Plan for the Current Peasant Movement Resolution of the Central Bureau (November 15, 1926)

Since the establishment of the Central Commission on the Peasant Movement by
resolution of the Enlarged Meeting of the Central Executive Committee last
year,¹ its organization has developed slowly and has not yet been perfected
because of various difficulties. Only after Comrade Mao assumed the position of
secretary of the Central Commission on the Peasant Movement in November
was it formally decided that seven people Ruan, Peng, Yi, Lu, Xiao, and
C.Y.-will together form the Central Commission on the Peasant Movement,
with one of the members always present in the bureau to take care of things.² An
office has also been set up in Hankou to facilitate guidance of the peasant
movement in Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, and a plan for the
current peasant movement has been drawn up, as follows: 1. An order of priority for the development of the peasant movement in
various areas should be established on the basis of the following criteria: a. Areas where there is relatively more freedom of assembly and freedom to form associations b. Areas that occupy an important political position
c. Areas along railways and rivers that are easily accessible
d. Areas where peasants suffer particular economic deprivation and
where uprisings have already occurred or are easy to instigate
2. Under current circumstances, the principle of concentration should be
adopted in developing the peasant movement. In the country as a whole, in
addition to Guangdong, development should be concentrated in the four provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Henan. Next, substantial efforts should be
made in the seven provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guangxi, Fujian, Anhui,
Jiangsu, and Zhejiang.

3. The principle of concentration should also be adopted within each province. For example:
Hunan—We should concentrate on the areas within the prefectures of
Changsha, Yuezhou, Changde, Hengzhou, and Baoqing.
Hubei—We should concentrate on the xian along the [Yangzi] River and the
railways, particularly the three xian of Wuchang, Hanyang, and Xiakou.
Jiangxi—We should concentrate on the band of territory that extends from
Ji'an through Nanchang to Jiujiang.
Henan—We should concentrate on the areas along the three railway arteries
of Beijing-Hankou, Shaanxi-Haizhou,3 and Daokou-Qinghua.4
Shaanxi—Concentrate on the Central Shaanxi plain, that is, the xian along the
Wei River.
Sichuan—Treat Chongqing and Chengdu as the two centers; their neighboring xian should also be emphasized.
Guangxi—Concentrate on the band of territory that extends from Baise
through Nanning to Wuzhou. At the moment, we should pay special attention to linking Enlong, Fengyi, Enyang, Baise, and other xian under the
power of Fan Shisheng to Donglan xian, where [the peasant movement] is
already developed.
Yunnan—Treat Kunming as the center, and concentrate on the areas along the
Yunnan-Guangzhou Railway.
Fujian—Treat Yongding as the center, and concentrate on the xian in southern Fujian.
Zhejiang—Concentrate on the areas within the jurisdictions of Ningpo and
Shaoxing.

Jiangsu—Concentrate on xian such as Chongming, Jiangyin, Danyang, Wuxi,
Taixing, Tongshan, and Suining.
Shandong—Concentrate on the areas along the Jiaozhou-Jinan5 and
Tianjin-Pukou6 railways.
Anhui—Concentrate on northern Anhui; treat Shou xian and Hefei as the
center.
Zhili [Hebei]—Concentrate on the areas along the Beijing-Hankou, Beijing-Suiyuan,7 Beijing-Fengtian,8 and Tianjin-Pukou railways.
Zhili and the special capital district should be divided into two areas for the
peasant movement. Within the Guomindang system, the peasant movement in Zhili is under the jurisdiction of the Guomindang party organization of Zhili Province, with Tianjin as the center. The peasant movement in
the capital district should be under the jurisdiction of the special municipal
party organization of Beijing, with the immediate suburbs of Beijing as the
center.
4. Peasants in the immediate suburbs of provincial capitals and other key
cities must be specially organized into "peasant associations of the immediate
suburbs." The Guomindang party organizations or special municipal party organizations in such cities must set up peasant departments to guide the peasant
movement in the immediate suburbs.
5. [We] must cooperate closely with the left wing of the Guomindang in
[organizing] the peasant movement in all areas and also encourage the Peasant
Department of the Guomindang Central Committee to establish an office in
Wuhan.
6. Set up a peasant movement training institute in Wuchang.

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Notes

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 2, pp. 187-89. The Japanese
editors have taken the text from a documentary collection published in 1981: Zhonggong
zhongyang zhengzhi baogao xuanji (1921-1926). The resolution also appears in
Zhonggong zhongyang wenjian xuanji, Vol. 2 (1926), pp. 461-63, where it has been
reproduced from a mimeographed document in the Party Archives. This latter version does
not include the introductory note which appears at the beginning of our translation, but is
otherwise the same.
1. The reference is to the Second Enlarged Session of the Central Executive Committee
of the Chinese Communist Party in October 1925. In addition to the Commission on the
Peasant Movement mentioned here, commissions on the workers' movement and on military affairs were also established on this occasion, but particular emphasis was placed on
agrarian problems. An "Address to the Peasants" was adopted in which for the first time
the Party called explicitly for a policy of "land to the tiller." See above, the Introduction to
Saich, Rise to Power, Document B.13, pp. 163-66.

2. This list in fact includes only five names. The sixth person, designated by the initials
C.Y., was the secretary of the Communist Youth League, whoever he might be. The
seventh was presumably Mao himself, as secretary of the commission.

3. This railroad ran across Henan from west to east, through Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and
Kaifeng, to the Yellow Sea. Mao refers to it by its abbreviated name of Longhai, in which
"Long" stands for Shaanxi Province, and "hai" for the eastern terminus at Haizhou (now
called Lianyungang) in northern Jiangsu. In 1926 portions of the line had not yet been
completed, but the name Longhai was already in use.

4. This rather short rail line ran across the northern tip of Henan between Daokou in
the east (now called Huaxian) and Qinghua (now called Boai) in the west.

5. This line ran from Qingdao and Jiaozhou (now Jiaoxian) in the east to the provincial
capital of Jinan in the west.

6. Until the building of the bridge over the Yangzi in the 1950s, Pukou, on the north
bank of the river opposite Nanjing, was the southern terminus of the railway line from
Tianjin.

7. The reference is to the line leading westward to Zhangjiakou, and thence to Baotou
in Suiyuan Province (now the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region).

8. The line leading to the three Northeastern Provinces.