Page 34 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume III.indd

32 MAO TSE-TUNG
in all parts of China. Why don’t we demand that socialism be put
into effect now? Of course socialism is a superior system and has
long been in operation in the Soviet Union, but in China today the
conditions for it are still lacking. It is the revolutionary Three People’s
Principles that have been put into effect in our Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia
Border Region. We have not gone beyond them in solving any of our
practical problems. As far as these principles are concerned, today
the Principle of Nationalism means overthrowing Japanese imperial-
ism, and the Principles of Democracy and People’s Livelihood mean
working in the interests not of just one section but of all the people
who are against Japan. Throughout the country the people should
enjoy freedom of the person, the right to take part in political activity
and the right to protection of property. Throughout the country the
people should have the opportunity of voicing their opinions, and
they should have clothes to wear, food to eat, work to do and schools
to attend; in short, some provision should be made for everyone.
Chinese society is small at both ends and big in the middle, that is,
the proletariat at one end and the landlord class and big bourgeoisie
at the other each constitute only a small minority, while the great
majority of the people consists of the peasants, the urban petty bour-
geoisie and the other intermediate classes. No political party that
wants to run China’s affairs properly can do so unless its policy gives
consideration to the interests of these classes, unless some provision
is made for the members of these classes, and unless they have the
right to voice their opinions. The policies put forward by the Chinese
Communist Party seek to unite all the people who oppose Japan
and take into account the interests of every class that does so, and
especially the interests of the peasants, the urban petty bourgeoisie
and the other intermediate classes. The policies of the Communist
Party, which give all sections of the people the opportunity to voice
their opinions and make sure they have work to do and food to eat,
are policies embodying the genuinely revolutionary Three People’s
Principles. In agrarian relations, on the one hand we carry out reduc-
tion of rent and interest so that the peasants will have food, and on
the other we provide for the payment of the reduced rent and interest
so that the landlords, too, can live. In the relations between labour
and capital, on the one hand we help the workers so that they have
both work and food, and on the other we pursue a policy of develop-
ing industry so that the capitalists may obtain some profit. In all this
our purpose is to unite the people of the whole country in the common