Charter of the Peasants’ Association—Newly Revised in May 1919, Printed by the Political Department of the Fourth Red Army, September 11, 1919—Article 1: The purpose of the Peasants’ Association is to mobilize and organize peasants, lead them in their struggle against the landlord class, establish a regime of workers’, peasants’, and soldiers’ soviets, confiscate the land of the landlords and distribute it to the peasants, and thereby eliminate all feudal forces in the countryside.Article 2: Membership((1) All working peasants who are members of village peasant associations, including tenant farmers and agricultural laborers, shall be eligible for membership.
They must engage in agricultural work without being subjected to exploitation by other peasants.(3) Revolutionary rural women must be encouraged to join the Peasants’ Association.(4) The minimum age for membership is fourteen years old.(5) Anyone who collects rent, practices usury, or is a reactionary element shall not be admitted.(6) Non-peasant revolutionaries who endorse the principle of the land revolution—namely, refusing to pay rent or repay debts—may also be admitted if approved by a two-thirds majority at a general meeting of all members in the township.The charter of the Peasants’ Association continues…(7) Procedures for joining the association:50() (a) One member must serve as a recommender.(b) Approval must be obtained from the Executive Committee.(c) The membership application form must be completed.Article 3: In each township, small groups of three to ten members shall be formed.
From these groups, a township-level committee shall be elected, consisting of one chairman.
Meetings shall be held once every seven days.(3) A general assembly or a congress of delegates shall be convened for the entire township, with one to three representatives from each group.
This body shall elect five to seven committee members to form the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee shall then elect a chairperson and establish several departments: a Tenant Farmers’ Section, a Youth and Women’s Section; a Propaganda Department; a Land Reform Department composed of three members; a Finance Department; and a General Secretariat.
It may also appoint a secretary, preferably a tenant farmer or a sharecropper, to serve in this capacity.(6) The term of office for members of the Executive Committee is three months.(7) The township congress shall meet once every fifteen days, while the Executive Committee will convene every three days.
Special meetings may be called at any time.(8) In areas that are too large and have a dense population, making effective leadership difficult, village-level Peasants’ Associations may be established under the direction of the township-level association.Committee