Instructions to Su Yu on Land Reform in the
Newly Liberated Regions
 (January 22, 1948)
Comrade Su Yu:1
I received your report of January 17, and every one of your arrangements is
quite appropriate: The local military forces in this region must be dispersed to
fight guerrilla warfare so to reinforce the struggle of the masses, but you should
not amass and organize too many brigades too early. Your arrangement is most
appropriate. Just do not be too anxious about land reform. Last year we told you
to divide up all the land equally, but you should be flexible in carrying out this
policy; you should decide the pace of land reform based on the number of enemy
troops you annihilate, the number of cadres in charge of land reform and their
strengths and weaknesses, and the degree of consciousness and organization of
the masses. In general, if we make an active effort, adopt the right methods, and
do not make any major mistakes, it will be possible to distribute land according
to the Land Law in every region north of the Yangzi River within three years, and
that will be a great achievement. When we say that generally every region north
of the Yangzi River should distribute land according to the Land Law within three
years, we mean that the arable land occupied in 1947, plus the arable land that
we will occupy in 1948 in the districts administered by the central bureaus and
sub-bureaus of the Central Plains, Central China, East China, Handan, Fuping,
and the Northwest should be distributed within three years, from January 1948 to
December 1950, based on the number of people and taking into account the quality as well as the quantity of land. When we say that we should make active
efforts, adopt appropriate methods, and not make major mistakes, we mean that
in accordance with the resolution of the national conference and the subsequent
instructions on land reform of the Central Committee and the Work Committee of
the Central Committee,2 we should raise the consciousness of the masses step-by-step, unite all peasants, and achieve our goal of distributing land equally without
making any major leftist or rightist errors and, in particular, without making leftist
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 35–40.
1.  Su Yu was deputy commander of the East China Field Army.
2.  This refers to the “Outline Land Law” that was passed by the Central Committee
Work Committee at the Party’s National Land Conference held at Xibaipo in Jianping
county (now Pingshan county), Hebei, from July 17 to September 13, 1947.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-75

errors of adventurism. Without these conditions, if we make any major errors, it
will be impossible to complete land reform in every region within three years.
When we talk about raising the consciousness of the masses and uniting all peasants to distribute land equally, we mean that land reform methods should begin
with a propaganda campaign among the masses, looking for the activists (rather
than the opportunists) among the masses, investigating and studying the specific
class relationships, mobilizing the masses to divide the wealth and assets of the
major landlords, criticizing local despots, organizing mass organizations, Party
branches, militia, and guerrillas, organizing district and township governments,
and then proceeding to confiscate and distribute the land.
In the Newly Liberated Areas, the work of confiscating and distributing land
should be divided into two phases: In the first phase, confiscate and distribute
the land of the landlord class and neutralize the rich peasants, but in principle
leave their land untouched. While confiscating and distributing the land of the
landlords, take care to distinguish between big, medium, and small landlords,
as well as between despots and non-despots, giving different treatment to different groups. During this period, organize peasant associations that are mainly
composed of poor peasants but that include all peasants except for landlords
and rich peasants, and do not organize poor peasant associations. In rural areas
that are still under Guomindang rule, about 70 percent of the population consists of poor peasants, farmhands, and other peasants without or with little
land, about 20 percent consist of middle peasants, and about 10 percent consist
of landlords, rich peasants, and other exploiting elements. The masses included
in peasant associations are therefore extremely extensive and numerous, and
the 70 percent of poor peasants and farmhands are the most active and naturally
the backbone of the peasant associations. At the outset, middle peasants are
hesitant and adopt a wait-and-see attitude, and it is only when promising signs
of victory in the struggle emerge on the horizon that middle peasants are willing to join peasant associations; therefore, no poor peasant associations should
be organized at this time. During the second phase, evenly distribute the land
of all the feudal classes; it is only then that we can proceed to deal with the land
of the rich peasants. Whether poor peasant associations should be organized
within the peasant associations during this period should be decided according to the situation of the peasant associations. If the leadership of the peasant
associations is indeed in the hands of activist poor peasants and farmhands, it
will not be necessary to organize a poor peasant association. But if landlords,
rich peasants, and other running dogs have infiltrated the peasant association,
and even control its leadership, then another poor peasant association must
be established, and what is more, the leadership of the peasant association
should be reorganized. The development of land reform in the Newly Liberated
Areas (for instance, the provinces of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui) should generally proceed along these lines or procedures; only in this way can we raise the
consciousness of the masses, overthrow the feudal classes, and establish stable
base areas.

In newly liberated regions and in old regions where the consciousness of the
masses varies greatly, for example, between the areas north and south of the
Longhai railway, there must be differences in the implementation of the Land
Law; this is to say, equal distribution of land is the supreme goal of the anti-feudalism struggle, and it can only be achieved through several stages and procedures
rather than once and for all; this is the lesson of the old regions. It took many years
and many months for the old regions to distribute the land in a satisfactory fashion. Its success is because it is only through personal experience that the masses
are educated, that their consciousness is raised, that the enemy is distinguished,
and that victory is achieved. The same rule applies to Communist Party members:
They must educate themselves and gain experience through actual struggle, and
only then can they lead the masses to achieve success. For this reason, you should
not start all at once in every district and township of the entire region; instead,
select a few counties with adequate conditions, and in each county start in one or
two districts. Only after making substantial achievements, gaining adequate experience, and influencing other districts should you expand the equal distribution of
land extensively, step-by-step. You must realize that work relating to the masses
and land reform is very delicate work; you must study the art of leadership, and
in every village there must be an absolute majority of the masses who believe that
confiscating and distributing the land of the landlords and rich peasants is both
necessary and reasonable. Let the masses themselves criticize and condemn the
wrongful ideas that have long existed among the backward masses, such as [the
idea] that poverty is due to fate, distributing land is unethical, and so on. You
should not start until the large majority of the masses is truly willing to divide the
land evenly; otherwise, you will commit the error of adventurism, and the landlords, rich peasants, and bad cadres will take advantage of arbitrary attacks, killing, criticism, class differentiation, and class status labeling, as a result of which
the land will not be distributed properly, and you will have to start all over again.
You must understand that Communist Party members are leading the peasant
masses who lack psychological preparation, organizing community life and fighting abilities, and are engaged in a struggle against the landlords and rich peasants
who enjoy both a psychological and material advantage, and that this is certain
to be a long journey. On this long journey with the peasant masses, Communist
Party members should gradually engage in psychological preparation, gradually
organize ourselves (Party organizations, mass societies, militiamen, guerrillas,
and local district and township governments), and gradually master the art of
struggle; only then can we ultimately overthrow the feudal classes and achieve
the goal of genuine equal distribution of land. Otherwise, we are sure to be beaten
by the landlords and rich peasants, and we are certainly going to make many serious mistakes that will harm the masses, and even if even distribution is realized,
it will be false distribution, whether in the old or newly liberated regions. We
must therefore firmly adopt the method of gradual implementation rather than
pushing it through all at once. Gradual implementation may seem very slow, but

in fact it is fast, and while pushing it through all at once may seem very fast, it is
actually slow. If circumstances permit and there are plenty of well-trained cadres
(they must be adequately trained), you may select one district in each county that
has a work team to carry out land reform simultaneously, while in all other districts only preparatory work should be carried out. If land reform is appropriately
achieved in one district in each county without adventurist errors and without
arbitrary attacking, killing, and criticizing, and on the whole without errors in distinguishing classes and labeling class status; if all peasants truly and voluntarily
unite to enjoy the benefits of land reform, and all the cadres at the county level and
in the work teams have mastered the methods of land reform, then land reform
work in this county will soon be carried out, and the mass movement will achieve
a genuine climax rather than a superficial climax that easily rises and falls. By circumstances permitting, we mean that the newly liberated region should be divided
into two categories, and different tactics should be used in each category. In the
first instance, our army has wiped out large numbers of enemy troops, essential
changes have taken place in the relative strength between us and the enemy, the
enemy is unlikely to return and even then, it will not be able to hold on for long.
In this kind of area, we should begin by opening the food stores to assist the poor,
punish local despots, divide the wealth of the major landlords, organize peasant
associations, governments, militia, and guerrillas, and then gradually proceed to
confiscate and divide up the land of the landlord class. The circumstances in this
kind of area will permit us to carry out land reform. In the second instance, the
enemy may return and may hold onto the area for quite a long time. In this kind of
area our job is to carry out propaganda among the masses, open up the food stores
of the rich to assist the poor, divide up a portion of wealth and assets, identify
activists, establish secret, small, but highly trained Party and mass organizations,
and when the opportunity arises, organize small detachments of select guerrillas.
We should also teach the masses how to deal with enemy forces when they return.
In this kind of area, circumstances do not yet permit us to carry out land reform
and we will have to wait for some time.
Insofar as work in the newly liberated regions is concerned, there is the issue
of left-wing elements among the landlords and rich peasants that must be settled
properly. Our experience tells us that during the guerrilla warfare period in the
newly liberated regions, some left-wing elements among the landlords and rich
peasants support our Party’s policy of opposing imperialism, Chiang Kaishek,
and big landlords, and are willing to participate in this struggle. In newly liberated
regions where the masses have not stood up, activists have not arisen among the
workers and peasants, and there are no or very few local cadres on hand, our Party
has no choice but to cooperate with these left-wing elements to defeat Chiang
Kaishek’s army and the big landlord class, to establish a political regime, and to
develop local militias and armies. Through this process, these left-wing elements
will join the Party and become part of the backbone in every aspect of the work
of the local Party, administration, military, and civil service. Some of them are

intellectuals, some are not; some can change their landlord and rich peasant standpoints under the guidance of our Party and continue to carry out the Party line;
some will vacillate when the masses rise up to carry out land reform, while still
others may even become very serious obstacles to land reform. After arriving in
the newly liberated regions, you should adopt a correct attitude toward this issue,
and most important of all, do not be afraid to cooperate with them and do not be
afraid to accept the activists among them into the Party, but put an emphasis on
their education. When the time comes to carry out land reform, they should be
dealt with differentially: Some may be kept on, others may be transferred to other
posts for training or to perform other duties. But in the case of those who monopolize power, oppress the people, obstruct land reform, and cannot be educated, you
must resolutely mobilize the masses to oust them.
Moreover, to get to know the situation in the countryside for the purpose of
carrying out land reform, secretaries of regional Party committees, directors of
the Political Departments, and those below them should personally investigate
the work in a few districts and townships, otherwise they will probably be unable
to lead the land reform.
Please inform the Party Committee of the Yu-Wan-Su [Henan-Anhui-Jiangsu]
Region and all comrades in your Political Department of the above, and I hope
you will also report your own lessons.
Mao Zedong