FOREWORD TO 'HOW SHANSI'S KUO COUNTY CARRIES OUT LAND REFORM'
12 March 1948

[Text] This is a communication from Shansi's Kuo County. It indicates
that the mass struggle there has been launched, that the masses have been
aroused, and that all preparations for land division were being completed
at a meeting of peasant delegates. In the process of class classification,
many people were erroneously classified, but it was decided, through open
and clear discussions at a delegates meeting, that the mistakes will be
corrected. Such errors as failing to provide the landowners with the
necessary way to make a living, failing to distinguish between the landlords
and the rich peasants, and encroaching upon the interests of the middle
peasants were criticized. In sum, the line demonstrated at the two
district peasant delegates meetings described in the communication is
completely correct. At the time the communication was written, Kuo County
had not yet divided the land; therefore, the experience in this aspect is
incomplete. We hope that the area, after completing the tasks of correcting
the mistakes in class classification (a major matter), dividing the land,
organizing production, and reforming the political power, will send
another communication describing the entire process. As for how to perform
the work of party rectification, we have the typical experience of P'ing-shan County of the Shansi-Chahar-Hopeh Border Region (summarized by Comrade
Liu Shao-ch'i). As for how to perform the work of readjusting the land,
not dividing the land (because it had already been divided), we have the
typical experience of Huang-chia-ch'uan, Sui-te County, Shensi-Kansu-
Ninghsia Border Region. Now we also have the land division experience
(Though incomplete) of Kuo county in the Shansi-Suiyuan region. It will be
worthwhile to compile these three experiences into a pamphlet for distribution to each and every rural work cadre. Such a pamphlet describing
typical experiences will be more vivid and fruitful than the resolutions
and directives of our leadership organs. It will furnish the inexperienced
comrades with the means to start work and to effectively smash the serious
anti-Marxist commandism and tailism existing in the party. After issuing
resolutions or directives on all items of important work under their
jurisdiction, the leadership comrades of all central bureaus, central
branch bureaus, and frontline committees must collect and spread selected

typical experiences and make the mass movements under their guidance
develop along the correct line. Currently, when hundreds of millions of
people are launching an attack on the reactionary feudal and compradore
system according to the direction pointed out by the party, the responsibility of the leader is not only to point out the direction of struggle
and determine the struggle tasks, but also to summarize the concrete
experiences and promptly spread them among the people, so that the correct
matters will be popularized and the mistakes will not be repeated.

12 March 1948

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JEN-MIN JIH-PAO, 24 March 1948

"Typical Experiences of Land Reform and Party Rectification" (Foreword),
China Publishing House (Hong Kong), 1949 2d edition