The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese
Communist Party
(December 15, 1939)

Chapter 1: Chinese Society

A. The Chinese Nation

Our China is one of the largest countries in the world, covering a territory larger
than the area of the whole of Europe.¹ In this vast territory, there are large stretches
of fertile land that provide us with food and clothing; there are mountain ranges,
plateaus, and plains across its length and breadth, with extensive forests and rich
mineral deposits; there are many rivers and lakes that provide us with facilities for
water transport and irrigation; and there is a long coastline that facilitates communication with the various nations beyond the seas. From the most ancient times,
the ancestors of our Chinese nation have labored, lived, and multiplied on this vast
land.

communist societies 13 and the transition to the era of class society, which took the
form, first, of slave society and then of feudal society. Throughout the history of
the development of the civilization of the Chinese nation, mainly that of the Han
nationality, its agriculture and handicrafts have been renowned for their high level
B. The Old Feudal Society

Although China is a great nation-state, and although it is a vast country with an
immense population, a long history, a rich revolutionary tradition, and a splendid
historical heritage, it stagnated for a long time after the transition from the slave
system to the feudal system. This feudal system, beginning with the Zhou and Qin
dynasties, lasted for more than three thousand years. Because of the prolonged
1. A self-sufficient natural economy predominated. The peasants produced for
themselves not only agricultural products but most of the handicraft articles they
2. The feudal ruling class composed of the landlords, the nobility, and the emperor owned most of the land, while the peasants had very little or none at all. The peasants tilled the land of the landlords, the nobility, and the royal family with
3. Not only did the landlords, the nobility, and the imperial family live on rent
extorted from the peasants, but the landlord state also exacted tribute, taxes, and
corvée services from them to support a horde of government officials and an army
which was used for their repression.
4. The feudal landlord state was the organ of power protecting this system of
the landlord class.
The peasants and the handicraft workers were the basic classes which created
the wealth and culture of this society.
The ruthless economic exploitation and political oppression of the Chinese peasants forced them into innumerable insurrections against landlord rule. There were
hundreds of these, all of them peasant revolts or peasant revolutionary wars from the uprisings of Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, Xiang Yu, and Liu Bang in the Qin
dynasty, those of Xinshi, Pinglin, the Red Eyebrows, the Bronze Horses, and the
Yellow Turbans in the Han dynasty, those of Li Mi and Dou Jiande in the Sui
C. Present-day Colonial, Semicolonial, and Semifeudal Society

As explained above, Chinese society remained feudal for more than three thousand years. But is it still completely feudal today? No, China has changed. After
the Opium War of 1840 China gradually changed into a semicolonial and semifeudal
society. Since the incident of September 18, 1931, when the Japanese imperialists
started their armed aggression, China has changed further into a colonial,
semicolonial society. We shall now describe the course of this change.
As discussed in Section B, Chinese feudal society lasted for more than three
thousand years. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, with the
penetration of foreign capitalism, that great and fundamental changes took place
in Chinese society.
homes, and, on the other, it hastened the growth of a commodity economy in town
and country.
Apart from its disintegrating effects on the foundations of China's feudal
economy, this state of affairs gave rise to certain objective conditions and possibilities for the development of capitalist production in China. For the destruction
of the natural economy created a market for the sale of products for capitalism,
while the bankruptcy of large numbers of peasants and handicraftsmen provided it
with a market for the purchase of labor.
In fact, some merchants, landlords, and bureaucrats began investing in modern
industry as far back as sixty years ago, in the latter part of the nineteenth century,
under the stimulus of foreign capitalism and because of certain cracks in the feudal economic structure. About forty years ago, at the turn of the century, China's
national capitalism took its first steps forward. Then, about twenty years ago, during the first imperialist world war, China's national industry expanded, chiefly in
textiles, flour milling, and silk weaving, because the imperialist countries in Europe and America were preoccupied with the war and temporarily relaxed their
oppression of China. During this period, the number of factories in China's textile
industry increased from 22 in 1915 to 44 in 1922; the number of factories in the
flour milling industry increased from 67 in 1916 to 107; the silk weaving industry
had 63 more factories. There were 108 more Chinese banks at the time.
The history of the emergence and development of national capitalism is at the
same time the history of the emergence and development of the Chinese bourgeoisie and proletariat. Just as a section of the merchants, landlords, and bureaucrats
were precursors of the Chinese bourgeoisie, so a section of the peasants and handicraft workers were the precursors of the Chinese proletariat. As distinct social
classes, the Chinese bourgeoisie and proletariat are newborn and never existed
before in Chinese history. They have evolved into new social classes from the
womb of feudal society. They are twins born of China's old (feudal) society, at
once linked to each other and antagonistic toward each other. However, the Chinese proletariat emerged and grew simultaneously not only with the Chinese national bourgeoisie but also with the enterprises directly operated by the imperialists
It is certainly not the purpose of the imperialist powers invading China to transform feudal China into capitalist China. On the contrary, their purpose is to transform China into their own semicolony or colony.
To this end, the imperialist powers have used and continue to use every military, political, economic, and cultural means of oppression, so that China has gradually become a semicolony and colony. They are as follows:
1. After defeating³³ China in war, the imperialist powers seized many Chinese
protectorates and parts of China's territory.³⁴ Japan³⁵ occupied Korea, Taiwan, the
Ryukyu Islands, the Penghu Islands, and the port of Lushun,³⁶ Britain seized Burma,
Bhutan, Nepal, and Hongkong, and France occupied Vietnam.³⁷ Even a miserable
little country such as Portugal seized our Macao. In addition to annexing territory,
they exacted huge indemnities. Thus heavy blows were struck at China's huge
feudal empire.
2. In accordance with treaties, the imperialist powers have the right to station
land and sea forces and exercise consular jurisdiction in China,³⁸ and they have
carved up the whole country into imperialist spheres of influence.
3. The imperialist powers have gained control of all the important trading ports
in China by these treaties³⁹ and have marked off areas in many of these ports as
concessions under their direct administration. They have also gained control of
China's customs, foreign trade, and communications (sea, land, inland water, and
air). Thus they have been able to dump their goods in China, turn it into a market
for their industrial products, and at the same time subordinate⁴⁰ its agriculture to
their imperialist needs.

4. The imperialist powers operate many enterprises in light and some sections
of heavy industry in China in order to utilize her raw materials and cheap labor on
the spot, and they thereby directly compete with China's national industry. 41
5. The imperialist powers monopolize China's banking and finance by extending loans to the Chinese government and establishing banks in China. Thus they
have not only overwhelmed China's national capitalism in commodity competition, but they have also secured a stranglehold on its banking and finance.
6. The imperialist powers have established a network of comprador and merchant-usurer exploitation right across China, from the trading ports to the remote
hinterland, and have created a comprador and merchant-usurer class in their service, so as to facilitate their exploitation of the broad Chinese peasantry.42
7. Besides the comprador class, the imperialist powers still need larger social
forces as the props of their rule in China. 43 Imperialism "first forms an alliance
with44 the ruling strata of the previous social structure, with the feudal landlords
and the trading and money-lending bourgeoisie, against the majority of the people.
Everywhere imperialism attempts to preserve and to maintain those precapitalist
forms of exploitation (especially in the villages) which serve as the basis for the
existence of its reactionary alliance"45 (the Guidelines of the Sixth Congress of the
Communist International on the Movement of Colonies and Semicolonies). "Imperialism, with all its financial and military might, is the force in China that supports
and promotes 46 the feudal survivals, together with their entire bureaucratic-militarist
superstructure, to Europeanize them and turn them into conservative forces" (Speech
by Stalin at the Executive Committee of the Communist International in 1927).
8. The imperialist powers supply the Chinese government47 with large quantities of munitions and a host of military advisers, in order to keep the warlords
fighting among themselves and to suppress the Chinese people.
9. Furthermore, the imperialist powers have never slackened their efforts to
poison the minds of the Chinese people. This is their cultural policy. 48 And it is
carried out through missionary work, through establishing schools, 49 publishing
newspapers, and inducing Chinese students to study abroad. Their aim is to train
intellectuals who will serve their interests and to dupe the people.
10. Step by step, the imperialist powers turned China into a semicolony. This
situation was the result of many brutal wars waged by them. For instance, the
British Opium War of 1840, the attack on Beijing by the British and French Allied
Forces in 1857, the Sino-French War of 1884, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the
attack on Beijing by the Allied Forces of Eight Countries in 1900. The abovementioned situation emerged when China became a semicolony jointly ruled and
rivaled for by the major imperialist powers after these wars. Since September 18,
1931, the large-scale invasion of Japanese imperialism has turned a big chunk of
China50 into a Japanese colony.
These facts represent the other aspect of the change that has taken place since
the imperialist penetration of China-the blood-stained picture of feudal China
being reduced to semifeudal, semicolonial, and colonial China.
It is thus clear that in their aggression against China the imperialist powers
have, on the one hand, hastened the disintegration of feudal society and the growth
of elements of capitalism, thereby transforming a feudal into a semifeudal society
and, on the other, imposed their ruthless rule on China, reducing an independent
country to a semicolonial and colonial country.
Taking both these aspects together, we can see that China's colonial,
semicolonial, and semifeudal society possesses the following characteristic:
1. The self-sufficient natural economy51 of feudal times have been destroyed,
but the feudal exploitation of the peasantry by the landlord class, which is the
basis of the feudal exploitation, 52 not only remains intact but, linked as it is with
exploitation by comprador and usurer capital, clearly dominates China's social
and economic life, either in the areas controlled by the Chinese government that is
resisting Japan or in the areas occupied by Japan.
2. National capitalism has developed to a certain extent and has played a certain53 part in China's political and cultural life, but it has not become the principal
pattern in China's social economy; it is flabby and is associated with foreign imperialism and domestic feudal remnants. 54 The destruction and plunder of most of
the national industry by Japanese imperialism especially since the September 18
Incident have greatly changed the situation in China.
3. The autocracy55 of the emperors and nobility has been overthrown, and in its
place there have arisen either the warlord-bureaucrat rule56 of the landlord class or the joint dictatorship of the landlords and the big bourgeoisie. In the occupied
areas there is the rule of Japanese imperialism and its puppets.
4. Imperialism controls not only China's vital financial and economic arteries
but also its political and military power. In the occupied areas, everything is in the
hands of Japanese imperialism.
5. China's economic, political, and cultural development is very uneven, because it has been under the complete or partial domination of many imperialist
powers, because it has actually been in a state of disunity for a long time, and
because its territory is immense.
6. Under the twofold oppression of imperialism and feudal remnants, 57 and
especially as a result of the large-scale invasion of Japanese imperialism, the Chinese people, and particularly the peasants, have become more and more impoverished and have even been pauperized, 58 living in hunger and cold and without any
political rights. The poverty and lack of freedom among the Chinese people are on
a scale seldom found in other nations of the world.
Such are the characteristics of China's colonial, semicolonial, and semifeudal
society.
This situation has, in the main, been determined by the Japanese and other
imperialist forces; it is the result of the collusion of foreign imperialism and domestic feudal remnants.
The contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation and the contradiction between feudal remnants and the great masses of the people are the basic
contradictions in contemporary59 Chinese society. Of course, there are others, such
as the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and the contradictions within the ruling classes60 themselves. But the contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation is the principal one. These contradictions and their
intensification must inevitably result in the incessant growth of revolutionary movements. The great revolutions in modern and contemporary China have emerged
and grown on the basis of these basic contradictions.

Chapter 2. The Chinese Revolution

A. The Revolutionary Movements in the Last Hundred Years

The history of China's transformation into a semicolony and colony by imperialism in collusion with Chinese feudal remnants is at the same time a history of
struggle by the Chinese people against imperialism and its lackeys. From the Opium
War, the movement of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Sino-French War, the
Sino-Japanese War, the Reform Movement of 1898, the Boxer movement, the
1911 Revolution, the May Fourth movement, the May Thirtieth movement, the
Northern Expedition, and the Agrarian Revolution, 61 to the present War of Resistance Against Japan-all these testify to the Chinese people's unrelenting62 spirit
in fighting imperialism and its lackeys.
Thanks to the Chinese people's unrelenting and heroic struggle during the last
hundred years, imperialism has not been able to subjugate all of China, nor will it
ever be able to do so.
The valiant Chinese people will certainly fight on, even though Japanese imperialism is now exerting its full strength in an all-out offensive, and many landlord
and big bourgeois elements, such as the overt and covert Wang Jingweis, have
already capitulated to the enemy or are preparing to do so. This heroic struggle,
already waged by the Chinese people for three years, will not cease until they have
driven Japanese imperialism out of China and have achieved the complete liberation of the country.
The national revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people has a history of fully
one hundred years counting from the Opium War of 1840, or of thirty years counting from the 1911 Revolution. It has not yet run its full course, nor has it yet
performed its tasks with any signal success; therefore the Chinese people, and,
above all, the Communist Party, must shoulder the responsibility of resolutely
fighting on.
What are the targets of the revolution? What are its tasks? What are its motive
forces? What is its character? And what are its perspectives? These are the questions we shall now deal with.

B. The Targets of the Chinese Revolution

From our analysis in the third section of Chapter I, we know that present-day
Chinese society is a colonial, semicolonial, and semifeudal society. Only when we
grasp the nature of Chinese society will we be able to understand clearly the targets, tasks, motive forces, and character of the Chinese revolution and its perspectives and future transition. A clear understanding of the nature of Chinese society,
that is, of Chinese conditions, is therefore the key to a clear understanding of all
the problems of the revolution.
Since the nature of present-day Chinese society is colonial, semicolonial, and
semifeudal, what are the chief targets or enemies at this stage of the Chinese
revolution?

They are none other than imperialism and the semifeudal forces, 63 the bourgeoisie of foreign countries, 64 and the landlord class of our country. For it is these
two that are the chief oppressors, the chief obstacles to the progress of Chinese
society at the present stage. The two collude with each other in oppressing the
Chinese people, and imperialism is the foremost and most ferocious enemy of the
Chinese people, because national oppression by imperialism is the more onerous.
Since Japan's armed invasion of China, the principal enemy of the revolution
has been Japanese imperialism together with all the Chinese traitors65 in league
with it, whether they have capitulated openly or are preparing to do so.
The Chinese bourgeoisie, which is also a victim of imperialist oppression, once
led or played a principal or partial role in glorious revolutionary struggles such as
the 1911 Revolution and has participated in revolutionary struggles such as the
Northern Expedition and the present War of Resistance Against Japan. In the long
period from 1927 to 1936,66 however, they67 collaborated with imperialism, formed
a reactionary alliance with the landlord class, betrayed the friends who had helped
it-the Communist Party, the proletariat, the peasantry, and other sections of the
petty bourgeoisie-betrayed the Chinese revolution, became the common enemy
of the people, and brought about its defeat. At that time, therefore, the revolutionary people and the revolutionary political party (the Communist Party) could not
but regard the bourgeoisie 68 as one of the targets of the revolution. In the War of
Resistance a section of the big landlord class and big bourgeoisie, represented by
Wang Jingwei, has turned traitor and deserted to the enemy. Consequently, those
among the people who are anti-Japanese cannot but regard these big bourgeois
elements who have betrayed our national interests as one of the targets of the
revolution.
It is evident, then, that the enemies of the Chinese revolution are very powerful.
They include not only powerful imperialists, as well as powerful semifeudal forces
but also the bourgeoisie, 69 which, at times, collaborates with the imperialist and
semifeudal forces to oppose the people. Therefore, it is wrong to underestimate
the strength of the enemies of the Chinese revolution. 70
In the face of such enemies, the Chinese revolution cannot be other than protracted and ruthless. With such powerful enemies, the revolutionary forces cannot
be built up and tempered into a power capable of crushing them except over a long
period of time. With enemies who so ruthlessly suppress the Chinese revolution, the
revolutionary forces cannot hold their own positions, let alone capture those of the
enemy, unless they steel themselves and display their tenacity to the full. It is therefore wrong to think that the forces of the Chinese revolution can be built up in the
twinkling of an eye or that China's revolutionary struggle can triumph overnight.
In the face of such enemies, the method or principal form of the Chinese revolution must be armed struggle, not peaceful struggle, for our enemies have made
peaceful activity impossible for the Chinese people and have deprived them of all
political freedom and democratic rights. Stalin says, "The characteristic of the
Chinese revolution is that the armed people are fighting against the armed counterrevolution."71 This formulation is perfectly correct. Therefore, it is wrong to
belittle armed struggle, revolutionary war, guerrilla war, and army work.
In the face of such enemies, there arises the question of special revolutionary
base areas. Since China's key cities have long been occupied by the powerful imperialists and their reactionary Chinese allies, it is imperative for the revolutionary
ranks to turn the backward villages into advanced, consolidated base areas, into
great military, political, economic, and cultural bastions of the revolution from
which to fight their vicious enemies, who are using the cities for attacks on the
rural districts, and in this way gradually to achieve the complete victory of the
revolution through protracted fighting; it is imperative for them to do so if they do
not wish to compromise with imperialism and its lackeys but are determined to
fight on, and if they intend to build up and temper their forces and avoid decisive
battles with a powerful enemy while their own strength is inadequate. Such being
the case, victory in the Chinese revolution can be won first in the rural areas, and
this is possible because China's economic development is uneven (the rural economy
not being entirely dependent on the cities), 72 because its territory is extensive (which
gives the revolutionary forces room to maneuver), because the counterrevolutionary camp is disunited and full of contradictions, and because the struggle of the
peasants who are the main force in the revolution is led by the Communist Party; 73
but, on the other hand, these very circumstances make the revolution uneven and
render the task of winning complete victory protracted and arduous. Clearly then
the protracted revolutionary struggle in the special revolutionary base areas consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare led by the Chinese Communist Party. Therefore, it is wrong to ignore the necessity of using rural districts as revolutionary base areas, to neglect painstaking work among the peasants, and to neglect guerrilla
warfare.
However, stressing armed struggle does not mean abandoning other forms of
struggle; on the contrary, armed struggle cannot succeed unless coordinated with
other forms of struggle. And stressing the work in the rural base areas does not
mean abandoning our work in the cities and in the other vast rural areas which
have not become base areas;74 on the contrary, without the work in the cities and
in these other rural areas, our own revolutionary base areas75 would be isolated
and the revolution would suffer defeat. Moreover, the final objective of the revolution is the capture of the cities, the enemy's main bases, and this objective cannot be achieved without necessary and adequate work in the cities.
It is thus clear that the revolution cannot triumph either in the rural areas or in
the cities without the destruction of the enemy's army, his chief weapon. 76 Therefore, there is the extremely important task of disintegrating them.77
It is also clear that the Communist Party must not be impetuous and adventurist
in its propaganda and organizational work in the urban and rural areas, which have
been occupied by the enemy dominated by the forces of reaction and darkness for
a long time, but that it must have cadres 78 working underground for a long time,
must accumulate strength and bide its time there. In leading the people in struggle
against the enemy, the Party must adopt the tactics of advancing step by step slowly
and surely, keeping to the principle of waging struggles on just grounds, to our
advantage, and with restraint, and making use of such open forms of activity as are
permitted by law, decree, and social custom; empty clamor and reckless action can
never lead to success.

C. The Tasks of the Chinese Revolution

Imperialism and the feudal remnants79 being the chief enemies of the Chinese
revolution at this stage, what are the present tasks of the revolution?
Unquestionably, the main tasks are strike at these two enemies, to carry out a
national revolution to overthrow foreign imperialist oppression and a democratic
revolution to overthrow feudal remnant80 oppression, the foremost task being the
national revolution to overthrow imperialism.

These two great tasks are interrelated. Unless imperialist rule is overthrown,
the rule of the feudal remnants81 cannot be terminated, because imperialism is its
main support. Conversely, unless the feudal remnants are wiped out, the imperialist rule cannot be overthrown, because the feudal remnants are the main social
base of the imperialist rule in China. 82 Therefore the two fundamental tasks, the
national revolution and the democratic revolution, are at once distinct and united.
In fact, the two revolutionary tasks are already linked, since the main immediate task of the national revolution is to resist the Japanese imperialist invaders and
since the democratic revolution must be accomplished in order to achieve victory83 in the War of Resistance Against Japan. It is inappropriate84 to regard the
national revolution and the democratic revolution as two entirely contradictory
stages85 of the revolution.

D. The Motive Forces of the Chinese Revolution

Given the nature of Chinese society and the present targets and tasks of the Chinese revolution as analyzed and defined above, what are the motive forces of the
Chinese revolution?
Since Chinese society is colonial, semicolonial, and semifeudal, since the targets of the revolution are mainly foreign imperialist rule and domestic semifeudal
forces, 86 and since the tasks of the national revolution and democratic revolution
are to overthrow these two oppressors, which of the various classes and strata in
Chinese society constitute the forces capable of fighting them? This is the question
of the motive forces of the Chinese revolution at the present stage. A clear understanding of this question is indispensable to a correct solution of the problem of
the basic tactics of the Chinese revolution.
What classes are there in present-day Chinese society? There are the landlord
class and the bourgeoisie, constituting the upper-stratum ruling classes. 87 And there are the proletariat, the peasantry, and the different sections of the petty bourgeoisie, 88 all of which are still the subjected classes in vast areas.
The attitude and the stand of these classes toward the Chinese revolution are
entirely determined by their economic status in society. Thus the motive forces as
well as the targets and tasks of the revolution are determined by the nature of
China's socioeconomic system.
Let us now analyze the different classes in Chinese society.

1. The Landlord Class

The landlord class, a representative of the feudal remnants, forms the main social
base for imperialist rule in China; it is a class which exploits89 and oppresses the
peasants, obstructs China's political, economic, and cultural development, and
brings no benefits whatsoever.90
Therefore, the landlords, as a class, are a target and not a motive force of the
revolution.
However, the most reactionary in the landlord class is the big landlord stratum.
Medium-size and small landlords, especially small landlords in bankruptcy and
semibankruptcy, are rather different. When the revolution only opposes imperialism and the big landlords, they often can keep neutral and temporarily join the
struggle. This is especially true for many intellectuals who come from such backgrounds and have received scientific education.
In the present War of Resistance, a section of the big landlords, along with one
section of the big bourgeoisie (the capitulationists), has surrendered to the Japanese aggressors and turned traitor, while another section of the big landlords, along
with another section of the big bourgeoisie (the diehards), is increasingly wavering even though it is still in the anti-Japanese camp. But a good many of the enlightened gentry who are medium and small landlords and who have some capitalist
coloration display some enthusiasm for the war, and they are still worth uniting
with¹ in the common fight against Japan.

2. The Bourgeoisie

There is a distinction between the comprador big bourgeoisie and the national
bourgeoisie.
The comprador big bourgeoisie is a class which directly serves the capitalists of
the imperialist countries and is nurtured by them; countless ties link it closely with
the feudal forces in the countryside. Therefore, it is a target of the Chinese revolution, and never in the history of the revolution has it been a motive force.
However, different sections of the comprador big bourgeoisie owe allegiance to
different imperialist powers, so when the contradictions among the latter become
very acute and the revolution is directed mainly against one particular imperialist
power, it becomes possible for the sections of the comprador class which serve
other imperialist groupings to join the current anti-imperialist front to a certain
extent and for a certain period. But they will turn against the Chinese revolution
the moment their masters do.
In the anti-Japanese war the pro-Japanese big bourgeoisie (the capitulationists)
have either surrendered or are preparing to surrender. The pro-European and proAmerican big bourgeoisie (the diehards) are wavering more and more, even though
they are still in the anti-Japanese camp, and they are playing the double game of
simultaneously resisting Japan and opposing the Communist Party. Our policy
toward the big bourgeois capitulationists is to treat them as enemies and resolutely
strike them down. Toward the big bourgeoisie diehards, we employ a revolutionary dual policy; on the one hand, we unite with them because they are still antiJapanese and we should take advantage of their residual anti-Japanese enthusiasm, 92
but, on the other hand, we firmly struggle against them because they pursue a
high-handed, anti-Communist, reactionary policy detrimental to resistance and
unity, both of which would be jeopardized without such a struggle.
The national bourgeoisie is a class with a dual character.
On the one hand, it is oppressed by imperialism and fettered by feudal remnants and, consequently, is in contradiction with both of them. In this respect it
constitutes one of the revolutionary motive forces. In the course of the Chinese
revolution, it has displayed enthusiasm for fighting imperialism and the governments of bureaucrats and warlords.
But, on the other hand, it lacks the courage to oppose imperialism and the feudal remnants thoroughly because it is economically and politically flabby and still
has economic ties with imperialism and the feudal remnants. This emerges very
clearly when the people's revolutionary forces grow powerful.
It follows from the dual character of the national bourgeoisie that, at certain
times and to a certain extent, it can take part in the revolution against imperialism
and the governments of bureaucrats and warlords and can become a revolutionary
motive force, but that, at other times, there is the danger of its following the big
bourgeoisie and acting as its accomplice in counterrevolution.
The national bourgeoisie in China, which is mainly the middle bourgeoisie, has
never really held political power but has been restricted by the reactionary policies of the big landlord class and big bourgeoisie which are in power, although it followed them in opposing the revolution in the period from 1927 to 1931 (before the
September 18 Incident). In the present war, it differs not only from the
capitulationists of the big bourgeoisie but also from the big bourgeois diehards,
and so far has been a fairly good ally of ours. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary
to have a prudent policy toward the national bourgeoisie.

3. The Different Categories of the Petty Bourgeoisie95

The petty bourgeoisie consists of the vast numbers of intellectuals, the urban poor,
office workers, handicraftsmen, professional people, and small tradesmen.96
Like the peasantry, they all suffer97 under the oppression of imperialism, feudalism, and the big bourgeoisie, and they are being driven ever nearer to bankruptcy or destitution.

Hence the petty bourgeoisie98 constitute one of the motive forces of the revolution and are a reliable ally of the proletariat. Only under the leadership of the
proletariat can they achieve their liberation.

Let us now analyze the different sections of the petty bourgeoisie other than the
peasantry.

First, intellectuals and student youth. Their numbers99 have grown considerably during the past few decades. Apart from that section of the intellectuals which
has associated itself with the imperialists and the big bourgeoisie and works for
them against the people, most intellectuals and students are oppressed by imperialism, feudal remnants, and the big bourgeoisie, and live in fear of unemployment
or of having to discontinue their studies. Therefore, they tend to be quite revolutionary. They are more or less equipped with modern 100 scientific knowledge, have
a keen political sense, and can play a vanguard role or serve as a link with the
masses in the present stage of the revolution. The movement of the Chinese students abroad before the 1911 Revolution, the May Fourth movement of 1919, the
May Thirtieth movement of 1925, and the December Ninth movement of 1935 are
striking proofs of this. In particular, the large numbers of more or less impoverished intellectuals and semi-intellectuals can join hands with the workers and peasants in supporting or participating in the revolution. In China, it was among the
intellectuals and young students that Marxist-Leninist ideology was first widely
disseminated and accepted. Without the participation of revolutionary intellectuals, the revolutionary forces cannot be successfully organized and revolutionary
work cannot be successfully conducted. But the intellectuals often tend to be impractical101 in their thinking and irresolute in action until they have thrown themselves heart and soul into mass revolutionary struggles or made up their minds to
serve the interests of the masses and live like them. 102 Hence although the mass of
revolutionary intellectuals in China can play a vanguard role or serve as a link to
the masses, not all of them will remain revolutionaries to the end. Some often drop
out of the revolutionary ranks at critical moments and become passive, while a few
may even become enemies of the revolution. Chen Duxiu and Zhang Guotao are
representatives of these few intellectuals. Intellectuals are often subjective and
individualistic. The intellectuals can wash away 103 their shortcomings only in mass
struggles over a long period.

Second, the urban poor. 104 The urban poor includes bankrupt handicraftsmen,
small tradesmen, peasants who left their native places to seek jobs in cities and
cannot find work, and large numbers of coolies who earn their living by sporadic
piece work. They constitute a big section of the masses, and their status, more or
less similar to that of the poor peasants, is that of a kind of semiproletarians. Their
status encourages them to support the revolution and makes them more receptive
to the leadership of the proletariat. So, like the poor peasants, they are an excellent
revolutionary force and natural allies of the proletariat.

Third, the office workers. This category consists of staff in industrial and commercial enterprises and the vast numbers of monthly salary earners in government and cultural organizations. They are also an important revolutionary force, as they
do not exploit other people, but make their living by selling their mental work or
technical skills and are under serious threat of unemployment. This category has
quite large numbers of people, and they are indispensable for the development of
the country and its culture.
Fourth, the handicraftsmen and professional people. The handicraftsmen, being independent producers and very numerous, are the builders of China's economy
now. Hit by the competition of foreign goods and unable to extricate themselves
from the trap of commercial usury capital, they can stand on the side of the revolution. They are also an important force of the revolution. Some of them employ a
few workers, and others do not. The latter are more reliable allies.
Professional people such as doctors, often influenced by the bourgeoisie ideologically, belong to the same category as the handicraftsmen and constitute an
indispensable sector of social life. They may also become a revolutionary force, as
they are oppressed by imperialism and feudal remnant forces as well.
Fifth, the small tradesmen. They are generally under the oppression of imperialism and the big bourgeoisie class and make up a large number of the masses. The
lower stratum of them do not exploit the labor of others and are themselves exploited by usuries, thus they are a useful force in the revolution. Only members of
the upper stratum who exploit other people's labor and are associated with imperialism, the comprador class, or feudal remnants are those who hold a vacillating
attitude toward the revolution.

4. The Peasantry

The peasantry constitutes 105 80 percent of China's total population and is the main
force in its national economy today.
Generally speaking, the peasantry are all petty bourgeois, but a sharp process
of polarization is taking place among them.
First, the rich peasants. They form about 5 percent of the rural population (or
10 percent 106 together with the landlords) and are called the rural bourgeoisie.
Most of the rich peasants in China are semifeudal in character, 107 and are linked
with the urban bourgeoisie. But the revolutionary government 108 should not regard the rich peasants as belonging to the same stratum 109 as the landlords and
should not prematurely adopt a policy of attacking 110 the rich peasantry, because
rich peasant production is indispensable for a certain period of time.
Second, the middle peasants. They form about 20 percent of China's rural population. They are economically self-supporting (they may have something to lay
aside when the crops are good and occasionally hire some labor or lend small
sums of money at interest); and generally they do not exploit others but are exploited by imperialism, the landlord class, and the big bourgeoisie. Apart from
some rich middle peasants, most of them do not have sufficient land, nor do they
have political power. 111 Not only can the middle peasants resolutely join the antiimperialist revolution and the Agrarian Revolution, but they can also participate
in the socialist revolution. 112 Therefore the whole middle peasantry can be a reliable ally of the proletariat and is a very good 113 motive force of the revolution. The
positive or negative attitude of the middle peasants is the factor 114 determining
victory or defeat in the revolution, and this will be especially true after the Agrarian Revolution, when they become the majority of the rural population.
Third, the poor peasants. The poor peasants in China, together with the farm
laborers, form about 70 percent of the rural population. They are the broad peasant
masses with no land or insufficient land, the semiproletariat of the countryside, the
biggest motive force of the Chinese revolution, the natural and most reliable ally
of the proletariat, and the main contingent of China's revolutionary forces. Only
under the leadership of the proletariat can the middle and poor peasants achieve
their liberation, and only by forming a firm alliance with the middle and poor
peasants can the proletariat lead the revolution to victory. Otherwise neither is
possible. The term "peasantry" refers mainly to the middle and poor peasants.

5. The Proletariat

Among the Chinese proletariat, the modern industrial workers number from 2.5
million to 3 million, the handicrafts workers in the cities 115 total about 12 million,
and in addition there are great numbers of rural proletarians. 116

The Chinese proletariat has many other outstanding qualities. 117
What are they?
First, the Chinese proletariat is much more resolute and thoroughgoing in revolutionary struggle than any other class because it is subjected to a threefold oppression (imperialist, bourgeois, and feudal), which is marked by a severity and
cruelty seldom found in other countries. Since there is no economic basis for social reformism in colonial and semicolonial China, as there is in Western Europe
(however, it must be noted that sometimes Chinese national reformism may easily
influence a number of workers), the whole proletariat, with the exception of a few
scabs, is most revolutionary.
Second, from the moment it appeared on the revolutionary scene, the Chinese
proletariat came under the leadership of its own revolutionary party-the Chinese
Communist Party-and became the most politically conscious class in Chinese
society.
Third, because the Chinese proletariat by origin is made up largely of bankrupt
peasants, it has natural ties with the peasant masses, and this facilitates its forming
a close revolutionary alliance with them.
Therefore, in spite of certain unavoidable weaknesses, for instance, its smallness (as compared with the peasantry), its youth (as compared with the proletariat
in the capitalist countries), and its low educational level (as compared with the
bourgeoisie), the Chinese proletariat is nonetheless the basic motive force of the
Chinese revolution. Unless it is participated in and led by the proletariat, the Chinese revolution cannot possibly succeed. To take an example from the past, the
1911 Revolution miscarried because the proletariat did not consciously participate
in it and the Communist Party was not yet in existence. More recently, the Great
Revolution of 1925-27118 achieved great success for a time because the proletariat consciously participated119 and the Communist Party was already in existence; it ended in defeat because the bourgeoisie 120 betrayed its alliance with the
proletariat and abandoned the common revolutionary program, and also because
the Chinese proletariat and its political party did not yet have enough revolutionary experience. Now take the present anti-Japanese war-because the proletariat
and the Communist Party are exercising leadership in the Anti-Japanese National
United Front, the whole nation has been united and the great War of Resistance
has been launched and is being resolutely pursued.

The Chinese proletariat, under the leadership of the Communist Party, completely understands121 that, although it is the class with the highest political consciousness and sense of organization, it cannot win victory by its own strength
alone. In order to win, it must unite, according to varying circumstances, with all
classes and strata that can take part in the revolution and must organize a revolutionary united front. Among all the classes in Chinese society, the peasantry is a
firm ally of the working class, the urban petty bourgeoisie is a reliable ally, and the
national bourgeoisie is an ally in certain periods and to a certain extent. This is one
of the fundamental laws established by China's modern revolutionary history.
China's status122 as a colony and semicolony has given rise to a multitude of
rural and urban unemployed. Denied proper means of making a living, many of
them are forced to resort to the so-called disreputable and illegitimate ones, hence
the robbers, gangsters, beggars, prostitutes, and the numerous people who live on
superstitious practices. This social stratum is unstable; while some are apt to be
bought over by the reactionary forces, others may have revolutionary qualities. 123
These people lack constructive qualities and are given to destruction rather than
construction; they 124 become a source of roving-rebel and anarchist ideology.125
Therefore, we should know how to guide126 them, pay attention to organizing
revolutionary qualities, and guard against their destructiveness.
The above is our analysis of the motive forces of the Chinese revolution.

E. The Character of the Chinese Revolution

We have now gained an understanding of the nature of Chinese society, that is, of
the specific conditions in China; this understanding is the essential prerequisite for
solving all China's revolutionary problems. We are also clear about the targets, the
tasks, and the motive forces of the Chinese revolution; these are basic issues at the
present stage of the revolution and arise from the special nature of Chinese society,
that is, from China's specific conditions. Understanding all this, we can now understand another basic issue of the revolution at the present stage, namely, the
character of the Chinese revolution.
In the final analysis, what is the character of the Chinese revolution at the present
stage? Is it a bourgeois-democratic or a proletarian-socialist revolution? Obviously, it is the former, not the latter.

Given that Chinese society is still a colonial, semicolonial, and semifeudal society; that the principal enemies of the Chinese revolution are still imperialism and
the semifeudal forces; that the task of the Chinese revolution consists in a national
revolution and a democratic revolution to overthrow these two principal enemies;
that the motive forces of this revolution include at times the national bourgeoisie
and even a part of the big bourgeoisie, so that even if the big bourgeoisie betrays
the revolution and becomes its enemy, the spearhead of the revolution will still be
directed against imperialism and feudal despotism and not against all capitalism
and capitalist private property-since all these things are true, the character of the
Chinese revolution at the present stage is not proletarian-socialist but bourgeoisdemocratic.

But in present-day China the bourgeois-democratic revolution is no longer of
the old, general type, which is now obsolete, but of a special, new type. This kind
of revolution is developing in China and in all other colonial and semicolonial
countries, and we call it the new-democratic revolution. This new-democratic revolution is part of the world proletarian-socialist revolution; it resolutely opposes
imperialism, that is, international capitalism. Politically, it means the joint revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of several revolutionary classes over the imperialists, Chinese traitors, and reactionaries and opposition to the transformation of
Chinese society into a society under bourgeois dictatorship. Economically, it means
nationalization of all the big capital and big enterprises of the imperialists, Chinese traitors, and reactionaries and the distribution of large landed property 127
among the peasants, while assisting small and medium-size private enterprises,
without eliminating the rich-peasant economy. Thus, the new type of democratic
revolution clears the way for capitalism, on the one hand, and creates the prerequisites for socialism, on the other. The present stage of the Chinese revolution is a
stage of transition between the abolition of the colonial, semicolonial, and
semifeudal society and the establishment of a socialist society. It is a new revolutionary process, that of the new-democratic revolution. This process began only
after World War I and the Russian October Revolution; it started in China with the
May Fourth movement of 1919. A new-democratic revolution is an anti-imperialist
and antifeudal revolution of the broad masses of the people under the leadership
of the proletariat. It is a revolution of the united front of several revolutionary
classes. China128 can advance to the socialist revolution only by going through
such a revolution; there is no other way.

This kind of new-democratic revolution differs greatly from the democratic
revolutions in the history of various European and American countries in that it
results not in a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie but in a dictatorship of the united
front of all the revolutionary classes. 129 In the anti-Japanese war, the anti-Japanese
democratic political power which ought to be established is the political power of
the Anti-Japanese National United Front, 130 this is neither a "one-party131 dictatorship" of the bourgeoisie, nor a "one-party dictatorship" of the proletariat, but a
"joint dictatorship of several parties" belonging to the anti-Japanese united front. 132
All those who stand for resistance to Japan and for democracy are qualified to
share in this political power, regardless of their party affiliation.

This kind of new-democratic revolution also differs from a socialist revolution
in that it overthrows only the imperialists, Chinese traitors, and reactionaries, but
does not overthrow all those capitalist elements which are still capable of participating in the anti-imperialist, antifeudal struggle.

This kind of new-democratic revolution is basically identical to the revolution
of the Three People's Principles as proclaimed by Mr. Sun Yatsen in 1924 (the
Manifesto of the First National Congress of the Guomindang). For in this manifesto, 133 Sun Yatsen declared:

The so-called democratic system in various modern states is usually monopolized by
the bourgeoisie and has become simply an instrument for oppressing the common
people. Now, the Guomindang's Principle of Democracy means a democratic system
shared by all the common people and not privately owned by the few.

He also said:

Enterprises, such as banks, railways, and airlines, whether Chinese-owned or foreignowned, which are either monopolistic in character or too big for private management, shall be operated and administrated by the state, so that private capital cannot
dominate the livelihood of the people; this is the main principle of the regulation of
capital.

Once again, in his Testament, Sun Yatsen pointed out the fundamental principle for domestic and foreign policy:

We must arouse the masses of the people and unite in a common struggle with those
nations which treat us as equals.

The Three People's Principles of the old democracy, which were adapted to the
old international and domestic conditions, were thus reshaped into the Three

People's Principles of New Democracy, which are adapted to the new international and domestic conditions. The Chinese Communist Party was referring to the
latter kind of Three People's Principles and to no other when, in the manifesto of
September 22, 1937, it declared, "The Three People's Principles being what China
needs today, our Party is ready to fight for their complete realization." These Three
People's Principles embody Sun Yatsen's Three Great Policies-alliance with
Russia, cooperation with the Communist Party, and union with the peasants and
workers. In the new international and domestic conditions, any kind of Three
People's Principles which departs from the Three Great Policies is not revolutionary. (Here we shall not deal with the fact that, while communism and the Three
People's Principles basically agree on the political program for the democratic
revolution, they differ in all other respects.)

Thus, the role of the proletariat, the peasantry, the intellectuals, and the other
sections of the petty bourgeoisie in China's bourgeois-democratic revolution cannot be ignored, either in the alignment of forces for the struggle (that is, in the
united front) or in the organization of state power. Anyone who tries to bypass
these classes will certainly be unable to solve the problem of the destiny of the
Chinese nation or indeed any of China's problems. The Chinese revolution at the
present stage must strive to create a democratic republic in which the workers, the
peasants, and the intellectuals134 all occupy a certain position and play a certain
role. In other words, it must be the democratic republic of a revolutionary alliance
of the workers, peasants, intellectuals, petty bourgeoisie, 135 and all others who
oppose imperialism and feudalism. Only under the leadership of the policies of the
proletariat can such a republic be completely realized.

6. The Perspectives of the Chinese Revolution

Now that the basic issues the nature of Chinese society and the objectives, tasks,
motive forces, and character of the Chinese revolution at the present stage-have
been clarified, it is easy to see its prospects, that is, to understand the relation
between the bourgeois-democratic and the proletarian social revolution, 136 and
between the present and future stages of the Chinese revolution.

Since China's bourgeois-democratic revolution at the present stage is not a bourgeois-democratic revolution of the general, old type, but a democratic revolution
of a special, new type-a new-democratic revolution-and since the Chinese revolution is now taking place in the new international environment of the 1940s and
1950s, 137 characterized by the rise of socialism and the decline of capitalism, in
the midst of the second great imperialist war138 and on the eve of 139 the second
world revolution, there can be no doubt that the prospect for the Chinese revolution is not capitalism but socialism. 140

There can be no doubt that the purpose of the Chinese revolution at the present
stage is to change the existing colonial, semicolonial, and semifeudal state of society, that is, to strive for the completion of the new-democratic revolution. That
being the case, it is not at all surprising, but entirely to be expected, that a capitalist
economy will develop to a certain extent within Chinese society with the revolution sweeping away the obstacles to the development of capitalism after the victory of the revolution. A certain degree of capitalist development will be an
inevitable result of the victory of the democratic revolution in economically backward China. Of course, it cannot be denied that this will be only one aspect of the
outcome of the Chinese revolution and not its overall outcome. The overall outcome of the Chinese revolution will be the development of capitalist factors, on
the one hand, and of socialist factors, on the other. What will these socialist factors
be? They will include the growing relative weight of the proletariat and the Communist Party among the political forces in the whole country and the actual or
possible recognition of the leadership of the proletariat and the Communist Party
by the peasantry, the intellectuals, and the petty bourgeoisie. 141 All these will be
socialist factors. Together with the favorable international environment, these factors render it highly probable that China's bourgeois-democratic revolution will
ultimately avoid a capitalist future and move toward the realization of socialism.

7. The Twofold Task of the Chinese Revolution and the Chinese
Communist Party

Summing up the foregoing sections of this chapter, we can see that the Chinese
revolution as a whole involves a twofold task. That is to say, it embraces both the
bourgeois-democratic revolution (the new-democratic revolution) and a revolution
that is proletarian-socialist in character, that is, the twofold task of the revolution
both in its present and in its future stages. And the leadership in this twofold revolutionary task rests entirely on the shoulders of the party of the Chinese proletariat,
the Communist Party. Without the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, no
revolution can succeed.

---

Notes

This text was published as a pamphlet in Yan'an in 1940. We have translated it from Mao
Zedong ji, Vol. 7, pp. 93-131, where it is reproduced from the 1944 edition of Mao's writings. According to a note to the Selected Works, the first chapter was written by others and
revised by Mao; the second chapter was entirely Mao's own. There was to be a third chapter
on party building, but because of pressure of other work it was never completed.
1. Larger than the whole of Europe → About the size of the whole of Europe
2. The west; → The west; the Mongolian People's Republic in the north
3. India, Afghanistan, India,
4. Japan Japan and the Philippines.
5. The Chinese revolution → The Chinese people's revolution
6. Of China and the Chinese revolution → Of all China's nationalities and of the Chinese people's revolution
7. Nine tenths → More than nine-tenths
8. Many → Dozens of
9. The Hui, Mongol, Tibetan, Man, Miao, Yi, and Li→ The Mongol, Hui, Tibetan,
Uighur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Zhongjia, and Korean
10. Civilization → Cultural development
11. Communist societies → Communes
12. Five thousand years → Some four thousand years
13. Communist societies → Communes
14. Strategists → Strategists, men of letters, and artists
15. 3,000 years ago → Very early
16. 1,700 years ago → 1,800 years ago
17. 1,200 years ago → 1,300 years ago
18. History of five thousand years → Recorded history of nearly four thousand years
19. Insurrections → Uprisings, large or small. Here, and throughout the whole of Mao's
writings included in the Selected Works, the expression baodong (insurrection), commonly
used by the Chinese Communists in the 1920s and 1930s to refer to their own actions, has
been replaced by qiyi (uprising), which evokes an uprising in a righteous cause, rather than
simply an act of violence. This variant, which occurs repeatedly in the present text, will not
be footnoted again.
20. Each and every one → Most
21. Economy, politics, and culture → Economic, political, and cultural development
22. The land rent gained by the landlords and the nobility from agriculture → What the
landlords and the nobility exacted from them in the form of land rent
23. Even 70 percent → 70, or even 80 percent
24. The Zhou dynasty The period before the Qin dynasty
25. Huang Chao → Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao
26. The peasant insurrections and peasant wars constituted the real motive force of the
progress of Chinese history. The class struggles of the peasants, the peasant uprisings,
and peasant wars constituted the real motive force of historical development.
27. Modes of production → Relations of production
28. The penetration of foreign capital played a part in the disintegration of China's
social economy; → As China's feudal society had developed a commodity economy, and so
carried within itself the seeds of capitalism, China would have developed slowly into a
capitalist society by itself even without the impact of foreign capitalism. Penetration by
foreign capitalism accelerated this process. Foreign capitalism played an important part in
the disintegration of China's social economy;
29. Its The foundation of its
30. The Chinese proletariat → A large section of the Chinese proletariat
31. The development → The emergence and development
32. Feudal remnants → Feudal forces
33. After defeating → The imperialist powers have waged many wars of aggression
against China, for instance, the Opium War launched by Britain in 1840, the war launched
by the Anglo-French Allied Forces in 1857, the Sino-French War of 1884, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, and the war launched by the Allied Forces of the Eight Powers in 1900.
After defeating
34. The imperialist powers seized many Chinese protectorates and parts of China's territory. → The imperialist powers not only occupied many neighboring countries formerly
under its protection but seized or "leased" parts of its territory.
35. Japan → For instance, Japan
36. The port of Lushun → "Leased" the port of Lushun
37. Occupied Vietnam → "Leased" Guangzhouwan. (Guangzhouwan was a bay opposite Hainan Island used by the French as a naval station.)
38. In accordance with treaties, the imperialist powers have the right to station land and
sea forces and exercise consular jurisdiction in China, → The imperialist powers have forced
China to sign numerous unequal treaties by which they have acquired the right to station
land and sea forces and exercise consular jurisdiction in China,
39. Treaties → Unequal treaties
40. Thus they have been able to dump their goods in China, turn it into a market for
their industrial products, and at the same time subordinate → Thus they have been able to
subordinate
41. Directly compete with China's national industry → Directly exert economic pressure
on China's national industry and obstruct the development of its productive forces
42. The broad Chinese peasantry → The masses of the Chinese peasantry and other
sections of the people
43. Besides the comprador class, the imperialist powers still need larger social forces as
the props of their rule in China. The imperialist powers have made the feudal landlord
class as well as the comprador class the main props of their rule in China.
44. Forms an alliance with Allies itself with
45. Alliance → Allies
46. Supports and promotes → Supports, inspires, fosters, and preserves
47. Chinese government → Chinese reactionary government
48. Cultural policy Policy of cultural aggression
49. Schools Hospitals and schools
50. China Semicolonial China
51. The self-sufficient natural economy → The foundations of self-sufficient natural
economy
52. Feudal exploitation → System of feudal exploitation
53. Certain → Considerable
54. Feudal remnants → Feudalism in varying degrees
55. Autocracy → Autocratic rule
56. Warlord-bureaucrat rule → Warlord-bureaucrat rule of the landlord class
57. Feudal remnants → Feudalism (This change occurs repeatedly in this text and is not
further footnoted.)
58. Pauperized → Pauperized in large numbers
59. Contemporary → Modern
60. Ruling classes → Reactionary ruling classes

61. Agrarian Revolution → Agrarian Revolutionary War
62. Unrelenting → Indomitable
63. Semifeudal forces → Feudalism
64. Foreign countries → The imperialist countries
65. Chinese traitors → Chinese traitors and reactionaries
66. 1927-1936-1927-1937
67. They → Its upper stratum, namely, the section represented by the reactionary clique
within the Guomindang,
68. The bourgeoisie → These bourgeois elements
69. The bourgeoisie → The bourgeois reactionaries
70. The Chinese revolution → The revolutionary Chinese people

71. The characteristic of the Chinese revolution is that the armed people are fighting
against the armed counterrevolution. → In China, armed revolution is fighting armed counterrevolution. That is one of the characteristics and one of the advantages of the Chinese
revolution.
72. The rural economy not being entirely dependent on the cities → Its economy not
being a unified capitalist economy
73. The Communist Party → The Communist Party, the party of the proletariat
74. Which have not become base areas → Which are still under the enemy's rule
75. Revolutionary base areas → Rural base areas
76. Chief weapon → Chief weapon against the people
77. Task of disintegrating them → Task of disintegrating them, besides annihilating the
enemy's troops in battle
78. Cadres Well-selected cadres
79. Feudal remnants → Feudal landlord class
80. Remnant → Landlord
81. Feudal remnants → Feudal landlord class
82. Unless the feudal remnants are wiped out, the imperialist rule cannot be overthrown,
because the feudal landlord class is the main social base of the imperialist rule in China →
Unless help is given to the peasants in their struggle to overthrow the feudal landlord class,
it will be impossible to build powerful revolutionary contingents to overthrow imperialist
rule, because the feudal landlord class is the main social base of imperialist rule in China
and the peasantry is the main force in the Chinese revolution
83. Achieve victory → Achieve victory in the war
84. Inappropriate → Wrong
85. Contradictory stages → Different stages
86. Semifeudal forces → Feudalism
87. Bourgeoisie, constituting the upper-stratum ruling classes → Bourgeoisie, the landlord class, and the upper stratum of the bourgeoisie constituting the ruling classes in Chinese society
88. The different sections of the petty bourgeoisie → The different sections of the petty
bourgeoisie other than the peasantry
89. Which exploits → Which uses the feudal system to exploit
90. Brings no benefits → Plays no progressive role
91. They are still worth uniting with → We should still unite with them
92. Take advantage of their residual anti-Japanese enthusiasm → Make use of their contradictions with Japanese imperialism
93. The big bourgeoisie → The comprador big bourgeoisie
94. The big bourgeoisie → The big landlord class and the big bourgeoisie
95. The petty bourgeoisie → The petty bourgeoisie other than the peasantry
96. Intellectuals, the urban poor, office workers, handicraftsmen, professional people,
and small tradesmen → Intellectuals, small tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and professional
people
97. Like the peasantry, they all suffer → Their status somewhat resembles that of the
middle peasants, they all suffer
98. The petty bourgeoisie → These sections of the petty bourgeoisie
99. Student youth. Their numbers → Student youth. They do not constitute a separate
class or stratum. In present-day China, most of them may be placed in the petty-bourgeoisie
category, judging by their family origin, their living conditions, and their political outlook.
Their numbers
100. Modern → Bourgeois
101. Impractical → Subjective and individualistic, impractical
102. Live like them → Become one with them
103. Wash away → Overcome
104. Second, the urban poor . . . who hold a vacillating attitude toward the revolution.
(i.e., the balance of this section, down to heading 4. The Peasantry) → Second, the small
tradesmen. Generally they run small shops and employ few or no assistants. They live
under the threat of bankruptcy as a result of exploitation by imperialism, the big bourgeoisie, and the usurers.

Third, the handicraftsmen. They are very numerous. They possess their own means of
production and hire no workers, or only one or two apprentices or helpers. Their position is
similar to that of the middle peasants.

Fourth, professional people. They include doctors and men of other professions. They
do not exploit other people or do so only to a slight degree. Their position is similar to that
of the handicraftsmen.

These sections of the petty bourgeoisie make up a vast multitude of people whom we
must win over and whose interests we must protect because in general they can support or
join the revolution and are good allies. Their weakness is that some of them are easily
influenced by the bourgeoisie; consequently, we must carry on revolutionary propaganda
and organizational work among them.
105. Constitutes → Constitutes approximately
106. 10 percent → About 10 percent
107. Semifeudal in character, → Semifeudal in character, since most of them let a part of
their land, practice usury, and ruthlessly exploit the farm laborers,
108. But the revolutionary government → But they generally engage in labor themselves
and in this sense are part of the peasantry. The rich-peasant form of production will remain
useful for a definite period. Generally speaking, they might make some contribution to the
anti-imperialist struggle of the peasant masses and stay neutral in the agrarian revolutionary
struggle against the landlords. Therefore we
109. Stratum → Class
110. Attacking → Liquidating
111. Apart from some rich middle peasants, most of them do not have sufficient land,
nor do they have political power. → They have no political power. Some of them do not
have enough land, and only a section (the well-to-do middle peasants) have some surplus
land.
112. Participate in the socialist revolution → Accept socialism
113. Very good → Important
114. The factor → One of the factors
115. The handicraft workers in the cities → The workers in small-scale industry and in
handicrafts, and the shop assistants in the cities
116. Proletarians → Proletarians (the farm laborers) and other propertyless people in the
cities and the countryside.
117. The Chinese proletariat has many other outstanding qualities. In addition to the
basic qualities it shares with the proletariat everywhere-its association with the most advanced form of the economy, its strong sense of organization and discipline, and its lack of
private means of production-the Chinese proletariat has many other outstanding qualities.
118. 1925-27-1924-27
119. Participated → Participated and exercised leadership
120. The bourgeoisie → The big bourgeoisie

121. Completely understands → Should understand
122. The revised version inserts a heading, "6. The Vagrants," before this paragraph.
123. Have revolutionary qualities → Join the revolution
124. They After joining the revolution, they
125. Roving-rebel and anarchist ideology → Roving-rebel and anarchist ideology in the
revolutionary ranks
126. Guide → Remold
127. Large landed property → The land of the landlord class
128. China Chinese society
129. Revolutionary classes → Revolutionary classes under the leadership of the proletariat
130. The anti-Japanese democratic political power which ought to be established is the
political power of the Anti-Japanese National United Front → The anti-Japanese democratic political power established in the base areas which are under the leadership of the
Communist Party is the political power of the Anti-Japanese National United Front

--- Notes

Today, China borders on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the northeast, the northwest, and part of the west;² India,³ Bhutan, and Nepal in the southwest and part of the west; Thailand, Burma and Indochina, and Taiwan as a close
neighbor in the south; and Korea in the east, where it is also a close neighbor of
Japan.⁴ China's geographical setting has its advantages and disadvantages for the
Chinese revolution.⁵ It is an advantage to be adjacent to the Soviet Union and
fairly distant from all the major imperialist countries in Europe and America and
to have mostly colonial or semicolonial countries around us. It is a disadvantage that Japanese imperialism, making use of its sea, land, and air proximity to China,
is constantly threatening the very existence of China and the Chinese revolution.6
Today our China has a population of 450 million or almost a quarter of the
world total. Of these 450 million, nine-tenths7 are Hans. In addition, there are also
many8 minority nationalities, including the Hui, Mongol, Tibetan, Man, Miao, Yi,
and Liº nationalities. Although they are at different levels of civilization, 10 all
have long histories. Thus China is a country with a very large population composed of many nationalities.
Developing along the same lines as the other great nations of the world, the
Chinese people (here we refer primarily to the Hans) went through some tens of
thousands of years of life in egalitarian and classless primitive communist societies.11 Five thousand years12 have gone by from the collapse of these primitive

of development; there have been many great thinkers, scientists, inventors, statesmen, and strategists, 14 and there is a rich store of classical works. The compass
was invented in China as early as three thousand years ago. 15 The art of papermaking was discovered as early as 1,700 years ago. 16 Block-printing was invented
1,20017 years ago, and movable type 800 years ago. Gunpowder was also used by
the Chinese long before the Europeans. Thus China has one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with a history of five thousand years.
The Chinese nation is known throughout the world not only for its industriousness and endurance but also for its ardent love of freedom and its rich revolutionary traditions. The history of the Hans, for instance, demonstrates that the Chinese
people can never submit to the rule of the dark forces, and, that in every case, they
make use of revolutionary means to achieve the goal of overthrowing and trans-


forming such rule. In the thousands of years of Han history, there have been hundreds of peasant insurrections19 against the dark rule of the landlords and the nobility. As for the dynastic changes, each and every one20 was able to succeed only
as the result of a peasant insurrection. All the nationalities of China have always
rejected foreign oppression and have always striven to shake it off by acts of resistance. They accept only a union on the basis of equality, but reject the oppression
of one nationality by another. In its thousands of years of recorded history, the
Chinese nation has given birth to many national heroes and revolutionary leaders
and also to many revolutionary strategists, statesmen, men of letters, and thinkers.
Therefore the Chinese nation has a glorious revolutionary tradition and a splendid
historical heritage.


existence of the feudal system, its economy, politics, and culture21 were sluggish
and even at a standstill over a long time. For three thousand years, Chinese society
remained a feudal society.
The main features of the economic and political system of China's feudal era
were as follows:

needed. The land rent gained by the landlords and the nobility from agriculture22
was also chiefly for private enjoyment of the landlords and not for exchange.
Although exchange developed as time went on, it did not play a decisive role in
the economy as a whole.

their own farm implements and had to turn over to them for their private enjoyment 40, 50, 60, or even 70 percent23 or more of the crop. In effect the peasants
were still serfs.

feudal exploitation. Whereas the feudal state was torn apart into rival principalities in the Zhou dynasty, 24 it become autocratic and centralized after the first Qin
emperor unified China, though some feudal separatism remained. The emperor
reigned supreme and absolute in the feudal state, appointing officials in charge of
the armed forces, the law courts, the treasury, and state granaries in all parts of the
country and relying on the landed gentry as the mainstay of the entire system of
feudal rule.
It was under such feudal economic exploitation and political oppression that
the Chinese peasants lived like slaves, in poverty and suffering, through the ages.
Under the bondage of feudalism they had no personal freedom. The landlord had
the right to beat, abuse, or even kill them at will, and they had no political rights
whatsoever. The extreme poverty and backwardness of the peasants resulting from
ruthless landlord exploitation and oppression is the basic reason Chinese society
remained at the same stage of socioeconomic development for several thousand
years.
The principal contradiction in feudal society was between the peasantry and

dynasty, those of Huang Chao25 in the Tang dynasty, those of Song Jiang and
Fang La in the Song dynasty, that of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Yuan dynasty, and that
of Li Zicheng in the Ming dynasty, down to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the
Qing dynasty. The scale of peasant insurrections and peasant wars in Chinese


history has no parallel anywhere else. The peasant insurrections and peasant wars
constituted the real motive force of the progress of Chinese history. 26 For each of
the peasant insurrections and wars dealt a blow to the feudal régime of the time
and hence more or less changed the social relations of production and furthered
the growth of the social productive forces. However, since neither new productive
forces nor new modes of production, 27 nor new class forces, nor any advanced
political party existed in those days, the peasant insurrections and wars did not
have the correct leadership of an advanced class or an advanced political party
such as the proletariat and the Communist Party provide today; every peasant revolution failed, and the peasantry was invariably used by the landlords and the nobility, either during or after the revolution, as a lever for bringing about dynastic
change. Therefore, although some social progress was made after each peasant
revolutionary struggle, the feudal economic relations and political system remained
basically unchanged.
It is only in the last hundred years that a change of a different order has taken
place.


The penetration of foreign capital played a part in the disintegration of China's
social economy 28; on the one hand, it undermined its29 self-sufficient national
economy and wrecked the handicraft industries both in the cities and in the peasants'


in China. Hence, the Chinese proletariat³⁰ is older and more experienced than the
Chinese bourgeoisie and is therefore a greater and more broadly based social force.
However, the development³¹ of capitalism is only one aspect of the change that
has taken place since the imperialist penetration of China. There is another concomitant and obstructive aspect, namely, the collusion of imperialism with the
Chinese feudal remnants³² to arrest the development of Chinese capitalism.


131. One-party → One-class

132. "Joint dictatorship of several parties" belonging to the anti-Japanese united front →
Joint dictatorship of the revolutionary classes under the leadership of the proletariat

133. In this manifesto, → In the Manifesto of the First National Congress of the
Guomindang issued in that year,

134. The intellectuals → Other sections of the petty bourgeoisie

135. Petty bourgeoisie → Urban petty bourgeoisie

136. Social revolution → Socialist revolution (This variant occurs repeatedly below and
is not further footnoted.)

137. 1940s and 1950s → 1930s and 1940s

138. The second great imperialist war → World War II

139. On the eve of → In the era of

140. Socialism → Socialism and communism

141. Petty bourgeoisie → Petty bourgeoisie; and the state sector of the economy owned
by the democratic republic, and the cooperative sector of the economy owned by the working people