ABSTRACT
Having arrived from Changsha in Wuchang on February 11, I hereby report as follows on various matters.
On December 17, I arrived in Changsha from Hankou to participate in the Provincial Congress of Peasants’ Representatives. At the Committee for Drafting Resolutions of the Congress we discussed various resolutions. All the resolutions adopted on this occasion may be considered fairly realistic. The congress closed on December 30. In accordance with a decision [X] of the district committee, all comrades who were representatives to the congress held a brief training session at which I presented three reports on the peasant question and on methods of investigation.
Starting on January 4, I went to the countryside to carry out an investigation, which lasted until February 5. Altogether the investigation continued for thirty-two days and covered the five xian of Xiangtan, Xiangxiang, Hengshan, Liling, and Changsha. In the countryside and in the xian seats, experienced peasants were invited to meet with peasant movement comrades in an investigation meeting. The materials obtained are not inconsiderable. What we saw and heard in the rural areas of these xian is almost totally different from what we have seen and heard in Hankou and in Changsha. I shall first set forth several large errors in our previous policy for dealing with the peasant movement. After the investigation of the three xian of Xiangtan, Xiangxiang, and Hengshan, I returned to the district committee and gave a detailed report to the responsible comrades. I also presented reports both at the party school and at the [Youth] League school. Following the investigations in the two xian of Liling and Changsha, I gave several reports to the district committee. The former errors of the party in the peasant movement have already been corrected in part. The important points are as follows: (1) The fact that “the peasant movement is fine” has served to correct the unaninous view on the part of the government, the 426Guomindang, and all sectors of society that “the peasant movement is terrible.” (2) The fact that “the poor peasants are the vanguard of the revolution” has been used to correct the opinion universally held in all circles about a “movement of riffraff,” a “movement of lazy peasants.” 1 (3) The fact that no kind of united front existed at all in the past was used to correct the argument that peasant associations are wrecking the united front. The problem from now on is not to accuse anyone of wrecking the united front, but jointly to shoulder responsibility for setting up 2 a united front. (4) The peasant movement falls into three periods: first, the period of organization; second, the period of revolution; and third, the period of proposing a united front. Every place, no matter where, must go through the second period before it can make the transition to the third period. It is absolutely impossible to leap from the first period to the third period without going through the second period of violently overthrowing the power and prestige of the feudal landlords. (5) Most of the xian of central and southern Hunan have experienced a stormy period of rural revolution (the second period). The countryside has fallen into a state of anarchy, and a system of democratic rural self-rule must immediately be created to change anarchy into a situation with a government that has taken concrete measures to establish a rural united front in order to avoid the danger of the peasant villages becoming isolated. Only then will such problems as weapons, public food supplies, education, construction, and [X][X] be settled in the countryside. Presently, no political problem in Hunan is more pressing than this point of carrying village self-rule through to completion. There can be no question of provincial people’s assemblies or xian people’s assemblies until after village self-rule has been completed. (6) During the second period (the period of the revolutionary uprising in the countryside), all actions of the peasants against the feudal landlord class are correct. Even if there are some excesses, they are still correct, because unless they learn to go too far [X][X], they will certainly not be able to overthrow the power of the feudal class built up over several thousand years, and will certainly not be able to complete the democratic revolution quickly. To right a wrong it is necessary to exceed the proper limits; the wrong cannot be righted without doing so. 3 It is for this reason that the peasant associations must not under any circumstances ask the government or the militia to arrest so-called “riffraff.” They can only raise the slogan of “peasant associations rectify discipline” and go themselves to rectify those “few undesirable elements” in lower-level peasant associations. Otherwise, it is impossible to avoid undermining the resolve of the peasants and increasing the prestige of the landlords. (7) The problem of hoarding grain is a 427problem for all levels of society. Actually, most of the poor peasants want to hoard grain, and only a small minority of the rich peasants want it to be released. The peasant association can only play a role of persuasion, of persuading the poor peasants to make concessions to the rich peasants. It cannot represent the rich peasants and go out and attack the poor peasants. If hoarding is so severe, this is entirely because of anarchy in the countryside, which makes it impossible to guarantee public food supplies. This is the responsibility of government. It is not wholly the responsibility of the peasant associations. If we want grain to circulate, the only way is quickly to set up new organs of village self-rule that will take responsibility for guaranteeing the public food supply. (8) The various conflicts in the countryside, such as the conflicts between peasants and workers, between peasants and merchants, between peasants and students, between peasants and the party, between poor and rich peasants, between the peasants and the government, must all be resolved under the banner of the Guomindang; 4 we must absolutely not raise immediately the banner of the Communist Party 5 to resolve them. Thus among the peasants we must develop the Guomindang everywhere, letting it take the lead in mediating and directing these matters that are very difficult to mediate and direct. In the past, there has been too great a gap between the degree of the Guomindang’s development and the degree of development of the peasant movement. We must develop the organization of the Guomindang in a big way among the peasantry, especially among the poor peasants. (9) The peasant problem is solely a problem of the poor peasants, but there are two poor peasant problems, the problem of capital and the problem of the land. Both these problems are no longer problems of propaganda but are problems requiring immediate action. (10) In many of the xian of Hunan, the peasants have already completed the democratic revolution in the countryside. The revolutionary feelings of the poor peasants are accordingly very high, and given the present circumstances, they are absolutely resolved to proceed rapidly to yet another revolution! This being true, the broad masses of poor peasants, in their tens of millions (according to the investigation in Changsha, 70 percent are poor peasants, 20 percent are middle peasants, and 10 percent are rich peasants), want to go forward to another revolution. My investigation indicates that no force can resist them for long. Today the masses are going to the left, and in many places our party, not to mention the Guomindang, shows that it has not reached the same level of revolutionary feeling as the masses. This is something that very much demands our attention. (11) For this reason, it should be said that in order (a) to deal with the current situation and (b) to prepare for the revolution which is soon to come, our party must be greatly developed. For the small Hunan 428party to be effective it must expand to 20,000 members within six months (it now has only 6,000) and must establish a local [organization] in every xian where the peasant associations have more than 20,000 members. (12) The Hong Society 6 is a force [to be reckoned with]. We must win over such forces and never adopt the method of attacking them. (13) The situation is extremely favorable for women and children to rise up in the countryside. The women in particular are a great force and must not be neglected. Above, I have outlined the essential features of the thirteen items listed. Beginning tomorrow, within three or four days I shall write a detailed report on the situation and send it to you for your inspection, corrections, and further guidance.
