To the Chinese Peasants

(1921)

Some say that the lives of Chinese peasants are not miserable, nor are they subjected to extreme oppression, because the so-called peasants all own their own land and till it themselves; they do not merely rent others’ fields to make a living. Even if they till others’ land, the distribution of the produce is still equal, so there is no inequality in distribution. Since this is the case, even if you go and propagandize among them, you absolutely cannot promote their self-awareness. Such statements are all incorrect. Now I need only set down a record of the peasants’ conditions to prove that the reasoning behind such claims is insufficient. However, the peasant conditions I now record are discussed based on the conditions in the county where I live and the neighboring counties. I believe that if we extend this to the whole country, it will be much the same with only minor differences.

1. Classes within the peasantry itself. Some say that Chinese peasants all have their own land. This statement is partly true, but it is ultimately too sweeping. A family of three owning a thousand mu of land counts as having land; a family of ten owning one mu of land cannot but count as having land as well. Yet, with such ownership, can you say that the lives of all peasants are the same and that there is no particular misery? If we examine it carefully, we can see that within the peasantry itself there are also several strata:

(1) Those who own a large amount of land, do not till it themselves, but either hire laborers to till it or rent it out to others to till, while they themselves sit at home collecting rent. Such people cannot be counted as pure peasants; in my home village they are called “local moneybags.”

(2) Those who till the land they themselves own, and can support their whole family with the produce of this land. Some of them also rent others’ land to till in addition to their own. This kind of people are the middle peasants.

(3) Those who also have a little land of their own, but relying solely on the produce of their own land absolutely cannot support the whole family, so they are compelled to till others’ fields and obtain a share to sustain themselves. This kind of people can also be called the lower peasants.

(4) These are the “penniless wretches,” who have not even a spot to stick a needle, and rely solely on tilling others’ fields to make a living. This kind of people are the poor peasants. Among the four types mentioned above, the third and fourth types are the most numerous. The first type is of course few, and the second type is also very few. The lives of the first and second types are well-fed and well-clothed, and they are not the objects of our concern. Our objects of concern are the third and fourth types of peasants, who constitute the vast majority of the entire peasant population. The bitter conditions of the fourth type of peasants are simply extremely severe; they toil bitterly from dawn to dusk, all year round, yet still do not have enough to clothe and feed themselves. In a bad harvest year, when the field-owners are stubborn (detailed in the section on the method of distribution), they nearly starve to death. Therefore, the lives of this type of peasants are extremely miserable. As for the third type of peasants, although they have a little land of their own and also till some of others’ land, because the cost of living is high, if they do not borrow from all sides, they also cannot maintain a stable family life. So every time at harvest, the grain can never all enter their own homes; it is directly transported to the creditors’ homes to repay debts or pay interest. For this reason, the little land they own is also gradually forced to be sold or mortgaged to the “local moneybags” or middle peasants (detailed later in the section on land surplus), and they fall into becoming the fourth type of peasants. Therefore, their lives are also extremely hard.

Looking at it this way, it is evident that the lives of the vast majority of peasants are extremely difficult. Those gentlemen who merely cling to the phrase that peasants all own their own land and say that the lives of peasants have no difficulties are simply talking nonsense. This is like saying that laborers have the same income as capitalists, their lives...