despite this, it does not mean that the communist states use legislatures to strengthen their communication with the populace—the party, rather than the legislature, could take that function. Ideologically, it has another function, namely, to prove that communist states do not only represent the interests of the working class but all social strata. Communist states are committed to establishing
1344-738: A campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare . In November 1939, Chinese nationalist forces launched a large scale winter offensive , and in August 1940, communist forces launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive in central China. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States. The US increased its aid to China under the Lend-Lease Act , becoming its main financial and military supporter. With Burma cut off,
1512-574: A classless society and use legislatures to show that all social strata, whether bureaucrat, worker, or intellectual, are committed and have interests in building such a society. As is the case in China, national institutions such as the legislature "must exist which brings together representatives of all nationalities and geographic areas." It does not matter if the legislatures only rubber stamp decisions because by having them, it shows that communist states are committed to incorporating minorities and areas of
1680-540: A communist victory and the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In China, the war is most commonly known as the "War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression" ( simplified Chinese : 抗日战争 ; traditional Chinese : 抗日戰爭 ), and shortened to "Resistance against Japanese Aggression" ( Chinese : 抗日 ) or the "War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 抗戰 ). It
1848-401: A decision has been reached, all people have a duty to account to that decision. When used within a political party, democratic centralism is meant to prevent factionalism and splits. When applied to an entire state, democratic centralism creates a one-party system . The constitutions of most communist states describe their political system as a form of democracy. They recognize the sovereignty of
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#17327725295162016-719: A demilitarized zone between the Great Wall and Beijing-Tianjin region. Japan aimed to create another buffer zone between Manchukuo and the Chinese Nationalist government in Nanjing. Japan increasingly exploited China's internal conflicts to reduce the strength of its fractious opponents. Even years after the Northern Expedition, the political power of the Nationalist government was limited to just
2184-622: A few days. When the unitary legislature is not in session, its powers are transferred to a smaller council (often called a presidium ) which acts as a collective head of state . In some systems, the presidium is composed of crucial communist party members who vote the resolutions of the communist party into law. A feature of communist states is the existence of numerous state-sponsored social organisations (associations of journalists, teachers, writers and other professionals, consumer cooperatives , sports clubs , trade unions , youth organisations , and women's organisations ) which are integrated into
2352-482: A given country. It deals with states that define themselves either as a socialist state or as a state led by a governing Marxist–Leninist party in their constitutions. For this reason alone, these states are often called communist states. All communist political systems practice unitary state power . This means that the legislature, usually defined as the highest organ of state power, has executive, legislative and judicial power and can interfere in these organs as long as
2520-524: A path for China, recording what has been won in China and what is yet to be conquered." A constitution in a communist state has an end. The preamble of the 1954 Chinese constitution outlines the historical tasks of the Chinese communists, "step by step, to bring about the socialist industrialisation of the country and, step by step, to accomplish the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicraft and capitalist industry and commerce." In communist states,
2688-489: A reprobate category, the Romanist laws and the common law, is the fact that they reason less as jurists and more as philosophers and Marxists; it is in taking a not strictly legal viewpoint that they affirm the originality of their socialist law." However, some socialist legal theorists, such as Romanian jurist Victor Zlatescu differentiated between type of law and family of law. According to Zlatescu, "[t]he distinction between
2856-727: A result of Depression -era tariffs ), and a protective buffer state against the Soviet Union in Siberia . As a result, the Japanese Army was widely prevalent in Manchuria immediately following the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, where Japan gained significant territory in Manchuria. As a result of their strengthened position, by 1915 Japan had negotiated a significant amount of economic privilege in
3024-536: A result of its victory at the end of the war. Japan had also attempted to annex the Liaodong Peninsula following the war, though was forced to return it to China following an intervention by France , Germany , and Russia . The Qing dynasty was on the brink of collapse due to internal revolts and the imposition of the unequal treaties , while Japan had emerged as a great power through its modernization measures. In 1905, Japan successfully defeated
3192-453: A scholarly debate on whether socialist law is a separate legal system or is a part of the civil law tradition. Legal scholar Renè David wrote that the socialist legal system "possesses, in relation to our French law, particular features that give it a complete originality, to the extent that it is no longer possible to connect it, like the former Russian law, to the system of Roman law ." Similarly, Christoper Osakwe concludes that socialist law
3360-412: A socialist state. A socialist state is more than a form of government and can only exist in countries with a socialist economy . There are examples of several states that have instituted a socialist form of government before achieving socialism. The former socialist states of Eastern Europe were established as people's democracies (a developmental stage between capitalism and socialism ). Regarding
3528-779: A term used mainly in foreign and Chinese narratives. The origins of the Second Sino-Japanese War can be traced back to the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, in which China, then under the rule of the Qing dynasty, was defeated by Japan and forced to cede Taiwan and recognize the full and complete independence of Korea in the Treaty of Shimonoseki . Japan also annexed the Senkaku Islands , which Japan claims were uninhabited, in early 1895 as
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#17327725295163696-648: A testing zone for advanced biplane and new-generation monoplane combat-aircraft designs. The introduction of the advanced A5M "Claude" fighters into the Shanghai-Nanjing theater of operations, beginning on 18 September 1937, helped the Japanese achieve a certain level of air superiority . However the few experienced Chinese veteran pilots, as well as several Chinese-American volunteer fighter pilots, including Maj. Art Chin , Maj. John Wong Pan-yang , and Capt. Chan Kee-Wong, even in their older and slower biplanes, proved more than able to hold their own against
3864-416: A tool to defend the socialist nature of the state and attack its enemies. This contrasts with the liberal conception of constitutionalism that "law, rather than men, is supreme." Unlike the relatively constant (and, in some instances, permanently fixed ) nature of democratic constitutions, a Marxist–Leninist constitution is ever-changing. Andrey Vyshinsky , a Procurator General of the Soviet Union during
4032-424: Is "an autonomous legal system to be essentially distinguished from the other contemporary families of law." Proponents of socialist law as a separate legal system have identified the following features: Legal officials argue differently for their cases compared to Westerners. For instance, "[t]he predominant view among Soviet jurists in the 1920s was that Soviet law of that period was Western-style law appropriate for
4200-520: Is a period of "total" war. This view of a fourteen-year war has political significance because it provides more recognition for the role of northeast China in the War of Resistance. On the night of 7 July 1937, Chinese and Japanese troops exchanged fire in the vicinity of the Marco Polo (or Lugou) Bridge , a crucial access-route to Beijing. What began as confused, sporadic skirmishing soon escalated into
4368-770: Is also why amendments to constitutions are not enough and major societal changes need a novel constitution which corresponds with the reality of the new class structure. With Nikita Khrushchev 's repudiation of Stalin's practices in the " Secret Speech " and the Chinese Communist Party's repudiation of certain Maoist policies, Marxist–Leninist legal theories began to emphasise "the formal, formerly neglected constitutional order." Deng Xiaoping , not long after Chairman Mao Zedong 's death, noted that "[d]emocracy has to be institutionalised and written into law, to make sure that institutions and laws do not change whenever
4536-503: Is different from country to country. In the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet did "little more than listen to statements from Soviet political leaders and to legitimate decisions already made elsewhere" while in the legislatures of Poland, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia it has been more active and had an impact on rule-making. Marxist–Leninists view the constitution as a fundamental law and as an instrument of force. The constitution
4704-843: Is known in China as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression ( simplified Chinese : 抗日战争 ; traditional Chinese : 抗日戰爭 ). On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident , a false flag event fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo . This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including in Shanghai and in Northern China. Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces, respectively led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong , had fought each other in
4872-621: Is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. When the invasion of China proper began in earnest in July 1937 near Beijing , the government of Japan used "The North China Incident" (Japanese: 北支事變/華北事變 , romanized: Hokushi Jihen/Kahoku Jihen ), and with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai the following month, it was changed to "The China Incident" (Japanese: 支那事變 , romanized: Shina Jihen ). The word "incident" (Japanese: 事變 , romanized: jihen )
5040-438: Is ruled by the bourgeoisie class, and socialism, where the proletariat leads, the socialist-oriented state represents a broad and heterogeneous group of classes that seek to consolidate national independence. Since peasants were usually the largest class in socialist-oriented states, their role was emphasised—similar to the working class in other socialist states. However, Marxist–Leninists admitted that these states often fell under
5208-420: Is sometimes used to describe a dominant-party system that, unlike a one-party state, allows (at least nominally) multiparty elections, but the existing practices or balance of political power effectively prevent the opposition from winning power. Membership in the ruling party tends to be relatively small compared to the population. With such a small winning coalition, leaders in one-party states usually lack
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5376-639: Is that the socialist-oriented state was divided into two stages: a national-democratic socialist-oriented state and a people's democratic socialist-oriented state. Countries belonging to the national-democratic socialist-oriented state category were also categorised as national-democratic states. Examples of national-democratic socialist-oriented states are Algeria , ruled by the National Liberation Front , Ba'athist Iraq , and Socialist Burma . In contrast, people's democratic socialist-oriented states had to be guided by Marxism–Leninism and accept
5544-587: Is the most common and is currently in use in China. Marxism–Leninism was mentioned in the Soviet constitution . Article 6 of the 1977 Soviet constitution stated: "The Communist Party, armed with Marxism–Leninism, determines the general perspective of the development of society and the course of the domestic and foreign policy of the USSR." This contrasts with the 1976 Albanian constitution which stated in Article 3: "In
5712-633: Is the source of law and legality. Unlike in liberal democracies , the Marxist–Leninist constitution is not a framework to limit the power of the state. To the contrary, a Marxist–Leninist constitution seeks to empower the state—believing the state to be an organ of class domination and law to be the expression of the interests of the dominant class. Marxist–Leninists believe that all national constitutions do this to ensure that countries can strengthen and enforce their own class system. In this instance, it means that Marxist–Leninists conceive of constitutions as
5880-430: Is to create the conditions for socialism in countries where the social, political, and economic conditions for socialism do not exist. The second feature to be met is the establishment of a revolutionary-democratic party which has to establish itself as the leading force and guide the state by using Marxist–Leninist ideology. While introduced in these states, democratic centralism is rarely upheld. Unlike capitalism which
6048-551: The 1896 German civil code until 1976 while Poland used existing Austrian, French, German, and Russian civil codes until adoption of its own civil code in 1964. Scholar John Quigley wrote that "[s]ocialist law retains the inquisitorial style of trial, law-creation predominantly by legislatures rather than courts, and a significant role for legal scholarship in construing codes." Communist states have established two types of civil-military systems. The armed forces of most socialist states have historically been state institutions based on
6216-657: The Central Plains War broke out across China, involving regional commanders who had fought in alliance with the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition, and the Nanjing government under Chiang. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) previously fought openly against the Nanjing government after the Shanghai massacre of 1927 , and they continued to expand during this protracted civil war. The Kuomintang government in Nanjing decided to focus their efforts on suppressing
6384-667: The Chinese Civil War since 1927. In late 1933, Chiang Kai-shek encircled the Chinese Communists in an attempt to finally destroy them, forcing the Communists into the Long March , resulting in the Communists losing around 90% of their men. As a Japanese invasion became imminent, Chiang still refused to form a united front before he was placed under house arrest by his subordinates who forced him to form
6552-639: The Comecon , the Eastern Bloc , and the Warsaw Pact . After the peak of Marxism–Leninism, when many communist states were established, the Revolutions of 1989 brought down most of the communist states; however, Communism remained the official ideology of the ruling parties of China , Cuba , Laos , Vietnam , and to a lesser extent, North Korea . During the later part of the 20th century, before
6720-818: The German Empire 's sphere of influence in Shandong province, leading to nationwide anti-Japanese protests and mass demonstrations in China. The country remained fragmented under the Beiyang Government and was unable to resist foreign incursions. For the purpose of unifying China and defeating the regional warlords, the Kuomintang (KMT) in Guangzhou launched the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928 with limited assistance from
6888-543: The Iron Curtain broke under public pressure during a wave of mostly non-violent movements as part of the Revolutions of 1989 which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. China's socio-economic structure has been referred to as "nationalistic state capitalism" and the Eastern Bloc ( Eastern Europe and the Third World ) as "bureaucratic-authoritarian systems." Today, the existing communist states in
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7056-855: The Mukden incident in September 1931. Japanese soldiers set off a bomb on the Southern Manchurian Railroad in order to provoke an opportunity to act in "self defense" and invade outright. Japan charged that its rights in Manchuria, which had been established as a result of its victory in 1905 at the end of the Russo-Japanese War , had been systematically violated and there were "more than 120 cases of infringement of rights and interests, interference with business, boycott of Japanese goods, unreasonable taxation, detention of individuals, confiscation of properties, eviction, demand for cessation of business, assault and battery, and
7224-707: The Narodniks in Russia, it is now associated with communist states. A number of the short-lived communist states which formed during World War I and its aftermath called themselves people's republics. Many of these sprang up in the territory of the former Russian Empire following the October Revolution . Additional people's republics emerged following the Allied victory in World War II, mainly within
7392-578: The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s . In addition, due to China's fractured political status, Japan often claimed that China was no longer a recognizable political entity on which war could be declared. In Japanese propaganda , the invasion of China became a crusade (Japanese: 聖戦 , romanized: seisen ), the first step of the "eight corners of the world under one roof" slogan (Japanese: 八紘一宇 , romanized: Hakkō ichiu ). In 1940, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe launched
7560-531: The Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War , gaining Tailen and southern Sakhalin and establishing a protectorate over Korea. In 1911, factions of the Qing Army uprose against the government, staging a revolution that swept across China's southern provinces. The Qing responded by appointing Yuan Shikai , commander of the loyalist Beiyang Army , as temporary prime minister in order to subdue
7728-647: The Second United Front in late 1936 in order to resist the Japanese invasion together. The full-scale war began on 7 July 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge incident near Beijing , which prompted a full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. The Japanese captured the capital of Nanjing in 1937 and perpetrated the Nanjing Massacre . After failing to stop the Japanese capture of Wuhan in 1938, then China's de facto capital at
7896-668: The Shanghai French Concession , areas which were outside of China's control due to the treaty port system. Japan moved into these areas after its 1941 declaration of war against the United States and the United Kingdom. Building on the hard-won victory in Shanghai, the IJA advanced on and captured the KMT capital city of Nanjing (December 1937) and Northern Shanxi (September – November 1937). Upon
8064-543: The Soviet Union . The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) formed by the Kuomintang swept through southern and central China until it was checked in Shandong, where confrontations with the Japanese garrison escalated into armed conflict. The conflicts were collectively known as the Jinan incident of 1928, during which time the Japanese military killed several Chinese officials and fired artillery shells into Jinan. According to
8232-731: The Taisei Yokusankai . When both sides formally declared war in December 1941, the name was replaced by " Greater East Asia War " (Japanese: 大東亞戰爭 , romanized: Daitōa Sensō ). Although the Japanese government still uses the term "China Incident" in formal documents, the word Shina is considered derogatory by China and therefore the media in Japan often paraphrase with other expressions like "The Japan–China Incident" (Japanese: 日華事變/日支事變 , romanized: Nikka Jiken/Nisshi Jiken ), which were used by media as early as
8400-904: The United States Army Air Forces airlifted material over the Himalayas . In 1944, Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go , the invasion of Henan and Changsha . In 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. China launched large counteroffensives in South China and repulsed a failed Japanese invasion of West Hunan and recaptured Japanese occupied regions of Guangxi . Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945, following
8568-592: The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Soviet declaration of war and subsequent invasions of Manchukuo and Korea . The war resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly Chinese civilians. China was recognized as one of the Big Four Allies , regained all territories lost, and became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council . The Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, ending with
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#17327725295168736-513: The mass line and learning from the people." This reasoning gives communist legislatures the right to interfere in every state institution unless the legislature itself has made a law that bars it from it. This also means there are no limits to politicisation, unlike in liberal democracies, where politicians are legally barred from interfering in judicial work. This is a firm rejection of the separation of powers found in liberal democracies since no institution can legally enforce checks and balances on
8904-430: The 18 September 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria marks the start of the War of Resistance. Although not the conventional Western view, British historian Rana Mitter describes this Chinese trend of historical analysis as "perfectly reasonable". In 2017, the Chinese government officially announced that it would adopt this view. Under this interpretation, the 1931–1937 period is viewed as the "partial" war, while 1937–1945
9072-417: The 1921 and 1927 Imperial Eastern Region Conferences reconfirmed Japan's commitment to be the dominant power in the Northeast. The 1929 Red Army victory shook that policy to the core and reopened the Manchurian problem. By 1930, the Kwantung Army realized they faced a Red Army that was only growing stronger. The time to act was drawing near and Japanese plans to conquer the Northeast were accelerated. In 1930,
9240-403: The 1930s, notes that the "Soviet constitutions represent the total of the historical path along which the Soviet state has travelled. At the same time, they are the legislative basis of subsequent development of state life." That is, the constitution sums up what has already been achieved. This belief is also shared by the Chinese Communist Party , which argued that "the Chinese Constitution blazes
9408-401: The 1930s. The name "Second Sino-Japanese War" is not commonly used in Japan as the China it fought a war against in 1894 to 1895 was led by the Qing dynasty , and thus is called the Qing-Japanese War (Japanese: 日清戦争 , romanized: Nisshin–Sensō ), rather than the First Sino-Japanese War . Another term for the second war between Japan and China is the "Japanese invasion of China",
9576-454: The 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria . According to historian Rana Mitter , historians in China are unhappy with the blanket revision, and (despite sustained tensions) the Republic of China did not consider itself to be in an ongoing war with Japan over these six years. It is also referred to as part of the "Global Anti-Fascist War". In Japan, nowadays, the name "Japan–China War" ( Japanese : 日中戦争 , romanized : Nitchū Sensō )
9744-399: The 1937 " Sword March ", which—with slightly reworked lyrics—became the National Revolutionary Army's standard marching cadence and popularized the racial epithet guizi to describe the Japanese invaders. The Imperial General Headquarters (GHQ) in Tokyo, content with the gains acquired in northern China following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, initially showed reluctance to escalate
9912-459: The 1986–2006 period, active military figures sitting in the CPV Central Committee stood at an average of 9,2 per cent. Military figures are also represented in the national legislature (the National Assembly ) and other representative institutions. In China, the two CMC vice chairmen have had by right office seats in the CCP Politburo since 1987. A Marxist–Leninist party has led every communist state. This party seeks to represent and articulate
10080-417: The 20th century, the world's first constitutionally communist state was Soviet Russia at the end of 1917. In 1922, it joined other former territories of the empire to become the Soviet Union . After World War II , the Soviet Army occupied much of Eastern Europe and helped bring the existing communist parties to power in those countries. Originally, the communist states in Eastern Europe were allied with
10248-682: The African continent is marked by this political system. Below are just a few examples of governments that have been claimed to have single party rule due to political manipulation. establishment 1993 (Recognized state) Scientific socialism , Somali nationalism [REDACTED] Yemeni Socialist Party Second Sino-Japanese War [REDACTED] China [REDACTED] Japan [REDACTED] 14,000,000 total [REDACTED] 4,100,000 total Second Sino-Japanese War Taishō period Shōwa period Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups The Second Sino-Japanese War
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#173277252951610416-422: The Beijing-Tianjin area exceeded 180,000 personnel. The Japanese gave Sung and his troops "free passage" before moving in to pacify resistance in areas surrounding Beijing (then Beiping) and Tianjin. After 24 days of combat, the Chinese 29th Army was forced to withdraw. The Japanese captured Beijing and the Taku Forts at Tianjin on 29 and 30 July respectively, thus concluding the Beijing-Tianjin campaign. However,
10584-437: The CPSU Central Committee was responsible for implementing the party personnel policies and supervised the KGB , the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense. In the Chinese party-state model, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is a party institution. In the preamble of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party , it is stated: "The Communist Party of China (CPC) shall uphold its absolute leadership over
10752-406: The Chairman of the Council for National Defense and Security of Vietnam), National Supervisory institutions (such as the Director of China's National Supervisory Commission ) and other institutions if they exist. Moreover, in all communist states, the ruling party has either had a clear majority, such as China or held every seat as they did in the Soviet Union, in their Supreme Soviet. A majority in
10920-459: The Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping , who stated in 2013 that "[n]o organisation or individual has the privilege to overstep the Constitution and law." After Soviet Union general secretary Joseph Stalin 's death, several communist states have experimented with some sort of constitutional supervision. These organs were designed to safeguard the supreme power of the legislature from circumvention by political leaders. Romania
11088-400: The Chinese Communists through the Encirclement Campaigns , following the policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" (Chinese: 攘外必先安內 ). The internecine warfare in China provided excellent opportunities for Japan, which saw Manchuria as a limitless supply of raw materials, a market for its manufactured goods (now excluded from the markets of many Western countries as
11256-469: The Chinese to deploy troops in their own city. In Manchukuo there was an ongoing campaign to pacify the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies that arose from widespread outrage over the policy of non-resistance to Japan. On 15 April 1932, the Chinese Soviet Republic led by the Communists declared war on Japan. In 1933, the Japanese attacked the Great Wall region. The Tanggu Truce established in its aftermath, gave Japan control of Rehe Province , as well as
11424-462: The Chinese working class, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation." As noted by both communist parties, the ruling parties of communist states are vanguard parties . Vladimir Lenin theorised that vanguard parties were "capable of assuming power and leading the whole people to socialism, of directing and organising the new system, of being the teacher, the guide, the leader of all the working and exploited people in organising their social life without
11592-451: The Communist ideology." Therefore, the sole ideological purpose of communist states is to spread socialism and to reach that goal these states have to be guided by Marxism–Leninism. The communist states have opted for two ways to achieve this goal, namely govern indirectly by Marxism–Leninism through the party (Soviet model), or commit the state officially through the constitution to Marxism–Leninism (Maoist China–Albania model). The Soviet model
11760-489: The Japanese Army had been given orders not to advance further than the Yongding River. In a sudden volte-face , the Konoe government's foreign minister opened negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek's government in Nanjing and stated: "Japan wants Chinese cooperation, not Chinese land." Nevertheless, negotiations failed to move further. The Ōyama Incident on 9 August escalated the skirmishes and battles into full scale warfare. The 29th Army's resistance (and poor equipment) inspired
11928-465: The Japanese intercepted most of the attack with A2N and A4N fighters from the aircraft carriers Hosho and Ryujo , shooting down several of the Chinese planes while losing a single A4N in the dogfight with Lt. Huang Xinrui in his P-26/281; the Japanese Army reinforcements succeeded in landing in northern Shanghai. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) ultimately committed over 300,000 troops, along with numerous naval vessels and aircraft, to capture
12096-630: The Japanese strongholds in Shanghai, leading to bitter street fighting. In an attack on the Japanese cruiser Izumo , Kuomintang planes accidentally bombed the Shanghai International Settlement , which led to more than 3,000 civilian deaths. In the three days from 14 August through 16, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) sent many sorties of the then-advanced long-ranged G3M medium-heavy land-based bombers and assorted carrier-based aircraft with
12264-644: The Japanese-backed East Hebei Autonomous Council and the Hebei–Chahar Political Council were established. There in the empty space of Chahar the Mongol military government was formed on 12 May 1936. Japan provided all the necessary military and economic aid. Afterwards Chinese volunteer forces continued to resist Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and Chahar and Suiyuan . Some Chinese historians believe
12432-645: The League of Nations. No country took action against Japan beyond tepid censure. From 1931 until summer 1937, the Nationalist Army under Chiang Kai-shek did little to oppose Japanese encroachment into China. Incessant fighting followed the Mukden Incident. In 1932, Chinese and Japanese troops fought the January 28 Incident battle. This resulted in the demilitarization of Shanghai , which forbade
12600-507: The Main Political Directorate supervises not only the military, but also intelligence, the security services, and counterespionage work. Unlike in liberal democracies, active military personnel are members and partake in civilian institutions of governance. This is the case in all communist states. The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has elected at least one active military figure to its CPV Politburo since 1986. In
12768-461: The Marxist theory of historical materialism , Szabó argues that socialist law cannot belong to the same law family since the material structure is different from the capitalist countries as their superstructure (state) has to reflect these differences. In other words, law is a tool by the ruling class to govern. As Renè David notes, socialist jurists "isolate their law, to put into another category,
12936-545: The Marxist–Leninist-ruled countries of Africa and the Middle East, the Soviet Union deemed none of them socialist states—referring to them as socialist-oriented states. While many countries with constitutional references to socialism and countries ruled by long-standing socialist movements exist, within Marxist–Leninist theory a socialist state is led by a communist party that has instituted a socialist economy in
13104-518: The People's Liberation Army and other people's armed forces." The PLA carries out its work in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party . Mao Zedong described the PLA's institutional situation as follows: "Every communist must grasp the truth, ' Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun .' Our principle is that the party commands the gun, and
13272-431: The People's Socialist Republic of Albania the dominant ideology is Marxism–Leninism. The entire social order is developing on the basis of its principles." The 1975 Chinese constitution had a similar tone, stating in Article 2 that "Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought is the theoretical basis guiding the thinking of our nation." The 1977 Soviet constitution did also use phrases such as "building socialism and communism", "on
13440-703: The Revolutions of 1989, around one-third of the world's population lived in communist states. Communist states are typically authoritarian and are typically administered through democratic centralism by a single centralised communist party apparatus. These parties are usually Marxist–Leninist or some national variation thereof such as Maoism or Titoism . There have been several instances of communist states with functioning political participation (i.e. Soviet democracy ) processes involving several other non-party organisations such as direct democratic participation, factory committees , and trade unions , although
13608-498: The Soviet Union's Eastern Bloc . In Asia, China became a people's republic following the Chinese Communist Revolution and North Korea also became a people's republic. During the 1960s, Romania and Yugoslavia ceased to use the term people's republic in their official name, replacing it with the term socialist republic as a mark of their ongoing political development. Czechoslovakia also added
13776-598: The Soviet Union. Yugoslavia would declare itself non-aligned , and Albania later took a different path. After a war against Japanese occupation and a civil war resulting in a Communist victory, the People's Republic of China was established in 1949. Communist states were also established in Cambodia , Cuba , Laos , North Korea , and Vietnam . In 1989, the communist states in Eastern Europe collapsed after
13944-609: The Soviet government was known as the Council of Ministers and identical names were used for the governments of Albania , East Germany , Hungary , Poland , and Romania . It was independent of the other central agencies such as the legislature and its standing committee, but the Supreme Soviet was empowered to decide on all questions it wished. The Soviet government was responsible to the legislature, and in between sessions of
14112-514: The Soviet model, but in China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam, the armed forces are party-state institutions. However, several differences exist between the statist (Soviet) and the party-state models (China). In the Soviet model, the Soviet armed forces was led by the Council of Defense (an organ formed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union ) while the Council of Ministers
14280-1054: The Soviet one, the NPC is the highest organ of the state and elects a Standing Committee (the Soviets had a Presidium ), the government (named the State Council in China and the Council of Ministers in the Soviet Union), the Supreme Court (such as the Supreme Court of East Germany), the Supreme Procuratorate (such as the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam ), the Chairman of the National Defence Council (for example,
14448-513: The Supreme Soviet's Presidium, union republic constitutions and laws, some central administrative decrees, Supreme Court explanations, and other central normative documents." If the committee deemed the legislature to have breached legality, the legislature was obliged to discuss the issue, but it could reject it if more than two-thirds voted against the findings of the Constitutional Supervision Committee. While it
14616-408: The agency in question failed to heed its advice, it needed to petition the legislature. In 1989, the Soviets established the Constitutional Supervision Committee, which "was subordinate only to the USSR constitution." It was empowered "to review the constitutionality and legality of a range of state acts of the USSR and its republics. Its jurisdiction included laws [passed by the legislature], decrees of
14784-722: The area of the Yangtze River Delta . Other sections of China were essentially in the hands of local Chinese warlords. Japan sought various Chinese collaborators and helped them establish governments friendly to Japan. This policy was called the Specialization of North China ( 華北特殊化 ; huáběitèshūhùa ), more commonly known as the North China Autonomous Movement. The northern provinces affected by this policy were Chahar , Suiyuan , Hebei , Shanxi , and Shandong. This Japanese policy
14952-616: The armed forces through the Main Political Directorate (MPD) of the Ministry of Defense , a state organ that functioned "with the authority of a department of the CPSU Central Committee ." The MPD organised political indoctrination and created political control mechanisms at the centre to the company level in the field. Formally, the MPD was responsible for organising party and Komsomol organs as well as subordinate organs within
15120-438: The armed forces; ensuring that the party and state retain control over the armed forces; evaluates the political performance of officers; supervising the ideological content of the military press; and supervising the political-military training institutes and their ideological content. The head of the MPD was ranked fourth in military protocol, but it was not a member of the Council of Defense. The Administrative Organs Department of
15288-605: The bourgeoisie." This idea eventually evolved into the concept of the party's leading role in leading the state as seen in the CCP's self-description and Vietnam's constitution. One-party state A one-party state , single-party state , one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or enjoy limited and controlled participation in elections . The term " de facto one-party state"
15456-404: The capture of Nanjing, Japanese committed massive war atrocities including mass murder and rape of Chinese civilians after 13 December 1937, which has been referred to as the Nanjing Massacre . Over the next several weeks, Japanese troops perpetrated numerous mass executions and tens of thousands of rapes. The army looted and burned the surrounding towns and the city, destroying more than a third of
15624-464: The city's large foreign community and increase China's foreign support. On 13 August 1937, Kuomintang soldiers attacked Japanese Marine positions in Shanghai, with Japanese army troops and marines in turn crossing into the city with naval gunfire support at Zhabei , leading to the Battle of Shanghai. On 14 August, Chinese forces under the command of Zhang Zhizhong were ordered to capture or destroy
15792-601: The city. After more than three months of intense fighting, their casualties far exceeded initial expectations. On 26 October, the IJA captured Dachang, a key strong-point within Shanghai, and on 5 November, additional reinforcements from Japan landed in Hangzhou Bay. Finally, on 9 November, the NRA began a general retreat. Japan did not immediately occupy the Shanghai International Settlement or
15960-437: The communist legislature. The legislature passes the constitution, which can only be amended by the legislature. Soviet legal theorists denounced judicial review and extra-parliamentary review as bourgeoisie institutions. They also perceived it as a limitation of the people's supreme power. The legislature, together with its suborgans, oversaw the constitutional order. Since the legislature is the supreme judge of constitutionality,
16128-407: The communist party remained the centre of power. As a term, communist state is used by Western historians, political scientists, and media to refer to these countries. However, these states do not describe themselves as communist nor do they claim to have achieved communism — they refer to themselves as socialist states that are in the process of constructing socialism and progressing toward
16296-616: The communist party. This shows that legislatures are tools to garner popular support for the government in which leading figures campaign and spread information about the party's policies and ideological development. Furthermore, Western researchers have devoted little attention to legislatures in communist states. The reason is that there are no significant bodies of political socialisation compared to legislatures in liberal democracies. While political leaders in communist states are often elected as members of legislatures, these posts are not relevant to political advancement. The role of legislatures
16464-431: The concept of the national-democratic state "never received full theoretical elaboration as a political system." However, one feature was clearly defined, namely, that these states did not need to be led by a Marxist–Leninist party. A socialist-oriented state seeks to reach socialism by non-capitalist development. As a term, it substantially differs from the concept of the national-democratic state. The singular difference
16632-477: The conduct of processes of production. The state is not 'abolished'. It dies out." In "The Tax in Kind", Vladimir Lenin argued: "No one, I think, in studying the question of the economic system of Russia, has denied its transitional character. Nor, I think, has any Communist denied that the term Soviet Socialist Republic implies the determination of the Soviet power to achieve the transition to socialism, and not that
16800-508: The conflict into a full-scale war. Following the shooting of two Japanese officers who were attempting to enter the Hongqiao military airport on 9 August 1937, the Japanese demanded that all Chinese forces withdraw from Shanghai; the Chinese outright refused to meet this demand. In response, both the Chinese and the Japanese marched reinforcements into the Shanghai area. Chiang concentrated his best troops north of Shanghai in an effort to impress
16968-410: The constitution was a tool to analyse the development of society. The Marxist–Leninist party in question would have to study the correlation of forces, literally society's class structure, before enacting changes. Several terms were coined for different developmental states by Marxist–Leninist legal theorists, including new democracy , people's democracy , and the primary stage of socialism . This
17136-457: The control of certain cliques such as the military in Ethiopia . The establishment of a legal system and coercive institutions are also noted to safeguard the socialist-oriented nature of the state. The fifth feature is that the socialist-oriented state must take over the media and educational system while establishing mass organisations to mobilize the populace. Unlike the Soviet economic model,
17304-467: The country by including them in the composition of the legislature. In communist states, there is usually a high proportion of members who are government officials. In this instance, it might mean that it is less important what legislatures do and more important who its representatives are. The members of such legislatures at central and local levels are usually either government or party officials, leading figures in their community, or national figures outside
17472-506: The country was re-unified under the communist party in 1976 and the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba states that the role of the communist party is to "guide the common effort toward the goals and construction of socialism." The DPRK's constitution outlines a socialist economy and the ruling Workers' Party of Korea remains ideologically committed to communism. Communist states share similar institutions, which are organised on
17640-516: The country. China was reduced to a fractured state. As a result, China's prosperity began to wither and its economy declined. This instability presented an opportunity for nationalistic politicians in Japan to press for territorial expansion. In 1915, Japan issued the Twenty-One Demands to extort further political and commercial privilege from China, which was accepted by the regime of Yuan Shikai. Following World War I , Japan acquired
17808-618: The country. Yuan's attempts at restoring the monarchy triggered the National Protection War , and Yuan Shikai was overthrown after only a few months. In the aftermath of Shikai's death in June 1916, control of China fell into the hands of the Beiyang Army leadership. The Beiyang government was a civilian government in name, but in practice it was a military dictatorship with a different warlord controlling each province of
17976-449: The economy of the socialist-oriented states are mixed economies that seek to attract foreign capital and which seeks to maintain and develop the private sector . In the words of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev , these states were in the process of taking over the commanding heights of the economy and instituting a state-planned economy. According to Soviet sources, Laos was the one socialist-oriented state that has managed to develop into
18144-417: The election process by "universal suffrage in the various wards and towns." While the institution of such a legislature might not be important in itself, they "have a place in the literature and rhetoric of the ruling parties which cannot be ignored—in the language of the party's intimacy with working masses, of its alleged knowledge about interests of working people, of social justice and socialist democracy, of
18312-458: The existing economic system is recognised as a socialist order." The introduction of the first five-year plan in the Soviet Union got many communists to believe that the withering away of the state was imminent. However, Joseph Stalin warned that the withering away of the state would not occur until after the socialist mode of production had achieved dominance over capitalism. Soviet jurist Andrey Vyshinsky echoed this assumption and said that
18480-614: The existing framework until 2018, when the Constitution and Law Committee of the National People's Congress was bestowed the right of constitutional review. The government of communist states is usually defined as the "executive organ of the highest state organ of power" or as the "highest administrative agency of state power". It functions as the executive organ of the legislature. This model has been introduced with variations in all communist states. For most of its existence,
18648-545: The expectation of destroying the Chinese Air Force . However, the Imperial Japanese Navy encountered unexpected resistance from the defending Chinese Curtiss Hawk II / Hawk III and P-26/281 Peashooter fighter squadrons; suffering heavy (50%) losses from the defending Chinese pilots (14 August was subsequently commemorated by the KMT as China's Air Force Day ). The skies of China had become
18816-434: The following countries are legally constituted as one-party states: A de facto one-party system is one that, while not officially linking a single political party to governmental power, utilizes some means of political manipulation to ensure only one party stays in power. Many different countries have been claimed to be de facto one-party states, with differing levels of agreement between scholars, although most agree that
18984-440: The form of a powerful All-Russian Soviet power; the object of which is to secure complete suppression of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of exploitation of man by man, and the establishment of Socialism, under which there shall be neither class division nor state authority". The communist state is the dictatorship of the proletariat , where the advanced elements of the proletariat are the ruling class. In Marxist–Leninist thinking,
19152-605: The gun must never be allowed to command the Party." The Central Military Commission (CMC) is both an organ of the state and the party—it is an organ of the CCP Central Committee and an organ of the national legislature, the National People's Congress. The CCP General Secretary is ex officio party CMC Chairman and the President of the People's Republic of China is by right state CMC Chairman. The composition of
19320-467: The inauguration of the July Theses . Hungary and Poland experimented with constitutional supervision in the early 1980s. Hungary established the Council of Constitutional Law, which was elected by the legislature and consisted of several leading jurists. It was empowered to review the constitutionality and legality of statutes, administrative regulations, and other normative documents; however, if
19488-406: The incentive to care about the well-being of citizens. Rather, they give out private goods to fellow elites to ensure continued support. One-party, compared to dominant-party dictatorships, structure themselves unlike democracies. They also turn into democracies at a lower rate than dominant-party dictatorships. While one-party states prohibit opposition parties, some allow for elections at
19656-422: The interests of the classes exploited by capitalism . It seeks to lead the exploited classes to achieve communism. However, the party cannot be identified with the exploited class in general. Its membership comprises members with advanced consciousness above sectional interests. Therefore, the party represents the advanced section of the exploited classes and, through them, leads the exploited classes by interpreting
19824-657: The investigation results of the Association of the Families of the Victims of the Jinan massacre, it showed that 6,123 Chinese civilians were killed and 1,701 injured. Relations between the Chinese Nationalist government and Japan severely worsened as a result of the Jinan incident. As the National Revolutionary Army approached Beijing, Zhang Zuolin decided to retreat back to Manchuria, before he
19992-553: The law does not illegalise it. This is because both Marx and Lenin abhorred the parliamentary systems of bourgeois democracy , but neither sought to abolish the legislature as an institution. Lenin wrote that it would be impossible to develop proletarian democracy "without representative institutions." Both of them considered the governing model of the Paris Commune of 1871 , in which executive and legislative were combined in one body, to be ideal. More importantly, Marx applauded
20160-455: The law of the socialist countries and the law of the capitalist countries is not of the same nature as the difference between Roman-German law and the common law, for example. Socialist law is not a third family among the others, as in certain writings of Western comparatists." In other words, socialist law is civil law, but it is a different type of law for a different society. Yugoslav jurist Borislav Blagojević [ sr ] noted that
20328-463: The leadership changes or whenever the leaders change their views. [...] The trouble now is that our legal system is incomplete. [...] Very often what leaders say is taken as law and anyone who disagrees is called a lawbreaker." In 1986, Li Buyan wrote that "the policies of the Party usually are regulations and calls which to a certain extent are only principles. The law is different; it is rigorously standardised. It explicitly and concretely stipulates what
20496-415: The leadership of the communist party. In communist states, the government may not tolerate criticism of policies that have already been implemented in the past or are being implemented in the present. According to Marxist–Leninist thought, the state is a repressive institution led by a ruling class . This class dominates the state and expresses its will through it. By formulating law, the ruling class uses
20664-459: The legislature ensures the centralised and unitary leadership of the central committee of the ruling Marxist–Leninist party over the state. By having legislatures, the Marxist–Leninist parties try to keep ideological consistency between supporting representative institutions and safeguarding the party's leading role. They seek to use the legislatures as a linkage between the rulers and the ruled. These institutions are representative and usually mirror
20832-401: The legislature's acts cannot be unconstitutional. Moreover, this means that judicial independence in communist states does not mean the same as in liberal democracies. In communist states, judicial independence means stopping all interference not granted by law, but interference in itself is not barred. The Supreme Soviet was the first socialist legislature, and the Soviet legislative system
21000-553: The legislature, it reported to the legislature's standing committee. The standing committee could reorganise and hold the Soviet government accountable, but it could not instruct the government. In communist states, the government was responsible for the overall economic system, public order, foreign relations, and defense. The Soviet model was more or less identically implemented in Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, with few exceptions. One exception
21168-620: The name of the" National People's Congress , and through it, the Chinese Communist Party . These bodies are responsible to and report on their work to the legislature. For instance, the Prosecutor-General of Vietnam's Supreme People's Procuracy delivers an annual Work Report to the legislature, the National Assembly , every year. Moreover, all communist states have been established in countries with
21336-460: The national liberation movements took power and instituted an anti-imperialist foreign policy and sought to construct a form of socialism were considered national-democratic states by Marxist–Leninists. An example of a national-democratic state is Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser which was committed to constructing Arab socialism . Except Cuba, none of these states developed socialism. According to scholar Sylvia Woodby Edington, this might explain why
21504-570: The oppression of Korean residents". After five months of fighting, Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932, and installed the last Emperor of China, Puyi , as its puppet ruler. Militarily too weak to challenge Japan directly, China appealed to the League of Nations for help. The League's investigation led to the publication of the Lytton Report , condemning Japan for its incursion into Manchuria, causing Japan to withdraw from
21672-562: The party CMC and the state CMC are identical. The CMC is responsible for the command of the PLA and determines national defence policies. fifteen departments report directly to the CMC and that are responsible for everything from political work to administration of the PLA. Of significance is that the CMC eclipses by far the prerogatives of the CPSU Administrative Organs Department while the Chinese counterpart to
21840-507: The people as embodied in a series of representative parliamentary institutions. Such states do not have a separation of powers and instead have one national legislative body (such as the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union), which is bestowed with unitary power and is often defined as the highest organ of state power. Unitary power means that the legislature has the power of the judiciary, legislature and executive but chooses to delegate these powers to other institutions. In communist states,
22008-481: The people should, can, or cannot do." These legal developments were echoed in later years in Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam. This has led to the development of the communist concept of socialist rule of law, which runs parallel to, and is distinct from, the liberal term of the same name. In the last years, this emphasis on the constitution as both a legal document and a paper which documents society's development has been noted by
22176-595: The political system. In communist states, the social organisations are expected to promote social unity and cohesion, to serve as a link between the government and society and to provide a forum for the recruitment of new communist party members. Historically, the political organisation of many socialist states has been dominated by a one-party monopoly. Some communist governments such as those in China , Czechoslovakia , or East Germany have or had more than one political party, but all minor parties are or were required to follow
22344-464: The population in areas such as ethnicity and language , "yet with occupations distributed in a manner skewed towards government officials." Unlike in liberal democracies, legislatures of communist states are not to act as a forum for conveying demands or interest articulation—they meet too infrequently for this to be the case. This might explain why communist states have not developed terms such as delegates and trustees to give legislature representatives
22512-502: The power to vote according to their best judgement or in the interest of their constituency. Scholar Daniel Nelson has noted: "As with the British parliament before the seventeenth-century turmoil secured its supremacy, legislative bodies in communist states physically portray the 'realm' ruled by (to stretch an analogy) 'kings'. Members of the assemblies 'represent' the population to whom the rulers speak and over whom they govern, convening
22680-435: The premise that the communist party is a vanguard of the proletariat and represents the long-term interests of the people. The doctrine of democratic centralism , developed by Vladimir Lenin as a set of principles to be used in the internal affairs of the communist party, is extended to society at large. According to democratic centralism, the people must elect all leaders, and all proposals must be debated openly, but once
22848-421: The region by pressuring Yuan Shikai , the president of the Republic of China at the time. With a widened range of economic privileges in Manchuria, Japan began focusing on developing and protecting matters of economic interests. This included railroads, businesses, natural resources, and a general control of the territory. With its influence growing, the Japanese Army began to justify its presence by stating that it
23016-476: The residents. This gives locals the opportunity to monitor local officials and communicate satisfaction with the local government. Throughout the country, members of the one party hold key political positions. In doing so, the party avoids committing outright fraud and rather sustains their power at the local level with strategic appointment of elites. Data on one-party regimes can be difficult to gather given their lack of transparency. As of 2024,
23184-458: The revolution. Yuan, wanting to remain in power, compromised with the revolutionaries, and agreed to abolish the monarchy and establish a new republican government, under the condition he be appointed president of China. The new Beiyang government of China was proclaimed in March 1912, after which Yuan Shikai began to amass power for himself. In 1913, the parliamentary political leader Song Jiaoren
23352-414: The road to communism", "to build the material and technical basis of communism" and "to perfect socialist social relations and transform them into communist relations" in the preamble. The people's democratic state was implemented in Eastern Europe after World War II. It can be defined as a state and society in which feudal vestiges have been liquidated and where the system of private ownership exists, but
23520-519: The sleek A5Ms in dogfights , and it also proved to be a battle of attrition against the Chinese Air Force. At the start of the battle, the local strength of the NRA was around five divisions, or about 70,000 troops, while local Japanese forces comprised about 6,300 marines. On 23 August, the Chinese Air Force attacked Japanese troop landings at Wusongkou in northern Shanghai with Hawk III fighter-attack planes and P-26/281 fighter escorts, and
23688-457: The smallest local level. One-party states lack any legitimate competition. Therefore, they place elites and sympathetic candidates in key administrative races. For example, the Chinese Communist Party exercises political control by infiltrating village administrations. They view these positions as crucial for gathering information on the population and maintaining a presence in the far reaches of their borders. One-party states recognize
23856-399: The socialist state is the last repressive state since the next stage of development is that of pure communism , a classless and stateless society. Friedrich Engels commented on the state, writing: "State interference in social relations, becomes, in one domain after another, superfluous, and then dies out of itself; the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things, and by
24024-449: The socialist state was necessary "in order to defend, to secure, and to develop relationships and arrangements advantageous to the workers, and to annihilate completely capitalism and its remnants." Ideology permeates these states. According to scholar Peter Tang, "[t]he supreme test of whether a Communist Party-state remains revolutionarily dedicated or degenerates into a revisionist or counterrevolutionary system lies in its attitude toward
24192-467: The state to oppress other classes and form a class dictatorship. However, the goal of the communist state is to abolish that state. The Soviet Russia Constitution of 1918 stated: "The principal object of the Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R., which is adapted to the present transition period, consists in the establishment of a dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat and the poorest peasantry, in
24360-405: The state-owned enterprises in the field of industry, transport, and credit eclipse it. In the words of Eugene Varga , "the state itself and its apparatus of violence serve the interests, not of the monopolistic bourgeoisie, but of the toilers of town and country." Soviet philosopher N. P. Farberov stated: "People's democracy in the people's republics is a democracy of the toiling classes, headed by
24528-608: The tensions in the Northeast that led to the Mukden Incident and eventually the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Soviet Red Army victory over Xueliang's forces not only reasserted Soviet control over the CER in Manchuria but revealed Chinese military weaknesses that Japanese Kwantung Army officers were quick to note. The Soviet Red Army performance also stunned the Japanese. Manchuria was central to Japan's East Asia policy. Both
24696-423: The term socialist republic into its name during this period; it had become a people's republic in 1948, but the country had not used that term in its official name. Albania used both terms in its official name from 1976 to 1991. The concept of the national-democratic state tried to theorize how a state could develop socialism by bypassing the capitalist mode of production . While Vladimir Lenin first articulated
24864-406: The theory of non-capitalist development, the novelty of this concept was applying it to the progressive elements of the national liberation movements in the Third World . The term national-democratic state was introduced shortly after the death of Stalin , who believed colonies to be mere lackeys of Western imperialism and that the socialist movement had few prospects there. The countries where
25032-727: The time, the Nationalist government relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. After the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact , Soviet aid bolstered the National Revolutionary Army and Air Force . By 1939, after Chinese victories at Changsha and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat Chinese Communist Party forces in Shaanxi , who waged
25200-410: The trade-off between election victory and gathering valuable data. To account for this, the regimes have been observed placing local nobility in easy-to-win races. One-party states have also been observed using elections to ensure that only the most popular elites get chosen to office. They also gather data from elections to indicate if a local official is performing poorly in the eyes of
25368-529: The unitary legislatures often have a similar structure to the parliaments in liberal republics , with two significant differences. First, the deputies elected to these unitary legislatures are not expected to represent the interests of any particular constituency but rather the long-term interests of the people as a whole; and second, against Karl Marx 's advice, the unitary legislatures of communist states are not in permanent session. Instead, they convene once or several times yearly in sessions that usually last only
25536-519: The universal laws governing human history towards communism. In Foundations of Leninism (1924), Joseph Stalin wrote that "the proletariat [working class] needs the Party first of all as its General Staff, which it must have for the successful seizure of power. [...] But the proletariat needs the Party not only to achieve the [class] dictatorship; it needs it still more to maintain the [class] dictatorship." The current Constitution of Vietnam states in Article 4 that "[t]he Communist Party of Vietnam ,
25704-517: The universal truths of Marxism–Leninism and reject other notions of socialism such as African socialism . The socialist-oriented states had seven defining features, namely, they were revolutionary democracies, had a revolutionary-democratic party, class dictatorship, defense of the socialist-oriented states, had organs of socialisation, initiated socialist construction, and the type of socialist-oriented state (either national-democratic or people's democratic). The political goal of revolutionary democracy
25872-502: The vanguard of the Vietnamese working class, simultaneously the vanguard of the toiling people and of the Vietnamese nation, the faithful representative of the interests of the working class, the toiling people, and the whole nation, acting upon the Marxist–Leninist doctrine and Ho Chi Minh 's thought, is the leading force of the state and society." In a similar form, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) describes itself as "the vanguard of
26040-477: The working class, a broad and full democracy for the overwhelming majority of the people, that is, a socialist democracy in its character and its trend. In this sense, we call it popular." The people's republican state is a socialist state with a republican constitution. Although the term initially became associated with populist movements in the 19th century, such as the German Völkisch movement and
26208-498: The world are in China , Cuba , Laos , Vietnam , and North Korea (DPRK) . These communist states often do not claim to have achieved socialism or communism in their countries but to be building and working toward the establishment of socialism in their countries. The preamble to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's Constitution states that Vietnam only entered a transition stage between capitalism and socialism after
26376-617: Was assassinated by the Kwantung Army in 1928. His son, Zhang Xueliang , took over as the leader of the Fengtian clique in Manchuria. Later in the same year, Zhang declared his allegiance to the Nationalist government in Nanjing under Chiang Kai-shek , and consequently, China was nominally reunified under one government. The July–November 1929 conflict over the Chinese Eastern Railroad (CER) further increased
26544-532: Was Czechoslovakia, where it had a president and not a collective head of state. Another exception was in Bulgaria, where the State Council was empowered to instruct the Council of Ministers. In every communist state, the judicial and procuratorial bodies are organs of the legislature. For instance, China's Supreme People's Court is the "legislative organ of governance that manages the judicial system in
26712-480: Was also called the "Eight Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 八年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 八年抗戰 ), but in 2017 the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a directive stating that textbooks were to refer to the war as the "Fourteen Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 十四年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 十四年抗戰 ), reflecting a focus on the broader conflict with Japan going back to
26880-406: Was assassinated ; it is generally believed Yuan Shikai ordered the assassination. Yuan Shikai then forced the parliament to pass a bill to strengthen the power of the president and sought to restore the imperial system , becoming the new emperor of China. However, there was little support for an imperial restoration among the general population, and protests and demonstrations soon broke out across
27048-536: Was constitutionally powerful, it lacked enforcement powers, it was often ignored, and it failed to defend the constitution during the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev . The Chinese leadership has argued against establishing any corresponding constitutional supervisory committee due to their association with the failed communist states of Europe. None of the surviving communist states (China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam) have experimented with constitutional supervision committees or constitutional supervision of any kind outside
27216-676: Was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II , and often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as "the Asian Holocaust ", in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians. It
27384-399: Was introduced in all communist states. The Supreme Soviet convened twice a year, usually for two or three days each, making it one of the world's first frequently-convened legislatures during its existence. The same meeting frequency was the norm in the Eastern Bloc countries and modern-day China. China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), is modelled on the Soviet one. As with
27552-399: Was most effective in the area of what is now Inner Mongolia and Hebei. In 1935, under Japanese pressure, China signed the He–Umezu Agreement , which forbade the KMT to conduct party operations in Hebei. In the same year, the Chin–Doihara Agreement was signed expelling the KMT from Chahar. Thus, by the end of 1935 the Chinese government had essentially abandoned northern China. In its place,
27720-446: Was responsible for formulating defence policies. The party leader was ex officio the Chairman of the Council of Defense. Below the Council of Defense, there was the Main Military Council which was responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the Soviet armed forces. The working organ of the Council of Defense was the General Staff tasked with analysing military and political situations as they developed. The party controlled
27888-453: Was simply protecting its own economic interests. However militarists in the Japanese Army began pushing for an expansion of influence, leading to the Japanese Army assassinating the warlord of Manchuria, Zhang Zuolin . This was done with hopes that it would start a crisis that would allow Japan to expand their power and influence in the region. When this was not as successful as they desired, Japan then decided to invade Manchuria outright after
28056-432: Was the first to experiment with constitutional supervision when it established a Constitutional Committee in 1965. It was elected by the legislature, and leading jurists sat on the committee, but it was only empowered to advise the legislature. Keith Hand has commented that "[i]t was not an effective institution in practice", being unable to prevent Nicolae Ceausescu 's emasculation of Romania's Great National Assembly after
28224-425: Was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war . From the Japanese perspective, localizing these conflicts was beneficial in preventing intervention from other countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, which were its primary source of petroleum and steel respectively. A formal expression of these conflicts would potentially lead to an American embargo in accordance with
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