How to Differentiate the Classes in the Rural Areas

A work written by Mao Zedong in October 1933 to correct the deviation occurring in the land reform policy and in order to correctly solve issues of the land questions. Included in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 1.With the surge of the agrarian revolution, with the establishment and development of the revolutionary base areas, the CPC’s exploration on the policies of land reform had further deepened. On October 10, Mao Zedong, Xiang Ying and others issued the "Decision on Some Issues in the Land Struggle" and Mao Zedong had presided the formulation of this decision, soon after the People's Committee of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, issued an order , which clearly defined the 20 limitations in the policies when leading the land struggle of peasants.

The “Decision” mainly corrected the “Left” mistakes, but due to historical limitations, some “Left” mistakes were not yet corrected, such as still stipulating that “we should not allocated farmland to landlords, and the rich peasants should be allocated the poorly productive farmland”. On the same day, “How to Differentiate the Rural Class”, drafted by Mao Zedong, was adopted by the Provincial Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic which became a key document which established the criteria for differentiating class status in the rural areas.

The document stipulates that:

(1) A landlord is a person who owns land, does not engage in labour himself, or does so only to a very small extent, and lives by exploiting the peasants. The collection of land rent is his main form of exploitation; in addition, he may lend money, hire labour, or engage in industry or commerce. But his exaction of land rent from the peasants is his principal form of exploitation.

(2) The rich peasant as a rule owns land. But some rich peasants own only part of their land and rent the remainder. Others have no land of their own at all and rent all their land. The rich peasant generally has rather more and better instruments of production and more liquid capital than the average and engages in labour himself, but always relies on exploitation for part or even the major part of his income. His main form of exploitation is the hiring of labour (long-term labourers). In addition, he may let part of his land and practice exploitation through land rent, or may lend money or engage in industry and commerce.

(3) Many middle peasants own land. Some own only part of their land and rent the rest. Others own no land of their own at all and rent all their land. All of them have a fair number of farm implements. A middle peasant derives his income wholly or mainly from his own labour. As a rule he does not exploit others and in many cases he himself is exploited by others, having to pay a small amount in land rent and in interest on loans. But generally he does not sell his labour power. Some middle peasants (the well-to-do middle peasants) do practice exploitation to a small extent, but this is not their regular or their main source of income.

(4) Among the poor peasants some own part of their land and have a few farm implements, others own no land at all but only a few farm implements. As a rule poor peasants have to rent the land they work on and are subjected to exploitation, having to pay land rent and interest on loans and to hire themselves out to some extent.

(5) The worker (including the farm laborer) as a rule owns no land or farm implements, though some do own a very small amount of land and very few farm implements. Workers make their living wholly or mainly by selling their labor power. This document effectively guided the land reform in the base areas at that time.