March 15, 1935. In view of the Japanese imperialists’ aggressive aggression and the imminent peril of China’s ruin, workers and peasants throughout the country, together with all patriotic patriots, have actively joined the national revolutionary struggle against the Japanese aggressors and their lackey Chiang Kai-shek and his clique. Under the traitorous rule of Chiang Kai-shek and others, the Chinese economy has been plunged into an inescapable abyss, particularly the rural economy, leading to widespread resistance and uprisings among farmers nationwide. The rich peasants have abandoned their hostility toward the Soviet revolution and have begun to sympathize with the struggle against imperialism and for land reform.

In order to broaden the national revolutionary front for resisting Japan and overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek, the Central Committee of the Soviets has specially decided to revise its policy toward the rich peasants as follows:

(A) With regard to the land of the rich peasants, except for that which is leased out to individual peasants at exorbitantly feudal rents, such land shall be treated as landlord property and wholly confiscated; all other land cultivated by the rich peasants themselves or farmed by hired laborers, regardless of its quality, shall be exempt from confiscation.

(B) As for the movable property, livestock, and farming implements of the rich peasants, none of these shall be confiscated, except where they are used to extort usurious loans from peasants under a feudal regime.

(C) Apart from the unified progressive tax, local governments are prohibited from levying requisitions or imposing special taxes and levies on the rich peasants.

(D) Provided they do not violate Soviet laws, governments at all levels shall guarantee the rich peasants’ freedom to engage in commerce and industry and to hire labor.

(E) In areas where the vast majority of the masses demand and implement the equal distribution of all land, the rich peasants shall have the right to receive the same share of land as ordinary peasants.

(F) When the rich peasants violate Soviet decrees, they shall be punished in accordance with the law; if they engage in counterrevolutionary activities, they shall be dealt with pursuant to the Provisional Regulations on the Punishment of Counterrevolutionaries.

(G) The rich peasants shall still be barred from joining the Red Army and any armed forces, including the Red Guards, and shall have no voting rights.

(H) All previously promulgated land laws and other decrees that conflict with this order are hereby repealed.

(I) This order shall take effect from the date of its promulgation; in regions where communication has not yet been established, it shall come into force upon receipt of the document. Any measures taken prior to the implementation of this order under earlier decrees shall remain valid and may not be overturned.

Chairman Mao Zedong November 15, 1935