The Connotation and Guarantee Measures of Socialist Rule of Law on the Right to Rest and Leisure

Abstract： The right to rest and leisure is a fundamental human right， and it is alsoa practical achievement of the rule of law that the socialist movement has relentlesslyfought for. European Marxism has actively promoted the socialist theoretical analysisof the right to rest and leisure， thoroughly critiqued the labor alienation in capitalistsociety， and advocated the eight-hour working day， contributing to the overall rise ofthe trend of legislation on the right to rest and leisure. Echoing this， the Leninists inRussia took the limiting of working hours and the protection of workers’ right to restand leisure as a vital goal of the revolution， and gradually realized the systematic con‐struction of the mechanism for the protection of the right to rest and leisure after theestablishment of the Soviet Union， which fully manifested the legal significance of theOctober Revolution， and exerted a particular positive influence on the shaping of themodern rule of law and civilization of human society. On this basis， the CommunistParty of China， from China’s specific national conditions， initiatively carried out thepractice of the rule of law on protecting the right to rest and leisure for workers， fromthe public advocacy of the labor legislation to the improvement of the legal system inthe revolutionary base areas， which is formally guaranteed in the new Constitution andlaws of People’s Republic of China， and has become an critical element in the con‐struction of the rule of law system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.Althoughthe affirmation of the right to rest and leisure was hard-won， in the practice of building China’s rule of law， due to the limitations of the attributes of economic and socialrights， the lagging construction of workplace culture， and the constraints of ineffectivesupervision of the rule of law， there still are some cases of violating workers’ right torest and leisure， highlighting the tensions in human rights vs. the economy， the systemvs. the culture， and the law vs. the society.Hence， in order to further promote the social‐ist value of the rule of law within the right to rest and leisure， and to put into practicethe people-centered concept of human rights， it is a must to respond to the need for“free and comprehensive development of human beings”， and to take working days inaccordance with the rule of law as an essential lever to guide the whole society inadapting to the era of high-quality development， and to promote social constructionbased on freedom of labor; it is a must to connect with the goal of constructing asystem for a better life， upholding the principle of fairness and justice and grasping thenew round of “leisure revolution”， and establish a moderately inclusive social welfaresystem in accordance with China’s national conditions， so that the general public canhave a greater sense of gain， happiness and security; it is a must to improve the lawand the governance mechanism to effectively implement the “rule of law” on the basisof “public-private interaction”， giving full play to the “closed-loop effect” and advo‐cating “inclusive and win-win situation”， effectively implementing the specificrequirements of the “16-word new approach to building the rule of law”; it is also amust to reconstruct the rights protection system， and effectively protect workers’rights and interests to rest by improving the types of rights protection， optimizing thepath to claim rights， and expanding related rights resources.

KEY WORDS： right to rest and leisure; rule of law; human rights; socialism