Conclusions Adopted by the Land Investigation
Movement Meeting Attended by Responsible
Soviet Leaders at and Above the District Level
from Eight Xian

(June 21, 1933)

From June 17 to June 21, 1933, the meeting regarding the Land Investigation
Movement, called by the Central Government and attended by responsible
soviet leaders at and above the level of district in the eight xian of Ruijin,
Huichang, Yudu, Shengli, Bosheng, Shicheng, Ninghua, and Changting,
listened to the report on the Land Investigation Movement by Comrade
Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Central Government. After five days of
detailed discussions, the delegates arrived at a deep understanding of the
great significance of the Land Investigation Movement. They recognized
that, in the course of the great victory of the soviet movement, the masses
in their millions have established their own régime, confiscated the land of
the landlord class and distributed it to the peasant masses, and restrained
the capitalists from exploiting the workers. Thanks to the triumph of the
revolution, the broad masses raised their own enthusiasm to such an extent
that they took part in the revolutionary war and in soviet construction,
achieving great successes in both. They defeated the repeated assaults of
the enemy, expanded the soviet areas, and gave an impetus to the vigorous
development of the soviet movement. All this is the result of the correct
leadership of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government, and the
active support of such leadership by the broad masses. But that in no sense
means that there are no more serious problems within the soviet areas. Pre-cisely because of the impetuous development of the soviet movement, all the
class enemies, both inside and outside the soviet areas, are frenziedly carrying
out their desperate struggles and resistance. Outside the soviet areas, the enemies have resorted to military assaults. Inside the soviet areas, their attacks
take another form, in which the landlords, the rich peasants, and all the class-alien elements cover up their real counterrevolutionary features. Taking advantage of the fact that the land problem has not been thoroughly resolved in
many districts within the soviet areas, and many of these elements retain a

This document was first published in Hongse Zhonghua, no. 89, June 29, 1933. We have
translated it from Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 3, pp. 251-64, which reproduces the version in this
source.


certain economic basis, because the land and property of many landlords have
not yet been confiscated completely and many rich peasants have received
good land, a number of such elements have sneaked into the soviet institutions, the mass organizations, and the local armed forces. They then carry out
various kinds of plots and sabotage, such as misusing the authority of the
soviets; suppressing the development of the mass struggle; deceiving, bribing, and threatening a portion of the masses; disseminating rumors; setting up
secret organizations; and slandering and making false charges against the
active staff members of the soviets. Things like these occur frequently in
many localities within the soviet areas. The eight xian meeting considers that
this is a serious problem. In order to wipe out the remnant feudal forces once
and for all, to resolve the land question thoroughly, and to consolidate the
soviet régime into something as strong as iron, it is necessary to launch a
broad and deep Land Investigation Movement. The eight xian meeting considers that the Land Investigation Movement is indeed a cruel and fierce class
struggle and a great revolutionary movement of the masses, and that it is the
most essential link in our work at this moment. Consequently, the Land
Investigation Movement must involve organized mobilization on a broad
scale, it must resolutely apply the class line, and it must carry out patient and
ample mass work. The eight xian meeting unanimously supports the Central
Government's directive on the Land Investigation Movement and is, moreover, in full agreement regarding the following conclusions.

1. On Organizational Mobilization

A. All the departments of the government must act in unison. Not only must
the Commissariat for the Land, the Worker-Peasant Procuratorate, the Commis-sariat for Justice, and the Political Security Bureau assume the principal responsibility for leading the Land Investigation Movement, but the commissariats for
Finance, Military Affairs, the National Economy, and Education must also carry
out whatever tasks are necessary during the movement. The chairman and the
Presidium of the government must assume the leadership of the entire movement. The former view, according to which the Land Investigation Movement
was merely the work of the Commissariat for the Land, is wrong.
B. A Land Investigation Committee must be set up at the three levels of the
xian, the district, and the township. Under the control of the government at these
levels, the committee is responsible for the overall leadership of the Land
Investigation Movement. Apart from responsible officials of the government,
this committee should also include representatives of the mass organizations,
and so on.
C. The xian soviet should immediately put forward a plan for the Land Investigation Movement in the whole xian during July. Afterward, they should put
forward a plan for the next month's Land Investigation Movement at the end of
every month.
D. The district soviet should call the chairmen of township soviets and the

heads of the poor peasant league together for a meeting to plan the work in the
whole district for the first seven days. Thereafter, a plan should be drawn up and
the work reviewed every seven days. But the townships that are too far away
may go to the meeting called by the district soviet only every fourteen days.
Those that are not far away must go to the meeting every seven days, in order to
spur on the rapid development of the Land Investigation Movement.
E. As regards the mode of mobilization at the level of the township, attention
must be paid to the following: (a) the assembly of deputies of the township; (b) the
labor union; (c) the poor peasant league; (d) the women's representative assembly; (e) the Red Guard armies and the Young Pioneers; (f) other revolutionary
organizations; and (g) the mass meetings of the villages and hamlets. We must
work through these institutions, organizations, and mass meetings, for only thus
can the greatest force be mobilized to participate in the Land Investigation
Movement. Any other method of limited scope, which seeks the easy way and is
not interested in going to the majority of the masses, is wrong.
F. The xian soviet should run a training class for the Land Investigation
Movement. The class should include one student from each township, and the
students will graduate after ten days. During the second term, one student is also
recruited from each township. The students to receive training should be chosen
from among the most active elements in the township assembly of soviet deputies, the poor peasant league, and the labor union. They should be sent back to
their own townships to lead the Land Investigation Movement. But those who
come from advanced districts or townships should be sent to work in the backward districts and townships. The training classes should run two terms a month
during the three months of July, August, and September.
The provincial soviet should select activists from the advanced xian and districts to run the training classes and send them to the backward xian and districts
to lead the Land Investigation Movement.
G. In order to carry out the Land Investigation Movement forcefully, the
organization of all the departments of the government must immediately be
strengthened, primarily by getting rid of concurrent posts, abolishing the practice
of transferring personnel lightly, and increasing the number of personnel in
necessary jobs.
H. A committee in charge of confiscation and redistribution should be set up
at the township level. Elected by the poor peasant league and operating under the
authority of the township soviet, the committee is responsible for confiscating
the land and property of the landlords and rich peasants.
II. On Carrying Out the Correct Class Line in the Course of
the Land Investigation Movement
A. Rely on the poor peasants, unite with the middle peasants, and let the farm
laborers play the leading role. In this way we can eliminate the landlord class

completely, crack down on the theft of the benefits of land reform by the rich
peasants, and weaken the economic strength of the rich peasants. This corresponds to the correct class line and tactics of struggle, which should be resolutely
carried out during the Land Investigation Movement. As for uniting with the
middle peasants, we must start from the premise of not violating the interests of
the middle peasants. The land of the middle peasants (including the well-to-do
middle peasants) must not be distributed without the consent of the individual
concerned. At the beginning of the land investigation, the policy of the soviets of
uniting with the middle peasants and not infringing on their interests must be
widely proclaimed. In the course of the land investigation, we must be highly
cautious in dealing with those ambiguous elements whose status is situated between the middle peasants and the rich peasants, so that we do not fall into error.
In distributing the land and property that have been confiscated, we must make
sure that individual impoverished elements among the middle peasants do not
feel left out. As for enabling the farm laborers to play the leading role, the main
thing is to get all the farm laborers to join the poor peasant league and then set up
a farm laborers' small group within it. Through them, we can unite with the
activists among the poor peasants, develop the poor peasant league, and propel
the Land Investigation Movement forward. When the confiscated land and property are distributed, the farm laborers should be the first to receive a share.
B. An important aspect of carrying out the class line is the correct analysis of
class status on the basis of the actual social relationships. All the mistakes we
have made on this issue in the past must be speedily corrected. All practical
problems relating to class status must be resolved in accordance with the standard that has been laid down this time (see "How to Analyze Classes"¹). It is
necessary to explain this standard everywhere to the masses, and above all, we
must teach our cadres to understand it fully.
C. The aim of land investigation is "the investigation of class," not a redivision
of the land. The view that what land investigation means is "sticking up signs [in the
fields]" is wrong. A redivision of the land is allowed only in a few individual
localities where the majority of the masses raise such a demand, after the relentless
struggle of class investigation has been completed. Such a strict distinction does not
serve merely to stabilize the peasants' ownership of the land, thereby sparing them
the panic caused by [the feeling that] "land redistribution is not settled." It is also
called for because to achieve victory in the "class investigation" struggle, we must
concentrate all our forces (and, in particular, unite with the middle peasants) in order
to beat back the resistance by the landlords and rich peasants, and at such a time,
there must be no turmoil in the ranks of the peasants themselves.

D. We must avoid any disputes that might arise between clans and localities
and unite all the forces that can be united in order to develop the struggle against
the landlords and rich peasants. To this end, it is an important tactic in the Land
Investigation Movement to arouse the impoverished masses of a given village
and a given surname to investigate the landlords and rich peasants who are living
in the same village and have the same surname. Similarly, the struggle against
superstition (though it is necessary) should be conducted only after the "class
investigation" struggle is over.

III. On Mass Work

First of all, we must rectify the neglect of the importance of winning over the
majority of the masses, which prevailed in many areas in the past, and get rid of
the work methods of bureaucratism and commandism. It must be understood that
only through patient and arduous work in arousing and winning over the masses
can we win the support of a majority of the masses, unleash their activism to the
highest degree, and reach our goal of eliminating the feudal remnants completely. Such mass work is the only guarantee for carrying out the class line, and
it should be fully manifested in the concrete actions of the Land Investigation
Movement enumerated below.
A. The beginning of the Land Investigation Movement must be preceded by
widespread propaganda in every village and hamlet. This propaganda should
explain to the masses why the Land Investigation Movement is necessary, stressing that land investigation is an investigation of class, not a redivision of the
land, and that the investigation of class will not affect the middle peasants. It is
particularly important to analyze clearly for the masses what constitutes a landlord, a rich peasant, and a middle peasant. Each village and hamlet should not
limit itself to a single mass meeting. The most backward villages and houses
especially must hold several. We must make sure that our propaganda regarding
the Land Investigation Movement reaches every single one of the revolutionary
masses. To achieve this goal, we must, first of all, give a clear explanation to all
the activists in the deputies' assembly of the township, the labor union, the poor
peasant league, the assembly of representatives of working women, and other
mass organizations, and then, through them, carry out widespread and thoroughgoing propaganda to the broad masses.
B. After collecting the reports about the status of the landlords and rich peasants,
when we conduct the concrete investigation, we should call into action the activists
from the township assembly, the poor peasant league, and the labor union, rather
than having only the few members of the Land Investigation Committee alone, to
investigate every aspect. Thus they can expose to the masses, with authentic evidence, all the various complicated methods of exploitation and wrongdoing employed by the landlords and rich peasants. At the same time, they can demonstrate
that the false reports regarding the middle peasants have no foundation.

C. Once the poor peasant league has approved the reports regarding the class
status of the landlords and rich peasants based on the investigations, it must then
submit them to the township soviet for approval, and then to the district soviet
for its endorsement. During these procedures, it is important to watch out for any
obstruction and resistance from the landlords and rich peasants who are still
hiding in the poor peasant league and the soviets. Severe blows must be dealt to
them. At the same time, it is also important to make sure that no wrong status is
imposed on a genuine middle peasant by mistake. As for the action of confiscation and disposal, it can be carried out only after a mass meeting is held in the
village in which the man whose land and property are being confiscated resides.
Only after a meeting at which detailed explanations are given to the masses, and
their agreement is secured, can the confiscation be carried out. In the past, people
in many areas just tried to do things in the easiest way and paid no attention to
such approval by a mass meeting. As a result, the masses were often dissatisfied,
and some serious disputes even broke out between clans or localities. Such
mistakes should not be committed again.
D. All confiscated property, except cash or things equivalent to cash (such as
jewelry), which should be turned over to the financial department of the government, must be distributed among the impoverished masses. In the past, in many
localities, the erroneous policy of turning confiscated property over to the government was followed. Henceforth, this must be thoroughly corrected. In distributing property, we must take care to give more to the villages from which it was
originally collected, so that the masses of these villages are satisfied. With the
consent of the masses the grain that is confiscated during or shortly after the
autumn harvest may be stored temporarily, and then distributed to the impoverished masses next spring or summer. But the grain must be distributed
promptly to the masses whenever they demand it. As for the confiscated land,
apart from the portion reserved for public welfare land and public land for the
Red Army, all the rest must be distributed to those who did not receive any land,
or did not receive enough land, last time. The distribution of land and property
must be carried out promptly and must not be delayed for a long time after
confiscation. When the distribution of land and property is under way, a mass
meeting should be called and lists should be posted, so that the results of the
distribution can be known to everyone.
E. To win over the backward villages, especially the big villages, is a major
task in many areas. For this reason, we need to pay particular attention to the
following points: (1) Arouse the impoverished masses in a given village to check
on the landlords and rich peasants in their own village. (2) Hold several "talking
about classes" meetings. (3) Look for activists (it will be fine even if we find
only one) and give them a very good training. Through them, establish links with
the masses in that locality, develop the poor peasant league, and promote class
struggle in that locality. (4) In some areas where the situation is particularly
serious, it is necessary first of all to arrest the reactionaries who are standing in

the way of the struggle, put them on trial at a public meeting, and, with the
consent of the masses, sentence them to death. After that, we may further develop the mass struggle. (5) In places where there used to be some disputes
between two clans with different surnames, a "Joint Pledge of Unity" must be
signed by both sides at a meeting attended by the representatives of the masses
from these two clans, stating their mutual recognition of the mistakes they had
made in the past and their mutual determination to turn their attention from the
clan struggle of the past to the class struggle. All the aforementioned are the
necessary methods for winning over the backward villages, especially the big
ones. In these matters, we must oppose any flinching from, or capitulation toward, the backward big villages; we must oppose the method of commandism,
which separates us from the masses; we must oppose any opportunist capitulation toward the reactionaries; we must oppose clan struggles and local struggles.
This is the only way for us to win over the revolutionary masses in all the
backward villages, and wipe out the feudal remnants in these villages.
F. The poor peasant league is an organization that will play a very great role
in the Land Investigation Movement. In the past, it has existed in some places
more in name than in reality, and it must be really organized there immediately.
Once the league has been organized, we must unite all the activists within it, win
over the backward elements, and resolutely eliminate all the class-alien elements
and other vicious elements who have sneaked into the organization. We must do
our utmost to avoid disbanding and reorganizing the entire poor peasant league.
All those commandist methods, which call for the disbandment of the poor
peasant league on the pretext of one or two failures in organizing a meeting, are
totally wrong. We must summon the activists to the meetings by use of excellent
propaganda and agitation. The meeting should proceed as scheduled even if only
a few people show up. This is the way to expand the membership. The poor
peasant league should include all the masses of workers in the countryside who
are willing to join it. A workers' small group can be set up within the league, and
it should play a role in the leadership. Middle peasants may not be admitted to
the poor peasant league as members, but when meetings are held, they should be
invited to attend as auditors. Especially when decisions regarding class status are
to be approved, they should be invited to come as auditors. The former three-person
secretarial group of the poor peasant league should be changed into a five-person
committee, which should elect one person as the director. At lower levels, the
league should be divided into small groups according to the proximity of the
members' residences, with five to fifteen members in each group. During the
most crucial period of the Land Investigation Movement, the poor peasant league
should hold meetings every few days. Once the Land Investigation Movement
has drawn to a close, the league may have its meetings on the normal basis. The
frequency of meetings should, however, be decided with a view to the mood of
the masses of members who attend, and any recourse to orders or constraint will
be detrimental. Before each meeting, the chairman of the township soviet should

guide the committee of the poor peasant league in the careful preparation of an
agenda for the meeting. Holding meetings without preparation is an extremely
bad habit. In the course of the Land Investigation Movement, district soviets
should call the directors of the poor peasant league together for a meeting every
week or two to discuss questions such as methods for consolidating the organization of the poor peasant league and leading the struggle. An interim congress of
delegates from the poor peasant league in the entire district can also be held
whenever necessary.

IV. On the Transformation of the Soviets
A. It is an important task for us at present to transform all the imperfect
soviet organs, and turn them into soviets that are fully capable of representing
the interests of the workers and peasants and have abundant working capacity.
B. The task of transforming the local soviet organs can be divided into the
two aspects of cleaning out all the bad elements from the soviets and drawing the
active revolutionary elements into them. As regards cleaning out the bad elements, the Department of the Worker-Peasant Procuratorate at the xian and
district levels must take the main responsibility. The method is to set up an
accusation committee at the township level, in the context of the development of
the "class investigation" struggle, to put forward accusations. The township accusation committee should be composed of two people from the labor union, five
from the poor peasant league, two from the women's association, one from the
light cavalry detachment of the Youth League, and one from the Young Pio-neers. Two of them should be appointed as directors, and the committee is under
the leadership of the district Department of the Worker-Peasant Procuratorate.
The chief target of the accusations should be the class-alien elements who have
sneaked into the township deputies' assembly, and those elements who have
already completely betrayed the interests of the workers and peasants and capitulated to, or compromised with, the landlords and rich peasants. The method for
making accusations is as follows: First, put the names of these elements on a list,
collect the evidence regarding the evils they have done, and inform the masses of
the whole township, soliciting their opinions. Second, after collecting the opinions of the masses, the accusation committee draws conclusions. Third, [these
conclusions] are presented to the deputies' assembly of the township for discussion, and when they have been approved, [the elements in question] are expelled.
Fourth, the matter is reported to the Department of the Worker-Peasant Pro-curatorate of the district soviet and, with the approval of the presidium of the
district soviet, the expulsion is reported to the masses of the whole township in
the name of the Worker-Peasant Procuratorate. In the course of the accusation
campaign, the shock brigade of the Department of the Worker-Peasant Pro-curatorate, its correspondents, and its letter boxes for accusations must be used to
the full extent. As for those elements whose crimes are most serious, they should

be tried first at mass meetings and then turned over to the Commissariat for
Justice to be punished in accordance with the law. The significance of the accusations and public trials lies on the one hand in getting rid of the bad elements
who are now in the soviets, and on the other hand, in educating the broad masses
and making them understand that the bad elements in the soviets must be eliminated. Thus they will all willingly supervise and support the soviet, so that bad
elements like these will never appear again in the soviets in the future. Accusa-tion and public trials should not extend to those who were not very active in the
past or those who merely made some minor mistakes. Such elements should be
won over chiefly by the methods of criticism and agitation. Before each public
trial, detailed propaganda should be made among the masses, explaining all the
evil deeds the defendant has committed, so as to prevent the defendant from
deceiving some of the backward elements and instigating a disturbance in the
meeting place for the public trial. In localities where there are struggles among
clans, households, and villages, public trials should not be held lightly. Only
where these non-class struggles have ceased to occur, and the masses believe that
a public trial is necessary, can such a trial be held.
Accusations against bad elements in a district or xian soviet should take place
under the leadership of the department of the worker-peasant procuratorate at the
same level. The process of accusation should be conducted by an accusation
committee organized from representatives selected by the mass organizations
and by the middle and lower ranking personnel working at the same level of the
government (from the head of a section to an ordinary cook). The accusation
committee at the district level should also include activists from different townships, one person from each township. The procedure and the content of the
accusation are more or less the same as what has been previously stated with
reference to the township. In the soviet accusation campaign, which develops in
the wake of the development of the Land Investigation Movement, the presidium
of the government and the worker-peasant procuratorate at higher levels should
lead the lower levels in a planned way. They should constantly review the work
of the lower levels in the accusation campaign to see whether or not there are
any mistakes and correct their mistakes in timely fashion. At the same time, they
should gather some concrete experience of accusation work, and educate the
presidiums of the governments, the departments of the worker-peasant procuratorate, and the accusation committees at these lower levels.
C. As for drawing activists into the soviets, the first thing to be done at the
township level is to call a meeting of the voters and to elect the bravest and most
resolute elements from the land investigation struggle to join the township
deputies' assembly, replacing those bad elements who have been eliminated
from it. Such an election should be well prepared in advance. In this by-election,
alternate deputies, numbering from three or four to a dozen or so, can be elected.
This is even more necessary in localities where a great number of new activists
have emerged, for thus we can gradually let them replace those backward depu-

ties who are not holding their posts with much credit. Second, we should draw
large numbers of new activists into the various committees under the township
soviet, such as the land development committee, the committee for hills and
forests, the committee for water conservancy, and the education committee, so
that all these committees can really be established and set to work. Third, in this
fall's all-soviet general election, we must do our best to make sure that the
majority of the activists in the land investigation struggle are elected to the
township soviets.
At the district level, in those district soviets where, in the past, there were
only a few bad elements in the district executive committee, the remaining good
elements can take over the positions left by those bad elements who have been
eliminated. At the same time, however, activist elements from the township
soviets should be drawn into the work of the district soviet. In isolated localities,
where in the past the majority of the members on the district executive committee were bad elements, the xian soviet should send some people, in the midst of
the Land Investigation Movement, to take the lead in calling a provisional district deputies' assembly and electing a new district soviet.
There are two ways to supplement the personnel of the xian soviet. One is that
the good members of the xian executive committee may replace the bad members. The other is that good elements may be promoted from the district and
township soviets to participate in the work [of the xian soviet].

V. On the Elimination of Counterrevolutionaries

A. The government at all levels and the whole system of the State Political
Security Bureau must pay the greatest attention to the activities conducted by
counterrevolutionary organizations set up by the landlords and rich peasants who
are still hidden everywhere, and by isolated individuals, and eliminate them
completely during the Land Investigation Movement. The political security bureaus especially, at the three levels of the province, the xian, and the district, as
well as their special agents, must mobilize all their forces to carry out this work
of eliminating counterrevolutionaries and rectify the erroneous viewpoint, which
used to prevail in many places, of not taking counterrevolutionary activities
seriously.

B. In the course of the Land Investigation Movement, the elimination of
counterrevolutionaries follows in large measure the class investigation struggle
of the masses. It guides the masses to report information, to search for clues
about counterrevolution, and finally to arrest these counterrevolutionary elements. During the period of the Land Investigation Movement, the agents of the
security bureau at the district level are granted the authority to make arrests.
Those who are arrested will be turned over to the district Department of Justice
for trial after a preliminary hearing by the special agents. In the case of an
important criminal, a circuit court must be formed in the village where he re-

sides. He will be tried publicly in front of the masses and, with the consent of the
masses, he will be shot on the spot. In this way, the hatred and vigilance of the
masses against the counterrevolutionaries will be aroused. Having made an arrest, we should not, as happened in some places in the past, simply dispose of the
matter by sending the criminal to the xian soviet, thus ignoring the anger of the
broad masses toward the counterrevolutionaries and failing to use this opportunity to remind the masses of the need to maintain constant vigilance against the
counterrevolutionaries. In order to reach our goal of eliminating the counterrevolutionaries, we must greatly improve the techniques that we have employed in the past for intelligence gathering, arrest, interrogation, and prison
management.

VI. On Taking the Offensive Against the Landlords and Rich
Peasants by Collecting Fines and Contributions from Them

In order to uproot completely the economic foundations of the landlord class and
weaken the economic strength of the rich peasants, it is absolutely necessary to
take the offensive against them by imposing fines on the landlords and collecting
donations from the rich peasants. Judging from the fact that many, perhaps most,
of the landlords and rich peasants have not yet been identified in many areas of
the eight xian, it seems very likely that 800,000 yuan can be raised during the
three months of July, August, and September in these eight xian. The financial
departments at the xian and district levels must do their utmost to deal with this
matter. The principal method is to direct the township soviets to mobilize the
farm laborers' union, the poor peasant league, and other mass organizations; to
investigate the property of each landlord and rich peasant family; and to fix an
appropriate sum of fines and donations for each landlord or rich peasant, strictly
pressing them for payment, and so on. In this work, however, they must be
careful not to extend their actions to the middle peasants. Even between the rich
peasants and the landlords, a certain distinction in the degree of severity should
be maintained. That is to say that the landlords should be eliminated, while the
rich peasants should only be weakened.

VII. The Relationship Between the Land Investigation Movement,
War Mobilization, and Economic and Cultural Construction

A. Amidst the victory of the Land Investigation Movement, it is entirely
possible that a Red Army of eighty thousand men can be created from these eight
xian. Moreover, it will not take very long. We must simply carry out a broad and
thoroughgoing Land Investigation Movement during the three months of July,
August, and September. Once the masses in these eight xian are mobilized on the
broadest possible scale, it is entirely possible that, within six to ten months, these
eight xian will send eighty thousand new soldiers to the front. Consequently, the

success of such a task largely depends on the launching, as well as the further
deepening, of the Land Investigation Movement. The fundamental reason why
these eight *xian* did not achieve much success in expanding the Red Army is that
they had not devoted great effort to the Land Investigation Movement, but had
concentrated on the expansion of the Red Army alone. We must have a deep
understanding of this point.
B. In the midst of the victory of the Land Investigation Movement, all kinds
of cooperatives are being developed everywhere in the eight *xian*, especially
consumer cooperatives, grain adjustment cooperatives, cooperatives for manufacturing necessary tools (mainly farming tools), and cooperatives to offer loans
to the impoverished masses. Thus we can ward off the profiteers' cruel exploitation of the broad masses and develop the economy of the entire Soviet Area, so
that it can vanquish the enemy's economic blockade. This is one of our important tasks at present. To wage this economic war rapidly and on a broad scale
requires the tremendous well-organized forces of the soviet and the masses, as
well as a large amount of capital. Consequently, we have made a proposal to the
Central Government, urging it to issue three million *yuan* of "economic construction" bonds, which could be paid for in grain, in order to proceed rapidly
with this task. Similarly, the accomplishment of this work depends on the victory
of the Land Investigation Movement. There is no way to finish this work completely if we do not devote great efforts to the Land Investigation Movement and
rouse the majority of the masses to plunge into economic construction with
enthusiasm.
C. Two big events, the autumn harvest and autumn plowing, are drawing
near. They are of fundamental importance both to the life of the masses and to
the revolutionary war. Therefore, we must strive for complete victory in the
autumn harvest and the autumn plowing this year, in the course of the Land
Investigation Movement.
D. Similarly, broad development of the cultural and educational movement
can only be realized amid the victory of the Land Investigation Movement. Once
the majority of the masses all arise enthusiastically, it will be by no means
difficult to carry out such cultural and educational construction as setting up a
club for every thousand people, an elementary school for every five hundred
people, and an evening school for every hundred people, and offering literacy
classes for most of the people who are sixteen or above. A telling example of this
has occurred in Xingguo, where nearly the whole *xian* has generally achieved
such success.
VIII. Facing the Attack of the Enemy
During the Fourth "Encirclement and Suppression," which the enemy has
launched against the Central Soviet Region, although our heroic Red Army has
largely destroyed Chiang Kaishek's main force on the northern front, the enemy

is still very much engaged in his new assault upon us. Though the level of
disintegration and collapse in the enemy's forces is increasing day by day, and
he has countless difficulties, he has still not forgotten to keep attacking us. Right
now, the enemy troops from Guangdong have already reached Xunwu and An-
yuan, while the enemy's troops from Fujian are still occupying the area stretching from Shanghang and Liancheng to Qingliu. This constitutes a big threat to
the eight xian and their neighboring area. In order to wipe out completely the
main forces of these enemy troops and drive the remnants away, the Red Army
will fight heroically, but we will rely even more on the struggles of the broad
masses. Thus, apart from the Land Investigation Movement, we are facing another urgent fighting task. In the face of the enemy who is pressing on, step by
step, toward us, not only can we not slacken the Land Investigation Movement,
but on the contrary, we should redouble our efforts to carry on the movement. In
the course of the Land Investigation Movement, we must quickly mobilize the
masses in their millions to arise and arm themselves, so that we may be able to
eliminate the enemy's spies, who will respond to the enemy's attack from inside
our organizations, as well as the remnant force of the landlords and rich peasants,
and build the soviets into something as solid as iron. Only then will our triumph
over the enemy be fully guaranteed.

IX. Support the Second All-Soviet Congress with the Victory of
the Land Investigation Movement

The Land Investigation Movement must be fully accomplished before the Sec-ond All-Soviet Congress takes place on December 11. For this reason, it is
particularly necessary for us to intensify our work during the three months of
July, August, and September. A meeting will be held in October to review the
Land Investigation Movement in these eight xian. Actually, however, some concrete achievements should have been made by August when the Central Government sends its staff to inspect each of the eight xian. In order to step up the
development of the Land Investigation Movement, the eight xian have voluntarily drawn up an agreement regarding a competition in the movement, and they
are determined to strive for the complete fulfillment of this agreement.

X. Severely Punish Those Who Sabotage or Oppose the
Land Investigation Movement

During the fierce struggle of the Land Investigation Movement, those class-alien
elements and other extremely bad elements who have sneaked into the soviets
will necessarily emerge to sabotage and oppose the movement. All such elements must be severely punished in accordance with the decrees that the Central
Government has issued on the Land Investigation Movement. At a time when
this meeting was being convened under the direct leadership of the Central

Government, when all the people who came to the meeting were unanimously
expressing their support for the Central Government's guiding principles for the
Land Investigation Movement and warmly discussing how to proceed with the
work, Huang Yanban,² the director of the land department in Hekou District,
Ninghua xian, made statements fundamentally opposed to the Land Investigation
Movement. In spite of severe criticism and attacks directed against him both in
the small group discussion and at the plenary session, he still refused to admit his
mistakes. It is the opinion of this meeting that Huang Yanban has held completely to a stand which assists our class enemies in their resistance against the
land investigation struggle by the broad masses, and that he has disgraced the
position he holds in the Soviet. We propose that the Central Government remove
him from his position as director of the land department in Hekou District and
place him under the surveillance of the Ninghua xian Soviet. Only after such
extremely bad elements are purged can we put our revolutionary ranks in good
order, overcome the sabotage and resistance by all the class enemies, and accomplish the great revolutionary task of the Land Investigation Movement.

--- Notes

1. The directive "How to Analyze Classes," which Mao drafted in June 1933, did
indeed constitute the standard not only at this time but (in various guises) for the next two
decades. It appears below under the date of October 10, 1933, on which it was officially
adopted and issued by the soviet authorities in revised form.


² We have been unable to find information about this individual.