The True Situation of the Hunan Peasant Movement
(June 22, 1927)
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(I) The Development of the Hunan Peasant Movement. (A) The Situation of Development: The Hunan peasant movement has not been long in duration, but according to the report of April this year, there were 63 counties with organizations throughout the province, with over 5 million members, and nearly 10 million peasants rising up. Its distribution area is centered on the Xiang River basin, followed by the counties bordering the lake and the Zi River basin. Therefore, these areas occupy an important [position] militarily and politically. The Hunan peasant movement, for the sake of preparing for the Northern Expedition, could not but first focus on this area. As for the western Hunan area, due to inconvenient transportation and long-term rule by warlords such as Yuan Zuming, it is still in the initial stage. (B) Reasons for Development: The rise of the Hunan peasant movement is entirely the result of the rule of feudal warlords. Warlord politics is built on the exploitation of peasants. The largest military expenditure on which it relies to maintain its regime comes from land tax, salt tax, miscellaneous taxes, and likin. These four items are entirely directly or indirectly borne by the peasants. Under the rule of warlords such as Zhang Jingyao, Fu Liangzuo, Zhao Hengti, and Ye Kaixin, the Hunan peasants suffered miserably from the endless exploitation of increased land tax collection, additional likin, and increased miscellaneous taxes, almost to the point where eight or nine out of ten families were left empty and destitute. In order to implement their exploitation, the warlords colluded with corrupt officials, petty officials, local bullies, and evil gentry as their henchmen. Likin bureaus and tax bureaus became lucrative positions for officials to compete for. A county magistrate could earn tens of thousands of yuan in six months. Such facts resulted in doubling the suffering of the peasants. As for the local bullies and evil gentry, they were the lower-level foundation of warlord politics, politically monopolizing rural power, using local defense armed forces to carry out massacres, and economically imposing heavy rents, heavy surcharges, and high-interest loans, so that the peasants' lives fell into an irrecoverable state. The entire feudal forces—the layers of exploitation by warlords, corrupt officials, petty officials, local bullies, and evil gentry—determined that the peasants had only two paths: revolution and death (starvation, freezing to death, death as bandits, etc.). During the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang, the National Government, and the National Revolutionary Army had extensive propaganda regarding the interests of the peasants—organizing peasant associations, organizing peasant self-defense forces, abolishing exorbitant taxes and levies, and prohibiting heavy rents and high interest rates. Therefore, the Hunan peasants rose up in hunger and poverty. (C) The Main Force in the Peasant Revolution: The poor peasants are the most suffering and largest number of masses among the peasants. They have no land, no guarantee of life, and simply do not know the evening in the morning. Under feudal politics, their status is also the most humble. Hunger and death are their two inescapable fates, so they are naturally rich in revolutionary spirit. The middle peasants were initially not interested in the revolution. Only the poor peasants initially fully believed in the Kuomintang, the National Government, and the National Revolutionary Army's propaganda to the peasants, unhesitatingly supported the revolution, and unhesitatingly joined the peasant associations. Therefore, the poor peasants are indeed the initiators of the peasant associations and the soldiers participating in the Northern Expedition. In other words, the poor peasants are the leaders of the Hunan peasants, and this is the main force in the Hunan peasant movement!
(II) The Achievements of the Hunan Peasant Movement. (A) Participating in the Northern Expedition: The first contribution of the Hunan peasant movement in the revolution was to lead the peasants in the Northern Expedition. The participation of Hunan peasants in the Northern Expedition has the same significance as the Canton-Hong Kong strike. The Canton-Hong Kong strike blockaded Hong Kong, so that the revolutionary government had the opportunity to "catch thieves behind closed doors" and fundamentally eliminate Chen Jiongming, Deng Benyin, Yang Ximin, Liu Zhenhuan, etc., and then launch the Northern Expedition. The participation of Hunan peasants in the Northern Expedition enabled the Northern Expeditionary Army to pass through Hunan in a very short time and to recuperate and recover Wuhan. If it is said that the Canton-Hong Kong strike created the Northern Expedition, then the peasant movement promoted the Northern Expedition. When the Northern Expeditionary Army came down from Hengyang, the peasants in Liling, Liuyang, Pingjiang, Linxiang, Huarong and other places actually participated in the war with hoes and spears. They organized reconnaissance teams, comfort teams, and assault teams to assist the Northern Expedition, so many peasants were killed in battle. As for sending tea and porridge to comfort the soldiers, it was even more common throughout the province. (B) Resisting Local Bullies and Evil Gentry: The lower-level forces of warlord politics are built on corrupt officials, petty officials, local bullies, and evil gentry who control rural power and local defense armed forces to engage in feudal-style exploitation. Therefore, if one does not seek to overthrow feudal warlord politics, then one must not only strive to overthrow the warlords themselves, but also further overthrow corrupt officials, petty officials, local bullies, and evil gentry. Specifically, in terms of peasant liberation, one must first be liberated from their direct rulers—corrupt officials, petty officials, local bullies, and evil gentry.

The Hunan peasants are more likely to accept the slogan of overthrowing local bullies and evil gentry than any other slogan, because local bullies and evil gentry are the direct rulers of the peasants! The Hunan peasants refer to local bullies and evil gentry as "long teeth" and "sitting on long benches," which are all descriptions of the fact that local bullies and evil gentry exploit the peasants' blood and sweat and monopolize rural power. In particular, the peasants are more afraid of and hate the rural autonomous organs controlled by these "long teeth" and "sitting on long benches" than the county governments and all collection organs occupied by corrupt officials and petty officials, so they have the names "beating the head Zhang's yamen" and "iron threshold."
The current target of the Hunan peasant revolution is only local bullies and evil gentry, because the subjective forces are not yet able to fight against the entire feudal forces. Therefore, corrupt officials and petty officials can exist in some places in Hunan, and not many of them have been overthrown in their ranks. As for the local bullies and evil gentry who have been overthrown by the peasants, the number is greater than that of other feudal forces. But in reality, the Hunan peasants' overthrow of local bullies and evil gentry is not as "fierce" as people imagine. According to statistics, only a few dozen local bullies and evil gentry have been overthrown by the peasants throughout the province. On the contrary, the local bullies and evil gentry have massacred peasants in a shocking number in less than two years. Therefore, the Hunan peasants are currently only resisting local bullies and evil gentry, and cannot be regarded as overthrowing local bullies and evil gentry. However, this anti-local bully and evil gentry movement has already given the Hunan feudal forces a lot of blows. For example, Liu Zhao and Yang Zhize in Ningxiang, Yan Rongqiu in Xiangtan, Mei Shi in Huarong, and Yu Chihua in Changsha are all the top figures in the local bully and evil gentry ranks. After these giants were publicly executed, the Hunan feudal forces can be said to have been frustrated. This is indeed a great achievement made by the Hunan peasants in the National Revolution. (C) Building a Prosperous and Peaceful Countryside: No matter how movingly you describe the disturbances in the Hunan countryside, even a giant among the local bullies and evil gentry, in his heart or even verbally, cannot but admit that the current Hunan countryside has a more peaceful atmosphere than when these "masters" (the Hunan peasants' term for landlords) were in power.
Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, the government has repeatedly banned opium, but in fact, under the rule of warlords, the opium prohibition bureau was originally an opium selling bureau. Corrupt officials, petty officials, local bullies, and evil gentry did not care even if you were lying in the street with a smoking pipe. Those who were investigated and punished were all small opium addicts and those without power. Just look at the number of special elegant rooms in Wuhan and the number of conversation places in Guangzhou, and you can imagine the absurdity of opium prohibition. However, opium, which has not only not been eradicated but has developed significantly after twenty years of prohibition, has been completely eradicated bit by bit in the shortest time in the areas where the Hunan peasants have risen up.

The opium pipes of the local bullies and evil gentry have been smashed by the peasants. The district and township peasant associations have decided that those who are found to be secretly smoking will be fined and paraded through the streets. Sure enough, many gentlemen with considerable face have performed a few scenes of wearing tall hats. Since then, no one in the Hunan countryside dares to catch lice on the tiger's head and do the act of swallowing clouds and spitting fog again.

As for gambling, the rural children's corps searched every household for mahjong tiles and other gambling tools and burned them on the spot. In the old days, during the New Year, the countryside would usually open large gambling dens, and people would shout and gamble endlessly. But now, the New Year entertainment retains the old dragon lanterns and lion dances, and adds new ones such as speeches, lantern parades, and mass parades. The famous gambling rascals have no choice but to follow everyone and let go.

Three-inch golden lotuses are not uncommon in the north and even in Wuhan, the thoroughfare of nine provinces. In the poor rural areas of Hunan, there were also many in the past, but now the female members of the peasant associations have put on straw sandals and followed the masses to carry spears and parade in the city. Not only that, but some women in the Hunan countryside openly run small workshops and cultivate fields.

There are also a few things in the countryside that even the most ferocious local bullies and evil gentry secretly praise, that is, repairing ponds and dams, building roads, and reclaiming wasteland. If the ponds and dams of anyone (including landlords) are blocked, the peasant association will order them to be excavated. After the project is completed, they will negotiate with the landlord and pay the wages according to the actual number. Rural roads have always been neglected, but now almost every place has been repaired. The narrow paths have become thoroughfares more than ten feet wide, which is really convenient for travelers. The landlords are accustomed to monopolizing barren mountains and wastelands and letting them lie fallow. The peasant association will issue a name to rent them out to members for reclamation.

Those who engage in these three projects, repairing ponds and dams, building roads, and reclaiming wasteland, are all poor peasants. This is the method decided by the district and township peasant associations to settle the poor peasants. Because there is no excessive danger of unemployment in the countryside, theft cases have also disappeared. The Hunan countryside is moving step by step towards the phenomenon of not closing doors at night and not picking up lost items that people dream of.
In addition, running education (donating money to set up night schools) and breaking superstitions (Guanyin Hall and Caishen Temple have become meeting places, and the statues of gods have been moved away and replaced with Sun Yat-sen's portraits) have become extremely enthusiastic work in the countryside. Noble scholars and doctors only advocate in vain, but they are not as good as ordinary peasants who immediately put them into practice.
In short, the peasant movement has given the Hunan countryside a new atmosphere, a new atmosphere of democracy, revitalizing industrial production, improving customs and habits, and relieving unemployment. These are all achievements that the Hunan peasants have already made and are still working on!
(III) The Trend of the Hunan Peasant Movement. The solution to the land problem, the urgent demand of all peasants is four big characters: "Land Nationalization," fundamentally overthrowing the economic foundation of feudal forces and completing the economic revolution in the National Revolution. The peasants are sincerely participating in the revolution, but they will not forget their goal in the revolution. On the contrary, the revolution has made them more eager for this goal. The development of the Hunan peasant movement has surpassed the advanced Guangdong. Therefore, it tells us earlier and more clearly than other provinces that its front battle flag is "Land Nationalization," fundamentally eradicating feudal forces. In the past few months, a slogan "Equalization of Tenancy Rights" has been popular in the countryside. This is purely shouted out by the poor peasant class. The meaning of this peasant-style slogan is to oppose the monopoly of land. The poor peasant members who account for the majority of the peasant association mostly advocate averaging the tenancy according to the number of local peasants. This method is of course unworkable, so there have been disputes over "prohibiting tenancy." This phenomenon is entirely caused by the loss of land by the poor peasants. There is also a more widespread slogan, which is simply a joke in the eyes of ordinary intellectuals, that is, "Abolish Unequal Treaties" and "Equality." The unequal treaties mentioned by the peasants are not the Treaty of Nanjing or the Xinhai Treaty, but the "Tenancy Agreements" regarding the harsh collection of land rent, such as the most popular so-called "East Seven Tenancy Three" and "Interest-Free Deposit," "Field Duck," "Field Egg," "Field Grass," and sending "Human Feelings" (that is, gifts) to the landlord during festivals, and the obligation to work without wages when the landlord has weddings and funerals. These harsh rules and bad habits are regarded by the peasants, especially the poor peasants, as the unequal treaties that the Kuomintang and the National Government have promoted to abolish. It seems really funny! But this contains the meaning of the poor peasants demanding land, because the so-called unequal treaty's "Tenancy Agreement," harsh rules, and bad habits, the poor peasants have suffered a lot, especially making it impossible for the poor peasants to have the opportunity to rent land forever. The poor peasants' loss of land and their lives falling into extreme poverty is the only reason why they can actively participate in the revolution, surpassing other peasants. The "Equalization of Tenancy Rights" set by the peasants themselves is impossible anyway. Even if it can be put into practice, it is completely a palliative measure and cannot fundamentally solve the land problem, because the land is still monopolized by the big landlords, and the rural economy is still stagnant in a feudal state. Therefore, the peasants further issued the so-called "Equality" call, that is, Sun Yat-sen's so-called "Those who till the land should have their own land." Sun Yat-sen can be said to have foreseen the trend of the Hunan peasant movement!

The Hunan peasants are already very eager for land, which is more clearly manifested in the two things of "Suppressing Grain Prices" and "Prohibiting Grain Exports." The hope of Western European peasants is that the price of products will increase, but in the market, the price of products is often not as high as that of industrial products, and the so-called "scissors" problem occurs. In Hunan, however, the opposite phenomenon occurs. The peasant associations universally suppress grain prices and prevent grain from being exported. In fact, this is not surprising, but it is a land relationship. The peasants in Western Europe are all small farmers with land (those who cultivate on mechanized farms can only be regarded as workers, and should be discussed separately), so they always hope that grain prices will increase. The Hunan peasants, or it can be said the Chinese peasants, are not the same. Poor peasants account for 90% of the peasants. These poor peasants have lost their land, or have land but not enough. They have to buy grain from the landlords and rich peasants at high prices. Therefore, their attitude towards the price of agricultural products is exactly the opposite of that of Western European peasants, that is, they hope that grain prices will be cheaper and better. The fundamental reason is the relationship of high rent and high interest. "Suppressing Grain Prices" and "Prohibiting Grain Exports" can indeed be detrimental to other peasants with land, and the hindrance to agricultural product circulation and government finance is also undeniable.

However, this is entirely a land problem, and it can only be solved after the land problem is solved. As long as every peasant can have enough land to cultivate, then the peasants will stand on the interests of small farmers and only hope that grain prices will increase, and there will never be "Suppressing Grain Prices" and "Prohibiting Grain Exports." Otherwise, no matter how you relieve them, it will be in vain. The first provincial congress of Hunan peasants had a resolution on "Suppressing Grain Prices" and "Prohibiting Grain Exports," saying that "grain should be stored in warehouses outside the local grain demand" and "all should be released." The provincial peasant association repeatedly ordered the implementation of the ban, but the result remained the same. Because the poor peasants are starving and hungry, and their empty stomachs make them continue to maintain the old methods of "Suppressing Grain Prices" and "Prohibiting Grain Exports" with the power of the masses when there is no better way and storing grain in warehouses is actually impossible. If you cannot give them land, no one can prohibit this peasant-style method! Chinese peasants account for the vast majority of the population, so Sun Yat-sen said, "The success of the National Revolution lies in the participation of farmers and workers." But how to make the peasants participate in the revolution? Give the peasants what they need. The support or opposition of the peasants is the standard for the success or failure of the National Revolution. The Hunan peasant movement has shown us that the land problem is indeed the first item to be solved on the agenda of the National Revolution.
(IV) Obstacles to the Hunan Peasant Movement. The Attack of Local Bullies and Evil Gentry—I have always believed that the Hunan peasants are not yet qualified to say that they have overthrown the local bullies and evil gentry, but can only be said to be resisting the local bullies and evil gentry. Many people, especially those from other provinces who do not understand the truth about Hunan, are accustomed to asserting that the Hunan peasants are making too much trouble and killing too many local bullies and evil gentry. The facts tell us the opposite. As mentioned above, only a few dozen local bullies and evil gentry have been killed in Hunan, while the number of peasants who have been brutally killed by the local bullies and evil gentry is shocking. During the Zhao Hengti era, more than 10,000 people were killed in the name of bandits. Unless we deliberately erase the facts, everyone knows the revolution of the Hunan peasants, but few people know that the cruelty and cunning of the Hunan local bullies and evil gentry are more severe than in any other province. The biggest obstacle to the current Hunan peasant movement is the thousands upon thousands of local bullies and evil gentry. Between the Hunan peasants and these local bullies and evil gentry, there is only a relationship of life and death. The entire front of the local bullies and evil gentry is desperately attacking the Hunan peasants!
Their methods of attack are the most sinister and cruel. Analyzing them, there are six in total:
(1) Using Local Defense to Carry Out Massacres: The Local Defense Bureau, the Security Corps, the Militia, and the Police Station in Hunan were originally the undisguised armed forces of the landlords to suppress the peasants. During the Zhao Hengti era, they were the real foundation of warlord politics. For example, the Tong family, a large landlord in Ningxiang, was Zhao's in-laws. The Tong family in Ningxiang could arbitrarily dispatch the local defense of the entire county. This kind of landlord's armed forces was the actual rural government in the warlord era, and was the direct organ for ruling the peasants. Arresting and massacring peasants simply became the daily routine of these "bureau chief masters." As long as the local bullies and evil gentry snorted, the peasants would be in danger of "entering the bureau." When Yang Zhize of Ningxiang ran the local defense, he killed more than 400 people without any charges. When Liu Zhao ran the local defense, once two villages competed to play dragon lanterns. Liu Zhao instigated the villagers in his village to fight with the villagers in other villages. A blacksmith cursed Liu Zhao's mother. After a long time, Liu Zhao took the local defense soldiers to investigate a case outside. He met the blacksmith going up the mountain to offer incense. Liu Zhao immediately ordered the local defense soldiers to tie him up, gouge out his eyes, cut off his tongue, and cut off his genitals and insert them into the blacksmith's mouth, scolding: "Are you still cursing my mother?" He dragged him for five miles before shooting him. The private use of torture by the local defense in various counties was even more common. If the peasants were slightly disobedient, they would be executed in the name of bandits, and they would be subjected to terrifying tortures such as "hanging half a pig," "stepping on a pole," "sitting on a happy bench," "cutting off tendons," "smoking the nose with chili peppers," and "hanging upside down." Therefore, the peasants would not "enter the bureau" unless they had to, otherwise they would either die or become disabled.
When the Northern Expeditionary Army passed through Hunan, the local defense of Ningxiang, Xiangxiang, and Anhua prepared to gather at Xuefeng Mountain to make a final struggle for Zhao. The Hunan local defense, under the command of the local bullies and evil gentry, was purely a tool for anti-peasant movement. The local defense bureau of Quanjiao Town, Yiyang, did not participate in the establishment ceremony of the district party department. When a large team of peasants on parade passed by the local defense bureau, they questioned the director about the reason for not participating. The local defense bureau did not answer and immediately opened fire, killing more than 100 peasants on the spot, and countless were injured. Wang Zemin, the director of the Jiahe local defense bureau, opened a large gambling den in the bureau. When the peasants prohibited it, he shot and killed the peasant Wang Lao Si and looted the property of many peasant families. The local defense bureau of Chaling secretly burned alive a student who returned to his hometown on vacation to promote the peasant movement with kerosene and firewood, smashed the corpse, and discarded it to eliminate traces. In addition, the fact that the local defense bureau colluded with local bullies and evil gentry to attempt to eliminate the peasant association by force occurred almost every month.
(2) Colluding with Bandits: With the rise of the peasant movement, the rural power controlled by the local bullies and evil gentry has mostly collapsed. Therefore, all its armed forces—the local defense bureau—gradually lost its ruling effectiveness. Many local defense bureaus have disbanded themselves. Those that remain are managed by upright gentry. In order to continue attacking the peasant association, the local bullies and evil gentry have to abandon the local defense and look for new weapons—bandits. The local bullies and evil gentry of Anhua colluded with bandits to kill more than 200 peasants. Almost nine out of ten reports in the files of the provincial peasant association reported that the local bullies and evil gentry gathered bandits, drank rooster blood wine, swore to the sky, overthrew the peasant association, and killed all the special commissioners. The Hunan peasants have indeed sacrificed a lot under this method of local bullies and evil gentry colluding with bandits.
(3) Organizing Reactionary Groups: Using local defense and colluding with bandits are still temporary actions. The local bullies and evil gentry further attempted to have organized and planned reaction, so they organized reactionary groups to unite their forces and regard them as the central hub for directing the counter-revolution. Xiangxiang has the Zhenxiang Maintenance Association, Hengyang has the Baihua Party, Liling and Liuyang have the San'ai Party, and Liling has the Dog Beating Association. The so-called dog refers to the peasants. The Property Protection Party is a more common organization in central Hunan. These groups specialize in dealing with the peasants. All the actions of massacring peasants and destroying peasant associations in various counties are from the plans of these counter-revolutionary and anti-peasant movement staff departments. In some places, although this plan has been cracked by the people, its organization has not been disbanded, and the attack on the peasants is advancing more and more fiercely every day!
(4) Mixing into the Peasant Association: This is a more sinister attack. In many places where the forces are weak and the leaders have no power, cunning local bullies and evil gentry put on a false mask and mixed into the peasant association, disrupting it from within, detecting the truth, and especially deliberately putting forward excessively high slogans and taking excessive actions to undermine the consistent policies of the provincial peasant association or harm the revolutionary peasants. Nine out of ten times, the peasant movement loses the sympathy of the revolutionary masses because of these spies of the local bullies and evil gentry.
(5) Organizing Puppet Peasant Associations: The local bullies and evil gentry know that the peasant movement is difficult to stop by force. Continuing to attack openly with local defense, bandits, and reactionary groups is just hitting a stone with an egg and getting burned. Smart local bullies and evil gentry will never do such "pig-headed" things, so they turn around and fully support the peasant movement. For a period of time, almost every day, several batches of fat-headed and sharp-tongued people came to the peasant association to ask for brochures and ask to organize peasant associations. They are waving two big flags—familism and localism—to call on the family. The peasant association has constantly discovered in various counties that uniting a surname and resisting outsiders is their slogan. In addition, the local bullies and evil gentry mostly claim that joining the peasant association they call on can eat cheap grain or get money to call on the same surname or tenants, and try their best to fool the higher-level organs to recognize them as special district and township peasant associations in order to carry out their conspiracy of using theft and calmly putting the peasant movement to death.

(6) Spreading Rumors and Slander: The first-class Hunan local bullies and evil gentry fled to Shanghai, the second-class fled to Hankou, and the third-class fled to Changsha. This is the common behavior of the Hunan local bullies and evil gentry after the peasant resistance. They are criminals who have committed heinous crimes and are fortunate to escape the law, but in their escape, they have not abandoned their anti-peasant movement and anti-revolutionary work. The biggest and most powerful method is to spread rumors desperately everywhere. This conspiracy is actually more serious than the above methods. What peasant movement is communist and communal wives, soldiers do not go home for six months, and their wives are taken by the peasant association, and the family property of a certain army commander and division commander is confiscated, and the father is killed, etc. are all unfounded rumors to provoke the feelings of the revolutionary soldiers and peasants, and to make the peasants lose deep sympathy in front of the revolutionary masses and fall into an isolated position. Currently, this kind of counter-propaganda is extremely developed in Hankou.

(V) Shortcomings of the Hunan Peasant Movement and Future Policies. Revolutionaries do not conceal their mistakes. They can only understand their mistakes from continuous progress in order to remedy them. The Hunan peasant movement will never have those strange facts like the counter-propaganda of the local bullies and evil gentry in various places, such as communal wives and communism. The mistake is the united front of the revolution! The problem is that in the midst of resisting the local bullies and evil gentry and big landlords, the interests of the small landlords and small businessmen were slightly neglected. But the reason for this mistake, the revolutionary party, cannot shirk its responsibility. Once the peasants who have been oppressed for thousands of years rise up, their actions will inevitably be accompanied by various naive actions. If the revolutionary party can obtain the leadership of the peasants, and the peasants fight under the revolutionary policies, there will definitely not be such mistakes. But now the peasant movement is developing rapidly, and the party has in fact fallen behind. In Hunan, you cannot find a peasant party member among hundreds of peasants, so the revolutionary policies can never penetrate into the countryside and become the goal of the peasants' struggle. In the future, our only method is to vigorously develop the Kuomintang's peasants in the countryside, strive to obtain the leadership of the peasants, and continue to implement the following six policies:

1. Confiscate the property of corrupt officials, petty officials, local bullies, evil gentry, and all counter-revolutionaries.

The True Situation of the Hunan Peasant Movement

2. Protect the land and property of revolutionary soldiers.
3. Protect the interests of small and medium landlords and small businessmen.
4. Implement the central government's policies on the peasant movement as soon as possible.
5. Build a revolutionary democratic rural regime.
6. Arm the peasants.