Comments on Two Draft Resolutions Concerning Land Reform in Xinjiang’s Agricultural Areas and Work in the Pastoral Regions (July 2, 1952) These two documents [1] should be reviewed by Premier Zhou tonight. By tomorrow, the 3rd, or at the latest the 4th, Comrade Yang Shangkun [2] is to dispatch someone by air directly to Dihua [3] to deliver them to Comrades Xi Zhongxun and Wang Enmao [4]. They must arrive no later than July 6 or 7; delay is unacceptable. A copy of the original should be retained. Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript on July 2. Notes: [ ] refer to the draft “Resolution on Implementing Land Reform in Xinjiang’s Agricultural Areas” and the draft “Resolution on Work in Xinjiang’s Pastoral Regions,” which were prepared in July 1952 for submission to and approval by the Xinjiang Party Representatives Conference. The former draft points out that, given Xinjiang’s socio-historical conditions and ethnic characteristics, land reform must be resolutely carried out in the agricultural areas, yet it also emphasizes the need for extreme caution in conducting such reform. To ensure its success, the resolution lays down provisions regarding the organization of the broadest possible anti-feudal united front, the accurate classification of social classes, the differentiated conduct of struggle against the landlord class, the confiscation of landlords’ land and property, the continuous education of the peasant masses, as well as specific policies concerning the protection of religious lands, livestock farming, and foreign-owned properties during the land reform process. The latter draft, while acknowledging the achievements made in pastoral work since Xinjiang’s liberation, highlights several serious principled errors that have been committed. These include attempts to classify social classes in the pastoral areas, to propagate social reforms aimed at abolishing the pastoral landlord system; to organize livestock cooperatives regardless of the herders’ level of awareness or willingness; to rely primarily on military suppression rather than political persuasion and demoralization when dealing with mass uprisings instigated by bandits and spies; and to arrest too many people and adopt an overly broad crackdown during the campaign against counter-revolutionaries. In short, instead of adopting a prudent and steady approach to pastoral work, there has been an attempt to implement a dangerous and reckless policy—rather than formulating feasible improvements based on the actual characteristics of the pastoral economy, the methods used for land reform in agricultural areas have been mechanically applied to the pastoral sector. The resolution sets the general guideline for pastoral work as follows: stabilize social order, protect and develop animal husbandry, and, where possible, appropriately improve the living standards of herdsmen and impoverished pastoralists. Under this overarching principle, a series of concrete policies are prescribed, including: “Extensively carry out united front work in the pastoral regions, winning over and uniting all those who can be won over and united—including tribal chiefs, religious leaders, and pastoral landlords—while only suppressing active counter-revolutionaries”; “Firmly preserve the pastoral landlord system; refrain from struggling against, dividing, or classifying this system. Implement a policy that benefits both landlords and herdsmen, gradually abolish feudal privileges held by landlords, encourage their productive initiative, and allow the pastoral landlord economy to evolve into a capitalist-type economy, thereby becoming an integral part of the new democratic economy,” and so forth. [2] Yang Shangkun was then Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. [3] Dihua is present-day Urumqi. [ ] Xi Zhongxun was then Second Secretary of the CPC Northwest Bureau. Wang Enmao was then a member of the CPC Xinjiang Sub-bureau and First Secretary of the CPC Southern Xinjiang Regional Committee.