The theoretical basis of civil rights is freedom, equality and fraternity. These theories are of decisive significance to the construction of civil rights theory. When Sun Yat-sen went abroad in his early years, he had "the heart of western learning and the thought of being poor in the world". He has lived overseas for a long time and studied politics in Europe and America. He has long dabbled in Rousseau's "People's Contract" (a modern translation of social contract theory) and Montesquieu's "The Spirit of Law" (a modern translation) and other western bourgeois works, and has also carefully studied the parliamentary systems of the United States, France and other countries. Later, "ethics" and "politics" were used as political propaganda means of civil rights.

Blue sky represents freedom, daytime represents equality, and red everywhere represents fraternity.

In the 30th year of Guangxu (1904), Sun Yat-sen discussed the issue of "freedom and civil rights" in "Refuting Huang Bao and Bao Shu". In the same year, The Real Solution to the China Problem was published, emphasizing that the Qing court deprived people of "equal rights and public rights", infringed on "freedom of life and property" and prohibited "freedom of speech".

In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), the Shang Dynasty rewrote the essence of the new chapter and reiterated the issues of "* * * and civil affairs" and "equality and freedom".

In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), the "General Program of the Chinese League Revolution" was promulgated, and it was put forward that "the country and people's livelihood should be shared with the people. Although the latitude and longitude are endless, its consistent spirit should be freedom, equality and fraternity. "

In his later years, he studied this theoretical basis more systematically and thought that "freedom, equality and fraternity are based on civil rights, and civil rights develop because of these three terms." Therefore, to talk about civil rights, we must first talk about the three terms of freedom, equality and fraternity. "

When talking about the relationship between civil rights and freedom and equality, Sun Yat-sen believes that "the theory of civil rights comes from Europe and America", and freedom and equality are included in civil rights. True freedom and equality must be based on "civil rights" and "attachment to civil rights". In other words, "when civil rights are developed, equality and freedom can last forever. Without citizenship, nothing can be preserved. " This statement shows that the terms such as freedom, equality and fraternity used by Sun Yat-sen are first and foremost political concepts. Studying the theoretical part of civil rights is the premise of understanding the scheme of civil rights regime [1].

View of freedom

The freedom of political science concept refers to the right to carry out activities according to one's own will that is guaranteed or recognized in social relations. Sun Yat-sen's concept of freedom includes three aspects:

(1) refers to "national freedom" and "national freedom". He compared the western slogans of freedom, equality and fraternity with China's revolutionary nationalism, civil rights and people's livelihood, and thought that "French freedom is the same as our nationalism, because nationalism advocates national freedom". He advocated "restoring the freedom of our country" so that "the country can move freely" and become an independent and prosperous country. Therefore, he added, "Freedom and civil rights develop at the same time, so today, when talking about civil rights, we can't talk about freedom."

Enlightenment thinkers' understanding of freedom

② refers to the political rights of citizens. Under the "* * * and regime", the "freedom" that civil rights attach importance to, that is, the political rights that the "owner" should enjoy, include "complete freedom of assembly, association, speech, publication, residence and belief" and four direct civil rights: election, recall, creation and referendum. The above-mentioned "complete freedom" is also called "absolute freedom" by Sun. However, the enjoyment of this "absolute freedom" is limited, that is, it is limited to the "people", that is, only "individuals and groups who really oppose imperialism" can "enjoy all freedoms and rights" and "anyone who betrays the country and ignores the people's loyalty to imperialism and warlords, whether it is a group or an individual, can enjoy these freedoms and rights".

(3) refers to the "bohemian" and "fragmented" extreme personal freedom. On the one hand, Sun Yat-sen believes that China is traditionally "suppressed by monarchical power, and everything cannot be free"; On the other hand, in the feudal era of China, "there was only one relationship between the people and the emperor, that is, accepting food", and that "as long as the people accepted food, the government would ignore other things and let the rest die"; "China people have always been very free" and "freedom is too full", so China people tend to be "fragmented". He believes that "if the revolution is to succeed, individual freedom must be sacrificed first", "party member can be free, and then the whole party can be free". He also stressed that soldiers and officials "must have strict discipline before they can accept force to make their arms and fingers work" and obey national freedom with personal freedom, "the Chinese nation can be truly free."

Equality view

Equality is the theoretical basis and main content of civil rights. He called himself "the creed of equality and freedom that he always believed in".