Proclamation of the Central People's Government of the PRC

Proclamation of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China

Ever since the reactionary Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the country, colluded with the imperialists and launched the counter-revolutionary war, the people of the whole country have been plunged into dire distress. Thanks to our People's Liberation Army, which — with the support of the people of the whole country — fought heroically regardless of its own safety to defend the territory and sovereignty of the motherland, to defend the lives and property of the people, to relieve the people's sufferings and win the people's rights, the reactionary armies have been wiped out and the reactionary rule of the Nationalist government overthrown.

The people's war of liberation has now won basic victory, and the great majority of the people of the whole country have been liberated. On this foundation, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, composed of delegates of all the democratic parties and people's organisations of the country, of the People's Liberation Army, of the various regions and nationalities, of Chinese overseas, and of other patriotic democratic elements, has met and, representing the will of the people of the whole country, enacted the Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, and elected

Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Central People's Government,

Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Soong Ching-ling, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan and Gao Gang as Vice-Chairmen,

and Chen Yi, He Long, Li Lisan, Lin Boqu, Ye Jianying, He Xiangning, Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, Wu Yuzhang, Xu Xiangqian, Peng Zhen, Bo Yibo, Nie Rongzhen, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Saifuddin, Rao Shushi, Tan Kah Kee, Luo Ronghuan, Deng Zihui, Ulanhu, Xu Teli, Cai Chang, Liu Geping, Ma Yinchu, Chen Yun, Kang Sheng, Lin Feng, Ma Xulun, Guo Moruo, Zhang Yunyi, Deng Xiaoping, Gao Chongmin, Shen Junru, Shen Yanbing, Chen Shutong, Situ Meitang, Li Xijiu, Huang Yanpei, Cai Tingkai, Xi Zhongxun, Peng Zemin, Zhang Zhizhong, Fu Zuoyi, Li Zhuchen, Li Zhangda, Zhang Bojun, Cheng Qian, Zhang Xiruo, Chen Mingshu, Tan Pingshan, Zhang Nanxian, Liu Yazi, Zhang Dongsun and Long Yun as members,

to constitute the Central People's Government Council, proclaim the founding of the People's Republic of China, and decide that Beiping shall be the capital of the People's Republic of China, renamed Beijing.

The Central People's Government Council of the People's Republic of China today assumed office in the capital and unanimously resolved: to proclaim the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China; to adopt the Common Programme of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as the policy basis of this government; to elect Lin Boqu Secretary-General of the Central People's Government Council; to appoint Zhou Enlai Premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government and concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mao Zedong Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government, Zhu De Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army, Shen Junru President of the Supreme People's Court of the Central People's Government, and Luo Ronghuan Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the Central People's Government; and to charge them to establish the various organs of government without delay and carry out the various tasks of government. At the same time it resolved: to declare to the governments of all countries that this government is the sole legal government representing the people of the whole of the People's Republic of China. This government is willing to establish diplomatic relations with any foreign government willing to observe the principles of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect for territory and sovereignty. This proclamation is hereby issued.

Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China

The base text is the Wikisource version, ten paragraphs. The first half reviews the wars of the Chiang Kai-shek Nationalist government period and the outcome of the people's war of liberation; the second half records the committee's decisions and appointments upon taking office that day, signed by the Chairman of the Central People's Government of the PRC.

The list: Mao Zedong as chairman; Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Soong Ching-ling, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan and Gao Gang as vice-chairmen; fifty-six members; Lin Boqu as secretary-general. The same section records the resolution fixing Beijing as the capital of the PRC.

Appointments include Zhou Enlai as premier of the Government Administration Council and minister of foreign affairs, Mao Zedong as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Commission of the People's Liberation Army, Zhu De as commander-in-chief, Shen Junru as president of the Supreme People's Court, Luo Ronghuan as procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, with instructions to form the various bodies promptly.