MAO TSE-TUNG
(October 1933)
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE THE CLASSES IN THE RURAL AREAS
I.
THE LANDLORD
A landlord is a person who owns land, does not engage in labour himself, or
does so only to a very small extent, and lives by exploiting the peasants.
The collection of land rent is his main form of exploitation; in addition,
he may lend money, hire labour, or engage in industry or commerce. But his
exaction of land rent from the peasants is his principal form of
exploitation. The administration of communal land and the collection of rent
from school land [1] are included in the category of exploitation through
land rent.
A bankrupt landlord shall still be classified as a landlord if he does not
engage in labour but lives by swindling or robbing others or by receiving
assistance from relatives or friends, and is better off than the average
middle peasant.
Warlords, officials, local tyrants and evil gentry are political
representatives and exceptionally ruthless members of the landlord class.
Minor local tyrants and evil gentry are also very often to be found among
the rich peasants.
Persons who assist landlords in collecting rent and managing property, who
depend on landlord exploitation of the peasants as their main source of
income and are better off than the average middle peasant shall be put in
the same category as landlords.
Usurers are persons who rely on exploitation by usury as their main source
of income, are better off than the average middle peasant, and shall be put
in the same category as landlords.
II.
THE RICH PEASANT
The rich peasant as a rule owns land. But some rich peasants own only part
of their land and rent the remainder. Others have no land of their own at
all and rent all their ...
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