LETTER TO RESPONSIBLE PERSONS IN SOVIETS AT ALL LEVELS ON THE SUMMER PLANTING

22 April 1933

[Text] To presidiums of the provincial county and district soviets, heads of land departments, chairmen of township soviets and all representatives:

The spring planting is over. Although good results have been obtained in some places, the results have been extremely bad in others. A grave circumstance is that the government presidiums have neglected the spring planting, the land departments have shirked it, and especially in the means of mobilization we have become divorced from the masses. Now it is already time for summer planting, and soon it will be time for the autumn harvest; if you fail again to make an effort and do not immediately change from your errors of the spring planting and assume a spirit of struggle to approach the summer planting, then the plan to increase harvest by 20 percent in the interest of the masses and of the revolutionary war will be most gravely affected. Accordingly, the central land department has printed an outline of the summer planting movement ("How to Lead the Summer Planting Movement," published by Red China) to distribute to you. In this outline, the critical significance of the summer planting, its aims, its central tasks, and the means of mobilizing the masses for it are pointed out. In particular the concrete examples of Jui-chin and Nu-yang district are singled out--there they carried out a true "organized mobilization" and stimulated the peasant masses to an unprecedentedly high level of labor enthusiasm, achieving great results in the spring planting. When you receive this outline, you should immediately convene all necessary meetings (the chairman of the county soviet and the head of the land department should convene a meeting of district chairmen and heads of land departments, the district soviet and its land department should hold a meeting of township soviet chairmen and chairmen of poor peasant associations, the township soviets should convene meetings of their respective assemblies, poor peasants and women's congresses, Red Guards and Young Pioneers and the youth groups and village masses) to explain the main points of the outline and discuss the ways of carrying it out in the locality. The summer planting struggle of the revolution should immediately be spread to all red farm villages. The provincial soviet need not convene meetings of the county soviets, but should provide concrete and active leadership

on the basis of this outline. At least once a month the province should investigate the work of its counties and the county of its districts. The district should oversee its townships twice a month. The central land department should during May send people to all the counties for preliminary investigation of your achievements in summer planting. Performance of the tasks of summer planting depends primarily on your correct and energetic leadership. Comrades, all struggle for an all-around victory in summer planting!

Chairman of the Provisional Central Government, Mao Tse-tung
Vice-Chairmen Hsiang Ying, Chang Kuo-tao
Representative of the People's Land Committee Hu Hai

22 April 1933
"Red China," No 74, 29 April 1933
*"Outline for the Summer Planting Movement"