The Opinion That Henceforth We Should Not
Promote New Rich Peasants Is Incorrect1
(March 8, 1948)
The opinion that says henceforth we should not promote new rich peasants is
incorrect. Our purpose in promoting new rich peasants is not the same as the goal
of preserving rich peasants after the Russian Revolution. In China, rich peasants
do not constitute a major component of the economy. The food supply depends
primarily on the middle and poor peasants, not on the rich peasants. Our goal in
encouraging people such as Wu Manyou2 is to be able to stabilize the old and new
middle peasants to stimulate their production. If this was necessary in the past,
the situation at present remains unchanged, so we cannot say this need no longer
exists. If there are certain areas in China that depend on a food supply by rich
peasants, then it is even more necessary to encourage the rich peasant economy. A
kind of fuzzy “leftist” sentiment that runs counter to the demands of the economy
is raising havoc with people’s thinking, and it has become especially prevalent
following promulgation of the Land Law. Our comrades engaged in propaganda
work should criticize this sentiment and not be moved to succumb to it.
Mao Zedong
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 77–78, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.
1.  Mao Zedong wrote these comments on a draft telegram regarding the admission of
new rich peasants into the Party.
2.  Wu Manyou (1893–1958, born in Hengshan, Shaanxi) fled from famine in 1928 to
Yan’an and was allotted land in the land revolution, becoming a new rich peasant. He was
named a “labor hero” for his outstanding record in the Shaan-Gan-Ning (Shaanxi-GansuNingxia) Border Region Great Production Campaign.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-101