Page 19 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume I.indd

ANALYSIS OF THE CLASSES
IN CHINESE SOCIETY

March 1926

Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question
of the first importance for the revolution. The basic reason why all
previous revolutionary struggles in China achieved so little was their
failure to unite with real friends in order to attack real enemies. A
revolutionary party is the guide of the masses, and no revolution ever
succeeds when the revolutionary party leads them astray. To ensure
that we will definitely achieve success in our revolution and will not
lead the masses astray, we must pay attention to uniting with our real
friends in order to attack our real enemies. To distinguish real friends
from real enemies, we must make a general analysis of the economic
status of the various classes in Chinese society and of their respective
attitudes towards the revolution.
What is the condition of each of the classes in Chinese society?
¹
The landlord class and the comprador class. In economically back-
ward and semi-colonial China the landlord class and the comprador
class are wholly appendages of the international bourgeoisie, depend-
ing upon imperialism for their survival and growth. These classes
represent the most backward and most reactionary relations of pro-
duction in China and hinder the development of her productive forces.
Their existence is utterly incompatible with the aims of the Chinese
revolution. The big landlord and big comprador classes in particular
always side with imperialism and constitute an extreme counter-

This article was written by Comrade Mao Tse-tung to combat two devia-
tions then to be found in the Party. The exponents of the first deviation, represented
by Chen Tu-hsiu, were concerned only with co-operation with the Kuomintang
and forgot about the peasants; this was Right opportunism. The exponents of
the second deviation, represented by Chang Kuo-tao, were concerned only with
the labour movement, and likewise forgot about the peasants; this was “Left”
opportunism. Both were aware that their own strength was inadequate, but
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