A Study Of Social Construction In The Early Years Of The People's Republic Of China (1949-1956)

“Social construction”,a concept with Chinese characteristics,was listed in the Report to the Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China as one of the“four-in-one” along with “economic construction,political construction and cultural construction”,serving as an important part of China's national development strategy.In the early years of the People's Republic of China's,the Communist Party of China successfully carried out nationwide social construction and accumulated a wealth of practical experience.This period is a significant turning point in China's social transformation and thus to excavate the historical resources of social construction,summarize and generalize the practical experience of social construction of the Communist Party of China during this period has vital reference value for the construction of socialist society with Chinese characteristics in the new era.China experienced a thematic shift from revolution to construction in the early years of the People's Republic of China.Based on the mission of “transformation”,the Communist Party of China reconstructed a new democratic society around the core task of social system reform.At the beginning of the founding of New China,the national economy had been restored after three years' hard work,but various social problems still remained,such as the backward development of people's livelihood,the prominent social security problems and deep-rooted outdated social customs,all of which also constituted the realistic foundation for the Communist Party of China to carry out social construction during the transformation period.With the goal of pursuing the common prosperity of people's lives and building equal social relations,the Communist Party of China gradually developed the overall layout of social construction under the difficult conditions of limited national power.The Communist Party of China completed the comprehensive transformation through social construction in the early years of the People's Republic of China.Reforming the social structure with social class as its core.The Communist Party of China has transformed the original class structure composed of working class,peasantry,petty bourgeoisie and bourgeoisie into the so-called “two classes and one stratum” consisting of working class,peasantry and intellectual class by means of “organization” and“transformation”;Transforming the social system.In a bid to accommodate the construction of a new society,the Communist Party of China,based on the destruction of the traditional social system,has gradually established grassroots social management systems,such as urban street residence system,unit system and rural collectivization,a social security system with social insurance,social relief,social welfare and special assistance to entitled groups,and a marriage and family system containing the marriage freedom,the equality between men and women and the protection of women's and children's rights and interests;Reconstructing social organizations.The Communist Party of China has gradually politicized social organizations by incorporating them into the management system of social organizations through banning,reforming and creating;Developing social undertakings.The Communist Party of China has successfully realized the construction of education,medical care,culture and sports,science and technology,thus transforming from “all things waiting to be developed” to “overall development” under the condition of limited national strength;Changing social custom.Social customs are a crucial part of social construction,the Communist Party of China has changed the behavior of people in the old society and reshaped the new social ethos via banning and relieving urban prostitution,prohibiting and disposing of tobacco and drug,and the resettlement of urban vagrants.Through strengthening the social construction,the Communist Party of China and the government have promoted the booming development of social economy,advanced the establishment of the socialist system,improved people's living standard,and consolidated the ruling legitimacy of the Party which have laid a solid foundation for the development of social undertakings in New China.Due to the Communist Party of China's inexperience in socialist construction,coupled with the development of the international situation and the influence of domestic economic and social development at that time,social construction in the early years of the People's Republic of China's establishment inevitably suffered from the shortcomings of a highly administrative social system,a tendency to equalize distribution methods and deviations in working methods.These practical experiences have momentous implications for the theoretical and practical exploration of China's social construction in the new era.