ANALYSIS OF THE CLASSES IN CHINESE SOCIETY

1 February 1926

[Text] Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? One cannot be a revolutionist if one cannot distinguish between enemies and friends. It is, however, by no means easy to distinguish between enemies and friends. That the Chinese revolution has been going on for 30 years with scant results is not due to errors in its goal, but is entirely due to errors in strategy. The so-called errors in strategy were that we could not rally our real friends to attack our real enemies. The reason why we could not do this was that we did not distinguish who were our enemies and who were our friends. A revolutionary party is a guide of the masses. In the arena there can be no victory in fighting if its guide leads them astray. In a revolutionary movement, it will be impossible to avoid failure if the revolutionary party takes the wrong road. We are all revolutionaries who lead the way for the masses, and are the guides for the masses. Nevertheless, we cannot but ask ourselves: "Do we have this ability? Won't we lead the masses onto the road of defeat?" Are we sure to succeed? In order to ensure that we will "not lead to the wrong road" and "be sure to succeed," we cannot but devote ourselves to an important strategy. In order to decide on this strategy, it is necessary to first distinguish between those who are our enemies and those who are our friends.

The Manifesto of the First National Congress of the Kuomintang served as the declaration of this strategy and the distinction between enemies and friends. But this Manifesto is rather simplistic. If we want to understand this important strategy and to distinguish between real enemies and friends, we must make a general analysis on the economic status, class characters, and number of people of the various classes in Chinese society, and their attitudes towards the revolution.

There are bound to be three classes of people in any country--the upper, middle, and lower classes. A detailed analysis will show five classes--the big bourgeoisie, the middle bourgeoisie, the petty bourgeoisie, the semi-proletariat and the proletariat. In the case of the rural areas, the big

landlords constitute the big bourgeoisie, the small landlords are the middle bourgeoisie, the self-farming peasants are the petty bourgeoisie; the tenant peasants are the semi-proletariat, and the hired peasants are the proletariat. In the case of the cities, the big bourgeoisie are the big bankers, the big businessmen and the big industrialists. The money-shop owners, the middle merchants and the small factory owners are the middle bourgeoisie, while the small merchants and handicrafts operators are the petty bourgeoisie. The shopkeepers, peddlers, and handicraftsmen are the semi-proletariat, and factory workers and the so-called coolie are the proletariat. These five categories of people fall into different economic strata, and are fraught with varying class characters. Consequently, they cherish diverse attitudes toward the contemporary revolution, such as being counterrevolutionary, semi-counterrevolutionary, neutral toward revolution, taking part in revolution, or serving as the main force of revolution.

The attitude of the various classes in China toward the national revolution resembles almost completely the attitude of the various classes in the capitalist countries of Western Europe toward their social revolution. This may seem strange, but it really is not. The reason is that the contemporary revolution [and the social revolution in Europe] is one and the same. Fought with a similar goal and tactic. The goal is to overthrow international capitalist imperialism, and the tactic is to unite the oppressed people and oppressed classes to fight together. This is the greatest characteristic which makes the contemporary revolution different from all revolutions in history.

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

First, there is the big bourgeoisie. In economically backward and semi-colonial China, the big bourgeoisie was the vessel of the international capitalists. The prerequisites of its existence and development depended on imperialism. For example, [they included] compradors--such as bankers (Li Tsung-yi and Ch'en Lien-pao), merchants, (T'ang Shao-i and Robert Ho-tung), industrialists (Chang Ch'ien and Sheng En-p'ei), big landlords (Chang Jen-lin and Ch'en Tsung-shou), bureaucrats (Sun Pao-ch'i and Yen Hui-ch'ing), and warlords (Chang Tso-lin and Ts'ao K'un).

Reactionary intellectuals--they are the appendages of the four categories of people mentioned above. The higher ranking staff of compradore types of banks, industries and business, plutocrats, high government officials, politicians, some returned students from Japan and the West, professors and students of universities and colleges, and lawyers are also in this class. This class is entirely incompatible with the goals of the national revolution. Standing consistently on the side of imperialism, they are extremely counterrevolutionary. They number fewer than 1 million, which is .25 percent of our population of 400 million people, and they are the deadly enemies of the national revolutionary movement.

Second, there is the middle bourgeoisie. This is the Chinese-owned banking, and industrial and commercial class. It is economically backward China, the development of banks, and industry and business is still limited to the middle bourgeoisie. The so-called banks refer to small banks and money shops, while industry refers to factories on a small scale, and commerce refers to merchants handling native goods. All big banks and industry and business had some ties with capital, and they can only be classified under the comprador class.)

The small landlords class. Many of the higher intelligentsia--such as the staff of the Chinese-owned banks, the industrial and business establishments, most of the returned students from Japan and the West, some college professors and students, and small lawyers belonged to this class. It was the ambition of this class to strive for the status of the big bourgeoisie, but it was hampered by the import of foreign capital and the oppression of the warlords. Consequently, this class has adopted a contradictory attitude toward the national revolution. That is, whenever they feel the agonies of the blow of foreign capital and the oppression of the warlords, they wanted to engage in revolution and supported the anti-imperialist and anti-warlord revolutionary movement. However, because of the vigorous participation in the present revolutionary movement by the proletariat at home and the active support of the international proletariat abroad, they sensed a threat to the existence and development of the big bourgeoisie status to which they aspire. Thus, they have become suspicious of the revolution. This class is the so-called national bourgeoisie, whose political platform is nationalism--to realize a state ruled by a single class, the national bourgeoisie. The "true disciple" (as he professed himself) of this is Tai Chi-t'ao who wrote in CHEN PAO, Peking, "Raises your left hand to overthrow imperialism and your right hand to overthrow the Communist!" This describes vividly the contradiction and ambivalence of this class. They are opposed to using the theory of class struggle to interpret the Principle of the People's Livelihood, they are opposed to the Kuomintang's alliance with Russia and the admission of Communists into that party. Nonetheless, the attempt of this class to realize a state ruled by the national bourgeoisie has proved to be completely infeasible. This is because the current world situation is one in which the two great forces of revolution and counterrevolution are locked in a final struggle. Hosted by these two great forces are two large banners: one being the red banner of revolution which is held high by the Third International, calling on the oppressed nations and classes to stand under it on one side; the other being the white banner of counter-revolution, which is held high by the League of Nations, calling on the counterrevolutionaries of the world to stand under it on the other side. It is therefore essential for the intermediate classes, such as the so-called Second International in the West, and the so-called Nationalists in China, to be separated quickly, either to turn left, to join the revolutionaries, or to turn right, to join the counterrevolutionaries. There could be no room for their "independence." Consequently, the ideology of an "independent" revolution on the part of China's middle bourgeoisie with its own class interests as the main basis is merely an illusion. Although they are still

only semi-counterrevolutionary, and although they have not yet become our frontal enemies, nevertheless, as they begin to feel more the threat of the workers and peasant class, and as they are compelled more and more to make concessions to the interests of the workers and peasants class (such as the rent reduction movement in rural villages and labor strikes in the cities), they are a portion of them [the right wing of the middle bourgeoisie) are bound to stand on the side of imperialism, thereby becoming counter-revolutionary and our enemies completely. It has transpired that between compradors and noncompradors, there are some who cannot be distinguished readily. Take commerce for example, it is true that among many merchants, there is a very clear distinction between merchants of foreign goods and merchants of native products. Nonetheless, of some shops they offer both native and foreign goods side by side. Take the intellectual class for example, there are many returned students from Japan among the children of small landlords. It is true that apart from their semi-native flavor, they have also acquired some semi-foreign flavor. Even among the children of small landlords who study in universities and colleges in China, because they have been taught by returned students that are semi-native and semi-foreign, they could not but become semi-native and semi-foreign themselves. These people cannot be characterized as purely national bourgeoisie, but may be called "semi-national bourgeoisie." This is the right wing of middle bourgeoisie, and when the struggle of national revolution is intensified, they are bound to hasten to join the ranks of imperialists, thereby becoming good companions of the compradors. The left wing of middle bourgeoisie, namely, those who are totally unaffiliated with imperialism, might be rather revolutionary at times (such as during the high tide of some boycott of foreign goods). Nonetheless, it is not easy to shake their "vain concept of a speaker," and they are constantly frightened by the so-called "Bolshevization." They tend to be compromising toward revolution and cannot last long. Thus, there are also many dangerous elements in China's middle bourgeoisie, whether they belong to the right wing or the left wing. With the exception of a small minority who have special historical background and environment, we cannot expect them to bravely embark on the revolutionary road, and undertake the revolutionary enterprise loyally along with the other classes. The number of people in the middle bourgeoisie is at most one in every 100 (1 percent) in China, and so there are about 4 million of them.

Third, The Petty Bourgeoisie

To this category belong the owner peasants, small merchants, handicrafts operators, small intellectuals--minor officials, clerks, middle school students and teachers, small lawyers, etc. Both numerically and in its class characters, this class deserves great attention. The owner peasants of the petty bourgeoisie alone number some 100 to 120 million; the number of small merchants, handicrafts operators, and intellectuals range from 30 to 40 million. The combined total is about 130 million. Although these people share the same bourgeois economic status, there are, in fact, three different sections. The first section comprises those people who have surplus money and rice,

that is, after supporting themselves with the income from their own physical or mental labor, they can still have some surpluses each year which can be used to create the so-called preliminary accumulation of capital. This kind of people are strongly inclined to "get rich." Although they have no illusions of amassing huge fortunes, they nevertheless want to climb to the status of middle bourgeoisie. They envy those who have gathered small fortune and who seem to get so much respect, and consequently, they worship Marshal Chao [the legendary god of wealth] diligently. They are rather timid, being afraid of officials and also of revolution to some extent. Because of the fact that their economic status approaches that of the middle bourgeoisie, they are therefore rather susceptible to the latter's propaganda, and tend to be skeptical toward revolution. However, this section is a minority among the petty bourgeoisie, being no more than 10 percent of them, or about 15 million, forming the right wing of the petty bourgeoisie. The second section of the petty bourgeoisie is barely self-sufficient, as their annual income is about equal to their expenditure. They differ largely from the first section of people. They also would like to be rich, but Marshal Chao won't let them. Under the oppression and exploitation of imperialism, warlords, and big and middle bourgeoisie in recent years, they have begun to realize that the present world is no longer like the world of the past. They realize that if they should expend the same labor as they did before, it would not be possible to maintain their livelihood. It is now necessary to increase labor time by rising early and paying double attention to their chores in order to survive. They become abusive: They dub foreigners "foreign devils," decry the warlords as "robber commander," and denounce local despots and evil gentry for their "ill-gotten wealth." As regards to the anti-imperialist and anti-warlord movements, they'll doubt is they might succeed, because foreigners and commanders seemed to be "unformidable" to them. Thus, they take a neutral stand, not daring to participate in it resolutely, though they are absolutely by no means anti-revolutionary. The number of this section is very large, almost one-half of the petty bourgeoisie, or 75 million. The third section consists of those who incur deficits every year. Many of these people used to belong to families of moderate means, but they have declined gradually, becoming barely able to make ends meet at first, and suffering from losses later. At the time of settlement of accounts each year, they are shocked, sighing: "We have lost money again!" Because they have had better times before, they would "shudder at the future prospects" as their fortunes declined and as they contracted more and more debts. Because of this comparison between now and before, these people are important in the revolutionary movement and have the strength to push the revolution forward. Their number is about 40 percent of the petty bourgeoisie, or 60 million. They are reliable among the petty bourgeoisie and form its left wing. The above-mentioned three sections of the petty bourgeoisie may differ in their attitudes toward the revolution at normal time. But in wartime, that is, when the revolutionary tide is high and when victory seems to be in sight, then not only the left wing but also the middle section of petty bourgeoisie would join the revolution. The

right wingers, under the impact of the proletariat and the left wing of the petty bourgeoisie, could not but also join it. Judging our experiences from the 30 May Movement and the peasant movement in the last 2 years, this assessment seems to be correct.

Fourth, The Semi-Proletariat

The so-called semi-proletariat mentioned here consists of: (1) the semi-owner peasants, (2) tenant peasants, (3) poor peasants, (4) handicraftsmen, (5) shop assistants, and (6) peddlers. Among the peasants in China, the number of semi-owner peasants is about 50 million, while tenant peasants and poor peasants together number 60 million each, making a total of 170 million. The so-called peasant problem is largely their problem. Although these three kinds of peasants belong to the semi-proletariat together, their economic conditions may be further classified as upper, middle, and poor. In the case of semi-owner peasants, their lives are worse than the owner peasants because they are short of one half of the food they need for sustenance. To make up the deficit, they have to rent land from others, or to work for others, or engage in petty trade. In late spring and early summer, when the harvest is not yet ready, they often have to borrow money at usurious interest rates or buy grain at exorbitant prices. Their situation is naturally worse than that of the owner peasants who are self-sufficient, but better than that of the tenant peasants. This is because of the fact that the tenant peasants do not own land, and so they can take in only half of the harvest each year. The semi-owner peasants, though they can garner only half of the harvest from their rented land, or even less than half of it, they can, nonetheless, reap the entire harvest of the land they own. Thus, the revolutionary character of semi-owner peasants is better than that of the owner peasants, but not as great as that of the tenant peasants. Both the tenant peasants and the poor peasants are tenantry exploited by landlords, though there is some difference in their economic status. Although tenant peasants do not have land, they have sufficient farm implements and some current capital. Such peasants can earn half of their own fruits of labor, and the shortages can be made up by planting cereal crops, fishing, chicken farming and pig-raising, thereby enabling them to eke out a living. They may suffer from hardships, but their livelihood is harder than that of the semi-owner peasants but better off than that of the poor peasants. Nonetheless, their revolutionary character is superior to that of semi-owner peasants, but not as good as that of the poor peasants. In the case of poor peasants, they lack not only sufficient farm implements, but also current capital. Moreover, they are short of fertilizer, and when there is lean harvest, they earn almost nothing after delivering their rents. During a famine, they have often to beg their friends and relatives to borrow a few sheng or bushels of grain to tide them over for a few days. They become burdened with heavy debts. They are the most distressed among the peasants, and so are more receptive to revolutionary propaganda. The handicraftsmen are called semi-proletariat because they own their own tools and are also self-employed. Their economic

status resembles that of tenant peasants in agriculture. But because of their heavy family burdens and because of the gap between wages and living costs, they are often plagued by poverty and by the dread of unemployment, resembling largely what happens to tenant peasants. The shop assistants are employees of middle and small merchants earning meagre wages to eke out a living. However, despite the steady increase of commodity prices every year, their pay is adjusted only once in several years. They will tell you their story if you should get into a casual conversation with them. Thus their status is about the same as that of handicraftsmen and they are receptive to revolutionary propaganda. In the case of peddlers, whether they carry their wares on their shoulders or set up stalls in the streets, they all have very little capital and earn meagre profit which is hardly sufficient to live on. Their status is about the same as that of the poor peasants, and like the latter, they also need a revolution that will change the status quo. The number of handicraftsmen is about 6 percent of the entire population, or 26 million; there are about 5 million shop assistants and 1 million peddlers. Combining these people with the semi-owner peasants, semi-tenant peasants and tenant peasants, the total number of people in the semi-proletariat is about 200 million, being one-half of the entire Chinese population.

Fifth, The Proletariat

The categories and the number of proletariat are as follows: industrial proletariat, about 2 million; urban coolie labor, about 3 million, and agricultural proletariat, about 20 million. Their combined number is about 45 million.

Because of China's backward economy, the number of industrial workers (the industrial proletariat) is rather small. Most of the 2 million industrial workers, are found in these five kinds of industries, namely: railroads, mining, maritime transportation, textiles and shipbuilding. Most of these industries are operated with foreign capital. Thus, although the industrial proletariat is not numerous, it has become the main force of the national revolutionary movement. We will realize the important position of the industrial proletariat in national revolution if we take a look at the strength that has been demonstrated by the strikes in the last 4 years, such as the seamen's strikes, the railway strike, the strikes of the Kailuan and Chia-tsuo coal mines, as well as the general strikes in Shanghai and Hong Kong since the 30 May Incident. The first reason why they have become so important is their concentration, and no other people could compare to their "organized concentration." The second reason is that, with their low economic status, they would be left with empty hands after losing their means of production. They have no hope of making a fortune. Meanwhile, they have been subjected to the ruthless treatment of imperialism, warlords and compradores, and consequently, they have become most adept at struggling. The strength of the urban coolies also merits attention. They consist mostly of dock workers and rickshawmen. Street cleaners and nightsoil movers also belong to this category. They possess almost nothing except their hands. Though their economic position is somewhat similar to that of industrial workers, they are not so concentrated organizationally,

nor are they so important as a productive force. Since there is as yet no modern capitalist agriculture in China, the so-called agricultural proletariat refers to such hired peasants as hired laborer by the year, monthly hired laborer and day laborer. They have neither their tools nor lands, and so can only sell their labor to eke out a living. Compared to other workers, they have to work longer hours, and their wages are the lowest, and there is no security of employment. They are the most handicapped people in the villages, and occupy a position in the peasant movement that is as important as the poor peasants.

The lumpen proletariat consists of peasants deprived of land and handicraftsmen deprived of their opportunity to work. They number some 20 million or more, and constitute the root cause of banditry and war. The largest segment of lumpen proletariat consists of bandits, followed by soldiers, then beggars, robbers and thieves, and prostitutes. They are most unreliable in human existence. They have their secret organizations in China, such as the Triad Society in Fukien and Kwangtung, the Society of Brothers in Hunan, Hupei, Kweichow and Szechwan, the Big Sword Society in Anhwei, Honan and Shantung, the Rational Life Society in Chih-li and the three Northeastern provinces, and the Green and Red Gangs in Shanghai and elsewhere. These secret organizations all serve as their organs of mutual aid in political and economic struggles. The most difficult problem is how to handle these people. The two problems of China are: poverty and unemployment. Thus, if the problem of unemployment is solved, it would be tantamount to solving one-half of China's problems. These people are capable of waging valiant struggle, and when they are guided properly, they can become a revolutionary force. The above are arranged in the following table:

CLASS No of People (millions) Attitude toward Revolution
Big bourgeoisie 1 Extremely counterrevolutionary
Middle bourgeoisie 4 Right wing is counterrevolutionary, left wing could join revolution sometimes, but may compromise with enemy, semi-counterrevolutionary as a whole.
Petty bourgeoisie
With surplus right wing 15 Like middle bourgeoisie, semi-counterrevolutionary in normal times, but many respond to revolution at war
Self-sufficient center 75 Neutral at normal times, but join revolution at wartime
Deficient left wing 60-65 Welcome revolution.

Semi-proletariat
Semi-owner peasants
Participation
Tenant peasants
Active participation
Poor peasants
Brave in struggle
Handicraftsmen
Same as tenant peasants
Shop assistants
Same as tenant peasants
Peddlers
Same as poor peasants

Proletariat
Industrial proletariat
Main revolutionary force
Urban coolie
Main force after industrial proletariat
Agricultural proletariat
Brave in struggle
Vagrant proletariat
Can be guided to form revolutionary force

We can now answer the question as to who are our enemies and who are our
friends. All those who connive with imperialism--warlords and bureaucrats,
compradores, big landlords, reactionary intellectuals--the so-called big
bourgeoisie of China, are our enemies, and our real enemies. All petty
bourgeoisie, semi-proletariat and proletariat are our true friends. As for
the wavering middle bourgeoisie, its right wing should be regarded as our
enemy--if not now, it is not too far away. Its left wing may be regarded
as our friend--but not true friend, and we must be vigilant toward them.
Don't let them jeopardize our front! How many true friends do we have?
About 395 million. How many real enemies do we have? About 1 million. How
many intermediate people who can either be friends or enemies? There are
about 4 million. Let us count these 4 million as our enemies so that they
could have an organization of 5 million people. It would still be impossible
for them even to withstand the splitting of 395 million people!

Let the 395 million people of China unite together!

CHUNG-KUO NUNG-MIN, vol 1, No 2; Peasants Bureau, Executive Committee,
Chinese Nationalist Party, 1 February 1926.