"Constitutionalism", as some hardline republicans sneeringly call it, had gained more for the republican cause in the four years since the 1997 ceasefire than 25 years of violence and almost 2,000 lives taken by the IRA.
The main components of constitutionalism, it said, belonged to "capitalism and bourgeois dictatorship, not to socialist people's democracy".
The paper said that constitutionalism is a plot hatched by American intelligence agencies.
It promises freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly and of religious belief.In this section Some are more equal than others Drawing the battle lines Staged warfare ReprintsLiberal calls for "constitutionalism" mean that the document should be above any other law or party edict.
It said constitutionalism was "deceptive": in fact only politicians supported by "big interest groups" could get elected.On the following day Global Times, a Beijing newspaper, said that debate about constitutionalism was not just a theoretical one.
But his intervention back then has encouraged those hoping for a political opening.In its New Year's Day edition Yanhuang Chunqiu, an intellectual journal, equated constitutionalism with political reform.
For the People's Daily, the Soviet Union's collapse offers a salutary lesson: Mikhail Gorbachev "was thoroughly defeated because he used Western constitutionalism as a blueprint".A throttle not a brakeIn the end, however, the anti-constitutionalists are not wholly at odds with the Qing reformers, who saw a constitution as a way not to constrain state power but to enhance it.
Under Mr Xi, Chinese academics and journalists have been banned from expressing support for "constitutionalism": a term that the party sees as a codeword for Western democratic values.The Central Committee made clear the party had not changed its stance on this.
This was previously sustained by appeals to good governance, constitutionalism and the rule of law.
He has not mentioned constitutionalism but seemed to keep the debate alive by referring again in February to the constitution.However, it is highly unlikely that Mr Xi is on the side of the liberals.
The tirades against constitutionalism have helped to fuel internet discussion.
