The 3-3-3-1 System
(December 5, 1925)

"What is Communism? All property is confiscated. Private accumulation is not
allowed, and poor and rich are alike impoverished. To give it an appealing name,
it's called emphasizing agriculture. In reality, 3-3-3-1 will not work. Three
parts for the landlord, three parts for the state. Three parts for oneself, and one
for the use of the [peasant] association." This is a notice in four character per line
verse posted inside and outside the city of Huizhou by Yang Kunru.¹ A friend
newly arrived from Beijing who is considered clear-headed asked me, "Is there
really such a thing as this 3-3-3-1 system?" I was very surprised to hear this.
Before replying to him, I thought to myself: Can it be that even he has doubts
about whether or not Guangdong is carrying out some "3-3-3-1" system? In a
rather cool tone of voice I then answered him, "There is, but only in the notices
of Yang Kunru." He said, "Isn't the *Hong Kong Morning Post* a Guomindang
newspaper? It's in their headlines." This was the first I had heard that the *Hong
Kong Morning Post* was also taking up such fresh new arguments as these.
Originally, before the rebellion of Yang and Liu,² the *Hong Kong Morning Post*
did indeed have connections with the Guomindang. After the rebellion of Yang
and Liu and the Guangzhou-Hong Kong strike,³ it was bought up by Liu
Zhenhuan and turned into an organ of our foreign masters in Hong Kong and of
the so-called commander-in-chief, Chen Jiongming. Taking advantage of the fact
that communications were cut off between Guangdong and Hong Kong, that rag
the *Hong Kong Morning Post*, located on that barren island of Hong Kong,
poured out a bunch of "facts." The 3-3-3-1 system was but one of this bunch of
"facts," but I had not expected that it would travel all the way to Beijing to
delight the eyes of our friends in Beijing. It was because of this that I thought: In
the present world, nothing, whether animate (like man) or inanimate (like news-

This text appeared in *Zhengzhi zhoubao*, No. 1, December 5, 1925. We have followed this
version, rather than that in the *Mao Zedong ji*, Vol. 1, pp. 113-14, which contains some
errors.
1. Yang Kunru, warlord of Huizhou (Guangdong) and a subordinate of Chen Jiongming.
2. On the action against the corrupt warlords Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan, and their
flight to Hong Kong, see note 2 to the announcement of December 4, 1925.
3. The strike of Chinese workers in Guangzhou, in support of their comrades in Hong
Kong, was set off by the celebrated Shakee Massacre of June 23, 1925, and lasted sixteen
months.