**1. A Great Victory**

Under the call of the Party and the Central Government, the land investigation movement has been widely launched.
If it can be said that the land investigation movement was previously still in its initial stage, then after the Eight-County Land Investigation Conference in June, the work accomplished in July alone has already surpassed the achievements made over the past six months since last winter.
Generally speaking, in the eight counties where the conference was held, the land investigation movement has entered a new phase.
It has become a vast mass movement.
The greatest successes have been achieved in Ruijin and Bosheng, where the two counties together uncovered 2,800 landlord and rich peasant households.
Initial results have also been achieved in Shengli, Yudu, Huichang, Tingle, Changting, Wucheng, and Ninghua counties.
In all districts and townships where land investigation has yielded results, broad mass struggles have been launched.
Many previously stagnant aspects of Soviet work and Party work have now become active.
Many bad elements within the Soviets have been purged.
Counter-revolutionary elements lurking in the countryside have been subjected to severe suppression.
In a word, the remnants of feudal forces have suffered a crushing defeat before the broad masses.
On this foundation, various tasks have been further developed.
In areas where land investigation has been successful, expanding the Red Army and local armed forces, promoting economic construction bonds and developing cooperatives, autumn harvesting and plowing and developing labor mutual-aid societies, as well as cultural and educational undertakings such as clubs, night schools, and primary schools, have all achieved tremendous results.
All work is proceeding more smoothly.
On the basis of active masses, large numbers of activists have emerged and become cadres for various tasks.
Many worker-peasant activists have joined the Party and been absorbed into Soviet work.
The best example is Rentian District in Ruijin.
With the help of the Central Government work team, the land investigation movement in Rentian District mobilized the masses of the entire district within fifty-five days, thoroughly eliminated feudal remnants, uncovered three hundred landlord and rich peasant households, executed twelve counter-revolutionaries whom the masses called "big tigers," and suppressed counter-revolutionary activities.
Before the masses, some members of the Soviet staff who had committed serious errors were exposed, and some alien class elements who had infiltrated the Soviets were purged.
The district uncovered 27,000 dan of land, and the more than 20,000 toiling masses in the district each gained an average of about 1 dan and 2 dou of land.
Countless properties of the gentry and landlords were distributed to the masses.
Relying on the unprecedented rise in the masses' activism, over seven hundred people were recruited into the Ruijin Model Division in fifty-five days, and not a single one deserted.
Grain savings sold to the Red Army amounted to more than 1,900 dan, unmatched by any other district in the county.
At the request of various townships, the district undertook to promote the sale of 40,000 yuan in economic construction bonds.
Fines from landlords and contributions from rich peasants already collected reached 7,500 yuan, with a commitment to continue raising another 10,000 yuan.
Cooperatives developed rapidly.
Cultural and educational construction, such as clubs, literacy classes, and night schools, also increased.
Party membership expanded, Party leadership was strengthened, and trade union work also improved.
The entire district took on a new atmosphere.
From being a backward district in Ruijin, it shifted its status in fifty-five days and became a first-class district on par with Wuyang District.
We must now ask: Why did Rentian District achieve such great success?
We should point out that it was because they recognized the importance of the land investigation task; because their mobilization methods, class line, and mass work all resolutely carried out the correct directives of the Central Bureau and the Central Government.
They did genuine Bolshevik work.
In their understanding of the task, they grasped that the land investigation movement is closely linked to the revolutionary war.
Therefore, they earnestly carried out this work, firmly seized leadership of the land investigation movement, and systematically arranged local work.
In their mobilization methods, among the eleven townships in the district, they concentrated on the work of the seven most backward and relatively backward townships.
In these townships, they mobilized the Party, the Youth League, the township Soviets, the trade unions, the poor peasant leagues, and other mass organizations, and through them mobilized the broad masses.
In terms of the class line, they resolutely implemented the strategy of relying on hired peasants and poor peasants and uniting with middle peasants.
They broadly developed several middle peasants.
They stated that investigating land is not about redistributing land, and investigating class is not about investigating the classes of middle, poor, or hired peasants.
Their work of "explaining class status" was done very thoroughly.
When landlords in Efeng Township intimidated the middle peasants, causing panic among some of them, our comrades sought out several middle peasants for individual discussions, and through them conveyed the message to other middle peasants.
The middle peasants in Efeng Township immediately stabilized and subsequently actively supported the Soviet's land investigation policy, shifting from being deceived by landlords and rich peasants to uniting with poor peasants and workers in attacking landlords and rich peasants.
Comrades in Rentian Township also mistakenly handled the class status of a few households, but they quickly corrected the errors.
Regarding the work of leading mass struggles, they first conducted extensive propaganda.
They did not hold district-wide or township-wide meetings; they held village and hamlet meetings.
In this way, they approached the broader masses and carried out many propaganda and agitation sessions with them.
Therefore, the masses throughout the district clearly understood that investigating land and class was their own responsibility and their own interest.
Secondly, in investigating class status, they mobilized many people to conduct the investigation and searched in detail for evidence of each class status to show the masses, so that no mass dissatisfaction occurred.
Next, in confirming class status, it was first analyzed and decided by the land investigation committee, submitted to the poor peasant league for discussion and approval, sent to the district Soviet for ratification, and then, in the village of the person whose property was to be confiscated, a mass meeting of the village was convened to explain clearly and obtain a show of hands in favor, after which confiscation was carried out.
In distributing property and land, the staff understood they should set an example by not taking anything for themselves, but distributing everything completely to the masses.
Villages where confiscations occurred received more, while other villages received less.
This won the complete satisfaction of the masses.
Land was also distributed rapidly.
The phenomenon of prolonged delays and non-distribution seen elsewhere did not occur in Rentian District, so the masses were quickly mobilized.
Their method of breaking into large, backward villages was also correct.
They did not fear these large villages, nor did they deal with them using brute force.
They concentrated firepower on the large villages, conducted more propaganda, started by winning over local activists, united them, and educated them.
Through them, they mobilized other masses.
They carried out the work in such villages very patiently.
Superficially it seemed slow, but in reality it was rapid.
Within fifty-five days, they mobilized all the large, backward villages in Rentian District and eliminated backwardness in these villages in a very short time.
One village in Kangbaikeng Township could not be broken into; it turned out that two notorious "big tigers" there had been making trouble all along.
They then adopted a different method, first capturing these two villains and holding a circuit court trial for them on the spot.
After the masses warmly supported their execution, the mass struggle there blazed up like a fierce fire.
They held ten mass trial meetings and three circuit court sessions, all following an extremely broad mass line.
People from the local township all attended, and from other townships, each village sent representatives—small townships sent a dozen or so, large townships sent forty or fifty.
Thus, the results of every public trial and judgment were immediately spread to all townships and villages throughout the district.
Not only did this make the masses in every village feel that the person tried that day deserved punishment or execution, but it also immediately made them think that similar evildoers in their own localities should be dealt with as well.
The land investigation movement in Rentian District truly deserves to be a model for the entire Soviet area!
The land investigation work in Jiubao District of Ruijin also achieved tremendous success.
They first concentrated on three townships, convened members of the land investigation committees of various townships, and held a three-day training course at the district Soviet, clearly explaining mobilization methods, the class line, and methods for winning over the masses.
They created an excellent method on the issue of confiscation and distribution.
Their method was: when a landlord's household was to be confiscated, they called on the masses of that village and hamlet to go together.
At a mass meeting, a confiscation and distribution committee was elected, and under the supervision of the masses, the confiscation was carried out.
The confiscated items were piled up on a large open space and then, with the masses' consent, immediately distributed to those who deserved them.
The edible items were handled differently: a pig was slaughtered, rice was cooked, and the masses ate together at a mass meeting.
This method achieved tremendous success in Jiubao District.
Their confiscation and distribution committees were not permanent organizations but temporary ones, which linked them more closely with the masses. (Regarding the confiscation and distribution of land, the permanent land committee remained responsible.)
Nothing was carried to the township Soviet.
They avoided gathering items from several households before distributing, thus eliminating the problems of delays and theft by others.
Jiubao District, in other aspects of the line and methods, was generally also correct, and therefore was able to mobilize the broad masses to personally take action in investigating class status.
They achieved a situation where not a single landlord or rich peasant came to the Soviet to make trouble.
This was completely opposite to the situation during past land investigations.
Previously, many investigated landlords and rich peasants would come to the Soviet to make an uproar, claiming they had been wrongly classified.
Not only the individuals themselves, but sometimes even individual township representatives or responsible persons from the poor peasant league would come to plead for them or offer guarantees.
This time, of course, it was not that landlords and rich peasants did not want to make trouble, but that they could not stir up trouble even if they tried.
Their clan members, their relatives—not a single one supported them.
The landlords and rich peasants lost their nerve and had no possibility of making trouble.
This demonstrates that Jiubao District did an extremely thorough job of mobilizing the masses; otherwise, such a situation could not have been achieved.

All these glorious model examples (and there are still many such examples elsewhere) provide a Bolshevik answer to the call of the Party and the Central Government, proving the absolute correctness of the directives of the Central Bureau and the Central Government.
Wherever these directives were fully implemented, great victories were immediately achieved.
But whoever violated or neglected these directives found their work plagued with errors and without results, or with very meager results.
Let me once again use facts to prove this.

**2. Some Places Have Abandoned Leadership of the Land Investigation Movement**

Following the issuance of the Central Bureau's resolution on land investigation and the Central Government's directive and the convening of the Eight-County Land Investigation Conference, the unfolding of the land investigation movement in various counties—as a struggle task—did not extend to all localities.
For instance, the results of land investigation in the entire province of Fujian still only matched the results of Bosheng County alone.
The results in each of Shengli, Yudu, Huichang, and Shicheng counties still only matched those of the best one or two districts in Ruijin.
In many districts in various places, the land investigation committees did not convene a single meeting.
Even among the county land investigation committees, there were still several counties (Huichang, Yudu, Shicheng, Ninghua) that did not firmly grasp the land investigation work of the entire county.
In many district and township land investigation committees, the district or township chairman did not serve as the committee head, making excuses about being busy with other matters and neglecting land investigation entirely.
Regarding Party leadership over land investigation, in all places where land investigation yielded results, the strong leading role of the Party was clearly evident, and the majority of Party members, under the leadership of branch and district committees, performed much brave and combative work.
But in all places where land investigation yielded no results or very meager results, it showed that the Party departments neglected the land investigation movement.
This is similar to the Huichang County Party Committee, which, after the Central Bureau's land investigation resolution was issued, did not discuss land investigation work even once for nearly two months, only holding one meeting to discuss it at the end of July.
The Xiashu District Party Committee in Ruijin completely ignored the land investigation movement for a period.
The Ruijin Municipal Party Committee held one meeting on land investigation during the movement but did not push the suburban branches to pay attention to its leadership; none of the branch committees held meetings for the land investigation movement.
In other places, such as the county committees and many district committees in Yudu, Shengli, Shicheng, and Ninghua, similarly, they did not devote great effort to paying attention to land investigation work.
The Party and the Central Government say: "The land investigation movement is a powerful method for mobilizing the masses, deepening class struggle in the countryside, thoroughly resolving the land issue, and eliminating feudal and semi-feudal remnants! (Central Bureau Resolution)" "The land investigation movement is a task that all local Soviets cannot afford to delay for a single moment (Central Government Directive)." "The land investigation movement is the most important link in the current central tasks (Summary of the Eight-County Conference)." Yet many of our comrades are saying: "We are too busy; we have no time to attend to the land investigation movement."
The Party resolution says: "Dealing with the land investigation movement using a perfunctory attitude of bureaucracy and formalism is the most harmful."
Yet these comrades are still treating the land investigation movement with bureaucracy and formalism.

**3. Some Places Have Even Surrendered to Landlords and Rich Peasants**

In places where the land investigation movement has been launched, many individual but still serious errors have also appeared.
That is, within the Party departments and Soviets in these places, there are still often individual comrades who, in the face of the fierce class struggle of the land investigation movement, display their opportunist vacillation.
This mainly occurs when the land investigation movement develops intensely: they cannot cast off clan and local connections, shielding landlords and rich peasants of the same surname or village.
Or they erroneously analyze class status, treating landlords as rich peasants and rich peasants as middle peasants.
Some working comrades in the judicial departments, through extreme negligence, accept false accusations lodged by landlords and rich peasants in the name of the masses against activists of the land investigation movement.
On the other hand, some of our comrades in the security and judicial departments do not actively suppress counter-revolutionaries following the mass struggle to investigate class, and even refuse the masses' requests when they demand the arrest and execution of landlord and rich peasant elements who resist the land investigation movement.
The judicial department in Ruijin has made many such erroneous examples.

**4. The Tendency to Encroach on Middle Peasants Is the Most Serious Danger**

"Left" opportunist tendencies emerged again in many places during the land investigation movement in July.
What should be emphasized here is the tendency to infringe upon the interests of the middle peasants.
Despite the fact that the Central Bureau's resolution had long clearly stated: "Special attention must be paid to the alliance with the masses of middle peasants.
The middle peasants are the largest basic group in Soviet rural areas after the revolution, and all our measures and strategies must win their support and endorsement.
Every decision of the poor peasant leagues and the Soviets must gain the endorsement of the middle peasant masses at village or household public meetings.
All voices of the middle peasant masses must be heeded, and any attempt to infringe upon the interests of the middle peasants must be severely cracked down upon."
The resolution of the Eight-County Congress pointed out: "The goal of the land investigation is to investigate class status, not to redistribute land."
"The alliance with the middle peasants should begin with not infringing upon their interests."
"At the start of the land investigation, the Soviet policy of uniting with the middle peasants and not infringing upon their interests should be widely publicized."
During the land investigation process, decisions should be made prudently.
Those ambiguous elements on the borderline between middle peasants and rich peasants should not be misclassified.
However, such directives were not heeded by comrades in many places.
In the urban district of Ruijin, the land investigation began with a field-by-field check, causing panic among the middle peasants.
Some middle peasants even went to the Soviet to request a change in their class status, asking to be reclassified as poor peasants.
They said: "Being a middle peasant is very dangerous—just one step up and you're a rich peasant.
If we become poor peasants, we'll be farther from the rich peasants."
Is such a painful cry not worthy of our attention?
Comrades in Hungu Township of Huangbai District told the masses: "The class investigation does not look at anything else, only at the classes of middle peasants, rich peasants, and landlords."
Comrades in Tacheng District posted signs and conducted blanket investigations, causing some middle peasants to flee to the mountains in panic.
In certain townships of Bosheng County, similar opinions about posting signs were held, which is incorrect.
But none of this was heeded by these comrades.
This method of blanket investigation with sign-posting occurred in every county, which is an extremely serious situation.
They confused land investigation with land redistribution.
It is true that land redistribution should involve posting signs, checking plot by plot to ascertain the numbers before distributing the land.
But if this method is applied to the land investigation movement, it confuses the targets of rural struggle.
We previously pointed out: "Land investigation and land redistribution must be strictly distinguished.
This distinction is not only to consolidate the peasants' land ownership rights so that they do not panic over uncertain redistribution, but also to secure the victory of the class struggle in the land investigation.
We must concentrate all our forces—especially by uniting with the middle peasants—to counter the resistance of landlords and rich peasants.
At such a time, no disturbance whatsoever should arise within the ranks of the peasants themselves." (Conclusion of the Eight-County Congress) Such a strategy is the most important part of our overall strategy in leading the land investigation struggle, yet it is still being overlooked by many comrades.
This neglect must not be tolerated for another moment.
Those who, even after guidance, deliberately commit these mistakes must be severely punished by the local higher-level Soviets.
Ideological struggles must be waged within the Party and the Youth League to oppose any thought or behavior by any Party or Youth League member that infringes upon the interests of the middle peasants or violates the strategy of uniting with the middle peasants.
Where mistakes have already been made—such as in places where the land and property of middle peasants have been confiscated—Soviet personnel must publicly acknowledge their mistakes before the local middle peasant masses and compensate them by returning the land and property.
Last year, Xingguo County compensated many middle peasants by returning their land, achieving the satisfaction of the middle peasant masses.
This is a valuable lesson.

V. The Closed-Doorism of Poor Peasant Leagues and the Neglect of the Leadership Role of Hired Peasants Are Wrong

"The masses of poor peasants are the pillar of the Party and the proletariat in the countryside, and the resolute supporters of the thorough agrarian revolution."
"Relying on the poor peasants" is one of the important strategies of our land investigation movement and all land struggles, and the Poor Peasant League is a group with a tremendous role in the land investigation movement.
The Poor Peasant League Congress of the Eight Counties has already pointed out that the past closed-door tendency of the Poor Peasant Leagues was wrong.
The membership-by-recommendation system should be abolished, the door should be opened wide to poor peasants and workers, and all poor peasants and workers, men and women, young and old, may register to join.
However, in many places, the old practices remain unchanged, and people still cannot enter the Poor Peasant League without a recommendation.
Even in Tacheng District of Ruijin, when poor peasant masses who had not yet joined came to attend a Poor Peasant League meeting, the responsible persons of the Poor Peasant League actually refused them entry.
In Zhuzhaiyu District of Bosheng County, the Poor Peasant League did not recruit a single person throughout July.
In all districts and townships where land investigation has achieved results, the Poor Peasant Leagues have expanded greatly, whereas in districts and townships with no results or only meager results, one characteristic is the closed-door state of the Poor Peasant Leagues.
The great leadership role of the hired peasants in the land investigation movement is likewise not recognized by many comrades.
The Party resolution states: "The masses of hired peasants are the brothers of the urban proletariat in the countryside and the vanguard in the agrarian revolution.
Therefore, Soviet staff must maintain close contact with the trade unions and, through the trade unions, develop and organize the initiative of the worker masses so that they become the vanguard of the land investigation movement."
Comrades who act in accordance with this directive are still not the majority.
The main method here is to have rural workers join the Poor Peasant Leagues and form separate workers' groups within them; through these workers' groups, to unite active poor peasant elements, develop the Poor Peasant Leagues, and push the land investigation movement forward.
The experience of Shanhe Township in Huangbai District is valuable.
When our comrades convened the Poor Peasant League twice but the meetings failed to materialize, they went and held a joint meeting of the members of the Agricultural Workers' Union and the Handicraft Workers' Union.
They mobilized several dozen active workers to rise up, each leading one poor peasant element to join the Poor Peasant League.
This experience of Shanhe Township should be applied to all rural areas.
Here, the higher-level leadership organs of the trade unions should provide active guidance to the lower-level trade unions and regard the land investigation movement as one of the important tasks of the trade unions.

VI. Incorrect Views on the Issue of the Rich Peasants

In rural struggles, our entire strategy is to rely on the poor peasants, resolutely unite with the middle peasants, make the hired peasants play a vanguard role, and unite all forces to eliminate the landlord class and oppose the rich peasants.
Regarding the issue of the rich peasants, the Party has correctly stated: "We must distinguish clearly between landlords and rich peasants.
In the ruthless struggle to eliminate feudal remnants, no attempt whatsoever to eliminate the rich peasants can be permitted."
Although in the July land investigation there were still no openly advocated theories of eliminating the rich peasants, treating rich peasant elements as landlords and completely confiscating their family property has already occurred in many places.
The source of this error lies in negating the labor power of the rich peasants.
When we say: "Those who have no labor or only supplementary labor and have exploitation such as land rent are landlords," some places regard those who perform a considerable amount of labor in production as engaging in "supplementary labor" and treat them as landlords.
Some places regard rich peasants who also engage in usury as "usurers" and apply the methods for "eliminating usurers" to deal with such rich peasants.
Some dig up old accounts, going back several years before the revolution.
If a person hired long-term labor five or six years or even over a decade before the revolution, they are treated as a rich peasant.
In some cases, even well-to-do middle peasant elements who only hired long-term labor for one or two years—and neither before nor after—are classified as rich peasants.
Even more serious is a past example from a certain place in Xingguo County.
The method there was to differentiate the class status of landlords and rich peasants based on the number of types of exploitation: those with three types of exploitation were called landlords, and those with two types were called rich peasants.
For instance, if someone hired long-term labor, collected rent, and lent money at interest, then regardless of how many people in their household labored, their household was considered a landlord's household.
There is also the issue of "reactionary rich peasants," which has been much confused in many places.
In Wuyang District, there was a rich peasant household that also engaged in commerce, with seven people to feed.
Because one member of their household had participated in the AB Corps and was executed two years earlier, two years later the comrades there insisted on confiscating the entire household.
In many other places, many similar incidents occurred.
Comrades insisted on confiscating the property of rich peasants who had committed not very serious counter-revolutionary acts before the uprising—such as participating in "collecting 30% of the harvest rent" in Ruijin—and who had not engaged in any counter-revolutionary activities in the years after the uprising, and whom the majority of the masses did not want punished.
To put it correctly, our methods of dealing with such elements should differ strategically between consolidated areas and border areas that are not yet consolidated.
In border areas, severe measures must undoubtedly be adopted to suppress all counter-revolutionary elements, including the rich peasants.
In central areas, however, decisions should be made based on the specific circumstances: those who committed serious counter-revolutionary acts before the uprising or are still engaging in counter-revolutionary activities after the uprising should naturally be resolutely subjected to confiscation; otherwise, they should not be.
In some households, only the individual concerned and those directly involved in their counter-revolutionary acts should face confiscation, while others in the household should not.
Such handling is the correct handling.

VII. The Workers' and Peasants' Procuratorial Departments Have Not Shouldered Their Due Responsibilities, and Some Have Even Committed Mistakes

Many comrades in our Workers' and Peasants' Procuratorial Departments do not recognize that the unfolding of the land investigation movement is the best opportunity to wage ideological struggles, oppose bureaucracy, combat corruption, degeneration, passivity, and slackness in work, and expel alien class elements from the Soviets.
Consequently, they have done an exceedingly insufficient job in these areas.
In the face of this fierce class struggle, many of our comrades in the Workers' and Peasants' Procuratorial Departments have exhibited their own passivity and wavering, as well as their own bureaucracy and formalism.
Even as egregious as the case where the head of the Workers' and Peasants' Procuratorial Section of the Ruijin City Soviet shielded the enormously corrupt actions of the head of the City Soviet's Adjudication Section—who misappropriated over a thousand yuan of public funds.
When the district Soviet chairman of Dutou District abandoned the land investigation and paid it no heed, the head of the Workers' and Peasants' Procuratorial Section there did not criticize or impeach him.
The investigation and prosecution movement of the Workers' and Peasants' Procuratorial Department in Dutou District, in some places, veered in other mistaken directions.
Love affairs were treated as degeneration; taking items from landlords was treated as corruption; such individuals were subject to investigation and even public trial.
In some places, those who committed minor errors were dismissed from their posts.
Instead of systematically mobilizing self-criticism and waging ideological struggle—thereby saving the effort of such arduous work—they substituted it with simple punitivism.
Needless to say, those among Soviet staff who have committed long-standing and serious errors should be resolutely purged.
But giving dismissals to those whose errors do not reach this extent is excessive.
Regarding the issue of alien class elements, the focus is generally only on class origin, not on work performance.
As long as someone's class origin is bad, regardless of how long their history of struggle is or how correctly they have heretofore carried out the Party's and the Soviet's lines and policies, they are uniformly labeled as alien class elements and expelled.
It is entirely correct that we must resolutely purge those alien class elements—those with bad class origin and bad work performance alike, including landlords, rich peasants, passive shirkers, the corrupt, and the degenerate—they should undoubtedly be purged cleanly.
But if others who do not fit this description are also purged, that is excessive.

VIII. On the Art of Leadership in the Land Investigation Struggle

Even if the tasks and the line are understood, without Bolshevik art in mass struggle, the land investigation movement still cannot be developed.
At the beginning of this text, many good examples of leading the struggle, such as those in Rentian District, were cited.
However, in many other places, quite a few mistakes were made on this issue.
In some large, backward villages where landlords and rich peasants are concentrated, comrades did not know how to employ various methods to launch the struggle.
For instance, in such large villages, it was necessary to first arrest those notorious and vicious gentry-landlord elements, the so-called "big tigers" in the eyes of the masses, in order to develop the local struggle, yet our comrades did not do so.
Many still did not know to adopt the best method of distributing confiscated property to launch the struggle.
In Wazi Township of Tacheng District in Ruijin, goods were only distributed to land investigation cadres and members of the Poor Peasant League, and not to others, on the grounds that those who did not show initiative should not receive any.
In some places, the distribution of confiscated goods was very slow, and in some cases, they were still undistributed to the masses over a month after confiscation.
The distribution of confiscated land was even slower.
In not a few places, comrades did not know how to mobilize all departments of the Soviet and all mass organizations; they did not know how to mobilize all Party and Youth League members to play a core leadership role within each mass organization and each village.
When the work could not be pushed forward, they simply said that there was no way here.
In some places, when the mass struggle to investigate class status had already been launched and many masses came forward to report landlords and rich peasants, requesting land investigation and confiscation, our comrades could not immediately seize this enthusiasm of the masses to lead them in launching the struggle and expand the class investigation work to every village.
In some places, after conducting one round of investigation, when the masses' enthusiasm for struggle could not continue to rise and showed signs of stagnating, our comrades were unable to use various methods to encourage the masses, so that the struggle would continue to surge ahead and be led all the way to the elimination of feudal remnants.
In many places, after the land investigation movement had been carried out and the masses' enthusiasm for struggle surged vigorously, comrades did not know how to channel this enthusiasm into other fronts.
For example, when the masses received goods and land, they did not seize the opportunity at mass meetings at that time or any other favorable moment to encourage the masses to join the Red Army, buy public bonds, join cooperatives, or step up autumn harvesting and autumn plowing work, or to establish clubs, literacy classes, and develop night schools and primary schools.
They let such good opportunities slip by, only restarting propaganda and mobilization when prodded by higher levels about these tasks.
Such tailist leadership, trailing behind the masses' enthusiasm for struggle, is most detrimental to revolutionary work.

On the other hand, in many other places, the vile phenomenon of a small number of people acting recklessly has also occurred.
We have emphatically pointed out the need to oppose the neglect of winning over the majority of the masses and the commandist style of work.
Only by patiently and painstakingly carrying out the work of mobilizing and winning over the masses can we gain the support of the majority of the masses and achieve the goal of eliminating feudal remnants.
Such mass work is the sole guarantee for implementing the class line.
At the start of the land investigation movement, extensive propaganda must be conducted in every village and hamlet, explaining to the masses the necessity of the land investigation movement, clarifying that land investigation is not land redistribution, and that investigating class status is not about investigating the class status of middle peasants, poor peasants, or farm laborers.
It is especially important to clearly explain to the masses what constitutes a landlord, a rich peasant, and a middle peasant.
Mass meetings in villages and hamlets should be held not just once; particularly in those backward villages and hamlets, they should be held several more times, and not a single laborer should be left out from hearing our propaganda.
To achieve this goal, we should first explain the situation clearly to all activists in township soviet representative conferences, trade unions, poor peasant leagues, women workers' and peasants' representative conferences, and other mass organizations, and through them, carry out extensive propaganda among the broad masses.
The investigation of class status should not be carried out by only a few people; the participation of many must be mobilized.
The confirmation of class status must not only be passed by the poor peasant league, the township soviet, and the district soviet but also be subject to mass meetings in the villages and hamlets of those subject to confiscation, gaining the consent of the masses before confiscation can proceed.
The distribution of property should be given to the masses of the village and hamlet concerned, earning their satisfaction.
The reason for doing so is to win over the majority of the masses.
Party and soviet functionaries must never forget the majority of the masses at any time or in any task.
Our work must penetrate deeply among the masses, into all large and small villages, and all large and small towns.
We must strictly oppose the erroneous practices of closed-doorism and commandism carried out by a minority.
Yet in many of our localities, things are not done this way.
In Ruijin, in many districts and townships, a class analysis has never once been explained to the masses (no analysis of what constitutes a landlord, rich peasant, or middle peasant). In Ruijin and many places in other counties, cases have been found where investigations are launched without any propaganda, leading landlords to spread rumors and deceive middle peasants, saying things like "There are many landlords and rich peasants in this township," or "There are several hundred landlords and rich peasant households in this township to be investigated" (Ruijin). Yet our comrades still do not know how to use the clear method of "explaining class status" to see through such rumors.
In Guangchang, landlords said, "The land investigation movement is the central government demanding that those who owed debts in the past repay those debts to the central government."
Our comrades did not immediately expose this nonsense.
In several townships of Taling District, aside from doing no propaganda, the investigation of class status is only carried out by a few members of the investigation committee.
The confirmation of class status not only fails to go through mass meetings but even bypasses the poor peasant league.
They say, "The masses are unreliable; they cannot analyze class status.
Bringing class status determinations to mass meetings for approval will cause disputes.
It is more reliable to have only the committee approve them."
The theories of these comrades in Taling District can truly be counted as astonishingly bizarre.
In several places, the confiscation of landlords is carried out not during the day but at night, with the sole reason being the fear that the landlords might run away.
In one place, a mass meeting was held using the approach of a "district-wide meeting," yet fewer than two hundred people attended.
Three people took turns speaking from morning until afternoon, not allowing the masses to rest, eat, or drink water, claiming they feared the masses would run away.
Such a foolish method is another example of bizarre behavior.

IX. Waging a Struggle on Two Fronts to Overcome Our Own Mistakes and Secure the Thorough Victory of the Land Investigation Movement

Undoubtedly, the land investigation movement has unfolded across vast areas.
But as this movement advances, even as we correctly assess the achievements already made and lay the foundation for the movement's development, we must vigilantly watch for obstacles along the movement's path.
Only by unleashing the firepower of a struggle on two fronts to clear away these obstacles can we propel the land investigation movement forward more rapidly.
It is the duty of every Communist Party member to wage an ideological struggle against right-leaning tendencies, oppose the underestimation of the profound significance of the land investigation movement and compromise or capitulation toward landlords and rich peasants, and oppose tailism toward mass struggles.
At the same time, we must alert all Party members to the danger of infringing upon middle peasants and severely crack down on any attempt to harm their interests, as this is an already clearly manifested and extremely serious danger in the current land investigation work.
Incorrect views toward rich peasants will undoubtedly affect middle peasants as well.
All commandist recklessness is the greatest harm to uniting with the middle peasants.
Using the firepower of the struggle on two fronts to sweep away all obstacles on the path of the land investigation movement, the movement can then advance in great strides, and its thorough victory will be fully guaranteed.