Page 42 - SELECTED WORKS OF LIU SHAOQI Volume Ⅱ

40 LIU SHAOQI

form themselves through labour. After undergoing long-term reform
through labour, it is possible for landlords to become new men.
This basic reason for and the basic aim of agrarian reform are not
designed only to relieve the poor, as is maintained by some people.
The Communist Party has always fought in the interest of the labour-
ing poor, but the viewpoint of Communists differs from that of
philanthropists. The agrarian reform will benefit the impoverished
labouring peasants, helping them to partially solve their problem of
poverty, but its basic aim is not merely one of relieving the impoveri-
shed peasants. It is designed to free the rural productive forces from
the shackles of the feudal landownership system of the landlord class
in order to develop agricultural production and pave the way for New
China’s industrialization. The problem of poverty among the peasants
can finally be solved only when agricultural production is greatly
developed, the industrialization of New China is realized, the living
standard of people throughout the country is improved, and China
eventually embarks upon the road to socialism. Agrarian reform can
solve only part, not the whole, of the problem of the peasants’ poverty.
The basic reason for and the basic aim of agrarian reform are to
develop production. Hence, every step taken in the reform should be
suited to and closely co-ordinated with the development of rural
production. Precisely because of this basic reason and aim, the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party has proposed that the
rich peasant economy be kept from being infringed upon in the reform.
This is because the existence of the rich peasant economy and its
growth within certain limits is advantageous to the development of
the people’s economy in our country. It is, therefore, also beneficial
to the broad peasant masses.
This, in brief, is my explanation of why agrarian reform should be
carried out.

Ⅱ . CONFISCATION AND REQUISITION OF LAND

The Draft Agrarian Reform Law stipulates that land in the follow-
ing categories be confiscated or requisitioned: 1) landlords’ land; 2)
rural land belonging to ancestral shrines, temples, monasteries, chur-
ches, schools and organizations, and other land owned by the public;
3) rural land of industrialists and merchants; 4) land of people who,