memoirs of a chinese revolutionary

8/3/2019 Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary

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MEMOIRS OF ACHINESE

REVOLUTIONARY

A Program of National Reconstruction

for China

by

SUN YAT-SEN

PREFACE

THE CAUSES OF CHINA'S STAGNATION

For thirty-one years I have toiled hard for the welfare of the

Chinese people. My life has been consecrated to the Chinese people,

and my devotion to the tasks I set myself has remained unchangedduring this long period. Neither the might of the Manchu dynasty nor

all the misfortunes of my life availed to turn me aside from the aims I

placed before me. I strove for what I aspired to: and the more failures Iexperienced, the more I yearned for the struggle. That is why I was able

to raise the mass of the Chinese people to revolutionary action, andthereby overthrow the monarchy and found the Republic.

At first it seemed as if I, as the leader, would be able very easily

to give effect to the program of the revolutionary party, i.e. nationalism,

de-mocracy, Socialism and the Fivefold Constitution, as well as solvethe problems created by the Revolution. If I had succeeded in achieving

this, China would have found her place amongst the family of nations

and would have entered the path of progress and happiness. But,

unfortunately, the Revolution was scarcely completed when themembers of our party unexpectedly turned out to be of a different

opinion from myself, considering my ideals too elevated and

unattainable for the reconstruction of modern China.These doubts, moreover, were taken for granted, and even some

of my comrades began to entertain doubts concerning the realization of

my program. Therefore it turned out that my program had less chancesof being realized when I held the post of President than when I was the

leader of the Party which was preparing the Revolution. Hence the

attempt at reconstruction was not successful, and the national tasks,

which I put forward, were abandoned after the Revolution.The Chinese Revolution, in the minds of many, was called upon

to overthrow the Manchu dynasty and replace it by the tyranny of a

group of bandits even more savage and rapacious than the former Tai-Tsing Government. This was the direct cause of the further intolerable

yoke that cast a shadow over the Chinese people. If we analyze our firstpromptings to carry out the Chinese Revolution, we shall see that we


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This is the machinery for governing the country. Beside theFivefold Constitution, a very important part is the direct right of citizens

in local government. Direct right is the true "rights of man." It has four

forms: electoral, the right of recall, the initiative and the referendum. Ifthe Fivefold Constitution can be compared to a vast machine the direct


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the Fivefold Constitution can be compared to a vast machine, the direct

right of citizens is the key to the machine. If citizens have the right ofelection, they should also have the right of dismissing the officialswhom they elect. If citizens know of the existence of useful laws, which

for some reason cannot pass the legislature, they should be able as a

community to adopt them. Such a right is called the right ofreferendum.

In our Provisional Constitution there is no definite paragraph

about the rights of citizens referred to above. In the Constitution

adopted at Nanking there is only one paragraph: "The Chinese Republicbelongs only to the Chinese people as a whole." This was my proposal.

The rest was not concerted with my opinion, and I cannot be held

responsible for it. The day before yesterday I spoke to you about thegeneral principles of our Provisional Provincial Assembly; I trust that

the members of that Assembly will demand of the Canton Parliament

that it adopt the Fivefold Constitution as the foundation of the

Government of China.

memoirs of a chinese revolutionary

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