the world is no longer what it was. They perceive that if they now work only as
hard as before, they cannot earn enough to live on. To be able to support themselves they have to work longer hours (that is to say, get up earlier27), and devote
more attention to their work. They become rather abusive, denouncing the foreigners as "foreign devils," the warlords as "robber commanders," and the local
bullies and bad 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 never oppose the revolution. This section is very numerous, about one-half of the petty bourgeoisie (50
percent), or about 75 million. The third section consists of those who have a
deficit28 every year. Many in this section, who originally belonged to better-off
families, are undergoing a gradual change from a position of being barely able to
eke out a living to having a deficit. When they come to settle their accounts at
the end of each year, they are shocked, exclaiming, "What? Another deficit!"
Such people, because they have known better days in the past and are now going
downhill with every passing year, their debts mounting and their life becoming
more and more miserable, "shudder at the thought of the future." They suffer
mental distress greater than that of anyone else29 because there is such a contrast
between their past and their present. Such people are rather important for the the lower levels of the intellectual class-petty functionaries, office clerks,
middle school students, primary and secondary school teachers, and small
lawyersall belong to this category. Both because of its size and because of its class
character, this class deserves very close attention.23 Among those making up the
petty bourgeoisie, the owner-peasants alone number from 100 million to 120
million. The small merchants, the master handicraftsmen, and the intellectual
class probably number from 20 to 30 million, making a total of 130 million.
Although this class has24 the same petty bourgeois economic status, they fall in
fact into three different sections. The first section consists of those who have
some surplus money or grain; that is, those who by manual or mental labor earn
more each year than they consume for their own support, thereby creating the
so-called initial accumulation of capital. Such people very much want to "get rich"; while they have no illusions about amassing great fortunes, they invariably
desire to climb up into the middle bourgeoisie. Their mouths water copiously
when they see the respect in which those small moneybags are held, and they
pray to Marshal Zhao (the god of wealth) most assiduously. People of this sort
are extremely timid, afraid of government officials, and also a little afraid of the
revolution. Since they are fairly close to the middle bourgeoisie in economic
status, they have a lot of faith in its propaganda and are suspicious of the
revolution. This section is, however, a minority among the petty bourgeoisie,
probably making up no more than 10 percent of the total number of petty bourgeois (or approximately 15 million), and constitutes the right wing of the petty
bourgeoisie. The second section consists of those who are just self-supporting.25
What they earn and what they consume each year even out, no more, no less.
This section of people is very different from the people in the first section; they
also want to get rich, but Marshal Zhao never lets them get rich. Their sufferings
in recent years from the oppression and exploitation of the imperialists, the
warlords, and the big and middle bourgeoisie26 have given them the feeling that
the world is no longer what it was. They perceive that if they now work only as
hard as before, they cannot earn enough to live on. To be able to support themselves they have to work longer hours (that is to say, get up earlier27), and devote
more attention to their work. They become rather abusive, denouncing the foreigners as "foreign devils," the warlords as "robber commanders," and the local
bullies and bad 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 never oppose the revolution. This section is very numerous, about one-half of the petty bourgeoisie (50
percent), or about 75 million. The third section consists of those who have a
deficit28 every year. Many in this section, who originally belonged to better-off
families, are undergoing a gradual change from a position of being barely able to
eke out a living to having a deficit. When they come to settle their accounts at
the end of each year, they are shocked, exclaiming, "What? Another deficit!"
Such people, because they have known better days in the past and are now going
downhill with every passing year, their debts mounting and their life becoming
more and more miserable, "shudder at the thought of the future." They suffer
mental distress greater than that of anyone else29 because there is such a contrast
between their past and their present. Such people are rather important for the revolutionary movement and can contribute substantial strength to the advancement of the revolution. They make up 40 percent of the petty bourgeoisie, or 60
million—a not inconsiderable mass, which constitutes the left wing of the petty
bourgeoisie. In normal times the three sections of the petty bourgeoisie discussed
above differ in their attitude to the revolution. In times of war, however, that
is to say, when the tide of the revolution runs high and the dawn of victory is
in sight, not only will the left wing of the petty bourgeoisie join the revolution, but the middle section too may join. Even right-wingers, swept forward
by the great revolutionary tide of the proletariat and of the left wing of the
petty bourgeoisie, will have no alternative but to go along with the revolution. We can see from the experience of the May 30th movement and the
peasant movement in various places during the past two years that this conclusion is correct.

Fourth, the semiproletariat. What is here called the semiproletariat consists of
six categories:30

1. the semiowner peasants,31
2. the sharecroppers,
3. the poor peasants,
4. the handicraftsmen,
5. the shop assistants, and
6. the street vendors.

Among the Chinese peasants, the semiowner peasants number about 50 million and the sharecroppers and poor peasants number about 60 million each,
with the three categories totaling 170 million. They are an extremely large mass
in the rural areas. The so-called peasant problem is in large part their problem.
Although these three categories of peasants32 belong to the semiproletariat, they
may be further divided into three smaller categories, upper, middle, and lower,
according to their economic condition. The semiowner peasants are worse off
than the owner-peasants, because every year they are short of about half the food
they need and have to make up this deficiency by cultivating others' land, working,33 or engaging in petty trading. In late spring and early summer, when the
crop is still in the blade and the old stock is consumed, they borrow money from
others at exorbitant rates of interest and buy grain at high prices. Their plight is
naturally harder than that of the owner peasants, who need no help from others, sharecroppers.48 The shop assistants are employees of small and middle businessmen,49 supporting their households on meager pay and getting a raise in pay
perhaps only once in several years while prices rise every year. If by chance you
get into intimate conversation with them, they invariably pour out their endless
grievances. Roughly the same in status as the handicraftsmen,50 they are extremely receptive to revolutionary propaganda. The street vendors, whether they
carry their wares around on a pole or set up stalls along the street, have tiny
funds and very small earnings and do not make enough to feed and clothe
themselves. Their status is roughly the same as that of the poor peasants, and like
the poor peasants they need a revolution to change the existing state of affairs.
The handicraftsmen number about 6 percent (that is, 24 million) of the total
population. There are about 5 million shop assistants and about 1 million street
vendors. Together with the semiowner peasants, sharecroppers, and tenant peasants,51 the total for the semiproletariat as a whole is 200 million, which makes up
half of the entire population.

Fifth, the proletariat. Its categories and its numbers are as follows:
the industrial proletariat 52-about 2 million,
the coolies in the cities-about 3 million,
the rural proletariat about 20 million.
Altogether they number about 45 million.53 Because China is economically
backward, there are not many industrial workers (the industrial proletariat54).
These 2 million industrial workers are primarily in five industries railways,
mining, maritime transport, textiles, and shipbuilding but the majority55 are
in56 enterprises owned by foreign capitalists. Therefore, though not very numerous, the industrial proletariat has become the leading force in the revolutionary
movement.57 We can see the important position of the industrial proletariat in the national revolution58 from the strength it has displayed in the strikes of the last
four years, such as the seamen's strikes,59 the railway strikes,60 the strikes in the
Kailuan and Jiaozuo coal mines,61 as well as62 the general strikes in Shanghai
and Hong Kong after the May 30th Incident. The first reason why the industrial
workers hold this position is their concentration. No other section of the people
is so "organized and concentrated" as they are. The second reason is their low
economic status. They have been deprived of tools,63 have nothing left but their
two hands, have no hope of ever becoming rich and, moreover, are subjected to
the most ruthless treatment by the imperialists, the warlords, and the comprador
class.64 This is why they are particularly good fighters. The coolies in the cities
are also a force very much worth reckoning with. They are mostly dockers and
rickshaw pullers, and among them, too, are sewage carters and street cleaners.
Possessing nothing but their hands, they are similar in economic status to the
industrial workers, but are less organized and concentrated,65 and play a less
important role in the productive forces. There is as yet little modern capitalist
farming in China. By agricultural proletariat is meant farm laborers hired by the
year, the month, or the day. Having neither land, farm implements, nor circulating capital,66 this kind of farm laborers can live only by selling their labor power.
Of all the workers they work the longest hours, for the lowest wages, under the
worst conditions, and with the least security of employment. This kind of people
are the most hard-pressed in the villages, and their position in the peasant movement is as important as that of the poor peasants. The lumpenproletariat67 is
made up of peasants who have lost their land and handicraftsmen who cannot get
work. They number over 20 million and are the source of [manpower for]
fighting among soldiers and bandit misfortunes within our country. The largest number of the lumpenproletariat are bandits; the second largest are soldiers,
followed in order by robbers, thieves, and prostitutes. Among the whole population, they are those who lead the most precarious existence. In every part of the
country they have their secret societies, which serve as68 their mutual-aid organs
in the political and economic struggle, such as the Triad Society in Fujian and
Guangdong; the Elder Brother Society in Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, and Sichuan;
the Big Sword Society in Anhui, Henan, Shandong, and other provinces; the
Rational Life Society in Zhili and the three northeastern provinces; and the
Green and Red Gangs in Shanghai and elsewhere. China's greatest and most
difficult problem is how to handle these people. China has two problems: one is
poverty and the other is unemployment. Therefore if the problem of unemployment is solved, half of China's problem is solved. This group of people can fight
What has been said above can be summed up in the following table:70

| Class | Population | Attitude toward Revolution |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Big bourgeoisie | 1,000,000 | Extremely reactionary |
| Middle bourgeoisie | 4,000,000 | Right wing is very nearly counterrevolutionary; left wing can join the revolution at times, but will compromise with the enemy; as a whole, semicounterrevolutionary |

| Petty bourgeoisie |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Well-off elements (right wing) | 15,000,000 | In normal times, close to the semicounter- revolutionary attitude of the middle bourgeoisie; in time of war, can go along with the revolution |
| Self-sufficient elements (center) | 75,000,000 | In normal times, neutral; in times of war, joins the revolution |

|  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Nonself-sufficient elements (left wing) | 60,000,000 | Welcome it |
| TOTAL | 150,000,00071 |  |

| Semiproletariat |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Semiowner peasants | 50,000,000 | Participate |
| Sharecroppers | 60,000,000 | Actively participate |
| Poor peasants | 60,000,000 | Struggle bravely |
| Handicraftsmen | 24,000,000 | Same as sharecroppers |
| Shop assistants | 5,000,000 | Same as sharecroppers |
| Street vendors | 1,000,000 | Same as poor peasants |
| TOTAL | 200,000,000 |  |

| Proletariat |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Industrial proletariat | 2,000,000 | Main force |
| Urban coolies | 3,000,000 | Main force, second to the industrial proletariat |
| Agricultural proletariat | 20,000,000 | Struggle bravely |
| Lumpenproletariat | 20,000,000 | Can be led to become a revolutionary force |
| TOTAL | 45,000,000 |  |

Who is our enemy? Who is our friend? We can now answer these questions.
All72 those in league with imperialism the warlords, the bureaucrats, the comprador class, the big landlords, and the reactionary intellectual class, that is, the
so-called big bourgeoisie in China are our enemies, our true enemies. All the
petty bourgeoisie, the semiproletariat, and the proletariat73 are our friends, our
true friends. As for the vacillating middle bourgeoisie, its right wing must be
considered our enemy; even if it is not yet our enemy, it will soon become so. Its
left wing may be considered as our friend but not as our true friend, and we

---

Notes

This text, previously dated March 1926 in the official canon of Mao's Selected Works, is
now known to have first appeared in the December 1, 1925, issue of Geming, the semimonthly organ of the Guomindang's National Revolutionary Army (see Nianpu, Vol. 1,
p. 143). Our source is this earliest version, as reproduced in Dangde wenxian, No. 1,
1989, pp. 40–45. This text differs in one significant respect, noted below, from that which
appears in Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 1, pp. 161–74.
1. This is the first item in our edition which also appears in the Selected Works of Mao
Zedong, as published in Beijing in Chinese and English. All such texts are here presented
in such a way as to show the variants between what Mao originally wrote, and the revised
versions, produced under Mao's personal supervision, in the 1950s. An explanation of the
typographical and other devices by which this is done can be found above, in the Note on
Sources and Conventions.
2. He who cannot distinguish between enemies and friends is certainly not a revolutionary, yet to distinguish between them is not easy → This is a question of the first
importance for the revolution.
3. If the Chinese revolution, although it has been going on for thirty years, has → If
all China's previous revolutionary struggles have
4. Has consisted precisely in → The basic reason was
5. We must first distinguish clearly friends from enemies → We must pay attention to
uniting with our real friends in order to attack our real enemies.
6. The big bourgeoisie → The landlord class and the comprador class
7. The big bourgeoisie → The landlord class and the comprador class
8. Lu Zongyu (1876-1941), a native of Zhejiang, obtained the degree of juren in
1905. In 1913 he was elected senator in the first Beijing Parliament. He served as minister
to Japan from December 1913 through 1915 and was thus involved in the negotiations
regarding the Twenty-one Demands. A friend of Cao Rulin, he became associated with the
Bank of Communications, which obtained many loans from Japan in support of the Beijing
warlords. This background made him one of the "three traitors" (together with Cao Rulin and
Zhang Zongxiang) against whom the May Fourth student demonstrations were directed.

9. Chen Lianbo was the chief comprador of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation in Guangzhou and president of the Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce.

10. Tang Shaoyi (1860-1938), zi Shaochuan, was a native of Guangdong. He gained
the favor of Yuan Shikai in 1884 and retained close links with Yuan throughout his career
in the imperial bureaucracy. When Yuan Shikai became president in 1912, he appointed
Tang as premier, but the two men soon drifted apart. In 1917, Tang joined Sun Yatsen's
military government in Guangzhou as minister of finance; after the collapse of peace
negotiations between the north and the south in October 1919, he lived in retirement in his
native Xiangshan. The nature of his business activities is not clear.

11. He Dong (1862-1956), zi Xiaosheng, Western name Sir Robert Ho-tong, was a
native of Hong Kong. From 1882 onward, he was associated in various capacities with
Jardine, Matheson & Co. He Dong became Hong Kong's largest property owner and one
of its wealthiest citizens, and was associated with many companies including the Hong
Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and other shipping, insurance, investment, and
manufacturing concerns. He was knighted in 1915 because of his loyal services to Britain
during the First World War. In 1922 he acquired a controlling interest in the Gongshang
ribao (Industry and Commerce Daily), which Mao stigmatized in his report of January 8,
1926, on Propaganda to the Second Guomindang Congress (see below) as an organ of the
comprador class and an enemy of the revolution.

12. On the industrialist and reformer Zhang Jian, see the note to the text of July 14,
1919, "What Kind of Talk Is This?" in Volume I, p. 355.

13. Enxi may be a typographical error for Enyi (the characters here transcribed "xi"
and "yi" are not dissimilar), and the reference may be to Sheng Enyi (a son of the noted
comprador Sheng Xuanhuai) who as general manager of the Anyuan coal mines had called in
the troops in September 1925 to put down a strike. (See Li Jui, Early Mao, p. 212.)

14. On Zhang Zuolin, the dominant figure in northeast China until his assassination in 1928, see above, the note to the text of July 1, 1923, "Hunan under the
Provisional Constitution."

15. A great landowner from Foshan in Guangdong, who was vice president of the
Guangdong Chamber of Commerce.

16. Sun Baoqi (1867-1931), zi Muhan, was a native of Hangzhou. After occupying
many important bureaucratic and diplomatic posts under the empire, he served as foreign
minister of the Beijing government from 1913 to 1915. As premier in 1924, he established
diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. In 1925, he became president of the Hanyeping
iron and steel complex and of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company.

17. Yan Huiqing (1877–1950), zi Junren, Western name W. W. Yen, was a native of
Shanghai. He served as minister of agriculture and commerce in the cabinet of his father-inlaw, Sun Baoqi, in 1924, and was himself briefly premier in September 1924 and in 1926.

18. On Cao Kun, leader of the Zhili clique of warlords, see the note to the text of July
11, 1923, "The Beijing Coup d'État and the Merchants."
19. The goals of this class → These classes represent the most backward and most
reactionary relations of production in China and hinder the development of her productive
forces. Their goals...
20. From beginning to end, they side... → The big landlord and big comprador
classes in particular always side...
21. Counterrevolutionary group → Counterrevolutionary group. Their political representatives are the Étatistes and the right wing of the Guomindang.
22. This class → This class represents the capitalist relations of production in
China in town and country. The middle bourgeoisie, by which is meant chiefly the national bourgeoisie ...
23. Close attention. → Close attention. The owner-peasants and the master handicraftsmen are both engaged in small-scale production.
24. This class has → These various strata among the petty bourgeoisie have
25. Are just self-supporting → Are, in the main, economically self-supporting
26. The big and middle bourgeoisie → The feudal landlords and the big comprador
bourgeoisie
27. Get up earlier → Get up earlier, leave off later
28. Have a deficit → Are in more and more reduced circumstances
29. Mental distress greater than that of anyone else → Great mental distress
23. Close attention. → Close attention. The owner-peasants and the master handicraftsmen are both engaged in small-scale production.
24. This class has → These various strata among the petty bourgeoisie have
25. Are just self-supporting → Are, in the main, economically self-supporting
26. The big and middle bourgeoisie → The feudal landlords and the big comprador
bourgeoisie
27. Get up earlier → Get up earlier, leave off later
28. Have a deficit → Are in more and more reduced circumstances
29. Mental distress greater than that of anyone else → Great mental distress
30. Six categories → Five categories (Category 2, "share-croppers," is omitted.)
31. The semiowner peasants → The overwhelming majority of the semiowners
32. These three categories of peasants → The semiowner peasants, the poor peasants,
and the small handicraftsmen are engaged in production on a still smaller scale. The
overwhelming majority both of the semiowner peasants and of the poor peasants
33. Working → Selling part of their labor power
but they are better off than the sharecroppers.34 For the sharecroppers35 own no
land, and receive only half36 the harvest for their year's toil, while the semiowner
peasants, though receiving only half or less than half the harvest on land rented
from others, can keep the entire crop from the land they own. The semiowner
peasants are therefore more revolutionary than the owner-peasants, but less revolutionary than the sharecroppers.37 The sharecroppers and poor peasants are all
tenant peasants in the countryside who are exploited by the landlords, but there is
a substantial difference in their economic status.38 The sharecroppers39 have no
land, but have relatively adequate farm implements and a reasonable amount of
circulating capital.40 Peasants of this type may retain half the product of their
year's toil. To make up the deficiency, they cultivate side crops, catch fish or
shrimps, raise poultry or pigs, and thus eke out41 a living, hoping in the midst of
hardship and destitution to tide over the year. Thus, their life is harder than that
of the semiowner peasants, but they are better off than the poor peasants.42 They
are more revolutionary than the semiowner peasants, but less revolutionary than
the poor peasants. As for the poor peasants,43 they have neither adequate farm
implements nor circulating capital nor enough manure; their fields yield meager
crops, and they have little left after paying the rent.44 In hard times, they piteously beg help from relatives and friends, borrowing a few dou or sheng of grain
to last them a few days, and their debts are many and diverse like loads on the
backs of oxen. They are the most wretched among the peasants and are extremely receptive to revolutionary propaganda. The handicraftsmen are called
semiproletarians because they have their own tools,45 and belong to a kind of
liberal profession. Their46 economic status is somewhat similar to that of the
sharecroppers in agriculture.47 Because of heavy family burdens and the disparity between their earnings and the cost of living, the constant pinch of poverty,
and the dread of unemployment, their situation is broadly similar to that of the

34. The sharecroppers → The poor peasants
35. The sharecroppers → The poor peasants
36. Half → Half or less than half
37. The sharecroppers → The poor peasants
38. There is a substantial difference in their economic status. → They must be divided
into two categories.
39. The sharecroppers → One category
40. Circulating capital → Funds
41. And thus eke out → Or sell part of their labor power, and thus eke out
42. The poor peasants → The other category of poor peasants
43. The poor peasants → The so-called other category of poor peasants
44. Have little left after paying rent. → Have little left after paying rent, and have an
even greater need to sell part of their labor power.
45. Because they have their own tools → Because, though they own some simple
means of production
46. Their → They are often forced to sell part of their labor power, and their
47. The sharecroppers → The poor peasants in the rural areas
48. The sharecroppers → The poor peasants
49. Small and middle businessmen → Shops and stores
50. The handicraftsmen → The poor peasants and the small handicraftsmen
51. Mao here uses "tenant peasant" (diannong) rather than "poor peasant" (pinnong),
but he is obviously referring to the same social group, since the implied total of 170
million semiowner peasants, sharecroppers, and poor (or tenant) peasants corresponds to
that in the first sentence of this section, following the initial list of six categories.
52. The industrial proletariat → The modern industrial proletariat
53. The difference between the 25 million for the above three categories, and the total of 45
million given here, is accounted for by the 20 million youmin or lumpenproletarians included
by Mao in the proletariat, and discussed separately in the second half of this paragraph.
54. The industrial proletariat → The modern industrial proletariat
55. The majority → A great number of them
56. Are in→ Are enslaved in
57. Has become the leading force in the revolutionary movement. → Represents
China's new productive forces, is the most progressive class in modern China, and has
become the leading force in the revolutionary movement.
58. The national revolution → The Chinese revolution
59. The reference is to the Hong Kong seamen's strike of January-March 1923, which
ended in a victory for the workers.
60. The reference is to the Guangzhou-Hankou railroad workers' strike of September
1922 and the Beijing-Wuhan railroad workers' strike of February 1923; see above, the
declaration of September 8, 1922, regarding the former, and the two telegrams of February
20, 1923, regarding the latter.
61. The strike in the Kailuan (Kaiping and Luanzhou) collieries in Hebei took place in
October 1922. The strike at Jiaozuo in Henan lasted from July 1 to August 9, 1925.
62. As well as → The Shamian strike, as well as
63. Tools → All means of production
64. The comprador class → Bourgeoisie
65. Less organized and concentrated → Less concentrated than the industrial workers
66. Circulating capital → Funds

--- Notes

Analysis of All the Classes in Chinese Society¹
(December 1, 1925)


Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? He who cannot distinguish between
enemies and friends is certainly not a revolutionary, yet to distinguish between
them is not easy.² If the Chinese revolution, although it has been going on for
thirty years, has³ achieved so little, this is not because its goal was wrong, but
entirely because its strategy has been wrong. The strategic error has consisted
precisely in⁴ the failure to unite with real friends in order to attack real
enemies. The reason for this failure is the inability to distinguish clearly
enemies from friends. A revolutionary party is the guide of the masses. No
army has ever been known to achieve victory when its chiefs have led it in a
false direction, and no revolutionary movement has ever been known to succeed when the revolutionary party has led it in a false direction. We are all
members of the revolutionary party, all leaders of the masses, all guides of
the masses. We cannot but ask ourselves, however: Do we have this capacity?
Will we not end up by leading the masses onto an erroneous road? Will we
definitely achieve success? To ensure that we will "not lead the masses
astray" and will "definitely achieve success," we must pay careful attention

to the very important question of strategy. In order to determine this strategy,
we must first distinguish clearly friends from enemies.⁵ The Manifesto of the


First National Congress of the Guomindang proclaimed this strategy and
traced the boundary between our enemies and our friends. But this declaration
was very concise. If we want to understand this important strategy and to
distinguish our real enemies from our real friends, we must make a general
analysis of the economic status, the class character, and the numerical
strength of the various classes of Chinese society, as well as of their respective attitudes toward the revolution.


In any country, whether of heaven's creation or the earth's design, there are
always three categories of people: upper, middle, and lower. If we analyze things
in more detail, there are five categories: the big bourgeoisie, the middle bourgeoisie, the petty bourgeoisie, the semiproletariat, and the proletariat. As regards the countryside, the big landlords are the big bourgeoisie, the small
landlords are the middle bourgeoisie, the owner-peasants are the petty bourgeoisie, the semiowner tenant peasants are the semiproletariat, and the farm laborers are the proletariat. In the cities, the big bankers, big merchants, and big
industrialists are the big bourgeoisie; the moneychangers, middle merchants,
and owners of small factories are the middle bourgeoisie; the shopkeepers
and master craftsmen are the petty bourgeoisie; the shop assistants, street
vendors, and handicraft workers are the semiproletariat; and the industrial
workers and coolies are the proletariat. Each of these five categories of
people has a different economic position and a different class nature. Consequently, they manifest different attitudes toward the present revolution,
namely opposing the revolution, partially opposing the revolution, observing
neutrality toward the revolution, participating in the revolution, and serving
as the main force of the revolution.


The attitudes of the various classes in China toward the national revolution are virtually identical with those of the various classes in the capitalist
countries of Western Europe toward social revolution. This may seem
strange, but in fact it is not strange at all. This is because the goals and
techniques of the present revolution are the same everywhere, the goal being
to overthrow international capitalist imperialism, and the method being to
unite the oppressed peoples and classes for the fight. This is the most important characteristic that distinguishes today's revolution from all other revolutions in history.


Let us take a look at what the various classes in Chinese society are like.


First, the big bourgeoisie.⁶ In economically backward and semicolonial
China, the big bourgeoisie⁷ is wholly a vassal of the international bourgeoisie,
depending entirely on imperialism for its survival and development. For exam- ple, the comprador class—the bankers (Lu Zongyu,⁸ Chen Lianbo,⁹ etc.); the businessmen (e.g., Tang Shaoyi,¹⁰ He Dong,¹¹ etc.); the industrialists (e.g., Zhang Jian,¹²
Sheng Enxi,¹³ etc.); those who have close relationships with foreign capital.


The big landlords (e.g., Zhang Zuolin,¹⁴ Chen Gongshou,¹⁵ etc.)
The bureaucrats (e.g., Sun Baoqi,¹⁶ Yan Huiqing,¹⁷ etc.)


The warlords (e.g., Zhang Zuolin, Cao Kun,18 etc.)
The class of the reactionary intellectuals is an appendage of the above four
kinds of people. The high-ranking staff of banking, industrial, and commercial
enterprises of comprador character, plutocrats and high-ranking government
officials, politicians, part of the students who have studied abroad in Japan and
in the West, part of the teachers and students from universities and specialized
schools, eminent lawyers, and so on all belong to this category. The goals of this
class19 and those of the national revolution are absolutely incompatible. From
beginning to end, they20 side with imperialism and are an extreme counterrevolutionary group.21 This class probably numbers no more than a million, or one in
four hundred in a population of four hundred million people. It is a deadly
enemy within the national-revolutionary movement.


Second, the middle bourgeoisie.
The banking, industrial, and commercial class who own Chinese capital.
(Because in economically backward China, the development of national banks,
industry, and commerce by national capital is still limited to the level of the
middle class. Here "bank" refers to the small banks or moneylenders; "industry" refers to small-scale manufacture; "commerce" refers to the business of
trading in national goods. No part of large-scale banking, industry, and commerce is unrelated to foreign capital. They can only be counted as part of the
comprador class.)


Small landlords. Many of the higher intellectuals the employees of Chinese
commercial banking, industry, and commerce, the majority of the students who
study in Japan and in the West, the majority of university and special school
professors and students, and small lawyers all belong to this category. This class
aspires to attain the position of the big bourgeoisie, but it suffers from the blows
of foreign capital and the oppression of the warlords, and cannot develop. This
class22 has adopted a contradictory attitude toward the national revolution. When
it suffers from the blows of foreign capital and the oppression of the warlords, it
feels the need for revolution and favors the revolutionary movement against
imperialism and the warlords. But at present, when the proletariat at home takes a militant part in the revolution and the international proletariat abroad lends
active support, it senses a threat to its own development and existence as a class
that aspires to move up into the class of the big bourgeoisie, and becomes
skeptical about the revolution. This class is the so-called national bourgeoisie,
and politically they stand for Étatisme that is, the realization of a state under
the rule of a single class, the national bourgeoisie. 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 oppose the
Guomindang's alliance with Russia and the admission of Communists. But the
attempt of this class to establish a state under the rule of the national bourgeoisie
is completely impracticable, because the present world situation is one in which
the two great forces of revolution and counterrevolution are engaged in the final
struggle. Two huge banners have been raised by these two great forces. On the
one hand is the red banner of revolution, held aloft by the Third International and
rallying all the oppressed nations and the oppressed classes of the world; on the
other is the white banner of counterrevolution, held aloft by the League of
Nations and rallying all the counterrevolutionary elements of the world. The
intermediate classes, such as the so-called Second International in the West and

those so-called Étatistes in China, will beyond doubt disintegrate rapidly, some
sections turning left and joining the ranks of the revolutionaries, others turning
right and joining the ranks of the counterrevolutionaries. There is no room for
them to remain "independent." Therefore, the Chinese middle bourgeoisie's idea
of an "independent" revolution, in which its own class interests would constitute
the main theme, is a mere illusion. To be sure, they are now still in a semicounterrevolutionary position and are not yet our direct enemy. Nevertheless,
when they sense a daily increasing threat from the worker and peasant classes,
namely when they are forced to make a few more concessions to the interests of
the worker and peasant classes (such as the movement for reducing rent in the
countryside, and the strike movement in the cities), they or a part of them (the
right wing of the middle bourgeoisie) will definitely take a stand on the side of
imperialism, will definitely become completely counterrevolutionary, and will
definitely become our direct enemy. In fact, there is a group of which it is
impossible to distinguish clearly whether or not its members belong to the comprador class. As regards commerce, many merchants certainly distinguish very
clearly between foreign goods and domestic goods, but there are also shops that

display both domestic and foreign goods. As for the intellectual class, those from
small landlord backgrounds who have gone to study in capitalist countries of the
Eastern Sea [i.e., Japan] definitely show very clearly that, alongside their indigenous characteristics, they have also acquired foreign characteristics. Even those
children of small landlord backgrounds who study at specialized schools and universities inside China, and who are steeped in the influence of these half
indigenous and half foreign returned students, inevitably take on this half indigenous and half foreign nature. People of this kind do not have an unmixed national-bourgeois nature; one might call them the "seminational bourgeoisie."
They constitute the right wing of the middle bourgeoisie, and as soon as the
national-revolutionary struggle becomes intense, these people will certainly
rally the ranks of imperialism and the warlords and make splendid partners of
the comprador class. The left wing of the middle bourgeoisie is composed of
those who absolutely refuse to follow imperialism. At times, this group has a
certain amount of revolutionary character (for example, during the high tide of
boycotting foreign goods). But it is extremely difficult to get rid of their "pacifist" attitudes, which are quite empty of meaning but to which they have been
attached for a long time, and they are often seized with terror when faced with
"Red" tendencies. Hence their intermittent collaboration with the revolution
cannot last. Therefore, the Chinese middle bourgeoisie, whether it be its right

wing or its left wing, contains many dangerous elements, and one absolutely
cannot expect it to strike out resolutely on the path of revolution and to participate loyally in the revolutionary cause along with the other classes, except for a
few who find themselves in special circumstances of history and environment.
The middle bourgeoisie numbers at most one out of one hundred people within
the country (1 percent), that is, four million people.


Third, the petty bourgeoisie. For example,
the owner peasants,
the small merchants,
the master handicraftsmen,
the lower levels of the intellectual class petty functionaries, office clerks,
middle school students, primary and secondary school teachers, and small
lawyersall belong to this category. Both because of its size and because of its class
character, this class deserves very close attention.23 Among those making up the
petty bourgeoisie, the owner-peasants alone number from 100 million to 120
million. The small merchants, the master handicraftsmen, and the intellectual
class probably number from 20 to 30 million, making a total of 130 million.
Although this class has24 the same petty bourgeois economic status, they fall in
fact into three different sections. The first section consists of those who have
some surplus money or grain; that is, those who by manual or mental labor earn
more each year than they consume for their own support, thereby creating the

so-called initial accumulation of capital. Such people very much want to "get rich"; while they have no illusions about amassing great fortunes, they invariably
desire to climb up into the middle bourgeoisie. Their mouths water copiously
when they see the respect in which those small moneybags are held, and they
pray to Marshal Zhao (the god of wealth) most assiduously. People of this sort
are extremely timid, afraid of government officials, and also a little afraid of the
revolution. Since they are fairly close to the middle bourgeoisie in economic
status, they have a lot of faith in its propaganda and are suspicious of the
revolution. This section is, however, a minority among the petty bourgeoisie,
probably making up no more than 10 percent of the total number of petty bourgeois (or approximately 15 million), and constitutes the right wing of the petty
bourgeoisie. The second section consists of those who are just self-supporting.25
What they earn and what they consume each year even out, no more, no less.
This section of people is very different from the people in the first section; they
also want to get rich, but Marshal Zhao never lets them get rich. Their sufferings
in recent years from the oppression and exploitation of the imperialists, the
warlords, and the big and middle bourgeoisie26 have given them the feeling that

67. Lumpenproletariat → Apart from all these, there is the fairly large lumpenproletariat. (In general, youmin is translated "vagrants" in this edition, because Mao uses
the term almost exclusively of vagabond or floating elements in the countryside. Here,
however, where it also includes urban lumpenproletarians, we have used the more Marxist
term.)

68. Serve as → Were originally

69. If we can find a way to lead them→ But they are apt to be destructive; if we can
find a way to lead them

very bravely; if we can find a way to lead them,69 they can become a revolutionary force.


70. The whole of this table has been deleted in the *Selected Works* version.

71. In the previously available version of this article, reproduced by the *Mao Zedong ji*
from the text printed in *Zhongguo Nongmin* No. 2, 1926, the table is garbled here. Neither
the indication *gong* (total), nor the figure of 150 million appears.

72. All → To sum up what has been said above, it can be seen that all

73. All the petty bourgeoisie, the semiproletariat, and the proletariat → The industrial
proletariat is the leading force in our revolution. All the semiproletariat and the petty
bourgeoisie