The CPC’s Early Exploration Of The Central And Local Financial Relations(1921-1949)

Finance is the foundation and important pillar of national governance.As one of the main contents of finance,the financial relationship between the central and local governments constitutes an important aspect of modern national governance.Since the 18^thCPC National Congress,the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core have attached great importance to the financial relationship between the central and local governments.The Party has made comprehensive efforts in key areas and links,such as financial system construction,tax system construction,budget management system construction,local government financing,and improvement of financial macro control capabilities.It has carried out systematic,collaborative,and holistic reforms,and achieved breakthrough achievements,laying the institutional foundation for comprehensively deepening the reform.However,as the“most difficult bone”in the construction of a modern financial system,there are still many problems in China’s central and local financial relations.For example,the division of central and local financial powers in some areas is not clear enough.The transfer payment system needs to be further improved.In order to complete this task and solve these problems on the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country,we not only need practical analysis and theoretical discussion,but also urgently need to learn from history.During the New Democratic Revolution,the CPC established the Soviet Red Regime,the Anti Japanese Democratic Regime and the People’s Democratic Regime on Chinese soil for the first time,and carried out partial governance attempts in the revolutionary base areas created,which is the experimental field of CPC’s governance.The new democratic finance established by the CPC during this period is the foundation and rudiment of the new China’s finance.The central local financial relationship during this period is the source of our party’s exploration of the central local financial relationship,and also the bud of the new China’s central local financial relationship.History is the best textbook,and Chinese revolutionary history is the best nutrient.Only by learning from the past can we create the future.Standing at a new historical starting point in the past century since the founding of the Party,we are reviewing the past and looking forward to the future.The exploration of the fiscal relationship between the central government and the local government during the New Democratic Revolution can theoretically enrich the research on the history of New Democratic finance and expand the depth of theoretical research on modern Chinese fiscal history.In practice,it can provide historical reference for the construction of central and local financial relations,the construction of modern financial systems,and the modernization of national governance in the new era.Based on this,this thesis will be guided by Marxist financial thoughts,mainly Marx’s,Engels’,Lenin’s fiscal thoughts on taxation and financial management.The main material for this study is a compilation of relevant historical data on finance during the New Democratic Revolution,combined with the use of relevant newspapers and periodicals during the New Democratic Revolution,as well as the financial and economic history of each base area.On the basis of the existing research,the thesis systematically elaborates the policy content of the CPC’s exploration of the central and local financial relationship in the three historical stages of the new democratic revolution（the agrarian revolution period,the national war of resistance against Japan period,and the liberation war period）,as well as the evolution track and evolution characteristics of the central and local financial relationship during the entire new democratic revolution period by using the literature analysis method,the combination of history and logic,and the research method of experience summary.This thesis discusses its construction achievements in consolidating the political power of the base areas,promoting the victory of the revolutionary war,promoting the economic construction of the base areas,improving the livelihood of the masses in the base areas,and innovating the theory of financial relations between the central and local governments.,analyzes the shortcomings in its exploration process,and summarizes historical experience.This thesis mainly includes the following parts.The first chapter,namely the introduction,mainly elaborates the research background and significance,combs the research status of the central and local financial relations at home and abroad,and introduces the research content,methods,and innovations of this thesis.The second chapter defines the relevant concepts,determines the scope of this study,and introduces the theoretical basis of this thesis—Marxist fiscal thinking and the relationship between the central and local governments.The third chapter summarizes the status of party affairs and financial management in the early days of the founding of the Communist Party of China,as well as the changing process of the financial relationship between the central and local governments in the base areas during the Agrarian Revolution:acting independently,decentralized management—centralized leadership,overall planning and unified expenditure—unified leadership,decentralized management,and analyzes the policy content of three different financial relationships between the central and local governments.The fourth chapter describes the changes in the financial system of various anti Japanese bases during the period of the National Anti Japanese War under the“unified leadership and decentralized management”central and local financial relationship:self financing and self expenditure,decentralized management—unified finance,overall planning and unified expenditure—giving priority to overall planning and unified expenditure,supplemented by self-sufficiency—unified leadership,and regional planning.The fifth chapter mainly expounds the process of financial unification in the liberated areas during the War of Liberation from decentralized management to centralization:internal financial unification in the liberated areas—financial unification in the liberated areas of North China—national financial unification.The sixth chapter is the evaluation and analysis of the Party’s exploration of central and local financial relations during the New Democratic Revolution.This part mainly evaluates it comprehensively and objectively from three aspects:evolution characteristics,construction effectiveness,and construction deficiencies.The seventh chapter is based on the analysis of the content of central and local financial relations during the New Democratic Revolution,summarizing its experience and enlightenment,providing historical reference for today’s optimization of central and local financial relations,construction of modern financial systems,and modernization of national governance.The last part is the conclusion,which summarizes the content of the study deeply and clearly,draws conclusions.It also points out that the fundamental reason why the CPC has achieved remarkable results in the exploration of central local financial relations during the period of the new democratic revolution is that it has adhered to the guidance of Marxism and the centralized and unified leadership of the Party.History and the people have chosen Marxism and the CPC.The main innovations of this thesis are as follows.Firstly,the innovation in research angle perspective.Combination of macro and micro analysis:1921—1949 is a relatively long historical period.This thesis grasps the historical track of the development and change of the financial relationship between the base area,the central government and the local government during the New Democracy Revolution from the macro level,analyzes the evolution characteristics and summarizes the experience and enlightenment,the specific policy content and construction effectiveness of the fiscal relationship between the central and local governments in three different historical stages from a micro perspective.Combination of central and local perspectives:discuss the formulation and content of policies related to fiscal relations between the central and local governments from the perspective of the central government（temporary central government,party central committee）,and discuss their implementation from the perspective of the local government（base areas）,especially the consolidation of internal finance and local unified finance in each base area under the unified leadership of the party.Secondly,the innovation in research object.This thesis is based on the exploration and practice of the central local financial relationship of the Party during the whole New Democracy revolution period.This is the first time that the academic community has conducted a more comprehensive and systematic thematic study on it,which makes up for the lack of academic research,enriches the research on the history of the Party’s financial economy,and provides historical reference for China’s financial system reform,national governance system and governance capacity modernization in the new era.Thirdly,the innovation in academic opinion perspective.The period of the New Democratic Revolution is the budding period for the Party to explore the financial relationship between the central and local governments.On the whole,it presents an evolution trend of“decentralization—concentration—re-decentralization—re-centralization”,with the evolution characteristics of focusing on decentralized management but the overall trend towards unification,from internal partial unification to external overall unification,and changing with the changes in the revolutionary war and the situation in the base areas.Significant achievements have been achieved in terms of consolidating the political power of the base areas,promoting the victory of the revolutionary war,promoting the economic construction of the base areas,improving the livelihood of the masses in the base areas,and innovating the theory of financial relations between the central and local governments.However,there are also shortcomings such as non-standard content and form,detachment from reality,excessive concentration,and departmentalism.Through careful analysis and research,this thesis mainly draws the following conclusions.Firstly,the period of the New Democratic Revolution was the embryonic period of the Party’s exploration of central and local financial relations,which generally experienced the evolution trajectory of“decentralization—concentration—re-decentralization—re-centralization”.The exploration of central and local financial relations during the period laid the foundation for the establishment of central and local financial relations in New China.Secondly,the evolution of the Party’s exploration of central and local financial relations during the New Democratic Revolution period has changed with the revolutionary war and the changes in the situation in the base areas.The main trend is decentralized management,but the overall trend is towards unification.The process of unification is from internal partial unification to external overall unification.Thirdly,during the period of the New Democratic Revolution,the Party’s exploration of the financial relationship between the central and local governments has achieved remarkable results in raising revolutionary funds,supporting revolutionary wars,developing the economy of the base areas,and establishing Marxist fiscal theory with Chinese characteristics.However,due to various subjective and objective reasons,there have been shortcomings such as nonstandard content and form,detachment from reality,excessive concentration,and departmentalism.Fourthly,the Partys exploration of central and local financial relations during the New Democratic Revolution provides valuable historical experience for China to build a new type of central and local financial relations,build a modern financial system,and modernize its national governance capacity in the new era.They are also the core points of this thesis.