Instructions on the Current Election Movement
Directive No. 22 of the Central Executive Committee
(August 9, 1933)
The Central Executive Committee has decided to convene the Second National
Congress of Soviet Deputies on December 11 of this year (the day for commemorating the Guangzhou uprising), and to complete the elections to township and
city soviets and to Congresses of Soviet Deputies at the district, xian, and provincial levels in the Central Soviet Area between September and November. The
elections this time will completely reelect everyone from the township and city
soviets to the Central Executive Committee. This is a great undertaking and a
great movement in which the workers, peasants, and toiling masses themselves
participate in and consolidate the régime. On the one hand, this election movement is being carried out at a time when the revolutionary war against the
enemy's Fourth "Encirclement and Suppression" has achieved complete victory,
and the Red Army and the workers, peasants, and toiling masses of the Central
Soviet Area and the various soviet areas, under the correct leadership of the
Chinese Communist Party and the Central Government, have achieved great
successes in eliminating the enemy forces, expanding the Red Army and local
armed forces, deepening the Land Investigation Movement, putting the labor law
into effect, promoting economic construction and cultural construction, and enlarging the soviet territories. In the White areas, in the course of the Japanese
occupation of Manchuria, Rehe, and North China, Japan's expansion of its gangster war, and the Guomindang's complete surrender to imperialism by signing
the agreement for selling out the country, the revolutionary tide of opposition to
the imperialist Guomindang by the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers has
reached an even higher stage. But on the other hand, the Guomindang, after the
severe defeat of its Fourth "Encirclement and Suppression," has been even more
barefacedly capitulating to the imperialists and selling out China. They have
signed secret treaties with the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and
other imperialist countries, and borrowed large sums of money to buy large
quantities of munitions for their Fifth Encirclement and Attack on the soviet

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 4, pp. 129-38, where it is
reproduced from a contemporary pamphlet.


areas. With the utmost resolve, the Central Government is leading the broad
masses and the Red Army to seek new and greater victories in smashing the
enemy's Fifth "Encirclement and Suppression." It is under such circumstances
that our various soviet areas are conducting general elections this time. Conse-quently, the current elections are entrusted with a great historical task. We must
link these elections closely to the present main political tasks; we must, in the
course of the elections, perfect the organization and the work at all levels of the
soviets. At the Second National Soviet Congress, we must sum up the experience
of the struggle during the past two years and discuss new tactics; we must
strengthen the leadership of the Chinese revolution by the soviets, smash the new
enemy offensive, and achieve the initial victory of the revolution in Jiangxi and
neighboring provinces. To realize these goals, we must, through widespread
work of propaganda and agitation, create a tide of enthusiasm among the broad
masses for the election movement and make every worker and peasant understand the great significance of these elections. We must secure the participation
of the majority of voters. At the same time, if we wish to achieve complete
success in the current elections, we must carefully review the experiences of past
elections, assimilating the successes of past elections, and avoiding the shortcomings and mistakes of past elections. Only thus can we make these elections
the most successful ever.

I. Summary of the Experiences of Past Elections

It must be pointed out first of all that soviet elections before the First National
Soviet Congress were very different from those after the First National Soviet
Congress. The most obvious point about the elections before the First National
Soviet Congress is that there was no explicit election law. There was no clear
distinction between those residents who had the right to vote and those who did
not. In terms of methods, elections were often carried out in the form of mass
rallies. The majority of the masses did not fully understand that elections were a
key link in managing their own lives, so the majority of voters were not persuaded to come and participate in the election. After the First National Soviet
Congress, the situations in the two elections were markedly different from that of
the past, because of the leadership of the Central Government and the further
development of the class struggle. The detailed rules and regulations regarding
elections had been established, and voters and nonvoters were beginning to be
strictly distinguished. The form of voters' assemblies began to be used to carry
out elections under the leadership of election commissions. The voters' understanding of the significance of elections was enhanced, and as a result, the
number of those who voted increased. In the second election after the first
National Soviet Congress, the number of people who participated increased further as compared to the first election, and in some places (Xingguo and northeast
Jiangxi), over 90 percent of the electorate voted. At the electoral assemblies in

many localities (especially in the second election), heated criticism of the lists of
candidates by the voters was unleashed. Many proposals by the voters on issues
concerning their actual lives were collected. On this basis, the composition of the
soviets underwent great changes as compared to the situation that had existed
before. If there were quite a few class-alien elements and opportunists who had
sneaked into the soviets in the past, after the two elections since the First National Soviet Congress these elements have in large part been eliminated. On the
contrary, many progressive elements of workers and peasants have been elected
to the soviets, laying a strong and solid foundation for the great soviet edifice. It is
particularly worthy of note here that the augmentation and strengthening of the
worker component has made of the workers the proletarian backbone of the soviets.
A system of regular representative conferences at the township and city soviet levels
has been established. All these undeniable achievements demonstrate that great
progress has been made in elections since the First National Soviet Congress.
Nevertheless, the two elections since the First National Soviet Congress have
not been without shortcomings and mistakes. Only if we can evaluate the successes correctly, and understand the mistakes clearly, can we carry out the current elections more smoothly, so it will be even more apparent how distinctive
they are and what an improvement they represent in comparison with the two
previous elections. The main shortcomings and mistakes of the two previous
elections were as follows: (1) The masses were not fully mobilized. The key
reason for this was that the chairmen and presidiums of many local governments
did not have a thorough understanding of the vital significance of elections, so
they failed to discuss the issue of how to lead the elections or to emphasize the
importance of the work of propaganda and agitation regarding elections. As a
result, the numbers of people who voted in many areas, except in some localities,
were even short of a majority. (2) During the elections, many places were unable
to unleash lively criticism and struggle, or to incite the masses to discuss proposals, as was the case in the second election in Xingguo. In a few localities, the
reelections were entirely peaceful. In form, a few deputies and responsible persons were replaced, but in substance, there was no great change as compared to
the past. (3) In most places, the struggles of the Land Investigation Movement
and checking on the Labor Law were not closely linked to the election movement. They did not know that the Land Investigation Movement, the accusation
movement launched by the Workers' and Peasants' Procuratorate,¹ and the investigation regarding the application of the Labor Law carried out by the
Commissariat for Labor should be under way prior to the elections. As a

1. The "accusation movement" (jianju yundong) was carried out in the Central Base
Area from 1932 to 1934. It aimed on the one hand to denounce and rectify bureaucratic
abuses by employees of the Soviet Government, and on the other hand to identify, accuse, and
root out counterrevolutionary and class-alien elements who had infiltrated the revolutionary
ranks. The explanation which follows stresses rather the second of these two dimensions.

result it was, on the one hand, impossible to launch class struggle in a big way in
the countryside and the cities, thereby arousing the enthusiasm of workers and
peasants for voting and supervising the elections, and causing countless resolute
activists to spring out and contribute to the elections. On the other hand, some
passive and reluctant elements, corrupt elements, and even class-alien elements
who had slipped through previous investigations could still manage to sneak into
the soviet régime through elections. (4) Many places did not work hard enough
to attract worker activists and get them elected. Although the quantity and quality of workers elected improved to a certain degree, they have yet to reach the
desired level. (5) Many places gave very inadequate attention to electing women
workers and peasant women to work in the soviets. Consequently, apart from the
achievements in places such as Xingguo, in many localities the number of working women elected to township soviets remained small, and some township
soviets still do not have even one woman deputy. In the governments above the
district level, there were, generally speaking, even fewer women elected as committee members. (6) Mistakes in election methods: First, the unit in which the
election meeting was held was too big. Most places held meetings with a township as a unit, so it was not easy for voters to come to the meetings. Workers and
peasants went to the same meetings, so it was hard for the workers to elect those
they wanted. Second, the list of candidates was put forward for discussion and
vote as a whole. As the candidates were not proposed, discussed, and voted on
one by one, the genuine feelings of the voters could not be expressed fully and
bad elements could easily be elected through deception. This mistake occurred in
many places. Third, the election commissions in many places played no role, and
only the soviet chairmen and a few others still led the elections. Fourth, a few
places simply violated the election decrees by not holding election meetings and
having township deputies appointed by the responsible persons of district and
township governments. This method is absolutely wrong. All these past experiences, whether they were successes or shortcomings and mistakes, are lessons
for our current elections. The purpose of summarizing past experiences is to
learn from the successes of the past and absolutely to prevent the reoccurrence of
the past shortcomings and mistakes in the current elections.
II. Guiding Principles for the Current Elections
The Soviet Government is a government of the democratic dictatorship of the
workers and peasants. This is the basic principle of the revolutionary political
régime at the present stage. This principle is manifested first of all in the soviet
elections: On the one hand, all exploiting elements are deprived of the right to
vote. On the other hand, as many workers, peasants, and poor people as possible
should be drawn into active participation in the elections. Under the guidance of
this principle, the Central Executive Committee, apart from promulgating a new
electoral law, hereby issues the following special instructions concerning the
current elections, taking account of past experience:

A. The Council of People's Commissars and the People's Commissar for the
Land are instructed to concentrate their efforts during this period on guiding
various levels of the government to step up work on the Land Investigation
Movement. The landlord and rich peasant elements in various areas who pretended to be middle peasants and poor peasants and stole the right to vote
should be cleaned out completely, so that this time the right to vote rests
entirely on the shoulders of the workers and peasants. In the land investigation
struggle, the activism of the peasant masses should be aroused, and large numbers of mass cadres should be trained and assigned to the elections. The
People's Commissariat for Labor should seize this occasion to guide the labor
departments at various levels to focus their efforts on investigating the application of the labor law. Develop the workers' struggle against the capitalists,
protect the daily interests of the workers, and encourage the workers to participate actively in the elections and play leading roles in the election movement.
The worker-peasant procuratorate should seize this opportunity to promote the
accusation movement among soviet staff members. It should launch the ideological struggle systematically and rapidly, using the weapon of self-criticism to
combat manifestations of embezzlement and corruption, opposing various forms of
passive resistance against the Land Investigation Movement and the movement for
checking on the application of the Labor Law, and rejecting the bureaucratic style of
work in elections. It is especially imperative to expel class-alien elements (those with
bad family origins and poor work performance) hidden within the soviet, so that they
cannot play an adverse leading role in the election work.
B. The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs and the People's Commis-sariat for Education should focus their attention on guiding the departments of
internal affairs and education at all levels to carry out propaganda and agitation
work for this election immediately. Not only should electoral propaganda teams
be organized, but clubs, literacy classes, night schools, elementary schools,
Lenin rooms, and wall posters of all sorts in rural and urban areas should be
mobilized to work for the current elections. As regards the materials and methods of propaganda, the People's Commissariat for Education and the departments of education at the provincial and xian levels are instructed to ensure
ample supplies. At the same time, the official government newspaper, Hongse
zhonghua (Red China), is instructed to report systematically on the current election movement, and should be turned into a powerful propagandist and organizer
in the current election movement.²
C. Concerning the actual carrying out of election work, special attention must
be paid to the following points, which must all be put into practice.

² As will be seen from the source notes to many of the texts for the summer of 1933,
Hongse Zhonghua was already playing this role. Apart from the texts signed by Mao,
which are translated in this volume, the newspaper contained a large number of news
reports and contributions by other Party leaders.

1. Concerning the elections of township and city soviets:
Township and city soviets are the basic organizations of the Soviet Government, so the elections of township and city soviets are the basic elections.
Regarding these elections, particularly important points are the following:
a. As laid down in the "Provisional Soviet Election Law," representatives
from district and city soviets and the various mass organizations at district and
city levels shall organize "election commissions," with responsibility for the
leadership of all election work. The election commissions must work effectively and should not be permitted to become nominal organizations like the
ones that existed in many places in the past.
b. The main method of mobilization in the election movement is to hold
joint meetings of various mass organizations and meetings of individual mass
organizations at the district and township levels to discuss the content of the
election law and the arrangements for the elections. Here, it is most important
to mobilize the labor union, the poor peasants' league, and the conferences of
women workers' and peasants' deputies.3
c. The election commission should make full advance preparations before putting forward a list of candidates. Before the election, the opinions of
all the mass organizations concerning the list of candidates should be gathered, and the election commission should make the list public, to enable
voters to give full consideration to the various candidates. At the time of the
election, the candidates should be put forward, discussed, and voted on one
by one according to the name list. The voters should be able to express their
opinions in the fullest way and give full play to the revolutionary democratic
spirit. It is absolutely forbidden to order the adoption of the list of candidates
arbitrarily. If some voters express objections to certain candidates, the opinions of
the masses should be noted at once, and if a majority of the voters object, the
original proposal should be withdrawn immediately and other appropriate candidates should be suggested, or the masses may suggest candidates themselves.
d. The ratio between worker and peasant deputies in township and city
soviets is already specified in the Election Law. It should be pointed out here
that the component of working women deputies should be at least 25 percent
of all those elected. In areas whose township and city soviets had no women
deputies at all in the past, this point deserves special attention
e. In compiling the lists of candidates in the elections of township and
city soviets, not only should care be taken not to allow a single class-alien
element (a person who has both poor family origins and poor work performance) to slip in, but attention should also be given to the political perfor-

3. Regarding the conferences of women workers' and peasants' deputies, see the
relevant note to the text of April 10, 1934.

mance and work competence of every candidate. All those elements who are
not enthusiastic about their work; who are conciliatory toward landlords,
rich peasants, and capitalists; who have shown signs of corruption in the
past; whose work style is heavily impregnated with bureaucratism-all those
who manifest such errors may not be elected. (The criterion is recent behavior; those who have committed these mistakes in the past but have changed
recently may still be elected.) Although political behavior is the main criterion, considerable attention should also be paid to the aspect of competence in
work. In the past some places took note only of class status and ignored
competence, but it is also incorrect to introduce those with excessively weak
abilities into the government.
f. Before convening election meetings, the draft resolutions proposed by the
voters should be properly prepared and widely announced, so that the voters may
prepare their opinions fully after reading the draft resolutions. When the draft
resolutions have been revised and adopted by the masses of the voters at the
election meetings and become formal resolutions, the content of these resolutions
should adequately reflect the opinions of the masses in that locality about their
own lives, the orders and policies of the government, and the revolutionary war.
g. After all the deputies at the township and city soviet levels have been
selected, the old township and city soviets are responsible for convening the
first plenary sessions of the deputies to the new congresses of township and
city soviets, and for the election of the presidiums and the heads of the
various sections of the city soviets and the chairmen and vice-chairmen of
township soviets. At the same time, the meetings of township soviets shall
elect deputies to attend the congresses of deputies of the district soviets, and
city soviets shall elect deputies to attend the congresses of deputies of xian
soviets. (The city soviets that come under a district should still elect deputies
to participate in the congresses of the district soviets.)
2. Concerning the election and the work of congresses of soviet deputies at
the district, xian, and provincial levels:
a. The congresses of soviet deputies at the three levels of district, xian,
and province shall be convened by the executive committees at these three
levels. Before the congresses meet, the soviets at all levels should prepare
their work reports and put them forward for adoption at meetings of the
presidium at the relevant level, so that the reports may be submitted to the
congresses of deputies. The items on the agendas of the congresses should be
made public half a month before the congresses, so that the deputies can
prepare their opinions well in advance. The agenda of a congress ought to
include issues such as the following: (i) the work report of the government at the
next higher level; (ii) the work report of the government at its own level; (iii) the
work of war mobilization; (iv) the work of economic construction; (v) a sum-

mary of the Land Investigation Movement; (vi) important construction
undertakings in the locality; (vii) the election of the executive committee;
and (viii) the election of deputies to attend the congress of deputies of the
soviet at the next higher level. These items for discussion may be increased or diminished as appropriate in light of the local situation.
b. The resolutions of a congress should be drafted and copied or printed
one week before the convening of the congress, so that they may become
formal resolutions after the deputies have discussed and adopted them at
the congress.
c. As regards the list of candidates for election to the executive committee, the old executive committee and the presidium of the congress
should make a very thorough investigation to ensure that the most active
and resolute elements in the Land Investigation Movement and various
other struggles are elected to the executive committee, and that not a
single class-alien element or element whose behavior is marked by embezzlement, corruption, slacking, or a bureaucratic work style is elected as an
executive committee member. At the time of electing executive committee
members, special attention should be given to worker activists, and large
numbers of such elements should be elected to the executive committee to
strengthen the leading force of the proletariat in the soviet. At the same
time, careful attention should also be paid to the poor peasant and middle
peasant activists, and they should also be included. Moreover, you must
not forget to elect working women to work in the soviets. Working women
should constitute at least 20 percent of those elected to executive committees. In preparing the lists of candidates, apart from paying attention to
class status, competence in work should also be taken into account. We
absolutely cannot draw up the lists carelessly, considering only class status
and paying no attention to capacity for doing the work.
Once executive committee members are elected, their names should be
reported to the executive committee at the next higher level for review and
approval.
d. As for the making of work reports by the governments to the voters and
to the congresses of deputies, this must truly be carried out in the course of
the current election movement. In the past, except for a few localities, such
reports were not made in most places and that was wrong. Applying this
method can provide an opportunity for testing the policies and work of the
government among the masses and can further raise the voters' enthusiasm
for elections. The method of putting it into practice is as follows: One week
before the elections to township and city soviets, meetings of voters should be
held with hamlets or villages as the unit to deliver reports that summarize the
work of township and city soviets in the past, especially in the recent past.

They should encourage the masses of voters to criticize and discuss
these reports, and welcome specific new suggestions by the voters that
may contribute to the orientation of the government's future work. District governments must report to plenary meetings of the congresses of all
township and city soviets on their work and invite the broad masses to
come and listen. The congresses of deputies of township and city soviets
should hold detailed discussions of the work reports of the district soviets,
and forward the conclusions of the discussion to the district governments.
Xian governments may send representatives to district congresses to deliver work reports. Provincial governments may send representatives to
xian congresses to deliver work reports. The Central Government should
make work reports to provincial congresses. At the same time, at the
congresses of deputies at various levels, the executive committees of the
respective levels must submit similar reports. These reports must be thoroughly discussed, and the results of discussions should be reported to the
relevant higher level governments. The opinions of the masses regarding
the work of the government should be reported all the way up to the
Central Government, so that the highest organ of the soviets may know the
sentiments and demands of the masses. The various levels of the government should designate specific persons to draft their own work reports in
advance. The Central People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs should
produce a report outline and send it to the various levels of the government, which are then required to draft their own reports in accordance
with this outline, and to deliver their reports to the representative congresses and the voter assemblies at the same and lower levels.
e. Provincial, xian, and district soviets must dispatch people to inspect and
check the election work and the meetings of the soviet congresses in xian,
districts, and townships, respectively. The exceptionally good and bad examples may be collected rapidly to be used to guide the election work in other
places.
f. The People's Commissariat for Justice should notify the justice departments at all levels to reexamine and decide the cases in which the worker and
peasant elements have confessed their crimes and made a new start, and there
are no specific rules and regulations as to the time limit during which they are
deprived of the right to vote, in an effort to avoid the situation of excluding
these worker and peasant elements from the elections.
The soviet elections are an important link in the operations of the democratic
dictatorship of the workers and peasants. The current elections have an even
greater historic mission. Governments at every level must effectively carry out
the current elections in accordance with all the instructions of this directive and
the stipulations of the "Provisional Soviet Election Law." The current elections

must achieve complete victory. The complete victory of these elections will
contribute to the smashing of the imperialist Guomindang's Fifth "Encirclement
and Suppression" and the unfolding of the soviet movement throughout the
whole territory of China. It is so ordered.

Chairman
Vice-Chairmen
Mao Zedong
Xiang Ying
Zhang Guotao