Comments on a Letter from Peasants of Ningxiang, Hunan Province, Reporting Allegations Against Zhou Zhenlin [1]
(April 8, 1952)
To be forwarded by Premier Zhou to Comrade Li Weihan [121] after review; file for record. This matter [131] should not be handled in accordance with the peasants’ views.
Mao Zedong
April 8
[1]
Zhou Zhenlin, a native of Ningxiang, Hunan, co-founded the Huaxing Society with Huang Xing in 1903. He served as the Hunan branch chief of the Tongmenghui, participated in the Xinhai Revolution and the campaign to defend the Constitution against Yuan Shikai, and later held positions as a member of the National Government and a Central Supervisory Committee member of the Kuomintang. In 1949, he joined Cheng Qian in launching an uprising in Hunan. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he was a member of the First National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and an advisor to the Hunan Provincial Military and Political Committee.
[2]
Li Weihan, who at that time was Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.
[3]
On March 13, 1952, all the peasants of Zhushan Township, District 2, Ningxiang County, Hunan Province, wrote a letter to Mao Zedong denouncing Zhou Zhenlin for exploiting and oppressing the people before liberation, embezzling public funds, secretly hoarding firearms after liberation, using deposit money to forcibly allocate land to tenant farmers, dispersing his assets, resisting rent reduction and deposit return measures, and demanding that his daughter be brought back from Beijing for struggle, as well as requiring him to return the deposits, among other charges.

Such misdeeds may well have occurred, but Zhou is a veteran member of the Tongmenghui who has always remained independent of Chiang Kai-shek. As a current member of the CPPCC, he should be protected.
Mao Zedong
April 8