1. Confiscate all lands and turn them over to the Soviet government, to be distributed among the peasants through the following three methods: (a) distribution to individual peasants for individual cultivation; (b) distribution to individual peasants for joint cultivation; (c) organization of model farms by the Soviet government for cultivation.

Of these three methods, the first shall be the principal one. The second and third methods may be used in combination in special circumstances or when the Soviet government is in a position to do so.

2. After the confiscation and distribution by the Soviet government, all lands shall be prohibited from being bought or sold.

3. After the distribution of land, with the exception of the old and sick who are unable to work and those engaged in public service, all people shall be compelled to work.

4. Criteria for the amount of land to be distributed: (a) distribution on an equal per capita basis to men and women, old and young; (b) distribution on the basis of labour power, with those able to work receiving twice as much land as those unable to work.

Of these two criteria, the first shall be the principal one. The second criterion may be applied in places where special circumstances obtain.

Reasons for adopting the first criterion: (a) before adequate provision has been made for the care of the old and the young, the old and the young will be unable to support themselves if they receive too little land; (b) calculation of land distribution on a per capita basis is simpler and more convenient; (c) there are very few families without old people or children. Moreover, although the old and the young are unable to cultivate the land, after they receive their share the government may assign them suitable public service duties, such as communications work.

5. Criteria for the area of land distribution: (a) distribution on a township basis; (b) distribution on a multi-township basis (as in the Xiaojiang District of Yongxin); (c) distribution on a district basis (as in the Huang’ao District of Suichuan).

Of these three criteria, the first shall be the principal one. The second and third criteria may be applied in special circumstances.

6. Methods for the distribution of forested mountains: (a) tea mountains[1] and firewood mountains shall be distributed on a township basis for equal cultivation and use, in accordance with the method for the distribution of land; (b) bamboo and timber mountains shall be owned by the Soviet government. However, the peasants may, with the permission of the Soviet government, enjoy the use of the bamboo and timber. The permission of the township Soviet government must be obtained for the felling of up to fifty bamboos or trees, the permission of the district Soviet government for up to one hundred, and the permission of the county Soviet government for over one hundred; (c) all bamboo and timber shall be sold by the county Soviet government, and the proceeds shall be disposed of by the higher-level Soviet government.

7. Collection of the land tax: (a) the land tax shall be levied at three different rates in accordance with production conditions: 15 per cent, 10 per cent, and 5 per cent. Of these three rates, the first shall be the principal one. The second and third rates may be applied separately in special circumstances, subject to approval by the higher-level Soviet government; (b) in the event of natural disasters or other special circumstances, a report shall be submitted to the higher-level Soviet government for approval of exemption from the land tax; (c) the land tax shall be collected by the county Soviet government and disposed of by the higher-level Soviet government.

8. Rural handicraft workers who are willing to receive land shall be given an amount equal to half of what each peasant receives.

9. Officers and men of the Red Army and the Red Guards, as well as all others in the service of the government or any other public body, shall all receive land, in the same amount as the peasants, and the Soviet government shall hire people to do the cultivation for them.

Note[2]: This Land Law was formulated in the winter of 1928 in the Chingkang Mountains (on the Hunan-Kiangsi border). It sums up the experience of the agrarian struggle over the whole year from the winter of 1927 to the winter of 1928. Before that there had been no experience. This Land Law contains several errors: (a) confiscation of all lands instead of only the land of the landlords; (b) vesting of land ownership in the government instead of in the peasants, with the peasants having only the right to use the land; (c) prohibition of the buying and selling of land. These were all errors of principle, which were later corrected. Joint cultivation and the use of labour power as the criterion for land distribution were declared not to be the principal methods, while individual cultivation and the use of population as the criterion were declared to be the principal methods. This was because, although the former were already felt to be inappropriate, quite a few comrades advocated them, and so such a provision was made. Later it was changed and only the latter criterion was used. The hiring of people to till the land for Red Army personnel was later changed to the mobilization of the peasants to till it for them.

Published according to the text in Mao Zedong’s Rural Investigation Anthology, People’s Publishing House, 1982.

Notes
[1] Tea mountains are hillsides on which tea-oil trees are grown.
[2] This note was added by Mao Zedong when he was editing the book Rural Surveys in Yenan.