1941-1951-Changes in the Countryside and Peasant Memories-Study on Land Reform in Juxian County, Shandong Old Revolutionary Area-Social History Studies

Author: Zhang Xueqiang / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
"One 'Let the peasants take the lead, and the leadership should boldly relax control'"
On June 24, 1947, the East China Bureau held an enlarged meeting to review the Shandong land reform work of the past year. On July 7, it issued the "New Instructions on the Review of Shandong Land Reform," known as the "July 7th Instructions." The instructions severely criticized the East China Bureau's "September 1st Instructions" of the previous year, which "adopted a policy and line completely opposite to that of the Central Committee as the guiding principle for land reform," and identified "three fundamental errors": "a non-class line in land reform policy, a non-mass line in implementation, and complacency and overconfidence in leadership, leading to laxity in land reform."
Specific manifestations included:
- Not prioritizing the support of tenant-poor peasants but instead prioritizing landlords and rich peasants;
- Not focusing on meeting the land demands of tenant-poor peasants but instead using various methods to allow landlords to retain more land;
- Not adopting a policy of mobilizing the masses to solve land issues themselves but instead restricting mass struggles, emphasizing peaceful methods such as landlords voluntarily donating land or the government enacting laws to expropriate excess land from landlords;
- Making overly optimistic assessments of land issues and failing to grasp the key aspects of land reform.
The instructions demanded that "Party committees at all levels correct the errors in the September 1st Instructions, halt the implementation of provincial land reform laws," and immediately adopt the land distribution method of "land for the middle peasants and newly prosperous peasants remains unchanged, while tenant-poor peasants and old landlords are given equal land." To ensure tenant-poor peasants received sufficient land, the instructions also stipulated that "all public land and land left by military units for production, except for land for demobilization, should be distributed by peasant associations and cannot be retained in any form as public land."
In terms of implementation, the instructions emphasized that "serious class struggles must be carried out, and the mass line must rely on tenant-poor peasants to unite middle peasants," and that "decisions should be based on the opinions of 90% of the peasants. If the Party's regulations conflict with the demands of 90% of the peasants, the regulations should be revised." Additionally, "all land settlement investigations, distribution reviews, adjustments, or redistributions must first be discussed by poor peasant groups and then approved by peasant associations before implementation, without requiring approval from any other agency." The instructions also stressed that "the arduous tasks of transforming the Party, cadres, work styles, and other Party organizations must be completed during the land reform process."
P171-172