Chapter 20 Seek advice on the issue of Kulak tactics

(March 12, 1950) Comrade Deng Zihui[1] also told Comrades Lin Biao, Rao Shushi, Ye Jianying, Peng Dehuai, and Deng Xiaoping[2]: (1) Zi Huiyin received a telegram, agreeing that you will send Li Xuefeng[4] instead of following Lin[3] to Beijing for a meeting. (2) Please send us a telegram to ask for your opinions on the strategy of dealing with the rich peasants at the meetings of responsible comrades in various provinces that you are currently holding. The capitalist rich peasants, and the semi-feudal rich peasants, do not move, and wait until a few years before solving the problem of the semi-feudal rich peasants.Please consider whether it is beneficial to do so.Reasons for doing this: First, the scale of the land reform is unprecedentedly large, and it is prone to left deviation. If we only move the landlords and not the rich peasants, we will be able to isolate the landlords, protect the middle peasants, and prevent indiscriminate killings, otherwise it will be difficult to prevent; The second is that in the past the land reform in the north was carried out in the midst of war, and the atmosphere of war covered up the atmosphere of land reform. Now that there is basically no war, the land reform is particularly prominent, the shock to society is particularly serious, and the voice of landlords will be particularly sharp. If we do not move the semi-feudal rich peasants for the time being, and wait a few years to move them, it will appear that we have more reasons, that is to say, we have more political initiative; the third is our united front with the national bourgeoisie, which has now been Politically, economically, and organizationally, the national bourgeoisie is closely related to the land issue. For the sake of stabilizing the national bourgeoisie, it seems more appropriate to stop the semi-feudal rich peasants for the time being.Regarding the issue of temporarily immobilizing the rich peasants, I raised it at a meeting of the Politburo in November last year in which Comrades Rao Shushi, Deng Zihui, and Li Fuchun[5] participated, but I did not make a detailed analysis or make a decision. Now is the time to make a decision.After the decision, the land law and other documents related to land reform need to be amended and promulgated to facilitate the study of land reform cadres in the provinces in the new area, so as to facilitate the start of land reform after this autumn, otherwise the opportunity will be missed and they will be passive.Therefore, not only the Central South Bureau, but also the comrades of the East China Bureau, South China Branch Bureau, Southwest Bureau, and Northwest Bureau are invited to discuss this issue, and please forward this telegram to the provincial and municipal committees of the respective provinces and cities for discussion. It is most important to collect opinions and send them to the central government quickly so that decisions can be made based on consideration.

Mao Zedong March 12 Printed from manuscript. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Deng Zihui, then the third secretary of the Central South Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. [2] Lin Biao, then the first secretary of the Central South Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.Rao Shushi was then the First Secretary of the East China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.Ye Jianying was the first secretary of the South China Branch of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at that time.Peng Dehuai was then the First Secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.Deng Xiaoping was then the First Secretary of the Southwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

[3] Lin refers to Lin Biao. [4] Li Xuefeng, born in 1907, was born in Yongji, Shanxi.At that time, he was the head of the Organization Department of the Central South Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. [5] Li Fuchun, then deputy secretary of the Northeast Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.