The land investigation movement is the central and crucial task in vast regions. All past experience has proven that only by correctly resolving the land issue, and only by stirring the flames of class struggle in the countryside to their highest intensity under resolute class slogans, can the broad masses of peasants be mobilized to rise up, under the leadership of the proletariat, to participate in the revolutionary war, join in all aspects of Soviet construction, establish secure revolutionary base areas, and enable the Soviet movement to gain greater strength and strive for broader development and victory. Based on the experience of the development of the agrarian revolution, the progression of class struggle in the countryside generally passes through distinct stages: (1) the stage of confiscating and distributing land, (2) the stage of inspecting land, and (3) the stage of land construction.

In accordance with these three developmental stages of land struggle, within any Soviet area, there generally exist three types of regions: (1) regions where the struggle has deepened, (2) regions where the struggle is relatively backward, and (3) newly developed regions.

In newly developed regions, the development of land struggle is still in the stage of confiscating and distributing land. The central issues here are: overthrowing the political power of the landlord class by armed force, establishing a temporary revolutionary government (revolutionary committee), setting up local workers’ and peasants’ armed forces, forming revolutionary mass organizations, confiscating the land and property of the landlord class and the land of rich peasants, distributing land to hired farmhands, poor peasants, and middle peasants, giving inferior land to rich peasants, abolishing debts, and burning title deeds and loan contracts. The struggle in this stage encompasses the entire period from the initial armed clashes between revolution and counter-revolution to the revolutionary forces defeating the counter-revolutionaries and proceeding to deal with their land and property.

In regions where the struggle has deepened, consolidated Soviet political power has already been established, local armed forces and revolutionary mass organizations have been extensively developed, the feudal and semi-feudal forces of landlords and rich peasants have been completely overcome, land has been thoroughly distributed, and the peasants’ struggle over the land issue has advanced to the stage of improving the land and developing land production. Therefore, the central issue here is land construction.

In regions where the struggle is backward, the developmental stage lies between the two stages mentioned above. These regions have progressed from the period of temporary political power to the period of formal political power, but have not yet reached the stage where political power is fully consolidated. Here, the open counter-revolutionary struggles of landlords and rich peasants were already defeated by the revolutionary masses in the first period. From that time onward, many among them changed their appearance, removed their counter-revolutionary masks, and donned revolutionary masks. They also approved of the revolution and endorsed land distribution, claiming to be impoverished peasants who should, by rule, receive land. They were active and, relying on their historical advantages—"they are eloquent in speech and skilled in writing"—they seized the opportunity during the first period to steal the fruits of the agrarian revolution. Facts from countless places prove that they manipulated the temporary political power, infiltrated local armed forces, controlled revolutionary organizations, and obtained more and better land than the poorer peasants. As they entered the second period, due to the supervision of higher-level governments and the development of mass struggle, the revolutionary committees were transformed into Soviets, and mass organizations and local armed forces underwent a preliminary round of reform and development. Some of those elements who had feigned revolutionary support were purged. In many places, land underwent a second redistribution, and in some cases even a third or fourth redistribution, with part of the land stolen by landlords and rich peasants being recovered. However, many class-alien elements still lurked within the Soviets, mass organizations, and local armed forces. There, they "wore red ribbons and called each other comrade," spread rumors, held secret meetings, and accused the masses of "left opportunism," "indiscriminately attacking local tyrants," and "avenging personal grievances under the guise of public interest." Or they were "eloquent in meetings but did nothing after the meetings ended." When the struggle intensified, they organized counter-revolutionary secret groups, such as the Kuomintang, the Social Democratic Party, the A-B League, the New Communist Party, and various other entities, to sabotage the revolution and harm revolutionary activists. In short, the landlord and rich peasant classes used every possible method to suppress the mass struggle, attempting to preserve their rights in political power, land, and property, and to maintain their residual feudal forces.

In these regions, a serious struggle is underway between the revolutionary masses and the landlords and rich peasants. However, the struggle here is not like the public struggle between the red flag and the white flag of the first period; rather, it is a struggle between the revolutionary peasant masses and the disguised elements of the landlord and rich peasant classes. This struggle faces a unique difficulty: hidden counter-revolutionaries, unlike open counter-revolutionaries, cannot be seen clearly at a single glance by the peasant masses. Moreover, various deeply entrenched feudal relations in the countryside, such as clan ties, make it no easy task to raise the class consciousness of the peasant masses to the point where they generally recognize the need for the ultimate elimination of feudal remnants. This demands that the Communist Party and the Soviet government must patiently explain matters to the peasants, must undertake a great deal of arduous work, and must adopt correct class lines and methods of mass work. The central issue here is the problem of investigating land and class status. If this problem is not resolved, the revolutionary enthusiasm of the peasant masses cannot be maximally developed, the remnant feudal forces cannot be completely overthrown, the Soviets cannot be consolidated to the greatest extent possible, and such crucial tasks as expanding the Red Army, raising funds to supply the Red Army, expanding local armed forces, carrying out land construction and economic development, and developing culture and education cannot achieve the greatest success. Therefore, the land investigation movement is the most central and critical task in these regions.

Taking the Central Soviet Area as an example, these relatively backward regions, where the struggle lags, constitute the greater part of the entire area. This includes all of thirteen counties—Huichang, Xunwu, Anyuan, Xinfeng, Lean, Yihuang, Guangchang, Shicheng, Jianning, Lichuan, Ninghua, Changting, and Wuping; the greater part of Ruijin, Yudu, Bosheng, Shengli, and Yongfeng; and parts of Gonglüe, Wantai, Ganxian, Shanghang, Yongding, and Xinquan. Even Xingguo still has the two districts of Juncun and Huangtang. All of these are places where the land issue has not been thoroughly resolved. In these places, the peasant masses have not yet been mobilized on the broadest scale, the feudal forces have not yet been finally overcome, and within the Soviet political power, mass organizations, and local armed forces, quite a few class-alien elements are still secretly hiding and acting, and not a few counter-revolutionary secret organizations are covertly operating everywhere to undermine the revolution. For this reason, war mobilization and economic and cultural construction in these places fall far behind the advanced regions (virtually all of Xingguo County; parts of Shengli, Ganxian, Wantai, Gonglüe, Yongfeng, and Shanghang; Huangpi District in Bosheng; Wuyang District in Ruijin; Xinpi District in Yudu; and Xinan District in Yongding). Such areas cover roughly 80 percent of the Central Soviet Area, with a population of over one million. To conduct a widespread and thorough land investigation movement in this vast area, to ignite the flames of the highest-intensity class struggle among more than one million people, and to wage a final war against the feudal forces and completely overthrow them—this is a task that the Communist Party and the Soviet government cannot afford to delay for a single moment.

The First Step of the Land Investigation Movement—Large-Scale Organizational Mobilization
How should the land investigation movement be carried out?
First, organizational mobilization.

All experiences in leading the mass struggle within the Soviet areas tell us that only when the Communist Party, the Soviets, and the revolutionary mass organizations act in coordinated and unified fashion under the Party’s leadership can every task of struggle be brought to a fully successful conclusion. The land investigation movement is a bitter and intense class struggle, a great revolutionary movement of the masses, the foundation for improving the work of the Party, the Soviets, and the mass organizations, and the most crucial link in current work. Only if the entire Party, the entire Soviet apparatus, and the entire trade unions mobilize all their strength and throw themselves into this movement can it be launched, developed, and completed.

Regarding the Party’s mobilization, the Central Bureau has already issued correct directives. Regarding the mobilization of the Soviets, it is first of all necessary to oppose the past view that the land investigation movement was solely the work of the Land Department. Not only were the Finance Department, the Military Department, the National Economy Department, and the Education Department considered entirely unrelated to the land investigation movement, but even the Workers’ and Peasants’ Procuratorate, the Judicial Department, and the Political Security Bureau were regarded as having little connection, and sometimes the presidium itself did not oversee the land investigation movement. This is completely wrong. It must be understood that no part of the entire Soviet apparatus can remain detached from the land investigation movement. First, the presidiums of governments at all levels must pay the greatest attention to leading the entire land investigation movement. Second, the land departments, workers’ and peasants’ procuratorates, judicial departments, State Political Security Bureaus, and their special commissioners at all levels are the principal leading and working departments of governments at all levels in the movement. To thoroughly resolve the land issue in the course of the land investigation movement, to reform the Soviets at the township, district, and county levels, and to purge the countryside of counter-revolutionaries, these government departments must exert their utmost strength.

The Finance Department should focus on attacking the remnant feudal forces by imposing fines on landlords and levying contributions on rich peasants, while simultaneously increasing the state's revenue. The Military Department should focus on consolidating and expanding local armed forces during the land investigation movement and mobilizing activist elements among the masses to join the Red Army. The National Economy Department should focus on carrying out the restoration and development of agricultural and handicraft production, the growth of cooperatives, and the regulation of the supply of producer and consumer goods in step with the development of the land investigation movement. The Education Department is not without work to do. It should provide a number of concise, easy-to-understand textbooks and pamphlets for all cadres and masses involved in the land investigation, to facilitate the movement's development. It should follow the progression of the land investigation movement to develop cultural and educational work among the masses.

Because the overwhelming majority of the Soviet area’s trade union members are now in the countryside and are closely tied to the land, and because in this great and intense class struggle—the land investigation movement—the proletariat must be the most resolute leader, all unions—whether agricultural workers’ unions, handicraft workers’ unions, or other unions—must, under the leadership of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions Executive Bureau, mobilize their best cadres and all their rural members to join the land investigation movement. The most crucial aspect is to play a driving and encouraging role within the poor peasant leagues and to put forward active and resolute proposals for investigating land and class status and reforming the government. In summary, the land investigation movement is no ordinary, small-scale task. It cannot be thoroughly completed in a single month or even in half a year. Therefore, there must be large-scale mobilization coordinated among all sides—the Party, the Youth League, the government, and the trade unions.

Here we must discuss the issue of educating cadres. First, it is necessary to convene meetings of lower-level responsible personnel and provide them with a full explanation of several principal issues in the land investigation movement. In the past, personnel in the Soviets at all levels often did not understand that the land investigation movement was an urgent task; they did not know how to practically differentiate class status; and they did not grasp the lines and methods for winning over the masses and launching struggles. This is why there was no way to carry out this movement. Second, such education should also be applied to cadres transferred from the local lower levels and from all advanced regions. Short-term training classes on the land investigation movement should be set up for them. Provincial and county-level governments should run these training classes repeatedly for the movement, with a duration of one to two weeks, specifically focusing on teaching several principal issues related to the land investigation movement. The land departments, workers’ and peasants’ procuratorates, and political security bureaus at the provincial, county, and district levels should each have a group of working personnel (at the district level, mostly not fully detached from production), and each department should provide its group with sufficient education concerning land investigation work. Third, one type of education should be applied in the course of action. This involves sending personnel from the provincial and county levels to conduct inspections, and at the district level, convening meetings every five to seven days of the working personnel they have dispatched, along with township Soviet chairmen and poor peasant league directors, to review their work progress. Without the third method, even with the first two, it is impossible to achieve the greatest effectiveness in the work.

Carrying Out the Land Investigation Movement According to the Differences in the Developmental State of Class Struggle in the Countryside
In the first chapter, we noted that three types of regions exist in the Soviet areas: (1) regions where the struggle has deepened, (2) regions where the struggle is relatively backward, and (3) newly developed regions. This holds true not only for an entire province but also for counties in some border areas. For example, Yongfeng has all three types of regions simultaneously. In most border counties, two types of regions—relatively backward and newly developed—coexist. As for the interior counties, although some counties are, generally speaking, still entirely backward, one can still find comparatively progressive districts within them. For instance, in Huichang, though most districts are backward, Xijiang District is comparatively progressive. Ruijin presents another situation: Wuyang District can be considered a region where the struggle has deepened; the eight districts of Taohuang, Huangbai, Shaxin, Ruilin, Jiubao, Yunji, Dutou, and Chengshi are comparatively progressive regions; and the other six districts are backward regions. But no matter which district in any county, as long as Soviets have been established and the stage of confiscating and distributing land has been passed, there are generally its comparatively progressive townships and its comparatively backward townships. Within a single township, there are again its comparatively progressive villages and its comparatively backward villages. Does this type of uneven developmental situation exist within a single village? It does in many places. In many places, small villages (small hamlets) are progressive, while large villages (large hamlets) are backward. In some places, due to differing historical conditions, individual large villages are progressive while individual small villages are, on the contrary, backward—this also occurs.

This situation defines the direction of our work. When launching the land investigation movement in a county, district, township, or even a village, we must concentrate the greatest attention on the backward areas and direct our strongest efforts toward them. It is wrong to treat all areas equally and apply our strength evenly.

It is even more wrong to claim that these backward areas are "impenetrable" simply because of the difficulty in winning over the masses and initiating struggles there, and thus shift the focus of work to areas where progress comes more easily while leaving the difficult areas unaddressed.

Of course, in terms of work procedure—taking a township as an example—it is possible and even advisable to start with villages and households where mobilization is easier. However, the focus of our work plan should remain on those backward villages and households.

In order to eliminate the extreme backwardness of a particular village or household (those temporarily "impenetrable"), it is entirely appropriate to begin with the more manageable villages and households, use them to influence the backward ones, and then proceed to launch struggles in those backward areas.

But when it comes to a county or district, this approach should not be applied. In planning the land investigation movement within a county or district, we should, from the very outset, use our main strength to strike hard at the backward districts and townships, while deploying only secondary forces to the relatively advanced areas.

The state of uneven development also points us to another method: mobilizing cadres from advanced regions to lead the land investigation movement in backward areas.

While it is certainly important to mobilize cadres from the most advanced regions, such as Xingguo, to go to backward areas, it is equally an urgent need to transfer cadres from all relatively progressive areas everywhere to the backward regions.

All advanced and relatively advanced regions should shoulder the responsibility of guiding backward areas, and all backward areas should learn from the advanced ones.

Only in this way can the land investigation movement be rapidly advanced.