Directive on the Land Question

Liu Shaoqi's inner-Party document drafted for the Party Central Committee, commonly referred to as "May 4th Directive". It was written on May 4, 1946. It was included in the Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi (Part I) published by the People’s Press in 1981.

After victory was won in the Anti-Japanese War, an extensive and thorough mass movement was launched to combat Chinese collaborators, settle accounts with landlords and reduce rent and interest, and the peasants urgently demanded land. The CPC Central Committee decided to change the policy of reducing rent and interest to one of confiscating the land of the landlords and distributing it among the peasants, i.e., "land to the tiller".

The “May 4th Directive” is a sign of this change.

The methods used in solving the land problem and combating the feudal landlord class in the rural areas should not be applied in dealing with the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie. In order to consolidate the National United Front and win over all the social forces who can be united with, and reduce the resistance to change rural land relations, the "May 4th Directive" also laid down a number of concrete policies and methods for the agrarian reform.

The way to solve the land problem is not to confiscate all the landlords' land unconditionally, but to confiscate and distribute the land of a very small number of big traitors, mainly by means of liquidation, rent reduction, interest reduction and land donation. As for the gentry and landlords whose family members include anti-Japanese servicemen and cadres, and the enlightened gentry and other people in the Liberated Areas or the KMT areas who co-operated with us during the Anti-Japanese War and do not oppose the Communist Party, we should treat them prudently, give them due consideration and, as a rule, adopt methods of arbitration or mediation in dealing with them. Proper consideration should be given to the livelihood of the middle and small landlords. They should be treated differently from the big landlords, evil gentry and local despots. Disputes between them and the peasants should most often be solved through arbitration or mediation. Attention should be concentrated on waging resolute struggles against collaborators, evil gentry and local despots, so as to isolate them completely and make them hand over their land. We should, however, leave them a certain amount of land from which to make a living.

The "May 4th Directive" also stipulates: Both during the movement and after the solution of the land problem, attention should be paid to the consolidation and expansion of the peasant associations and the militia, the expansion of the Party organizations, the training and promotion of cadres, the reorganization of governments at district and township levels and the education of the masses for both the struggle in defence of their land and the democratic governments and the struggle for the democratization of the country. Party committees in various localities should go all out to launch and lead the mass movement in the Liberated Areas and solve the land problem resolutely in accordance with the principles outlined above. With regard to the Right and “Left” deviations manifested within the Party concerning the land question, all localities should correct them in accordance with this directive by conducting education with great warmth and sincerity. This will help us to lead the masses in the struggle to accomplish the agrarian reform and consolidate the Liberated Areas.

The "May 4th Directive" marked the beginning of the transition from the weakening of feudal exploitation during the Anti-Japanese War to the transformation of feudal land relations and the abolition of the feudal exploitation system in the peasant land issue in the Liberated Areas under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

This was an important change in the land policy of the Communist Party of China. After the "May 4th Directive" was issued, Party organizations at all levels in the Liberated Areas further mobilized the masses and gradually deepened the land system reform movement.