Resolution on the Problem of Mintuan
(October 28, 1926)

III. Gan Naiguang and others put forward a draft resolution regarding the
problem of the mintuan (the original text was as follows):

Organizations such as the militia, the civil defense bureau, and the security
bureau, which have existed in the past, are all, in reality, the military forces of
the village bullies, bad gentry, and lawless landlords.2 Such forces have often
been used by the imperialists, the warlords, and the reactionaries to sabotage the
peasant movement and shake the foundations of our party and of the national
government. The danger [they pose] to the future of the party and the government is truly acute. For the sake of warding off this danger, the session resolves
as follows:

1. The heads of the militia, the civil defense bureau, or the security bureau
must be elected at meetings of the township population. Bad gentry are
forbidden to deal with this matter themselves.
2. The soldiers of the militia, the civil defense bureau, or the security bureau
must be made up of peasants with an occupation in the township in
question.
3. People will be sent from the party office to carry out political training in
the militia, the civil defense bureau, or the security bureau.
4. The sole task of the militia, the civil defense bureau, or the security bureau
will be defense against bandits and against conflicts among bandit troops;
apart from this, they will have no right to kill anyone arbitrarily.

5. The militia, the civil defense bureau, or the security bureau are not allowed
to receive and act on civil and criminal complaints.
6. Apart from what is approved by the meeting of the people of the township
for the expenses of the militia, the civil defense bureau, or the security
bureau, pretexts must not be devised to take other amounts without authority.
7. The expenditures of the militia, the civil defense bureau, or the security
bureau must be determined in accordance with an openly published budget.
8. In localities where there is already a peasant self-defense army, no militia,
civil defense bureau, or security bureau may be created anew.
9. Any militia, civil defense bureau, or security bureau that molests or kills
the peasants must be dissolved and put down by the government.

The chairman calls for discussion.

(Discussion)

1. Comrade Zhang Shushi proposes: The principle having been established,
the original resolution can be adopted.

(There are no dissenting opinions.)

The chairman declares: Since there are no dissenting opinions, we will deal
with the matter in accordance with Comrade Zhang's proposal.

Our source for this document is a manuscript copy from the Guomindang archives, obtained through the courtesy of Eugene Wu, Director of the Harvard-Yenching Library.
1. On October 25, the joint session had rejected a resolution put forward by delegates
from Hunan and elsewhere calling for the dissolution of the mintuan or landlord-controlled
militia. Mao, who had supported that proposal, was one of thirty sponsors of the present
resolution, which was passed on October 28.
2. As indicated in the text, mintuan (literally "civil corps," commonly translated "militia"), tuanfangju ("civil defense bureau"), and baoweiju ("security bureau") were different
names employed for local armed forces at the disposal of the landlords to enforce their
demands on the peasants.