In order to further consolidate the Border Region, develop its political, economic, and cultural construction for the resistance against Japan, thereby achieving the goals of sustaining a protracted war of resistance and enhancing the welfare of the people, the Central Bureau of the CPC in the Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia Border Region hereby presents the following program of governance to the two million inhabitants of our Border Region, coinciding with the elections held during the Second Session of the Border Region Consultative Assembly. This program is based on Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People, the Testament of the Premier, and the principles of the United Front Against Japanese Aggression laid down by the CPC Central Committee. Should any Communist Party members be elected to administrative posts, they shall resolutely implement this program.

(1) Unite all social classes and anti-Japanese political parties within the Border Region, mobilizing all human, material, financial, and intellectual resources to defend the Border Region, Northwest China, and the entire nation, and to drive out Japanese imperialism.

(2) Uphold unity with friendly parties, friendly armies, and the general populace outside the Border Region, while opposing any acts of surrender, division, or retrogression.

(3) Enhance the combat effectiveness of the Border Region’s armed forces, ensure their material supply, improve the military service system and other rear-area logistical mobilization mechanisms, and strengthen the close bond between the army and the people.

At the same time, we will intensify the organization and training of the Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the Young Pioneers, and refine their leadership structures.

(4) Strengthen efforts to provide preferential treatment to the families of anti-Japanese soldiers, fully implementing the Regulations on Preferential Treatment for Families of Anti-Japanese Soldiers, so that the families of the Eighth Route Army and all friendly forces stationed in the Border Region receive both material support and moral encouragement.

(5) Our Party stands ready to form electoral alliances with all parties, factions, and mass organizations. In candidate lists, Communist Party members shall constitute no more than one-third of the total, ensuring that representatives from various parties, non-affiliated individuals, and all sectors of society can participate in the work of the Border Region’s representative bodies and in the administration of the region.

When Communist Party members are elected to head any administrative organ, it must be ensured that two-thirds of its staff are non-Party personnel. Communist Party officials shall engage in democratic cooperation with these non-Party colleagues, refraining from acting unilaterally or monopolizing decision-making.

(6) Guarantee the human rights, political rights [2], property rights, and freedoms of speech, publication, assembly, association, belief, residence, and movement for all anti-Japanese citizens—landlords, capitalists, peasants, workers, and others.

Except for the judicial system and public security organs exercising their duties in accordance with the law, no other organs, units, or groups may arrest, interrogate, or punish any individual. Citizens, however, retain the right to lodge complaints through any means against unlawful actions committed by public officials.

(7) Improve the judicial system, firmly abolishing corporal punishment and placing greater emphasis on evidence rather than confessions.

With regard to collaborators with the enemy, except for those who absolutely refuse to repent, regardless of their past conduct, a policy of leniency shall be uniformly applied, aiming to reform and transform them by offering political and livelihood opportunities. Under no circumstances shall they be subjected to execution, insult, forced confession, or compelled to write letters of remorse.

The same approach shall be adopted for all elements plotting to undermine the Border Region, such as traitors and anti-Communists.

(8) Uphold clean governance, severely punishing corruption among public officials and prohibiting any official from using their position for personal gain. Communist Party members found guilty of violations shall be punished more harshly.

Simultaneously, the principle of “supporting integrity through adequate remuneration” shall be implemented, ensuring that all public servants and their families have access to a decent standard of living and ample cultural and recreational activities.

(9) Develop agricultural production, launching mass mobilizations for spring plowing and autumn harvests. Address the difficulties faced by impoverished farmers regarding draft animals, farming tools, fertilizers, and seeds. This year, we plan to reclaim 600,000 mu of wasteland, increasing grain output by 400,000 dan, and providing incentives for incoming migrants.

(10) In areas where land has already been distributed, guarantee private ownership of land for all farmers who have received it.

In regions where land has not yet been allocated—such as Suide, Fuxian, and Qingyang—we will uphold landlords’ land ownership rights and creditors’ claims, while reducing tenant rents and interest rates. Tenants will pay a fixed rent to landlords, and debtors will make regular interest payments to their creditors. The government will appropriately regulate landlord-tenant relationships and debt relations.

(11) Promote industrial production and commercial circulation, encouraging private enterprises, protecting private property, welcoming foreign investment, and implementing free trade while opposing monopoly controls. At the same time, we will develop cooperative undertakings among the people and assist in the growth of handicraft industries.

(12) Regulate labor-management relations, adopting a ten-hour workday, boosting labor productivity, improving workplace discipline, and appropriately enhancing workers’ living standards.

(13) Implement a rational tax system. Except for the extremely poor, all residents shall be subject to progressive taxation based on their wealth or income levels, ensuring that the majority of the population can afford to contribute to the costs of the resistance.

Concurrently, we will strengthen fiscal institutions, adjust financial relations, safeguard the legal tender, and stabilize the border currency to facilitate economic development and fiscal soundness.

(14) Continue the campaign to eradicate illiteracy, promote education in the new script, improve the formal education system, universalize national education, enhance the living conditions of primary school teachers, implement adult supplementary education, intensify cadre training, disseminate popular books and periodicals, encourage independent research, respect intellectuals, advocate for scientific knowledge and cultural movements, welcome talents in science and the arts, protect refugee students and young people who have dropped out of school, allow students to exercise democratic self-governance rights, and institute a two-hour daily study requirement for public officials.

(15) Expand public health administration, increase medical equipment, and welcome medical professionals to alleviate the burden of disease on the people. Simultaneously, we will provide relief to disaster victims and refugees from other regions.

(16) Based on the principle of gender equality, elevate women’s status in society politically, economically, and culturally, harnessing their economic initiative, protecting female workers, mothers, and children, and upholding the voluntary monogamous marriage system.

(17) In accordance with the principle of ethnic equality, grant equal political, economic, and cultural rights to the Mongol, Hui, and Han peoples. Establish autonomous regions for the Mongol and Hui communities, respecting their religious beliefs and customs.

(18) Welcome overseas Chinese to come to the Border Region to pursue studies, participate in the resistance, or start businesses.

(19) Provide vagrants with opportunities to cultivate land, find employment, and access education, correcting the harmful practice of discrimination against vagrants among public officials and various occupational groups. Adopt policies of outreach, unity, and education toward secret societies.

(20) With regard to enemy and puppet troops captured in combat, irrespective of their circumstances, a policy of leniency shall be uniformly applied. Those willing to join the resistance will be accommodated and treated favorably; those unwilling will be released. Under no circumstances shall captured prisoners be executed, humiliated, coerced into confessing, or forced to write letters of remorse.

If an individual is repeatedly captured after being released, regardless of the number of times they have been taken prisoner, the same procedure shall apply.

Should anyone within China attack the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, or any other anti-Japanese force, the same measures shall be taken.

(21) Respecting China’s sovereignty and complying with government regulations, foreigners are permitted to visit the Border Region, participate in the resistance, or engage in business, cultural, and religious activities there.

Those who have been persecuted by foreign governments for revolutionary activities—whether they are nationals of colonial powers or colonized peoples—shall receive unwavering protection from the Border Region government.

Printed from the May 1, 1941 issue of the Xin Zhonghua Daily.

Notes [1] The vast majority of this document was added and revised by Mao Zedong. He also re-titled it “Program of Governance for the Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia Border Region” and appended the note: “(May 1, 1941, Republic of China Year 30; Proposed by the CPC Border Region Central Bureau, Approved by the CPC Central Political Bureau).”

[2] Here, “political rights” refers to political entitlements.