(June 1929)

To be publicly announced. Our Red Army, under the guidance of the Communist
Party, carries out the three great tasks of the democratic revolution, to overthrow
imperialism, to overthrow the landlord class, and to overthrow the Guomindang
government, under the guiding principle of helping the workers and peasants and
all oppressed classes to attain liberation. Today the Guomindang is rent by
disunity, chaotic warfare among Chiang Kaishek, the Guangxi faction, Feng
Yuxiang, and Yan Xishan is going on all over the country, and the reactionary
government has been shaken to its foundations. Throughout the country, workers, peasants, soldiers, and the oppressed petty bourgeoisie are joining together
to make revolution, in increasing numbers and increasing strength. In every
province and every xian, every village and every town, there is a great deal of
activity, of soldiers organizing Red armies, of workers organizing labor
unions, of peasants organizing peasant associations. Our army has come to
this place, knowing that the people are suffering bitterly, that the price of
grain is very dear, that interest rates are very high, that rents are very heavy,
and that there are a multitude of harsh fees. The local bullies and bad gentry
control everything, using the clan temples and public associations to cheat
and oppress all poor people of all families. These local bullies and bad gentry
are no more than a few out of every hundred people. The great majority of
the people should join together and overthrow these despotic gentry, for the
benefit of the majority of the people. The most urgent things that must be
done now are listed below.
1. In the case of large landlords who receive rents of 200 Dan or more, all
their household grain and public association grain (except for that of the welfare
granary) shall be confiscated without compensation and distributed among the
poor peasants. The small landlords with rental incomes of less than 200 Dan
must sell their household grain at a reduced price, to be fixed at one-half the
original price per Dan. (Grain that merchants have imported from other places,
however, shall not be included under this item.)
2. All debts that workers and peasants owe to landlords shall be canceled
Our source for this proclamation is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 3, pp. 57-58, where it is
taken from documentary collections published in 1979 and 1982.

without repayment. (Debts incurred among merchants, or among workers and
peasants, shall not be included under this item.)
3. Beginning this year, ownership of the fields shall revert to the peasants
who till them, and rent shall no longer be paid to landlords.
4. Eliminate all harsh fees, miscellaneous taxes, lijin,¹ and land taxes.
5. The labor unions organized by workers, the peasant associations organized
by peasants, and the revolutionary committees organized by workers and peasants together, shall seize the guns of the counterrevolutionaries and organize
worker and peasant Red Guard units.
6. All local bullies and bad gentry who regularly oppress the workers and
peasants, or obstruct the revolution, or who have not accounted for public funds
that have passed through their hands, can be arrested by the peasant associations,
and in accordance with the severity of their crimes, may be sentenced to punishments such as death, imprisonment, physical punishment, fines, parading in public, or writing a confession of their sins.
The above six items shall be implemented immediately upon being posted. If
there are those who object, and who seek some personal gain for themselves and
obstruct the public interests of the great majority of the people, they are counterrevolutionaries, and these evil persons should be rooted out without mercy.
Heed this proclamation.

Commander of the Army: Zhu De
Party Representative: Mao Zedong
Head of the Political Department: Chen Yi
June [X], 1929

1. The transportation tax on goods moved within the country, commonly transcribed
likin in English-language sources of the period.