The Prerequisites for the Proletariat and Its Party to Realize Leadership Over Allies

One of the important Principles of the United Front Thought of the Communist Party of China.

On January 18, 1948, Mao Zedong, in his article "On Some Important Problems of the Party’s Present Policy ", systematically summarized the experience accumulated by proletarian party in realizing their leadership over their allies, pointing out: "The leading class and the leading party must fulfil two conditions in order to exercise their leadership of the classes, strata, political parties and people's organizations which are being led:(1) Lead those who are led (allies) to wage resolute struggles against the common enemy and achieve victories; (2) Bring material benefits to those who are led or at least not damage their interests and at the same time give them political education. Without both these conditions, or with only one, leadership cannot be realized.”

Mao Zedong also analyzed the unity with the middle peasants as an example to illustrate the above conditions: "As an example, the Communist Party, in order to lead the middle peasants, must lead them to struggle resolutely together with us against the feudal classes and achieve victories (destroying the landlords' armed force and dividing up their land). If there is no resolute struggle, or if there is struggle but no victory, the middle peasants will vacillate. Furthermore, we must allot part of the land and other property of the landlords to those middle peasants who are relatively poor and must not damage the interests of the well-to-do middle peasants...” “Do not make mistakes in determining the class status of middle peasants and be fair to them in regard to the land tax and civilian war service. At the same time, political education should also be given to middle peasants. If we do not do all these things, we will lose the support of the middle peasants”.

Mao Zedong added that: "In the cities, the same holds true for the working class and the Communist Party in exercising their leadership of the middle bourgeoisie, democratic parties and people's organizations oppressed and injured by the reactionary forces.” In the course of the Chinese revolution, if the proletariat and its political party wanted to establish a broad united front with other allies, and firmly grasped the leadership over its allies in the United Front, it must try to establish the above conditions as the basic and necessary prerequisites and only in this way could the purpose of the United Front be achieved.