In October 1926, a joint conference of the Party Central Committee and provincial party organizations adopted several resolutions aimed at improving the situation of the peasantry. Following this, over the subsequent five months, the struggle between oppressed rural peasants and their oppressors—such as landlords, local gentry, and corrupt officials—grew considerably in scope and intensity. However, the resolutions passed at that joint conference were largely unimplemented across the country. Although peasant associations sought to put these resolutions into practice, they frequently encountered stern resistance or outright suppression from those who held power in the countryside. Meanwhile, both the government and the party apparatus, preoccupied with military operations, failed to provide adequate protection for peasant organizations or to offer active support for the establishment of self-governing peasant bodies through which the peasants could wield authority and overcome their adversaries.  As a result of the Northern Expedition’s successes, under the Nationalist government more than four million peasants had joined peasant associations and were actively striving for their own liberation. In response, the enemies of the peasantry redoubled their efforts to stifle the peasant movement and obstruct the implementation of the Party’s resolutions. These adversaries—the entrenched powers in the rural areas—were, in fact, remnants of the old order that stood opposed to the success of the National Revolution. For the revolution to succeed, it was imperative to eradicate all vestiges of feudalism. It was precisely these feudal holdovers that constituted the source of the peasants’ suffering and provided the very foundation upon which warlords and imperialist forces thrived in economically backward China. Therefore, the Party and the Nationalist government must make every effort to safeguard and promote the development of peasant organizations and to ensure the full realization of the resolutions adopted at the joint conference. The successful implementation of those resolutions would constitute the first step toward the Chinese peasantry’s emancipation. Should the Party fail to do so, the National Revolution would face grave danger and would inevitably lose the support of the peasantry—the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.

To further intensify the broad-based struggle of the peasantry against warlords and imperialism, the Party must vigorously advance the peasant movement. Representing the interests of the vast majority of peasants, the Party should consistently champion this movement, enabling the oppressed masses to achieve their goal of liberation by relying on their own organized strength and collective action. To guarantee the peasantry’s ultimate emancipation, it is essential to develop robust peasant organizations capable of confronting, under any political circumstances, all forces that seek to oppress them. Only in this way can the victory of the National Revolution truly become a victory for the peasantry.

Accordingly, in order to establish a unified democratic political system, to ensure the effective implementation of the Three Principles of the People, and to demonstrate to the peasantry that the Party is their friend and protector, the current plenary session of the Central Executive Committee resolves as follows:

1. All resolutions pertaining to peasant issues adopted at the joint conference of the Party Central Committee and provincial party organizations shall be immediately implemented in regions recently liberated from warlord rule. Special attention should be paid to determining appropriate methods of implementation based on the actual needs of the peasants. Toward this end, the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee recommends that the Nationalist government establish a Ministry of Agriculture, whose responsibilities would include land improvement and the economic and political reforms and developments demanded by the peasantry.

2. The Third Plenary Session further resolves that the following ten measures be promptly undertaken by the government, party organs, and revolutionary mass organizations:

First, the government shall promptly set up village self-government bodies in all administrative districts, to be organized by the rural residents themselves in accordance with the District and Township Self-Government Law, to manage all administrative, economic, fiscal, and cultural affairs within their respective jurisdictions. Peasant associations, under the guidance of the Party, shall serve as the central coordinating and guiding institutions for these self-governing bodies. The specific provisions of the District and Township Self-Government Law will be formulated separately.

Second, each district self-government body shall establish a Land Committee (which may also be established at the township level if necessary), composed of representatives from the agricultural administration and the peasant associations, to plan and implement land improvement initiatives and to carry out all government-mandated measures concerning land consolidation and land use.

Third, all armed groups in the countryside not affiliated with the government military must be brought under the authority of the district or township self-government bodies. Any group that refuses to comply shall be dealt with in accordance with the Regulations on the Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries. The district and township self-government bodies shall have the power to reorganize such armed groups, transforming them into forces that protect the rural population and serve its legitimate security needs. If there is an acute shortage of firearms, the government must take steps to provide supplementary supplies.

Fourth, the Party’s resolution from the joint conference calling for a reduction of one-fifteenth in rent shall be fully implemented within the current year. All lease agreements for farmland must be registered with the township self-government bodies. These bodies, in conjunction with the peasant associations, shall monitor and strictly enforce the locally determined maximum rental rates. They shall also abolish all unreasonable clauses contained either within or outside formal lease contracts and, by executive order, grant tenant farmers permanent rights to use the land. No landlord may reclaim his own fields for cultivation unless he undertakes to cultivate them personally; otherwise, he must transfer them to another tenant. If a tenant voluntarily relinquishes the land, or if the original owner resumes cultivation himself, any improvements made to the land during the tenancy shall entitle the former tenant to fair compensation.

Fifth, public lands and temple properties at the district and township levels shall be placed under the administration of the corresponding self-government bodies by government decree. Ownership of ancestral shrines and associated estates must no longer be monopolized by clan elders or a small clique to the detriment of poorer members of the community.

Sixth, the government shall severely punish corrupt officials, local tyrants, and other counterrevolutionaries, confiscating their landholdings in accordance with the law. Such confiscated lands located within the jurisdiction of a district or township shall be regarded as public property belonging to the people.

Seventh, the existing system of land taxation is fundamentally unjust and inequitable and must be urgently reformed. Moreover, the various exorbitant taxes and levies currently imposed on the peasantry are gravely detrimental to their economic well-being and should likewise be gradually abolished. The government should swiftly introduce a uniform tax rate tailored to local conditions. All other miscellaneous taxes on land and rural produce must be completely eliminated, thereby alleviating the burden on the peasantry. All tax collection agencies should be transferred to the control of the district and township self-government bodies and specially appointed fiscal authorities. The practice of allowing local gentry and wealthy landowners to dominate these institutions must be entirely dismantled through thorough reform.

Eighth, in order to alleviate the exploitation of peasants by usurious lenders, the government shall issue a clear edict prohibiting usury, setting interest rates at no more than one percent per annum or one tenth of one percent per month, and forbidding the compounding of interest on existing peasant debts. The Nationalist government’s Ministry of Agriculture should promptly finalize measures to relieve the peasants’ debt-related distress and should immediately work to establish a peasant bank offering loans at an annual interest rate of five percent.

Ninth, to prevent landlords and unscrupulous merchants from driving up grain prices and to assist impoverished peasants in times of natural disaster, the government shall authorize the district and township self-government bodies, upon request of the agricultural administration, to assume special responsibility for managing grain exports and maintaining strategic grain reserves.

Tenth, the Nationalist government should accelerate preparations for presenting the following matters at the next plenary session of the Central Executive Committee: (1) how rent payments can be processed through the village self-government bodies and how the government may deduct land taxes directly from those payments; (2) the implementation of a democratic county-level government structure; (3) the establishment of an independent, democratic judicial system to resolve land disputes and other legal conflicts; and (4) concrete measures to address the land problems of impoverished peasants.

The plenary session of the Central Executive Committee regards the foregoing as merely the initial steps in the struggle for the emancipation of the Chinese peasantry. The ultimate expansion and triumph of this struggle, however, will require the active participation of the peasants themselves, coupled with the full support of the government. The plenary session firmly believes that the successful realization of these measures constitutes the sole solid foundation for the National Revolution. Millions of Chinese peasants will rally behind the Party, the Nationalist government, and the National Revolutionary Army in a united front. This united front, the plenary session is convinced, will liberate China from imperialist oppression, eliminate all warlord factions, remove obstacles to agricultural development, and address a wide range of social ills, including unemployment and banditry. For without the emancipation and improved livelihoods of thirty million peasants, China’s industrial and commercial sectors cannot be revitalized and will remain dependent on foreign powers.

All of these proposed reforms represent the only viable path toward building a new social order. The plenary session resolves to resolutely combat anyone who seeks to impede or undermine this united front, obstruct the development of the peasant movement, or hinder the Nationalist government’s policies aimed at liberating the peasantry and, ultimately, the entire nation. The Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee further decides that at the next plenary meeting, the government shall submit a report on the progress made in implementing these measures, and that all Party members be called upon to unite in disseminating these resolutions, ensuring that every Chinese peasant—whether in villages, among troops, or within various organizations—becomes fully aware of them, whether through printed materials or oral presentations for those who cannot read, so that no one is left uninformed.