LETTER TO SOVIET GOVERNMENT OF HUANG-PO DISTRICT OF JUI-CHIN COUNTY ON THE LAND INVESTIGATION MOVEMENT
13 July 1933
[Text] Comrades of Huang-po Ch'u:
With the help of the working group of the Central Land Department, you have mobilized the broad masses of workers and peasants in 12 townships of Huang-po District and enthusiastically initiated the movement to investigate land and classes.  In the course of this intense class struggle you have found out 270 or more families of landlords and rich peasants.  They had hitherto been treated as middle and poor peasants.  Some landlords who had been treated as rich peasants were given land and even good farm land.  Compared with 122 cases of landlords and rich peasants which had been disposed of by the soviet government of this district during the past 3 years, this number makes up 70 percent of the total number of cases handled during that period.  In the course of this struggle of the investigation of land ownership and classes, you have confiscated a great amount of land and property which were distributed to poor peasants, suppressed the activities of the reactionaries, heightened the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses in the entire soviet sector, purged a number of alien elements and other elements of the worst type who had sneaked into the soviet sector, absorbed a great many activist workers and peasants into our midst, held new elections of district and township Soviets, and thus greatly consolidated the soviet political power. This is a great victory in the land ownership investigation movement of Huang-po district. However, the movement has not been brought to its completion. There are still remnants of feudal forces at work and certain reactionary activities going on. This is particularly true in townships of Shang-tuan, Hsin-chuang and Lan-t'ien where some alien and bad elements are covertly or overtly active in deceiving and inciting some of the masses and some of these elements are bent on. reversing verdicts on past cases. You must pay utmost attention to such conditions and you must mobilize the masses on the broadest scale in these townships to expose the intrigue of these reactionary elements, continue to investigate the remnant components of landlords and rich peasants, suppress the reactionary elements in Shang-tuan and other townships, prevent their attempt to counterattack and reverse prior verdicts, and tirelessly and unflinchingly lead the masses in their struggle in order to win the final victory in the land investigation movement.
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Having carefully examined the investigation forms on which you have determined the composition of class elements, we find that most of your decisions on class elements were correct but a few of them were incorrect.  For example, several families should have been determined as landlords but you had decided them to be rich peasants or even middle peasants. Your decision on one family was that he was a usurer but he should have been a rich peasant.  In still another case labor power was not filled out clearly; we hope you will reinvestigate and then decide. Now with a view to drawing your careful and clear focus on determining the class elements, we enumerate the errors of your decisions on the class elements of 10 families as follows:
(1) Chou Tsung-jen (a native of Shang-tuan township)  This family has three persons.  They are not engaged in labor (20 years ago he had been a long-term laborer for 12 years). He owns land of 50 tan which is completely rented out to others.  Each year he collects a land rent of 25 tan of rice and has been collecting it for 7 years. He also has 2 strips of hilly land which yields him a few hundred mao a year. He is a lender of mortgaged land rent of 4 tan from which he deducts 400 yuan.  (You decided him to be a middle peasant)
(2) Hsieh Ming-szu (a native of Shang-tuan) with himself as the sole member of the family. He does not engage in labor. He owns land of 39 tan which is completely rented out and on which he collects land rent of 16 tan of rice a year; he has been collecting it for 20 years. He owns a house which is rented for 1 tan of rice a year and he has been collecting it for 20 or more years. He lends money totalling 1,040 mao.  In the past he had oppressed people in the rural area and forced the masses to attack the Red Army.  (You decided him to be a rich peasant)
(3) Chu Te-meng (a native of Hsin-chuang township) The family has two persons.  They are not engaged in labor. He owns a land of 41 tan which is com-Oletely rented out to others. He is a lender of mortgaged land rent of 6 tan. He has also been a lender of 30 yuan for 8 or 9 years.  (You decided him to be a rich peasant)
(4)  Chung T'ung-chi (a native of Shan-ho township) The family has two persons.  They are not engaged in labor. He owns a land of 85"l/2 tan. He regularly hires long-term as well as odd laborers to till 46! tan and rents out 39 tan of his land. He is a lender of 1 tan of new rice. He manages two pieces of communal land.  (You decided him to be a rich peasant)
(5) Liu.Fang-lo (a native of Fu-chri township)  The family has three persons. They do not engage in labor. He owns a land of 54 tan and rents from others another 10 tan on which he pays a land rent of 2 tan, 90 catties.  Each year he collects land rent of 14 tan on his land of 35 tan which he rents out to others. He has been collecting it for 8 years. He hires long-term and short-term laborers to till 29 tan of his land. He owes a debt of 1,590 mao. He has been managing 1 piece of communal land for 8 years.  In the past he was influential in the rural area and had oppressed people.  (You decided him to be a rich peasant)
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Based on the conditions filled out on the investigation forms and viewed from their land relations and relations of exploitation, the above five families are not middle or rich peasants but are all landlords (small landlords). In the families of Chou Tsung-jen, Hsieh Ming-szu and Chu Te-ming, no one is engaged in labor.  They rent out all of their land and are wholly dependent on rents for their living.  They are typical specimen of landlords. Thus your decision of Chou Tsung-jen as a middle peasant and your decision of Hsieh Ming-szu and Chu Te-meng as rich peasants are all wrong. As for Chimg T'ung-chi and Liu Fang-lo, no member of these families is engaged in labor and all are totally dependent on exploitation. The difference between them and the other three families is that they rented out a portion of their land and hired long-term laborers to till the other portion of their land at home. But they are just the same landlords and not rich peasants.  This is because the price of labor power in the rural areas of China is extremely cheap and many of the landlord class have utilized a part of their land and their old farm implements by hiring laborers to till them at their home.  They have most cruelly exploited these laborers in various forms of feudal servitude while at the same time they rent out another part of their land to peasants to be exploited by them. Here these landlords differ from rich peasants in that they are not engaged in labor themselves whereas rich peasants are so engaged in person. Because you have overlooked this point, you have erred in your decision.
(6) Hsiao Hsu-chiao (a native of Yuan-k'eng township) This family has four persons. He himself engaged in labor to a small extent (he was killed during the revolution). He owned a land of 62 tan of which 38 tan were tilled by his long-term laborers (he had hired long-term laborers for two generations up to the time of the revolution). He rented out 24 tan of his land (for 36 years).  He owned three strips of catalpa tree hilly hand yielding 42 tan of catalpa wood a year.  He lent money amounting to 210 mao.  He managed two pieces of communal land which earned him a land rent of 20 tan of rice a year. He had been collecting it for 35 years.  He had oppressed people in the past. (You decided him to be a rich peasant)
(7) Liu Chi-ho (a native of Hii-ling township) This family has three persons. He engages in labor himself to a small extent. He owns a land of 65 tan of which he hires long-term laborers to till 32 tan and rents out the remainder of 33 tan on which he collects land rent of 15 tan of rice. He owns three strips of hilly land which yields him over 30 yuan a year. He has a pond which yields him 20 or more yuan a year. He rents out six houses collecting rent in kind of 6 tan of rice a year. He rents out a privy collecting rent in kind of 30 catties of rice a year. He manages four pieces of communal land on which he collects rent in kind of 89 tan 29 catties of rice a year. He was quite influential in the rural area.  (You decided him to be a rich peasant)
Both of the above two families rent out a part of their land but at the same time hire long-term and short-term laborers to till another part of their land, They live almost entirely by exploitation. These facts are identical with
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those of the families of Ctmng T'ung-chi and Liu Fang-lo. The difference lies in that they themselves engage in labor to a small extent but only to a small extent. Thus they should still be determined as landlords but you were wrong in deciding them to be rich peasants. This is because rich peasants are actually engaged in production on their land.  Those who engage in light labor to a small extent cannot be said to be rich peasants. The number of such small landlords who engage in labor to a very small extent but live mostly by exploitation is not Inconsiderable in China.
(8)  Ch'ea Tse-hung (a native Yuan-k'eng township) The family has five persons.  Only one person is engaged in labor. He owns land of 62 tan and rents from others another of 10 tan on which he pays land rent of 3 tan of rice.  The land is tilled by himself and by a long-term laborer. He owns two strips of catalpa tree hilly land which yields him 40 tan of catalpa wood a year.  Each year he hires a long-term laborer as he has done for the last 10 years. He has been a lender of mortgaged land rent of 3 1/2 tan of rice for 3 years. He has been a money lender totalling 500 mao for 20 or more years. He rents out a room for 4 mao a year for the 34 years.  In the past he had oppressed people in the rural area.  (You decided him to be a middle peasant)
Ch'en Tse-hung regularly hires long-term laborers. At the same time he is also a usurer and administrator of communal land. He relies on exploitation as the main source of his livelihood, but he is actually engaged in production on his land. This is a typical specimen of a rich peasant in China. You were wrong in deciding him to be a middle peasant.
(9) Chung Kuo-fang (a native of Pai-ti township) This family has nine persons, three of whom are engaged in labor. He owns a land of 112 tan and three strips of catalpa tree and bamboo hilly land. He has been lending money totalling 3,200 mao for over 10 years. He rents out two rooms for 2 yuan a year. As rent has not been paid, it has accumulated with compound interest to a total of 7,000 or more mao.  (You decided him to be a usurer)
A usurer is one who depends for his livelihood exclusively or mainly on exploitation by lending money at high interest. The soviet policy on usurers is total confiscation and their elimination.  Chung Kuo-fang owns a land of 120 tan which is completely tilled by himself and makes up the main source of income for his livelihood. We must not determine him to be a usurer and adopt the policy of eliminating him because he also lends money at high interest It is incorrect to take this kind of excessively left point of view by ignoring his own labor. The correct decision should be to make him a rich peasant, confiscate his land, his surplus draft animals, farm implements and house, but he should still be given some relatively poor land to be tilled by his own labor. Why can't he be called a well-to-do middle peasant? Because his exploitation by usury has reached the figure of 10,000 mao and it has been a regular exploitation.  Some rich peasants engage in this kind of exploitation to some extent but this is not regularly done and the amount is certainly not large.
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(10) Liu Ch'i-ch'ang (a native of Pai-ti township) This family has four persons. He himself engages in farming to some extent and is also a pig broker. He owns land of 36 tan and rents from others another of 44 tan on which he pays 15 tan of rice as land rent. He has two strips of hilly land which yield him 20 tan of catalpa wood and peaches a year. He has been hiring long-term laborers for 18 years. He is a lender of mortgaged land rent of 2 tan and 1 lo of new rice. He manages a communal land which yields him 15 tan of rice a year.  (You decided him to be a landlord)
We have some doubt whether this man should be a landlord. According to the investigation form, his family has tilled their rice field of 80 tan and two strips of hilly land.  If he hires only one long-term laborer to till them, it would not be enough so the amount of his own labor is probably quite substantial.  If the amount of his own labor is relatively substantial, then he should be determined as a rich peasant. You should not adopt the policy of eliminating him but should treat him according to the elements of a rich peasant. Moreover, some landlords rent land to be tilled by long-term laborers, but this is in the minority and the majority of landlords to not rent land from others. Now this man has rented the greater part of the land from others; such is frequently the case with rich peasants.  It is, therefore, necessary for you to find out the condition of his own labor before reaching a correct decision whether he should be a landlord or a rich peasant.  If you have clearly established that the amount of his own labor is incidental and quite small, then your decision is a correct one.
The People's Committee of the Central Land Department
°"Red China," No 95 23 July 1933 13 July 1933
11,667 CSO:  4005
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ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONAL PROGRAM OF POOR-PEASANT GROUPS' : 13 July 1933
[Text] Generally speaking, .Poor-peasant Groups have played an important role in the land revolution.  By uniting the broad masses of hired farm laborers and poor peasants and aligning with middle peasants around them, and under the leadership of the Communist Party and the Soviets, they have exerted their overwhelming revolutionary strength in overthrowing the feudal and semi-feudal forces in the rural areas and seized from the landlord class land on which they have actively promoted production. Moreover, they have also played a great part in the important work of war mobilization, economic mobilization and cultural construction.  Such great revolutionary achievements of the Poor-peasant Groups fully deserve to be commended. However, viewed from present conditions such achievements have not been made by Poor-peasant Groups in all areas. Then, too, in the light-of these achievements we cannot ignore a number of shortcomings and errors which exist in their organization and in the execution of their program. On the contrary, only by viewing their past achievements and at the same time detecting their shortcomings and errors or the inadequacies of their achievements in certain respects can they strive to correct these organizational and operational shortcomings and errors and win still greater victories in the future and fulfil their assigned responsibilities in the soviet movement.
Based on materials from many sources, the Poor-peasant Groups have shown many weaknesses from the organisational and operational standpoint and in some areas they exist in name only and have no actual work at all.  Summing up these materials, we can divide them into two situations:  (1)  In some localities a Poor-peasant Group does not exist in a township but only in a village where the Poor-peasant Group has a sub-group under it.  In some other localities there is no Poor-peasant Group in a village but only in a township where the Poor-peasant Group has a sub-group under it.  In still other localities a Poor-peasant Group exists both in a township and in a village; a village Poor-peasant Group has a sub-group under it. Under a township or a village Poor-peasant Group there is an executive committee comprised of three operational sections: chairman, organization and propaganda and all sub-groups are directed by the executive committee. Meetings are held regularly:  in some cases full executive meetings are held once every 10 days, and sub-group meetings once
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every 5 "days; in other cases full executive committee meets once a week and sub-groups meet once every 5 days.  Any one who wishes to join a Poor-peasant Group, regardless of whether he is a hired farm laborer or a toil-and-moil poor peasant, must be introduced by 3 persons or he cannot become a member. Thus many of these farm laborers and peasants are being excluded from the door of the Poor-peasant Group, thereby retarding the development of members and reducing the effectiveness of the Poor-peasant Group.
(2) Even worse than the above is another kind of situation:  in some localities it was summarily declared that except landlords, rich peasants and middle peasants, all others were made members of a Poor-peasant Group with someone appointed as its chairman by a Communist Party branch or a township soviet. With this done a township is deemed to have organized its Poor-peasant Group. Now this chairman does not know how many members there are, or what kind of work is expected to be done, and no meeting has been held in 3 or 4 months, or even in 6 months or a year. This kind of Poor-peasant group hanging up an empty name is in reality nothing at all.  Its tasks and the role it is destined to play in the rural area cannot remotely be expected to be accomplished. Among Poor-peasant group under the first situation, a few have taken over the functions of a government. For example, such conditions exist in Poor-peasant Group in Lung-kang township, Wu-yang district and in Hsin-chuang and Pai-ts'un townships, Jui-chin County. The Poor-peasant Group under the second situation described above has no regular work schedule and is disorganized and ineffectual, Both of these phenomena are not good. However, in many localities of the soviet sector the Poor-peasant Group are organizationally and operationally healthy and well-developed. The majority of the members, inbued with an intense spirit for struggle, are capable of actively discussing various issues of revolutionary struggle and yet do not encroach upon the functions of their township administration.  They are not only radically different from the Poor-peasant Group of the second type (hanging up an empty name) but also more advanced than those of the first type (with errors). They are truly a model of Poor-peasant Group in the soviet sector and deserve to be emulated by Poor-peasant Group in all areas. With a view to summing up the past experience of struggle of Poor-peasant Group, unifying their organization, extensively establishing their regular operations, and thus fulfilling their important tasks in the present stage of the revolution, the Central Government, based on its experience in the development of the land struggle and acting on the proposal of the Poor-peasant Group People's Congress of eight counties of Jui-chin, Hui-ch'ang, Yu-tu, Sheng-li, Po-sheng, Shih-ch'eng, Ning-hua and Ch'ang-ting, promulgates this Organization and Operational Program of the Poor-Peasant Groups and it is hoped that the broad masses of poor peasants in rural areas of the whole country will be united in solidarity and in action under this Program:
(1) A Poor-peasant Group is not purely an organization of one single class but one embracing the broad masses of poor peasants under the jurisdiction of the township Soviets. At the same time farm laborers must take part and form themselves into workers' sub-groups in order to assume the role of positive leadership inside the organization and unite the poor peasants to become the most reliable pillar of the soviet political power under the leadership of the proletariat.
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(2) The function of a Poor-peasant Group is to assist the government in implementing all its laws and decrees but it does not substitute for the work of the government.  It should express its own views on various questions concerning the interests and rights of the workers and peasants and present proposals to the government.
(3) A Poor-peasant Group should pay particular attention to the interests and rights of middle peasants, thus enabling them to center around the Poor-peasant group, form a solid alliance between them and become a strong link in the coalition between the proletariat and the middle peasants, thereby facilitating the struggle to eliminate the landlords and oppose the rich peasants.
(4) Only under the leadership of the Communist Party and the Soviets can the Poor-peasant Group correctly accomplish all their tasks without being trammeled by such backward peasant ideologies as absolute equalitarianism and localism. In localities where no Poor-peasant Groups have been set up, they can be promoted by farm labor unions and activist elements among poor peasants. Farm laborer and handicraft workers' unions must generally accomplish their participation en masse in Poor-peasant Groups in order to realize the constant leadership of the proletariat in Poor-peasant groups.
(5) Activist elements among poor peasants should be absorbed into Poor-peasant Groups during the initial period of its formation in order that it will gradually become an organization of all poor peasants. With a view to attracting the latter to participate in Poor-peasant Groups (those bad elements who sabotaged the land revolution and protected landlords and rich peasants naturally cannot join even if they are poor peasants), old members of Poor-peasant Groups should constantly be responsible for carrying out extensive propaganda work and actively looking for poor peasants and farm laborers to join without the formality of introduction but opening the door wide and leading them into Poor-peasant Groups. Participation in Poor-peasant groups should be based on the principle of one's own free will. All farm laborers and poor peasants, men and women, old and young, may enroll and join.  It is wrong to use the method of deputizing people from each household. With a view to strictly preventing landlords and rich peasants from sneaking into Poor-peasant Groups, all new members, whether they were found by old members or voluntarily enrolled themselves, must be scrutinized according to the criteria of analyzing classes and they should be immediately expelled if they were discovered to be incorrect elements. This will protect the Poor-peasant groups from being infiltrated by landlords and rich peasants.
(6) During the period when land struggle is being launched or land ownership investigation movement is being carried out, if Poor-peasant Group has produced a contrary effect because it was loosely organized and ineffectual in the past or because it was dominated by a small minority of landlords and rich peasants, it would be totally incorrect to adopt the method of commandism by dissolving and reorganizing the Poor-peasant Group for this would be departing from the masses. The proper measure to take at such time is to unite the activist elements among poor peasants and intensify their education so that they will
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initiate vigorous struggle within the Poor-peasant Group to expose the swindles of landlords and rich peasants, strive to keep the members from being influenced by them, and resolutely purge them as well as those bad elements who can no longer be individually re-educated from the Poor-peasant Group, thereby strengthening the fighting power of the Poor-peasant Group and seizing total victory of the land struggle and land ownership investigation movement.  If the Poor-peasant Group has middle peasants as members, it is impossible to treat them as landlords and rich peasants and consider the job done once they are purged. It is necessary to go through a process of clear explanation by telling them why they need not take part in the Poor-peasant Group and that after leaving the Poor-peasant Group they can still attend its meetings as observers and all middle peasants are welcome to attend and listen.
(7) As the Poor-peasant Group is not purely an organization of one single class, it does not require a strict organizational form of a trade union, nor does it need definite bylaws or payment of membership dues (when money is needed, members may be asked to make temporary contributions at general meetings). Still less does it need a structural system at a provincial, county or district level.  It is only necessary to organize the Poor-peasant Group at a township level. A township Poor-peasant Group has sub-groups under it,  A sub-group takes one house (one tiny hamlet) as a unit with members of each house forming a sub-group.  If, however, a house has very few families and thus very few members, then 2 or 3 neighboring houses can form themselves into a sub-group. On the other hand, if one house contains a score or more of families and thus a great number of members, it can be organized into several sub-groups.
(8) To facilitate the work of the Poor-peasant Group, the people's congress should nominate 3 persons (most activist elements) to form a committee.  The Poor-peasant Group in a larger township or with many members may nominate 5 persons to 7 persons to form a committee. A chairman is nominated by the committee to take charge of over-all work and no other working section will be established. Poor-peasant Groups should practice a liberal system of revolutionary democracy.  Important questions must be discussed by the people's congress called for :that purpose; only ordinary questions are discussed by the committee alone or with the participation of sub-group chiefs at its request.
(9) Meetings of Poor-peasant Group people1s congress, committees and subgroups should not be mechanically scheduled at fixed time to avoid formalism and diminish the interests of the members. A meeting should be called promptly when important questions arise. During the period when class struggle becomes particularly intense in rural areas such as during land distribution and land ownership investigations, membership meetings should be held once every 3 or 4 days or 5 or 6 days, and committee and sub-group meetings once every 2 or 3 days.
(10) The work of the Poor-peasant Group should be focused on the interests of workers, poor peasants and middle peasants at all times and undertaken to strive for the consolidation and development of the soviet political power. The important items of the work of Poor-peasant Groups are enumerated as follows:
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(a) On the question of confiscating and distributing land, houses, farm implements and other property of local tyrants, evil gentry and landlords and the land, surplus draft animals, farm implements and houses of rich peasants, discussion of this question should be centered on how to deal with the resistance of landlords and rich peasants and how to let the benefits of the land revolution fall into the hands of workers, poor peasants and middle peasants. Here special attention must be paid not to harm the interests of middle peasants but to effect a close alignment with them. Attention must be drawn to the total elimination of feudal influence in rural areas, without letting landlords and rich peasants pretend themselves to be middle peasants and poor peasants in order to steal their land benefits and no effort should be spared to the extent that not a single landlord shall be allowed to keep 1 ts'un of land and not a single rich peasant shall be allowed to steal one strip of good land.
(b) Discussion of questions of farm production, such as how to carry out the movements of spring planting, summer planting, autumn harvest and autumn planting, how to increase manpower and fertilizer, improve seeds, develop conservancy works, redistribute draft animals, buy farm implements, eradicate pests, reclaim barren land, plant trees, and protect mountains and forests.
(c) Discussion of questions, of economic mobilization.  In addition to the development of farm production as described above, the main question to be discussed is how to develop cooperatives such as cooperatives of food-grains, consumers, credit, production and farm cattle in order to promote the large-scale development of the national economy to resist the cruel exploitation of merchants and smash the economic blockade of the enemy, thereby further improving the livelihood of the masses and substantially reinforcing the powerful strength of the revolutionary war.
(d) Discussion of questions of relief to famine and starvation such as how to render mutual help in food, seeds, farming cattle and farm implements during periods of famine and how to devise ways and means of giving relief to victims in areas harassed by enemy disturbances.
(e) Discussion of questions of public health of the masses such as initiating universal health campaigns, talking about .sweep-out and clean-up campaigns to combat sickness and pestilence and protect the health and living of the masses.
(f) Discussion of questions of preferential treatment of Red Army personnel such as the cultivation, harvest and conservation of Red Army public land, helping Red Army families till their land and carrying out the regulations governing the preferential treatment of Red Army personnel.
(g) Discussion of questions of war mobilization. Here the first question is the expansion of the Red Army, the second is the raising of funds to help the Red Army, the third is to comfort the Red Army, and the fourth is to expand the Red Guard contingents and the Red Guard Young Pioneers units.
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These are all extremely important questions of war mobilization.
(h) Discussion of questions of participation in soviet election and accusation campaigns such as to insure the election of activist elements among workers and poor peasants during elections and attract the best elements of middle peasants to take part in soviet work. When alien class elements are found to have sneaked into the soviet ranks or when corrupt, passive and sabotaging elements are discovered, participate in accusation campaigns called by the workers' and peasants' investigatory department and initiate self-criticism by soviet workers in order to insure the absolute health of soviet work.
(i) Discussion of questions of how to completely carry out all soviet laws, decrees, resolutions and orders in all local townships.
(j) Discussion of any major questions which arise at any time. Poor-peasant Groups must constantly discuss all of the above questions, actively present proposals to the government, and resolutely participate in all struggles on the revolutionary front under the leadership of the government for the complete fulfilment of various revolutionary tasks.  Only thus can they constantly have their own work and truly earn benefits for workers, poor peasants and middle peasants without becoming an empty organization which exists in name only.
(11) With a view to further strengthening the proletarian leadership of the peasant masses in rural areas, Poor-peasant Group committees (a few activist poor peasants may be elected to go along) may propose to hold joint meetings with the leading bodies of farm labor unions and handicraft workers' unions. Such joint meetings should be called by labor unions.  They may be held to discuss, for example, the organization of Support the Red Army Committee, Anti-imperialism and Support Soviet League, Revolutionary Mutual Help Society, and certain commemorative and demonstration mass meetings and to strive for their realization by common effort and with unanimous consent.
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Central Government Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-t'ao, Vice Chairman 15 July 1933
11,667 CSO:  4005
224
DECISION OF CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON THE REDEMARCATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE
AREAS
21 July 1933
[Text] The demarcation of the soviet administrative areas is absolutely different in principle from the demarcation oŁ those of the old reactionary government.  The scope of administrative areas of the old reactionary government was very extensive because they were bureaucratic organs far removed from the masses and their aim was only to weaken and oppress the people. The principle upon which the demarcation of the soviet administrative areas is based is in complete contrast because they must be as close to the people as possible and work for the benefit of the masses.  Thus the range of a town, district, county and province must not be too large.  The central soviet areas have undergone not a few changes in demarcation, but they have, generally speaking, kept their old boundaries without any fundamental alterations. This has greatly hampered the work of war mobilization and economic and cultural construction. Therefore, it is resolved by the Central Executive Committee to redemarcate the administrative areas of the Central soviet sector and stipulates the standards of their demarcation at various levels as follows:
(A)  City: Apart from its own area, a city may govern portions of a town and village within its environs but their area should not exceed 5 li.
(B)  Township:
(1) Township of 1st class.  In a densely populated area on the plain, each township should as a standard rule govern a population of 2,000.  If a village or several villages in the vicinity have a population of more than 2,000, a township soviet may govern a larger population but it must not exceed the maximum of 2,500 people. At the same time if for reasons of topography (such as rivers and streams) it is desirable to divide one township into two, thereby reducing the population of one township to less than 2,500, then that township soviet may govern a smaller population.
(2) Township of 2d class. In a locality intermixed with plains and hills where the population is not as dense as that of a township of 1st class and where the area is wider, a township may as a standard rule govern a population of 1,500.  If for reasons of topography it is desirable for a township soviet to cover a wider or smaller area, the population of such a township may be more or less than 1,500 people.
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(3) Township of 3rd class.  In a hilly locality with a sparse population, each township as a standard rule may govern a population of 1,000.  If for reasons of topography it is desirable for certain villages and hamlets to be governed by one township, then the population of such a township may exceed 1,000 but its area must not be too extensive or it would run counter to the soviet principle of being close to the masses. At the same time if for topographic reasons it is not desirable for a township soviet to govern a larger population, then its population may be less than 1,000.  In a locality surrounded by big mountains where the area is exceptionally extensive and the population exceptionally sparse, the population of such a township may be as small as 400 but not less than 250 as a minimum.
(C) District: Each district should as a standard rule govern seven townships. In a locality on the plain with an unusually dense population, such a district may govern nine townships.  In a hilly and expansive locality with an unusually sparse population, the number of townships governed by a district may be reduced to five townships.
(D)  County and Province:  The demarcation of administrative areas of a county and a province shall be entrusted to the People's Committee and shall be governed by decree based on the principle of being close to-the masses.
\
All soviet districts outside the Central Soviet sector should re-examine their administrative areas in accordance with the principle enunciated in this decision and any district whose area is too extensive should be redemarcated in conformity with this principle.
Upon publication of this decision, "the Provisional Regulations Governing the Demarcation of Administrative Areas in the Chinese Soviet Republic" promulgated in December 1931 shall be declared null and void.
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman
Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-t'ao, Vice Chairmen 21 July 1933 °"Red China," No 98, 1 August 1933
11,667 CSO:  4005
226
DECISION OF CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON THE ISSUANCE OF ECONOMIC CONSTRUCTION BONDS
22 July 1933
[Text] Drastic developments of the revolutionary war require the Soviets to mobilize all forces to carry out economic construction in a planned way. From the standpoint of such economic construction, the masses should be organized into broadly developing cooperatives, coordinating the production and marketing of foodgrains and all products, and promoting external trade to smash the enemy's economic blockade and the ruthless exploitation of traitor merchants, thereby further improving the livelihood of the masses and enabling the revolutionary war to gain more substantial material strength.  This then is the major fighting task at the present time.  With a view to vigorously carrying out the work of economic construction, the Central Executive Committee has approved the proposal at the workers1 mass meeting of the Land Ownership Investigation Movement and the Poor Peasant Group People's Congress of eight county Soviets of Jui-chin, Hui-ch/ang, Yu-tu, Sheng-li, Po-sheng, Shih-ch'eng, Ning-hua and Ch'ent-t'ing for the issuance of Economic Construction Bonds in the amount of 3,000,000 yuan and permits the purchasers of these bonds to make payment freely either by foodgrains or in money.  Apart from using a part of the proceeds for present military expenses, the main portion of the proceeds will be spent in developing cooperatives, redistributing foodgrains and expanding external trade.  For the purpose of ascertaining the use of these bonds and the procedure of payment of their principal and interest, the Central Executive Committee hereby enacts the Regulations Governing the Issuance of Economic Construction Bonds.  It charges the People's Committee with the responsibility of urging the People's Finance Department and the People's National Economy Department to direct local governments to issue and distribute these bonds correctly and promptly in accordance with this decision and these regulations and at the same time to make broad publicity and explanation to workers and peasants as well as all residents who abide by soviet laws and decrees so that economic construction can be speedily launched throughout the soviet areas. Any anti-revolutionary elements attempting to sabotage the faith and credit of the bonds and any economic measures will be severely suppressed by necessary measures to be adopted by the National Political Defense Bureau in order to insure the satisfactory implementation of the work of economic construction.
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman
Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-t'ao, Deputy Chairmen 22 July 1933
°"Red China,Tl No 96, 26 July 1933 11,667 CSO: 4005	227
REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE ISSUANCE OF ECONOMIC CONSTRUCTION BONDS 22 July 1933	.;
[Text]  (1) With a view to developing the enterprises of economic construction, improving the livelihood of the masses and reinforcing the fighting forces, the Central Government hereby issues the Economic Construction Bonds of which two-thirds shall be used in promoting external trade, redistributing food-grains and developing cooperatives and agricultural and industrial production and one-third shall be spent for military expenses.
(2) The amount of the Bonds shall be 3,000*000 yuan in — pi.
(3) The rate of interest of the Bonds shall be 5 percent per annum.
(4)  Interest on the Bonds shall be paid by installments at the rate of 5 fen per yuan per annum beginning October 1934.
(5) Principal on the Bonds shall be paid by installments for a period of 5 years beginning October 1936, namely, 10 percent of the total amount of principal shall be paid in the 1st year, that is, 1936; 15 percent of the total amount of principal shall be paid in the 2d year, that is, 1937; 20 percent of the total amoung of principal shall be paid in the 3rd year, that is, 1938; 25 percent of the total amount of principal shall be paid in the 4th year, that is, 1939; and 30 percent of the total amount of principal shall be paid in the 5th year, that is, 1940. Detailed measures for the amortization of the Bonds shall be formulated and announced by the People's Finance Department at the appropriate time.
(6) The profits earned by the Food Coordinating Bureau, the External Trade Bureau and other state-operated enterprises shall constitute the fund for the payment of principal and interest of the Bonds.
(7) The Bonds may be used as pledges in sales and purchases and as collateral security for other purposes.
(8)  The purchaser of the Bonds shall have the free choice to make payment in money or in foodgrain.  In the case of payment by delivery of grain, the price of grain shall he the price publicly announced by the local county government.
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(9) The face value of the Bonds shall be in five denominations of 0.50 yuan, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, 3 yuan and 5 yuan.
(10) Anyone who deliberately destroys the faith in and credit of the Bonds shall be charged with the crime of sabotaging the soviet economy and punished accordingly.
(11) The Bond Issuance Committee of the government at various levels shall he charged with the responsibility of issuing the Bonds. All moneys received shall be forwarded to the branch treasuries. All grains received shall be delivered to the Granary Custody Committees.
(12) The present Regulations shall be effective as of 1 August 1933. Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Central Government Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-tTao, Vice Chairmen
22 July 1933
°"Red China," No 96, 26 July 1977
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NEW SITUATION AND NEW TASKS July 1933
[Text] Relying on the correct offensive line of the Party and the positive leadership of the Soviets, relying on the heroic combat and enthusiastic support of the Worker-Peasant Red Army and the masses, and relying on the daily struggle of the working and peasant masses in the White sector and the unprecedented vigorous advance of the anti-imperialist and anti-Kuomintang mass movements we have in the wake of the battle of Tung-huang-p'i essentially smashed the enemy's fourth "encirclement and suppression" campaign.  In the unparalleled great glorious victory of the battle of Tung-huang-p!i, the heroic Red Army has dealt a most fatal blow to the Kuomintang warlord chieftain Chiang Kai-shek, the most formidable pillar of the landlord-bourgeoisie!  In his tearful "handwritten order" and other correspondence, he mournfully admitted that this is their "secret sorrow since the day of birth."  (Chiang Kai-shek's letter to Chen Cheng)  This is an unprecedented grievous defeat and collapse of their army!  Consequently after they had suffered this grievous defeat, even though they attempted to launch counterattacks on several occasions, they were found powerless to do so in the end!
The reasons why the Kuomintang warlords have suffered this grievous defeat and why they have not been able to counterattack are: First, it is due to the stout prowess and heroic combat skill of the Worker-Peasant Red Army.  In the great victory of Tung-huang-p1i, they received enormous reinforcements to strengthen themselves. The soviet sector has also gained tremendous consolidation and development. The majority of the Kuomintang soldiers were fundamentally shaken and unwilling to attack the Red Army. Even the reactionary Kuomintang army officers were mostly scared to death and when they spoke of the Red Army, they were like "speaking of the tiger making them pale." Thus despite the repeated attempts of Chiang Kai-shek to launch counterattacks, he has been powerless to do so in the end.  Second, it is due to the deepening and continuing aggravation of the national crisis in China. At a time when Japanese imperialism had occupied Jehol and Luan-tung and were closing in on Peking and Tientsin and when the Kuomintang continued to surrender without shame, the anti-imperialist and anti-Kuomintang revolutionary storm has surged to a new height* This has made it inevitable for the Kuomintang on the one hand to conclude the agreement of surrender with Japanese imperialism finalizing the sell-out of Peking, Tientsin and North China and on the other hand
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carry out an unparalleled White reign of terror to suppress the anti-imperialist and anti-Kuomintang roaring revolutionary masses.  Third, it is due to the general collapse of the national economy which has subjected hundreds of millions of workers and peasants to an unprecedented catastrophe from a subhuman enslaved standard .of living to the bitter sea of starvation, death and homeless destitution. As a result, workers' strikes and peasant uprisings erupted throughout the country on a tremendous scale, turning their struggle for daily living into a political struggle against imperialism and the Kuomintanf These revolutionary struggles have obstructed our enemy and forced them into a state of shock and helplessness. Meanwhile the diminished receipts of customs revenue of the Kuomintang government and the exodus of workers and peasants into soviet areas thereby escaping from the range of their exploitation, have brought the finances of the Kuomintang government to the verge of bankruptcy !
Confronted with such a grave defeat and hopeless circumstances, the only "strategem" of the Kuomintang warlords is to surrender themselves even more vilely and shamelessly to imperialism. From the hands of international imperialism they sought and received large batches of loans and munitions which enabled them to mount their fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the soviet areas and the Red Army.  The signing of the North China Truce Agreement and the travels of Sung Tsu-wen [T.V. Soong] to Europe and America are precisely aimed at implementing their intrigue. Now a new bargain has been struck between the Kuomintang and imperialism.  The Kuomintang has given away 4,000,000 or more square 11 of China's territory and many secret and unannounced gifts for which they received several hundred million yuan of loans and large supplies of arms and munitions. Utilizing these loans and supplies of arms and munitions, the Kuomintang, under the direct command and organization of various imperialist countries, has been deploying their troops in North China and elsewhere, training many new contingents in the making of poisonous gas bombs, and concentrating all their forces to organize their fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign and launch their frenzied but futile attack against the Red Army in the soviet areas which will certainly be doomed to defeat!
Thus we are now confronted with a new revolutionary situation.  In the face of such a new situation, our task is to mobilize all our forces and concentrate them to smash the iraperialist-Kuomititang's fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign! This is a great historical turning point. Two types of political power:  the soviet political power of workers, peasants and soldiers and the Kuomintang regime of the landlord-bourgeoisie, will in the course of the impending war on a broader scale unfold this kind of the future—our soviet political power will advance with more victories and their Kuomintang regime will collapse with more death and destruction.
With a view to striving for total victory in the smashing of the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" campaign, we must first and foremost increase and concentrate all our forces to heighten, our confidence in victory and offer our all to the war!  In this connection we must above all else insure the steady increase of the numbers of the Red Army and expand it to 504000 during August, September, and October this year. At the same time we must vastly raise the political education and military skill of the Red Army fighters
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and enlarge and strengthen the organization of the Red Guards 2nd Young Pioneers. Next we must insure ample supplies of provisions for the Red Army and daily necessities for the living of the masses. Here we must broadly unfold the land investigation movement, deepen the class struggle in the cities and rural areas, absolutely consolidate the soviet political power, develop the national economy in a planned wayj widely establish cooperatives of the masses, issue economic construction bonds, redistribute foodgrains, expand external trade, break the enemy's economic blockade, and seize material conditions of the revolutionary war. These are our important fighting tasks at the present time!!
Finally, with a view to successfully carrying out war emergency mobilization and totally smashing the enemyTs fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign, we must oppose the inadequacies of the assessment of the present new revolutionary situation, oppose all psychological fatigue of the war, in particular oppose those opportunists who have shown alarm and helplessness and wanted to beat a retreat in the face of the enemy's fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign! At the same time we must also oppose those "left" determinists of empty talk and victory!  These "left" and rightist opportunists are the fiercest enemies of war mobilization and they actually help our class enemies!
Workers, peasants and Red soldiers of the whole soviet sector!  Now we are confronted with a new revolutionary situation. We must sacrifice our all and assume our great historical mission!  Comrades! We are now in the face of the more cruel and devastating battle of the war! We are now in the face of totally smashing the fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign and we are also in the face of the first victory in the revolution of Kiangsi and several other neighboring provinces!
°Red China, No 97, 29 July 1933
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PROCLAMATION OF PROVISIONAL CENTRAL GOVERNMENT ON CONVENING THE SECOND NATIONAL SOVIET CONGRESS
1 August 1933
[Text]  It has been 2 full years now since the convening of the First National Soviet Congress.  These 2 years have been the years in which imperialism has frantically intensified its attacks against the Soviet Union and the Chinese revolution, the imperialist Kuomintang has carried out its most barbarous massacre and encircling attacks against the soviet areas of the whole country, and the Kuomintang has sold out China by shamelessly surrendering to Japanese and all other imperialisms.  But these have also been the 2 years in which under the correct leadership of the Central Soviet Government the Worker-Peasant Red Army has won great glorious victories through arduous struggle. During the struggle of these 2 years we have expanded and consolidated our soviet political power and we have gained infinitely rich and invaluable experience. With a view to focusing our leadership of China's national soviet movement, further developing and consolidating the soviet political power, and summing up the soviet experience of the past 2 years, the Central Soviet Government decides to convene the Second National Soviet Congress in the Red capital of Jui-chin on the 6th anniversary of the Canton Uprising (11 December 1933).
During the past 2 years, China's national crisis has worsened.  The intensified aggression of imperialism and the selling out by the Kuomintang have brought several million li of Chinese territory in the three northeastern Provinces, Jehol, Peking and Tientsin and tens of millions of Chinese people under the iron yoke of Japanese imperialism. Because of the consistent surrender and selling out by the Kuomintang, the imperialist dismemberment of China has advanced rapidly.  The tragic fate of the complete colonization of China has been hanging over the heads of the Chinese people in the whole country.
During the past 2 years the total collapse of the Chinese national economy has become ever more acute. The wholesale bankruptcies of national industries, the ultimate collapse of the rural economy, and the widespread incidence of floods, drought and famine all over the land have driven the overwhelming majority of workers and peasants to the road of joblessness, starvation and death. Yet the Kuomintang warlords just keep on exploiting the people without any letup.  In Szechwan Province they have already levied land rents in advance to the year 1971, and the number and variety of exorbitant taxes and
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taxes and miscellaneous contributions have reached a total of 1,700 or more. Throughout the country landlords and evil gentry have exploited the peasants more ruthlessly than. ever.  Capitalists have also intensified their attack against the workers.  Conflicts and internecine wars between and among the warlords have further quickened the pace of the collapse of China's national economy.  The pain and suffering of the workers and peasants in the whole country have truly reached indescribable proportions!
Dear comrades!  The workers and peasants of China cannot and will not tolerate such a state of affairs.  The fires of the revolutionary torches are burning all over the country and the heroic struggle against imperialism and the Kuomintang is unfolding itself—from demonstrations, strikes, riots to geurilla warfare and large-scale revolutionary war. Furthermore, during the past 2 years the great victories of the Chinese soviet workers and peasants and the Red Army, the tremendous developments of the soviet areas, and the vigorous expansion of the heroic Red Army from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands constitute the most powerful lever in the development of the revolutionary situation in China.
Now two roads lie ahead of the Chinese people:  the imperialist-Kuomintang road and the soviet road!  Under the rule of the imperialist-Kuomintang, China can only become completely the colony of imperialism whereas under the soviet political power imperialism has already been totally overthrown. Representing the revolutionary masses of the whole country, the Central Soviet Government has formally declared war against Japan.  It has on the one hand led the heroic Red Army in vigorously launching the national revolutionary war and defeating the Kuomintang warlords who had prevented the Red Army from advancing north to resist Japan and on the other hand several times called on the White armed forces of the whole country to cease attacking the soviet areas and conclude with the Red Army an agreement of war against Japan.  Under the rule of the imperialist-Kuomintang, the workers, peasants and soldiers have been suffering from the ruthless exploitation and suppression of the evil gentry, landlord-bourgeoisie and Kuomintang warlords and driven into bankruptcy and jobless-ness, even death and starvation.  Under the soviet political power, feudal and semi-feudal exploitation by the evil gentry and landlords has been completely eliminated. Here laboring peasants and Red fighters have been awarded land, the working class has received the protection of labor laws, the soviet economic construction is surging vigorously ahead, and the livelihood of the workers and peasants has been greatly improved. Under the rule of the imperialist-Kuomintang, workers and peasants have been frequently subjected to arrest, imprisonment and slaughter. All freedom of speech, assembly, conscience, and in particular the freedom to resist Japan and oppose imperialism has been denied, and the organs of political power are completely in the hands of a small minority of landlords and capitalists.  On the other hand, under the soviet political, power workers and peasants have gained their complete political freedom and the exploiting class (capitalists, landlords, rich peasants, etc.) has been deprived of its political rights.  For the first time in the history of China workers and peasants govern their own country and become its ruling class with the working class as its leading force. It cannot be pointed out
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more clearly by all this that the only road to save China is the soviet road and that the victory of the soviet revolution is the victory of the people of the whole country against imperialism and the landlord-bourgeosie. It is precisely for this reason that the Kuomintang and all counterrevolutionary cliques, under the .direct command and organization of imperialism, have mobilized all their forces to mount futile attacks against the soviet sector and the Red Army. Although the enemy's 1st, 2d, 3rd and 4th "encirclement and suppression" campaigns have been totally smashed by the iron fists of the heroic Red Army, the imperialist-Kuomintang, with a view to making its last stand, is actively preparing to launch even more cruelly its fifth "encirclement and suppression" major campaign which is aimed at the complete destruction of the Soviets and the Red Army.  This "encirclement and suppression" campaign of the imperialist-Kuomintang is a necessary and major step on the way to the seizure of China as a colony. All people of China should concentrate all their forces to smash this "encirclement and suppression" campaign and fight for the victory of Soviet China.
The Central Government of Soviet China calls on the toiling masses of the workers and peasants and the revolutionary soldiers to rise against the imperialist aggression and selling out by the Kuomintang, against the imperialist-Kuomintang's fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Soviet Red Army, to smash this campaign, overthrow the Kuomintang rule of the landlord-bourgeoisie, support the Second National Soviet Congress, and elect delegates to this Congress fighting for the future of Soviet China. Relying on the enthusiasm of the Chinese people for their revolutionary struggle, relying on the invincibility of our heroic Worker-Peasant Red Army and relying on the correct leadership of the staunch proletariat of China and their vanguard the Communist Party, the victory will surely be ours!
People of all China, rise enthusiastically to struggle for a new Soviet China! Long live the Second National Soviet Congress!
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman
Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-t'ao, Vice Chairmen
1 August 1933
°"Red China/1 No 101,   13 August 1933
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CABLE OF GREETINGS FROM CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO RED ARMY IN EASTERN AREA FOR ITS GREAT VICTORY
8 August 1933
[Text] Political Commissar of General Command Headquarters of the fighting Red Army in. Eastern Area for transmittal to all commanders and combat comrades:
You heroes have beaten the enemy's recalcitrant 19th Route Army on the eastern front like fallen flowers in a flowing stream. This victory demonstrates the growing strength and increasing invincibility of the Worker-Peasant Red Army.  It presents the imperialist-Kuomlntang which is preparing for its fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign with a grave threat and also constitutes an initial victory in the smashing of the enemy's threat and also constitutes an initial victory in the smashing of the enemy's fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign. We are very happy to learn of this victory. During the present period of the historical turning point in the decisive victory or defeat between the revolution and the counterrevolution, the Central Soviet Government is organizing and leading the Red Army and hundreds of millions of the toiling masses of workers and peasants in smashing the enemy's fifth "encirclement and suppression." campaign and fighting for the cause of Soviet China. We believe you heroes will surely bring to your task even more courage by advancing and"destroying more enemies and winning still greater and more glorious victories.
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman
Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-t'ao, Vice Chairmen 8 August
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PROVISIONAL SOVIET ELECTION LAW
9 August 1933
[Text] Chapter 1 General Provisions
Article 1   The election of Soviets of all levels in the territory of the Chinese Soviet Republic shall be governed by the provisions of this Law.
Article 2   During the period of war the election of the Red Army shall be governed by a special chapter of this Law.
Article 3   The proletariat is the vanguard of the Soviets, leading the peasantry in the overthrow of the Kuomintang regime of the landowning bourgeoisie and establishing the workers' and peasants1 democratic dictatorship of the soviet political power. In order to strengthen the leadership of the proletariat in soviet organs, the workers, in comparison with other residents, shall enjoy superior rights in the proportion of their number of deputies in relation to the number of residents.
-<
Chapter 2  The Right To Elect and the Right To Be Elected
Article 4   All citizens residing in the territory of the Chinese Soviet Republic and having reached the age of 16 years on election day shall enjoy the right to elect and to be elected without any distinction as to their sex, religion and nationality provided that they possess one of the following qualifications:
(1) All hired laborers and their families as well as all persons who live by their own labor and their families (such as workers, employees, poor peasants, middle peasants, independent laborers, urban poor residents, etc);
(2)  Those in the active service of the Army, Navy and Air Force of the Chinese Soviet Republic and their families;
(3) Persons of the above two categories who have lost their laboring power or jobs at the time of the election.
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Note:  The families of persons of all categories in this Article shall not have the right to elect and to be elected if they have been deprived of their right of election owing to the origin of their birth.
Article 5   Persons who violate the provisions of one of the following articles shall not have the right to elect and to be elected:
(1) Those who hire the labor of others for profit (such as rich peasants and capitalists);
(2) Those who do not live by their labor but depend for their living on the profits of their capital, land, and other properties (such as evil gentry, landlords, and capitalists);
(3) Landlords, agents of capitalists, middle men (such as intermediaries and brokers) and compradores;
(4) All persons who engage in the profession of propagating religion and superstition such as missionaries of various religions, priests, monks, taoist priests, geomancers and magicians;
(5) Police, spies, gendarmes, bureaucrats, warlords and all reactionary elements who have participated in opposing the interests of workers and peasants in the Kuomintang government and other reactionary governments;
(6)  Insane persons;
(7) Those who have been convicted of a crime by court and whose period of sentence has not been completely executed or whose period of deprivation of the right of election has not expired;
(8) The families of persons of all categories mentioned in Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this Article.
Note:  The families of persons who engage in the profession of propagating religion and superstition under Paragraph 4 of this Article shall still have the right to elect and to be elected if they live by their own labor.
Article 6   Persons of all categories mentioned in Article 4 of this Law who violate the provisions of one of .the Paragraphs from 1 to 7 of Article 5 of this Law shall likewise be deprived of the right to elect and to be elected.
Chapter 3 Election Procedures
Article 7   An election shall be held by the soviet of a locality at a fixed date in accordance with the decision of the Central Executive Committee.
Article 8   An election shall be held only in the presence of the representative of the election committee.
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Article 9   Prior to the conduct of an election the registration of electors must be carried out so that a list of the names of electors and those who have been deprived of their right of election as well as a list of the total number of residents in the election district shall be publicly announced by the local soviet 5 days in. advance of the election.
Article 10   After the completion of registration of electors, each elector must be notified of the time and place of the election meeting and must be registered in front of the place of the election meeting.
Article 11   A worker shall take the organization of his production or his occupation and industry as the unit to hold the election meeting. Those who are unable to take their production, as the unit to conduct the election must demarcate their district or their street and designate a place to hold the election meeting, A peasant takes his house (tiny hamlet) as the unit to hold the election meeting.  If a small house has too few people, it can be combined with one or several of the neighboring houses to hold the election meeting.
Article 12   The families of workers shall participate in the election in conjunction with the basic person at the same place and acquire equal qualification of an elector with the basic person.  If the family of a worker does not live with the basic person at the same place, he or she shall participate in the election at the place of his or her work or residence.
Note: The family of a worker who has been deprived of the right of election cannot participate in the election..
Article 13   An election meeting shall be held only with the presence of more than half of the total number of electors of the locality.  If the number of electors has not reached a quorum, the election meeting must be postponed and the election committee shall fix a date and convene another election meeting. If another election meeting is to be convened, the electors must again be notified of the time and place of the election meeting.
Article 14   If a second election meeting is convened, it can be held regardless of whether or not a quorum has been reached and elect the number of deputies to be elected at the meeting.
Article 15   No written ballot ia used in the election and voting is decided by a show of hands. Those who receive a majority of hands are elected.
Article 16  - The presidium of the election meeting shall be composed of three persons two of whom shall be elected by the election meeting and one shall be the representative of the election committee. The representative of the election committee shall be the ex officio chairman of the presidium of the election meeting. A secretary shall be nominated by the presidium to keep the record of the election meeting.
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Article 17   When an election meeting is declared to be in session, the chairman shall announce the number of persons present based on the register at the time of entering the meeting place to see if a quorum has been reached.
Article 18   The agenda of an election meeting shall be as follows:
(1) Election of regular deputies.
(2) Election of alternate deputies.
(3) Passing of proposals.
Note 1:  When a vote is taken on a proposed candidate, the method of individual voting shall be adopted in each case and no vote shall he taken on the entire slate all at once.
Note 2: A vote cannot be taken on a regular deputy and an alternate deputy at the same time.  The election of a regular deputy must be completed before the election of an alternate deputy.
Article 19   The record of an election meeting must be signed or stamped by all members of the presidium and the secretary.
Article 20   The record of the election meeting, the attendance register and all other documents relating to the election must be collected and sent to the election committee for transmittal to the municipal soviet or district executive committee for examination after the conclusion of the election.
Chapter 4 Procedure of Election of Soviets of all Levels and Criteria of Number of Deputies
Article 21   A township soviet shall be composed of deputies elected by the electors of the entire township at various election meetings. Each 13 worker residents may elect one regular deputy.  Each 50 other residents may elect one regular deputy.
Note: In a township with a population of less than 500, the proportion between the number of deputies and residents may be reduced as follows: each 8 worker residents may elect one regular deputy and each 32 other residents may elect one regular deputy.
Article 22   A municipal soviet under a district shall be composed of deputies elected by the electors of the entire municipality at various election meetings, Each 13 worker residents may elect one regular deputy.
Article 23   A municipal soviet directly under a county shall be composed of deputies elected by the electors of the entire municipality at various election meetings. Each 20 worker residents may elect one regular deputy.  Each 80 other residents may elect one regular deputy.
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Article 24   A municipal soviet directly under a province shall be composed of deputies elected by the electors of the entire municipality at various election meetings. Each 100 worker residents may elect one regular deputy. Each 400 other residents may elect one regular deputy.
Article 25   A municipal soviet directly under the Central Government shall be composed of deputies elected by the electors of the entire municipality at various election meetings.  Each 500 worker residents may elect one regular deputy. Each 2,000 other residents may elect one regular deputy.
Article 26   A district soviet congress shall be composed of deputies elected by the townships' Soviets and the Red Army attached to the district. With respect to deputies to the district soviet congress, each 200 town and village residents may elect one regular deputy. Workers should make up 70 to 25 percent of the composition of deputies.
Note:  If a district soviet has a municipal soviet under it, deputies from the municipal soviet should be added to it. Each 50 municipal residents may elect one regular deputy.
Article 27   A county soviet congress shall be composed of deputies elected by district soviet congresses and municipal Soviets directly under a county as well as deputies elected by the Red Army attached to the county. With respect to deputies to the county soviet congress, each 400 municipal residents may elect one regular deputy and each 1,600 town and village residents may elect one regular deputy. Workers should make up 20 to 30 percent of the composition of deputies.
Article 28   A provincial soviet congress shall be composed of deputies elected by county soviet congresses and municipal Soviets directly under a province as well as deputies elected by the Red Army attached to the province. With respect to deputies to the provincial soviet congress, each 1,500 municipal residents may elect one regular deputy and each 6,000 town and village residents may elect one regular deputy. Workers should make up 25 to 35 percent of the composition of deputies.
Article 29   The National Soviet Congress shall be composed of deputies elected by the deputies of provincial soviet congresses, county soviet congresses directly under a province and municipal Soviets directly under the Central Government as well as deputies elected by the Red Army. With respect to deputies to the National Soviet Congress, each 1,500 municipal residents may elect one regular deputy and each 6,000 town and village residents may elect one regular deputy. Workers should make up 25 to 30 percent of the composition of deputies.
Article 30   In localities where the number of residents has not reached a quorum, if their number is more than half of a quorum, they may elect one regular deputy, and if their number is less than half of a quorum, they may elect one alternate deputy.
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Article 31   Each five regular deputies may elect one alternate deputy in addition. An alternate deputy may attend meetings and has the right to speak but not the right to vote.  If a regular deputy for any reason leaves or is dismissed from his post, he shall be replaced in order by an alternate deputy.
Article 32   District, county and provincial soviet congresses, in addition to electing deputies to the county, provincial and National Soviet Congress, shall also elect the executive committees of Soviets of their respective levels. The National Soviet Congress shall elect the Central Executive Committee.
Article 33   The qualifications of deputies to the district, county, provincial and National Soviet Congress shall be examined by examining committees organized by the soviet congresses of their respective levels.  The qualifications of deputies of township and municipal Soviets shall be examined by examining committees organized the plenum of the township and municipal congresses.
Article 34   The membership of the soviet executive committees of various levels shall be regulated as follows:
A district executive committee may not exceed 35 members. A county executive committee may not exceed 55 members. A provincial executive committee may not exceed 95 members. The Central Executive Committee may not exceed 581 members.
Note 1: With respect to deputies of the Red Army to the soviet congresses
of various levels, the criteria of their number and procedure shall be specially
regulated by Chapter 5 of this Law.
Note 2: The criteria of the number of deputies from counties directly under the Central Government to the National Soviet Congress shall be regulated by special order of the Central Executive Committee.
Chapter 5 Procedure of Elections and Criteria of Number of Deputies of the Red Army
Article 35   As the Red Army has no fixed points of station during the war period, its personnel cannot participate in the elections of township or municipal Soviets.  Therefore, it is necessary to adopt provisional measures of accomodation which are specially provided in various articles of this Chapter.
Article 36   The Worker-Peasant Red Army attached to the district soviet government (such as guerrilla units, etc.) shall directly elect deputies to the district soviet congress.
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The Worker-Peasant Red Army attached to the county soviet government (such as Independent Regiments, etc.) shall directly elect deputies to the county soviet congress.
The Worker-Peasant Red Army attached to the provincial soviet government or although not attached to the provincial soviet government but charged with long-term work in that province (such as Independent Divisions and various Army Groups in Hunan-Hupeh-Kiangsi, Hunan-Kiangsi, Fukien-Chekiang-Kiangsi •and other soviet areas) shall directly elect deputies to the provincial soviet congress. Regional Armies of the Red Army shall directly elect deputies to the National Soviet Congress.
Note:  Guards units such as Guards Company, Guards Regiment, Political Defense unit, etc. shall participate in the elections of municipal and township Soviets of their localities with their number of deputies equal to that of workers.
Article 37   The criteria of the number of deputies from the Red Army shall be provided as follows:  each 25 persons may elect one regular deputy to the district soviet congress; each 100 persons may. elect one regular deputy to the county soviet congress; each 400 persons may elect one regular deputy to the provincial soviet congress; and each 600 persons may elect one regular deputy to the National Soviet Congress.
Note:  The criteria of the number of alternate deputies shall be governed by the provisions of Articles 30 and 31 of this Law.
Article 38   The election work of the Red Army shall be carried out by the election committee composed of 3 to 5 persons appointed by the political bureau of a regiment or the political commissar of an independent division or the political instructor of a battalion.
Article 39   The election of deputies to the district soviet congress shall take the company or battalion as the unit and shall be conducted by an election meeting. The election of deputies to the county or provincial soviet congress shall take the batallion or regiment as the unit and shall be conducted by an election meeting. The election of deputies to the National Soviet Congress shall take the regiment as the unit and shall be conducted by an election meeting.
Note: The procedure of elections and the work of the election committees shall be governed by the provisions of the various articles in Chapters 3 and 7 of this Law.
Chapter 6 Approval and Cancellation of Basic (Municipal and Township) Elections and Recall of Deputies.
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Article 40   Only elections carried out in accordance with the procedure prescribed by this Law shall be considered valid and shall be approved.
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Article 41   After a municipal soviet and a district committee have received all documents of an election, a special committee shall be organized to examine them.  If it is found that certain parts of an election have violated the provisions of this Law, the right to cancel those parts of the election shall be vested with the municipal soviet and the district executive committee. If the entire election is found to be in violation of the provisions of this Law, the right to cancel the election shall be vested with the soviet executive committee of the next higher level.
Article 42   When the validity of an election is in dispute, it shall be settled by the municipal soviet and the district executive committee.  If it cannot be settled by the municipal soviet and the district executive committee, it shall be submitted to the soviet executive committee at the next higher level for settlement..
Article 43   If an election is in violation of the provisions of this Law, every elector may make a complaint to a municipal soviet or a district executive committee. When such a complaint is received by the municipal soviet or the district executive committee, it must be examined at once.  If it cannot be settled, it may successively be appealed to the next higher levels.
The Central Executive Committee shall be the final organ of appeal in an . election.
Article 44   If deputies of a municipal soviet or a township soviet violate the trust of the electors in the performance of their duties or commit an act of crime, they may be dismissed by the municipal or township soviet at a meeting of the plenum. The electors have the right to recall the deputies elected by them at any time and may elect others in their place.  In such cases they must report to the soviet executive committee at the next higher level for examination.
Chapter 7  The Election Committee and Its Work
Article 45   An election committee is the special organ to conduct elections. Its organization has two types as follows:
(1) The municipal election committee to manage the election work of the entire municipality composed of 7 to 11 members.
(2)  The district election committee to manage the election work of the various townships of the entire district composed of 9 to 13 members.
Article 46   The election committee is composed of representatives of the government and various mass organizations. Its members shall be passed by the municipal soviet or the district executive committee at a meeting of its presidium and shall be examined and approved by the presidium of the county executive committee.
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Article 47   Citizens who work or live in a locality shall be eligible for membership of the election committee of that locality.  Under special circumstances the government at the next higher level may transfer someone from, another locality.
Article 48   The chairman of a municipal soviet, township soviet and district executive committee may not be a member of the election committee.
Article 49 A member of the election committee need not leave his original post and may temporarily be relieved oŁ his work at election time and devote himself exclusively to the conduct of the election.
Article 50   The election committee will not establish a separate office and may conduct its business in the district executive committee or the township soviet and make use of all of its technical and staff personnel.  In case of necessity it may hire additional technical and staff personnel.
Article 51   Prior to an election the election committee should carry out the following work:
(1)  It shall register electors.  Organized electors may be registered through their own organizations (such as trade unions, poor peasant groups, etc.). Unorganized electors shall be registered by the registrars of the election committee. Registration forms should be filled out according to the register of the electors.
(2) After the conclusion of registration special personnel shall be designated by the election committee to examine the registration forms and a list of the names of the electors shall be published at the locality and on public grounds by the local soviet government 5 days in advance of the election.  The number of regular and alternate deputies to be elected from the district shall also be published at the same time.
(3)  The time and place of the election meeting shall be publicly announced 3 days before the election meeting and the electors of the district shall be so notified.
(4) It shall prepare proposals to be passed by the election meeting.
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(5)  It shall prescribe the order in which the various organizations, organs and houses (tiny hamlets) shall hold their election meetings, arrange the meeting hall and appoint registrars at its entrance.
(6) It shall through the local soviet government publish the list of the names of persons who have been deprived of their right of election 5 days in advance of the election.
Article 52   The election committee must appoint its representative to attend every election meeting. The election meeting should be declared in order
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by the representative appointed by:the election committee and he shall be the ex officio chairman of the presidium of the election meeting.
Article 53   The first item on the agenda of the election meeting shall be the report by the representative of the election committee on the provisions relating to the right to elect and to be elected in accordance with Articles 4, 5 and 6 of this Law.
Article 54   After the election the election committee shall collect and forward all the documents of the election to the municipal soviet or the district executive committee for safekeeping and examination. It shall also submit a report summing up the election to the municipal soviet or the district executive committee.
Article 55   The election committee shall be declared dissolved after the conclusion of the election.
Chapter 8 Election Expenses
Article 56   A budget on the expenses of an election shall be prepared by the election committee at various levels, examined by the municipal soviet or the district executive committee and reported to the soviet government at the next higher level. The expenses of elections shall be paid out of the election fund allotted by the Treasury.
Article 57    With respect to the election expenses of the Red Army, a budget shall be prepared by the election committee and sent to the political department at various levels for examination and approval.
Article 58   The election committee shall be responsible for submitting a final account report on all expenses incurred in elections to the organ of disbursement .
Chapter 9 Supplementary Provisions
Article 59   This Election Law shall come into effect in the Central soviet area from the date of its promulgation.  In other soviet areas which have not yet been merged with the Central area it shall come into effect from the date of receipt of this document.
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman
Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-t'ao, Vice Chairmen
9 August 1933
°Red Reactionary Documents; No 3, 1935
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CENTRAL GOVERNMENT CABLE CONGRATULATING.THE INAUGURATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL ANTI-IMPERIALIST AND ANTI-WAR CONGRESS
August 1933
[Text] Delegates to the International Anti-imperialist and Anti--war Congress:
On behalf of the tolling worker-peasant masses of the entire China 7 the Provisional Central Government of the Soviet Republic of China extends its proletarian salute to all the delegates to the Congress I  Courageous van-guard on the anti-imperialist front. You disregard the White terror of the imperialist Kuomintang and the threats of fascists and police and detectives, and resolutely call a world anti-imperialist and anti-war congress in Shanghai which is under the joint control of international imperialism and laid waste by the cannons of Japan. We wish to express our unlimited admiration and eager hopes!  The inauguration of the congress is an unprecedented success won by the international worker class and all the toiling masses on the united front under the anti-imperialist international. We firmly believe that the congress will he able to lead the anti-imperialist warriors of the whole world to resist, by concrete measures, the undeclared Far East war for the purpose of entirely colonizing China and the imminent and urgent international imperialist war against Soviet Russia.
The toiling masses of the entire China completely and profoundly understand the sharp opposition between the (Lytton) inquiry group and the international anti-imperialist and anti-war delegation.  Our political experience tells us that the former is the planner and organizer of the bandit international imperialism to divide up China, while the latter, which is you—you are the most effective helper of the people of the entire China in resisting the imperialist bandit aggression and striving for China's independence and freedom and liberation. We hope you will reveal the truth of all the imperialist inhuman conduct, crimes, and conspiracies in China to our worker-peasant brothers of the whole world.  Meanwhile, we enthusiastically welcome you to come and inspect the soviet areas, contrast the revolutionary fervor of the workers and peasants in the soviet areas, the improvement in their living, and all the constructions of the soviet government against
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the hunger, deaths unemployment, and famine which you see in the imperialist Kuomintang controlled areas, spread it among the workers, peasants., and soldiers of the world, and arouse their excitement and sympathy!
Currently, China is in the midst of a violent war between the two paths—the colonial and the soviet paths. The fifth "encirclement and suppression" against the soviet Red Army launched recklessly by the imperialist Kuomintang is to make China follow completely the colonial path, while we are concentrating all forces to smash the enemy's desperate attack, block the imperialist colonial path, and struggle for the road of an independent and free soviet China, We believe that the congress is in complete sympathy with us. Therefore, the success of the congress is our success; the victory of the congress is our victory. Leading the workers and peasants of the entire China and the Red Army, we unanimously support the congress in its successful progress, and we wish to express our sincere congratulations for its great advance!
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman, Provisional Central Government of the Soviet Republic of China
Hsiang Ying, Vice Chairman Chang Kuo-ttao, Vice Chairman 0  "RED CHINA," No 107, 3 September 1933
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Cable from the Central Government to the International Anti-imperialist and Anti-war Congress, 30 August 1933
[Text]  Delegates to the International Anti^itnperialist and Anti-war Congress, and Proletariat, Toiling Masses, and All Revolutionaries of the Whole World!
The intensification of the panic of world capitalism and the end of the temporary stabilization of postwar capitalism have caused the imperialist bourgeoisie to launch more reckless attacks on the proletariat and toiling masses of their own nations, to place all the burdens of the economic crisis on them, and to handle the organizations of the worker class and all revolutionary actions with the most cruel fascist bloody means.  In Germany, in Italy, in Japan, and in all the capitalist nations in the world, the mad tide of fascism is waging a death struggle against the revolutionary movement of the worker class and toiling masses of the whole world.
Towards the outside, the imperialist nations are preparing to launch an imperialist war in order to find a way out of the economic crisis. Their attack on Soviet Russia and their plunder of the colonies have been reenforced.  By means of a bandit war, Japanese imperialism first occupied the vast areas of China's Manchuria, Jehol, Chahar, and Lo-tung and placed 50 million toiling masses under its heel.  British imperialism is using Tibetan troops in western China to occupy our provinces of Hsi-k'ang and Szechwan and is preparing to make all of western China a British colony. Others such as French and American imperialism are also competing to divide up China's territory. Waging a violent imperialist war, they wish to divide anew their market in China!	'•
The loathsome imperialist bourgeoisie is the common enemy of the proletariat and toiling masses of the world.  In China, they ally with the Kuomintang—the loathsome White terror™and arm over 1 million Kuomintang troops with guns, cannons, airplanes, and poison gas bombs at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to attack China's revolutionary base and its soviet areas, attempting to extinguish its revolutionary movement with bloody massacres.
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They wish to turn China completely into an imperialist colony in order to maintain, their control and to continue .their exploitation and enslavement of their domestic proletariat. This is the fifth time that the Kuomintang government, with the aid of imperialism, has launched large-scale attacks on China's soviet areas.
The Provisional Central Government of the Soviet Republic of China declares to the proletariat and toiling masses of the whole world: The Provisional Central Government of the Soviet Republic of China is the representative of the oppressed people of the entire China,
The Soviet Republic of China was consolidated and developed in the anti-imperialist war in the past; now it will deal a fatal blow to the fifth "encirclement and suppression" of the soviet areas launched by imperialism through the Kuomintang.  It negates all secret treaties between the imperialist powers and China1s Kuomintang government.  It is in the process of appealing to, mobilizing, and arming the people of the entire China. It will resist the imperialist attempt to divide China with the war of national revolution, fundamentally overthrow the imperialist control in China, and establish a soviet political power of the entire China, in order to preserve its independence and unity and its territorial integrity. It is a staunch partner to the proletariat and toiling masses of the whole world in their struggle against imperialism.
Proletariat and toiling masses and all revolutionaries of the whole world! On behalf of the oppressed people of China, the Provisional Central Government of the Soviet Republic of China appeals to you to line up with us and overthrow the common enemy of the workers, tolling masses, and all revolutionaries of the whole world—the world imperialist bourgeoisie!
We request that you adopt all means to block the imperialist nations from sending guns and cannons, airplanes, and poison gas bombs to China and slaughtering the people of China.  We appeal to the soldiers of your nations to resist imperialist aggression of colonies and refuse to slaughter China's masses in the interest of the imperialist bourgeoisie!
The proletariat and oppressed nations of the whole world, unite*
Resist imperialist wars!  Resist imperialist division of China!  Down with world imperialism!
Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Provisional Central
Government of the Soviet Republic of China
Hsiang Ying, Vice Chairman
Chang Kuo-t'ao, Vice Chairman 30 August 0  "RED CHINA," No 106, 31 August 1933
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ON THE WAYS AND MEANS TO SELL BOMDS
Directive of the Central People's Committee, 28 August 1933
[Text]  Three million yuan of economic construction bonds have begun to be issued in the various areas in Jui-chin. According to the most recent experiences of Jui-ehin, though Yun-chi District and other areas adopted the correct method and made a great achievement, several other districts committed grave errors.  The main manifestation was that the district soviet presidium did not closely tackle bond selling and place it on its daily agenda for discussion and inspection, but considered it the function of the finance department.  It did not activate the mass organizations of the district level for unanimous mobilization. As a result, the extremely serious situation of equal distribution appeared in many townships. Without going through the discussion and recognition by the labor unions, poor peasants' leagues, womenTs delegates1 association, and other mass organizations, without making reports at the township soviet delegates1 meeting, and without holding mass meetings to explain clearly the significance of the bonds, the bonds were issued to the township soviet, which, in turn, divided them evenly among the township delegates, who, in turn, divided them evenly among the masses. Whether the masses understood or not, the bonds were evenly divided.  Some individual areas forced the middle peasants to buy bonds.  If they refused, they were called rich peasants. Consequently, the masses in many areas were dissatisfied, and the sale of bonds was hampered. However, it was entirely different in Yun-chi District. Because the Yun-chi District soviet adopted the correct method of mobilization toward the townships and gave detailed explanations to the cadres of the township level, and the cadres, in turn, propagandized to the masses, it made a great achievement.  The district pledged to sell 40,700 yuan of bonds.  In less than 3 weeks, it had sold 25,500 yuan's worth of bonds. Yang-ch'i township was the best.  It had sold all 4,600 yuan of bonds undertaken by it.  The glorious examples of Yun-chi District and Yang-ch'i township are worthy of emulation by all the soviet areas.  For the satisfactory result of bond selling this time, the Central Government specifies the following points on the method of mobilization.  The governments of all levels must implement them completely.
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1.  The provincial soviet must give close attention to the work of bond issuance in the province and discuss, motivate, and inspect it. It must gather the experiences of bond selling in the county where it is located and compile the good and bad examples of the mobilization into a document for the guidance of all the counties in the province.
2.  The county  soviet must give close attention to the work of bond issuance in the county and discuss, motivate, and inspect it.  It must gather the experiences of bond selling in. the several counties near the county soviet and compile the good and bad examples into a document for the guidance of the districts.
The county soviet must, for the purpose of selling bonds, summon all the district chairmen and finance department chiefs for a meeting.  Even in counties where the bonds have not been received, such meetings must be called, so that the districts will embark upon the mobilization work without delay.  They must not wait until the bonds have arrived before holding a meeting and discussing.  After the bonds have been issued, they must again call a meeting of the district chairmen to inspect the work and rectify the errors.
3. The district soviet is the pivot to sell bonds and mobilize the masses. It must call a meeting of the township soviet chairmen, poor peasants' league chairmen, and the responsible persons of other mass organizations and explain to them in detail the significance of bond issuance and the method of mobilizing the masses.  Meanwhile, it must send men to the various townships and help the township Soviets call meetings of township delegates, poor peasants' leagues, labor unions, and other mass organizations and make detailed explanations to them.  Village and hamlet mass meetings must be held through the cadres of the township level and the significance of the economic construction bonds explained in detail to the masses.  If the masses cannot understand after one meeting, another meeting must be held again.  When necessary, there may be a third meeting in areas where it is required.  The masses must be made to understand that buying bonds is in their own interest and for the victory of the war, so that they will eagerly buy them.
4. The government presidiums of all levels and the township soviet chairmen must strictly prevent the error of even distribution.  They must understand that even distribution is thorough bureaucraticism and an extremely erroneous method which will block the sale of bonds.  On the other':.hand, it will make it easy for the counterrevolutionaries to create rumors and deceive the people; on the other hand, it will not arouse the revolutionary fervor of the worker-peasant masses.  If even distribution is again discovered in the future, the higher level government must rectify it immediately.  If the error is not corrected after rectification, punishment must be dealt out.
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5. Prohibition of even distribution is for the.purpose pf encouraging the masses to buy bonds voluntarily.  The names of those who buy more bonds and the amounts bought by them must be posted at the gate of the township soviet to serve as models, . But absolutely no one must be forced to buy bonds,  If a person refuses to buy, the representatives of the township soviet and women's delegates' association, and the members of the labor union and poor peasants' league must persuade and encourage him to buy bonds.  Those who have bought bonds may be asked to persuade those who have not.  Those who have bought more bonds in a village may be organized into a propaganda team to promote the sale of bonds.
6.  Concerning propaganda work, the Central Government has already made an announcement. Upon receipt of the announcement, the township government must immediately post it in the villages and hamlets.  The Central Government has also issued a propaganda outline on the economic construction bonds.  The work personnel and propaganda teams of the district and township Soviets must follow the articles in the outline and perform propaganda and encouragement work toward the masses.
7«  The masses may pay for the bonds in cash or grain.  The district soviet will set the price of grain according to the local market value and notify the townships.
8.  The district Soviets must guide the townships to form bond selling competition agreements.  Besides the figures, the agreement must provide that no bureaucraticist method, such as coercive distribution, is allowed. The time limit must not be set too short (naturally nor too long either), because it will make full mobilization impossible.
Attention must be given to all the eight points above.  The provincial and county Soviets must send men to the counties and districts to inspect and determine whether they are implementing fully this directive of the Central Government.  The county Soviets must make a simple summary of the district in their own counties which was most successful in selling bonds and mail it to "RED CHINA" for publication, in order to encourage all the soviet areas.  It is so ordered.
Chairman Mao Tse-tung
Vice Chairmen Hsiang Ying
Chang Kuo-t'ao
28 August 1933
0  "RED CHINA," No 108, 6 September 1933
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CENTRAL GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE ON RECTIFYING THE FINANCE MINISTRY 25 August 1933
[Text]  At a time when the Red Army is victorious, the soviet areas are expanding, and the revolutionary movement is vigorously progressing, the principle of the soviet financial policy must be:  (1) Place the burden on the exploiting class in both soviet and White areas, mainly by imposing fines on the landlords, assessing donations from the rich peasants, and levying appropriate taxes from the merchants, provided such taxes do not damage the economic growth of the soviet areas.  (2) Vigorously promote economic construction and, by developing the national economy, breaking down the enemy blockade, and restricting exploitation by the merchants, increase the revenue of the soviet.  (3)  Rely on the revolutionary fervor of the laboring peasant masses to collect suitable land taxes for the treasury of the state.  These constitute the fundamental principle of the soviet financial policy.
Under this principle, the soviet financial organ must, by revolutionary means, sound organization, and careful planning, expand the revenue and make it compatible with the development of the revolutionary war.  All conservative concepts and disorderly conditions apart from the political tasks are extremely detrimental.
So far, the work of the soviet financial organ, under the supervision of the People's Committee, has shown, considerable achievements in supplying the war needs and building an accounting system, but it has not adhered to the correct policy in regard to the principle of the financial policy;  Instead of devoting the maximum effort to raise funds from the exploiters and . increase revenue by developing the national economy, it has concentrated on tax revenues and paper currency bonds.  Meanwhile, its assessment of the development of the revolution is inadequate, resulting in a lack of financial planning.  This constitutes a hindrance to large-scale financial administration.  In leadership pattern, if, instead of relying on the urban and rural Soviets and the worker-peasant mass organizations and mobilizing the broad masses through them in fund raising,, one depends on the small number of work personnel of the district level and above, the task cannot
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be completely fulfilled,  Such bureaucratic leadership pattern exists to a large extent in the soviet financial organ.  On the issue of cadres, attention is not given to training and promoting large groups of financial administration work personnel, nor to criticizing and weeding out some of the corrupt and.decadent elements. All these are the result of failing to implement the correct class line and of making opportunist assessments of the revolutionary situation, and Comrade Teng Tzu-hui [6772 1311 1863], people's finance commissioner, must be mainly responsible.
The People's Committee feels that this situation must not be allowed to continue; it commands the new chief of the people's finance department, Comrade Lin Po-ch'u [2651 0130 3255], to rectify it fundamentally. Self-criticism in the entire financial system must be launched in order to rectify the erroneous understanding of the financial policy, formulate financial plans compatible with the development of the war, change the leadership pattern., promote and train large groups oŁ financial work personnel, and eliminate the partial corruption and decadence in the financial system, so that the entire soviet financial system will rapidly become sound and the soviet financial administration will become compatible with the development of the revolution, furnishing the full financial condition to the revolutionary war and thoroughly smashing the fifth "encirclement and suppression" of the imperialist Kuomintang.  It is so ordered.
Chairman Mao Tse~tung
Vice Chairmen Hsiang Ying
Chang lŁuo«t'ab
25 August 1933
D "RED CHINA," No 107, 3 September 1933
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PRELIMINARY SUMMARY OF THE LAND INVESTIGATION MOVEMENT
August 1933
[Text]  I. A Great Success
The land investigation movement, under the appeal of the Party and the Central Government, has been extensively launched.  If the movement in the past was considered as an initial stage only, then the work in the 1 month of July, after the eight-county land investigation mass meeting in June, surpassed the achievement of more than half year since last winter. Generally speaking, in the eight counties included in the mass meeting, the movement has reached a new stage and become an extensive mass movement.  The achievements of Jui-chin and Po-sheng were the greatest, uncovering a total of two thousand and several hundred landlords and rich peasants.  Initial achievements were made in the counties of Sheng-li, Yu-tu, Hui-ch'ang, T'ing-tung, Ch'ang-t'ing, Shih-ch*eng, and Ning-hua. In all the districts and townships where achievements were made, extensive mass struggles have started.  In soviet work and party work, there was much stagnation in the past, but now the work has become lively.  Many of the undesirable elements in the soviet were purged, and the counterrevolutionaries hidden in the rural villages encountered severe suppression.  In other words, the remnant feudal forces suffered a tragic defeat at the hands of the broad masses.  On this foundation, all kinds of work developed even more.  In areas where the land investigation movement had made achievements, great successes were also made in the expansion of the Red Array and the local militia, the sale of economic construction bonds, the development of the cooperative, fall harvesting and fall plowing, the launching of labor mutual aid associations, and such cultural undertakings as clubs, night schools, and elementary schools.  All items of work became more successful. On the foundation of mass activeness, large groups of positive elements made themselves into cadres for all types of work, and many among the workers and peasants joined the party and enlisted in soviet work. The best example was Jen-t'ien District in Jui-chin.  With the help of the work group of the Central Government, Jen-t'ien District, in its land investigation movement, activated the masses of the entire district in 55 days, thoroughly eliminated the feudal remnants, uncovered over 300 landlords and rich
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peasants, executed by shooting 12 counterrevolutionaries known as "big tigers" by the people, and suppressed counterrevolutionary activities. Certain elements among the soviet work personnel committing serious errors were accused at mass meetings, and certain class deviationists infiltrating the soviet were purged.  Some 27,000 tan of land were ascertained in the entire district, and the more than 20,000 toiling masses received an additional 1 tan 2 ton of land per capita. Large quantities of money and things belonging to the rich gentry and landlords were distributed to the masses. Due to the unprecedented height of mass positivity, over 700 new Red Army soldiers, were recruited into the Jui-chin Model Division in 55 days, without even one desertion.  The amount of grain saved and sold to the Red Army reached 1,900 tan or more, an accomplishment which no other district in the entire county could match.  Under the demand of the townships, the district undertook to sell 40,000 yuan of economic construction bonds; 7,500 yuan were collected from landlord fines and rich peasant donations; the district promised to continue to raise 10,000 yuan* Cooperatives developed rapidly, and cultural and educational constructions, such as clubs, literacy classes, and night schools, also increased.  The number of party members expanded; the Party's leadership strengthened; labor union work improved. A new atmosphere emerged in the district.  From the backward district of Jui-chin, it reversed itself in 55 days and became a first class district similar to Wu-yang. Why did Jen-t'ien District make such great achievements? We must point out that it was because they realized the importance of the task of land investigation and because they firmly followed the correct directives of the Central Bureau and the Central Government in their mobilization pattern, class line, and mass work and performed true Bolshevik work.  In regard to understanding the tasks, they understood the close links between the land investigation movement and the revolutionary war; therefore, they performed the work conscientiously, closely tackled the leadership of the movement, and arranged the work of the local area with plans.  In regard to the mobilization pattern, they tightly tackled the work of the seven townships which were most, or relatively, backward among the 11 townships in the district, activated the party, the league, the township soviet, the labor union, the poor peasants' league, and other mass organizations of the  seven townships, and mobilized the broad masses through them.  In regard to the class line, they firmly followed the strategy of relying on the farm laborers and poor peasants and allying with the middle peasants, and extensively developed the poor peasants' league.  They explained that land investigation was not land division and that class investigation did not include the middle peasants, poor peasants, and farm laborers.  Their work on "discussing the classes" was adequately performed.  When the landlords and rich peasants of 0-feng township frightened the middle peasants and caused alarm in some of them, our comrades held individual conversations with several middle peasants who spread our ideas to other middle peasants.  The middle peasants of 0-feng township immediately settled down and actively supported the land investigation policy of the soviet.  Instead of continuing to be defrauded by the landlords and rich peasants, they joined the poor peasants and workers and attacked the landlords and rich peasants together. The comrades of Jen-t'ien District did make mistakes on the classification of several
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households, but they remedied them promptly.  In regard to guiding the mass struggles, they first made extensive propaganda.  Instead of holding meetings of the entire district and township, they held village and hamlet meetings, contacted broader masses, and propagandized to and encouraged them many times.  Therefore, the masses of the entire district understood that land and class investigations were their responsibilities and in their interest. Next, they investigated the class components and activated many people to perform the task. Material evidence on the various components was carefully collected and shown to the masses; therefore, there was no incident of dissatisfaction among the masses.  Subsequently, through the class classifications, the land investigation committee first made an analysis and decision which were handed to the poor peasants' organization for discussion and passage and then submitted to the district soviet for approval.  Thereafter, they proceeded to the village where the party whose property was to be confiscated resided and called a village mass meeting. Only after a clear explanation of the case and the raising of hands to show support was the property confiscated.  In regard to the distribution of money and things and land, the work personnel all understood that they, themselves, must serve as the models and refrain from taking anything. They distributed everything to the masses, a larger amount to the village where the property was found and a smaller amount to other villages, and won the satisfaction of the masses. Land was also promptly divided. The . situation of prolonged delays in other areas was not found in Jen-trien district.  Therefore, the masses were rapidly activated.  The way they attacked the backward big villages was also correct.  They were not afraid of the big villages, but nor did they use brute force.  What they did was to concentrate their forces, make more propaganda, try to win over the local positive elements, rallying and educating them, and activate the remainder of the masses through them.  They were very patient in performing such village work which appeared to be slow but actually very fast.  In 55 days, they activated all the backward big villages in the district and eliminated their backwardness within a short time.  When they were unable to enter a village in Po-k'eng township because of the two well-known "big tigers" there, they adopted a different means. The two rascals were arrested and tried in the local mobile court and, with the enthusiastic support of the masses, executed by shooting.  The mass struggle in this village spread like wildfire.  They held 10 mass trial meetings and mobile court meetings, all via a very extensive mass line. Most of the people of the township attended while all the villages of other townships sent delegates, 10 or more from the small townships, and 40 or 50 from the large townships. Therefore, the results of each public trial and judgment were immediately spread to all the townships and villages of the district. Besides realizing the justice of punishing or killing the culprit, the masses of all the townships and villages immediately thought of similar evil elements in their own areas who also should be punished. The land investigation movement of Jen-t'ien District is truly a model for the entire soviet area!  Chiu-pao District of Jui-chin also was very successful. They first closely tackled three townships, summoned the members of their land investigation committees to the district soviet for a 3-day training class, and explained the mobilization method, the class line, and the means to win the masses.  On the issue of distributing the confiscated
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property, they created a good method. When a landlord's household was to be confiscated, they would ask the masses of the village and the household to gather together, elect a confiscation distribution committee^ proceed with the confiscation under the supervision of the masses, pile the things confiscated in an open space, and distribute them to those entitled with the approval of the masses. The edibles were handled in a different manner. They slaughtered hogs and cooked rice for a big meal for the masses. This method produced a great effect in Chiu-pao District. Their confiscation distribution committee was not a regular organization, but a temporary one, thus creating a closer association with the masses.  (As for the distribution of confiscated land, it was still handled by the regular land committee).  The confiscated things were not taken to the township soviet, nor did they wait until several households were confiscated before distribution; therefore, delay and theft were avoided. Chiu-pao District was just as correct on other lines and methods; therefore, they could activate the broad masses for class investigation. They were so successful that no landlord or rich peasant appeared at the township soviet to object to the classification, which was completely contrary to the condition of land investigation in the past.  In the past, there were always many investigated landlords and rich peasants who appeared at the soviet to object, claiming that the classification was wrong. Not just themselves, but even the responsible persons of the township representing the poor peasants' organization would come forward and argue for them.  This time, naturally, it was not because the landlords and rich peasants did not want to object, but they could not do so.  No one of their clan or among their relatives supported them.  They were incapacitated, and it was impossible for them to object.  It showed that Chiu-pao District performed adequate work in activating the masses, for otherwise they could not have attained this stage.
All such glorious exemplary instances (not scarce in other areas) constituted a Bolshevik response to the appeal of the Party and the Central Government and proved the absolute accuracy of the directives of the Central Bureau and the Central Government. Anywhere where such directives were completely implemented, great successes were immediately made.  Anywhere where they were violated or overlooked, errors were committed in the work, and little or no achievement was made. Let me prove this point by the facts.
II.  Some Areas Relinquished the Leadership of the Land Investigation Movement.
In regard to the fighting task of the land investigation movement, after the promulgation of the decision of the Central Bureau, the issuance of the directive of the Central Government, and the mass meeting of the eight counties, the development of the movement did not reach all areas.  The land investigation achievement of the entire province of Fukien, for instance, was only equivalent to that of the county of Po-sheng; the achievement of Sheng-li, Yu-^tu, Hui-ch'ang, or Shih-ehfeng could only match that of the best one or two districts of Jui-chin. The land investigation committees
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of many areas had not even held one meeting? and even the county land investigation committees of several counties failed to tackle the land investigation work of the county (Hui~chTang, Yu-tu? Shih-ch'eng, and Ning-hua).  In many districts and townships land investigation committees, the district and township chairmen did not serve as the committee chairmen. On grounds of being busy in other matters, they relinquished the task of land investigation.  In regard to Party leadership of land investigation, in all areas where land investigation was successful, the effect of the Party's firm leadership was clearly demonstrated, and the majority of the Party membership masses, under the guidance of the Party branch and district committee, performed much courageous Bolshevik fighting work.  On the other hand, wherever land investigation achieved little, or nothing, the Party unit's neglect of the movement was apparent.  Almost 2 months after the promulgation of the land investigation decision of the Central Bureau, the Hui-ch'ang county committee, for instance, never once discussed land investigation work. Not until the end of July did they hold a meeting on the matter.  In one period, the Pu-hsiao district committee paid no attention to the land investigation movement at all. Though the urban committee of Jui-chin held one meeting for land investigation, it did not activate the suburban branch committees to give attention to the leadership of land investigation, and none of the branches ever held a meeting for the movement.  In other areas, such as the county committees of Yu-tu, Sheng-li, Shih-ch'eng, and Ning-hua and many district committees, they also failed to pay close attention to the work of land investigation. The party and the Central Government said:  "The land investigation movement has become an effective means to activate the masses for intensive rural class struggle, thoroughly solve the land issue, and eliminate feudalism or semi-feudalism" (decision of the Central Bureau); "the land investigation movement is an urgent task of the Soviets of all areas" (directive of the Central Government); "the land investigation movement is the most important link in the current work" (summary of the eight-county mass meeting).  Meanwhile, many of our comrades said: "Too busy; no time to look after the land investigation movement." The Party resolution stated:  "The superficial attitude of handling the land investigation movement with bureaucraticism and formalism is most detrimental." Yet these comrades still handled the land investigation with bureaucraticism.
III.  Some Areas Actually Capitulated to the Rich Peasants,
In areas where the land investigation was launched, there still appeared many individual serious errors. One often came across individual comrades in the local Party unit or soviet who, in face of the violent class struggle of the land investigation movement, indicated their opportunist vacillations. This was mainly because, during the vigorous development of the movement, they were unable to abandon their clan or local relationships but sheltered the landlords and rich peasants of their own clan or village. Or they erroneously analyzed the class components, considering the~lanoTords a"s~ rich peasants and the rich peasants as middle peasants.  Some work comrades of the judicial department, by their extreme negligence, accepted the false accusations of the positive elements in the land investigation by the landlords and rich peasants in the name of the people.  In another aspect,
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some of our security bureau and judicial department comrades failed to keep pace with the development of the mass class investigation struggle and actively suppress the counterrevolution, and they even turned dovn the demands of the masses to arrest and execute the landlord and rich peasant elements who resisted the land investigation.  The judicial department of Jui-chin was an example of making all those mistakes.
IV.  The Tendency to Encroach Upon the Middle Peasants Is the Most Serious Danger.
The "leftwing" opportunist tendency, in the July land investigation, appeared in many areas.  Here, the tendency to encroach upon the middle peasants must be emphatically pointed out.  The Central Bureau clearly indicated in its resolution:  "Special attention must be given to the alliance with the middle peasant masses. They are the broadest basic masses in the soviet village after the revolution; therefore, we must win their approval and support in all our measures and strategies.  Every decision made by a poor peasant organization or the soviet must acquire the support of the middle peasant masses at the village or hamlet mass meetings, and all appeals of the middle peasant masses must be heeded. Any attempt to encroach upon their interest must be severely discouraged." It was pointed out at the conclusion of the eight-county mass meeting:  "The goal of land investigation is class investigation, not redivision of land.,..  Allying with the middle peasants must start from not encroaching upon their interest.., At the beginning of the land investigation we must generally propagandize the soviet policy of allying with the middle peasants and guard against encroaching upon their interest.  In the process of land investigation, we must carefully decide on the borderline cases between the middle and rich peasants and avoid -mistakes." However, the comrades of many areas did not pay attention to such instructions.  In the land investigation of the Jui^-chin urban area, they began the investigation by the households and farms. Some middle peasants were so alarmed that they came to the soviet and asked to have their classification changed into poor peasants.  They said:  "It is very dangerous to be a middle peasant, because it is only one step removed from the rich peasant.  A poor peasant will be further removed from the rich peasant." Do such painful appeals not deserve our attention? The comrades of Yang-ku township, Huang^po District, announced to the masses:  "Class investigation is only the investigation of the middle peasants, rich peasants, and landlords." The comrades of Tfao^ching District put down stakes and forced the investigation, and some of the middle peasants were so terrified that they fled into the mountains to hide.  Some townships in Fo-sheng county also put down stakes and made a general investigation, and the middle peasants there were similarly terrified.  It was stated at the eighth-county mass meeting that "the idea that land investigation requires staking is not correct,"  Nevertheless, the comrades paid no attention. General investigation by staking happened in every county.  It was an unusually serious situation.  They confused land investigation and land division.  True, land division would require staking, but the land figures must first be clarified before division.  If the method of staking was used in the land investigation movement, it would confuse the rural struggle goal.
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We pointed out in the past;  "Land investigation and land division must be strictly distinguished.  Such distinction is not only for the purpose of stabilizing the peasants' land ownership so that they will not be alarmed over the uncertainty of land division, but also for the victory of the class investigation struggle. We -must concentrate our forces, especially by allying with the middle peasants, to handle the resistance of the landlords and rich peasants. At this time, there must not be any confusion or disturbance within the peasants1 own ranks" (conclusion of the eight-^county mass meeting).  It was one of our most important strategies in guiding the land investigation struggle; yet it was neglected by many comrades.  Such neglect cannot be tolerated for another moment.  In regard to those who, after being given guidance, continue with such mistakes, the local higher level soviet must punish them severely.  Ideological struggles must be launched inside the Party and the league, and any Party or league member, in his thinking or action, encroaching upon the interest of the middle peasants and violating the strategy of allying with them, must be opposed. In regard to the mistakes already made, the soviet personnel must openly admit their mistakes to the local middle peasant masses and return the land and property to the wronged parties.  Last year, Hsing-kuo returned land to many middle peasants and won the satisfaction of the middle peasant masses, It was a valuable lesson.
V.  The Closed-door-ism of the Poor Peasants* League and the Neglect of the Leadership Effect of the Farm Laborers Are Wrong,
"The poor peasant masses are the props of the Party, the proletariat in the rural village, and the staunch supporters of the land revolution." "Relying on the poor peasants" is one of our important strategies in the land investigation movement and all land struggles, and the poor peasants' league is an organization with a great effect in the land investigation movement.  The eight-county poor peasants' league delegates mass meeting already pointed out that the closed-door tendency of the poor peasants1 league was wrong, that the sponsor system must be abolished and the gates opened wide to the poor peasant workers, and that all poor peasant workers, men and women, old and young, could join.  But many places still followed the old method without change and still required sponsoring.  In T'ao-ching District, Jui-chin, when the poor peasant masses not belonging to the league came to its meeting, the responsible persons refused them admittance.  In Chu-chai-chi District, Po-sheng, not one new member was admitted to the poor peasants' league in the entire month of July. In all the districts and townships where land investigation was successful, the poor peasants' league developed extensively, while in all the districts and townships with little or no success, the one manifestation was the closed-door situation of the poor peasants' league.  Similarly, many comrades failed to recognize the great leadership effect of the farm laborers in the land investigation movement. The party resolution stated:  "The farm laborer masses are the rural brothers of the urban proletariat and the vanguard of the land revolution; therefore; the work personnel of the Soviets must establish a
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close connection with the labor union, develop and organize the positivity of the worker masses through it, and turn them into the vanguard of the land investigation movement." Not many of our comrades followed this instruction. Here, the main means is to make the rural workers join the poor peasants' league and form separate workers* cells within it.  Through such workers' cells, the positive elements among the poor peasants are rallied to develop the poor peasantsr league and promote the progress of the land investigation movement.  The experiences of Shan^ho township, Huang-po District, are valuable. When our comrades failed twice to call a poor peasantsT league meeting, they held a joint mass meeting of the agricultural and handicraft labor unions and activated several dozen workers. Each worker brought a poor peasant to the poor peasants1 league. The next day, a poor peasants' league meeting was held and the land investigation movement was launched in Shan-ho township.  This experience must be introduced in all the rural villages.  The higher level leading organ of the labor union must render positive guidance to the lower level labor union and consider land investigation one of the important tasks of the labor union.
VI.  Incorrect Concepts of the Rich Peasant Issue.
Our general strategy in the rural struggle is to rely on the poor peasants, firmly ally with the middle peasants, make the farm .laborers produce a vanguard effect, and rally all revolutionary forces, in order to eliminate the landlord class and resist the rich peasants.  On the rich peasant issue, the party has stated correctly:  "The landlords and rich peasants must be clearly distinguished.  In the struggle to eliminate ruthlessly the landlord remnants, there must not be any attempt to eliminate the rich peasants." In the land investigation in July, though there was no theory openly advocating the elimination of the rich peasants, instances of considering them as landlords and con.fiscating all their assets were discovered in many areas. The source of the.error was a result of obliterating the labor force of the rich peasants. When we said that "those who perform no labor, or only incidental labor, but practice exploitation, such as collecting land rent, are landlords," some areas considered those who used considerable number of labor elements as "performing only incidental labor" and classified them as landlords.  Other areas considered the rich peasants who also exploited by high interest loans as "usurers" and handled them according to the method of "eliminating usurers." There were also areas which reckoned old accounts, going back a certain number of years before the revolution.  If a person hired permanent help 5 or 6 years, or even. 10 or more years, before the revolution, he was considered a rich peasant,  Or, the well—to-do middle peasants who once hired permanent help for 1 or 2 years but had not done so since then were classified as rich peasants.  The even more serious instances occurred in a certain area in Hsing-kuo.  They distinguished the landlords and rich peasants by the number of exploitations.  Those guilty of three kinds of exploitations were called landlords, and those guilty of two kinds, rich peasants.  For instance, if a peasant hired permanent help, collected rent, and lent out money, he was considered a landlord regardless
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of the number of family members who labored.  Then, the problem of "reactionary rich peasants" was very confused in many areas.  One rich peasant in Wu-yang District who was also a merchant had 17 mouths to feed in the family.  Because one member of his family joined the AB League 2 years ago and was killed, the comrades there insisted on confiscating his entire family assets.  Similar instances were many in other areas.  In regard to the rich peasants who were not guilty of very serious counterrevolutionary conduct before the uprising, such as "collecting 30 percent grain as rent" (Jui-chin), and who did not perform any counterrevolutionary activity in the several years since the uprising, the majority of the masses did not want to punish them; yet some of our comrades insisted on confiscating their assets. Actually, in regard to this kind of people we must use different strategies for consolidated areas and uncosolidated outlying areas.  In the outlying areas, doubtlessly we must adopt a strict method and suppress all counterrevolutionary elements, including the rich peasants.  In central areas, we must decide according to the situation.  In regard to those who indulged in serious conterrevolutionary conduct before the uprising, or who continued in their counterrevolutionary activities after the uprising, naturally we must confiscate their assets, but otherwise we must not do so.  For some households, we should confiscate only the assets belonging to the guilty party himself and those directly connected with his counterrevolutionary conduct, and leave the assets of the rest of the family intact.  This is the only way to handle it correctly.
VII. The Worker-Peasant Procurators' Department Failed To Discharge Its Duties and Made Mistakes.
Many of our comrades in the worker-peasant procurators' department did not realize that the land investigation movement was the best opportunity to launch the ideological struggle, resist bureaucraticism, oppose corruption, decadence, and negative slowdown, and expel the class deviationists from the soviet, and they were very inadequate in performing such work. Many of them, in face of the violent class struggle, manifested their negative vacillation, bureaucraticism, and formalism.  The chief.of the Jui-chin city soviet worker-peasant procurators* section sheltered the chief of the city soviet judicial section who was guilty of grave corruption (appropriating over 1,000 yuan of public funds).  The chief of Tu-t'ou District worker-peasant procurators' section failed to criticize or prosecute the district soviet chairman who neglected land investigation.  In some areas, the worker-peasant procurators7 department followed another erroneous directions in its prosecution movement. They considered love as decadence and taking things belonging to the landlords as corruption and prosecuted, or even tried in public, the culprits.  Some areas dismissed those making minor mistakes from their posts.  Instead of systematically launching self-criticism and ideological struggle, which involved strenuous work, they resorted to punishment in their place.  Needless to say, those among the soviet work personnel committing long-term and serious errors must be firmly purged, but dismissing and punishing those making lesser errors were excessive.  In regard to the class deviationists, generally only the classification was taken into consideration, not the work. As long as their background was bad, regardless of their long struggle history, or their
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correct implementation of the Party and soviet lines and policies in the past or at present, they were considered class deviationists and dismissed. True, we must firmly purge the class deviationists.  Those with undesirable classifications and inferior work performances (including landlords, rich peasants, negative slowdown, corruption, etc.) must doubtlessly be purged, hut it would be excessive to handle the lesser ones likewise.
VIII. The Leadership Technique of the Land Investigation Struggle.
If we understand the task and the line, but do not have the Bolshevik technique of leading the mass struggle, the land investigation movement still cannot develop. At the beginning of this article we discussed the many good examples of leading the struggle in Jen-t'ien District and other areas, but in many other areas, numerous mistakes were made on this point. In some areas, they did not know how to employ all kinds of means to activate the struggle in the backward big villages where the landlords and rich peasants corgregated.  In some big villages, only by first arresting the evil gentry and landlord eleroents? known to the masses as "big tigers," before the struggle could be launched, but our comrades failed to do so. In regard to distributing the confiscated goods to activate a mass struggle, which is an excellent method, many areas did not resort to it.  In Wa-tzu township, T'ao-ching District, Jui-chin, the confiscated things were only distributed to the land investigation cadres and poor peasants' league members, not to anyone else, on ground that those who were not positive were not entitled.  Some areas were very slow in distributing the confiscated things, holding them for as long as a month or more.  The distribution of confiscated land was even slower.  The comrades of many areas did not know that they must produce a nucleus leadership effect in the mass organizations and villages by mobilizing the departments of the soviet, the mass organizations, and the Party and league members.  When the work could not be started, they would say that there was nothing one could do in this area anyway.  In some areas, after the class investigation mass struggle had been started and many people came to report on the landlords and rich peasants and request investigation and confiscation, our comrades were unable to utilize the mass fervor, lead the struggle, and spread the class investigation work to the various villages.  In some areas, after some investigation, the struggle fervor of the masses could not continue to rise and a situation of stagnation appeared.  Our comrades were unable to stimulate the masses by all kinds of means in order to raise their enthusiasm until all feudal remnants were eliminated.  In other areas, after the land investigation movement, when the struggle fervor of the masses flourished, our comrades were unable to organize and shift the fervor to another front.  For instance, after the people received things or land, they should have, at the mass meetings or other favorable occasions, encouraged them to enlist in the Red Army, sell bonds, join the cooperative, devote their effort to fall harvesting and fall plowing, establish clubs and literacy classes, or develop night and elementary schools.  They missed the best opportunities. When the higher level ordered such work to be done, they would then begin to propagandize and encourage.  Such tailism leadership, dropping behind the struggle fervor of the masses, is most detrimental to revolutionary work.	.._..---
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In another aspect, there was, in many areas, the undesirable situation of a few persons working with brute force. We once stressed that we must oppose the indifference of the majority of the masses and the commandist work pattern, and that only by patient and arduous work to activate the masses and win them before we could get the support of the majority and attain the goal of eliminating the feudal remnants.  Such mass work is the only safeguard to implementing the class line. At the beginning of the land investigation movement, we must propagandize extensively in all the villages, explaining to the masses that the land investigation movement was necessary, that land investigation was not land division, and that class investigation was not an investigation of the middle peasant, poor peasant, and farn laborer classes, and clarifying to them especially the distinctions among the landlords, rich peasants, and middle peasants.  Village mass meetings must be held more than once, especially in the backward villages. Our propaganda must reach everyone of the revolutionary masses. To attain this goal, we must first explain clearly at the township soviet delegates meetings, labor unions, poor peasants' leagues, women laborers* and farm women delegates* meetings, and other mass organizations, and to all the positive elements, and propagandize through them to the masses.  Class investigation must not be performed by only a few individuals, but by the majority.  In regard to class classification,, it must be passed not only at the poor peasants' league, the township soviet, and the district soviet, but also at the mass meetings of the village and hamlet of the party whose assets are to be confiscated, and the confiscation can only be carried out with the approval of the masses. When distributing things to the masses of the particular village and hamlet, it must be to the satisfaction of such masses. All these measures are for the purpose of winning the majority of the masses.  The work personnel of the Party and the soviet must never forget the majority of the masses in any task at any time. We must turn toward the masses, which means the majority of the masses.  Our work must penetrate the masses, which means penetrating the masses of the large and small villages, large and small towns. We must severely oppose the erroneous means of closed^door'-ism and commandisra with only a few individuals performing the work.  Yet, our comrades in many areas did not do so.  In many districts and townships in Jui-chin, they never even once discussed the classes (never analyzed the distinctions among landlords, rich peasants, and middle peasants) to the masses.  In many areas in Jui-chin and other counties, they started investigating without propaganda.  As a result, the landlords and rich peasants created rumors and deceived the middle peasants. They claimed that there were many landowners and rich peasants in the township or that several hundred landlords and rich peasants were to be investigated (Jui-chin); yet our comrades failed to use the means of "discussing classes" to break down the rumor.  A landlord in Kuang-ch'ang said:  "The land investigation movement means that the Central Government wants the debtors to repay their debts to the Central;" yet our comrades did not immediately expose such falsehood.  In several townships in TTao-^ching District, besides not propagandizing, class investigation was performed only by the several members of the land investi'-gation committee, and  class classification did not go through the mass
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meetings, nor the poor peasants* league. They said:  "The masses are not reliable.  They donTt know how to analyze the classes.  To pass the class classifications at the mass meeting will lead to disputes.  It is more reliable for the land investigation committee to handle it," This theory is truly amazing!  In several areas, confiscation of the property of landlords was done at night, not during day time, on the sole ground that the landlord might run away.  In one area, for the mass meeting, they used the method of "mass meeting of the entire district." Less than 200 people showed up. Three .men lectured In turns from morning to afternoon, not permitting the masses to rest or eat, on the grounds that they might run away.  This barbarous method can be considered another amazing thing!
IX. Launch the Struggle between the Two Lines, Overcome One's Own Errors,
and Strive for the Complete Success of .the Land Investigation Movement.
Doubtlessly, land investigation has been launched extensively.  Nevertheless, when the movement is progressing, and when we have made a correct assessment of the achievements and laid a foundation for its development, we must be alert and give attention to the obstacles in the movement.  Only by launching the struggle between the two lines to eliminate such obstacles will we promote the faster progress of the movement.  Launching anti~rightwing ideological struggles and opposing under-estimation of the serious significance of the movement, compromise with and capitulation to the landlords and rich peasants, and the tailist leadership of the mass struggle are the responsibilities of each and every communist party member.  Meanwhile, all the Party members must be alerted to the danger of encroaching upon the middle peasants; we must "severely hit any attempt to encroach upon the interest of the middle peasants," because this is an extremely serious danger which has clearly manifested itself in the current land investigation work.  The incorrect concepts concerning the rich peasants will also doubtlessly affect the middle peasants.  All the commandist ways of brute force are most harmful to the alliance with the middle peasants.  By sweeping aside all obstacles on the road of the land Investigation movement with the firepower of the struggle between the two lines, the movement will advance in big strides, and its complete success will be fully guaranteed.
0	"STRUGGLE,"" No 24, 29 August 1933
*	"Collection of Reactionary Red Bandit Documents," Vol 3, 1935
*	"On the Land Investigation Movement," Su-nan Hsin-hua Bookstore
* "Reference Material of the Revolutionary History of ChinaTs New Democracy," China Book Publishing Corporation, April 1951
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CSO:  4005
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SMASHING THE FIFTH TENCIRCLEMENT AND SUPPRESSION' AND FULFILL SOVIET ECONOMIC CONSTRUCTION TASKS
Report at the Economic Construction Rally of the 17 Southern Counties, 12 August 1933
[Text]  Comrades: This time we are holding two economic construction rallies—the 17 southern counties and the 11 northern counties. We have never before held a rally for economic construction.  Today is the first time. The current situation is: The fourth enemy "encirclement and suppression" has been completely smashed by us, and the fifth "encirclement" is imminent.  The great storm of world revolution and war is pressing in on us.  The imperialist world war and the war against the Soviet Union are under insane preparation.  Imperialism recklessly oppresses China.  Having occupied four and a half of China's provinces, Japan is extending its bandit war toward Inner Mongolia.  After the total failure of the fourth "encirclement and suppression," the Kuomintang is in the process of preparing a fifth one. The revolutionary struggles and revolutionary war of the whole of China are developing forcefully under a new situation.  That we hold an economic construction rally at this time indicates what we wish to discuss and the purpose of our economic construction.  This is the point which I wish to explain in my report today.  This report Is divided into two parts.
I.  Smashing of the Fourth "Encirclement and Suppression" and the New Fifth "Encirclement and Suppression"
1.  I will first discuss the victories won by us in smashing the fourth "encirclement and suppression."
We wish to say that:
First, it was a large destruction of enemy troops.
The fourth "encirclement and suppression" was completely smashed.  The Red Army in the central area, Hupeh-Honan-Anhwei, Szechwan, Hunan-west Hupeh, Hunan-Kiangsi, Hunan-Hupeh-Kiangsi, and Fukien-Chekiang-Kiangsi soviet
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areas wiped out a total of over 15 divisions of enemy troops in the past year, a greater victory than the smashing of the enemy's third "encirclement and suppression." The armed forces of the enemy suffered a most severe setback. All the middle and lower echelon officers of the enemy army are in mortal fear of the Red Army and are afraid to fight it. Meanwhile, the vacillation of the soldiers of the White army and their sympathy for the revolution continue to grow.
Second, it is the strengthening and expansion of the Red Army.
The Red Army has become an invincible ironclad force.  The change in its organization, the improvement in its military technique, and the stability in its politics have all made great progresses.  In regard to its expansion, it has doubled from the past. We have built a large-scale combat army.
Third, it is the consolidation of the soviet areas.
During the fourth "encirclement and suppression" the class awareness of the worker-peasant masses and their fervor in supporting the revolutionary war were raised even higher. The intensification of the land investigation movement and the development of the workers* struggles have constituted serious blows on the remnant feudal forces in the soviet areas.  The culture and education mass movement has made a further development. A new situation has unfolded in the economic construction movement.  The work of the soviet has improved even more and its prestige in the masses has risen even higher. The soviet banner is reflected in the minds and eyes of the toiling masses in the entire nation.
The fourth is the expansion of soviet territory.
This includes the establishment of the central area and the provinces of ?ukien and Kiangsi, and the opening of several hundred li of new soviet areas in Szechwan.  Comrade Ho Lung [6320 7893] of Hunan-Hupeh-Szechwan has developed a large soviet area there.
The fifth is the great development of the revolutionary movement in areas controlled by the Kuomintang.
As Japanese imperialism forcefully occupied four and one-half provinces belonging to China and the Kuomintang surrendered to capitalism and formed a traitorous agreement with Japan, the movement of .the broad masses against imperialism and the Kuomintang has spread on a large scale. As a result of the oppression and massacre practiced by the Kuomintang, the bankruptcy of agriculture, industry, and commerce, and the aggravated cruel exploitation of workers and peasants by the capitalists and landlords, the strikes of the workers, the struggles of the peasants, and the resistance of the calamity stricken masses against taxes and levies, and the rural riots and guerrilla warfare have greatly expanded.
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2.  Comrades, we have won great victories, but how were such victories won?
I feel that you all know that they were won because of (1) the courage and skill of the Red Army, (2) the revolutionary positivity of the broad worker-peasant masses in the soviet and White areas, and (3) the leadership of the communist party's correct line.  Only with these three important factors did we smash the enemy's fourth "encirclement and suppression" and win the great victories discussed above.  These victories constituted a tremendous blow to the imperialist Kuomintang.  On the one hand, the revolutionary strengths have increased even more, advancing powerfully like an iron torrent.  On the other hand, the counterrevolutionary strengths have weakened more than ever before.  Feeling the pressure of imminent destruction, the enemies have no choice but to prepare an attack of an even larger scale than before, attempting to salvage their dying control.
3.  Therefore, the enemies are insanely planning their fifth "encirclment and suppression11
To arrange for the "encirclement and suppression" this time, the Kuomintang has to submit even further to imperialism. After selling out Manchuria, Jehol, and North China, Chiang Kai-shek entered into secret treaties containing many traitorous provisions with the imperialist countries of America, England, France, Italy and Germany, and borrowed large quantities of money and arms. Moving the troops, training the recruits, and approaching the factional warlords (but the conflicts and wars among the warlords are inevitable), he is actively preparing the fifth "encirclement and suppression" of the soviet and the Red Army.
II.  Smashing of the Fifth "Encirclement and Suppression" and the Soviet Economic Construction Tasks
1.  Seize all favorable factors to smash the enemies' fifth "encirclement and suppression"
China's revolution is now at a critical point.  In other words, will imperialism destroy China? Or will the revolutionary war destroy the Kuomintang, expel imperialism, and turn the nation into a soviet China? The imperialist Kuomintang selected the path of destroying China.  They have already adopted the method of a fifth "encirclement and suppression." They wish to divide China up like a melon or place it under joint control by means of the fifth "encirclement and suppression," turning China's millions into slaves of imperialism, into Indians and Koreans, and China itself into an imperialist colony. This is a great danger. It hangs over our head and threatens us.  Comrades, can we permit them to do so? No, we must fight for the way out through revolution. Our way out is to subjugate the imperialist Kuomintang, sever China from its control, and make it into a new free and independent worker-peasant-soldier soviet republic.  The critical point is to thoroughly smash their fifth "encirclement and suppression" and strive for victory. We must still rely on the Red Army, on the masses, and on the firm implementation of the communist party's line of attack.
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Nevertheless? we must concentrate our effort to seize all factors even more favorable than ever before in order to smash the fifth "encirclement and suppression" and win even greater victories.
To gain victory this time, we must perform much work. We must vigorously expand the Red Army and train 200,000 new soldiers for the front line in 6 to 10 months in the central and the several soviet areas nearby, so that the Red Army groups on all fronts are even stronger and able to perform the task of hitting Chiang Kai^shek's several hundred thousand White troops. We must launch an extensive and intensive land investigation movement and vigorously develop the rural class struggle, in order to thoroughly solve the land issue, eliminate the remnant feudal forces, and increase the eagerness and joy of the broad peasant masses in joining the revolutionary war, We must generally introduce the labor law, expand the struggles of the workers, and further raise the positivity of the worker masses toward the revolutionary war. We -must, through the election movement this year, reelect the soviet of all levels, from the township to the central, so that the entire soviet political power will be strong like iron and able to shoulder the great mission of organizing and directing the revolutionary more successfully.  We must give attention to the work on the frontier and in the newly developed areas and make the revolutionary war progress rapidly toward the pivotal cities. We must launch mass cultural movements and improve the cultural and political levels of the masses, so that the revolutionary war will gain an effective spiritual tool.  Besides the foregoing, there is yet another extremely important task which we wish, to stress in our present discussions--the work in the economic construction aspect. We must vigorously launch the economic construction movement and consider economic construction one of the most fundamental factors to smash the fifth "encirclement and suppression"""an indispensable material factor in the revolutionary war.  The holding of the economic construction rally this time is for this purpose.
2.  The great economic construction tasks are spread before us!
The intensive development of the revolutionary war makes it necessary for the soviet to mobilize the masses, immediately launch a movement on the economic front, and proceed with the required economic construction tasks. Why?  For winning the victory of the revolutionary war, for acquiring the material factors to guarantee the supplies of  the Red Army, for improving the life of the masses in order to stimulate even higher their positivity in joining the revolutionary war, for organizing the broad masses on the economic front and educating them in order to gain new mass strengths for the war, for consolidating the worker-peasant alliance by means of economic construction, stabilizing the soviet political power under the worker-peasant dictatorship, reenforcing the proletarial leadership, and striving for the thorough victory of the entire revolutionary war, primarily the smashing of the fifth "encirclement and suppression," the economic construction work has to be undertaken.  Each and every soviet work personnel must immediately realize this point.  In the past, some comrades
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felt that, as the revolutionary war alone had kept them busy, how would they have the spare time to perform economic construction work? Anyone discussing economic construction was conderaened as rightwing. Moreover, they also felt that it was impossible to undertake economic construction in the environment of the revolutionary war, that it must be postponed until the final victory of the war, that it could only be promoted in an evironment of peace and tranquillity, and that it was out of the question at the present time. Comrades, are such opinions correct?  No.  Those comrades making such statements failed to realize that if economic construction is not undertaken, there will be no complete assurance of the material factors of the war and we will be weary in a long-term war. The enemies are enforcing an economic blockade, and the unconscionable reactionary merchants are sabotaging our currency and commerce.  If we do not overcome such difficulties, will the revolutionary war not suffer a great damage? The blockade by the enemies and the manipulations by the unconscionable merchants have greatly hindered our trade with the outside. The cost of salt is very high, and sometimes not even available.  Grain is cheap in the fall, but soars in the spring and summer.  Such conditions produce an immediate impact on the life of the workers and peasants and block the further improvement of their living standards. Will this situation not affect the basic line of the worker-peasant alliance? If the workers and peasants are dissatisfied with their life, will it not affect our effort to expand the Red Army and mobilize the masses to join the revolutionary war? Therefore, the idea that the soviet economic construction should not be undertaken in a revolutionary environment is extremely fallacious.  Those holding this view often express their desire to subordinate everything to the war, not realizing that blotting out economic construction actually weakens and affects the war, not subordinating it to the war.  Precisely for the purpose of subordinating economic construction to the war, we must undertake all kinds of necessary economic construction work, because it is an extremely necessary and indispensable factor of the revolutionary war.  Only when the work on the economic front is launched and the economy of the soviet areas developed will the revolutionary war acquire an appropriate material foundation, making it possible for us to launch more successful military attacks and deal effective blows on the enemy "encirclement and suppression." Only then will we have the strength, to expand 1 million Red troops and extend our front several thousand li away.  Only then will the iron troops of our Red Army be able to hit Nan-ch'ang and Chiu-chiang without a backward glance.  Only then will our Red Army soldiers be relieved of the chore of foraging for their own provisons and concentrate on fighting the enemies.  Only then will our broad masses be appropriately satisfied with their living and become more eager to serve in the Red Army and perform all kinds of revolutionary work. Only by so doing can it be called subordination to the war; otherwise, it will not be subordination to the war, but the absence of the one determining factor of the war.  This opportunist viewpoint is completely wrong.  Among the soviet work personnel in all areas, many still do not understand the importance of economic construction in the revolutionary war.  They have not truly placed the economic construction tasks on their shoulders.  Therefore,
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they have not devoted all their energy to implement the appeal of the Central Government or exerted a hundred-fold effort to develop the movement on the economic front. Take the following instances: Many government presidiums do not stress the discussion of economic construction. The organization of the national economy department is still not sound.  Some of them have not even found a department chief, or they assign the unqualified to perform the work of the national economy department.  The development of the cooperative is still in. the initial stage.  The work of balancing grain supplies is only performed in a part of the areas.  The various areas have not propagandized the task of economic construction to the broad masses.  This is extremely important.  The fervor to struggle for economic construction has not been created in the masses.  All such conditions are the result of failing to recognize the importance of economic construction. At our rally this time, we must first severely oppose the erroneous viewpoints; we must eliminate the erroneous opportunist viewpoint of overlooking economic construction.  Through discussion of the comrades at the rally and their transmission to the people when they return to their homes, we want to create a fervor among the entire soviet work personnel and the broad worker-peasant masses, and clarify to them the position of economic construction in the revolutionary war, so.that they will devote their unanimous effort to selling 3 to 6 million yuan of economic construction bonds.  We want to develop the cooperative movement and recruit 1 million people to join the cooperatives, half for the consumer cooperatives and the other half for the grain cooperatives.  We want to build granaries generally and establish famine preparation storehouses.  Every county seat must organize a grain balancing branch bureau, and crucial areas and markets must organize grain balancing sub-bureaus, so that, on the one hand, the shortages and surpluses in the soviet areas are balanced and the prices made more uniform and, on the other hand, the surplus grain of soviet areas is shipped out according to plans (not unrestricted) and sold at a high price, without the intermediate exploitation of the unconscionable merchants. With the cash acquired from the White areas, we can purchase the necessities. We want to vigorously develop agricultural and handicraft production, so that the harvest next year will be even greater and such special products as tungsten, lumber, camphor, paper, tobacco, summer cloth, mushrooms, and peppermint oil will resume their past output and be shipped out to the White areas in volume. Tungsten, for instance, is an industry with a good future, because it is needed by the military industry of imperialism. The export of tungsten has great prospects. We must have several thousand or tens of thousands of people to mine tungsten. For the development of agricultural production, the manufacture of farm tools and lime is extremely necessary.  In regard to the volumes of import and export trade, the largest export from the soviet areas is grain.  The central soviet area exports approximately 3 million, tan of grain a year. With our 3 million people, the export of 1 tan of grain per capita to exchange for necessities is about the minimum.  Who is handling the transactions? They are exclusively handled by the merchants.  The merchants indulge in extremely cruel exploitations.  Last year, the peasants of Wan-t'ai sold the grain to the merchants at 0.50 yuan per tan, and the latter sold it in Kan-chou at 4.00 yuan, an 8-fold profit. Take another instance:
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Our 3 million people consume almost 9 million yuan of salt and 6 million yuan of fabric per year.  Needless to say, the import of the 15 million yuan's worth of salt and fabric, so far, has been monopolized by the merchants, and our soviet has never interfered.  The merchants' exploitation is unbelievable. They buy salt in Chia-ying-chou, for instance, at 7 catties per yuan, bring it into the soviet area and sell at 12 ounces per yuan.  TsnTt such exploitation alarming? The soviet can no longer remain on the sideline. We must take action from now on.  Our foreign trade bureau must devote a great effort in this aspect. How do we plan to spend the proceeds of the 3 million economic construction bonds? We plan to use the money in the following way: 1 million to be allocated to the Red Army for its war expenditures; 2 million to be loaned to the cooperatives, grain balancing bureaus, and foreign trade bureaus as their capital.  A small part will be used to develop production and a large part to develop import and export trade.  In addition to developing production, our goal is to sell our export high while buying salt and fabric low from the .White areas for distribution to the masses of the soviet areas. We will thus break down the enemy blockade, resist exploitation by the merchants, develop the economy of the soviet areas daily, greatly improve the life of the masses, greatly increase the revenue of the soviet, and solidly build the material foundation of the revolutionary war. However, we inquire whether such economic construction work can be performed in a violent environment of war? I think only the opportunists will say that it is impossible. We are not saying that we want to build a railway to Lung-yen, or a highway to Kan-chou; we are not saying that grain export or the 15 million yuan salt and fabric import will be exclusively handled by the government. We do not say so, nor do we do so. What we say and do is that we will temporarily use the 2 million capital, plus stocks of the people, to develop agricultural and handicraft production, export grain and tungsten, and import salt and fabric. Are these things which should not, or cannot, be done? We have already begun to do the work and made some achievement. The fall harvest this year shows an increase of 20 to 25 percent over last year, surpassing our estimate of a 20 percent increase.  In handicraft industry, the production of farm tools and lime is in the process of recovery.  The production of tungsten has begun to recover.  The production of tobacco, paper, and lumber is showing some life. Much achievement has been made in grain balancing.  Some work has been done on the import of salt.  Such initial achievements constitute the foundation of our belief in the future. The opportunists say that economic construction can only be undertaken after the conclusion of the war and that it is impossible now. Are they not apparently wrong?
Therefore, it is clear that, at the present stage, economic construction revolves around the central task of the revolutionary war. The revolutionary war is the current central task, and economic construction is for its purpose, revolves around it, is subservient to it, and not a center in itself. The idea that economic construction is the central task among all current tasks is likewise an opportunist viewpoint.  The revolutionary war requires that the soviet undertake the necessary economic construction.  To pursue economic construction apart from the revolutionary
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war is erroneous.  Only after the conclusion of the domestic war can, and should, economic construction be considered the center of all tasks.  To do economic construction work which should be undertaken in peacetime in the future and not at present, and which is feasible in a future environment and infeasible under the present environment during the domestic war, is blind thinking.  The work today consists of items urgently needed by the war, and each item is for the war, not a peacetime undertaking apart from the war.  Any comrade entertaining such an erroneous view must be immediately corrected.,
3.  The issue of the leadership pattern in economic construction.
Without a correct leadership style and work method, it will be impossible to launch rapidly the movement on the economic front.  This is also an important problem and must be solved at this rally, because the comrades, upon returning to their homes, must immediately take action and direct the many personnel of the provincial, county, and area Soviets to work together, especially the comrades of the basic level and town Soviets, and the cooperatives, grain bureaus, trade bureaus, and purchasing offices. They are in charge of the practical work, and they must personally mobilize the masses to organize cooperatives, balance and transport grain, and manage the import and export trade.  If their leadership pattern is incorrect, and if they cannot adopt all kinds of correct and effective methods in their work, it will immediately affect the result of the work and make it impossible for us to gain the support of the broad masses of our slogans and tasks and to complete the entire economic construction plan of the Central Government in the fall and winter of this year and the spring and summer of next year. Therefore, I wish to clarify the following points to the comrades:
The first is to mobilize the masses organizationally.  Here, the presidiums of all levels of the government and the comrades of the national economy and finance departments must place the issuance of bonds, development of cooperatives, balancing of grain, promotion of production, and expansion of trade on the daily agenda for discussion, 'solution, supervision, and inspection.  Next, mass organizations must be activated, mainly labor unions and poor peasants1 leagues.  The labor union must be made to mobilize its membership masses to join the economic front.  The poor peasants' league is an effective organization for mobilizing the masses to develop cooperatives and buy bonds.  The distinct and township Soviets must vigorously render them guidance.  Next, propaganda of economic construction must be done through mass meetings with the villages or hamlets as the units.  In the propaganda, the relationship between the revolutionary war and economic construction must be made very clear, and improving the people's life and increasing the struggle strength explained in a very practical manner.  Appeals must be made to the masses to buy 3 million yuan oŁ bonds, develop cooperatives of 1 million people, balance the grain supply, stabilize the money market, and promote trade.  They must be urged to struggle for these slogans, and their fervor must be raised.  If we do not thus organizationally mobilize and propagandize to the masses, i.e., if the
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presidiums and the national economy and finance departments do not devote their effort to the discussion and examination of economic construction work, give a tention to activating the mass organizations, and propagandize by means of mass meetings, it will be impossible to attain our goal.
Second, the pattern of mobilizing the masses must not be bureaucratic. The bureaucratic leadership pattern must not exist in any kind of revolutionary, work, and this applies to economic construction.  The bureaucratic leadership pattern, a most undesirable thing, must be thrown onto the trash pile. No comrade likes it. What the comrades prefer should be the Bolshevik work pattern, i.e., the mass pattern—a pattern which leads to the closest association with the masses and is welcomed by the workers and peasants. The manifestations of bureaucraticism are as follows: One is the indifferent or superficial opportunist negative slowdown, which is the worst phenomenon. We must wage a strict struggle against it.  Another is commandism.  On the surface, there is no slowdown, and there is a semblance of great effort in the work.  Actually, developing the cooperative by commandism will not succeed.  Temporarily there may be a development in form, but it cannot be consolidated.  Confidence in the cooperative will be lost and its development blocked.  Selling bonds by commandism is another instance. Regardless of whether the masses have understood or whether they can buy that much, bonds are sold arbitrarily according to the desired figures. As a result, the masses are displeased, and the bonds cannot be sold successfully, We must never follow commandism.  We must propagandize vigorously and convince the masses by persuation. We must develop the cooperative, sell bonds, and perform all economic mobilization work according to the concrete circumstances and the concrete manifestations of the sentiment of the masses.
Third, the economic construction movement requires large numbers of working cadres.  It is not an undertaking of tens or hundreds of people, but thousands and tens of thousands.  They must be organized, trained, and sent to the battlefield of economic construction. They are the commanders on the economic front, while the broad masses are the soldiers. The opportunist often laments the lack of cadres.  Comrades, is there really lack of cadres? Innumerable cadres have emerged from the masses tempered in the land struggle, economic struggle, and revolutionary war involving millions in the soviet areas. How can one say there is a lack, of cadres? If the opportunist viewpoint is discarded, one will see the cadres standing in front of him.
Finally, I wish to say that economic construction is not only inseparable from "the general task of war, but also from other tasks.  Only by an intensive land investigation movement will the rural class struggle be further developed, the positivity of the peasants increased, and the broad peasants rapidly led to the battlefield of economic construction.  Only by firmly implementing the labor law will the life of the worker-peasant masses be improved, the worker masses rapidly recruited for economic construction enterprises, and their leadership effect on the peasants
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strengthened.  Only by the correct guidance of the election movement and the prosecution movement, which is launched with the land investigation movement, will the soviet organs become even sounder and the soviet even more effective in guiding the revolutionary war, the work of all aspects, and economic work. Improving the political and cultural levels of the masses is also of extreme importance in developing the national economy. There is no need for me to stress the fact that the work of expanding the Red Army cannot be ignored even for one day.  You all know that, without the victories of the Red Army, the economic blockade would have been even more severe.  On the other hand, the development of the national economy and the improvement of the people's life will doubtlessly help expand the Red Army, so that the broad masses will march to the frontline in large groups.  In general, if we acquire all the factors discussed above, and if we also acquire the new and extremely important factor of economic construction, and subordinate all the factors to war, then, the victory of the fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign will doubtlessly be ours.  (Enthusiastic applause).
0 "RED CHINA," No 102, 16 August 1933
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