Instructions on Discussing the (Draft)
“Stipulations of the Chinese Communist
Party Central Committee Regarding the
Classification and Treatment of Each Social
Class During Land Reform”1
(February 16, 1948)
To the Central Work Committee, the Handan Bureau, the East China Bureau, Su
Yu, Chen [Geng] and Xie [Fuzhi], Peng [Dehuai] and Zhang [Zongxun], Yang
[Dezhi], Luo [Ruiqing] and Yang [Chengwu], Chen [Shiju] and Tang [Liang],
Lin Biao, Xu [Shiyou] and Tan [Zhenlin],2 the East China Work Committee, the
Fuping Bureau, the Northeast Bureau, the Northwest Bureau, the Jin-Sui Local
Bureau, the Central Rear Area Work Commission, the Legal Commission, and
for the information of the Central Plains Bureau and the front committees of all
field armies:
Starting today, we will send you the draft of “The Central Committee
Stipulations Regarding the Classification and Treatment of Each Social Class
During Land Reform,” with twenty-five sections and more than 20,000 characters, via the Xinhua News Agency broadcasting station (the draft will be delivered
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 64–66, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.
by messenger to the Northwest Bureau, the Jin-Sui Sub-bureau, the Central Rear
Area Work Commission, and the Legal Commission). After you receive it, please
convene meetings to discuss it chapter by chapter or in parts. Please put forward
opinions regarding revision of the substance and wording and send them to us via
telegram before March 16. We will make the necessary revisions based on your
suggestions and then release it to the public.3
The purpose of this document is to correct the pervasive existence within the
Party of non-Marxist thinking with respect to the problem of observing and differentiating among the classes, and to make up for the lack of clear and specific
policies for dealing with each class and social stratum during land reform. We
feel that in the absence of this type of comprehensive document, with only the
Outline Land Law and certain other Party directives, it will be difficult to prevent
our personnel from making mistakes or to help them minimize their mistakes. We
must not only thoroughly destroy imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism but in this great fight we must also be sure not to throw our own ranks into
disarray, bolster our enemy’s strength, and isolate ourselves on account of incorrectly classifying and struggling against class elements and adopting erroneous
policies. We should not forget that between 1927 and 1935, and especially during
the period from 1931 to 1935, our Party became isolated and was placed in an
extremely perilous position because of its excessively leftist policies. During the
period when our Party split with the Guomindang, the main dangerous tendency
within our Party was – and it possibly still is – “left”-deviating adventurism. If
we do not pay serious attention to this matter at present, we are certain to make
political mistakes.
Your meetings for discussing the draft of this document should include responsible comrades from the government, military regions, and mass organizations
so that your discussions on this draft document become discussions in which the
majority of responsible comrades at the central bureau level participate. Everyone
is responsible for making this document as correct and feasible as possible. After
the Central Committee issues it, all regions will implement it in unison rather than
piecemeal. To facilitate discussion, the number of people at the meetings should
not be too large; it will probably be optimal to have ten to fifteen responsible comrades attend each meeting, but act at your own discretion. Their environments will
make it impossible for the Central Plains Bureau and field army front committees
to hold discussions, so we have not sent this draft to them.
The Central Committee

--- Notes

1.  In a telegram to Liu Shaoqi on February 20, 1948, Mao described this document as
“a Party program, a policy framework, and a policy all rolled into one. To attain nationwide
victory, we need such a document, which specifies the political-economic-social rules for
those inside and outside the Party.” This document was drafted in winter 1947 and was
finalized according to Mao Zedong’s revisions on February 15, 1948.

2.  Su Yu was deputy commander of the East China Field Army. Chen Geng and Xie
Fuzhi were the secretary and deputy secretary, respectively, of the Chen-Xie Group of the
Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army. Peng Dehuai was commander
and political commissar of the Northwest Field Army, and Zhang Zongxun was the deputy
commander of the Northwest Field Army. Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Yang Chengwu
were respectively commander, first political commissar, and second political commissar
of the Jin-Cha-Ji (Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei) Field Army. Chen Shiju was chief-of-staff of the
East China Field Army, and Tang Liang was the director of the Political Department of the
East China Field Army. Xu Shiyou and Tan Zhenlin were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Shandong Corps of the East China Field Army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-86


3.  This document was never made public.