1926·December

Under the political and economic oppression of imperialism and the feudal class, peasants’ lives grew worse day by day. Many were left with “not a single tile above their heads nor room to stick a needle,” truly having no place to settle down or work to find joy in.

Since imperialist powers began their eastward aggression, breaking our policy of isolation and disrupting our agrarian economy, Chinese peasants have become slaves to foreign capitalists. Each day we toil hard, producing vast quantities of grain, cotton, hemp, silk, tea, and other goods—yet they pay only meager sums for them. Meanwhile, they use machinery to manufacture all sorts of novel commodities, shipping them here and draining away enormous amounts of our wealth. Petroleum, cloth, nails, soap, porcelain, tinware—endless “foreign” goods have flooded our cities and are gradually infiltrating our villages. Our domestically made products, crafted without machines, remain unsold; farming yields us scarcely any income, while these foreign capitalists grow ever richer.

Imperialists exploit us by seizing control of customs houses, freely importing goods at low prices to undercut our industries and drain our silver reserves; by monopolizing mines, railways, and shipping routes, establishing factories and banks—to harness our cheap labor for profit, process our inexpensive raw materials into finished goods, seize coal and iron, and dominate transportation networks. Moreover, imperialists collude with warlords, using miscellaneous taxes and salt duties to indirectly exploit peasants, and imposing direct levies such as land taxes to further squeeze them. Imperialists also lend large sums to warlords, who then intensify their exploitation of peasants to repay those debts. Warlords further recruit unemployed farmers into mercenary armies, supplied with weapons by imperialist powers, thus creating an instrument of force to oppress the peasantry.

Armed with both financial resources and military might, and in league with domestic warlords and comprador agents, imperialists have long reigned supreme in China. As a result, the fruits of peasants’ arduous labor ultimately end up enriching them through various channels.

The exploitation of peasants by domestic warlords and local tyrants constitutes a feudal system. Unlike capitalist exploitation of wage labor, they appropriate a substantial share of the peasants’ produce through rent and taxation. Landowners extract this directly or indirectly (e.g., via subleasing), just as warlords do, either directly from tenant farmers or indirectly through intermediaries like tenant farmers. Each year, they typically skim off 60 to 65 percent of the peasants’ harvest.

These forces are tightly intertwined, coordinating with imperialists and the comprador class to collectively bleed the peasantry dry and suppress any resistance. When famine strikes and patience runs out, spontaneous uprisings erupt, often threatening to overthrow both the feudal elite and imperialist domination. The Taiping Rebellion was a massive uprising of southern peasants, while the Boxer Rebellion represented a similar revolt in the north. Yet both were brutally crushed by the reactionary forces of imperialism and feudalism.

Nevertheless, revolutionary movements simmering in the countryside never truly die out despite imperialist and feudal repression. Secret societies such as the Triads, Three-Point Societies, Big-Knife Associations, and Elder Brother Societies spread across southern provinces, alongside groups like the Nian rebels, White Wolves, and Red Spear Societies in the north, emerged one after another, independently challenging both feudal rule and imperialist influence. Consequently, incidents of violence against missionaries and peasant unrest frequently occurred—for example, the recent burning of the Hunan provincial governor’s office during the Xuantong era, or the Lincheng train robbery—all carried out by these very groups. However, lacking a broad united front and a clear political strategy, these revolutionary organizations were unable to achieve lasting success.

Today, the organized and strategic revolution led by the global working class offers a valuable model for us peasants. Twenty years ago, Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his Nationalist Party began reaching out to these spontaneously arising rural revolutionary groups, guiding them onto the path of a genuine political party and leading the peasant revolution. Politically, they set “building democracy” as their goal; economically, “equal distribution of land rights” became the standard for liberating the peasantry. At every turn, they provided us peasants with appropriate strategies to confront imperialism and the feudal order, striving toward that end.

Organized beginnings first appeared among Hunan peasants several years ago in northern Hengshan County. In the first half of last year, another segment of Xiangtan peasants rose up, only to be savagely suppressed by the Zhao warlord clique, preventing their full development. Then, in February of last year, Mr. Wang Xianzong of Zhuzhou sacrificed his life for the peasants’ cause. The brazen brutality of warlords and local tyrants had reached its peak, while peasant anger surged—a situation bound to reverse itself—sparking a fierce movement to oust Zhao Hengti. Peasants played a decisive role in this campaign. During the Northern Expedition, they served as spies, transporters, guides, and saboteurs behind enemy lines, even taking up spears and shotguns to engage in guerrilla warfare or join regular combat operations. From Liling and Zhuzhou to Pingjiang and Huarong, in over a dozen battles, countless peasants participated, many losing their lives. This vividly demonstrates the extraordinary courage and willingness to sacrifice shown by Hunan’s peasantry in the Northern Expedition.

Once the Northern Expeditionary Force advanced into Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Henan, Hunan peasants redoubled their efforts to consolidate the rear, rooting out corrupt officials and eliminating local tyrants. This campaign was immensely widespread. Almost every local tyrant and corrupt official felt its impact. Those who had long abused their power and treated peasants as mere chattel now dared not act as arrogantly as before. We peasants do not concern ourselves with politeness or appearances; when we take action, we strike down any corrupt official or local tyrant without hesitation, regardless of whether they attempt to retaliate with their remaining strength and launch large-scale massacres against us—as tragically occurred in Jiahe, Linxiang, Youxian, Yiyang, Anhua, and Yizhang. We recognize such outbreaks as the last gasp of a dying regime and remain undaunted. Indeed, this revolutionary work may well be comparable to the capture of Wuchang, for the power of local tyrants forms the very foundation of warlord rule. Breaking that power is something only the peasants themselves can accomplish.

We believe the primary task of the current revolutionary government should be to continue dismantling the political foundations of warlordism and to develop mass organizations. As this work proceeds, we peasants must wholeheartedly support its success, ready to lay down our lives if necessary.

However, the aim of the National Revolution is to liberate all oppressed peoples—not merely the peasantry. Can we therefore focus solely on freeing the peasants? Yes, but peasant liberation serves as a pivotal point. Its realization benefits all social classes. The lack of industrial and commercial development today stems largely from the fact that 300 million peasants lack purchasing power; similarly, agriculture stagnates because peasants lack productive capacity. If peasants are liberated and their exposure to landlord exploitation diminishes, agricultural productivity will improve. Their demand for fertilizers, farm tools, textiles, and other goods will simultaneously stimulate commerce and industry. The French Revolution, for instance, saw France’s prosperity soar partly due to partial peasant emancipation, while Russia’s recent complete abolition of landlordism has steadily boosted agricultural output—clear evidence of this connection. With industries and commerce flourishing thanks to peasant liberation, it goes without saying how much education, culture, and infrastructure projects stand to gain!

Yet the current fiscal difficulties of the government, the paralysis of the financial markets, and the pervasive public panic, accompanied by numerous rumors blaming the peasants for causing these crises—what a grave injustice! The root causes of this panic lie elsewhere. First, wartime blockades prevent rice from leaving the Yangtze River and salt from entering Yueyang, resulting in the loss of two major revenue streams: rice taxes and salt duties. Second, there is no unified financial administration in western Hunan; Qian troops and various newly formed factions intercept tax revenues, depriving the entire province of roughly one-third of its funds. Third, counter-revolutionary elements are actively stirring trouble—for example, the incident at the Laiyang Miscellaneous Tax Bureau. While half of the problem indeed lies within the bureau itself, the other half involves reactionaries exploiting the situation to sow discord among party organs, government bodies, and mass organizations. Such widespread disinformation campaigns are numerous, and together they have sown deep unrest throughout society. How can the blame possibly rest with the peasants?

When peasants in the countryside target local tyrants and corrupt officials, even if their methods fall outside the legal framework, these tactics are nonetheless essential in revolutionary struggle. At such moments, it is a matter of either the East Wind overwhelming the West Wind or vice versa—how could one afford to be lenient? To fear “conflict” and adopt an attitude of doubt or opposition is simply not the stance of a revolutionary party. The old policy of avoiding conflict is no longer applicable; we must instead forge a new approach: empowering peasants to establish democratic self-governance in rural areas, thereby fundamentally eradicating the feudal rule of local tyrants.

This congress, representing 27 million peasants of Hunan Province, has carefully considered and resolved upon a strategy for our future revolutionary struggle toward liberation. Fellow peasants of Hunan, unite under the banner of the Provincial Peasant Association and strive diligently according to the resolutions passed at this congress!

Our slogans are:

All peasants of China, unite!

Support the revolutionary government!

Root out corrupt officials!

Overthrow local tyrants!

Purge traitors among the peasants!

Rectify finances and eliminate embezzlement!

Down with the warlords!

Down with imperialism!

Long live the First Hunan Provincial Peasants’ Congress!

Long live the liberation of the Chinese nation!

Long live the International Peasants’ League!

Long live the success of the world revolution!



〇“Reference Materials on the History of the Chinese Revolution,” Volume 2, Renmin University of China, 1956

△“Declaration and Resolutions of the First Hunan Provincial Peasants’ Congress,” compiled by the Hunan Provincial Peasant Association, December 1926



Editor’s Note:

In the phrase “Thus arose the fierce movement to oust Zhao Hengti,” both the character “惕” and the period “.” were corrected by the editor based on pages 354–355 of Volume II, Part II of “Collection of Modern Revolutionary Historical Materials of Hunan” (Changsha: Hunan People’s Publishing House, 1957).