On Some Important Problems of the Party’s Present Policy

Mao Zedong drafted a decision for the CPC Central Committee on January 18, 1948. It was included in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 4.

In the second half of 1947, the People's Liberation Army turned to the strategic offensive, and some comrades in the Party grew proud in the face of victory; after October of the same year, with the rapid upsurge of land system reform movement in the vast rural parts of the Liberated Areas, some places appeared the crisis with the development of the People's Liberation War, how to establish a new democratic regime in the whole country and how to deal with the relationship between those who lead and those who are led in the revolutionary united front of the party. Formulating, mastering, and implementing correct policies and strategies is the key to handling these issues. Therefore, the report mainly expounds several important issues of the Party's policy at that time.

(1) The problem of combating erroneous tendencies within the Party. The decision pointed out that while opposing overestimation of the enemy's strength, we should never underestimate the enemy. If, with regard to the whole, we overestimate the strength of our enemy and hence do not dare to overthrow him and do not dare to win victory, we shall be committing a Right opportunist error. If, with regard to each part, each specific problem, we are not prudent, do not carefully study and perfect the art of struggle, do not concentrate all our strength for battle and do not pay attention to winning over all the allies that should be won over (middle peasants, small independent craftsmen and traders, the middle bourgeoisie, students, teachers, professors and ordinary intellectuals, ordinary government employees, professionals and enlightened gentry), we shall be committing a “Left” deviationist opportunist error. In combating “Left” and Right deviations within the Party, we must decide on our policy according to specific circumstances.

(2) Some concrete problems of policy in the agrarian reform and mass movements. The interests of the poor peasants and farm laborers and the forward role of the poor peasant leagues must be our first concern. Both in the countryside and in the cities, we have to "conquer the country and should rule the country" under the leadership of the Communist Party, not "the poor peasants and farm labourers conquer the country and should rule the country" or "a minority conquer the country and should rule the country". The decision calls for the avoidance of adopting adventurist policies towards the middle peasants, small and medium-sized businesses, students, teachers, professors, scientists, artists and general intellectuals. Master the division of these strata and the determination of their composition.

It also decided to strictly control the policy on the differences between enlightened gentlemen, new rich peasants and old rich peasants, the labor performance of landlords and rich peasants, the problem of fighting for land and wealth in agrarian reform, the difference between landlords and rich peasants, the big, small and medium landlords, the bully and non-bully among landlords and rich peasants, and the few real criminals.

The decision stipulates “We must criticize and struggle with certain cadres and Party members who have committed serious mistakes and certain bad elements among the masses of workers and peasants.” It should be announced that the masses not only have the right to criticize them freely but also have the right to dismiss them from their posts when necessary or to propose their dismissal, or to propose their expulsion from the Party and even to hand the worst elements over to the people's courts for trial and punishment.

(3) On the problem of state power. The New-Democratic state power is the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal state power of the masses of the people led by the working class.

The masses of the people include the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie who are oppressed and injured by imperialism and by the reactionary KMT regime and the classes it represents, namely, the bureaucrat-capitalist class (the big bourgeoisie) and the landlord class. The main body of the masses consists of the workers, peasants (soldiers being chiefly peasants in uniform) and other working people.

The enemies that the People's Republic and its government oppose are foreign imperialism and the KMT reactionaries at home and the classes they represent—the bureaucrat-capitalist class and landlord class.

The organs of state power of the People's Republic of China are the people's congresses at different levels and the governments at different levels which these congresses elect.

In the future after the revolution triumphs throughout the whole country, the central government and the local governments at all levels should be elected by the people's congresses at corresponding levels.

(4) The problem of the relationship between those who lead and those who are led in the revolutionary united front. 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:

(A) Lead those who are led (allies) to wage resolute struggles against the common enemy and achieve victories;

(B) 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.

"On some important problems of the Party's present policies" is the policy boundaries and regulations put forward by the Party in the face of a series of new situations and new problems in the turning period of the revolutionary war. It has a guiding role in overcoming the “Left” and right bias in the war, agrarian reform, Party building and the United Front, and plays a role in escorting the victory of the War of Liberation.