1On May 4th, 946, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the Instructions on Clearing up Rent Reduction and Land Issues.
(1May 4, 946)
According to Comrade Yan's recent reports from various places, there are broad mass movements in the liberated areas of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Central China. In the struggle against rape, liquidation, rent reduction and interest reduction, land is directly obtained from landlords, and "land to the tiller" is realized. The masses are in high spirits. Where the mass movement has gone deep, the land problem has basically been solved and solved.
In some places, the result of the movement even achieved the "land equalization system", and everyone (including landlords) was assigned three acres of land.
On the other hand, some traitors, gentry, bullies and landlords fled to cities and cursed the mass movements in the liberated areas. There is suspicion among them. Some people in the party think that the mass movement has gone too far.
In this case, our party cannot but adopt a firm policy, resolutely support the people's actions of directly implementing land reform, and lead the people in a planned way, so as to quickly realize land reform in the liberated areas according to the scale and degree of the development of mass movements.
In the face of mass movements, local party committees should not be afraid to generally change the land relations in the liberated areas, not to be afraid that farmers will gain a lot of land and landlords will lose it, not to be afraid to eliminate feudal exploitation in rural areas, not to scold landlords, and not to be afraid of the temporary dissatisfaction and vacillation of the centrists. On the contrary, we must resolutely support all the legitimate demands and just actions of farmers. Approve the land that farmers have acquired and are acquiring.
The shouting and cursing of traitors, gentry and landlords should be refuted; The doubts in the middle should be explained, and the incorrect views within the party should be educated.
Local party committees must clearly realize that solving the land problem in the liberated areas is the most basic historical task of our party at present; It is the most basic link in all the work at present. We must launch and lead the current mass movement with the greatest determination and efforts to accomplish this historical task. And according to the following principles, give correct guidance to the current mass movement.
(1) At the request of the broad masses, our Party resolutely supports the masses to obtain land from landlords in the struggle against rape, liquidation, rent reduction, interest reduction, rent withdrawal and interest withdrawal, so as to realize land to the tiller.
(2) Resolutely use all means to attract middle peasants to participate in the movement, so that they can gain benefits. They must not invade their land. Anyone whose land has been violated should try to return or compensate them. The whole movement must win the real sympathy and satisfaction of all middle peasants, including wealthy middle peasants.
(3) The land of the rich peasants will generally remain unchanged. For example, during the period of land reform, if it must be violated because of the demands of the masses, it should not be dealt a heavy blow. We should distinguish between rich peasants and landlords, and emphasize rent reduction while retaining the part of yeoman peasants. If we hit the rich peasants too hard, it will soon affect the middle peasants and the production in the liberated areas.
(4) The families of anti-Japanese soldiers and anti-Japanese cadres belong to the landlords, so we should treat with caution and take proper care of the enlightened gentlemen who cooperated with us in the liberated areas and Kuomintang-controlled areas during War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's time. Mediation and arbitration should generally be adopted. On the one hand, we should persuade them not to refuse the reasonable demands of the masses and adopt an open-minded attitude automatically. On the other hand, we should educate them to remember that these people have made contributions to resisting Japan or national subjugation, and leave them more land and face.
(5) Considerable care should be given to the lives of small and medium-sized landlords, and the attitude towards small and medium-sized landlords should be different from that towards big landlords, gentry and bullies, and their fishing disputes with farmers should be resolved through mediation and arbitration.
(6) concentrate on resolutely cracking down on traitors, landlords and bullies, completely isolating them and taking out their land. But we should still leave them the land necessary for their livelihood, that is, give them food. As for the lackeys used by traitors, gentry and bullies belonging to middle peasants, poor peasants and poor people, we should adopt a policy of striving for differences to urge them to confess their repentance and not to occupy their land. After he repents, he should also give him the benefits he deserves.
(7) All shops, workshops, factories and mines run by rich peasants and landlords, except the mines, factories and shops of traitors who commit heinous crimes, shall not be infringed upon and shall be preserved so as not to affect the development of industry and commerce. The feudal class and the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie in rural areas cannot be dealt with by solving the land problem. We treat the feudal landlord class and the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie differently in principle. In some places, the method of liquidating rural feudal landlords is wrongly used to liquidate factories and shops in cities, and it should be stopped immediately, otherwise it will have great consequences.
(8) Except traitors and public enemies who have committed heinous crimes and demanded that the local people be sentenced to death, they should support the people's demands and be formally sentenced to death after trial by the court. Generally speaking, a lenient policy should be adopted to reduce the excuses of reactionaries and prevent people from being isolated. Anti-rape liquidation is necessary, but it should not be too extensive, so as not to cause panic among the masses and give the reactionaries an excuse to attack.
9. We must win over all intellectuals who can receive education and give them opportunities to study and work. As long as enlightened gentlemen and other non-party people, or free bourgeois elements in cities agree with our democratic program, no matter how many shortcomings they still have, or express doubts and dissatisfaction with the current land reform, they should continue to cooperate with them and not abandon any of them, so as to consolidate the United front against feudal dictatorship and strive for peace and democracy. For landlords and others who have escaped, let them go home and give them a chance to live. Even if some of them go home to disturb the liberated areas, it is beneficial to let them go home and be supervised by the masses. In this way, the forces against the masses in cities can be reduced.
(10) If the local people have not mobilized to solve the land problem, they should mobilize to solve it quickly, and all or most of it must be solved before the end of this year, not until next year. However, in the struggle, we must fully implement the mass line, grow up, really mobilize the masses, and let the masses solve the land problem themselves. It is absolutely forbidden to use the method of anti-mass-line commandism to solve the land problem by arranging and giving gifts instead.
(1 1) The masses have created various methods to solve the land problem. For example:
(a) Confiscation and distribution of land belonging to big traitors.
(2) After the rent reduction, the landlord will sell the land voluntarily, and the tenant farmers will get the land first.
(c) Since farmers' tenancy rights are guaranteed after rent reduction, landlords still voluntarily give 70% or 80% of the land to farmers, trying to recover 20% or 30% of the land for self-cultivation.
(d) When settling rent, occupation, burden and other unreasonable exploitation, landlords sell land to farmers to pay off debts. Farmers obtained land through the above methods, and most of them obtained land contracts written by landlords, which basically solved the rural land problem, which was very different from the way to solve the land problem during the civil war. Use the above methods to solve the land problem, so that farmers can stand in a legal and rational position and adopt them according to different objects.
(12) The fruits of the movement must be distributed fairly and reasonably to the survivors of poor martyrs, anti-Japanese fighters, anti-Japanese cadres and their families, and farmers who have little or no land. After farmers acquire land fairly and reasonably, they should consolidate their ownership, develop their enthusiasm for production, make them thrifty, develop their families and businesses, and thus improve the production in the liberated areas. After the land problem is solved, anyone who gets rich through hard work, thrift and good management should ensure that his property is not infringed. Therefore, there should be no endless liquidation and struggle, which will hinder farmers' interest in production. Some people are idle and idle, so we should educate them to engage in production and improve their lives.
(13) During the movement and after the settlement of the land issue, attention should be paid to consolidating and developing peasant associations and militia, developing Party organizations, training and promoting cadres, transforming district and township governments, and educating the masses to fight for the protection of occupied land and democratic political power and the democratization of the country.
(14) In places where political power is not consolidated and easy to be destroyed, it is generally not necessary to mobilize the masses to demand land. Even if rent and interest are reduced, we should be cautious and not be like the central area, so as not to cause red and white opposition and be destroyed. But in areas where conditions permit, it is another matter.
(15) Party committees in all localities should, according to the above principles, freely launch and lead mass movements in the liberated areas and resolutely solve the land problem. As long as we can abide by the above principles and keep more than 90% of the rural population (about 92% are farm labourers, poor peasants, middle peasants, craftsmen and other poor people in rural areas, and about 8% are landlords and rich peasants) on the side of our party and maintain a broad anti-feudal United front, we will not make adventurism mistakes. On the contrary, if we can solve the land problem in the liberated areas with a population of tens of millions, it will greatly consolidate the liberated areas and greatly promote the national democratization of the people throughout the country. However, if we fail to follow the above principles and give correct guidance to the movement, if we invade the land of middle peasants, or attack the rich peasants too hard, or give necessary care to those who should be taken care of, the rural masses will be divided, more than 90% of the population will not be kept in our party, and the poor peasants, farm labourers and our party will be isolated. We will increase the strength of landlords and urban reactionaries, and the land reform movement of the masses will be greatly hindered. Therefore, persuading the masses and cadres to abide by the above principles is beneficial to the masses.
16. Therefore, all localities must hold a meeting of cadres, sum up experience, discuss the central instructions, issue and explain the central instructions to all party cadres, determine plans for implementing the central instructions according to local specific conditions, mobilize a large number of cadres, train cadres in a short time, and send cadres to new areas to do this work. At the same time, it makes necessary and appropriate explanations to non-party people, pointing out that this is the legitimate demand of more than 90% of the people, conforms to Sun Yat-sen's proposition and the resolution of CPPCC, and has considerable care for all kinds of people and landlords and rich peasants, so it should sponsor the requirements of farmers. At the same time, all localities should educate cadres, especially district and township cadres, give full play to the spirit of serving the people, and don't use their leadership position to gain too much benefits, causing dissatisfaction among the masses and turning to cadres to fight. If such a struggle occurs, cadres should be advised to adopt a fair attitude to solve the problem so as not to be divorced from the masses.
(XVII) 1942 The central land policy decision correctly launched mass movements and supported War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in recent years. However, due to the development and deepening of the liquidation and rent reduction movement, in fact, we have to make important changes according to the requirements of the masses, although not all, because the rent reduction policy has not been completely abolished.
(18) All localities should, in accordance with this instruction, educate and correct the right and left deviations on the land issue within the Party with full enthusiasm and goodwill, and lead the masses in their struggle to complete the land reform and consolidate the mass base in the liberated areas. (The original Important Document on Land Farmers was published by the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.