classified as landlords or rich peasants, although they engaged in no feudal exploitation or in only a little exploitation; the scope of attack was thus mistakenly broadened; and a most important strategic principle was forgotten, namely, that in the land reform we can and must unite about 92 percent of the households or about 90 percent of the population in the villages, in other words, unite all the rural working people to establish a united front against the feudal system. Now this deviation has been corrected. Consequently, people are very much reassured and the revolutionary united front has been consolidated. Secondly, in the land reform work, the industrial and commercial enterprises of landlords and rich peasants were encroached upon; in the struggle to uncover counter-revolution in the economic field, the prescribed scope of investigation was overstepped; and in tax policy, industry and commerce were harmed. These were the“ Left” deviations in dealing with industry and commerce. Now they, too, have been corrected, and so industry and commerce can recover and develop. Thirdly, in the fierce struggles in the land reform of the past year, the Shansi- Suiyuan Party organization failed to adhere unequivocally to the Party’ s policy of strictly forbidding beating and killing without discrimination. As a result, in certain places some landlords and rich peasants were needlessly put to death, and the bad elements in the rural areas were able to exploit the situation to take revenge and foully murdered a number of working people. We consider it absolutely necessary and proper to sentence to death, through the people’ s courts and the democratic governments, those major criminals who have actively and desperately opposed the people’ s democratic revolution and sabotaged the land reform, that is, the most heinous counter- 8
revolutionaries and local tyrants. If this were not done, democratic order could not be established. We must, however, forbid the killing without discrimination of ordinary personnel on the Kuomintang side, the common run of landlords and rich peasants and lesser offenders. Moreover, in trying criminals, a people’ s court or democratic government must not use physical violence. Deviations of this kind which occurred in the past year in the Shansi-Suiyuan area have likewise been corrected.
Now that all these deviations have been corrected in earnest, we can say on good evidence that the entire work under the leadership of the Shansi-Suiyuan Sub-Bureau of the Central Committee is on the path of sound development.
The most fundamental method of work which all Communists must firmly bear in mind is to determine our working policies according to actual conditions. When we study the causes of the mistakes we have made, we find that they all arose because we departed from the actual situation at a given time and place and were subjective in our working policies. This should be a lesson for all comrades.
As for the consolidation of Party organizations at the primary level, you have drawn upon the experience of Pingshan County in the Shansi- Chahar-Hopei Liberated Area in accordance with the Central Committee’ s directive on the work of land reform and Party consolidation in the old and semi-old Liberated Areas; [ 1 ] that is, you have invited activists from the non-Party masses to participate in Party branch meetings, unfolded criticism and self-criticism in order to remove the impurities in the class composition and style of work in Party organizations and enabled the Party to forge closer ties with the masses. This will enable you to accomplish the whole job of consolidating Party organizations in a sound way.
Those Party members and cadres who have made mistakes but can still be educated and are different from the incorrigibles should all be educated and not abandoned, whatever their class origin. It is likewise correct that you have carried out, or are carrying out, this policy.
In the struggle against the feudal system, the experience of setting up people’ s representative conferences at district and village( or township) levels on the basis of the poor peasant leagues and peasant associations is extremely valuable. The only true people’ s representative conference is one based on the will of really broad masses of the people. It is now possible for such people’ s representative conferences to emerge in all the Liberated Areas. Such a conference, once set up, should become the local organ of people’ s power, and all due authority must be vested in it and in the government council it elects. The poor peasant league and the peasant association will then become its helping hands. At one time we thought of setting up people’ s representative conferences in the rural districts only after the land reform had been completed in the main. Now that your own experience and that of other Liberated Areas have proved that it is possible and necessary to set up these people’ s representative conferences and their elected government councils at the district and village levels in the midst of the struggle for the land reform, that is the way you should continue to do it. All the Liberated Areas should do likewise. After the conferences have been generally set up at district and village levels, they can be established at the county level. W hen people’ s representative conferences are established up to the county level, it will be easy to set them up at higher levels. In people’ s representative conferences
Class Struggle