An Analysis of the Various Classes among
the Chinese Peasantry and Their
Attitudes toward the Revolution

(January 1926)

No matter where you go in the countryside, provided that you are a careful
observer, you will see the following eight different types of people:

Big landlords
Small landlords
Owner-peasants
Semi-owner peasants
Sharecroppers
Poor peasants
Farm laborers and rural artisans
Vagrants

These eight types of people form eight separate classes, each having different
economic positions and living conditions. This in turn influences their psychology, so that their attitudes toward the revolution also differ.

A large portion of China's big landlords come from among the descendents of
the former Qing dynasty bureaucracy and aristocracy and from the present-day
bureaucrats and warlords. A small portion are rich urban merchants who have
bought land. There are very few who have raised themselves to the status of big
landlords by their industrious cultivation of the land. Their interests are founded
upon the severe exploitation of the five types of peasants: the owner-peasants,
the semi-owner peasants, the sharecroppers, the poor peasants, and the farm
laborers. Their methods of exploitation may be divided into five types, the first
of which is high rents, from 50 to 80 percent.1 In the exploitation of the semiowner peasants, the sharecroppers, and the poor peasants, this form of exploitation is very prevalent and extremely cruel. The second method is usury, for

This document was first published in the organ of the Guomindang Peasant Department,
Zhongguo nongmin, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1926. Our translation is based on this text, as reproduced in Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 1, pp. 153-59.
1. These are, of course, rents in kind, amounting to a percentage of the harvest.
which the monthly interest ranges from 3 to 7 percent, and the yearly interest
from 36 to 84 percent. This is also a form of exploitation of the semi-owner
peasants, the sharecroppers, and the poor peasants, and one which is sometimes
even more grievous than rent. It frequently happens that the burden of debt and
interest leads to total bankruptcy within a few years. The third method is the
heavy levies, in which some kind of pressure is used to force the owner-peasants
and semi-owner peasants to contribute so much per mu to the expenses of the
local defense forces. These defense forces (also called the militia) are the armed
forces of the landlord class, the necessary device for suppressing peasant uprisings and maintaining the system of exploitation of the landlord class. The fourth
method is the exploitation of the farm laborers, that is, the appropriation of their
surplus labor. But China still has little capitalist agriculture, and most of the big
landlords do not manage the land themselves. Consequently, this form of exploitation is practiced more by the small landlords than by big landlords. The fifth
method is practiced in collusion with the warlords and corrupt officials, and
consists in paying the land taxes this year in advance on behalf of the peasant,
and then next year imposing heavy interest payments on the peasant who owed
the tax. The suffering inflicted on the peasants by the combination of these five
kinds of exploitation is truly indescribable. Hence China's big landlords are the
deadly enemies of the Chinese peasantry, the true rulers of the countryside, the
real foundation of imperialism and the warlords, the only secure bulwark of
feudal and patriarchal society, the ultimate cause for the emergence of all counterrevolutionary forces. If we count as big landlords those who control 500 mu or
more, they probably constitute (together with their families) about 0.1 percent of
the peasantry, or approximately 320,000 persons in a total peasant population of 320
million for the whole country (calculated as 80 percent of the total population).

The small landlords are more numerous than the big landlords, numbering at
least two million in the country as a whole. Most of them are owner-peasants
who have raised themselves to this status by hard work, though some of them are
urban merchants who have bought land, and others are the descendants of officials who have seen better days, or present-day petty officials. Their methods of
exploitation are three: high rents, usury, and the exploitation of surplus labor.
People of this kind suffer to a substantial extent from the oppression of the
warlords and big landlords, and as a result have considerable spirit of resistance,
but they are also afraid of "Communism," and therefore have a contradictory
attitude toward the present revolution. Most of the higher intellectuals in China,
such as the teachers and students of the universities and specialized schools, and
those who study abroad both in the East and in the West, are the sons of small
landlords, and it is they who advocate what is called Etatisme. These small
landlords are China's middle bourgeoisie. Their aspiration is to achieve the
status of the big bourgeoisie and to establish a state ruled by one class. They
suffer, however, from the blows of foreign capital and the oppression of the

warlords and cannot develop, so they need revolution. But because the present
revolutionary movement in China involves the militant participation of the proletariat at home and is actively supported by the international proletariat abroad,
they sense a threat to their existence and development as a class that aspires to
achieve the status of the big bourgeoisie and to establish an Étatiste state, and
therefore have doubts about the revolution. A self-styled true disciple of Dai
Jitao put forward the following opinion in the Beijing Morning Post: "Raise your
left hand to knock down imperialism; raise your right hand to knock down the
Communist Party." This vividly illustrates the contradictory and fearful attitude
of this class. They are against interpreting the Principle of People's Livelihood
according to the theory of class struggle, and they oppose the Guomindang's
alliance with Russia and its admission of Communist elements. These people
constitute the right wing of the Chinese middle bourgeoisie and have a strong
tendency to move toward a counterrevolutionary position. But within the middle
bourgeoisie there is a left wing, which, at the proper time, can be led toward the
path of revolution. For instance, when the enthusiasm for the peasant association
movement is running high, the left wing elements among the small landlords can
be led to help in the work of the peasants' associations. But by nature they are
very much inclined to compromise, and their blood ties ultimately make them
closer to the right wing of the small landlords and to the big landlords than to the
peasants' associations. With the exception of a few who are in special circumstances, because of history or environment, we definitely cannot expect them to
set out courageously on the path of revolution, or faithfully to serve the revolutionary cause together with other classes.

The owner-peasants belong to the petty bourgeoisie. They are also of three
types. The first type of owner-peasant consists of those who have surplus money
and grain. That is, after their own needs have been met, the product of their labor
leaves them each year with a surplus that can be used for what is called the initial
accumulation of capital. Such people are very much concerned with "getting
rich." Although they have no vain hopes of enriching themselves greatly, they all
want to climb up to the position of being small landlords. Their mouths water
copiously when they see the respect in which those small moneybags are held,
and they pray to Marshall Zhao most assiduously. Such people are extremely
timid; they are afraid of officials, and also a bit afraid of revolution. Because
their economic position is rather close to that of the middle-bourgeois small
landlords, they are rather inclined to believe in the propaganda, "Beware the
extremists!" and "Beware the Communists!" of "Venerable so-and-so," "Honorable so-and-so," or "Bearded so-and-so" among the small landlords in the countryside. Of course, these warnings also flow from the lips of those "Great Men"
and "Venerable Masters" among the big landlords. This group of people with
surplus money and food constitutes the right wing of the petty bourgeoisie, and
they adopt a skeptical attitude toward the present revolution before they have

properly understood it. But such people form only a minority of the owner-peasants, probably less than 10 percent of the total. Some say that the number of
owner-peasants in China is greater than the total of tenant farmers and farm
laborers. But if we exclude the semi-owner peasants, then they are definitely
only a minority of the peasantry, probably 100 million to 120 million. About 10
percent, or 12 million, of the owner-peasants are well-to-do. The second type of
owner-peasants are those who are just able to meet their own needs. What they
earn and what they consume each year even out, no more, no less. These ownerpeasants are very different from the first type of owner-peasants. They, too, want
to get rich, but Marshall Zhao does not permit them to do so. As a result of their
recent oppression and exploitation by the imperialists, the warlords, and the
landlord class, they feel that the world today is not what it used to be. They feel
that if they work only as hard as before, they will not be able to stay alive. They
must work longer hours, get up earlier and work later every day, and double their
attention to their work, just to make ends meet. They are somewhat abusive; they
curse the foreigners as "devils," the warlords as "money-grabbing commanders,"
the local bullies and evil gentry as "the heartless rich." As for the movement
against the imperialists and the warlords, they simply suspect that it may not
succeed, on the ground that "the foreigners and the commanders seem so powerful," refuse to join it recklessly, and take a neutral position, but they absolutely
do not oppose the revolution. This group of people is numerous, constituting
probably half the owner-peasants, or approximately 60 million. The third type of
owner-peasant has a deficit every year. Quite a few of this group of owner-peasants came originally from so-called well-to-do families who gradually fell to the
point that they could only just manage, and then gradually went into debt. At the
end of every year when the accounts are settled, they are startled and exclaim,
"Ai! Another deficit." Because such people have lived well in the past but have
then fallen behind year by year, with their debts continually mounting and their
lives more and more miserable, they "think of the future and shiver even if it is
not cold." Mentally, such people suffer more than all the others because
they see the contrast between the past and the present. Such people are of
considerable importance in the revolutionary movement and can contribute substantial strength to the advancement of the revolution. They number roughly 40
percent of the owner-peasants, i.e., 48 million a not inconsiderable number,
which constitutes the left wing of the petty bourgeoisie. In normal times, the
above three types of owner-peasants differ in their attitudes toward the present
Chinese revolution. In time of war, however, when the tide of revolution is at the
flood and the dawn of victory is in sight, not only do the left-wing owner-peasants
immediately join the revolution, but the middle-of-the-road owner-peasants may
also join the revolution, and even the right-wing owner-peasants, caught up in
the revolutionary tide of the sharecroppers and the left-wing owner-peasants,
have no alternative but to go along with the revolution. Thus, it is possible that
the whole of the petty-bourgeois owner-peasants may side with the revolution.

The three categories of semi-owner peasants, sharecroppers, and poor peasants probably account for between 150 million and 170 million of the Chinese
peasantry. Looked at separately, the semi-owner peasants probably number 50
million, the sharecroppers and poor peasants 60 million each. This is an extremely large mass of people in the countryside. The so-called peasant problem
is in large part their problem. Although all three of these types of peasants
belong to the semi-proletariat, they differ greatly in their economic conditions.
The life of the semi-owner peasants is harder than that of the owner-peasants
because every year they are short of half the food they need and must rent land
from others or work as laborers or engage in petty trading to make up the
difference. Between spring and summer, when the new crops are not yet ripe and
last year's grain is exhausted, they borrow at high rates of interest and buy² grain
at high prices from others. Naturally their lot is much harder than that of the
owner-peasants, who seek nothing from others. Nevertheless, they are better off
than the sharecroppers, because the sharecroppers have no land and receive only
half the harvest from the land they cultivate. Although the semi-owner peasants
receive only half, or even less than half, of what they grow on the land they rent
from others, still they get the whole crop from their own land. Hence, the semiowner peasants are more revolutionary than the owner-peasants, but less so than
the sharecroppers.

The sharecropper and the poor peasant are both tenants in the countryside,
subject to the exploitation of the landlords, but there is a certain difference in
their economic positions. The sharecroppers have no land, but they have relatively adequate farm implements and a reasonable amount of liquid capital.
These peasants receive half the product of their annual labor. They make up what
they lack by planting side crops, catching fish and shrimp, and raising poultry
and pigs. In this way, they eke out a living. Surrounded by difficulties and
privations, they are continually preoccupied with how they will get through the
year. Thus their life is harder than that of the semi-owner peasants, but better
than that of the poor peasants. They are more revolutionary than the owner-peasants, but they do not match the poor peasants.

The poor peasants do not have sufficient farm implements nor do they have
any liquid capital. They are short of fertilizer and reap only a meager harvest
from the fields. After paying the rent, very little is left. In times of drought and
famine, they piteously beg from friends and relatives, and borrow a few measures of grain to tide them over for four or five days. Their debts pile up like the
burden on the backs of oxen. They are the most miserable among the peasants
and are most receptive to revolutionary propaganda.

2. The text here reads tiao, "sell," but this must be a misprint for di, "buy." (The two
characters are very similar.)

The farm laborers are the agricultural proletariat. There are three categories,
hired by the year, the month, or the day. Not only do such farm laborers have
neither land nor farm implements, they also have not a penny of liquid capital.
Hence they can subsist only by their labor. In terms of their long hours of work,
their low wages, the mean way they are treated, and the insecurity of their
employment, they are worse off than other workers. This group of people, of all
those in the countryside, suffers most bitterly, and should be accorded the utmost
attention by those working in the peasant movement. The position of the rural
handicraft workers is higher than that of farm laborers, because they have their
own tools and belong to a kind of free profession. But because of heavy family
burdens and the disparity between their earnings and the cost of living, and
because they frequently suffer from the burdens of poverty and the fear of losing
their jobs, their situation is not much different from that of the farm laborers.

The vagrants consist of peasants who have lost their land, and handicraft
workers who have lost all opportunity of employment as a result of oppression
and exploitation by the imperialists, the warlords, and landlord class, or as a
result of natural catastrophes such as flood and drought. They can be divided into
soldiers, bandits, thieves, beggars, and prostitutes. These five categories of people have different names, and the status accorded them by society is also somewhat different, but they are one in that each of them is a "human being" having
five senses and four limbs. They each have their different ways of making a
living: the soldier "fights," the bandit "robs," the thief "steals," the beggar
"begs," and the prostitute "seduces." But to the extent that they all seek to make
a living and get food to eat, they are all one. They lead the most precarious
existence of any human being. They have secret organizations everywhere,
which serve as their organs for mutual aid in the political and economic struggle;
for example, there is the Triad Society [Sanhehui] in Fujian and Guangdong; the
Elder Brother Society [Gelaohui] in Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, and Sichuan; the
Big Sword Society [Dadaohui] in the provinces of Anhui, Henan, and Shandong;
the Society of Observance of Principle [Zailihui] in Zhili and the three
[North] eastern provinces; and the Green Gang [Qingbang] of Shanghai and elsewhere. To deal with these people is the greatest and the most difficult problem
facing China. China has two problems: poverty and unemployment. Hence if the
problem of unemployment can be solved, half of China's problems will be
solved. The number of vagrants in China is fearfully large, probably more than
20 million. These people are capable of fighting very bravely, and if a method
can be found for leading them, they can become a revolutionary force.

Our work of organizing the peasantry involves gathering together into a single
organization five categories of peasants: owner-peasants, semi-owner peasants,
sharecroppers, poor peasants, and farm laborers and handicraftsmen. Toward the
landlord class, we adopt in principle the method of struggle, demanding from

them economic and political concessions. In special circumstances, when we
encounter the most reactionary and vicious local bullies and evil gentry who
exploit the people savagely, as in Haifeng and Guangning,³ they must be overthrown completely. As for the vagrants, we should exhort them to side with the
peasant's associations and to join the great revolutionary movement, in order to
find a solution to the problem of unemployment. We must never force them to go
over to the side of the enemy and become a force in the service of the counterrevolutionaries.

³ It was in Haifeng that the very first peasant movements in China were launched as
early as 1922. Their principal architect was Peng Pai (1896-1929), a landlord's son from
the area. After studying in Japan, Peng returned to Haifeng in 1921, joined the Socialist
Youth League, and began organizing the peasants in the following year. The most authoritative work regarding his experience is that of F. Galbiati, P'eng P'ai and the Hai-Lu-feng
Soviet (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985). On Peng's efforts to organize the
peasants of Guangning, a xian northwest of Guangzhou, see Galbiati, pp. 181-82.