IMPORTANT DIRECTIVE ON CONSTRUCTION OF THE SOVIET

15 December 1931

[Text] In the past, the organization of the various levels of the soviet has been poorly structured. First, administrative areas were too large to facilitate administration; second, too many levels of government slowed the flow of directives and caused poor liaison; and, third, of special importance is the fact that election procedures were not comprehensive. The election of various levels of government was done either by simply calling mass meetings or by convening representatives meetings or joint conferences of chairmen without passing through the various stages of the election process. Especially the basic organization of the soviet--the urban and rural soviets--had not been truly established. Fourth, the division of labor and the work procedures within the various levels of government were, on the whole, unsuitable. All of the above contradicted the constitution of the soviet and the laws and regulations of the central government.

The provisional central government now announces that the county government in the various areas must begin anew to delimit administrative areas and reorganize the various levels of government in accordance with the constitution and the provisional laws and regulations proclaimed by the central government. First in importance is the re-delimitation of [administrative] areas and villages (establishing hamlets and small units) in accordance with the provisional regulations governing the delimiting of administrative areas. Next is the election of village and town soviets (these are the basic organizations of the soviet) in accordance with the election process, and then, in accordance with the provisional laws and regulations governing the organization of local governments, reconstruct the entire structure of the village and town levels to the provincial soviet. This is a task of the utmost importance and every level of local government must, with the greatest determination and with all its power, carefully and meticulously carry it out. Only by so doing will we be able to avoid having the re-delimited administrative areas become as full of faults and riddled with imperfections as the former ones were; and only thus can the various newly reorganized levels of government avoid becoming like the old. If such weaknesses are to be eliminated the various provincial governments must exert their greatest efforts in directing this movement to construct the local soviets. Besides giving instructions the issuance of various notices with detailed specifics, conferences of

persons with principal responsibilities in the two levels of county and administrative area governments are to be convened at local sites and provincial locations. Then, select a suitable [deletion] to call a meeting of persons with principal responsibilities in the various village governments, with the provincial and county governments dispatching personnel to direct these meetings to discuss clearly and in detail the significance of the soviet construction movement and the practical ways to carry it out. Moreover, the leadership must dispatch personnel to various counties to inspect when the actual delimiting of administrative areas and re-election of governments are in progress in order to resolve difficulties and problems and correct errors as they arise. The direction of administrative areas by county, and village by administrative area, should follow this procedure. It is imperative to achieve excellent results in this current movement of soviet construction.

The two provinces of Kiangsi and Fukien, and the affiliated county of Jui-ching, have set the period beginning from 20 December 1931 to 31 March 1932 as the period for the movement of constructing soviets in accordance with the new laws. The soviets of these two provinces and of Jui-ching county, should immediately draw up suitable work schedule during this set period to enable the re-delimiting of administrative areas and election of various level soviets to be accomplished in a planned and successful manner within a period of 100 days (the delimiting and election of the first level of village will consume a major portion of the effort and time), as well as keeping the central government constantly informed of what has transpired so that it can give timely directions. The other provinces are to implement as of date of receipt of this directive.

By order of
Mao Tse Tung, Chairman

Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-tao, (Vice Chairmen)
Executive Committee of the Central Government

15 December 1931
o "Red China," Vol 2, 18 December 1931