Land Law
(February 7, 1930)1

Chapter One: Confiscation and Redistribution of Land

Article 1. After the political power of the despotic gentry and landlord class
has been overthrown by an armed uprising, all land, hills, woods, ponds, and
houses owned by the despotic gentry and landlord class, as well as by ancestral
halls, temples and societies, must be immediately confiscated, turned over to the
soviet, and redistributed by the soviet to impoverished peasants, and other categories of people in need of land. Where there is only a peasant association, and a
soviet has not yet been set up, the peasant association can also carry out confiscation and redistribution.
Article 2. Of the land, hills, woods, ponds and houses belonging to ownerpeasants, if there is a surplus in excess of what is needed for self-support, after
the majority of local peasants demand its confiscation, the soviet should approve
the peasants' demand, confiscate the surplus portion and redistribute it.
Article 3. The families of the despotic gentry, landlords, and reactionaries,
after undergoing investigation by the soviet and receiving permission to reside in
the countryside, may receive an appropriate amount of land when they have no
other means of supporting themselves.
Article 4. Officers, soldiers, and porters of the Red Army currently in military
service and those engaged in revolutionary work shall also receive redistributed

1. This law was adopted at a conference in Pitou village, Donggu district, Ji'an xian.
(Regarding this gathering, see below, the "Front Committee Notice No. 1" of February 16
and the notes thereto.) While many paragraphs in this text are identical to provisions in the
law dated August 1930, there are significant differences. The most notable point is the
harsher attitude toward relatively well-to-do peasants. Thus, apart from landlords, paragraph 2 of this law (which does not appear in the August 1930 law) authorizes the
confiscation and redistribution of land belonging not only to rich peasants, but to other
owner-peasants, if they have more than the minimum required to support their families. On
the other hand, paragraph 10 of this law calls only for "drawing on the plentiful to make up
for the scarce," while the August law adds the principle of "drawing on the fat to make up
for the lean," in other words, of taking the more productive land of well-to-do peasants and
giving it to the poor peasants. For a discussion of Mao's evolving position on agrarian
problems during 1930, see the Introduction to this volume.
land; moreover, the soviet shall assign people to help their families farm the land.
Article 5. Rural residents who can make a living through other lines of work,
such as industry, commerce and education, shall not receive redistributed land.
Those who cannot make ends meet may receive a suitable amount of redistributed land, no more than enough to make up the shortfall in their incomes.
Article 6. Farm laborers and unemployed vagrants, if they are willing to
receive redistributed land, should be given land. But those vagrants who receive
redistributed land must rid themselves of evil addictions, such as to opium and
gambling, otherwise the soviet will take back their land.
Article 7. Those who have traveled to other areas and do not live in their
native villages shall not receive land.
Article 8. There are two criteria for land redistribution as regards administrative subdivisions:

a. Using the township as the unit; the peasants of a certain township pool
together the land they farm in their township and in neighboring townships
and redistribute it jointly.

b. Using several townships as the unit. For example, three or four townships are adjacent to each other, and some of them have more land while the
others have less land; if land is redistributed taking each township as the unit,
the townships with less land cannot support themselves, nor do they have any
other form of production to support themselves. In this case, three or four
townships may be combined into one unit to carry out the redistribution. Of
the above two methods, the first is widely applicable. Under special circumstances, the second method may be used after the township soviets have made
a request and received permission from the district soviet.
Article 9. The quantitative criteria for land redistribution:

a. In order to meet the demands of the majority of the people and enable
peasants to receive land quickly, land should be redistributed according to the
number of people in the countryside; men, women, the old, and the young
should receive equal shares.

b. In places with special circumstances, after the township soviets make
the request and receive permission from the district soviet, the criterion of
labor [power] may be used. Those who can work get twice as much land as
those who cannot work (those between fourteen and sixty who can do farm
work each constitute one labor unit).
Article 10. In order to destroy the feudal forces swiftly, land redistribution
should follow the principle of drawing on the plentiful to make up for the scarce.
It is not permitted to distribute the land a second time, applying the principle of
absolute egalitarianism. After the land has been redistributed, the soviets shall
make wooden markers and place them in the fields to mark the yield of the plot
and the name of its current tiller.

Article 11. All land deeds of the despotic gentry, landlords, common land
owned by ancestral halls, and temples must be surrendered to the township
soviets or township/district peasant associations within a specified period to
be burned in public. The deeds of the land owned by owner-peasants should
also be burned if the majority of peasants so demand.
Article 12. After land is redistributed, the xian soviets or district soviets are
to issue cultivation permits.
Article 13. The redistributed land of all those in the countryside who have
died, changed their occupations, or gone elsewhere will be taken back by the
soviets to be redistributed once more. As for newcomers and newborn babies,
the soviets should find a way to give them land, but only after the harvest.
Article 14. When land is redistributed following an armed uprising, if the
peasants have already sown the seeds, the crops harvested in this season belong
to the peasants who previously farmed the land; others are not allowed to
harvest these crops.
Article 15. Dikes and large ponds that are not easy to redistribute are placed
under the management of the soviet for public use by the people; [the soviet]
also supervises people to repair and maintain them.
Article 16. Large hills and forests that are not easy to redistribute are placed
under the management of the soviet. When people need to cut bamboo, they
must obtain permission from the soviets according to the following rules. Permission for cutting fewer than twenty stalks may be obtained from the township
soviets; permission for cutting more than twenty and fewer than fifty stalks may
be obtained from the district soviets; permission for cutting more than 50 stalks
may be obtained from the xian soviets.
Article 17. The products of large hills and forests, aside from those supplied
to meet the needs of the people, are to be marketed by the soviet; the proceeds
are used to pay the expenses of the soviet. Higher-level soviets determine the
proportions of the proceeds to be received by the soviets at each level.
Article 18. As for hills covered with camphor, China fir, and bamboo, which
cannot easily be redistributed individually, several families should form one
group and obtain [the rights] of cultivation from the soviet, making available the
products of these hills for the use of the members of the group.
Article 19. In order to meet the demands of the impoverished peasants, all
confiscated land should be completely redistributed to them. The soviet need
not keep any back, but it should keep some of the confiscated houses to be used
for public purposes.

Chapter Two: Cancellation of Debts

Article 20. No debts owed by workers, peasants, and poor people to the despotic
gentry and landlords shall be repaid. Notes and debt certificates must be turned over
to the soviet or peasant associations within a specified time to be burned.
Article 21. Debts owed by the gentry, landlords, and merchants to the government, workers, peasants, poor people, or the petty bourgeoisie must be repaid
in full regardless of whether these debts are old or new.
Article 22. Debts owed by workers, peasants, and poor people to businessmen that arise out of commercial transactions and are not commercial high-interest loans must still be repaid; but only the principal, and not other types, will be
repaid; debts owed for a long period of time will not be repaid, either.
Article 23. The debts owed between workers, peasants, and poor people
themselves before the revolution should be repaid in full, reduced, or written off.
Township and district soviets will make appropriate regulations according to
concrete circumstances. Debts incurred after the revolution should be repaid in
full.
Article 24. As for articles and houses pawned or mortgaged by workers,
peasants, and poor people to the despotic gentry, landlords, and dishonest pawnbrokers, all collateral will be returned unconditionally.
Article 25. As for articles and houses pawned or mortgaged by workers,
peasants, and poor people to the petty bourgeoisie, part, or none, of the collateral
may be returned; this is to be determined by township and district soviets according to the economic circumstances of both sides.
Article 26. As for money and grain paid in advance by workers, peasants, and
poor people to the gentry, landlords, and dishonest businessmen in credit unions
and grain associations, the persons who take over the credit unions and grain
associations should return the money and grain to their members and dissolve the
organizations. As for money and grain taken in advance by workers, peasants, and
poor people from the gentry, landlords, and dishonest businessmen, the persons who
take over the credit unions and grain associations need not return the money and
grain to their contributing members; these organizations are also to be dissolved.
Article 27. Usurious loans are banned under the soviet régime; xian soviets
set appropriate interest rates according to local financial conditions. These rates
must not exceed the amount of returns obtained by ordinary capital under normal
local economic conditions.

Chapter Three: Land Taxes

Article 28. To meet the needs of overthrowing the counterrevolutionaries (for
example, maintaining and expanding the Red Army and the Red Guards and
maintaining the organs of political power) and to increase benefits for the masses
(for example, setting up schools and clinics, providing relief to the handicapped,
old, and young, and repairing roads and river embankments), the soviet must
collect land taxes from peasants.
Article 29. Land taxes may be collected only after the soviet has been established, the masses have received actual benefits, and permission is granted by
higher-level soviets.

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 3, pp. 69-74, where it is transcribed from a documentary collection published in China in 1982.