American imperialism, express dissatisfaction with the
Kuomintang rule and American imperialist aggression.
If we carefully guide them politically and ideologically,
and give them proper education and reformation, their
knowledge and technique can serve the new
democratic state of the Chinese People’s Republic.
As for the students, regarded in the fight of the
experience of the student movement in Kuomintang-
held cities during the past few years and our
movement for reformation of ideology and style of work
and cadre-examination, the overwhelming majority of
students are dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek’s
reactionary dictatorial rule and demand democracy.
Only a part of them, or only a very small part, are
incorrigible reactionary elements, specially working
against the revolution and disrupt the student
movement. Therefore, we should help students and
the intelligentsia to progress and draw them into the
struggle against imperialism and for democracy.
If we want to build a new democratic country, we
must have knowledge. For example, in establishing a
hospital, if we want to establish departments of
medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, dentistry
etc., we must have many doctors, medical assistants
and nurses.
These personnel can only be trained after many
years of study and forging in practical work. At present,
we still do not have many specialists. We must
unreservedly win over and use China’s existing
intelligentsia and specialists to work for the people.
On the one hand, we use this group of intelligentsia,
and on the other hand, we re-educate and reform
them correcting the habits of slighting the people and
isolation from the masses among many of them. Most
of them have enthusiasm for construction, and in the
great construction work of new democracy, most of
them can certainly make progress.
In eliminating the feudal system, we must guard
against the excluding of all intelligentsia who have
connection with the feudal system. This is detrimental
to the people’s cause. At the same time, we must pay
even more attention to the training of the intelligentsia
of worker and peasant origin enabling the workers
and peasants who have emancipated themselves to
obtain knowledge and train the finest among them or
their sons to become intelligentsia and shoulder the
tasks of construction.
During the anti-Japanese war, there was a group
of enlightened gentry like Li Ting-Ming and others who
took part in the governments and the people’s
congresses. This was entirely correct and necessary.
This had very good effect on the whole country. In
the past they fought Japan together with us, and now
they fight Kuomintang reactionaries together with us.
They have shared hardships in common with us. A
deliberate attitude must be adopted towards those
October - 2018
people. Their land must be distributed, but not through
mass meetings. If they make mistakes, they may be
criticized but their persons should not be violated.
Those with meritorious deeds in the past, who at
present approve of agrarian reform and the striking
down of KMT reactionaries, may still continue to work.
The Question of Violence and Capital
Punishment
The Communist Party is resolutely opposed to
unwarranted beating and killing, and to the adoption
of corporal punishment of criminals. Indiscriminate
beating and killing and corporal punishment are the
products of feudal society. They are only practiced
by the feudal lord towards his serfs and warlord
towards his soldiers.
During the agrarian reform movement not few
cases of beating people and incidents causing death
have occurred, and this is the more so because there
are impurities within the party; landlords, rich peasants,
opportunist elements and lumpen proletarian elements
seize opportunities to create trouble, thus giving rise
to phenomena of indiscriminately beating people or
incidents causing death. Some persons whose crimes
did not deserve death-penalty were killed. This should
have our serious attention.
We are opposed to indiscriminate killing of people,
but this does not mean that there is no capital
punishment at all. With regard to really arch counter-
revolutionary elements and arch tyrannical elements
whose crimes are really extremely great and who the
people of the whole country say should be executed,
after they have received death sentences by the
people’s courts, and their sentences have been
approved by a government organ (committees
organized by county sub-region or higher levels of
government), they should be executed and their
crimes published (no one may be executed in secret).
But no one must be arbitrarily accused of crimes and
sentenced to death. Except in war where the killing of
many of the enemy is unavoidable on the firing line,
arbitrary and mistaken killing not only cannot solve
problems, but furthermore may put off the solution of
problems and even lead to temporary defeat of the
revolution. This is because it must of necessity lose
the sympathy of the masses of people and meet with
the opposition of many people. Landlords and rich
peasants in the Chinese countryside occupy
approximately 10 per cent of the population. Their
number amounts to approximately more than
30,000,000. After the system of feudal exploitation has
been thoroughly done away with, and land and
property equal to that distributed to peasants are
distributed to them so that they rely on their own
labour for a livelihood, they can then be gradually
remade into forces creating wealth for society and
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